Pastoral Notes for Sunday, November 14, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

As we continue our month-long celebration, praising the Lord for the 10 years of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, we have the privilege this morning to welcome a very special guest to the pulpit. Dr. Sandy Willson is Interim Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian in Peoria, Illinois. He was named Pastor Emeritus at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, after serving as senior minister for twenty-two years. He also pastored Memorial Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton, Tennessee and Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee and recently served as interim Senior Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL. Sandy received a B.S. from the University of Virginia, an MDiv. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a D.D. from Capital Seminary & Graduate School. Sandy and his wife, Allison, are deeply grateful for their five children, three daughters-in-law, son-in-law, and thirteen grandchildren.

I’ve sat at Sandy’s feet from a distance for many years. I’ve learned much from watching him lead with conviction and generosity. In addition, I’ve deeply benefited from listening to him preach the Word with boldness and care. I’m humbled by his willingness to travel to Franklin and open the Word of God to us. Pay close attention to the message the Lord has laid on his heart.

Now, just a reminder, we’re one week away from our 10-year anniversary celebration! Next Sunday we will gather for ONE worship service at 10 a.m. in Liberty Hall at The Factory in Franklin. Then, we will return to The Factory that evening at 5:30 p.m. to enjoy a catered dinner, a concert, and a special time of sharing. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d for the evening celebration, rectify that soon! You can find our registration form on the home page of our website or on the Cornerstone app. If you need help or have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the office. We would be more than happy to help!

Finally, last Sunday I encouraged you to take to heart three words as we prepare for the 10th anniversary. Do you remember them? They were remember, rejoice, and renew. In this special time, we want to remember God’s faithfulness, rejoice in God’s grace, and renew our commitment to God’s call. Keep those words in mind as we worship today and prepare to celebrate next week!

Grace & Peace,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, November 7, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

To help us celebrate our ten-year anniversary and renew our love and commitment to God and the work of the church, we have two guest preachers in November coming in to serve us the Word. This morning we have the treat of hearing from a brother whom I greatly respect and who has become a very dear friend of my family, Dr. Sean Lucas.

Dr. Lucas was born in Stratford, New Jersey, but moved up and down the eastern seaboard as a child. He graduated from Bob Jones University (BA, 1993; MA, 1994) and Westminster Theological Seminary (PhD, 2002). He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 2003, then served on the pastoral staffs of Community Presbyterian Church (PCA), Louisville, Kentucky, and Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) St. Louis, Missouri. In 2009, he became Senior Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he served until accepting the Senior Pastor position at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN, in 2017.

Sean has taught at two theological seminaries. He is presently the Chancellor’s Professor of Church History at Reformed Theological Seminary, where he has been teaching since 2011. Prior to that, he was chief academic officer and associate professor of church history at Covenant Theological Seminary from 2004-09.

Sean has also written many books, including On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices and Stories (2006); God’s Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards (2011); J. Gresham Machen (2015) and For a Continuing Church: The Roots of the Presbyterian Church in America (2015). He and his wife, Sara, have four children: Samuel, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Benjamin.

Please pay close attention to the message Sean has come to bring us.

 

P.S. Next week we’ll have the privilege of hearing from Dr. Sandy Willson, Interim Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL. In addition to preaching for us, Dr. Willson will join me in an all-adults Sunday School hour in the chapel where we’ll tackle a wide array of key topics related to our witness in the world. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this conversation with Dr. Willson!

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 31, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Today we reach the end of the gospel of Mark…or do we? If you have your Bible with you (and I hope you do), take a quick look at Mark 16. Are you there? Good. Now, depending on your Bible, you likely see a bracketed comment after v. 8 that says something to the effect, “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20.” Then, if you look at vs. 9-20, you’ll probably see a double bracket around them or maybe the whole section will be italicized to indicate it may not be (probably isn’t) a part of the original gospel.

