iHOPE

Sermon Preparation

  This week I will be out of the office and out of town. Once a year I take off for a week to plan sermons for the coming year and this is that week.

  I do this planning with a buddy named Rich Gantenbein. He is the minister at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Sonoma, California. You can get a glimpse of his church here: St. Andrew

  I've known Rich almost 30 years (we served in the same church for awhile) and this is the 18th year that we have worked on sermons together. We typically plan the topics we want to cover over a year and then develop series for those topics. Sometimes we are preaching the same series at the same time (this past series on The 'I Ams' of John is an example) and sometimes we will preach a similar series, but at a different time (this spring will be an example). Either way, I can't imagine trying to plan, prepare and preach without this kind of collaboration.

  I mention this for a few reasons:

1. I wanted you to know why I'm not around this week and why this will be a quiet week for iHope.
2. I wanted to let you know about Rich and what I am working on this week.
3. If you don't like a particular sermon, we'll just blame Rich!

 

Zimbabwe Elections

  Zimbabwe is holding elections this weekend. Actually, they are playing at holding elections. Nobody believes for a moment that there will actually be a fair election.  It is already a foregone conclusion that Robert Mugabe will be 'elected' to another term. The western press won't be able to cover the election with anything but what the government gives them. Most won't bother.

  Anyone who has been to New Hope for more than a month knows that we have a connection to Zimbabwe.  First, with a school and clinic in the Nyamashato region and later, through the Presbyterian Church of Zimbabwe, our church has tried to make a difference in a corner of the world that most people don't know exists.  By the grace of God, good things have happened- and continue to happen. Yet the needs are so great it sometimes feels like trying to hold back the ocean. You are probably familiar with some of the statistics:

• The country that used to feed much of Africa now has to import food to keep its citizens alive
• Less than 25 years ago, the Zim Dollar was stronger than the US dollar. Today the inflation rate tops 100,000% a year (that is not a typo).
• Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is the lowest in the world
• The health care system is rated as the worst in the world
• The AIDS rate is among the highest in the world
• The percentage of orphans is the highest in the world

  You get the idea. These statistics are staggering- even mind numbing.  That is why when I think of Zimbabwe I don't think of the statistics so much as the people I know. The picture above is of Tinashe. He is a friend who is also a pastor in Zimbabwe. He has stayed in our house.  He pastors a church in one of the poorest parts of Harare.  The elections will have a direct effect on  the life of him, his family, his congregation and his country.  The same is true for Wilbert, Paul, Masarofo, Max, Norah and so many others.  Elections sound abstract and complicated.  This is personal.

  What do you do when faced with an evil and corrupt government that has a stranglehold on the population and makes a mockery of elections?  What do you do when there is nothing that can be done?

  We pray. Prayer is what the people of God have always done in the face of impossible situations. The people of Zimbabwe pray a lot. This weekend, we are going to pray, too. We have a Prayer vigil tonight at New Hope. The two-hour vigil is part of a 24 hour fast that is being held on the eve of elections in Zimbabwe.   

Tonight, we are doing what the people of God do in the face of impossible situations: we will pray with and for, our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe.

Sermon Sources

  I've added a couple new books in the "Books Worth Reading" list (its on the left side). Both were books that were helpful in my sermon on Sunday- and both are 'books worth reading' on their own:

  Henri Nouwen was a marvelous and prolific writer. He wrote more than 40 books before he passed away a dozen years ago. Towards the end of his life he wrote, Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring. Its a lovely book. The example of the trapeze artists came from the latter part of that book.

 

The Reason for God was written by Tim Keller, his first book. I predict others will follow. His chapter, The Reality of the Resurrection is powerful and some of it found its way into the sermon, too.

  Most people know I like to read (if you have been to my office you at least know I like to buy books!).  On any given sermon or class I will glean the insights and illustrations from many sources and the point of this is not to provide a bibliography. At the same time, I want to give credit where credit is due and these two books were especially helpful.  If anyone wants to go a little deeper on the subject matter, they would enjoy them both.

