Pastoral Notes for Sunday, November 4, 2018

Dear Cornerstone,

The Nashville Presbytery’s Mercy Committee is organizing a trip to Panama City, FL, to assist with Hurricane Michael relief efforts. A team of volunteers from middle Tennessee PCA churches is pulling together to head down to Panama City, FL, next weekend, Nov. 8-11. Considering the extensive damage and sparse volunteers, we're actually still on the front side of the disaster response.

No particular technical skills are prized. Willing hands are in short supply in Panama City. Even inexperienced guys or gals at least 15 years old can go down and make a real dent over three days. We’ll no doubt be blessed by encouraging and praying with our Gulf Coast neighbors, serving them and serving alongside them for Jesus' sake.

If you’d like to serve and be the hands and feet of Jesus in the work of the mercy, play close attention to the information below and be sure to follow the instructions for registration:

·      Every volunteer must sign up via MNA. The links are below. MNA Disaster Response is expecting a crew from Nashville Presbytery. 

·      Every signed up volunteer needs to contact Marty Smith at grandog_fighter@yahoo.com, so we can keep a count and communicate with the group and with MNA about our trip. No one should contact MNA Disaster Response after signing up.

·      For those who choose to go, please start gathering tools and supplies to carry down for our use (and to leave behind if they need and you're inclined). Food/Water-grade necessities are not in short supply presently. We will send updates on what to pack and what not to pack as the day approaches. Plan on erring on the generous side with the tools you tote.

·      As the group takes shape in these coming days, we’ll sort out who can drive to maximize our haul. Vans and extended cab trucks are ideal. (We have one x-cab truck already.)

The Trip Details:

·      Meet Thursday, November 8, at 4:30pm, in the south parking lot at Christ Community Church, 1215 Hillsboro Road, Franklin, TN 37069. We may arrange to meet up along the route with folks coming from outside Nashville or its southern suburbs.

·      We’ll sort into vehicles, pray, and head out by 5pm, driving straight to Laguna Beach Christian Retreat, where we’ll be housed. (This is the same retreat center that’s long been home to RUF and RYM conferences.) It's roughly a 7.5 hour drive. 

·      We will head east across the bay to put in a full Friday and Saturday as MNA directs, with a focus on helping our brethren at hardest hit First Presbyterian Church in Panama City, FL. We will also be serving Covenant Presbyterian Church and the Korean Presbyterian Church in town.

·      We will go across the bay for supper and the night on the west side, where the food supply chain – grocery and prepared – is increasingly intact (We shouldn't have to carry all our own food/water. Possibly not even food/water for others).

·      The Lord’s Day: If feasible, worship with our sister churches, then with their guidance find work (loving mercy) that afternoon in a more downtrodden and vulnerable area that’s close enough to be within reach of the churches’ outreach ministries.

·      Having worked till 4pm (except for designated drivers who will have been excused early for a nap), make one last change of clothes and drive straight home, so worn-out servants can resume normal life on Monday morning. 

·      Folks who can’t leave with us as early as Thursday or who need to get back sooner than we’re planning to Sunday afternoon/night could still link up with us if we can work together on alternative arrangements.

MNA Trip Registration: https://stat.pcanet.org/mna/disasterresponse/signin.cfm

Important Info:

https://pcamna.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-09-Volunteer-Scheduling-Process.pdf

https://pcamna.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-09-MNA-Disaster-Response-Volunteer-FAQ.pdf

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 28, 2018

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”—Psalm 116:15 

On October 31, 1517 an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther took a hammer and nail and posted his now famous 95 Theses on the Wittenburg church door in Germany. That courageous action sparked one of the greatest movements of God’s Spirit in human history. Amazingly it all began on… Halloween?

That’s right. The launch of what would become known as the Protestant Reformation began on the one night of the year where ghosts and goblins rule the streets. If you think that’s merely a coincidence, you’re likely mistaken.

Halloween is short for All Hallows Eve. The word “hallow” is the word for “holy.” You know this because you say it every week in worship when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name” (Matthew 6:9). All Hallows’ Eve was the name given to the night before the Christian feast, All Saint’s Day, which was celebrated on November 1st. All Saints Day is the annual remembrance of those who have died in Christ and gone before us into heaven.

Now, it has been suggested that Martin Luther chose to nail his 95 Theses on All Hallows Eve in anticipation of All Saints Day, because his protest sought to expose the ghoulishness of the church in his day and call it back to the faith once for all entrusted to God’s holy people (Jude 1:3). Luther believed the late medieval church was, in many ways, held captive by a “doctrine of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1), and that the time had come for a return to the historic orthodox belief and practice held by the church throughout the ages. To borrow another phrase from the Lord’s Prayer, Luther wanted to see God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven.

Rehearsing the legacy of faith passed down through the generations is a critical Christian discipline (Hebrews 12:1). Though oft neglected in our day, it’s been common practice in the historic church to pause during this season of the church calendar and remember those who have gone on to glory, giving thanks to the Lord for their lives.

As a way of stepping into that tradition, next Sunday, Nov. 4th, we’re going take time in our worship services to name, remember, and give thanks for those who have died in Christ Jesus. You’ll have an opportunity in service to write that person(s) name on a card and jot a few words of thanksgiving for how God used them in your life. It could be a grandmother who modeled humility, or a coach that challenged you spiritually, or a Sunday School teacher that taught you Scripture, or a work colleague that always knew just how to lift you up when you were down. It could be a historical figure—a missionary, pastor, writer, artist, etc. It can be anyone who has passed from this life into the presence of Jesus Christ that the Lord has used to encourage you.

