​                Madison and Kaitlyn found a small puzzle at church one Sunday morning, it was a picture of Jesus as a shepherd.  They wanted to put it together during the 9 a.m. worship service, but Michelle told them no.  She did say that they could work on it before worship started and probably get it done, which they did.  As they were putting it together Madison picked up a piece of the puzzle that had Jesus’ face on it and turned to Michelle and said, “look, I found God.”  Oh my, I guess she is a preacher’s kid.  At least she admits to finding God, that is good.
                As I have shaken my head and laughed at Madison’s statement, it has made me think about this Christmas season and finding God.  The “wise men” were looking for the Christ child, and found him.  There is a promise from God that says when you “seek me you will find me when you seek me with your whole heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).  Have I found God?  Have I found God in this season?  Maybe the better question is, have even been seeking or looking? 
                When Paul was in Athens, he spoke to the Athenians saying: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:24-27).  God is not far.  God can be found.  God wants us to find him, because as Paul will go on and say in verse 28, “For in him we live and move and have our being.”
                Is our heart set on seeking?  What does a seeking heart look like?  What does your seeking heart look like?  We find God in the scripture, for Christ is the word.  We find God among the Church, for Christ is the head.  We find God midst the hurting, for we are told when we do something for the least we do it for Christ.  We find God beside those who are confessing, because Christ is the truth.  Where are you seeking God this season?  And are we seeking God with our whole heart, all that we can.  There may be pieces and parts of our heart that we can’t seek God with, part of our heart that we would say we don’t have a hold of right now.  Someone else, something else has it and is keeping us from seeking God with it.  With all that you can, will you seek God and then let God free the other parts so that more and more may of your heart may join in the finding? 
                My prayer for you is that as the Christmas morning dawns and the new year draws close you will be able to say like Madison, “Look, I found God.”  Christ came so that we might find Him.  Thanks be to God, a God who wants us to find life in Him.  

​                My family and I had gone to Krispy Kreme donuts the other morning.  We didn’t eat them there, we just got them and were bringing them home to eat.  Madison was holding them on her lap in the back seat as we drove on Richmond Road.  As I approached the turn to go left, I waited for cars to go by and for a good gap between cars to occur before I pulled out in front of oncoming traffic.  As I turned, I told Michelle if I had been by myself, I would have gone earlier (there were smaller gaps between the cars where I could have made the turn).  To which Michelle said, “Yeah, but you have precious merchandise to take care of.”  Madison heard Michelle and said something along the lines of “I’m holding the precious merchandise.”  I’m pretty sure Michelle was talking about her and the girls as precious merchandise, but Madison was thinking about the donuts.  It made Michelle and I laugh. 
                Michelle’s and Madison’s statements made me think about things that are precious.  Things that we consider of value.  Things that we think are rare.  The dictionary would add things that are not to be wasted or treated carelessly.  In the scriptures we find that the law is precious, life blood is precious, Jesus’ blood is precious, the deaths of the saints are precious to God, even Jesus is referred to as the precious cornerstone.  I want to point out one other place that talks about what is precious.  2 Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
                The promises of God are precious.  Do we know them?  Those truths of God that we can count on.  Those proclamations from the most High that will not fail.  The declarations from our Savior that we can hold onto when the storms are raging, when life is fading, when the pain seems unbearable, or the night and darkness seem to go on and on.
                Peter would call The Lord’s promises not only precious, but also great.  Great as in terms of large or powerful.   Do we know them?  Promises speak to us about God’s faithfulness.  They speak to us about the Lord’s nature and desire.   They speak to us about our savior’s heart and what is to come. 
                Do you know them?  Do you believe them?  Do you trust them?  And are they precious to you?  Do you treasure them as something of value, something that we hold onto because we know it will make all the difference?
                Donuts are a precious thing, as Madison had in mind.  My family is a precious thing, as Michelle had in mind.  But even more precious are the promises of God.  These promises that allow us to walk where we wouldn’t normally walk.  Wait when we wouldn’t normally wait.  Give when it doesn’t always make logical sense.  Hope when it seems like there is no reason to hope.  Praise God for His great and precious promises.

