Monday, December 29, 2014

Year End/New Year Ponderings - by Ron Bekkering

Pastor Rod talked about it on Sunday.  Mary did it when it involved her son, Jesus, and I’ve been pondering what I would be blogging about on this last week of the year.  I thought let’s do something fun…maybe a year end list, maybe a bullet pointed 4 step program for us to grow closer to Christ?  I really was searching

So that leads me to what I’ve been reading in the book of Acts; wouldn’t you know it, all the pondering came to a rest, as it hit me like a ton of bricks last night after some painful and joyful week 16 NFL football.

Starting next week at Redeemer, yes the first week In January, Pastor Rod will be giving us a two week sermon series revolving around the topic of the “One Thing”. 

One thing, One anything.  

In Acts, Paul is talking to the people of Athens in Chapter 17 (vs. 16-34).  He is feeling, as he looks around, that they have a lot of gods that they follow, but they are missing the One thing or simply the One!  Paul introduces them to God so that they might be able to “worship intelligently”, and know who they are dealing with.

As we jump into 2015 with both feet I hope that we can recall the words of Paul and be refreshed by who our God is…

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him!” (v.24-29).
As we the people of Redeemer United Methodist Church celebrate the passing of 2014 and rush head long into 2015, I hope we can take a few minutes and think about the One who means the most to us.  And just maybe we can feel the peace that passes all understanding and make a plan that involves more of Him and less of us.  Happy New Year friends!

Know Jesus, Know Peace!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas Spirit - by Tammy Bowman

A few days ago, I was driving my kids and a couple of their friends home from school. While listening to Christmas music on a local radio station, my 9 year old son said with a huge smile “Whenever I listen to this music I get so excited and it makes me feel so happy and I don’t why!” This prompted the other teenagers in the car to agree and begin talking about feeling excited and happy during Christmas. As much as I wanted to interrupt their conversation and explain why they are feeling this way, I didn’t. I sat silently listening to them discuss this Christmas Spirit they were all experiencing. They talked about how fun it is thinking about all the gifts they were getting and giving. They talked about the food and their family traditions. Then they talked about how people just seem to act different.

This got me thinking…

They see people acting different in a good way. They see people being extra kind, helpful, happy and excited. I usually see people acting different in a negative way. I see people who are stressed. I see people (including myself) who are tired, too busy, lonely, dealing with broken relationships, trying to people please, over eating and over spending.  Many are simply trying to survive the holidays. Many have lost their Christmas Spirit. I am committed to keeping my Christmas Spirit this year and the only way I know how to do that is to dig into Scripture.

Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.”

This sentence is filled with obedience, a miracle, prophecy fulfillment and hope. Mary was obedient. The miracle is a child being born to a virgin. This fulfilled God’s prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14. Hope is found in the birth of a son to be called Immanuel.  Immanuel means “God with us” and I believe that is the key to finding our Christmas Spirit. It’s really not about Christmas Spirit at all. It’s all about Immanuel, God with us! God came to earth as a baby so he could be with us…all of us! He came to earth as a baby, He was a perfect example of how to live, and He died a painful death. Then He rose from the grave for all of us! He then left us the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit dwells in us! This spirit is God with us!

Throughout the month of December, the excitement of Jesus’ birth is all around us. It’s on display in more places than normal. It’s on display in the stores, on the radio, on TV, at the school performances, and at government buildings. Much of the Christmas Spirit is on display in the forms of Santa Claus, Christmas Trees and Christmas presents, however, Jesus remains at the center of all these displays of Christmas cheer.  It has popped up in the form of Christ centered Christmas music played at the Mall; Christian Carols being performed in school Christmas concerts; and being the topic of conversation among many as the “reason for the season.” 

As Christians it is great to keep Christ at the forefront of the Christmas season, but it is equally important to keep him as the center of our lives throughout the rest of the year.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Overscheduled. Exhausted. Overwhelmed. - by Kim Metzer

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the staff here at DeWitt Redeemer takes turns writing a weekly entry.  It is our hope that by posting frequently our church family will come to look forward to the weekly entries, and even subscribe by email so that posts aren’t missed.  While we all have a common goal of serving God by using our talents at our local church, we are all very different!  We use the blog entries as another way for the church family to get to know us better and to communicate what God is laying on our hearts to say.  It is also our hope that if a particular blog post touches you, or gives you an aha! moment, that you’ll take a minute and leave a comment.

You’ll be hearing from, and seeing, me a lot in the upcoming weeks as we start to promote the upcoming Church-wide study of Simplify by Bill Hybels. 

 Overscheduled. Exhausted. Overwhelmed.
Sound familiar? Too familiar?

“By eradicating clutter from your inner world, you can experience immediate rewards: greater energy, clearer purpose, richer relationships and more.”

No matter what phase of life you’re in, the book has something for you!  Over-scheduling, Over-spending, Over-allowing toxic people in your life and Over-complicating your life can happen at ANY age!

We’ll be forming new small groups for the purpose of completing this four week study together.  This is a great opportunity to try a group on for size.  If after the study ends you and your group didn’t click, we’ll get you into another one.  If it’s a good fit then we’ll have message based weekly discussion guides available until we start another Church-wide study.  Another option is the website Right Now Media (www.rightnow.org).   Right Now Media is like the Netflix of Bible studies!  Contact me at the email address below to request your FREE subscription.

I’m looking forward to getting to know more of you in the New Year!  Keep reading the blog so you can get to know me and the rest of the Redeemer staff!

Contact me in the church office (517.669.3430 x116 or kim@dewittredeemer.org) for more information!

~Kim

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Comfort Ye! - by Eric Snider

Below is a blog written by our congregation member Eric Snider:

I am doing my annual listen to Handel’s Messiah.  I was struck this year by the first words sung in the opening tenor recitative: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.”  Those are the opening words of Isaiah 40.  These words appear to have been spoken to people who were not in comfortable circumstances.  They viewed themselves as faithful followers of God, who were about to be handed over to a culture, society and political system that despised God.  Why should anyone in circumstances like this find comfort?  The end of Isaiah 40 says it:

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Those words resonate within me at the end of this year.  A week before Thanksgiving I was informed that my current employment might end within a year.  On the very day this was announced to me, The Upper Room daily devotional I receive via email was titled “A Better Future.”  The text was Isaiah 43.15-21, which includes these words: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (18-19).  I am hopeful.  I am trying to live in excited anticipation to see the way in the wilderness and rivers (notice it is plural) in the desert.

Isaiah says that the new thing has already sprung forth: the way in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert.  He asks us “do you not perceive it?”  I need those kind of eyes, like the shepherds at Jesus’ birth who saw the multitude of angels.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Wise Men Still Seek Him - by Suzie Unruh

This morning on the Christian radio station they talked about, “how you don’t need to ask God to come help you and hold you during difficult times, because He is already there, always… you just need to turn to Him. He never leaves you.” It was a good reminder for me – often I forget that He doesn’t leave me, I just don’t always seek. I personally tend to praise Him during the great times in my life, but during difficult times I normally start to stress, worry, and lose sleep trying to solve the problems of my life on my own. When I do remember to turn to Him I have a totally different outlook on my situations, knowing He has a plan for me that is far better than my own. Hebrews 13 says, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” and how “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” This Christmas when you see the phrase, Wise Men still seek Him, remember He never leaves you – be wise, lean on Him & praise Him for never leaving you during times of trouble and times of joy.