So how are your resolutions going? I hope you’re committed and doing well, but I’d remind everyone about the New Year’s Resolution I encouraged you to make: you need a church home. In our society’s current state I can think of no more important commitment than to locate your family securely in a church where you can hear Truth proclaimed and find an opportunity to cut through the noise of life to find some clarity.
This semester we have several new offerings for our community. On Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 7:30 we’ll be hosting Heart of Texas Zumba in our fellowship hall. Lesley Ratcliff will be teaching a new Sunday School class called “Parenting in the Pew,” a study on introducing your children to worship and faith. Our children’s and youth activities will resume next Wednesday night at 7:00, and we’ll resume our family meals that night, as well. You’re always welcome at our worship services (Sundays, 11:00am), our Sunday School classes (Sundays, 10:00am), and our Bible studies (Sunday evenings at 6:00 and Wednesday evenings at 7:00)!
I pray you’ll commit to the worship and service of the Lord this year. Our time, families, and community is too precious to place anything higher than faithfulness to the Lord. We’ll see you Sunday.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Rustler Article for 12.30.10
We’ve come to that wonderful time of year when people make promises to themselves that usually lead to frustration and disappointment in February. Whatever your resolutions this year, let me be clear about one for all of us.
You and your family need a church home.
We’ll spend outrageous amounts of money on gym memberships, treadmills and diet plans this year in the hopes that this will be the year that we reach that weight goal, or stop smoking, or get our lives on track. We’ll start with a bang and many of us (if you’re like me) will fizzle by Easter. What I thing we need to understand is that our satisfaction with our bodies, our doctor’s satisfaction with our blood pressure, and our general well-being are results rather than goals.
Paul lists among the Fruit of the Spirit joy, peace, faithfulness, and self-control. They are the results of the Spirit’s presence in the believer. Our trouble is that we work and work for satisfaction with ourselves and better discipline in our hearts when we should seek first the leadership and fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we as a community will get our hearts right and make faithfulness to God’s leadership our first resolution, then the results of our work will be lasting and truly transformative.
The first step in this proper resolution is to plant your family firmly within a body of believers for worship, study, and service. Make that your first commitment this year. Let’s make Christ our first resolution and watch how the real Fruit of our labors come in time.
You and your family need a church home.
We’ll spend outrageous amounts of money on gym memberships, treadmills and diet plans this year in the hopes that this will be the year that we reach that weight goal, or stop smoking, or get our lives on track. We’ll start with a bang and many of us (if you’re like me) will fizzle by Easter. What I thing we need to understand is that our satisfaction with our bodies, our doctor’s satisfaction with our blood pressure, and our general well-being are results rather than goals.
Paul lists among the Fruit of the Spirit joy, peace, faithfulness, and self-control. They are the results of the Spirit’s presence in the believer. Our trouble is that we work and work for satisfaction with ourselves and better discipline in our hearts when we should seek first the leadership and fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we as a community will get our hearts right and make faithfulness to God’s leadership our first resolution, then the results of our work will be lasting and truly transformative.
The first step in this proper resolution is to plant your family firmly within a body of believers for worship, study, and service. Make that your first commitment this year. Let’s make Christ our first resolution and watch how the real Fruit of our labors come in time.
Rustler Article for 12.23.10
I was held hostage in a waiting room this week while waiting for my car to be serviced. To help pass the time I picked up a copy of the Waco Tribune Herald and found a most curious and comical mistake in it: the front page of the sports section contained a story about how the Baylor men’s basketball team had “demolished” their opponent. This wasn’t particularly curious or comical. What caused the waiting-room chuckle was that the article was written in Latin.
It is clear that someone in the editorial process had neglected to proof that article. While I do not envy the grief that the editor will no doubt receive, the presence of such a glaring editorial error is exactly appropriate for the Christmas weekend.
The Incarnation of our Savior is a lot like the presence of a Latin article in an American newspaper. We can read and read and read for years, our eyes growing accustomed to the words on the page and our fingers used to the newsprint and black smudges. But then something unexpected happens; the words are in a different language, the sentences, while grammatically correct, are illegible in our minds. Suddenly the article is special, a mystery, an unknown thing in a sea of what we’ve grown accustomed to.
Such is the Christmas story. In the midst of our monotony and common humanity, something special and unexpected comes that makes us sit up and take notice. The Incarnation is a mystery right in front of our eyes. We know there is great meaning to the birth of Christ, but we cannot for the life of us figure out how God can be made flesh and dwell among us. There he lies: majesty and glory in the body of a little boy. How can we do anything but gawk at the stare?
The difference between Christ as curiosity and Christ is Savior is whether or not we are willing to move past the curiosity that is his birth and develop a relationship with him. This crucial choice determines whether or not we see the birth of Jesus Christ as a curiosity in the mundane passing of human history, or whether we accept him as the Savior who makes the rest of life come alive.
It is clear that someone in the editorial process had neglected to proof that article. While I do not envy the grief that the editor will no doubt receive, the presence of such a glaring editorial error is exactly appropriate for the Christmas weekend.
The Incarnation of our Savior is a lot like the presence of a Latin article in an American newspaper. We can read and read and read for years, our eyes growing accustomed to the words on the page and our fingers used to the newsprint and black smudges. But then something unexpected happens; the words are in a different language, the sentences, while grammatically correct, are illegible in our minds. Suddenly the article is special, a mystery, an unknown thing in a sea of what we’ve grown accustomed to.
Such is the Christmas story. In the midst of our monotony and common humanity, something special and unexpected comes that makes us sit up and take notice. The Incarnation is a mystery right in front of our eyes. We know there is great meaning to the birth of Christ, but we cannot for the life of us figure out how God can be made flesh and dwell among us. There he lies: majesty and glory in the body of a little boy. How can we do anything but gawk at the stare?
The difference between Christ as curiosity and Christ is Savior is whether or not we are willing to move past the curiosity that is his birth and develop a relationship with him. This crucial choice determines whether or not we see the birth of Jesus Christ as a curiosity in the mundane passing of human history, or whether we accept him as the Savior who makes the rest of life come alive.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Riesel Rustler Article for 11.18.10
We’ve come now to the last week before the Advent season. That means that there are only a few weeks to complete your Christmas shopping, and less time than that to plan your holiday parties. Here at the doorstep of the new church year we celebrate the Lordship of Christ in our songs and sermons. This is the perfect time to consider just how we “live and move and have our being” in Christ.
It’s hard to talk of Jesus Christ as the King in our democratic system; our very roots are defined by rebellion against a foreign king in England. Singing songs about Jesus Christ being King of Kings and Lord of Lords is easy, but actually living with Him as King and Lord is something else entirely.
Jesus is not the president. He is not the governor, nor is he like any earthly king to which we might compare him. To celebrate Jesus as the Lord means to honor him in a personal and intimate way that is completely alien to our relationships to our political leaders. Jesus Christ is indeed King, even if that means little to us in the 21st century. Our Lord is the one on whom our spirit’s rest; he is the one whose Word informs our decisions and personal tastes. Jesus is the type of king who is owed our allegiance and honor not because of the army supporting him or because of his wealth and lands. Rather, we owe Jesus our heart-felt allegiance because of his victory over death, the great enemy of us all.
We’re about to enter into the season of shepherds, angels, and Jesus’ miraculous birth; before we make him out to be too soft and tender, let’s remember him as King and Lord of all creation.
Join us this week for worship at 11:00am as we celebrate Christ Jesus as King!
It’s hard to talk of Jesus Christ as the King in our democratic system; our very roots are defined by rebellion against a foreign king in England. Singing songs about Jesus Christ being King of Kings and Lord of Lords is easy, but actually living with Him as King and Lord is something else entirely.
Jesus is not the president. He is not the governor, nor is he like any earthly king to which we might compare him. To celebrate Jesus as the Lord means to honor him in a personal and intimate way that is completely alien to our relationships to our political leaders. Jesus Christ is indeed King, even if that means little to us in the 21st century. Our Lord is the one on whom our spirit’s rest; he is the one whose Word informs our decisions and personal tastes. Jesus is the type of king who is owed our allegiance and honor not because of the army supporting him or because of his wealth and lands. Rather, we owe Jesus our heart-felt allegiance because of his victory over death, the great enemy of us all.
We’re about to enter into the season of shepherds, angels, and Jesus’ miraculous birth; before we make him out to be too soft and tender, let’s remember him as King and Lord of all creation.
Join us this week for worship at 11:00am as we celebrate Christ Jesus as King!
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