Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 20, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Before you know it, the Lenten season will be here! We’re less than two weeks away from Ash Wednesday (March 2), the official beginning of the season. For those of you who are new to Cornerstone or at least to the notion of a church calendar, you may be saying to yourself, “Lent? What is that?” If that’s you, you’re among friends.

There are seasons of the church calendar we know like the back of our hand––Christmas and Easter for instance. Protestants and Catholics of all stripes celebrate those high holy days, and even the world at large acknowledges them. But Lent? Not so much. Many of us don’t have a reference point for Lent. Others of us have reference points that have left us confused or even concerned about keeping Lent. So, as we prepare to enter this season together, it’s appropriate to ask the question, “What is Lent?”

The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon term for “length.” It’s a word used with reference to springtime; the time of year when the shorter days of winter “lengthen” toward spring. Lent begins during the cold and dreary days of winter, but by the end of the forty days of Lent, the obvious signs of spring and new life are evident all around us. The dark, empty, deadness of winter giving way to the light, fullness, and life of spring is the story Lent tells. Lent plunges us into the cross-to-empty-tomb gospel. It personally invites us to keep pace with Jesus, walking the wintery path of the cross into the spring of resurrection hope.

Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2), the Lenten season calls us to consider in a concentrated way what it means for us to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24-26). In keeping with the pattern of Jesus’s forty days in the wilderness, Lent is a forty-day season marked by fasting, prayer, and spiritual preparation. In other words, Lent provides us an opportunity, liturgically speaking, to do a spiritual spring cleaning. To purge the closets of our heart and reorder our lives according to the gospel.

I’m particularly excited this year about a particular tool towards reordering our lives with a special edition Cornerstone Lenten devotional entitled, Earnestly I Seek You. This beautifully designed devotional offers daily prayer services with unique devotional reflections written by Cornerstone members. I can’t wait to get my hands on one! The devotional is at the printer now. It will be available next week, Lord willing. Be on the lookout for it next Sunday!

Finally, Midweek at Cornerstone is back on March 2! I’m looking forward to our evening fellowship meals, children’s and youth programs, and a brand-new Vespers teaching series. This year’s Vespers series, Longing for God, centers on key spiritual topics from some of church history’s most influential thinkers. Please make plans now to join us all six weeks!

Longing for God

  • March 2—Bernard of Clairvaux: The Desire for God

  • March 9—John Calvin: Knowing God and Yourself

  • March 16—Henry Scougal: The Life of God in the Soul of Man

  • March 23—Thomas a Kempis: The Imitation of Jesus Christ

  • March 30—Martin Luther: The Freedom of the Christian

  • April 6—John Bunyan: The Pilgrim Path

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 13, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” —I Peter 5:1-4

One of the joys of serving as a pastor at Cornerstone is having a strong group of leaders to work beside in ministry. At Cornerstone we believe the Bible teaches that there are two primary offices for leadership in the church—elders and deacons. Based on the qualifications for the offices found in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, we regularly nominate, train, and elect men for these two offices, so that spiritual and physical oversight is given to the body of Christ.

Toward this end, I’m very pleased to announce that at our February session meeting the elders once again voted to begin a new officer nomination, training, and election cycle at Cornerstone. Nominations for the office of elder and deacon will open two weeks from today on Sunday, February 26th and close two weeks later on Sunday, March 13th.

Following nomination, the pastors and elders will evaluate nominees for fitness and qualification for office. After initial evaluation, a certain number of nominees will be invited to officer training. Upon accepting the invitation to officer training, the nominee becomes a candidate for officership. Candidates will be trained in the areas of personal character, family management, knowledge of the Bible, the Westminster Confession of Faith, history and constitution of the PCA, and the duties of the office of Elder and Deacon. After successfully completing the training process, candidates will be examined by the elders in the aforementioned areas. Upon successful completion of examination, the elders will recommend candidates to the congregation for election.

Between now and February 26th, we urge all members of Cornerstone to begin prayerfully identifying qualified men in our congregation for the office of either elder or deacon. As you undertake this important responsibility, please remember that only official members of Cornerstone are eligible to nominate for office, and only men who have been official members of Cornerstone for at least one year are eligible to stand for office.

In the next couple of weeks, we will republish and review the unique job descriptions of elders and deacons. In addition, we will explain in detail the process for submitting an official officer nomination. Please pay close attention to any and all communication from the church regarding the upcoming officer nomination season.

Grace & Peace,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 6, 2022

Today I asked Ben Griffith to introduce the book study opportunities this spring for the men:

This spring, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, beginning the week of February 13th, the Cornerstone Men’s Ministry team is hosting two groups that will read and dialogue through J.I. Packer’s Knowing God. This will be a rich time, and we hope you will consider joining one of these groups! The Tuesday morning group will meet at Biscuit Love at 7 a.m. (under the patio if the weather is nice and inside the church if it’s not), and the Thursday morning group will meet at the Franklin Mercantile Deli at 7 a.m. Good coffee, fellowship, and discussion will be on the menu; registration for both groups is live on the church website or app.

There are two main reasons we believe this study will be worth every cent it takes to buy this book (it’s not expensive) and worth every second of your time (7 a.m. isn’t THAT early, come on). We believe the ten or eleven weeks spent together in these groups will help us know God better and know each other better. Just one of those reasons alone is enough, but when both of them come together like we believe they will this spring, it’s a beautiful thing indeed.

First, our time together in J.I. Packer’s classic work will help us know God better. Whether you’ve devoured this book multiple times already or whether the Green Bay Packers sound much more entertaining than this Packer, this book will engage your mind, challenge your assumptions, and stimulate your affections. It is for the seasoned Christian and the new believer alike, and it is just as relevant today as it was when it immediately sold hundreds of thousands of copies upon release in 1973 (it has sold many millions since then). This work is not a theological textbook or a dry, doctrinal treatise - it is a warm, lively, devotional and practical introduction to the Living God who speaks in his Word so that we can know him. Not just know facts about him or learn information about him but know him and be known by him. Packer writes in the preface that the conviction behind this book is that “ignorance of God - ignorance both of his ways and the practice of communion with him - lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today.” We hope to grow in our knowledge of God so that we can grow in the joy and delight of knowing God, and we believe that digesting this book together will help us do just that.

But secondly, we believe that the pursuit of growing in the knowledge of God is best undertaken together, in community, side-by-side. The time spent digesting and dialoging over cups of coffee helps us to know each other better, which is a rich blessing. Speaking personally, these Tuesday morning groups have helped me to deepen relationships with men I may not have known otherwise simply by giving us a space to be together, to be honest, and to learn together. I’m grateful for that and want to invite you in as well.

So, please join us! You can pick up a copy of the book for sale on our book table (if there are any left at the time you read this), or order the book online. Again, please register on the church website or app, and we hope to see you in a few weeks!

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 30, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

The slow walk we’ve taken through Proverbs 3 this month has ministered deeply to my soul. Gauging the steady stream of feedback from you, it appears I’m not alone in that. I praise the Lord for the very obvious ways His Spirit has been speaking through the Word to us, and I hope it’s just the beginning of the work He’ll do in and through us as we submit ourselves to His Word this year.

Beginning next week, we will begin a lengthy sermon series in arguably the most important Old Testament book. Now, let me be careful. In saying that one book of the Scripture is “most important,” I am not suggesting that some parts of Scripture are more God’s Word than others, nor am I suggesting that some sections of the Scripture are unimportant. Paul tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Clearly, whether it’s Micah or Matthew, we need every word of God’s Word. Period.

At the same time, we can safely say that some books, sections, or parts of Scripture play a particularly central (important) role in the unfolding of redemptive history. A role other books simply do not play. Again, in saying that, I’m not denigrating one part of Scripture or wrongfully elevating another part; instead I’m recognizing the variety of roles and purposes different books, sections, and parts of Scripture play in the progress of redemptive history.

And if any book can be said to play a central role in redemptive history, it’s the one we’re about to enter together. What book am I speaking of? Well, some of you have already guessed it––Exodus! From a baby in a basket to the burning bush, from plagues to crossing the Red Sea, from pillars of fire to the Ten Commandments, from manna from heaven to water from the rock, from the Ark of the Covenant to the architecture of the tabernacle: Exodus has it all and then some. There are villains and heroes, signs and wonders, plot twists and a breathtaking finale. By the end of it, you’ll understand why Leland Ryken says, “Exodus is the greatest adventure story ever told.”

But more than an amazing story, Exodus introduces us to the paradigm for salvation in redemptive history. Everything that comes after Exodus in the Scripture references it in some way and echoes it, ultimately leading us to the new and better exodus that comes in and through Jesus Christ.

Please, please, please begin praying for God to use this series as yet a further exodus in our community. Pray that more people will be led out of bondage into freedom through this series, and that every one of us will be increasingly readied for the coming final exodus: when the bondage of sin and death is no more, and we cross over the Jordan one last time and make our home in the forever Promised Land, the New Heavens and the New Earth.

I can’t wait to study Exodus with you!

Grace & Peace,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 23, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Just a few short weeks ago, we were experiencing the beautiful season of Advent, filled with the anticipation of Christmas, everything full of sparkle and Bing Crosby. Then it was New Year’s and toasts, black-eyed peas and collard greens, hope for 2022 hanging in the air like confetti in Times Square. And then a blizzard to cap it all off! (I’m a middle Tennessee native – my definition of blizzard may be slightly different from yours.) Pure magic.

And then the season of the post-holiday let-down.

We are in the season of darkness, literally and figuratively, for many. And February, while technically short, looms long for those who prefer the never-ending light of summer. What is there to look forward to? Valentine’s Day? No. I’ll likely spend it on the bleachers at a basketball game (yelling at refs). My birthday? Nope. “Sweet 43” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Sweet 16.” And no one’s gifting me a car, I feel sure.

But soon, the season will change. The light will be longer, buttercups will poke through newly thawed earth, followed by tulips and forsythia, and I will eagerly hop on our Bad Boy and mow the grass for the first time. Then the calendar page will turn, and the season will be the blistering one, with 95 degree days as far as the forecast can see, and I will be paying our daughters to take my turn on the mower, and they should probably take a turn weed-eating, too! The page will turn again, and the season will bring leaves in full color, the temperature will cool to a tolerable mercury level, and then we will be back at Advent.

The older I get (see “Sweet 43”) the more obvious it is to me that life is moving. The calendar pages are flipping at warp speed. And I don’t know that I really want time to slow down, because I know the end of this story, but I want to actually be present in these days, to think about where I am, not just on the calendar, but on the life spectrum. About the season God has me in.

At our 2022 Women’s Retreat, we will take time to reflect on just that. To spend time thinking about the seasons of our lives—from dark, painful times (winter), to fresh, new times (spring), to the days of monotony and mundanity (summer), to days of change (fall). We will be led by our guest speaker, Martie Kwasny, in reflecting on God’s goodness as we remember His faithfulness to us during each season, as well as in spending time thinking ahead, asking ourselves what our kingdom calling is during each season. We will also think practically about how we can serve one another well as we live out our calling as the body of Christ, walking together through all the seasons of life.

I sincerely hope you will come February 4 and 5 for this special time together. In addition to being a meaningful time of learning and reflection, it will also be a meaningful time of fun! We only do this every other year, so if you don’t come this time, it will be eight whole seasons before you have another chance! Join us, Sisters.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Grace,
Martha Brooks