Feedback: Bethany's favorites...

I'm compiling a document of all the responses I've received to this request. It can be found here:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddrw3sbj_34gs27dff3

Favorite Songs and Hymns for Lent - an invitation...

Lent is a special time of year - a time when we focus in on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which is central to our faith.
It seems appropriate, then, that we should recall and sing together the songs and hymns that have been most important in our Christian lives.
Over the next few weeks, I'd like to invite you to suggest favorite songs and hymns we can include in our Lenten services. Just write me a brief email at geoff@bethanycovenant.com, or write a note and drop it into the Church office, with two or three lines explaining why the song or hymn is particularly special to you.
It will be special to us as we remember - and it will be special to those around, from oldest to youngest, as we share the expressions of faith that have meant most to us over the years. Students will be delighted to hear why a particular song is special to someone in Silver Liners; Parents will be thrilled to hear what a hymn means to their child.

I hope you will encourage and remind one another to participate in this celebration of our faith; feel free to talk to me about this idea, and suggest other ways in which we can enhance our worship, as we go deeper in Christ and further in mission together.

G

Help! Can you name your top 5 website features?

As you know we have been working on making changes to our BCC website. Some changes have already been implemented, but there is more to come. We are looking at a new website structure which will allow us to move to a new design and have new features. As we design the new website the development team would like to get your input. Please list the 3-5 features you believe are most important for our BCC Website. These can be design features, capabilities, links, really anything you believe would make our website meet the needs of BCC. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Joel and Geoff

(post comments here, or email us at church...

joel@bethanycovenant.com

geoff@bethanycovenant.com)

Worship - what it means and why we blend it...

Everyone can tell what you like, enjoy or treasure by your priorities.

In 1967, Desmond Morris published a book called 'The Naked Ape' in which he described "Body language" – what your pose and actions (subconsciously) tells onlookers about your attitude.

The way you live, behave and devote your time etc. shows where your priorities lie; or, as Jesus put it "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt 6.21)

That's what the Anglo-Saxon word “weorthscipe” means – how we display worth - the values and value judgments that form our life's patterns. It's the root word from which we get our word 'worship'.

So, in that sense, worship is the priorities and values indicated by the way you live.

Everyone can tell what you like, enjoy or treasure by your priorities.

A good “Service of Worship” should help re-organize the priorities of our life, make them line-up with the kingdom of God.

Do you remember the PBS program called "The Antiques Roadshow"? In which people take an item from the attic or basement, expose it to expert scrutiny & analysis, and from those expert comments they discover more about the object and how precious it is. It's something like that with an Act of Worship – we take our faith, dust it off, examine and celebrate it together and begin to appreciate who God is and what He has done – in a new light. Through worship we begin to see ourselves as we really are – sinners saved by God's grace – or better still we see ourselves as God sees us – loved but lost, unworthy but welcome.

However, when we take our focus off Christ, we quickly forget what's central to our faith or get distracted from our life resolutions – and all this, too, is obvious to people around us.

Pastor Rick Warren's book, 'The Purpose Driven Life' begins with the sentence: “It's not about you.” That highlights one of the problems we face when discussing our worship services. Each of us loves to sing songs or hymns, pray prayers and say creeds that express our faith. But asking questions about what you like or enjoy is not the point; in fact, that only serves to make us think about ourselves, and most of us don't need help to be self-centered.

what you like or enjoy is not the point

Really the question should be what do your children, your parents, your neighbor find helpful in expressing themselves to God? How can we, as a church family, celebrate our faith and commune with God in a way that works for all of us?

If we see that this old hymn reminds Grandma of a meaningful time in her life - or this contemporary worship song really speaks to our teenager, it's going to be easier to celebrate together. If these words help me to express my faith, or explain the Gospel to my friends, then my family know it's important to me, and they'll be happy to say or sing them with me.

So, when we design a service of blended worship, we're doing just what the hymn "All Hail the power of Jesus' Name" says, we're "joining in the everlasting song". Words that were inspired by the Holy Spirit three or four thousand years ago are blended with words that were written three days ago; all included because - as an extended family - we can express our faith and respond to God together.

Come, my way, my truth, my life

Come, my way, my truth, my life;

Such a way as gives us breath,

Such a truth that ends all strife,

Such a life as conquers death.

Come, my light, my feast, my strength;

Such a light as shows a feast,

Such a feast as mends in length,

Such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my joy, my love, my heart;

Such a joy as none can move,

Such a love as none can part,

Such a heart as joys in love.

George Herbert, 1593-1632.

children or furniture?

We recently bought a house in Goffstown; lovely old place, with plenty of work needed. In preparation, we've done a lot of furniture shopping, for both new and used items.
If you're buying furniture, it's obviously really important that you buy something that fits in; something that's going to do what you need. Imagine if you found that the chair or table you purchased was breaking, or changing shape, because the wood wasn't cured properly, or (what a thought) was still growing somehow. I know it sounds ridiculous, but think of it... you'd take it right back to the store, wouldn't you? You'd ask how people could sell substandard furniture; we simply don't expect furniture to change.
Hang in with me; there's a point to this...
Recently we waved goodbye to 'Stiv', our middle child, who's gone to Bosnia for a couple of months to help with Church Summer Camps. (www.emekberaka.org) He traveled via Budapest, to visit with his sister 'Cat' for the weekend. She will be turning 24 on the 14th of June; she's doing a year of research with a Human Rights/Aid agency in Hungary.
It's a long time ago, now - but I still remember those early years of parenting. We proudly announced the birth, weight and length of each child, and then kept a close eye on each as they progressed from baby to toddler. I smile to recall Catherine's struggles to move around, very early in life. Child Development specialists tell us how important it is for children to crawl properly, as it teaches them to sequence, and this helps them to walk, run, throw and even spell words later in their young lives.
First steps are a major milestone, and following the correct development patterns for height and weight are (literally) vital signs of health. If we don't see the kind of growth expectations that are normal, our natural and reasonable response is to take our kids to the Doctor and ask if there's something wrong.

Do you see the folks around you as Children of our Heavenly Father, or as furniture?

I can hear some of you saying: "Ok, what's he driving at?"
Simply this. When you sit in church on Sunday morning, look around you. Do you see the people as Children of our Heavenly Father, or as pieces of furniture? Are you expecting them to grow and develop as disciples of Christ? Or would you rather they stayed the same, reliable, predictable people you've known all these years? It's easy to understand the temptation to want things to be reliable, predictable - the same as they have always been. Reliable as our favorite armchair, our family sofa. We look back fondly at the wonderful days when we were younger, or when the children were young... but the fact is, nothing is the same because we get older, our children grow up - and God wants us to grow spiritually, too. I'm looking forward to growing deeper spiritually as part of our lives together at Bethany. I hope you're looking forward to growth, too. It's the right kind of change.

^{Colossians 1.9} So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. (NLT)

3,2,1...

It's official - we're now visible for all the world to see. Not that much of the wider world will be interested, of course... but we hope you are, especially if you attend Bethany. Right now I'm going back to work, finalizing Sunday's Bulletin and taking Joel to the Airport. (written at 2pm)

By the way, I just got word that Jake's new online store is up and running at www.jakearmerding.com - do check it out if you can! (midnight)