Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas

By Pastor Tim White

I came home from church last Sunday and as I drove up to the house where we have lived for the past 33 years, I got really excited.  There was Sarai Jacobs’ car parked in front of our house. I knew that meant my grandkids had arrived from Texas.  As I rushed from my car, I saw the Christmas lights on and my grandson Elijah Diaz and his little sister Isabela looking out the window.  I opened the door and at the top of the stairs was my eldest daughter Elise with my son-in-law Rey standing right next to her smiling.  When I opened our door, the bells jingled from the Christmas Wreath complete with bells hanging on our front door.  I couldn’t help myself, I had to yell out “Ho - Ho - Ho Merry Christmas.”

Then my phone rang and it was Eva our other granddaughter with her brother Oscar saying they were coming right over with their mommy Becca and daddy Ben.  I let out another “Ho - Ho - Ho.”  And Isabella cried out--” My GP is Santa Claus.” Sarai, Pastor Rey’s sister, was there carrying baby Cruz, whose birth will give us the best Christmas present of all.  The conversations were so fun -- Everyone was talking about going to the new Star Wars movie, and cherubs dancing at the Christmas services.  We laughed, we played, we danced, and we prayed.  Then we ate and still played.  It is the Christmas Season.

Please join our Washington Cathedral family for “Christmas Lights the Night” this Christmas.  We invite you to bring your family and friends. (Even if they go to another church, that’s okay, we love them because we are all still a family.) Dare to invite your neighbors and get free tickets on line at http://www.christmaslightsthenight.com/  or www.wacathedral.org .  Even better, isn’t it time to download the Washington Cathedral App.  Just go to the App Store on your iPhone or Android phone.

Christmas Lights the Night Services are Friday at 7:00 pm, Saturday at 5:00 pm, Sunday at 5:00 pm, and a special candlelight communion service led by Pastor Linda at 11:00 pm.

You will want to see the live manger scene this year.  It’s better than ever--the Bethlehem star is new and improved and the live animals are so cute.  Of course, you will see the shepherds, angels, Mary and Joseph. The music is beautiful from a band with strings, the choir, the ballet dancer--with the group of sweet baby cherubs.  It will be 60 minutes of incredible Christmas inspiration.

I look at my life from the mountain-tops, those moments when God was so close that he changed me.  This is going to be one of those moments and I don’t want you to miss it.

This Sunday morning, December 24th, worship at 9:30 and 11:00 am is also going to be a wonderful family service.  One of our favorite pastors, Dr. Rey Diaz, will be sharing on the reckless love of God demonstrated at Christmas.  And one of our all-time favorite musicians, Dave Irish, will leading us in wonderful songs of Christmas. Pastor David is cooking his down-home, Whidbey Island special breakfast in the Cafe from 10:00-11:30 so, regardless of the services you attend, we can eat together as one big happy church family. 

As a reminder, someone donated two passes for a family of four to enjoy a night in a family suite at Great Wolf Lodge, and a fun time in the waterpark. One pass will go to the person who brings the biggest number of new people who fill out a Connect Card and put name of the person who invited them in the comments section of that form. The second pass is for the winner of a drawing on New Year’s Eve Sunday, December 31, at 11:00 am. The people who will be eligible for that drawing will be those who have filled out a Connect Card for the very first time at any of our services from now through December 31st.

So “Ho - Ho – Ho Merry Christmas.”  We hope to see you.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

My Life Verse

For me, reading the Bible, is more than just sitting down and reading a book. It is having a conversation with a Living God. Sometimes the conversation flows easily. Sometimes there are lulls in the talking. Sometimes God is extremely comforting and encouraging! Other times, the conversation gets quite heated.

That is part of what amazes me about finding a life verse. It is often just one sentence or two from the Bible, but throughout every season of life, it speaks to me. It challenges me in unique ways. It encourages me. It reminds my heart to return to Jesus. No matter what I'm going through, God speaks to me through my life verse. Despite that it is written for all people to read, it feels like God wrote it just for me... like he preordained this as the mission statement for just my life.

Hebrews 4:12 puts it this way:

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

When it comes to life verses, I cheat a little. Mine is a life book: 1 John. I grew up hearing my dad recite the book from memory every Saturday when we drove to church. I could see God working on his heart though it week in and week out, even though the words he recited were always the same. When I became a teenager, I started to sit down and read the book for myself. I cried. It was like God was speaking right to my heart. Now, 15 years later, when I sit down to read 1 John, do you know what happens? I cry. It's like God is speaking right to my heart. Despite how many times I've read it, it's more than an old comforting text, it's living and active. God convicts my heart of sin. God reveals new things to me. God leads my heart closer to Jesus as I'm reminded of who he has called me to be.

My prayer for every person in Washington Cathedral, and every person reading this, is that you would make God's word a bigger part of your relationship with him. That we could all find life verses, memorize them, and allow God to speak to us through them in living and fresh ways.

Pastor Becca

Living Worship

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  Psalm 19:1-4

To my recollection, I think my first “Empowering Encounter” of worship was when I was about 12 years old.  It was on a beautiful summer night in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California.

