SAIL Marketplace Week 3

We had a great time at S.A.I.L. Marketplace last night at First Christian Church Scottsdale! Greg Tidrow was our fabulous potter, everyone got a chance to mold clay into something creative, we learned the story of the widow's mite, and enjoyed a delicious tortellini dinner!

Hope you can make it next Wednesday at 5:45 at FCC Scottsdale!

Here are a handful of photos from the evening (to see even more, head over to the Church's Facebook Page):

Whiteboard: Guest Preachers

I am so grateful to Rev. Kevin Adams and Rev. Al Beasley.

I’ll be out of the pulpit for the next two Sundays. I’m taking two weeks of family vacation to spend some time back in the Midwest. Susan is already in St. Louis and Henry and I will fly out later today to catch up with her. I’ll be attending a family reunion, catching up with old friends, eating some world class Italian food on The Hill, and going to a few St. Louis Cardinals baseball games.

While I am away Rev. Kevin and Rev. Al will be filling the pulpit.

Rev. Kevin will be filling the pulpit this Sunday (July 3) and Rev. Al will lead the service the following Sunday (July 10).

Outreach: Feed My Starving Children

Last weekend FCC Scottsdale sent an Outreach Team to work with Feed My Starving Children. 

We had an awesome group of 14, which covered all areas of the project from doing the labels, to being part of the warehouse, and managing a table. It was great to see 5 kids helping out!

The food our team prepared is going to battle starvation and malnutrition in Nicaragua. Our team accounted for 143 boxes with 216 meals in each box. That means our 14 volunteers prepared an astounding 30,888!

84 kids will be fed for 1 year! Well done!

Here are some photos from the morning's work:

Whiteboard: One in Christ Jesus

This Sunday I'll be preaching from one of my very favorite scripture passages -- Galatians 3:28 "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

I'll be preaching about Christian Unity...but we have to be honest. We as Christians aren't very united right now. I chose the theme in the wake of the United Methodist General Convention (a denominational church meeting that nearly ended in a complete split of a mainline protestant denomination; one that has "United" in the name, nonetheless). And unity seems even further away in the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting at Pulse gay club in Orlando last weekend.

Let me state unequivocally that I find it deplorable that Christian pastors would stand up in their pulpits and say that this manner of violence and brutality was some how "the will of God" or "a purifying fire" or "God's punishment being doled out against homosexuals." That is not the God of love, grace, and forgiveness that I know that Jesus Christ and it is not the good news that we preach here at First Christian Church Scottsdale.

So we are left at a crossroads. Or is it an impasse? Or a decision point? Or some other level of metaphor? The question becomes: How do we live in unity, when we are facing difficult and divisive issues? 

Come joins us this Sunday as we wrestle with this important subject, and as we seek and celebrate the God who loves us and the Christ who sets us free.

-------

Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

SAIL Marketplace Week 1

Last night the S.A.I.L. Program (Summer Adventures in Learning) kicked off!

We had more than 50 folks join us for Marketplace (our 2016 theme) and we were transported back to the days of Jesus to share the holy words of scripture (and watch them come to life right before our eyes), enjoy a delicious meal, sing songs, make crafts, and participate in outreach projects.

It was a great night (and we'll be doing it for the next five Wednesdays, beginning at 5:45 in the Fellowship Hall; come join us!). Here are some photos from the evening...and if you want to see even more than head over to the Church's Facebook Page!

Whiteboard: Church Camp

Church Camp is coming! Church Camp is coming!

On Saturday I’ll be heading up to Camp Pinerock in Prescott to join the rest of the Arizona Region’s Summer Camp Staff (made up of directors, counselors, the camp nurse, and the Youth Council) as we take the final steps to get everything ready camp.

On Sunday morning the Church Campers from FCC Scottsdale will be at church for the worship service and then they’ll hit the road for Prescott too. We’ll be together at Camp Pinerock all the way through Friday.

It is going to be a fabulous week for our kids and counselors. We’ll be talking about “God’s Covenant Promises” all week long as we gather in a beautiful place to share and celebrate our faith with one another. Church Camp is one of those “thin places” in life where the holy breaks in to our otherwise everyday, ordinary lives. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without church camp, and I am grateful that our church is such an active participant in making church camp happen.

We have TEN kids from our church heading to camp this summer and another five adults!

Please keep our campers, our counselors, and everyone else from the AZ Region who will be a part of Church Camp 2016 in your prayers! Thank you for your generous donations to the Camp Fund and to the Youth Group’s fundraisers all year long that help to underwrite our kids camp costs!

Pics: The Fifth With First

On Sunday May 29, 2016 we celebrated "The Fifth With First" by working with two of our favorite partners in our community.

