Untainted

For many people, Christmas is the best time of the year.  The whole season is full of good tidings and cheer.  We seem to rise above the doldrums and embrace our better selves and the better parts of those around us.  It’s a time of hope, if only because we choose to believe that people are still good and, for a day or two, can channel their generous side.  But it’s not that way for everyone.  For some, Christmas is a miserable time.  Whether it’s because of loss or strained relationships or an aversion to crowds and chaos, some people dread December.  For them, Christmas is far from the best time of year.  It is the worst.

I’d like to suggest that both parties have got it wrong.  Both the “Whos down in Who-ville” and the “Grinches” are wrong for the same reason: they see Christmas from their own perspective.  They evaluate it based on how it affects themselves.  It’s the idea that Christmas is what we make of it.  Sort of like a baked potato.  The potato is just a platform for butter and cheese and sour cream.  The potato itself is rather tasteless and unremarkable.  While we may think that Christmas is what we make of it, we are very wrong.  Christmas is not simply a platform we decorate with generosity and gifts, family and food.  Christmas is the defining event in history.  It requires neither presents nor carols, neither relatives nor eggnog to be remarkable.  We don’t decorate the birth of Christ.  It decorates us.  We don’t make it good.  It makes us good.  Christmas is unenhanced by our revelry and untainted by our humbugs.  So don’t let yourself try to make the best of Christmas this year.  Let it make the best of you.

GrowGroups - Huddles

Here’s an offer - a bargain, really.  You are invited to invest about an hour every week and, in return, gain a great deal of spiritual growth and capital.  For just over an hour a week you will understand more clearly what it means to follow Jesus and how to do it.  You will gain a small community of people who are praying for you and walk the journey with you.  All that for just an hour or so each week!

Starting in January, we will offer a type of GrowGroup called a huddle.  It’s a weekly meeting where we look at concepts from Jesus’ life and apply them to our own.  Huddles are made up of 5-7 people and will meet on Tuesday evenings from January into June.  We’ll learn about the rhythms of Jesus’ life, the way he related to others, and how he thought about his own life.  We’ll find ways to respond to these concepts that help us become more like Jesus.  For more information or to sign up, email Pastor Nate by clicking here.

Spiritual Discipline: Solitude

Last week in this space I wrote about the claim that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.  That may or may not be true.  But it is undoubtedly the loudest time of the year.  We are bombarded with music everywhere we go.  Christmas music gets turned up louder than any other time of the year.  There are more people in the stores, more voices announcing the “deals of the year,” more cars on the road, honking their horns at the person looking at their phone while the light turns green.  The lights come out this time of year too.  Have you driven through the village of Spring Lake after dark?

In the midst of all of this, a person needs a break.  We need quiet to hear the most important, but softer voices in our lives.  We need a little darkness so that we can see the brightest light of the Christmas season.  And the spiritual discipline of solitude helps us do that.  Solitude helps us listen to what’s most important and focus on what is of greatest value.  As you consider taking some time in quiet solitude this month, here’s one way to get started.  Pick a day and leave the radio and the TV off.  You’ll be surprised at what comes into focus and what you hear when you give yourself a little extra time and space.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

You know the Andy Williams song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”  It’s about Christmastime.  There is something special about this season.  Even I, though given to bouts of “grinchy-ness,” feel the excitement of celebration and cheer.  We enjoy the time with family and friends.  We cherish a few days off to eat and rest and give and receive gifts.  For those of us who belong to Jesus, Christmas has an even deeper reason for joy.  We celebrate the birth of a savior.

At the same time, I think we should recognize that for many this is not the “hap-happiest season of all.”  At the holidays many are confronted with loneliness, dysfunction, grief, and pain.  It brings hurtful family dynamics to the forefront.  Losses are magnified at Christmas.  If you struggle at Christmastime, I want to direct you to a much greater promise than presents and family and shopping.  It’s the promise of a returning Savior who will wipe every tear from your eye and make all things new.  And for those who are blessed to be able to enjoy this season, say a prayer for those who struggle.  When you pray before a family meal, remember those who will not be gathering with family for various painful reasons.

Kingdom Investment Update

In 2022 we will be using the funds freed up from paying off our building debt to make an investment in God’s kingdom.  Last month we shared with you plans to support a refugee family and participate in a home build with Habitat for Humanity.  Since then, we’ve been so excited by your encouragement and desire to be involved.  Our Kingdom Investment team felt that coordinating these projects will require a point person - someone who can communicate with partner organizations and support volunteers from FCC.  We’re happy to let you know that our Director of Student Ministries, Kyle Mullin, will be filling that role.

