Last week we began our two part series on, “The State of the Church” by taking on the topic of “Where are We?”. This week we are moving on to “Where are we Going?” The author, Lewis Carrol famously wrote: “If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there.” The goal of this message is to provide an overall view of what the next 12 months of ministry will look like at Denver UMC. The scripture basis for the message is Matthew Chapter 7, specifically these words from Jesus: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” 7:24-27 NRSV.  

Also, some have asked for a link to the Capital Improvement and Community Impact document that was made available last week. You can find a digital copy HERE.

Join us this Sunday as our Youth Praise Band will be leading us in worship during our contemporary 9:00 a.m. worship service!

*We will celebrate communion on November 21st*

This Sunday we will begin a two part series on “The State of the Church.”  Over the past twenty-months so much has changed within our congregation that it is easy to feel disoriented.  The goal of November 7 and November 14 is to explore, “Where are We?” and “Where are we Going?”  When we know the answers to these two key questions then we can prepare for the future God has in store for us.  Covid-19 caught our world by surprise and the subsequent time since we first heard of this virus has been a challenge for everyone.  Yet God is not afraid or deterred by a challenge and has proven faithful over and over throughout human history.  Our hope derives from the fact that God will provide and lead.  To help us be in a position to hear from God we need to first take stock of what constitutes our present reality.  The goal of “The State of the Church” Sundays is to provide clarity into our present and chart a course for the future. This Sunday the main topics will be:

What is the state of our larger denomination regarding pending General Conference action that could result in new denominations coming out of the United Methodist Church.

Where we are with our long term planning/building campaign/capital campaign.

How Covid-19 has impacted our attendance, outreach, and finances.

Please read Psalm 139:1-18 in preparation as these verses clearly remind us that no matter where we have been or where we may go, God is always there

If you do not like Christmas then you are called a Scrooge. If you do not like Halloween what are you called? Whatever the title, I will gladly bear it because I am not a fan. I do not like Halloween for religious reasons per se as the origins of the celebration are rooted in the ancient practice of All Saints Day in the Church’s liturgy. I think I don’t like Halloween because my idea of a good time is staying home and reading a book; in other words, I am a dreadful bore when it comes to parties. 

I think I have some lingering issues with Halloween in particular. Growing up in a sparsely populated area meant there were not that many houses available for trick or treating. A night invested in costume and door knocking did not provide that great of return on the investment of time and effort. Nothing like spending all night to collect two apples, three Mallow Cups, and candy corn. So whatever the Scrooge equivalent of a Halloween curmudgeon -that’s me. Also I watched the movie “Halloween” as a kid and it scared me to death.

I certainly do not disapprove of others' enjoyment of Halloween, and I have dutifully and faithfully taken my own children trick-or-treating and to various parties through the years. I hope you and your own family will come out to the DUMC’s fall festival this Saturday. I will be here, just not in costume, but what I truly hope for is that you all will join me for the celebration of All Saints Day.  

This year we are celebrating All Saints Day on Halloween itself, kind of like opening presents on Christmas Eve as All Saints Day is officially November 1. I get excited about this kind of celebration because we get to talk about things that are really real. While Halloween is a flight of fancy into an imaginary world, All Saints Day does not shy away from reality. That reality is death and how we as people of faith deal with that which we all must someday confront.  If we like, we can choose to opt out of Halloween, but none of us gets to opt out of our own mortality. This Sunday we will talk about why that is a good thing.

We are now at the end of the current Sermon Series “Lost and Found” and Jesus leaves us without a resolution to his most famous story. The Parable of the Prodigal Son does not end neatly, rather we are left with questions about how the relationships within the family plays out. We know the father welcomes home the younger, wasteful son, and we know that the older brother is on the opposite end of the grace spectrum. The older brother judges, resents, and scorns his younger brother and refuses to join the party thrown by the father. It is quite a mess from a family systems perspective. Why does Jesus leave the story this way? I think it is because he is trying to drive home his point that God is forgiving and expects us to be the same, even when - especially when - it makes us uncomfortable. David Washco is preaching this week, and here are his thoughts to help us all prepare for this Sunday:

The parable is titled “The Prodigal Son,” so why did Jesus speak of an older brother? Could the story have been told just focusing on the father and his lost son? The older son is not even discussed until the last seven verses of the story, when Jesus reveals to us the heart of the older brother. Knowing that Jesus does not waste words or add unnecessary fillers to his parables, there must be relevance to Him bringing this added character into the narrative. Join me this Sunday to explore the importance of “the older brother” and why he is an essential part of this story and our story.

