“When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart.”
- Lamar Boschman
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
"Letter from a farm kid"
I recently had this forwarded to me and I thought it was hilarious (even though I'm definitely a "city boy")!
Dear Ma and Pa:
Dear Ma and Pa: I am well. Hope you are.
Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, and stuff, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.
We go on "route" marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.
The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some. The Capt. is like the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in little metal boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. He joined up the same time as me. But I'm only5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Gail
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Another great day
Well, our softball team suffered its first loss today. And it wasn't even close! Some team called "Where's Bill?" (I have no idea) beat us 20-10 on a beautiful afternoon. It was still fun--it's good to be with friends even if we're getting whipped on the softball field! Next week we'll actually have team jerseys (thanks to our new sponsor, Debbie Johnson and her mortgage business) so we're sure to win. :)On the bright side, and more importantly, we had a great time of worship this morning. Rich Bryson spoke about how the original
Passover 4,000 years ago clearly pointed to Jesus being the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", and we enjoyed sharing in communion and singing about God's love and sacrifice for us. I love our meetings together, and I hope the rest of our fellowship enjoys it as much as I do.God bless you this week as you seek to worship Him with your life!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Prayer Requests and Praises
I just visited that page and saw that there are some new entries posted just in the last few days. Why not check them out to pray for others in our fellowship?
And, of course, you can leave your own requests and praises there, too, either for all to see or just for the leadership. Just click on the Prayer Requests button on the web site's menu bar and follow the easy directions.
"...always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:18
Friday, July 13, 2007
Woe...whoa
First a little background. Back in college I did one of those "read through the Bible in a year" programs. When I got to the four gospels, my normally slow reading got even slower. I'm a movie fan, and as 
I read about Jesus' life I found myself picturing everything as if I were directing a movie about it all. I always found myself frustrated that the movie versions of Jesus were so wimpy or sullen or bland. I just knew that the person these actors/directors were portraying would never draw crowds of people wherever he went or inspire people by "teaching with authority" as the Book says.
But what exactly was Jesus like? Back in those college years, I think I imagined Him as sort of this charismatic, funny youth pastor guy, only slightly more mature(!) Because, hey, that's what would draw me! But over the last couple decades since then, I've come back to the gospels many times, and the more I read the harder it gets for me to know how to direct my lead actor in my movie.
That's because there are chapters in the gospels like Matthew 23, which I read last night. Let me set the scene. Chapter 21 begins with the triumphal entry, and if you know the story, that means (a) the religious leaders there in Jerusalem are ticked off that the crowds are praising Him as king and (b) Jesus' death is only a few days away. What happens at the end of the Palm Parade? Jesus storms the temple area and overturns the tables of those profiting from the temple worship. For the rest of chapters 21 and 22 Jesus and these leaders are sparring, the latter are testing Him to try and trip Him up, and Jesus is telling some pointed parables that obviously paint these corrupt religiosos in a bad light.
Then comes chapter 23, where Jesus turns to His followers and essentially goes off on the "teachers of the law and Pharisees." See if this excerpt gives you a flavor of his message:
13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel
over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
And then Jesus begins His closing thoughts with:
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
(To read the whole chapter, click here.)
After I read these blistering words from Jesus I closed my Bible and just sort of sat there for a while. What do I take away from all this? This isn’t exactly how my charismatic-funny-youth-pastor-Jesus would address people. In fact, if my church’s youth pastor gave a talk like this, I’m sure I’d frown on it! If I’m supposed to be like Jesus, should I be this blunt and forceful in my speech, too?
I don’t really know the answer to that question. I do know that Jesus had the advantage of knowing men’s hearts (e.g. Matt. 9:4), and that I need to be a little careful when I judge people’s motives. Still, there must be room in the church for some straight talk, and those of us who are shepherds especially need to be prayerfully ready to speak it when necessary.
Anyway, here are two thoughts I had as I sought to understand what Matthew 23 means for me.
First, as I look at all four Gospels it’s apparent to me that Jesus never spoke this way to “sinners”, but only to the “religious” people who were acting hypocritically. His rebukes were strongest toward the ones who claimed to be godly but did everything for show and status. Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees in verses 3 and 5:
But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach…Everything they do is done for men to see…
But Jesus had compassion and kindness for those who needed God. He challenged them to live righteously, but never in a harsh way. That means to me that there is no good reason for Christ-followers to scream “baby-killer!” outside an abortion clinic or preach fire and brimstone at a gay pride parade. Angrily yelling at “sinners” downtown is just not what Jesus would do.
Second, I think the main message for me is loud and clear: Don’t be a hypocrite! My religion, or more accurately, my relationship with Jesus better be just as real on Tuesday night at 9:37 as it is on Sunday morning at 11:00. Christ called us to be disciples, not actors.
We all have to deal with this temptation. Maybe for you it’s tough to maintain your spiritual integrity because the people you work with drag you into the muck. Maybe for me it’s tough to avoid hypocrisy because I’m actually paid to be a “spiritual guy” up front! But we each have to ask ourselves if we’re putting on a show in front of people. Is Sunday morning the only time we pray? Then aren’t we doing it for show? Is our language different in front of other believers? Do we treat our family different when we’re at church?
I want to be a 7-day, 24-hour Christian! How awful would it be to hear from Jesus, “Woe to you, Brian, you hypocrite!” I’m want to strive for the opposite, found two chapters later in Matthew 25: “Well done, good and faithful servant... Come and share your master's happiness!”
