Things are starting to wake up as the rhythms of the New Year settle in and Spring approaches. The High Desert Food and Farm Alliance reached out to us again and we are planning to work with their Seed to Supper Program and Cooking Matters programs in conjunction with Redemption House homeless shelter.

Crook County Connect and Beyond is gearing up for another day of providing services to those living on the edges of society.

Something to add to this year? Minor construction to the church as we add a sidewalk straight out the doors and across the grass to the parking lot. We will also add a 12’ x 12’ Peace Pole patio. And the best part is we received a Barnabas Grant from the Presbytery of the Cascades to pay for this!

The Fund is named for Barnabas in the New Testament whose name means “son of encouragement.” He appears three times in the Acts of the Apostle, always in a supportive role.

 In our application we pointed to the need for the sidewalk (as evidenced by the scores of footprints making a path through the snow) as well as the need for the patio and peace pole. It will be the very first in all of Crook County. In talking with the presbytery’s administration they are very excited to partner with us as they support this peace pole.

In the Bible we find that peace is a common theme in Paul’s letters as he begins his writings by offering grace and peace to the reader. We talked about this “peace” a few weeks ago as a part of our Disciple Bible study series.

The lesson said “Peace is that vibrant shalom that rings with harmony – being one with God, with neighbor, and with self. The entire universe is groaning for the peace that characterized creation on the seventh day but desecrated by the disobedience of humankind. Peace through Christ and his indwelling Spirit gives assurance to every Christian that all is well. Love casts out fear and brings perfect peace.”

I hope this peace pole does more than just attract attention. I want it to be a spark that gets each of us talking to everybody else about this perfect peace we know in Jesus Christ.

Together We Serve,

           Pastor Mike

 

Have you ever wondered why the date for Easter varies from one year to the next?

As Christians we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on that first Easter Sunday. Our Easter Sunday is tied to the Jewish Passover and the Jewish Passover is determined by the Jewish calendar which is a complicated thing.

Nowadays there is a much simpler explanation: Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the start of spring (March 21).

The tie to spring is strong, which helps explain why the word “lent” comes from the word “lente” meaning springtime. Lent is a 40 day period that leads us to Easter and this year lent starts February 10th.

In early Christianity, lent was focused on baptism and making amends for sin. A little later it centered on strict fasting and depriving oneself of anything joyous. Today more and more people use Lent for intentional prayer, meditation and reflection on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

If you’re looking for something to do for Lent I would invite you to join our  Ash Wednesday service. We partner with two other churches throughout Lent. This year Ash Wednesday is February 10th at Our Savior's Lutheran Church at 7PM (695 NW 3rd St, Prineville).

Other suggestions:

·         Know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sin and brokenness; let that guide us in making firm decisions to change our lives for the better.
·         Confess our need for God, and be very intentional about seeking and carrying out God’s will for us.
·         Commitment to God might begin with going to church, but it also includes us carrying out God’s will every day – regardless.
·         Know that Christianity includes times of testing which means calling upon God’s presence in overcoming temptation and despair.

Other ideas might be daily Bible readings, devotionals, journaling, some form a centering prayer…Let me know how I might help your Lenten journey.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike

 

 

Our Christmas season comes to an end with the day of Epiphany. In our denomination we define epiphany as “a day for commemorating God’s self-manifestation to all people.”

Okay…so…that’s a nice phrase filled with big words and powerful ideas.

But…what does it look like…how does it play out?

How will I know it when I see it?

A couple of years ago when our Squares and Prayers quilters group decided to make and raffle off a quilt to help folks struggling to pay power and rent, nobody thought it would inspire a $250 dollar donation from a state prison inmate.

Neither did anybody imagine that inmate’s generosity in turn would inspire a local person – who does not do church – to stop by this church and drop off another $100 to help.

Odds and ends of cloth combined with creative energy resonating in a state prison inmate and echoed by someone outside the church that points somebody else to God’s love made real in Jesus Christ.

This is how I see epiphany.

How about you?

A brand new year is directly in front of us; I invite you to join us Sundays at 10AM as we look together.

Together We Serve,

Pastor Mike

 

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21).

We’re in the thick of the Christmas shopping season. This timeless quote from Jesus is particularly appropriate.

For the Jewish audience hearing this 2,000 years ago they knew the ‘heart’ as the seat of thought and intention and decision. This understanding is reflected in The Message Bible’s interpretation of this phrase: “It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

While lots of us like to feel that it’s God’s Spirit that guides our hearts, if we’re being totally candid, more often than not this also includes the question lurking somewhere in the shadows of our souls: are able to fully trust in God’s Spirit?

For me to have this kind of full trust? When I really think about it, this kind of trust comes only after I know what I’m exchanging in order to get what? The habits born from our life experiences lead us to look at this as: “what’s in it for me?”

