Back to Basics

Last week it was a joy and privilege to celebrate with this church the 50^th anniversary of its founding.  As I left Sunday I was thinking, where do we go from here, and what does it look like?   In life, as we age and mature, there is an underlying assumption that maturity leads to an increased level of depth and complexity.  If you have been in a job for along time you may be expected to learn to do more complex tasks, the longer you have been in relationships, the deeper and more complex your interactions get with one another.

If you ask an athlete, a CEO, a dancer, a singer, and more their keys to success and growth, they would each tell you a firm foundation in the fundamentals of their trade.  Baseball players spend hours each spring on drills that 10 year old players use in little leagues all over the country.  CEOs go to conferences; work with coaches and read books about very basic business principles, to make sure their fundamentals are sound.  They are not focused entirely on learning the most complex process; in fact many businesses have learned that they have gotten so complex they lost focus on why they even started the company.  Basic does not mean simple, boring, or suggest a lack of depth.  Instead looking to the basic and fundamentals can mean a great focus and also a clarity about ones identity and values.

This week we are beginning a sermon series, “Back to Basics” that will focus on some of the fundamentals of Christian faith, what is at the core of all that we do?  What are some keys to Spiritual Growth both as a church but also as individuals?  What is it that drives our ministry and our lives?  We will take time in this series to focus and talk about some of the core elements of who we are as Christians, and who we are as the body of Christ in Brown Deer.

Take some time each week before worship to read and pray over these texts.  You also can listen each week to the message from previous weeks on our website.  Feel free to download, listen and share them.

May 23rd- Pentecost- Back to Basics- Acts 2 “A New Day”

Fundamental element for faith communities: Teaching, fellowship, caring for needs

May 30th Back to Basics- Acts 15:1-11, “What Really Matters”

Fundamental for faith communities: A believer confesses Christ, and reflects their faith in all that they do, not just with their words.

June 6th Back to Basics: Evangelism and Predestination- Ephesians 1:3-14

Fundamental: We are saved by Jesus deeds, not our own

June 13th Back to Basics: 1 Corinthians 9:19-29

Fundamental: Called to communicate the gospel relevantly

Welcome

Thursday April 29th, 2010

A co-worker has invited you to their home for an office Christmas party, and as you approach their front door you realize that you don’t know a lot about them. As you walk in you take in everything you can about them based on your initial perceptions. Did they ask you to take off your shoes? Was it done kindly, in a harsh manner? Is their furniture laid out for company or are you afraid to sit on the furniture? Does the home feel inviting and warm, or sterile and cold? Very quickly you “learn” a number of things about your co-worker based on your perceptions and feeling about their home.

This summer at Trinity we will be welcoming home old friends, and inviting in numerous new ones. As we have been preparing for the 5grow Celebration, it became clear that our church home did not reflect the people inside. Our church desires to be welcoming and friendly to all people. We want our church to be a place of fellowship, friendship, and growth. As one member told me this week, I want to see our church be a place that people from our community and church gather at. As this was discussed the consistory voted to begin some renovations to our facilities, and approve a team to lead the design project.

As you walk into church Sunday morning you see some of the fruits of their labor. The early phases of renovations to the narthex, front office, entryway, front bathroom, and nursery will have started. Phase one of this work will be done by Sunday with more renovations and additions to come.

I want to thank the design team for using their gifts at Trinity; your talents are invaluable in this work. This is an exciting time in the life of Trinity as we prepare for the 5grow celebration to begin on May 15th. From the renovations to our narthex, a new website that will launched in the coming weeks, and an anniversary celebration that is unlike any that I have been part of before, including a dinner, a children’s clothing distribution and a concert.

This all is meant to offer each of us an opportunity to invite others to come and join us, but also create a more welcoming atmosphere for those visiting us at Trinity. As we continue to prepare for these events think about who you could invite to join us as we celebrate our 5grow celebration, and also how you can be hospitable to those joining us at Trinity for all our ministries.

Pastor Bill

Do You Remember?

Do you remember your first day at a new church?  What did you feel like?  What did you notice?  For many, those experiences evoke feelings of nervousness and fear.  It is scary to be new, whether it is new to a church, a group, or a business.  You are entering into someone else’s world.  They already have a way of doing things, an idea of what normal is there, and some traditions that everyone there already knows.  Yet for many of us we can point to places where we felt welcome and part of the community from the moment we entered it, because of their hospitality.  There are those who can make you feel welcome and a part of their group in a few minutes just by their actions and words.

Yet as we enter into a group, as we begin to get comfortable, and learn the culture, we forget that feeling.  We quickly forget about the impact that a greeter made in connecting us to a person our age, we forget the loaf of lemon bread to say thanks for coming, and all the other things that made our experience a good one.  We forget what it is that lead us to come back, and why we felt we belonged.

In Hebrews 13:1-2 Paul talks about hospitality to strangers saying, “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:1-2, TNIV)

Jesus also taught about hospitality in Matthew 25 saying, “Then those ‘sheep’ (those who Jesus invites to enter into heaven) are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ “(Matthew 25:37-40, The Message)

As we plan to celebrate the 5grow celebration at Trinity, there will be a number of people in our building and at events who don’t normally come to Trinity.  As we kick off our 5grow celebration weekend there will be a number of people who are unfamiliar with the current culture of Trinity.  This week tickets went on sale for the Rush of Fools concert we are hosting (5grow.weebly.com).  As we prepare for the concert the challenge to each of us is, “Who will you invite?”  We are hosting this concert as an outreach event, a place that you could invite friends who might not come to church, but would consider coming to a concert.  But that night 500+ people will gather at Trinity, and we pray that a number of those people do not come to this church on a regular basis.  Vacation Bible School welcomes a number of kids from our local community each summer who do not attend our church.

As we prepare for a summer filled with wonderful events to reach our community, are we ready?  Are you ready to be the person who welcomes them, shows them around, and makes them feel like they belong?  Jesus tells us that we serve him when we reach out to the person who is overlooked and forgotten.  We have an opportunity make a number of people feel at home and welcome as they come to our church each week.  As you think back to how you were welcomed and invited into Trinity, remember that you have an opportunity to reach out and welcome someone new.  You can be the one welcoming newcomers, as someone welcomed you; you can help to break the ice as someone did to help you feel like you belonged.  You never know who God will bring through our doors.

Pastor Bill