The Shepherds Candle

Shout for joy, you heavens;

    rejoice, you earth;

    burst into song, you mountains!

For the Lord comforts his people

    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. (Isaiah 49:13)

Joy is not a fragile thing.  It may bend, but it does not break.  It remains resolute in the face of sorrow.  It is not defeated or stolen by sickness, pain, or poverty.  Joy makes regular appearances beside hospital beds and at funeral services.  It is a flame fed by a hot bed of coals.  It is a tower built on a foundation dug down deep.  It is a tree with roots that reach down to the water.

To the shepherds news was given - good news.  Good news of great joy.  What was that news? A Savior has been born.  This news was better than finding a lost sheep.  It was better than a day off or a warm fire on a cold night.  A Savior has been born.  And not just born, born to you - poor shepherds.  A sign that God’s goodwill has now been extended fully to this earth, even to shepherds.  His favor, not his judgment, is resting upon us.  That is truly good news.  It has truly caused great joy - on Christmas night, down through the centuries, and now here in our midst today.  Shout for joy!  For the Lord comforts his people and has compassion on his afflicted ones.

Advent Celebration

Ferrysburg Community Church is a community that celebrates.  We rejoice together at God’s work in our lives, in the world, and in history.  We are also a church that pursues cross-generational relationships.  When people in their 70s and 80s get to know elementary and middle school students, it blesses both groups.  When adults invest in the lives of spiritual “nieces and nephews,” everyone benefits.  

On Sunday morning, we will have an event that captures both of these values.  We will gather before worship at 9:15 to celebrate the birth of Christ.  We’ll begin with a breakfast together and then spend time reflecting on and preparing for Christmas.  Adults will regain the perspective of children.  Children will learn from adults who have celebrated many Christmases.  We’d love for you to be a part of this.  If you are able to join us on Sunday morning, please RSVP by clicking here.  Please let us know if you are coming by Wednesday.

The Prophets Candle

“And I will put enmity

    between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

    and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

A classic Christmas carol poses the question: “What child is this?”  And at the beginning of Advent we need to ask and answer this question.  Who is this baby that demands an annual celebration?  Who is this child that angels and shepherds celebrate and worship?  What child is this that we should be filled with hope?

This is the child that we were told about.  Offspring of the virgin’s womb.  And offspring of the first woman.  This child was promised from the beginning to crush the head of sin and death and evil.  Prophets down through the ages have foretold his coming and birth.  This child does not just answer our questions.  This child is the answer to every question.  This child does not just give us hope.  This child is our hope.  This, this is Christ the king.

Welcome, Shelby!

There’s a new face behind the front desk, a new voice on the phone, and a new set of fingers responding to your emails.  Last Monday, Shelby Shreve became our new administrative assistant.  Shelby and her husband Thomas have three young sons.  They live in Nunica and attend Lakeshore Baptist Church.  Shelby has served in a number of administrative roles in the past, including being the assistant director of a local pre-school.  Most of her free time gets invested in her family.  But she also enjoys being outdoors and a good book.

New Era Church Plant

New Era CRC has served New Era and its surrounding residents since January 5, 1884. They have followed the promptings of the Lord the entire time and are seeking to continue to follow them into the future. Most recently, New Era CRC has been led to serve the nearly 50% Hispanic community of Shelby Township. This has led them to seek multiple local congregations and other organizations to partner with them to launch a new church in Shelby Township focused on the Hispanic community. New Era hopes to have the church open by the end of 2025. 

Our role is to pray! Like everything in life, we must go before God and ask for his leadership. FCC has already agreed to help New Era in this church plant with a financial donation, if you feel led we will have special offerings throughout next year to give further in support of the church plant. On top of this, we were asked to send a member to join their partnership team to help guide the church planter throughout the process of starting the church. If you or someone you know loves the Hispanic community and growing God’s kingdom let us know.

Veteran's Day

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 Armistice Day.  It was one year to the day that fighting ended in World War I and an armistice was established.  Today we call this day Veterans Day.  World War I was considered “the war to end all wars.”  It was the first time in history that so many nations joined together or opposed each other in a great war.  

Unfortunately, there have been a number of other wars since that first Armistice Day.  The enemies of peace are not just other nations.  Just as often they are clandestine organizations.  Yet then, just as now, we are deeply grateful for the men and women who have stood ready to defend our country.  Until the day Jesus returns, there will be violence and military conflicts.  We look forward to the day when a military force won’t be necessary.  Until that day, we are grateful for those who have served.

