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29
May '25
June 2025 Pastor’s Corner — Get In Shape
29
May '25
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. — Romans 12:4-8
I’m willing to bet that just about every time you visit the doctor for your annual checkup, he or she says something along the lines of, “you’re a bit out of shape and need to eat healthier and get more exercise.” Then again, maybe that’s just what the doctor always tells me. Regardless, study after study has shown that we are becoming more physically sedentary and what we eat isn’t doing us any favors. Time and again Scripture reminds us that what is true physically is even more true spiritually, and that our spiritual needs are actually more important and pressing than our physical ones. If getting in shape physically is important for a healthy body, then getting in shape spiritually is essential for the Body of Christ.
In Philippians 4:19 it says, “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” God has provided everything we need in order to faithfully follow Him, and He has provided everything we need as a community of faith, the body of Christ, to fulfill the mission and work He’s given us. Knowing how God has formed and shaped us for mission and ministry is an essential part of our growth as disciples of Jesus Christ, and the church can not function as God has designed it if we don’t know where we fit in His Body. If you’ve been part of a church for a long time, you’ve likely heard talk about or been part of classes helping you learn your spiritual gifts, but how God has shaped us for ministry goes beyond just those gifts. A helpful acrostic to think about this is SHAPE — Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experience. While the gifts and personality God has given us might not change, our heart and abilities do, so where we might have had the ability to serve God in one way in our 20s, when we’re in our 60s or 70s our ability is different. The invitation and call to serve is still there, but how God is inviting us to live that out changes.
Knowing our SHAPE is just one part of the puzzle, though. It’s also about looking at the ministry and service needs of the Body here at Northminster and seeing where out SHAPE fits into those opportunities. As Frederick Buechner once wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” To push the analogy perhaps a bit too far, if you discover that your spiritual SHAPE is a circle, then we want to make sure we aren’t trying to make you fit in a square hole at the church. If our gifts don’t align with ministry opportunities, then we can find ourselves getting burned out and frustrated. On the other hand, when the two do line up, we are energized and excited.
To help us all discover how God has formed and shaped us for ministry and find out what opportunities to use those gifts exist, we are having a 4-week Sunday School class that begins on Sunday, June 15. We’ll look at the biblical foundation for knowing and using our gifts; explore how our passion, abilities, personality and experiences are used by God in shaping us for ministry; discover the different kinds of spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit provides; and take a look at some of the ministry opportunities in and through Northminster. Whether you’ve been walking with Jesus a part of Northminster for a few months or many decades, we believe there is something for all of us to discover and learn through this class.
As time passes, our physical abilities change. Sometimes, the same is true for how we are to make use of the spiritual gifts and abilities God has given. The call to serve never goes away, but how we serve changes as we change. Join us for the Get In SHAPE class beginning June 15 and discover how God is inviting you to serve Him and His Body during this season of life. We look forward to exploring this with you.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. — 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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30
Apr '25
May 2025 Pastor’s Corner — All It Takes Is An Invitation
30
Apr '25
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” — Romans 10:14-15
Last Wednesday we held an “Inquirer’s Class.” This is the class we offer to new visitors and regular attenders who would like to learn more about Northminster, our denomination (the Evangelical Presbyterian Church), and where we believe God is leading us in the future. While the class is open to anyone who would like to attend, we extended specific invitations to 11 folks who have been visiting and worshipping with us regularly since last fall. Of those 11, 6 were able to attend (those missing were family members who had conflicts). It was a fun evening with a lot of great conversation.
We began the evening by asking for folks to share what brought them to Northminster. Four of the six had variations of the same answer: someone invited them. Here’s the thing: whittle every evangelism and church growth strategy down and ultimately they all are about the same thing: inviting someone to church. The best tool we have, and really the only one that matters, is relationships. Every story I’ve ever heard about how someone came to faith in Jesus Christ boils down to someone in their life caring enough to tell them about Jesus.
This is exactly how God intended it to be. The Gospel spreads primarily and almost exclusively through word-of-mouth. At the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the reason Nathanael ended up as a disciple was because Philip invited him to “come and see” for himself. (John 1:46) Jesus repeatedly told His disciples and those He healed to tell others about Him (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 20:21; Mark 5:19; Matthew 10:7). After Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven, the apostles were so amazed and transformed by all they had seen and experienced but when told to stop talking about it, they responded, “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20).
