Christmas Experience

Do you remember what it was like to wake up on Christmas morning as a child? Your eyes pop open: it's Christmas! You glance outside: it snowed!! The soft padding of your slippered feet as you dash into the living room: Santa came! Christmas is meant to be experienced, with sights and sounds and smells that burn the moment into your memory for years to come...A visceral experience that ignites the hope God intends for each of us.

On Sunday, December 21, bring the whole family to walk through the manger scene at Washington Cathedral. Little ones can hold a baby lamb to their chest as the Biblical story comes alive with a live petting zoo. Meet Mary and Joseph characters, and take a picture with Santa as a keepsake.

Help your family to remember, “Christmas doesn't come from a store...maybe Christmas means a little bit more.”

Christmas Experience - Sunday Dec 21^st and Dec 24^th

What - An unforgettable Christmas experience.  On Sunday, take a walk through the first Christmas with a kids drama, petting zoo, and even pictures with Santa.

On Christmas Eve, celebrate Christmas with our beautiful Candlelight Services. Afterwards come enjoy snacks and sing carols around a bonfire while you wait for a ride in a horse drawn carriage.

Why you should bring someone - Both of these are perfect opportunities to bring family and friends.  Pray about whom you can bring to these Christmas Experiences.

Help your family to remember, "Christmas doesn't come from a store...maybe Christmas means a little bit more."

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Orphan Sunday Prayer

Dear Father, On this Orphan Sunday, we join with Your people across our country and beyond to pray for orphans. We know that love for these precious children begins not with us, but with You. You pursued us when we were wayward and alone. You adopted us as your children. You invite us to address you as Daddy and to live as Your sons and daughters. Truly, we love because You first loved us.

You tell us also that You are near to the downtrodden and destitute. Your heart aches for children that face the world alone. You champion the cause of those who have no one else to take their side. And You call us to do the same.

So we pray that You would rouse us to share your heart. We ask that You would stir Your people to passion and vision and action on behalf of children that have no family.

We lift up to You the millions of children in the world who have lost their parents to disease, to war, to addiction, to poverty, to abandonment. As You promise to do, place the lonely in families. Be their defender, their provider, their hope and peace. Help us to do the same.

We pray also for the children in our foster system in America. So often, they are bounced from home to home, knowing little love, consistency or true nurture. Please be their love, their consistency, their nurture. Help us to do the same.

We confess that we have often lived with little regard for these precious lives. Please forgive us. Lead us to take up their cause, not in guilt or obligation, but as a joyful response to Your great love for us.

As we do, we pray that You would use our humble response to transform. To transform the lives of countless orphans both physically and spiritually. To transform us as we encounter You in them. To transform Your Church as we lift our eyes beyond our own comfort and self-focused religion to live out the painful beauty of the Gospel. And finally, to transform a watching world as it catches glimpses of Your love made visible through the actions of Your people.

We commit all this to You, the One who is both our Father and a Father to the fatherless, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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I was an orphan, so I will care for orphans

As we celebrated Orphan Sunday this past weekend, we came to two powerful conclusions:

• I was an orphan, but I was adopted
• I was an orphan so I will care for orphans

Our first conclusion is based the idea that we are all prodigal children separated from our Heavenly Father. But as Galatians 4:4-5 tell us, Jesus redeems us making adoption possible. This is the gospel message.

 The second conclusion is where we are praying our church can lead the way. In our broken world there are vulnerable children who don’t know that Jesus promised to adopt them. So as a great caring network, we all have a role in loving the least of these. So the question is, how will you care for orphans? Locally and globally?

 Here are some ideas:

- Come on a mission trip to serve on the frontlines.

- Plugging in to our student ministries or kids ministries as volunteer.

- Getting your TLC involved in global orphan care.

- Sponsoring/supporting some of the projects are church has partnered with.

- Taking time as a family to pray for the global orphan crises. 

How's your heart?

Something we don’t think about often, but is so true, is the idea that what comes out of our mouths stems from what is in our hearts. And we are not talking about the physical heart, but rather the invisible part of you that poets and philosophers write about. You see, life is hard on the heart. The world lodges stuff in our heart that have no business being in there. And over time those things grow and grows until eventually they makes it way out.   And usually the anger or guilt or greed or jealousy that has been in our hearts, when it comes out it wrecks havoc on all the relationships we are in. Which is why above all else we need to guard our hearts. Everything we do flows from it. It is literally where life comes from. But how do we guard it? Hopefully you will follow along during the month of November as we teach habits that can help you guard your heart.