Now we get to the good part of the story and aren’t you glad!  As we encounter the joy the father has for his returning son we get a glimpse into the very heart of God. What we see is an image of God abandoning all decorum to run towards his boy who is coming home. The younger son can’t even get his apology out of his mouth before he finds himself embraced and restored to sonship. The father does this with joy, not counting the cost of the harm done but celebrating the return. Joy is an emotion we have been short of the last nineteen months as we have dealt with the stress and uncertainty of Covid-19. This Sunday I invite you to come seeking to simply participate in the joy God has when we turn to Him. If you are struggling to find joy in your life, this is your opportunity to allow God to rejoice in who you are. For us we are invited to do nothing other than to receive that joy. I hope that it is worth coming to church (or joining us on-line) this Sunday.

“When he came to himself…”  is the phrase Jesus uses to describe a turning point in the Parable of the Prodigal son.  Another way of expressing the pivot is that the young man realized he was not living the life he was meant to live. It is a “this is not who I am” moment. Take a few moments and think about a time when you had a moment like this.  Maybe you found yourself yelling and screaming at someone you love because your emotions got the best of you, or maybe you engaged in destructive gossip only to have that moment of consciousness reveal to you that you are not being,... you. As hard as these moments are, they are an expression of God’s grace as they are meant to call us back to who God created us to be, our true selves. This week in worship we make the pivot with Jesus and the younger son as we reckon with failure and chart a course for home. See you Sunday.

We have many words, phrases, and idioms, to denote a devastating personal crisis - rock bottom, dead end, at my wits end, and dead in the water are just a few. The fact that we have all these options to speak of brokenness says something about how often this happens to human beings. Thus far in my life, I have not met anyone who is exempt from hard times. Of course there is often a matter of degree between one person's suffering and anothers, but the best I can tell, we all must face what it means to have come to a place of personal failure and despair. 

This Week in Worship we walk with the younger son as he moves from being a big spender to a hog slopper. His rock bottom is crushing as he reckons with life without a discernible future. This is a great Sunday for us all to take stock of who truly provides our tomorrow when we have no personal hope in our today.  

October 3rd is World Communion Sunday. Christians all over the planet will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper with an eye to being united at the Table of our Lord. Communion will be served at all three services. For those of you watching via livestream from home please be prepared with bread and juice so you can participate as well. Rev. Dr. Laura Elliott will take a few moments at each service to share with us about her work in Haiti and how we at DUMC are connected to our brothers and sisters in that country. 

What is the most famous story Jesus ever told?  Most people will answer, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.”  Not only is it likely the most well known story from Jesus, it is quite possibly the best known story in all of human history.  Why?  Why is this story so powerful and compelling?  I think it is because there is such a range of emotions, drama, and character development - not to mention that this is told by Christ and has a supernatural power because it is Holy Scripture! 

This Week in Worship we begin the first of what will be five Sundays dedicated to delving into this amazing story.  Please consider the following verses: 

11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. Luke 15:11-13 NRSV

Spend some time reflecting on these words - What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you feel?  Bring these observations with you as we gather Sunday either in-person or on-line.  If you missed last week’s message you can link to it here, and our on-line Bible Study for this series is here.

Our “Lost and Found” series is off to a great start. If you missed last week’s message you can access it here.  We also have an online study guide that accompanies each week that is available at this link.  

My family and I were attending the gathering of the Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska, NC a couple of years ago and had gone into Waynesville to meet some friends for dinner.  Afterwards we were walking around town when I glanced down and saw what first appeared to be trash.  I have a thing about litter.  First it is ridiculous that we have litter anywhere when garbage cans are available.  Secondly, if you see litter just pick it up as an act of care for God’s creation.  So, I picked up the trash, only it was not trash.  It was a wad of twenty-dollar bills totaling close to two-hundred dollars.  Not a bad find!  Could it be that God was blessing me for being a good steward?  Believe me, I thought about that as I briefly considered keeping the money.  Instead, I took the money to the police station and gave it to the officer on duty.  

