Time:  8am – 1pm

Front lawn Warwick Central

Meeting:  June 7, 2012
6:30pm

Judson Hall, WCBC

“Kingdom Talk” always provides an appropriate context from which we launch our hopes, dream, visions and ideas pertaining to church life.  It takes us way beyond issues of infrastructure and organizational paradigms to the heart of what we are to be about “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved” (Col.3:12). So here you go… you get the devotion with having to buy the bulletins!

As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘the kingdom of heaven as come near.’

-Matthew 10:7

            It is vital to our understanding of the Kingdom to note that Jesus’ directives to his disciples not only involved telling the good news of the Kingdom; it also involved demonstrating through their lives and actions that God was truly at work among the people.  Their preaching would acquire authority when accompanied by signs of love and hope.  The Kingdom is about healing and new life, about cleaning and overcoming evil, and about sharing and trust.  It is about “Immanuel” – God with us and in the hearts of all who believe and are committed to the Savior.

The Kingdom of Heaven can best be cultivated in the church, where we have the greatest opportunities to see Christ’s love in the lives of disciples of Jesus.  We witness the power of God’s Hold Spirit in ministries of healing, teaching, evangelizing, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and lonely, and defending the outcast and the disenfranchised.  The Kingdom of Heaven takes root and flourishes as people daily seek to grow in faith, become more like the author of our salvation, and become the disciples Jesus challenges us to be.

In disciple-making churches, we find Christians seeking to deepen their relationship with Christ.  As God’s Spirit motivates and challenges people to serve the Kingdom, the church blesses the calling of its members and provides the equipping ministries needed to train and support them in their ministries.

The Kingdom of Heaven has indeed come near!  It is in your Sunday school class or Bible study, and it is wherever Christians live the gospel with integrity and zeal, bringing God’s presence to the world.

Yours for Living the Gospel with Integrity and Zeal,

Pastor John

5.2012

Spring Yard Sale
Saturday, May 12th
8am – 1pm

Front Lawn of WCBC

     A while back, at the beginning of the Lenten season, we focused on the short distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem – from manger to Calvary. We looked at it geographically, theologically, and chronologically pertaining to the few weeks between epiphany and Ash Wednesday. We have made the journey, and now find ourselves at Jerusalem’s gate, with palms in hand, awaiting the most sacred of observances in our liturgical year. We are poised to hear once again the familiar stories of palm and donkey, basin and towel, cross and nails,

a tomb, a stone, a miracle, joy and fear, faith and doubt.. We will revisit the accounts of the appearances of the resurrected Christ, taken from testimony of those to whom he showed himself.

“He showed himself”….he wasn’t lying in a manger waiting to be found. No host of angels heralded this triumph. No star gave witness, no visitors journeyed to his presence while he lay passive in a stall. The baby awaited those who would come – the resurrected Christ proactively set out to meet and empower those whom he loved. He met his followers in a variety of contexts. Mary was greeted at the tomb, the disciples in a shuttered room, the travelers on the Emmaus road. And at first, none worshipped him, or brought gifts. No, at first no one recognized him at all. So Jesus met them at that place in their life where the need was greatest. He whispered “Mary” to a broken friend. He offered his scars to he who doubted. He breathed peace on those who were terrified in the locked room. In the breaking of the bread he offered a sacramental vision to those who did not recognize him on the road to Emmaus.

The risen Christ seeks you out this Easter season. Our oft-told gospel narratives give witness to how he seeks us at the place of need in our lives. Often our lives mirror the depths of brokenness that was Mary Magdalene.

Some need to be met, like Thomas, at our point of doubt. Have we huddled in insecurity, needing Jesus’ special touch? Maybe some are dealing with the disappointment of misreading God’s purposes, like those on the road to Emmaus. Have we denied him, and are in need of “reinstatement” like Peter?

When we gather on Easter Sunday, we share much in common. But we are not a homogenous group in our personal walks with the Lord. We each seek the risen Christ at the point of our greatest need. We look to the power that raised Jesus from the dead to empower our lives, to fill us with boldness to live for him. Our Savior is big enough, and caring enough to seek you out right where you are. This season, we have, in worship brought all we are and have to the cross with the symbolism of our prayer cords. Now he stands poised to bring to us the powerful witness of his resurrection,

The apostle Paul assured his Galatian readers (2:20) that his old character had been “crucified with Christ” so that he might, as he tells the Philippians (3:10) “experience the power of his resurrection.” May our hearts be ready, in like manner, to boldly receive the risen Christ. As we were humbled in our reflections on his cross, may we be renewed in faith through the powerful message of the resurrection.

Blessings to you in your Easter celebration,

Pastor John

4.2012