“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

I’ve been thinking a lot about laughter lately. There was lots of laughter throughout everything tied to our recent Yard Sale and Plant Sale, and with those proceeds going to our General Mission Fund, our prayer is those funds will bring laughter to many parts of the world where laughter is hard to come by.

Instead of laughter, what is heard is weeping.

Might the best way to measure a community’s health begins by listening for laughter?

Something laughter and weeping have in common is they’re both an emotional reaction.

A study was done by the University College London involving two groups of people; people living in Britain, and the Himba tribe. The Himba live in an isolated part of Namibia with no electricity, no running water, no formal education, and no contact with people from other groups.

In the study, participants listened to a short story based around a particular emotion. At the end of the story they heard two sounds from the other group such as crying, and laughter. They were asked to identify which of the two sounds reflected the emotion in the story.

Researchers found that basic emotions including amusement and sadness are among the most easily recognizable -- and one positive sound was particularly well recognized by both groups was laughter.

What if we imagined people very different from us yet laughing like us…

...and laughing with us as we laughed with them…

...and let that guide our every action?

Based on Scripture and based on science laughter is the one emotion we all desire and the one language we all understand.

Join us Sundays at 10AM as seek, and work, to make laughter very real for all.

Pastor Mike
 

“How much further to Boulder, Colorado?” I asked the desk clerk as Kathleen and I were checking in to our motel at Rock Springs, Wyoming during our recent vacation.

"Not really sure…should be no more than 5 to 10 hours” she replied. I was surprised to hear this since: that’s quite a wide range; and, Interstate 80 is a preferred route into Boulder, and Rock Springs is along the way. (To her credit, she did offer to Google it).

At dinner we also asked our server who didn’t know either. Both had spent their entire lives in Rock Springs, which is one of only a handful of communities along Interstate 80 as it stretches over 300 miles through southern Wyoming. Everything they knew about life came from this one pocket of existence.

Kathleen and I talked about this as we drove through those open spaces; the vastness went as far as our eyes could see. I held this image in contrast with our daughter Allison’s neighborhood in Philadelphia; there you see streets bordered by sidewalks on both sides with row houses starting at the edge of the sidewalk jammed in side by side and that’s all that you can see for blocks and blocks and blocks.

We wondered: what would it be like to suddenly drop the Rock Springs motel clerk into that Philadelphia neighborhood, and vice-versa; taking somebody there and put them in that southern Wyoming hugeness.

And then, if we were to bring them together after 30 days; what did one view as common and the other as surprising? What would prompt shared feelings? How might there be some very different impressions from the same experience?

Our life’s history forms the lens for the way we view things. This is good for us to keep in mind as we keep growing here at PPC; that while we all look to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the foundation of our faith – each of us looks through our own lens which means we likely focus on different aspects of Jesus, and we might even see things differently.

And that only as a community can we best see the fullness that Jesus Christ has to offer.

Together We Serve,                                                                                                                                      Pastor Mike

 

 

“...and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ ⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ “ (Exodus 17:3-4)

I admire the honesty we find in the Bible; like in this account of the people who knew themselves to be God’s chosen people quarrelling with Moses. Moses - the very same guy they were convinced was chosen by God to lead them out of slavery and out of Egypt and “into the land of milk and honey.”

Only now Moses fears for his life at their hands.  

And if they were to stone Moses? That’s not going to lead them to water, it’s just going to leave Moses dead – and put them in violation of the commandment “thou shall not murder.”

Their thirst threatens to separate them from God.

Sometimes we fall into the habit of letting “the way it is” determine our willingness to “see things the way they are” and that can put distance between God and us.

We’re half-way through the season of Lent, a time some of us Christians use to let go of habits, or at least suspend them in order to draw ourselves into newer and even deeper relationship with God.

God did quench the Israelites thirst from the least likely of places.

Likewise, God offers to quench our spiritual thirst by sending Jesus Christ to us from the least likely of places ("Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" John 1:46).

Join us Sundays at 10AM as we take a big thirst-quenching gulp and strive to see things the way God-in-Christ sees them.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike

 

“To God be the glory.”

This is how we come together following our time of reflection at the end of the sermon. We find this phrase in Galatians, and there are differences among the translations:

·         “To God be the glory forever and ever!” (The Good News Bible).

