Merry Christmas from Washington Cathedral

by Pastor Tim White

Merry Christmas!  This Christmas is so important to us that a generous benefactor has donated two Great Wolf Lodge passes for two families of four—one night in family suite, family fun in waterpark, good for 2018 (there a few blackout dates).  One pass will be given to the person who brings the most new people who have filled out a contact card indicating who they were invited by between now and Christmas.  The second pass will be a drawing from all the contact cards received between now and Christmas that are filled out for the very first time.  The winners of both of these passes will be announced at the 11:00 am Service on New Year’s Eve Day, December 31, 2017. (Winner does not need to be present.)

I am praying so hard that we will reach many new people for Jesus Christ this Christmas.

This weekend Becca McCary has a powerful message on the Christmas story from the book of Matthew entitled Come Let Us Adore Him.  And we are going to have an extended Christmas sing-a-long in every service.

 Our special Christmas Lights the Night services are: Friday, Dec. 22nd, at 7pm; Saturday, Dec. 23rd, at 5:00 pm; and Christmas Eve, December 24th, at 5:00 and 11:00 pm.  Tickets are available and are being picked up quickly, so don’t delay in getting yours.  They are available online at our website or our Washington Cathedral app.

You can hear our ad on KCMS which tells about the inspirational service we are going to have this year.  Live manger scene, with real animals, choirs, strings, band, ballet dancers and our “baby cherubs” dancing to create a moment where the heavens open.  You will be blessed with one of the most inspirational moments of your life.  Please bring friends.  You can get free tickets at: christmaslightsthenight.com or wacathedral.org.  

On Christmas morning at 9:30 and 11:00am, Dr. Rey Diaz will be preaching, and special Guest Musician Dave Irish will be warming our hearts with his great music.  Pastor David’s wonderful down-home breakfast will be served in the Cafe with spuds, sausage, eggs, and his super-secret Whidbey Island oatmeal. Breakfast will be served from 10:30 to 11:30 - what a great time of fellowship.

At the 11pm late Christmas Eve service, pastor Linda Skinner will be preaching, and Rich Skinner will be using his trained voice to do a dramatic reading of the Christmas story with an incredible slide show.  There will be Candle lighting and I will lead in a very special Christmas communion.

Merry Christmas - Please join us.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Christmas at Washington Cathedral

By Pastor Tim White

Happy Holidays.  What a great time of year! It looks like the holidays outside.  Rain and wind make for a perfect time to sit by the fire, read a book or have a soul-filled conversation over a cup of coffee.  It just feels like the holidays with this kind of weather.  And the joke is that we have this weather almost all year long.  But we don’t care.  It is a great time of the year.  

This Sunday Pastor Becca will be kicking off a life-changing message series called: Christmas Lights the Night.  She is sharing the Christmas story in an expository message from the Gospel of John.  At the same time, Pastor Michael and his elves will begin to decorate the campus with lights getting ready for our dazzling Christmas Eve services with real live animals and a petting area.  (Pastor Michael loves Christmas - he has It’s a Wonderful Life memorized.)  

And of course, we will be participating in all of our special projects to help those who are hurting in our community and around the world.  Every year it seems like Christmas ministries just grow at Washington Cathedral. One of our post-Christmas evaluations told us we needed to do less -- but do it better.  When we met as a staff we asked the question – “What should focus on?”  Every staff member was so passionate about the different areas of ministry that no one wanted to cut anything.  So, as the leader in this movement, I was led to lead the way. Therefore, after 33 years of Santa Conspiracy we are going to take a year off. This was a ministry that was so dear to my heart and you have heard the story of how the Lord started it.  We still have some bears, so we will be sending out a few Santa’s to carry on the good work.  

This year we need to impact our community with the life-rescuing message of Jesus Christ focusing on the impact of Christmas.  We have our ministry to the homeless; to the convalescent homes; the building of a new school in the Patmos slum of Kenya; hospitals, and neighbors who are looking for a faith -- these will continue.  It will be, I think, the most dramatic Christmas we have ever experienced as a church family.   Christmas Lights the Night dramas will be Friday, December 22, at 7:00 pm; Saturday, December 23, at 5:00pm, and Sunday, December 24, at 5:00pm. Our special guest for Sunday morning, December24 9:30am and 11:00am, worship services will be Dave Irish.  And of course, we will have our beautiful Candlelight Communion Worship at 11:00pm Christmas Eve.

