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

The Biggest "But" In The Bible

A single mom who put herself through college in hopes of providing a better life for her family gets the call from HR after interviewing for her dream job. She hears, “You have amazing strengths and qualifications, BUT we just don’t feel like you’re the right fit for us at this time.” Her disappointment seems crushing!

A 15 year old boy spends all summer training and practicing for for high school football tryouts. He gives 110% and feels confident he’s made the team. Until the coach calls him into his office to say...”You gave a great effort kid, BUT we feel you aren’t quite ready. Keep practicing and try again next year...” It's a massive setback for his hopes of being a high school athlete!

A man who God called to do some seemingly impossible things answers, “you’ve got the wrong guy”, but eventually obeys and becomes the leader of an entire nation. Despite his insecurities and fears, he continues to trust God and faithfully leads His people through all the ups and downs with the hope that they would arrive in the land promised to them. Near the end of his days, God leads him to a mountain and shows him the promised land. The long, difficult journey is over and the hard-earned reward is there for him to enjoy!

Until God says this in Deuteronomy 34: “I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, BUT you will not enter the land.” (There’s that “but” word again bringing with it disappointments and setbacks!)

It’s the biggest “but” in the Bible and I can’t help but be gripped with disappointment for Moses every time I read the story. Can you imagine how he may have felt standing on that mountain? Yet the story ends by saying Moses was the greatest of all the prophets. Moses’s life is a model to us for giving our all to God even when we’re going through all of it.

I hope you’ll join me this weekend as we talk more about living lives of authentic worship to God, even when we’re in the mess of disappointments, setback and failures. I’m praying now that people will find hope and strength as they desire to trust God, while navigating their own life’s troubles. It’s never easy, but it is possible!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

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

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

The Attitude You Bring

  Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Rich and I have a routine -- get up at 6:45 am, shower, dress, drive to PCC Market on Avondale, get a cup of coffee (or tea), go through their breakfast buffet line, stop at bakery section and get a mini croissant (that’s for me), sit down in their little eating area and enjoy our breakfast, leave at 8:10 to arrive at the church in time for music rehearsal, run through the songs with Eliot and Rhonda (laugh a lot – Eliot is really funny in the morning), greet people who are coming to worship and then spend an hour worshipping with the 9:30 congregation. I love that time. I can’t think of anything more fulfilling or exciting than worshipping our Almighty God with a group of people I love to be with.

For several years of my life, I didn’t have the same excitement and enthusiasm that I have now. To get up early Sunday morning and get ready to go church to worship with my friends. Sleeping in or riding my horse or bicycling to Folsom Lake to swim, had a bit more appeal to me than going to church to worship. But in my mother’s household there was no other option available to me. So, when I moved out on my own, Sunday morning became a time of sleeping in (I mean it was my only sleep in day). I worked and went to school and Sunday was my only day off. Dr. Phil might ask “And how did that work for you?” Let’s just say it was not my wisest move. I fell into the “I can worship God anywhere” trap (which is true, but there is something about worshipping God in community that is irreplaceable by individual worship time.)

What I discovered is that for me my enjoyment and my enthusiasm for worship has direct correlation to my attitude toward God. When my relationship with Him is strong then my enthusiasm for worshipping with others is high also.

When Rich and I travel we always find a place to worship with other believers. That has been a great experience and a great way for us to understand that worshipping God really is not about what is happening in the service, but what is happening in your heart. One of greatest times of worship was in a small Catholic Church in Florianopolis, Brazil. We were not familiar with Catholic forms of worship, we don’t speak Portuguese and we didn’t know a soul. However, we entered this beautiful little church which was filled to standing room only. The priest was leading the singing and he was a bit off key but everyone was singing out. They were all dressed like we were in their summer shorts and t-shirts and you could tell they were very excited about being there. We just got caught up in their enthusiasm and it was a bit like Pentecost. I told Rich, I think I know what they are saying. When they sang words, we hummed along. It was a great experience. I realized then what true worshipping “in spirit and truth” was all about. It’s about my heart and where it is at. It’s about my relationship with God.

