Archive for November, 2011
150th Anniversary
What a day! The church was full of wonderful people who came to celebrate our 150th Anniversary on October 16th! Our month of celebration was a wonderful way to praise God for blessing Zion these many years. Thank you everyone that came and to all the people that worked to make it a day to remember! The directory was a great start of celebrating Zion’s people. The DVD’s are spectacular! Thanks to Brenda, Sandy and our youth for the October 9th Service.
The October 16th Sunday’s events are special memories of the past; but with hope and love for God’s house in the year to come, we hope to enrich our faith and ask God’s guidance for Zion and our future.
Thank you also for all that contributed to our memorabilia of pictures, etc. Please pick yours up after October 30th.
Again, Thank You and Praise be to God for Zion and our families.
The books and the three DVD’s are still available at $1.50 each. Contact Pastor Ron if you are interested
Pastor’s Corner
Looking Back Helps Us As We Move Forward (Matthew 1:1-17)
Have anyone heard of JANUS– IN ROMAN THEOLOGY?
He was CAPABLE of LOOKING SIMULTANEOUSLY– FORWARD AND BACKWARD.
Our look back at 150 YEARS of this congregation's life– gives us COURAGE and HOPE for the NEXT 150 YEARS..
I've chosen A TEXT that marks a similar TURNING POINT in the Bible:– the opening 17 verses of Matthew of the New Testament, AND the beginning of the collected writings of the Christian Church.
This seems like a STRANGE TEXT for a sermon:— 17 verses of NAMES — WHO was the father of WHOM for 42 GENERATIONS.
It's a passage that's NEVER INCLUDED in a LECTIONARY, and SELDOM READ in a WORSHIP SERVICE.———- DID YOU FIGURE OUT WHY YET?
LOTS OF HARD NAMES TO PRONOUNCE….AND…It seems like mere BACKGROUND INFORMATION. But in Matthew's understanding of the gospel,– this GENEALOGY is the PROPER BEGINNING for the story of Jesus. Why is Jesus' family history so IMPORTANT in the Bible?
Jesus' genealogy serves TWO PURPOSES.
FIRST,– it tells THEM –just WHO JESUS WAS.
The original readers of this gospel were JEWISH PEOPLE, who Matthew BELIEVED could best UNDERSTAND JESUS if they knew how HE FIT into their history.
"You know who ABRAHAM WAS," he says, "and ISAAC and JACOB and DAVID and SOLOMON. This Jesus,– the Christ, is THEIR DESCENDENT."
SECOND,–this LIST of GENERATIONS told Matthew's READERS the MEANING of their OWN ANCESTRY. In Jesus' DAY,– the PEOPLE of Israel looked to THE PAST for their PURPOSE.
They were the people who had been DELIVERED FROM EGYPT,– and had RECEIVED the TEN COMMANDMENTS,– and had CONQUERED THE PROMISED LAND.
But they had become SUBJECTS of ONE FOREIGN EMPIRE after ANOTHER,– and they were inclined to see all their GLORY in the PAST;– they also felt as though God had ABANDONED THEM.
In this long GENEALOGY of Jesus,– Matthew tells them, "The meaning of your history is NOT IN the PAST,– but in the PRESENT. The significance of ABRAHAM and JACOB and DAVID is NOT that they lived in the 'good old days' when God REALLY CARED,– but that they were FORERUNNERS of Jesus." The importance of Israel's history, for Matthew,– was the OUTCOME toward which it was leading for those 42 generations:—-THE OUTCOME— WAS the BIRTH of the SAVIOR.
Matthew's TWO REASONS for beginning his gospel with Jesus' GENEALOGY suggest a Christian VIEW of history that SHAPES our REFLECTIONS on this ANNIVERSARY.
FIRST,– as a CHURCH–we are FORMED and IDENTIFIED by OUR HISTORY,–
by WHERE we HAVE BEEN in OUR PAST.
And SECOND,– the meaning of that history is determined by THE FUTURE, –
AND by where OUR HISTORY is LEADING US.
SO YOU SEE THERE IS A METHOD TO MY MADNESS.
Henry Ford once said that HISTORY is BUNK.–SOMEONE ALSO SAID THE WORLD WAS FLAT.
We all know that isn't true EITHER.
Perhaps NO INSTITUTION is more clearly DEFINED by its history– than THE CHURCH.
The CHRISTIAN FAITH is based on a COLLECTION OF WRITINGS that dates from ANCIENT TIMES. And the Bible is NOT only a HISTORIC BOOK,– but a HISTORICAL BOOK: —
it tells the history of HOW God DEALT with HIS PEOPLE.
We read the stories about what God did for His people thousands of years ago:
about the BIRTH OF ISAAC,–the BURNING BUSH– the PARTING OF THE RED SEA, AND about DAVID and GOLIATH.
We tell the story of the RISEN SAVIOR– just as it was told the FIRST TIME,–
2000 years back in our history.
That ANCIENT WORD seizes our attention and MAKES US the PEOPLE OF GOD.
Our FAITH is further SHAPED by the CENTURIES of Christian HISTORY since the Bible was WRITTEN.
We make our CONFESSION in the WORDS of ANCIENT CREEDS;
We SING HYMNS hundreds of YEARS OLD;
We PRACTICE RITES AND LITURGIES OLDER than the LANGUAGES in which we RECITE THEM.
And of course on this ANNIVERSARY–
We REMEMBER THE HISTORY of this CONGREGATION in this community:
The GENERATIONS of your OWN FAMILIES who have been BORN,– BAPTIZED,– MARRIED,– and BURIED HERE;– the TRADITIONS that you have CREATED,– and that have in turn made you the PEOPLE YOU ARE.
