Eliya's Baptism

Last night we baptized our daughter Eliya. It was my first baptism to conduct and it was a very special night for our whole family.

Here is the video.

Eliya's Baptism from Pastor Dave on Vimeo.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. This day has a profound meaning in the Christian church year. It has been around since around the 8th century and is meant to set apart a time in preparation of the coming celebration of the Resurrection.

If you have never heard of Ash Wednesday or don't know what it is, you are in the majority of Protestants. However, because you are reading this, you are also in an increasing majority that are coming to know Ash Wednesday and Lent as a time of spiritual renewal that adds spiritual value to your relationship with God. I know it has added value to mine in years past and I am looking forward to that increase this year.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. It is meant to help us focus on our own mortality and our confession of our need of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. An Ash Wednesday service helps us to do this together, as a church body, and in the larger context with the global Church. As we journey together in these 40 days toward the cross, Ash Wednesday helps us to begin the journey with our church family: around the table of Christ's church and the community of faith.

Ashes are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as a sign of mortality and repentance. In Job 42:6, we read, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the practice in Matthew 11:21. What a picture of the full circle of life! It is almost as if their sorrow is such that they are saying, "Return me to the dust I was made from! It is better to be dust than to be in such agony."

This time is also a personal time of examining ourselves and being open to God's movement in our life. May He reveal that which needs repenting from in our lives! And, of course, it is also to bear witness to His incredible mercy and grace that reconciles us to Him and to others.

Starting with Ash Wednesday through the season of Lent, we throw away the tendency to live out our lives content in our own sufficiency and righteousness (which is an illusion) and to rely on God's sufficiency and God's righteousness.

The holiest of God's people have always known the imperativeness of searching our hearts and humbling ourselves before God. We must feel the need to draw near to God. And, it is that desire that must be recognized in our lives each day; we must recognize the need for God's grace.

Many people use the season of Lent to enter into disciplines that remove distractions that have kept us from daily living in God's grace. Some of the disciplines that are added to people's lives are daily prayer, fasting, self-denial, and meditation of God's Word. These disciplines of devotion and denial are not meant to be avenues of legalism or some sort of divine money to earn God's adoration. Instead they are avenues of increasing our awareness of that adoration that has always been there. They discipline us to be more in tune with God.

So let us come into this time together! The time for preparation for celebration is here. Rejoice! God desires for us to be drawn closer into his embrace and to devote this time to become a more intimate with our God: Lover and Lord.

The Peace of God,

Pastor Dave

KidCore Worship Class

Tonight the kids had their last night in worship class with Ms. Jane. They had a good time with her motions. It was really cool to see the kids learning the Apostles Creed in song. Pretty cool!


-- Post From My iPhone