When we hired Kyle, we knew that directing our student ministries was not a full time position all by itself.  Once Kyle was established, we would be looking for another way for him to support God’s work at FCC.  This position is a perfect fit for Kyle.  Not only does it match his passion to help people in need, it will be a great opportunity to involve our students in this work.  As we move into these projects, stay tuned for updates from Kyle.  If you’d like to help out or have ideas, feel free to contact him at kyle@ferrysburgchurch.com.  Please keep Kyle and these projects in your prayers.

Light Always Wins

Did you read or watch the news today?  Any day?  It’s never good.  Every once in a while there’s something we can celebrate.  But mostly it triggers anger, sadness, and despair.  Contentious verdicts.  Subpoenas.  Covid.  Even the weather is discouraging!  Now might be a fine time for Jesus to come back.  In the face of all that darkness, it’s tempting to lose hope and give in to despair.

But don’t!  Because light always wins.  When the wrong seems oft’ so strong, God is the ruler yet.  Now is not the time to give up and wail.  We have been given a kingdom that cannot fail.  This kingdom will wipe every tear from our eyes.  The lion will lie down with the lamb and a little child will lead them.  So when sorrow seems to reign and this world is filled with pain, we are more than conquerors in Jesus’ name.  Pressed but not crushed.  Joy comes in the morning.  Light always wins.  It shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

No One Stands Alone

Note: This message is so important that I like to run it about once a year.  I think it’s a great reminder to our church family and worth repeating.

I want to issue our church family a challenge.  It’s called “No one stands alone.”  Generally speaking, we are a very friendly church.  Guests who worship with us typically report feeling very welcomed.  Every once in a while, someone slips through the cracks.  A guest exits the sanctuary, gets a cup of coffee, then stands by himself or herself for five minutes and leaves.  Ugh.  

So here’s the challenge.  Let’s work together to make sure that no one stands alone in our church.  Whether a first time guest or a member, let’s keep our eyes peeled for people or couples who are standing by themselves in our lobby before or after the service.  A simple handshake, a warm welcome, and a few questions to get to know that person will make all the difference.  In the family of God, no one should stand alone.  As an expression of God’s family at FCC, let’s come together to make sure it doesn’t happen here.

Kingdom Investment 2022

Earlier this year, we were able to pay off the debt on our church building.  This freed up $48,000 from our annual budget.  We are excited to reinvest this money back into God’s kingdom in 2022.  Yesterday we shared with you the plan for this kingdom investment that Council approved at the October meeting.  You can watch the 10 minute presentation below..  After establishing criteria and hearing your ideas, the Kingdom Investment team recommended two options for Council to consider.  Council chose to do both of them!

First, we will sponsor a refugee family that is being resettled in the tri-cities area.  We have a history with this and the need is urgent.  We anticipate this happening soon.  Second, we will partner with Habitat for Humanity on a home build in Grand Haven.  Affordable housing is a challenge in our area.  This will give a local family an opportunity to become homeowners.  This project will probably get started in late spring or early summer of next year.  Thanks for all the great ideas you submitted.  Please be praying about this as we get started.  Stay tuned for updates and more information!

Family Value: Alignment

No family is perfectly consistent.  The classic example is the family that fights like cats and dogs in the car on the way to church, but suddenly transforms into the perfect family upon exiting the car in the church parking lot.  If respect or togetherness are values in your family, they may not get practiced in every area of your family’s life.  The priorities and values we aspire to are rarely 100% integrated in a family’s life.

At FCC we understand perfection isn’t likely.  A vision and values that permeate everything we do is a very tall mountain to climb.  But we are committed to climbing it.  Specifically, we want all of our ministries to reflect the UP, IN, and OUT of our vision.  We want all of our programs to align with our vision: VBS, children’s ministries, student ministries, and other events.  We also hope that this pattern gets reflected in the lives of our church family too.  Your life and mine beginning to reflect and align with our vision of becoming like Jesus.  Like an automobile, when the body of Christ is in alignment with who we are supposed to be, there is less wear and tear, the ride is smoother, and we reach our destination more efficiently.

Family Value: Empowerment

There are some churches in the world - even in our community - where you can just attend.  Churches where you can show up on Sunday morning (or some other time on the weekend that is convenient for you) and enjoy a very polished worship service while your kids are taught a Bible story.  You can enjoy refreshments after the service, pick up your children, and go home.  Then you can do it again next weekend.  If you want.