Today we are PROUD TO SAY that we are PART of that WHOLE HISTORY,–
just as Jesus was PART of the HISTORY OF ISRAEL,– all 42 generations from Abraham on down.
My father's FATHER was THE MAYOR of WILLOW BUNCH SASKATCHEWAN, and although he ALSO was a FARMER AND BARBER in town– he ROSE TO PROMINENCE in business circles.
At a LOCAL meeting MY FATHER met an old friend of HIS FATHERS.
He INTRODUCED HIMSELF by his name– BUT IT DIDN'T REGISTER with the OLD-TIMER.
He tried to explain WHO HE WAS,– but WITHOUT SUCCESS.
Finally he said, "Don't you remember me? I'm MAYORS' boy!"
Then the OLD MAN KNEW who he was,– and for years afterwards his friends TEASED HIM about having to introduce himself as "THE MAYORS boy."
But we're ALL IDENTIFIED by OUR HISTORIES.
MY FATHER ended up being THE MAYORS BOY all his life.
Matthew introduced Jesus to his readers as Mary and Joseph's boy.
We owe who we are to OUR PAST,–OUR HERITAGE,–OUR UPBRINGING,–
OUR EDUCATION,–AND OUR TRADITIONS.
YOU and I,– and THIS CONGREGATION, are products of WHERE WE HAVE BEEN.
Matthew also knew that the PAST ISN'T ENOUGH.
He wanted to CORRECT THE VISION of those people who always LOOKED to the PAST for MEANING.
The REAL POINT of all those generations of Israelites, HE CLAIMED,– was that they were LEADING UP to something that was to FOLLOW THEM. We can LEARN A LOT from THE PAST,–
but its most important function is to LEAD US INTO THE FUTURE.
Jesus made that PLAIN.
He told His disciples to REMEMBER what HE HAD DONE,– but He also TURNED THEIR ATTENTION to the FUTURE TASK that HIS MINISTRY was PREPARING them for.
"Go and be my WITNESSES," He told them.
"Go and work in the VINEYARD.
“Go and make DISCIPLES."
Jesus never let His disciples DWELL on what had ALREADY BEEN DONE.
Their purpose was not to be FOUND WHERE THEY HAD BEEN,– but in WHERE THEY WERE GOING.
Our FAITH is BORN and NURTURED in a HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE,– in what God has done for US in the PAST,– but it always LEADS US into the FUTURE.
As a CHURCH TODAY,– your ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION naturally turns your GAZE BACK on YOUR HISTORY.
But you must let that HISTORY be part of your MOVEMENT into the FUTURE.
Jesus has COMMISSIONED YOU and SENT YOU into the WORLD with a MISSION:
***How will you fulfill it?
WE HAVE COME THROUGH A TRANSFORMATION over the last ELEVEN YEARS IN THE LCMC. We have LET GO of what WAS FAMILIAR for the sake of WHAT IS TRUTH AND BIBLICAL. That wasn't EASY…BUT IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
MOMS–DADS–GRANDMOTHERS–GRANDFATHERS–BAPTISMAL SPONSORS–
***You have a RESPONSIBILITY to your YOUNG PEOPLE,– to PREPARE THEM for what they will FACE IN LIFE. THEY NEED TO COME TO CHURCH.
***You have a RESPONSIBILITY to your SENIOR CITIZENS,– to help meet THEIR NEEDS in a CHANGING WORLD.
***You have a RESPONSIBILITY to the COMMUNITY AROUND YOU,– to PROCLAIM the GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION and to be examples of Christ's love.
***You have a RESPONSIBILITY to TRANSFORM THIS CHURCH into a CHURCH that WILL KEEP your CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN ATTENDING even if it means YOU HAVE TO COMPROMISE THE WAY YOU WORSHIP.
Let the stories of FAITH, COMMITMENT, and SERVICE that are told TODAY as we RECITE the history of this congregation STRENGTHEN YOU,–PREPARE YOU,–and PROPEL YOU into the NEXT CENTURY of YOUTH MINISTRY in this place.
And the question "Where are we going?" has a still GREATER SIGNIFICANCE,– because AS CHRISTIANS– we know that OUR HISTORY has an ETERNAL DIRECTION,–AN ULTIMATE GOAL. In the INCARNATION,–DEATH, –AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST– the WORLD has been set toward its final moment, along with ABRAHAM and SARA,– BOAZ and RUTH,– JOSEPH and MARY, and hundreds of GENERATIONS of the SONS and DAUGHTERS of GOD — are part of the history that flows into God's own eternity.
The Church is the first-fruits of the Kingdom of God, the first dawning of God's presence in the world in our day. Its purpose is BOTH to REMEMBER God's FAITHFULNESS,– KINDNESS,– MERCY,– and PROVIDENCE, through our HISTORY up to NOW,– and to MOVE US and OUR WORLD toward the goal God has given us.
So during this anniversary celebration we STAND at a PLACE like the place from which Matthew told the story of Jesus. We look to OUR HISTORY– the HISTORY of God's people,– of the Christian Church,– of this congregation — remembering who we are and where we have been. And at the same time we look to the future, remembering what we have been put here to do and where we are going. Our history is always leading us somewhere; our glory as God's children is always yet to come. I CONGRATULATE ALL OF YOU AND HAVE FAITH IN YOU THAT YOUR PRIORITIES FOR YOUR CHILDREN IN THIS CHURCH WILL CONTINUE.
YOUR CHURCH AND YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ONIT.
God loves you and so do I.
Pastor Ron