Why?  For one, I am a pastor and keeping something that was not mine while attending a pastors’ meeting is just bad behavior.  But more than that, this was a significant amount of money, at least by my standards, and I imagine the person who lost their money was searching for it.  Now if it had been two or three dollars, I may have had a different calculation.  I would have put it in a tip jar or dropped it in the offering plate, but I probably would not have turned a couple of bucks into the police station.  In our affluent society most people will not file a police report over such a small loss, they will simply shrug and move on, if they even notice the two or three dollars is lost.

As Jesus tells us the story of this woman losing one of ten coins it is clear that the value of the coin she has lost is high.  She goes to extraordinary lengths to recover the coin and then calls in friends to celebrate when the coin is found. At the heart of this story is the concept of “value” and how much value God places on people.  There are no “one or two dollar” people out there, not even two-hundred dollar people either - only human beings that have infinite worth in the eyes of God.  Do we see people the same way?

I look forward to continuing our conversation this Sunday.  By the way, no one ever showed up to claim the money.  The Waynesville Police department called several months later to see if I wanted to process a claim..  After talking with the Sergeant we decided it would be best to send it on to their local charity which went to support the work of the local Child Advocacy Center.  The money was intended to be a blessing after all.  

DUMC Covid-19 Update

We are continuing to move forward with church activities under recommendations from our Annual Conference leadership, which is the recommendation that masks be worn indoors.   Each of us is responsible for our health and is tasked with making the best decisions for ourselves and others.  If you wish to review the Annual Conference Recommendations they are available here:  COVID-19 Guidelines for In-Person Worship & Ministry - Issued 7.28.21; UPDATED 8.9.21

At this time, we are not operating under a mask mandate. If we are placed under a Mandate by our Annual Conference Leadership or by our local/state health department that information will be passed on to the congregation at that time.  As we are learning to continue to navigate through Covid-19 and the variants of Covid-19, please remain vigilant to offer each other grace, love, and understanding.  

I only remember truly being lost once, when I was about 12 years old.  My brother Jeff and I went home with our pastor’s kids after church one Sunday.  Mark and Matthew (perfect names for preacher’s kids, right?) were about the same age as Jeff and myself.  We went exploring in the woods behind their house after lunch and crossed over two ridge lines, but we were not really paying attention to where we were going.  On the way back we turned down the wrong valley and after an hour of walking had gotten ourselves badly lost. We kept plugging along and eventually saw power lines and followed them  to a road and figured out  we were about two miles away from their home.  

The feeling of being lost and afraid was new to me.  I grew up in the woods and mountains, but these were woods and mountains I knew well.  Mark and Matthew lived on the other side of the county and neither Jeff nor I knew the terrain. The feeling of relief in stumbling upon a set of power lines was amazing.  At that point we knew we were going in the right direction and that we would soon find home.  

The idea of being “lost” or of losing something that is important to us stirs up a strong emotional response.  Jesus, being the best teacher the world has ever known, uses the sense of lost and found to connect us with who God really is.  Over the next seven weeks we will be taking an in-depth look at Luke 15 where Jesus tells three different stories about what it means to be lost and found.  When we pay close attention we see that Jesus is doing more than recounting feel-good anecdotes; he is doing something much, much, more important. He is giving us a picture of how God thinks of us.  

This week in worship we will concentrate on the first of these “lost and found” stories by hearing about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness to seek out one who has gotten lost - Luke 15:1-7.  For Sunday spend some time with this scripture and ask yourself why Jesus tells the story this way.  What does it mean to be lost?  What does it mean to be found?

I hope you will join me and the rest of our church family in-person or on-line this Sunday.

I am prayerfully considering all the input provided to me through our worship survey, personal conversations, and emails.  Thank you for taking the time to respond.  My plan is to spend the next several days praying and seeking God’s direction for DUMC.  One thing that occurred to me in my prayer time already is that I have been asking, “What do you want?”  Which is a legitimate question, I want our church family to be a big part of this decision.  But I found myself convicted in that this is God’s church and the right question is not “What do we want? But, “What does God want?” Over the next few days I invite you to pray and ask God these two specific questions: “What do you want for this church and how do you want us to worship on Sunday mornings?”  Thank you for being a part of this discernment process.

Building Update:

We have a signed contract with Denver Construction Company to build the new Mission Depot.  Materials have been ordered, and we are now simply waiting for those supplies to arrive on-site.  A large part of this building is steel construction, and due to supply chain issues that steel will be several months in arriving.  The contractor has estimated construction to start in early January.  Thank you again for supporting this project, and we all look forward to seeing the Mission Depot built and put into use as soon as possible.

