A Time to Worship
By · CommentsEncouraging you to make this a truly worshipful season. While we will not be having our own Maundy Thursday service or Good Friday service, it is not because these are not important time of worship and remembrance. So, I want to provide some information and maybe a little inspiration as you prepare your hearts to celebrate Easter and Resurrection Sunday.
Maundy comes from ‘mandatum novum’ the Latin for commandment. The three themes that typically mark a Maundy Thursday remembrance are: The events in the Upper room, where Jesus celebrates the last Passover with His disciples, and institutes the Lord’s Supper in his name; The washing of the disciples’’ feet; and Jesus’ new command to his disciples to love one another. The commandment reference originates in Jesus’ words to his disciples in John 13, where after the Passover he says “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.”? Last Sunday in addition to considering the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem we also looked at these three main ‘maundy’ themes. Let me encourage you to look at the story again tonight and take time to be thankful for Christ’s servant expression of love and grace. Remember tonight that He has commanded us to remember.
Good Friday has a rich tradition in the church and is a time of remembering the crucifixion and death of Christ. While it is often observed that, “it seems strange to refer to such a tragic event as good,” we must never forget that this day and event is a remembrance of not just a good thing, but a best thing. Were it not for the death of Jesus, fulfilling the promises of God since the garden, we would be hopeless and lost. Christ’s willingly giving His life as our substitute and paying our debt for sin is indeed a glorious reality. Without His death, we have no life. I want to suggest that you take time tomorrow to remember the scandalous glory of Christ’s death. Say thank you to Him. Rejoice that your debt has been paid and that, in Christ, you are no an object of wrath, but a display of God’s glory.
Even without the traditional services we are a people called to worship. So, take time by yourself, with your family or even a small gathering of friends to celebrate together the sadness and joy of these special days and events. Then, having prepared your heart, come join us Sunday at 6pm as we celebrate the rescue or redemption of Resurrection Day! Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.
Another Reason
By · CommentsWhy pursue multi-ethnic church? Our context is changing rapidly and the church needs to respond. See the latest from the NYT on the changing demographics of today’s U.S. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12census.html
Chan on Persecution
By · CommentsCurrently the video posted by Francis Chan has been removed to clarify the connection of some of the issues to the persecution in Orissa, India. This does not negate that we have brothers and sisters all over the world who are facing great trials as they stand for their faith.
Will you pray? Why wouldn’t you pray? How could you not pray?
Ash Wednesday 2010
By · Comments 
We gather to remember, reflect, and repent. We depart to sacrifice, engage, and anticipate.
Some Scripture to ponder on this day:
Genesis 3
19 “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Job 42
5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;? 6therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Mark 1
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
Hebrews 9
11But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
1 John 1
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Thoughts on the heart of the season
By · CommentsAs many of you know, Ash Wednesday is a special day on the historical church calendar when the church has marked the realization that we are mortal and sinful. While emphasis in many traditions is placed upon rituals and the act of placing ashes on the forehead in the sign of the cross, the real essence of the day is about repentance. As the first day of Lent it is a time to be mindful of our sinfulness and to repent and turn away from the sins that so easily creep into our lives.
I want to encourage each of you to prayerfully consider your response to this day. Will you take time to consider with others around the world where you are in your walk with Jesus? Will you take the time to ask yourselves the hard questions regarding faith, obedience, idolatry, and living and dying in light of the gospel? I trust that you will see beyond the ritual and look at the heart of this day to remember, reflect and repent.
I would write more, but have found a very well stated ongoing series of posts on the entire Lenten season from Elliott Grudem at Christ the King Church. You can find it here http://www.ctkraleigh.org/article/why-bother-with-lent-part-one/ . This is part one of a three part series to come. I encourage you to follow it.