Pressing On: a Reflection

Phillipans 3:12-14

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Oftentimes, I feel like I can’t find the words to truly express my prayers to God.  I can feel prayers trying to swell up inside of me, but I can’t seem to form the words into a sentence.  In those moments, I’m usually quiet and then I try to pray through song.  Usually, I sing an old hymn or praise song that I’ve known for years.  At other times, I search for new music that might give voice to how I’m feeling inside.  

In early January of this year, before our church visited our sister church in Holguin, I was searching for a new song that might give voice to my prayers.  I got online and began listening to a variety of songs and then this one started to play here.

Press On
Sung by Keith & Kristyn Getty

Where two or three are gathered
in the name of the Lord
He is here, He is here in our midst
And we will sing together, be renewed by the Word
When we part, may we go in His peace

Press on all you saints, press on ‘til the end
Christ with us, ever with us, until He comes again
Press on all you saints, run and run to win
Christ with us, ever with us, until He comes again

Now let the Word be scattered like
the seed on the soil
Day by day watch it grow in His care
And may you be a shelter as you reach to the lost
Glad in hope, calm in pain, true in prayer

Press on all you saints, press on ‘til the end
Christ with us, ever with us, until He comes again
Press on all you saints, run and run to win
Christ with us, ever with us, until He comes again

And may He find us waiting with
our lamps burning still
Keeping watch through the night, ‘til He comes
For soon it will be morning and the sun will appear
Christ who brought us this far brings us home

Press on all you saints, press on ‘til the end
Christ with us, ever with us, until He comes again
Press on all you saints, run and run to win
Christ with us, ever with us

Until He comes again
Oh, until He comes again

I instantly loved this song and how it gives voice to pressing on, plowing ahead, pushing forward when times seem hard.  It’s the best musical expression I’ve ever come across to capture the essence of Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

This song is hopeful and honest—grappling with the reality that life is full of challenges that require us to find strength to keep going.  What I love most about the song is that the strength is found when we unite together in the love of Christ.  The song begins, “Where two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, He is here in our midst.”

Those singing the song are not singing a song of hope in isolation.  They are singing it together.  This is how I felt when worshipping in our sister church in Holguin several weeks ago.  I felt this sense of shared determination to press on towards the goal of being unified in Christ.  This was my second visit to Kerygma Baptist Church and I was delighted to recognize many familiar faces and worship alongside them.  The congregation sang in a language I did not understand and yet my heart understood it perfectly.  

I especially love a set of lyrics from the second verse of this song, “And may you be a shelter as you reach to the lost. Glad in hope, calm in pain, true in prayer.”  Again, I feel like this gives voice to how we can be hopeful in the midst of life’s pain and hardship.  I love the idea that collectively we can provide shelter to those who are lost and in need of Christ’s grace and love.  That we can collectively be glad in hope, calm in painful circumstances and grounded in prayer.  This is the kind of Christ-follower I aspire to be—one who continues to press on, knowing that Christ is with me each step of the way.  And that is my prayer for anyone hearing this reflection, that you may also be encouraged to press on with hope, knowing that God is with you each step of the way.

The day after we returned home from our visit to Holguin, I found myself needing to pray, but at a loss for words.  On my way to work, I said to God, “God, I need a song right now.”  I then I opened up my phone and pushed play on a random station.  A song came on that I had never heard before and my heart skipped a beat as I listened here.

Let Us Be Known (Por La Gloria)
By The Porter’s Gate

Que la alegría sea nuestro motor
En cada lugar y corazón canta a el Senor
Que de nuestras vidas, abundar en esperanza
Que la alegría sea nuestro motor

Por la gloria del Padre
Por la gloria del Hijo
Por la gloria del Espíritu
Qua la alegria ser a nuestro motor

Let us be known by our love
Let every word and every deed honor the Son
Let our light shine in every eye
Let us be known by our love

For the glory of the Father
For the glory of the Son
For the glory of the Spirit
Let us be known by our love

It’s exactly the word I needed to hear that day—a reminder that God speaks every language and it’s a language of light and love.  These are the two songs I’ve been singing and praying for the past several weeks.  Two songs.  One of hope— reminding me to press on in hard times.  One of love—reminding me (in two languages!) to be known by the love of Christ.  I hope the lyrics of these two songs are a blessing to you as they have been a blessing to me.  Brothers and sisters, let us press on and let the world know us by our love.  Amen.

Holy Week at FBC Sylv

Maundy Thursday Service
Thursday, April 6  |  6:00 p.m.

Join us for a service of remembrance on Thursday, April 6 at 6:00 p.m. in our church sanctuary. We will retell the story of Jesus’s last supper with his disciples, and we will prepare ourselves for the shadow of Jesus’s final journey to Calvary and his death on the cross.  

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Sunrise Service
Sunday, April 9   |  7:00 a.m. | Bridge Park

We'll gather with our friends from the Methodist and Presbyterian churches at the pavilion in Bridge Park for a Sunrise Service. Please bring a lawn chair and a jacket as we hear the story about the empty tomb at first light on Easter Sunday.