That’s also exactly the way God intended it to be. As we grow as disciples and are transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, that change should be something of which we cannot but speak. That’s what a “testimony” is — telling others about what you have seen and heard, about how Jesus has changed and blessed your life. What have you seen and heard from Jesus lately? How has He transformed you and changed you? Maybe you’ve experienced a miraculous physical healing, or He has healed your heart or soul. Maybe you’ve learned something new about the depths of His grace or the wonders of His creation. Whatever it is, tell someone about it, and invite them to experience the same transformation you’ve seen. You don’t need to give a sermon or a thorough theological discourse, all you need to do is “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19).
Maybe you don’t know what to say to someone about Jesus, or the thought of it makes you too nervous. Then let your actions tell the story of how Jesus is changing you. Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, “...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” and in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” When we live lives consistent with the Gospel and the Kingdom of God, people around us won’t be able to help but notice, and when they ask you why you’re so weird, follow Philip’s example and invite them to come to church and see for themselves. If we’re doing things right, the Gospel is proclaimed at some point in every worship service. You might not be comfortable telling someone about Jesus, so let us do it for you.
The Holy Spirit will bring to salvation all those whom God has chosen, it might just be that the means by which he does that is the invitation you extend to someone. Take a few minutes to think of two or three people in your life who don’t already know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Add them to your daily prayer list, that the Lord would begin softening their heart to hear the Gospel and that He would provide an opportunity for you to invite them to come with you to meet Jesus, whether that’s through a conversation you have with them or by bringing them to church with you. All it takes is an invitation.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:19-20
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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26
Mar '25
April 2025 Pastor’s Corner — The Fear of the Lord
26
Mar '25
“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. — Malachi 1:11
One evening several weeks ago, my daughter came to me with a question. She had just read the story of Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3). When God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush we’re told that “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” (Exodus 3:6) My daughter didn’t understand why Moses would’ve been afraid. Since our God is a loving God (Jeremiah 31:3, one who is merciful and gracious (Psalm 86:15), who treats us with tenderness (Luke 1:78) and gentleness (1 Kings 19:12), why would we be afraid of Him?
I think a lot of us approach God in a similar manner. We have heard so much about the love and grace of God that fear has fallen by the wayside. After all, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Tim. 1:7) But I think we are misunderstanding how the Bible is using the word “fear” when it comes to our relationship with God. There is “fear” in the sense of terror and fright (which is what most of us think of), but there is also “fear” in the sense of awe and reverence. As the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery explains, “The fear of God is distinct from the terror of him that is also a biblical motif. Encompassing and building on attitudes of awe and reverence, it is the proper and elemental response of a person to God… The very frequency of the references signals that the fear of God is central to biblical faith, and the relative absence of this ancient way of thinking in our culture should give us pause.”
If we do not have a proper awe and reverence for God, then we lose just how radical and powerful His grace, mercy and love truly are. The God we serve is an all-powerful, almighty, glorious, holy, righteous God. He spoke, and stars and planets burst forth (Genesis 1:14). He moves His hand, and waters part (Exodus 14:21-25). He measures galaxies with the width of His hand (Isaiah 40:12). He binds the Pleiades and looses the cords of Orion (Job 38:31). He gives orders to the morning (Job 38:12), and maintains the storehouses of snow and lightning (Job 38:22-30). He is a God who rides thunderstorms to rescue His children (Psalm 18, specifically verses 6-15). When God says “My name will be great among the nations,” (Malachi 1:11) He does not do so as a braggart but as the only One who can rightly claim and demand such greatness. When we think of our God, a fearful awe and reverence is an essential component. “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31)
The warning to fear God echoes in both the Old and New Testaments. “Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” (Jer. 2:19) When we think of God’s goodness, fearing Him should be included: “I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.” (Jer. 32:40) And Jesus Himself, God incarnate, says, “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5) We focus so much on Jesus as “gentle, meek and mild” that we forget the disciples quaked in terror of Him after He calmed the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Even at the end of history, when Jesus returns in power and glory and evil is destroyed forever, when everything sad comes untrue and every broken thing is made whole, we are told, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Rev. 14:7)
It is because our God is very much a God to be feared (first in awe and reverence, but also with a dose of terror and fright) that the good news of His grace and mercy is so very good indeed. That, for those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, there is no longer need to fear God’s righteous judgment. All of the things the Bible says of God’s gentleness and tenderness, His kindness and His mercy, His steadfast lovingkindness, are all true, and made all the more awe-ful and awe-some because of His might, power and majesty. Grace is all the more amazing when we maintain a healthy and appropriate fear of the Lord. As we continue to draw ever closer to the darkness of Good Friday and the triumph of Easter Sunday, may the fear of the Lord deepen your gratitude and faith this Lenten season.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline. — Proverbs 1:7
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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03
Mar '25
March 2025 Pastor’s Corner – How Has He Loved Us?
