I have a love for the art of story.  I love the eloquence of a finely told life experience, especially if it is accomplished across the bridge of two movies or two books.

It probably started when my dad and I sat down to watch “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Return of the Seven” one night.  I loved that a team of experts would come together, then accomplish their task, and then I loved the fact that I got to see it done all over again.  I mean, some of these series of movies and books have been life-changing for me.

Occasionally a book gets a solid first run, and they make a sequel not worthy of the original content.  In fact, many times the only reason it’s done is marketing.  Unfortunately this happens a lot in the Christian sub-cultures of our world.  Are you serious?  Give me a break, “The Power of a praying pet turtle?“  Or the Oh so popular “Chicken Soup for the One eyed radio DJ’s soul.”  So I thought I’d share with you my favorite series of film, literature, sports, or television:  (and no, American Pie is not on the list)

10.  Boston/LA 2008 – That sure was a long 21 year wait.

9.  Left Behind. It did become something of a marketing ploy, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless – inaccuracies and all.

8.  Young Guns. I love these movies, and Jack Bauer’s in them, so they can’t go wrong.

7.  Star Wars. Many would suggest this would be number 1.  I would not.

6.  The A-Team.  “I pity the fool…”

5.  Rocky. Nuff said.

4.  John Lescroart’s Dismas Hardy series.  A collection of detective/legal thrillers set in San Fran.  Good stuff!

3.  Lord of the Rings books and movies – These last two were difficult, but an amazing story to walk through.

2.  Letters to the Next president by Andy Stanley – seriously, you have to hear or watch these.

1.  Harry Potter – I have no words to say how I felt after I finished those books in November of 2007.  And this was after I made fun of others who read the stinking things.  Whether its the movies or the books, these things are absolutely brilliant.  And of course I was drawn into witchcraft immediately after reading them.  (this is sarcasm)

Okay, your turn. What did I miss?

Related posts:

1. Why I read Harry Potter
2. I am the Elliots – Not a series, a season
3. The Fellowship Series (not unlike the world)

If you had one prayer for the church at large, and it started with “Make us…”,

How would it end?

Related posts:

1. Overwhelmed and Freaked out (in a good way)
2. One Last Prayer
3. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Are you distracted by the noise?

Related posts:

1. Adding to the noise
2. Pretty amazing
3. Screaming

This weekend, one of the things we’ll be focusing on at Fellowship Church is baptism.  If you know someone who is thinking about who God is or who has just started reaching out to Him, this will be an incredible message for them to hear.  For those of you who are already full engrossed in all things baptism , then it will be a good reminder of that time that you took a step to publicly identify yourself with Christ.

But we will also be focusing on something new – a new way that Fellowship Church uses technology to fulfill our mission of leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Also, I’ll be sharing with the church about our upcoming new series we’ll be starting in June.

Have a fantastic memorial Day weekend, and with all the parties you’ve been invited to, don’t forget to join your Fellowship Church family this Sunday morning.

“To reach who no one else is reaching, we have to do what no one else is doing”

p.s.  I had this fantastic story to share with you in this post, but after I finished, for some reason it didn’t save,and I lost most of my work.  So, either because I was too lazy to type it again or because I felt that probably I wasn’t supposed to share it, It remains in my head.

Related posts:

1. Refreshed!
2. A One Prayer weekend
3. Whatsu happening?

April 27 – Family Matters:  He said/she said
May 4 – Family Matters:  Parenting – An Orange perspective
May 11 – Family Matters:  My mom – The Golden Compass
May 18 – Family Matters:  Outlaws/Inlaws

If you have a family, or if you want to have a family, or if you know someone who has a family, then come and invite someone who you know that will be interested in what the Bible has to say about the family.

Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship (10:30 am)
325 Bullard St
Holden, MA 01520

Who’s gonna be there?

Related posts:

1. A Family Experience
2. What this week is all about
3. An Experience with the Family

Here in Massachusetts today it’s even going to be a sunny 72 degrees.  A true sign of change.

For churches everywhere it’s time for vacations and here especially it’s time for hanging out at places called “the Cape” and Old Orchard Beach.  And time for church to be expendable.  Every year since I’ve been at Fellowship Church here in Central Mass, I’ve realized this great phenomonon where everyone goes on vacation (not a bad thing, a good thing) and also takes vacation off from church too.

The course, The ocean, the lake, the fair, the Big E, the sales, the sun, and the bed are all things that compete with church each Sunday morning during the days of summer.  And rightfully so.  I believe all these things are a blast, and at times, some of these things demand my attention as well.  So because I go on vacation and because I like all these things, I’m going to refrain from giving you (who attend church) and those who attend Fellowship Church a manipulated guilt trip for missing out this summer.

