It's Check-in Time!

I love getting the email reminders from Delta 24 hours ahead of my flight departure. "It’s time to check in," the email announces and I know just what to do. I take a second look at my seat assignment, check my luggage, and print my boarding pass. We have now been reading the Bible every day for 89 days (if you are reading this on March 29.) This week’s blog says, "It’s time to check in!"

How’s your seat assignment? Have you found a time and a place where you can read comfortably and uninterrupted? Many of you have carved out a special time in the morning. Others are reading at night ending their day with God. Some are reading at work, in the car as they wait at baseball practices. Several are reading it aloud with a spouse, creating a spiritual intimacy not shared before. If you have found it difficult to keep the time set apart, maybe now is the time to change your seat assignment for the next leg of our flight.

How many of you have baggage to check? There is nothing more challenging than finding something in Scripture that you don’t want to see, have never seen, or have tried to ignore for years. Christians struggle with the books of Joshua and Judges and their stories of mass destruction and disobedience. What has happened to the loving, grace-filled God who so faithfully traveled with the Hebrews? Be cautious about ignoring the historical and contextual place of these stories in the larger story of God’s redemption of creation. Find a good commentary – several are available in the church library - and study! You don’t need to carry on your bags.

Here is a bit of what you’ve shared in responding to the inquiry in the bulletin regarding how reading the Bible this way is impacting your spiritual journey: "I am learning and reading chapters I didn’t know about;" "It is helping my faith and hope to grow stronger and dependent on God;" "I am learning so much! Our God is so good! I love reading God’s word daily and connecting with God."

It’s time to check in, and print your boarding pass for the next leg of the journey! - Debby Fox, pastor of Christian Education and Discipleship

It's All About Boundaries

We have finally finished Joshua and what a journey that was for us! Did you notice all the detail about boundaries? That got me to thinking about the crucial importance of boundary lines, even today? I have a friend who is having a terrible time because of an incorrect boundary line on her property. She has spent thousands of dollars in legal fees, etc. and the issue is still not resolved. I have known of persons who have had to remove fences and shrubberies and even portions of a home because a boundary line had been encroached. Boundaries are important.

That is not only true of land boundaries but that is also true of emotional and relational boundaries. I have seen lives, marriages and thus families destroyed because of an emotional or relational boundary being encroached upon. I have had to learn the lesson of personal boundaries the hard way. Early in my ministry when I was trying to save the world, a friend told me in her country sort of way; "Terry, you can’t be sheriff for the whole world." In other words, "Terry, you must set healthy personal boundaries." It is true that one can only do what one can do, but they can do that. To this day, I still want so desperately to keep people from making eternal mistakes—the kind of mistakes that cannot be reversed and are damaging to so many they love. But I can’t substitute my self or my wishes into their free will. I must know my limitations and leave the rest to God—boundaries, healthy boundaries.

The children of Israel needed some help with their tribal boundaries as well as their spiritual boundaries. As long as they stayed within the boundaries set by God through Moses, Caleb and/or Joshua, their lives were orderly and blessed. But when they forgot—and they seemed to have a "forgetting problem"—their lives were full of chaos and division.

Therein, lies our lesson for all of time. Watch your boundaries—keep them healthy. Don’t let your free will become a fence that is costly to move. - Terry Walton, senior pastor

Joshua Fit the Battle...and the battle...and the battle

The Promised Land is here at last! Land flowing with milk and honey—Holy Land—Canaan Land. The people of Israel have been given the law, and now they enter the land the God promised. Entering the Promise Land brings so many changes to God’s people! The People of Israel had been landless wanderers for nearly 500 years. Their forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and families—were nomads in the land of Canaan. That was followed by 400-plus years of slavery in Egypt. Moses led the people through 40 years of wandering that tested, trained and prepared them. Now under Joshua the time comes to be landed and free with God.