Easter Thank You's

  Easter is a great time at New Hope and yesterday's services were no exception. The typical focus after a day like that is 'how many were here'? It is an understandable question given the all the extra folks (usually more than double what we would see on a typical Sunday), and we will get those numbers tabulated soon.

  What is even more remarkable to me is the number of people who serve so that Easter can be celebrated. It takes an army of folks who are willing to give up their time and comfort so that others can attend. For some, it means not even getting to worship because they are so busy making sure that others can.

  To my thinking, this is the even more impressive number of Easter. The number of people who attend on Easter is largely a matter of chance and depends on a lot of factors (weather, schedules, and family plans) that we don't control. The number of people who serve is anything but chance. Everyone who serves has chosen to do so.  It is the depth and breadth of their service that is a true measure of any church.

  Over the next couple days I will highlight some of the services people provided(and the people who provided them). For today, let me give a general (and heartfelt) 'Thank You!' to you all. Its a pleasure and an honor to serve with you.

Easter Parking

  Heroic efforts have been made to ensure adequate parking for Easter. Ponderosa Construction pushed hard and was able to pave the 'Back 40' (actually, part of the three acre area we purchased a few years ago). Even as I write this, members of the EIT (Bill Scott, Ralph Pippitt and Dave Arnett) are marking off parking spaces with spray cans. They have marked off about 100 spaces back there and then they provided some stripes for the existing parking lot. There is also plenty of dirt area available (weather permitting) with signs pointing the way (thanks again, EIT!). Spaces should also be available on Red Hawk drive (the new street to our West) and of course, our shuttle is still available from the Middle School
  As important as parking will be tomorrow, exiting the parking lot will also be critical. The driveway will work for entering, but not for exiting (much too narrow). The best way to exit tomorrow will be out the 'back', on to Red Hawk Drive. Signs and Parking Attendants will point the way.
  Thanks again to Ponderosa and the Expansion Implementation Team (EIT) for all their extra work to make sure that the most memorable part of your Easter WON'T have to be parking!   

Ready for Easter

  Thanks to good weather and a GREAT effort by Ponderosa Construction, we will have lots of good parking for Easter Sunday. Check out the Expanding Hope Blog (the link is on the right) to get the full update and see more pictures of the latest construction.
  We will still have at least one shuttle to and from the Middle School parking lot, but we shouldn't need it anywhere as much as we were fearing.  If it is wet, there still may be some rough places to get from the parking lot to the sanctuary, but the drop-off area will serve to minimize those problems.

A Date With Easter: Part. 2

  Yesterday, I  gave some information about how the date of Easter is determined.  I also mentioned that this information was only accurate for the Western Church (Catholic and Protestant).  The Eastern Orthodox churches have a different way to calculate Easter and some years (like this one), the dates are dramatically different (5 weeks!).

  The official time to celebrate Easter was determined at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It is from this Council that we also received the Nicene Creed. Everything was fine for awhile because everyone used the same calendar (instituted by Julius Caesar and called, the Julian Calendar). About 1000 AD there was a split between the Eastern and Western churches. The Western Church centered in Rome and the Eastern Church centered in Constantinople. They didn't agree to much of anything after that.

  The Julian Calendar was not very accurate and kept falling behind the annual rotation of the earth around the sun (of course everyone thought the sun revolved around the earth back then).  A new calendar was needed and in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII instituted one. Appropriately, it was called, the Gregorian Calendar. Since Gregory was not recognized as 'Pope' in the Eastern Church, they called it, 'nonsense'.  From that time on, the two churches have used different calendars to determine the date of Easter.  If you would like to know more about how Easter is calculated, you can get some good information here: US Naval Observatory .  Those of you who have been in the Navy will appreciate the irony of referring you to their site to clear up something that doesn't make any sense.  All I can say is that it is a good thing that Jesus is omniscient, otherwise he would never be able to keep all this straight.