On Winning

As much as we hope for a tidy and decisive election, it’s possible that by the end of this week we still won’t have a clear election winner.  We may have to wait several days or even weeks to know who won.  But while we’re waiting for the dust to settle on this election, we can remember something that is even more important: regardless of whether your person won, our Person has won.  Our Savior, Jesus, is victorious over all powers.  Because of Christ’s victory, we get to face challenges that are not ultimate challenges.  No earthly loss can take away from our victory in Jesus.  No earthly victory can add to it.  So whether your person wins or loses, Christ is risen.  I leave you with this picture of the victory as it is even now being celebrated in heaven.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

-Revelation 7:9-10

Election Prep

It’s shaping up to be another close election.  Margins are razor thin, far too thin to make any confident predictions about who our next president will be.  It’s possible we won’t officially know for days or weeks after the election.  What this means is that it is very possible that your preferred candidate won’t win.  The other person will be our next president.  You will need to get your mind around a Trump presidency or a Harris presidency.  And my question to you is: are you prepared for that outcome?  Are you emotionally and mentally and spiritually prepared for your candidate to not win?

Over the past decade, I’ve witnessed Christians fall apart in the aftermath of a presidential election.  Shock gave way to despair and depression.  It is okay to be disappointed at an election outcome.  It’s okay to be sad that your person didn’t win.  It’s even okay to be concerned about what the next four years will look like.  But despair has no place in the life of those who belong to Jesus.  Regardless of who wins next Tuesday, we have already won because Jesus is Lord.  If you are quite invested in the outcome of this election, now would be a good time to make sure you are keeping perspective.  Now is the time to start preparing yourself for the possibility that your candidate will lose.  And the best way to do that is by remembering that above all earthly powers, our God reigns and always will.

Rest In Stress

The transition into school is done, and a rhythm of life might be forming, just in time for the holidays right around the corner to come in and mess it all up again. As we approach the holidays it is important to remember to find time to rest. Find a time to spend time with your Heavenly Father, doing the things that allow you to relax, and setting aside the stresses of life even just for a moment. As Psalm 23 puts it, In the Lord we lack nothing. He makes us lie down in green pastures, leads us beside quiet waters, and restores our soul. 

A common misconception is that to rest you have to sleep, rest can be anything that moves your mind away from the daily stress of life and onto relaxation. The best relaxation is time with God. God sees your stress and embraces it with you, guides you to a green pasture, provides what you need, and ultimately restores your soul. In the upcoming season, remember where your rest comes from and focus on Him if family or the holidays become too much.

Church Famous

Andy Warhol is credited with saying, “In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.”  Perhaps he envisioned a day when a video or social media post could go viral.  People around the world would see your meme or a tweet, giving you roughly 15 minutes of notoriety before you slip back into anonymity.  That doesn’t sound like much to aspire to.  Living your life for just 15 minutes of fame?  Fortunately, there’s an alternative.

I’d like to (possibly) coin the term “church famous.”  As opposed to being world famous, church famous happens on a much smaller scale.  It’s having notoriety in your church family.  Church famous is the state of being known and loved by the people you worship and serve with.  It is mattering deeply to the people in your LifeGroup.  When you get sick, undergo surgery, or have a baby, people will pray for you, bring meals, and send you cards.  All because you are church famous.  It may not be as glamorous as being world famous.  But in the end it is a much better deal.  And it lasts a lot longer than 15 minutes.

Beauty

The fall colors are taking their time in getting here.  We’re beginning the second week in October and green remains the predominant color.  Last week my dad and I drove the Tunnel of Trees in northern Michigan, hoping for a glimpse of fall beauty.  It was not to be.  What I find fascinating is the lengths we will go to in order to witness beauty.  We will pay good money to go on a fall color tour.  We will drive to the other side of the country to look upon the Grand Canyon or Yosemite Valley.  We spend hours cultivating planter boxes and beds full of colorful flowers that serve no functional purpose.  They are just pretty.

What does this say about us?  Where does this great desire for beauty come from?  We are people created in the image of God.  We were made in the image of a Creator who purposefully placed beauty in his creation.  Was it necessary for the leaves of trees to change into vibrant colors before falling to the ground?  Was it necessary to carve out splendid canyons?  Our desire for beauty is due to the fact that we are “chips off the ol’ block.”  These apples don’t fall far from the tree.  We long for beauty because our Father does.  And that longing for beauty is ultimately a longing to experience God’s glory.  The fall colors will get here eventually.  Your desire to see them is more than just a seasonal fancy.  It is a longing to behold God’s glory. 

Trust and Resignation

The key line in the Serenity Prayer is asking God for the wisdom to know the difference between what we can and can’t change.  Once this determination has been made, we can then ask for either serenity or courage.  There are an abundance of situations in life that we cannot change.  We feel small and impotent in the face of things like foreign wars, a national election, and decisions that are made far removed from our influence and opinion.  But even the local challenges often feel beyond us.  Our adult children make choices that we are asked to respect.  Our spouse won’t change and doesn’t see the need to.  Senior management doesn’t see what you see and doesn’t seem interested in seeing it. 