Believe me, I understand the allure and value of a church like this.  It has a lot to offer people and genuinely helps them grow closer to God.  I praise God for churches like this.  But we’re not one of them.  FCC isn’t a church that you just attend.  You can do that for a while, but before long you will be involved.  We have a few paid professionals who coordinate ministry.  But the ministry is done by all of us.  FCC is a place where everyone is asked to take the field.  There is a role for each person regardless of age or ability.  Being a part of this family means you get to do ministry.  Serving children.  Helping out after church.  Reading Scripture.  Welcoming guests.  FCC is a place where we believe you have something to offer.  It’s a place where you are empowered to share it.

Spiritual Discipline - Worship

Back in the 1980s, this thing started in churches called “The Worship Wars.”  It was a battle between church members who wanted a more modern, contemporary form of worship and church members who preferred (strongly) to stay with the hymns they grew up singing.  Lines were formed and the war began.  Many people left their congregation to join another that used worship music more in line with their desires.  It was messy.  It was painful.  And it completely missed the point.

Worship is so much more than a style of singing.  It is the orientation of a person’s life.  Worship can happen with hands raised or holding a hymnal.  But it can also happen while we drive, mow the lawn, join a Zoom call, or write up an estimate.  It can happen while we chase kids, walk the dog, or put away laundry.  Whenever we stop and become mindful that God is the Lord of the universe, that he is great and loving and sovereign, we are worshiping.  This month we are practicing the spiritual discipline of worship.  We want to encourage you to be intentional about doing this outside of a Sunday service.  Here’s a simple way to start: share with another person one way you saw the power or goodness of God in your day.  That will be an act of worship.

Family Value: Celebration

As Kool and the Gang famously sang, “Celebrate good times, come on!”  Families celebrate important events in life.  Whether it is a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, or a retirement, families come together to celebrate.  As a church family at FCC, we do too!  Our biggest celebrations are around things like professions of faith and baptisms.  But we celebrate weddings, graduations, and anniversaries too.  

When we celebrate as a church family, it’s more than just congratulating someone or recognizing an accomplishment.  If you read the Gospels, you’ll notice that Jesus went to a lot of parties and weddings and other celebrations.  Celebration is a way we become more like Jesus.  What’s more, when we celebrate we are actually announcing God’s kingdom.  Throughout the Bible, God’s kingdom is described as a banquet or a wedding feast.  When we celebrate we are practicing for the party in the new creation.

Family Value: Better Together

There’s a saying of unknown origin that goes like this: “If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”  Doing things as a group can be terribly inefficient.  We wait for people to follow through or catch up.  There are all kinds of reasons we have to slow down and wait.  The more people you take on a road trip, the more stops you’ll have to make for food or the restroom.  It’s just a whole lot simpler when I can do it on my own.

But it’s never as good when I do it alone.  It’s always better when we do it together.  When we do things together, I’ve got your back when you have a bad day.  You can cover for me when I’m struggling.  Doing things together has a much higher ceiling for enjoyment.  It’s not just your assistance or my extra pair of hands.  It’s your sense of humor and my experiences that add depth and richness to what we are doing.  Like all of our values, “together” has its roots in Scripture.  God created us for relationship and community.  We find our identity in a family.  That’s why whenever possible we do things together.  It’s just better that way!

Family Value: Prayer

As we continue looking at the values that make us who we are at FCC, it’s hard to think of anything as important as prayer.  Prayer is the business end of who we are.  Prayer is the master key that unlocks all kinds of doors.  Through prayer we intercede for each other.  Prayer is a way for us to announce God’s kingdom by lifting up our friends who don’t know Jesus as a savior.  Prayer deepens our relationship with God as we share our lives with him.  Prayer helps us gain clarity and direction as a church for where God wants us to go.  Prayer is the Swiss Army knife of the Church.

At FCC we are committed to using prayer for all it has to offer.  We work to foster a dynamic prayer life as individuals and as a family that meets together.  We note that Jesus spent a great deal of time in prayer.  As we seek to become more like Jesus, prayer is a key ingredient.  We pray to help us grow closer to God.  We pray together to help us grow deeper in his family.  Through prayer we impact the world and gain direction in how to serve it.  Prayer is accessible for the smallest child and meaningful for the wisest adult.

Family Value: Variety

You know the old saying about variety: it’s the spice of life.  A little variety can turn a boring rut into an exciting new path.  Variety can get us unstuck and open up new possibilities.  It only takes a dash of this spice to awaken us to fresh ideas and to gain a taste of the world around us.  It’s like that with people too.  If everyone close to you thought the same way as you and liked the same things as you, there wouldn’t be a lot of growth in your life.  We need people close to us to challenge our assumptions and give us opportunities to learn about other ways of looking at the world.  This is especially true in churches where people tend to share a lot of the same values.