  Here are a few more facts about Easter (on the Western calendar):

• Even though it is possible to have Easter as early as March 22, it hasn't been that early since at least 1875 nor will it occur on that date until after 2124.
• In that same 250 year period, Easter has only been celebrated as early as March 23 twice: 1913 and this year. That means it will be more than 115 years before Easter is celebrated as early as it is this year. 
• The next  earliest Easter celebration will occur on March 25, in 2035.
• Three years later (2038), Easter will be celebrated on the latest possible date: April 25.
• Next year, Easter will be celebrated on the much more respectable date of April 12.

If this is too confusing, all you need to know is that Easter is celebrated at New Hope this Sunday at 6:00, 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00.

A Date With Easter

 

Why is Easter so early- and who decides these things?

  For the record:  The date of Easter is traditionally determined  by blindfolding the Pope and having him throw a dart at the calendar. Wherever it lands, that's the date of Easter.

  Not really.  It just seems that way.

  The date of Easter is actually determined by the lunar calendar (not looney, lunar!). Before there were calendars on our walls to tell us the exact date, people ordered their lives by the seasons and the phases of the moon.  The phases of the moon helped determine important stuff like, when to plant, when to harvest, when to hunt and when schedule the NCAA Basketball Playoffs.  Some almanacs will still label certain full moons as Harvest Moon, Planter's Moon and Hunter's Moon. (There is no official moon for the NCAA Basketball Playoffs, but the season is called March Madness- which is its own brand of lunacy)

  Easter is scheduled as the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring.  Since Spring is takes place on  March 21, Easter can come as early as March 22 and as late  as April  25.  That's not so hard- is it?

  By the way, this is only true in the Western (Roman Catholic & Protestant) Church.  The Eastern Orthodox Church has a different way of calculating the date.  Easter for them this year is April 27 because they still computer the date from the old Julian Calendar.

  Maybe we should go back to the dart  method.

  Tomorrow I'll share some real Easter date trivia.

Making God Smile... again

Yesterday I mentioned Katey King and the latest reason she has made us smile. When she shared in worship, she gave us a story about making God smile. First, some history.

  Last Fall, we launched our ‘Make God Smile’ campaign. In response to the parable of the Talents, everyone in worship received an envelope with either $1, $5 or $10 in it. By accepting the money, the accepted the challenge to use that money for something that they thought would ‘make God smile.’ The stories that came out of that campaign are tremendous and Katey added one more.

  One of our small groups decided to do something with their money that would assist the people Katey works with in Zambia. They added up the money the received and then multiplied it. The idea spread and more was collected in the community, including at one of the High Schools. In the end, more than $700 was gathered. Pretty remarkable. 

  What is even more remarkable is what that money did.

  That $700 was used to purchase several sewing machines and construct a small building to house them. This allowed some of the women in the village to start their own business, sewing clothes and school uniforms to be sold to others, generating income and allowing them to become more self-sufficient. It will transform the futures of those women, their families and their village. As Katey reminded us, this project made God –and many on the other side of the world, smile.

Katey King

I’m still smiling from last Sunday.

There was the Conformation Reception in the evening, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Earlier in worship, there was something else that made us all smile.

Katey King was home for a brief visit. She has been in the Peace Corps the last couple years and is currently serving in Zambia (the northern neighbor of Zimbabwe). As she shared in worship, she is stationed in a ‘remote’ village helping with HIV/Aids and general Health Education.  She defined for us what she meant by ‘remote’.

 It is a five day journey from Denver to her village of 22 people:

• It takes two days of flying to arrive in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia
• The next day is a 12 hour bus trip to the provincial capital of her region.
• The fourth day requires hitch-hiking 6 hours in the back of a pick-up truck.
• The last day is on a bicycle up paths that no vehicle can go.

By any definition, that is remote.

Katey grew up here. She is one of our own. She has always been remarkable, and this is just the latest chapter in why we are proud of her- and we smile.