The Words of Advent

 

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

When did these become the words of Advent?

Life is right for one who has these, but what else is needed? What more comes?

 

What about Faith, Grace, Mercy, and Justice?

What about Truth, Holiness, Resurrection, and New Creation?

Are these subsumed under Hope, Peace, Joy, Love?

The words of Advent

 

Do prescribed scripture readings walk in step, languidly with the words of Advent

or do they bump into one another and step on one another’s toes?

 

‘In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.’ Hope?

 

‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire.’ Peace?

 

‘He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.’ Joy?

 

‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.’ Love?

 

As we wait for the coming of the King,

I bless you with the words of Advent

Justice, Truth, Grace, Laughter, Surprise, Holy, Faith, Mercy, Eternity, Direction, Purpose, Forgiveness, New Creation, Revelation, Resurrection, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Light

Those Who Trust in Themselves

 

The professional basketball player doesn’t sign a contract extension but instead plays his final season, intending to be so incredible, he’ll get a new, bigger contract worthy of superstar.

            He bet on himself, they say.

The boxers square off, two heavyweights with thunder in their hands.

            They faced off wearing nothing but their courage, the writer waxes rhapsodic.

            If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.

            Jesus told a parable to listeners who trusted in themselves.

            The basketball player, betting on himself.

            The boxer, wearing nothing but his own courage.

            The motivational poster telling you, believe in yourself.

            The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable,

O God, I thank you that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers or even this tax collector.

This tax collector. I actually met him, the tax collector from Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:9-14. I was on a three-hour drive and the tax collector was riding shotgun. And, there was a guy in the back on his cellphone trying to save the world one reconciled relationship at a time, but that’s another story.

How did I recognize my passenger-seat passengers as Jesus’ publican? He was so keenly aware of his own brokenness before God, he kept apologizing.

Hey Rob, what do you think of … and then before I can answer, O sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.

Days after our trip, he calls me and I say, ‘hello,’ and he says, ‘So sorry for calling.’ Always apologizing.

He knows he needs God’s forgiveness, but doesn’t know how to ask for it. When God forgives, my new friend doesn’t know how to receive it. Not knowing how to connect with God, he does the best he can. He goes around apologizing for himself, especially if he’s talking with a preacher.

To some who trusted in themselves, Jesus told a parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector.

O God, I thank you that I am not like …  this tax collector.

I won’t spoil it for you. It’s in Luke 18, verses 9-14. Read it. Are your someone who trusts in your own self? Jesus told this for you.

I fear the 21^st century is going to be a painful, painful lesson in what Jesus wanted to teach in this parable. Of course, it doesn’t have to be painful. Of the Pharisee and the tax collector, one of the two left the temple justified. Read it. You’ll know who. And you’ll know what you need to do before God.

Exploring Scripture

            Read the Bible. This is the theme of my newsletter articles quite often because the Bible is there and it doesn’t change. Styles of communication change. Styles of dress and hair and cars all come and go. Ways of talking evolve over time. Just read a novel from 1900, and then from 1945, and then 1995. How politics function changes over time.

            The word God is constant, always true, and always relevant. Recently, we heard Erin Stratton preach on Genesis 3 (July 30), and then Amy Brown preached on the same passage (October 1). Go back and listen to both sermons. The links are at the bottom. Amy’s message had some flaws in the video, but you can hear her entire message. Both preachers delivered strong messages that will edify your soul.

            Amy invited us to ‘explore scripture.’ I echo this. In a sermon on Genesis 3, she succinctly wove in references from 1 Kings, Proverbs, and 1 Peter. None of these allusions were forced. They all fit her overall point that when we come to God with honest questions and ask them, we grow closer to God’s heart. She did not promise God will answer every question; God won’t. There are things we aren’t ready to know. However, we are invited to seek.

            Thus, I return to my original point. Read the Bible. Make Bible-reading a life-long pursuit and practice. Be in the word. At other times, I’ve explained various approaches to Bible reading. Whether you read chunks of scripture, entire books in one sitting, or spend considerable time meditating on just a few lines of one or two verses, prayerfully, thoughtfully, attentively consume scripture. Be so driven to meet God in the word that it might feel impossible to live without it.

