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GET IN THE GAME:
Preview of Coming Attractions at Bethany
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What are the best things about the arrival of fall? Its crisp air, brisk breezes, and dipping temperatures? Its radiant colors and ravishing smells?
The picture on the screen is from the Blue Ridge Parkway at Afton a couple of years ago.
This past Monday was the first day of Fall. I went out that morning in my shorts for a walk¡Xand what a thrilling shock. The air was brisk and the breeze was cool. I didn¡¦t expect it given the warm, humid air we have had most of September. The sky was clear and the air was fresh and invigorating from the rare rainfall we had the night before.
My first thought was ¡§I love this kind of weather. It¡¦s perfect. It¡¦s heaven on earth.¡¨
In fact, in many ways I love to take short day trips and vacations in the fall¡Xless traffic and people it seems anyway unless you go to the mountains on the weekend.
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Last fall I took a trip up to the Finger Lakes area of central New York state. There are 100s of vineyards there. I love to see the grapes hanging on the vines before harvest¡Xmakes me think of what Jesus said:
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:6 (NLT)
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In the fall one time also I took a trip to Kiawah island and Charleston, South Carolina. Standing on the beach at sunset I thought of the words of the Psalmist who wrote:
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him? O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:3-4, 9 (NIV)
What is it that makes fall probably my favorite season?
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Maybe because the change in weather--the warm, sunny, crisp days are a welcome change to the muggy summer weather. Or the cool crisp nights make for good sleeping conditions. Maybe it¡¦s the changing of the leaves to the many varied colors.
I can¡¦t say it¡¦s the football season¡Xsince I¡¦m not a particularly big sports fan¡Xalthough I don¡¦t have pleasant memories of going to football games in high school and college. I think that was more for social reasons than for the sport itself. My father watched so much sports on TV as I was growing up as a child that I think I was burned out on sports before I got too old.
Or maybe it¡¦s because I was born in the autumn¡Xin October¡Xthat makes me yearn for this time of the year.
Or could it be that some new movies are released by Hollywood in the fall that seem better than the ones that came out in the summer. I like especially comedies so I want to try to catch My Big, Fat Greek Wdding or Sweet Home Alabama. After reading some reviews on the Banger Sisters I think I¡¦ll skip that one.
{A portion of what follows is adapted from Len Sweet¡¦s ¡§Press On¡¨}
How about the fact that in the fall, we no longer have to pretend that all we want for supper is fresh, crunchy salad or a bowl of one of those it-never-seems-quite-right-to-be-cold soups?
No, when fall finally settles in on us, it¡¦s once again time for real food¡Xfood that steams, sticks, and simmers. Food that fills the inside of the house with warming, mouthwatering smells. Food that fills the inside of our bellies with a comforting ¡§I can face the winter¡¨ heft. After all, if you plan on eating your way through the winter holidays, you need to start stretching out your stomach as soon as the leaves begin to fall.
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Among the most simple and satisfying of meals is a plate of squirming, steaming pasta. Kids love it because it’s play food¡Xyou slurp and string it along. Parents love it because mouthfuls are nourishing, inexpensive, and filling enough for a houseful. Spaghetti houses are still a great, affordable place to take a date or a family for a special night out. And even if you¡¦re not a great cook, if you can boil water, you can make pasta.
But pasta isn¡¦t as simple a staple of our diets as it might first appear. First of all, have you ever really studied all the varieties of pasta shapes available at any ordinary grocery store? An average supermarket will carry:
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* Rigatoni;
* fettuccini;
* capellini (thinner than thin spaghetti);
* percatelli (thick spaghetti);
* manicotti;
* rotini (wheels);
* rotelle (corkscrews);
* farfalle (bow ties);
* gnocchi (dumplings);
* ziti;
* mostaccioli;
* trialli;
* orechetta (elephant ears);
* orzo (rice pasta);
* pastina (baby pasta).
Anybody have favorite pasta?
What’s going on here?! Why all these crazy shapes? Elbows, shells, trumpets, angel hair, radiators¡Xdiameters, hollows and solids? Aren¡¦t all these so-called varieties just the same stuff squished into different shapes for some reason?
Maybe. But then Americans don¡¦t really appreciate the nuances of pasta. Italians are the true artisans of shaped starch. Admit it. Americans are only one or two generations removed from calling all varieties of this food ¡§noodles.¡¨
Pasta shapes have been sculpted and finessed over the centuries in order to create the perfect mouth experience. Spirals, squares, tangles, and tubes were all designed with spaces to hold the right amount of the various sauces so that the diner could reap maximum enjoyment in the mouth.
