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How Am I to Be Thankful?

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By Brian Waple

As we’re preparing for Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking about the events of the past week and asking “God, how am I to be thankful?” I’m flying back to Virginia this week because of a serious concern within my own family. There are serious concerns within the Elim family, the nation, and the world that cause us to pause and ask, “How can I be thankful when all of these things are happening?”

I read a post from Katie Kierum the other day, part of which read: “I’m beginning to realize that the purest kind of worship we can experience is through brokenness.” Our brokenness. The brokenness of those we love and care about. It’s through brokenness that we really become aware of just how fragile we are, and how utterly dependent we are on God. And He remains faithful towards us, in spite of us. This alone is cause enough for us to be thankful.

So why does He remain faithful towards us? We certainly don’t deserve it. And it’s certainly not because of anything we’ve done. I think the best answer lies in Scripture. In Romans 5:8 — “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In Ephesians 2:4-6 — “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” And finally, in John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God enfolds us in His arms, broken and pitiful as we are, because He loves us. His kindness and blessings abound. Regardless of what is happening, God loves us and His love for us is everlasting.

So, in spite of everything that is happening to us and around us, in spite of our failings and brokenness, even if we fail to be faithful, God still loves us. And that is how we are to be thankful.

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Change

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By Brian Waple

A number of years ago, I read a small book called “Who Moved My Cheese?” It dealt with how we handle and adjust to change. By its very nature, change can be scary, especially if we’re comfortable with how things have been. But, change allows us to see what can be and in some cases, what needs to be.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus preached change. Change in how we view and worship  God; change in our relationships with those around us; and change in how we see ourselves. His birth, life, death and resurrection and what that meant was a complete change from what the Jews had been taught to believe for years.

In one of his earliest and probably most extensive teachings to the Jewish followers, Jesus introduced ideas that completely changed how people thought. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3); “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5); “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven…” (Matt. 5:11-12); “You have heard that it was said ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt. 5:43-44). Later, when faced with questions about the legality of healing on the Sabbath, Jesus changed the rules again: “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:11-12)

Just prior to his final days, Jesus introduced a change to the understanding of the Jewish law when asked about the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40).

Finally, as he was breathing his last, Jesus changed how we deal with persecution. In spite of being falsely accused, unjustly tried, publicly humiliated, beaten, flogged, and forced to suffer the most inhuman horror imaginable on the cross, Jesus had this to say about his persecutors: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Jesus changed the landscape forever … we had been living under a covenant of law; now we are living within a covenant of grace.

Change can be scary. Often, it can be uncomfortable. But it has also been a part of what’s defined the church from the beginning. During the next few months, our church will be undergoing some changes. Your leadership is confident that the changes are for the good of the body. This is an exciting time for Elim and if you have any questions about the changes that are happening, please talk with Martin, Brian or one of the Elders.

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Time alone with God

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by Brian Waple

“Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12, NRSV) One of the things that really strikes me about Jesus is that it was crucial for him to spend time alone with his Father. I think he did this for a couple of reasons. With all the time spent giving to others, he needed space to withdraw and be refreshed. And, he needed that one on one time with his source of renewal and inspiration. “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19, NRSV)

As we learn to grow in more intimate relationship with God, we find that we long for those times of solitude where we can be inspired and renewed by what the Father is doing. Like Jesus, we must take time to withdraw from the demands of our busy lives and focus our attention on being attentive to God’s presence. It is only when we can remove ourselves from the distractions of life that we are able to present ourselves fully to God. And as we make ourselves more and more available to Him, we bring Him glory.

So, if you can, set aside some time during your day to spend alone with the Father. Maybe it means taking a short walk during lunch, or turning off the car radio on your way home. If you’re home during the day, perhaps you have a special place where you can sit quietly for a few minutes. Whatever you can do, offer that precious time up to the Father. And cherish it as your own time of renewal and inspiration.

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Re-inventing Our Worship

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by Brian Waple

No, we’re not going to start singing Gregorian chant during the worship service (although there is some wonderful spirituality found in Gregorian chant…OK, another article). I wanted to talk a little about what’s happening with our worship space, as well as some of the updates we’ll be making to the technology.

First the worship space…as it was, because the overall stage space had several levels, it naturally broke the stage up into several areas. None of these areas was really large enough to accommodate the entire worship team, and a lot of valuable space was lost. When the decision was made to redo the stage, the Elders smartly decided to build a single level stage. So, under the capable leadership of Bob Hedge, the old stage was ripped out and a new, one level stage was built. A couple of advantages to this: the worship team is all on the same level, and we have the space to spread the team out, as well as more space for other types of presentations. Also, the decision was made to use reinforced plywood sheeting on the floor. This makes the stage area much more solid (hats off to Jim Batcheller).

In addition, the team installed power all along the back wall. This will cut down on the need for power strips and extension cords, and allow us to position sound system gear and instruments where we need them on the stage.

Also, we have hidden almost all of the wiring (personal peeve!) Most of the wiring will now be under the stage. Kudos to Steve Weller and Chris Pace for engineering that.

Finally, speaking of wiring, Steve and Ralph are building several sub-snakes (not the slithering kind), which all of the instrument and microphone cords plug in to. These will be located at various points along the stage, rather than everything going to the one large snake under the piano. The overall advantage is the stage will be much less cluttered.

Now, to the technology upgrades. Our current sound mixer has reached a point where it is becoming too expensive to repair. A request was made to the Elder Board, and they gave us funding for the purchase of a new sound mixer. This past Saturday Steve Weller, Ralph Hirschfelder, Chris Pace and I attended a demonstration of a new, 16-channel, digital mixer, which we’ll be buying in the next two weeks. What this means primarily is that we will have much more capability and flexibility when planning and running our sound. We’ve decided to wait to install the new mixer until after all the construction is complete (this will keep the dust out of the system). There will be a bit of a learning curve with a digital mixer; but, as part of the purchase, the mixer manufacturer will be providing on-site training to get us up and running. We expect to be using the new system by the middle of August (by the way, now would be a great time for anyone interested in running sound to contact Ralph).

So, there you have it…a new stage, a new sound architecture, a new mixer…all for the glory of God as we offer our sacrifice of praise to Him. I want to thank you for your patience as we are going through this “re-invention”, and I pray that you will be pleased with the outcome.

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