Colts Neck Reformed Church

John 8:12-25; Matthew 2:1-12

Hello Again and Happy New Year!

As the New Year begins, I wish you God’s blessings of happiness and health.  As I reflect on the incredible gift of new beginnings that God offers us, I pray that 2012 will be a year of new beginnings and fresh starts for you too. Just as Christ offers us the wonderful promise of a clean slate and reconciliation with God, may we see this as an opportunity to wipe clean the slates in our lives that need new directions and starting over.

As the calendar year begins in church (our church year actually began the first week of Advent!) we have turned our sights toward a new sermon series, the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  Scott Brown led us to ponder the saying, “I am the bread of life” as we surrounded the Lord’s Table on January 1st. And on January 8th, we focused on Christ’s proclamation, “I am the light of the world.”  Without rehashing my entire sermon, allow me to offer two thoughts here:

One on the significance of these claims in general and this claim in particular,

• And, the second reiterating a faith practice that we might share in this year together.
•  There is a certain built-in significance to these “I am” statements as I mentioned in the sermon.  In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses asks God what he should say God’s name is when the Israelites ask.  In Reply, God tells him what we translate as “I AM the (or “who”) I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) So, when we see Jesus tell the Pharisees that they will die in their sins unless they believe that Jesus is the I AM (John 8:24), we know he is making a really big point. With that background, we encounter Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world.”  As we celebrate Epiphany and the divine revelation and physical manifestation to the wise men who visit Christ soon after his birth, we too are offered a moment of divine insight. The Pharisees who desire proof of Christ’s statement are the example of what not to do for us. We are called by Jesus to allow him to testify with God the Father about who he is.  We are told that we can stop looking for a light to lead and guide us, that Jesus is it.
• It is often difficult not to want proof about Jesus and who he claims to be. I mean, how hard would it be for God to offer us just a little miracle now and again to keep us on the right path?  But, Jesus tells us he is all the proof we need.  In order to help ourselves see that, I offer the following exercise for the New Year (which is still worthwhile even if it only lasts a month or two for you with commitment phobias!):
• Find a small notebook and keep it in the same place for the foreseeable future.
• Appoint a time once a week that will be the easiest for you to have five minutes for some note jotting.
• Each week at that time, jot down the thing that was most difficult for you, what was hardest about that week, or where you thought God didn’t seem to be listening to you or paying attention.
• Second, jot down the thing that inspired you most that week, the time you felt most spiritually fulfilled, or just the best thing to happen to you. 

My hope and conviction is that as we look over our past weeks’ writings, we will find that God is there even during difficult times as God is there in times of celebration and joy too.  Perhaps this small notebook exercise will help all of us “prove” to ourselves that Christ is our light, in case we remain unconvinced.

I hope you find yourselves walking in clear paths and avoiding any walls shrouded in darkness that may keep you from where you want to go.  May Christ be the light that guides us every day and offers us new beginnings this New Year.

Until the Next Time,

Chris Vande Bunte

John 1:43-46

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

The following is an excerpt from a sermon entitled “Come and See” found in Frederick Buechner’s book “Secrets in the Dark.”

“Who knows what the facts of Jesus’s birth actually were? As for myself, the longer I live, the more inclined I am to believe in miracle, the more I suspect that if we had been there at the birth, we might well have seen and heard things that would be hard to reconcile with modern science. But of course that is not the point, because the Gospel writers are not really interested primarily in the facts of the birth but in the significance, the meaning for them of that birth, just as the people who love us are not really interested primarily in the facts of our births but in what it meant to them when we were born and how for them the world was never the same again, how their whole lives were charged with new significance. Whether there were ten million angels there or just the woman herself and her husband when that child was born, the whole course of history was changed. That is a fact as hard and blunt as any fact. Art, music, literature, our culture itself, our political institutions, our whole understanding of ourselves and our world-it is impossible to conceive of how differently world history would have developed if that child had not been born. And in terms of faith, much more must be said because for faith the birth of the child into the darkness of the world made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living life.