            If you do this prayerfully, if you read scripture in tandem with seeking God, you won’t have deleterious outcomes. You will be blessed and you will grow in your knowledge of God. I thank both our preachers who treated Genesis 3 for calling us to this most Christian of activities; the motivated reading of scripture with the motive of knowing God.

 

Erin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKSKGoh1wmk

Amy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jflucW5zMlw

 

Christian Distinctives?

 

Why should someone become a Christian? What makes Christianity distinct or unique? What is the appeal of the Christian faith?

            Hillside Church family, I need your help answering these questions. I am in a group of pastors and academics that meet biweekly to discuss theology. In one of our discussions, a women said she found herself perplexed by a question an unbeliever asked her. “What makes Christianity special?” She was tongue-tied.

            This is an intelligent woman. She’s a philosophy professor at a major university. She is a regular church attendee. She is very active in her church and in her faith. Yet, when pressed by unchurched person to give an account of her faith (1 Peter 3:15), she lacked confidence.

            How would you answer? Are you ready, as 1 Peter instructs, “to make your defense to anyone who demands an accounting for the hope that is in you?” We must be ready. Church attendance is in sharp decline across denominations in the United States. A scrutinizing public might ask those of us still committed to Christ, why bother? No one cares about church or believes in God anymore! Why do you?

            Here’s what I want you to do. Email me your answer; Robert.j.tennant70@gmail.com. It can be a couple of sentences or a couple of pages. Write a book if you want to. How ever you interpret it, answer this series of queries –

Why should someone become a Christian?

What makes Christianity distinct or unique?

What is the appeal of the Christian faith?

 

            I hope to get at least 30 responses from you in the Hillside Church family by September 1. I’ll share my answer in my September newsletter article.

Sacred Spaces, Innovative Places

July 5, 2023

            The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has published two volumes of the short book Sacred Spaces, Innovative Places: Reimagining Church Property and Facility as Assets. Hillside Church is featured in the last chapter of Volume 2. You can pick up a copy as long as they last. Or, you can download the booklet - https://cbf.net/sacredspaces.

             The simplest explanation for why our church might be featured in a publication intended to inspire other churches is our willingness to say “Yes,” or “Let’s pray about this,” when new ideas for ministry arise. We never just shoot down a proposed idea with an abrupt “No!” Sometimes after prayer and discernment, God leads us to decline ideas or opportunities, but even then, it’s not necessarily a hard “no.” It’s closer to, “not at this time.” For example, I had announced we would be doing a short Vacation Bible School in August. After consideration and prayer, we decided that’s not a ministry we’re ready for in 2023. We’ll do VBS again, just not at this time.

            More often, we pray, then we give it a try. God opened the door for us to host a preschool. God made a way for us to work more cooperatively with both the Boy Scout troop that meets in our building and the Karen Baptist Church that shares our space. Solar panels? God led us to say “Yes.” And, we’ve seen one of our biggest ministries (in terms of people needed to run it and people blessed by it), the food pantry, continue to evolve. Some of our ministries do generate income for the church. Others are purely the church blessing those who come. Hopefully all ministries are an opportunity for our members and attendees to embody the love of Christ.

             While it’s cool to say ‘we’ve been written up in a CBF publication’ and it’s fun to describe these ministries – it is essential that our members and attendees participate! You can’t grow in discipleship by attending a church that runs a really proficient food pantry unless you help by volunteering. As you read this, pray about where God is calling you to jump in. Food pantry? Bible Study? Helping Hands Counselor? Music Ministry? We want to expand what we do. It can only happen if our members get involved. Many already are, but here, I specifically mean those of you who aren’t actively participating. Give up some time to love people and serve God through these innovative ministries our church offers. 

 

Summer Faith

 

Summer Faith Exercise

June 2023

 

            As it warms up, more and more people are getting outside. Hiking, jogging, bike-riding, golfing; the summer months encourage activity and exercise. I propose that in addition to working out your body for strength, endurance, and health, you exercise your spirit so you’ll grow as a disciple.

            There numerous spiritual disciplines and areas of focus one can practice to bolster one’s commitment to Christ. For the summer of 2023, I propose faith-life integration.

