Global Gathering

During the last week of June, the Church of God came together for a “Global Gathering” in which delegates from 63 countries came to Anderson, Indiana, for a week of worship, celebration, prayer, fellowship, and encouragement.  I was blessed to attend the majority of this gathering, and I’d like to share with you some highlights from the week.

  • The major theme of the Global Gathering was “Standing Together” – a testament to our convictions about Christian unity.  Regardless of our nationalities, ethnicities, and languages, we practiced loving, accepting, and encouraging each other because of our common faith in Jesus Christ.  This too was an important theme through the week:  that Jesus Christ is at the center of who we are as the people of God.  Perhaps the most moving experience of this truth was at the opening worship service, in which all the delegates from around the world entered the convention hall behind their respective nations’ flags, accompanied by a sustained standing ovation by everyone else.
  • Each day, we all came together for three worship services – morning, afternoon, and evening – and each service had a preacher from a different part of the world.  We heard the Word of God preached by individuals from Russia, Zambia, Brazil, Jamaica, Australia, Ghana, India, Paraguay, and the United States.  The diversity of life experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives on life was amazing!  And there are some fantastic preachers in our movement around the world! (Remember, you can watch the services online at www.chog.org/gg-media.)
  • All week long, we gave offerings out of love and thankfulness to our Lord.  Now, in the past, the offerings for the North American Convention have gone to cover the costs of the convention itself, or to support other components of the Church of God structure.  Not so this year.  All of the offerings – every dollar and penny – were given directly to an organization called Water4 (www.water4.org).
    • water4This not-for-profit has the goal of eliminating the current world water crisis.  (There are millions of people on the planet who cannot just turn the faucet and get clean drinking water; instead, many must drink from unsanitary, infested pools located sometimes miles from home.)  Water4 exists to train, equip, and support local individuals as they learn to dig freshwater pressure wells in their own communities using simple, cost-effective materials.  From beginning to end, one well costs just $1,000 through this organization.
    • The goal at the Global Gathering was for us to raise $100,000 for Water4.  An anonymous donor made a challenge:  up to this amount, he or she would donate $4 for every $1 that we gave.  This encouraged us to give even more, and by the end of the week, we had given over $106,000 – meaning that the total donation to Water4 from our group was over half a million dollars.  This will sponsor 500 new freshwater wells throughout the world.  Thanks be to God!

This Global Gathering was a tremendous experience.  I am already looking forward to next year, even though it will be back to our regular North American Convention!

You know, you can come along too, even for just a weekend or for part of the week.  This is our convention!

–Pastor David

Not For the Faint of Heart

Elisha watched as his mentor Elijah was carried into heaven in a whirlwind, with chariots and horses of fire (2 Kings 2:1-14).  This left Elisha on the wrong side of the Jordan River with his master’s cloak.  What did he decide to do?  And how does his decision set the pattern for those who would follow Jesus Christ with their lives?  Here is Pastor David’s sermon on this passage:

Listen now!

Jesus is the Subject

This Wednesday, at the annual national-level General Assembly meeting of the Church of God, we ratified our new General Director, Rev. Jim Lyon.  He will take up the reins of leadership in this movement upon the retirement of Rev. Dr. Ron Duncan later this summer.  For various reasons, I have wavered back and forth in my support of this nomination, but in the past few weeks I have come to see the value and importance of Rev. Lyon’s appointment to this post, at this particular time in our movement’s history.

Rev. Jim Lyon
Rev. Jim Lyon

I’d like to share with you one of the most important pieces of my growing sense of support for Rev. Lyon.  This begins with a concern that many people in the movement have:  the Church of God needs a singular identity, something around which to rally ourselves, a message to proclaim to the broader church and to the world.  (If you participated in the Revelation Bible study on Sunday nights last year, you may remember that this question came up frequently.  That’s because the identity the Church of God had 100 years ago – related to a specific interpretation of Revelation – is no longer accepted broadly today.  However, nothing that strong has risen up in its place in the past few decades.)

After his ratification, Rev. Lyon spoke to the General Assembly for a good half hour.  During this talk, he reminded us that he does not come to this position with an agenda, a crystal-clear vision, or a list of programs to implement.  Instead, he comes with a singular conviction.  As he talked about this conviction, I realized he had written about this in his public responses to questions earlier this year:

To move forward, the unity of our own church family must be cemented. There are factions, subsets, splinters, and tribes within the Movement, all held loosely together but sometimes moving in different directions. All of us need to embrace the truth that Jesus is the subject. The church is not the subject.

