Tuesday, February 26, 2008

family news

just a quick update because it's been far too long since i've posted:

the bridge had its first worship as an independent church on 2.10.08. we gathered in the office of our mother church, lighthouse christian church and even got to enjoy a delightful lunch afterwards. see photos in the slideshow in the right hand column of this page. we'll move into our own worship site (kennydale elementary school) in mid-march.

m is feeling much better, and the tests from her blood work reveal that she has crept back into the normal range in all areas related to iron. we praise God for this amazing turnaround!

b participated in her first caucus and was even selected as an alternate delegate for her candidate. she has been avidly following her first presidential primary season. in addition to her classes at bcc, she now works weekdays as an intern in the city attorney's office here in kent. her recent exciting news is that she was selected as a finalist for the ron brown scholar program. this is quite an honor, as she is one of only 20 from a pool of some 5,600 applicants. she will be flying to washington d.c. in mid-march for interviews and a class.

n just recently came back from her mid-winter break and is back at school. she turned in an excellent academic performance this past semester, and is looking to make some in-roads in terms of connecting people -- never an easy task as the new kid at a high school. she is on hiatus from violin and ballet, which makes her schedule lighter, though not necessarily more joyful. pray that she'll be able to get back to these activities that she loves -- and find some new ones.

i would also appreciate your prayers. on the positive side, i am healthy and seeing clearly out of both eyes again. i like the people who are with the bridge, and i look forward to connecting with them more often. but i am still learning the rhythms of pastoral life (sunday seems to come every 3-4 days!) and there is so much to do at the initial setup of a church -- getting incorporated and insured, setting up bank accounts, establishing work patterns and infrastructure, finding an office -- that is both unfamiliar and frankly, not the stuff that fires my passion. i'll be glad when those things are in place!

Friday, February 01, 2008

response requested

when we began to put together the mission and core values statement for the bridge, we included a brief preamble to try to give some context for why the church exists and what it ought to be about. we wanted people to understand that the church is really born of God's plan for and mission in the world, and that our mission is embracing God's agenda and joining him in the work that he is already about.

that raises the question of what God is doing. what was his intention from the beginning? how was it subverted? what has he done to 'fix' things? what does a faithful response on our part look like? and where is all of this headed? how does it constitute good news?

when i first became a follower of Jesus, i believed that the good news was simple and fairly straightforward. but it wasn't long before i was shocked at how differently people (maybe especially christians) understood the problem with the world and how God addressed it in Jesus. but rather than go into that at length, i thought it might be interesting to give you a chance to compare how others have come to understand this message that invites -- even demands -- a response.
what say you?

later on, after john was arrested by herod antipas,
Jesus went to galilee to preach God's good news.
"at last the time has come!" he announced.
"the kingdom of God is near!
turn from your sins and believe this good news!"
mark 1:14-15