AWANA CANCELLED Tonight (1/25)

Due to the weather conditions AWANA will not meet tonight (1/25). We look forward to seeing all the kids next week, be safe and keep warm!

What is That? Using the Lord’s Supper to Teach Our Children

“Daddy what is that? Why are you holding that? What are you going to do with it? Why are people walking up there? Can I have a snack too?”

Henry Tokar was filled with questions as he watched his father holding the bread and the juice, and the wide eyes of his brother Sam showed an equal amount of curiosity. Nick, Henry and Sam’s father, was calm and gentle as he told his eager boys “I’ll tell you all about it when we get home.”

Observing this scene reminded me of the first time I asked my father about communion. Though, as may also have been true with Henry and Sam, I was more interested in a snack than anything else I saw going on. The Lord’s Supper is as perplexing an event for a small boy now as it was several years ago, and what a glorious opportunity for us to share the gospel with our children.

The scriptures tell us that just as Passover was a sign of the old covenant, so the Lord’s Supper is a sign of the new covenant in Christ (Luke 22:20). In Exodus 12:26-27 the Lord commands His people to use the Passover as a means for telling their children of the goodness, mercy, and deliverance of their Heavenly Father:

“And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’”

Observing the practice and administration of the sacraments, the signs and seals of the covenants of our Father, fulfilled by His Son and    empowered by the Spirit, is one of the great blessings afforded to our covenant children. As they observe the Spirit’s work in those around them they are given opportunities for the Spirit to work in their own hearts and minds.  And that work will continue as their parents, teachers, and elders are empowered by that same Spirit to share the good news of the gospel with them.

Raising children in the fear and admonition of the Lord is a daunting task. But there is great joy and encouragement to be found in the sacraments. As we practice the sacraments we are reminded of the fact that we are not alone in the tasks the Lord has called us to. We partake of the Lord’s Supper together in community and that same community is there to help and encourage us in our spiritual growth and calling. When we partake of the elements we are encouraged and strengthened by the Spirit to fulfill His calling in our lives. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that God is with us, and has provided a community for us and our children.

As we observe the Lord’s Supper today, and in the coming months, let us not forget the faith and strength we receive as we partake the elements, and our calling to pass them to our children.

Annual Muncie Mission Christmas Gift Project

Once again, New Life has the wonderful opportunity to help the Muncie Mission by purchasing Christmas gifts for their residents. We have committed to providing three gifts each for ten men plus 40 packages of men’s briefs. Please check the tag display located in the foyer to find out how you can serve God by serving the men of the Muncie Mission this Christmas. If you have any questions, please contact the church office.

Youth Events on November 19th

We have two events for the youth (grades 6th-12th) in November. Both are on November 19th and both are from 1-3:00pm.

Girls bring your old t-shirts (colorful ones are best) because we are making headbands and other cool things out of them! The talented Miss Julia Buben will be teaching us how to re-purpose these old shirts into new creations! There will also be tarts and fizzy drinks. It promises to be a great time!

While the girls are having a craft party all the boys are invited to go laser tagging at the Play Station in Muncie. $15 covers the cost of three games AND free soft drinks in between games.

You can check out all the event details and RSVP at my.newlife, hope to see all the youth there!

The Force of Anticipation

Tickets? Check. Popcorn? Check. Gobstoppers, Nerds (the candy not the people), and Reece’s Pieces? Check. Eight Taco Bell number four combos with large Mt. Dews? Check. Large winter jackets with plenty of pockets to carry all our contraband? Check, Check, Check, and Check!

It was May 20, 1999 as I and three friends made our way to the movie theatre. It was a gorgeous 75 degree spring day, marred only by the sweat now dripping from our shirts under the extra weight of our oversized coats. We were on a mission and nothing would distract us from the day’s ultimate goal: the release of Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace!

Being born in 1983 brought me in on the tail end of Star Wars fandom. However, through the mentorship of my brother I quickly succumbed to the tractor beam that lures all young boys to a long time ago and a galaxy far, far away. I was a devoted padawan and, under his guidance, I soon became obsessed with all things Star Wars. A condition my parents would come to refer to as “the dark side”.

I vividly remember the day I came home from school and my mom handed me the paper. I was perplexed as it was not the comics section, my usual after school reading, but the immediate sighting of Han Solo derailed any further confusion. The title of the article said it all, the sweetest phrase in the galaxy to a small boy with Jedi-like delusions of grandeur: “Star Wars is coming back!”