During those 500 years, the people had been Apiru’ (ah-pee-ROO)—which literally means "the people WITHOUT the say." (say Apiru five times fast, and you’ll notice what a short transition it is to our word "Hebrew"). No power—no clout—no land—no "say" in life. Now that they are the covenant people of God entering the land God promised, big changes happen. They become the people WITH the "say." The transition from being landless slaves to land-holding free people was huge!

Joshua leads the transition. It is a bloody, messy, military affair—not for the fainthearted. "No survivors" is a term that recurs often. Eugene Peterson states, "People who want God as an escape from reality, from the often hard conditions of this life, don’t find this much to their liking."

The Book of Joshua gives us the geographical boundaries of the Promised Land and how they came into being—and a LOT more. - Dr. Steve Winter, Executive Pastor

We've Been Down This Road Before...

In reading Deuteronomy, immediately I began to feel, "we’ve been down this road before, why all the repetition?" When I find myself at this place I find that I need to hear the story in a different voice. I chose to read this book from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Peterson reminded me that this book is a series of sermons from Moses just as the people are preparing to move into the Promised Land – they have arrived, but before going forward, once again Moses was commanded to remind the people of their journey, God’s instruction and God’s blessing. This new generation needed know and own their story, "you were a people brought out of Egypt; this not just a story about what happened in "olden days" – this is you, your story. Hear it, feel it, own it, live by it so you will be blessed."

Deuteronomy is book is full of "don’t forgets." Don’t forget: how to live, how to dress, how to worship, conduct yourself in battle, how to take care of the stranger, the widow, the orphan….especially don’t forget I intend for you to live a different sort of life, one unlike all those around you – you are a people called and set apart; you are called to a different standard. It is much more comfortable when moving to a different community or culture to adopt and adapt to the culture. No one likes to hear, "You aren’t from here, are you?"

Early in Deuteronomy we find the Shema, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One; you must love the Lord your god with all your heart, all our soul, and all your strength." This is the center of Jewish identity. This verse is posted near the doorframes of all practicing Jewish families to this very day in a special "box" called a mezuzah. Each time they pass through the door, they touch it as a reminder that God is to be the center of their lives. It is a tangible reminder of God’s provision, God’s commandments, and God’s sovereignty in their lives – it is a literal "touchstone" for them. It reminds them that, No, they aren’t "from here," theirs is a deeper identity.

What touchstones do you have in your life that remind and connect you to your faith, your tradition, to your identity? Perhaps it is a cross in your pocket or a coin you carry with you, or perhaps a necklace you wear. It is good to have these reminders, but the best reminder is the words of grace that exist within us – the words, "you are forgiven." - Kathy Lamon, pastor of Congregational Care and Older Adults

Be Encouraged - Press On

I have a confession to make. It’s not an easy confession to make especially because I am someone who feels the responsibility of setting an example for others.

Friends, I confess that I am behind in my daily Bible Reading. Like a WHOLE BOOK behind! You all have started Deuteronomy, and I am still back somewhere in the beginning of Numbers. I have several very good reasons for being behind (but I won’t bore you with those stories) and unfortunately, the more behind I get the less motivated I am to catch up.

You would think that the responsibility for writing this week’s blog would motivate me to have a marathon reading session to catch up. Then I would be super prepared to impress you with my wisdom, insight and discipline!

Even with that external pressure and expectation on myself … I am still behind.

Maybe you are caught up – and staying up with the daily reading. If you are let me say, "Way to go! Keep up the good work! We are PROUD of you!"

But maybe there are some of you who, like me, for all kinds of good reasons (or maybe not so good reasons) are a little or even a lot behind – let me say, to you what I wish someone would say to me: "Don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up. You can do it. You can begin again."

Thankfully, tomorrow is a new day – God is a God of forgiveness and grace. God is a God who makes space for us to begin again.

Let’s join with Paul in: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14

Press on, my friends – forgetting what is behind and strain ahead. Pick up your Bible and start with today’s reading and move ahead! We can do this! – Wendy Cordova, pastor of Evangelism and Lay Ministry