Cultivating a Jesus-Centered Worldview

This afternoon, I find myself with a handful of other pastors as we survey Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons National Park. I must confess, I feel modestly guilty about this. 

As you can imagine, the setting and scenery that I am enjoying is spectacular. And I am most grateful for the opportunity to be here. Let me tell you a little bit about how I ended up in Wyoming this week. 

Earlier this summer, I was invited to be a part of a discussion by the leaders at Nurturing Faith—a Baptist publishing house that provides much of our Sunday School curriculum---with other pastors to discuss the prospect of a ‘Jesus Worldview’ initiative. Many of you will remember that the editor of Nurturing Faith, Dr. John Pierce, was a guest in our pulpit a couple of years ago. This is how he frames Nurturing Faith’s latest efforts: 

“More than a project, the emerging Jesus Worldview Initiative is a mission to cultivate a Jesus-centered worldview by developing and delivering a variety of timely resources, quality leadership training and inspirational/educational events that offer a positive, unifying view of the Christian faith and foster congregational health.  

This collaborative and integrated effort is being envisioned and guided by Nurturing Faith — the publishing brand of 35-year-old non-profit Baptists Today, Inc. — with ecumenical engagement. 

The Jesus Worldview Initiative (JWVI) need grew out of positive responses to writings by executive editor John D. Pierce and contributing writer Bruce Gourley in the autonomous, national Nurturing Faith Journal — that called for emphasizing a “Jesus worldview” to counter the growing misuse of “worldview” terminology to advance divisive and politicized definitions of Christian faithfulness. 

“[Nurturing Faith] invited a few pastors and other Christian leaders to see if we could come up with something they we are calling a ‘Jesus worldview,’ rather than a ‘biblical worldview,’” Pastor Jim Somerville told the congregation of First Baptist Church of Richmond, Va. “It didn’t take long … to realize that Jesus had not only dropped out of the so-called biblical worldview, but out of the daily practice of many of us who call ourselves Christians … I renewed my commitment to Jesus as Lord.” 

As you can imagine, I’m honored to be included in these conversations and I am thankful for the chance to contribute during this early phase of development. 

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that our conversation is taking place in a most-remarkable place. 

But it is not home. And at this time of the year, I pine for our mountains and for the company of our church family and friends. I will be home soon, and I will see you Sunday.  

Parents Night Out

You can register via the church website for Parents Night Out care on Friday, September 14th from 5:30 - 9:00 PM. All ages are welcome. Participants will be making pizza toast and salad for dinner. We will make fall wreaths as our craft for the night. Join the fun!

Fan the Flame

"I thank God whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.  Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.      2 Timothy 1:3-7 NIV

This scripture is the reference point for the 2018 Heck-Jones Offering theme, "Fan the Flame".  This year FBC's WMU wants to honor the leaders of Mission Friends, GA's, RA's, and Youth on Mission for their commitment to "fanning the flame"  -- passing on the faith to the younger generation. 

Help us recognize these important leaders with a contribution by September 23rd.  You may go by the church office with your donation or place it in your offering envelope along with your tithe.  Make checks out to "FBC" and designate it to "Heck-Jones Offering" on the memo line of your check.  On the offering envelope, be sure to indicate it is for this purpose.

Be sure to check out the bulletin board outside the choir room and watch for a special "Fan the Flame" reminder on Sunday!

Thank you.

Hands on Jackson County - November 1, 2018

Join a community effort to help meet unmet needs on November 1, 2018.    Hands on Jackson is a “Day of Caring” type of community effort to help those in need here in Jackson County.  Organizers for this event include:  The Jackson County Department of Social Services, The Jackson County Department on Aging, Jackson Neighbors in Need, The Jackson Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity and Mountain Projects Community Action Agency.

This collaboration is focused on providing assistance to neighbors in need through mobilizing community volunteer teams of all skill levels and matching them with needs.  Jobs will range from installing energy efficiency measures, building ramps, or cleaning yards and gutters.    Supplies will be provided to the teams in advance and will be purchased through sponsorships.  All projects must be less than $1,000 to complete and be able to be completed in one day.  A kick off breakfast sponsored by Duke Energy will start that morning at 8:00am before the teams report to their assigned jobs.

Volunteer teams, sponsorships, and projects are needed for this upcoming event and please see sheets below for more information.  If you know of someone in your community that needs help please fill out the project sheet below. Also volunteer teams and individuals are needed of all skills sets.   If you belong to a group, club, church or business you can organize a team.  Individuals that are not a part of a group will be assigned to a project that day. Sponsors are needed as well and all money collected goes to provide the materials for the projects.  Please join our growing list that includes; Lowes of Sylva, the Rotary Club of Sylva, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Duke Energy.

If you need additional information or have questions please let me know.  United and together we can make a difference in our community!

Eddie Wells
Director
Jackson County Department on Aging
Phone:  828-586-5494

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Please email the church office at fbcsylva@gmail.com if you have any recommendations on potential projects or if you or a group are interested in volunteering. We have the forms necessary to register. 