After six years of waiting, and suffering through the “improved” rerelease of the original trilogy, my friends and I were finally seated eagerly awaiting the dawn of a new or, depending on how you look at it, old chapter in the Star War saga. I will spare you the intergalactic disappointment that was the Phantom Menace and focus instead on our intense preparation for that day. A spectacle that would have astounded all our teachers, as they were led to believe such a feat of studious attention to detail and discipline to be far out of our skill set.

Anticipation is such an odd phenomenon. It can dictate and disrupt our lives. We eagerly anticipate movies, music, presents, new episodes of our favorite shows, or the annual Vera Bradley outlet sale in Ft. Wayne. The list goes on and on, and each one of us knows how to adequately prepare for the objects of our anticipation.

I have thought a lot about anticipation during our sermon series on eschatology. I have repeatedly asked myself with what measure of anticipation do I look forward to the second coming of Christ? And beyond that with what measure of discipline am I making myself ready for it?

My world was drastically changed by an article announcing the return of Star Wars, and yet my life is often untouched by the living and active proclamation of Christ’s return. Perhaps this is due to the ambiguity surrounding the second coming. We know it will happen, but we don’t know when. We know there will be judgment and restoration, and we are to be ready, but we don’t know exactly what that looks like.

The vagueness surrounding the second coming is not an excuse for us to neglect our anticipation of it but an opportunity to exercise faith in the Lord. As we see repeatedly in the scriptures, what He has promised He will fulfill.

I urge you to continue greeting this sermon series, which resumes next week, with eagerness using it to fuel our passion for the Kingdom and love of the church. So that when Christ returns we will be faithful to the charge in Luke 12, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to come home…so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.”

For more information about the eschatology sermon series click HERE.

To listen to the previous sermons in the series click HERE.

 

 

Youth Paint Ball War Oct. 29

The youth group (guys and girls in grades 6-12) is going paint balling on Oct. 29, 10am-1:30pm.  We are heading to River Valley Paintball Inc. at 10013 W. River Valley Rd., across from the Yorktown High school. The cost is $10 which includes the price of paint balls and a hot dog lunch afterwards. Spots are limited so you must RSVP soon by contacting the church office or through my.newlife.

You can RSVP on my.newlife by clicking HERE

Transforming the Culture by Engaging Our Community

In the Gospel of John, chapter four, there is a very well known narrative of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at a well. Their dialogue begins with Jesus asking for a drink of water, but as they continue to talk Jesus steers the discussion from the temporal to the eternal using the concept of thirsting for water. Rather than using a method like “eight simple rules for avoiding hell,” Jesus begins by truly talking to the woman and uses commonality to introduce spirituality. This passage is a tremendously useful model for engaging others with the Gospel; however, if we only focus on the dialogue, we miss two very important aspects of how Jesus engages the woman.

First of all Jesus went to the well.  In this passage we often highlight Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan and how the Jewish leaders would have avoided this woman. Yet if we are honest with ourselves it is often more comfortable to serve the church than it is to serve the community. Throughout His life and ministry Jesus went to outcast cultures and interacted with its people. He did not hide himself away in the synagogue, nor did He only reach out to His disciples. Jesus went to places like the well in Samaria because He had a passion to find those who are lost and to satisfy their thirst.

Secondly, Jesus asked for a drink. Though some may call this merely an icebreaker or an ingenious scheme to introduce the idea of “living water,” it is at its essence an attribute of Jesus’ humanity. As fully God, Jesus did not need the water; however, as fully man He was thirsty. Jesus used this to establish commonality with the woman, and their shared daily thirst created a perfect medium with which to present the Gospel. Jesus, who created the oceans, who could have commanded the water to rise up and satisfy His thirst, asked the woman for a drink. And yet how often do we, broken and sinful people, refuse to acknowledge the struggles and commonalities we share with the culture around us?

Currently we have a tremendous opportunity to apply this concept. We are excitedly building momentum around the pledge campaign. We are overwhelmed with all the ideas and things we can do with this new space. However, while we are waiting for the building project to begin, and hopefully even after it is done, let us not forget the opportunities and resources available to us in our community.

Pastor Bob hosts weekly Wednesday night basketball games at Pleasant View Elementary, where he is able to interact with the leaders of the school and invite people from the community to a place they know and trust. As much fun as it would be to have our own basketball court, we would lose a richly beneficial presence in the community, and the many lasting connections and relationships it has generated. Kids Hope is another opportunity for going into our community and showing the love of Christ not only to one child, but to their family, to the teachers and the school.

In order for us to truly engage and transform our culture, we must be willing to go out into our community and engage people as we are: broken struggling sinners basking in the grace of the same Savior we are offering them. As we continue to grow in our excitement for the new building project, let us not forget the purpose for the expansion is to spread God’s Kingdom throughout Muncie, Yorktown, and the world.