03
Mar '25
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” — Malachi 1:2
It’s a conversation that happens with all too much regularity in a marriage. A husband tells his wife, “I love you,” to which she replies, “How have you loved me?” As the 90s rock band Extreme famously crooned, it takes more than words in order for someone else to know they are loved and valued. Words matter, but just as much are the actions and symbols of love. Every relationship goes through periods of complacency, where we take the love and presence of the other person for granted and just assume they know they are loved. Sometimes, though, the husband might be doing everything right, but the wife has stopped paying attention. It isn’t just our relationships with other people that go through these seasons, we also experience it in our relationship with God — perhaps even moreso.
In our Bibles, the book of Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. It’s one of the shortest books in the entire Bible and is unique in that it is basically a series of six disputations. “God lays a charge against his people concerning some failure in covenant, to which the people respond by asking how they have failed. The response always begins with “But you say” (which was perhaps not stated verbally—Malachi may be exposing only half-conscious resentment and resistance to God). The third step in this pattern shows God answering his people’s question; the fourth closes each section with the Lord applying this answer, with warnings and promises for the future.” (ESV Expositor’s Commentary)
We don’t know exactly when Malachi delivered his prophecies, but we do know it was after the exiles had returned to Jerusalem and the temple rebuilt — at least partially. And yet, the Messiah had yet to return. It had been hundreds of years since the Israelites had received God’s promises of restoration and redemption, and even longer since they had last seen the miraculous works of the Lord. It would still be yet another 300-400 years before Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, finally came, bringing with him miraculous works and fulfilling all of the promises of God. But over the course of hundreds of years of waiting, the Israelites began wondering if God still loved, let alone cared, for them. No word from the prophets, no miraculous signs and wonders, no change in their circumstances. At best, the people and the priests started taking God’s love for granted; at worst, they began to treat God with disdain and disrespect — going through the motions of love but without any feeling or intent.
In the big-picture sense, like the Israelites we’ve been waiting a really, really long time for Jesus to return and come through on His promises. How close we are to that moment depends on who you ask, but it’s probably pretty safe to say it’s not going to be tomorrow. But that’s not the only way we’re waiting on God or wondering if He still loves us. We’re all waiting on God for something. Maybe it’s deliverance from a particular sin we’ve been struggling with for a long time, or fractured relationships in our family, or a job situation that is… less than desirable, or a medical diagnosis we didn’t see coming and don’t know how to endure. Maybe it’s something else entirely. When God goes silent, it becomes really hard to continue to trust Him and we begin to wonder if He still loves us.
Lent is the season in the Christian calendar that provides us with an opportunity to sit in the silence of God and raise our broken-hearted plea to the Lord, “How have you loved me?” Lent is an old English word that means “springtime.” Spring is the season when the blossoms break forth and new growth appears, but before that the dross and refuse left over from winter needs to be cleared away. In the earliest days and weeks of spring, it doesn’t look like anything is happening. It looks as if winter succeeded in killing everything off. But appearances are deceiving. Through the long, cold, dark weeks of winter, a lot has been happening underground and out of sight. Necessary work without which the blooms and blossoms of spring will not thrive, if they sprout at all. It might seem like God has forgotten His love for you and that He is no longer at work, but the truth is the exact opposite. He has never stopped loving you, nor has He stopped working for and on you. Hold fast. Pay attention and look for the evidence of God’s presence and His love. Be patient. Easter is coming, and the Son of Righteousness has come and will come again for you.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. – Malachi 4:2
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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29
Jan '25
February 2025 Pastor’s Corner — Your Happy Place?