​                Michelle, the girls and I were out to lunch with a young couple the other day.  During our lunch, somehow we got into the conversation about Madison driving and her getting the keys to the van and being able to drive.  Michelle asked her what she would do once she got in the van.  Madison said that she would put it in drive and drive.  Michelle told her that would be a bad idea because we had pulled into a parking space and driving forward wasn’t an option.  Madison said that she would put it in reverse first and back out.  Michelle asked how she was going to know if it was okay to back out and she said she would look in the display on the dash.  Michelle told her that she would also need to look and not just trust the display.  Michelle asked her what she would do once she had backed out.  Madison said she would drive home.  Michelle asked her how she should do that.  Madison went on to say that she would put the van into drive and push on the pedal.  Michelle said, “which pedal?”  Madison said, “the go pedal.”  I must have missed that when I learned how to drive.  The good news is, she knew which pedal it was and she didn’t call the brake pedal the stop pedal, so that is good.  Also, she is only 13 so we have a few years. 
                As I laughed at her comment, it made me think about the times in my life I need to press the “go” pedal.  There are times when we need to stop, and maybe that is where you are.  A time to be still and know that He is God.  A time to have a sabbath with our Lord, to enjoy His presence and peace.  After Jesus’ resurrection, before the disciples were to “go” into all the world, they were called to wait for the Spirit. So, maybe that is where you are, but I am in a place where I need to go.  I am one of the slowest people at doing some things.  Things I know I should do, but don’t feel ready.  Places I should lead, but don’t think the church is ready.  Work I don’t ask others to do, because I don’t want to inconvenience them.  What I am really doing though is not allowing God to use me, not trusting that God will work it out, and not allowing God’s people to serve Him in work that He has created them to do. 
                Some of those things that I know I am supposed to do are to have what I am calling holy conversations.  Conversations not just about how you are doing, not just about letting you know you are thought of, but asking you things like: How are you letting Jesus be your Lord?  Where are you seeing Him in your life?  How you are about His business in all you do?  How can I help you know Him more fully, surrender to Him more deeply, and love Him even more? 
                I am going to try and make expectations known, starting in particular with our leadership.  Not just job descriptions about what needs to be done, but what type of people and behaviors we need to be and display.  To help us experience God in a more profound way as Lord and we as His servants.  A body being about His work to which He has called us. 
                Those expectations will extend to the whole church as we define who we are and how we believe God has called us to be about His business here at the corner of Clay and E. High St.  Looking at the way we establish connections with those whom God is putting around us and calling us beside those who don’t know Him.  Expecting us to be cultivating relationships and out of those places inviting people to join us in community, to at least see who we are and what God is doing among us.  Challenging us to call people to surrender more fully to Christ, to share with them things we have done, ways we have made room for Him, opportunities that are coming up for them (and that would be us too) to allow Christ to be Lord of another piece of our heart and lives.  And then not allowing this journey of transformation to be taken alone, establishing intentional relationships where we walk together trying to help each other keep Christ and His work at the center of our lives. 
                I don’t know where you are, but I need to press the “go pedal” in some things.  Pray that the Lord directs all that we do, that His Holy Spirit encourages us and reminds us that He is on the throne and empowers us to be about His work.  Know that you are dearly loved and that I desire for us to be a community of faith who surrenders to Him, looks out for each other and goes out into the world.
 
 