One comment I hear over and over from people is that they are more tired than usual. I can understand why given that the high heat and humidity of the past few weeks is enough to sap anyone’s energy levels, but it is more than that. People are worn out for a whole host of reasons. Covid-19 fatigue is real, and I know of no one who is not exhausted with our ongoing battle with this stubborn virus. We are still having fights over vaccines, masks, and all manner of public health policy. In only a few short months we will be two years into this fight, and we all want it to be over - but it is not. We are not sure when it will be over and this is exhausting.  

When we consider other factors that wear us out such as politics, news, and anxiety over the state of the world - it is a small wonder that people feel tired.  Yet this is not how things are supposed to be.  We were created by God to live into the God given rhythms of God’s creation.  Part of that pattern is work, good meaningful work.  But part of that rhythm is also rest, or to use the Biblical term - sabbath.  This week, as we celebrate Labor Day weekend, I invite you to give some thought towards what a sabbath truly is.  If you are one of those folks who are tired, this - I believe - is just what you need to reconnect with how God made you find the rest you need.  

This week in worship our scripture is Genesis 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. NRSV.

We come to the end of Acts and in many ways we end where we started, with the proclamation of the Gospel for all to hear.  The last sermon of Acts belongs to Paul most likely preached in the early 60’s AD while the first Christian preaching came from the mouth of Peter almost thirty years earlier.  The proclamation is remarkably the same, “Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God and the Hebrew Scriptures bear witness to this fact.”  Whether it be Peter or Paul, or anyone who has come after them, the Holy Spirit is the connective tissue that gives the words life, and the power to change lives.

After twenty-eight chapters of preaching, miracles, and stories of the message of Jesus overcoming impossible obstacles the “Way” of Jesus is proclaimed in the seat of first century world power - the imperial capital of Rome.  Nothing will stop the Gospel.  Rome will try, however, to stamp out the movement with violent persecutions and reprisals.  The Emperor Nero will use Christians as a handy political scapegoat, blaming all of his failings on “those people.” Church tradition holds that Paul will be executed by beheading around the year 64 AD.  Peter will likewise be crucified around this same time (upside down tradition tells us because he did not feel worthy to emulate Christ).  

Yet, not even these harsh and draconian reprisals will stop what the Holy Spirit has unleashed upon creation.  God is let loose and each generation henceforth will have to decide for themselves what to do with the message of God’s love as expressed in the person of Jesus Christ.  The world has changed and God will not be denied. Not in the first century and not in the twenty-first century either.  The movement of God throughout history is unstoppable. 

This week in worship we will close out our series with Act 28:23-30 with the final word being that Paul, “welcomed all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

Denver United Methodist Church managed very well without me for three weeks. Turns out that I’m not as important as I thought I was! In all seriousness, thank you for the time away from pastoral responsibilities as it was much needed and very much appreciated. Over the past three weeks I have had space for intentional time with my family and opportunities to rest, pray, and read. All of which are restorative for me and I am grateful to the SPRC, our church Staff, and to the congregation for supporting me in this effort. I know I will be a better pastor moving forward because of the gift of this three week sabbatical.  

What did I learn? First I learned that I was deeply spiritually and emotionally tired after the challenges of the last eighteen months and I needed the time away more than I realized.  But, more importantly, I was once again reminded of a lesson that I constantly have to be re-taught, which is: “God’s Got This.” The reason we model Sabbath time from the Scripture is for rest, but it is also to teach us that God can handle the world without our input.  Entering into Sabbath is entering into a trusting relationship with God who is more than capable of running creation. 

One of the first challenges I faced on my sabbatical was receiving a text from a friend who was asking me what I was going to do about the Conference’s recommendation that all churches re-institute masks for in-door gatherings.  My first thought was, “I need to check in and give the Staff input on how to go about dealing with this.”  But even as I was mulling this over a question arose in my mind, “Do you trust them” (meaning the staff), and more importantly - do you trust God?” My first instinct was to pick up the reins of control and jump into “handling” the issue.  In other words, I wanted to first control - not to trust. So I did not intervene, I sought to first trust the amazing people on our team and to trust that God of the universe is adept at taking care of everything. This realization is freeing for me and being pushed into puting this act of faith into practice is invaluable as I continue on in ministry.  

The Staff ultimately decided to pass on the recommendation and trust the members of the church to make their own decisions regarding whether to wear masks or not. Please continue to support each other in love and care through these challenging times. As of now, we echo the Conference that mask wearing is recommended when in close contact with other people. This means that some of our congregation may choose to wear masks while others may not. Still others may prefer to worship on-line. Please consider the needs of others as you make your own decisions regarding your health and well-being. Together we will get through yet another bout of Covid-19 challenges. 

Trust is crucial for our spiritual development as Christ calls us to follow wherever he may lead. The very act of following means that Jesus is the one with the map, not us. By choosing to follow we are agreeing that Jesus does indeed know how to lead us to our best lives and we abandon our control to his leadership. Even (and maybe especially) pastors need to be reminded of this.  Thank you again for the opportunity to once again learn this foundational lesson.

Are you equipped? What is it that you desire to do, but have not tried because you believe you are not equipped or don't have the needed resources? Are there others who do it so well that you don’t even attempt to try?  

I don’t know about you, but often I read or hear about many of the characters in the Bible and think, “these people were super-human.” The level of their strength, convictions, fortitude, determination or abilities are something only few can achieve. We equate them to modern day people like Steve Jobs, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller - icons! At times in my life these icons have made it too easy to shrug-off the impact God's Word is intended to have on my life. Too often we focus on the accomplishments these people have achieved and do not take the time to learn of their beginnings. Truthfully, all these people could easily be labeled as “underdogs.” God intentionally chose people we wouldn’t even consider having on our team - murderers, tax collectors, underaged, the uneducated. Why? Because God wants ALL of us to realize NO one is beyond His reach. We ALL are designed for accomplishment, engineered for significance and endowed with the seeds of greatness.

This Sunday we continue our sermon series in the Book of Acts. It would be so easy to focus on Luke’s writings about Pauls’ accomplishments in Chapter 18; however there is another figure he writes about who is making a great impact for God - an underdog to whom we can all relate.

We are looking forward to worshiping with you this Sunday.

Blessings,

David Washco

Our sermon series continues to take us through the book of Acts. In Chapter 16, Paul and Silas find themselves imprisoned immediately after being dragged into the market place and receiving a beating with rods. Then it is written: “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them…” God responds favorably to their hymns of praise and frees them from their imprisonment. Many of us are imprisoned, not by physical walls and bars, but through distractions of life that seem to lull us into routines that find us weeks, months, and even years down the road asking ourselves, “what am I doing?”  

This Sunday, we are breaking from routine and having a single service at 10:15 a.m. in the FLC - “Service of Songs.” Not only will we get to worship our creator through traditional and contemporary styles of music, but we get to worship as an entire congregation together. A difficult challenge in having multiple services can be missing out on seeing so many of our brothers and sisters who attend alternate services. This Sunday we get to lift up our hearts to God as one body and embrace His goodness through music as Susan and Erin lead us in singing His praises!

Please keep Pastor Steve and his family in your prayers during this sabbatical time. Click (HERE) to watch Steve's video announcement. Please know I am honored to “run point” for pastoral concerns, especially having the incredibly passionate staff at my back. We look forward to serving God and the congregation during Pastor Steve’s absence.

- David Washco

OK, “Steve’s Corner” is temporarily being taken-over while he is on Sabbatical. Don’t panic - if you were looking for his corny jokes, stories about his countless number of brothers or his “glory days" of high school football, he will be returning in three weeks. In all seriousness, Pastor Steve has asked me to “Thank You” for this opportunity to take a Sabbatical for the first time in his career. It’s important to share with the congregation the true meaning of a Sabbatical and its purpose. 

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Here are some alarming statistics:

* Over 1,500 pastors left the ministry every month for at least the past five years.

* 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close each year.

The sabbatical meets a mutual need for the pastor and the church. “Both congregations and their pastors and staff actually need sabbaticals from each other, and both can benefit from some time spent apart. Pastors and Church leaders should not see the sabbatical as a reward for good work or simply a benefit to keep the minister happy. Neither should they view it as an extension of the normal vacation period. Rather it should be an important part of the program of the church and the working relationship between the church and it's Pastors from which both will draw benefits.” 

Please keep Pastor Steve and his family in your prayers during this sabbatical time. Click (HERE) to watch Steve's video announcement. Please know I am honored to “run point” for pastoral concerns, especially having the incredibly passionate staff at my back. We look forward to serving God and the congregation during Pastor Steve’s absence.