29
Jan '25
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Phil. 4:4-7
We all have somewhere we call our “happy place.” It might be at the beach, perhaps on a mountain, or maybe beside a lake or river. It might be in an easy chair in front of the fireplace with a good book, or perhaps with a game or movie on the TV. Your happy place might be standing (or sitting) at a workbench working on your favorite hobby or craft. I’ve been told that there are some strange people who say the gym or dance studio is their happy place. For some, their happy place is wherever and whenever the family is gathered together. Exactly what our happy place is can vary, but what they all have in common is that our happy place is, well, the place that makes us happy. It’s a place where we are at peace, content, relaxed, and feel safe and secure.
There’s something else all of these “happy places” have in common: they are externally defined. We “go” to our happy place, and if we are not there, then we must not be happy. Not only that, but how often do we find the peace and comfort of our happy places shattered? Yes, our happy places do indeed make us happy, but that happiness is fragile, and it is fleeting. There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to have a happy place, but what’s important is to recognize what that desire is pointing us toward.
In The Weight of Glory CS Lewis writes,
Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter.…The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
The Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:17 and the writer of Hebrews in 8:5 and 10:1 talk about the things of earth being shadows of the true substance of Christ and of Heaven. The feelings of peace and contentment we get in our happy places are gifts from God, in order to point us to what will truly satisfy the longings of our soul — Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul is able to talk about the “peace that surpasses understanding” in Philippians 4. The church in Philippi was dealing with internal strife and conflict and external persecution. Paul wrote this letter while sitting in prison. And yet, he tells us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.” There is a peace and a joy that is available to us no matter where we are or what we are going through. It’s a peace that comes from the Holy Spirit and a joy that springs from a soul that is at rest in Christ. The happy places of this world are meant to remind us of the happy place for which our soul yearns: being in the presence of God.
When it all comes down to it, that is what Heaven is. Whether Heaven is some ethereal place in the clouds, or the remade earth at the end of history, or the glorious City of God, what those places all have in common is the presence of God. The longings of this life are meant to remind us that in Christ the deepest desires of our souls are met, and that one day, we will long no more for we will see God face to face and exult in the joy and delight of being His children with Him forever.
When we set our eyes on Jesus Christ and allow Him to be our peace and joy, then we discover our “happy place” is wherever He is, doing whatever He has called us to do. Then, even the most unlikely situations or circumstances become our “happy place.” Our true happy place is Jesus. Instead of trying to satisfy your longing for a happy place by going to somewhere particular, go to Jesus, and rest in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. — Phil. 4:11-12
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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08
Jan '25
January 2025 Mills’ Musings – Do You See What I See?
08
Jan '25
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)
I’ve been interested in astronomy ever since I was a child. That may in part be an accident of timing: I had just turned six when President Kennedy said America would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. I was a rising 8th-grader when I watched Neil Armstrong make one giant leap for mankind.
Through the years, the intensity of my interest in things beyond our planet has varied. But it never disappeared. In 1986, I saw Halley’s Comet make its only swing by earth in my lifetime. Earlier this year I went to Indiana to observe a total solar eclipse. (As I wrote in the May newsletter, it was spectacular.) And in 2020, I looked through my son Tim’s telescope to see Jupiter and Saturn appear closer together than they had at any time in the last 800 years. Indeed, they came so close that the naked eye might have mistaken them for a single, new object.
The astronomical term for such unusual proximity is “conjunction.” Conjunctions are not rare. But they are sufficiently uncommon that those who study the night sky tend to take note of them. That’s why some today believe it was a conjunction of planets that the wise men saw and followed to Bethlehem, looking to worship the newborn king of the Jews.
Their theory does have some scientific support There was a rare triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C. This “new star” could have been interpreted as a sign of a royal birth, with Jupiter symbolizing kingship. Less likely astronomical theories sometimes used to explain the celestial phenomenon that led the wise men to Bethlehem include the appearance of a comet and the explosion of a star.
As Scripture regularly reminds us, God is quite capable of using natural phenomena – storms, floods, earthquakes, fire – to reveal his will to his human creation. But the appearance of a previously unknown celestial entity, what many now call the Star of Bethlehem, does not require a naturalistic explanation. The Maker of heaven and earth is certainly capable of putting a new star in the sky, allowing only those he chooses to see it, and then having them let us know what they saw.
