Christ the King Sunday

This coming Sunday has come to be known as “Christ the King Sunday” in liturgical churches.  It is the last Sunday before the Advent season.  Unlike many parts of the church year, Christ the King Sunday is relatively new.  It was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.  It was his response to two things that were happening in the world.  First, life was growing more secular.  More people were beginning to doubt the deity of Christ.  This day was instituted to help restore people’s faith in Christ as the Son of God.  Second, dictatorships were on the rise in Europe.  Several years later World War II would begin.  Christ the King Sunday was a bold statement that Jesus was the true ruler of the world.

As we move toward this Sunday, Pope Pius XI’s observation remains valid.  Secularism has continued to rise.  There are tyrants in different parts of the world.  Even our own politicians make grand claims.  But Jesus stands above the fray, fully God and fully King of the world.  With all the uncertainty in the world today, the reality that Christ is the King is something worth celebrating.

Thank You, God, for Trouble

I’ve been told about a minister at FCC many years ago who was known for a rather negative outlook on life.  He was a pessimist and found joy in low supply.  So it was true to form when he preached a Thanksgiving sermon entitled, “Thank you, God, for trouble.”  Long-time members of FCC have recalled this sermon with amusement.  I have no idea what he said or meant to say by this sermon.  But I think we can redeem it as an appropriate way to give thanks.

When I think about the moments that have changed me for the better and called forth the best from within me, at least half of them are troubling moments - Oh-No moments.  For whatever reason, God has used difficulty and adversity to forge the new person I’m becoming.  Failures have been some of my best teachers.  I suspect I’m not alone in this.  I’ll bet that you’ve grown more from mistakes than victories.  Chances are that God has used the most challenging moments in your life to mold you in the most profound ways.  So maybe it’s okay to thank God for trouble.  (But let’s do it with joy!)

An Extra Hour

Saturday night we gained an extra hour by setting the clocks back.  This got me thinking about having an extra sixty minutes and what we do with them.  I’ve used this extra hour differently over the course of my life.  A few times I’ve used it in ways I’d rather not get into.  But mostly I’ve either stayed up later or cashed in on an extra hour of sleep.  

What’s interesting is that we can be pretty specific about how we would spend extra money.  If I gave you $100 and asked you how you planned to spend it, you could give me a pretty concrete answer.  But if you were given an extra hour one day, how would you use it?  Can you answer that question in specific ways?  I’m guessing that’s a harder question.  Hopefully most of us have some idea about budgeting our money.  But time is a very valuable commodity too.  It is well worth budgeting the resource of time.  As we move toward the holidays, it might be worth a look at how you budget your time.  Are you in the red?  Are you being generous with your time?  Are you making wise investments?  Each of us has a different level of income.  But when it comes to time, our “income” is the same - 24 hours a day for each of us. 

Always Reforming

In addition to Halloween, tomorrow is also Reformation Day.  It’s a day when we stop and appreciate our heritage as protestant churches.  We recommit to the principles of “only Scripture and only grace” as the means by which we know God and are saved.  There was a slogan that came out of the Reformation, especially in our Reformed tradition: “The Reformed Church is always reforming.”  It’s been true in some sad ways.  It seems like Reformed churches regularly reform themselves into new, break away denominations.  It’s unfortunate that we reform ourselves at the expense of unity.  But it’s been true in many more wonderful ways.  We’ve kept our minds open to new methods of being the Church and carrying out God’s mission.  It’s reminded us to keep thinking through the practical issues of how we worship and structure our churches.

So here’s what this means to be a Christian in a Reformed expression of the Church: you should expect change.  If we are always reforming, then we are always changing.  Of course, the foundational truths of God’s Word never change.  God is always the same.  But as we come to new understandings of how to apply that unchanging truth to our world, we will have to change.  It’s not always easy.  Yet as a Christian Reformed Church, change is in our DNA.  It shouldn’t take us by surprise.  