This week I look forward to sharing with you what God’s word teaches us about the “attitude you bring” to worship each week.

Look forward to seeing you.

Blessings on your life,

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

Empowering Encounters

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." St Augustine

Empowering Encounters from God and the Holy Spirit are something I crave today in my faith. To be newly awakened to His great love and divine presence in my every day living. To experience the supernatural and be freed from the traps of a boring, lazy and mundane faith.

Do you resonate with this? Are you finding yourself with the same desires? Restless for more of God? You're in a good spot, my friend!

Here's what I've learned whenever I crave new and empowering experiences with God...

1. Receiving this fresh revival of faith almost always begins with worship. Intentional worship that sets my heart and mind in their rightful position where I'm more aware of, and open to receive God's presence.
2.  My worship cannot be dependent upon feelings. My feelings are in constant flux, therefore, making it almost impossible to experience authentic connection with God who is always unchanging and unwavering.

The unfortunate reality for many of us (myself included) is we have become convinced that worship is music and the worship music needs to make us feel connected to God for it to be good worship.

Eugene Peterson, in his book: The Pastor - wrote these prophetic and convicting words regarding worship:

By the time I arrived on the scene as a pastor, the American church had reinterpreted the worship of God as an activity for religious consumers.  Entertainment, manipulation and cheer-leading were conspicuous in high places.  American worship was conceived as a public relations campaign for Jesus and his angels. Worship had been cheapened into a commodity marketed by using tried and true advertising techniques.  If so called worshippers didn't "get anything out of it," there had been no worship worth coming back for. Instead of calling people to worship God, pastors all over the country were inviting people to have a "worship experience".  Worship was evaluated on the satisfaction scale of one to ten. 

It struck me as a violation of the holy, a secularization of the sacred.  Taking the Lord's name in vain. I determined to reintroduce the idea: let us worship God. I knew this wasn't going to be easy.  The entertainment model for worship in America was pervasive.

Tough words, huh?

If you're craving a more empowering faith and find yourself desiring God to move through you in fresh, powerful ways; I strongly encourage you to join us this month as we dive into the topic of worship.  Our aim is to explore the Bible and the many stories of genuine worship from regular, every day people AND to help provide you with a guide for living a life of worship.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn how much God desires it and how we were made for it.  See you this weekend!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

The Grace Revolution

Terrorism is something that might come into our conversations. If not weekly, perhaps even daily. Read Psalm 46 and remember how we trust God instead of giving in to fear and faithlessness.

This weekend I am preaching on the Book of Jonah and terrorism.  I believe that we, as Christ followers, can be raised to a higher level of bold faith in this world that God has put us in to raise our families.  In addition, I am going to interview a member of our church who survived one of the worst acts of terrorism in U.S. history.  See how God was faithful in this dramatic story and how he is ready to unleash bold faith and revolutionary kindness on each of our lives.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

One Ditch At A Time

When I was in high school, I went to work part time for a contractor who built luxury homes in the Tacoma area. I was excited to learn the trade of building and even bought a really nice tool belt, framing hammer and square. I showed up to the job site on my first day- ready and eager!  As I approached the contractor, he did something that completely caught me off guard. He handed me a shovel and said, “You’ll need your gloves...”  Suddenly, my first day went from genuine eagerness, to a bit of fear as I knew a shovel and gloves meant I wasn’t going to be building much of anything that day.

He instructed me to dig a ditch. A large one. He said it was for drainage and it needed to be 8ft long, by 3ft wide, by 3ft deep. At this point, I had to look around and make sure I wasn’t working at a cemetery! Was I digging my own grave out here?!?

Upon giving me the instructions, he left to another job site. Suddenly, I was all alone. Just me and my shovel. I began the long and painful task of digging the ditch. It was hard work!  A few hours later the contractor returned to look at my progress. He offered some “atta-boy” sentiments, which was nice, but I was really wanting to be done with this job!

