How would Jesus Ref?

I love football. I don't get to watch a lot of it but when I can I give it my full attention. I did not get to see last nights game, but from what I heard there was some seemingly poor judgments made on the field that changed the outcome of the game. I heard that this is a systemic problem birthed of a Referee issue. I could not comment on the all of that as I do not watch sports news or much commentary on the NFL as an industry.

I can comment on the Gospel. It is something I do consume in large amounts, unlike football were I consume only were I can. God is also a Referee, a cosic Referee and no thing will escape his watchful eye. Some people say they do not want a judgmental God but I do know think they know what they are asking for. There are terrible things that man does to man on this earth for which we all want justice. Justice requires a judge. I think people do not want a God who judges them. They are not comfortable with the decisions they have made and do not want them exposed.

What scares us is the knowledge that the Referee who lives in Heaven has not missed any of our lives. We know that we are not playing by the rules and we are afraid that instead of fifteen yards, these infractions may require an eternal punishment. We know that God has thrown the yellow flag and apon further review the call stands. Guilty of rebellion against the creator. Guilty of ignoring justice, guilty of not showing mercy, guilty of lacking humility.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV).

My attitude changed when I became a Christian. From fear of a good judge to excitement in the judge who is called faithful and true and I end every day that I can singing the same song to my Daughter in praise. “Doubt not His love or power to keep, He never fails, nor does he sleep.”

We Sang Praise Music Last Night!

Let me say this, in small group ministries, singing together with a group that is not used to singing or does not like to sing can get awkward pretty fast. Last night I decided to take a risk with my high school and junior high students. I pulled out the old guitar and printed some song sheets.

As we began our meeting I plainly told them that singing was going to take some getting used to. I told them that we may not have a recent history of singing as a group but its worth doing poorly a few times to get to the point were we could do it well. Like all other things it would require practice.

Here is the twist, it didn't go badly. The kids actually did sing and sang well. We sang songs I am pretty sure they had never heard but I could be wrong. I felt like the Holy Spirit came into the room and helped us through that patch. I am very thankful as I really enjoy leading worship and hope its a mainstay or our identity at Grace Youth. Until the next time here is one of the songs we sang together.  

Hunger Games Post Mordem

Is that Seneca Crane?

This weekend, as you may have already read in this blog, we had our Hunger Games game night. I cant pretend it was a smashing success. The Kids had a great time but nothing really went according to plan. I am often crushed by failure. I have never been good at bouncing back, but it is necessary if you are going to work with youth. Youth ministry is one of those areas where the church should remain flexible and on the edge, trying new things when ever possible. I tried to create a couple of games. None of them worked. They wanted to fall back on that old hide and seek mainstay, sardines. I was afraid they would get bored.

After it was all said and done all the kids told me they had a great time. How does that not qualify as a success? As the days get shorter and there is more of a push for things to do indoors I hope to try many evening events at the church. We will use the redeemed space that Grace church sets aside for worship to allow kids to be kids, to see them come fully alive. The way God has designed them to do. Grace is a small church with a big heart and a lot of space, space that holds nothing but the opportunity to make in impact in the lives of young people.  

Empty Chairs on Patriots Day.

I did not know until a few weeks ago that September 11^th is Patriot Day. I know that it is important in our national identity and that since then our world is significantly different. Each year I take a few minutes to reflect on the events of 2001 and where we have been since. First off I remember the day of where I was, who I talked to, I was in college so we all wondered if there would be a draft to go into a full scale conflict with an enemy nation. Over the past eleven years I have had the conversation a few dozen times.

Today I cant help being heart broken over the empty chairs. Families, some of whom I know, that have an empty chair at the dinner table. For some the vacancy is temporary, but for some that chair will remain empty. I daily go to my work convinced that I would go to death for the cause of Christ, these empty chairs are a reminder of our friends who for the zeal of their cause actually went to death or are at least in harms way.

The last time the United States engaged in a conflict that so robbed us of our innocence Abraham Lincoln declared ever third Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving. So we remember in this time the loss of innocents and life in the last eleven years with “Patriots Day.”

While others may use today to Pray for our nations safety or ignore it and go on about their day so as not to deal with what ever feeling they may or may not have; I am going to use today to pray. I am praying for Empty Chairs, I am praying for the families that inhabit the tables around them. I am praying for the men who only see their families over Skype and those who are learning to cope with a life long injury that they are bringing home. I will pray that as I conjure up feeling of Patriotism they are pushing back feelings of loss.

Let us never forget the hope of Christianity. That the mourner shall be comforted that the orphan and the widow have a heavenly advocate, and the dead shall live again.

God Bless.

Hunger Games Game Night

Hope to see you at our event...

As the Hunger Games DVD release meant that we got to enjoy our favorite movie based on our favorite book of the year I think about some of the plot points of the movie. Then I thought about our call as Christian to fast and pray. To deliberately go hungry so as to be reminded to pray.

This weekend we are going to have the Hunger Games Game Night. I am asking the folks in our Youth group to begin a fast at 6pm Friday night so as to pray for our Youth Group. We will convene to cook a spaghetti dinner at 4pm on Saturday so as to break our fast at six and then to celebrate together with a game night. My hope is that this event would be a witness, that we could invite our friends who would not noramlly find themselves in a church to come and have food and fellowship with us. The night would have very little spiritual content after we eat at 6. It is designed more to be a witness, we want God's Grace to overflow within us and spill over onto our friends. Hope to see you there.  

Wednesday Night Huddle

Let me share with you a little about last night. We are trying to think about our Wednesday nights meeting a little differently than how they were viewed in the recent past. As we strive to fulfill our mission to Witness to the good news of Jesus, Ignite the passion of the Holy Spirit and Nurture disciples. Wednesday is shifting from a time of Witness to a time of Nurture. From that platform we hope to create a Sunday night time that will serve to witness to a broader audience.

This means Wednesday nights is our boot camp, a time to help our young people grow close to God so that His hope and grace would spill over on to their peers at school. Last night we talked about Herod and his mighty fortress, the Herodian, that would have cast a direct shadow over the tiny town of Bethlehem. Literally at the foot of this mighty fortress that housed a great king is born the king of kings into a manger.

We listened to Ray Vander Laan talk about even still today in the shadow of terrible evil and oppression the Gospel can feel small as if it were being housed in a feeding trough. Nothing can be further from the truth. Jesus Christ reigns victorious at the right hand of the father. He still accomplishes the miraculous using ordinary people and it is our hope at Grace Youth to use Wednesday nights as an expression of Sanctifying Grace that would equip young people. Onward Christian Soldier...

Many Hands Equals Eternal Work

As you may have noticed in the last couple of weeks I have been asking people around our congregation if they would be willing to help with this or that part of our childrens or youth ministries. If you see me coming your way do not panic, let me off you these thoughts.

First off, I am asking folks for smaller commitments, maybe one or two hours a week in the nursery, or maybe to be a special events volunteer for the youth. There is no reason the same people need to be at every Wednesday meeting and Sunday School and retreat and lock-in. Actually I would like to have separate teams that do each thing only overlapping were we have to.

Second, if you do come on board I will be keeping up with you regularly to make sure that it is a good fit. If you volunteer for 1^st - 3^rd grade Sunday school and find out you want to work with older kids, that is great. As Erwin McManus tells ministry in Jesus should be the thing that makes us feel most fully alive. Finally We are excited about watching new families come to Grace as a part of what our Childrens and Youth group is doing and we hope you are equally excited as us.  

Hello from Grace UMC Hamilton

Hey Gang,

In a day in age when information changes so quickly it seemed appropriate to start a blog to share with you the goings on in the children's and youth program as they are in progress. This way we don't have to wait for meeting to hear the latest on what is going on in the life of these essential ministries.

The first thing I want to direct your attention to is the Big Top Connection. There is a bigger blurb about it on the church website but I mention it because its only 19 days away. Yes we are into September and the event on the 24^th is less than a month away. It will be for 4^th-6^th graders and will cost $5 a kid I hope we can make a good showing.