            Identify one area of your life; your golf game; your tv watching; your job; doing chores around the house; going out with friends; it can be any area of life that takes several hours in the week and that you regularly practice. I suggest picking just one.

            Once you’ve selected it, then do an assessment. What role, if any, does your walk with Christ play in that area of your life. Let’s say you select your job and you work as loan officer at a bank. How is faith a part of your work. Does following Christ cause you to work with greater precision, more compassion toward your clients, and more empathy toward coworkers? Or, once you arrive at your desk, is faith on the backburner until you get home? Or until the next Sunday when you come to church? Do an honest assessment.

            Then, make a plan. Identify ways you can remember your baptism in your work. Maybe week one, you commit to saying a 30-second silent prayer as you sit at your desk. In week two, you continue with the 30-second starter prayer and add to it a commitment to show greater care toward a specific co-worker. In week three, continuing with the commitments of the first two weeks, you add in a silent, 30-second prayer for each customer, as they leave your office after the transaction is completed.

            Each week, you add a small commitment that helps you remember the Jesus you follow even in a secular environment: your workplace. Note, this is not a call for ostentatious displays of personal piety. You won’t call attention to your faith exercise. You won’t tell anyone about it. You’ll just keep finding new ways to live as a disciple of Jesus within the world of your profession whether it is banking, medicine, or waiting tables.

            Each week, make notes. What differences do you see in yourself as a result of this focus? What differences do others comment upon as they interact with you? At the end of the summer, again, assess the place faith has in your work life. Compare your end of summer assessment with the one you did at the beginning.

            I hope everyone who reads this will take up the challenge and incorporate faith into some area of your life. If you want to check in with me, I’m happy to talk with you and pray with you as you seek to grow as a disciple of Jesus. This is your 2023 summer faith challenge.

Pursue Joy

 

 

            In the novel Don’t Cry for Me, Isaac’s dying father, Jacob, writes to his son. In telling his life story, Jacob remembers when his grandmother died. His grandfather, somber and seemingly angry, did not shed a tear at the funeral. He did, however, dourly warn the gathered mourners that judgment was coming and they’d best be ready. A hard life rendered the man dour, somber, and very angry. I don’t blame the character, though I want to jump into the story and tell him that faith in the Lord Jesus is more than soberly preparing for judgment.

            Paul writes, “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness” (Galatians 5:22). Joy! ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ refers to what God produces in the life of someone full of God’s Spirit. We don’t work on being loving or joyful so much as we get to know God better. We work on aligning our lives with God’s ways and God’s purposes. We develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit produces fruit – love, joy, and the rest. The Holy Spirit produces these things in our lives.

            That said, I think a way to get to know the Spirit is to pursue joy. This fits at any time of year: Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, a chilly, cloudy, gray Tuesday in February. However, focusing on joy is especially apropos in May. Summer is right around the corner. More people will be outside, soaking up the sun. Many go on vacation in the warmer months. Fun moves from being a pleasant, unexpected outcome to the purpose of the planned activity.

            It’s the fullness of time for going deep into God’s heart in pursuit of joy. This happens in a thousand ways, in as many places as you can imagine; sharing coffee with a friend in a café; a morning walk in the woods; lingering as you admire a sunset; writing poetry; leaning into the positive feelings certain colors produce in you; having your breath taken away as you take in the view from a mountain top; meeting fellow Christ-followers from another part of the world; feeling God’s pleasure as you spend time praying for someone you love; the list could go on.

            It’s hard to imagine the joyless faith Jacob displayed as something connected to a God whose Holy Spirit is manifested in joy in the lives of believers. We realize how God carries us through life as we get to know God better. We get to know God better as we walk in and feel the joy God pours into us to overflowing.

            Yes, the Bible mentions judgment often. The word rejoice comes up a lot too. As summer blossoms, my Christian friend, pursue joy. You will feel God’s arms wrapped around you and the warmth of God’s smile with the happiness that come to your life. And, you’ll be ready for the judgment Jacob feared, whenever it comes.  