Maximizing pleasure is a process that, of course, is never complete. So the Italians kept experimenting, recreating, reshaping their pastas, always questing after that perfect shape that would yield the perfect pasta experience.
The process continues.
Today¡¦s supermarket shelves are bulging with the Italian passion for perfection, for pressing on, pushing forward, always improving on the joy of feeding family and friends and eating together.
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Pressing on is the focal point of the good example Paul wants to set before the Philippians. His life was uprooted, overturned, and wholly reoriented when this Hebrew born of Hebrews, this rigorous Pharisee, this zealous persecutor of the church, encountered the risen Christ.
For Paul, the scorecard of identity and accomplishment he’d been keeping was suddenly wiped clean. Hear his words that we find recorded in the Bible:
But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ. Philippians 3:7-8 (CEV)
All was rubbish, gar-bage. There was now a whole new way to tread through life, a different path to righteousness he must follow, a yet uncharted course to complete before he could accomplish his goal.
In other words, Paul had gotten into the game of life¡Xthe real game¡Xthe game that God had given him¡Xthe sport where he could find his purpose in life.
Leaving his old life behind, Paul fixed his face, his feet, and his future firmly toward Jesus the Christ. His spiritual quest was now to follow Christ. He sought to be in Christ so fully that he would walk along in his Savior¡¦s footsteps. Paul understood that this path would lead him to places his old life would never have ventured¡Xamong Gentiles, against the Roman authorities, into danger, down to a prison cell, out to sea, and up to a cross of his own.
Yet this was the path Paul longed to take. These were the steps he took with increasing speed and purpose. He wouldn’t hold back, pull over, or stop off. He would press on to this new goal until he could make it his own.
Paul got into the game of life with a purpose, his goal nothing less than to grow in grace and attain the resurrection from the dead. It was this perfect ending that Paul sought. Nothing less would do. It was this perfect vision in his sights that pulled Paul forward.
How do you press on . . . day after day, month after month, year after year? How does getting into the game look in your own life? And how important is pressing on?
Or do you feel like this:
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Going nowhere in your life?
So what will it take to get you into the game of life? Are you a press-on person in others¡¦ lives?
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Is your face, are your feet, is your future pressing on toward Jesus the Christ?
Are you as creative and inventive in pressing on spiritually to higher forms of life in Christ as Italian culture is in pressing on to higher forms of pasta?
There’s an old story about a man, sick in the soul, who visited a monk in the desert. The monk asked him four things:
1. When in your life did you stop singing?
2. When in your life did you stop dancing?
3. When in your life did you stop telling stories and finding enchantment in your own life¡¦s story?
4. When in your life did you stop being comfortable in silence?
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The Seattle Times did a feature story on spirituality and the workplace. It opened with ¡§Tom,¡¨ whose office looks out at downtown Seattle.
Tom is a lawyer. He’s 44, with young eyes on an old face. He has a recurring imaginary vision. In the vision, he has died and gone to face his maker.
God asks what he did with life.
¡§I did a lot of patent-infringement litigation, Lord.¡¨
God asks how he feels about that.
¡§Like I wasted my whole (expletive) life, Lord.¡¨
(¡XAlex Tizon, ¡§Spirit at Work: More are Integrating Their Religious and Professional Lives,¡¨ Seattle Times, 4 September 2000, local news.)
If you feel like you are going nowhere in life¡Xwhether it¡¦s frequently or periodically I want to give you an invitation to be a part of a coming attraction here at Bethany starting at 2 weeks. This could be a life-changing event not only for our church family but also for you individually as well. It is called
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The 40 Days of Purpose. There is information on an insert in today¡¦s program if you haven¡¦t looked at it already. Let me walk you through the information about this campaign as I make a challenge to you to think about make one or more commitments. Some of you heard about this last week, but I think it¡¦s important enough to repeat especially if you weren¡¦t here last week to here about this upcoming event:
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What is the 40 Days of purpose about?
„h Spiritual growth campaign, not fundraising campaign
„h Explores God¡¦s 5 purposes for every person¡¦s life, answering the question, ¡§What on earth am I here for?¡¨
„h National Campaign that we are participating in with over 1500 other churches
So what does this have to do with pressing on, getting in the game of life, running the race? What does this have to do with what Paul wrote about his life?
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All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, so that somehow I also may be raised to life. I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize.
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My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. Philippians 3:10-14 (CEV)
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Do you want win that prize? Well if you will give me just 40 days of your life this fall, I promise you that will get into the game and run that race just like Paul did. The verses that we read about Paul¡¦s life will be a preview of coming attractions in your life. Look at the response tab in today¡¦s program:
The first commitment I want to ask you to consider is this:
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¡P I will hear all 7 messages in the series, ¡§40 Days of Purpose¡¨.
