MEMORIES OF NORTHSIDE BAPTIST'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AND ALSO OF MY DAD.

 

 I've been a part of other anniversary celebrations for churches (though, amusingly, none before we moved to Indianapolis). I was there for the 40th, 50th, and 60th anniversary of Arlington Avenue Baptist Church. But each of those were a one day celebration. It took a whole month to celebrate Northside's 60th.

One thing they did was focus on the eras - '63-77 the first week, the '80's the next week, the 90's for week #3, and the 2000s today. Before each week, they mentioned the fads of that period in case you wanted to dress that style. I debated doing that by investing into 4 new shirts - a 2nd Chapter of Acts T-shirt, a Daniel Band T-shirt, a Beracah T-shirt, and - you guessed it - a Divine Martyr T-shirt. They did mention for the first week gloves and buttons. And me unable to find my Thurmon Munson catcher's mitt and my "Carter for President" button!

Picnic, Northside Baptist Church, Indy

Each week, the worship consisted of songs we'd sing from that era. Nobody mentioned it, but it did show a reflection of the hymn vs. chorus debate. The first week we sang hymns ("My Tribute" and "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" being the more contemporary ones for that time. The next week, we sang choruses, three of which we sang through twice. Interestingly, contemporary worship songs have more verses again, and often a bridge! Bottom line - each era has God honoring songs.

We also had greetings from several individuals, such as missionaries, that were shown on the video.

Pastor Jeremy Couture started a series on the book of James the first week, but the anniversary colored this week's sermon, based on the vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. He also presented his vision for us to reach 500 people the next 3 years through Evangelism, Worship, Family Ministry, and Leadership.

Yesterday, we had a church picnic. It included one person playing the #1 songs of each year up till '80 and then Christian songs after prayer. Hey, any day I get to hear both "Sugar Sugar" (the Archies) and "Beyond Belief" (Petra) is a good day! 

KVIO, Cottonwood, AZ; not my dad in picture.

During the first part, we got candy if we knew the song and artist. When he announced the year '76, I was already on the way, because I knew it was "Silly Love Songs" (Wings). It helped having a father who was a DJ during that era, and listening to the songs on KVIO, 1600am, Cottonwood, Arizona.

Picture of Dad and Becky.

I'll admit - I was starting to get emotional during that point. The day before (Sept. 22), I saw a memory post from 9 years ago, where a high school friend posted a picture of the radio station and mentioned my Dad working there. The following day, the memory posts included one I did mentioning my Dad's passing. I realized the station picture was originally posted 5 years and 1 day before Dad went to heaven. Then, hearing the songs Dad played on the radio...

A lot of fond memories from this past month.

 

SUNDAY PSALMS PART 37 OF 48 - PSALM 120:6-7

Gibbons at Cincinnati Zoo. (They can be noisy as well.)

My soul has dwelt too long With one who hates peace.
I am for peace;
But when I speak, they are for war.
        Psalm 120:6-7, New King James Version.

Are you aware how few people there are who truly desire peace? They won't admit it. They'll probably tell you their goal is peace. But peace always follows, for them, the unconditional surrender of their opponents. No, no compromise, no win-win solution. They insist on complete victory.

Example one. Did you notice the length of time it took between the SCOTUS decision making gay marriage legal and the focus on transgenderism? Days? More like hours. After all, not everybody agrees with their agenda, and they can't have that. 

Example two. I read a book by a former worship leader who thinks the whole church should go back to traditional hymns instead of contemporary songs. The author pointed out the contemporaries should seek the interests of the traditionals, citing Philippians 2:4. But wouldn't that verse imply traditionals should seek the interests of the contemporaries? Total silence. Until the end of the book where he states going back to hymns is just the start; we also need to go back to hymnals instead of overhead projectors.

Example three. Have you noticed how peaceful pacifists are in speaking out against war? Not always the case. 

But we can spend too much time looking at everybody else without figuring out how we can be a pattern of being at peace with all other fellow believers. Yes, it's easier said than done, but there are times we fight others when we should be at peace with them.
 

 

THE COMING KINGDOM OF PEACE - SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 2021

Peace Garden at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Park

 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Advent."

Last week, in the first part of this series, I started with that quote, questioning where I picked that line up from. Actually, it was a frame that can could be added to your Facebook profile picture.

Also, last week I mentioned that the concept of Advent can be tied to the line in the Lord's prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." After all, Advent means coming, and Christians often refer to the Incarnation as the First Advent and Jesus' future returning to earth to reign as the Second Advent.

 There are different ways of referring to the four Sundays of Advent. The first variation dealt with different players in the first Christmas: Prophets, Angels, Shepherds, and Magi. A way I like better deals with important characteristics in our Christian life:
Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. If you weren't paying attention, I dealt with Hope last week.

I'll admit something that had me confused. The photos I'm using on the top of these blogs are also being used as my Facebook profile photo, and I've added a frame indicating the week of the post. I've seen two primary sources - Good News TV and Christy Gallinger. However, Good News TV had frames with the second week being Peace and the 2nd week as Love. What's more Christmassy than a bit of confusion?

Returning to my theme of the controversial and radical concept of God's Kingdom coming, we are looking for a Kingdom of peace, and there isn't much peace here. Everybody wants peace, as long as they get to define what peace looks like. For many, it's when their side wins that they  want peace, with their opponents throwing the white flag. For example, you notice how it's the winning party after an election that calls for the people to unify? 

Should we expect peace among unregenerate people? Of course not. But sometimes the place with the least peace are the Christians. Pick a topic: Sovereign Predestination vs. Free Will, whether we can lose our salvation, almost any element concerning the end times, style of music, Bible translations, and of course politics. In fact, I heard of a church that split over the question whether having a hat rack was Biblical or not.

One of the beatitudes is "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." (Matthew 5:9). Note the difference between being a peacekeeper and a peacemaker. The former basically is a referee, trying to make sure the opponents behave themselves. The latter does his work when the opponents are not on good terms and labors to create a peace between the two that is presently non-existent.

What are we doing to establish God's Kingdom of Peace? It calls for peacemakers, because there's none in the world to keep.