Getting Ready

I hope the Thanksgiving holidays were good days for you. We had a nice time with family on Friday. And I got to be part of lunch with the men of Trinity House on Thursday. What a powerful, moving time to share the table with these men who are working hard to put their lives back together. Being there for the second year was one of the most meaningful Thanksgiving experiences I have ever had.

We are having an open house for the church this Sunday, December 3rd. (We want you to come!) There's a lot to do to get ready for an event like this, and Julie's honey do list was pretty long. So a good bit of our weekend was spent cleaning, painting, rearranging, planning, and working in the yard to get things ready. We had help from Josh, Allyson, and David Tuck, and made a lot of progress in cutting the list down to size. I think we will make it. But it takes a great deal of preparation to be ready for an event this size.

This Sunday is also the first Sunday of Advent, and one way to think of this season is as a time of preparation. Many of us in this part of the country did not grow up celebrating Advent, even though the season itself is very ancient, and we struggle to understand what Advent is about and what it might mean for us. The season has been described as one of great tension. Partly the tension is with our culture, which now wants to begin Christmas celebrations before Halloween. Advent is a time of waiting, of expectation, of getting ready for the light that God is sending into the world. The world says, go ahead and celebrate Christmas. Advent says, wait. We need to get ready, to prepare our hearts for what God is about to do. Here as at so many points the church swims against the stream of the culture. Part of the tension is built into the season itself. We are hoping for and expecting the first coming of Christ. But the season also invites us to prepare for the final coming of Christ. So the focus of our anticipation is broader than just Christmas day. We are getting ready to celebrate the gift of our Redeemer, with everything that term includes.

There are a number of Advent guides and devotionals available through the church office. If you don't have one yet, I urge you to get one and use it. It may help you discover the depth and richness of this season.

Jimmy

Drama

Last Friday Julie and I got in to see The Music Man. Having seen previous drama productions at saint Mark we had some idea of what to expect, and we were not disappointed. Mike Beechum and his cast and crew created another wonderfull Saint Mark drama experience. Every time I go to see one of our productions I am blown away again at the level of talent we have in our congregation. It is truly amazing. Sets, music, singing, acting, dancing - it was all highest quality. it was obvous tht the cast had a lot of fun in this production. And it was a joy to see people of all ages in the cast having a good time. Whatever our folks do next, be sure to go see.

Without setting out with a clear plan, it seems Julie and I have begun to go to more and more dramatic productions at venues all across the city. We have ticket packages at the Alliance and at Theatrical Outfit, and find ourselves at other times at places like Theater on the Square, Horizen, and the Stone Mountain theater.Themes and quality vary of course - we have seen plays about Patsy Cline and Celestine Sibley, about a spelling bee and the informal reunion of four young adults in a southern town - but it is rare that we are not challenged and moved by what we see.

Without meaning to slight any of the others, let me put in a plug for Theatrical Outfit. Under the theme of Stories That Atir the Soul, they do plays with spiritual themes and very often with southern settings. Tom Key is committed to wonderful causes - the building is a green building - and is a friend of Saint Mark. Check them out when you have a chance. You will not regret it.

Jimmy

Thinking about giving

Saint Markers and Friends, This is only my second post, and it seems a little awkward to talk about giving so quickly. But this Sunday is Commitment Sunday at Saint Mark, so it seem s timely to share a little on a topic that is sometimes difficult for us but seems to have been very important to Jesus.
Julie and I have always supported financially the ministries of the churches we have served. Our base line has always been the tithe. You could assume that we feel some obligation to support the church, and there is some truth to that. It would be very hard for me to stand before you week after week if I knew I was not supporting the church. In my case there is also a habit that goes back to when I was a boy getting my first allowance and I was instructed by my parents to be sure 10% went to God. So those dynamics are at work. But I believe - I hope! - that there is more to our giving than that.
Our giving is a spiritual discipline that helps us grow in our trust in God and God's provision. The first check I write every pay period - yes, I still write checks. I'm old. - is our gift to the church. Some months I don't want to do that, but I do. We think this systematic giving helps the church, but we know it helps us. It is a way each month of saying that we trust we have enough and will be provided for. It is a way of trying to put our hearts in the right place, given Jesus' statement that our hearts wind up where we put our treasure. Sometimes, of course, it doesn't feel so spiritual. I write the check, put it in the offering plate, and don't think much about it. But at its best..... And I find that without fail, even in the months when things feel a little tighter, we always have enough for what we need. I have come to believe that how we handle our treasure is closely linked to our trust in God, and is a spiritual matter of the first importance.
Our pattern may not work for you. We are all at different places on the journey. But I hope as we come to this Sunday you are giving prayerful consideration to your giving for 2007. Your gift is important for the continuance of the ministries of our great church. It is even more important for your spiritual life.

Jimmy

Underway

Saint Markers and friends,
having had so much fun with the blog when we were in Honduras on last summer's mission trip, I have decided to start one again. My hope is to use this as a place to share with you my thoughts on our life together here at Saint Mark, things that are on my mind andd heart, and general reflections on life, the church, and God. And I hope there will be opportunity for you to share as well, so that this can be a dialogue. I am looking forward to it! As things get settled I may have set times to post each week, but you should expect at least one new post every week.

For now let me just say that I am looking forward to a great year in 2007. You are a great church. And we serve a great God. As we move to implement the findings from our visioning process, I expect wonderful things to happen in and through us. It is a joy for me to work with you as one of your pastors.

Till next time,

Jimmy