Whiteboard: Disneyland

I'm in California this week for a week's vacation with my family.

This coming Sunday our very own Sandi DeFeo will be filling the pulpit for me and you'll find her sermon text at the bottom of this post.

But instead of drawing the Ten Commandments on the Whiteboard, I couldn't miss the opportunity to draw a little something about my vacation...and the theme park we'll be visiting for the very first time.

I'll be back in the office starting Tuesday March 13. I'll see you then!

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Exodus 20:1-17 -- The Ten Commandments

Then God spoke all these words:
 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
 You shall not murder.
 You shall not commit adultery.
 You shall not steal.
 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Newsbrief: Disneyland

For the first time in my life I get to utter the line reserved for Superbowl MVP’s…

“I’m going to Disneyland!”

Okay, fine. They say, “Disneyworld!” but I’m not traveling that far.

Next week is Henry’s first Spring Break (yep, Kindergarteners get ‘em too) and we celebrating by taking a week’s vacation to Southern California. We’ll see some old friends, enjoy some time on the beach, and take Henry to Disneyland for the first time.

In fact, it will be my first time to Disneyland too. And my wife’s. We really can’t wait!

I’ll see you in church this Sunday, and then my family and I will head out early in the morning on Monday March 5. We’ll get back into town late in the afternoon on Sunday March 11 (our very own Sandi DeFeo will be filling the pulpit for me that day). I’ll be back in the church office on Tuesday March 13…and I may or may not have Mickey Mouse Ears on!

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

Whiteboard: God's Covenant with Abraham

All throughout the Season of Lent our scripture readings are bringing us the stories of God's covenant promises with his people. As a community of faith we are inheritors of those promises.

This Sunday our worship service will center around God's covenant promise to Abram/Abraham.

You have to write his name in that funny way -- Abram/Abraham -- because God changed it. The name change itself has significance, but the promise is even more significant. In fact, it is stunning.

The promise is so stunning that God has to repeat it over and over again in the book of Genesis and throughout scripture. In Genesis 17 God promises Abram that he will be the "Father of a Multitude" and thereby changes his name to Abraham. When the promise is repeated in Genesis 22 (to Abraham) and Genesis 26 (to Isaac) and Exodus 32 (to the people of Israel) the extra detail is added that Abraham's descendants will be "as numerous as the stars in the sky."

This Sunday we'll talk about God's promises to the generations, and what it means to be a star in the constellation of God's covenant promise.

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Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
 God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

By the Numbers

February 26, 2012 was a really great Sunday.

Lets break it down by the numbers:

• 1,933 -- That was our total contribution to Week of Compassion for 2012. It is a significant increase from last year. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this special mission offering, and thank you again to my friend the Rev. Brandon Gilvin (Associate Director of Week of Compassion) for bringing us such a powerful sermon the week before!
  
• 4 -- That is how many different vegetarian chilis there were at the Chili Cook-Off -- an order of magnitude higher than I have ever seen at any other church that I have ever been a part of! Speaking as your vegetarian pastor, that was pretty amazing!
  
• 132 -- The number of people we had in worship on Sunday morning. Coincidentally that is also the number of times I have joked, "That's it, we are having a Chili Cook-Off every single Sunday from here on out."
  
• 797.50 -- DWM's proceeds (as of Sunday) from the Silent Auction. And that total keeps going up. More money has been dropped off in the church office. Thank you to everyone who donated items and to everyone who helped support Disciple Women's Ministry here at FCC Scottsdale.
  
• 7 -- The number of Hot Wheels Cars that my son bought from the Chidren's Table at the Auction. Whoever's idea it was to have a Children's Table at the auction...you are a genius! It was so much fun to watch the kids circling the table, making their bids, and purchasing items to support ministries of our church!
  
• 361 -- The total donations from the free will offering that will go to benefit "Mission Nutrition" -- our new caring ministry in the life of the church that will be delivering hot, fresh meals monthly to our church members who need it. 

Recreating the Church Event

We had quite a crowd representing us this past weekend!

First Christian Church Scottsdale sent a dozen members to our sister church in Sun City for the Rev. Dr. Dick Hamm's "Recreating the Church: Leadership for a Post-Modern World" Event.

Dick Hamm is the former General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in American and Canada -- a title that he joked would loop over onto the back of his business cards -- and he is currently the Executive Administrator at Christian Churches Together and a Founding Partner at The Columbia Partnership. 


It was a fabulous event. Using "Generational Identity" as the orienting framework we talked frankly about the challenges the church is facing and the opportunities we have going forward. 


The folks from FCC Scottsdale in attendance came back excited and conversations are already happening to figure out how to best share this presentation with a wider swath of our congregation and how we incorporate the lessons we learned into the broader life of our church. Good things will come from it, friends!

Ash Wednesday Sermon

My sermon from Ash Wednesday, based on Psalm 51 and Matthew 6.

Newsbrief: Thirteen

Who says 13 has to be an unlucky number?

The number 13 has shown up prominently in two exciting places this week at First Christian Church Scottsdale.

