What about Suicide?

What about Suicide?

          I hope you had a chance to see the interview last week on CNN with Rick and Kay Warren as they met with Piers Morgan.  Rick is the well-known pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of several best-selling books.

            Basically, the interview wanted to know how they, as a pastor family, dealt with the recent death of their son by suicide.  Rick and Kay were intensely honest and vulnerable about the experience and helpful in understanding the realities and the pain that go with this increasing epidemic in our nation.

            Most of us don’t want to even think about this.  At the same time, many of us have been forced to.  I have been interested in the number of emails and conversations I have had with many of you in the last week or so as we broach this topic.  The circumstances are different, but all around it there is personal pain that often meets good people who don’t quite know what to do or how to respond.

            The scenario reminds me of Jesus as he gathered around the tomb with Mary and Martha.  Their brother Lazarus had been in the tomb for three days, but even so, Jesus instructed them to roll away the stone.  The sisters were hesitant.  Behind that stone was nothing but the foul aftermath of death.  Even so, Jesus told them to push it aside.  They did.  Then, Jesus did what Jesus does.  He spoke into the darkness, and all that was in that tomb, and out came new life.

            This weekend, as we speak to this hard topic of suicide, I am praying that Jesus will do it again.  Every one of us would rather keep that stone in place over this darkness.  But this weekend, with humility, love, fear, and holding on to Jesus, we will remove it.  As we will see, despite the darkness, the church has a word to offer.  In this place of seeming hopelessness, the church can and should offer hope.  Corrie Ten Boom used to say: “There is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still.”  In that confidence, join me in praying that throughout our weekend services, Jesus will do it again, and we will be able to offer a word of hope, even to the darkness that is suicide.  See you there,

 

Pastor Pete   

Is There a Hell and Do People Go There?

Is There a Hell and Do People Go There?

 

            These days, as we all face the temptation to be and do "church lite", we must remember that there are simply times when the church has to go deeper.  This is one of those times.  This weekend, we are going to address fundamental, eternal, and very hard questions.  Ironically we are going to be speaking to two curse words; hell and damnation.  In effect, we are  asking if those words are real.

            In one sense, there is no shortage of opinion.  Awhile back, I was watching a talk show as the host interviewed a representative from a well-known but very controversial church.  The representative was very clear about it and did not hesitate to name specifically who was going to hell and who was not. 

            On the other side of the equation, I remember a conversation I had with a long time church member from another place.  She was very clear.  She said that she simply chose not to believe in hell, end of story.  Needless to say, the conversation didn’t last very long.

            If we are honest, most of us are somewhere in the murky middle.  Pastor and author Timothy Keller, in a recent article, reports that according to a recent survey, 64% of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die, but less than 1% think they might go to hell.  C.S. Lewis used to say that when we get to heaven we are going to be surprised at who is there and surprised at who is not there.

            The contemporary church needs to address this “murky middle”.  What we think about the afterlife really does matter. It should and does make a difference on how we act every day. 

            So I invite you to join us for worship this Sunday morning.  With humility, fear, and an earnest desire to hear truth, let’s see what the Bible has to say about this dark side of the afterlife.  I think you will find that there is much more to it than simplistic images of eternal fire and devils with pitch forks.  In our day and age, when so many are living in hell on this side of eternity, we all need to pay attention to the same Christ, who still says, “I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades…”  See you on Sunday morning!

In Christ,

Pastor Pete

More to it Than Just Getting off the Ground!

            A couple of weeks ago, I returned from a week at the beach and a wonderful vacation.  Since we were very near Kitty Hawk, N.C., I decided to pick up a biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright that I have wanted to read for years entitled “The Bishop’s Boys”. 

            It is a great beach read about these two bicycle mechanics, raised by a pastor turned Bishop.  In a fascinating way, it described how the Wright brothers succeeded in inventing the airplane and subsequently changing the world, when so many others had failed.

            They were modest, not given to publicity, and were not flamboyant.  They had little outside assistance in their work.  They had no sponsors and no formal engineering education.  They were, however, curious, persistent, and pragmatic mechanics.  In a nutshell, all these qualities enabled them to stick it out through the hardships when others gave up.

            But there is an even more interesting reason for their success.  Several people were working on flying machines at the same time or soon after.  Some of them were generally successful in getting an airplane to fly.  That seemed the ultimate issue of the day:  getting the craft off the ground.

