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

Reflections On The Wonder of Music

Dearest Father Above,

I thank You for music-for in it I get lost in your peace and your grace.  I thank you also for your creation of ears to hear, hands to play, eyes to see, vocal chords to verbalize and to produce melodic tones and for the creation of sounds that loft from instruments conceived from minds that you filled with brains and nerves and feelings.

Lord, your plans are like an ecosystem.  Each note that is produced in praise to you rises to you and comes back to the giver and to all those around them in a sweet, cohesive and connective way.   Music is a love that all can comprehend on some level of their being and it is interpreted by each in their own unique way.   Within this, you also connect your kingdom; for music is a connection TO you and equally a connection BETWEEN all those who love you.

Songs of praise throughout the ages with each word penned had a meaning to he who penned it, and as those songs are passed from generation to generation there is a connective tissue formed that truly connects us to believers long departed from this earthly home.  We feel in each lifting or falling of the notes a rising of souls to reach toward You in a way that words or lyrics alone cannot express.

If we make a joyful noise toward you, no man alive can judge it; for it is not intended for them.   When we lose ourselves in music, we can see the glory of your kingdom above this earthly realm…as if the Angels are joining us and we can also hear them. Each generation from the days of Genesis has created musical praise to You, and within all of those generations of music there is a theme; not unlike the Bible.   In fact, much of the music written to praise You has a direct inspiration from your ACTUAL words written to guide us.  Music is a mighty force that can be used for good or for evil, but as believers choose to use it for good it becomes a torch that lights hearts on fire for you.

I thank you, Lord for my fellow believers; those with gifts of musical talent which you have provided them and those who dedicate themselves to sharing that gift with others.  Lord, I thank you for each of my fellow believers who choose to make a joyful noise with reckless abandon and for their gifts or lack of gifts in the musical realm.  For when I hear praises in song lifted above I hear a harmony of hearts and minds united for you.  Your plans for music were for our good and we love you for giving us the chance to connect with you and your kingdom on this level.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

~LouAn Williams

Learning To Love (and Like) Crazy Uncle Eddie

Central to Jesus’ teachings is the message that we are to love others. In fact, he says in John 15 that his very commandment is to love each other the way that he has loved us. Love. At first glance, we might think, “No problem. I love people!” But his word for love has a much deeper meaning than what our society often understands, embraces, and practices. The word for love here is “Agape”. It simply means that we will fully love others in ways that show sacrifice and humility. Remember when Jesus washed his disciples feet? That was agape love. If we believe Jesus died on the cross for us, then we essentially have accepted his agape love. Even when we did nothing to deserve this kind of love. When it comes to family, most parents understand and practice agape love to their kids all the time. They understand the sacrifice of putting the needs of their children before their own. That explains why we, parents of young children, often look tired and haggard walking into church! But what about our crazy Uncle Eddie? You know...the people in our family who not only are difficult to love, but to LIKE?!? What about these people? How do we show agape to them when we’d rather not be in the same room with them? Frankly, there is never an easy answer this..

Rather than try and provide solutions, I thought I’d offer a couple insights that are worth remembering when we are having a hard time loving (or even liking) difficult family members:

1. It’s worth remembering that Jesus showed agape to others when they had done nothing to earn it, or even deserve it. Are we making anyone in our family feel that they have to earn our love and acceptance?

2. When Jesus displayed agape to others it was also a way of showing his respect to them. Despite some family being hard to love, are you respecting them? Do you shame them behind their back? Do you disrespect them in front of other family members?

3. Remember, that to someone, somewhere we are probably difficult to love, too. It’s never just about others and not about us. We need grace just as much as crazy Uncle Eddie!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Rex

Photo Credit

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrP8l-Qi29M

Living Your Unique, Creative, Beautiful and Jesus Centered Identity

Last week the music world was shocked to hear about the sudden death of the astoundingly creative musician, Prince. Prince was a pop music icon who in the 1980’s and 90’s sold millions of albums and influenced music forever. It didn’t take long for many other music stars to begin honoring Prince in their concerts by covering one of his songs. Usually, his most famous song, Purple Rain...

Watching these talented people pay tribute to one of their heroes is really cool, but it makes me miss a talent like Prince even more as I realize his music and creative ability just can’t be replaced. He was that good!

Prince had a unique identity and look about him as well. Creative. Unabashed. Colorful. Enigmatic. His identity, like his talent, cannot be replaced or even copied. One of the reasons people will miss him so much is because he made the very most of his talent and creativeness. He made the most of his unique identity.

The Bible teaches us that everyone who receives Christ becomes a new creation. In essence, Jesus gives us a new identity wrapped in the beauty and grace of all that he is. The challenge, of course is to live in this world and not be captivated by it in such a way that we fail to remember our new identity in Jesus is made to be lived to the fullest. We are called to authentically and vigorously live our unique, creative, beautiful and Jesus centered lives in such a way that when we one day leave this earth, others will say of us...there can be no other (fill in your name)!

What kind of impact is your Christ-born identity making today in your world as a mom, a dad, a coach, an employer, a co-worker, a neighbor, or a friend? What legacy are we leaving this world? Know today that God has great purpose for you and your identity as a follower of Jesus is to show this world the kind of loving, good, gracious and powerful God He really is. Now, go and live your identity with vigor!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

Photo Credit

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBgjbVHm0NE

What are you wearing?

