Lenten Sermon Series

The forty-day long season of Lent has begun. A few of us at Christ Church met for Morning Prayers yesterday to mark the start with ashes, silence, Scriptures, and prayers.

• This Sunday begins a new Lenten sermon series titled, Cross Words, key words that bring definition to Christian faith. Over the next six Sundays during Lent we will explore Cross Words like repentance, forgiveness, worship, Communion, and evangelism. These are words Christian use a lot, but sometimes we use them without realizing the depth and breadth of the meaning they hold.

Unfortunately, some well-intentioned Christians can use cross words over cross words. Meaning, we can use words to hurt others over differences about how to interpret Cross Words; what they mean and how they should be lived out. Some of us can be offensive with the ways we use these words while others become defensive when people seek to grapple honestly with their meanings.

Trying to be both biblical and Christ-like is not as easy as it sounds when it comes to these Cross Words. So, how do we talk about these words passionately yet respectfully in community? How do we handle these words wisely as people who follow after the Cross-bearer?

Join us this Sunday as we begin the journey with Jesus toward the cross with the first Cross Word: repentance. And may you find a full experience of God's grace and mercy during this Lenten season in worship, Bible study, and prayer. Speaking of prayer:

• Join us also for Lenten Sunday evening prayers beginning this Sunday night at 6:00PM. There will be Scripture readings, silence, guided prayers, and art meditations. Evening Prayers will last about 30 minutes. It is meant to be brief, contemplative, and informal.

Ash Wednesday Quote of the Week

Ashes remind us, with a shock, that we are God's creation, made for God, and not the other way around. Ashes remind us of the brevity of the gift of life, and the grace of eternal life in the heart of God. Ashes remind us that we are born to live, really live, before we die. Ashes remind us of a resolve to a Lent, and a lifetime, of a more authentic relationship with Jesus the Christ. For reasons like these it does not occur to us that we participate in a "strange" custom of ashes and dust. To the contrary. With hearts full of awe, we seek gold and God in the dust. --Douglass Bailey

Ash Wednesday thus marks the beginning of Lent. In the Old Testament, people mourned their sin and repented of it in "sackcloth and ashes."

Today is a day that we confront our own mortality when our foreheads are marked with the sign of the cross and we hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This can be a painful acknowledgement. There can be a sense of sadness at having to let go of some thing we cling to so closely.

Yet today is also a chance to make a space for God. Lent can help us get in touch with our own brokenness and mortality and sinfulness, so that Christ can make us whole in every way.

• What do you make of the quote above?
• What practices will you be taking up this Lent to help create a space for God?
  
• Is there anything you will be giving up this Lent to help you make a space for God?
  

Prayer: Some Resources

The Sunday sermon this past week included a few references to resources for developing the practice of prayer. This arises out of a sermon series based in Acts 2:42 where the early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers.

Many of us search for ways to make prayer more intentional and more prominent in our everyday lives. Whether we pray in the mornings, at meal times, at night, or other times throughout the day, it is helpful to have something that calls us to prayer throughout the day.

While there are many books and online resources to choose from, here are three liturgical prayer resources that integrate Scripture, silence, reflections, and guided prayer.

Link to these resources and see how you might make them part of your own practice of prayer. These are especially helpful for those who sit in front of a computer much of the day. Try these out. Pray. Connect to God. Enjoy.

The Northumbria Community's daily office is available here.

Sacred Space is a daily guided prayer devotional that spends 10 minutes in prayer and Scripture.

Pray As You Go combines music, Scripture, and some questions for reflection. You can download it to your iPod or MP3 player, too.

Ministry in India

During Advent and Christmas in December, Christ Church members participated in the Advent Conspiracy project by giving special offerings through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's (CBF) Global Missions Offering to build 3 water wells in India. Each water well will provide fresh drinking water for an entire village.

Every year 1.8 million people die from water born illnesses. Drilling a fresh water well is an affordable way to help solve the water crisis for communities around the world.

Sam and Latha Bandela are CBF missionaries in India who oversee such projects. Check out this video that shows some of the work the Bandela's are doing to help people in India.