Later, I finished the huge ditch, got into my car and drove home dirty, exhausted and hoping I didn’t make a huge mistake taking this job. Well...it wasn’t a mistake at all.

The next day, he had me come back to the same site, except there were no shovels. It was a day spent learning the basics of home construction! The contractor told me that while the ditch was indeed for drainage and very important to the house, he had me do that job just to see how well I would follow his instructions. Those listening skills my parents had taught me as a boy had paid off!!

In the book of 2 Kings, there is a story of people who were instructed to dig ditches. A lot of them! The reason for the ditches was quite simple: Listen to what God was telling them to do, then do it in a trusting way and see what happens. The Bible actually has quite a lot to say about faith and action. Psalm 37 tells us to “trust in the Lord and DO good...”

I hope you’ll join me this Sunday, as we explore this story of ditches and trusting God in 2 Kings 3. This will be a conclusion of our series on Trust and I hope that if you’ve heard any of these messages, you’ve grown in your understanding of trust and faith. It’s never something we will perfect. No one does. This is a long journey of progression toward growth and maturity. The key is in not giving up. God is with us and He’s always good and faithful to prove Himself trustworthy!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

Hurry Up and Wait

In the military, they have a saying “hurry up and wait.” That’s because there is a lot of waiting when you serve in the military - and because the military is serious business so they hurry to the points, then they wait.  So it is with life.  We rush to the hospital to wait and wait and wait for a child to be born.  We wait for those we love to pass on to heaven because it is the right thing to do.  We rush to the doctor and we wait in the waiting room.  We rush to fill all the forms out for a new job, a new house, a new car, a loan, a refinance, a college application and we wait.

 Last week, one of my hero’s – (even though he is younger than I am, he is still my hero) – Matthew Barnett  sent me a note.  He has a spiritual gift of prophecy and from time to time I get these odd notes from him.  One time he commented on my Facebook page “you need to be the first one to the conference you are speaking at and the last one to leave and visit with as many people as possible”.  I received his word and wow! what a blessing that conference turned out to be.  This week, he left a note for me that said, “You need to preach on Psalm 37”.  I have only spent a few times with him so I cannot say I know him well.  I think I know his dad better.  But I do consider him a friend – especially after watching God work so mightily through his life at the Dream Center.  I don’t know if he sent that note to  a lot of people or just to me, but after his comments about the conference I took his note literally and I am preaching on Trust so it is Psalm 37 this week.   As many of you may already know – this is a powerful passage and it is one of the “Trust in the Lord and Wait upon the Lord” passages.

 As I drove to work for an appointment this morning there was some construction. I let someone merge into my lane and the person behind me started to make all kinds of gestures.  Some of them were clearly not favorable.  She was not cheering me on for my act of kindness, which slowed us down for maybe 3 seconds.  She kept pointing to the man sitting next to her.  I (and my 135 pound dog Gus, who takes these kind of threats more seriously than I) looked at her and the man setting next to her and he shrugged his shoulders in timidity.  She kept yelling at me – I could not hear her, but it looked like she was going to bust a blood vessel back there.

 I would like to say this is a ‘one-in-a-million’ occurrence in our world, but we have all had experiences similar to this – right? Our whole community needs to learn to Rest in the Lord, Wait on the Lord, Trust in the Lord.  Well, it turns out that Psalm 37 has some fresh, innovative, practical solutions for all the pent-up restlessness in each of us.  As we all know, trusting God and waiting on God and resting in God is much easier to say than to do.  Psalm 37 is a birds-eye view from the mountain-top of our little world and shows how we  need God’s perspective to really develop that inner peace, strength and poise in order to act rightly in following God. Won’t you join me this weekend as we are all blessed by an encouraging Biblical message right from God to each of us?

 Your friend for the rest of my life,

 Pastor Tim White