With this issue of the newsletter we turn a corner. Yes, you can say it: “Spring is just around the corner!” And with that is the truth that one can build a life upon: “He is risen! He is alive” But those Easter words that point us to an empty tomb are intended for a life full of…well full of life! And that is what you will find in the pages of this newsletter.

 

Let’s remember that we are on a journey together to becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus. Each and every thing that we seek to do is geared toward that journey. So may I ask you, “How’s the journey going?” Or, “Where are you on the journey toward becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus?”

 

Sometimes it is easy to think that this journey is one that we can do on our own. Sometimes we think it would be easier to do so. But this journey is tended to be discovered, nurtured and lived out in, through and from community. This community of God’s friends on the journey to becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus is a large part of God’s plan for us to live the life that is full of life!

 

“Sin leaves us captive to destructive patterns of life…Liberation from our captivity requires an ongoing process of being formed and transformed by God’s grace in and through the friendships and practices of Christian communities.” (Stephen E. Fowler and L. Grgegory Jones, Reading in Communion, pg. 31)

 

What does this have to do with an empty tomb that gives us life full of life? Simply this: Just like Easter is not something we take off the religious shelf of our lives once a year, so the community cannot become something that we seek just occasionally or when it works. It is part of the plan God has for us to discover the life that is full of life from the empty tomb that declares, “He’s alive!” The same can be said of us as well!

 

In these pages are entry points to this life. Life that you, me, we can experience together.

 

In HIS Adventure of LIFE in Community,

 

 

IN A SHEPHERD'S WORD

"THE JOURNEY: I Wonder Where We Will Go?"

The old Chinese proverb inevitably is always true: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one

step." And so, on September 13, 2009 we will begin The Journey at Community Chapel. The Journey,

however, will not be a 1,000 mile trip, but rather it is an invitation. Remember this:

 

We invite you to a journey toward becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Everything we do will be about this!

 

To get all the details check out www.community-chapel.org and click on The Journey link in the right

hand corner. But it causes me to ask, "Where will we go in The Journey?"

 

Jesus says, "Come, follow me!" What do those words imply for you and me? In the traditional rabbinic

fashion, Jesus is not asking us to simply take a geographical walk around the corner. Nor is He

suggesting that we just do religious things that are convenient for us. Rather, Jesus is inviting us all to

"do life" with Him as the One who "is life" for us! The Journey is about embracing the call from Jesus

with all that we have, as fully devoted followers!

 

In Matthew 28, Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations…." When Jesus speaks of a

disciple, He speaks of one whose primary characteristic is "devotion to the Master". It is precisely

what our mission statement implies:

 

"Out of love for God and enabled by God the Community Chapel Church of the Nazarene is to make

fully devoted followers of Jesus in the 21st century."

 

So this is a call to embrace The Journey toward becoming a "devoted follower" of Jesus Christ our

Lord. It means…

 

A recommitment to community. True growth always happens in community.

A renewed investment of time. How do you spell love? T-I-M-E! It is true in our

relationship with God as well!

A rediscovery of people! Yes, people. You. Me. One another. Making time and space for

other travelers in the journey!

A re-deployment into our world! Let us be the reason people believe that "God is good"

by our acts of service.

So we will take the first step together on September 13th! That day The Journey will have a slightly

altered schedule.

The Journey of Praise at 8:30 and 11:00 AM will be intergenerational in nature complete with a

Family Fusion emphasis.

On that Sunday, During Journey Group Hour there will be tables and refreshments set

up for fellowship and sign up for Journey Groups.

 

But, we will take the first step, and as we open ourselves to God together, The Journey may

change our lives, and the lives of those we intersect with each day. So, let us take the first step. I

wonder where we will go?

In the journey of HIS Adventure,

Pastor Geoff

 

We read the Bible and sometimes we may be tempted to question if it really relates to today. In a recent e-mail I received the following words. They are a Psalm for today. They come from the heart of a person who is living in a difficult circumstance. I couldn’t help but share it. (Some details have been omitted or changed).

 

●●●

 

God is so good!

  

God's blessings have amazed me:

 

Family and friends that are there to pray for us.

 

Family that has helped care.

 

Meeting [one doctor] who was at that hospital as a patient and who said he would make house calls.

 

Our primary physician didn't have an opening for my loved one.  But amazingly someone cancelled there appointment that was right before my semi annual check up.

 

A wonderful church and pastors.

 

My friend and neighbor.

 

A job that is both challenging and enjoyable.

 

Great co-workers.

 

A good medical insurance plan.

 

Great visiting nurses and therapists.

 

Good reports on my general health.

 

Anonymous neighbors who sanded our driveway after the last storm.

 

Regaining power after the last "great" ice storm after only 6 hours.

 

[My loved one] & his surgeon "bonding" after finding out they came from adjoining towns.

 

A comfortable home.

 

Many other blessing, but most of all a God that loves us beyond all understanding.

 

●●●

 

The way the Psamist put it in Psalm 121 was, “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I thanks our God for the perspective of this precious one. I thank Him for a psalm for today.

 

In HIS Adventure,

 

 

 

55 hours, 19 minutes and 22 seconds! It was then I saw it. OK, I made up the time but it is an approximation from the time that power went down in our area to the time when I witnessed it. By the time you read this, the Ice Storm of 2008 may even begin to be a fading memory. The images were very real. For some the metaphor of “a war zone” was the best way for them to describe it. For others it was simply cold, dark and quiet. You began to distinguish, though, the sounds of darkness. The sounds of powerlessness. The distinction between the pop of a tree limb and that of a transformer. The distinction between the hum of a passing car and the hum of the generators running through the neighborhood.

 

But at 55 hours, 19minutes and 22 seconds, I saw it! Another distinction. It came in many ways and at different times.