Summer vacation for our family was always a trip to our cabin in Calpine, California.  Being farmers, my parents had few vacations in the summer, but they had a co-op deal with another farmer who would look after our chickens and animals while we were gone and then we’d look after their turkeys and animals while they were gone.  However, the vacations we had were always memorable.  Early morning trout fishing in the streams of the Sierra Valley, delicious trout and egg breakfast, games and swimming in the heat of the day, and bonfires at night. 

One evening, we were having a bonfire at the reservoir above our cabin.  I walked up the levy with one of my girlfriends, Susie, and we laid down in the soft grass and looked up into the sky.  It was the most spectacular sight I had ever seen.  It was a hot August night, the moon was just a sliver, and the only light was the glow of the bonfire in the distance.  The stars seemed to be so bright and the sky was full of stars of all different sizes layered for millions, upon millions of miles.  I could only say “WOW, God is big!”  We both laid there in absolute awe of the majesty of our Heavenly Father. I never felt so small and yet so filled with the sense of God’s deep and abiding love for me.  Amazed that the creator of everything, would love and care about “little ol’ me”.

I don’t think I realized at the time what an incredible act of worship I had just experienced.  But from then on, I was much more aware of the how God’s creation shouts His Glory to all.

Join me this Sunday as we explore together “Living Worship” in our everyday life.  When we can do that, it takes everything to a new level of excitement and joy.

Pastor Linda Skinner

Father Power

When I was a boy fishing with my dad in Hells Canyon, I hooked a monster fish. It was so big that after fighting it for about 30 minutes we concluded that my little Zebec rod and reel could not bring in that fish.  So, my dad, seeing the desperation in my eyes, dove into the raging Snake River, swam to the middle, and dove deep under the water to bring up the monster fish. It was 36 inches.  After grabbing it, my dad swam it over to the shore. Kind of sounds like a scene from Tarzan, but my dad did not want that fish to get away from his son.  I will never forget it. My dad was my hero! I have a wonderful mom that I would do anything for but we also all need some kind of a father.  And most of all, we need a healthy relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Father Power is the title of my message this Father’s Day as we continue our series on worship. The New Testament teaches a number of astonishing life perspectives for each of us. One of them is a revolutionary idea that all of us live with a father void. We were created with a need for strong, kind, purposeful, fun, bold, patient, and masculine influences in our lives. It’s called a Father Image and yes, when Jesus prays or speaks about our Heavenly Father it is always used in the masculine gender. Now God is referred to in the Old Testament in the feminine gender when it speaks of God himself as a mother bird who would spread its wings to protect her children.  And God is referred to in a gender-neutral way once in the Old Testament.  But the majority of the time, he is referred to in the masculine gender.  Jesus always refers to him as our Heavenly Father.  Every one of us need positive father-like figures in our lives. If we had a difficult or painful father experience, processing our need for a father is important for us in order to get on with our faith and our lives. I have invited a strong Christian man who was a NFL Quarterback to be my special guest to discuss what it means to be a Godly father.  He has not confirmed yet for this Sunday and because he is a very busy man I have a back-up plan. However, I can assure you that this will be a life-changing service of encouragement for every man and for every person as we honor earthly fathers and explore our Heavenly Fathers role in worship.  

I look forward to sharing with you at 9:30 and 11:00 this weekend. Pastor Becca will be preaching at the Worship, Prayer and Healing service Saturday night at 5:30 pm and Pastor Eliot is bringing in an all-star worship band made up of worship leaders of some of the leading churches in our area.

See you this weekend!

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Cecie's Story

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

This morning, I sat in the room of Cecie Doucet, as her good friend Tom and I shared stories of our sister-in-Christ and how much she meant to us.  God so blessed Cecie with fellow Seattle Police Officer, Tom Sacco. Tom, who is Sicilian and a retired police officer, was sent to be her guardian angel.  God has blessed Cecie and she, in turn, has been a blessing to her church family.  James 1:12 proved itself to be absolutely true in the impact of her life. 

This week Dr. Rey Diaz will be preaching in all the services and sharing the dynamic story of the Good Samaritan.  It is so good to have Pastor Rey home for the Festival of Miracles Auction on Saturday night where we raise money for a place of refuge for the street kids in Honduras and in Kenya. 

Cecie cared so much for those children as we all do.  Being a child who was put up for adoption at birth, Cecie lived a life that would make a great movie.  How God reached someone who had gone through all of the hardships, and became a prominent Seattle Police Detective for 38 years and an on-fire Christian since the 1970s when she gave her life to Jesus Christ in the Jesus People Movement.  It was due to all of the difficulties and all of the ups and downs that prepared her to be the angel that she became.  So it is with you and me.  God is working a project in our lives, and be assured of this, that He who began a good work in you will see it to completion. Philippians 1:6. This is the miracle that causes us to believe in the potential of every life of every street child who is considered the least of these.  Which ones will have stories like Cecie or me or you? We don’t know, but we can be a church that believes in this miracle - that there awaits a crown of life to those who endure.  We are in the business of helping those who struggle to endure.  But we can’t do it without God’s help.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White