Quote of the Week

English writer G.K. Chesterton once said, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."

• What do you think about Chesterton's perspective?
  
• In what ways does this ring true for Christianity in American culture?

Current Living Room: Acts of the Apostles Part 2

Key text: Acts 1:1-26

The opening chapter of Acts is about the nature and mission of the Christian church that is soon to be born. The story of the earthly Jesus ends at the ascension
(1: 9-11), but the author Luke makes it clear that the church picks up where Jesus left off through the power of the Spirit.

One of Luke's main points is that since Jesus is not going to be present in the way he used to be, the church must be the hands and feet and presence of Christ in the world. Therefore, Luke insists that the church is not optional. It is essential for proclaiming God's reign in the world.

Now, the first community of Jesus followers is seeking to make sense of what is happening. Jesus tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit, because it is the Spirit that will make it possible for the church to fulfill its mission. The success of the Jesus movement would not depend on the moral, physical, or even spiritual power of the apostles alone. It would depend on the power of the Spirit to make the Jesus movement stick. In the absence of Jesus, the church would be the "flesh of God" to help bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

The community of believers in Acts is struggling to redefine itself in light of recent events. This is not unlike what we are doing today: seeking to rediscover and even redefine what it means to be the church in the 21st century.

Author Phyllis Tickle recently shared her working definition of both church and Church as "a body of people delighting in God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit."

So two questions for you: 1) How does the culture around you tend to define the church? 2) How would you say the church is best defined?

Souper Bowl of Caring

Last Sunday, the people of Christ Church participated in our first Souper Bowl of Caring on Super Bowl Sunday, February 1st. This is a practice we have carried over from our parent congregation, Wilshire Baptist Church of Dallas.

Six families made pots of soup for lunch. Lunch was free, but we asked everyone to make a gift to the Texas Baptist World Hunger Offering in the amount of what they would normally pay for a Sunday lunch out.

Christ Church raised $241.00 for the hunger offering. Thanks be to God.

Check out this video to learn more about the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

Current Living Room: Acts of the Apostles Part 1

Luke narrates the story of Jesus and tells the story of the founder's followers and the growth of the Jesus movement. The main purpose of Acts is not a simple re-telling of chronological events. Luke's higher aim is to tell a story that tells the truth about what it means to be the church. Luke not only wants the reader to know the story. Luke wants the reader to become part of it.

Our abridged study of Acts begins by highlighting Luke's central themes:

The universality of the gospel: The Jesus movement has a global vision. It was a movement meant to be extended through God's promises to the people of Israel (God chose Israel for the sake of the world) Acts 1:8

Women: Women play a prominent role in Acts. Mary the mother of Jesus is named when Luke names the Apostles. Priscilla the woman pastor, Lydia the merchant, and Dorcas; all are important to the fledgling early church.

The Holy Spirit: Jesus promises the Apostles the Holy Spirit in Acts 1: 4-5. Nothing can be started until the Spirit comes. The Holy Spirit is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth. The action of the Spirit defines what it means to be part of the Christian community (10: 44-48).

Old Testament Fulfilled: There is continuity between the story of Israel and the Jesus movement. The apostles were observant Jews. Luke says there were about 120 believers, the proper number for the formation of a synagogue. Peter also assures the crowd at Pentecost "this is that." Meaning, the coming of the Holy Spirit is in line with Old Testament prophets and promises.

The Nature and Mission of the Church: Luke's purpose it not just to tell what life was like in the early church. His theological purpose is to tell what it means to be the church and what the church's mission is.

Reflection:

• Which of these themes is most relevant to the church today? Why?
• What is your opinion of the importance of the church and of the necessity for all Christians to be part of it?
  

Welcome to the Christ Church Rockwall blog

This blog exists to be a forum for reflections, questions, and conversation to help Christ Church members and friends connect around Bible studies, book studies, and sermons. Blog posts will include questions and ideas that arise from each.

This is another outlet to help us in our journey of growing faith and building community. You are invited to comment on posts, share your stories, and talk about what you are learning.

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