2012 First Things Retreat

"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."  
--Revelation 2:4-5


In the above letter addressed to the Ephesian church in Revelation, Jesus instructs the believers there to "do the things you did at first."  He's telling them to do these "first things" in order to regain their "first love"--the experience of love they had with God at the beginning of their faith.


I'm inviting everyone at First Assembly to attend the First Things Retreat that we are designing with 5 First Things in mind--Repentance, Prayer/Worship, the Word, the Holy Spirit and Fellowship.


The plan is to go away on a Friday night and return Sunday afternoon for extended times of prayer, worship, and experiencing God.  The Women's First Things Retreat will happen April 13-15 and the Men's First Things Retreat will take place April 20-22.  Buses will be taking people to the retreats, if you would rather not drive.


The cost for the retreat is $100.  You can sign up now at church and begin to pay the tuition in installments or in one chunk right away.  More can be learned about this retreat at the First Things table in the church lobby.


I'm looking forward to this time away together.  God does the deepest works of renewal in our lives when we will put everything on hold and seek him.  I can't wait see and hear what God will do during these weekends just following Easter!

Seven Cities: Lent Message Series

Lent is a word for Spring, but it's come to refer to a roughly six-week season in the Christian calendar where many Christians take a fast or go on a special plan of reading and praying to prepare for Easter.  It starts with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter roughly 40 days later.

We're not observing Lent at First Assembly, per se, but we are going to enter a period of listening hard for what the Spirit has to say to us through seven letters that we will read and examine over seven different Sunday from February 12 through April 1.

These seven letters are to the seven churches found in the book of Revelation.  These seven churches are found in seven cities of what was called Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).  That's why the series is called "Seven Cities".  By exploring what Jesus had to say to them, we'll hear God speaking to us.  In fact, every letter ends with these words,

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."


I love these letters because each of them contain short phrases that beautifully crystallize some of the needed words of correction, rebuke and encouragement that can be found in the Bible!  Below you'll see what dates, cities, and passages are coming up!  See you in the Seven Cities this Sunday!

2/12     Ephesus           Revelation 2:1-7
2/26     Smyrna            Revelation 2:8-11
3/4       Pergamum       Revelation 2:12-17
3/11     Thyatira          Revelation 2:18-29
3/18     Sardis              Revelation 3:1-6
3/25     Philadelphia  Revelation 3:7-13
4/1       Laodicea        Revelation 3:14-22

Madonna, The Super Bowl, and Christian Spirituality

I was watching with over 100 million other people.  Friends of mine were tuning in all over the world.  The biggest media event of the year--The Super Bowl 2012.


At the heart of it was the Material Girl who came on to the stage at half-time with the most glittering, light-filled, amazing spectacle that money can buy.


As she was carried onto the mid-field by Roman soldiers with  the procession, costume and pageantry that hearkened back to Egypt and Babylon, her 1990 hit "Vogue" cranked up as she was flanked by dozens of dancers and performers.  The words kept coming up, "Strike the pose / There's nothing to it / Vogue".


I kept wondering if she was mocking her audience in some way.  She's the one striking the pose.  She's the one as famous as all the celebrities the song mentions--Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Fred Astair.  In the end, I was convinced she was sending a message to the world in her much celebrated appearance...the words were right in the song--


"Look around everywhere you turn is heartache
It's everywhere that you go (look around)
You try everything you can to escape
The pain of life that you know (life that you know)

When all else fails and you long to be
Something better than you are today"


But maybe what was most fascinating of it all was how her show ended.  The glittering spectacle with the 50 year-old pop singer who had her height of fame when I was in high school moved to images of unmistakably Christian spirituality.  "Like a Prayer" featured a choir and pulled an amazing vocalist along side Madonna who belted out pristine harmonies in classic black gospel style.  Madonna fell to her knees and seems to dance and shake with her hands raised, mimicking what just about any Pentecostal has seen in church.


The words kept repeating:


"Life is a mystery,
Everyone must stand alone.
I hear you call my name,
And it feels like home."


Then, she disappeared in a vapor that enveloped her, as she dropped through the floor.


Whether you saw it or not, the whole performance evoked for me, in the midst of the most extraordinary example of fluff, glitter and flash, a sense that she longs for what the gospel of Jesus holds.  And she did on the world's largest stage!


There is One who calls our name, and that sense of isolation and loneliness is the mystery created by our own sinful choices.  Madonna's singing about what nearly everyone can relate to, and she'd really love it if she could somehow connect with the God behind her parodied choir and lifted worship style in her final song.


So what about you?  What did you see in her performance?

My Second Day in Calcutta

I found myself with my group heading to a tributary of the Ganges River.  It was about 8 in the morning, but I saw a few dozen men in the water bathing in what appeared to be long skirts.

Beyond getting clean, they would scoop handfuls of water and pour it over their heads, in a fashion similar to the way some groups baptize new converts.  They also would submerge themselves in the water.  My guides told me that they were engaged in these practices to cleanse themselves from sin.

Along the side of the water, I saw a large monkey idol made of an orange substance.  Other idols could be found under other trees and throughout a small market area that led to the bathing area.

As I left that place, astounded by what I saw in the in the water, I passed through a small market area filled with people burning incense, reading from their holy books, praying to idols, etc.

After passing through that small market place, there was another tree with countless flowers laid to the left of it and a large bluish idol that looked like a man and had long hair.

I couldn't believe just how much idolatry was present in Calcutta.  As I returned to the church started by Mark and Huldah Buntain in 1954, I had an even greater appreciation for the difficulties they faced and the wonder that the church is today with 5000 people and having started 950 other congregations in India.

My First Glimpses of Kolkata

I just returned from a six day trip to India to the city of Calcutta, now called Kolkata.  What follows here are some initial impressions.  While there, I spent time with Calcutta Mercy Ministries.  You can learn more about them by looking at this link.  I look forward to blogging a bit more in the coming days about the things I saw and experienced.

JANUARY 24:  Last night, I arrived in Calcutta around midnight and got to my hotel room at 1AM. Even as I rode along in the night, I could tell this teaming city of 18 million, that swells to 25 million during the workday, is subject to extreme decay, disorder and poverty.

Everywhere sidewalks, streets, buildings, and people are broken. Though we were in the heart of a wealthy area, everything seems to be falling apart.

In the midst of this dilapidation, one of the megacities India, I saw such indelible and rich signs of God's grace.  The work that Mark and Huldah Buntain started in a tent in 1954 (they were only supposed to stay a year and preach throughout the country) has grown to a congregation of 5000 in eight languages, 32,000 students from the first school that had 200 students when it started, a hospital, 950 congregations, the FIRST sponsored children organization in the world, a blind school, a theological college, a boys home, a nursing school, and the list goes on and on.  Six days a week, Mercy Ministries feeds, educates, and medically assists 25,000 people!

They do this feeding, educating and medical assistance for just $10,000 a week or $1650 a day!

The people involved in the ministry here are amazing signs of God's grace.  Today, I had the privilege of dining with Huldah Buntain and meeting pastors, doctors, and workers throughout the organization!  My heart is full today with God's wondrous work in the midst of calamity and trouble.

As I passed the Mercy Hospital on the walk back to my hotel.  I saw a man ringing a bell in a seeming trance while incense burned.  He appeared to be praying.  I was rocked inside when I looked in the shrine that was lit with florescent bulbs and saw a strange white stone idol.   God has so much more to do in this city, but I'm praising him for what he has done thus far!

6 Days into the Wilderness

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.  --Mark 1:13-14

I've been fasting and praying now for six days.  I've kind of moved past all the physical pain and temptation that accompanied the beginning of the fast--hunger pains, muscle aches, headaches, etc.  I do long for food like I normally eat.  Even burnt food smells good to me!

If you're on this fast, you likely also have moved to a place where you feel comfortable in the fast.  

A number of those who have begun the fast have fallen out of it, with heavy feelings of self-disappointment.  I hope you'll give a try again!  Fasting is something to return to.  Get up and keep walking with us in this journey, if you're physically able.

Today, no matter where you're at in the wilderness, having followed Jesus into the wilderness, be certain that now is a time that Satan will test you, just as he tested our Lord.

You might feel you want to give up.  Maybe you sense that God is not listening or is indifferent or doesn't care.  Call on him again anyway!

Now is a time for testing, but after the test, God pours fresh power, just as he did for Jesus.

Keep on listening, praying, reading, meditating on God.  God would do great things in you!

What I've Learned in the FIrst 36 Hours of Fasting

Just yesterday I began a 21-day season of fasting, prayer and devotion, along with the amazing congregation I lead in Lafayette, Indiana.

The first few days of a fast are not entirely fun.  I feel kind of groggy from a lack of caffeine.  I have a headache.  I'm not really physically up for much activity, and I want to sleep.  Sleeping maybe all I feel I can do well right now.

At this point in my fast, I've been learning the following kinds of lessons:

1.  I'm far too insulated from regular pain or self-denial in my life.  I'd like to think I'm disciplined in some ways, and I know I have a long way to go in others, but the level of temptation and discomfort I feel from dropping caffeine and regular food is helping me see the unhealthy habits I've picked up in the normal course of life.
2. I have allowed patterns of distraction to enter and even control my life.  Too many things in my life keep me from entering as deeply as I might into a life of communion with God.  I'm changing some habits for these 21 days and find that I am already missing those avenues of distraction.  I need increased focus.  This will help me to grow increasingly into being a person of prayer.
3. I'm aware during this fast just how much I keep myself from needing to trust God for much.  I live a comfortable life that so many people in our world don't have.  I am awakening to my need for God that has been there all along.

What are you learning if you're engaging in the fast?  What is God speaking to you?