After Easter

 

After Easter

April 2023

 

            The Challenge I set for the church before Ash Wednesday this year was to set aside 30 minute of solitude and silence every day, from Ash Wednesday right up to Easter Sunday. In that silence and solitude, tune out the noise of the world and tune in to the Holy Spirit. The world is a distracting, constant cacophony that robs us of serenity and peace. I believe God is speaking, but we miss what he says because we listen to everything but the voice of God, and he won’t compete for our attention.

            So, I proposed that we all give God all of our time, but especially 30 minutes of focused attention. To aid in this exercise, I suggested using a journal to write your thoughts. I also suggested a rotation of scripture passages: Psalm 5, Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Psalm 71, Psalm 91, Psalm 95, Lamentations 3, and Matthew 6:25-34.

If you followed this prescription, then for the last 40 days, you’ve given God 30 minutes of your undivided attention each day, cycling through these readings in the process. How did it go? I grew closer to God and felt God’s comfort and help when I had to endure difficult days.

With Easter now past, I encourage you to make this daily period of silence a top priority, and I offer a cycle of 31 readings to aid you as you lay your heart out before God. Let these reading help you see your life in God’s light.

Here’s the list:

 

Genesis 1:26-31                  Exodus 34:6-10                   Romans 8:31-38

Daniel 12:1-4                       Psalm 84                               Joshua 24:14-18

Exodus 3:1-6                        Revelation 1:4-8                 Acts 2:32-39

Isaiah 12                               Leviticus 19:1-4, 9-10        Isaiah 58:6-16

Mark 1:29-39                       Daniel 2:17-19                     Luke 12:13-21

John 18:33-38                      Job 28:20-28                        Revelation 19:1-8

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12             Matthew 5:1-13                  1 Samuel 16:6-13

Mark 15:37-39                    Revelation 7:9-17               Micah 6:6-8

Luke 10:17-20                     Jude 1:20-25                        Psalm 25

Proverbs 14:31-32             John 1:1-14                          Daniel 3:13-18

Mark 5:21-43

 

            Enjoy your time with the Lord.  

Where to Meet God

 

 In our Ash Wednesday worship service (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7dgGWufo0), I invited our church to practice silence and solitude as spiritual disciplines this year in the season of Lent. The challenge is, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, spend 30 minutes a day in silence and solitude. I believe God will speak to you, in the silence, if you take up this practice

            I found it to be difficult. In the silence, I think about the NCAA basketball tournament, the workout I’m going to try to get done at the YMCA, the tasks I need to get accomplished that afternoon, and 1000 other things. As soon as I drive one distraction from my mind, another takes its place. Some days I can get really quiet and centered so that I give God my full attention. Other days, I spend 30 minutes reaching for God with one hand and fending off competing thoughts with the other.

            This practice takes practice. This very morning, frustrated, I started writing in my journal about my frustration. I was drawn to Lamentations 3:23. God’s mercy is new every morning. God always has more grace to give, and I always need it, and He always gives it. So I thought, if God gives me grace, I’ll extend grace to myself. I finished a distracted 30 minutes. Tomorrow, I’ll try again.

            That’s my word for you. Try again. And again. And again. Relationships demand commitment and sticktoitiveness. In silence, we tune out other stimuli in order to give God our full attention. Learning to be still; learning to hear with the heart; it all takes effort and trial and error. If today’s effort in silent mediation faltered, try again tomorrow.

“It is good to sit alone in silence” (Lamentations 3:27). My prayer is first, you’ll try this, silent prayer, every day, 30 minutes; and second, as you do, you’ll discover why the writer of Lamentations says this is “good.” It is because the solitude and silence are where we meet God.

Bloated

 

I feel bloated. Wonder why?

Could it be the huge bowl of Golden Grahams, with three cups of coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut?

Or the four slices of pizza at lunch?

Maybe the three large chocolate chunk cookies at mid afternoon, chased by three of those “fun-size” Hershey’s chocolates. How is small “fun-size?” How is feeling bloated and fat a good thing?

Dinner was irrelevant. White rice. Duck sauce packets left over from Chinese take-out. Costco egg rolls and dumplings.

One day like that is not so bad. Living like that in a +50 body whose arthritic knees and surgically disrepaired ankle make cardiovascular exercise much more unpleasant than it was even 5 years ago – well that’s a recipe for a doughy belly and double chin.