                I was rearranging and cleaning my office the other week, by the layer of dust on some of the book shelves it had been a while since I last cleaned, I came across a connection card.  You know the cards for visitors to fill out on Sunday mornings that are in the pews.  Madison, my oldest daughter, had filled it out a few years ago.  It, of course, has our names and address on it and when it asked how you heard about Park, she put “Lynn”.  When she had the opportunity to check what she wanted more information about, she checked “Children’s Ministry.”  She checked the age groups of our family – 0-11 for her and Kaitlyn and 25-35 for Michelle and myself (It made me smile that she thought that was the category we belonged in).    It also made me smile that she checked the box, I would like to meet with the pastor (I wonder if I followed up on that one).  The other part that made me laugh was on the back.  It was for a Wednesday night series, you had the opportunity to say if you were coming to eat and what study you were thinking about joining us for.  The line she checked was, “I may come for dinner and bring a few others.  I’m estimating a headcount of __________.”  In the blank she put 105.  Yes, way to think positive Madison. 
                As I thought about Madison’s 105, I was reminded that it isn’t about the numbers.  We may say that because the numbers are not what we want or because we truly believe it.  We know that each number is a person and that is what truly maters.  And although we may not want to get caught up in numbers, sometimes pastors can be bad at it.  Pastors can be like fisherman, who exaggerate how big the fish was they caught, because a group of 70 can turn into close to a hundred petty quickly when they talk about how things are going. 
                What I do want to remind you of today though is a parable from Jesus.  It is a unique parable.  Jesus tells it as he is having dinner at a prominent Pharisee’s house (by the way I suspect Jesus ate at their houses just as much as they would have complained that he ate at the tax collector and sins houses).  They talk about healing on the Sabbath, which of course Jesus has done.  Jesus talked about not taking the place of honor when invited to a banquet.  Then Jesus talks about who to invite when you give a lunch or dinner.  The answer is those who can’t repay you.  Jesus goes on to say “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14).
                It is after this that someone around the table said “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God” (14:15).  In response to this Jesus tells a parable.  This is my paraphrase of it.  A guy was giving a banquet and he sent out save the date cards so that people would know it was coming.  When the time came, the guy sent out his banquet planner to tell everyone to come, but none of those who had been invited were able to come.  They all thought that they had something better to do.  When the host hears about this he gets really angry and tells his planner “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.”  The planner says, “yeah, I already did that and there is still room.”  So the host tells his planner “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.”  (For the real parable, read Matthew 14:16-24)
                Two things, one about God and the other about the servant, both are about the heart of God.  One, God wants a full house.  We aren’t talking about churches and worship services (although I am sure that pleases him as well), but about His kingdom.  Remember when Jesus was talking with His disciples and said “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).  The father desires His house to be full and Jesus made it possible, prepared it for us.  The father doesn’t need a full house because he wants to feel important, but because the father knows that in that place (don’t just think physical location) is where we find full life. 
                Two, the servant (banquet planner in my story), knew that the father wanted a full house and did what he could to make it full.  Did you notice that the people Jesus told the crowd to invite to lunch or dinner when you throw a party was the same list the servant said he went out and got?  (the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.)  The servant knew the father’s heart (Master in the real parable).  The servant knew it and did all he could to fulfill it.  Do we do the things we do because they are the heart’s desire of the master?
                The last thing I will tell you is that although the servant knew the masters heart and brought the people he knew that the master would have wanted invited, there was still more because there was still room.  This is why the master sends the servant farther out of the way, farther out of town, because there was still room.  Have you ever wondered how many rooms are in the father’s house?  I will tell you the answer, at least one more.  There is always room.  So invite 105 people to a Wednesday night meal, or how about just one person to worship or to a study or even out to lunch or coffee.  Let the heart of the Father be what leads your actions and determines how you see people.  Go, there is still room.
               
​

Michelle, the girls and I were at my parent’s house the other Saturday having lunch.  We had salad and potato soup, it was very good.  Kaitlyn didn’t finish all her soup and said that she was full.  My mom then brought out dessert.  It was a pistachio salad.  It was one that has a lot of whipped cream, those small marshmallows, bits of pineapple and bits of pistachio.  It is really more of a dessert than a salad.  This one was dyed green and tasted wonderful.  Although Kaitlyn said she was full, we could tell she wanted some of the salad.  Since we were at my mom and dad’s house we allowed her to have some of the “salad” (at our house, she probably wouldn’t have gotten any because if she were too full to finish her lunch, she would have been too full to have dessert).  One of Kaitlyn’s reasons for why she should have some was because it was green, “and green things are good for you.”  Michelle, who is so quick, looked at Kaitlyn and replied back to her “that is why I eat mint chocolate chip ice cream.” 


Oh the way our minds reason things out.  As I sit and think about Kaitlyn’s statement and Michelle’s follow up reply I was wondering about the different ways we can interpret good.  We hear our doctor say that “it would be good for you to eat less saturated fat, but eat more vegetables.  Then we say to ourselves, “Oh that mint chocolate chip ice cream is so good.”  Well, which one is good?  Both I guess, but in different ways.  There is good as in beneficial, helpful, right and then there is good as in enjoyable, pleasurable, and gratifying.  Let me take the conversation outside of food. 


Peter, James and John are on a mountain with Jesus and “there he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:2-3).  When Peter saw this, he spoke up and said to Jesus “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters-- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  In Mark we learn that he was so frightened, he didn’t know what to say.  But think about Peter’s thinking with me.  Good for Peter in that moment was something that they would enjoy, but it wasn’t the right thing or apparently the good thing to do.  They were going to go back down the mountain and find the other disciples in a tough spot.  


 Good as in enjoyable for me, and good as in right, don’t always lead the same way. What we consider enjoyable, pleasurable, or gratifying when it is about us may not always be good in the other sense.  I would really enjoy a nice new car but it may not be the good way for me to use what God has given me.  There may be a way that He desires me to use what He has blessed me with that is good.  Please don’t hear me say that enjoyable and right can’t go hand in hand.  God has created the world to be enjoyed.  He has blessed us not only so that we can survive, but live as well.  The question is what “good” directs us?  What Jesus found as “good” – right – was obedience to His Father.  His Father’s will gave Him direction. 