If you were to do a survey of scholarship–conservative or liberal–in the last hundred and fifty years or so, you’d be hard pressed to find one commentator argue that Mark 16:9-20 is original. I actually tried to find one this week and struck out. Clearly, it’s become almost universally accepted that the longer ending was a later addition and not present in Mark’s manuscript.

Even a quick read of Mark 16:9-20 will raise eyebrows. There is an unusual focus on supernatural signs including handling snakes and drinking poison that simply do not ring true with the aim and theological emphases of Mark’s gospel. Further, when you read some of the roiling theological debates in the early church around signs and the supernatural, it’s possible that one side’s emphases were written in at the end of Mark as a means of adding authority to a certain position. But we can’t say for sure.

One of the more plausible theories suggests that the abrupt ending to the gospel in v. 8 leaves the reader in tension. The tomb is empty, and the angel shares the good news that Jesus is risen, but the person of Jesus is nowhere to be found. We’re told he’s going to meet the disciples in v. 7, but we’re not given a report about that meeting. Could it be that the longer ending was added to relieve this tension? Again, we can’t say for sure.

Now, this raises a host of important questions—questions like how the Bible came to be, how were the books of the Bible determined to be Scripture, and can we trust that everything in the Bible is God’s Word. As you might imagine, I do not have space or time to address all these big questions, but I’m grateful to say there are strong, solid answers to every one of them. In due time, I look forward to tackling them with you. For now, I’d encourage you to gain comfort from the conclusion Dr. Elijah Hixson draws about this matter.

“Uncertainty here makes us uncomfortable, but we lose nothing of our faith if Mark ends at 16:8, and God often calls us to trust him in the face of uncertainty. Without faith it’s impossible to please him, after all. Since faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1) and seen hope is not real hope (Romans 8:24), it wouldn’t be walking by faith if God answered all of our questions. That would be walking by sight. With or without Mark 16:9-20, the tomb is empty, Jesus has purchased our pardon, and we can be certain of that.”

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 24, 2021

Dear Cornerstone Family,

When God speaks of Israel in the Old Testament, He often employs the language of treasure (see Exodus 19:5, Psalm 135:4). Similarly, in the New Testament, the church is referred to as God’s “holy people” and His “treasured possession” (I Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14). Astonishingly, when God considers you, His church, the word that comes to His mind is treasure.

That said, I’m in regular conversation with Christians that struggle to believe God treasures them. They are so deeply aware of the ugliness of their sin and deficiency of their character that they find it almost impossible to believe God treasures them. “It sounds too good to be true,” they say.

To help them believe it’s true, I’ll often ask, “How do you know how much something is worth?” They respond, “By how much I’m willing to pay for it.” Exactly! We reveal how much we treasure something by how much treasure we’re willing to give up to acquire it! The same is true when it comes to God treasuring us.

The Scripture tells us that God loved us so much that He bought us (1 Corinthians 7:23). And get this: we weren’t cheap! He paid an incredibly high price to make us His own. He gave His only son for us (John 3:16). He purchased us with His blood (Galatians 3:13-15). We are to Him a treasure!

When the reality of this life-laying-down-love truly breaks in upon the heart of the Christian, we can’t help but respond by treasuring God in return. One of the main ways this is expressed is by pursuing heavenly treasure over earthly treasure (Luke 12:21). That is, we’re less tempted to waste our time, energy, and resources on the fleeting matters of temporal life, and we’re more and more inclined to investing in what lasts–eternal matters. We know this is happening in our life when we learn to lovingly release our earthly treasure for eternal gain. When God is truly our one, true, and lasting treasure, we will easily trade our earthly wealth for heavenly dividends.

As we closed out the first quarter of our 2021-2022 budget year, it is clear to me that you, the faithful givers of Cornerstone, are investing in eternity. Through your generous giving, Cornerstone’s fiscal health continues to strengthen while our ministry expands. Let’s rejoice over God’s provision for Cornerstone as together we continue to pursue heavenly treasure!