            The genius of the Wright brothers is that they would not stop there.  They uniquely figured out the challenges of airborne control and forces, and designed a system that would work in the air.  In a nutshell, several folks figured out how to lift an airplane into the sky.  The Wright brothers succeeded in not only getting it in the air, but controlling it once there.  As a result, they literally survived when so many others crashed.

            There is a profound spiritual lesson here.  Faith is not just about getting airborne.  Lots of people have spiritual experiences and exciting seasons.  They are certainly wonderful and we celebrate them when they come. All of us need to spiritually get off the ground!

            But faith is also for the long term.  Our belief needs to carry us to people and places.  We need to be able to adjust for wind and currents and land safely. 

            Sometimes, we modern people find ourselves impatient with all the schedules and structures that accompany our Christian practice.  We would simply like to get away by ourselves, have a personal experience with God that lifts us and offers us that thrill of spiritual flight.  Perhaps we could use a reminder that as important as that is, there is more to the faith.

            This week we are concluding our summer series with Paul and Acts and the closing verses seem frustrating.  After twenty eight chapters of buildup, Paul finally gets to his destination, Rome.  But then, he just does what he has always done.  Here we are at the climax of the book, and Paul is just preaching and teaching, spending time talking to folks while imprisoned in his home and the book ends.  Relatively speaking, it is strangely normal and a pattern we have seen many times before.

            But in the normalcy, there is a message.  The world is not changed nor converted to Christ simply by spiritual fireworks, as nice as those are.  The work of the church is not just about getting people in the air.  There are also important issues of control, navigation, and training.  The basics of the faith like worship, giving, studying, prayer, are all a critical routine that give us the ability to travel and not just fly. 

            Come join us in worship this weekend.  We will speak more about our call to change the world, but we will be reminded that to do it, we have to do more than just get in the air.  See you there!

Pastor Pete

When the Storms of Life Come...

When the Storms of Life Come…

             Early this morning, we began our Bible study on the book of Job.  You might remember the story.  Job is doing well.  He lives in blessing.  He is surrounded by wealth and family.  But suddenly, it is all taken away.  A tsunami of tragedy comes upon him and his family and everything is taken away.  He cannot understand why.  The rest of the book is of course, his journey around the question why. 

            Most of us do not find ourselves in the same degree of intensity of storm as did Job, but quite a few of you have come close.  So many in our community and congregation have seen and dwelt in this land of storm and tragedy.  As with Job, sometimes it is simply overwhelming.

            That is why this week’s reading from the book of Acts is so relevant.  The Apostle Paul was making his way to Rome, doing exactly what God wanted him to do.  Even so, he found himself sailing into a literal storm.  The tempest lasted for two weeks and drove the little ship and the almost three hundred people halfway across the Mediterranean Sea.  While many on the vessel had no clue what to do or where to turn, Paul rose to a place of loving guidance and leadership, and helped get everyone to safety.  Even in the stormy waves, Paul found a stable place.  From that place, he was able to work, minister, and serve in a way that literally and spiritually saved the lives of those around him.

          His story is worth hearing.  So often, those storms come upon our lives and the lives of those we love and know.  Like Paul, our faith gives us stable footing even in the midst of the most intimidating waves.   I invite you to join us for worship this weekend.   We all need to know what to do when the storms of life come our way.  See you there!

In Christ,

Pastor Pete

Our Idols Can Consume Us

Our Idols Can Consume Us

            Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul arrived in the city of Athens.  He had not planned to be there.  In his previous missionary adventures, he had been opposed by mobs, and the believers sent him down the coast to Athens to escape. 

            All alone, he is walking through Athens, and the text says that he was “greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols…” (Acts 17:16)  This prompted a discussion with the philosophers of the day and subsequently, with the city leaders on “Mars Hill”.  This weekend in worship, we are going to listen to how Paul handled that discussion, but as an introduction, note that all of it began with Paul’s distress over the idols in the city. 

            What is the big deal about those idols anyway?  Aren’t they just statues?  Besides, we don’t do that today.  We don’t have stone images of gods and goddesses, and we don’t find ourselves bowing down before those images.

            But as Timothy Keller highlights in his great book, “Counterfeit Gods”, though we don’t have idols made of stone, we still have plenty around.  He speaks to three premier ones: money, sex, and power.  Idols are, after all, the things in which we ultimately place our trust and hope.   Perhaps some may find the claim overstated but in his book “The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen reminds us how dangerous the idols of our own creation and abilities really are.  He retells a tales from Ancient India:

“Four royal brothers decided each to master a special ability. Time went by, and the brothers met to reveal what they had learned.