For example, think about the army of angels that was initially invisible to Elisha’s servant (II Kings 6:15-17). The servant, constrained by the physics of human vision, thought he and Elisha were hopelessly outnumbered by the army of the King of Aram,. But Elisha had been given the gift of seeing what God saw. And when God answered Elisha’s prayer, the servant saw not only the chariots of fire but also the truth of Elisha’s words, “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
Perhaps more so than in years past, it is understandably easy for you and me to look out our windows as this new year begins and see only the forces arrayed against God and those who do his will. Each time we look, their numbers seem to have grown. In such moments, may we be strengthened by the example of the wise men, who saw for a sign then followed it to Jesus. And may we be comforted by the knowledge that, today and always, “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
Blessings,
Rev. Bob Mills
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24
Nov '24
December 2024 Pastor’s Corner — Through Time and Space
24
Nov '24
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. — Revelation 12:3-6
There is something in us that loves fantastic stories about the supernatural, “fantasy” in its truest, literary sense. We love epic tales of good versus evil, of supernatural beings and superhuman people. Stories that stir our imagination, encouraging us to see the larger, cosmic story unfolding when we look past the merely physical world we live in and interact with on a daily basis. Whether we call those stories fantasies, myths, science fiction, or something else, we find them speaking to something intrinsic in our experience that knows there is more to this life than the physical world we see and touch.
I am willing to bet that when you go to read the Christmas story with your family, the verses above are not the ones that first come to mind. When we think of the Christmas story, we usually turn to the opening chapters of Matthew or Luke. If you’re wanting a more existential version, then John is the gospel for you. The last thing we think about when we it comes to the Christmas stories are dragons and cosmic battles. The incarnation of God the Son in the form of Jesus Christ is the first miracle of Christmas, a truly fantastic moment when the heavens came to earth, the spiritual took on the physical. It is the heart of what we celebrate at Christmas. But even in the midst of this epically mythical occasion, our focus centers on the stuff of earth — a pregnant teenager, a messy barnyard, a baby taking its first breath. The birth of Jesus Christ is so exceptionally visceral, it’s easy to forget how the incarnation transcends time and space.
In Revelation 12-14, John recounts human history from heaven’s perspective. It’s a truly cosmic and fantastic story that involves dragons and beasts, angels and people. It’s so different from the rest of Scripture, its hard to understand, let alone know who is who. Here’s your cast of characters: The dragon is Satan. The woman is Mary (at least in these verses – the woman changes throughout the chapter from Eve, to Israel, to Mary, to the Church… it’s complicated). The baby is the easiest one to figure out – he’s Jesus, clearly identified by the reference to Psalm 2:8-9 (“the one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron”). In the verses above, we have not only the story of Christmas, but Jesus’ entire life and ministry consolidated into one short sentence. Chapter 12 captures all of human history in 17 verses. What’s been eons for us is but the blink of an eye in heaven (2 Peter 3:8). Quite a different version of the story we all know so well.
We know the incarnation is a wondrous and miraculous event. Even with that, it’s so easy to miss just how truly wondrous and miraculous it was. It’s so much more than nativity sets and advent wreaths. It’s a true story that is so much more and better than anything we’ve ever dreamed or imagined. The incarnation is a miracle of cosmic degree and impact, breaking through heaven and earth, shattering the boundaries that separate the spiritual from the physical, bringing together the divine and the human in a way that had never happened before, and will never happen again. Through Jesus Christ, Satan (the dragon) has been barred from heaven (Rev. 12:8) and thwarted at every turn (Rev. 12:13-17) until his ultimate defeat when Christ returns (Rev. 14:1-6).
The Christmas season is one of the most tangible and tactile seasons we celebrate. It carries with it so many unique sights and sounds, textures, aromas and tastes. It is very much an imminent celebration. But Christmas is also a transcendent season extending through time and space. In the midst of your Christmas celebrations this year, allow time for your imagination to take hold of the cosmic dimensions that are very much a part of the Christmas story. Jesus has come. God is with us. And evil has lost. Joy to the world, indeed!
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:9-14
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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31
Oct '24
November 2024 Pastor’s Corner — The Father of Delights
31
Oct '24
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. — James 1:17
I had a wonderful time while away on study leave last month. I attended a conference called “Hutchmoot” just outside Nashville. Hutchmoot was started 15 years ago by Andrew and Pete Peterson. Andrew describes it this way: “Hutchmoot is a three-day feast where we gather to celebrate the way the Lord makes himself known through his creation. This includes stories, music, and art of all kinds, but it’s also broader than that. He also makes himself known through Scripture, of course, and through nature, and food, and even each other—through the flawed and glorious humans you’ll be rubbing elbows with all weekend.”
Something I’ve noticed about myself is that when life gets hard and stressful, when anxiety and worry threaten to take over, it often seems as if God has stopped moving and working. Prayers seem to be answered with silence. The “joy of my salvation” seems like a distant memory. The world, and my life, seem to be running on autopilot rather than guided by the hands of a loving God. He no longer seems interested in making Himself known in any fashion, so much so that sometimes during these seasons I find myself wondering if He’s there at all.
One of the sessions I attended was led by Andrew Peterson and called “The Father of Delights.” Riffing off James 1:17 above (“…the Father of {de}lights…”), Andrew emphasized that God is always moving and working in, through, and around us, whether we are aware of it or not. He is constantly working to make Himself known to us and others, and seeking to delight us and fill us with wonder. To delight in God, in His works and His creation, is to glorify God. C.S. Lewis writes, “The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” The question isn’t whether God is or isn’t making himself known and giving us reason to delight in Him, it’s whether we’re paying attention and looking for the delights God is throwing our way.
Every once in a while, God does something stunning that makes us take notice. Consider the awe we’ve all experienced the last couple of months with the displays of the Aurora Borealis here in central Virginia. That just doesn’t happen here. But it did, and it was wondrous and delightful. You couldn’t look at the sky and not delight in the God that made the colors dance across the heavens. But there are countless ways God is making Himself known to us every day. The question is, are we taking the time to look for it? Delight is something that we cultivate. If you are looking to be delighted by God, then you will find delight in God. Cultivating delight requires slowing down, being patient, and paying attention to what is going on around us. Think about all that is happening every time you take a simple breath. Muscles flex, lungs expand and contract, air moves in and out, blood flows, oxygen and carbon dioxide trade places, and much more. Something we do tens of thousands of times a day is a delightful and wonderful act. An act we take for granted with every breath. Delighting in God takes intentionality and needs to be cultivated.
As we cultivate our delight in God, we learn to see all the different ways we are invited to delight in God. Delight teaches us to see delight. Have you ever noticed how many yellow cars there are? Probably not, but now you’re going to start seeing yellow cars everywhere. We find that for which we are looking. As we cultivate an awareness of the myriad delightful ways God is moving and working, we will start seeing even more ways to delight in Him. When you find or discover something delightful, take the time to savor and delight in it, and tell God about your delight. When we express our delights, it delights the Giver of delight. Think about the times you’ve done something special for your children or your spouse, and they delighted in it. Their delight delights us, and it’s the same with our Father in Heaven.
In addition to giving thanks to the Father of Delights, share your delight with someone else. Delight shared is delight enhanced and magnified. So often, it’s easy for me to miss all the delightful things God is doing in my life. When you delight in God and share that with me, it helps me to cultivate delight myself and encourages me to look around for all the delightful ways God is at work. In a world that is so filled with anger and rage, stress and worry, fear and anxiety, cultivating delight in God and sharing those delights with others shines as bright as a candle unexpectedly lit in the deep darkness of night.
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” — Matthew 6:28-30
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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26
Sep '24
October 2024 Pastor’s Corner — Falling Like A Seed
26
Sep '24
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” — John 12:23-26 ESV
As I’ve been contemplating and praying through this passage recently, something particular stood out to me. This teaching from Jesus is given on Palm Sunday, shortly after the Triumphant Entry. Having seen the festive procession as Jesus entered Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, some Greeks “came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.” (John 12:21-22 ESV) The passage above is Jesus’ response to their request. If you pause for just a moment and think about it, it’s a really, really weird answer. They ask to see Jesus, and Jesus says, “Unless a seed die, it can not bear much fruit.” Ok. Right. Good to know. But can you have a chat with these folks or not?
The entirety of his answer comes in John 12:23-36, with verse 32 explaining and expanding verse 24: “24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit… 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” What was surely confusing to the disciples and the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus is crystal clear to us: In order for the Greeks, or anyone actually, to see see Jesus truly, He first needed to die and rise from the dead. Through the death of the one seed, Jesus Christ, the fruit of the Gospel exploded throughout the world.
There’s a lot to unpack in these short verses, and maybe we’ll do that over the next few months, but for now, consider this. Autumn, for all of its beauty, is a season of dying. The leaves change color because they’ve stopped producing chlorophyll; they’ve started to die. The seeds the trees have been growing all year long fall to the ground. The crops have finished their season of growth and are starting to ripen. The harvest is being gathered in. And yet none of that is an end. All of that is used to begin the process of new life and growth. That new life and growth won’t be evident until months of gestation have passed, but life, and life abundant, will burst forth. Watching the leaves fall it seems like the promise of that new life is an eternity away, but once spring comes ‘round it will be as if a mere moment has passed.
God created the natural world to work the way it does because it illustrates His truth (Psalm 19:1-4). In God’s great redemptive work, nothing is wasted. Even death, that which seems like the ultimate and permanent ending, becomes the seed and soil that nurtures exponentially more life. There is great comfort in knowing that when we die there will be a double blessing: We will be blessed by rising to eternal life with Jesus (1 Cor. 15:52-54) and the Kingdom of God will be blessed as God takes our dying and uses it to glorify Himself and bring forth abundant new life (John 12:27-28).
The future is always scary, because from our finite perspective it’s so uncertain. But it isn’t, really. God is not just God of the past and present, He is God of the future as well. What seems uncertain and constantly changing for us is sure and certain for God. It is because God holds the future in His hands that we can know with absolute certainty nothing that happens will go to waste, not even death. Leaves die and fall and decompose to provide the nutrients that the seeds that fell need in order to give life to much new fruit. What is true in nature is true in us. And what is true in us is true in the Church as well.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. — Rom. 8:22-25 ESV
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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29
Aug '24
September 2024 Pastor’s Corner — Did He Really Mean That?
29
Aug '24
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:17-20 ESV
Arguably the greatest sermon of all time is also the most famous, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5-7. It is an incredible message that outlines the nature and character of the Kingdom of God, and just how different it is from the powers and kingdoms of the world. It is a fairly straightforward and simple message, but it has generated enormous controversy in terms of how to interpret and apply it.
There are those who believe that the Sermon on the Mount is meant to show just how impossible it is for a person to live up to the standards of God’s Law. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Perfect perfection is what it takes to make it into heaven, and the only perfectly perfect person was Jesus Christ. Our salvation is by faith in him alone, not through our works, and just in case you think you can work your way into heaven, Jesus makes it clear in this sermon that we never can. It’s not just the act of murder that’s wrong, it’s even calling someone an idiot. It’s not enough to love your neighbor, you have to love your enemy also. According to this view, the purpose of the sermon is to illustrate our depravity and need for a Savior.
Others see Jesus describing the ideal nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a Utopian vision of what could be and what will be when Jesus returns and consummates the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It’s certainly not the way the world works right now, but it’s what we can aspire and hope to experience one day. After all, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matt. 7:14 ESV) According to this view, the sermon was meant to inspire us to look forward to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven… eventually.
But what if Jesus meant what he said? Not some of it, but all of it? Not eventually, but right now? Not to say what we have to do to earn our salvation, but to show how to live because of our salvation? What if, because of the salvation made possible by and given to us through Jesus Christ, we set aside anger and lust, forgiving others as we’ve been forgiven, loving our enemies as much as our neighbors, followed Jesus sincerely instead of ostentatiously, trusted in the provision of the Lord instead of what we gain by our own hands? What if we followed the narrow path into depths of living of which we can only dream, the path along which Jesus invites us to follow him?
After all, the key to “unlocking” the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 7:24: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” The solid rock that secures our faith isn’t just believing in Jesus, it comes in doing what he said, and what he said was the message of the Sermon on the Mount. If we truly want to change the world, it starts by taking Jesus seriously and doing what he said.
Join us this fall as we walk through the Sermon on the Mount and follow Jesus along the narrow path that leads to more and better life than we’ve ever dreamed of.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” —Matt. 7:24-27 ESV
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison
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