Office 9/2/16 Office 9/2/16

"We" Church - Not "Me" Church

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NRSV)

We are born into a life of self-centeredness.

One of the first words kids learn is a word that parents despise hearing: “Mine!” Babies are born into this world extremely self-centered — that is their nature. Their cries communicate that their needs are not being met: I need my diaper changed, I’m hungry, I’m scared, I want that. Hopefully, they grow out of it, but sometimes they do not.

Self-centeredness is bound up in our nature. It is a good thing when it is concerned with the basic necessities of life, food, shelter, etc. A healthy sense of self is needed to make sure these things are provided. However, once we live with other human beings, we find that this mindset will not serve us well. Human society works best when we remember that we are not the only ones with needs and desires.

Sometimes we can be like that in the church. Church become all about us, our needs, our wants, our comfort, our ideas. Jesus, however, says that when we choose to follow him, we give up our rights and privileges. The only one with rights and privileges in the church is Jesus who is Lord of the church.

How should we respond?

The best way to illustrate the attitude followers of Christ should exhibit is found in Philippians 2:1-11. Here, Paul admonishes us not to be only concerned about ourselves but do things that benefit others as well. He then gives us the example of Jesus himself in what could have been an ancient hymn of the church.

In this hymn, we are reminded that Jesus was, in fact, God, but that he did not cling to his rights and privileges as God. He gave up all of that for the sake of lost humanity. Notice how the hymn goes:

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death

— even death on a cross. (Phil 2:7-8)

Jesus stepped out of his rights and privileges as God and descended a long stairway that ended with the most horrific death a person could imagine. And he did this not for his benefit, but for ours.

Paul reminds us that this is the attitude we should have as followers of Christ in the church. This attitude dismisses selfishness and conceit and promotes humility and unity.

This Sunday we will talk about how these ideas can be lived out in our lives and our fellowship as the congregation of Navarre United Methodist Church. Join us!

Blessings!

-Alan

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.

Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.

Office 9/1/16 Office 9/1/16

New Music: Ever Be

You did it: You turned my deepest pains into joyful dancing; You stripped off my dark clothing and covered me with joyful light. You have restored my honor. My heart is ready to explode, erupt in new songs! It's impossible to keep quiet! Eternal One, my God, my Life-Giver, I will thank You forever.

Psalm 30:11-12 (The Voice)

To be completely honest, I don't usually like songs like "Ever Be," by Bethel Music. Repetitive choruses are kind of controversial in modern worship music - detractors have lots of catchy and insulting names for songs that repeat themselves like this one does - so I normally try to avoid them on Sunday mornings. The first time I heard it, the chorus caught my ear, and I found myself humming/singing it for the next week! However, one catchy chorus does not a good worship song make. But after a few listens, I found myself drawn in by the second verse:

You Father the orphan
Your kindness makes us whole
You shoulder our weakness
And Your strength becomes our own

You're making me like You
Clothing me in white
Bringing beauty from ashes
For You will have Your bride

Free of all her guilt and rid of all her shame
And known by her true name

If that verse or my reaction to it sounds familiar to you, you probably read my last blog entry about "Jesus We Love You." (Read it here) These two songs are back to back on a phenomenal album by Bethel Music called "We Will Not Be Shaken." (Buy it here, it's worth every penny) It's a complete coincidence that we introduced these back to back - I keep a running list of about 50-75 songs that we could introduce at any time, and I've never introduced two songs from the same band back to back before; much less these really popped out at me for the season that our congregation is in. Despite that coincidence, I don't think that their placement on the album or in our worship services is a coincidence at all. In the midst of so much turmoil in the world, it's easy to find ourselves feeling distant to God, or even ambivalent about God's love. But these two songs serve as a testimony of the faithfulness of God despite the storm. That's the kind of thing that we're absolutely desperate for a reminder of.

Kalley Heiligenthal wrote the chorus to "Ever Be" during a moment of spontaneous worship at an evening service, and found herself trying to make it into a complete song for nearly the entire next year. Talking about the process, she said,

"The Lord spoke to me and said 'I gave you that chorus and bridge as a freebie, so together we could mine out why My praise will ever be on your lips.' And that started a really long process - about a year - of writing draft after draft after draft about why His praise will ever be on my lips. I have a notebook that I affectionately refer to as my "Ever Be Notebook" - I filled every page...I knew in my heart who He was, but I didn't have the words that I wanted to articulate His faithfulness, His Love toward me, His commitment."

Those verses are the result of an entire year of prayer, scripture reading, discernment, and exploration of the nature of God. And maybe that's why this song resonates with me so much: It doesn't just throw out a line like "your praise will ever be on my lips," it backs it up. God has done so much in our lives that we physically can't help but praise.

For example: The first time we sang this song on a Sunday morning (about three weeks ago), I wasn't leading from the piano. I had given the reigns to my associate, Daniel, and was playing the service from the drum set. We kind of have a "procedure" for introducing new worship music. Every time we do a new song, we play it during our reflection time during the first week while the congregation is seated and focusing on their response to God. As we built the song there was a palpable tension in the room, and I couldn't quite figure out why. It soon became obvious:

You will be praised! You will be praised!
With angels and saints, we sing worthy are You Lord!

We began to sing those words, and within a few seconds I had the most amazing view: the entire congregation was on their feet worshiping God. That's not the work of a musical crescendo or a catchy melody or even good lyrics; that's the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we recognize the unshakeable goodness of God.

I strongly encourage you to take a listen to Kalley's testimony about this song - I've attached it below along with an in-depth song story interview and the live music video. May God's praise ever be on your lips.

Blessings!

