Final thoughts on Advent

We have always heard that it is better to give than receive.  We remind our children of this especially during the holiday season.  The saying is derived from what Paul says in Acts 20:35.  As we wrap up the season of Advent, I have been thinking about how Advent is not so much about us, but more about preparing us to give, not receive.

Sure, we all would like more hope, peace, joy, and love in our lives.  Advent looks at the bigger picture; we long for the coming of Jesus which doesn’t necessarily bring hope, peace, joy, and love to our lives, but to the world.  We receive them as a byproduct of actively living out these things.

Hope:  Our hope is more than a hope for a Savior.  It is a hope for salvation and restoration.  This will require us to be the agents of sharing, caring, and working towards restoring humanity and our world to a right relationship with our Creator.

Peace: Peace is not so much about our personal peace, but working towards peace in our families, community, and world. The shalom of advent is working to right the wrongs in this world.  Jesus even said that He did not come to bring peace but He did say blessed are the peacemakers.

Joy: Joy gets confused with happiness.  Again, it’s not about our joy.  What joy can you bring into other’s lives?  It may bring you joy.

Love:  Love is not a feeling. It’s about what we do for others. God’s love is directed towards us.  Love is emptying yourself for the betterment of others.  Hmm. That’s what God did by sending Jesus to be our Savior.

Have a blessed Christmas and may God bring us all into a deeper advent-walk with our Savior!

Grandview Park Needs You!

The church we partner with is in need of finances.  I am hosting this letter and link on my blog to get the letter out to our partners of some of the great stuff that is going on in KCK.  Please prayerfully consider this:

______________________________________________________________________

Grandview Park Presbyterian Church

1613 Wilson Boulevard

Kansas City, Kansas 66102

913 .371 .6431

Dearest congregation, community leaders, and partners,

On October 20^th 2015, Grandview Park Presbyterian Church (GPPC) celebrated 126 years!  Now is your opportunity to help contribute to the amazing accomplishments and plans for the next year as we continue to live our mission:     

We seek to serve as a community of faith,

spiritually connected to the community around us,

reflecting the diversity of neighborhood

in a church that is full!

The Prescott neighborhood, where GPPC resides, is a multi-cultural neighborhood that embodies the diversity and inclusion inherent in the Gospel.   

Two years ago, in an effort to reach out to our community and the neighborhoods connected to Grandview Park Presbyterian Church, we wanted to follow Jesus’s commands to love our neighbors and to invest in children. 

Some of our efforts have resulted in the successes of La Paz House, La Paz Kids Club Summer Program, youth group, and opportunities for youth from other communities to serve in our neighborhood through the YouthWorks program.

We started with forming a bicycle club for kids.  Soon after, we cleaned up the neglected education wing of the church and opened it up every school day for 2 hours after school. We call it La Paz House (House of Peace). La Paz House has a main room with computers, couches, and a craft table.  There is a game room, a bicycle repair shop, a recreation area, and a library. Every school day, there are 15-20 neighborhood kids at La Paz House. The neighborhood kids that are attracted to La Paz House are typically non-churched, and economically and socially challenged. Many are struggling with school and disciplinary issues. We work on helping kids with homework, learn to play together, and accept other kids from different economic and racial background based on the principles in God’s Word.

Once the school year ended, we recognized the need for options for the neighborhood kids during the summer.  Our La Paz Kids Summer program continues to grow and change. Over the last few years, we have provided a safe place for kids to come for three hours each morning for 4-6 weeks during the summer.

Included in the summer program was a day camp for three days at Heartland Center with swimming, hiking, nature studies, Bible study, and outdoor sports.  Transportation each day was provided by bus to and from the camp site and meals are served outdoors at the Lone Pine Shelter.

During the summer of 2015, a total of 65 children age 18 and under were provided 1,811 meals.  This was made possible with support from Harvesters and numerous volunteers and staff who provided over 100 hours of supervised enrichment activities throughout the La Paz Kids Summer Program.  Free breakfast and lunch was prepared in-house. The meals were served by our middle and high school students who also help with clean up.

We have been hiring and training teenagers who grew up in the program to be group leaders. These young people learn skills necessary for the workforce and enjoy leading other neighborhood kids. They lead the kids in Bible study, recreation, crafts, community service projects, and book clubs. A great joy of this program is seeing kids grow from energetic 2nd graders to group leaders when they are in high school!

We also welcomed the YouthWorks program which has involved more than 2,500 youth and adult leaders from other communities who have served in spiritual, social and physical ways in our community. 

Through our investment in the children of our community we are investing in the future of our church, our community, and our world.

We are currently facing a shortfall of $3000 to meet our year-end budget. In addition, we are in need of approximately $20,000 for HVAC and roof replacements. The need is great, but our mission and ministry is greater and we are confident that God will provide.

Your support of GPPC will help us continue to live our mission and serve others!  Year-end donations can be made directly to GPPC or through your debit or credit card donation through. 