We come by this honestly – it’s in the big and small moments of life. Every day we come face to face with decisions that have us working out the angles and taking as much as we can into account before coming to a conclusion.

My wife and I bought a house, and while there was this “God moment” that led us to this particular house – we also considered the down payment and mortgage, in exchange for trusting that the neighborhood and the property values were solid.

We also find these decisions in the common place things; while standing at the fast food lunch counter – is the meal deal really is the better deal?

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, what do you suppose Christmas might do for you if you were to consider the quote from Jesus alongside this quote: “A man with money is no match against a man on a mission.” That’s from Doyle Brunson, a world championship poker player.

In weaving together thoughts from our High Priest Jesus and poker player Brunson, what life-giving understandings might the Christmas season hold for us if we dedicate ourselves to a heart-filled mission? A mission driven by thought and intention and decision as we follow Jesus who insists that God’s Kingdom - not the quest for stuff - is to shape the world.

What if we realized that Jesus gives us permission to not have to worry about buying gifts just to keep up with up with everybody else? I suspect that you would find great freedom from all of the anxieties that come with trying to keep up.

And beyond this; what if we were we set aside the question “what’s in it for me?” and instead replace that by sincerely asking “What’s in it for them?”

Perhaps this means re-directing some of your Christmas spending to homeless shelters, food pantries, veterans groups, or a church (our church is one of these) that works with the least, the last and the lost. 

How about as we shift our focus to "what's in it for them?" we think about the person receiving our aid…to imagine what life is like when it’s filled with tumult and always scrambling from hour to hour and day to day?

As our thoughts ripple outwards, we need to realize that this does have the power to get others to look at our actions, and it can cause them ponder: if this is not about themselves – then what and or who is it about?

And to realize that maybe this is what they ought to try to keep up with.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike

P.S. At a recent Presbytery meeting I got to talk about what excites us about our future . Check it our here: https://youtu.be/8EYMYORPGM0

Imagine my delight, I’ve been asked to share with representatives from nearly a hundred churches why I’m excited about Prineville Presbyterian. For openers we have 3 session members who will be at the meeting. This is a first!

New people are joining us for Sunday worship, and they’re getting plugged into other areas of our church life too. Over the past several months different people have separately offered conversations about beginning a 'new building' fund.

We have core group of youth forming through our 2^nd Sunday Youth Event Series. Some of these youth will be part of our 2^nd Sunday Advent worship service next month.

Our recent Autumn Fest raised over $2600 - the most ever! This comes after our earlier Spring Indoor Plant and Yard Sale, where - again for the first time ever - that sale alone generated enough for us to completely meet our mission budget.

Last year at this time my Pastor’s Corner ended with this:

“I’m excited more than ever for our future; I hope you are too. In our excitement we need to remember that we are servants, directed by God to come alongside all who feel hopeless – and this hopelessness shows up in new ways. We have to be ready to see something new, and always be willing to respond with God’s goodness.”

Looking back over the year we have been faithful to God’s goodness. Among other things: our monthly canned food collection helps St. Vincent DePaul feed the hungry; our Community Garden helped 8 Redemption House homeless shelter clients earn safe food handler cards as they seek employment; our very strong presence with Crook County Connect and Beyond provided lots of services to the poor; we offer real hope as well as cash aid to families struggling to pay power bills or rent; PPC is helping Young Life in their quest to get teenagers to know Jesus Christ.

When working with groups there’s a concept called critical mass. It’s a kind of self-sustaining energy that builds on its own as it brings about widespread action. There's good critical mass developing within the church and it is extending into the community too. I believe this is because:

#1 we're now doing more of the ministry things that people outside the church expect to see churches doing which makes them want to know what might be going on inside the church;

#2: When we weave these ministry actions together with faithfulness to the Word of God, it brings Jesus Christ to life and opens everybody to God’s Holy Spirit at work within them. 

In reflecting upon the past year and in preparing for the year ahead, I’m even more excited for our future. While I hope that you join in this excitement, first and foremost let us always remember that we are servants.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike  

Our Community Garden partnership with Redemption House homeless shelter ended for this season with a festive dinner party.

A Korean proverb says: “If you plant a bean then you will harvest only beans, not grapes or strawberries.”

God gives us new life through Jesus Christ by planting seeds of forgiveness and redemption and love in all of us.

As we pray together…

As we share together…

As we celebrate together…

What did we help grow this season?

What will be God’s harvest?

Join us Sundays at 10AM as we pray, share, and celebrate God's goodness in Jesus Christ.

 

 

So with the end of summer marked by the Labor Day weekend, and a return to the rhythm of the working world, do you ever think about the work place - whether you’re paid or working as a volunteer - as a mission field?

LifeWayResearch.com reports: “A study including more than 15,000 adults revealed that about two-thirds are willing to receive information about a local church from a family member and over half from a friend or neighbor. The message is clear that the unchurched are open to conversations about church.”