·         “All glory to God through all the ages of eternity.” (The Living Bible)

·         “May He have all the honor forever.” (New Life Version)

We quickly begin to see the enormity of this declaration as it means glorifying God through all time and at all times which includes all times within each of our lives!

So with this understanding then we should be doing those things that glorify God every second of every hour of every day of every week – month – year throughout our lives. A lot of those times in our lives that we more or less walk through without much thought now take on the urgency of always being, and always doing, the extraordinary for God.

As I think about how this applies to my own life, I would have to admit that this would go so far as to be a radical ambition for me as an ordinary Christian. It leads me to ask whether I’m saying “To God be the Glory” as a reality - or - is it a goal?

In his blog “A Few Thoughts About Being Ordinary Christians,” Tim Brister puts these ideas about ‘ordinary’ head to head against ‘radical’ as he raises similar questions. He concludes with: “At the end of the day, I don’t want to be ordinarily ordinary, but ordinary in every sense that Jesus defines ordinary. It just seems that such a notion is, well, a radical thing to do.”

May we strive to be ordinary in every sense that Jesus defines ordinary.
To God be the glory!
Pastor Mike



 

Are we really “one nation under God, indivisible?”

It’s a fair question to ask given the events of the past few months, and more specifically around the recent inauguration.

And that phrase we find in our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance comes surrounded by divisiveness as the pledge developed.

Colonel George Balch wrote the nation’s first pledge in 1887 which was quickly deemed too juvenile and lacking dignity by Francis Bellamy.

As Mr. Bellamy re-wrote the pledge in 1892 he wanted to include the words ‘equality’ and ‘fraternity’ but because of prevailing views at the time concerning women and minorities he felt those words would be divisive, so he left them out.

The words ‘under God’ were added to our current version of the pledge in 1954, and addition divides people today.

Throughout the development of our pledge and its call for unity, it’s carried the tension of divisiveness.

So how do we as citizens, and more specifically those of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, make this goal of unity work?

First of all, following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ we remember that power is never to be used at the exclusion of fairness.

Secondly, we take hope as Craig D. Lounsbrough writes:

“Contradictions are the impossible chasms that create forever separations. God is the forever bridge that creates impossible reunions.”

I invite you to join us Sundays at 10AM as we dare to cross this bridge.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike

We're into the season of Advent. This season starts the church’s new year, and it is a “a season to recollect the hope of the coming of Christ, and to look forward to the Lord’s coming again.”

 Throughout Advent we touch on themes of love, peace, joy and hope as we re-tell the story of God’s love for us while we wait for God’s promise in the Christ-child to breathe His first breath at Christmas.

As we enter Advent again, I’m thrilled to do so “clothed” with this lovely new stole made by the wonderful folks here at PPC.

One of the Bible writers – Paul – gives us an image of clothing ourselves in Christ and he leads into this image writing: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

In this Advent/new year the possibilities are tantalizing and include: how can we clothe ourselves in Christ for others?

Where in your life might you want to feel God’s pure and sweet baby-breath promise of love?

Or peace?

Or joy?

Or hope?

Or some combination of these?

Join us for the ‘new year.’ We gather every Sunday at 10AM. And on Christmas Eve we'll gather at 5PM.

Together We Serve,                                                                                                    

Pastor Mike  

Being kind of a word-smith, when I heard the word “plethora” it set me back for a couple of moments. Plethora is defined as a large or excessive amount of something. The word came as people were setting up for Autumnfest. Glenda Janssen walked into the office carrying our crock pot and explained that she was returning it because there was a plethora of crock pots.

In its own way, that plethora-moment has come to symbolize what continues to happen here at PPC. A quick count over the past year shows that we’ve welcomed 10 more people onto our church membership rolls, and another couple plans to join by the end of the year. This is in addition to the six members who were brought onto our rolls last year.

While I am deeply delighted to see this happen, I’m even more excited to see it take place in a balanced fashion. By that I mean this growth is coming as people are baptized into the Christian faith, and, as people new to our denomination yet with lots of church experience are making PPC their church home, and, as people with lots of denomination experience are relocating here and making PPC their church home too.

We’re also seeing this reflected as our elders’ and deacons’ positions are being filled with folks who re-enlisting as well first-timers.

I believe this will all continue leading to a terrific blend of us staying true to our traditions while perhaps tuning some of them up with fresh perspectives. This in turn will lead us to bettering and broadening our ministry as disciples of Jesus Christ.