One of the things I have always loved about FCC is the diversity that exists in our church family.  We live in a fairly homogenous community.  Yet within our church family we have people from all different income brackets, different political affiliations, different religious backgrounds, even different ethnicities.  This is something that makes us all better.  The variety in our church family is an opportunity to learn and grow and experience the body of Christ more fully.  At FCC we embrace variety and celebrate it.

Family Value: The Bible

Imagine the issue of speeding tickets if there were no speedometers or radar guns.  How would anyone really know how fast they were going?  On what basis would an officer issue a citation?  Where would you set the cruise control?  Officer: “Ma’am, do you know how fast you were going back there?”  Driver: “Actually, no.”  Officer: “Neither do I, but it felt like you were going too fast.”

When it comes to understanding God and how to be in a relationship with him, we need something defined and objective to go off of.  My ideas about God arising from my own experience aren’t reliable or objective. Neither are yours.  That’s why we need God’s word, the Bible, to give us a solid and objective way to know God.  As a church family, the Bible is the ultimate source of authority.  It sets our direction, informs our decisions, and settles our disputes.  To help us better understand the Bible, we have a set of creeds and confessions.  These witnesses help us see the Bible more clearly and understand its meaning better.  Finally, God’s Holy Spirit shines a light on God’s word in this dark world and applies that truth to our hearts, our lives, and our church family.  Family value #1 is God’s word.

FCC Family Values

When I am asked to officiate a wedding for a young couple, I set up several meetings prior to the ceremony.  These conversations are to help us get to know each other, but also to talk through some of the issues they will encounter in their marriage.  One of the areas I am very intentional about exploring is the values of their family of origin.  I have found that more than anything else a person’s reactions and expectations are formed by the values they received from their family.  A person doesn’t just marry their spouse.  A person marries the culture and values of their family as well.

We are a church family.  And we have values too.  These are values that we marinate in.  We pass these on to the sons and daughters of the church.  They are the reason why you feel a little out of place when you visit another church.  Their values are different.  It can feel a little odd.  As we’ve welcomed Kyle to FCC, we’ve talked with him a lot about our core values.  I think it’s good for all of us to get a refresher on this.  Over the next several weeks, I will use this space to explain and highlight a series of core values at FCC.  These values consciously and unconsciously guide our decisions.  They help us change, or make change a very difficult undertaking.  They give us our unique flavor and identity.  There are seven of them: The Bible, Variety, Prayer, Better Together, Celebration, Empowerment, and Alignment.  We’ll start looking at them next week.

Spiritual Discipline - Humility

As we practice a different spiritual discipline each month in 2021, we have come to the most paradoxical of them all: humility.  In our world, the goal is to prevail, succeed, and be on top.  The way to do that is through ambitious hard work, being better than others, and calling attention to your skills and achievements.  The discipline of humility is quite different.  Rather than a different way to play the game, humility doesn’t play that game at all.  Instead of promoting ourselves, we humble ourselves before the Lord and let him lift us up.  We embrace the example of Jesus who “humbled himself and became obedient to death.”  God then exalted him to the highest place.  

This week we are asking you to practice humility by doing something cheerfully that you don’t feel like doing.  A friend or neighbor might ask you to go for a walk.  On the playground, a classmate might want to play a game that you don’t.  Your kids or a parent might invite you to do something you’re not excited about.  Practice the discipline of humility by doing it with a cheerful attitude.  There’s a really good chance you’ll not only live to tell about it, but will find a slice of freedom from yourself and become more like Jesus.

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’s 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.

Investing in God's Kingdom

There is a saying in the 12 step programs that “we can only keep what we have by giving it away.”  It’s paradoxical, but the greatest blessings of possessions are most often found in sharing them.  With the retirement of our building debt, we are able to reallocate nearly $50,000 of our budget to invest in God’s kingdom.  One of the criteria for this investment is that it provides a meaningful way for everyone to participate in what we do.  This criteria also applies to the way we decide how to invest.  We want everyone’s prayers and input in this process.

Starting on Sunday, we will take about 20-30 minutes after church to hear your thoughts and ideas.  Tables will be set up in the gym with refreshments and a discussion leader at each table.  This Sunday, August 8, we’re inviting people with last names starting with A-L.  Last names M-Z will be invited on August 15.  If you can’t make it on your assigned week, just come when you can.  We hope to see many of you there and hear your ideas!