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Easter Sunday Worship & Easter Egg Hunt
Sunday, April 9   |  10:30 a.m.

Arrive at church a few minutes before Sunday School to help decorate our cross with freshly cut flowers and greenery from your backyard. Our celebration of the Risen Christ will commence at 10:30 AM, and our children will hunt for eggs in the playground immediately after worship. 

Men’s Breakfast

A men’s breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 29 at 8:00 a.m. in the Mission Fellowship Center.

Recipes Appreciated!

Each week we include a recipe in the Church Chimes and we hope that you are enjoying reading and trying them. You can add your favorite recipes to the Chimes by sending them to Cheryl Beck at cabeck@ncsu.edu. This is an ongoing WMU project.

Thanks for participating!

Book Buddies Begins April 11

Thank you to all the folks who responded to the plea for help with the 1st Explorers reading program.  The program will begin on Tuesday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m. with a "meet and greet" time with your book buddy when you will work with them to select a book from the Children's Library to read.  Reading time is from 3:30 to 4:00 with 15 minutes of reading with 2 different children.  Other reading dates are April 18, May 2, May 16, and May 30.  

If you would like to spend a little time with a child and share your enthusiasm for reading, please let Cheryl Beck or Melanie Stokely know.  We can use some other people to make this program successful.

Punch

Ingredients

Combine:
1  12 ounce frozen lemonade
1  46-ounce pineapple juice
2 quarts water
1 cup sugar
(These ingredients equal one gallon of liquid.)

Add 1 –2 liter ginger ale when you are ready to serve.

–Provided by Ruth McConnell

Punch

Click here to download a printable version.

Provided by Ruth McConnell

Family Fun Event Was Fun!

Around 20 people attended the Family Fun Event on April 2nd.  After a hearty sandwich lunch, the group enjoyed creating "critters" from Easter eggs, making a jelly bean/chocolate bunny Ball jar for shut-ins, and playing games outside.  There was even a practice Easter Egg Hunt to get the children ready for the big hunt next Sunday!  Cheryl Beck read the book "The Flowering Cross" to the group and gave each family a small cross to decorate with flowers for Easter Sunday.  As they departed each child received a goody bag and each family took home a flower pot to enjoy.  

Thank you to all the families who attended.

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Heck-Jones Mission Offering

The GA’s handed out envelopes and information on the Heck-Jones Mission Offering. If you have not returned your donation, please do it as soon as possible by placing the envelope in the offering plate on Sunday or leaving it in the office with Janice. The WMU office in Greensboro uses these donations to be self supportive of Cooperative Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union. The staff uses these funds to help with education for the churches in NC. They do a wonderful job!

Mission Moment 4.5.23

Lita Sample

CBF Field Personnel in Fremont, CA

Prayers are often said in hopes of asking God for something specific. Sometimes we pray for direction. And a few times, we ask for God to give us a word on what we need to do. This is what I prayed for months before our Easter Egg hunt. How many Afghans will you bring to us at this special event? In my logical mind, I planned for 250 people. I hoped that maybe we would have 200 in total to come. Then, in my doubt, I actually wondered if 100 would come to our Easter event. It was a Christian holiday. Why would they want to come? 

As we prepared for the 250, in faith that God would bring that many and as we continued to pray for the Afghans we would invite, God revealed something surprising. God said to prepare for 250 CHILDREN! That would bump up our overall total to hundreds more! We reserved four picnic areas near each other to have a great big grassy area for all the crafts, games, face painting, and six hunts we would have. Halal meat was on the invitation to be sensitive to our Afghan friends. I have seen God work in miraculous ways in bringing people and children to events when we had been unsure. I knew God would work again.

Okay, God, we will be ready. The weeks before the event, as we made so many visits to families, texted, emailed, left flyers, and sent hundreds of invitations, we were encouraged as so many said they would be there.

The day of the hunt, we had Afghans pouring into the large picnic areas we had decorated. We loved connecting and serving and seeing the joy on the faces of Afghans who may not have had reason to be joyous in a long time. We had people being prayed over, reading the Christian literature in their own language, hearing the Easter story. It was an amazing day and God was in the midst of it all. At the end of our time, we went home exhausted but happy. We counted the registration cards and the lists of volunteers who signed in to help. 

Here’s how God blessed in numbers: 74 volunteers; 8,000 eggs; 103 families; and amazingly—exactly 250 kids and 493 people—all Afghans! God is so good. God must have been delighted to see our amazement at God’s hand. So now, we pray in thanksgiving. Who would have ever guessed that around 500 Afghans would come together to celebrate Easter and hear the good news? Only God could do such an amazing thing and we praise God for His greatness!

Pray. . .Give. . .Go.

Care Team to Make Cards

Andrew Beck worked with the CARE Team to make cards for Mrs. Hattie Lee who is at Skyland Care Center.  The children enjoyed games and snacks afterwards.

The CARE Team will schedule more visits in the future.