"I have mastered a science," said the first, "by which I can take but a bone of some creature and create the flesh that goes with it."

"I," said the second, "know how to grow that creature's skin and hair if there is flesh on its bones."

The third said, "I am able to create its limbs if I have the flesh, the skin, and the hair."

"And I," concluded the fourth, "know how to give life to that creature if its form is complete."

Thereupon the brothers went into the jungle to find a bone so they could demonstrate their specialties. As fate would have it, the bone they found was a lion's. One added flesh to the bone, the second grew hide and hair, the third completed it with matching limbs, and the fourth gave the lion life. Shaking its mane, the ferocious beast arose and jumped on his creators. He killed them all and vanished contentedly into the jungle.”

As pastor Nathan Castens says, “We too have the capacity to create what can devour us. Goals and dreams can consume us. Possessions and property can turn and destroy us--unless we first seek God's kingdom and righteousness, and allow him to breathe into what we make of life.”

And so, perhaps we can understand Paul’s distress over the city of Athens and its idols.  Sometimes the pride of our human ability and achievement can consume us.  Come join us this weekend and we are going to hear how Paul spoke of the Gospel to this cultural center of Athens.  See you there!

Pastor Pete

You Are Making a Difference!

            Usually, when I walk into the church in the morning, things are a bit quiet.  I try to get here early, have a cup of coffee, and catch up on a few things before the day really gets going.

            Not this morning.  I could hardly get in the front doors.  There were two hundred people (mostly children) in our gathering space!   They were all seated having breakfast and laughing (very loudly) together.  You might know that we sponsored a gathering of United Methodist children from around Virginia that is called “Helping Hands”.  Our own Beth Christian has been the key sponsor of this event for several years.
            But every year we have been cramped in tiny spaces or in multiple buildings.  Not this morning!  We had room!  All the children slept on the floors and in classrooms and other places, but compared to previous years, it was like being at the Hilton.

            After I walked in, all the kids went running outside to have their picture taken and I was making my way back down the temporarily empty halls.  I found myself offering a prayer of thanksgiving to God for this beautiful new space, but also offering a prayer of thanksgiving for all of you.  All the prayers, the planning, the meetings, and the sacrificial giving, by God’s grace, built this space.  And now, hundreds of children are gathered here in worship, singing, going out in mission, and laughing.

 

 

           What really started my thoughts this morning was the first person I saw when I walked in the door.  Her name is Linda and she is a pastor of a United Methodist Church in Norfolk.  She brought several children from her church with her and they all slept on the floor of one of our classrooms last night.  She had the biggest and most generous smile on her face.  She looked at me and over and over again said thank you.  She thanked me for our church offering up this space to them and opening our doors.  She said that her time here had really inspired her as they were about to build some new spaces at here church.  I told her some of the stories behind the window and altar furniture and she was moved.  She also said that she hoped to sponsor a Helping Hands event in her church soon.  She was so appreciative of us and her encouragement inspired me to pass this on to you.

            All this is to say that we have finished the many services of dedication, consecration, moving, walking, and opening.  This week, we really put this new building to work, as we have already done with Bible School and many other events in our short time here.  But in it all was a reminder of what God has done for us and through us.  I just wanted to pass along the way that your efforts are working so powerfully, and inspiring others who come in our spaces.  I can’t thank you enough for building and offering this church!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Pete

A Strange Weight Loss Program

This week, I read an article from a sermon by Rich Doebler.  He tells a story from Thomas Costain's book The Three Edwards, describing the life of Raynald III, a 14th-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means fat.

After a violent quarrel, Raynald's younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald, but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people, since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size—none of which were locked or barred. The problem was Raynald's size. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight.

But Edward knew his older brother. Each day he sent a variety of delicious foods into the room. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: "My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills." Raynald stayed in that room for 10 years and wasn't released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined that he died within a year—a prisoner of his own appetite.

This Sunday in worship, we are going to be speaking to the many things that take hold of us and put us in that room with Raynald.  It is not always, nor even usually food.  All of us find ourselves entangled with and often held prisoner by the things of this world, keeping us from those places to which God has called us. 

But in contrast, we will be visiting Paul and Silas in a prison in Philippi.  Surprisingly, despite their chains and restraints, they were able to sing.  In the prison, they found Someone powerful enough to overcome the forces inside and outside those walls.  All of us need that same power as we deal with our own “Raynald Rooms”, whatever they may be.  We have a lot more to say about this and I hope you will plan on joining us as we join Paul in Philippi this Sunday!  See you there,

In Christ,

Pastor Pete