October 26, 2007

Dear Resurrection Family,

I've just finished preparing the sermon notes for this weekend - I am really looking forward to this message on Cultivating Contentment and Simplicity. I feel it is one most of us, myself included, need to hear. I'll offer four keys to cultivating contentment, and five steps for simplifying our lives. I think this message is really important for our children and teens as well. I'd like to encourage you to bring them to worship with you (this might be a great weekend for some of you to worship together as a family, and then to attend Sunday School together as a family - we offer a host of great adult classes and small groups on Sunday mornings at both 9:00 and 10:45 for you to choose from with the idea that you would worship one hour and attend study the next.

This week we took our lead staff on a bus trip to Chicago and South Bend, Indiana. We left on Monday at 7:00 am and arrived back on Wednesday at 5:30 pm. This was a "benchmarking" trip during which we spent time at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago (a church of about 22,000 people per weekend in all of its campuses) and Granger Community Church (the fourth largest United Methodist Churches in the United States). At Willow Creek we had supper with some of their lead staff, toured their new Sanctuary, and spent time with Bill Hybels, their founding pastor. At Granger we had lunch with their lead staff, toured their facility and spent time with their founding pastor, Mark Beeson. After each visit we talked as a staff about what we learned from the churches, what ideas we wanted to take from them to our church, and what the visits taught us about ourselves. Our staff members were not excited about taking a bus on this trip - nine hours on a bus each way seemed like a "waste of time" to some. But I think most would agree that this ended up being the most rewarding part of the trip. Impromptu meetings around tables in the back of the bus, one on one conversations with people we seldom take the time to talk to, and the camaraderie that occurred as a result of sharing this time together was invaluable.  

It would be difficult to calculate the value of this trip for our team. The reason I share this with you is I'm guessing this idea would be invaluable for many of you in your work world as well.

Okay, here's what I'll cover in today's e-mail:

1. This Weekend: Why You Really Need to Be In Worship This Weekend
2. A Story That Will Warm Your Heart
3. Recommended Books

1. This Weekend: Why You Really Need to Be In Worship This Weekend
This weekend's message on contentment and simplicity is, with the exception of next week's message, the most important in this series, and something every one of us is in need of hearing. I find discontent is an underlying theme in so many people's lives. We become discontent with our spouses, our jobs, our homes, our cars, our lifestyle, our church, our faith, our ... We struggle with Restless Heart Syndrome. But even when we have a handle on this, we find our lives filled with clutter and stress that is a result of the clutter. This weekend we'll look at how we find contentment, a few simple ideas for simplifying our lives, and we'll give you two tools to help you in this process - one is a little prayer that goes on your key chain, and the other is a worksheet for you to take home and work through. As I said above, this message is not only for adults, but for children and youth as well. I mentioned last weekend that I look at our lives as Americans and it seems as though we're on a treadmill whose speed is gradually increasing, and it will continue to increase, until something snaps. I'd like to help us get off of the treadmill. Bring a friend and join us this weekend.

2. A Story That Will Warm Your Heart
I received an inspiring e-mail this week from a mom whose son received his third grade Bible from you, Church of the Resurrection, last weekend. (For those who were not present, we gave away over 200 Bibles to third graders in worship, and I challenged the kids to start by reading through the entire Gospel of Mark during the next month.) These are just a few of the highlights of the e-mail I received:

Dear Pastor Hamilton, 

It is October 21st, a Sunday evening 9:15 pm and I have just finished yet another check on my children to make sure that all are headed off to sleep. Today, my son received his first Bible at the 10:45 service. Thank you for making it a special occasion. I, too, believe this is a big event within one's life.

I wanted to share a few very special things that happened today. On the way out of church, my son told me he had already read through Chapter 5 of Mark ... Right after church we headed off to his younger brother's soccer game. He took his Bible with him to the field and read again throughout the entire game.

At night he is allowed to ready 15 minutes or so before bed. He told me that will be when he reads hisBible daily ... the most heart warming moment of all was in prayers before bed. I asked him to pray and his prayer began this way...."Dear God, Thank you for this day, thank you for my Bible....... may I be able to share God's Word tomorrow as I read my Bible more." It warmed my heart and once again was I amazed of God's love and never-ending gifts. As he put down his Bible to go to sleep, he smiled at me and said Chapter 13, gave me a thumbs up, and laid down his head on his pillow.

I wanted to share how something so simple today in service impacted my 8-year-old son so profoundly.

We have a number of third graders who have already finished the Gospel of Mark. When third graders complete their reading they can see me after worship and I'll be giving them a certificate for a free cookie at our café. Some third graders have asked what to read next. Here are my recommendations: Genesis or Acts.

3. Recommended Books
Are you looking for a great book to read? I'm often asked what I've been reading. I'll pass on a few books I'm reading now that I think you would enjoy. If you are interested in simplifying your life, try Your Money or Your Life, by Dominguez and Robin. If you need to get a handle on planning your finances and help to get on the right track with concrete steps for managing your money, try any of the books by Dave Ramsey that we have at the bookstore. I'm re-reading, for the fourth or fifth time, Richard Foster's, Celebration of Discipline, on the practices that help us grow as Christians. An excellent and inspiring read with great stories that tie into our current sermon series is John Ortberg's It All Goes Back Into the Box (last week's story about Johnny the sacker was one I read in this book). I've just started Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change - it is excellent and will challenge you to think about how the gospel relates to the issues facing our world. It is a book I anticipate asking our entire church to read sometime next year. All of these books are available in our bookstore. The best book I can encourage you to read? The Bible - try keeping your Bible and a notepad where you begin your day, and read one chapter a day and write down what speaks to you. The 3rd Graders are reading Mark - why not start there?

I hope to see you this weekend in worship. I love being your pastor, and the amazing things God does through you!

In Christ's Love,

Adam Hamilton