We are officially in the Lenten Season! Lent began last week (March 5) with Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season whose intention is to give us space and time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter. It is an opportunity for us to reflect on the reasons Jesus had to come and to be thankful for the gift of salvation. Lent is often marked by Christians choosing to fast from something for 40 days. Historically, this would be a fast from food or meat. More recently we have seen this expand to all sorts of things. People fast from sugar, television, social media, etc. The idea of the fast to use the time we get back for focusing on our relationship with God.

March is also Mental Health Awareness Month. The idea of this is to take some time during the year to recognize that we all need support and there is no shame in reaching out for help (if you are in need of mental health support you can always call 988 to speak with a trained volunteer). Mental Health Awareness Month has been an important piece of reducing mental health stigma in the United States.

So why am I talking about Lent & Mental Health Awareness Month? Last year a book was released titled The Anxious Generation (you can purchase it here). In it, the author laid out the shocking correlation between the acute rise of mental health challenges with kids and adolescents and the widespread adoption of social media and smartphones. The statistics in the book are shocking. The long and short of it is that the adoption of those technologies appears to be driving a severe mental health crisis among young people. It is very likely that they are driving a mental health crisis among adults as well but that hasn’t been specifically identified yet. The studies the book cites cannot prove that the mental health concerns are caused by smartphones and social media but the correlation they present is, at best, disturbing. The book has left many of us wondering, what do we do?

At Beacon, we would like to suggest that we use the Lenten season to step into this challenge. We want to encourage everyone (ourselves included) to take an honest look at our screentime. You can find the exact number in the settings of your phone (Apple & Android both offer this info). For some context, in the US the average phone screen time for a person with a smartphone is 7 hours per day. The demographic with the highest screen time is 16-24 year old at just shy of 8 hours per day. The lowest is 55-64 year olds at just over 5 hours per day. Any use over 2 hours per day starts to rapidly increase the likelihood of experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Take a look and see where you’re at when it comes to averages. The first time I checked my average screen time it was just shy of 7 hours a day. So you’re not alone if your number is higher than you’d like. Once you've taken a look at your screen time number, take some time to pray and evaluate your own use of your smartphone. Then, choose to fast.

Choose to set aside some time each day to fast from your phone and spend intentional time with your family. This can mean many things for many people. Maybe it is a complete fast from social media or maybe it is a period of hours each day that are phone free. Be creative and flexible with how you choose your fast! But we want to encourage you to use the time you get back to focus on your relationship with God and with your family. If you click here, you’ll find a list of 40 family activities that don't include any screens. Use your fasting time to try a few of them out! Let us know how it goes and how you see God working in the time you're spending with your families. We can't wait to see how He moves!

In the beginning of September, we talked about our mission statement and why we do what we do. In this blog, I just want to add to that. You often hear me say when I describe the gospel that it is “the best news on the planet." I believe that is true with all my heart! I also believe that the church is the best organization on the planet. And, at times, it is also the most screwed up, misguided, and potentially hurtful place on the planet.

All of us have heard the horror stories of pastors involved in sex scandals, money laundering, and really, really, poor choices. We’ve also heard of church leaders involved in many of the same things. At the extreme end, we’ve read and heard about child abuse, pornography, and things that would make any one of us distrust the church forever! Add to that things like power plays, politics, greed, and just plain selfishness and then churches become very unpleasant places to be. You see, the church is made up of people… people who are capable of the vilest and most hurtful things imaginable. It’s people who can inflict pain, vie for power, gossip, slander, exclude, and demean. On the other hand, it’s also people that are capable of the most beautiful, gracious, and kind things! Things that can encourage, strengthen, and bless entire communities…. Things that build up, fire up, and help us serve graciously! And it’s that kind of church that comes to be a blessing for an entire town where God has placed them! It’s that type of church we all long to be part of! A place where we grow, learn, and serve together.

So what does a church that is blessing its community look like? Thats a great question. Hopefully, it looks like us… wouldn’t that be great? I think our church is awesome! I’m blessed to be pastor here and grateful for such wonderful friends and servants who volunteer, encourage, give, pray, love, and really do bless this community… at least I think so!

But what really matters is what HE thinks. I’m always challenged by reading the opening chapters of the book of Revelation. There, the Lord addresses 7 churches in Asia Minor. He has both commendations and condemnations for nearly all of them. The assessments are sobering and encouraging. I encourage you to read them and ponder what the risen Lord might say to the angel of the church at Beacon….. would it be painful or promising? The churches addressed in Revelation were tolerating false teachings, complacent, dead, and had forsaken their “first love”. They were chastised. They were also persevering, faithful, and holding out the light to a dark world. What would Jesus say to us?

I mention that simply to remind us that it is the Lord's assessment that matters. A verse I quote often is Micah 6:8 “what does the Lord require of us? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”

Do your part to not let his church get complacent, or combative, political, power hungry, or irrelevant. Let’s all focus on not forsaking our “first love”, keeping our eyes on Jesus. Keep on caring for the broken, the widows, the poor. Let’s not tolerate false teachings, or attempt to erase sin. Let’s be genuine, repentant, and grateful for all Christ has done. And let us persevere… being found faithful to the end.

Jesus, I think, is not looking for the politically connected church, or the church that has all the bells and whistles, nor the church that is necessarily the busiest, he’s looking for churches that love his Word, love people, worship Him, trust Him, are grateful for their salvation and seek to show that grace to the community around them! In short…. To the church at Beacon: let’s keep on keeping our eyes on Jesus!

The Bible uses the analogy of the potter and the clay in a number of places (Isaiah 64:8: Romans 9:21; Jeremiah 18 as examples). In each case the Lord is depicted as the Potter and we are the clay. He makes that very clear in each instance… Reminding us that he is the Creator and we are the creation.

Here’s how one example from Isaiah 45 reads:
“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘what are you making’? or ‘your work has no handles’?"

Let me just say this… I used to relate more clearly to the portion of this verse that reads “your work has no handles." But time, ice cream, and too many home baked goods has, let’s just say added the “love handles“ to God‘s work :)

That aside, I love this principal in God’s word. The principal is this: he forms us exactly the way he planned. No mistakes, no whoopsies, no need for do overs. This is a principal that we need to continue to emphasize to our children and grandchildren. We clearly live in an age when people feel they are in their wrong bodies. This is nothing less than a wicked deception from the evil one! There are a whole lot of factors that play in to this deception, culture, social media, social contagion. But it all stems from evil and involves lies from hell itself!

The best defense here is a good offense, and that is found in Gods word. The examples of the potter, the portrait of a creator God who does all things well, the fact that we are “in his image”, not to mention the warnings “woe to him who argues with his maker”, suggesting a price to pay for our foolishness. And down the road we’re going to see that sadly play out.

I leave us with David’s beautiful words from Psalm 139:13-14, “For you formed my inward parts, You knitted me together in my mother‘s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; My soul knows it very well.”

Keep on believing this, teaching it to your children, grandchildren, and their friends! Continue to stand on truth!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus said these words to his disciples in John 16. James, Peter, and Paul all affirmed that we will have trouble in this world. We will face trials in our lives. This is an unavoidable reality of living in a fallen world. And we are left asking the question, how do we live with hope amid difficulty? Fortunately, we believe in a God who is faithful—one who gives us great hope, even in the midst of significant trials. In this blog, we are going to take a look at some Christian practices that allow us to experience the hope offered to us by the Father, even during a difficult time.

First, we must be anchored in Scripture. The Bible is God’s Word. It is his absolutely true and consistent special revelation of himself to his creation. He has left us with the Bible so that we know who he is, what his character is like, and how he has worked to redeem us through the work of Jesus. Without the revelation of Scripture, we are lost. This is especially true when we are facing hard times. When we have received a bad diagnosis, when someone has died, or when we are faced with economic uncertainty, we are often left feeling adrift on a sea of fear. Scripture anchors us in the midst of that. The Biblical truth that God has promised to care for us (Matthew 6:25-34) brings calm. The stories of God’s faithfulness we see in the lives of David, Peter, and Paul bring us assurance. The comfort of a Savior who weeps with those who weep allows us to grieve (John 11:32-36). The Bible offers us hope and comfort even when we feel all may be lost.

Second, we must be anchored in prayer. We are blessed to worship the one true God over all. And this completely holy and supreme deity allows us to boldly approach his throne and receive mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16). Our God wants to speak to us. He wants us to speak with him! Prayer is the way in which we communicate with our Father. When we are facing challenges and difficulty, prayer is the most vital source of support. This is most evident in the Psalms when we find the authors time and again throwing themselves before the Lord and begging for his help (Psalm 13 and 121 are great examples). Seeking our Father through prayer sustains us at all times, especially during hard times.

Third, we must worship. Any action we take during our day can be dedicated to the Lord as an act of worship. This includes our work, our hobbies, our parenting, and our chores. There is an ancient idea of practicing the presence of God in which even in the midst of the most mundane activities, we can focus our hearts on the Lord. That being said, creative activities and especially music often hold a special place in our hearts and minds when it comes to worship. Music can lift our hearts and encourage our souls in ways that many other activities cannot. A song I often return to when I am facing a difficult period of life is “Carry the Fire” by Andrew Peterson. I will admit, it's a bit sad. But it consistently returns to the hope we have in Christ even in the midst of our hardest days. I think my favorite lines are probably:

And we dream in the night
Of a feast and a wedding
And the groom in his glory
When the bride is made ready

What a gorgeous image of our future with Jesus. Give it a listen.

Finally, we must remain grateful. Gratitude is a regular command throughout Scripture. Paul tells us to always give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)! I encourage all of my counseling clients to practice gratitude by sitting down at the end of the day and writing down three specific events for which they are grateful from that specific day. This practice focuses us on what God has given us today and cultivates a heart of gratitude in our day-to-day lives. As hard as it can be, there is something to be grateful for on even our worst days. The day our son Micah was sent to the ICU at CHOP, I have never been more grateful for the support of this church family. The sunset on the day my father died might be the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. Life can be hard, but we can be grateful in the midst of all of it because of the God we worship.

Today’s blog post might feel like a bit of a downer. But in the end, what I hope we remember is that we have immense hope. The supreme God of the universe loves us. He knows us and desires a relationship with us. He has promised to bring a new heaven and a new earth for us to live in at the end of days. He has promised a bodily resurrection and an eternity in his glorious presence. As we face the difficulties of life, Scripture, prayer, worship, and gratitude remind us of these truths and remind us of the overwhelming hope we’ve been given.

Our reading this week continues to take us through the book of Psalms. Reading through Psalm 116, I came across this curious reminder in verse 15:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants."

This verse I have often quoted at funeral services. It’s a reminder that what is unbelievably painful on this side… Losing a loved one… Is precious on the other side, when God welcomes a child home. I also read this in the New Living Translation, which puts it this way:

“The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die."

I just got back from a nursing home, where a friend is on hospice. Unable to talk, barely opening his eyes, in bed and in pain, hardly dignified. It’s the picture that we often see at this stage of one’s passing. It’s hard to watch.

The author of life knows the exact number of our days, he knows the how and when, and he doesn’t let us in on those facts or figures. He does, however, tell us that he cares “deeply” when his loved ones are dying. I need that picture, that reminder, that promise, so that when I’m watching a loved one, or when it comes my time, that my Lord cares deeply. That doesn’t mean we don’t go through anguish, pain, crying, gut-wrenching emotions, and the like. He lets us walk through that stuff and I think we would all prefer that it were somewhat different, but alas, it is not.

There is some sense that our passing, our loved ones passing, our friends and acquaintances passing, is precious to our Father in heaven. He knows it and he’s able to give us what some have called “Dying Grace." It is a grace to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil, for as Psalm 23 says, “He is with us”.

Hospice is no fun. I am very grateful for those men and women who serve as hospice nurses and aids. They truly possess a beautiful gift from the Lord. And it’s equally beautiful to see families rally around the bedside of those who are clinging to life. I’m convinced that part of that “Dying Grace” that the Lord gives us is the people he places around us.

I don’t have a really happy ending to this blog. Just a reminder that the Lord himself “cares deeply" when we are walking through those treacherous valleys. And knowing that he cares that way, and that ultimately him welcoming us home is precious… Is enough for me.

He is for us.

Happy Fifth of July everyone! I may be writing a day late for the festivities and fireworks, but there are leftover hotdogs in my refrigerator, so as far as I am concerned, we are still in holiday mode! 

Yesterday, like most of you I’m sure, my family got together for Independence Day. We began at Galloway’s 4th of July parade and then filed back to our house down the street for hot dogs, potato chips, watermelon, and apple crisp: an American meal if ever there was one. Yet as I grilled and reflected on the events of the day, my mind couldn’t help but wander into the territory of questions and dilemmas. What should my relationship be with the fourth of July as a Christian? How should I talk about and behave and conduct myself on a day like today? 

I love living in America. I am grateful for my freedom. I am glad that I can worship openly. I am glad for the opportunities I experience. I am grateful for the diversity of cultures I get to enjoy aspects of, and I am grateful for the natural beauty in my corner of the country.

I am also grateful for and love my parents. They raised me in a strong, consistent, Jesus-loving family, and yet, they are not perfect. They are not the standard by which I measure righteousness. When I was very, very young, loving my parents meant making them just that. They were perfect. My dad was better than your dad. Their way was right (even when I didn’t like it) and I would argue with you if you tried to tell me it wasn’t. Immature love thinks something needs to be perfect in order to be loved. 

And yet as I grew up, I recognized flaws in them. They were humans, and thus subject to character defects. I imagine you had a similar experience. It would be absurd to expect perfection from our parents, and it would be equally absurd to suggest that seeing flaws in your parents means you don’t love them anymore. In fact, it would be backwards, as an ability to love and seek the good of someone in the midst of their flaws is arguably a more accurate picture of what Jesus modeled. A more difficult and more mature love.

I worry many of us evangelical Christians this time of year may make a similar mistake with our country. There is a lot to love here, and celebrating all of that this time of year may well be a good thing for your heart to participate in. That said though, we need to avoid doing it with immature love. Our nation is not the measure of all things. We can seek its good without making it that and engaging in a lesser form of love. In fact, I think we need to if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus. Let me offer three cautions in this vein. 

Firstly, we must be careful not to let our country become our measure of all things. America is a deeply flawed nation. I know this because I believe sin has warped every part of humanity and its endeavors. Our country is not exempt. While I think there is plenty of good, and think that we ought to seek the good of the nation where God has placed us (In line with what Jeremiah suggested to the exiles in Babylon in Jer. 29), that has always included questioning its values and calling out its sins. We should not be content to let our country dictate to us what is good when it comes to economics, or war and violence, or resource consumption, or sexuality, or anything else. We must be willing to challenge our country’s narrative of what is right and what is wrong. The stone in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in Daniel 2 strikes EVERY nation and does away with all of them. That includes our own. We can love the country God has placed us in without baptizing it as perfect.

Secondly, we must be careful not to let our country become our hope. On patriotic holidays like these, it is not uncommon to hear sentiments that paint our nation as a beacon to all others that, if lost, spells the doom of the world at large. We sometimes imagine that God has specially chosen our nation above all others for his purposes. This is an idolatry that Christians should be wary of, and never give the impression that we have bought into. Philippians 3:20-21 reminds us that our citizenship is with Christ in the heavens, and that we await the fullness of the kingdom of God- the perfect country. Tim Keller famously defined idolatry as “making good things ultimate things”, and in this season of patriotism, we should be on our guard for such a behavior. Christ’s kingdom is the only true beacon we watch for and turn the nations toward.

Finally, as we love and celebrate our country, we ought to be careful not to do it at the expense of our neighbors. There is no “America first” in God’s economy, and the needs of our families do not come before the needs of others. It is tempting, as we celebrate with our fellow Americans, to think that this family is uniquely deserving of our love, but Jesus himself told stories of foreign Samaritan neighbors and asked the question “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers… Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matt 12:46-50). As we celebrate our freedoms, we ought to use them for the good of our neighbors. Those who are fellow citizens, and those who are not.

I share all of this not to put a damper on your festivities, but so that we might all be on watch and seeking every way that we might become more like Christ. God has given us many gifts and it's worth expressing gratitude together this weekend, but as we express a love for our country, let us do it in a mature way, always seeking first and foremost the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Happy Independence day, church family!

Recently, I have been pondering the topic of mental health and its perception within the church. This is a topic that is often on my mind. I have spent most of my life as a part of a church family and I have spent most of my professional life working in the field of mental health. Over the years, I have had a front-row seat to see the stigma that is attached to mental health, particularly within the church.

As an example, recently a prominent pastor with an international audience spoke about mental health while promoting his most recent book. The quote is long but I think it is worthwhile. This pastor said, “Psychiatry and psychology is finally admitting the noble lies that they’ve been telling for the last 100 years. And the major noble lie is there is such a thing as mental illness. Now this isn’t new. You have Thomas Szasz back in the 1950s writing a book, who was a psychiatrist, The Myth of Mental Illness. There’s no such thing as PTSD. There’s no such thing as OCD. There’s no such thing as ADHD. Those are noble lies to basically give the excuse, at the end of the day, to medicate people.”

Over the years, I have encountered this opinion more frequently than I can communicate. While I would generally agree that we rely a bit too heavily on medication here in the United States, I can assure you that mental health is, in fact, real. There are several decades of research that support this, tens of thousands of personal stories that support this, and I can tell you plenty of my own experiences that support this. On top of this mountain of evidence is the reality that we live in a fallen world. The fall that sin introduced includes the fallenness of our bodies and our brains. Mental health challenges exist. Some are circumstantial, some are a result of poor choices, and some are organic (aka biologically based) but they are real.

The denial of the existence of mental health challenges, as we see in the quote above, is often based on a misapplication of Scripture. I have regularly seen and heard of people being told that they can address the challenge of anxiety symptoms by reflecting on Philippians 4:6 or Matthew 6:25-34. I have heard similar claims made in regards to addressing depressive symptoms by meditating on Philippians 4:8. For the sake of clarity, meditating on Scripture is always helpful and always beneficial and I will always recommend it. Simultaneously, for many people, this level of intervention simply isn’t enough to address the severity of their symptoms. Additionally, there are those who are facing biologically based challenges such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Suggesting to people who are suffering deeply that memorizing Philippians 4:8 will solve their problems is not only reductive, it’s cruel. Additionally, the theology that accompanies this thought process is often faulty. As I was researching the quote above, I came across a YouTube video from Truth Unites that I thought addressed the theological aspect of this very well. You can view it here.

At this point, you may be wondering why I’m discussing this topic. Since 2020, we have seen an exponential increase in diagnosed mental health challenges. This is an area of ever-increasing struggle in our culture, particularly amongst children, adolescents, and young adults. If we wish to pass the Gospel on to the next generation of people, we must be willing to wrestle with mental health, mental illness, and everything that entails. If we choose to continue to dismiss it as the quote above does, we will lose an entire generation of people. With that in mind, I’d like to offer a few suggestions for how we can move forward as believers who are willing to engage with the topic of mental health.

First, learn to listen. We are terrible listeners in the United States. In fact, I’d argue that most of the time we aren’t listening at all, we are simply waiting to speak. In James 1:19, the Lord counsels us to be slow to speak and quick to listen. When we hear from someone they are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, or anything else in the mental health category, let us remember to be QUICK to LISTEN and SLOW to SPEAK. The person sharing this doesn’t need your opinion, they need your compassionate, listening ears.

Second, care for yourself. If we want to be good listeners who offer a compassionate response to a suffering person, we must be healthy ourselves. Be sure that you’re spending time in God’s Word (jump into our Bible reading plan and chat group). Spend time in prayer and time meditating on God’s Word (apps like Dwell and Soul Space are great for this). Be active and eat nourishing food and spend time in God’s creation. Spend time with other people who share your faith and values. These sorts of practices allow us to remain spiritually and physically healthy, so we are ready to offer compassionate support to others.

Finally, educate yourself about mental health. Organizations such as Light University (operated by the American Association of Christian Counselors) offer courses such as Coffee Cup Counseling that will help you offer compassionate support to others. The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) has a bookstore full of great resources for learning about mental health from a Biblical perspective, including a series of mini books on specific topics. Organizations such as the National Institute of Mental Health and NAMI offer great educational resources as well.

Mental illness is real. Mental health is an important aspect of our lives. As we seek to engage others for the sake of the gospel, we must be able to recognize this and we must be willing to engage with the topic in a compassionate and helpful way. If you find yourself with questions about mental health, what it is, or what a healthy Christian response is, please feel free to reach out to me. I love talking about it!

Caught in a Storm…

For me, reading a missionary biography is like the time I got caught sleeping outside in a storm.

Laying in my hammock, on a high cliff overlooking the Caribbean sea, I looked up at the clearest of night skies. Breathtaking. The stars, the Milky Way, all filled me with utter wonder and amazement. It was perspective-giving. I prayed, whispering over and over again, "All glory to God, ALL GLORY TO GOD." In that moment I trusted the Creator completely.  In those moments of trust and perspective, I had no idea of the danger that was lurking...

The Storm's Arrival

At some point in the darkest moments of the night, after I had drifted off, fast asleep, certainly comfortable and content in my slumber, the strongest and loudest storm arrived with authority and force. A piercing crack of thunder jolted me awake. I jumped out of my hammock and ducked under a nearby straw roof to try to escape the fury of the sky's torrent of rain and the whipping wind. This storm seemed to threaten life itself. I remember thinking, "I've never heard thunder so loud or seen lightning so bright." More than once, I knew I was unsafe, surely this storm was beyond normal.

The Aftermath

And then, as quickly as it started, it rumbled off into the distance, leaving behind a cool, crisp air with a sweet and fresh scent. I didn't know it, and I hadn't expected it, but this storm was needed. This storm was sent by God to provide and sustain. It was exhilarating. It was frightening. It was life-giving.  I couldn't not act as if it hadn't happened.

That's exactly what happens to me when I pick up a great missionary biography/story. It's unexpected, perspective-giving, life-altering, not safe, but ultimately life-giving.

Lords of the Earth

It happened again recently as I read "Lords of the Earth: An Incredible but True Story from the Stone-Age Hell of Papua's Jungle" by Don Richardson. Stan Dale, at the moment of salvation, thought, "'Here was a call, not to a test of mere physical strength or cunning but of willingness to surrender oneself to what was evidently the ultimately moral ideal of the universe—the glory of God!'" Ultimately answering that call would lead him to total self-surrender and denial, leading him to give his entire life to reaching the Yali tribe in Papua New Guinea. I won't give away the story, but I promise it's a worthy read. Don't read it, though, if you aren't willing to be stirred and shaken.

Book Recommendations...

Here are my top 4 recommended missionary stories:

Lords of the Earth - by Don Richardson
Peace Child - by Don Richardson
And the Word Came With Power - Joanne Shetler 
Out of the Jaws of the Lion - Homer Dowdy

Here's the next one on my reading list... Who wants to read with me?

Bruchko - Bruce Olson

Pastor Rob

What a sad title that is. We find this verse in 2 Chronicles 21:20 speaking of a king in the southern kingdom of Judah whose name was Jehoram. Jehoram was the son of a very good king, Jehoshaphat, who had ruled for 25 years. Jehoram's rule spanned only 8 years.
We find the Lord's commentary on Jehoram, spoken through the prophet Elijah in 2 Chronicles 21:12-15:

“This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: you have not followed the ways of your father, Jehoshaphat or Asa king of Judah. But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.

Wow. He inherits the kingship. And leads the people astray spiritually to worship idols. He turns their hearts (and his) away from the Lord. This is always the first step toward heartache and choices that will lead to even more pain. He goes on to kill his own brothers. Whether this was out of fear, or envy, or paranoia, we are not told. We are only told they were better men than he. Here’s one of those many instances in scripture… why Lord? Why would you allow that? We, as often is the case, are not told. He brings pain to his own people. He dies a painful death and no one was sorry when he died.

Alone, in pain, without God, and without hope. And nobody regrets his expiration. I’m a fan of the hard passages in scripture. They challenge us, make us think, asking us to reflect on the sadder side of life (and they rarely make great Christian’s t-shirts. How about a coffee mug that reads, "His bowels came out and nobody cared”?) They probably would sell as quickly as the t-shirts Jobs wife put out: “Just curse God and die." Hmm…. maybe Nike tweaked their slogan off of that.

So where are we going with this? Fair question… this blog is supposed to be encouraging :)
Jehoram marked out his own path. He was captain of his ship. He was not going to serve the Lord as his father did! That fact is pointed out early as he aligns with wicked King Ahab by marrying one of his daughters. Daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Great life choice….
The point is, he turns away from the Lord. Again and again we see this recorded in Scripture and always with dire consequences.

My friends, walk with Jesus today. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Continue in his word and in the fellowship of like-minded men and women. Serve. Love. Show kindness. You and I will face a lifetime of being tempted to walk away from the Lord. I pray we never do. As Micah puts it, “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”. As Jesus simply said: “Follow me.” Or Paul, as he said later on, “Follow me as I follow Christ”.

