Snow Hill News Blog

Shaping Us Toward Sunday

Pastor Todd offers some thoughts on our readings for Sunday. Click here to listen.

What Is Your Story?

As a follow-up to their recent Justice Now, our youth produced a video in keeping with the theme - What's our Story?

Take a look -

Christ Our Life

Pastor Todd and Nathan have often made reference to Dallas Willard. One of the challenges Dr. Willard often gives is to memorize Colossians 3. We recently discovered this sermon by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. We would encourage you to take some time to listen and reflect on Dr. Keller's sermon on Colossians 3. You may listen by clicking here.

Psalm for the Week ... And More

Earlier in the week we posted something of a "false start" regarding the Scriptures for the coming Sunday. We overlooked "All Saints Day." Since we generally get the question, "Why would a Southern Baptist Church participate in such a commemoration?", a quick note would be good.

Rather than follow traditional Roman Catholic theology regarding All Saints Day and All Souls Day, we would find ourselves reflecting on this day as something of a Christian Memorial Day. Historically, Memorial Day gave Americans an occasion to remember those who gave their lives in service to our Country. Over time celebrations were broadened to remember not only soldiers but also family members who died.

In this sense All Saints Day, for our consideration, is a day to remember those in our local congregation and in the wider church who have died. We look at this day with hopefulness as the Scriptures given for the day point to the end of death. We understand the end of death, as John Owen put it, in the death of Christ. We would add that death ended in the resurrection of Jesus. 

So when we read  Psalm 24 we know it is the King of Glory who defeated our enemies of sin and death. The illustration of the power of Jesus over death shows up in the raising of Lazarus. Isaiah gives an eschatological picture of the "swallowing up of death forever and the feast that accompanies the end of grief and reproach. Revelation 21 signals the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God as "Heaven comes to earth." In the re-created order the prayer of Jesus finds ultimate fulfillment - your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's dwelling is with people. Death is no more. It is done.

What are your thoughts around these texts? What memories do you have of someone in our community of faith who has died in Jesus? What thoughts do you have about someone you know in the wider church who died in Jesus? Leave your thoughts for us to share in the comments.

Shaping Us Toward Sunday

Last Sunday, Nathan read a piece he had found related to the Scriptures for last Sunday. The writer noted a sociological shift in our culture. In a bygone day the culture tended to carry the faith. You remember when little leagues sports did not have games on "church days." Maybe you recall when the school calendar also deferred to events going on in the life of the church - summer camps, sporting events, etc. This is what the writer of the piece Nathan read meant by "carry the faith."

We have all witnessed the changes for the last couple of decades. Increasingly the encroachment caused us to question not why do we have these events, but why go to a church building with any regularity. No one questions the sports teams when they contend young athletes need time together, practicing, working on their game. Everyone questions why we need to meet with any regularity at church. After all we already have our ticket punched.

The matter may lay in what Dallas Willard regularly contends. Simply saying we "have it" does not indeed mean we have it. What we "have" is born out in what we do not what we say. Carrying the way of Jesus into a world necessitates thinking through just what that looks like and how we may do that in loving ways together. We find a small verse nestled in the rich text of Hebrews. The writer understood the needs of a faith community living in a culture where the culture did not carry the faith.

Celebrate Communion

Sunday we will celebrate the Lord's Supper, Communion. In preparation you may want to read John 6:24-35. You will notice the text contains one of the "I am" statements of Jesus - "I am the bread of life."

Psalm for the Week

The texts for this coming Sunday point to the ongoing saga of King David and his abuse of power to take Bathsheba and then have Uriah murdered. Challenged about his abuse of power as God's regal representative, David pens a Psalm of repentance.

Take some time this week to read Psalm 51.

Thank You Bob!

Here is Pastor Todd's weekly email about our collective "Thank you" to Bob Johnson.

Time. It can get away from you. Sometimes we cannot find enough of it. Occasionally we have too much on our hands.
 
Jesus remarked to the disciples on one occasion he must be busy about his work while it was day - while the time was good. My friend Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research, recently commented, "One of the greatest sins in the church is we have made it ok to sit and do nothing and call yourself a Christ-follower." Much of what Jesus pointed toward and Ed noted pointedly concerns what we do with our time.
 
It is at this point one expects a pastor to suggest some are not spending enough time in church. Certainly I believe we have missed the point of "gathering." Rather than to get noticed for being in attendance, the writer of Hebrews suggested the "assembling" together is for mutual encouragement to love and good deeds. No one could argue this can be done "outside" of church. The question is never "can it", the issue to ask, "is it." Too often we have asked the question of necessity rather than the question of action. But, really that is not the point of considering what we do with our time.
 
You see, I think we will be scrutinized more for what we do "away" from church. Jesus' ministry was not "in" the Temple. Ed's point is not about volunteering for the next announced vacancy in the organizational chart. No, the matter is really about what are you doing with the time you have living in the reality of the Kingdom of God. Has your imagination caught hold of the mission of God in the world? Carrying on the work of Jesus may be done just as Jesus did it. Not with special nights dedicated to service, but with a life lived in service to those around them.

Psalms for the Week

Consider reading, reflecting and commenting on Psalm 23 and Psalm 89.

The Kingdom of Downward Mobility

We found this quote from some online reading,

“…The society in which we live suggests in countless ways that the way to go is up. Making it to the top, entering the limelight, breaking the record - that's what draws attention, gets us on the front page of the newspaper, and offers us the rewards of money and fame.  The way of Jesus is radically different. It is the way not of upward mobility but of downward mobility. It is going to the bottom, staying behind the sets, and choosing the last place! Why is the way of Jesus worth choosing? Because it is the way to the Kingdom, the way Jesus took, and the way that brings everlasting life.” Henri Nouwen

(HT:ProdiganKiwi(s))