What did the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead mean to two fearful disciples on the road to Emmaus? Find out at Sunset Beach when we gather at 6:15 AM for our third annual sunrise service on the deck at the Grill. Uplifting music, message, and great breakfast refreshments will help you start your day in joy!
According to the World Happiness Report 2018released last week, Finland is top of the world for happiness, closely followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Four out of the top five spots are Nordic, and are well known to be stable, safe and socially progressive. The Happiness Report measures a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)(money matters), Longevity(people like living longer), Corruption(If citizens don’t trust government and business, they’re not happy), Social Support(you know others have your back and support), and Freedom (making your own important life choices is better than the government telling you what to do). People who live in a nation that scores high in GDP, Longevity, Social Support, and Freedom, but low in Corruption, likely have a better life experience than those that live in an under-performing nation. And if you‘re wondering, the United States ranked 18th out of 52 nations surveyed.
We prefer to feel happy. Happy is good. People in Jesus’ time also wanted to feel happy. That’s why many devotees of Jesus (not just the disciples) clamored for Jesus to take over their nation. This week is Palm Sunday where we will begin our “feel good” happy time when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem as the new King. But, after only a few days, the political climate shifts unexpectedly as Jesus goes from Palms to Passion. Passion refers to Jesus’ suffering as he is betrayed, denied, arrested, tortured, ridiculed, slandered, and (without a real trial) is sent to death row. By Friday, Jesus is dead. All hope was lost. Or, was it?
If there was such a thing as a World Happiness Report 33 (yes, AD 33!), the people in Palestine would have been at the lowest ranking. GDP was down (the religious leaders controlled the dysfunctional economy). The average life expectancy in Jesus day was about 45. Corruption affected every sphere of life from the Temple, to politics, to the trades. Social Support was spotty at best but the generation family systems had its advantages over our more modern nuclear family today, that is is you weren’t female, young, poor, sick, or had a physical difference. And what about Freedom? Simply, what freedom. Rome was the occupying political power and squashed personal freedoms, especially those of a different political party or who didn’t play and pay by their rules.
This week we follow Jesus as the Lenten Journey is in the Home Stretch with a message titled, TheHome Stretch—From Palms to Passion. You will participate in an interactive reading of the Palmsscripture reading along side the Passionscripture reading and make up your own mind about Jesus and happiness.
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
When is the last time you described something as extravagant? Maybe a lavish dinner out when the boss wanted to spare no expense celebrating a new venture. Or, when your extravagant gift conveyed lavish love and that delighted another. Extravagant is literally to go beyond the full measure of what is expected. This week, our text from John 12 describes an expression of extravagant love that powers extravagant mission.
We get a glimpse of true love in action when Jesus journeys to Bethany, his happy place at the home of his best friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And yes, that Lazarus! The one “whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” While Lazarus was indeed a unique host, it was the way Mary expressed her gratitude to Jesus that shocked all the guests and provoked Judas, (Yes, that Judas!) to condemn her gift as extravagant, too pricey, overboard, and scandalous. (He reasoned that the fragrant, extravagant gift could have been sold and the money given to the poor. While that’s not a bad idea, find out on Sunday what Jesus had to say as his feet were anointed, and how he responded to Judas, because, Extravagrant Love and Extravagant Mission are inextricably bound together!
This week, “you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love” (Ephesians 3:18a). There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website, here.)
Have you seen the new McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish commercial? This humorous ad features a toy mechanical fish mounted on a wall who sings, “Gimme that fish, O Gimme that fish…” announcing the return of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Have you ever wondered why the Filet-O-Fish Sandwich is so heavily promoted the same time every year? Hint: The special fish promotion always occurs during the 40 days of Lent. That’s right. It all started in a predominately Catholic neighborhood in Ohio when, in 1959, a McDonald’s franchise owner named Lou Groen noticed plummeting hamburger sales every Lenten season. Instead of just suffering through the 80% drop in sales, he decided to meet the needs of his customers by developing a non-meat alternative. The incredible success in delivering what his community needed is, as they say, history.
What does the Filet-O-Fish have to do with Jesus’ words about the fig tree from our text this week from Luke 13? As we will discover during this Sunday’s message titled, “Fish, Fig, Discipleship” the origin story of this popular sandwich can teach us a lot about our mission. You see, the fig tree Jesus spoke about was not producing the fruit the other crops needed, nothing for three years. But, instead of destroying the barren fig tree, the owner agreed to let the fig tree have one more year to deliver what was needed.
We know figs are remain a very popular fruit in the United States, but did you know that it was the abundant vitamins found in figs that motivated a Philadelphia baker in 1851 to produce a machine that could stuff the nutrient rich fig jam into pastry dough. Delivering what the community needed led a baking company to buy the machine and the cookies were a huge success. The town they were first produced was, you guessed it, Newton, Massachusetts!
Fish and figs can teach us a lot about discipleship as we follow Jesus during lent as we deliver spiritual nutrients our neighbors need.
Why do so many Biblical hero’s end up in the wilderness? While Adam started in a garden, he and Eve ended up in the wild. Jacob, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul, to name a few, had wilderness experiences, too. Oh, and of course, Jesus! This week we will meet Jesus where the wild things are. And we will discover that God is present with us when resources run out and unexpected challenges make the way unbearable. God provides a way where there is no way. Do you ever feel you’re in the wilderness? Sure, we all do, at least from time to time. This Sunday, find wilderness tools for the Lenten journey. There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website.)