And while we do celebrate this new vitality, please do not ever think for a moment that there is no room for your energy or ideas.

Regardless of whether or not you are on the ‘official’ rolls, regardless of whether you are an elder or deacon; regardless of whether you have a long history here or next Sunday might be your 1st Sunday with us; we value you simply because you are you - and you are God's beloved.

As we look ahead to 2017, if you have a thought or an idea, I hope that you’re comfortable in sharing it because we will all be that much better for it.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike

 

As Christians, we take our faith understandings from the New Testament. The New Testament begins with Jesus’ birth and covers the next several generations that followed His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith also shares a lot of history with our Jewish friends, history that comes from that time before Jesus.

If there is one word to know from our Jewish friends, it’s shalom. The short definition is peace. Quite often we think of peace as the absence of war. While this is a good place to start, shalom goes much further. It includes completeness, soundness, and welfare. The Anchor Bible Dictionary makes the point that “shalom is a positive idea;” it’s something to work toward.

Much like the work that went into getting our Peace Pole erected. The pole was offered to PPC as a gift and the Session accepted it. But then…what to do with it?

Realizing a 2^nd sidewalk would be very useful and also create a corner led to forming a patio in that newly created corner. That patio would be a terrific place for the Peace Pole. When we submitted the grant for this it all seemed pretty straightforward.

When we received the grant then came the reality that to actually make this happen involved even more thought, plus sweat and planning and re-considering (like sloping and benches and the hand-rail).

After all of this though, we do have something beautiful to behold. Imagine my delight following a Faith Based Network meeting here at PPC as 4 guests all stopped, commented on the beautiful brick patio, and took a couple of moments to look at the pole. It made an impression.

The work of shalom can be very involved. Perhaps this is why the prophet Isaiah, in foretelling the birth of Jesus, had so many ways to describe Jesus as our Prince of Peace. I like this from The Voice Bible translation:

“Hope of all hopes, dream of our dreams,
    a child is born, sweet-breathed; a son is given to us: a living gift.
And even now, with tiny features and dewy hair, He is great.
    The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.
His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—
    He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,
    Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace.”
The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.
His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,
Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace."
~Isaiah 9:6 The Voice

We are the only faith community in Crook County to erect a Peace Pole. It declares our intention to be people at one with God, one with neighbor, and one with ourselves – all because of Jesus Christ.

We’ll dedicate the Peace Pole at the close of worship Sunday October 30^th. I hope you join us.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike

 

As Christians, we take our faith understandings from the New Testament. The New Testament begins with Jesus’ birth and covers the next several generations that followed His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith also shares a lot of history with our Jewish friends, history that comes from that time before Jesus.

If there is one word to know from our Jewish friends, it’s shalom. The short definition is peace. Quite often we think of peace as the absence of war. While this is a good place to start, shalom goes much further. It includes completeness, soundness, and welfare. The Anchor Bible Dictionary makes the point that “shalom is a positive idea;” it’s something to work toward.

Much like the work that went into getting our Peace Pole erected. The pole was offered to PPC as a gift and the Session accepted it. But then…what to do with it?

Realizing a 2^nd sidewalk would be very useful and also create a corner led to forming a patio in that newly created corner. That patio would be a terrific place for the Peace Pole. When we submitted the grant for this it all seemed pretty straightforward.

When we received the grant then came the reality that to actually make this happen involved even more thought, plus sweat and planning and re-considering (like sloping and benches and the hand-rail).

After all of this though, we do have something beautiful to behold. Imagine my delight following a Faith Based Network meeting here at PPC as 4 guests all stopped, commented on the beautiful brick patio, and took a couple of moments to look at the pole. It made an impression.

The work of shalom can be very involved. Perhaps this is why the prophet Isaiah, in foretelling the birth of Jesus, had so many ways to describe Jesus as our Prince of Peace. I like this from The Voice Bible translation:

“Hope of all hopes, dream of our dreams,
    a child is born, sweet-breathed; a son is given to us: a living gift.
And even now, with tiny features and dewy hair, He is great.
    The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.
His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—
    He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,
    Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace.”
The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.
His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,
Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace."
~Isaiah 9:6 The Voice

We are the only faith community in Crook County to erect a Peace Pole. It declares our intention to be people at one with God, one with neighbor, and one with ourselves – all because of Jesus Christ.

We’ll dedicate the Peace Pole at the close of worship Sunday October 30^th. I hope you join us.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike