However, with the good comes what I like to call “necessary unpleasantries.”  As we become more of the congregation God wants us to be, I know it moves many of us out of our comfort zones.  When new opportunities are undertaken, it throws all of us into a bit of chaos, and chaos is always uncomfortable.  But with change, chaos always ensues.  Introduce too many “new” things at once, and the chaos may become overwhelming.

As we move forward in all of the opportunities and changes God lays before us, Grace’s leadership wants to be sensitive to the level of discomfort which may exist with some people.  As we follow God, we walk a fine line between trying to keep up with Him, and not moving so fast we create so much chaos we can’t deal with it.

Let me assure you, you have a pastor and a Board who are truly seeking God’s leadership and guidance in all we do.  Sometimes you may sense we are moving too fast.  If that is the case, please take time to share with your Board members. For in fact they are YOUR Board members.  But also know, as we change we are going to have a certain level of chaos or unpleasantries which will continue to exist.

Please, please, please, set aside time each day to pray for our church, its leadership, and what God is doing.  Pray about things which you see happening.  If they seem chaotic, ask God to help you see His hand at work in them.  If they make you uncomfortable, ask Him to show you why you feel that way.  He may open you up and begin to give you a new comfort level, or He may give you some insight or wisdom you need to share with the Board.

However He leads you, we all need to recognize we are not alone in the chaotic change which is taking place.  We have each other– our church family here at Grace.  Even more important is we have a God who always walks with us— even through the chaotic times and the unpleasantries new things may bring!  God is good…all the time!  All the time…God is good!

Though that was a good April Fools joke, it was nothing compared to the April Fools joke God played on Satan on Easter morning.  After Jesus’ arrest on Maundy Thursday, and his crucifixion on Good Friday, I am sure Satan was throwing a big huge party.  He had had the world and all of God’s creation in his grasp since the days of Adam and Eve.  He had managed to fill their hearts with darkness and sin.

Then there was the frosting on the cake.  God had sent his son, Jesus, into the world to break Satan’s hold, but the world rejected him.  Satan saw his grasp tighten and his darkness spread as the son of God was arrested, beaten, mocked, and hung on the cross as a common criminal. What was to be God’s redemption of his creation, turned into an apparent victory for Satan.  Lucifer and his minions were doing the “happy dance.”

Then came the “joke,” God’s April Fools prank, if you will.  What seemed to be a defeat of the heavenly Father and his plans, turned into a victory celebration for all the angels and heavenly beings.  Jesus, who was thought to be dead, was alive.  Death that had taken him, could not hold him, and now his life and light was penetrating into the world to beat back the darkness of the Evil One.

I love the ending of the movie “The Passion.”  Some Christians complain the movie did not show the resurrection, but I tell them it didn’t have to.  At the very end of the movie all you hear is this loud, blood curdling scream.  That scream was the scream of Satan when he realized he had been fooled.  He was not victorious, he was beaten.  He was not in control of God’s creation, God was.  He had not killed God’s son, he had been an instrument of God all along to bring about God’s ultimate redemption through the death and resurrection of His Son.

The exciting part about this is God wants all of us in on the joke.  By faith we participate in the biggest joke of all time.  I have to admit, being a “jokester” myself, makes me appreciate all the more what God has done for us!

Celebrate this Easter season, and revel in God’s victory!

Many, if not most, of you know I was born with cerebral palsy.  Cerebral palsy is brain damage usually caused in the womb, or during childbirth itself. (I know many of you are now thinking, “That explains a lot!”)  I have not been impaired as much as many who suffer from CP, but it has left a noticeable mark on my physical make-up.  For much of my school years, I lived with the fact I was always the last picked and names like “crip” and “gimp” were the norm.

It wasn’t until I was in my early 40’s that I realized I had let my cerebral palsy define how I saw myself.  I realized I saw myself as “damaged goods.”  I guess from a human standpoint, I was damaged, but from God’s viewpoint I was anything but “damaged.”  For over forty years of my life, cerebral palsy was my “daddy.”  When I finally was able to see myself through God’s eyes, and move beyond the damaged definition I had lived with, I became free to become the person God wanted me to be.  When I finally allowed my heavenly Father to also be my daddy, it redefined who I was, and what I was capable of.

Most of you have not suffered birth defects, so your story is much different than mine.  However, my guess is many of you have allowed other people or things to define what your life is about.  Maybe its your family, your job, a bad relationship, or an impossible situation.  Whatever or whoever is defining your life has become your “daddy.”

The point is God gave His Son so we would come to Him in faith and make Him our abba, our daddy.  John Petersen, in The Message, puts it this way, “This is how much God loved the world:  He gave His Son, His one and only Son.  And this is why:  so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” (John 3:16)

Prayer:  Lord, sometimes it is hard to acknowledge you as my daddy. In those times where I allow other people and things define who I am, remind me how much you love me and how much you desire to make me whole so I can come running back into my daddy’s arms.  Amen.

After the turbulent years of the 1960′s artist William Zdinak, like all of us, had much to think about. He longed to put some of his own ideas into a painting with a religious theme- and, by his own admission, kept failing. But he is not one to give up easily and is blessed with great physical stamina as well as unpretentious religious faith.

Struck by the sudden vision of all mankind within the body of Christ, he began to paint with utmost concentration. Fifteen hours of unbroken painting- utilizing hastily gathered scrap photos as the basis for depicting individuals- resulted in the inspired “In His Image.”  There were no preliminary sketches or plans. (The artist’s sense of color and composition have long been trained by the competitive disciplines of commercial art and the high standards of fine arts exhibits where his paintings have won acclaim, including the World’s Fair of 1963).

In the artist’s words: “It really doesn’t matter which persons are depicted.  We are ‘all one in Christ’ as St. Paul has told us. Hurting one, we hurt all; helping one, we help all. That is the idea behind ‘In His Image.’”

(For a more extensive story behind the painting you can go to www.printsforinspiration.com/story.html.)

My purpose in sharing this painting and story with you is to remind all of us, in the month we celebrate “love,” we are all “One” in Christ, and as such we need to love, care and respect one another as Christ would.

In His Service,

Pastor Randy

Like Janus, our church family should be looking both back and forward.  We can look back to 2011 and celebrate the things God has done in our midst.  He has accomplished many things through His people at Grace.  We have established a great relationship with Bridger Elementary, which God has already been working through.  He has given us the ability to continue to reach out to our neighbors through events such as the Santa Breakfast and the Community BBQ.  He has continually made His presence known to us in our worship services and prayer meetings.  We need to look back at these events and celebrate them.

But we also need to be looking ahead to 2012 and see what new things God has in store for us.  I believe God will open more ministry opportunities to us, as well as give us new partners to help with these ministries.

If we are going to discover what God has in store for us and respond to His guidance, we must keep our hearts and minds open to the leading of His spirit.  Early in 2012, Theresa Benson and I will be putting together a prayer event to help us to continue to stay focused on our Lord and is will for Grace.  Be watching for the details of this event.

In His Service,

Pastor Randy

When I look back on those days, I do so with fondness, and a smile comes to my face.  It was important for our family to be ready for Christmas.

I didn’t realize it then, but, in a way, our family was participating in a commercialized version of Advent.  Advent is the four weeks before Christmas, during which we prepare for, and celebrate, the coming of the Messiah— both his first coming, and his second coming.

During Advent, we are to ready our hearts to receive the Christ; just as my family, in my youth, readied our house for Christmas.  And just like decorating our house, readying our hearts for the Messiah takes planning and focused preparation.  Advent is a time when we should direct our full energy and attention to the significance of the events which took place in Bethlehem that first Christmas night.

To help us focus the four Sundays of Advent are themed around the words hope, peace, joy, and love.  I am sure it was hard for Mary and Joseph to recognize how important these words, these concepts, would become to their newborn baby boy.  He was the Prince of Peace who would bring hope to the hopeless, joy out of despair, and give love to those who were in desperate need of being loved.

What Jesus brought to the people of Palestine over 2000 years ago, is the same that he brings to us today.  Let us use this Advent season to prepare our hearts to receive what the Prince of Peace has for us— joy that’s unspeakable, hope in a hopeless world, and love that is unmatched by any we’ve ever experienced.