 Ever since the child was born, there have been people who have gotten drunk on him no less than they can get drunk on hard liquor. Or if that metaphor seems crude, all the way down the centuries since that child was born, there have been countless different kinds of people who in countless different kinds of ways have been filled with his spirit, who have been grasped by him, caught up into his life, who have found themselves in deep and private ways healed and transformed by their relationships with him, so much so that they simply have no choice but to go on proclaiming what the writers of the Gospels first proclaimed: that he was indeed the long expected one, the Christ, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – all these curious and forbidding terms that Christians keep on using in their attempt to express in language one thing and one thing only. That in this child, in the man he grew up to be, there is the power of God to bring light into our darkness, to make us whole, to give a new kind of life to anybody who turns toward him in faith, even to such as you and me.

 This is what Matthew and Luke are trying to say in their stories about how he was born, and this is the truth that no language seemed too miraculous to them to convey. This is the only truth that matters, and the wise men, the shepherds, the star are important only as ways of pointing to this truth. So what is left to us then is the greatest question of them all. How do we know whether or not this truth is true? How do we find out for ourselves whether in this child born so long ago there really is the power to give us a new kind of life in which both suffering and joy are immeasurably deepened, a new kind of life in which little by little we begin to be able to love even our friends, at moments maybe even our enemies, maybe at last even ourselves, even God?

 Adeste fidelis. That is the only answer I know for people who want to find out whether or not this is true. Come all ye faithful, and all ye who would like to be faithful if only you could, all ye who walk in darkness and hunger for light. Have faith enough, hope enough, despair enough, foolishness enough at least to draw near to see for yourselves.  He says to ask and it will be given you, to seek and you will find. In other words, he says that if you pray for him, he will come to you, and as far as I know, there is only one way to find out whether that is true, and that is to try it. Pray for him and see if he comes, in ways that only you will recognize. He says to follow him, to walk as he did into the world’s darkness, to throw yourself away as he threw himself away for love of the dark world. And he says that if you follow him, you will end up on some kind of cross, but that beyond your cross and even on your cross you will also find your heart’s desire, the peace that passes all understanding. And again, as far as I know there is only one way to find out whether that is true, and that is to try it. Follow him and see. And if the going gets too tough, you can always back out. Maybe you can always back out.

 Adeste fidelis. Come and behold him, born the king of angels. Speak to him or be silent before him. In whatever way seems right to you and at whatever time, come to him with your empty hands. The great promise is that to come to him who was born at Bethlehem is to find coming to birth within ourselves something stronger and braver, gladder and kinder and holier, than ever we knew before or than ever we could have known without him.”

~Brian J. Allain

Were you in church on Sunday?  Did you hear my “inspired” attempt at singing a solo during the Gospel for Children?  If not, you’ll just have to pick up a DVD here at the church.  If so, maybe you remember my talking with the children about a Thanksgiving tradition I enjoy. While we are fresh off turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing with all the sides, and perhaps finally finishing up or throwing out those final leftovers in the fridge, many of us are reminded of our Thanksgiving favorites.  My own culinary craving? It is sautéed portabella mushrooms with chopped walnuts. But, as there are few in my family who look forward to this dish as much as me (some hope it doesn’t show up actually!) we skipped the mushrooms this year. However, we still joined in the best tradition we all celebrate, giving thanks to God for all of the blessings we see around us each and every day.

This year, besides a prayer before our meal, some of my family decided we should all sing a prayer of thanks as well. For some reason, most everybody in a group of 25-65 year olds representing four different families knows it.  It is the same prayer that I tried to teach the children on Sunday and goes something like this:

Oh, the Lord is good to me.

And so I thank the Lord,

For giving me the things I need:

The sun and the rain and the apple seed.

The Lord is good to me.

Amen!

I will refer you to the source of this little prayer so that you can hear it sung if you so desire:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_IrdS-zu48  The original is actually from a Disney movie about Johnny Appleseed and has a few more verses! You’ll note a few small differences that are probably accounted for by family traditions.

Hopefully, we all can continue to celebrate and give thanks to the Lord for all we are thankful for everyday – even when we aren’t eating ourselves into a nap!