Based on a couple books (Renovation of the heart and Enemies of the heart) I have developed a list of questions I ask my children (and myself). Ask away.

• Is everything okay in your heart?
• Did someone hurt your feelings today?
• Did someone break a promise to you today?
• You mad at anybody?
• Are you waiting around for someone to come to you to make things right?
• Have you had any extended imaginary conversations with anybody lately?
• Do things come out of your mouth on a regular basis, that you have to apologize for? That embarrass you?
• Have you secretly celebrated someone failure in the past few days?
• Got any secrets eating at you?
• Anything going on you hope no one discovers?
• Is there is a question you hope no one ever ask you?
• Is there something you need to tell someone?
• Have you lied recently to someone you love?
• Are you worried about anything?

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.

Growing or Dying

Do you have a plan to grow and challenge yourself this spring? Pastor Rey encourages us to grow by joining small groups and sharing our struggles and praises with others.

Can you believe that it's already May? This year has just flown by. Isabela is a year old and desperately needs Jesus in her heart. Elijah is learning lots in kindergarten. We are reading a book on science and biology together. One interesting fact I learned years back, but had forgotten - "Every living thing is either growing or dying." I think that is true regarding our faith as well. Over the years, I have noticed that same principle re-enacted in the lives of countless people. I can divide people into two categories - growing or dying. I think Peter has this in mind when he writes in his letter –

1 Peter 1:5-10 “ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble…”

You can hear this in Peter voice - you are either growing in your faith or it is inevitable that you will be dying. So add this and that to your faith. Don’t stagnate. Don’t get comfortable with the status quo make every effort to grow and make it a priority. If you don't make every effort to grow, you will stumble. So how are you going to grow this spring/summer? My suggestion - get into one of these TLC’s. Share your faith and struggles with others. Read and study scripture together. Sharpen yourself and other s in the process. Please pray about joining a group. Like what you see but want more? Check out Washington Cathedral's website for more information.

Finding God Right Now

It's easy to see God in your past or imagine God in your future, but how do we did God now? Check out our video devotional by pastor Ben. He gives some tips on how to do it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by5Dm_HQSSQ&w=640&h=360]

What I Wish I Could Tell These Children

What I Wish I Could Tell These Children

Part three of Pastor Rey's reflection after his trip to Kenya where he met many children, many orphaned. Even surrounded by terrible conditions he was reminded of God's love for each of them.

There are so many. Everywhere I go. Everywhere I look there are children. Beautiful children. Poverty, malaria and the HIV virus have left countless children orphaned in Kenya. As I have visited orphanages and schools, both in the city and in the rural areas, I keep hearing God's whisper in my heart - "I have compassion for these children."

As I said goodbye to these children, I have put my hand out to shake their hands. I was able to shake a couple hands but can’t reach all the kids. They all run after me, just wanting to shake my hand. There are so many. I wish I could do more. I wish had more time and resources. I don’t want these children, so valuable in God's sight, just to become a number or statistic. If I had time I would tell them all -

"Your are loved and valued. You can’t imagine how much God loves you. I want you to know you are the apple of your creator's eye. I want you to know you are God's work of art, fearfully and wonderfully made. I want you to know God has a plan for you. I want you to know God loved you so much he sent his own son to die for you. I want you to know God is the father of the fatherless. I want you to know that God will not leave you as orphans. I want you to know one day there will be no tears, no pain, and no loneliness. That there is hope."

That's why we are partnering with these amazing projects where many children can experience the love of God. Where these children can see that their Heavenly Father loves them, each in a unique way.

Like what you see but want more? Check out Washington Cathedral's website for more information

3MT - Getting the Family Together for Easter

Check out our devotional series, 3 Minute Thoughts, a devotional thought in three minutes or less.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhPKnhaDFw&w=640&h=360]

Check out the Washington Cathedral website for more sermons, information on how you can get involved, and more on all of the good things that God can do in your life.

Noah Never Gave Up

Noah never gave up. What about us?

Our Music Director, Rhonda Jones, wrote this short devotional on the ridiculous faith of Noah. He stood out because he lived his life to please the Lord. Because of his faith, God gave him a seemingly ridiculous mission. Yet Noah continued to stay strong in his faith even when he was mocked for his unrelenting trust in the Lord.

Thoughts on Noah...

This morning as I was driving to work I heard a pastor on the radio sharing about Noah.  Now, we’ve all heard the Bible story and within the past few years. We've maybe even watched a comedic movie about Noah and his willingness to obey God at all costs - especially after being mocked by his peers (for inordinate amounts of facial hair and his unethical biblical dress code).But did you realize Noah worked on the ark after receiving a vision from God…and that is took him 120 years to complete the building of the ark?  120 years!  A flood of questions ran through my mind:

1. What kind of training did Noah have when it came to constructing a boat?
2. What were his qualifications?
3. If he lived in the desert, where did he get the wood to construct the boat?
4. Where would you even begin to think about building a boat that took up 100,000 square feet? (I hope he owned a large chunk of property…I’d be pretty upset if one of my neighbors plunked down a boat bigger than the Titanic in his front yard…wouldn’t you?)

Noah stood out among everyone else because his life pleased the Lord…enough that God thought of a way to save the human race and keep a few copies on hand of each of the animals (anything that could breathe air) for procreation. I don’t think God wanted to have to create a whole new earth again.  It hadn’t been that long since He’d put it all together in the first place (at least it seems that way-the story of Noah takes place in the 6th chapter of the very first book of the Old Testament).

And in the beginning of Genesis it says that God saw what He had made and it was very good (Genesis 1:31)!  No wonder God's heart was sick…He longed for the fellowship of the human race and only one man and his family even acknowledged His existence!  Everyone else was too involved in their sin to see the heart of God.  Oh, my soul yearns to see the heart of God, doesn’t yours?

“Lord, give me the courage and wisdom to pick up the nails and hammer and begin to build the things in my life that need creating or rebuilding.  Remove the rusty nails that have become embedded in my heart and give me a refreshing that can only come from touching the heart of Jesus.  I love You and want to be the best me I can be for this Great Caring Network as you continue to build up this moving, living, breathing body of Christ.  Amen.”

All kidding aside, Noah was an amazing man.  God was ready to do away with the entire human race.  It says in Genesis 6:6 that the Lord’s heart was filled with pain because of man’s desire to sin.  Our God is so righteous He can’t be in the presence of sin…our sin makes Him sick in His heart.  In thinking it over, I don’t want my behavior to make the Lord’s heart sick.  I’d rather He “dance over me or sing over me” (read Zephaniah 3:17-18) because what He sees is pleasing in His sight.

“No wonder God's heart was sick…He longed for the fellowship of the human race and only one man and his family even acknowledged His existence!

As Far As The Eye Can See

As Far As The Eye Can See

Part two of Pastor Rey's reflection on his trip to Africa. There he had a chance to meet amazing people and to be reawakened in his faith. He saw the light that shines in the many people working to help overcome the darkness and suffering in African slums.

The scope. The gravity. The magnitude. The sheer monstrosity of it overwhelms.

I could never have imagined. As far as I could see in either direction, I was surrounded by the ‘Mathera’ slum. It has a million people packed into indescribable living conditions, and it is not even the largest slum in Nairobi! Researchers have estimated about two thirds of the 3 million inhabitants live in slums. The slums are full of darkness according to any measure: poverty, HIV, drugs, orphans, and gangs.

Yet in the midst of the darkness is a light. There is a school led by a saint named Richard, who has started a church in the ‘Mathera’ slum. He noticed that after church, many of the children would have nowhere to go, as they were orphans. So he started a school called Patmos.

Currently, there are 88 children, most of which are orphans from nursery to sixth grade. The entire school structure is made of old tin makeshift walls and is no bigger than a 15ft x 15ft. The classrooms are all combined as they only have 4 teachers who can works months without receiving payment. The first thing Richard told me was "I love God and I love these children. And I know God loves these children too."

At Patmos the students receive an education, a meal and a family. And through it all they receive the love of God.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5 NIV)

Like what you see but want more? Check out Washington Cathedral's website for more information.