I’m going to try this another way.

Sometime late last year, I had dinner with this guy, who told me that their church grew last summer, which stoked a fire under me that I cannot recover from.   I then went to my lead team at Fellowship and challenged them to make this summer the best summer ever at FC, and that this would be the first summer ever where we would grow in attendance as a church, and to do that, we will have to compete with the aforementioned activities to do on any given Sunday morning.

So this summer for those of you who attend Fellowship, I cannot promise you a round of golf, but I can say this as the weather becomes beautiful here in New England:  That you and your friends and all of us who  attend Summer Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship, will be led into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ in a relevant and an exciting way.  Of course whenever we grow in Christ it’s exciting, but I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us as we come together as a church and allow meeting together (Hebrews 10:24,25) to be our favorite activity this summer!

Here are some highlights of the summer so far:
May -  New Series:  Family Matters
A month long Steve Erkyl dress-up contest (I’ll explain later)
May 11 – Mother’s Day
( I know this isn’t the summer yet, but that’s okay, it’s still all about moms!)
June 1st - Baptisms @ Fellowship
June 8th – New Series:  One Prayer
This is going to be an incredible series, and something that we’ve never done before.
July 6th – Outdoor worship service & Picnic
New series:  Nature Lover
August – New series:  An apple a day
August 31st – Baby Dedications

By the way, this weekend @ Fellowship, Al, our Sunday Morning Programming Director, has thought of something so creative, that it blew my mind!

Can you write something right now that blows my mind?

Related posts:

1. Whatsu happening?
2. Happy Memorial Day weekend!
3. Overwhelmed and Freaked out (in a good way)

Decisions that are the BEST decisions are not always the easy ones or the most convenient.  Sometimes good decisions are easy, but not as good as the best decisions.  When I first came to my present church in May of 1999, I decided that in any situation, as best as I could, I would put the best decision for the church ahead of the most convenient decision for me (I changed this slightly for marital purposes later on).

So when people would come to me and want to share their heart with me, but ask me to keep it in confidence, I would say (and I still say) that “anything you say is confidential, unless it places the church in any harm or risk, in which case it can no longer be just me, but others have to be involved, so now, feel free to tell me whatever you like.”  or…

If someone decided to bash someone (like a leader in the church) to me, I would respectfully tell the one venting that the best thing for them and for me is to talk to the person they are venting about, and that they need to do it quickly. Typically this never went over very well.

Now as I sit in the chair I sit as the lead pastor of this church, occasionally I have to make decisions that are hard, and not easy.  To be honest, sometimes it sucks.  Sometimes the best decisions are not the easy ones, but they are the best. (at least I pray they are)

I think on this topic as I think about the message for this week, the third in a series about our spiritual lives as Christ followers (or not) called, “The road”.  The easy part is not getting on that road.  Not making the commitment to Christ.  Not surrendering our will over to the God who created us. But that’s not the BEST decision.

The hard and the best decision comes after you’ve taken a step toward the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  That’s where the journey gets difficult.  Wow!  My head hurts…and all this before lunch.

Until next time…

Related posts:

1. A decision for the future
2. Calling all church leagues! Please STOP!
3. The speed of love – a road trip parable

Matthew 2:9 – 11 – “After this interview the wise men went their way.  And the star they had seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem.  It went ahead of them and stopped over the place the child was.  When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!  They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.  Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” 

What we have been looking at over the past several weeks is how to celebrate Christmas, and not just celebrate a holiday.  Because if we want to celebrate a holiday, we could celebrate a holiday however we want, but it we want to celebrate Christmas, we need to celebrate the way Christ intended us to celebrate Him, especially if we’re going to make a big deal about the title of the holiday. 

Like most conversations about the Christmas season, we’ve talked in this series so far about making Christ the “Reason for the Season” and making Him the focal point of how we’re celebrating, but where this series differs is in applying truths that hold not just to this month, but to the rest of the year.  In a sense we’re not celebrating Christmas, but we’re celebrating Christyear! 

My question for us today is this:  What is the appropriate way for me to give gifts and how does the idea of giving gifts fit into God’s plan for how I should be living the rest of the year?  Because giving gifts isn’t evil, and in fact, the reason we give gifts to others is rooted in God giving us a relational gift: His Son, Jesus Christ.  So how do we give gifts to others in a godly way, and how do we apply that – not just for a day, a month, or a particular season – but as a new perspective on living? 