Going into Christmas: 

• Washington Cathedral Choir Christmas concert at Redmond Town Center Saturday, November 25, from 1-2pm.
• The Mix Worship with Pastor Helio preaching and international praise including a potluck dinner on Saturday, November 25, at 5:30pm
• Pastor Becca McCary preaching on the Sunday, November 26, at 9:30am and 11:00am, kicking off the series: Christmas Lights the Night.
• Pastor Linda Skinner will preach the following week, December 2 & 3, on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Mark. Saturday, December 2, is our Volunteer Christmas party at the Café put on by Bill & Millie Porter.
• I will be preaching the weekend of December 9 & 10 on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Luke.  For the kids (and anyone else who wants to join in) a special Christmas Cookie Decorating time led by Pastor Becca in the Café.
• Pastor Becca McCary will be preaching the weekend of December 16 & 17 on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Matthew.  Plus - an all-church Christmas Carol sing-a-long with hot apple cider for 20 minutes of the service.  In addition, the youth will be having their Christmas party that afternoon.
• Pastor Rey Diaz will be joining our preaching team at the weekend service on December 30 & 31, New Year’s Eve.

There are going to be a lot of great events and special ministry opportunities as we enjoy a focused - refreshing - incredibly inspiring Christmas at Washington Cathedral this year.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Undefeated

Reflections from Pastor Tim: Football is in the air and everybody's team is undefeated!  Like the start of football season, it's also the time when students are readying for a new school year.  And as Christians we always find this as a time when we can focus on recharging our faith as we cherish the final fanfare of another amazing summer.  I hope you all want to stretch your faith muscles and begin preparing for the amazing time we can anticipate as our Lord "coaches us up," so we too can claim that undefeated promise.

We're continuing with our sermon series on "finding your life verse."  I'm excited because Dr Dale White, my dad, will be teaching us with a message taken from the book of Matthew this Saturday night.  And, to add an exclamation mark, Vanessa Love will sing for us, which always is a joyful time. After the service, I have the pleasure of doing a Saturday evening baptism.  If you are interested in being baptized, please contact the church office.

On Sunday, I will be sharing my life verse given to me by theologian/philosopher Carl F.H. Henry.  Dr. Henry was a long time personal friend to Billy Graham, serving on the board of directors of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He also helped start Christianity today, Fuller Theological Seminary, and was instrumental in the emergence of evangelicalism from the more dogmatic fundamentalism.  The one time I was honored to meet him, he asked me about Washington Cathedral and then gave me a life verse. After explaining to him I already had a life verse, he told me I had a new one – Romans 15:13. “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Not only does this verse resonate with our vision of becoming a “great caring network,” but resonates with the times we are in. There is so much going on in our world today that it can fill our hearts with frustration, disappointment, bitterness, and doubt.  But it is during “tough times” like these that God works his hope miracle best.

I believe that this weekend is going to be a fun, prophetic, empowering encouraging experience.  Please join us.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

Soul Vision

I was recently in one of the largest slums of Nairobi called Mathere.  Our team of doctors had been working miracles from dawn to dusk, every member giving it their all to touch these amazing children who are living in harm’s way with the love of Jesus.  But, we could never bless them more than these Children of God were blessing us.  It was so hot and dusty in the sewage strewn slum in which they are forced to live that teachers from the school kept bringing me bottles of water so that I would not become dehydrated as the children had.  Each time they handed me a bottle of water,  the Bible verse popped into my head:  When you give a cup of water to the least of these you are giving it to me.  The teachers would command me – “don’t give this to the kids.”  But each time, with the defiance of a grandfather, I would open the bottle and hand it to the children around me.  They would break into tears and take a deep drink and hand it to the child next to them who would drink as fast as they could before the child next to them would grab it out of their hands and begin their turn.  Each time after they drank they would look at me and call me ‘Babu’. 

After two hours of telling them stories and singing them songs, the children grew tired and four of them fell asleep in my arms.  Maybe 15 others came up and put their heads on my arms, some of them sucking their thumbs, and whispering, “Babu, Babu, Babu”.  It was an experience that I will never forget.  I saw Jesus in these children and received the vision for the rest of my life.  Highlight that experience with three days of high fevers and chills and every one of our team caught a virus in the rubble in which these children live.  While we feed and help 130 kids there through Washington Cathedral, there are 500,000 living in this slum, many who would call out to us as we walked, “How are you? How are you?” It was a set up for God to speak to me and a fresh work of His grace to begin in my life.

Empowering Encounters has been our theme this summer as we raise the bar on worship for Washington Cathedral.  This week I have returned from a life altering encounter with God in Africa.  I dare you to come to worship this week and to not be touched, lifted and inspired.  My message is entitled Soul Vision (How to Experience God’s Dream for Your Life) and my text is from the book of Acts.  But I am going to tell you a testimony of how Jesus used the children of Kenya to change my life.  See a video of dancing, singing, and miracles in Africa which left every one of us changed people.  God has given me a dream for the best of my life which will last the rest of my life.  I want to break down biblically how God can touch us anew with His dreams; not just our self-centered whims but the very vision of heaven on how life ought to be lived.  The key to worship is that we actually meet Jesus Christ. This cannot happen without being blown away by the presence of God and our willingness to respond to this reality as big as the universe itself.  If you only make it to one service this year, make sure you make it this weekend.  Don’t miss out on your chance to catch fire with faith and vision again for your life.

Join us Saturday at 5:30, Sunday at 9:30 and 11 as I share video and testimonies of how you too can experience a fresh vision with soul for your life.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

Carpe Diem (The Love Revolt Now)

This Sunday is not just a four-day weekend it is our opportunity to honor our country as Christians have done for many generations.  Let me ask you a question -  In this age of cynicism, who will be the ones who will bring peace, unity, authentic conversation between the ever-contrasting sides of conflict within our nation?  (Not to mention the dangerous world that we live in.)  That was the task before Paul and Barnabas as they set out on the first ever Christian Rock Tour of the world.  I call it a Rock Tour because they were frequently stoned.  Not stoned like rock stars might be, but people actually threw stones at them.  I’m glad that when I have a sermon you disagree with you don’t throw stones at me.  At least, not yet.  

Paul and Barnabas’ trip was more than a missionary trip, as it was once called.  The word “Missionary” has been intentionally changed by culture to mean something horrible, or at very least, watered down like milk toast.  If you have ever read the Book of Acts, you know that Christ followers who are on the move have little resemblance to modern concept of missionaries.  They represented a Revolution of Love.  

Revolution was a dangerous word then just like it is now. So, to make his purpose clear, Jesus explained that his revolution was not about becoming king and ruler.  His was a revolution of love and not force. A revolution that would change the world.  Whether it came to slavery, the concept of women, the family, or even how and when force was used, Christians have and will continue to have misunderstandings about this revolution of love.  When they do have those misunderstandings, their actions most often cause more problems than good.  There are even many who would like to hijack our revolution of love for political gain or profit.  Because of this, we need now, more than ever, authentic Christ-followers to pave the way in this nation and our world by reaching the hearts and minds of those who can only be reached by conversations of love.  

This Sunday, we are going to give our first ever Medal of Faith and Freedom Award to a hero from our church. It will be a touching moment.  If you like a patriotic service, go to the 9:30 time of worship.  We will have the Color Guard present the flag; we will honor our service men and women as the choir presents “Tribute to the Armed Forces; there will music of faith and freedom.  If you enjoy a different style of patriotism in worship, the 11:00 am service will be a better fit for you.  I will be preaching the same sermon in all the services.  On Saturday night after the service, you can enjoy Klondike Bars, which of course is the most patriotic ice cream bar ever made.  

Sunday at 12:30 is our “I Love America” Potluck Picnic so bring your best fried chicken, salad or dessert to share.  You know the rule of churches is to bring twice as much as you normally cook because we want to have a table that is open to those who don’t bring anything.  There will be bounce houses for the kids and fun games for all ages, plus a Western themed photo booth for family pictures. 

Your Friend For The Rest Of My Life,

Pastor Tim White