Fred Craddock

The Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock ("the Patron Saint of Disciples Preachers" and widely regarded as one of the greatest preachers of the last 100 years) died on Saturday March 7.

His official biography lists his accomplishments as follows: "Dr. Fred B. Craddock was the founding minister of Cherry Log Christian Church in Cherry Log Georgia. He is the Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament, Emeritus, in the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Much sought after as a lecturer, he has delivered the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale, the Scott Lectures at Clarmeont School of Theology, the Adams Lectures at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, The Schaff Lectures at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the Cole Lectures at Vanderbilt, the Westervelt Lectures at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, the Mullins Lectures at Southern Seminary and Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion. Dr. Craddock has traveled the World giving lectures in many Countries."

His life, legacy, and powerful witness were so much more than any single list of accomplishments. Our own Rev. Lloyd Howard testified this past Sunday morning that, "What Billy Graham is for the Baptists, Fred Craddock is to the Disciples." Newsweek named him "One of the Twelve Best Living Preachers" and his book "Preaching" is one of the single most influential books in sermon preparation in print today.

Many obituaries and remembrances of Fred Craddock have been written and shared. Here are links and clips from some of them:

The official obituary for Fred Craddock

The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins remembers Fred Craddock

CNN.com's excellent tribute to Dr. Craddock

A YouTube Search for "Fred Craddock" turns up over 1700 videos including sermons, lectures, and interviews

Order "The Collected Sermons of Fred Craddock" from Amazon.com

You can learn more about Dr. Craddock and order copies of his books and sermons at CraddockSermons.com

Three Things from the Elders Meeting

The Elders had their regularly scheduled meeting this past Sunday immediately following the Worship Service. Here are "The Three Things" you should know from that meeting:

1. New Responsibilities
   On Sunday mornings the Elder of the Day (i.e. that Elder who presides at the Lord's Table with me) will have some additional responsibilities. For starters, the Elder of the Day will also attend to one of the side doors leaving our sanctuary in order to offer greetings and blessings to folks on the way out. And on the First Sunday of the Month, the Elder of Day will attend our regular FCC Q&A Sessions to help welcome prospective new members and be available to answer any questions about who the Elders are and what they do.
   
2. Shepherding Letters Going Out
   At our Elders Retreat in February our Elders received their Shepherding Lists. The Elders discussed how best to notify folks that they are the assigned Elder for their Shepherding Group, and in the days and weeks to come the Elders will be reaching out to the members of their Shepherding Group via cards, emails, letters, or phone calls.
   
3. Fellowship Luncheon on May 24
   The Elders will be sponsoring a Fellowship Luncheon after church in the Fellowship Hall on May 24. More details to come!

Whiteboard: The Living Commandments

Our Lenten "Covenant Sermon Series" continues this week with the story of the 10 Commandments.

We don't tend to think of the 10 Commandments as a covenant (a sacred promise between God and humanity). We tend to think of the 10 Commandments as a set of rules we are honor bound to live by. But take a closer look at those first dozen words.

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God.

The 10 Commandments are rooted in that divine promise.

God says, "I am the Lord" as in the almighty, as in the creator of heaven and Earth, as in the one who sets us free, as in the ultimate force of all the universe.

But God doesn't stop here. "I am the Lord your God."

That is a covenant.

That is a sacred promise.

That is God reminding us that not only is he the Lord the creator of heaven and earth, the ultimate force of all the universe but he is our God. God is the one who sets us free. God is the one who cares for us, who leads us and guides.

Those first dozen words in the 10 Commandments are autobiography from God, to us. The rest of the words then are how we are supposed to respond to that awesome, almighty promise. If God is with us, then we will have no other gods before him. We'll only use God's name for blessings, not for curses. We'll remember the Sabbath. We'll honor our parents, preserve life, and respect one another.

All of those things come as a response to the holy promise from the Lord -- that he is our God, which us his people. And as such, we're going to live like it. Each and every day.

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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 labor 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.

Honor 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 neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Whiteboard: Father Abraham

This Sunday we'll continue our Lenten Series on the Covenant Promises of God by talking about Father Abraham!

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Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
The Sign of the Covenant
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.’