Seeing the Fruit of Labor

Ministry, teaching, and other professions that involve working with students are both life-giving and challenging. It is an incredible feeling to see your work and passion imprinted upon another human being. Unfortunately, I find that it is often difficult to see the fruit of one’s labor in this type of environment. Something a student learns in youth group, in a classroom, on the field, or on stage might not be visible until months, years, or decades later. Similarly, the time, energy, and life a parent pours into their children may not become evident until years later.

Our Kingdom Investment work has been life-changing for both its intended recipients as well as FCC. We have been blessed, not only by engaging in this work but also by seeing the fruit of our labor. In a couple of weeks, we have an opportunity to see some of the fruit of our Kingdom Investment work. Our most recent Kingdom Investment work has gone towards the launch of Love In Action’s Community Co-op. This will be a place for clients of LIA to receive high-quality food that would otherwise be out of reach, education on living skills and financial literacy, as well as social connections that help mitigate the effects of poverty. On Saturday, November 4, the community is invited to come to an Open House to celebrate the opening of LIA’s Community Co-op. The Open House will take place at 1500 S Despelder St. in Grand Haven from 1-3 pm. If you have a free afternoon, I encourage you to go and see the beautiful space LIA has created and experience the joy that comes with seeing the fruit of our church’s Kingdom Investment work.

Limits of Love: Action

Of all the definitions of love, one of the more promising descriptions is that love is action.  There is a sentiment that emphasizes that “love does” over “love is.”  I’ve seen plaques with the words, “Love is an action verb.”  And yet I think this definition fails to capture the essence of love.  There are many things that are active but not necessarily loving.  Love is a force that creates action, but love is not action per se.  Our actions are the result or the outcome of love.

All that said, I think love can hardly exist without action.  The kind of love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13 is a love that creates movement.  It is an energy so powerful that action can’t help but follow.  Love serves, prays, encourages, challenges, and blesses.  So even while love is more than action, action is an essential part of true love.  Take a moment to think about the people you love.  How is your love for them creating action on your part?  How does that love get expressed actively?  Today is a great day to put your love into action! 

Limits of Love: Abundance

If you’ve had more than one child, you may have wondered, “How will I find enough love to love two children?”  It can seem like we are using up all our love on our first child.  Then, when you hold baby #2 in your arms, you realize that you have discovered a whole new reservoir of love.  That’s the way love works.  It operates on the principle of abundance: you will never have less love by using it on others.  Love is never diminished.  It only grows greater.

It’s important that we understand the reason for this.  Love does not originate with us.  We don’t manufacture more love when we meet a new friend or have a new grandchild.  Love comes from God.  He has poured his love in our hearts.  When our lives require more love, more love is available to us.  So you can go out and love people without a thought of running out.  An endless supply is yours.

The Limits of Love: Boundaries

One of the essential qualities of love is its permanence.  No matter what, love never dies or fails.  This is a comforting thought when it comes to God’s love.  It’s a secure feeling to think about the permanence of love when we are the ones being loved.  But there’s a flip side to this too.  What happens when we are the ones doing the loving?  What happens when we are the ones called to love in this way?  It brings up a very important question:  Are there limits to love?  Is there a point at which we can stop loving someone?  How do we handle toxic or abusive relationships?  Is it ever okay to stop loving?

The short answer is: no.  But let me elaborate.  We are called to love in every situation and at all times.  Yet there are definitely situations and times where love must change.  An abusive or toxic situation still requires love.  But that love will be, by necessity, from a greater distance.  We can still love someone who has hurt or damages us.  But we will love them with a realistic amount of trust in what they might do.  Love becomes enlightened by our experience and adjusts accordingly.  But it never stops.  It always remains, even if the form changes.

The Limits of Love: Reckless

Several years ago, a praise song was released that took the church world by storm.  The song was called “Reckless Love.”  The chorus proclaimed the “overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”  The verses talked about how there is nothing God wouldn’t do to rescue us and make us his children.  This song was not without controversy though.  Some pastors and bloggers felt that it was inaccurate to describe God’s love as reckless.  This would imply that God had no real plan, but just pursued us thoughtlessly without any regard for consequences.  