We will really kick off the campaign on Saturday, October 12 by being a part of the National Simulcast with 1500 other churches that day. If at all possible I¡¦d urge you to be here to hear Rick Warren speak about his life of faith. He is the author of the Purpose Driven Life that I will be telling you about in a minute. Refreshments will be served; childcare will be provided for younger children and activities planned for the older children.
This is what I will be discussing in each week¡¦s message:
Week 1 ¡V What on Earth Am I Here For?
I think this topic will especially be of interest to many of you or at least some people you know. Look at this magazine I received in the mail last week¡XHalfTime: Quest for Significance. I know they sent to me especially since I¡¦m turning 50 in 2 weeks. Listen to what the opening article says:
This is where it starts to get good¡K.the half-century mark is a major milestone in anyone¡¦s life..You¡¦ve come a long way. You¡¦ve got a long way to go¡KWelcome to Half Time..the soul-searching process that¡¦s occurring for many of us between the age of 40 and 60.
Look at the photo on the front¡Xgets back to that pressing on that Paul talked about in the Bible. Look at the title of articles:
¡P The Best Is Yet to Come
¡P Downsized: Going through the Emotions
¡P The Purpose-Driven Life¡Xlook an article by Rick Warren!
¡P Volunteer Vacations: Taking Time Out to Give Back
¡P Halftime Health
The people who put out this magazine know that people are wondering what on earth they are here for, especially as we boomers enter the autumn of our life. So the messages during 40 Days of Purpose will be designed to address this:
Week 2- You Were Planned For God¡¦s Pleasure (Worship)
Week 3 ¡V You Were Formed For God¡¦s Family (Fellowship)
Week 4 ¡V You Were Created to Become Like Christ()
Week 5 ¡V You Were Shaped For Serving God
Week 6 ¡V You Were Made For a Mission
Week 7¡XCelebration¡XWe will party!
Along with my message in the 8:30 service there will be a drama to help reinforce what I¡¦m teaching in each week¡¦s message.
¡P I will read The Purpose Driven Life book every day for 40 days. This is more than a book; it is a guide to a 40 day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life¡¦s most important question: What on earth am I here for? This will be a book that you can use individually or as a household everyday during the campaign with questions to consider about your life?
¡P I will join a 40 Days of Purpose Sunday School class. In the Sunday School class discussions you will have an opportunity to look in further detail what we talk about in the worship service each Sunday. We will all come together to watch a 20 minute video with Rick Warren here in the sanctuary. Then we will go immediately to our classes to look at a study guide to learn how to apply each week¡¦s lesson to our own personal lives. We have adjusted our schedule so that we will have plenty of time to study the materials---Sunday school will start at 9:50 here in the worship area watching the video. Then we will go immediately to our classes to study the lessons until 10:45.
I have a challenge I want to especially give to you if you are not currently attending a SS class. This will be a great time to get connected to a class. 2 weeks from today we will introduce the leaders of each class so that you can go with a group after watching the video. In fact, I will lead a class if enough of you will sign-up¡Xif you are not currently attending a class¡Xwhether you¡¦re new to the church or a long timer. If you will make this commitment to sign up for a class and write NEW by that commitment, I will lead one of these classes if I get enough people¡XWe may have to meet in the kitchen but we¡¦ll make it work!
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The next commitment I challenge you to is:
¡P I will memorize a short Bible verse each week to put God¡¦s Word in my heart.
We¡¦ll be giving you business size cards each week with the Bible verse related to that week¡¦s purpose.
And finally¡Xthis is something I just added to the Campaign this week¡X
¡P I will participate in a mission project.
We are not doing a fall festival this year¡Xmaybe that¡¦s what was meant to be for Bethany this year. We really needed to clear the calendar for this campaign.
And I want to challenge you to participate in a mission experience since we are not having a fall festival.
Here is what I plan to do¡X
Since I¡¦m entering the half time of my life¡XI will turn 50 on October 8¡XI decided to give something for my birthday this year instead of receiving a birthday present. During that week I am traveling to the coalfields of West Virginia to the McDowell Mission to participate in a mission experience.
Here is the Mission Statement
The McDowell Mission was established by the West Virginia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church in response to our Lord¡¦s call to be a reconciling agent in the world for God, proclaiming the present and coming reign of God.
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The mission¡¦s primary task is to witness to hope in the risen Christ by empowering the people of God¡¦s church to be in mission cooperatively, ecumenically and locally to address the issues of literacy, racism, housing, economic condition and spiritual hopelessness as they relate to all who live within the service area through:
Emergency Assistance
Home Repairs
Utilities
Relocation
Crisis Center
Community Activities
Community Breakfast
Easter Egg Hunt
Fall Health Screening
Fall Festival
Christmas Store
Thrift Store
Youth Activities
Adopt-A-Youth
High Adventure Back Packing
Bible Schools
Rolling Library
Bicycle Repair
Education
The Dove Program
Adult Literacy
Craft and Enrichment Activities
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As you can see from this photo¡Xthey had some flooding there earlier this year¡Xhard to believe as we¡¦ve been in the midst of a drought.
I challenge you then to find a mission project to get involved in¡Xtalk to Ruthann and Phil Mikesell. They are taking a trip in Feb. to Kentucky. There are opportunities locally¡XEquipping the Saints, Valley Mission. Jackie Dunsmore will be scheduling a time to make apple dumplings and that money will go to someone in need.
So come to World Communion Sunday next Sunday, October 6 to prepare for this coming attraction in the life of our church. Alan will be asking ¡§Guess Who¡¦s Coming to Dinner?¡¨
By the way¡Xwe will have a special treat on November 10 the day of the ministry fair. During the 8:30 service Alan Yeo¡¦s son will be here to play his trombone along with Marguerite McDonald on the piano.
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See any resemblance between this father and son?
It will be a blessing to hear Doug¡Xwho is playing here as a gift to his father¡Xbecause listen to this:
Douglas Yeo holds the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s John Moors Cabot Bass Trombone Chair. He has written numerous books and musical compositions. He has been a frequent guest on many radio and television shows including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s "In Performance," ABC-Radio’s "Cybershake" with Jon Belmont, "Worldchangers" with Dr. Bill Bright and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s "Decision Today." He has also lectured at Wheaton College (IL), Greenville College (IL) and Harvard University.
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As a member of the Boston Pops Orchestra, he performed at the pre-game show of the National Football League’s Super Bowl XXXVI on February 3, 2002, which was won by the New England Patriots.
Red Skins fans can only dream of being at the Super Bowl.
I could go on¡Xbut you get the gist of how this will be a special treat for our church.
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Get into the game friends here at Bethany. Making one or more these commitments are ways to go into the game and enjoy the upcoming events at Bethany. If you will give me just these 40 Days of your life, I believe you will see something great happen in your life and in the life of this church. In fact, I¡¦d urge you to make all these commitments. The average person will have over 27,000 days of life over his whole life span? So what¡¦s 40 days of your life¡Xespecially if those 40 days give your life meaning and purpose?
The Bible says this, 2 Corinthians 6:1, ¡§We beg you, please don¡¦t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us¡¨.
Only one life will soon be passed, and only what¡¦s done for Christ will last. Nothing else is going to matter. You ever wanted to be a part of a miracle? Well now¡¦s your chance.
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I have chosen this verse, Habakkuk 3:2, as the theme verse for 40 Days ¡V ¡§Lord, I have heard the news about you; I am amazed at what you have done. Lord, do great things once again in our time; make those things happen again in our own days¡¨.
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The Bible also says, ¡§Be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.¡¨ Eph. 5:15-17 (NLT)
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¡§Make the most of every opportunity you get¡¨. God has given you the opportunity in a lifetime in the upcoming 40 Days of Purpose¡Kdon¡¦t let it pass by. Don¡¦t sit on the fence. Don¡¦t watch from the sideline. For God¡¦s sake, GET IN THE GAME!!!!!
Let¡¦s bow our heads for PRAYER¡K
Father we already know that you¡¦re going to do some amazing things in our midst when we begin the 40 Days of Purpose. Lives are going to be changed, families are going to be saved, friendships are going to be made, miracles are going to happen. We already thank you in advance. And we thank you for what¡¦s already happened in the hearts of people.
I thank you for a church staff that is willing to fast and weep for the souls of others. But most of all, I thank you for the Cross because we do this for Jesus¡¦ sake.
Now, you pray. In your heart say, ¡§God, I don¡¦t want to be a fence sitter anymore. I don¡¦t want to be a casual Christian, a part time believer, a lukewarm servant. I want to give you my whole life, every part of me. I need your help in developing the habits, the disciplines I need to grow spiritually. So help me to let go of things that don¡¦t really matter, and put you first in my life. Help me to know what to cut out, so I have time for what¡¦s important. Help me to get into the game. Thank you for giving your life for me. I want to be a part of what you¡¦re going to do here in the next 40 Days. In your name I pray, amen¡¨.
Benediction
As we leave this place, O God, inspire us to press on with all the faith we can. Guide us as we press on in search for your plan in our lives. Instruct us in the ways that keep us holy. Bless our journeys for the coming week. Amen and Amen!!