-Matt

Read more about the story behind the song at New Release Today.

Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia (his team is nationally ranked. #micdrop). Read more about Matt here.

Office 8/26/16 Office 8/26/16

Banquet with Strangers

Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come so that the house will be full.’“

-Luke 14:12-23, NLT

Being from the South, I was taught from a young age how to throw a proper party. My grandmother instilled in me and my mother the importance of a well-decorated table, coordinated foods, and good hostess practices. Could you imagine how you would feel though if you went through all the work to prepare a top notch party, then all of your friends and family didn't show up? What if they all sent one excuse or another for their absences?

That's exactly what happened in the parable that Jesus tells in Luke 14. The point of the story isn't that we shouldn't get discouraged when the perfect party doesn't go well. The point of the story is that we should be seeking a different group of people to invite.

The host in the story goes into the streets and finds people to fill his home, so his perfect party isn't wasted. His table is filled with strangers.

Jesus wants us to understand the importance of seeking out people who are not expecting us to be kind to them. Individuals who have nothing to give in return. The reward we are receiving is not on this earth, but in heaven, knowing that we are doing God's will. This is the next step for us if we are going to become a Great Commission church.

Blessings,

Faith

PRAYER FOR THE SERIES

God, reignite my heart to have a passion for you. Give me eyes to see other people as you see them so that I can love them with my whole heart. Teach me how to be a living example of the hope of Jesus Christ. Give me the courage to shine for Jesus Christ in everything that I do so that I can help bring others into relationship with Christ. Give me a heart for my community. Through your strength, make me into a Great Commission Christian so we can become a Great Commission church.

Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.

Nathan Persell 8/24/16 Nathan Persell 8/24/16

Our Week in Ecuador - July 2016

The inevitable question after you get back from a mission trip is “What did you do down there?” Depending on who you ask, you might get a one word response like “stuff,” or you might be occupied for the next ten hours hearing every little detail of the flora and fauna before they even touch on what really happened. So to get the obvious stuff out of the way:

Yes, we had beds.
No, there were not millions of Zika virus mosquitos.
The food was great!
No, we didn’t eat guinea pigs (although that was almost an option)
The people were friendly - they don’t speak English and most of us didn’t speak a lot of Spanish but we communicated anyway.
The weather was not freakishly hot, but rather a cool 70 degrees most of the time.

So now that we have those things out of the way, here’s what we really did. Our first day in Ecuador we visited a church in Santo Domingo. For most of us it was just another church, and if you were to visit there you probably wouldn’t think much about it either.

The rest of the week was divided between two main tasks. The first task was relatively simple: remove a thatch roof and prepare it for a new metal roof. We spent the mornings throwing the old roof into a fire armfuls at a time, sanding and painting steel beams, and trying to move three levels of scaffolding around.

The second task was a Vacation Bible School, or VBS. The really cool part about the VBS was that it was the exact same one our children here in Navarre have been doing all summer. We were able to take the same stories, same crafts and skits, and tweak them just a bit to make them work in a culture that is completely different from ours. The kids (and their parents) absolutely loved it and were so proud of what they did.

And that’s basically it. We didn’t do anything grand or super adventurous. We didn’t go and build a new church all by ourselves or convert an entire village. We simply joined alongside people who have been working in that area for many years. Which brings me back to the church from our first day.

While we were sitting in the service they brought out a block: the first block that our church had helped lay a decade ago. They talked about how Navarre had been a critical part of the church being built - one of our team members had even helped build the columns on the first floor on a previous visit. At the end of the service nearly 100 kids came racing down the stairs from what is now the children’s ministry area on the second floor. And the team right before us had been working on the third floor youth area. The longer we stayed and talked to the pastor and heard stories, we started to realize that we are now part of a larger story. We didn’t do anything spectacular by being there for a week. We weren’t the white saviors coming with lots of knowledge and money. We encouraged, we supported, we did what we were asked to do by the locals. And the reason it was so important that we did it that way is because now that we’re back in the States, Pastor Isaac is still working on the roof and he’s still doing ministry with the kids. They continue to be ministered to and receive love and encouragement. In 20 years, the roof we were a part of replacing will probably still be there, but if that’s what we are proud of then we missed the point. If there happens to be even one kid from the VBS who grows up and becomes a leader in the church, that’s something worth giving God the glory for.

But for those that still want to know what we did, here's a video that will give you an idea of what we did.

Blessings!

-Nathan

Nathan Persell serves as our Youth Director. When he's not leading devotions and playing basketball with teenagers, he enjoys disc golf and bike riding. Learn more about Nathan here.

Office 8/19/16 Office 8/19/16

Change is a Good Thing

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

-1 Peter 2:2-3, NLT

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to seek out change and other people don't? At our house in Kentucky, AJ used to rearrange our living room and bedroom furniture almost everytime we did a seasonal clean.

He was always looking for new ways to make the room more functional. Granted, it was a long and skinny room, which made it difficult. But at least once a year, we seemed to rearrange the furniture again. That became less when we mounted our TV on the wall because then we couldn't move the TV anymore.

Every time we changed it, though, it took me about a week to get used to walking in and not being shocked by the arrangement. I suppose the time period of adjustment is why many people leave everything the same in their house for 10+ years without any modifications.

If we are not careful, we can start avoiding change like it's the plague. But in reality, change is a part of growing, and growing is what scripture calls us to do. Our scripture passage this week talks about how we all mature spiritually as Christians. That growth never stops. No matter how old you are in calendar years, you should always be growing closer to God, and that means change.

When was the last time God caused a major change in your life? How did you respond to it?

Blessings,

Faith

PRAYER FOR THE SERIES

CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.

Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.