The Day Before Christmas

At this preachers house the Day before Christmas is a good day.  It's like Sunday, but unfettered.  It's good in that I get to do three things I love - go to church, preach and worship.  But better in that I get to do so distinctively.   Yes...  in 19 years on the Parkway I cannot recall one person ever coming up to me on Christmas Eve to tell me what they think is wrong with the church.  Not that this happens often on other Sundays, but, it does on 'some,' and it is usually about things that are so important, too, (NOT) like music selection, air conditioning, heat, room set up, advertising, another staff member, etc.  So that, like I said, Christmas Eve for this preacher is Sunday unfettered, and... I love it.  

Now I was thinking today about why this is so.  I thought, 'maybe its because ownership and opinion is displaced by purpose.'  Now there's a thought.  Could it be that Christmas Eve Worship brings the purpose of our being at church to focus on Him so to the fore that nothing else matters?   Perhaps so.  Or, maybe it's just that we've got so much company (big crowds and lot's of guests), or that (Heaven forbid)  the 'meanies' are just simply out of town (oh, surely not!).  So that Christmas Eve ranks as one of the sweetest of worships I know.  

Yes, Mom's, Dad's, Kid's, friends, relatives, neighbors - all as one big, HAPPY, family set each to wonder at what God has done.  Which is... something!  God with us!  Come as a baby.  Born to die so that we might live.  So that as we sing together our Carol, Silent Night, we really are set to wonder at the grandeur and love of God, reminded of what church is, and understanding of why it is we've come.  

Yes!  The day before Christmas, Christmas Eve, is that Sunday unfettered.  A taste of Heaven.  A reminder of God.  Which always brings me to...  

A Merry Christmas, indeed!

Pastor Sam 

Readying for Sunday - and the Door

Saturday mornings are special at the Dennis' house.  We're now beyond early morning soccer leagues and, so, sleeping later than usual, on Saturday we make our way to the kitchen and family area of our home to simply sip coffee and read (not yet to each other, though they say that's coming).  Belinda reads her Bible, and me (a life-long mid-morning quiet-time guy) my email   Yes, I confess.  A warm computer on my lap has replaced the morning paper.  My home page is ESPN, and my favorites are FOX news, Dallas News, and Bible Gateway for scripture searches.  I prefer cold mornings, though cool is good, and Belinda prefers them all.   She is more active in the AM - and I more slow.  She will take a phone call where I prefer silence, but... we are together, and being so on Saturday morn makes a great start to a weekend of joy, service, and worship.  

This morning the usual sound of birds can be heard out our back patio door.  Their singing, mixed with sounds from the street, blend to form a cacophony comforting and familiar.  Serving reminder that God is in the city and has blessed it all.   With the door wide open I allow the sounds in  - and someone, driving by, honks - to tell me they agree.  

Tomorrow my message is titled the 'Door of Opportunity,' and I wonder how it might apply.  I have forsaken some doors of such - but, of late, have begun walking through more.  

Was Johnny Appleseed real or a fable?   Born John Chapman in 1774, he was a pioneer nurseryman and conservationist who gave Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois  - the upper midwest - and subsequently all of America, the gift of nursery apples and their trees.  For our application he is remembered for planting seeds, from which fruit might come that he might never live to see - a person who walked through the door of opportunity and is credited for teaching us the nature of thrift, conservation and Christian kindness to us all. 

As in Johnny's time, we have been given more than we know.   Our situations are not nearly so harsh or remorseful when viewed historically rather than from want.   We are so 'short-sighted'.   Has TV done this?   Perhaps so, but I think the real problem is not HOW but WHAT we've become.   Doors connecting and bettering others are to to be opened and walked through in our time, too.  If we don't do this,  if we just stay inside and turn on our TV's and computers, without opening the 'patio doors', we simply abet the problem and abate its solution.   

So whether you start silently with coffee or abruptly with noise, open the door today of the place you've been sent to.  Walk through this  door of opportunity with the good news of Christ.  Plant seeds of the gospel that you might not live to see grow.  But... trust God that His gift to you will certainly be your gift to all - your door of opportunity in Him.  

"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut! Revelation 3:8a

 

  

Opening New Doors, Day 15, 'Pressing On'

On day 15 of our '40 days of prayer', I suspect that a smidge of pastoral encouragement is in order.   Why?  Because unlike the 3/4 mark, where the 'come on, you're nearly there' works, or the 1/2 mark, where the 'congratulations, you've made the hump' does the trick, the 1/3 mark, it just needs something of, well, substance.  Here is when we ask, 'should I have started this?'  Or, 'is it too late to go back?'  And it is here that we could use that critical encouragement, saying, 'whatever you do, don't look back.'  For yes... the look back is still a killer.  Remember Lot's wife?  

For this reason we should turn to a pastoral reminder, one of personal testimony from the Apostle Paul himself.   On day 15 of our journey we should heed his words of, "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on... (Philippians 3:13b)  Simple?  Yes!  But, oh so true!  

So, use this outline on the critical day 15 of our journey in prayer.  As you take the step of faith asking God, "Lord, what do you want to do through me in regards to our church Opening New Doors?"  consider Paul's personal, pastoral admonition.  Forget what was.  Look to what is yet to come.  And press on.  This outline works.  Especially on Day 15.  

Pastor Sam 

Prayer - I Wonder?

Prayer is not something we are prone to do, unless...  and... I've observed only two kinds of people in this -  those who do and those who don't.   

The early church was encouraged to pray always.  They were admonished to pray for the apostles (leadership), to pray for one another (the church - its unity and its healing), and to pray for the spread of the gospel (the work).   Frankly, though, that was about it.  These three things were their prayer-issues - and they were asked to pray for them regularly.  Our list is much larger.  We ask God for health - good - and we ask Him for success, peace, and prosperity - hmmmmmm?   So that, I confess, today, to wondering at the disparity between our prayer list and the injunction and instruction of the early church on the same.  

Which brings me to this question.  What would happen if our prayers were less selfish and more about the ministry and effectiveness of the gospel and the gospel spreaders themselves? (see above)  Would God be surprised to find His church praying for its success and power in the land?   Now don't get me wrong.  We can, and perhaps should, pray for our needs and the individual success and happiness of friends, family and others.  But it just strikes me as strange, today, to consider the disparity between what we often pray for and what the early church was instructed to pray for instead.   

So I wonder, what would God think if His church prayed for... the Kingdom?  You know, the way He taught us to - "Thy Kingdom Come Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven."

I wonder?

September Evening

The last Saturday evening of September falls tonight and I have loved this day immensely.  West Plano seems unusually calm on this Saturday.  There is probably some calendar reason for this but I will content myself that it is the product of something more grand - like a 'decide to take it easy and not rush' choice, instead of something other.   Perhaps this is naive of me.  After all, we WP people do cluster.  We've not learned the grace of slow.  One night at this function, then another at yet another.  Like a covey of quail we roost in a pack.   But tonight all seems, well, settled, calm, and personal.  Folks walking alone through Steeplechase Park.  Mall parking lots, even church lots, empty.  I wonder?  

My grandparents new the rhythm of life and passed the same on to my parents in my early days.  In the 50s, you worked hard all week  and on Saturday you geared down.  Sunday's you just went to church and rested.  Or, if feeling really ambitious, you went 'visiting.'   There was always someone to see that wasn't expecting you but prepared when you did - and glad to have you.  Food would just appear, and coffee, always fresh coffee,  would be put on.  We kids would play and the adults would talk - talking us right into a a lazy drive home with September's breeze wrestling through the open window of the car.  It was Sunday!  And I don't remember worrying, ever back then, about a paper that was due, or sports, or anything at all.  

Every once in a while I drive by the home I lived in then.  It still stands.  A white frame, two bedroom with an add-on, near Abrams and Trammel.  Across the street from the house is the train track where I would put penny's - hoping to find them flattened out by the trains passing by.  That same track now carries commuters from Richardson, Plano, and McKinney.  

I wonder who lives in that house now?  I wonder if inside there is a boy and whether his Dad works on Saturday?  I wonder if they go to church on Sunday, and if they  ever take drives in September afternoons to go 'visiting'?  Then, I come home to my place here in Plano -  resolved to bring a piece of that time to the folks I now know.  Whether at the game on Friday night or the church house on Sunday, I try to salvage a part of what I learned back then, the best parts, and bring them to my life and ministry now.  Occasionally I make headway.  Like tonight, as I pull out onto Park to find and evening like this, with nothing on my calendar at all, and come visiting... you.

Pastor Sam   

     

Opening Doors Begins

This Sunday opened a new chapter in the history of our young but effective church 'on the way'- as we officially began our Opening Doors Capital Campaign to raise 7.5 million dollars for needed remodeling, expanded education, and the construction of a permanent worship facility. Yes, in the midst of what some have called, 'difficult days,' we are asking membership for a renewed commitment to the work, ministry and mission of this church. The congregation once called 'the church without walls' now asks the same to expand its walls, and open its heart so that more may come in.

Of course I am grateful for the leadership of our Board of Trustees, and particularly for the leadership of Board Member, Ronelle Ianace, who has accepted the helm of our campaign. She brings experience and excellent skills to this task, as well as a unique blend of community and volunteer involvement perfectly suiting her to the objectives of this formidable role. This, combined with Ronelle and Pete's love for Jesus Christ and their commitment to our church, make for a refreshing blend of calling and 'Spirit-led' leadership. This past Sunday she charged us - a host of 50 volunteer leaders plus staff - by calling us to our posts. When prayer time came you could sense the very arms of God enveloping our church. It was a wonderful moment.

As your pastor I am pleased with our goal, but do sense that the real blessing will not be in the money that is raised or in any buildings that are built. Instead, I see a blessing that will come from a church determining to do more. A church determining to reach out, and to do so together. Many of us are involved in a myriad of other affairs and even ministry - to the point of taking what God does here for granted. Yet, because of the vision of our founding families, who built not for themselves but for those yet to come, everyday something spectacular occurs right here. And how often have we heard some say, "we yearn for revival and want unity for our church," while all the while God knows this is not the real desire of our hearts? Well... this is our chance! When this church was young it accomplished great things for God by working together - and - going forward I can assure you the formula has not nor will not change.

So pray for Opening Doors! Pray for your own participation. Get behind this effort and say yes to leadership, when asked. This is your opportunity to see God move on the Parkway, not as a spectator, but as a participant. May the first door open be the door of your heart. For this is not a 'build it and they will come,' nor an 'improve it for us and we will give' campaign - but - an opening of the heart of every member of this church. When this has occurred we will see an...

Opening of Doors, indeed!

Pastor Sam

Dirty Hands - the Discipline of Confession

As a child I was forever the object of inspection, for... 'dirty hands.'  At the time I would think, 'why just my hands? Why not my feet, toes, or whatever?'.... but that was just me being rebellious.  Truth was I didn't want anything inspected.  I thought the whole business was a waste of time - adults being, you know, adults.  But inspect they did.  Before each and every meal - sending me, more often than not, straight to the sink to correct what was absolutely not allowed at meal-time, DIRTY HANDS.  To this day a dinner roll without the slight taste of 'kitchen-sink soap' just doesn't taste right.    

Readying for last Sunday's message on the discipline of Confession, I thought about all this.  You know what?  The metaphor works!  Our church is often rendered powerless because it comes to worship and work with 'dirty hands.' We are even offended at the suggestion to wash - specifically confess our sins.  Imagine that!

Now most of you know that I keep a personal journal that is merely a collection of thoughts and commentary on experiences as I live them.  Well one day last week an entry was made that I thought it might be good for you all to read a part of...

Confession is all but absent from the evangelical church today, I think, because we have overstated our lack of need for a priestly confession through someone other than Christ.  In so doing we have wrongly abdicated our responsibility and privilege to confess, even to Christ Himself, let alone anyone else.  Our confession unto eternity has us 'in' but our confession for every day, because it is  absent, pushes us 'out' of any real fellowship. The result? Our faith is plagued and hindered with our unconfessed sin.  We are saved but dirty, and, coming to work or worship with dirty hands leaves us an embarrassment - even to ourselves.  Satan has had his way with us.  We are right where he wants us - crippled!  Sam Dennis Journal, 27 August 2008

John wrote to Christians - if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us... and to cleanse us.' James wrote to the same - 'confess your sins one to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed.' And didn't Paul call on the church at Corinth to practice some self-examination before coming to the table? (1 Cor. 11:28)

In all of this confession is designed by God as our help.  It is his method for men to come to Him.  The means is in His Son, but confession - this step - is up to us.  We confess that He is God.  We confess that we are sinners.  We confess faith/trust in His Son.  We confess that we are His.  Confess it! We are to confess!  

Pastor Sam