What do we do in these situations?  Do we just resign ourselves to a crummy situation?  Do we throw our hands up in resignation (and some disgust) and give up?  The Serenity Prayer is right in pointing out that there are indeed things we can’t control or change.  But that doesn’t leave us without options.  We always have the option to trust.  We can trust that beyond our control, there is a good, sovereign force that is weaving all these events together.  And when we live in this trust, we discover that there is a level of control granted to us: we can pray.  We may not be able to control world events or even things at work.  But we can talk directly to the one who can.  We don’t have to resign or check out on things beyond our control.  We can courageously trust and courageously pray.

House Money

Over the last few years, sporting events on TV have come with a steady barrage of advertisements for online gambling.  Many of these sports books will give you free money to gamble with when you open an account with them.  In the casinos, this is called “house money.”  It is money that is given to you by the casino to bet, play the slots, or any other game involving wagers.  While I’m no advocate of gambling, I think there is a powerful spiritual parallel for those of us who are in Christ.

In the spiritual economy, we bring no money to the table.  The Bible tells us we are dead in our sins.  We have neither funds nor collateral.  But God not only makes us alive in Christ, he gives us an infinite wealth of riches to use in his service.  When we seek first his kingdom, we are playing with house money.  There is no risk in losing what we have in Christ because God has an infinite supply of grace and power to do his will.  There is no risk in stepping out in faith and following God’s leading.  It is his riches that we are leveraging and there is no end to that supply.

Lesser Evil

Last week Pope Francis shared some thoughts on the upcoming election here in America.  He criticized both candidates and encouraged American Catholics to vote for the “lesser evil.”  As a Protestant, I’ve been an admirer of Pope Francis.  I think he’s been a pope for the people and a breath of fresh air for the Roman Catholic Church.  As I consider his encouragement to vote for the lesser evil, it occurs to me that we are almost always trying to make this decision.  Whether it’s politics or policy or simple decisions in our own lives, we don’t get the benefit of choosing something purely good.  Pure goodness exists in preciously scarce amounts in this world, if it exists at all.

Our World Belongs to God, one of the witnesses of our tradition, has this to say: “All spheres of life - family and friendship, work and worship, school and state, play and art - bear the wounds of our rebellion. Sin is present everywhere…”  There are no saviors in politics, sports, or entertainment.  There are only broken people.  There are no perfect choices in our lives.  Sin has tainted every circumstance so that we are always dealing with trade offs.  It’s a depressing reality, especially when we are making decisions about who will lead our country.  But it is also a reminder to set our hope on the true Savior and the complete and perfect new creation he is promising to bring.

Perseverance

Our theme for this fall is “perseverance.”  As a church family we have made it through a very challenging season and we are seeing the fruit of a lot of hard work.  Individually, each of us has a story of the challenges of the last year.  We’ve faced difficulties and struggles in our families and our own lives.  After all of that, aren’t we owed a season of smooth sailing?  Aren’t we entitled to a time of relaxation?  However, there are two forces that keep us in the fight: this broken world and the call of God.  Our broken world will continue to present hardships.  God continues to call us to grow to be more like his Son.

The kind of perseverance that the brokenness of the world and the call of God requires is great.  It is a perseverance that is not native to us.  But it is given abundantly by our Father in heaven.  Here’s what the Canons of Dort, one of our doctrinal standards, has to say: “We who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to our own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening us in the grace once conferred on us and powerfully preserving us in it to the end.”  That is how and why we can persevere.  We have a faithful God who daily and abundantly gives us the grace and mercy to persevere.

Lawn Mowing and Laundry

There are chores that need to be done on a regular basis.  Clothes need to be washed.  Shirts, pants, and dresses get smudged and spilled on.  They absorb sweat and oils and need a trip through the washer.  I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many times my jeans have made the circuit through my washing machine and dryer.  This is something we understand when we buy our clothes: they will require maintenance.  We will need to wash them.  Our lawns are the same way.  Grass grows.  (Although sometimes my grass doesn’t cooperate with this assumption.)  And when it does, it needs to be mowed.  No one fertilizes and waters their yard, then mows it assuming they won’t ever need to mow again.  It’s a maintenance task that is part of any growing thing.  Homes require regular maintenance.  Carpets need to be vacuumed.  Even our bodies need regular care.

Our relationship with God is a lot like laundry, lawns, and carpets.  It requires regular maintenance.  You don’t become a Christian and then be done with all spiritual activity.  Belonging to Jesus is not a maintenance-free endeavor.  Salvation begins a life of diligent, regular maintenance.  While all our stains have been permanently washed away, we need to regularly refresh our connection with God.  We need to prune and trim away things that get in the way of our relationship with him.  We do this through prayer, Bible reading, community, and other spiritual disciplines.  What maintenance is your relationship with God due for today?

Knowing Where to Look

For whatever reason, we are drawn toward the spectacular.  We long for earthshaking, monumental events that tilt the scales toward us.  Perhaps because our God created the universe, we look for him at the national and global level.  And to be sure, God is present at these upper levels of society.  The problem is that these levels are a long way removed from our daily experience.  We tend to be nearsighted people who have a hard time discerning events at a distance.

That’s why we need to remember that God didn’t just create galaxies and planets.  He created molecules and cells and insects and flowers.  As much as we want God to be obvious in astounding and dramatic ways, we see him best when he is right in front of us, often in the small things: in conversations with a friend, in the song of a bird, in your toddler’s new skill, in the quiet of a few moments with your morning coffee, in the smell of the woods.  It is comforting to remember that God is bigger than the universe.  But it’s perhaps even more comforting to know that he inhabits the small, the timebound, and the ordinary as well.

Silver Medal

One of the unique things about the Olympics is the way that it structures event winners.  Each event honors not only the winner, but also the second and third place finishers.  Most of our sporting contests these days simply have a winner and a loser.  If you lose the Super Bowl, you are the silver medalist in football.  If you lose in the finals of Wimbledon, you are the silver medalist of tennis.  But compare the countenance of an Olympic silver medalist to someone on the losing team of the Super Bowl and it’s quite a contrast.  Super Bowl runners up are often despondent in the face of losing the big game.  Silver medalists - even bronze medalists - are often filled with enthusiasm simply to be on the platform.

As much as I like the Olympic approach on this side of heaven, I don’t believe there will be any silver medals in the new creation.  When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, there won’t be three levels on the platform.  There will be just one.  The Gospels tell us there were three crosses on Calvary.  But only one of those crosses saves us.  There were many tombs around Jerusalem.  But only one is empty.  In the age to come, we who belong to the one who hung on the cross and walked out of the tomb will stand on the platform with him.  We will all wear gold medals because we are in Christ.  He has won the victory.

Fireworks

By all accounts, the Coast Guard fireworks and drone show on Saturday night were spectacular.  On the hundredth anniversary of the Coast Guard Festival, they pulled out all the stops and treated the crowds of spectators to a show worth sitting in traffic for.  As children we are mesmerized by fireworks.  Once we get over our fear of the loud booms, fireworks are magical for a child to witness.  Even sparklers and backyard fireworks are wonderfully entertaining.  But most of us have seen fireworks enough for the shine to wear off.  They are shot off nearly every weekend somewhere - after baseball games, town festivals, county fairs.  Once you’ve seen a hundred fireworks demonstrations, they just aren’t as impressive or awe-inspiring anymore.  It takes an over-the-top show like Saturday night to really impress us.

Religious experiences can be a bit like fireworks.  If we base our faith on mountaintop spiritual experiences, we will inevitably need to find higher and higher mountains.  What a worship song on the radio once did for us, now requires a time of worship in a church service.  What a Sunday sermon did for us now requires a conference speaker.  If we build our faith on spectacular experiences, we will eventually run out of ways to scratch that itch.  I suspect this is why Jesus talks about the simple things in life: seeds, birds, plants, yeast.  It’s great to have big fireworks from time to time.  It can provide a boost and some fresh momentum.  But our spiritual lives are lived amongst homework assignments, diaper changes, and doctor appointments.  And if we pay attention, we will find that God faithfully meets us there as well.  Enjoy the fireworks.  But know that God is just as present while you’re sitting in traffic afterwards. 

Inflection Point

When we moved to the tri-cities almost 20 years ago, we heard a number of people say something that just didn’t make sense: “Once Coast Guard Festival is done, the summer is over.”  What?!  It’s barely August and the summer’s over?  Strictly speaking, summer lasts well into September.  How could it be over by the first week of August?  Now that I’ve raised my kids here, I get it: sports and other school activities ramp up already in early August.  The leisurely days of late June through July are now gone and we need to get our heads back in the game.  The Coast Guard Festival creates an inflection point in our summer.  It’s conclusion is a harbinger of the coming school year.

Life is filled with inflection points.  Some of them are joyous celebrations like a wedding or a graduation or a Coast Guard festival.  Others are painful like a funeral or a job loss or a health condition.  But every inflection point is guided by God towards our growth in becoming more like Jesus.  Whatever joy or challenge you are walking through right now, God can and will use it as an inflection point toward spiritual maturity, and ultimately joy.  As the Scripture says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”