November 22, 2006
Dear Resurrection Family,
LaVon and I want to wish each of you a blessed and happy Thanksgiving! Danielle came home from college last night, which makes the next few days a particular blessing for us. We're looking forward to having both LaVon's family and my family over for a noon meal tomorrow. Each Thanksgiving we pause at meal time, circle around and join hands, and we think about our joys and what we are grateful for. I'll usually share a Psalm of Thanksgiving with the family, or another scripture passage on gratitude. I'll mention below some of my favorites in case you would like to share a scripture at your mealtime blessing on Thanksgiving.
Here's what I'll cover today:
1. Well done! Is This Story About You?
2. Thanks to All Who Prayed at the Prayer Vigil.
3. Stewardship Update.
4. Letters to Inactive Members.
5. An Apology to Saturday Night Worshipers!
6. This Weekend: The Dragon, the Beast, the Harlot and the 666.
7. Favorite Thanksgiving Scriptures.
8. Don't Forget: Return Your Chrismons This Weekend!
1. Well done! Is This Story About You?
A woman came up to me this week to tell me her story. She had dropped out of church years ago, but over the last year a number of her co-workers, Resurrection members themselves, invited her to attend our church. She came to our church, for the first time, to a funeral service, and found this meaningful and decided to visit worship. She found the worship experiences meaningful and she continued to attend. One day, she told me, she was in the Narthex crying; she was going through some very difficult times. She said one of our members came to her and said, "Let's get a cup of coffee." While they were talking, another member came by and offered to pray for her. She told me how much this had meant to her - that even in a large church she felt the members were constantly looking around for people who need love and care. She went on to tell me how much the church meant to her. I loved hearing her story - it was some of you - ordinary members - who first invited her to attend. It was an ordinary member who noticed she was crying and stopped to express care. It was an ordinary member who stopped to pray with her. I want to commend you for reaching out, ministering to and caring for the people God brings our way. YOU are used by God to touch people's lives in profound ways. Well done!
[to top]
2. Thanks to All Who Prayed at the Prayer Vigil.
I am not sure the exact number, but yesterday more than 350 people came, throughout the day, for the Thankful Day of Prayer vigil. When I arrived to take the last shift praying for folks just before 10:00 pm I was pleased to discover everyone on our database (that includes you if you are receiving this e-mail directly from the church) had already been prayed for twice. Likewise all of our military personnel and all who had turned in non-confidential prayer concerns lately were prayed for. I am grateful for all of you who came to be a part of the 2006 prayer vigil.
3. Stewardship Update.
As of Monday we have received 2,571 commitments - almost 50% of those mailed out, for a total pledged to date of $9,442,681. That's up from last year's second week of the campaign when we had received pledges of less than $7,000,000 and had received only 37% of our commitment cards. If you have yet to return your commitment card, please do so this week if possible, or you can make your commitment on-line right now by clicking on this link.
4. Letters to Inactive Members.
This week I've sent out letters to each of our members who have not been in worship for at least three months. I prayed for each individual or family, and signed each letter, as a way of remembering these persons and in the hope of encouraging them to get back in the habit of worship. I prepared the letters before this last weekend, so if you receive a note from me, but happened to be in worship this weekend, I apologize - we had the letters ready to go and since it takes several days to enter the weekend's attendance records, I am sure there were a few people who were back in worship. I am also certain that some receiving the letter regularly attend worship but have not been signing in. Please sign-in. This is the only way for us to keep track of who has become inactive.
5. An Apology to Saturday Night Worshipers!
Sometimes the folks on Saturday night get the best sermon - it is fresh, and it includes things I have to drop for time's sake on Sunday morning. But every once in awhile they get the first attempt, and that attempt needs some work. I spent most of the day Saturday with my nose in books or in the computer working on the first sermon on Revelation. I printed off my draft of the sermon just before worship began, and I still felt unsettled and that the message was missing something. When I went back and listened to it to help edit it for Resurrection West I cringed - the first two-thirds of the sermon rambled and was far more of a lecture than I intended, and with virtually no illustrations. We cut about 12 minutes from the sermon for Resurrection West (Rez West sermons are currently recorded on Saturday night and edited after worship) - which tells me that there was 12 minutes of material our Saturday crowd could easily have done without! I stayed up most of the night Saturday night working with the message and it was more along the lines of what I hoped for on Sunday. I devote Tuesdays to reading and research, and Wednesdays to writing the first draft of my sermon each week. In the case of these sermons on Revelation I have been reading commentaries on this book and studying it for months. But the art of preparing effective sermons is being able to distill what you learn, study and hear God saying, into a cohesive, coherent message with enough good illustrations to help people hear it, and a clear invitation to respond. I felt this was missing Saturday night. So, thanks for your patience and graciousness, Saturday evening worshipers! I assure you the message will be better this weekend!
[to top]
6. This Weekend: The Dragon, the Beast, the Harlot and the 666.
This weekend we turn to the second of our three-part sermon series on the Book of Revelation entitled "The Return of the King." We'll move into a study of the main body of the book this weekend, looking at some of the most frightening, and some of the best known portions of the book. By the time you leave this weekend you will have a clearer grasp than you ever have regarding the meaning of Revelation for your life today. You'll also enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend service of worship! I hope to see you this weekend!
7. Favorite Thanksgiving Scriptures.
I thought I would include today several Psalms of Thanksgiving. You may want to use them for your own devotional reading, or read selected verses as you have your mealtime blessing on Thanksgiving Day: I Chronicles 16:8-36 (any number of verses from this passage), Psalm 92:1-5, Psalm 100, Psalm 107, Psalm 108:1-5, Psalm 111, Psalm 118.
8. Don't Forget: Return Your Chrismons This Weekend!
Last weekend we invited those of you in worship to make Chrismons and to return them this weekend in worship so that we can prepare to hang them throughout the building on the weekend of December 2 and 3.
One of the things I find is that the more I express gratitude to God and others, the more joy I have. And the less gratitude I express, the less joy I have. Something about actually focusing on the blessings, and offering thanks, makes our hearts glad. This is why I think Thanksgiving Day is important. And this is also why I believe worship is something our hearts need to offer to God.
I am thankful for you, Church of the Resurrection. It is a joy to be your Senior Pastor!
With love,
Adam Hamilton