Until next time,

Chris Vande Bunte

“Not because we must, but because we can…” Or, as Scott put it in a recent sermon “Not ‘I’ve got to’ but ‘I get to…’”

I’ve been given so much – “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.” Why would I have it, if not to share it? And, since I believe that it came from God, it seems only fair to do as He asks, and give some back. In this case, it means giving to my church, which gives me so much.

This is my third year as a member of Colts Neck Reformed Church and I cherish every sermon, every anthem, every Bible study, every friendship that has enriched my life in these three years. So I love saying Thank you with my dollars! And this church helps people in need in ways I couldn’t do by myself, so I love saying Please help them with my support. Too, this church is part of a national and international effort to spread the love of Christ to all the world in ways I wouldn’t begin to know how to do, so I love saying Please share Christ’s love with my pledge.

Do I have to? Maybe not. But I get to, I can, and it is my joy.

~Connie Paul

I’ve already written about how much I am thankful for my faith and for how it has deepened over the past couple of years, and I’ve mentioned how much I am thankful for my family.  Thus it makes sense to focus next on another area that is quite important to me and for which I am quite thankful – the great people with whom I’ve had the opportunity to work.

It has been 33 years now since I graduated with a BS in Engineering from Purdue (33 years?? Hard to believe!!)  So I’ve had the pleasure of working with MANY folks…  I’ve been in large companies and small companies; very successful businesses and those that struggled; companies in IL, NJ, and MA.  I think you could say that I’ve been around the block a time or two. And thus worked with a wide variety of people.

But there are a few who stand out – a few with whom I built very strong relationships – and I wonder why that is. Why am I still close to some of those people, years after we worked together. Was it their personality? Was it their commitment? Or was it the nature of the business situations we found ourselves in?

As you might expect, I think there have been many factors. Since I happen to find this a fascinating area, I have taken the time to analyze it a bit. Perhaps that is a bit…introspective?  No matter – I find that these types of relationships are incredibly important, and that they justify some serious attention.

Surely you’ve had similar situations – where you’ve built very strong bonds with some of your co-workers.  There are some folks you’ve just highly resonated with; where the “stars align” in some sense.  Over the years I’ve perceived some analogues between business strategy and war strategy (and believe me, I am NOT a Hawk…), so one of the natural questions for me has been “who would you want to be next to in the foxhole?”  In other words, who do you trust the most – “trust” in both the sense that they are best-in-class at what they do, and also in the sense that you would trust them with your life.

Have you had those kinds of relationships?  I’ve had the fortune to – in numerous cases.  And in those cases, I’ve tried repeatedly to do two things.  First of all, I’ve tried to work with them again!  I’ve found this so fulfilling from a personal standpoint and so rewarding from a business success standpoint.  In most businesses, a key ingredient is being able to build a great team – this is a high priority.  Unfortunately that is often not possible. You can’t hire a great engineering manager if you’re not doing any engineering… You can’t hire a great telecom sales person if you’re not selling to telecoms…  You can’t hire a great CEO if you’ve already got a great CEO….  Unfortunately the real world has many constraints!  So what is next best?  I would say maintaining the relationship – making sure that you stay connected in whatever way that is practical – email, phone calls, getting together for a beer – whatever. The most important method is getting together periodically in person.

OK.  So you’re with me on this?  You’ve had similar experiences?  My next question is the real crux of the matter, as far as I’m concerned: what are the factors that are most critical in making such connections a reality.  Based on my own humble experience, I would say there are three:

1. You’ve been able to establish a high degree of mutual respect in each other’s abilities.  The other person (and you too!) is someone in whom you have great confidence in – they can “do the job” and do it exceedingly well;
2. You’ve learned that you can trust them ethically.  How do I explain this?  What does “ethically” mean?  Well, I don’t have a very concrete explanation here – this is something in your gut…  You need to trust that they will “do the right thing” in any given situation.  But don’t ask me to explain what “do the right thing” means!!  Sorry, but there are way too many variables to describe such an attribute here.  Perhaps in another blog post…
3. The final factor is, unfortunately, that you’ve been through a high degree of stress together.  What I’ve experienced is that a person’s “true colors” come out when you and your business or organization are under a high degree of stress.  I wish that this was not the case; why can’t it be only when times are good?  Right or wrong, the best cases are when your team has been at the bottom and risen to the top.  Or at least been through a crisis of some type.  As one of my good friends has noted, this is in essence a “litmus test” for the first two factors.  He also notes that “tried and true” is a great descriptor – it isn’t “true” until it’s been “tried.”