On Saturday we will have 13 members of our church heading over to Sun City Christian Church. Our brothers and sisters in faith in Sun City are hosting an event with the Rev. Dr. Dick Hamm, the former General Minister and President of our fair denomination. Dr. Hamm will be leading an event titled, Recreating the Church: Leadership for the Postmodern Age.

I’m excited to be there for the event (I’ve had the privilege of seeing Dr. Hamm lead similar programs on congregational vitality and he is terrific!), but I’m even more excited that we’ll have such broad representation from our congregation as well. I’m sure there will be good things to share from Saturday’s event and I look forward to bringing those good words back to you!

Speaking of sharing, we kicked off our new caring ministry “Mission Nutrition” this past Wednesday. Mission Nutrition is kind of like our church’s version of Meals-on-Wheels. Church members will be delivering a home cooked meal to our homebound members, folks recovering from recent hospital stays, and to members who could use a hand.

On the first day of the program I’m proud to share that Mission Nutrition delivered…can you guess the number…that’s right 13 hot meals! Special thanks to Melissa Wise for not only developing the program, but for preparing the meal as well. Special thanks also go out to the whole team of volunteers who helped cooked, organize, make phone calls, deliver the meals, and do all of those things behind the scenes to make for the successful launch of this new ministry!

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

Sharing Hope

We were honored this past Sunday to the Rev. Brandon Gilvin (Associate Director of Week of Compassion) as our guest preacher at First Christian Church Scottsdale.

If you didn't hear his powerful sermon (or just want to hear it again!) then here it is...

You can help support the work of Week of Compassion by clicking here!

Whiteboard: Full Week

A full week at the church makes for a full Whiteboard as well!

You can see the three things we have going on in the life of our church this week illustrated on the Whiteboard.

Front and center on the Whiteboard is Week of Compassion. After the Rev. Brandon Gilvin (Associate Director of Week of Compassion) brought us such a powerful message this past Sunday we cannot forget that we will continue receiving the Week of Compassion Special Mission Offering this coming Sunday as well. And yes, it is the same picture I drew up on the board last week! That is the advantage of the Whiteboard...sometimes you don't have to erase it!

In the upper left hand corner you'll see an illustration for Ash Wednesday. We will have our Ash Wednesday Worship Service at 7PM in the Sanctuary. It will be a traditional Ash Wednesday service with hymns and prayers and the imposition of ashes. I hope you can join us.

On the right hand side of the Whiteboard you'll see an illustration for this coming Sunday's worship service. It will be the first Sunday in Lent where we have two stories about God's promises. In fact, the entire season of Lent we will have scripture readings that draw on the covenant promises that God has made with God's people. This Sunday we will hear of God's covenant with Noah (not pictured on the Whiteboard) and of the ways that Christ Jesus stood on the promises of God in the face of his temptation in the wilderness. I hope to see you in worship on Sunday...and don't forget to bring your Week of Compassion Special Mission Offering!

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Genesis 9:8-17

 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’

 

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

Newsbrief: Guest Preacher

I am thrilled that Brandon will be here on Sunday.

With Week of Compassion kicking off this Sunday it feels like a coup to have the Rev. Brandon Gilvin (Week of Compassion’s Associate Director) as our guest preacher.

You’ll get to hear a full formal introduction of Brandon this coming Sunday in worship (or you can get a preview of it right here), but I wanted to say a little something else about Brandon in the Newsbrief this week.

You see, Brandon is one of my best friends from seminary. We went to Vanderbilt Divinity School together, were housemates together at the Disciples Divinity House in Nashville, and Brandon was a groomsman at my wedding.

Brandon was a year ahead of me in seminary. So by the time I graduated he was already serving his first church. On the Sunday afternoon when I was ordained at Vine Street Christian Church in Nashville, Brandon had spent the morning serving at his church (Central Christian in Lexington) before speeding down the highway in order to make it to my ordination (a wonderful and unexpected surprise, by the way; I had no idea he was coming!). When he pulled into the church parking lot he was about 15 minutes early. He came into the church, walked down the center aisle, and gave me a huge hug. Then, without missing a beat he said, “Okay, I gotta go back to the front door. On my way in they asked me hand out bulletins.”

And that is exactly what he did!

To a certain extent, it is what he still does. As the Associate Director for Week of Compassion, Brandon often finds himself rushing into town on behalf of the church and immediately getting to work.

Week of Compassion is the relief, refugee and development mission fund of our denomination. When the tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri last year Week of Compassion was there to respond. Here recently, in the last month alone Week of Compassion has been a part of disaster relief efforts ranging from fires in West Virginia to floods in Thailand, from emergency assistance in Ohio to cyclones in Mozambique. Their work is amazing, and I am proud that they do it on behalf of our church and all the churches of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

I am grateful for Week of Compassion, thankful for Brandon’s role in the leading it, and overjoyed to have him coming to our church on Sunday!

Just do me a favor. Don’t ask him to pass out bulletins. I’ve already given him a job for this Sunday!

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian