GOD’S APPEARANCE BRINGS US LIGHT

I began my ministry in the 1970’s in youth ministry, and often took youth groups on trips to various conferences and events. On one such trip, we stopped in Missouri at Meramec Caverns and took a tour of the caverns. At the very deepest part of the caverns (at least that is the way I remember it), the guide turned out the lights. If you have ever had such an experience, you know that there is nothing as dark as a being in a cave with no lights. It can be unnerving.

One of the adult leaders of our group decided to have some fun with the experience and began to laugh – out loud. Soon some in our group were laughing along with him. The tour guide was not too happy with this turn of events and threatened to end the tour. Even though we were trying to be funny, I think we were all relieved when the lights were turned back on. You don’t want to be left in a cave with the lights off.

As we come into another Christmas season, we would do well to remind ourselves of what John’s Gospel teaches us about Jesus’ incarnation – his coming into the world. He tells us that Jesus is the light of men. In John 1:5, he says, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Allow me in my column this month to meditate with you on this idea.

We live in a dark world. In many ways, the world is far darker than the darkest cave. Jesus comes into that darkness to give us the light we need to make it through life. You can face any number of dark circumstances in life, from family difficulties or dysfunction to financial difficulties to misunderstandings with a co-worker or boss or person who works for you to any of the great challenges of life. It makes no difference what it is; Jesus comes to shed light that will enable us to handle our circumstances.

Jesus brings us that light because of who he is. This is the great theme of the opening of John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel shows us the real greatness of the baby born in Bethlehem. John does not tell us the story of Mary and Joseph the way Matthew and Luke do. He tells us who the child in the manger is. That child can bring light into the darkness because of who he is. So, who is he? Here is some of what John tells us:

(1) He is the Word of God. People have constantly wondered whether God speaks to us. Ingmar Bergman, about fifty years ago, produced a movie titled The Silence that spoke to this issue. It portrays the plight of three characters who do not hear the voice of God and who believe that God is silent. John says about Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word…” John states this as a continuing action, not as a past tense like we read it in English, and he intends it to mean that Jesus was born to speak God’s words to us. Through a baby born in Bethlehem, God was speaking to our world.

(2) He is God. Surveys show that although the vast majority of Americans believe in God, they are confused about the nature of God. John shows us that we can understand the nature of God by knowing Jesus. He uses two complementary phrases to state this: ^“the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the first phrase, the idea is that Jesus is continually face to face with God. The second phrase directly states that the baby born in the manger is in his very essence God, just as he was human. It wasn’t just a baby sleeping in that manger – it was God. So if you want to know what God is like, if you want to teach people what God is like, show them Jesus.

(3) He is the Creator who gives us Life. The New Testament is clear that Jesus was present with God the Father in creating the world. He made it all so that we would have life (look at John 1:3-4). He gives us not just physical life, but a spiritual life with him – later in John’s Gospel, Jesus calls it abundant life – that leads to eternal life.

So meditate hard this Christmas season on who Jesus is, and show people the way to him. Someone wrote these lines about the light that comes into the world with the birth of Christ:

More light than we can learn,
More wealth than we can treasure,
More love than we can earn,
More peace than we can measure,
Because one Child is born.

Witnesses for Christ From Uganda

Last Sunday, I referred to an incident in Northern Uganda, a place Richard Stearns calls “the darkest place on the planet” that he has visited. Here is an abbreviated account of what he experienced there:

One day, Margaret, six months pregnant, was gardening with her friends. A group of boy soldiers – led by an adult commander – attacked Margaret’s friends and hacked them to death with machetes. The commander noticed Margaret was pregnant, so he chose not to kill her because he thought it would bring bad luck. Instead he told the boy soldiers to cut off her nose, ears, and lips, which they did.

Remarkably, she survived, and three months later gave birth to her son James. Margaret and James were brought to World Vision’s Child of War Center, where she received counseling and support to deal with her trauma and disfigurement.

Months after her son’s birth, Margaret saw the commander who ordered her mutilation come to the same rehabilitation center. Margaret was afraid for her life and also wanted to kill him. World Vision staff worked with this man to get him to confess to what he did. They also worked with Margaret to help her anxiety and explore the possibility of forgiveness. Weeks later the man asked Margaret to forgive him, and Margaret reached deeply to the source of all forgiveness – Jesus – and forgave.

This week I read about a group of children in Uganda who are shining into dark places and providing a witness for Christ. Chuck Colson tells about it:

“The children are members of the Mwamba Children's Choir of Uganda. Tragically, AIDS has taken the life of one or both of their parents. They grew up in an orphanage begun in 1998 by a Ugandan pastor. This pastor felt called to do something about the number of children being orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

“Sadly, the pastor died a few years ago, putting the future of the orphanage in jeopardy. His son, Daniel Mugerwa, and Daniel's younger brother, were scarcely out of high school; they had no idea how they could keep the orphanage going. But as Daniel told my colleague Stephen Reed, a family friend who attended his father's funeral heard the orphans singing a tribute to their late founder.

"’If you can get more people to hear these children's voices,’ the friend said, ’that could help save the orphanage.’

“So that's what Daniel did. As Stephen Reed writes in the HuntingtonNews.net, the brightly-dressed children sing ‘with a sound and a beat that grabs the audience.’ The choreography comes directly out of Ugandan culture. In a song titled ‘You Are Everything,’ the children sing:

"’You are everything to me/ My soul rejoices in you/ Your goodness, mercy and joy / All the world's so in love with you!’

“The song expresses their joy for God's mercy in their lives: Mercy in the form of loving adults to care for them now that their own parents are gone. Unlike many American children's choirs, these kids don't have to be reminded to smile as they sing: Their faces and bodies are bursting with joy.

“Their music is indeed helping keep the orphanage open. The choir is currently touring the United States. They have made two CDs of their songs, and are about to release a third.”

These “children of Uganda have so much less” than we do “and they've endured great loss-and yet their lives are a musical praise to God for His blessings.”

Where there is darkness, where the holes in our world are deep, the love of Christ can still shine bright and often does. I hope the story of Mwamba Children’s Choir will encourage you to let your love for Christ shine bright in this Christmas season.

God Appears In Our World

I grew up loving Christmas and have never grown tired of it.

For most of my adult life, either we have traveled to be with family for Christmas or they have traveled to be with us. This year it will be no different. We will have family in our home this year for all but two days from December 14 through January 3.

While growing up, it wasn’t that way. We were always home at Christmas. We could not travel at Christmas, and our extended family lived away from us. So Christmas every year was celebrated with our immediate family: Mom and Dad, my two sisters and one brother, and my grandmother (Dad’s mother who lived with us in the winter). We opened presents around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and then awoke early on Christmas morning to check out our gifts from Santa Claus — often gifts that were too big to be easily wrapped.

After opening presents on Christmas Eve, though, we sat around the living room as Dad took Mom’s well-worn King James Version Bible and read us the Christmas story from Luke 2. That became the highlight of Christmas for me. I don’t know if Luke’s account of the birth of Christ is my favorite story in the Bible, but it certainly ranks right up there.

I don’t remember the gifts I opened through those years, but I remember “The Gift of Christmas.” The gift God gave to the world is still the most important part of Christmas for me. I hope it is for you too.

This year I want to help you understand “Christmas According to John.” He doesn’t tell us the stories of Christmas as Matthew and Luke do, but he tells us the meaning of Christmas. It can be summed up in the phrase I will use as a theme for my December messages: “God Appears in Our World.”

John calls Jesus the Word. He says in John 1:1 that from the very beginning “the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This One who came into our world, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas is God himself coming to live among us.

John makes this clear in John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Make Christmas special this year. Let’s find out together how God made his appearance among us. John says about Christ: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). And he says so much more. You want to know that kind of person — and you can.

So, enjoy Christmas this year. I hope you enjoy everything about it, that you will meet the God who appears in our world, and that you will never grow tired of him.

Westwood Message–11/18/2010

Thank You’s

Thanks to everyone who helped with preparations, cooking, cleanup, and all the other details for the Harvest Dinner last Sunday evening, November 24. We had a number of guests, and everyone had an enjoyable evening. Thanks for all your hard work.

Christine and I would like to thank all of you who blessed us with cards and gifts for Pastor Appreciation Month in October. We are glad to be ministering with you and look forward to how God continues to work through Westwood’s ministry.

WCC’s 2010 Kids Christmas Play
“Toooooooooo Busy”!!!Sunday, December 19, 9:30 am Worship Service

Westwood’s children have begun practicing for the 2010 Kids Christmas Play which will be performed during our December 19 worship service. Between now and then, our elementary and middle school children will meet downstairs for the entire worship service each Sunday for a class and play practice.

Christmas Decorating Set for December 3 & 4

Christine Henes will supervise “Hanging of the Greens” at the church on December 3 and 4 starting at 9 am. She needs Middle and High School youth, and men and women to assist in a variety of ways:

1. Set up of 2 long tables on the platform on Friday am and removed and put away Saturday afternoon, the 4th.

2. Individuals to donate fresh cut cedar, pine greens and red twig dogwood branches. I would like to have at least 2 yard bags full of evergreens Please have these bagged and at the church on Friday, December 3.

3. An individual to donate enough premade fresh evergreen roping to go around the double entry doors. Please deliver Friday December 3 am or Saturday December 4th am.

4. An individual to donate white outdoor lights to generously wrap the cross outside on Segoe Road.

5. An individual to wrap the Segoe Road cross in white lights on Friday December 3, remove and store them after January 6.

6. Helpers who will climb a ladder, fluff greens, and bows, assist in making arrangements, iron, pound nails, etc.

7. Helpers please bring scissors, pruners, wire cutters, iron, ironing board, glue guns, finishing nails, hammer.

8. Bring a sack lunch.

9. Work days will be January 7 and 8 to remove and store Christmas decorations.

Roger Wisegarver is Making Progress In His Recovery

Roger Wisergarver continues to make progress in his recovering from Guillen Barre syndrome. Last week Brenda shared the photo below of Roger in his new wheelchair and of them the two of them with their new wheelchair accessible van. Both the wheelchair and van were purchased with the benefit for Roger, for which we took a special offering.

Brenda also sent us this thank you note:

Your continued prayer and generosity are appreciated by us so much!! You all have been a God send.

We will come visit soon.

Our Love,

Roger & Brenda Wisegarver

Upcoming Westwood Events

November 21 11:00 AM – Budget Presentation to the congregation
                      4:00 PM – Singing at Clare Bridge
December 5 11:00 AM – Westwood’s Annual Meeting
                   12:00 Noon – Keenager’s Potluck
December 11 9:00 AM – Christmas for Kids
December 19 9:30 AM – Children’s Christmas Program
December 24 5:00 PM – Christmas Eve Service
December 26 12:00 Noon – Potluck for Chardel
                                  Johnston’s Fortieth Anniversary

FINDING THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL

A study listed the top ten things people forget when they travel. The items listed include tickets, passport, extra socks, cash, medication, a toothbrush, and others. Have you ever forgotten anything when you travel? I suspect most people who travel can tell a story about going on a business trip, camping trip, or vacation and forgetting to pack something pretty important.

This month, I would like for you to consider whether you are forgetting something in the Gospel, and to consider pursuing a discussion on the subject with your congregation. Have you ever felt like there is something missing in your walk with Christ? This is the issue Richard Stearns develops in his very worthwhile book The Hole In Our Gospel. He explores the question “What does God expect of me?” He says this in the book’s introduction:

“The question, ‘What does God expect of me?’ is a very profound one – not just for me, but for everyone who claims to follow Christ. Jesus had a lot to say about it. Yes, He did give us deep insights into the character of God and our relationship with Him as well, but He also spoke at length about God’s expectations, our values, and how we are to live in the world. So how are we to live? What kind of relationship are we to have with a holy God? What is God asking for, really, from you and me? Much more than church attendance. More than prayer too. More than belief, and even more than self-denial. God asks us for everything. He requires a total life commitment from those who would be His followers. In fact, Christ calls us to be His partners in changing our world, just as He called the Twelve to change their world two thousand years ago.”

I discussed Stearns’ book in my September 2009 column. Since, then, a new resource has been published to enable congregations to have their own discussion of the themes of his book. Besides the book, you can use videos in which Stearns discusses his ideas, a small group study guide, sermon ideas for a six-week series, and other resources. You can access some of the material and order items in quantity at www.sixweekquest.com.

This is not the first time a writer has suggested we might be missing something of what God expects of us. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Micah wrote that the people of his day were missing something vital to the heart of God, and God made it clear what he expects. Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus also saw a hole in the faith of the religious leaders of his day. In Matthew 23:23, he said, “’Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.’”

Stearns’ ideas grow out of Jesus’ mission statement for his ministry as found in Luke 4 when he reads from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth. There are three realms of life that the W.H.O.L.E. Gospel covers as seen in Jesus’ quotation from Isaiah 61. Jesus said he came to fulfill them and intends for us to find all three in how we live out the Gospel.

(1) The whole Gospel covers the spiritual – Jesus came to “preach good news to the poor.” We need to proclaim the Gospel to the spiritually poor, while not forgetting our own spiritual poverty. This is perhaps the easiest aspect of our mission to recognize.

(2) The whole Gospel covers the physical – Jesus came to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind. Another word for the Gospel is this sense is mercy. We are to be merciful to everyone who is hurting in life. We dare not forget this aspect of the Gospel.

(3) The whole Gospel covers the social – Jesus came to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. This aspect of the Gospel calls for justice. The church must always work for the justice of oppressed peoples.