So now that you’re done reading this long blog entry, how can you make sure the next hour of your life (and the rest of this week) is honoring to Christ?
I read about Jesus' life I found myself picturing everything as if I were directing a movie about it all. I always found myself frustrated that the movie versions of Jesus were so wimpy or sullen or bland. I just knew that the person these actors/directors were portraying would never draw crowds of people wherever he went or inspire people by "teaching with authority" as the Book says.But what exactly was Jesus like? Back in those college years, I think I imagined Him as sort of this charismatic, funny youth pastor guy, only slightly more mature(!) Because, hey, that's what would draw me! But over the last couple decades since then, I've come back to the gospels many times, and the more I read the harder it gets for me to know how to direct my lead actor in my movie.
That's because there are chapters in the gospels like Matthew 23, which I read last night. Let me set the scene. Chapter 21 begins with the triumphal entry, and if you know the story, that means (a) the religious leaders there in Jerusalem are ticked off that the crowds are praising Him as king and (b) Jesus' death is only a few days away. What happens at the end of the Palm Parade? Jesus storms the temple area and overturns the tables of those profiting from the temple worship. For the rest of chapters 21 and 22 Jesus and these leaders are sparring, the latter are testing Him to try and trip Him up, and Jesus is telling some pointed parables that obviously paint these corrupt religiosos in a bad light.
Then comes chapter 23, where Jesus turns to His followers and essentially goes off on the "teachers of the law and Pharisees." See if this excerpt gives you a flavor of his message:
13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel
over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.And then Jesus begins His closing thoughts with:
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
(To read the whole chapter, click here.)
After I read these blistering words from Jesus I closed my Bible and just sort of sat there for a while. What do I take away from all this? This isn’t exactly how my charismatic-funny-youth-pastor-Jesus would address people. In fact, if my church’s youth pastor gave a talk like this, I’m sure I’d frown on it! If I’m supposed to be like Jesus, should I be this blunt and forceful in my speech, too?
I don’t really know the answer to that question. I do know that Jesus had the advantage of knowing men’s hearts (e.g. Matt. 9:4), and that I need to be a little careful when I judge people’s motives. Still, there must be room in the church for some straight talk, and those of us who are shepherds especially need to be prayerfully ready to speak it when necessary.
Anyway, here are two thoughts I had as I sought to understand what Matthew 23 means for me.
First, as I look at all four Gospels it’s apparent to me that Jesus never spoke this way to “sinners”, but only to the “religious” people who were acting hypocritically. His rebukes were strongest toward the ones who claimed to be godly but did everything for show and status. Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees in verses 3 and 5:
But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach…Everything they do is done for men to see…
But Jesus had compassion and kindness for those who needed God. He challenged them to live righteously, but never in a harsh way. That means to me that there is no good reason for Christ-followers to scream “baby-killer!” outside an abortion clinic or preach fire and brimstone at a gay pride parade. Angrily yelling at “sinners” downtown is just not what Jesus would do.
Second, I think the main message for me is loud and clear: Don’t be a hypocrite! My religion, or more accurately, my relationship with Jesus better be just as real on Tuesday night at 9:37 as it is on Sunday morning at 11:00. Christ called us to be disciples, not actors.
We all have to deal with this temptation. Maybe for you it’s tough to maintain your spiritual integrity because the people you work with drag you into the muck. Maybe for me it’s tough to avoid hypocrisy because I’m actually paid to be a “spiritual guy” up front! But we each have to ask ourselves if we’re putting on a show in front of people. Is Sunday morning the only time we pray? Then aren’t we doing it for show? Is our language different in front of other believers? Do we treat our family different when we’re at church?
I want to be a 7-day, 24-hour Christian! How awful would it be to hear from Jesus, “Woe to you, Brian, you hypocrite!” I’m want to strive for the opposite, found two chapters later in Matthew 25: “Well done, good and faithful servant... Come and share your master's happiness!”
So now that you’re done reading this long blog entry, how can you make sure the next hour of your life (and the rest of this week) is honoring to Christ?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Youth Swim Party Pictures Online
We've got a photo gallery of last week's Youth Swim Party on the website now if you'd like to check them out. Go the Photos button on the menu bar and find "Youth Swim" at the bottom of the galleries list.A Fun Sunday!
We had a great day last Sunday, and I've been meaning to blog about it here, but I couldn't find my camera for a couple days and I wanted to share some pictures.Anyway, we had perfect weather for our outdoor service in the park. The city didn't allow us to have any amplified music, so we had to go completely unplugged with guitars, percussion and saxophone (my friend Hank came to play from Tualatin), but it was a nice change of pace. Dewey's message was on Rewards in Heaven, and you can hear it on our website if you missed it.
Our softball team also had a great day, beating Church on the Hill 25-15 in an exciting game! Our worthy opponents started out batting first and immediately put up 8 runs, so we were a little wide-eyed at first, but in the end we came out on top. I've been having a blast with the games, and I really appreciate Lisa Scanlon organizing the team (even though she's never made it to any of the games!). Dewey is our star pitcher and he'll be gone the next two games, so I'm hoping I won't end our winning streak when I take his place!
We all are really fortunate to be a part of this church family. If you're a college student who's away for the summer or a vacationing family just checking in to see how things are going, we miss you and look forward to having you back with us again!
(We had a number of disc golfers play on through!)
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