 

…People who had serious needs carrying in the Christmas gifts for needy families and children.

 

…People probably trying to save their own food walking in with hams, potatoes and green beans to feed the homeless and helpless during Christmas week.

 

…People encouraging others with a word, a hug, a prayer.

 

…People signing up saying, “I can help!”

 

…Young people being available like the two teens that made themselves available for helping anyone. When told we may be able to use them, one said, “Sweeet!”

 

…People who make up a church staff that looked at every way to help others than tried their best to do so!

 

…People being neighbors, family being family, people being people to people like people are designed to do by God!

 

One of the sweetest sounds I heard was after three and a half days of no power and 1 ½ days living on a generator was the off switch on that generator. But I think the sweetest sound of all was the sound of the distinction made by God’s people as they sought to bring the gift of His presence through their presence.

 

And that brings me to 2009. Here we are! Ready to launch a new year. Can I invite you to not let the power of the miracle of God’s presence trough us to fade? Here are the words that reverberate in my heart and mind as I reflect on Ice Storm 2008 and New Adventure called 2009:

 

“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8 NLT)

 

Can I invite you to join me in adopting this text for 2009? Make this your hope. Your aim. People being people the way God intended it. Simply put: Being the people of God wherever our feet take us!

 

It is than that the Christmas miracle of Ice Storm 2008 can become the lifestyle miracle of 2009 and the world will know “Immanuel: God is with us”. They will just have to look at you. At me. At us. Happy New Year!

 

In HIS Adventure,

pastorgeoff

 

Sometimes it happens this way. I preach a message and I can’t seem to get it out of my mind. It is as if a mental rewind button in my mind is connected to my heart. I press rewind and my own words haunt me and my own heart is left in a place that is not settled. That is the case with the message “Life in the Balance” I preach October 19.

Press Rewind: Sanctity of life is not a political platform whose primary purpose is to oppose abortion. It is the “DNA” of God’s creative purpose for humanity. Hear the question that demands an answer: “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:4 NLT)The answer is rooted in the creation of man. From the inception of man, life is sacred and from conception, life is sacred.

Then I wonder: Geoff, do you really get it? Do I see how “fearfully and wonderfully” I am made? Do I marvel at the thought that the God of the universe deigns to make me in His image so He can relate to me with His heart?

 

Press Rewind: “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4 NIV) The words of Mother Teresa cannot be dismissed: "A nation that destroys the life of an unborn child, who has been created for living and loving, who has been created in the image of God, is in a tremendous poverty." “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.” “My gift is to see the face of Jesus in its most distressing disguise.”

I stare at a picture of Mother Teresa holding a baby without arms and I pray: “Let me see what she sees?” And I ask myself and anyone who will read this: Where is God calling you to where people will really know that you value life? Sanctity of life is a verb. And I wonder, as I grip the hand of God tightly, how far will my reach be to the world?

Press Rewind: The church expanded during the Roman plagues because of the compassion they expressed. Dionysius’ words: “The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner.”

The vision of Christians in the 2nd and 3rd centuries running toward the cities and homes filled with the plague while pagans run away arrests me. Would a modern Dionysius say the same of me?

Press Rewind: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 NIV) He is an image bearer who carries the gift of human life. Sacred. From God. Called to protect it. So, honor sanctity of life. Be be sanctity of life. Live sanctity of life. Because, life is in the balance!

Press Rewind: Dear God: Today I do not write on a critical issue, but the critical issue of all life.

Press Rewind

Press Rewind

Press Rewind

In His Adventure,

Pastor Geoff

 

 

 I just dropped my friend Tim off at the airport. He spent the weekend with us and we had fun. We played games, had a BBQ, worshiped together, prayed together and just talked. But I just dropped him at the airport. And when he walked away from me in his desert camouflage uniform, my heart grew heavy.

 

 You see, Tim is an Army captain deployed to Iraq. He just spent two weeks on leave with his wife and kids and in-laws. Beth (his wife) is from northern New Hampshire. So she flew in from Arizona. He flew in from Iraq. And on the day after we celebrate our independence, they found each other again at Manchester Airport.

 

 Regardless of the position on the war, you should spend a weekend with Tim. This godly man, who loves his country also loves and cares for the Iraqi people. He speaks of his fellow soldiers from Britain, Iraq and the United States as if they were his brothers. And he talks of the men he leads and his desire to do right by them. Tim puts a face on the war in Iraq that the media outlets don’t.

 

 You should spend a weekend with Tim.

 

 Anyway, while we enjoy the comforts of home in the summer and bemoan the high gas prices and soaring electric bills (due to the AC), Tim will be in a far off land facing 120 degree temperatures and very real weapons aimed at him, hoping for a direct hit; all the while with an optimism and commitment that we all should have.

 

 You should spend a weekend with Tim.

 

 And when we can’t decide whether or not to go to church because of some other summer fun event, Tim may just be plugging in his CD player and then popping in one of the dozen or so CDs of our worship services at the Community Chapel Church of the Nazarene that he left here with; and in his own way he will be coming to our church and worshipping, while sitting in a place where his worship opportunities are limited and his family can’t enjoy the privilege of worshipping in a church together. Why? Because Tim, above all else, is so radically committed to Jesus and his church and its mission. He knows that without the church in his life he is not complete. And without his involvement in the kingdom life of the church, the church itself is incomplete.

 

 You should spend a weekend with Tim.

 

 So, I am praying for my friend Tim. I still see him, with his pack slung over his back, walking into the safety of Manchester Airport. Eventually, in four days he will end up in the insecurity of a whole different world. But I have renewed confidence in God’s work in his life and mine and am so very grateful soldiers like Captain Tim Carignan are serving in places like Iraq. Come home soon, brother. I miss you.

 

 I am so glad I spent the weekend with Tim.