Andy's Blog: A Personal Word
October 2008 Archive
October 28, 2008
Oct. 28, 2008I walked into the sanctuary Friday afternoon to find two of our Flower Committee ladies at work preparing for Sunday. “Oh, we’re not doing the arrangement today, just getting ready to come back tomorrow to do it.” If you were here on Sunday, you know that the arrangement was spectacular. When I saw the ladies who did it, I asked them how long it took. “Oh, we got here at 8 AM yesterday, and left around 2 PM.” I had no idea! Probably eight plus hours went into that one element of our worship.
I share that to let you know how much care, time and effort is put into every aspect of ministry at Trinity! Sunday was one of those days when all of these efforts came into focus. We had six different groups from our Music Ministry participating in addition to the Trinity Orchestra. This was a couple of hundred folks. Add to this our usher teams, greeters, acolytes, technicians...you get the picture. Downstairs, our Celebration Luncheon team was busy preparing lunch for 800 plus – probably another hundred or so volunteers. This was in addition to the normal Sunday ministries, like Sunday School, which uses almost 70 volunteers just for our children’s area. On Sunday evening, I stopped by The Haven youth center – it was packed with youth, but even more encouraging was the number of adults who were present assisting in everything from serving supper to helping with the program.
Excellence – the wow factor – is what we strive for in all we do. We want the quality of our ministry to reflect the goodness and greatness of the God we serve. Sometimes we take for granted the quality of our ministries. Sunday helped me to remember and to give thanks for this incredible group of people that God has called to be His church at Trinity. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving your time, your talents, your resources and yourselves to do the work of Christ.
October 21, 2008
Oct. 21, 2008While making hospital calls a few weeks back, I ran into one of our church members with two friends who were also making a visit to see someone. Our member has two sons in our youth group and wanted to tell me what a difference it was making in her boys’ lives. The two other moms with her chimed in. They were not members of Trinity, but their sons also attended out youth group – wouldn’t miss it! They thanked me for what Trinity was doing for their youth.
I got a call several months back from a friend who is a member of another congregation. She told me that she had checked around, talked to lots of people and Trinity had the best weekday program for children she could find. She wanted to know how she could get her child into our program.
At our new member dinner at the parsonage recently, people were sharing what brought them to Trinity. One young man said, ‘Trinity is like the TV series Cheers, without the alcohol!” Here he has found a warmth and openness that drew him in. Another person at that dinner, who is returning to church after many years of not going anywhere, said “Trinity opened its arms wide and welcomed me.”
Lives are being touched and changed through the ministry of Trinity. This Sunday is Celebration Sunday. Together, we will celebrate the ministry of our church and make our commitment to that ministry for the coming year. I can’t stress how important this Sunday is – it’s just a couple of hours in one day, but what happens in this time determines what happens the other 364 days of the year in our church. If stories like these are to continue, it will take all of our support.
Please be in worship this Sunday to share the good news of what you are doing to make this happen. Stay for lunch as we sit down as a church family to enjoy our fellowship in Christ.
October 14, 2008
Oct. 14, 2008There hasn’t been a whole lot of good news the last couple of weeks. Falling markets, lost jobs, decreasing home values – not much to celebrate there. If we are counting on these kinds of things for our happiness and purpose in life, then we have much to be gloomy about. Times are tough!
And yet, we as Christians had our birth in tough times. An occupied territory under the boot of Rome, a homeless couple bringing a son into the world in a stable, a brutal execution – this is our story. Tough stuff. Which is precisely why the gospel is called good news. In the very worst of circumstances, God was/is present, God acts, God redeems. As Paul wrote, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing! The word Gospel means literally, “good news.”
The characteristic note of the early Christians was joy. They were not wealthy or well-heeled for the most part. Some of them were slaves. They struggled to make ends meet. Despite all of this, the early Christian congregations were jubilent, exulting assemblies.
Gerald Stephens writes about visiting a Christian congregation in the Congo. These folks were third world and poor. Despite this, he says he has never witnessed such real joy in worship: “…probably the most joyous times are the offering times – the singing reaches its loudest, the dancing and clapping is at its most unbridled. Usually, there are at least two offerings per worship service – one for the parish, the other for the poor.”
“Worshippers come forward dancing and singing to put their money into a box at the front of the worship place. I most enjoy watching the older men dance to the front, chuck their money in the box, and then dance back to their places. They’re dressed to the nines and do a kind of understated two-step while holding their arms outward and bent at the elbows – think of rendering one’s head, shoulders, and arms into a kind of “W.” Somehow their hips take on a life apart, swiveling, and swaying. Can you imagine in one of our churches in the United States, where the chair of the Finance Committee would come forward with his or her offering like this? It’s great stuff!”
The antidote to all the bad news, maybe is for us to remember and celebrate the good news. Can you imagine dancing down the aisles with your offering at Trinity?!
october 7, 2008
Oct. 7, 2008Children love getting presents. When our children were younger, the looks on their faces on birthdays and Christmas – were ones of pure joy. This is why we also love giving presents. Going all over town looking for that one necessary, but hard to find toy was worth the effort to see that look of joy. At our children’s birthday parties, when it came time to open the presents, some of the children would invariably push their gift forward and say, “Open mine first!” It is as much fun to give a present as it is to receive!
A recent Canadian study indicates that it is not having lots of money that makes us happy; it is spending it on others. A survey was done asking people to report their general happiness; their annual incomes; and a breakdown of their monthly bills, including gifts for themselves, for others and for charity. The result shows that regardless of income, those who spent on others reported greater happiness.
Giving improved how people saw themselves and how others saw them. How people spend their money may be as important for their happiness as how much they earn. There seems to be a scrooge factor in human nature. Generous people are happier people. Stingy people are sadder people.
In these tough economic times, it is good to keep our hearts open – to allow ourselves to be guided by our faith and not by our fears. Whatever our resources may or may not be, generosity of spirit is key to living abundantly. Paul had something to say about that:
The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7