Walking away from the Lord for whatever reason is a dark, dead end. The Christian life is largely about perseverance, trusting God in both the darkness and the light. Jehoram died to “no one’s regret." That is a painful epitaph. Do not let it be yours.

Beacon Day Camp is fast approaching, and for nearly 50 of our teenagers, that means that they are about to be in full-steam preparation mode beginning this weekend! This Sunday is our first day camp training, and while some are well-experienced with years of day camp under their belt, many are attending a training for the first time, totally new to the counselor life! With this in mind, I thought it appropriate to share with you a few things that you can be praying for as you support these students this summer!

Confidence

As I shared, many of our counselors this year are taking on the role for the first time, and our first training can sometimes feel like a ton of bricks. A dozen campers is no small responsibility, and many of our counselors truly realize that as we walk through lists of places to be, procedures to keep in mind, and lessons to talk about. Pray that everyone, but especially our new counselors, would feel confident that they can take on this challenge, and that Christ will walk with them into it.

Perseverance

As many of you know, two weeks of day camp can be an exhausting endeavor, and few people know that better than the teenagers who spend hours and hours with the campers. Please pray that our counselors would have patience when things get hard, encouragement when things don’t go their way, and joy no matter what for the work that they get to do in their campers’ lives.

Awareness of Christ’s presence

One of the reasons we have so many counselors every summer is because participating in day camp is a blast, and while that’s exciting, what that sometimes means is that it can be easy to forget that Christ and the Gospel are their first and foremost purpose. Pray that our students would not simply see day camp as a fun time or a nice thing to do, but that they would have a deep awareness (perhaps for the first time) of the way that God can use them, and the impact that the Gospel has as they share it.

Peace and Unity

Spending two weeks working with the same people, while exhausted, can easily lead to discord. Pray that our students, through God’s Spirit, would share the same vision, support each other when things get hard, and never take out their frustrations on each other.

Health and safety

When you get run down, you get sick! Pray for our counselors that they might stay healthy and rested throughout the two weeks of camp! 

Opportunity

Our hope is that every student participating in day camp would be presented with an opportunity to partner with Jesus in sharing the Gospel. Pray that God would arrange all things so that our students might connect miraculously with these campers and have a chance to share the Gospel in a meaningful way 

There’s lots else to pray for, but these are the things on my mind this morning. Many of you will be joining us in this day camp work as well, and so, in closing, I offer you this prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. Please be praying such things for yourself and for our students this Summer!

“O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the
night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive
far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your
law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having
done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may,
when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Last month we met with a small group of people discussing the topic of sharing our faith with others. It was a helpful class, especially interacting on struggles, mistakes, and what has been helpful. This area of our walk with the Lord, like so many others… is undergirded and really only possible through prayer. When a person comes to Christ, it’s first and foremost because the Holy Spirit is moving in their heart and mind to draw them, which reminds us to be praying to that end! As part of the Lords work, we also get to be part of that beautiful process as we sow seeds, water, and allow the Spirit of God to work through us in leading another person to the living water found in Jesus.

In preparing for that class I was reminded about what a wonderful and powerful thing prayer is. When our Lord said, "Apart from me you can do nothing", he wasn’t blowing smoke. It’s why we encourage one another in faithfulness and prayer. The apostle Paul said, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful (Colossians 4:2)." Paul was often asking for prayer and modeling it in his prayer for others. He understood its place in the life of believers. There is literally book after book written on this mysterious, powerful, and beautiful topic, and, I believe, none of them exhausts the subject.

A couple weeks ago, I referenced Psalm 18:19 where David says of the Lord, "He rescued me because he delights in me." I can’t get that out of my head…. Does the Lord delight in me? I believe the answer is yes for any of us who trust in the person of Jesus. We are his, he’ll never let us go, we are chosen, loved, redeemed by his precious blood. Then another question pops into my head: if he delights in me, why wouldn’t I continually talk with him throughout my day? Good question. So when Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing", he means that we are to seek him at all times and go to him with all of our concerns, and let him know when we are feeling particularly blessed and joyous, or even down and angry. He is closer than a brother and he delights in us! And when Jesus reminds us to "cast our cares upon him" he’s simply reminding us of the intimate nature of prayer. He’s saying come to me, abide in me, seek my face, walk with me today because, well, he’s fond of us. Prayer. It matters. More than we know.

I leave you with the simple statement that our Lord “delights in us”… walk and talk with him today.

Lately it seems as if I’ve been having a similar conversation over and over. The conversation centers around anxiety. “How am I going to handle this illness? How are we going to pay this bill? What if the surgery goes poorly? What if our son continues with some bad choices? How will the marriage survive this latest stressor?”

We all tend to have minds that kick in to overdrive, that play out worst case scenarios. The evil one loves when he is able to escalate our thinking leading down a road of “what ifs”. He is winning when we lose sleep, develop ulcers, and literally tremble over that which we cannot control. Fear, and its cousins, worry & anxiety, are enemies of the soul! They are not gifts from the Holy Spirit by any stretch of the imagination! When we come up against these evil forces looking to dominate our days and suck the joy from our lives, what are we to do?

You no doubt have heard me say on more than one occasion that there are 365 times that the scripture uses the phrase “fear not”. That’s probably because there are like 365 days every year that we need the reminder. Our God is a protector of his people! Our God is for us! Our God is a refuge! Our God shelters us under his wings! Our God is with us like a mighty warrior! Our God fights our battles! Our God sees us as the apple of his eye! Our God is the defender of the helpless! Our God walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death! Our God is a shield! Our God is a strong tower! All reminders to “fear not”.

Psalm 46 puts it this way “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. therefore we WILL NOT FEAR…. Though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." The sons of Korah pen this psalm. Do you think they never feared? Hardly. We all do, and they were part of “we all”. They were writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and writing this down for all of the Lords people who were prone to wander, and also prone to give way to fear! They, like us, needed this in writing… something they could memorize, ponder, refer back to, and hide away in their hearts. They, like us, needed this in writing so they could fix it in their minds. So often in scripture we are admonished to think well. Thinking well is not just “happy thoughts” or positivity. It is about a deep and profound confidence in God and his word (some helpful references are Lamentations 3:21; Philippians 4:8; 1 Peter 1:13).

We are encouraged to “call this to mind”, “ think on these things”, “gird our minds for action." We are to guard our thinking and align it with the truth of Gods word.

I’ve written on this topic before. But emotions like anxiety, fear, worry, and stress continue to weasel their way into the thinking of too many of us. What I’m saying is that this is an ongoing and relentless battle (because our adversary is cunning and relentless!) Think well my friends! Go to the Word! Hide Scripture in your mind and heart… and pull it out daily!

I leave us with the words from Isaiah the prophet:

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

One of the metaphors for the church family in scripture is “the Body of Christ." The body, we are reminded, is made up of many parts, each part contributing to the well being, and blessing, of the whole. When one part suffers, we all do. When a part rejoices, the whole is to applaud and give thanks with it. A beautiful picture of community painted by Gods word.

Every Christmas season our Elders send out a letter encouraging you to give to a gift for our staff. Every year this gift has blessed our pastoral staff in so many ways. This brief blog is simply to say thank you…. Again… for your kindness and generosity towards us! We were truly blessed by your amazing gifts on our behalf!

That’s it for this blog. Thanks.

Your support and generous hearts were like a collective hug from the Lord through Beacon.

We all felt it.

Blessings in 2024,
Beacon Pastoral Staff

Happy New Year! Hopefully, you and your family enjoyed the Christmas season. As 2024 begins, we have begun a Bible reading plan together. As you may know, we are reading through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order (more info HERE). Spending time in the Word is how we get to know the Father. And doing it together is how we develop a community that is centered on our relationship with God. It provides a place for us to ask and answer questions and sharpen one another as we grow in our walks with the Lord.

But what about our kids? Reading the entire Bible in one year is too large of a task for an 8-year-old or a 10-year-old. Not to mention there are portions of the Bible that kiddos aren't ready for. So how to we develop a love for Scripture and a knowledge of the Biblical story in our kids?

Bible reading plans for kids!! I initially figured out that these existed because I was looking for a reading plan to use with my own kiddos. I settled on using a plan from Crossway that covers the high points of the biblical story over the course of 20 days. They email me each day's reading, which makes it super easy to keep up.

In addition to the plans from Crossway, the publishers of the Explorer Bible and the Adventure Bible (both of which we highly recommend) have their own reading plans. The Explorer Bible has a 5 day reading plan that you can find in YouVersion. And the Adventure Bible has a whole series of reading plans on their website.