Cornerstone Presbyterian Church 1st Quarter Financial Report 2021-22

1st Quarter 2021/2022 2021-22 Full Year Budget

Actual Budget Difference Budget

Giving $313,992 $242,350 $71,642 $1,053,000

Expense $228,287 $249,300 -$21,013 $1,053,000

Deficit/Surplus. $85,705 -$6950 $92,655 $0

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 17, 2021

As ministries are getting back to “normal,” I’ve asked Greg Wilbur to write about the re-start, but also re-imagining, of opportunities to engage with stories, books, films, and music for the purpose of growing in grace and in the Great Narrative of redemption.

Since the earliest days of Cornerstone, we have hosted regular conversations around various topics. To help facilitate that, we’ve planned evenings to watch films, to discuss books (both literary and theological), to invite speakers to talk about art, and authors and musicians to talk about their work. We’ve also planned outings to various musical events. Sometimes these activities were primarily for fun (Summer Family Movies) and sometimes more theological (the Men’s film and the Lenten literature discussion this past spring).

Because our culture likes to divide things and place things in categories, it’s easy to think of these as opportunities for bookish people or film buffs or artists to be “enriched” or connect with like-minded people in the congregation. However, our goal and purpose are much grander and more integrated than that. As with all ministries of the church, we seek to make Christ known and for God to shine into our hearts the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

Our model is displayed in the ministry of Paul in Acts 17 in which he interacts with Jews and Greeks to share the Gospel. Paul reasoned from the Scriptures to explain the necessity of Christ’s suffering and resurrection in Thessalonica. In Berea, he encouraged the examining of the Scriptures to affirm and strengthen their belief. At the Areopagus in Athens, Paul engaged the pagan philosophers (the cultural leaders) on their turf, by using the words of their poets, to show them the truth of the Scriptures. We desire to use these planned ministry opportunities to examine the Word, teach the Gospel, and utilize the areas of film, music, and books (fruits of culture) to show the Truth that is made plain even to unbelievers (Rom 1). The following is our stated purpose as well as some upcoming events:

The Goal:

Our desire is to provide events to help show the beauty of Christ more clearly in the things that are made and the things we make as sub-creators and to engage the broader community with the significant questions that the arts raise, but that can only be answered in Christ.

The Means:

  • Regular Community Book Discussions, Film Discussions, and Music Discussions

  • Participatory activities such as hymn sings, jam sessions, hosted concerts, etc.

  • Periodic outings to concerts or galleries, guest speakers, etc.

Monday, October 25 at 7:00pm—Focus: Integration of Story and Faith (Arts)
Live podcast recording of The Habit with author Jonathan Rogers interviewing Carolyn Weber (Surprised by Oxford, Holy is the Day) about writing, faith, teaching, and integration of art and life.

Monday, November 1 at 7:00pm—Focus: Seeing the Gospel in Stories (Literature)
Using the Grimm’s Fairy Tales “Snow White” and “Hansel and Gretel,” we will talk about how to read for symbols in a story, how that helps us to understand Scripture, and how these stories intentionally tell the story of the Gospel and redemption. Look for a PDF to read ahead of time.

Sunday, November 7 at 5:00pm—Focus: Community through Harmony and Using/Developing Gifts (Music)
Jam Session for players, singers, musicians, interested bystanders! Bring your instrument, and we will have an evening of playing and singing hymns, worship songs, new songs, old songs, etc. All levels of expertise welcome. If you have some suggested songs, contact greg@cstonepres.org ahead of time.

Monday, December 6 at 7:00pm—Focus: Seeing the Gospel in Stories (Literature)
This Literature Discussion of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol will explore the connection with allegory and fairy tales to understand and develop the ability to see how this classic story of redemption mirrors the Gospel and critiques the secular distractions of the good, true, and beautiful.

Narrative, Story, and music are powerful ways to incarnate truth. With these fall events and with upcoming films, books, and concerts in the Spring, we look forward to developing our ability to read and comprehend for the purpose of examining the Word, teaching the Gospel, and engaging our community and culture.