May 18, 2006
Dear Resurrection Family,
I'm writing this e-mail from my hotel room in Atlanta where I am preparing to speak to 1,200 pastors at the Festival of Homiletics - a conference aimed at encouraging excellent preaching. I'm really looking forward to this - I will be lecturing on my book, Unleashing the Word: Preaching with Purpose, Relevance and Passion, and sharing with the pastors a host of ideas from the Church of the Resurrection. I typically offer about a year's worth of sermon ideas at these seminars. It has been exciting to hear of pastors across the country using our sermon ideas to strengthen their own congregations. Recently a pastor e-mailed to say that he had been preaching various sermon series from our church and his worship attendance was up 500 per weekend over the same period a year ago. My hope has always been to give away any ideas that were effective at our church in the hope of helping other pastors and congregations be more effective in reaching people for Christ. I am grateful you, as a congregation, are willing to allow me to do things like this as a part of our strategy to renew the mainline church. Would you please pause at this time and pray that God will use me to bless, equip, encourage and inspire the pastors at this conference? Thank you! I value your prayers and I always share with conference participants that you as a church are praying for them as I am speaking to them.
Here's what you will find in today's e-mail:
1. This Weekend: Jesus and The DaVinci Code
2. A Prayer for Parents of Graduating Seniors
3. The Numbers - Worship, Membership, Giving Through April
4. Jesus and the Letter from Iran's President
5. Soliciting YOUR Ideas for Sermons in the Coming Year
1. This Weekend: Jesus and The DaVinci Code
Friday I'm going to see The DaVinci Code. I read the book several years ago and thought I might want to see the movie before preaching about it this weekend. What are we to make of the assertions found in the book? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? Were there more than 80 gospels that were suppressed by the early church (we'll consider the Gospel of Judas in connection with this point)? Is it true Jesus was only declared divine by Constantine in the fourth century? We'll consider these claims and we'll look at how we really know Jesus at all, how the church decided which books made it into the Bible and which ones did not, and ultimately we'll look at how we can discern truth from fiction. The trailer for The DaVinci Code invites us to "Seek the Truth." I hope you'll join me this weekend as we strive to do just that.
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2. A Prayer for Parents of Graduating Seniors
Lois Williams, one of our members, passed on this wonderful prayer for parents to pray for our college students. I meant to hand it out at the Baccalaureate service and forgot, but I thought you might enjoy it and might want to pass it on. If you are a parent of a college student, you might want to print this and paste it to your mirror in the bathroom where you can pray it each day. Here it is:
Prayer for Our College Student
Loving God,
One we love has gone off to college.
Help us cope with change:
an empty room filled with memories,
a familiar voice echoing in our ears.
Help our student adjust to change:
roommates and unfamiliar routines,
the rigors of academic life,
a new-found independence.
Gently remind us each day
that separation is only temporary,
and that the time we spend apart
gives us both the opportunity to grow.
Bless and protect our students,
whom we commend to your mercy and love;
through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen.
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3. The Numbers - Worship, Membership, Giving Through April
Last week I shared with our staff in my annual, State of the Church address, a few numbers you might find interesting. They are significant only insofar as they point toward what God is doing in the lives of people and in our church. With this in mind here are a few of the numbers. In the first five months of this year we received nearly as many members as we did in the entire year last year. Including the 126 adults and 59 children who joined last week, we've welcomed over 900 adult members and 232 children into our church. More than 70% of those joined by profession of faith - meaning that we are continuing to reach a large number of non-religious and nominally religious people. Average worship attendance has been just under 7,900 per weekend through April, up nearly 800 per Sunday over last year. Last weekend we had over 8,500 in worship versus last Mother's Day when we had just over 7,200. While worship attendance is up 10% over a year ago, offerings are up 12.1% - which indicates our growth in offerings is outpacing our growth in worship - this is considered an indicator of our congregation's maturing in faith.
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4. Jesus and the Letter from Iran's President
I wonder if you read the letter from Iran's President to President Bush two weeks ago? US News & World Report said of it, "It exudes the self-righteous piety and pseudo humility of a profoundly arrogant and ill-formed mind" and that it ranges from "the historical to the hysterical." The Bush Administration indicated they would not even respond to the letter. It has been dismissed as a delaying tactic and propaganda. I wonder if it should have been so quickly dismissed.
The letter may be propaganda, and a delay tactic, and certainly there are elements that are "non-starters" for diplomatic discussions, but I felt it held the possibility for dialogue and discussion. It appeared to lay out President Ahmadinejad's perceptions, rationale and perspectives on the world - something I found fascinating, as I had been trying to understand what motivated this man. As I read it, it seemed there were many points that could be the basis of conversations that might lead to mutual understanding. I wondered what would happen if President Bush and the Iranian President actually met, face to face, to talk about their faith, and their hopes for their countries and for the world, and then talked about their fears concerning one another?
The Iranian President repeatedly mentioned Jesus in his letter. Though Jesus is Lord and Savior for Christians, and only a great Prophet for Muslims, I wonder if the teachings of Jesus might not be the point at which these two Presidents might find common ground, and might, in the end, find their way out of an impasse that seems likely to have no good ending. I found myself wishing President Bush had responded to the letter, offering his own perspectives on the issues, how he reconciles his faith with his foreign policy decisions, and opening the door for these two men to actually sit down and talk together. For some this may seem a bit "Pollyanna" but the alternative strategies have been ineffective so far, and I fear the only alternative to pursuing dialogue, will be war. To read for yourself the letter from Iran's President click on this link. Please pray for wisdom for our President and State Department.
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5. Soliciting YOUR Ideas for Sermons in the Coming Year
Our aim at the Church of the Resurrection is to help you become deeply committed Christians who are theologically informed, spiritually transformed and effectively serving God with your life. One of the ways we help you grow in your faith is through preaching.
The first full week of June I will be away from the church on retreat, praying, studying, and outlining sermons for the next two years. As a part of this process each year I invite you to pray for me, and for you to submit your thoughts about the sermons you feel would best help you grow in your faith in the coming year. As your pastor, I am inviting your input and help. Would you consider pasting the questions below into an e-mail and answering each with a brief answer (bullet points are fine) and then e-mail me. Here are the questions:
1) Name three books of the Bible, or themes in the Bible, or Bible stories you would like to hear a sermon about in the coming year:
2) If you could ask me any three theological or biblical questions that I might address in a sermon, what would they be?
3) What three issues do you wrestle with personally, spiritually, or in your relationships, that you would like to hear a sermon concerning?
4) Are there social issues about which you think a sermon might offer you help in understanding God's will (for instance, research on stem cells, etc.)?
5) What sermon series or individual sermon themes might I preach on that would best help you grow in your faith and effectively serve God in your life?
Finally, this weekend Chris Cakes will be flipping the best pancakes in the world, and serving up all-you-can-eat BBQ after each worship service. This is a fellowship event and the proceeds will be going to support our Honduran ministry and other youth missions. I hope you'll plan to enjoy a meal with friends after church.
See You This Weekend in Worship!
Adam Hamilton