Romans 8:38-39 (CEB)
I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. This is Holy Week. Beginning with Palm Sunday, with shouts of praise, we witness to what God is doing in Jesus. We move with the crowd, noticing that there are fewer around us on Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is the day we recognize God’s mandate to love as Jesus has showed us to love. And still the crowd dwindles for the toughest day: Good Friday. It is there that Jesus is betrayed, arrested, denied, beaten, and nailed on a cross and died. This week is a tough one by any stretch of the imagination. What we are invited to see is how we might be part of what God has done in Jesus. Jesus was not sent to die so that God could somehow love us. Instead Jesus’ death shows us how much God loves us by entering into our world, living among us, and knowing the pain of betrayal and death. We are resurrection people. Christians are invited into a love story that says that nothing can separate any of us from the love of God we know in Jesus Christ. Jesus died because he made people uncomfortable in knowing that to be fully alive is to fully give yourself to others. It is one teaching that we struggle with and one that we are invited to live into, God helping us all. May God, who sustained our Lord Jesus in the hour of his trial, under-gird you with faith and hope and love during this Holy week. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian
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Ecclesiastes 3.11 (CEB)
God has made everything fitting in its time, but also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from the beginning to end. As the scripture helps us imagine, there is a season for everything. And though we hate to have endings, the reality is that life is filled with its fair share of hellos and goodbyes. Skyler Baker has decided to resign as the Youth Ministries Director of PasPorte Youth. We are extremely grateful for Skyler and the gifts that he shared with us in youth ministry. He is an indelible part of who we are and I know that each of us will miss his leadership, his presence, and his ministry. Skyler’s final day as Youth Ministries Director of PasPorte Youth will be March 20th. His last day with LPCC will be March 13th. On this day, we will have an opportunity to celebrate our shared life together, the many wonderful memories, and show him our support, gratefulness, and love. We are still committed to the ongoing ministry for youth. The Youth Committee is already working hard to ensure that we will still have ongoing opportunities. If you have any questions please let Rev. Brian know your questions or concerns. Grace and peace, Rev, Brian Isaiah 43.19 (CEB)
Look! I'm doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don't you recognize it? I'm making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. I have been meeting with a group from the church that is thinking together on what renewal means for LPCC. Beginning with an understanding that God’s mission in Jesus Christ is to reconcile us all. This reconciliation in Jesus makes us all new creations. We are all invited to live in response to God’s mission. We really all want better things for the future of the church, however we tend to think that a bigger parking lot or more vibrant worship are the keys to success. Starting from our wants only ends up with our wants met and our need for God goes quietly unnoticed. Renewal takes us to a deeper level. Renewal invites us to discern, celebrate, and participate in God’s mission afresh. As I have often said the mission of the church never changes, what we do and how we get there will be different. Renewal will ask us to bring the Good News of the Kingdom of God with the real hungers and real challenges of our world. Renewal invites us to be a disciplined community. Renewal invites us to think differently and respond in different ways. Renewal is a call to “all hands on deck” as we move through this process. Please be in prayer for this group. Please pray for your part that you will be open to what God is doing in and through you. Because this we know: God is about new creations and thankfully you and I are included. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian *Used in whole or in part the material prepared by THE CENTER FOR PARISH DEVELOPMENT, Module: Getting Ready for Renewal: #1 It Starts with God’s Mission. Corinthians 9.8-9 (RSV)
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever." Every day when I wake up, I make my way into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. I check to see if the kids are up and return to my room to get ready to walk the dog on her morning excursion. I then return home to check my email, fix my lunch, and watch the kids get on the bus. Then I get myself prepared for the coming day and make the short commute to the church. Pretty much, I do the same things in the same order each and every morning. While the predictability is comforting as I can plan and dream in my “usual” times, the times that I break from this routine can invite some new insights as well. Last week, I was at the TCU/Brite Minister’s Week in Fort Worth. “The Power to Bless” was a theme that carried out in our learning opportunities and lectures, as well as small group encounters and our communal worship. During all of these, I was reminded that to bless is done in and through me. I have been blessed in common and ordinary ways. The question and challenge is: “how might I imagine inviting people to be blessed as I have been.” Lent offers a time like this as well, a disruption from the ordinary allowing us to look carefully at our lives and ask ourselves: Where am I blessed? How might I share it with others? As I saw in a movie recently a minister asks a guy “Waiting for someone?” The guy responds, “Yeah, you could say that. It looks like he's out at the moment.” And the minister says, “Well, maybe that's why he sent me.” Grace and peace, Rev. Brian Genesis 2.7 (NRSV) then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.
Lent is a time in the church when we focus on our need for God. It is truly one of the most vulnerable seasons in the Church calendar. Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday actually invites us to wear ashes on our heads to remind us that we have been created by God. There is something very earthy and bodily about ashes and God breathing life into each of us. Much like Advent and the birth of the Christ child, we remind ourselves the body is important. From being a baby, Jesus grew to maturity and became the way that we are reconciled to God and one another. In Jesus’ life, he showed us, taught us, and loved us, and became the embodiment of what it means to be fully human and fully alive. Jesus’ life has always been a radical way of being. So much so that Jesus was taken to the cross and his body was broken for us all and his life blood shed. “God identifies [God’s self] with the suffering Jesus, God takes the guilt and penalty for sin into [God’s self].”* And remember that all this is done to and in Jesus’ own body. Each Sunday in Lent, the elders and I are going to make the Lord's Supper part of our worship. First Sundays will remain the same with passed trays. On the following Sundays, we will be practicing intinction where we come to the front, tear off a piece of the bread, dip into the cup of grape juice, and then return to our seats. In doing so, we acknowledge the body and its importance to life and faith. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian *Boring, M. Eugene., and Fred B. Craddock. The People's New Testament Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. Pg. 560. I Corinthians 14.26 (The Message) So here's what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight.