What is so weird (and frustrating) about this is that it is very difficult for this bonding to happen when only factors 1 and 2 are present.  Why must we go through the fire?  Isn’t it enough to have great performers who you trust?  Can’t answer that.  All I know is that those relationships do not develop the depth of those where the stress is present.  I think it is an attribute of human nature – we all need a forcing function in order to bring out our best.

Now back to the original theme of the article – I cannot of course name names – but you know who you are!  I’ve had the great fortune to have worked with quite a number of people who fulfill these characteristics – they’re someone whose abilities I highly trust; they’re someone I know will “do the right thing” no matter the circumstances; and yes, they’re someone with whom I’ve been through the fire.  And I am deeply thankful to them, and to God, for granting me the blessing of having had the opportunity to work with them!

~Brian Allain

As we are approaching Thanksgiving, I have begun thinking about the things for which I am most thankful for. Barbara Brown Taylor, in a speech at the National Cathedral in Washington DC said “it was Red Smith who proclaimed that ‘it is really very easy to be a writer, all you have to do is sit down at the typewriter and open a vein.’” This “writing in blood” thing is a challenging task…but here is my attempt.

First of all, there are so many things to be thankful for. I feel that I’ve been so very blessed that I don’t know where to start… Then too, there is my family, for which I am incredibly thankful, but I think they may be a bit embarrassed if I blubbered on and on about how great they are….

So what I would like to talk about in this blog post is how thankful I am for my faith and how it has deepened over time. My Christian life began as a teenager in a great church – fortunately my parents attended a Protestant church in Illinois every Sunday, and I had a wonderful set of role models to follow – but I will readily admit that the primary reason I first attended their High School Fellowship Group was that there were a ton of girls there! Nevertheless, I was exposed to Christianity in a serious way, and I saw how positively it affected some of the other teenagers I grew to know. And I was impressed – enough to decide that this Christianity thing was for me.

I went on through my life, committed to being a Christian, but admittedly not investing the time to more deeply understanding what Christianity really means, nor exploring some of the issues it raises. Over the past couple of years, I have been incredibly blessed (in yet another way!) by the miracle, and I mean that term literally, of having a work assignment that allows me to spend time reading about the Christian faith – in particular reading books by the amazing author Frederick Buechner. Through this experience, my faith has significantly deepened and broadened.

Buechner has written so many things that have been enlightening to me that it is hard for me to know where to start. Perhaps I should start with the place where I started – or at least the place where I was first stunned – which would be Buechner’s book entitled “Listening to your Life”, which is a book full of daily readings that are excerpts from his 36 (yes, thirty-six!) books. His reading for February 28 (page 57) is called “What it means to be a Christian” – here it is:

“Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily believes certain things. That Jesus was the son of God, say. Or that Mary was a virgin. Or that the Pope is infallible. Or that all other religions are all wrong.

Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily does certain things. Such as going to church.  Getting baptized.  Giving up liquor and tobacco.  Reading the Bible.  Doing a good dead a day.

Some think of a Christian as just a Nice Guy.

Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  He didn’t say that any particular ethic, doctrine, or religion was the way, the truth, and the life.  He said that he was. He didn’t say that it was by believing or doing anything in particular that you could “come to the Father.” He said that it was only by him – by living, participating in, being caught up by, the way of life that he embodied – that was his way.

Thus it is possible to be on Christ’s way and with his mark upon you without ever having heard of Christ, and for that reason to be on your way to God though maybe you don’t even believe in God.

A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank.

A Christian isn’t necessarily any nicer than anybody else. Just better informed.”