Where do we find our “good”?  For me, the scriptures are at the heart of it because they share with us the heart of the Father, Christ and the Spirit.  They give me a foundation to stand on and a direction to go.  What defines your “good’ as in what is right?  Have we confused the two goods?  Is pleasure, enjoyment, gratification our foundation we stand on and our guide that directs us?  Again, the two can walk hand and hand at times, but if we are going to follow one, which one is it?  The cross is an obvious picture of this.  I don’t think Jesus would have said that it is good, as in pleasurable or enjoyable.  But, I do think He would say that it is good, as in right or beneficial.  He knew that it was the Father’s will.  He knew that is was good, but also that it was not going to be “good” for him in the moment.


I will remind you that where God the Father and Christ the Good Shepherd lead us, is to a good place.  On the journey, we may find ourselves walking through the shadow of death, to places that may not gratify our physical pleasures and sometimes cause us to be in a hard spot.  But where we end is good.  ​I know pistachio salad is good and not good at the same time. Are there places in my life where I live with the same tension?  What good do I let lead me?

The girls and I were in the kitchen one morning, getting breakfast and packing up school lunches, when we hear Michelle tell us to “look out the window.”  I look out the window and scanned the ground, thinking there is a creature in the back yard, but I don’t see anything.  Then I look up and got to enjoy a gorgeous sunrise.  I called out to Michelle saying that it was a beautiful sunrise to which Kaitlyn, who was standing beside me says “It happens every morning.”  I just laughed and shook my head. 
 
So, Kaitlyn is right.  It does happen every morning and it got me thinking about all the incredible things that happen and how often I miss them.  I forget to see them because I am distracted by other things or my eyes aren’t paying attention. 
 
There is a passage of scripture in Lamentations 3, that some of you will know.  It is the one that implies that God’s mercies or compassions are new every morning (Lam 3:23).  New every morning, just like the sunrise.  It is true and something for us to be thankful for, but the verses before 23 are important for us to hear today. 
 
The section from Lamentations 3:19-23 goes like this: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
 
I think it is important to hear the verses before 23 because I know, at times, I never make it to 23.  I get stuck in 19 and 20.  I remember my affliction, my wandering, my bitterness and my gall.  I remember all these things and my soul is downcast.  Maybe my day is going lousy, my week has not been great, my month has been tiring, and my year has worn me out.  My soul is downcast, or to say it another way, I’m just down and if not in, close to the dumps.  When you are there, it is easy to stay there.  It is easy to just look at what is going wrong, to look at what has gotten you into your funk, to play over and over again what has made your soul downcast.  All we remember is the bad, the trouble, the pain, and the weariness.  But there is a yet.
 
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  God’s compassions (sometimes translated mercies) never fail, they are new every morning and our God is faithful.  Do we forget the yet?  Do we get so consumed with our eyes on our own problems and situation that we don’t see the sunrise, hear the birds chirping, or enjoy the smile of a friend?  Do we miss what God is doing in someone’s life around us that should remind us that God is still at work?  Do we forget that there is a yet?  Trouble will come.  Heartbreak will happen.  Affliction will find its way into our lives.  YET.  Don’t forget the Yet. 
 
I know that there are days that I will enjoy a sunrise, but it is not every morning.  Sometimes it takes someone reminding you to look out the window, reminding you that God is doing something wonderful and beautiful and life changing.  To be reminded, with Him is great love and His mercy is new every morning, that He is always faithful.  May your eyes be open to all that God is doing, yet.  May your heart be awoken again by all that our Lord is yet to do but will because He is always faithful. 
​Because of Him,
​Lynn

Michelle, Kaitlyn and I went to the furniture store the other day.  We normally don’t just visit furniture stores, but we had some time to waste before we picked up Madison from an event and we were close by, so we went.  Kaitlyn was so excited to go in, when we told her where we were going she said, with a smile, “I love furniture stores.”  Of course we know why she loves them.  She gets to try out different chairs and sofas, lay on different beds, and it is a lot of fun.  Kaitlyn likes to do more than the normal person though.  She saw a blue fuzzy carpet and went over and felt it.  Then she ran back a little way, got a running start, and just slid, head first, onto the carpet – kind of like a baseball player sliding into second base.  She looked up at Michelle and I and said, you have to feel this.  It is so soft.  Michelle and I just laughed.  I did bend down and feel the carpet and it was soft.  I didn’t go for the slide though.
 