I’m confident that God’s plan to rescue us from sin and death was heavily considered and well-thought out.  It was a plan that was created from eternity.  All of the variables were known by God.  Every action was thoughtfully taken.  So no, God’s love wasn’t actually reckless at all.  But seen from our limited human perspective, it would appear reckless indeed.  A heavenly Father giving up his only begotten Son to rescue people who had rebelled against him?  That sure seems reckless to me.  And regardless of wording, one thing should be clear: by whatever description we call it, God’s love is more than what we can even imagine.

The Limits of Love: Semantics

The word “love” gets thrown around a lot.  It’s a handy word to have in your vocabulary because it can mean so many different things.  But for that reason it is also hard to know what a person means when they say they love something or someone.  The Greeks resolved this problem by having several different words for the phenomenon that we simply call love.  Friendship and family love were described by the words storge or philia.  Romantic love was described by the word eros.  Most of what gets sung about or written into movie scripts is eros.  It’s a kind of love that keeps us at the center of the world.  It loves another because of how they make us feel or what they do for us.  It is a self-serving love.  But that doesn’t mean it’s bad.  It’s how nearly every romance begins.  We would never fall in love without eros.

When the New Testament of the Bible talks about love, it is very precise.  The word is agape.  This kind of love passionately seeks the good of others.  Agape longs for the best for another.  Agape practically forgets about itself.  This kind of love originates with God.  It’s too bad that we can’t have a series of different words to describe what we mean more precisely when we talk about love.  Human language will always be limited in that way.  But the love of God knows no limits.   

Where were you when…?

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  If you’re over the age of 30, you will remember exactly where you were when the planes hit the towers.  You will also have some sense of how that single event changed life for all of us.  In addition to the indelible mark it left on us, air travel has never been the same.  Perhaps more than any of that, we were exposed to a kind of evil that we thought we were protected from.  

There is a similar kind of event in history, an event many orders of magnitude greater than 9/11.  It is a moment that changed everything.  Two thousand years ago, Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself and died on a cross.  Three days later he was raised to new life.  More than world wars, an economic depression, 9/11, or Covid, this one weekend has changed history.  Where our destiny had been separation from our Creator, we are now his very own children.  We are forever forgiven and new.  And where were you when this moment happened?  While your conscious mind may not recall, your soul will remember it well.  You were there on the cross with Jesus, dying to yourself.  You were walking out of the tomb, raised to new life with Christ.

Reasons to Go to Church, pt. 3

Most of the places we go are for us.  We go to the grocery store to get what we need.  We stop at the gas station because our vehicle needs gas.  We go to the theater to be entertained by a movie.  We gather with friends to enjoy their company.  Even church falls into this category.  We go to church to find encouragement and fellowship and to connect with God.  These are very legitimate reasons to go to church.  God designed Christian fellowship to meet some of our most important needs.  It would be a struggle to attend a church that offered a miserable experience.

But there’s more to church than meeting your own important needs.  Church doesn’t exist just for you.  Your existence is also for the church.  The church needs you much the same as you need the church.  Every Sunday you attend, you make a contribution to God’s family.  It’s not just how you give money or serve, but simply by being present.  The fact that you are present on a Sunday is important to someone in our church family.  Your presence is a source of encouragement to your sisters and brothers.  And who knows but that God might have a kind word for you to speak, a guest for you to welcome, or a hug for you to give someone?  Yes, you need the church in your life.  But the church needs you too.

Prayer of Invitation

Prayer is a spiritual practice that many Christians do daily. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “pray” is defined as follows: “to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.” At first glance, this definition seems accurate. There are different types of prayers made to God, and the four mentioned in that definition are often known as the ACTS prayer. But even with these broad strokes, I can’t help but feel there is an aspect of prayer that is being missed. Perhaps the most important part of it, too.

I often describe prayer to our students as being conversational. If prayer feels hard to approach, just act like you are having a conversation with God. In order for a conversation to work, there needs to be two things happening simultaneously: talking and listening. Many times, our prayer time with God looks more like talking than listening. After we say “amen,” do we move on with our day, or do leave space for God to respond? Are we inviting God into our lives through prayer?

