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CHICO FIRST BAPTIST
CHURCH 850 PALMETTO AVE. FAX: (530) 343-3449 |
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FOCUS |
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| June 2008 | 06/26/08 |
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| May 2008 | 05/08/08 |
| April 2008 | 04/24/08 |
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Cheri and I want to thank all of you for the very nice 10th
Anniversary reception you held for us this past Sunday, June 22. We appreciate very much the gift cards
to the Olive Garden from the church, and the cards and various other gifts you
gave us individually. Even more, we
thank you for the kind words you’ve shared with us. Thanks go to Larry and the
Pastor/Staff Committee, and to Marta for putting
the reception together. Thanks also
to all of you who helped in other ways, and to those of you who were able to
stay for the reception. It doesn’t seem like
it’s been ten years that we’ve been here, but as I’ve said to
many of you, when I stop and remember that when we came to Chico, Paul was in
Jr. High and Laura was at Citrus Elementary, and now Paul is heading off
to grad school and Laura will be a senior in college, I realize that the years
have certainly gone by. I
don’t feel that much older – until I look in the mirror and realize
my beard is much whiter. Then too,
I have to take my glasses off to read now, something I’ve only had to do
for the past couple of years.
I’ve changed in ten years. So too, the church has
changed. Many of the members who
were here when Cheri and I first came to Anniversaries offer the
opportunity for us to remember what has been, even as we look
forward to what may be. I
won’t take the time to talk about what’s been accomplished since I
was called to serve as your pastor – things like housing the homeless, and joining
both the PCBA and the Evergreen Association. We have done very good things together. We also continue to look to
the future. The Transformation
Committee continues to work. Our
committees are working hard to discern God’s leading for our work in Speaking of changes,
it’s with regret that I share with you that our secretary, Melody Hatler, has resigned.
Melody has been here a year and done a great job of serving us. She will take a full-time restaurant job
in
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Since we’ve moved back into the sanctuary following January’s storm damage, we’ve occasionally heard non-church “voices” coming over our sound system. Jerry F, our sound operator, has hopefully isolated the problem, and will soon have it fixed. One reason it’s taken awhile to determine the problem is that the piece of equipment allowing the “voices” to appear has to be warm before it fails. This takes about a half hour. I very much appreciate Jerry’s willingness to stay in the sanctuary Monday morning for that length of time so that he could discover the problem. This half-hour delay has meant that the voices typically have started “speaking” during the Pastoral Prayer. I’m not sure how it’s affected those of you who’ve heard what’s turned out to be a radio station, but the “voices” have been very distracting for me. I’ve been a little surprised how easily I’ve lost focus in the midst of my prayer because of the competing voices. But, upon reflection, I shouldn’t be surprised because it’s easy for us to lose focus, not just in prayer but in many aspects of life. There have been times I’ve gone out to my shop, only to realize that I can’t remember why I’ve gone out there. I’ve been distracted by something on my way to the garage, and my goal has gone flying out of my mind. How do we keep from being distracted, especially in a multi-tasking world? For me, I must force myself to pay attention to the task at hand. I can’t do more than one thing at a time well, so I must focus on that one thing. This means that when my wife talks to me, I need to put my book down and listen to what she’s telling, or asking me. Not that I always do this. So too, we don’t always focus on God, do we? Especially with God, we’re easily distracted. Just as the voices coming over the sound system can keep us from hearing what’s being said, life itself can keep us from hearing God. [It certainly doesn’t help that God most often speaks in a very still, small voice.] When Cheri speaks to me and I fail to pay attention, she lets me know that I need to focus on her. “Did you hear me?” she’ll ask. I wish that God did the same. I wish God would loudly say to me, “Did you hear what I told you, Ted? Are you listening?” Because I’ve never heard God say that to me, I’ve found that I need to worship each Sunday to make sure that I’m paying attention to God. Yes, worship is surely giving praise and glory to God. But worship also helps me keep my focus on God, helps me put life’s distractions out of my mind, at least for awhile. If you’re not clearly hearing God speaking to you, join us this Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost. (Remember to wear red.) Maybe this will help you focus on God as it helps me.
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At
our Chico Area Interfaith Council meeting today, Lucy Gould share with us
Martin Luther King’s “Six Key Principles of Nonviolence.” They’re worthy of our
consideration. “First,
one can resist evil without resorting to violence. Second,
nonviolence seeks to win the ‘friendship and understanding’ of the
opponent, not to humiliate him. Third,
evil itself, not the people committing evil acts, should be opposed. Fourth,
those committed to nonviolence must be willing to suffer without retaliation as
suffering itself can be redemptive. Fifth,
nonviolent resistance avoids ‘external physical violence’ and
‘internal violence of spirit’ as well: ‘The nonviolent
resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he
also refuses to hate him.’
The resister should be motivated by love in the sense of the Greek word
agape, which means ‘understanding,’ or ‘redeeming good will
for all men.’ The
sixth principle is that the nonviolent resister must have a ‘deep faith
in the future,’ stemming from the conviction that ‘the universe is
on the side of justice.’” This
is from King Encyclopedia: Nonviolence In the
last FOCUS, I talked about “60 grit sermons and 600 grit
sermons.” This is one of
those “60 grit sermons” for all of us, I’m afraid. Whether we’re young or old, male
or female, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, no matter our skin
color or our ethnic background, these are extremely difficult principles by
which to live. It seems to be human
nature to use force/violence to protect ourselves. It seems to be human nature to want to
“get even” with our enemies, and that often means to humiliate them
at the very least. While we talk
about opposing the act, not the person, in practice I’ve found few that
are able to do that, certainly including myself. Not many of us are willing to
suffer. Most of us,
even when practicing nonviolence have less than love in our hearts. And I’m afraid that given the way
the world works, it’s very difficult to believe that “the universe
is on the side of justice.” As
Christians, we are called by Jesus himself to love our enemies, love our
neighbors, turn the other cheek, go the extra
mile. King’s principles are
simply an application of that which Jesus teaches us. We are
called by Jesus to love those with whom we disagree. In the midst of the current political
climate, those are hard words to hear – but probably the words we need to
hear the most. May God help us to
live these principles.
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