PRAYER:  Come Lord Jesus and prepare our hearts— prepare us— to receive all you have to give us.  May we be as ready to receive as you are to give.  Amen.

Also on Sunday, November 6, following morning worship, the Missional Church Team is hosting a soup luncheon.  At this luncheon, we will be discussing missional church in general, and in particular, we will be discussing how Grace will begin living out the idea of missional church through our partnership with Bridger Elementary School.  Then on Wednesday, November 16 from 6-7 pm, the Bridger PTA will be sponsoring an Open House specifically for people from Grace.  This will give us an opportunity to see the school, hear about the needs, and see the volunteer opportunities that exist.  Please mark this on your calendar and plan to attend!

On Saturday, November 19, we will be having our Annual Budget and Elections Meeting.  At that meeting, not only will you be asked to vote on the 2012 budget and new church leaders, you will also be asked to vote on new church bylaws.  Each of you will be receiving a letter shortly about the new bylaws, and beginning Sunday, November 6, copies will be available in the church entryway for your perusal.

The week of Thanksgiving, we will be putting together Thanksgiving Boxes and delivering them to families.  This year, we will be working with the Bridger PTA, and , hopefully, some of the families who will be receiving boxes to put the boxes together.  Bridger has offered to let us put the boxes together at the school where there is a lot of refrigerator space to store turkeys and other refrigerated food items.  This is an exciting first step in being able to minister to and with the Bridger community.  Be in prayer about God’s Spirit being at work in this adventure!

God is doing a lot in our midst.  Continue to pray for His leading!

Prayer:  God thank you for all you are doing.  Continue to give us insight and wisdom as we seek to follow you.  In the Name of Christ, Amen.

 Much like human beings, God created the church to be organic.  That means the church should constantly be in a state of change as it adapts to its changing surroundings and culture.  And like humans, there are only two options: change or die.

 Change for the church does not mean we change our message:  “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” (Jn 3:16, The Message)  What it does mean is change in the way that message is presented.

 Over the course of the last few months, Grace has been experiencing change, and I know this change has caused some discomfort among some of our members.  This discomfort is normal and always accompanies change.  However, it doesn’t mean we don’t change.  Just like some of the changes our body goes through as we get older are uncomfortable, we endure them, because to change means life. 

 The changes we are going through as a church, are not change for change sake.  They have a purpose.  Your church leaders and your pastor believe we are changing, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to be the church God wants us to be in this time and place.

 The changes we have experienced thus far are small compared to the changes, I believe, God has for us in the future.  As we move more in the direction of being the kind of church which can make a difference in the world, the changes will become larger.  As the changes occur, there are two options.  We can embrace what God has for us and live, or we can refuse to accept the change and die.

 Which option will you choose?

 PRAYER:  Father, help us to accept your change so we can be the people you want us to be.  It is uncomfortable, but we know, with your help, we can accept them and grow in your grace, love, and guidance.  We pray this in the name of the one who changed our lives forever, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

All of that being said, let me tell you my reasoning for removing the order of worship.  I think all too often, people focus on the order of worship in worship instead of God.  The order can be used as a “checklist” to see where things are at, and how much time is left.  In this way the order of worship actually detracts from worship.  To be honest with you, if I didn’t have to know what I was doing in the service, I would prefer not knowing the order of worship.

Not having an order of worship doesn’t mean we won’t know what is happening.  The worship leader, Grace Singers, and myself give enough verbal and visual clues during worship to let people know what is happening—when we are singing, praying, taking offerings, etc. 

My hope is by not having an order of worship we will be able to more easily focus on God, and to allow God to surprise us during the worship service.

If after hearing this explanation, you are still uncomfortable not having an order of worship, I will be glad to talk with you (remember, I don’t bite).  When we have our discussion I will be asking two questions:  Why does not having an order of worship bother you?; and, How does having an order of worship help you to worship God better?  Maybe there are some issues I have not considered.

I look forward to continuing the dialogue with all of you as we move forward to worship God “in Spirit and in truth.”

Prayer:  Father, continue to teach us how to focus on you in worship.  May we learn from your Spirit and from each other.  May we be surprised by what you have in store for us as we come before you in worship.  I pray in the name of the one who worshipped you perfectly, Jesus Christ.  Amen.