Imagine your life is composed of different rooms. Rooms to relax. Rooms to eat in. Places to exercise, and another to enjoy a hobby. Some rooms are especially equipped for making things, or assisting in meeting the needs of guests and taking resources from inside to share with others outside in the neighborhood. Andy Andrew’s in his book, The Traveler’s Gift (2002), writes about a room called Never Was. He calls it “a giant warehouse of a room that holds all of the things God was ready to deliver to people, had they only persevered in prayer a moment longer” (157). For many of us, the Never Was room is practically the largest room in our house. It doesn’t have to be that way.
This week we will visit our house of rooms in our lives as we hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah when he spoke to a war-torn and weary country about God’s hope. We will hear Jesus pronounce blessings available to all. Are you looking for a blessing? Do you need resources to move your hopes and dreams from Never Was, to It Is Now? The blessings Jesus gives are for everyone, especially those who don’t feel blessed; the hungry, the poor, and those who are cast aside by others.
Life doesn’t just happen, it is the result of the choices we make every day
- Emily Dickinson
- If I can stop one heart from breaking,
- I shall not live in vain;
- If I can ease one life the aching,
- Or cool one pain,
- Or help one fainting robin.
- Unto his nest again,
- I shall not live in vain.
What’s your life’s purpose, your mission?
This week we will learn from the salmon who start and end their mission at home. More instinct and nature helps them fulfill their purpose. But we’ll also ask Carrion Crows in the Japanese city of Sendai how they have creatively learned to use new information far from their home turf to eat, using passing traffic to crack nuts for them.
Kids need a purpose in their life. Adults do, too. And so do churches.
We want to glorify God and enjoy God forever. This requires that we practice “Forgetting what lies behind… (and) press on to what lies ahead in Christ Jesus.”
Our community activities, our ministries, must fulfill our mission, the the purpose of our ministry.
What’s your mission? We must listen to Jesus.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”
How will we help jesus fulfill His mission in Cape May?
Let’s listen. Let’s learn. Let’s Lead.
You will be glad to know you will hear God’s voice saying this week: “You are mine. You are loved.” Its great news about Jesus that can change your life in amazing ways. (Read on.)
In this week’s message from Acts 8, we will meet a group of people who didn’t know about the Spirit. At all. They knew about Jesus, all right, but no one introduced them to the power of the Spirit of God or how they could connect to that power. What’s more, they discovered how once the Spirit falls on your whole life, everything is changed for the better. Yes, its a theory of everything touched by God’s Spirit. You want to find out more? Great! Because the Spirit is falling!
Today is Epiphany, the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Did a few of your ordered Christmas gifts arrive after Christmas?! Sure, it happens. While upsetting, we and the recipient are likely to appreciate the gift. The Three Kings did not arrive late. They were right on time before they even met him, they knew he was worthy of their best. We, too, celebrate the day when the Star of Bethlehem, a very bright moving star, came to a rest just above the spot where Jesus lay, ending its journey from the East and leading a caravan of Magi to the Christ child. The word Epiphany literally means a season of light and Jesus is the source, he is the Light of the World! He is the shining Star.
Celebrities in our culture are VIP’s from sports, to entertainment, to politics. Some stars are rising and others falling and we should be careful not to follow their words too carefully. You just don’t know where they will lead you! We can also be our own “star” as if wearing the T-Shirt that reads, Its All About Me. The Three Wise Men remind us that we are not the star, but rather Jesus is and we have an opportunity to reflect his light, no tonly in our community of faith, but even better, to the community at large! That is our mission as a church. And God invites you to give your very best, too. Can 2019 be the year you give Jesus your very best so that you can live your very best selves, the abundant life Jesus’ promised to us? I think it can!
Today, as you are sent out after worship, I will open this box of Frankincense and Myrrh and if you’re ready to give your best to Jesus, go ahead and take a piece. We have plenty for all of us. But its up to you.
Wow, the Three Kings presented their best and they didn’t even know Jesus. Now here we are, all these years later, and we have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, we know that God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him would be saved! Now that’s Good News. Star Words for the year ahead.
Luke 2:15-18
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. Beyond the Manger was inspired by the writing of Joseph Martin and Ray Bakke.
Find out what churches, mattress stores, and shepherds can teach us beyond the manger!
Beyond the manger, We hear no Silent Night
There are no sounds of animals, No star is shining bright
Beyond the manger.
Beyond the manger, We see healing in the streets
Words of hope and forgiveness meet, But now we hear the angry crowd
The sounds of the hammer fall, I see a rugged cross, the chill of night.
Beyond the manger.
Beyond the manger, We see no see no swaddling clothes,
No host of angels sing, There is no candle glow.
Beyond the manger.
Beyond the manger, On the dump outside of town
Amazing grace breaking his heart, The messiah hangs upon a cross
Beyond the manger.
Because the tomb was empty, our lives can be filled
Beyond the manger.
Like the shepherds, you have met at the manger tonight. And can now see beyond it! To the life, words, signs, and work of Jesus. To the cross. The empty tomb. The ascension and promised return!
And you are being sent out as deputy shepherds! That’s right. Each of you has a job to tell the community: There is hope. Spiritual resources are available for young and old. Our mission is to those who have not been reached. To proclaim the Good News about Jesus, and if necessary, use words!
What have you heard? Will you make it known?
What gift have you received? Will you share it?
What hope and peace have you felt? Will you go and tell the amazing news!?
Then our entire community can see God’s amazing love and get the spiritual resources it needs for wellness and living the abundant life Jesus promises!
Now, get up, deputy shepherds, and go!