Earl Scruggs

Earl Scruggs passed away on March 28th of this year. He will be missed. Here is the song that got me hooked on him.

He is Risen!

He is risen indeed!

Resurrection?

At the end of the day ------- do we as the church really need this whole resurrection business? (check out 1 Corinthians 15.14) What do you think?

What's So "Good" About Friday?

This was an article that I wrote for The Courier=Times this weekend. I thought I would share it with you all:

A friend of mine said one time: “You can't have Easter without Good Friday.” What she meant by that was that you cannot have the resurrection of our Lord without the death of our Lord. Easter Sunday is a celebration that our God rose again on the third day. It is festive, and throngs of folks that hardly ever come to worship during the rest of the year show up on Easter Sunday.

The Sunday before Easter is traditionally called Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is another exciting time in the Christian calendar. We wave palm branches in worship and shout “Hosanna”, which means “God save us.” There is jubilation as we usher King Jesus into Jerusalem. But, as we follow Jesus into Jerusalem — we soon learn that our God dies a tragic death.

As Christians we gather together on the Lord's Day. For the next two Sundays we celebrate Palm Sunday and then Easter. But on Friday of this coming week, our God dies.

Jesus dies at the hands of sinners. Jesus was falsely accused. Jesus was spit upon — having thorns thrust into his skull. Jesus was beaten to such an extent that he was not recognizable. Jesus was mocked. Jesus had nails puncture his hands and feet so that he could be secured to a Roman cross. Jesus was hung between two criminals. Our God hung there until he died.

Good Friday — so what's so good about it? A theologian named Stanley Hauerwas once wrote: “Here the powers of this world are forever subverted. Time is now redeemed through the raising up of Jesus on this cross. A new age has begun. The kingdom is here aborn, a new regime is inaugurated, creating a new way of life for those who worship and follow Jesus.”

The reason Good Friday is so “good” is because our Lord and God dies. Jesus dies our death. In Christ's death on the cross a new reality has begun. Jesus said: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12.32) Here the savior of the world reveals to us what life is — that it is found through death. In Jesus' death the world is recreated and that is why it is “good”.

As Christians we need to spend a considerable amount of time considering that God died. In the early church they practiced a time of pilgrimage to Jerusalem during Holy Week. On Good Friday they would walk the Via Dolorosa (Latin for the “Way of Grief” or “Way of Suffering”). This was traditionally known as the route that Jesus walked while carrying the cross to Calvary. At different stations they would pause and consider what Jesus endured on the world's behalf.

This year, pause on Friday and go and spend time at the foot of the cross. For Jesus' shed blood makes this instrument of death into an instrument of life and calls it “good”. If your particular church doesn't have a service on Good Friday then encourage your pastor to begin one. Remember, you can't have Easter without Good Friday.

Let us pray

You asked for our hands,
that you might use them for your purpose.
We gave them for a moment, then withdrew them,
for the work was hard.
You asked for our mouths
to speak out against injustice.
We gave you a whisper that we might not be accused.
You asked for our eyes
to see the pain of poverty.
We closed them, for we did not want to see.
You asked for our lives,
that you might work through us.
We gave a small part, that we might not get too involved.
Lord, forgive our calculated efforts to serve you—
only when it is convenient for us to do so,
only in those places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.
Father, forgive us,
renew us, send us out
as a usable instrument,
that we might take seriously
the meaning of your cross. Amen.

Holy Week Services

Sunday, April 1st at 8:45am & 11am: Palm / Passion Sunday

Sunday, April 1st at 5:30pm: Common Table Service – Staci Vaughan will be sharing about her experience on Good Friday last year.

Monday, April 2nd at 7pm: Holy Monday - Foot Washing service, communion will be served.

Tuesday, April 3rd at 7pm: Holy Tuesday - Healing & Anointing service, communion will be served.

Wednesday, April 4th at 7pm: Holy Wednesday – A service of Instruction on the Lord’s Supper.

Thursday, April 5th at 7pm: Maundy Thursday - Stripping of the Altar service, communion will be served.

Friday, April 6th at 7pm: Good Friday - Stations of the Cross service, starting in the sanctuary and ending in the church yard.

Saturday, April 7th at 10am: Holy Saturday - Scripture Reading, Prayer, and Candle Lighting service.

Saturday, April 7th from 11am-2pm: Easter Egg Hunt at the church yard. Lunch will be provided. All children are invited.

Sunday, April 8th at 7am: Easter Sunrise Service – this is with our sister church, Lea's Chapel UMC. Breakfast is furnished by Lea's Chapel (directions on back).

Sunday, April 8th at 8.45am & 11am: Easter Sunday services

Sunday, April 8th at 5:30pm: Common Table Service. Held in the fellowship hall. There will be an art show with the theme of “Light”. Everyone is to bring some finger foods to share.

John 2.13-22

John 2.15 says: "Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle." This portion of scripture we will be focusing on during our Sunday morning worship services. In this passage Jesus enters into the temple and finds an atrocious sight ----- "people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables." (v14) When Jesus sees this he makes a whip and runs them out. This Jesus seems different than the tender and kind Jesus that makes all of his followers happy. Instead, this seems like a Jesus that comes at you with no warning and no conversation. Instead, this Jesus takes the corrupt things and throws them out of his Father's house (see v16). What do you think of this Jesus?

Gimp

I haven't ever had a chance to share with you all a program that I use quite often. I have found it very beneficial to proficient at a picture editing software called Gimp. (the image above I made on gimp in literally 2 minutes) You can find it for free online. Gimp can do much of the same things that Adobe Photoshop can do ----- but it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. I have found it very beneficial for making bulletin covers, blog headers, manipulating photographs, images for websites, and manipulating VBS images for postcards. There is definitely a learning curve ----- and seminary never taught me about these sorts of things. But, I have gotten to be pretty good at it and I feel like I am pretty well versed in the software. I would encourage anyone with a artistic flare to try this out.

Common Table

I am really excited about this new venture that we are taking as a church. Common Table has been talked about and discussed ever since we started WikiWorship. If you will remember ---- the last time we had WikiWorship it was on Sunday Evenings. As a result of this great time of fellowship and growing with each other we have decided to begin Common Table. This is a regular gathering on Sunday evenings at 5:30pm in our new fellowship hall. This will be a very relaxed atmosphere, where you will be encouraged to have a cup of coffee and sit in the worship service. There will be singing, praying, scripture reading, but also lots of interaction. The first week will be very similar to WikiWorship. We will address a question. That question is: "If religion is supposed to preach open-mindedness and forgiveness, why are they the first ones to close their hearts and minds to the other religions?" This will be discussed in light of the passage from Luke 23.34 where Jesus says from the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Come on out for this wonderful time to grow in our faith and to share fellowship with one another at the table. There will be a meal right after the service.

Ash Wednesday

This is an article that I wrote on Ash Wednesday. I hope this is helpful.

During the forty days leading up to Easter the church traditionally observes a time of penance and fasting. This time of preparation for Easter is commonly called Lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (which is March 9th this year) and ends on the Saturday before Easter. Ash Wednesday is a day that is set aside for us to remember that God created us out of the dust of the earth. While at the same time, it is to dust we shall return, like it says in Genesis 3.19: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

An early church father, named Gregory of Nyssa, would take his students into the catacombs and show them the decaying bones. In Homilies on the Beatitudes, he wrote: “Have you not seen in the burial ground the mysteries of our existence? Have you not seen the heap of bones piled on each other, skulls stripped of flesh, staring fearsome and horrible from empty eye-sockets? Have you seen the grinning mouths and the rest of the limbs lying casually about? If you have seen those things, then in them you have observed yourself.” Ash Wednesday creates space for us to deal with our mortality. To stare into the eyes of death and see Jesus' passionate arms reaching for us from the cross.

What the church offers us on Ash Wednesday is not some quick fix—it is not some miracle drug—it is not some hair dying kit. Instead, what the church offers us is the opportunity to embrace our mortality. To look at the bones decaying and realize that we are dust—and to dust we shall return. We are not offering a picturesque stained glass Jesus or promises of the picture perfect family. Instead, the church is offering you what is real. That we all face our death, and that we all face our sin. God is the one who will make us clean—even in the midst of our death and sin. Let us find our hope in the one who overcame death and sin. The one we follow as we carry our crosses through this Lenten journey.

During Lent last year we celebrated Palm Sunday. During that Sunday we remember Jesus' triumphal entry where people waved palm branches and shouted Hosanna! For Ash Wednesday we take those same palm branches and burn them—saving the ashes that are left. Then we apply them to our foreheads—reminding ourselves of the sins that so easily ensnare us. How we participate in celebrating Jesus, while turning our backs on him when the going gets too tough. This is our calling to repent of our sins and embrace our crucified savior and Lord.

I would encourage you to attend an Ash Wednesday service this year. For it is an opportunity for us to remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. While at the same time it helps us to remember that our hope and power come only from Jesus' victory over sin and death.

Building the Warren's Grove Sanctuary

Some Shots Inside and Out