I did not come from a cooking family. There are very few recipes that have been or will be passed on. Still homemade food was important to my up-bringing. Even today, a meal made at home that brings us to a dinner table is important. We each pitch in (as we are able) to bring the food to the table-some set the table, some put food on plates, and some clean up after. Liturgy is the twenty-five cent word that is used to describe an order of our worship. It is sometimes understood as “the work of the people” to which I wholeheartedly agree. Every congregation that I have been part of has its own unique ordering and way of worship. It becomes the work of the people as you and I move through it in our time of worship. Each of us is integral to how liturgy shapes our lives of faith. Over the next several months, we will be looking at our worship together. As always we will praise God with our lives. And much like a family recipe, we will add our own variations to see how it turns out in the end. Letting the Holy Spirit be our guide, we will flavor our worship together. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian I Samuel 16.7 (CEB) But the LORD said to Samuel, "Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven't selected him. God doesn't look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the LORD sees into the heart."
I got my first pair of glasses in the 7th grade. They were these plastic gray frames complete with soft case complete with a clip for easier transport. I don’t recall what the reason was for me to get my eyes checked; none-the-less, I couldn’t see and needed to find glasses to help me see. Seeing is a valuable thing and we go to great lengths to help our eyeballs function at their best. Sight is a huge theme in our Bible as well. Having sight or not fills several stories in our scriptures. For instance, in the scripture reference above, it is about the choosing of the next king. People, it seems, chose based on what can be seen on the outside while God takes a more invasive approach looking to motivations and what makes someone up. Time and time again, we have been guided to look at the neighbors locally and globally with the eyes of Christ. How might we look at our neighbors as Jesus did across the table at the institution of the Lord’s Supper and love them even if some will deny him or betray him. Or how we might look at our city with the eyes of Christ and find ways to share the Good News of Jesus with one another. This will be our ongoing invitation this year: to find ways to see with Christ eyes looking at ourselves individually and include our collective selves in how the church functions. How might we look anew to this city with fresh eyes to the heart of our City of La Porte and be Christ’s body. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian Genesis 1.27 (CEB) God created humanity in God's own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them.
Humanity is such a wondrous and beautiful thing. We are created in the image of God with certain genders, preferences, and passions. The things that we are good at or love to do is different with everyone. While I enjoy a bike ride and roller-coasters there are others in this world that would much prefer slow walks and tilt-a-whirls. Humanity also has an exceptional way to look for differences before commonalities. Thankfully we are given a different way to engage in the world. Jesus’ love creates unity in the midst of diversity. God’s creativeness in making each one of us distinctive invites us to respond to one another as competitors or collaborators . We are drawn together by our mutual consent and claim that Jesus is Lord and together we build up kingdom for the common good. We are to share our resources, our time, and our talents together so that the one God who gifted us all will be represented in and through us. Sunday we take another look at Paul's writing to the church in Corinth. Paul writing to a church that is looking for disunion reminds us and them that we belong to each other. Hope to see you all there because we are not the same without you! Grace and Peace, Rev. Brian Psalm 95.6-7 (The Message) So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he’s our God, and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
A friend and minister once commented, “Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? Maybe the better answer is not Yes; but No…” with the caveat, “I have a public one.” This comment from my friend really got me to thinking. My faith in Jesus is deeply personal yet at the same time very public. My faith asks me to love people, I sometimes would rather not. My faith says to forgive another even when it feels so good to hold a grudge. My faith asks that I give away money to others. My faith might even say that I need to let go of a dream that I’ve been working on for a long time. This is the faith that we consent to while it is deeply personal as it is deeply public. And that is not the only way that my private faith is public. My faith in Jesus asks me to live my faith every day in very public ways. My faith puts me in direct relationships with those that share my faith and in our common life that we learn, study, and discern the way of God for us all. It is also public in the sense that we are tied to one another. We are responsible to and for each other. It means that by myself, I do not get to decide the fate of the world or myself for that matter. Public faith means that I need others for this faith to be fully lived. I guess that is why God created us different with different gifts, talents, passions, and interests. Because it is when we are together, worshiping, studying and living that the kingdom becomes more realized. And Sunday’s message will invite us to look at our spiritual gifts and how THE ONE God gifts us to be together. See you there! Grace and peace, Rev. Brian Proverbs 22.1 (NRSV) A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
Names are important and I remind myself and others often. It is in the sharing of our names with another that many a conversation has begun and relationship has been built. Sharing your name with another intrinsically removes any barrier between mass of humanity to this is “Steve” a person who has hopes and dreams like me. As a parent, the naming of the kids was judiciously thought out. Cherie and I each had thoughts on the matter and we took care to try out names and combination of names so that first, middle, and last name flowed together. I asked that each name begin with a “B” and Cherie wanted to have a certain middle name. And as you know, we did come to a consensus even as we still relay some of the stories of what their names could have been. God knows us thoroughly and deeply. God has named and claimed us as God’s sons and daughters. Through Jesus we are redeemed making us whole and complete. Our names bear that mark for we are created for good and glory. Grace and peace, Rev. Brian |
Rev. Brian
Husband, father, minister, child of God, follower of Jesus Christ writing in the context of La Porte Community Church Archives
November 2016
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