FCC makes a prayer of invitation in a big way each year with our Kingdom Investment. We ask God, “Where are you leading us, and what do you want us to do about it?” Over the next week, I request that you also make a prayer of invitation, asking these same questions. On Sunday, August 27, I also request that you share what God has been speaking to you at our Kingdom Investment Listening Session. Our Kingdom Investment team will be listening to your insights, and your input allows us to decipher where God is leading our church. When you pray this week, leave space for God to respond. You may be surprised by what you hear. If you're not able to make it on Sunday, you can send your ideas directly to me by clicking here.

Reasons to Go to Church, pt. 2

One of the most interesting developments in employment is the emergence of “remote work.”  I have a neighbor from central California who bought his home in Spring Lake so he could enjoy summers here.  All his work is remote, so he can live wherever he chooses.  There are a lot of advantages to remote work.  You can avoid the daily grind of traffic and wasted time commuting to your place of employment.  Working from home also trims a lot of the fat associated with a work day.  Chit-chat around the water cooler or copy machine is no longer cutting into productivity.  This can also save the company a great deal of money by having a smaller office (or no office at all).  As many as these advantages are, I’m still left with a question: how does physical, human interaction impact the quality of our work?  Does it make it better?  Or do we lose something?

I think there is a lot to gain from the emergence of “remote church.”  Members who travel or go south for the winter have been able to stay connected to our church through the weekly live stream.  People on vacation can watch from their hotel room or campsite or go back later to “go to church.”  But I have the same question: how does physical, human interaction impact the quality of our experience of church?  Church is more than music and a sermon.  It’s the collective beauty and brokenness of the gathered saints.  If attending a live worship service isn’t for you anymore, please make contact and community with your brothers and sisters in Christ in some way.  We need each other.  And we need to see each other.

Reasons to Go to Church, pt. 1

I’ll start with a confession.  I’ve only been to church once in the last month.  Of the four Sundays I was off in July, I only made it to church once.  It wasn’t by design, but missing church taught and reminded me of some important reasons that I go to church.  (Yes, I know, it’s my job to go to church, but beyond that…)  Over the next few weeks, I’d like to share some important reasons to gather with other Christians regularly.  Here’s the first: We need to be reminded of who God is.  It’s remarkable how easily we can forget the character of God.  As we go through our weeks and months, God can grow more and more distant.  As the rigors and challenges of life happen to us and around us, God begins to shrink into a distant deity who maybe keeps an eye on things, but isn’t all that involved.  We start believing that we’re alone in this endeavor called life.

Gathering with others who are in Christ is a critical reminder that God is not far off or disinterested.  God is near.  He is with us and among us.  He is directing history and our lives and working all things together for our good.  A worship service is designed to remind us of this.  It recalibrates our understanding of how the world works.  It is God’s world.  He is over all.  He is present in our lives with his love and providential care.  Going to church helps us see this.  It reminds us that we’re not alone in this.  The sovereign God of the universe is with us.

Coast Guard Hymn

Eternal Father, Lord of Hosts 

Watch o'er the ones who guard our coasts 

Protect them from the raging seas 

And give them light and life and peace. 

Grant them from thy great throne above 

The shield and shelter of thy love. 

Grant to them Your eternal peace, Oh Lord, 

For they have followed your commandment, 

That No Greater Love has he, who would give up his life for another.

An Interconnected Church

Americans are culturally individualistic. It’s been ingrained in us since childhood that we are supposed to grow up, get a job, move into our own place, support ourselves, and provide for our nuclear family unit. While this may sound fine on the surface, it misses a vital aspect of what it means to be human. We are often so focused on being self-reliant and chasing our own well-being that we can push others out of the picture. We may miss opportunities to interact with others in a way that is a blessing to ourselves and those around us. It is not sinful to want to be your own person or provide for your nuclear family. However, I strongly believe that our individualism is also the culprit of many issues we face.