I can’t tell if writing it down makes it any better.

I know when I get to the point where I feel so oversized, I, even I, with my appetite, have absolutely no desire for any post-white rice dessert – at that point, I need to change something up.

So hard, change. Maybe tomorrow. I’ve been saying that since Thanksgiving. Maybe tomorrow.

I feel like I am becoming a chocolate chunk cookie.

Who Tells Your Story?

Who Tells Your Story?

February 2023

 

            The past few years, I have tried, through writing sermons and newsletter articles, to shape the Christian story for people who listen when I preach and read what I write. Through much of 2021, I looked at Biblical narratives in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy that define the community of God as it is being established. In the former texts, the people of God were rebuilding after exile. In the latter, they were settling the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness. I imagined us as a church rebuilding after being exiled in quarantine and wandering in the land of COVID. I envisioned people streaming back to church after COVID.

I think we did some good work in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy in 2021, and I am glad we examined those passages. The problem is COVID did not leave, and people did not stream back to church in-person in droves the way I though they would. So, in 2022, I drilled down deep in the grand story of Christianity. I though it was the time for us to revisit our basic foundation as a people saved from sin, saved for a life in Christ. We spent considerable time in the book of Romans. The 2022 sermons at Hillside were a journey into core-Christian theology.

Just as I was pleased with the 2021 preaching in Haggai, Zechariah, and Deuteronomy, even though that effort didn’t align with the conditions envisioned because those conditions did not materialize as I figured they would, I was pleased with our journey in Romans. I’m glad half of the 2022 Hillside sermons were based on that book of the Bible.

In 2023, we’ll take a much different approach. I’m asking a simple question that I hope you will prayerfully, thoughtfully consider. Who tells your story?

Who tells your story?

            The ghost of your mother, whom you always disappointed?

            A fashion model, whose body you will never have?

            A neighbor who drives a nicer car than any you will ever own?

            A voice in your head that says you’ll never be enough? Never smart enough. Never attractive enough. Never accomplished enough.

            As you sit with this question introspectively and honestly, listen to another voice, the voice of your Heavenly Father. His message to you is you are beloved. However today goes, you are beloved. Wherever you succeed or fail, you are beloved.

            In the weekly sermons, we’ll pursue this theme throughout the Bible. We’ll look at a different text every week. We’ll hold different passages from the Gospels and the Old Testament up alongside each other. The messages will be theological and researched, for sure, but the driving question will be who tells your story? And our landing point will be God’s reassurance that you are beloved.

            I’m looking forward to this walking this path of faith with you in 2023.

 

Jan 2023 - Power and Powerlessness

 

COVID-19 has impressed upon us a feeling we Americans do not like to acknowledge: powerlessness. We seize the day. We chart our own course. When life gets tough and challenges confront us, we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. These old canards, reek of half-truths. Yet, we cling to the mythology of self-determination.

            COVID-19 has ripped this independence from us. Maybe that’s good. We need to need one another, and we are poorer for it when we refuse to recognize our own need. When we step in bold self-reliance, our ability to thrive is limited to our own abilities. When we lean on one another, help each other, and live interdependently, we go places we never imagined. When we live depending on God for life and for good things, we discover there’s no limit to the wonders we’ll behold and be part of.

            I’ll begin my 2023 preaching examining power and powerlessness as we look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 on January 8. I was powerless to prevent COVID from interrupting my family’s Christmas celebration. I had the power to affirm and validate my relative’s disappointment. I had the power to pray for her and promise her we will get together soon and resume the family time that was interrupted.

            I cannot force my children to be who I think they should be. I have the power and the opportunity to get to know who they are and to love who they are, just as Jesus loves me as I am.

            I cannot make people in my community be nicer to each other and be kind even across the combustible political divides that so threaten our unity and neighborliness. I do have the power to be kind. God empowers us to be good neighbors.

            I urge you to recognize areas of life where you are powerless. Acknowledging it is no weakness. Rather, to name your powerlessness is to see it and to see that it is not as overwhelming as you fear. Name your powerlessness. Ask God to show you the power you do have. Ask God to redeem your powerlessness, to meet you in it. And learn to live depending on God in all things. That’s my word for our church as we step into 2023.