29 May 2009

ON THIS DAY 

Yes its true, I am 59 today... and, I am holding:) After all, I never knew I would be this young when I got this old. And though no one day makes me feel less or more about me, still, when folks remember you so kindly, as many of you have this day, it warms the heart. So that when Mom called! This lady from whose flesh I came and by whose hands I learned loves touch, to say, "Happy Birthday, Son", I cried. And why? Well, does she not know me more than all? Oh God! Are YOU not MORE of this very same? How could a man turn from his mother? And how dare turn I from you? John. 3:16

ON THIS SUNDAY 

This Sunday our church will take a giant and historic step forward in preparing for its next years. Our early days are over. Temporary buildings have outlasted their usefulness. And the ministry of this wonderful church to this community now impacts people 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. We realize that in these economic times what we might want must play second to what we must do. For this reason I am excited about the proposal by our Building Committee and agreed upon by our Board of Trustees. So that Phase IV of our facilities will be accomplished in 3 steps, which will provide us needed space for education and ministry and improve and enhance the worship center we called 'temporary' 13 years ago.  (Don't you know God has a sense of humor)

If you are a church member of ParkwayHills, Plano, and have not pledged to our 'Opening Doors' campaign, please consider doing so. We will invite you all, through sacrificial giving large and small, to help us realize our goals of completing the planned Phase IV steps. We are committed to not increasing our debt, and grateful that the debt we do have is decreasing each year, placing less and less strain on our operational budget to percentages far less than most. 

Till Sunday, or next time, then...

Pastor Sam

26 May, 2009

I remember the day quite well. It seemed the entire church of Northway Baptist, Dallas, had joined us for the event. There I was walking back and forth between the Presby Dallas delivery area and waiting room, giving up to the minute reports to those who'd arrived. Then, at around 2:00 p.m., I went back one last time, now scrubbed and ready, and there found my bride, saying, "this is it"   She asked me, "what's going on out there?"  And I smiled to say,"there's a party going on." And so began what since has never changed - the 26th of May 1985, @ 2:38 p.m. - the birth of our daughter, Taylor, and the start of our party, FOREVER!

I would not question whether parents love their children less or more than we, but would add that much of what God has taught us since that day has been strategically accomplished through real-life application with both our children. They are a constant source of His challenge, blessing, responsibility and hope.  They remind us everyday of God - both the love side with its exhilaration, and the faith side with its, at times, anxiety and fear - and they speak to us, still, of how love does not possess but gives.  

It has been said that the rightful start for the 'disciple-er' of faith is his/her home.  I agree. Even when such appears frighteningly suspect. For, if not there, then where? And if there, then everywhere!   

Pastor Sam

Rainy Day's and Tin Roofs

I don't know exactly why I'm this way, but rainy days feel good to me.  Especially the slow, drizzling, kind. When weather comes in like this my favorite thing to do is to sit in our front room and look out the window to imagine that all of Dallas is being covered by a blanket and snuggling into repose.  My TV is off.  My computer is on only if I want it to be.  And my journal and Bible are close at hand.  

Now this happens with me because of a fond memory.  The memory of my boyhood, before my grandparents built their new 'brick' house (circa, 1959), and when they still lived on a small farm in the community of Pt. Enterprise outside of Mexia, Texas.  The old wood house was humble, but oh so fascinating to me.  It was heated by one large fireplace that opened on two sides - both into the parlor (or company) room and the main bedroom. The large kitchen, the center of all activity, featured a cookstove that never went out, which kept the backside of the house warm. On both the front and back of the house, under a grand, high-pitched roof, were two large porches. The back porch was 'screened in,' for summer sleeping - and the front for evening 'rocks' and watching the road.  The parlor (with it's fine furniture, crystal dishes and porcelain pretties) and main bedroom featured polished hardwood floors, but all other 'off'' rooms, including the kitchen, were covered by layers of linoleum - tacked down and worn through in places to reveal other layers from days gone by.  

Now my favorite memory from this old house is of cold or stormy nights - when we kids would be put to bed in Mama May and Papa's (pronounced Paw Paw) bedroom, out of the way.  There we were kept warm, and there we would enjoy their grand 'feather bed.'  Sometimes! (and oh those sometimes) after being tucked carefully in, and long after the rest of the house grew quite and the embers from the fire had died down, I'd awaken to a winter's rain peppering softly down on that grand, tin, roof.  Laying there, listening to that sound, I felt no fear, no threat, just a sense of being 'covered' - by love, safety, and forever. The storm - with its lightning and thunder -  brought no angst to me, just a joy of the covering that my body (and soul) felt inside.  I suspect it was the same covering as felt by King David as he hid in caves in the Judean hills. The same as that felt by Joshua, Peter and Paul as they lay in the prisons of their lives and times.  There's, too, was a covering greater than money, beyond circumstance, and one brought to them by God's love. 

So, yes!  A rainy day holds fond memories for me.  Memories of a feather bed, an old house, and a grand, tin roof.  But more, of the security that we can know in Christ as He covers us with His love.  

I am praying that your day - whether of rain or sun - will find you knowing the grace and mercy of Christ as your cover, as well... forever.   

Pastor Sam 

inspired by rain and Psalm 139:10-12

Holy Saturday

Of all days in our Christian Holy Week, Saturday intrigues me most.  Protestants, and even more so 'evangelicals,' have for years shunned or downplayed Holy Week Observances - a likely carry over of the anti-Catholic sentiments of the early to mid 20th century - but we do have a list of acceptable observances, which are more recognizable in recent days among even our tribe.  Now we freely talk of, and in some circles even observe, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but Saturday -the Jewish Sabbath and the day our Lord rested in the tomb - well... we good Christian folk usually only go shopping.  

Yet the Saturday of this Holy Week is a great day for worship and pause.  By pause I am not meaning we should crawl into a hole and hide, but I DO think that this wonderful day is worthy of our observance and, certainly,our mention.  For one thing, we need to remember that Jesus died and was buried.  Helping us remember the curse, that the curse of our sin is death, and that Jesus came to become the very first-fruits of our victory yet to come (1 Cor. 15)

Secondly, we need to recall the effects of that death.  The isolation, heartbreak, and abandonment that His followers felt on that Sabbath was enormous. What better way to recall that than with silence.  Dare I call for a Silent Saturday?  I think so - for just as no mass is celebrated among our brethren of the Catholic faith on this day - no service of celebration, only personal reflection, would be appropriate for us either.  Simply put, this is a day of remembering.  A day of reflection upon that which has destroyed the first human life and every life thereafter, the curse of sin itself.  

But third, and this is the joy for me, it is a day of anticipation.  It is hard to keep still on this Saturday, though I will, because I know that Sunday's Coming. For the Jews, the new day begins at sundown - 6:00 p.m., becoming a time of resumed activity.  Jesus' body may now be prepared.  It was after 6:00 p.m.!  But we know that this preparation was not necessary. For the body of my LORD is coming out.  Death cannot hold my King. The grave has no sway.  It is but a temporary house for the rest of my LORD, who in honoring the Sabbath Himself, waited, and after doing His duty out of obedience and Divine love, gets up, folds His napkin, and leaves. 

Yes, Saturday is a Holy Day.  A solemn day of silence and of remembering the curse. But, we are not silent and we do not remember to a fault.  Not at all.  And why? Because... we know that this is not the end of our story. We know that Sunday's Coming! and can close our eyes at days end with naught but excitement and joy - for tomorrow and... for Saturday's end!

You can also find me at - http://twitter.com/pastorsamdennis

Twitter

OK. I've joined Twitter. Why? Because just as I've discovered a new world on Face Book only enhancing my ability to communicate and keep up with the people I love, I suspect that Twitter will be more of the same - at least from a communication side.  

So... look for me there.  'Follow me', as they say, in order to 'listen to my thoughts and the hearing of my talks' with the people and ways of everyday life.  For I pray that THIS will only PROMPT YOU TO MORE - more knowing and doing - in the how and why of Christ's call to share Him.

You can find me at - http://twitter.com/pastorsamdennis

A Sometime Day

When I was a boy my Dad had a saying in response to the frequent questions of us kids.  We'd ask, "Dad, when are we going to".... ?  And his reply - almost as if he were singing - would be, 'sometime!'   

Now Dad's answer was not off-putting.  It didn't make us mad.  In fact, his was a cheerful response and hopeful. I suppose you could say I grew up looking forward to 'sometime' days based entirely on the way my dad would put it out there - so that, sometime was something to look forward to. 

A sometime day might be described as the day you finally get to do that thing you wanted to do earlier, but couldn't.  It can also be a day that describes a better time - not from something missed, overlooked, or not having time for - but from something that is just 'better' because it's 'yet' to come.  As if things are not quite right, yet, but surely will be... sometime.  

I think this is what Christ was thinking of when his disciples asked, "Tell us, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3), to which Jesus replied, "Keep watch", and, "be ready" (24:42-44).  In short, not yet but sometime 

When we speak of the future we can be fearful and afraid.  But Jesus speaks of it with confidence because He sees what we cannot.  So that His response to our questions of 'when?" should set the tone for the way we now live.  And, just as my Dad left me looking forward to 'sometime,' I find my LORD does too.  

Yours for a 'Sometime Day,' today -  

Pastor Sam   

 

Greed

This morning the ABC network reported on the excessive life-style of Marie Douglas-David, a Swedish countess currently appealing her divorce settlement from former husband, George David.  The report implicated her 'greed' by bearing critically on her request for more money than her alloted $53,000 per week.  Her reasoning?  This wasn't enough to cover her expenses. 

When we hear of things like this, especially in today's economic clime, we cringe.  While around us people are losing jobs, houses, and even their dignity - news of this stuns our sensibilities.  We cry... "What greed!"  "How dare she!"  And, "who does she think she is?" 

Wikipedia defines greed as, 'the desire or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food or possessions - especially when this denies the same goods to others' and based on this definition, a lot of us are in trouble.  In Catholicism, greed is one of the seven deadly sins - and in Colossians 3:5 we are told that greed is a form of idolatry - a direct breach against God's Command to have and hold  'other God's' before Him. 

But while pointing our finger at the person who wants more than $53,000 a week to live on is easy, it can also keep us from looking at our own selves in the mirror.  We, who so often pass by a brother or sister in need to offer them absolutely nothing - while we complain over living with our $1,000 (or whatever) per week.  

So what should we do?  Well Jesus gives sound advice.  

1. We are not to place the needy above Christ (Matthew 26:11) 

2. We are to give, when we give, as 'as unto' Him  - and are commended in so doing.  (Matthew 25:44-45)

Jesus said that 'we will always have the poor with us,' which is sobering - not in plight but opportunity.  An opportunity for us to say no to greed, yes to God, and yes to others - all in the name, and fame, of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Pastor Sam