WOW!!! That was my reaction when I first read this, when Nancy and I were enjoying a day reading on the beach. I had never heard an explanation of Christianity like this. It helped me with some of the issues I had struggled with but never really faced – questions like: What about those people I know very well, who are not “Christians” in the traditional sense, but who I know are great people?  What about those who have never been told about Christ?  What about children who die at a young age?

I don’t pretend to know all the answers, or to know who exactly “is” or “isn’t” a Christian. In fact, that isn’t my business anyway – that is God’s business.  He is the one to decide such things – not me!

~Brian Allain

Hello again friends,

Perhaps by now you’ve moved on, which I certainly wouldn’t blame you for doing. However, I know I still owe you a final blog on our mission trip experience from the beginning of the summer.  I figured it’s better to do that now than wait until we are into the fall!  As a reminder, this is the last in a series of three well-spaced out blogs that correlates to a three part series of devotions from our youth mission trip at the beginning of July about standing out and being outstanding.  Previously, we’ve reflected together (or at least you have tolerated my reflections) on two scripture passages and two focus questions.  The first paired Revelation 3:14-22 and the question, “What makes you outstanding?”  Next came Luke 17:11-19 and the question, “Who in your life are you especially thankful for and why?”  Finally, we move to our third reflection today!

Text: Matthew 14:25-33, 26:69-75, and Acts 2:14-41

Now I know that I have pulled a fast one here a bit and made you consult three passages, not just one.  But of course, you, dear reader, didn’t really have to pull your Bible out for these verses at all did you?  You know all three center around Peter, the leader of what my New Testament professor called the “DUH-ciples”.  The first is the story of Jesus walking on water out into the middle of the lake which is choppy and battering the boat of the disciples as he approaches.   They cry out in fear; Jesus quiets them.  And here we find Peter and imagine what he says to sound something like…”Hey Jesus, that walking on water thing looks pretty neat.  Can we do that too?”  Jesus replies with a simple, “Come.”  Out of the boat he goes and onto the water he walks.  Until…he sees the waves and feels the wind, those things that offer a challenge to him.  Peter begins to sink and resorts to crying out for the help of Jesus who saves him and chastises him for having little faith.

The next passage is another not so wonderful moment for Peter.  Here the stakes are high as Jesus is on trial.  Peter, perhaps struggling to see what they will do with his master, looks on nearby.  Soon, he is discovered and questioned.  Three times he is identified as a follower of Jesus.  Three times he denies this.  The cock crows.  Peter remembers Jesus predicting this denial.  Peter weeps bitterly.  Up until this point, these and many illustrations of Peter and his merry band of clueless (and very human) disciples don’t seem to come out all that glowingly.  But this last passage, it is that lynchpin in the life of Peter which represents a turn from a man of little faith, a man who denies Christ, a man who tries his best time and time again and fails, to a man who becomes a leader of the early church and the Christian movement.

In Acts, Peter and friends have just witnessed Jesus ascending to heaven after his resurrection and time spent with them.  They are gathered in Jerusalem and witness the Holy Spirit descending on one another while thousands of pilgrims from all over the world heard them begin to speak in new languages – the day of Pentecost.  Into this scene of huge crowds, with some amazed and others convinced the disciples of Christ are simply drunk early in the morning, steps Peter.  This moment is the moment he has been waiting for and been prepared and preparing for during his time with Jesus.  It is here that he takes off the cloak of follower and clothes himself with the garments of leadership.  Into this highly charged scene, Peter steps up and raises his voice to the crowd.  He tells them of the prophecies of Joel which have been fulfilled.  He preaches and combines the beloved scripture of the Jews around him with the revelation that these things have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ.  Simply put, Peter preaches perhaps the greatest sermon ever preached (Jonah’s time saving one liner does give him a run for his money!).

For, we are told that the crowd is cut to the heart.  Further, we hear that about three thousand people joined the group of believers that day.  “How,” people throughout the centuries have asked, “could a small band of religious people grow into the historic and worldwide movement that became Christianity?”  It happened because of people like Peter and those who followed, who regardless of their success rate or batting average in the past, stepped up to take on a huge challenge and succeeded beyond imagination.  After this, we meet Peter time and time again in miraculous ministry.  But up until that point, who would have believed the future Jesus had in store for him?  On this day, Peter stood out and became outstanding in overcoming challenges no matter his past failures.  Peter stood out and became outstanding in using the gifts he’d been given in new and wonderful ways.  Peter and the disciples are incredible guides for our faith today.  They show us what even humans like us can accomplish!

So, our final question today is, “What challenge do you see in your life right now?” Or, “What challenge do you anticipate encountering in the near future?”  Once you have identified that, think about how it would look if you rose to meet that challenge and overcame it.  What gifts do you have that God has given you to prepare you for this challenge?  What is hindering you and how will you overcome it?

This final night of devotions on the mission trip lasted for a long time.  Maybe they just liked talking and praying together, but some of our teens and adults talked for hours about what exciting things and challenges they saw lying ahead of them.  Perhaps with God’s help, all of us can make those challenges opportunities for great successes!

Until next time fellow stand out,

Chris       

I know, I know, I made you wait too long for a part two. Sorry about that. So, without further ado, let’s get down to it!  As a reminder, since you read it back in the stone age, our first devotions on the mission trip were focused on how each of us is outstanding. And since I know you were wondering about my answers to the question from that blog, I think I stand out in doing simple math in my head – need to calculate a restaurant tip? I am your guy. I also think I design a pretty good mission trip t-shirt each year. Now for part two, or as it is known from the mission trip – the night everybody cried.

Wednesday Night -  Standing Out and Being Outstanding In Giving Thanks

Text: Luke 17:11-19

The text for this devotion tells a story of a miraculous healing that Jesus performed. As he entered a village ten lepers called out to him while keeping their distance.

Leprosy was a tough diagnosis in those days. It was a name for a number of different skin diseases and it meant a life of ostracism because it was a visible disease. Lepers were kicked out of the city or town because they were “unclean”. In a religious and social system based on clean and unclean (even defining what you could wear or eat for instance) this was harsh. The leper would have been removed from family and friends. They would have been removed from education, from employment, and even from practicing their religion. By necessity, they grouped together in small villages to survive. In order to be reconciled to family, friends, work, and faith, a priest had to pronounce the leper clean.

As a leper, you were not only ostracized, but there were rules about how to interact with others. If you saw someone approaching, you had to stand a distance away and shout, “Unclean!” so that they knew not to approach, or approach with full knowledge that you were dangerous to come close to. This is why they call out from a distance to Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” His response, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” They are told to go and be restored to the community and that they will pass the priests’ tests.

Now imagine for a moment if you will, that you had something that shamed you, or that afflicted you and cut you off from everything you knew for years. You might have hated the thing you’d become after going over and over in your mind how you’d never be a member of your family again, never be able to use the gifts God had given you in work and worship, and never experience the community of faith again. And then, just like that, you are healed. What do you think your first reaction would be? I’d bet mine would be to run to the priests as I thought through how I’d surprise my family with my healing and restoration to the community. Do I knock on their door like a stranger, hide in some bushes and jump out at them, or just stroll in the house like I own the place?

Who could really blame you if your thoughts began running away with you as you hurried off to the priest, as you eagerly anticipated returning to everything you knew, loved and had been cut off from and headed straight there. Let’s just call ourselves one of nine – because that’s exactly what nine lepers did. But the tenth…well we might imagine him starting to run off with the others and then stopping so quickly that his sandals made a cartoon cloud of smoke when coming to a screeching halt and heading back.

He bows down at the feet of Jesus and thanks him for what he did. Jesus, well, he is a bit perplexed for only one of ten came back. Even more – it is a foreigner, maybe not even a Jew who lived by these laws! Actually, I think Jesus probably wasn’t too surprised at all, for he knew about human nature and self-focus. But here he concludes the story by telling the man, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”  And we Bible scholars who are fluent in the nuances of Greek realize that this kind of ‘well’ is far more than the physical healing that just happened – it is rather kind of like Jesus saying – your faith has saved you. It is emotional, spiritual, and physical healing and restoration all in one!

How’s that for a story – the guy who stops to thank the source of his blessings/happiness/and restoration – he is the one who is saved, not just healed.

Now, we could go into turning to God and remembering to say your prayers of thanks – and believe me, I could go on about that and need to do more of it myself. But for this blog and for that devotion on the trip, I want to focus on being purposeful about being thankful for someone or something in your life. I told the high schoolers about three people in my life who I was really thankful for, because they allowed me and helped me to be who I am as it relates to them and the trip.

I talked about how my grandfather prayed for me each day and how he helped me through high school, college, seminary, and into the ministry. As he got up there in years, I can remember him telling me that he prayed that he’d be alive to see what college I’d go to. And then when I ended up going to Hope, his alma mater and a college in his town, he prayed that’d he’d be alive to see my graduation. When he saw me graduate on the 70th anniversary of his graduation, he started praying for my future studies. As my seminary graduation approached, he told me that he prayed that he’d be alive to see me become a minister, but that he felt guilty asking God for that after all he’d asked for already. Sure enough, grandpa was alive for that too before passing away at 98. I never knew it, but his prayers were with me every day along my journey and supported me all the while.

Next was Lisa, my youth leader when I was younger. Lisa was about 10 years older than me and went blind as a child from diabetes. She was what polite folks might call a little salty and had a very straightforward relationship with us. For someone who was blind, she could sure see what we were doing both in front of her and in our lives outside of church. She had no problem joking with us and correcting us when we were wrong. Lisa allows me to be who I am because she taught me that having a little personality as a youth leader isn’t really a bad thing at all. A few years back, she lost her battle with diabetes and I was honored to be there to offer her communion for the final time, with the added responsibility of taking her off life support at the request of, and in the place of, her parents who were on the other side of the country. I try to thank Lisa by taking a part of her with me in my attitude as a youth leader.

And finally, I spoke about our awesome trip chaperones, who give up a week of their time to come with us. They put aside family and work to sleep on church floors for a week – odd people to be sure! These great leaders allow me to be me because I can focus on things like devotions, daily planning and logistics while they take time to lead, instruct and interact with our great teens each day.

After sometimes sobbing through my examples, I challenged our leaders and teens to think about someone they were thankful for who was not in their immediate family (lest you think I am not especially thankful for those incredible people in my life!).

I heard later that I wasn’t the only one who shed tears while sharing!

So, the question for today is: Who in your life are you especially thankful for and why? Try to think of someone outside your immediate family. And if that person is still around, how about letting them know just how much they have meant to you?

God offers us many blessings in our lives, often through the interaction we have with others.  How many times have we been reconciled back into community and with God without even stopping to take notice? It is only right to turn around once in a while and say thanks.

Until next time fellow lepers,

Chris

Hi Again Friends-

Last week was a very special week in ministry for me. Along with six other fantastic adults, I had the opportunity to spend a week on a mission trip with 23 of our high schoolers. We ate together, worked together and even slept in the same room (can you imagine having 30 people sleep in our Sanctuary for a week – we had some great hosts!). As you ponder our collective sanity, let me tell you about the best part of the week – our three evenings of devotions. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, after a work day and other activities, we met together for a brief message from the Bible and small group discussions.  After about five minutes of scripture reading and explanation/application, groups of seven, chosen at random and different each night (with at least one adult as part of the group), broke off to discuss what was said and a focal question. Though we sometimes have a tendency to overrate the present or have nostalgia about the past, I can say with some confidence that we got more work done this week, had less “drama” and above all, and most outstandingly, had deeper and more meaningful conversations than any other year compared with my six other previous experiences with our youth on these types of trips. Our focus for the overall week was how to Stand Out and be Outstanding. For this and the next two blogs, I’d like to relate our studies and discussions – by far the highlight of the week for me and most of our participants.

Monday Night – Standing Out and Being Outstanding

Text: Revelation 3:14-22

I came to the trip with one particular message in mind – trying to help youth understand that in a world of texting and minute by minute updates on what everyone was doing and who was or wasn’t going somewhere, it is ok not to go along with the “group think”.  Further, it is ok not to consult every friend or group member before making your own decisions.  While teamwork and group interactions are wonderful in many ways, we have the opportunity to connect like no other time in history. As a result, we are in danger of too much “group think” and overvaluing what everyone else is doing or what they think about us.

