May 27 Worship: "What is Truth?"

We celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit on Sunday during our special Pentecost worship.  Both the children's sermon and my sermon focused on the day of Pentecost, though in different ways.

The sermon, drawn from a description of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John, was an attempt to figure out how we can recognize the Holy Spirit in the lives of others around us.  In "What is Truth?" (echoing a question famously asked in John's gospel, I pondered how we might glimpse the Holy Spirit, embodied in the words and deeds of others, in moments of transcendent truth.

I was pleased with the sermon, which is always a good thing when a preacher dares to tackle a passage from the complex Gospel of John.  In some ways, it was a weird experience.  If I had dealt with the theme more fully, it easily would have been a 45 minute sermon.  For whatever reason, my thinking generally (almost naturally) leads to 25 minute sermons, so I've often wondered how ministers in previous centuries could talk so much longer week after week.  On Sunday, I could easily have joined them, without resorting to lengthy anecdotal stories or random jokes, simply working through related scriptural passages to explore significant theological ideas.  I mention this only because I left some significant pieces of my thinking and scriptural backing out of the sermon, in the interest of time; I wonder if others saw leaps of logic in the sermon or too many unanswered questions.

Then again, we cannot do everything in any single sermon or worship service.

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with someone, you can listen to an audio recording here.

Prayer for Mission in Guadeloupe and Martinique

This week we pray for Tim Rose, our missionary to the island nations of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean.  He serves as a pastoral associate and a prison chaplain.

You can read more about the mission to Guadeloupe and Martinique here, including an experience that found the missionary caught in the middle of a political struggle indicative of the growing pains for this former slave colony.

There are Christian missionaries serving around the world on our behalf in 70 countries.  Each week, Global Ministries highlights one of these missions and asks the church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the gospel.

Eastgate Planning Survey Available

A couple of Saturdays ago, several active and interested Eastgate members gathered to discuss what the congregation might focus on in the coming year.  While we discussed many things, including some of our long-term dreams, we ended with a list of things we think we should consider in the days ahead.

As we ended the meeting, we decided that we wanted to pray and mull over these options before we decided on two or three that we would commit energy to address.  And we committed to offering others in the congregation an opportunity to offer their opinions on the possible choices too.

This week, I have created a brief survey for Eastgate participants to fill out, sharing their opinions and insights.  It is available online or on paper.  It should not take longer than 5-10 minutes to fill out.  Please take a moment to share your thoughts on where we might focus our church ministry over the next several months.

You may fill out the survey by following this link (to SurveyMonkey).  Thanks for your participation!

Coming Up Sunday, May 27

This Sunday is Pentecost, when the church describes the gift of the Holy Spirit described in Acts 2.  On that day, a few weeks after Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven, the disciples ventured out of hiding and preached the gospel.  The preaching was so powerful, through the Holy Spirit, that the diverse audience heard the words perfectly, each in their own language.  And some 3000 became Christians that day.

There will be some special things in Sunday's service.  First, everyone is encouraged to wear red -- the color of the Holy Spirit -- to Eastgate that morning.  For my part, I'll be wearing a bright red dress shirt and a red stole over my white robe.  I hope that you'll find shirts, shoes, earrings, scarfs, pins, or other things in bright red too.

There will be a special sermon focusing on the Holy Spirit, drawn especially from the description of the spirit found in the Gospel of John.  In "What is Truth?" (a question also famously asked in John's gospel), drawn from John 16, I will consider the relationship of the spirit of truth and Jesus and the distinctive role that the Holy Spirit plays in our hopes and experiences.

Also, we will collect the Pentecost special offering, which supports New Church Ministry, the planting of new churches and the support and training for pastors who lead new congregations.  This year's theme, "Setting the Table in New Places," allows us to live out the Pentecost experience in spreading the gospel and seeking new converts for Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Mission in Turkey

This week, we pray for Alison Stendahl, our missionary in Turkey.  She serves as Academic Dean and a math teacher at Uskudar American Academy in Istanbul, a school founded by Christians in the 1880s.

You can read more about the mission to Turkey here, including the role of the church in reaching out to refugees coming into Turkey from neighboring countries.

There are Christian missionaries serving around the world on our behalf in 70 countries.  Each week, Global Ministries highlights one of these missions and asks the church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the gospel.

May 13 Worship: "A Mother's Choice"

We celebrated Mother's Day in a big way at Eastgate on Sunday, with a special children's message and a reflection on mothers in the Bible.  The young people helped to pass our special devotionals for all of the mothers in worship to honor them.

The sermon also celebrated motherhood, reflecting on the many important decisions mothers make for their children.  Drawing from the story of Rebekah helping Jacob to gain his father's dying blessing in place of his older brother Esau, we considered the depth of love and the sacrifice in "A Mother's Choice."

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with someone, you can listen to an audio recording here.

Prayer for Mission in Mexico

This week we pray for Scott Nicholson, our missionary to Mexico.  He works in a community center in the border city of Nogales, trying to alleviate the needs that cause so many to risk arrest or death by illegally migrating to the United States.

You can read more about the mission to Mexico here, including the work of Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (the House of Hope and Peace) in improving lives in this impoverished neighborhood.

There are Christian missionaries serving around the world on our behalf in 70 countries.  Each week, Global Ministries highlights one of these missions and asks the church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the Gospel.

Coming Up Sunday, May 13

On Sunday, we will celebrate Mother's Day at Eastgate with a worship service filled with reflections on mothers, including those women of the church who have become surrogate mothers for so many others in the community of faith.  I think that it is an important day to recognize and think about some of the deepest relationships that we form.

During the sermon, I will be reflecting on the story of Rebekah and her sons Esau and Jacob, as told in Genesis 27.  Titled "A Mother's Choice," it will consider the complicated acts of love that mother's often perform on behalf of their children.

So, this weekend, I hope that you will join us for worship.  And I hope you take time to thank God for the mothers -- biological and others -- in your life that have done so much to shape you into the person you have become.  And, if they are living, I hope you make time to reach out to them with love and appreciation.

May 6 Worship: Youth and Young Adult Sunday

On Sunday, we were led by some of our youth and young adults in worship.  Despite some technical hiccups with the projector, which may have been related to the thunderstorm (as good an explanation as any), I thought the service was a wonderful time of praise and prayer.  There was some last minute juggling, due to Jimmy Little's need to be with his father, but it was almost unnoticeable.

When I was a Youth Minister, I was always amazed at the young people's ability to make last-minute changes due to unexpected things changing the service we had planned.  In fact, one Youth Sunday, we even decided to leave a majority of things unassigned until that very morning, and the youth were amazing.

I also very much appreciated how we shared communion on Sunday.  There is an important place for reverent silence during communion, but the encouragement to take communion at the four corners of the sanctuary and enjoy one another's presence -- even with a little conversation -- was an important reminder that communion was first celebrated as a community meal, where the experience of being together in Christ's name (and enjoying it) was as important to the sacrament as solemnly remembering the body and blood of Christ.  It certainly offered me something on which to meditate after the service.

If you get a chance, I hope that you share your praise and encouragement with those who led us in worship.  At its best, worship is a reflection of the whole community and our shared faith commitments to God.  We certainly experienced some of that on Sunday, which is a gracious and faithful thing.

Prayer for Mission in South Africa

This week we pray for Scott Couper and Susan Valiquette, our missionaries to South Africa.  They both serve at the Inanda Seminary in various ways, including teaching, preaching, and development work.  We also pray for Kristine Tisinger, who will begin her service as a Global Missions intern in Johannesburg this summer.

You can read more about the mission to South Africa here, including a story about the influence and development of the seminary.

There are Christian missionaries serving around the world on our behalf in 70 countries.  Each week, Global Ministries highlights one of these missions and asks the church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the Gospel.

April 29 Worship: Haiti Sunday

We experienced such an uplifting worship together on Sunday!  Focusing on the ongoing mission to Haiti, including our pledged support of a doctor's annual salary in the Carrefour clinic, we celebrated the opportunities we have to make the world a better place as Christians.  Rev. Karen Yount, who has been to Haiti many times, was able to tell us a little of her experiences there, including her visit in February to the Carrefour clinic.  Our own Sue Short also read a letter from the Haitian pastor, whose church oversees the clinic, telling of the work being done there.

In addition to our regular offering, we collected money to fund the clinic doctor's salary for another year.  Thanks to the generous support of many people, we have now raised enough money for the 2012-2013 year, and will now begin setting aside designated moneys for the doctor's salary in 2013-2014!  And we can thank God that through our help, hundreds of people will receive medical care they otherwise would not.  What a blessed thing that is!

Looking ahead to Sunday, May 6, we will be led in worship by our youth and young adults.   I, for one, am looking forward to these individuals stepping forward and sharing their faith with us, including their joy and hope in Christ.  (Sometimes churches invite people to "see the church of tomorrow" when the youth lead worship -- I think that this is a problem; what we will share on Sunday is not a glimpse of the church of the future, it is a vision of the church that already is -- one that some Christians try hard to push off into unseen corners.  But I digress....)  It should be an interesting and rewarding time for our community of faith.

Also, you might notice that this blog post is a bit overdue.  I have taken the opportunity provided by not preaching this week to outline the two sermon series for this summer, including planning the worship services.  This is a fulfilling, but demanding, activity, especially for those of us who preach in series instead of skipping through the lectionary week after week.  I'm happy to share that there will be five sermons on Abraham, the father of faith, starting in June.  Then in July, I'll continue something that I began four years ago -- preaching sermons based on religious themes in some of this summer's movies.  They'll be more details about that, including opportunities to see the movies with me, in the next couple of weeks.