This-ness

“This is My Father’s World”

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears, All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres, This is my father’s world: I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies And seas; His hand the wonders wrought, This is my father’s world, the birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, declare their maker’s praise. This is my father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me every where.

Can you believe I’ve sung that hymn a million times and never once stopped to consider what it was saying? Go figure. What does it mean to You?

Recently my wife and I were planning a trip to San Francisco. As we planned our trip, I learned a valuable lesson about mutual support from California majestic redwood trees. Redwoods are inclusive trees as they grow, they incorporate into their basic structure objects around them, including rocks and other plants. Although redwoods have shallow roots, they are noted for their strength and longevity because they share their roots with others. Each individual tree is invited into the whole and in turn helps support the entire group. This adaptation appears to have worked, for redwoods are among the oldest living species of vegetation on earth.

We as Christians could learn a lesson about inclusiveness and sharing from the redwoods during these times. Sometimes, I am a little embarrassed by how little I think about the relationship between my faith and the natural everyday world. What about outside the church building in a different context, do we really love to tell the story to our neighbor? To our unchurched friends, our family, our coworkers, or our fellow students? I suppose, if we are really honest about it, many of us would say, No, I guess telling the story about Jesus in public makes me a little uncomfortable at times.

I recently read a book entitled, The Embarrassed Believer, by Hugh Hewitt. The author writes, “Many Christians today can hardly make themselves say the 'J' word, pray in a restaurant, or invite a colleague to church. They cringe at anything that makes their commitment visible in this current environment. Every Sunday in the safety of the sanctuary, many believers sit and pray with sincerity and gusto, then vanish and go silent the next six days.” What’s the reason? Public expression of faith is not only unfashionable, but it is seen as slightly bizarre. No one likes to think people are looking at them, thinking they are bizarre. So they are discouraged into thinking that maybe their critics are right. 'Why should we bother? It won’t make any difference anyway.' Jesus instructs us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the ‘whole of creation.’ We must share our roots, heritage and faith with each other, to ask for encouragement and support when we need it, as we stand ready to give the same to all of creation. You and I have one life to live and many stories. This life has many chapters. What is He doing in your life today? How will this chapter read? And how will you share it with others! So, brothers and sisters in Christ, he who has ears to hear, listen: that seed is good and powerful! As you tell the story, remember, many people are ready to hear it, and the harvest will be great. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. That is our Good News.

As you go on your way, may Christ go with you;
may be go before you to show you the way,
behind you to encourage you,
beside you to befriend you,
above you to watch over,
and within you to give you his peace.

God Bless You and This Ministry!

If we build it they will come

Acts 8: 26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, And as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This points out to me that Philip an ordinary man (not one of the apostles) like you and I, was taught how to minister not only to one man but to a nation who would be introduced to Christ by this new convert. Now one could say, three cheers for Philip! We thank God for his powerful witness which was fluent with words and had the personality which made it easy for him to talk with other people about Christ, but was Philip the exception.

Believers in Christ were not ashamed to tell others about Jesus Christ! The Christian witness was heard clearly in the New Testament Church. Is that witness as strong in the Church today? That's the question I ask in this message today? "How does the witness of the Church in the 21st century compare with the Church in the New Testament? Or is that a fair question?”

What made the Christian Church grow in those years? God was using great preaching to make Christ known. But more than that, the streets were filled with those verbal witnesses who used the opportunity to tell the story of Christ and the way of salvation.

It would be unfair and incorrect to say that there is little or no verbal witness in our churches today or even to suggest we need to go door to door in our witnessing. So, do we get an A+ for doing a good job in the department of witnessing within the church? No, especially when the Church is decreasing in membership, or even remaining status quo, it is evident that our message of evangelism does not have a high priority in our ministry, or have we loss touch today in teaching how to spread the message of Christianity in our time.
Just recently I read a book by Gustav Nelson, “Service is the Point” in the book it tells us that in the mainline churches there has been a major decline in membership compared to the Mega Evangelical Churches. Nelson says, "The disturbing part is that of those still in church, about one-third are not very active. They show up on the doorsteps of the church (guest) with surprising regularity. They are looking for the transcendent, and we give them an invitation to sit on a committee. This description, argues Gustav Nelson, demonstrates what is wrong with the model of church membership that has dominated in churches for quite some time. According to this participatory model, the principal responsibility of church membership is to participate in the programs and functions of the local congregation. While the participatory model has been successful in recruiting individuals to be there while the church doors are open, how well has it prepared those same individuals for Christian life apart from the church? What would happen if we really took seriously our rhetoric about service in the world as the focus of Christian discipleship? The answer, Gustav Nelson contends, would be a new model of membership, in which the church exists to empower believers for the ministries in the workplace and home to which God has already called us. Worship would become the central activity of the gathered congregation, the time when assurance of forgiveness is given, new life in Christ celebrated, and Christians are commissioned anew for the ministries of the week. The vision of the church would turn outward, with the purpose of training Christians to bear witness to Jesus Christ through service in the community throughout the week. The educational ministries of the church would focus on giving depth and vigor to our understanding of the vocations we fill daily.

It doesn't paint a promising picture for mainline churches today. And while some of our mainline churches are having success with change, we need to ask ourselves,” what are they doing? How can we model that change? And better yet how will you as a leader lead the change?” I know from experience that asking people to share their faith does not come natural for the average Christian in the congregation. Is the answer, to start yearly vision quests of encouragement in-which Christians teach some of the basic principles on “ how to share our Christian faith”; or do we engage in things like hospitality, prayer, studying scripture, knowing our church history with reflection, service and paying attention to people’s spiritual lives. This is serious, for Christ's mandate to His Church was to tell the story of God's love. If the Church does not do this on a one-to-one basis, it is not being faithful to the mission Christ gave us to do. Or do we continue to have the attitude if we build it they will come.

Yes, in the early Church lives were being changed and Christ's Body was growing. The question? And I quote,” If the old village and all the old answers have vanished, then how do seekers determine goodness, truthfulness and beauty?” by Diana Butler Bass,” Christianity For the Rest of Us “. (a great read for all!)

Is there a strong witness for Christ coming from our congregation and denomination? What are we called to be and is it God Honoring? These are questions that must be given much consideration, for the life of the Church to me depends on it.

God Bless You and This Ministry!