Feed My Starving Children

We received this lovely "Thank You" letter from our good friends at Feed My Starving Children after a team of volunteers from FCC Scottsdale went down to their Tempe facility to help combat global hunger:

First Christian Church,

Thank you so much for the generous donation! Because of you 6 children will receive a nutritious meal every day for an entire year! Thank you for sharing our mission again this year and for helping us bring HOPE to so many kids!

I also wanted to let you know that we are expanding and moving to Mesa this Spring! Our new packing site will nearly triple our capacity, allowing us to pack 50 million meals per year. It will take 150,000 volunteers to help us pack those meals so we would LOVE to have you join us at the new site once it’s opened. I’d love to talk with you about it more if you are interested.

You are a blessing,
Janine

Janine Skinner, Development Advisor
Feed My Starving Children

And here is the team at work:

Whiteboard: Lent

We are now in the Season of Lent. 

Lent is a time of deep introspection. It is a time of finding the courage to look into our very own hearts and see what we find there. It is a time of daring to notice the places where we are grateful for the good and beauty that exists inside each and every one of us, as well as to identify those places where we all fall short.

We would, of course, much rather skip over the season of Lent.

We would rather avoid Ash Wednesday entirely and jump from the Light Shining Glory of Epiphany straight to the cosmos altering victory of Easter. We would like to oversimplify things and simply say that some people are good and some people are bad, and all to readily settle ourselves into the first camp without even bothering to examine our motives, our actions, our inner critic that noisily and nastily seeks to tear everything to pieces.

Lent reminds us that life is not as black and white as our reductionistic, over-simplifications would make it. Things are not as clear cut as people being all good or all bad all the time...if ever. 

Lent reminds us that there are subtle shades in each and every one of us. Lent reminds us that there is good and bad in each and every one of us. Lent reminds us that we have a role to play in God’s salvation narrative for ourselves and for our world.

During the Sunday's of Lent this year we'll be focusing on the promises of God. As we look deeply into our selves and our motivations, seeking to grow in faith this Lenten Season, what better place to focus on worship services then on the promises of God. More specifically we'll be focusing on the great covenants of God as revealed in the Bible. We'll be talking about God's covenant with Abraham ("your descendants will outnumber the stars"), about the covenant promises of the Ten Commandments ("I am your God."), about the covenant promises of God's love ("For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..."), about Jeremiah's prophecy of a new covenant, and then how that new covenant came to fruition through Jesus Christ. 

This Sunday, we'll get started with the most well known of the biblical covenants -- God's rainbow promise to Noah after he got off the ark ("Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.")

Come join us this Sunday at FCC Scottsdale as we take on the important work of the Lenten season, ad focus on the covenant promises of God!

Oh, and don't forget that we have a special Lenten Study Series on "Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism" that is starting up today. We'll meet in the Alpha/Omega Room at 6PM this evening to get started, or you can join Sandi on Saturday mornings in the East Office starting on 2/28. 

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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.’

Whiteboard: Love and Live

"God is love!" - 1 John 4:16

What better text could there be for the day after Valentine's Day?

And what better text could there for the first day of Week of Compassion?

So this Sunday we will celebrate the love of God!

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1 John 4:7-16 God Is Love

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Whiteboard: Eagles and Grasshoppers

This Sunday in worship we'll be talking about Isaiah 30:21-31, which contains some of the most familiar lines in scripture.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard?"

"The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth."

"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles."

They shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

But the more I read through the scripture passage, the more I kept coming back to one particular image...an image that we rarely focus on at all.

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Yeah, grasshoppers. I haven't been able to stop thinking about grasshoppers this week, and why exactly Isaiah choose that specific image.

I mean, the eagle imagery we get. "They shall mount up with wings like eagles" is crystal clear. We think of those majestic, beautiful birds soaring high, seemingly effortlessly through the sky...

But grasshoppers? Not so much. 

Then I found this excellent blog post from Todd Weir. Then I read this incredible feature on the science behind grasshoppers' eyes. Then I decided to borrow Todd Weir's blog post title and use it as my sermon title! And suddenly we are talking about "Grasshopper Eyes and Eagle's Wings" on Sunday. And let me tell you, each one of them tells us something important about God, and lifts up to us a powerful image of how we can respond to the awesome wonder that is the Lord our God.

