Just An Ordinary Girl

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful season of Advent. I am enjoying this countdown to Christmas, but I find myself fighting the same battle every year. I struggle ever year to not get caught up in the busyness of all I have to do. I must discipline myself to remember that the parties, the gifts, the programs, and the lights all point to a moment in time in which God came near. Everything we are engaged in as we prepare for December 25 points to God’s answer of Isaiah’s prayer:

O that you would tear the heavens and come near… (Isaiah 64:1)

One night in an unsuspecting Judean town, God did come near. He came so close, in fact, that a young mother in Bethlehem was able to wrap Him up in swaddling clothes and kiss His face.

Take a moment and re-read Luke 1-2. I invite you to hear the story of that young mother. I invite you into her world. We don’t know much of her other than the limited details that appear in the Christmas narratives and a handful of references throughout the Gospels. However, the more I think about Mary and her role as theotokos, or “God bearer”, I want to know her more. I want the kind of faith that would submit to this mysterious plan of God to save the world.

We forget Mary’s side of the story. We forget: that which ultimately would save the world turns Mary’s world upside down. Even though the angel's message rocks Mary's world, she displays a faith that is OK with that whatever God wants to do. May we confess with Mary:

May it be to me as you have said. (Luke 1:38)

This is the confession of an ordinary girl with extraordinary faith.

Good News and Bad

How many of you have ever had someone say to you: “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?” When someone begins a conversation with me that way I get nervous. I imagine we all squirm in anxiety when it’s our doctor, banker, attorney or accountant who is beginning a conversation that way. I’ve found that the order in which we hear these tidings does not matter. Sometimes they cancel one another out, but most of the time the bad news trumps the good.

As a pastor charged with the responsibility of preaching the Word of God, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Do you want to hear about the economic crisis, the unemployment rate, the famines and food shortages in the world, and the recent death of family members that have touched our congregation?

OR…

Do you want to hear the Good News? Do you want to hear that there is one coming? Do you want to hear that God has a plan? Do you want to join the millions upon millions that have gone before us who have dared to believe that God’s Good News will trump all the bad? Like John the Baptist in the wilderness, I have some Good News to share with you. There is one coming who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In the hustle of this season, I pray we recognize him.

Everything Beautiful

Beauty is all around us. Since moving to Arkansas, I have enjoyed the natural beauty of this place. One of my favorite places to run is the Crystal Bridges nature trail. In addition to the trail, we’ll now be able to enjoy the beauty of the art contained within the museum. There is certainly a lot of ‘pomp and circumstance’ associated with the opening of this facility. It might be the understatement of the year to say: “Our community is very excited.”

As we welcome the opening of this landmark, I’m reminded that beauty is a gift from God. In the beginning God created all things good and they are for His glory. The earth is the Lord’s canvas, and every now and then he will paint a masterpiece in a morning sky or an evening sunset. Moreover, his works of art are sometimes as subtle as a wildflower or an infant’s first smile. These divine expressions of beauty remind us that, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) As Bentonville becomes the center for American art, I pray that we continue to be a people who display God’s handiwork and the beauty of holiness in our character, our conduct and our worship.

Well Done!

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” I’ve always wondered what it would be like to hear our Lord speak those words. Yesterday as I was gathered with friends and family, I believe my heart overheard Jesus speak that commendation to our dear friend, Mary Coleman. The scripture promises that those who are faithful in this life will be welcomed into the life to come with that special greeting. I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of our Lord’s affirmation than Mary.

As many of you who attend BNAZ already know, Mary went to be with Jesus yesterday around 1:40 PM. It is an understatement to say we will miss her. It is NOT an overstatement to say she has impossible shoes to fill. Her ministry and service to this church were simply amazing. Countless numbers of people have been changed and impacted through the selfless and kind service of Mary Colman to Christ and his Church. She served quietly, and many times her work was behind the scenes. Only in light of eternity will we ever be able to fully know how many people were influenced by her thoughtful encouragement, her diligent labor, her servant’s heart and faithful stewardship of all God’s gifts to her.

We are saddened by her loss. However, we can take great comfort in knowing that our faith in Christ that sustains and nourishes us throughout our life is the same faith that promises a transformation of these mortal bodies into ones that are eternal and imperishable. Resurrection is the foundation of our shared Christian hope. The apostle Paul said it like this:

For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. (I Corinthians 15:53)

A viewing is scheduled at our church for Monday, September 26, from 6-8 PM. A celebration of her life will be held at the church on Tuesday, September 27 at 10 AM.

Please keep Jim, John, Susie, Paula, Mike, Erin, Kelsie, Kylie and Bethany in your prayers during this time.

This Sunday we will have Worship and Life Groups as usual. I hope you’ll join us in the Lord’s house this weekend. I think it’s important that we worship together as a church family and allow the presence of the Holy Spirit bind us up, strengthen us, and encourage us during this time of loss. We grieve, but thankfully, we do not grieve as those without hope. Our hope is in the Lord!

Until He's Finished,

Pastor Mark

The Blueprint

If you were to build a house, I'm not the man to call for help. My father instilled within me a fear of power tools when I was 5, and I still haven't quite recovered from his detailed description of what would happen if I touched a spinning blade. Suffering from ergalilektriphobia (fear of power tools) is something my boys will never struggle with...I don't own any. (Check that...Lauren has a drill she uses to put up curtains) And somehow, an individual who has no experience in building anything is charged with the task of building our church. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, "God chose the foolish things of the world." (1:27).

Building Christ's church in Bentonville is something I'm a little better suited for. It's also something I am very excited about and honored to do. Over the next 4 weeks I'm going to be sharing a series of messages from the book of Ephesians entitled, "The Blueprint." Here in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, he outlines some things that I believe function as God's blueprint for building and strengthening the Church. The blueprint is centered around Paul's description of Christ as the cornerstone and foundation upon which everything else is built:

"In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:21-22)

With Christ as the cornerstone of our lives and of our church, I hope we can rise to become the spiritual dwelling place of God in our community. For our church to become all that God has designed and purposed it to be, I pray that believers would become disciples. For this to happen, we as a church must embrace the blueprint we find in Ephesians. I hope you'll join us on this journey.

August 21 - Everyone Needs a Plan, Ephesians, 2:14-22

August 28 - Made to Worship, Ephesians 4:1-6

September 4 - Saved to Grow, Ephesians 4:7-16

September 11 - Called to Serve, Ephesians 4:7-16 & Luke 9:1-9

Click this link to see a video about The Blueprint at BNC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oupdOFO_0M

I look forward to seeing you in worship as we build Christ's church together!

Until He's Finished,

Pastor Mark

This Sunday at Church

I hope all of you enjoyed a great Independence Day. I know I did. Luke has added "firecracker" "loud" and "hot" to his vocabulary thanks to the robust celebration of freedom that went on late into the night last Sunday and Monday night.

As I reflected upon some of the values of our country, it dawned on me that our freedom of religion is something very foreign to the world of the Bible. The culture in which the Bible was written, particularly in John's day when he wrote Revelation, was hostile toward religions that did not include allegiance to Rome and the Emperor. In fact, it was very common for Roman citizens to say "Caesar is Lord." The Church in Smyrna understood the incompatibility of having two Lords. One could not be loyal to Rome and confess that "Caesar was Lord," and in the same breath confess "Jesus as Lord." As a result, they were persecuted.

The Risen Lord has a word of encouragement for those that remained faithful in the face of suffering. I believe he has a word of encouragement for us as well. We will never know what it's like to suffer for our faith the way that church in Smyrna did 2,000 years ago, and I doubt we will ever know first-hand of what it's like to suffer the way believers in China do today. That doesn't mean, however, that we are immune to suffering, adversity and trials from Satan. The assault on our soul takes many shapes and forms. Perhaps you need to be reminded that God is in control and that he has a plan?

I hope to see you Sunday...the Risen Christ has a word of encouragement for You!

Pastor Mark

A Weekend of Fasting and Transformation

I missed my day to post due to planning and running the 30hr Famine. Sorry about that.....

As I prepared for this wonderful and tiring event, I was drawn to Isaiah 58.

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. "Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

Its easy to think very highly of one's self when one is doing something like fasting in public. Jesus seemed to have words to say about this that echo Isaiah's. And yet, the 30hr Famine is not about drawing attention to those who fast. Rather, it is about those who fast getting the attention of as large a group as possible, and then directing that attention away from themselves, and onto those who need justice, freedom, release, those who go to bed hungry night after night, using all of their energy merely trying not to starve. This weekend 42 teens from BNC and Rogers gathered together for the purpose of helping those in need. In the process they learned a little bit about what it means to be hungry, and they also had a really good time. As of right now, your teens raised enough money to feed 14 hungry people in Malawi for all of next year. That's two years in a row that we've accomplished that. They've done more than just dole out money, though. This weekend our teens were confronted with God's message of justice, of jubilee, and they were presented with the opportunity to be a part of the change that God wants to render in the world. You see God is always on the side of the poor, the oppressed, and the hungry. In a small way, our teens offered food to the hungry and satisfied the needs of the afflicted. In doing so, I caught a glimpse of them that looked less like a group of teens, and more like a "watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail." I hope they saw that in each other, and in themselves. I'm very proud of our teens, and you should be too.

Lord, may your light rise in the darkness, and may you chase away the gloom that is global poverty, and make it become like the noonday sun.