Soon after Thanksgiving I make an annual pilgrimage to the crawl space in my basement to extract priceless containers of accumulated ornaments and strings of lights. The weather gave me no excuse to postpone the inevitable, so before I even had a turkey sandwich, I was decking the halls, and roof lines, in preparation for another festive Christmas. With one exception, Lucy prefers I not climb a ladder. The deed is done; it looks just fine. The house is ready for Christmas. Now all we need is snow.

Decorating the outside is one thing; preparing our hearts for Christmas is another. Crowded calendars; heavy hearts; financial pressures all threaten the divine invitation to “Worship Christ the newborn King”. While the carols beckon us to “come and adore Him”, our souls may be too weighed down to see Him. Or worse, the traditions and trappings of a culturally conditioned Christmas might obscure the eternal realities of the incarnation of Christ. What must we remember to celebrate a Christ-centered Advent this year?     

Let’s recall Jesus came to experience life as we know it. From our study in Hebrews, we learn that “since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things… he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.” He knows what it is to be human as we are. He knows the trials of life. He lived in this broken world. Oh, how far He descended to experience life on the earth He Himself created. “Thou didst leave Thy Throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou came to earth for me.” Worship Him!

Further, His coming to earth had a supreme purpose: to make a full and final atonement for our sins, and to deliver us from the power of sin and death. Miracle of all miracles He took our place and bore God’s wrath so we might be forgiven. “Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” Adore Him!

Finally, let us remember that He is the same Immanuel, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is God with us. Sympathetically so, as our great high priest, faithful and merciful. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15, 16.)  Glory to God in the highest!

Early Church Father, Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389 AD), preached these fitting words on December 25, 380 AD, in the Church of the Resurrection in Constantinople:

“What He was, He laid aside; what He was not, He assumed. He takes upon Himself the poverty of my flesh so that I may receive the riches of His divinity. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not after the manner of a heathen festival, but after a godly sort; not after the way of the world, but in a fashion above the world; not as our own, but as belonging to Him who is ours; not as of creation, but of re-creation.”

Let’s get ready for Advent on the inside. May the Joy of Christ be yours in fullest measure. Merry Christmas.

Two divorces. One untimely death. One kidney-cancer diagnosis. All in two weeks; all within my immediate circle of long-time friends. Beyond my own narrow experience, the world around us grapples with disease, division, distrust, disorientation, and outrage. It demands a serious conviction of the will to obey the Bible’s call to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.) Nonetheless, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.

Can we be thankful when our sadness quotient is high? We can. Does it make a difference to practice gratitude when the foundations around us are crumbling? It does.

Gratitude, the resolute will to give thanks to God, is a major contributing factor to our spiritual strength and our mental health. While God is obviously honored whenever we give Him thanks, there are internal benefits to ourselves when we cultivate and freely express a grateful heart. Thanksgiving strengthens our spiritual life in several ways.

First, it acknowledges that God is in control of a world that may seem out of control. Nothing is unknown to Him; nothing surprises Him. Recognizing His sovereignty in loss and even chaos reboots our operating system with assurances of first importance: He reigns. He knows. He hears. He is even in control of the ones who are in control around us. Gratitude, when well-practiced, is a discipline that reshapes our hearts and minds to see God’s sovereignty in all things.

Gratitude is also a powerful force to thwart the impulses of our pre-Christ self. Against the power of covetousness, it produces contentment. Against the forces of pride, it acknowledges God as the source of all good things. What do we have that we did not receive? Against bitterness, it leads us to rest in His promise to make all things right. Against lust, it teaches us to rejoice in the wife (husband) of our youth. Being thankful is a force against evil and so it turns out to be good for us while at the same time honoring God.

What makes Jesus loving people remarkable in a world hurdling along toward chaos and meaningless? A thankful life stands in striking relief to the sadness, hopelessness, and outrage around us. As we approach Thanksgiving may we experience the blessings of gratitude.

Is He worthy of thanks? He is.

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” Hebrews 12:28.

Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Most of us are dreamers or planners. Always looking to the next big thing on our calendar, the next gathering for our family or an impending obligation in our work. Opportunities in the future keep us hopeful and provide motivation to persevere through present challenges. There is both pleasure and wisdom in dreaming about a preferred future. And there is a danger.

Preoccupation with the future (or the past) can lead us to completely miss the TODAY we’re in. While it is admirable to prepare for the future, living to the fullest while it still today is one of the secrets of a life of faith. Israel was trained by God to depend on the daily provision of manna that was sufficient only for that day. Twenty-four hours later they would trust God for tomorrow’s today. There are many other biblical encouragements to spur us on to live fully in the present:

• This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24.
• Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11.
• Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34.
• Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts. Hebrews 3:7, 15; 4:7.

Professional athletes who get on a hot streak in their sport talk about being “in the zone” and wanting to “stay in the moment”. They are keenly aware that today they are performing with an unusual excellence, even by their own professional standards. Swimmers focus on this lap; runners on this mile; baseball players concentrate on this at-bat; golfers on this shot.

Christians “in the zone” listen to Jesus’ voice. Today. Hearing it, we focus on obedience. Today. We don’t fall for the lie that sometime in the future will be a better season to give our attention to His word. We have no certainty to boast in tomorrow. Today is our day to listen to, walk with, and live for Jesus. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Jessie Richart, a member at Calvary, is a wife, mom, teacher, and artist. From her own study in the book of Hebrews she recently wrote a song called “Today”. It is a beautiful invitation to live surrendered today. God help us that we will be.

Tom Shirk
Senior Pastor

Today

I walked in the wilderness by choice
Hardened my heart when I heard Your voice
Promised that tomorrow I would change
But tomorrow’s always one more day away

I don’t want to live with shame and with regret
To make a promise I will soon forget
A promise that tomorrow I will change
When tomorrow’s always one more day away

So God, I surrender, today

Here I am, all of me
Great I AM, You see me
Your word is truth and light
It pierces to my heart
Sever from my life anything that’s of the dark
To You the Only Way, I surrender, today

Before you formed the world you foreknew
The waywardness my willful heart would choose
Before I even had a breath to breathe
You knew you would breathe your last for me

I won’t put another nail into the cross
Because once for all You have conquered death
Forever I’m made perfect by your grace
Yet sanctified a little more each day

My God, I surrender, Today

Here I am, all of me
Great I AM, You see me
Your Word is truth and light
It pierces to my heart
Sever from my life anything that’s of the dark
To You the Only Way, I surrender, today

Jessie Richart https://thankfulsong.blogspot.com

Sociological tensions about politics, world events, and the appropriate response to a pandemic have tested the patience of all mankind. Never perhaps more than right now. What a time to be the church! Cultural pressures give rise to the opportunity for the church to live out what it means to belong to a transforming Savior who is meek and humble. Can the church be distinct from a world wracked by fear, anger, and judgment?

Christians have always been tested by the cultural pressures of their day. In the Roman Empire, for example, Christians were intensely persecuted; but also reminded (in Romans 12) to repay no one evil for evil, to leave room for God to make things right, and to overcome evil with good. Such a radical code of ethics is the way the Church demonstrates its otherness to the world around us. Loving God and Loving Neighbor is the simplest distillation of this code.

To the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:9, 10.) How radical are these words in a time when we might not see eye-to-eye on a thing or two? Radical love in times of turmoil is so like Jesus, and so unlike the flow of our culture. This kind of love draws the unloved in; it heals the hurting. It shows the reality of our faith.

Embedded in this call to love is a guiding parameter. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Love doesn’t approve what God disapproves. Love doesn’t simply wink at what is evil. Sometimes the most loving thing to do is courageously stand against what is evil. It is possible to love, even sacrificially, while not being like-minded. Love and agreement are not the same thing. Jesus did not endorse everything about us when He went to the cross on our behalf.

Too often we run people through a filter: Do you agree with me about politics? Masks and vaccinations? Immigration? And whatever else! Then we choose to live (and love) according to that filter. But the love of God beating in the heart of the church is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Let’s outdo each other in loving this way! If we do, the world will know that we are followers of the One who taught us to love, and who gave His life to bring us (and them) to glory. I love you!

Tom Shirk
Senior Pastor

Lucy and I sat together in church last Sunday. That is not necessarily an anomaly, but often when I’m preaching, I’m down in front, close to the stage. (Lucy prefers 10 rows back, where she alleges, she can see me better.) As we sang the words to “Goodness of God”, we both glanced around the room, each of us noting people we knew were suffering, or who had experienced severe loss. Cancer there. The death of a child over there. Divorce. Widows and widowers. Parents praying for prodigals to come home. On the screen the words rolled by:

I love Your voice, You have led me through the fire
In the darkest night You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a Father, I’ve known You as a Friend
And I have lived in the goodness of God

I was proud of the faith in the hearts of the worshippers I watched. It takes faith to worship through pain, believing that God is in fact good when life is hard. Job 5:7 says, “man is born to trouble – as the sparks fly upward.”  Jesus promised,“in this world you will have tribulation.”  But we affirm by faith that God is good. His mercy endures forever. His lovingkindness is everlasting.

God has purposes in pain, the highest of which is always His own glory. He is magnified when suffering saints cling to Him as their world gives way in the fires of trial. Faith is refined like precious gold so that its genuineness results in praise and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7). Life’s losses forge faith that holds onto the singular prize worth treasuring.   

Suffering also produces in us endurance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-5). God grows us deeper and more hopeful as He carries us through the sorrows of this broken world. To be sure these are rarely traits we perceive or appreciate in the moment, but over time God’s love for us is poured out by the work of His Holy Spirit whom He has given to us. He does not waste hardship.

Pain also enables us to experience a communal life of fellowship as we weep with those who weep and comfort those who sorrow with the comfort we ourselves have experienced from God (2 Corinthians 1:3,4). We all drink bitter water at some time in our lives, but we are refreshed by those who have gone before us in their own suffering and found God to be truly good. And then together we sing and command our hearts to believe:

All my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

Tom Shirk
Senior Pastor 

See also Lamentations 3:22-23 & Hebrews 4:15-16

Each Monday, the preaching team meets to reflect on Calvary’s weekend services across three campuses. We review the messages given and frequently talk about what was left unsaid. Portions of planned sermons often end up on the cutting room floor. There is never enough time to share all the treasures of study.    

Reflecting on the completion of 1 Thessalonians there was a good deal of content we did not have time to dive into. The Word of God is like that: an unlimited reservoir of faith building truth. Each Sunday there are nuggets we wished we could have spent more time exploring.

One gem stood out this week: “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). Paul explains that God Himself teaches His family about love and how to practice it. God is the teacher; we are the students. He is the model; we are the disciples. This makes perfect sense since God is love, so everyone who has been born of God learns how to love directly from the Source (1 John 4:7).   

Think of this. One of the ministries of God in our lives is to guide us to be more and more loving. He delights that His love would be broadly known in the world, and we are the ones He entrusts to demonstrate it. We love because He first loved us. We learn to love by believing His great love for us.  

The last year has groomed the whole world in new habits of isolation, self-protection, and a reluctance to engage with others. Fear has become a dominating reality. The fear of missing out (FOMO) has been replaced with a fear of entering in. God has given us this unique time in history to be His loving church, engaging with those around us who are lonely or afraid. What the world needs now is love, God’s love.

Let’s reimagine church as the community center for the display of His love. The hub out of which God’s love flows through us to a world lost without Him. It’s time to enter in again and find your groove in the labor of love! There is a role perfectly suited for you somewhere in the regathering plan to “rebuild church”. Is it with kids? Students? Making coffee? Music? Greeting? Giving? Mentoring? We invite you to jump in – and bring someone with you! May God Himself teach us to love like Jesus in our day. 

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”  
John 13:35

Tom Shirk
Senior Pastor