The Bible has a story about one of the first Christian Church builders named Paul as he stands before a crowd eager to listen as he talks about the God they didn’t know (Acts 17:16-25). Paul uses their openness to religion to talk about his faith in the one true God known in Jesus Christ. Important to note is that he’s respectful of their views yet shares the truth as he had come to know it.

Paul’s story is a guide for us today; recognizing that we live in this same kind of a cultural relativism where lots of people are chasing after something to center their lives in and the culture determines what their beliefs are.

What fuels this chase is a spiritual hunger.

We can use this hunger as our invitation to enter the world of those around us and share our Christian life-stories respectfully and effectively and honestly. And that honesty includes our own questions and thin-spots.

Paul didn’t get bogged down in high minded big thinking theological debates, he simply talked about the good news he knew about Jesus Christ.

That Lifeway Research piece wraps up with this:

“Much to the surprise of the ‘Chicken Little' crowd, people are still going to church. And more people would attend if given one simple thing—an invitation.”

God’s invitation to us to be God’s people comes with the expectation that we will extend this invitation. We are God’s walking and talking invitations to a sinful and broken and spiritually hungry world.

We don’t have to have all the answers – we just have to ask the question to the people around us: “what are you doing Sunday?”

So, what are you doing Sunday? I think you’d like our church. We meet at 10AM.

Together We Serve,                                                                                                        

 

Pastor Mike

Celebrating the 4th of July comes with fireworks. Fireworks is also a fitting description for reactions to the Supreme Court ruling expanding the definition of marriage to include same sex marriages.

Many follow-up postings and articles have launched a barrage of fireworks where this single issue has become a test; either you think like ‘this’ - or - you think like ‘that.’

It’s very divisive and whoever is asking the question is using it to determine for themselves whether or not somebody else is Christian.

The signing of the Declaration 239 years came with ‘fireworks.’ It  charged the king of England with “the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”

Yet 4 days after the signing, Boston townsmen were told to report for the draft. The wealthy could hire substitutes; but the poor had to serve. This led to more rebellion and shouts that “Tyranny is tyranny, let it come from whom it may.”

History records greater opposition to taking up arms against England than support for it. The beginning of these United States came amidst strongly divided beliefs.

Imagine the ‘fireworks.’

Maybe like the ‘fireworks’ at the birth of the Christian Church?

The first Christians were Jewish converts and for them circumcision was the mark of being a proper Jew. As Acts 15 records it, some insisted that one first had to be circumcised to become a Jew in order to become Christian.

Paul, a leader of the early church disagrees. His friend Barnabus joins in the protest and what followed was “No small dissension and debate…”

They’re sent to Jerusalem to ask church leaders there. On their way they’re converting Gentiles to Christianity; Gentiles - people who were not Jewish - are now Christians.“

In Jerusalem and "after there had been much debate,” Peter - the very man whose faith Jesus points to as the model for building the Christian church - says:

“On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they [meaning the Gentiles] will.”

Nowhere does it say that people had to abandon their understandings, or that everybody came to the same conclusion.

What we do find is the very people that God used to bring the church to life acknowledged their differences and refused to let it divide them.

Instead they all submitted to God’s grace made known in Jesus Christ; a gracious space where God holds righteous love for us regardless of whether we have right or wrong answers.

Join us Sundays at 10AM in our chase for grace.

Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike

 

Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ (John 1:46)

As Jesus calls His disciples, we often remember the stories of those who were first called; how quickly they dropped everything and off they went.

However, Nathaniel shows some initial reluctance.

From Nathaniel’s perspective - formed by what it meant to be “a good Jew” - Nazareth was on the wrong side of the tracks in the midst of the wrong area surrounded by the wrong people.

And now he learns that God’s Chosen One was coming from someplace nobody would have chosen as a start for goodness.

Recently we had 28 tomato cages stolen from our Community Garden. Part of our garden is being used by Redemption House homeless shelter to teach people to grow and cook vegetables; these cages were for them.

Our disappointment is understandable and in circumstances like this it can be tough to find any goodness.

On the off-chance they might show up at a weekend yard sale we posted the theft on the Facebook page ‘Prineville Free…Sell…Trade’ and asked people to be on the lookout.   

Nearly 40 people replied! Many offering encouragement and prayers…and then somebody offered their unused cages…and then another…and another…and another…and then came a suggestion for a tomato-cage-making-party.  

This all got us to dreaming – if we build the cages at the church we could roll out the gas grill…throw on some hamburgers and hot dogs…add a couple of easy side dishes…a couple of new members have offered to help…hmmm…

We’ll see what happens, but it sounds like a party may be coming out of someplace where we didn’t think there was any goodness.

This a fabulous way to describe God’s Spirit at work.

Join us Sundays at 10AM as we look for God’s goodness in those 'other places.'

Together We Serve,                                                                                                         Pastor Mike