As I thought about our trip to the furniture store, Kaitlyn’s slide onto the fuzzy blue carpet, and how much it made me smile, I started to wonder if I need to slide more in my life.  Really, everybody sits on the couches, tries out the chairs, lays on the mattresses, but how many people slide head first onto the carpet.  I’m not even for sure that the carpet is for sale.  People don’t seem to be there to shop for that.  I have started to wonder if I should start doing the unexpected, the thing that is out of the ordinary, those things that most people aren’t going to do, as a follower of Christ.
 
We see this in the life of Jesus, don’t we?  He stops a funeral procession because He touches the coffin (Luke 7:14), He reaches out and touches the leper (Matt 8:3), He ate with sinners (Matt 9:10), He remained quiet when accusations were flying (Matt 26:63), He slept while storms where raging (Luke 8:23), He didn’t fret when food was short (Matt 14:15-16), and He didn’t run when the enemy came for Him (John 18:4).  That is how we find Christ acting.  How do we act?  Do we act as expected?  Do we talk like people think we should?  Do we limit our sharing, protect our pride, defend our honor, try to be seen in the right way, or be on the right side?
 
The cross is called foolishness (1 Cor 1:18) and if it is our hope, we are called to be fools (1 Cor 3:18).  We are called to surprise the world with an attitude that is unexpected.  To make them wonder with our gestures and acts that are unanticipated.  To bring something different to the table, a new song to the dance, light into the darkness.
 
Most people visit furniture stores and test out the furniture, but maybe we, as Christians, are call to dive on rugs.  Go through the power and call of the Holy Spirit and look like a fool, a fool that hangs every hope on the cross.
 
Because of Him,
​Lynn       
​

About five years ago on a Saturday night my family had just finished eating dinner (the girls helped me make some baked cheese raviolis, I fixed a nice salad and Michelle made a wonderful brown butter sauce with sage – it was very good) and Kaitlyn asked Michelle “mommy can we have a little dessert?”  We actually didn’t have anything for dessert, at least not enough for everyone to have some, and so Michelle said “We don’t have a little dessert.”  Kaitlyn wasn’t deterred by this answer and so she asked, “Well, how about a big dessert.”  (That’s a great reply isn’t it.)
There is a parable that Jesus tells in Luke 11.  In Luke, Jesus tells it right after He answers the disciples request to teach them to pray, just like John taught his disciples.  Of course in answer to that request, Jesus teaches them what we call The Lord’s Prayer and then directly after that goes into this parable. (See Luke 11:1-8)
 
Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'  "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'  I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
 
Isn’t that a wonderful parable?  Let’s think about it for a bit.  There is a lot about how we live that makes it hard to get the fullness of this parable.  Maybe the first has to do with how available things were.  There were no 24 hour convenient stores.  So when someone comes knocking and you don’t have something, running down to the corner isn’t an option.  Maybe we need to remember that the majority of these people weren’t living in a house were each kid had their own bedroom, not only did they not have their own bed room, they didn’t even share a bedroom with just their siblings, as you can pick up from the scripture, everyone was just in on big room.  It was a family slumber party every night. 
There are two other things that are at the heart of this parable that we need to understand.  The first is an understanding of hospitality in that day.  I’m sure many of you can think about stories from the Old Testament where we see just how important hospitality was.  So when a traveling friend comes knocking at your door, who you didn’t even know was coming, you don’t turn them away.  In fact, even the stranger who is in need would hopefully find a place to rest in some kind persons’ house.  The writer of Hebrews tells us, “do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (12:2) The other thing at the heart of this parable is boldness, the boldness of someone to knock on your door even though he knows you are asleep, even though he knows it will be a disturbance, but because there is a real need, he knocks.   
Now, you and I realize that after Jesus teaches on The Lord’s Prayer and goes directly into a parable it probably means it is connected to prayer in some way.  This is true here.  It is about boldness and how God is not afraid of our boldness.  Remember we are called to “approach the throne of grace with confidence.” (Heb. 4:16) I think sometimes we “don’t know the power of God” (Matt 22:29) and therefore we don’t pray with boldness.  Now, that boldness has to be through faith and, if I can take the parable a little farther (maybe farther than Jesus intended) the pray of boldness isn’t just for us.  The bread was for the neighbor, but ultimately for the visitor. 
So the question becomes, why would I ask for a little dessert instead of a big dessert?  In all truth, I don’t deserve dessert, but praise God our Lord is a God of mercy and grace.
​Because of Him,
​Lynn