Life @ Montrose, January 27, 2010

 

Gunnison (11 am): Michelle Crawford will be speaking.

Montrose (10:45 am): The Pathfinders are putting on the worship service, which will include several sermonettes from our young people. There will be a potluck this Sabbath that was postponed becuase of inclimate weather last weekend.

 

WESTERN SLOPE REGIONAL BIBLE BOWL
This coming Sabbath (after being postponed due to inclimate weather last week) there will be a potluck after church in Montrose followed by a Bible bowl in the church at 3 pm. We are going to have seven teams who will be tested on their knowledge of the books of Daniel, Hosea, and Joel. Last year our club was able to participate  in Grand Junction. This is the largest regional Bible bowl with this many teams that they have ever had so please come out and support our young people. You will also notice extra young people along with their leaders at church on Sabbath, and a few clubs will be staying on Saturday evening for a supper and some recreation after Sabbath in the school gym. For more information contact Heidi Campbell (240-3412 or heidi.c.campbell@gmail.com).

FEDCO SEEDS ORDERS
This last weekend we planted the first seeds in our peat pots for our garden this coming summer. If you enjoy gardening and would like to both get a great deal on seeds while at the same time support our Pathfinder club you can order your seeds from any one of our Pathfinders or one of their leaders. Packets of seed are $1.50 and the order form (which is also available in your box at church) can be downloaded at: http://www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/montrose.pdf Orders are due by Feb. 17.

CITRUS ORDERS
If you ordered citrus please stay tuned for details.

 

Last Sabbath I preached a message outlining Biblical principles for worship. Our worship and music committee unanimously voted on starting a new order of worship. From what has been presented there is nothing that we have not tried or done before except that it may be in a slightly new order. The goal is to be more intentional and to plan our services better because I believe God expects us to put our very best when it comes to our worship services. So with that in mind there will be worship rehearsals on Friday evenings starting next week at 7:30 pm. The new order of worship is as follows:

 

10:45     Musical Prelude

10:50     Welcome and Announcements

11:00     Offering

11:05     Children's Story

11:15     Call to Worship ("Come Let Us Worship & Bow Down")

11:17     Scripture

11:19     Garden of Prayer

11:25     Songs of Praise

11:40     Sermon

12:05     Closing Song and Prayer

 

For the first weekend in February we have a special guest, Dr. Bill Knott, who has served as a pastor for many years and currently serves our church as the editor of the Adventist Review and Adventist World. It is a real privilege to be able to have him come and speak to our congregation. Because we will have a number of special guests we are going to have an additional potluck. Then on Sunday evening please remember that we are having a special, lay-led week of prayer in our church that begins each evening at 7 pm. I've had several young people who have said they are going to help out with young people so limited child care will be available if you would like to come. I also have one empty slot still open so if you are interested in speaking please let me know. On Friday evening we are going to conclude our week or prayer with an agape feast (light breads and fruit) combined with the celebration of the ordinances.

THE PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE
This last weekend I had the privilege of having my father come out and visit us for the weekend. He bought tickets on Frontier Airlines, which used to fly into Grand Junction so when he rebooked them he booked the tickets into Durango. So I was relieved Friday morning that he didn't fly there because of the blizzard (after all the airport closed) and I thought for sure I was going to have to drive to Denver to get him (if I could even get over on I-70), but praise the Lord, an airline agent rebooked him on a flight directly into Montrose! So I had some extra time in my church office and I was able to save Dorothy from having to come in an extra morning to the church office while the locksmith rekeyed the church. Incidentally, I think everyone who is a church officer has gotten a key and so far I have only received one request. So, if you need a key or would like one, you need to let me know so we can get it voted by church board next week.

 

Last week I was also the volunteer hospital chaplain, and as always, I was able to visit with a wide variety of people from our community and elsewhere. I always enjoy being able to do hospital rounds. One person I walked into their room and they were about to go have exploratory surgery with the thought that they were dying. So I was praying for them, and then they took the person off to surgery. The next day I was able to visit with that person and their family and it meant the world to them that I was able to pray with them when I did. And, in addition, they asked what church I was from. My standard response, "Is that I am one of the pastors in town," but they pushed me further so I said, "I happen to pastor the Montrose Seventh-day Adventist Church although our chaplains pastor a variety of churches in our community." It left a very positive impression with them of our church.