In our text, the writer John relays a vision he had and offers a message from Jesus to the group of believers at Laodicea, an ancient city known for its neighboring towns. One neighbor was famous for hot springs, the other, for nice cold water. But Laodicea had no water source of its own and ended up getting it from other places. Like its water, the believers embodied being lukewarm. They weren’t hot or cold. They were lukewarm. To which Jesus says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth,” just as we might spit out tea colored lukewarm water that we thought was a nice hot brewed cup of tea, or lukewarm water that we got when expecting ice cold refreshment. Jesus tells the believers that even though they think they are rich and in need of nothing, they don’t understand that are in fact desperately needy.

During the application of the text, I talked to our group about the dangers of being lukewarm and not being hot or cold. We become satisfied with the status quo and become happy with it – just like the believers at Laodicea. In our world today, we become paralyzed by group think. We value everyone else’s opinions and become lukewarm with inaction and fitting in rather than standing out.  We hold fitting in as a value and yet is it really worth much?  Or, are we in danger of being lukewarm and being “spit out” because of our embracing of the status quo.

In this day and age, we need to value unique gifts and skills as highly as ever. Rather than encouraging society with participatory trophies and platitudes of being great just the way we are, we should embrace the idea of developing into who we can be, utilizing our gifts to the fullest of their potential and honoring God in the process. So, rather than striving to fit in, why not value being outstanding – standing out or standing up for what we believe or want to do without needing to consult our social networks first?

Our questions for discussion were, “How are you uniquely gifted? and “What are you really good at or interested in?”

And before breaking up into groups, I warned everyone that “I don’t know” is a lukewarm answer that is to be spit out! The results were that those who had trouble thinking of something had others in their groups affirm what they saw as great gifts, talents and interests.

So – what makes you outstanding?  What makes you stand out?

Until Next Time,

Chris Vande Bunte

As you may have read in Paul Jensen’s latest entry (Thoughts from Across the Pond), Paul talks about his trip to Germany during his semester abroad. Along the way he was accompanied by a handy little German phrasebook. And believe me, that thing is handy. Paul passed it along to me just before I left for a trip to Europe with some of my fellow CNRC college age students. However, it’s not always as simple as looking up a phrase. We discovered that sometimes it takes a little more than a handbook…

On one of our evening walks in Berlin, we came across a small Italian restaurant and decided that we would eat there. Simple enough? Well, when you have a group of eleven that wants to cram into a restaurant that was about the size of Fellowship Hall, you might have some issues. Let’s add in the fact that the owner of the restaurant did not seem to understand any of the German we were speaking, rendering my phrasebook useless. But this didn’t stop a group of young, hungry travelers. We managed to get into a back room where we could all sit together, and we were even able to order some drinks through some simple pointing gestures, nods, and a lot of smiles. Appetizers were a success, if you leave out the fact that I ordered Bruchetta for the entire room, on top of the Bruchetta that was already ‘on the house’. So, we finished our appetizers (meaning that I ate most of the accidentally ordered Bruchetta) and ordered our pizzas. We still couldn’t understand what the man was saying, but that didn’t stop him or us from trying. About halfway through the meal, two of my fellow travelers decided to go for a long shot, and asked the man if he spoke any Spanish, in which they were fluent. His eyes lit up. Through some quick conversation we discovered that he was not speaking German at all, but Italian, and he could speak Spanish. He immediately went from a confused and possibly frustrated restaurant owner, to a talkative, loud and friendly Italian man who proudly proclaimed to have lived in Germany for 34 years and not learned the language. I was even able to talk to him for a while through my very broken, high school level Spanish. As we finished our dinner, the man returned to the room to chat a bit more and even offered his new found friends a few after dinner treats on the house!

Communication is a funny thing. Sometimes we don’t try enough, and other times we might even try too hard. God gives us an amazing ability to interact with each other and even break language barriers. It requires some effort and can’t all be found in a handbook. But, when we put in the effort, we can accomplish amazing things. Give it a try. God has given us the tools, now we have to go use them.

~Chris Zaccaria