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I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Chaska Valley Family Theater production of White Christmas.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  For anyone interested, they have 5 more shows coming up this weekend.  You can find more information at www.cvft.org.

The show follows the tale of a couple of army buddies who, after returning home from the war, find themselves helping out their old commanding officer who is struggling to make ends meet at an inn up in Vermont.  They pull in some help from their Broadway pals and put on a Christmas show that packs in a crowd.  The story has some great, memorable musical numbers, including the famous “White Christmas” song from the title.

Julie and I wound up getting to the event a little early and spent some time talking with one of the patrons of the theater.  He talked about how this show will help many people get into the Christmas mood, because he speculated that a lot of people were not focusing on Christmas yet.

I am not sure if that was a correct assessment or not, but even those who may be in the Christmas spirit, might not be focusing on the right things. It is actually pretty easy to get into the traditional Christmas mindset.  It is easy for us to find ourselves dreaming of a white Christmas or thinking about a jolly, overweight man in a red suit climbing down our chimney to bring us gifts.  It’s easy because everywhere we turn at this time of year we find ourselves bombarded with Christmas carols, television specials, and deocrations galore that constantly turn our eyes toward the holiday season.

But if we want to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, that doesn’t happen naturally.   If we are not careful, our entire Christmas season can get eaten up focusing only on the materialistic celebration of the holiday instead of on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

So, how do we get ourselves dreaming about the celebration of the birth of Christ instead of just a winter wonderland?  That’s a good question.  I believe the key is being intentional about putting Christ in the forefront during this time of year.  There is nothing wrong with Christmas shopping, decorating the house, baking Christmas cookies, listening to carols, and watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.   But if that is all that we do, then Christ will fade into the background.

One of the things that we do as a family is to spend some time each evening reading an advent focused devotional storybook.  The one we are reading this year is entitled “Jotham’s Journey.”  We have done it before, but whenever we read it again, the children enjoy it.  The story follows the journey of a young boy named Jotham who has been separated from his family and as he gets closer and closer to finding them, he also gets closer and closer to finding the Messiah.  It is a great story that helps us focus our minds and hearts on the birth of Christ.

Another way to help ourselves focus on the true meaning of Christmas is by making Church a priority.  Over the next several weeks we will be focusing on the Christmas message on Sunday mornings.  And this Sunday evening, at 5:30, we will be having a special Christmas party at the church with a focus on the message of Christmas.  If you are free, come on out and join us for a Christmas focus along with food and fellowship.  Let’s make it a priority to focus on the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season!

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Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts and Mummies

When I was growing up the term “Zombie” didn’t refer to a flesh-eating corpse, it referred to someone who was kind of zoned out.  Like someone who was really tired, or lazy, or just kind of out of it.  For instance our basketball coach might have said, “Quit acting like a bunch of zombies and get out there and score some points.”

But that is not what people are talking about when they mention zombies now.  Zombies are kind of a big deal in our society today.  Personally, I don’t really understand the appeal, but between video games, movies, books and television shows, zombies are all over the place.  Fictionally speaking of course.

I guess our society has always had a bit of a fascination with things like zombies, vampires, ghosts and mummies.  Back when I was growing up, the Ghostbusters movies were a big hit.  And before I was born, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Boris Karloff made careers out of playing creepy surreal characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman, and the Phantom of the Opera.

But we don’t need to turn to the movies or television to find a story about a corpse coming back to life.  Actually, the Bible contains for us some of the most incredible, unexplainable, larger-than-life stories we could ever imagine.

For instance, this Sunday at The River we will be taking a look at the story of Jesus raising a man from the dead.  When I picture this story, I actually picture the kind of scene we might see in one of those mummy movies, where the mummy comes walking out of the tomb all stiff and restricted because of the burial cloths.  But this story is not just something we might see on a movie screen, it’s real.  You can read about it in the Bible (John 11).  And come on out to The River this Sunday to find out more about this amazing story.

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All I Really Need

My 3 year old daughter has a CD that she likes to listen to that features a children’s musician named Raffi.  One of the songs she likes is a song called, “All I Really Need.”  Here is a taste of some of the lyrics…

“All I really need is a song in my heart, food in my belly, and love in my family

All I really need is a song in my heart, and love in my family

And I need the rain to fall

And I need the sun to shine

To give life to the seeds we sow

To give the food we need to grow”

It is a sweet little song with an encouraging message, but whenever I think of it, I am reminded of a scene from the movie “The Jerk.”  For those of you who have never seen the movie, first let me say, that I am not recommending it.  I learned a long time ago, to not recommend movies, because different people have different ideas about what is good and what is acceptable.  But I saw this movie many years ago and there is one scene in particular that I remember.

The movie stars Steve Martin and at one point he is leaving and as he is walking out he is picking things up while saying, “And that’s the only thing I need is *this*. I don’t need this or this. Just this ashtray… And this paddle game. – The ashtray and the paddle game and that’s all I need… And this remote control. – The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that’s all I need… And these matches. – The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball… And this lamp. – The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that’s all *I* need. And that’s *all* I need too. I don’t need one other thing, not one… I need this. – The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I’m some kind of a jerk or something! – And this. That’s all I need.”

That movie scene and the song by Raffi are not the same thing at all.  The movie is more a reminder of our messed up look at life and how we are not content without silly little things that don’t really matter, while the song is a reminder that we have a whole lot of things that we take for granted that are all we really need.   And when we are reminded of those things it can encourage us to give thanks.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t give thanks nearly enough.  It is far easier for me to grumble about what I don’t have than to give thanks for what I do.  But all that typically changes around Thanksgiving time.  That is when I tend to remember all of those simple things that I really need, that I tend to take for granted.  And it is a time when I finally take the time to stop and give thanks for those things.

Of course, the next day is Black Friday and then we decide that all we really need is that lamp, and that new Blu-Ray player, and that washing machine, and…

This Sunday Pastor Rob will be taking a closer look at the story of Noah and the Flood and tying it in with the heart of Thanksgiving.  Join us at The River, 2510 Chaska Blvd. at 9:30 a.m. to hear more.  And if you miss this Sunday, you might want to check out our online sermon link to listen online.

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Caller ID

Caller ID is a very interesting part of our society.  I would imagine that Alexander Graham Bell probably never would have guessed that the telephone would eventually become so prevalent that people would have a service that would allow them to see who is calling so that they could decide whether or not they actually wanted to answer.  We see this all the time when we are out and about and someone gets a call on their cell phone.  The first thing they do is to look at the screen to see who the caller is, so that they can decide whether or not they want to take the call.

Caller ID is a nice feature, but when you are on the other side of the phone call, wanting to have the person answer, it can be very frustrating.  No matter how badly you need to talk to the person, it is up to them to pick up the phone.  And you can just envision the person on the other line, looking at the screen, seeing your number, and saying, “I’ll just let that go to voicemail.”

Caller ID is a convenient feature, but it has allowed us to pick and choose who we will allow to have access to us and gain our attention.  The question I want to ask is, do we ever do this with God?  Do we hear Him calling us, and yet just ignore Him, because it is an inconvenient time or because we are scared of what He might say, or because we just don’t want to focus on what He wants to talk about right now?

I think we do use a little Caller ID to help us ignore God at times.  And that is not a good thing.  God has the right to interrupt our lives whenever He wants.  He is our Creator, our Father, our Lord.  When He calls, we should be ready to stop whatever we are doing and listen to Him

This Sunday, we are going to take a look at a man that God took the time to talk to.  His name was Moses and God called him to a very special task.  I invite you to join us this Sunday for a look at Moses and the Burning Bush from Exodus 3.   And then we are going to ask ourselves some questions that will help us be ready for when God wants to call us.  Hope you can make it.

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How Big is Your God?

Have you ever thought about just how big God is?  If not, then I want to encourage you to do something.  Go out tonight and stand in the middle of a big field.  Look up at all the stars and as far as you can see.  Then think about how big God must be to create something that is so big that we can’t even comprehend how big it is.  And then think about this: that God is the same God that we pray to everyday.

That is a pretty awesome thought isn’t it?  It is easy for us to forget just how big God is.  It is easy for us to bring God down to our level and to get a very limited view of what God can do.  That is one of the reasons I love Bible stories so much.  The stories of David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Noah’s Ark, and so many others remind us how big God is and that He is capable of doing more than we could ever imagine.

This Sunday, we are going to take a look at another amazing story from Scripture.  The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel from I Kings 18.  And in this story we will see that Elijah understands that God is really big, and that he wants others to understand that too.  I invite you to come on out to The River this Sunday and be reminded of how big God is and what that means for how we live our lives.

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Sin City

Several years ago, when my wife and I were first married, I surprised her with a trip for Valentine’s Day.  I wanted to take her away for a long weekend vacation and found that I could book a trip to Las Vegas for very cheap.  The airfare was only about $75/person round trip.  I booked us in a great room at a large hotel on the Vegas Strip for less than the regular cost of a Holiday Inn.  Meals were cheap and a lot of the entertainment was either low cost or free.

The reason everything was so affordable was because the casino owners were doing everything they could to get you to come to their casino.  That was where they made their money.  Fortunately, Julie and I are not gamblers, so we were not enticed by the fancy slot machines, card tables, and roulette wheels.  Instead we hung out at the pool, took walks on the strip, and enjoyed the sites and sounds of Las Vegas.

Overall, it was a good vacation, but by the end of our time I was tired of the constant bombardment of temptation.  Wherever we went we were accosted by people who were trying to tempt us to gamble away our money, drink away our problems, or give into our lustful desires.  The streets are literally littered with smut peddlers who hand out pamphlets for escort services and other adult entertainment.

Las Vegas has sometimes been referred to as Sin City, or even as a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.  I have to admit, I can understand the comparison.  For those who wish to fulfill their whims and desires, just about everything is available in Las Vegas.  But while it is a city that provides a lot of opportunity for carnal pleasure, when I compare it to the Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah, I think Las Vegas doesn’t look so bad.

Genesis 13:13 says that the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.  And later on in Genesis 19 we see that God wipes the city off the face of the map with burning sulfur.  The fact that God would actually destroy the cities because of their wickedness must cause us to take notice.  There have been some pretty bad places throughout the course of history and yet, for some reason God chose to make an example out of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Kind of makes you wonder just how bad Sodom must have been, doesn’t it?

If you have never read the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, you may want to check it out in Scripture.  You will find it in Genesis 18 and 19.  However, if you have never read it, I will warn you that it is a bit of a disturbing story. It gives us a glimpse into the depravity of man and provides a powerful warning of judgment for sin.  But what can we learn from this tale of 2 cities?  What can we apply to our lives from what we read in those pages?  Those are good questions.  And that is exactly what Pastor Rob will be addressing this Sunday at The River.  Come on out and join us as we ask the question, “so what can I learn from this amazing story?”

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Fairy Tale Land

I used to coach basketball in Fairy Tale Land, but it was way too stressful so I had to give it up.  Here are the problems I had to deal with:

  • Cinderella was our point guard, but I couldn’t get her to stop running away from the ball.
  • Little Red Riding Hood would get so distracted by the other team’s big ears, and big eyes, that they would steal the ball from her with their big hands.
  • Basketball just wasn’t the Little Mermaid’s game.  She was like a fish out of water.
  • Snow White wasn’t bad, but she kept getting her shot blocked.  I can’t really blame her, after all, the 7 guys she used to play with were a little “vertically challenged.”
  • Sleeping beauty kept falling asleep on defense.
  • And Goldilocks was the most annoying of all.  Whenever she wasn’t in the game she would constantly be complaining about the bench being too hard or too soft.  It was never just right.

Okay, so maybe I really wasn’t the coach of the Fairy Tale Land basketball team, but you can kind of picture the problems that would come up can’t you?  You know that those cute little quirky details from the storybook would get mighty tiresome if you had to live with them day in and day out.  Like imagine how long it must take Rapunzel to get ready in the morning?  Or imagine having to wear glass slippers all the time.  And while I am sure that Cinderella’s voice is beautiful, it would sure get annoying to hear her singing all the time.  And that’s just one princess.  It seems like singing is a pre-requisite for most of the princesses, so imagine all of them singing constantly, not to mention all the birds and mice and other animals getting in the way.

Of course, Fairy Tale Land doesn’t really exist.  Life isn’t a fairy tale is it?  At least it doesn’t feel like it most of the time.  We may have some fairy-tale kind of moments in our lives from time to time, but we also have a bunch of unfairy-tale kind of moments too.  The question is, are we headed for a happily ever after ending?

Well, this Sunday we are going to be talking about our sometimes unfairy-tale like lives as we take a look at the book of Esther.  I invite you to come and join us.

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Are You Too Busy To Read This Blog?

Life is busy isn’t it?  We all have so many different responsibilities and different things that are vying for our attention.  We find ourselves often running from one thing to the next.  But while life is busy, ultimately we really all have time for things that we consider to be important.

For instance, if we place a high value on physical fitness, then we are going to find the time to exercise.  It may mean that something else has to go, but we will find the time to run, or bike, or swim or whatever else we do. Each of us make choices every day about what to spend our time doing.

This blog is even an example.  For some reason you chose to take the time to read this blog.  You didn’t need to do it.  Maybe right now you are wishing you didn’t.  Anyway, it was a choice, and at least to some extent you put reading this blog as a priority over other things you could have done with this time.

In the same way, I make the choice to put a priority on writing this blog.  Unfortunately the blog has not made it to the top of the priority list the last couple of weeks.  Things have been a little extra busy around here.  But regardless of how busy I feel, basically it means that I put a higher priority on the other things I had to do over the last couple of weeks, and this blog was a casualty of those choices.

Anyway, that leads me to my point.  We all have the time for the things we choose to put a priority on.  And the question is, are we making the right choices?  Are we putting the right priorities on the right things?  This Sunday, I will be talking about putting a priority on our relationship with God.  Of course, in order to hear the sermon, you are going to have to put a priority on coming to The River, 9:30 Sunday morning at 2510 Chaska Blvd.  Hope to see you there!

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We’re Moving!

For the last 2 years we have been meeting on Sunday mornings at The Rex Cinema in downtown Chaska.  That is about to change.  Sunday, September 25 will be our final Sunday morning at that location.  Beginning Sunday, October 2, we will be meeting at 2510 Chaska Blvd.

We have enjoyed our time at The Rex Cinema, but we are looking forward to this new opportunity as we will be sharing space with an Hispanic congregation from our community.  A couple of months ago Noe Lara, the pastor of Ebenezer Christian Church approached The River about the possibility of sharing space with them on Sunday mornings.  We will have use of the facility on Sunday mornings for our worship service at 9:30 and then they will meet at 11:30.  That will enable us to have a little overlap in between our two services, so that our two congregations can connect together.

We are still committed to being a church without walls.  Our midweek events and meetings will still take place in people’s homes and in the community, and Pastor Rob will still be using Dunn Bros. as an office location.  But this new location will give us more flexibility and the opportunity to have more of a presence in the community.  It is a space where we can put up a sign; and where we can meet during the week when needed.

The best advantage to this new space, is the opportunity to partner with Ebenezer.  In John 17 we find Jesus, a little while before his crucifixion, praying for us.  He was praying for all those who would eventually believe in Him down through the ages.  In other words, He was praying for those of us who would eventually make up the Church.  And He prayed specifically that we would all be one.  His desire is to see us come together in unity, and I believe that this connection with Ebenezer would be pleasing in His sight.

We will be in the new facility at 2510 Chaska Blvd., beginning on Sunday, October 2.  Feel free to come and join us!

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Why?

Tonight I will be doing a funeral for an 18 year old girl who died tragically last week.  Her name was Bridgette and she worked at the local Dunn Bros. coffee shop.  Since we don’t have an office, I spend most of my afternoons over at Dunn Bros. working from one of the comfortable chairs near the roaster.  And it was there that I got to know Bridgette.  She often would come and talk with me in between customers.  She had been through many struggles, but was really putting her life back together.  She was getting ready to leave the following morning for college.  Her car was already packed with all of her belongings.  She had goals, dreams, and plans that she was about to pursue.

My reaction to her death has been all over the place.  From shock, to sadness, to a refusal to accept it, with maybe even a little bit of anger thrown in for good measure.  I will miss Bridgette.  And it doesn’t seem fair.  Why her?  Why now?

Actually, it is only natural for a tragedy like this to bring up all sorts of questions.  At a time like this, many people question the meaning of life, or what happens to us when we die, or what in the world God is doing?  And that is understandable.  Right now many people are hurting, or confused, or angry, or frustrated, or depressed over what happened to Bridgette.

And it is at times like this that I am reminded how nice it is that I believe in a God who is bigger than all my questions.  I believe in a God who can handle my anger and frustration, and who understands my confusion and depression.  He is a God of Hope.  A God of Truth.  A God of Love.  He is faithful, even when I am struggling with making sense of what is going on.

For those of you who may also be struggling with questions, I encourage you to find your answer in God.  Check out some of the other blogs in this website to find out more about this God that I am talking about.  I particularly recommend the blog, called “A Glimmer of Hope.”  It talks about a man who was able to have hope in the midst of a terrible time.

I also want to invite you to share your questions and thoughts with me.  You can typically find me on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons over at Dunn Bros. (corner of 2nd street and HWY 41, downtown Chaska) sitting in one of the big comfy chairs by the window and the roaster.  Feel free to come over and join me.  I would love to talk with you more about hope.  You can also feel free to send an email or give me a call, or even consider stopping by some Sunday for church.  The River is a great place to come if you have some questions about who God is.