June 22, 2007
Dear Resurrection Family,
I've noticed, over the years, that my hearing seems to be changing, particularly when I'm in a restaurant or some other crowded place, all the ambient noise makes it hard for me to hear LaVon or the girls when they are talking to me. When I don't hear I either cup my hand around my ear, which helps, or I ask them to repeat themselves. The girls have said, on many occasions, "Dad, you need a hearing aid." So I asked my doctor, recently, "What's up with my hearing?" and he said, "Let's find out." So he tested my hearing. I have great hearing at most frequencies, he told me, but one of the things that happens as we "mature" is that our ears (I think this may be particularly true with males) have a harder time discriminating between the various sounds coming to our ears – hence, in a crowded room we're hearing it all. He noted, "You don't need a hearing aid, that would only make matters worse – you need to block some of the ambient sounds." He gave me a simple suggestion – put in small ear plugs when you're going to be sitting in a restaurant – in this way you will still hear those nearest to you, but you'll block out the lesser sounds. I can't wait to try this!
On Thursday of this week I attended our weekly Staff Chapel, and we watched a Rob Bell video on noise and hearing from God. We looked at how much ambient noise is in our lives – TV, iPod, telephones that we carry with us all the time, along with e-mail (a "soundless" noise) – and it struck me that spiritually most of us struggle with tuning out the ambient noise in our lives. We can't hear God because there's too much other noise in our lives. Bell suggested that this is why Habakkuk the prophet wrote, "the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!" or God speaks through David, "Be still and know that I am God," or why Elijah only heard God in the shear silence, and why Jesus went away to quiet places to pray. If God speaks in the silence, how are you doing at making times in your life for silence, turning off all other noise, so that you can pray, meditate upon scripture and just listen in silence?
Okay, that's my soap box for the day. We've had an exciting week around here and I wanted you to know about some of the things going on, and some of the things coming up! Here's what we'll cover today:
1. This Weekend: "Payday, Someday" and North Carolina Boys Choir
2. An Awesome Summer at Resurrection Continues…
3. Looking for Three Cool Cars for July 7th and 8th, and Lots of Cars on the 14th!
4. Update on Phillips Elementary School Painting Project – Moving Experience
5. Tuesday Night: Hear Dr. Hal Knight on How to Share Your Faith
1. This Weekend: "Payday, Someday" and North Carolina Boys Choir
Jezebel: This name is synonymous with evil more than 2,800 years after her death. This weekend I'll preach on her story in a sermon inspired in part by the best known sermon ever preached on Jezebel's story from R.G. Lee, a Baptist pastor who died in 1978. It is reported that during his lifetime he preached this sermon more than 1,200 times around the world. You can actually watch his sermon YouTube. I've taken the title from Lee's message, and incorporated his basic approach to the story, though my message will be considerably shorter than his (I think his original sermon was more than an hour long – mine will be about 30 minutes). On Sunday morning at 9:00 and 10:45 the North Carolina Boys Choir will provide the special music. Sunday night, after worship, we'll have a concert with the East Hill Choir Singers – a choir made up of inmates and community members from the Lansing Correctional Facility – this will be something really special – I'd like you to read about this group on our website – click here to read the testimonials below the photo of the choir. It will be a great weekend in worship!
2. An Awesome Summer at Resurrection Continues…and Campground Update
This week we've had three different camps going on for children and youth here at the church – We've had 175 teens at youth camp at the YouthFront campground – they've had an awesome experience. In addition our children's ministry has been sponsoring both a basketball camp and a soccer camp.
As we speak of these camps, I wanted to give you a brief update on where we are relative to the acquisition of land for our own campground. The site we initially had selected for the camp continues to be considered – it has a few challenges – particularly the cost of bridging a stream – in order to develop the property, as well as the existence and location of some gas wells on the site. We've been looking at another site, 30 minutes from the church, that would be easier to develop – it also has great potential. A study team will bring a recommendation by the end of the summer for next steps.
3. Looking for Three Cool Cars for July 7th and 8th, and Lots of Cars on the 14th!
On July 7th and 8th the folks heading up the car show portion of our Summer Fest would like to have three interesting cars to display at the church to promote the Car Show and Summer Fest. If you have a car you would be willing to bring to the church on that weekend, or if you would like to enter a car in the car show on the 14th, please contact Joe Campbell at rpcjlc@aol.com. There are lots of great things that have been donated for the first 80 cars registered, and for the winner of "Best of Show."
4. Update on Phillips Elementary School Painting Project – Moving Experience
This week painting continues at Phillips Elementary School at 24th and Paseo in the Kansas City Missouri School District. Becca and I went to paint on Monday night with our small group. There were perhaps 40 people from our church at the school that night. We met the principal, who told us of her appreciation for what we were doing. We stopped to pray at 6:00 pm and I could not help but visualize in my mind the children coming to this school this fall and praying for them. Many of the houses surrounding the school have boarded up windows. The school itself had not been painted in years and its halls, classrooms, gym and auditorium will all have a fresh coat of paint thanks to you. In the process of painting, you demonstrate the love of Christ in a tangible way – and you create an atmosphere of hope. I was moved to see our members serving in this way – and many who served behind the scenes, baking cookies for the volunteers or helping in a myriad of other ways. I am so proud of you, Church of the Resurrection – for this, and for the hundreds of other mission projects and trips you participate in each year.
5. Tuesday Night: Hear Dr. Hal Knight on How to Share Your Faith
Remember that on Tuesday nights we offer worship at 6:00 for those who cannot attend on the weekend. At 7:00 pm we offer special seminars to help you grow in your faith. This week Dr. Hal Knight, Professor of Wesley Studies at Saint Paul School of Theology, will teach on how to share our faith in a way that is not off-putting, but which draws our friends and family to Christ. If you desire to be a more effective witness for Christ, you will want to be here for this presentation.
As I close, I wanted to share with you something that happens all the time here at the church. I was buying an iced tea from the Spring – our café – yesterday and bumped into a group of eight staff people and a pastor from a church in Manhattan – they had come over to spend time learning from our staff and spoke of what a blessing our church had been to them. This next week 19 pastors will be here all week for a Doctoral course through Wesley Theological Seminary where we'll teach them about preaching and worship. Every week there are visiting churches and pastors who come to Church of the Resurrection looking for ideas and insights for ministry. Our aim is to give away anything we've learned that might be helpful for other churches – this is part of our mission to help other churches to grow.
See you in worship this weekend!
Adam