Autumn Delayed

I took a peek at the long-range forecast and I did not like I what I saw. The heat and humidity of summer is not budging. In fact, it may just be strengthening. 

And that may just do me in.  

By this time in the calendar year I am eager for a change of seasons. The vibrant green of spring has long since transitioned to the deep, forest green of late summer. The humidity levels are as high as they will ever be. The days are getting shorter, but the sun seems unrelenting.  

I was confused as a child in school when the calendars would depict September as the month of going back to school amidst a backdrop of autumn-clad trees. What a fib. Autumn in the south doesn’t truly get started until much later. My mother, a teacher in Atlanta at the time, wouldn’t put up her autumn bulletin board until after Halloween.  

What a travesty.  

It’s a shame autumn can’t start earlier and last longer. Because as we know, fall is the most glorious of seasons—especially in our mountains. The crisp, cool air and the warm sunlight make me eager for football and marching bands, apple cider and the smell of smoke from a wood stove. Autumn is golden and evokes a euphoric, even sentimental, air. There is a magical, transcendent quality to fall and I yearn for its breathtaking beauty.  

But not yet. And not anytime soon. 

So, I will have to outlast the heat. I will have to outlast the discomfort. I will have to outlast summer’s last oppressive stand.  

I have found that the word ‘outlast’ captures well the experience of being in realities that we feel trapped in. To outlast an illness and to outlast a tiresome work assignment points to a resilient spirit that will not give up. It means that the anxiety, discomfort and irritation that we feel—whether petty or profound—will not win the day. We will outlast it, come what may.  

I am encouraged by those in scripture who had to outlast their circumstances. It gives me hope that I can do the same. I remember Joseph who outlasted a villainous woman and a long prison sentence. I think of Naomi who outlasted the grief that accompanied the loss of her husband and sons until she was able to begin a new season in her life. Nathan, God’s prophet, had to outlast the tension that came from knowing about King David’s affair and the murder that he plotted. Stephen, the great martyr of the faith, outlasted the terrible pain of his stoning, and the Father in Jesus’s famous parable had to outlast the season of separation from his youngest, prodigal son. 

In each of our lives, we will experience setbacks, conflict and unimaginable terrors. I wish it were not so. But these moments all bring us to a point of discernment; a crossroads, as it were. When beset by these difficult seasons, we will either choose to weather them, or we will succumb to the pain and surrender the gift of life that God continues to give to us. 

James 1:12 reads: “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (NIV) 

God wants us to outlast the trials that we experience for our trials are not the end. True, when we are in seasons of extended distress, we lose heart and cannot see beyond the pain that we are experiencing. Our church, then, can become a host of encouragers for one another so that we can see what we cannot yet grasp—that is, relief, promise, victory, hope. The refreshment of our souls may not come until eternity stretches out before us, but therein lies a truth that is made bedrock by the Gospel. Our lives—and what we can see—are not the end. Sometimes we must weather and outlast even our very lives. But with God’s strength we will do just that. Because God’s ultimate hope will win the day. It may be delayed, but it will not be defeated.  

Poinsettias for Sale!

It’s time to order your Poinsettias for Christmas!

The Decorations Team is taking orders for Christmas Poinsettias.  The cost is $18 each. You must pay when you sign up! Orders are due on September 19th.

Please fill out the information below and put it along with a check in the offering plate or bring it by the church office. Be sure to make the check payable to the First Baptist Church and put “Poinsettia” in the memo line.

Your Name _______________________________________________

In Honor of ________________________________________________ OR,

In Memory of ______________________________________________

Number of Poinsettias

______________________________________________

REMINDER: Wednesday Meal Sign Ups

REMINDER: The meal order for Wednesday Night Meals is placed at 4:00 PM on Tuesdays. If you want to be sure that you have a meal, you MUST sign up by this time every week! 

Stewing Is Not Praying

A seasoned couple once had a quarrel. It was over a trivial matter, but their clash had not blown over. There was a sense of dis-ease in the air as they did the dishes in silence. 

Afterwards, the husband retreated to the den to read the newspaper. The wife marched upstairs to their bedroom and slammed the door. She could be heard pacing the floor of the room above, and her voice on the telephone was animated and punctuated with statements like, “And then I told him…” and “Then he said…” 

When the husband finally retired to their bedroom some hours later, his wife glared at him from the bathroom. After a few minutes of awkward shuffling, she said:  

“Well, I’ve been praying all night long, and…” 

The man interrupted her and said, “Now honey, I am sorry. I misspoke earlier and then I made it worse when I denied it. So there. But as for you praying all night long, let’s be clear on this: you weren’t praying. You were stewing.” 

Praying is not stewing. If it was, our righteousness would outshine the sun. 

Let’s face it, stewing is far more enjoyable than praying. When we stew on something, we replay an event over and over in our heads. We write a verbatim of our conversations. We craft the perfect script of our encounters. Our responses are pitch-perfect in our recreated histories. They benefit from hindsight and we are never at fault.  

This, brothers and sisters, is not prayer.  

Sometimes, we’re not able to showcase our talents, so we replay the hurts or sleights that we experienced in a never-ending loop. Like getting pleasure from pressing a bruise, we revisit the pain and feel justified in feeling sorry for ourselves.  