  Grandview Park "Go Fund Me" link

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings and Peace,

 

Pastor Rick Behrens and the Stewardship & Finance Team

(816-807-6931 - Please feel free to call Pastor Rick on his cell if you have questions or concerns.)

Advent

I love advent.  It is an interruption of our lives as we prepare for the season of Christmas. For the next 4 weeks we dwell on Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love.  These are the 4 things that make our relationship with God and our lives complete. These are the things that we all desperately need in our lives.

After reminding the Christ followers of Jesus’ great sacrifice for us, we are reminded in Heb 10:22-25 to get back to the things that will help us live this God-Life.  I have preached on this before, but as I looked at it this time, I noticed an obvious connection to advent.

Hope, Joy, Peace, Love.

Heb 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

This is our Joy.  We can draw near to God!  Jesus takes away our guilt!  Our bodies are cleansed!  Our faith should bring us Joy!  When you think of how God has restored our relationship with Him through Jesus, it should bring joy to your heart and life.  It should bring a smile to your face!

Heb 10:23 Let us hold unnervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

This is our Hope.  Hope is not just a wish.  “I hope you have a good day.”  “I hope my car keeps running.”  Hope actually means anticipation or expecting good.  It is a divine guarantee. If we say we believe God will save us, that God will forgive us, that God will use us, we should also expect God to be faithful.  Our hope is more than a wish. We have to believe with everything we have.  That is hope.

Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,

This is our Love.  The great command is to love God and then love others.  The best way to love God is to love others and the best way to love others is to show them God.  We need to be creative and inventive in looking for ways to help each other be better, helping each other grow, helping each other see God working in our lives.

Heb 10:25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Here is our Peace.  There is safety in numbers.  When we are together in Jesus name, He is with us.  Too often, this verse is used to somehow guilt us into coming to church more.  I believe when we get together for any reason, we can have church!  Sure, we are encouraged when we worship and study together.  We need to look to ways to encourage each other when we work together, when we play together, when we struggle together, when we eat together, and on and on.

May we draw near to God so much that it brings Joy.

May we believe God’s Word and promises that it brings us Hope.

May we love each other and our neighbors that we experience real Love.

May we live together each day to bring about real Peace in our lives and in our world.

How to Facebook

Social Media is definitely a thing. It is not going away anytime soon. It’s a great way to communicate.  It’s a great way to keep up with friends and family. You can connect with lost friends.  You can join causes. But you know that.

It seems that lately, things are getting a little out of hand.  Social Media has become ugly, combative and polarizing. This is scary when you realize we are just ramping up to next year’s election.

Top ten rules to keep “social” in Social Media:

1.    Pictures are always good.  I love seeing where you have been, what you have seen, and how cute your kids and grandkids are.  I can tolerate your cat and dog pictures.  I don’t particularly care about your cat but since it makes you happy, I’m ok with it.  It’s only fair; you have to put up with my car pics. 1a. Speaking of pictures; slow down with the selfies.  Yes, you are attractive, but you don’t have to rub it our faces.  Oh, BTW, backgrounds of bathrooms tend to make you less appealing.

2.    Root, root, root for the Home Team.  Air it out, support your favorite team, your favorite music, your favorite microbrew.  The key here is for me not to not comment that your team sucks. I’ll make own post; it’s free and more satisfying.  If everyone liked the same thing, there would be less competition and the lines would be longer.

3.    Just the Facts, Ma’am. This is very important. I am ok with you supporting a different political party, church, and different color Power Ranger as long as your posts and shared news stories are factual.  I get it that everyone has their opinion and slant but if you are smart enough to use Facebook, you are smart enough to check your sources.

4.    Satire. Please acknowledge the literary genius of satire.  If it reads outrageous, it was meant to be.  You don’t need to point out that something on The Onion may or may not have happened.

5.    Not my thing. We all choose our battles.  Your cause may not be my cause. My passions may not be your thing.  Get it?

6.    Stay on subject.  Don’t argue for abortion on a post about freedom of speech.  Don’t comment about free speech on a post about wages.  Don’t be the girl you wish you hadn't started a conversation with at a party. Just don’t.

7.    DON’T EVER YELL! Sorry. Settle down and come back when we talk about this like adults.

8.    Don’t get so easily offended.  Sheesh.  We all have our right to our own opinion.  If mine is wrong, help me learn what is right. I won’t listen if you attack me. Opinions should be expressed as personal attacks.  Well, maybe if you are prone to doing and saying dumb shit.

9.    Stay Friends. Friendships are more important and run deeper than ideology, religion, and voting records. Threatening to un-friend me proves the level of our friendship. Don’t threaten me, just do it. I’ll understand.

10. Have real friends.  It may be good to put the phone down, close the laptop and engage is conversations with real people. It may work out to offer better life experiences for all of us.