The early church addresses this problem, and we see this in Acts 2. Believers met daily, shared meals, devoted themselves to prayer, sold their property and possessions, and pooled their resources to share what they had with those in need. This is a beautiful picture of how the church operates. There are no individual people in this system. There is an interconnected web of families, neighbors, strangers, and friends to create a network of support where no person is left behind. Those who have plenty provide for the poor, the healthy care for the sick, and all needs are met.

We have the chance and privilege to live like this today. In stark contrast to our individualistic society, we have a church that can provide the kind of community our world so badly needs. What would it look like to further embody an Acts 2 church at FCC? How would this interconnection transform our homes, towns, state, and even our country? How can we step up in our communities and be another string in a web that leaves no person behind?

Tourists and Locals

We are in the midst of tourist season here in the tri-cities.  I have mixed feelings about this.  For those of us who are locals and live here year round, it can be a real inconvenience.  Traffic on Beacon Blvd. and M-104 doubles during the summer months.  We see a lot of out-of-state license plates (when they miss traffic signs and attempt impossible left turns that no local would try).  As the Coast Guard Festival begins in a couple weeks things really get crazy.  I tend to stay north of the bridge as much as possible this week.  Yet I recognize that we need these out-of-towners to support our local economy and provide jobs.  Being host to the Coast Guard Festival is a huge boost for local merchants and businesses.  Busy-ness is the price you pay for living in a resort town.  When you take this into consideration, we should do our best to be accommodating and hospitable.

It strikes me that church folks in general can act like locals.  We’re familiar with the kingdom of God.  We know the shortcuts and where to make left turns and where not to.  The presence of not-Christian people or people who are different from us can be inconvenient.  They don’t always know what we mean when we talk about life in the kingdom.  And yet these “tourists” are the very reason we exist.  The primary purpose of the Church is to announce God’s reign over all things to all people.  We exist to announce this to the tourists.  We hope that by God’s grace they too will one day be locals.  It may be frustrating and inconvenient at times, but we in the Church should do our best to show the same love that Jesus showed to us when we were tourists. 

Staying Connected

Summer time is a much needed respite.  From September through May life moves at a rapid pace.  If you have school age children, you are busy supporting their curricular and extracurricular endeavors.  If you have grandchildren, you are trying to keep up with them while balancing your own work and travel schedule.  Within our church family our programs and ministries are cranked up from fall to spring.  But summer is a time of rest - a sabbath of sorts.  We scale back our schedules and programs and slow down a bit.

This summer reprieve gives us the chance to travel, vacation, and get away for long weekends.  And that’s great.  We need to recharge and rest.  One of the unfortunate consequences is that we can start to feel disconnected from our church family.  So here is a challenge for you to consider this summer.  If you won’t be in church on Sunday, make a point to connect with a few people from our church family during the week instead.  Invite a family over for dinner.  Meet someone at the beach or for a walk.  Even giving someone a call to check in can help you stay connected and deepen relationships.  It’s important for some of the activity to slow down during the summer.  But let’s not let up on relationships! 

Karma and Grace

“Aren’t all religions just different versions of the same thing?”  It’s a question that gets raised frequently.  We’re all trying to get to God.  We’re all headed to the top of the mountain.  We’re just taking different paths.  It can be hard to argue with this logic, especially when claiming that your religion is the right one comes across as arrogant or even judgmental.  But there is a big difference between following Jesus and following other world religions.  Most every religion in the world operates on karma.  Karma is the idea that what you do now will come back to you in the future.  We reap what we sow.  But being in Christ is different.  Rather than operating on karma, life in Christ operates on grace.

As people who belong to Jesus, we don’t reap what we sow.  We reap what God has sown.  We lie in a bed that God has made for us, rather than one we’ve made for ourselves.  Blessing and joy and eternal life are not rewards for something we have done (i.e., karma).  They are gifts because of something God has done (i.e., grace).  It should be noted that we can easily turn Christianity into another system of karma.  Go to church, tithe, do spiritual disciplines, and you will get eternal life and be blessed.  But the true center of our faith is about grace.  We trust God for everything we need and receive it as a gift, not a reward.  Karma offers us fairness and the illusion of control.  Grace offers us the gift of eternal life.