If you would, take a few minutes this week to consider whose name you’ll write and what you’ll say. The cards are available this morning if you’d like to take one. They’ll also be available next week in the pews. Let’s remember with thanksgiving those we love who have gone on before us, anticipating the day when we’ll join them in glory.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 14, 2018

The text before us today is one of the most scandalous in all of Scripture. Two angelic visitors arrive in Sodom to warn Lot and his family of the coming judgment. While staying with Lot, the men of Sodom show up at the door and demand that Lot hand over the visitors that they might have sex with them. It’s clear from the text that homosexual activity is in view, and, horrifically, that of a forcible kind (see Genesis 19:1-29). 

In recent years, the public opinion in America on homosexuality has shifted. It’s now widely believed that as long as two people love each other, even if they are of the same sex/gender, it’s acceptable for them to “marry” and to engage in homosexual behavior. In some cases, this popular line of thinking has found inroads into the church, especially among a younger generation of professing Christian that are growing up in a time where homosexuality is treated culturally as an acceptable norm.

Can we with certainty say that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is sin? In short, the answer is an unequivocal, “Yes.” There are several key passages we could turn to show this, but none more detailed or significant than Romans 1:18-27.

In Romans 1:18-25, Paul argues that every person has access to the general revelation of God through creation, and that the law of God is written on our hearts. He goes onto to say that though we know God, we don’t honor Him as God; that in unrighteousness we suppress the truth and become foolish and futile in our thinking and worship the creature rather than the Creator (i.e. idolatry).

Then, in verse 24, Paul says, “Therefore.” Meaning, the suppression of the truth, foolishness, and futile thinking expressed idolatry leads to this: “Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their heart to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves…” The word “impurity” can refer to ritual uncleanness, but it’s very often used in the New Testament to describe sexual immorality (see Rom. 6:19, 2 Cor. 12:21, and Gal.5:19). In context, it’s clear that Paul intends the language of impurity to be understood in that way, for he immediately qualifies the term impurity with the phrase “dishonoring of their bodies” (v.25). 

Further, Paul continues in vs. 26-27, “For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Notice the parallel Paul is making. The Gentiles exchanged the worship of God for the worship of man, and so God gave them over to what Paul calls “dishonorable passions” which he defines as exchanging “natural relations” (heterosexuality) for those that are “contrary to nature” (homosexuality).

We could quibble here and there about how to understand certain terms Paul chooses, but it’s impossible to read Paul’s main point in any other way—that a consequence of “exchanging” the worship of God for the worshipping of a creature is we are more and more given over to dishonorable passions leading to the “exchanging” of natural relations  (heterosexuality) for those that are contrary to nature (homosexuality).

Lest we fall prey into thinking that Paul is singling out homosexuality alone as some particularly egregious affront to God, he goes on in vs. 28-31 to give a laundry list of other sins spawning from our idolatry—“…envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” All our sins—not just the sexual ones—require the reconciling work of the gospel. Whether disobedient to parents or murders, our only hope is Jesus Christ.

Well, this brief walk through Romans 1 doesn’t come close to answering all our questions about homosexuality, especially the many pastoral questions related to someone who experiences same-sex attraction. I wish space would afford for me to take up those matters presently, but that will have to wait for now. I’ll return to this subject over the next few weeks in order to grow in our understanding of the Scripture’s teaching and the wonderful grace of the gospel.

Pastoral Notes for September 9, 2018

I bought my first day timer when I was fourteen. I had just started a yard care business, and I needed something to help me keep track of appointments and tasks. It had a brown leather-like cover with a place for pens and business cards on the inside. I loved that day timer. I carried it everywhere, like a child who carries their favorite blanket for comfort. It made me feel organized, on top of things. It made me feel important. I had places to go, things to do, people to see. I was in high demand, so to speak.

That day timer is long gone, but the belief that a full schedule is a full life stayed with me a lot longer. I can see now that I bought into a notion of time, life, and importance that was shaped by the world rather than by Scripture. In a word, I had not yet understood that time was a gift to be received from God. At that point, I saw time as something to be managed, rather than a gift to be stewarded and redeemed for God’s purposes. I didn’t understand that time was something to be treated with sanctity. That the days and hours allotted to me were precious and deserved to be received and responded to with grace; that I could say of everyday, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

It took years for me to realize that there wasn’t an equal sign between a full calendar and a full life. It would take even longer for me to begin unlearning the habits that were formed by believing this, and still longer to relearn a new way of engaging with time. I’m not where I used to be on this, but I’m still far from well. Maybe that’s true for you, too. Maybe that’s true for us as a community.

If we began receiving every moment as a gift of God, how would that change us? What would we make time for that we’re not making time for now? How would the tempo of our life together shift? More specifically, what if every one of us saw this morning—right now—as God’s grace for us (Lamentations 3:23)? What difference might that make for the way we worshipped? How would we spend the 3-5 minutes after worship? What would our afternoon and evening look like?

Let’s not be deceived. Today is the day the Lord has made. The question is: will we treat it as such? Let’s open our life to receive the gift of today, and rejoice in it.