Consider digging into Stearns’ book and take the Six Week Quest with your congregation. Take a look with your friends at the make-up of the W-H-O-L-E Gospel.

Westwood Message–11/4/2010

Harvest Dinner is November 14 at 5:30 PM

Our annual Harvest Dinner will take place on November 14 at 5:30 PM. Plan to come and bring family and/or friends. You can sign up to come and eat, bring a pie, help set up, or help clean up and put things away. Sign up on Sunday or contact Chardel at the church office. Invite your family and friends to come and eat with you. We have invited the campus ministry family at Koinonia House with Wisconsin Christian Campus Ministries. The main meal will be provided. Plan for a great evening together.

WCC’s 2010 Kids Christmas Play

“Toooooooooo Busy”!!!

Sunday, December 19, 9:30 am Worship Service

Practice will begin on Sunday, November 14, 2010. Grade School and Middle School kids will meet downstairs during the entire worship service through Sunday, December 12. They will have a short lesson and then play practice following until the end of the service.

Practices will go through Sunday, Dec. 12. Parents, please send your children downstairs when you arrive for church each Sunday for these five Sundays. We will have only 5 weeks to put this together, so it’s IMPORTANT that the kids are at church for practices.

Sandy Polcyn and Kris Wales will be directing the play for the kids this year. If you have any questions, please ask Sandy.

We’re looking forward to working with the kids for Christ through Drama!

Sandy and Kris

New Roof for White Oaks Lodge at Rock River Christian Camp

Rock River Christian Camp needs volunteers to help tear off the old roof and to put a new roof on the White Oaks Lodge during the next two-three weeks. Please call (815-493-6622) or e-mail (office@rockrivercc.net) Leslie at the camp office to let them know if you are able to go and help. The roof may not survive the winter, so this project needs to be done before the cold winter weather sets in. The camp staff is willing to feed you if you are there over mealtimes.

Upcoming Westwood Events

November 13 - 7:30 AM – Men’s Breakfast
November 13 - 9:00 AM – Women’s Mug ‘n’ Muffin Fellowship, Church Office
November 14 - 5:30 PM – Westwood’s Annual Harvest Dinner
November 19 - 6:30 PM – S.E.R.I.O.U.S. Women
November 21 - 10:45 AM – Budget Presentation to the congregation
November 21 - 4:00 PM – Singing at Clare Bridge
December 4 - 10:45 AM – Westwood’s Annual Meeting
December 4 - 12:00 Noon – Keenager’s Potluck
December 11 - 9:00 AM – Christmas for Kids
December 19 - 9:30 AM – Children’s Christmas Program
December 24 - 5:00 PM – Christmas Eve Service
December 26 - 12:00 Noon – Potluck for Dick & Chardel Johnston’s Fortieth Anniversary

MAKE CARING PERSONAL

In his book The Hole In Our Gospel, Richard Stearns tells about a simple behavioral experiment conducted in 2006 by three researchers:

A test group of ordinary people was divided into three subgroups. The first read the story and saw a photo of a poor, starving seven-year-old African girl named Rokia. The second group was given a statistical portrait of seventeen million Africans in four countries who were desperately hungry because of crop failures and food shortages. They were told about yet another four million who were homeless. In other words, group two read about hunger and suffering on a massive scale. The third group was given the story about the little girl Rokia but was also given the statistical information given to group two. Finally, participants in all three groups were asked to donate money to relieve the suffering. Amazingly, the group that heard only Rokia’s story gave the most money. The group that was given the statistics about twenty-one million suffering people gave the least, and the group that received both pieces of information was only slightly more generous than the statistics-only group. The story of one child was more compelling than the suffering of millions.

People will depersonalize a large group of people and thus respond to them with far less compassion than they will when a person’s life circumstances become personal to them. When we realize this, we can better understand some of the appalling realities of our world and how the unthinkable becomes possible. Does this allow, for instance, for the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide? Might this explain slavery — and how Christian people tolerated and defended it for so long?

As Christians we need to see beyond the mass scale of such tragedies and personalize such things as poverty by understanding that the lives of people are affected — not just large numbers of nameless people.

This is how Jesus saw people. Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

So, as we discover “The Hole In Our Gospel” through the current sermon series, I encourage you to make poverty and disease and helplessness personal. Many of you are doing so by helping with our food pantry or ministering to “the least of these” in other ways. Get to know someone who is hungry, thirsty, a stranger, in need of clothes, sick, or in prison and care for them. God has rescued us from the helplessness of sin and calls us to care for people who need to be rescued. Make caring personal.