29
Dec '24
Not Resolution, Re-Orientation
29
Dec '24
Many people like to come into the new year with some resolutions — often having to do with diet and exercise or some life goal. Many of those resolutions last for a short time but typically they lose the battle to entropy and are dropped by about March! This is why I think that framing our desire for change in a different way can be helpful.
Instead of resolutions, we need to reorient our lives. Most resolutions are things that go along with the way we have been doing life already. A reorientation is a bit more drastic, changing the direction of our lives. This may feel disruptive in the beginning, but if we continue on the same path with new baggage, we are still going to the same destination.
Reorientation, however, gives us a chance to shift not just the things we are carrying, but the destination of our journey. Where do I think we should orient ourselves? Towards Jesus. We should give His light and life the focus of our lives. The direction we want to go is wherever we can grow closer to Him.
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20
Dec '24
Something’s Afoot in the Church and it’s not at the End of Your Leg
20
Dec '24
One of the neat things about coming into a new situation — for example joining a church you’ve never been part of before — is that you have no idea really about what is and isn’t possible. When you don’t know whether a thing can be done or not and you’ve got a sort of eager go-getter mentality that for better or worse believes there isn’t anything you can’t learn or be taught to do, there aren’t a lot of barriers to you when you say you want to do things that no one else has looked at in a while. Libraries, for instance. Coffee service, for another. Websites for a third.On my first day at MFC, as I am sure he will confirm, the big question I felt lead to ask Pastor Jesse was, “What does your church need most?”
“Volunteers,” he said.
So, I took him at his word (which you should definitely always do with Pastors) and, as I walked around the church building with him the next week on his tour, I asked him a lot of annoying questions about who was doing what every time I saw something I thought needed doing. Which is how I ended up sorting out the library. And why the renamed Sunday coffee ministry, Fellowsip, is back. And why you are now looking at a shiny new website for the Church.
I was pleased to discover that the church Facebook page had become a sort of repository of Church History and photographs. I’ve incorporated many of those from the earliest days of the church right up to the most current ones into the redesign of the website. I hope it will bring fond memories to those of you who are seasoned enough to remember some of the people in them or the events that occasioned their taking. Eventually, I’d love to add a dedicated Church History page to the site, showcasing documents and photographs that tell the story of MFC from its beginnings to today.
Another project close to my heart is reviving the Pastor’s Blog. One of my goals has been to make it easy for Jesse to communicate informally with the congregation through the website. While there are still a few technical details to work out, we’re much closer to making this a reality today than we were yesterday. This post is proof of that.
Now, I know it can be daunting to see the new guy come in and just sort of leap into doing things that you might have been wondering if you’d ever see again, but, as someone told me last Sunday before service, “You came with your skates on.”
To which I could not help but reply, “Yes I did. And anyone else who wants to hitch on can come along for the ride.” Because as Peter reminds us in his first letter:
7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. 8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.–1 Peter 4:7-11 NET
I came to MFC in that spirit, confident from the start that this was where I needed to be after a long absence away from any church whatsoever. Did God pick me up and send me here? I won’t claim that. I can’t say for certain. But I know this: it feels right, and I am committed to serving with all the energy and love I can muster.
–Brian
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