Any of these plans would be great. The big picture goal is to be able to set aside a few minutes each day to read Scripture with our kids. As we take time to read with them, they will become familiar with the story of the Bible and will get to know Jesus. And that is really our ultimate goal as parents.

So, you’ve signed up, and you’ve started reading… Now what?  You might be asking…

Why didn’t I get the email with all the details?
You may have signed up after the date that we sent the details.  Here’s a quick review…  We’ve recommended 3 options for reading.  You can access all 3 of these at https://www.beaconefc.org/biblereading

1. You can read in the Beacon Church App.  Click on Bible on the bottom right, click on Plan.
2. You can print the schedule that we’ve created and read in your own Bible.
3. You can buy a copy of “The One Year Chronological Bible”.

How can I connect with others who are reading the Bible?   
There are over 175 of us!  We’ve created a discussion group right in our Church App.  Here’s how to get connected… Open the App, click on the messaging icon in the top right, click on Discover, click on the “Bible Reading 2024” group, and then say hello!  In this discussion group, you’ll find camaraderie, a place to ask questions, and a place to connect to others.  Feel free to join, even if you don’t post.  We’d love for you to join us!  

How can I get some context to what I’m reading?
I’m glad you asked!  If you aren’t familiar with it, you must check out The Bible Project.  They’ve produced high quality short overview videos for every book of the Bible.  We would recommend that you watch the appropriate video each time we arrive at a new book of the bible.  You can find all of these videos for free at https://bibleproject.com/explore/book-overviews 

What happens if I fall behind?  
Don’t sweat it, but get caught up as soon as you can.  You may need to double up a few days.  You may need to set aside a chunk of time to read your missed days.  Frankly, if you fall too far behind, some have chosen to simply pick up where they left off.  Don’t beat yourself up and don’t quit!

What can I do if I have questions? 
First of all, we ALL have questions!  Here are some options for when you have questions.  

1. Ask your question in the Bible Discussion Group (see above).
2. Ask your Pastors.  Pastor Pete knows everything…  ok, that may not be the case, but your pastors would love to chat with you and help you find answers.  We may not know the answer, but we can certainly help you find the answer.  Contact Pastor Pete (petenelson@beaconefc.org), Pastor Josh (joshcervone@beaconefc.org),  Pastor Dan (danvandzura@beaconefc.org), or myself, Pastor Rob (robthompson@beaconefc.org).
3. Google your question.  Now, please be careful… I know it will shock you, but there’s a lot of wrong information out on the internet.  So, make sure the answers to your questions are coming from reliable sources.
4. Buy a commentary.  Commentaries are books that others have written that give explanation to what you are reading.  Some commentaries are very thorough and only cover one book of the bible.  Some other commentaries are more basic, and will cover many books.  See our Study Tools page on our website for some recommendations at www.beaconefc.org/bible.

We're so glad you've joined us on this journey through the Bible!  “When you open your Bible, God opens His mouth.” — Mark Batterson

Pastor Rob

Our verse for 2023 was found in Micah 6:8 it reads as follows: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

We are walking through a week where we say goodbye to one year and welcome in 2024. The year ahead will be full of promise, challenges, fears, triumphs, and a whole lot of unknowns!
We do not leave our verse for this past year in the rear-view mirror. The injunction from our Lord is lifelong and good. But you knew that…. So I’m only stating the obvious for any man or woman who is seeking to walk with the Lord.

This blog is just a simple little reminder of the way our Lord calls us to live.

Act justly: What we do and say matters. We are to not take advantage of others. We choose virtue, grace, kindness at every turn. We also combine that with the call to be truth tellers. In our current culture, it is seen as virtue to affirm everyone’s choices. I would argue that that is not kindness at all. So while we love well, we also speak the truth in love. There’s more to say on this, but we’ll leave it there.

Love mercy: As Christians, we are the recipients of a mercy that is off the charts! Our sin deserves punishment, but trusting in Christ's work on the cross delivers mercy, a mercy that forgives and presents us faultless before God! In turn, we are called to be givers of mercy and grace. In 2024, let’s consider how we might do that in our world that maybe doesn’t deserve it, but then neither did we.

Walk humbly with our God: Ponder the opposite with me for a moment…. is there a way to walk arrogantly with our God? Or pridefully? A cursory reading of the New Testament reveals that Jesus’s harshest words were aimed at those who were doing just that. Walk humbly… that comes about when we truly realize exactly who our Lord is: Holy, omnipotent, perfect, wise, gracious.. and that he is the Creator, we the creature. Walking humbly with our Lord begins with waking up every day, thanking God for his gift of another day, realizing we don’t get another breath unless he ordains it, and being grateful for it all. From that position, we can read his word, love others, pray, get involved in church, serve, and continually discover what a humble walk looks like.

May your new year find you walking with the King everyday, and may it be blessed and filled with the joy, confidence, peace, and wonder that comes from following humbly by his side!

As I write this morning, we find ourselves just a few days away from the arrival of Christmas. The advent season is drawing to a close, and before we know it, Christmas morning will have come and gone.  

The advent and Christmas season is one of the richest traditions that we have been left with as Christians living in the 21st century, and yet, we all know that tradition can easily turn into traditionalism- walking through motions and checking boxes on our way to whatever comes next, with not much thought given. Even Christmas with its vibrant colors and symbols, wonderful music, and staple Scripture readings has the potential to become such an empty occasion. We might ask the question, is it nothing more than that? Should Christians forego it altogether and just celebrate the incarnation of Jesus everyday? Does relegating it to December just devalue it?

While tradition has the potential to sour, it’s worth noting that God himself seems to be one who likes the idea. He offers the Jews a number of feast days and seasons of reflection in the Law. (Genesis 1 even goes as far as to suggest that God ordered his world so that it would highlight and keep mark of such seasons and celebrations- They are mentioned as God orders the celestial bodies in the heavens). So what do we do with tradition? Why did God, and so many church fathers hand them down to us, and what can we do with the next few days in order to make best use of our traditional celebrations?  

Above, the question arose: “shouldn’t we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus everyday”? Indeed we should, in fact that’s the ideal, but what God and so many who have gone before us in church history seemed to have grasped is that it is within our humanity to fail miserably at this. Each day I am inclined to give attention to my own worries, my own responsibilities, my own comforts, and my own rote motions above and before anything more sacred or meaningful. It is who I am as a flawed person. Now I could stand there in moments I realize such and flog myself, trying to beat myself into submission and make myself care about the incarnation more, but we all know that tends to yield little result. What can be done to alter my cares? What can be done to teach me to think about such realities?  

One answer is practice, A.K.A the true intention of tradition. Each year, our Christian calendar sets aside concentrated time for prayerful reflection on the incarnation of Jesus. Within that season we engage in meaningful visual symbols like lighting candles- literally watching light overcome darkness. We eat rich feasts with family and fill the hungry with good things, as Mary so eloquently reflected the Messiah would do. We give more generously as we have witnessed God do, and we wait with anticipation, slogging through the dark cold of winter until the joy of Christmas- the incarnation dispels it all.  

Now if all of that ceases on December 26, then perhaps traditionalism has won the day, but the true intention of these traditions was to be a sort of exercise. In the same way that I might do morning pushups to get my body used to working unfamiliar muscles and make their use more natural (unfamiliar to me at least… I am not exactly a peak human specimen), so tradition places our bodies, hearts, and minds in unusual positions, exposing us to Christian realities, making them more familiar. Our bodies learn, and our hearts follow. Once we step into the new year, we do so with a month of intensive training on how to think about and act on the miracle of the incarnation. The intention is, armed with such joyful discipline as the Christmas season is, that we walk into the rest of our year ready to begin worshiping each day with the incarnation in mind. On the days we don’t feel like it, we consider our prayerful Christmas training, and allow it to carry us, trusting the Spirit to call our hearts into following along. In the cold dark of winter we sang “Oh come emmanuel”, longing for the joy of Christmas, and at a dark funeral in July, I can recall that same prayerful desire for the arrival of Christ to set all things right. On Christmas morning I lit all 5 advent candles as I read the arrival of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, feeling all the wonderful joy of the shepherds, and on a Sunday morning in September, I call to mind that joy in order to sing a little louder along with my congregation. I’ve received my Christmas training, now I use the muscles it has toned.  