Now as I’ve talked about the last several weeks, I absolutely love Christmas!  And I say the same thing today about gifts.  I really love gifts!  I love giving them.   I love getting them.  In fact, I’d like to share with you my top 5 Best Christmas gifts ever: 

5.       Gift:  Waterbed (wavy, not one of them stiff ones)  Year:  1988         
          Giver:  My parents, Marty & Susan Holman

4.       Gift:  Ten speed bike         
          Year:  1987         
          Giver:  My Parents, again 

3.       Gift:  Ben Roethlesburger Jersey         
          Year:  2005 (Super bowl year, by the way – coincidence, yeah right)         
          Giver:  My wife, Carie. 

2.       Gift:  Civilization 4, the video game         
         Year:  2005 (This was a every good Christmas)             
          Giver:  Carie’s mom, Angela 

1.       Gift:  Guitar Hero games and controllers                  
          Year:  2006         
          Givers:  Carie, Angela, and Mike Burns 

So before we really get into today’s sermon, I want you to know that I get gifts too, and I accept them, and I love them.  But this brings me to a question: Doesn’t it seem like sometimes at the end of gift giving or gift getting you feel empty inside?  Doesn’t seem, and maybe not as a kid, because you just received a whole lot of things, but as you got older, even if you get a guitar hero, or even if you just watched your kids get all the stuff they want, that there is something missing?  Whether it’s a guitar hero or a nice pair of socks, something seems amiss about a time and a place where I can come and give gifts to those who don’t need gifts, and then I hope for the best possible gift I can get as an adult.  

Oh come on, don’t act so self-righteous, you all know you’ve struggled to get the best gift at a yankee swap, to the point of dissing someone else’s chance of getting something good. And it’s not only that, but something feels empty about setting aside a time and a place when we are supposed to be extra nice to people.  Uncle Jack and Cousin Matt hate each other, but they need to “put on their best smiles and be nice” because it’s Christmas! 

I know, I know, you’ll hate me for this.  But the truth is, it really is a modern way of thinking.  That I need to set aside time, about a month out of the year, to be really nice to people.  To give gifts to people who I wouldn’t normally give gifts to. 

Maybe right now you’re thinking about the Bible, and how Scripture promotes holidays and special celebrations where the Jews were to celebrate special things.  But the truth is that each time Scripture talks about a special day, either in the OT or the NT, it always puts the focus of that celebration on God, and the implication being that each time we celebrate something, that the focus of that celebration be put back on Him.  

(Isaiah 1:13 – “Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offering disgusts me!  As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days of fasting- they are sinful and false.  I want no more of your pious meetings.”) 

So where does that put us?  What do we do?  Of course, our purpose here at Fellowship Church is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  An important piece of that purpose that we often miss is “to lead.”  So many times we follow.  We follow culture like a puppy dog follows his “best friend” or like a junior high boy follows young girl  he likes.  We follow whatever the trend says.  But our desire here at Fellowship is to be leaders. And so we want to use culture to our advantage, not to be led by the culture in which we live. 

And there are times when Culture and our beliefs disconnect, and when that happens we need to begin speaking up, not just with our mouths but with our actions.  Remember, this series is more about rethinking our way of life than it is about rethinking Christmas. 

So what does God have to say about gifts?  And about Gift giving?  Mucho Grande. I searched all through Scripture, and it certainly isn’t a narrow search. Spread out throughout all of Scripture, the word Gift is used 154 times, and the word Giving is used 219 times in various ways, but for the most part, the two types of gifts the Bible mentions is the type of gifts that you and I give and receive and spiritual gifts that Paul often refers to.  Our focus will be on the former. 

But today I want to look at a passage in Proverbs a book of wisdom in the OT, that talks about gifts.  Now it does not talk about Christmas, as the passage that was read earlier discusses, but it does focus on gifts, and the types of gifts that are not good.   

This book (of Proverbs) was written by one of the richest, most powerful men in all the world at the time of its writing.  He was a king.  People were always giving him gifts.  And this is what he writes.  We’re going to look at 2 verses today in Proverbs 22. 

Proverbs 22:15 – “A youngster’s heart is full of foolishness, but physical discipline will drive it far away”  

That is, a child (or anyone who gets whatever they want) will be spoiled and will ultimately act however they want to act.  I mean, you don’t need a Bible verse for this, do you?  You’ve seen that kid in the mall, even this Christmas season, acting out because they are not getting what they want when they want it.  You’ve seen the temper tantrums of the spoiled. Maybe it’s someone in your children’s school?  Maybe it’s someone at church?  Maybe it’s at the store over the hoidays?  Wherever it was, you know that this proverb is true.  That the child, left to his or her own devices, will ultimately act however they want to.     

“But physical discipline will drive foolishness far away.” 

This is not just for young people, but the author is assuming that older people have figured this out.    In other words, discipline in your life and in my life – The discipline to say no.  The discipline to not buy that.  The discipline to not act on that impulse.  The discipline to say no to that night, that weekend, that proposition, will in a sense, drive foolishness far away. 

This is true of many areas of our life.  This is true of hygiene. This is true of homework.  This is true of marriage and relationships.  And this is true of buying gifts at Christmas.  

So is the next verse… Proverbs 22:16 – “A person who gets ahead by oppressing the poor or by showering gifts on the rich will end in poverty.” 

That there is something, there is a connection between your money, and how you use your money in your relationship with others that is directly connected to how successful you will end up being in the long run. That is, It may seem like a good idea at the time to be able to buy a gift inexpensively at the sake of the child who made the item you’re buying, and to not have to think about that process, but in the end, it will turn out badly for you. 

Or, It may seem like a great idea to shower your kids with the maximum amount of gifts possible in order to make them happy and unwanting, or to shower your boss with the gift that’s gonna make him see you in some sort of a good light, or give gifts to people who might have more money than others and ignore people with whom you don’t care how they see you, but in the end, it will not turn out good for you, but it will turn out bad and, and you will not get more but you will have less, and you may even end up in poverty. 

You see, when you spend unwisely, it does not help you, it hurts you.  And the stats when it comes to Christmas spending are not pretty in America.  455 Billion dollars on gifts.  And to make matters worse, Consumer credit debt right now is 2.4 Trillion.  And when people spend unwisely, foolishly if you will, or without the discipline of saying, “I will not spend more than I can afford”, than the end is poverty.  

It only makes sense. And the writer of this proverb, who’d been there and back again, who was one of the richest men in the world at the time, and who was spoiled as a child and spoiled his own kids, in the end said, listen, God has set up the world in such a way that he will get the glory, not you, so you better treat people a certain way in all aspects of life, including your stuff and including the gifts you give.  

So What can I do and what can you do? The answer is to give Relationally, because God gave relationally. In other words, Because God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ as a relational gift, we can then rise above the trap of materialism and overconsumption and give relationally to our family and friends, without “making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.”  Here’s how we can do that: 

1. We can give gifts to meet needs.

That’s what love is all about, right?  love is meeting needs.  So we ask the question, What does this person need?  If I care enough to give this person a gift, I should know what this person needs.  I could ask.  Here’s an interesting concept, if you ask someone what they need for Christmas, and they answer, “I don’t need anything”, take them up on that, and tell them you’ll give a gift (in their name) to someone who does need a gift, and do that.I can hear the complaints now – “But that’s not the Spirit of Christmas if I don’t get my friends gifts” No, that’s not the spirit of 21^st century, modernistic, commercialistic, make us all rich and fat Christmas.  But it is the spirit of my Jesus who loved me enough he knew what I needed – a Savior. 

2. We can give gifts to express my love for those I love 

(We don’t have to express our love by spending more) If you think you have to spend more to love more, than you have it all wrong.  Some of my favorite gifts from my wife (with the exception of the Steelers Jersey, which is more about the emotional attachment than the gift) have been cards, notes, text messages, and little things she does for me throughout the year, including Christmas. Could it be that there is more to be said about the effort of giving a particular gift than the purchase of buying an expensive gift? 

3. We can give gifts to express my love for God  

So we can ask, What is the gift that I can give this person that can show how much I love God?   Now listen, it doesn’t have to be from a Christian bookstore, though it can be.  I’m not even saying it has to be a Christian gift, trust me on this one.  I’m simply saying that if you give a gift, does it come out of an expression of your love for what God has given to you? For as we’ve seen in the last several weeks, the gift that God gave us was so special and so relational that it had an amazing impact on the entire world.   

And as leaders, and as culture creators and culture cultivators, I want to have an amazing impact through my gift giving on my entire world.  My family, and my friends, and my coworkers and my children and anyone I would give a gift to. 

I want to give relationally, because God gave relationally  Because He sent His Son down to this earth to give of Himself, and become our Savior, saving us from a separation from God that was too deep for us to cross, but not too deep for Him.  

So this Christmas, before you go out and get gifts for everyone, think about this:  What is the gift that will link this person (the person to whom I’m  giving the gift) to my heart?

Related posts:

1. A Christmas for the Memory
2. The Joy of a Christmas mistake
3. Farther from Claus but closer to Christ