A Taste of Community

Outside of being a little baby, there isn’t a stage in life where having friends isn’t important. As a boy, I can remember “exploring” with my friends in the woods, or riding our bikes all over the neighborhood in search of things to do. When I was a teenager, my friendships seemed to mean the world to me. I wanted to spend as much time possible hanging out with them, watching movies, playing basketball, or talking girls. Some of those friends are still close to me today!

Now as a married adult with 4 children and a busy work schedule, I find myself with fewer close friends, yet their value has grown exponentially. I couldn’t possibly be the person I am today, without their constant loyalty, love and support.

The Bible is full of stories of friendship. David and Jonathan, Paul and Timothy are a couple that stand out to me as I ponder the importance of not doing life alone. These were friends who helped carry each other through very difficult times, yet celebrated well, too when life seemed victorious. That’s when you know you have “community” in your life. People who genuinely share all the ups and downs of your life with...

In Hebrews chapter 10, we as the Church are encouraged to “spur one another on in love and to good deeds”... Think about that word “spur” for a moment. How might you be able to spur a fellow believer this week in love? A phone call? An encouraging letter? Maybe a hug?

This is an important season for us at Washington Cathedral. We need each other! We need to show our community what genuine faith looks like within a people of genuine friendships! What a great witness we could be!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Rex

Photo Credit

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks3vpXvFR90

The Vision of Worship

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. John 4:23

Last week as we began the series “Setting the Table,” we began to share the excitement the church feels as we develop our vision for the next ten years.  We are not going to be reactive to life but proactive. So we are listening for God’s vision as we find our place at the table for one of the most exciting conversations of our lives.

What will your life look like in the year 2025?  Will they discover a pill to make everyone one of us slim, young and athletic with heads full of hair?

No one knows what the future holds.  We can see the problems, which we hear about every day.  But do we see God’s love and power and how he wants to work through us?

We are going to be dreaming about improving our worship at Washington Cathedral in amazing ways.  As the word of God says in John. “The Father is seeking those who will worship in him in Spirit and Truth. “

1. How do we make worship a non-entertainment event and yet pursue excellence?
2. How do we experience the power of the Spirit of God in worship and yet remember that Christ is over culture and our many congregations will worship God with different culture and languages?
3. How do we grow deep in the truth of God’s word so we are not confused in a shallow understanding of Jesus so that people can grow up strong and put down deep roots?
4. How do we make worship like Jesus wants it – reaching out to the least of these in our area showing them the grace and friendship we have found in Christ?
5. How do we launch multiple campuses with many language and cultural groups throughout our area?
6. How do we teach people to be free to be the people that God created and loves so much, without looking down their nose in superiority turning our Holy worship into a political club?

The questions can go on and on and they will.  Because we are determined to teach people how they can have a seat at the table and engage in our community in the exciting vision we have for the future.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hps6HSiEXA

A seed of love

Written by Pastor Linda Skinner 

To think of God rightly, as He is, one cannot help but lapse into worship; and worship is the single most powerful force in completing and sustaining the spiritual formation of the whole person. Worship naturally arises from thinking rightly of God on the basis of revealed truth confirmed in experience. We say flatly, "Worship is at once the overall character of the renovated thought life and the only safe place for any human being to stand." Dallas Willard from article “Transformation of the Mind”.

My mom was no Dallas Willard, but she had a deep sense of what was important in life. As a child she planted within me a deep love for Christ and, therefore, a love for the church (His bride).

The church was the center of my experience of worship. Not that worship didn’t happen every day of the week. Every morning we worshiped at the breakfast table as we prayed, read God’s Word and shared together. All through the day my mom hummed or sang hymns, while she went through her day – cleaning thousands of eggs getting them ready to go to market, driving them to market, doing her shopping, cleaning the house. Every activity was an act of worship, but she always reminded me that her daily worship came from connecting in corporate worship every week.

I am so thankful for those seeds planted by my mom. There was never anything that would replace our weekly trek to church. Even when mom was sick, which wasn’t very often, she’d make sure I had a ride to church with one of our neighbors. Because of those seeds, I’m compelled to be at weekly worship and I believe fully what Dallas Willard wrote when he penned these words -- “worship is the single most powerful force in completing and sustaining the spiritual formation of the whole person.”

Over the years, when Rich and I have been on our travels, we have experienced so many different forms of churches and worship. Whether it was the Greek Orthodox section of Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Vineyard church outside of Vancouver, BC, the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Zagreb, Croatia, the Protestant American Cathedral in Paris, or the little non-denominational church in a movie theater in Florianopolis, Brazil all had one thing in common – they came together to honor and worship Jesus in a their own way.

We didn’t even need to know the language, you could feel the Holy Spirit at work. You could see on the faces of the people a love for Christ and a love for one another.

Every week I look forward to my time of worship with people who love Jesus. Worshipping with other believers is a powerful soul builder. Especially, if we can leave ourselves at the doorstep and focus on worshipping God.

Doesn’t matter the style of worship, the surroundings that we worship in or even the language that is spoken. What matters is where our hearts are. I think it was what the writer of Hebrews was referring to when he wrote “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

I pray that this may plant a seed in you. A seed of love for Christ’s Body (the Church) and a love and passion for worshipping in it with other believers.

Photo Credit

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ15c_dXk00