 

For more information about the Wednesday night basketball games click HERE

For more information about Kids Hope click HERE

Movie Review: The Tree of Life by Jim Spiegel

As Fall approaches every year, I begin to compile my “best of” music and film lists for my blog.  This year my choice for film of the year is an easy one:  The Tree of Life.  And judging by the critical responses and festival awards, it appears to top plenty of other lists as well.

The Tree of Life is the creation of Terrence Malick, whose other films include The Thin Red Line (director) and Amazing Grace (producer).  You know a filmmaker has accomplished something special when people begin to compare him to some of the great poets and novelists.  In this case, reviewers have put Malick in the company of literary figures such as Wordsworth, Melville, and Whitman.  This is because of the singular artistry of The Tree of Life, which is innovative in just about every way a film can be.  The story line concerns a family’s fumbling efforts to deal with tragic loss, and Malick drives the narrative with mosaic-like cinematography.

But what might be most remarkable about The Tree of Life is its strong Christian message.  The film opens with a quote from the book of Job:  “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation . . . while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 7).  All that follows powerfully reinforces that rhetorical question, as God’s meticulous design in nature is visually illustrated in everything from astronomical events to microscopic biological functions.  So as viewers experience the characters’ grief, they do so in light of God’s sovereign care.

Malick takes stylistic and thematic risks in The Tree of Life.  Some have been critical of the film’s storytelling technique, and I believe that is just because it departs from the usual Hollywood narrative approach.  But if ever such a departure was appropriate, it is in The Tree of Life—a film that counters standard thinking about suffering with a biblical perspective.  Such a bold endorsement of Christian themes in an artwork requires radical artistic innovation, both to get our attention and to match form to content.  Malick’s innovation pays off, and the result is a cinema masterpiece.

(Jim will be leading a seminar on film this Friday night at New Life. Check out this post for more information.)

Kids Hope Needs 15 Mentors

When I was in fourth grade my siblings and I performed a skit for our church small group. The skit opened with my dad holding a flashlight over my head as I crawled on the floor searching for a lost dollar. My brother and sister each happened along the scene and joined me in the search. As the feverish hunt continued, my brother asked where I last saw the dollar. I pointed to the other end of the room and said “way over there”.  My sister then inquired as to why we weren’t looking over there. To which I exclaimed “because this is where the light is!”

One of the joys of working with younger children is to see how they make sense of the world around them. Their little minds are making connections and storing away images and ideas about how and why things work. It is a real blessing to be able witness and learn from the earnest innocence of a child, and it is a great responsibility to be a role model for the children in our church and community.

Just like the skit, children are drawn to light. They are drawn to sources of clarity, of explanation and understanding. They are drawn to people who can help them make sense of the world around them and influence what they will become as they continue growing. If you look at popular culture you will see many examples of people shining a light that leads straight into darkness and confusion, and the same is true in our community. There is brokenness and confusion in the homes and families around us, and this has devastating effects on the children in our community.

For the past several years New Life has been partnering with Kids Hope USA to bring the light of the Gospel to the Yorktown school system. By giving up one hour of your week to spend with one child you have an opportunity to impact that child’s heart with the truth of the Gospel and change their life forever. You don’t have to prepare lessons, just show up and play games, help with school work, listen and love on your child.

One hour a week may seem to some of you like a small amount of time, but God will use it to radically change lives. To others of you one hour a week may seem like a significant amount of time to take out your already busy schedule, but you know what, it’s even more significant to the child you could be spending it with.

In John 8, Jesus said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As I said before, children are drawn to the light. They are drawn to the clarity that beckons to them from the midst of confusion. You have a tremendous opportunity not only to change one child’s life, but to impact an entire class, an entire grade, an entire school, and an entire community, because as the light of the Gospel spreads more and more, people will be drawn to it.

With the 2011-2012 school year in full swing Kids Hope is getting ready to start up as well. We still have thirteen elementary students that need tutors. Please prayerfully consider giving up an hour of your time each week to be a light in life of one of these students.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” ~Matt. 5:14-16

Visitors Welcome Gathering this Sunday

As most all of you know we are in the process for planning a new sanctuary. The reason for this is God has blessed this church with a lot of new members and regular attendees. He has also brought many new visitors that are looking for a church. In response to this New Life has created a new ministry to address one phase of this growth. The name of this new ministry is The Welcome Team. Its mission is to address the questions and needs of these visitors.

The team will be holding its first gathering Sept. 11 during the third service. If you are a visitor or if you have been attending for a while and have questions about the church, you are welcome to attend this gathering. Please gather in the new wing by the coffee bar at 11:30.

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