This coming Sunday, Ben Nobles will be continuing our series in the Book of Acts and bringing Chapter 13 to life for us all. Read his summary below!

David Washco

*Statistics provided by the Fuller Institute, George Barna, Lifeway, Schaeffer Institute of Leadership Development, and Pastoral Care Inc.

Within the New Testament, the book of Acts is second only to the Gospel of Luke in total number of words. Since Luke is the author of both of these works, he is surpassed only by the Apostle Paul in his total contribution to the post Old Testament canon (library). Another way to say this is, “Acts is long!” When I was studying the New Testament in seminary one of our tasks was to know Scripture well enough to be given a stand alone quote and to be able to identify where in the New Testament the quote was located. For example, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” The answer is, Mark. Why? Because Mark is short, to the point, and Mark uses the word “immediately” as a transition device. Simple enough, right? The challenge comes when the entire New Testament is on the exam, then the task of knowing each book or letter’s defining characteristics becomes truly daunting.

 In order to take on this work several friends and I formed a study group whereby each person took the responsibility of summarizing a particular book to form a comprehensive and cohesive study guide. My friend Will had to be the clever one in the crowd and quickly volunteered for Philemon, all one chapter. I don’t recall who ended up with Acts, but following Will’s lead I offered to take on Philippians (all four chapters).  

Acts has a total of 28 chapters, no one wanted Acts! But by breaking Acts down into specific parts we see that it is much more manageable to gain an understanding of the whole, giving us greater insight into what Luke is seeking to accomplish. The first part, which we completed to date, tells the story of the birth of the Church and the growth of converts within the Christian Community. This is followed by tension and eventual rejection of the gospel message within the larger Jewish Community. This rejection brings about persecution for the early church, which far from stopping the movement, actually spurs growth as the followers of Jesus move out of Jerusalem into the surrounding areas.

This week we see a major shift in emphasis as we fully encounter the person of Paul in chapter 9. We had a brief introduction to Saul (who will be renamed Paul) in chapters 7 and 8 as an accomplice to Stephen’s murder. From chapter 9 onward the story that Luke tells will be primarily concerned with Paul and his work on behalf of Christ. This week we will meet Saul/Paul in earnest and examine his conversion from enemy of the faith to one of Christianity’s greatest champions. Please read Acts Chapter 9 in preparation.

On another note, many of you have sent emails and made supportive comments about my upcoming three week sabbatical. Thank you all for the encouragement, well wishes, and prayers for these three weeks away from the pastoral role. As I mentioned in the video (Click HERE) announcement, I am looking forward to this time to rest, re-charge, and have some intentional time for my family. During this time, David Washco will be running point on responding to pastoral concerns or needs with the entire team of our great church staff as back up. Reverends Paul Thompson, Kyle Thompson, and Scott Osterberg will be providing additional support if needed. The worship schedule for these Sundays are as follows:

August 1, regular schedule - Ben Nobles preaching

August 8, special music Sunday @10:15 a.m. in the FLC

August 15, regular schedule - David Washco preaching

The book of Acts continues to issue challenge after challenge to the established first century understanding of who the God of Israel was and who has access to worship and relationship of this God. Historically/politically/theologically access to the “God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob” was only for that family despite stories in Scripture of outsiders who received blessing. By the first century the theological/political landscape of Israel was narrow with few if any means of egress into the community of faith. You were either born into it or you were not, simple as that.

Yet we see in Acts that God refuses to be held captive to a narrow understanding of who can come to God and who God loves. Over and over again we see the Spirit pushing the good news that God is free and available to a relationship with everyone who will receive the name of Jesus as gospel (good news). This week we see the Gospel of Jesus leap frog out from the historic confines of faith in Jerusalem to gain a foothold in Samaria. This is a huge move as the Samaritans and their neighboring Israelites in the south hold long term grudges/hatreds/ and grievances against one another. The movement of God called The Way (as in the way of Jesus) is now “off the rails” in the eyes of proper religious folks back in Jerusalem.  

My given name is Stephen, not Steve. I am not sure when I became a “Steve;” it has just always been that way. This is not to say that I do not take some measure of pride in bearing the name of the first Christian martyr named in the Bible. We met Stephen last week as he was the first of the seven named and selected servants to assist the Apostles in their ministry to the poor widows of the congregation. He is noted to be, “...full of grace and power…” and “...did great wonders among the people” (Acts 6:8). I particularly like the description of Stephen as he made the case for Christ that those who sought to argue with him, “...could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke” (Acts 6:10). Sounds like a great person to be named after, but I’m not sure I can live up to his name.

The Biblical Stephen was dedicated to following Jesus, even to the point of being willing to die for his belief in Christ. Can you or I say the same? Are we willing to stand firm in the faith and be true to who Jesus is and what he teaches even if that means our deaths? By refusing to buckle even in the face of violent opposition, Stephen stays the course. How did he do this? First I think he did so by being convinced by the Apostles' teaching that Jesus was truly the messiah, the Son of God who opened up new and vital avenues of relationship with God through the Holy Spirit; but learning alone cannot account for Stephen’s faithfulness.  

Stephen had personally experienced Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. He knew Jesus! This is particularly amazing because Stephen had never met nor witnessed Jesus in his earthly ministry; only the Apostles had done that. Stephen is a later day disciple who is hearing the witness of the Apostles but also having a direct relationship with the Resurrected Lord through the Holy Spirit. It is this relationship that gives Stephen, “grace”, “power”, and “wisdom” along with plenty of courage to give everything he has back to Jesus.

As a namesake, I could have done far worse than Stephen, my mother could have selected any number of Biblical names. I am grateful she did not choose Melchizedek or Zipporah. The name Stephen may seem like a lot to live up to, but in reality it is not. Why? Because the Biblical Stephen was not trying to “make a name for himself,” he was simply trying to be faithful to the only name that has ever made a true difference in the course of human history - the name of Jesus. All of us, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, are invited to live faithfully into that name.

It is always a temptation to idealize the past.  We do this all the time when we talk about the good old days and how everything was better, “back then.”   From what I can tell, pretty much every generation does this without exception.  In some ways this speaks to how remarkable and resilient the human spirit is as we can focus on what was good and forget what was bad.  When I think about my time playing sports growing up, I remember the fun of game night and the joy of being around my teammates.  I have forgotten the miserable practices, bruises, and broken bones, and moments of disappointment that come with playing middle school and high school football.  The truth is that there were some really good times and there were some really bad times as well.  The “good old days” are always, in the end, days we lived which happen to be both good and bad.  Idealization of the past happens over and over again.  

As we read the Book of Acts we find that Luke (the author of Acts and the Gospel of Luke) does not tell an idealized version of early church history.   Rather he shares the story of the early church as it was, with both the good and the bad.  What is interesting in the narrative is that the bad always provides a means for getting to the good.  For example our Scripture for this week is Acts 6:1-7 where we get a story of conflict among the believers.  A dispute has arisen over who gets the better treatment, the widows who are from traditional Jewish families or those widows from Greek speaking cultures.  It seems that opportunities for division around ethnicity were just as concrete for these folks as they are for us 2,000 years later.  This was a real and bitter division and the Apostles had to deal with it.  

In the end, rather than split up and form two different churches, the Apostles appoint others to serve so they can concentrate on teaching and preaching.  As a result the church grows leaders (note that the leaders grow through service).  The Apostles are able to live into their calling and in the end, the Church grows.  This is another way we see the Spirit of God act, by taking that which is broken and bringing about healing and restoration.  Not only is that which is conflicted healed, it becomes even stronger.  

This Sunday we will take a deeper look at the conflict this passage highlights and explore how

God can take dispute and bring about a greater good. The really good news is that this shows us something of the nature of God and how God is the One who regularly transforms what we break into something that is whole and good. 

Culture is something that is crucial to establish wherever we are placed in leadership. Some of us had coaches who set an expectation for the entire team to strive for. We see our leaders in our workplaces, community groups, church, and families live out and teach the certain expectations they have for those groups. 

Early in my coaching years a young player of mine who was a star athlete pushed back on an expectation that was set on the team. Our players were taught not to engage in trash talk to opposing coaches, players, or fans as well as argue with umpires because that is my responsibility as coach (the umpire thing not the trash talk). When he engaged with players from the other team and ignored warnings, he was kicked out of the dugout and sent home during our first game of the season.

When God is setting a culture and an expectation for His young church, we see a very challenging story that we will be engaging in this week! Who are Ananias and Sapphira and what does their story have to do with me is hopefully a question we will process through as a result of this Sunday!

Blessings, Ben Nobles