What do Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus all have in common?  I learned after attending a seminar that just mentioning one of their names in a blog will increase the attention you get on the web.  I didn’t, however, learn who they are because I belong to the secret society of the ‘uncool’, which prevents all members from knowing anything about what is cool.  It is kind of a “bizzaro world” to find I am the opposite of today’s cool young pastors.   But happily I am part of the church, which is the family of God where we are all loved and accepted.

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are Jew or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free.  Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Colossians 3:10-11

Have you intentionally put on your new nature today?  I remember when I was a football player we had a cowboy on our team who used to put his pants on two legs at a time. I asked him once why he did such an odd thing and he responded, “Well, right now the other teams coach is telling his players not to worry about us, we put our pants on one leg at a time. I am proving to them that they need to worry about me.”

Putting clothes on is an intentional act.  Have you ever tried to dress a two year old? They squirm – they run away. In fact, I think they would rather be naked like some vestige left from the Adam and Eve linage from the Garden of Eden.

Putting on our “new Christ like nature” clothing is also purposeful.  We clothe ourselves with tenderheartedness, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  We make allowance for each other’s faults.  And above all else we clothe ourselves with Christ’s love.  Just like we decide what we are going to wear for the day every morning, we need to make the choice to put on a Christ like nature.

For some of us it is slipping on a cross necklace everyday.  For others it is kneeling at the foot of our bed to dedicate the day to Jesus before we tackle the challenges ahead of us. There are so many ways to make that choice ranging from daily devotions to verse memorization to quiet time in prayer to many other practices. What purposeful steps are you taking to dedicate each and everyday to filling your life with Christ?

There are so many different ways, find the one that centers your heart on Christ. Be willing to change up your routine if your heart isn’t following your actions. And remember you are not alone in pursuing a deeper relationship with Christ, your church family (the same one that accepts my uncoolness) is there to encourage and support you.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypBccI8YBH8

When Grief is Good

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” - Jesus Mourning...Sadness...Grief. Feelings every human being will experience on some level in their lifetime. Life has its ways of giving us opportunities to grieve a loss. Yet, no one is really ever an expert in mourning. There are therapists, books and online resources that help guide us through the long journey of grief, but never are we experts.

Jesus’ promise to us is that when we find ourselves mourning, we are blessed with God’s approval and we will know His comfort. But how exactly does God comfort? After all, He doesn’t just show up and give us hugs like a friend would do. No, God comforts us by instilling joy deep within our hearts. David understood this when he wrote, “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps 30:5).

Do you find yourself grieving today? Deeply saddened by a loss that hurts you to your very core? Allow me the opportunity to offer a couple thoughts on how we might experience God’s comfort and ultimately see that grief can be good.

• Grief is good when we invite others into our grieving. The temptation is to want to be alone and to just “get through this”. The danger in isolating ourselves is when we don’t have someone to talk with, we often develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. Grieving with others fights the pull to avoid feelings and hurts.

• Grief is good in that it reveals to us just how much we loved. When we grieve the loss of someone close to us, we can use that powerful sadness to show us just how much we opened ourselves to the person in love. It tells us that we’re capable of possessing powerful feelings of love for another person and that love brought us immense joy. Therein lies the comfort that God offers us when we mourn...the opportunity to know how deep our love was and the joy we knew and will continue to know because of our time with them.

God is a good Father who will not abandon us when we mourn. In fact, I’m confident today that you will discover Him to be closer to you now, than ever before!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Rex

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

Lifetime Friendships

Lifetime friendships form the real church.  Anything else is a crowd or an event.

Greater love has no one than this to lay down one’s life for a friend.  John 15:14

Throughout two thousand years of history there have been many things that have been called ‘the church’.  Buildings, wars, rallies, crusades, organizations, political regimes, clusters of political/social groups which would unite together to protect their cultural identity, liberals and conservatives, armies and social organizations, tax loop hole people, etc. However, none of those are the bride of Christ or the body of Christ.

As my grandpa used to say, “You can’t climb the ladder of success by using the church.”  The church is about humility, service, authenticity, sacrifice, joy, family, and reaching out to others that are not like your group. A huge crowd is not a church, a beautiful building with gold ceilings is not a church, scholastic degrees do not make a church, nor does a wonderful success story make a church.  A church is when Jesus is present and it is apparent by the love.  It’s when we are friends not slaves.

When my wife, Jackie, and I started Washington Cathedral we made a radical commitment that we expect to honor.  We knew it would not be easy. It fact it would require crazy love.  You’re friends for the rest of our lives.  I’ve turned down a lot of great job opportunities to honor those words.

Those roots mean something, especially to the kids and the senior adults in our community, and we couldn’t quit loving the people of Washington Cathedral even if we tried.  Throughout the years it has meant early morning hospital visits, all nights of prayer, late evening counseling appointments, and middle of the night emergencies. And for many more years it will continue to mean meeting people for coffee to encourage them, praying three hours a day for every friend, attending kids’ games, visiting people in jail, and having friends stay at our home with us. Through all these things we reach out with Christ's love.

I was recently talking to one of the sharp young people who grew up in our church and tumbling out of me came, “I so appreciate your ministry.  You are a valued to friend to Jackie and I.  You always seem to have our back.  I know God has great things ahead for you.”  Those words came from a deeper place in my heart than I knew existed.

Last week, I shared the vision of the church and shared a quote from Mother Theresa, “We don’t get clarity as much as we get trust.”  I trust that our church family will continue to focus on healthy life long friendships as we try to live up to being a great caring network or as the Bible calls it the Body of Christ.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4leT5obUr4