Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 17, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Holy week is the crescendo of the Christian calendar, because the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the center of the Christian faith. And the cross and resurrection are the center of Christian faith because the greatest need of every person who has ever lived is salvation.

Why do I say that your greatest need and mine is salvation? Because a day is coming when you and I will die. And after death, comes the judgment (Acts 17:31; Hebrews 9:27). At the judgment, the state of our souls will be judged by God. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, you will spend eternity away from God in torment because of the guilt of your sin. But if you know Jesus Christ and have committed your life to him, you already know the joy and peace of salvation, and you look forward to the day of Christ’s return and dwelling with him in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21).

As Christians, we believe and celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ took the penalty for our sin on the cross and defeated our last enemy, death. Through his atoning death and victorious resurrection, salvation is secured for anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13).

If that’s you today, praise the Lord! You are secure in Christ by faith in the finished work of Jesus, sealed for the day of redemption. But if that’s not you, if you do not know the certainty, comfort, and joy of salvation, then you’re in the right place. In fact, the Scripture tells us God knows all things and has planned all things. That means it’s no mistake you’re here today. In worship, seek the Lord while he may be found (Isaiah 55:6), for today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

By God’s grace, I pray you will come to know Jesus Christ savingly. What a glorious thing it would be on Resurrection Sunday for your soul to experience resurrection life and power! That is my prayer for you. That having entered the chapel without Christ, you will leave in loving fellowship with him, walking in newness of life. Fly to him! Call upon him! He will answer you.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 10, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Today is Palm Sunday, the official beginning of Holy Week. On this day, we remember the shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. We also remember that in the midst of this worshipful celebration, tears were streaming down Jesus’s face. The juxtaposition of joy and tears has led centuries of Christians to ask, “Why was Jesus crying?”

Were these tears of joy at the receptance he was receiving? As he saw men, women, and children rejoicing in God’s salvation, was he overcome with emotion? Or were these tears of fear? As joyous as this moment was, the hour of crucifixion was fast approaching. Maybe Jesus unable to enter into the festivity for fear of the soon-in- coming pain of the cross.

Upon reflection, it becomes clear. These were neither tears of joy nor fear. These were tears of grief. As Jesus entered the Kedron valley, he caught a glimpse of the Holy City in the distance. When he did, the Scripture tells us he broke down in tears, for the people did not know the time of visitation (Luke 19:41-44).

On the surface, it sure seems like people knew this was the time of visitation. They were singing and dancing in the streets. They were laying down their cloaks in the road and waving leafy branches in celebration. They were even quoting Scripture and applying it to Jesus Christ appropriately. What’s the problem?

Jesus saw behind the fanfare to the spiritual darkness. He knew they had ideas about who he was. He knew they had expectations about what he would do. He also knew they were wrong about it all.

For instance, he had not come, as they supposed, to reestablish the glories of David’s kingdom as an earthly political ruler. Rather, he came as a spiritual Savior, to establish a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). He wasn’t coming to destroy Rome and free Jerusalem from Roman oppression as they surmised. Instead, he came to free his people from the oppression of sin and death, to establish a people for himself from every kindred, tribe, and nation (Romans 8:1-2; Revelation 7:9). His concern was not the earthly stones of Jerusalem or its temple as they assumed; his focus was on the living stones of a new Jerusalem, a city whose builder and maker is God (1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:10). In short, Jesus was the deliverer they needed, but he wasn’t the deliverer they wanted.

As we enter Holy Week together, that haunts me a bit. I wonder how often I’m serving and worshipping a Jesus of my own personal hopes and imaginings rather than the Jesus revealed in the Scripture. I wonder how much of the world’s assumptions have filtered into and shaped my perceptions about Jesus and the Christian life. I wonder as Jesus Christ approaches us today by the Word and Spirit in worship, does he weep? Does he see us quoting Scripture, singing, and waving palm branches, and yet misunderstanding who he is and what it means to follow him?

As we walk through this week together, let’s pray for God to strip away false notions and prune earthly assumption about Jesus and his mission. And let’s even plead with God to restore a robustly biblical vision of Jesus Christ and his kingdom.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 3, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Over the last year, but especially over the last six to nine months, we’ve been foretasting as a congregation thewonder and joy of that final verse in the hymn, “How Sweet and Awful is the Place.”

“We long to see Thy churches full; that all the chosen race

May with one voice, and heart and soul, Sing Thy redeeming grace.”

The one-voice unity, the centrality of redeeming grace, the influx of new believers: all of these beautiful evidences of God’s work are on display in our fellowship right now. We praise God for this and give Him all the glory!At the same time, every blessing poses new challenges. One of the main challenges we’re experiencing relatesto limited space. You experience this challenge personally each week as you try to secure seats in the chapel forworship! Can I get an amen?

To help ease overcrowding, we’ve added an overflow room upstairs, which is being utilized in both services every week. Six weeks ago, we asked our Home Fellowship Groups to consider rotating through the overflow room to help free up even more space. They kindly obliged. Making this shift has opened up anywhere from 15-25 seats on average, but that space is filling up quickly.

Please know that your leaders are exploring together how to best address the “good problem” of growth.We’ve taken time this month to pray regularly and concertedly for wisdom and direction. We’ll be engaging you more on this matter soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please continue (or begin!) praying with us as we seek God’s face for the future of Cornerstone’s ministry.

Speaking of the future, I have great news. We’ve just hired a brand-new, part-time Hospitality Coordinatorto help lead our Hospitality Team and execute fellowship initiatives at the church. It’s someone many of you know and love already. With no further ado, we’re pleased to welcome our own Mr. Dan Fiedler to the Cornerstone staff as Cornerstone’s first Hospitality Coordinator!

I asked Dan to share a little about himself, so those of you who don’t yet know him can get to know him a bit better:

Like many of you reading this, I didn't grow up here. I grew up in Central Illinois and then served as a missionary in Japan before moving to Nashville. I have been in Middle Tennessee for eighteen years, worked as an event manager with World Vision for fifteen years and have been a member of Cornerstone for nine years. I am married to Lisa, and we have two daughters: Grace (5) and Liberty (3). Speaking of Grace, my first experience at a PCA church ended with me telling the friend who invited me that the pastor talked about grace too much! Looking back, I can clearly see how the Lord has been gracious with me and has invited me over the years through the body of Christ, and through Cornerstone specifically, to experience His grace in new and practical ways. I am very excited to share the grace and hospitality I have been shown in this new role as the Hospitality Coordinator.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 27, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

It was a blessing to partner with Tent City this winter to help provide coats, hats, and Bibles for our homeless neighbors in Nashville. Below are just a few of the thank-you notes we received from folks who were helped by your gifts.

“Cornerstone church, you are a blessing. Thank you lots!”––Red

“Thank you for blankets coats, hats, etc.”––James Malone

“God Bless you for all you do for us.”––Vietnam Vet, Pops

“At this time of year, those coats were really appreciated. Thank you!”––Jamile Morgan

As always, initiatives like this don’t just happen. They take planning and lots of effort. On that note, I want to thank Sue Gamble for helping organize the coat drive, and I want to thank all of you who emptied closets or purchased items to help serve the needs of our community. I hope you found it true: it’s more blessed to give than to receive.

Did you know that serving the good of the world through acts of mercy is one way the church bears witness to the love of Christ? In the Scripture, there is a symbiotic relationship between word and deed ministries. Take Christ for example. He performed loving acts of mercy––healing, feeding, casting our demons, etc.––but did so right alongside the offer of the gospel. The two went hand in hand.

The same was true in the early church. In Acts 2, the church is sharing their goods and resources with one another in order to care for the needy among them. As they do so, they are taking in the Apostles’ teaching and spreading the good news. New converts are being added to their number day-by-day (Acts 2:42-47).

It is true, of course, that the priority in ministry is on the spiritual. We can feed, heal, and clothe people all day long, but if we never share the life-saving gospel of Jesus Christ, those whom we’ve fed, healed, and clothed will die and live eternally apart from the Lord. We care for all needs, but eternal needs we care for the most.

When we bring word-and-deed together, when mercy and evangelism are side by side, a visible and audible testimony to Jesus Christ is extended. Our actions demonstrate in tangible ways our love for God and others. And our words declare in truthful ways the reality of the gospel.

In a word, we want to be a church that gives daily bread and offers the bread of life (John 6:35). We want to be a church that gives cups of cold water for physical hydration while extending the living water that quenches deep spiritual thirst (John 7:37-39). We want to give coats and hats to those who need them, and we want to offer the beautiful, righteous robes of salvation that are available to anyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14).

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 20, 2022

I asked Martha Brooks, our Women’s Ministry Director, to write this week’s Pastoral Notes.

Dear Cornerstone Family,
As I type this, we are zooming down I-40 in the pouring rain, Preston is maneuvering our 55 feet of Suburban-plus-camper around semitrucks and other Spring-Breakers, the girls are watching movies/doing the Wordle, and I am congratulating myself on surviving another vacation in 175 square feet of living space. Well done, Me.

Actually, if you talk to us for more than thirty minutes, the camper will come up. We love it more than our luggage. (Kudos if you get that movie reference.) It isn’t that it’s super nice or spacious (see aforementioned square footage), but it’s what it has allowed us to do that makes us love it so much. For the past six years we have researched and planned trips, mapping out routes to take these people to see the Grand Canyon, hike Cadillac Mountain, climb seaside cliffs, remember the Alamo, cruise along Picture Rocks Lakeshore. We have been all the way down to Key West and just down the road to Henry Horton. And while it is such a gift to be able to show the girls these amazing places in creation, the real gift (and what we hope they will remember most) has been in how our family has grown. Having this camper, this ability to be together, has bonded the five of us in a way that just doesn’t happen when we all retire to our individual activities and separate bedrooms after supper. Instead, we open the tiny game cabinet, fight over which one to play, argue and laugh until it’s time to turn the kitchen table into a bed, and chat as we fall asleep within ten feet of each other. (“Good-night, John-boy.” Double kudos if you get that reference!) The camper forces us to get close, to be patient, and to compromise. All this has led to a deeper appreciation of each other, a deeper understanding of what makes the others tick, and a deeper thankfulness for what God has given us in the gift of one another. The camper is the tool that facilitates this deepening.

I recently finished reading Dane Ortlund’s, Deeper. In the weeks since I’ve finished, I have returned to many passages over and over trying to refine what exactly our vision is for the women of Cornerstone. (I really just wanted to write “Read this book. The End.” for the Pastoral Notes today—this idea was frowned upon.) I especially keep coming back to this quote from the introduction:

“Growing in Christ is not centrally improving or adding or experiencing, but deepening.

Implicit in the notion of deepening is that you already have what you need.”

Our vision for the women of Cornerstone is that we will go deeper. Deeper in our relationships. Deeper in our stories. Deeper in prayer. Deeper in Scripture. Deeper in service. Deeper in evangelism. Deeper in thankfulness. Deeper in Christ. Together.

We don’t have to buy a fleet of Cornerstone Campers to facilitate this (Although that would be so fun! Contact your shepherding elder!). We already have what we need: we have the Word, we have the church body, we have access to the throne of grace, we have the Holy Spirit. Our goal in Women’s Ministry will simply be to facilitate ways to access the tools already at our disposal. We will continue (and deepen!) the things we are already doing, and there will be a few new things coming down the pike. We will aim to put good resources in your hands, to continue to get to know one another and access the gifts each woman has been given, to guide you into a deeper love of Scripture and learning to study it well, to encourage you to engage more deeply in life with your Cornerstone family.

Our first “Deeper Together” event will be Thursday, April 21. We will have desserts and fun and fellowship, as well as talk about going Deeper Together in Prayer as we begin this new season of ministry. Mark your calendars and watch for registration to open in the coming weeks. Please make plans to come and bring your youth-aged daughters.

Let’s all go deeper. Together.
Love and Grace, Martha Brooks