And of course, we are all human. The reality is that by November, that joy will begin to be forgotten. My spiritual muscle memory will fail me. I’ll lose connection with my wonder at the incarnation…. Luckily, advent season will roll around again in just a few weeks, and I’ll pick up my training where I left off  Whether you’ve been at it for the last 3 weeks or are just beginning, there’s still time Engage in the traditions individually and communally, and capture those moments of lament, anticipation, and joy. They’ll serve you well in the year to come as you worship the Word made Flesh and live as he did.  

Merry Christmas, Church family!

Matthew opens his gospel with a genealogy. We talked about that fact this past Sunday. If you are anything like me, you likely skim or completely skip the genealogies that are in the Bible. They tend to be long and rambling. More often than not, they are about people who are completely unknown to us and to whom we have no connection. I suggested this past Sunday that Matthew’s genealogy is different from the ones we find in the Old Testament. There are several reasons for this. First, it is intentionally crafted to have 14 generations in each of its three sections. Matthew left generations out in order to achieve this. Second, this genealogy is tracing the line of the Messiah but it includes a host of notorious figures from Israel’s past. Evil kings, murderers, adulterers, and morally loose women are all included. The most interesting difference about Matthew's genealogy is its inclusion of 4 women (5 if we include Mary). This was unheard of in ancient genealogies.

There are a large number of theories about why these women are included. The most interesting and cohesive theory is that Matthew is using the women as proxies for periods of Israel’s history. In other words, each woman is pointing back to a specific moment in the history of the nation when they lacked faith. Matthew is contrasting the faith of these gentile women with the faithlessness of Israel. 

The first woman to be mentioned parallels the Patriarch period. Her name is Tamar. She was the (probably) gentile daughter-in-law of Judah. Judah was the one through whom the Israelite royal line (and therefore Messianic line) would come. Yet when Tamar married his two sons and they died without heirs, he refused her his third son. She deceived him into conceiving twins with her and thus preserved his line. Her desire to preserve his line showed a level of faith that Judah lacked. Pastor Dan did a great job looking at this story this past summer.

Rahab is the second woman who is mentioned. She was a prostitute living in Jericho when Israel arrived and her story parallels the Wandering generation. When Israel arrived at the promised land after the exodus, they sent in spies and decided that the people in Canaan were too powerful. God told them they would wander in the desert for 40 years until the entire generation died. Israel has now returned to Canaan under Joshua’s leadership and again sends in spies. The spies are found out and being chased. Rahab hides them. She showed great faith in the God of Israel by risking her own life to hide the Israelite spies. This is another example of a gentile woman displaying faith in comparison with the faithlessness of the Israelites.

After Rahab comes Ruth. Ruth was from the nation of Moab. Moab was a result of the events that transpired between Lot and his daughters in Genesis 19:30-38. Ruth lived during the time of the judges. This was an incredibly dark period in Israel’s history. They were led by men and women who were at best morally compromised. And amid this darkness and horror, we find a Moabite woman acting with great faith. She leaves her people and moves to Israel with her mother-in-law to live in poverty. She goes out to glean barley so they can eat. She displays great faith in the God of Israel to care for and provide for her and her family. While she is doing so, Israel is “doing what was right in their own eyes” and displaying a horrifying level of faithlessness.

The final woman to be mentioned (other than Mary) is Bathsheba. She is the only one who is not mentioned by name. In the genealogy, she is called Uriah’s wife. It is possible that her inclusion is to highlight Uriah’s faith in comparison to the faithlessness of David. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had Uriah murdered in battle. Through that story, Uriah (who was a gentile) was as faithful as a person can be to both God and to David. Uriah’s story is Bathsheba’s story and it is one of faith contrasted with faithlessness.

These stories and the faith they represent can teach us a great deal. They show us How God providentially preserved the Messianic line in times that were filled with apostasy. They show us that God cares deeply for Jews and Gentiles alike. They call us to repentance and humility as we see gentiles welcomed into the family of God through the life and work of Jesus. Across history, there have been many stories of faith in the midst of faithlessness. Allow the stories of these faithful women to encourage you today.

This is a psalm of David, who is recounting the goodness of his God and reflecting on his faithfulness. He uses the phase “his love endures forever” to underscore each statement. This thanksgiving I thought I'd use that same format to pen my own song of praise!

Let’s give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
his love endures forever.

He is the God above all gods,
his love endures forever.

There is no one like you, O Lord,
his love endures forever.

You formed us in our mother’s womb,
his love endures forever.

We are fearfully, carefully, and wonderfully made,
his love endures forever.

You go before us like a mighty warrior,
his love endures forever.

You are everywhere present and nothing catches you off guard,
his love endures forever.

To him who has power over failing economies,
his love endures forever.

Who commands the storm, the wind, and waves,
his love endures forever.

And puts rulers, presidents, governors into power,
his love endures forever.

To the God who makes the eagle soar, the lion roar,
his love endures forever.

He gives sight to the blind, and sometimes not,
his love endures forever.

He cures cancer, rights wrongs, offers peace,
his love endures forever.

Who sometimes doesn’t heal,
his love endures forever.

Who allows suffering, difficulty, and devastating heartbreak,
his love endures forever.

Who sticks closer than a brother,
his love endures forever.

He sends the gentle breeze, the warm sunshine,
his love endures forever.

He’s in the blizzard, sends the lightning, orchestrates the rain,
his love endures forever.

His is not surprised by my sin,
his love endures forever.

He does not need my love or goodness,
his love endures forever.

He never loves me any less,
his love endures forever.

His grace is sufficient… for everything,
his love endures forever.

He forgives,
his love endures forever

Runs after the wayward,
his love endures forever.

He blesses, encourages, and frees us,
his love endures forever.

How good and right it is to praise and adore him,
his love endures forever.

Today is November 24, 2023- the day after Thanksgiving, which means it is officially legal to begin listening to Christmas music. I’m sorry to tell you that if you’ve already been doing it, you have been out of bounds. I often make a few people (my wife foremost) a bit grumpy with such insistances, but there’s simply no way around it.

While I may be a stickler on keeping Christmas music to Christmas time, don’t mistake my strictness for disdain. There are few things I love more than the advent season, and few elements of the season I am more thrilled to return to than its music. Among all of its rich gifts, there are few greater things Christian history offers us than the overwhelming beauty of its Christmastide musical tradition. We are at no shortage of incredible hymns and songs to celebrate the season with. I myself have a playlist of a few hundred of them that I break out each year.

Christmas centers on the story of the birth and incarnation of Jesus, and as such carries with it a host of feelings and emotional and spiritual realities that can be overwhelming- certainly more than simple words can process. Music gives us the ability to dive into the emotions and realities that we encounter in the nativity stories. Sometimes it even does us the unexpected favor of walking us into a new emotion or understanding that we had not yet participated in. In order to encourage you to engage with this practice this year, I thought I’d supply you with a few songs from my own playlist, and how they help me interact with the story more fully each year.

Weary Longing
The Christmas story only arrives after years of pain and waiting, and it’s best experienced within that context. All of us arrive at Christmas carrying the pains of our year, and it’s worth engaging with the weariness and longing that would have been on the hearts of those first century saints. There’s probably no better or more famous engagement with that pain than “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. 

Re-ignited Hope
In the midst of the pain and waiting, the nativity story casts our first hope for change. Even before we celebrate, there’s a certain thrill that crescendos inside us when we sense the beginnings of God’s movement. Just as the longing puts us in a place of knowing we need a savior, re-ignited hope puts us in a place where we are ready to be excited by his arrival. The first song I have is one reflecting on Zachariah, who is the first to sense have this turning point revealed to him. The other  is by Josh Garrels. While “Gloria”  is likely unfamiliar to you, I love the way that it begins with the cold and dead environment of winter, and swells into the story of Jesus’s arrival.

Joyful Celebration
While there’s something to be found in feeling the mysterious hope of the first Christmas participants, there’s also an undeniable and unabashed celebration in the story. The angels that greet the shepherds create a chorus that is altogether exuberant. Songs like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” are hard to beat when we want to interact with that feeling (Rend Collective’s version may be the most celebratory I’ve heard)

Hushed Wonder
One thing I find unique about the Christmas story is the tone of wonder involved in it all. There’s so much unexpected about its contents that it truly subverts our expectations of the future and idea of who God is. It involves people and places we didn’t expect and plays out more strangely than we might have guessed. I think it’s worth sitting in that wonder sometimes. Just pondering that maybe things aren’t always as they seem, and that God is up to something we didn’t necessarily anticipate. Songs like "O little Town of Bethlehem" and "Bethlehem, a Noble City" reflect on the strange and backwater settings of the stories, and "Joseph" reflects on the wonder and perplexity that must've existed within the spirits of those involved.

Refreshing Restfulness
There are likely a hundred other songs and a hundred other feelings I could associate with this season and story, but the last I'll note is restfulness. In the midst of all the chaos of our world (and of the Christmas story), there is something wonderful about the note in Luke's Gospel, at the end of the birth story, where he notes Mary treasuring and pondering it all. Her life would not go on to be easy, but she seemed to have a recognition in the midst of it all of the wholeness that was coming with her son . The final songs on my list are classics: "Silent Night" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"- I love them. They give me permission in the midst of chaos to recognize the birth story, despite all its own chaos, as the place where silence, rest, and wholeness enter the world.

My life is hectic. There is no way around that. I work in ministry full-time, run a business, and have five kids. Layer on top of that a smartphone and access to unlimited entertainment and media and we have a recipe for disaster.

My suspicion is that if you described your life, it would be similar to mine. A sense of constant business. There is always something to do, somewhere to be and someone to talk to. It’s overwhelming.

What is the answer to this hectic, permanently busy life we are all living? John Mark Comer’s answer in his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, is the spiritual disciplines. Initially, that answer may seem like a typical, trite church answer. You’re overwhelmed? Just pray more. It’ll be fine!

Comer’s take on the problem of our modern life and his solutions aren’t new but they are refreshing. I have read and loved Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster and The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg. They are outstanding texts on engaging with Christian spiritual disciplines.

Foster and Ortberg are towers on the landscape of modern Christianity. Their works are outstanding and oft-quoted by Comer. The difference is that Comer has lived his life as a Millennial and everything that implies. Foster and Ortberg have not. And this makes all the difference.

The Problem
Comer’s life as a Millennial is what allows his unique vision into the hectic nature of life in 2023. While older texts will focus on the disciplines and how we ought to engage with them, Comer begins with what life today is.

The first half of the book takes its time exploring life in the US in the 2020s. Comer examines the impact of being over-scheduled, always accessible, and the presence of smartphones and social media in our lives.

He presents and explores these topics through the lens of his own experience. He is never judgmental or accusatory. He is simply saying this is how my life was and I bet yours is a lot like that, too. I was tired. Aren’t you tired?

The communal answer from most Millennial adults would be a resounding yes. I am willing to bet that the answer from many people who are a part of Gen Z would be a resounding yes, as well.

Modern life is overwhelming and exhausting because we rush from one place to another without time to process things. Many of us feel as though this is the only way because we’ve never seen someone living differently. But that is only because we haven’t been paying attention.

The Fix
The solution to a hurried life is to slow down. This seems obvious and impossible. How do you slow down when you’re working, your spouse is working, your kids are on 1.7 million sports teams, and you have to cook dinner tonight?

I had the same question and my jaded mind was ready to quickly reject Comer’s trite church answers. But those trite answers never came. Instead, he gave answers that are thousands of years old and yet immediately useful.

The four practices that Comer suggests are silence and solitude, sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. Again, each of these are ancient practices that many others have written about. Comer has a way of presenting them that immediately connects with those who are living in our current reality.

Silence and solitude are at a minimum in our world of noise and thunder. But each morning, we can sit quietly, read Scripture, and pray. These quiet moments of meditation allow us to begin our day with silence and in God’s presence, and this sets a tone of rest for our entire day.

Sabbath is setting time aside for worship and rest. Comer talks about how he begins his family sabbath as the sun sets on Friday. They turn off devices, intentionally unplug, and choose to engage in activities they enjoy and can use as a means of worship. This continues until the sun sets on Saturday.

Few of us maintain a sabbath practice like the one Comer describes. But we all need rest. And the Bible commands it. Comer makes a compelling case for sabbath and how it will improve our lives. He points out how our minds are able to reset without the input of social media, how our souls can catch up to our bodies, and how we can be refreshed through worshipping our King.

Simplicity is the practice that will likely cut closest to home for many of us. This is the idea that we are to be content with what we need, not with what our culture tells us we should have.

It is no secret that the US is a consumer-driven culture. We are told that we constantly need more, more, more, more. Comer points out that this overconsumption forces hurry into our lives. We have to be constantly hustling for more money so we can buy more stuff and have our dreams come true.

As we seek simplicity, we are looking to identify our needs and trust the Lord to meet them. We also must consider the impact of our consumer-driven choices on others and the larger environment.

Simplicity forces us to ask if we are purchasing products that are making other human lives worse. Are we unintentionally purchasing products made by slaves or wage slaves? We have to consider the environmental impact of purchasing clothes that are intended to only last a few months rather than a few years.

This is the practice that most directly convicted my wife and me in our buying practices. We have too much. Our kids have too much. We have very rarely, if ever, considered the sustainability of our purchasing choices. As we seek simplicity, we have begun to ask these questions, and we have begun to change our decisions.

The final practice Comer suggests is slowing. And it is exactly what it sounds like. Slowing down. In the slowing chapter, Comer makes 15 specific suggestions about how we can slow our day-to-day lives.

The one that stood out to me like a beacon was choosing to drive the speed limit. I have had a driver's license for 23 years. And for every single day of those 23 years, I have driven FAR faster than the speed limit. I have been pulled over 25–30 times in my life and every single time it has been for speeding.

I chose to follow this suggestion and began driving at the speed limit. The first 3 or 4 times I did this, I felt like I was going to die from a panic attack. I’m not exaggerating. My chest got tight. I had a hard time breathing; I felt completely overwhelmed by anxiety. That’s normal, right?

As I have continued this practice, I have found a deep sense of peace and joy in it. There is something satisfying about driving at a slower pace and enjoying the experience. Slowing down is good for us. I should do it more often.

In the end, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is one book among many about spiritual disciplines. However, Comer’s Millennial viewpoint on life has made spiritual disciplines more accessible than ever to a new generation of adults who desperately need them.

I am writing this blog on All Saints day. All Saints Day is the day that follows Halloween. In fact, Halloween only exists because of All Saints’ Day! And I’ll probably finish this up on All Souls’ Day which is tomorrow.

A brief history on all 3. All Saints’ Day was first. The church began commemorating its great leaders and heroes who had died, especially those who suffered martyrdom, and they would observe them on the dates they died. The faithful would gather at their tombs and celebrate communion, sometimes using the top of the tomb for the communion table. Later on, many churches were built over these sites. Over time the number of saints and days became too numerous so it was decided to mark one day per year as All Saints Day.

Halloween history is somewhat uncertain, but most likely very pagan. It was believed that this was a night when ghosts and witches were most likely to wander about. The night was marked by bonfires and feasting (which obviously, years later, would lead to handing out Twix bars to young children).

All Souls Day was the day following All Saints’ Day. And prayers would be offered for those who had died and were possibly in purgatory (a troubling thought). One source says, “They died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls." It's hard to believe that’s not ALL of us.

Why am I writing this? Because I believe “All Saints’ Day “ is a great idea, and a wonderful way to remind ourselves of lives well lived! And maybe we don’t do that often enough. All Souls’ Day for me would be a waste of time because I do not believe that the Bible teaches the concept of purgatory, (and if there is one, it happens to you and I while attending junior high school, or when we’re forced to listen to a political debate). And Halloween? Weird day that still belongs to our sovereign God! Have fun giving out candy and loving on neighbors!

Having served as pastor for a long time now, I’ve had the honor of presiding over many funerals. Standing with many of you by gravesides and in funeral homes and reflecting on precious grandparents, moms, dads, spouses, aunts, uncles, and too many children. I sometimes go through my files and prayer cards just to reflect and to thank God for saints who have moved on to glory. Our Lord doesn’t want us living in the past, but it is good to remember the past and especially those saints who have already graduated and are inhabiting that beautiful place called heaven. There’s a great old hymn we would sometimes sing growing up, it’s entitled “For all the Saints”. Here are a few lines from it:

“For all the saints who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed….”

“Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might, thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight, Thou, in the darkness drear, there one true light; Alleluia! Amen."

Take some time today and thank our Lord for the wonderful examples of faith who have gone on before us! (And in case you are unaware, the biblical definition of a saint is simply a person who is trusting in Christ alone for salvation!)