The folks who participated in the Worship Service in the Sanctuary heard an amazing sermon from LaVerne Thorpe and then headed over to the Fellowship Hall to pack "Back to School Kits" for Vista Del Camino.

The folks who were a part of our WORKship Service in the Community gathered for a brief prayer service at the ramada at Chaparral Park before heading over to the Ronald McDonald House to cook and clean and wash windows on behalf of the 35 families that are currently residing there while their loved ones are receiving treatment at one of the nearby hospitals.

It was an amazing day all around and here are a handful of pictures to show you what we were up to!

The Fifth With First

This Sunday is “The Fifth With First!”

On those months that have an extra Sunday, we put our faith into action at First Christian Church Scottsdale!

For folks participating in our Worship Service in the Sanctuary, our dear friend LaVerne Thorpe will be our guest preacher that morning. LaVerne will be sharing a sermon about her recent trip to Africa…and I don’t want to give too much away, but our Global Ministries partners will be featured prominently! Immediately following the service our Outreach Team has partnered with Vista Del Camino to set up a “Back-to-School Kit” Assembly Line. I know, I know, it is the first weekend of summer but Vista Del Camino has to start working on those Back-to-School Kits months in advance to make sure everything is ready for the hundreds of school-age Scottsdale kids who come to them for assistance when the new school year does start. So we are at the cutting edge of Vista Del Camino’s programs and your help on Sunday morning is going to make a huge difference for them as well as the kids they serve.

For folks participating in our WORKship Service out in the Community we will meet at the ramada at Chaparral Park at 9AM for a brief Prayer Service (with communion) before heading out to the Ronald McDonald House at 501 East Roanoke Ave in Phoenix. We’ll be preparing lunch (and sack lunches) for the folks staying at the Ronald McDonald House as well as cleaning up the kitchen and tidying up the facility. The Ronald McDonald House has been an amazing partner with us; in fact you can watch news clilps here and here from the first time we worked with them two years ago.

Whether you are on campus or off campus this Sunday, thank you for being a part of “The Fifth With First” and for putting your faith into action!

Yours in the Journey,
Rev. Brian

Three Things from Administrative Council

The Administrative Council had their regularly scheduled meeting on Sunday May 15 immediately following the worship service. Here are "The Three Things" you should know from that meeting:

1. Insurance Presentation
   Andrea Weingel, our Account Manager with Church Mutual Insurance Company, came to our meeting to walk the Administrative Council through our various insurance policies. It was a comprehensive presentation and I am glad to say that as a church we are well covered and taken care of in this important (but blessedly often unnoticed) area.
   
2. Master's Talent Concert Series
   Administrative Council officially recognized and endorsed our Master's Talent Concert Series as a ministry of the church that is helping us reach out to our local community in new and innovative ways.
   
3. Great Things are Happening in Education
   With each Admin Council Meeting we focus on one or two of our annual goals, and this time we featured our goal to "Support, Equip, and Grow the Education Ministry Team and Programs." We heard a wonderful report from the Education Ministry Team that detailed the many Sunday School Classes and mid-week small groups that we have in the church. They also outlined their hopes for the future and specifically requested help with volunteers for the S.A.I.L Program as well as helpers and teachers for the fall. We are so blessed to have Carol and Julie leading this revitalized effort and for everyone on the Education Ministry Team who is helping to make it happen!

Whiteboard: Wisdom

This Sunday we'll be talking about Wisdom...or as our Biblical tradition prefers to refer to it, Lady Wisdom.

That's right. In the Bible Wisdom is designated as feminine (the women of the church are nodding their heads knowingly). In fact, it is more than just feminine; Proverbs talks straight forwardly about wisdom as a personified woman ("Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice. On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out" Proverbs 8:1-3 with emphasis added by me).

Scholars have all sorts of theories and ideas about why this would be the case (read some here, here, and my personal favorite exposition on the text here) but in truth scripture never really answers the question "Why is Wisdom personified as a Lady?"

The more important question (and the one scripture does answer!) is "What should we learn from Lady Wisdom?" In answering this important question Rev. John Trigilio, Jr. and Rev. Kenneth Brighenti write:

In the Christian sense, wisdom isn't the same as truth or knowledge. Wisdom isn't just intellectual insight or book learning, either. Wisdom is the ability to make good judgments. A wise person doesn't have to be the most intelligent or the most accurate but does have to be someone who knows what to do with the knowledge he or she has, where to find more, and how to apply it.

Isn't that a great response! Oh, and my favorite part: It comes from their article in "Women in the Bible for Dummies." Yep, learning about wisdom from the "For Dummies" books!

 -------

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 The Gifts of Wisdom

Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
‘To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.