The only problem is, I'm not so good at drawing Grasshoppers. They are surprisingly complex! But eagles' wings? Those I can draw. Thus we ended up with this on The Whiteboard this week:

I'll see you on Sunday, where we will learn what it means to soar like eagle and look like a grasshopper!

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Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

StreetLightUSA

The Outreach Team sponsored a a work trip to Streetlight USA last weekend.

Streetlight USA helps young girls who have been victims of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. Our sister churches Foothills Christian Church in Glendale and First Christian Church in Mesa have been active supporters of Streetlight USA, and I am grateful that our Outreach Team has started working with this crucially important ministry as well.

StreetLightUSA's mission is "To transition adolescent girls from trauma to triumph." and they implement that mission through a three-tier strategy of Awareness, Prevention, and Direct Care. By partnering with private corporations, public law makers, law enforcement, human services, and faith-based organizations they have created a collective impact that is interrupting the victimization of adolescent girls by the sex trade. They are helping girls find a new way forward so they can become independent, confident and successful young women.

Our Outreach Volunteers from FCC Scottsdale visited the residential campus where StreetLightUSA provides a healing and safe environment for adolescent girls age 11-17, who have been rescued from sex trafficking. Our volunteers met with the girls, played games with them, worked on art projects with them, prayed with them, and spent valuable time together. It was a sucessful, touching project and the Outreach Team is already planning the next trip. 

For More Information about StreetLightUSA:

• Visit their Webpage at http://streetlightusa.org/ and make sure to click on the About Us, The Facts, and The Program links.
• KJZZ (our local NPR affiliate) did a feature story on StreetLightUSA in 2013. You can listen to it here. 
• You can watch StreetLightUSA's video on Vimeo.
• Disciples Women's Ministry has developed a series of resources addressing Human Trafficking entitled, "Human Trafficking: Breaking the Chains of Modern Day Slavery."

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 7

DAY 7 

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

TESTIMON“Give me to drink” (John 4:7)

• Numbers 20:1-11 The Israelites at Meribah
• Psalm 119:10-20 “I will not forget your word”
• Romans 15:2-7 “May God… grant you to live in harmony with one another”
• John 4:7-15 “Give me to drink”

Commentary

Christians should be confident that encountering and exchanging experiences with the other, even other religious traditions, can change us and help us to reach into the depths of the well. Approaching those who are strangers to us with the desire to drink from their well, opens to us the “wonders of God” that we proclaim.

In the wilderness God’s people were without water and God sent Moses and Aaron to bring water forth from the rock. In the same way God often meets our needs through others. As we call upon the Lord in our need, like the Samaritan asking Jesus, “Sir, give me this water,” perhaps the Lord has already answered our prayers by putting into the hands of our neighbours that for which we ask. And so we need to turn also to them, and ask, “Give me to drink.”

Sometimes the answer to our need is already in the life and goodwill of the people around us. From the Guarany people of Brazil we learn that in their language there is no equivalent word for the term “religion” as separate from the rest of life. The expression usually used literally means “our good way of being” (“ñande reko katu”). This expression refers to the whole cultural system, which includes religion. Religion, therefore, is part of the Guarany cultural system, as well as their way of thinking and being (teko). It relates to all that improves and develops the community and leads to its “good way of being” (teko katu). The Guarany people remind us that Christianity was first called “The Way” (Acts 9:2). “The Way,” or “our good way of being” is God’s way of bringing harmony to all parts of our lives.

Questions

1. How has your understanding and experience of God been enriched by the encounter with other Christians?

2. What can Christian communities learn from indigenous wisdom and other religious traditions in your region?

Prayer

God of life, who cares for all creation, and calls us to justice and peace,

may our security not come from arms, but from respect.

May our force not be of violence, but of love.

May our wealth not be in money, but in sharing.

May our path not be of ambition, but of justice.

May our victory not be from vengeance, but in forgiveness.

May our unity not be in the quest of power,

but in vulnerable witness to do your will.

Open and confident, may we defend the dignity of all creation,

sharing, today and forever, the bread of solidarity, justice and peace.

This we ask in the name of Jesus, your holy Son, our brother,

who, as victim of our violence, even from the heights of the cross,

gave forgiveness to us all.

Amen.

(Adapted from a prayer from an ecumenical conference in Brazil, calling for an end to poverty as the first step on the path to peace through justice)