I’ve been reading through the book of Proverbs for many years now. It’s 31 chapters easily coincide with most months number of days. Of course, I don’t read one every day, so the schedule gets messed up! But, if you’ve never read the book of Proverbs I encourage you to take a month, and do so, reading one chapter per day. You will be blessed! proverbs are short, pithy, wise sayings mostly from the pen of the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon. Proverbs is a unique book in that the verses we find there are not necessarily promises, they are observations on how life generally works. In other words, this is the way life goes… mostly. For example “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is older he will not depart from it” we find that in 22:6. And yet we all know parents who did a wonderful job raising children only to experience the heartbreak of their walking away from God and heading in the opposite direction. So the proverb is not wrong… it’s just that life doesn’t always go according to plan. So the teacher is saying it’s good to train your child to love the Lord because usually that will help them on the road to blossoming into a follower of Christ!

There are so many great proverbs that deal with how we are to handle, view, and think about our money. One reminds us that it’s really not our money at all, it can easily “sprout wings “ (23:5) and fly away. The overall theme of the book of Proverbs is to remind us that it is wisdom we should run after, and it is a wisdom begins with our Lord “ the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (1:7; 9:10).

Listen to these nuggets of wisdom:
“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops” (3:9)
“Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf” (11:28)
“The rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the Maker of them all. (22:2)
“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done” (19:17)
“The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor “ (22:9)
“Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil “ (15:16)
“Riches won’t help on the day of judgement, but right living can save you from death “ (11:4)

I've entitled this “Proverbial Financial Planning." And as you can see, the Book of Proverbs says very little about financial planning. However, it says volumes about the wise use of our money, and what’s most important. What proverbs doesn’t say, oddly enough, is that money is important. It does speak of a good work ethic, of the inherent dangers of being lazy, about caring for the poor, and about the uncertain nature of riches. What the book focuses on mainly, is, perspective… Having a heavenly perspective… One that does not operate out of greed, or selfishness, and does not look to hoard more and more for ourselves. Money is a wonderful tool to use for good, but it makes a horrible master. And therein lies the rub. The very real danger is that money makes our decisions, captures our attention, and pushes our trust in the Lord to the periphery. Jesus put it succinctly “no one can serve two masters, you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

You may read this, and be disappointed… I thought Pastor Pete was going to give me some sound investing advice. Sorry for that, but that’s just not my wheelhouse. However, the clear, powerful, and obvious message of Proverbs is to seek the Lord with everything we have, and as we do that, we find joy whether we have this worlds riches or not. And we learn that the best use of our money involves blessing others and using it as the Lord directs. The way we best plan is to have a healthy “fear of the Lord” and to not let money capture our hearts. Or as Proverbs 4:23 puts it : ”above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Last week Pastor Pete recounted for us the story of a great storm that threatened the rebellious prophet, Jonah. This seems appropriate, as I am not sure it has stopped raining this week since that passage was read. Storms, winds, and rains have been the theme of this week. Some start to the Autumn season we’re having.

That said, it has made for a fitting backdrop to our Jonah stories. I have gotten double doses of this prophet’s tale, as aside from just Pastor Pete’s sermon, I have been reading a reflection on the story in Eugene Peterson’s Under the Unpredictable Plant. In this book, written primarily to those pastoring, Peterson reflects on the story of Jonah as a warning against what pastors can become. While his primary audience is church leaders; however, he brings out a point that I think is appropriate for all of us to reflect on.

The image of Jonah on a boat in a storm will actually become a significant one in the rest of Scripture. Jesus and his disciples will twice find themselves in similar scenarios in the Gospels, and toward the end of Acts Paul will share in a similar scene. Peterson suggests that there is something worth watching as these accounts progress.

Jonah’s storm story begins when he attempts to take charge of his life and role. Instead of following the word of God to Nineveh, he sets sail for far off lands, paying a hefty sum of money (it is possible to interpret the wording of the book of Jonah to mean that he actually purchased the entire ship in order to assure his passage to this far off country). That control however is thwarted by a storm that doesn’t care about his efforts or his money. The sailors likewise attempt to throw cargo off of the ship. In an act of desperation they pray to their Gods, and implore Jonah to do the same: something he, notably, never actually does.

Fast-forwarding to the Gospels, we see Jesus handle such a scenario on two occasions. First, when he awakens to the disciples futile attempts to row their boat to safety, he invokes the power of God in a simple “peace, be still”. In the second scenario we see him, arriving from a prayerful retreat, tell his frenzied followers not to be afraid.

Finally, in Acts 27 we see Paul as a prisoner on his way west. When the captain of the ship refuses Paul’s sailing advice and they find themselves in a storm, it turns out that Paul has spent the night below deck in prayer, meeting with a messenger of God who has assured his safety and the safety of the crew. While the crew struggles to try and save their ship, Paul calls them all to quiet trust and, while shipwrecked, all are saved.

The through-line in all of these stories, Peterson points out, is what happens when the illusion of control meets the storm. We are people who are often determined to control our circumstances, secure our futures, and determine our own courses. We expend time, money, and authority to try and do all of these things, yet when the storm comes, it cares for none of that. In the storm, it’s as if the world has returned to the chaotic state of Genesis 1:2, and while it might feel as though we’ll be drowned in the deep, we might also remember that in Genesis 1:2 we found the Spirit of God hovering just over the waters, preparing to order the universe.

The point Peterson makes is that in these moments of storm, our lives are stripped back to the most elemental parts. In the storm, there is just us and God, and thus, there is simply, in Peterson’s words, “Prayer or prayerlesness”. Those are our only two true realities. In the storm, Jesus invited his disciples into trust: a surrender of their false control, and a chance to participate in God’s actual control. Jonah is the rejection of this offer, and Paul the positive example.

With all that said, he makes his final point:


The reality is that many of us, like Jonah, work long and hard to control our circumstances, often trying to keep them comfortable and free from the hard work that God is calling us to as followers of Jesus. Storms are the unavoidable chance for us to recognize this, and by the grace of God, they are invitations to cease such activity and entrust ourselves to God in prayer. When the storm comes, will prayerlessness and control be the theme of our response as it was for Jonah, or will we, as Paul, take the chance to connect with God and allow him to refine us toward our actual callings?

This past August, my family and I spent 7 days in New Hampshire. We were blessed to attend Week 7 of Camp Spofford’s Family Camp. The photo below was taken while we were there. It was an awesome week of rest, fellowship, family time, faith development, and fun. Our days were filled with canoeing, kayaking, hiking, tubing, fishing, and much more. This was the second year we have gone to Camp Spofford and I can tell you that I am already looking forward to next year. 

You may be wondering why I am rubbing in my incredible summer vacation now that we are in the midst of the craziness of September. It is because, for me, Camp Spofford equates to rest. It is a place my family can go and can simply rest. We have an entire week together in which we have no responsibilities and can just be.

Rest is an important part of our Christian walk and is often ignored in an American context. We are commanded in Scripture to rest. The standard is set for us by God himself in Genesis 1 & 2 when he rested after creating. Later, when giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, God commands his people to keep the Sabbath holy by resting and dedicating the day to God. He specifically commands that no human or animal is to work on the Sabbath. This theme of rest continues throughout the Bible. If this is an important Scriptural command, it begs the question why is rest so important?

Rest allows us to create sacred time in our lives. When we rest we are able to more clearly focus on worship, prayer, study, etc. We often mark this sacred time by attending Sunday worship services and other Christian holidays throughout the year. But setting aside time for rest allows us to set time aside for sacred purposes and draw closer to God.

Resting requires us to trust God’s provision. God is sovereign and has promised to provide for all of our needs. By taking a regular time of rest in our lives, we are trusting that even in the midst of our non-working, God will provide.

Rest allows us to experience physical, mental, and spiritual renewal. As we rest, we create space for ourselves to decompress from the stresses of daily life. We can step back from some of our responsibilities and take a deep breath. It allows us to have space to reconnect with those we love and enjoy having fun with one another. As we do this, we are renewed!

Rest is a counter-cultural action to take in a culture that worships work. Productivity can be a healthy goal but can be a slave-driving idol as well. Our culture is overwhelmed by consumerism and a dedication to around the clock work. We are told to sacrifice our marriages and children on the altar of climbing the corporate ladder. Rest pushes back against all of this and establishes space for us to pursue relationships and care for those we love.

I am not going to suggest that embracing a rhythm of rest is an easy action to take. In our American culture which is obsessed with work and ensuring our kids are involved in every activity under the sun, rest can be hard to find. But we are commanded to rest. Rest is good for us. We need rest. Camp Spofford may not be the place where you rest but you must find that pace and fir it into your life regularly.