When we are in right relationship to Jesus, the church will be fine. If we are not in right relationship to Jesus, no program, doctrine, distinctive, or emphasis in the church will be healthy. Who Jesus is. What Jesus thinks. What Jesus cares about. What Jesus died for. What Jesus calls us to do. How Jesus loves. How Jesus forgives. How Jesus walked and would have us walk. This is the stuff of unity. Focusing along these lines is our only hope to realize our Heaven-sent destiny as a Movement.

The Church of God, perhaps more than any other part of the larger Christian family, is hinged on relationships, grounded in the Word. We must nurture relationships with each other, tethered by this truth: Jesus is the subject. Supremely. When we obey Him, we love Him. When we see Him, we see the Father. When we follow Him, we find life.

My first object will be to bring Jesus into view, to focus, insofar as I am able, the church on its Lord.

Friends, this is good stuff.  I can rally around this core conviction.  It may not be a full vision for the Church of God, but that’s ok – it’s a wonderful starting point.  It’s something that can spark our movement’s quest for identity and purpose.  I look forward to thinking and moving with you and with Rev. Lyon in the days ahead as we reflect on the impact of this truth:  Jesus is the subject.

–Pastor David

What are you doing here?

God asked Elijah this haunting question twice after Elijah fled for his life.  While 1 Kings 19:1-18 is often remembered for the “still, small voice” of God, this passage shows a great deal more about how God cares for Elijah – and how God calls him forward on mission.  What does this have to do with us?  Listen in to Pastor David’s sermon on this passage:

Listen now!

Inconsolable

On Tuesday morning, a gentle spring thunderstorm rolled through Mt. Haley Township.  Another round of earth-nourishing rain fell through a cool air mass that had me wearing a sweatshirt on the last week of May.  Storms of varying degrees of intensity came and went throughout the remainder of the day and into the night.  In the midst of all the rain, thunder, and wind, one thing remained constant:

Our dog Jake was terrified out of his mind.

photo by Qualsiasi
photo by Qualsiasi

We added Jake to our family about seven years ago.  He came from a rescue organization in Ohio, and his age and birthplace were unknown to everyone.  Over the years, we have come to believe that Jake may be a “Katrina dog” – that is, a dog who was born in the New Orleans area and survived the terror of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  We believe this because he dislikes getting wet in any way and because he shows signs of extreme anxiety at the slightest rumble:  thunder, gunshots, firecrackers, or anything else that might remind him of a terribly frightening storm.

Yesterday’s storms were no exception:  all day long, Jake whined, paced, yelped, and was generally inconsolable.  By the evening, even the sound of falling rain sent him into a panic, as if he could sense that a thunderclap might come in the near future.

Tara and I tried to comfort him in different ways at different times.  But we have realized that nothing we can do – short of giving him sedatives, which we have never done – will help this poor dog survive the emotional trauma of a thunderstorm.  (Opening day of rifle season in November is another fun day for us!)

Have you ever been inconsolable due to a traumatic event in your life?  Or has someone around you experienced such emotional stress that you could not comfort him or her?  Or have you ever been overwhelmingly occupied by a burden to share the love of Christ with someone around you?

In all three of these situations, the message of Jesus Christ reaches out to us and transforms us.  Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11.  In this opening passage of the letter, Paul writes about the comfort of God available to those who identify with Christ.  Two truths are readily apparent:  any comfort in this world comes from God, and the comfort we have received must be shared with others around us.  Yet a third truth – having to do with enduring suffering for the sake of the gospel – captures my attention today.

Are we afflicted with sufferings for the cause of Christ?  Does our faith in Christ find expression in our lives in ways that cost us something?  Are we in need of divine comfort because we are sharing in the sufferings of our Lord?

Or do we have more in common with Jake, who reacts with fear to the world around him, even though he is perfectly safe in the care of his providers?  Do we merely wait for God to comfort us in our everyday distress?

Surely everyday comfort is important, but I believe it is more important to be in need of divine comfort because of our active participation in the work of God.  Let’s get to work!

–Pastor David

Meaning for Those Who Struggle

In John 16:12-15, Jesus reassures his disciples that God the Spirit will be with them during their upcoming days of struggle and service.  There is meaning in these words just on a surface level, but there is also greater meaning when we look at them in context.  What do these words have to do with the everyday life of a follower of Christ today?  Here is Pastor David’s message that concludes the series “What Jesus Gave”:

Listen now!

Universal Redemption

This week, the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis gave a brief message in which he made some remarks that have prompted worldwide attention.  In these remarks, he spoke about the common human desire to “do good” – something that unites people of all cultures and faith traditions.

Pope Francis
Pope Francis

Pope Francis’s comments were based on the gospel reading for the day, Mark 9:38-40, in which Jesus says that someone doing miracles in his name should be allowed to continue even though he is not part of the “core group” of disciples.  The rationale?  “Whoever is not against us is for us,” said Jesus.  This led the pope to state that all people, even atheists, are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, because all people are created in the image of God and all people have the God-given command (and desire) to “do good.”

Before we jump to conclusions and responses, let’s remember a few things:  the world is a complicated place, sound bytes often reduce conversations unfairly, and Pope Francis raises a few worthwhile points here:

  • If we consistently “do good,” then we will avoid war, murder, and killing in God’s name – which is against God’s character.
  • God has indeed created all people in his own image.  This means every single person is loved by God and deserves our respect, compassion, and love.
  • “Doing good” in community leads to a “culture of encounter” which breeds peace, not conflict.  Said differently, we are to live in community with each other, not in isolation.

I have been very interested in Pope Francis, his beliefs, and his practices since he was inaugurated earlier this year.  I appreciate a great deal about him:  his call to poverty, his emphasis on service, his humility (even in such a high position), his simplicity.  These are exciting days to have such a pope in the world.

Yet we need to be careful when we talk about how the blood of Christ redeems all people.  It is true that God desires all people to be saved; he does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).  God did create us in his image exactly so we might enjoy right relationship with him forever.  But even in Old Testament days, forgiveness for sins had to be obtained through animal sacrifices, which individual believers would bring to the tabernacle or temple.  Redemption was not automatic then, and it is not now.

…because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Hebrews 7:24-27 NIV)

The most important faith-related question for any person is this:  What will you do with Jesus?  The answer to that question – for better or worse – transforms life, community, and why we “do good.”  Let us faithfully proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the world and encourage those around us to enter into relationship with him.

–Pastor David

What do you want?

We have been spending a lot of time in John’s gospel during our Sunday morning services lately.  At the beginning of that gospel, when Jesus had attracted his first two disciples, this startling question is recorded:

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” (John 1:38a NIV)

A pastor friend of mine recently told the story of a research student who polled random people in a certain city.  This student asked each individual the same three questions, and all three questions were exactly the same:

What do you want?

photo by zubrow
photo by zubrow

How would you respond to that question?  What do you want?  Perhaps there is a pressing need in your life; perhaps a loved one is ill, or you have outstanding bills that need to be paid.  Maybe you feel pressed for time in your everyday life, and you would like a real vacation – or more hours in the day!  Maybe what you want relates to your work, your home, or your family.  For me, I certainly could use more hours in the day, or perhaps a clone of myself to get twice as much done!

But now think about the question on a deeper level:  What do you want?  What is really most satisfying in your life?  Where do you find the most meaning?  What drives you?  What motivates you?  The things that motivate us reveal what is really important to us.  There are only so many priorities that we can have, and certain events or circumstances just won’t get us to behave, feel, or believe differently.  But other priorities are higher in importance for us.  Personally, one of the (lighter) things in this category is interacting with my dog Jake.  Sometimes, such as just now, I will look over from my desk, see him looking at me, and watch him start to wag his tail as we stare at each other.  Then after a few seconds he stands up slowly – his back hips are getting rusty – and comes over to be petted.  Call me crazy, but this helps me remember something about live and love and family and relationships.

So here’s the third and final question:  What do you want?  What is this all about?  Why do you believe in Jesus (if you do)?  How would you respond to Jesus’s question in John 1:38?  What are we really about?  Why does our church exist?  Why does the church exist?  My answers to this … well, my answers hopefully come through each sermon you hear at Mt. Haley.

This sequence of questions invites us to think more deeply about our lives, our church, and the meaning of everything we do.  The answers we give are probably the most important thoughts we have.

The disciples responded to Jesus by saying,

“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” (John 1:38b NIV)

My pastor friend commented that when we truly listen to our deepest desires, our answers to the ultimate questions, then we will hear God’s voice leading us forward.  Let us all listen carefully for the voice of the Good Shepherd and find out where he is staying, so that we might stay there with him and learn from him.

–Pastor David