This, brothers and sisters, is not prayer.  

And then there are the moments when we can’t help but to talk about it with someone else. This tends to escalate the issue, doesn’t it? But at this point, we’re okay with the heightened state of anxiety because we’ve been able to highlight to others how we’ve done no wrong.  

This, brothers and sisters, is not prayer.   

Finally, we turn things over in our heads with such frequency that the experience feels burned into our souls. We worry, we fret, we stress; all with the intention of making sense of circumstances that somehow feel beyond our control. 

This too, brothers and sisters, is not prayer.  

It’s stewing. It’s running in place. It’s suspending progress in favor of the past.  

In the Gospels, Jesus encourages us to avail ourselves of prayer so that we can be honest and transparent with God. Jesus teaches us to depend on God, to pray for others, and to pray that we might have the strength to do as God commands.  

If that’s what prayer is, then let’s acknowledge that it’s hard work. It’s hard work because our faithful prayers often devolve into fantasies—fantasies about things that we wish would have been different in our past, and fantasies of things we desire for the future. When this happens—when our prayers become our stewing—our strength is sapped, and our souls are soured. And this is not what God wants for us.  

Paul’s statements that we pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and in all things (Philippians 4:6) lend themselves to a kind of stream of consciousness experience. And while that may be well and fine, let’s hear this cautionary note: God is not our journal. God is not our diary. God is on the other line, so to speak.  

Our thoughts and our musings, our reflections and our deliberations become prayers when they invite God to change and transform us. Our prayers transcend our stewings when we selflessly consider God’s will—not God’s providence, mind you—but God’s desire for His Kingdom.  

In this way, prayer looks like Jesus in the Garden. He honestly shares his desire, but he ultimately chooses God’s desire.  

May we have the strength to spend more time on the latter, rather than the former. Because, when our prayers focus on our desires, we’re just stewing.  

Whiffle Ball Derby Winner

Congratulations to our home run derby winner, Andrew Beck! In second place was Zeb Mathis, and in third place, Weston Thompson. Thanks to everyone who came out to our end-of-summer picnic at East LaPorte!

Following the God Who Comes Up Alongside Us

“We are travelers on a journey, fellow pilgrims on the road.” * 

Beginning this week, the road that I will be venturing down will be to Buies Creek and Campbell University Divinity School. I am beginning the second year of my studies in their Doctorate of Ministry program.  

My journey will be a three-year experience. It will culminate in the project—or experiment—that I will conduct in the Fall of 2019. I will write about the results of this Doctoral project and will defend it in the Spring of 2020. All of my classwork, independent study and research these first two years of my program will prepare me for my project, where I will invite our church members to participate in a study that will test the power and efficacy of Celtic Spiritual Practices in the life of our faith community.  

“We are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load.” * 

The story of the two disciples who encounter the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus from Luke 24 features prominently in my studies. I am drawn to this moment in the post-resurrection narrative because it carries such honesty and hope for fellow travelers on the road of faith. You may recall that the two pilgrims in Luke’s Gospel had been followers of Jesus until he had been crucified in Jerusalem. They were once insiders in the Jesus-movement, but the reader learns that they had given up and are returning home to Emmaus. The travelers are grieving the loss of their leader and in the one they hoped would be their Messiah. They are disappointed and downtrodden. Unbeknownst to these two pilgrims, Christ comes up and joins them on their trip. He speaks truth to them and becomes the way for them to understand the greater story of God’s love for His people. The story culminates with the revelation that the person who has been traveling with them is none other than Jesus, himself. This epiphany moves them—literally—and they spring up to race back to tell the Twelve in Jerusalem what they had experienced firsthand.  

This story will form the Biblical foundation for my project. The travelers’ journey, their destination and their walk together with Christ is the framework for my experiment for I believe that both the Way and the Place in faith matters.  

This semester, I will take another step down this path. My time in Buies Creek will be limited this fall as most of my work transitions to independent study. The class that I am taking at Campbell this fall is “Social Context of Ministry in Today’s World” and will focus on the discipline of pastoral care. The other class that I am taking--my independent study--will be made up of research and personal experimentation with the Celtic distinctive called Anam Cara. Anam Cara—or “one who shares the cell”—was the practice of soul friendship in ancient Ireland and was the way in which faithful Christians shared their lives with one another. Anam Cara was the way in which they provided encouragement, support and accountability to fellow believers.  

“I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.” * 

I cannot do this journey alone. And because of your love, support and encouragement along the way, First Baptist Church, I haven’t had to. I am so very grateful for your presence with me and our family while we walk this path. You have provided me with space to ask the deeper questions of our faith while making yourselves available to learn alongside me. Thank you for blessing this journey. I pray that my discoveries will be a blessing to you, to our church and to others who are striving to be faithful along the Way.  

“I will share your joy and sorrow, till we’ve seen this journey thro. When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony. Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.” * 

* ”The Servant Song” was written by Richard Gillard and is featured in the Baptist Hymnal, hymn number 613.