 

On Sabbath afternoon, right after church, we had an elder's meeting and set up a regular schedule for elders meetings (the first Wednesday evening of each month). We are also setting up a regular schedule for worship and music committee, which will be either the third or fourth Thursday of every month. The goal is that some of these other committees tend to only meet when there is some problem and my goal, as the pastor, is for us to be very intentional for all of these groups to function as part of a healthy and thriving church. I am particular excited about our new worship service format because it has been highlighted as one of the greatest needs in our congregation. We need to first and foremost remember that worship is NOT about us--instead true worship is placing God as the audience and we uplift and adore Jesus Christ. The only criticism I have heard is from one family about a passage from theTestimonies (5T 491-500), but even in this passage it does not equate silence with reverence. In order to arrive at a "balanced" position on worship from Ellen White's writings we need to examine everything that she wrote on the topic including the passage immediately before this one, which talks about expressing love for one another and in our worship. In fact, I find such a stance to be counter to the very essence of what a Protestant worship service is all about--the principles of sola scriptura (the primacy of the Scriptures) and the priesthood of all believers, which Martin Luther wrote so passionately about. So, I would argue, that if someone wants a church service that is completely silent then that kind of worship service where believers should be completely passive and not even wish each other happy Sabbath, that such a service most closely resembles the Roman Catholic Mass. But, we as Seventh-day Adventists are Protestants and that means that we follow the New Testament church model for how we go about our worship services and go to Scripture to establish these biblical principles and NOT tradition. If you missed out on my sermon you can download it online from our church web site (www.montroseadventist.org) or pick up a CD by the sound booth.

 

I was reminded on Sunday of a sensitive situation in our own congregation where someone accosted me about something, but because of confidentiality I was not able to explain to them the entire situation as I understood it. The situation reminded me of what a close pastor friend told me about a situation that was happening right now in a congregation far away from here: the husband was an elder in church but was having an affair. The wife did not even know about the affair. The pastor and elders met with the elder and he was told he had to step down. The wife began to attack the pastor and elders because she felt her husband had been dealt with unfairly by having to step down from his position. In fact the elder himself, despite his precarious situation from having had an affair, began to attack the pastor, too. I find it very sad because of pastoral confidentiality the pastor had to eat all of this criticism even though it was very unfair. The reason I am telling you this story, which happens to be a true story, is that some times we make assumptions about church leaders that are not necessarily accurate because we have not walked in their shoes and do not know what they know, which is why they are making the decisions that they do. That is why God institute the church and it is one of our fundamental beliefs so a basis of church membership is upholding the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its leadership. We need to be more loving and tolerant of one another, and take the time to listen to one another in the same loving way. If we do not or baselessly make accusations without having all of the facts the danger is that we may be dishonoring Christ. I recently came across this beauitful quote by Ellen White: "I wish we had much more of the Spirit of Christ and a great deal less self, and less of human opinions. If we err, let it be on the side of mercy rather than on the side of condemnation and harsh dealing" (Letter 16, 1887).

 

Last but not least, on Monday I was able to enjoy a day off with my father (Sundays and Mondays are our family days even though I seldom get to even take one day off a week for family time). So we went skiing together, and then yesterday I spent the day in Denver for Rocky Mountain Conference Executive Committee, and got back late last night. I am encouraged that God is at work across the Conference. He has called each one of us to work together in the spreading of the gospel commission here, right now. So instead of focusing on what other people may or may not be doing that is wrong, let us concern ourselves chiefly with what we are doing to advance the gospel since that is what He has tasked each of us with doing.

 

Last but not least, this morning I noticed that my cover article in the Adventist Review on the 1919 Bible Conference just came out. I think the whole episode of 1919 has some important lessons that our congregation can learn from today so if you get a chance you read it for free online at: www.adventistreview.org.