9 Baptisms in 2009

In 2009 First Christian Church had the privilege of helping 9 children and teenagers make their commitment to Christ and follow Him in baptism. We continue to pray for these young people as they walk with Christ daily. And we pray that as a church community we continue to love them, encourage them, and model Christian discipleship by the way we live.

We celebrate with and pray for those baptized in 2009: Emily Frame, Eion Frame, Summer Santella, Craig Fox, Austin Carr, Miranda Dix, Natalie Hale, Erik Frame, Genesis Frame.

We welcome Craig, Austin, Natalie, and Miranda as members of First Christian Church.

Sermon Dec. 20, 2009

THE JOURNEYS OF CHRISTMAS
Sermon by Judy Turner

There are some journeys that people have made that changed history: Columbus sailed across the ocean blue in 1492. Our ancestors made journeys across oceans to settle in the new world, and changed the history of future generations. American soldiers have travelled to foreign countries and fought to depose tryants, and changed the course of history. Or, even a single person making a simple journey across town on a bus can change history . In the 1950’s in Montgomer, Alabama, African-American Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger and launched the Civil Rights Movement that has changed history in this country. But the greatest journey of all was the Christmas journey, the journey from heaven to earth, from there to Bethlehem. We know the story well in its earthly version, about Mary and Joseph and angels and shepherds. We know it so well some of us have become immune to its wonder. But this morning I read to you the Christmas story, not the earthly version, but the heavenly version. It comes from the Gospel of John, the first chapter, and it begins like this:

John 1:1-5, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. ..vs. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth.

Pastor Leith Anderson reflects on this passage and says, “There you have it. That is the God’s eye view of Christmas describing the most amazing journey ever taken. It was the Christmas journey, the journey from heaven to earth. 'In the beginning was the “Word', that is a name for Jesus, the Son of God who created not only this earth and the universe, but heaven. He built heaven: 'through him all things were made.' Heaven was his home. He owned it. It is a perfect place, more magnificent than all the stars on a cloudless night, more magnificent than the most beautiful sunrise or sunset you have ever seen, or the most beautiful music you have ever heard, happier than the happiest days that any of us have experienced in all of life. That was home for Jesus, the Word. But the Christmas journey brought him from there to here. 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.' He moved to our world. He was born to one of us human beings, in one of our stables, in one of our villages, right here on earth."

Pastor Anderson continues and tells about visiting Manila in the Philippines and being taken to a garbage dump where thousands of people live. Shacks are constructed out of things other people have thrown away, and their children are sent out early every morning to scavenge for food out of other people’s garbage, so they can have family meals. People have been born there on the garbage dump, had their children, finished out their lives and died there without going any place else, even the city of Manila. Appalling! But what truly astonished Pastor Anderson was that there are Americans who also live on the garbage dump. They are American missionaries, Christians who have chosen to leave this country and go there to communicate the love of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would never hear it or receive it. That is amazing! People would leave what we have to go and live on a garbage dump. Amazing, but not as amazing as the journey Jesus made from heaven to earth.

Jesus, the Son of God made that journey , and he knew what he was doing. He knew where he was going. He knew what the sacrifice would be. He journeyed from heaven to earth with the mission to save us, to rescue human beings from destruction. For the human beings he created in love had turned against God. Sin had entered the world, and like a cancer was destroying everybody and everything. But Jesus came to turn it around, to make it possible for us to turn back to God and be restored in His love, and then to become people through whom He could work to restore the entire creation. What an incredible choice Jesus made. I think if God had a consultant who was a modern business person, probably the advice would be to cut his losses and forget about this human race and start over someplace else. Except God so loved the world and us in it that he sent his One and Only Son from heaven to earth. And the good news is that God still so loves this broken, war-torn, environmentally devastated, unjust world as much today as the day Jesus came to die for it.

But what does that have to do with you and me and our busy, stressful, complicated, sometimes wonderful lives?

1. Jesus wants to be with us, wherever we are.
It tells us that Jesus is willing to come wherever we are to be with us. He wants to come right into the middle of the mess where we live. As a child I knew when company was coming. I did not like company the signs of company coming. My mother would get this stressed look on her face, out would come the vacuum cleaner and the mop, and I would try to find somewhere else to be because I knew she would get me involved in cleaning house for company. Or, I would try to talk my way out of the chores, saying, “We don’t want to be hypocrites, do we? We want them to think we live like this, everything clean and straightened up?” But I never prevailed and always was involved in the frenzy of cleaning the house for company. And now, well, if company is coming, out comes the vacuum cleaner and the mop. I have a different perspective on it now.

But sometimes we apply that kind of thinking to our spiritual lives, and that is a problem. We hold God at a distance, thinking that when we clean up our lives, then we’ll be ready or worthy to have Jesus come closer. When we get things straightened out and are less confused, then we’ll be ready for Jesus. When things settle down and we don’t have so much on our plate, then we’ll have room for Jesus. When we overcome our resentment, or heal from our grief, then Jesus can come. But the problem is that time never comes, and we push God further and further away, and we miss the love, the power, the healing that could be ours if we just humbly open wide the door of our hearts and say, “It’s a mess, Lord, but come in. I need you so much.” The message of the amazing Christmas journey is that God loves us so much, He wants to come right into the middle of our mess, our sadness, our struggles. He knows we can’t fix it, clean it up, heal, in our own power. He wants to come and do what only He can do.

2. Jesus will help us make whatever hard journey we need to make, whatever is our part in becoming whole and becoming the people we were created to be.
The hardest journey for us can be just a walk across a room to talk to someone we are alienated from, with the hope of restoring a broken friendship. The hardest journey can be going to fill out another job application, when we’ve been turned down so many times. The hardest journey can be taking a step we know God is inviting us to take, and we may even really want to take that step. But it’s a step into the unknown, and it’s so scarey. The hardest journey can be starting a conversation about Christ with someone whose heart is hard against God, but we know desperately needs God. What the amazing Christmas journey means is Jesus will take that step with us. He will give us the power to do the hard things that can make all the difference. He is absolutely committee to our having a full and abundant life, and He will help us make the journeys necessary to get there.

3. Jesus will lead us on our spiritual journeys home to God.
Whether we know it or not, we are on a spiritual journey. Each and every one of us, day by day in our minds and hearts and choices and actions are either moving toward God or away from God. If we have asked Christ into our lives, then our ultimate goal is oneness with Christ. Incredible as that seems, despite our failures and sins and detours, by the grace of God and by our repenting and continuing to say “yes” to God, we are getting there. As the scripture says, “Degree by degree we are being transformed into the image of Christ.” If we have not asked Jesus into our lives, what better day than today to discover what it means that Jesus came to make His home with us, so we can be at home forever with God. What better day than today to decide for God, to say “yes” to God, to take that next step on your spiritual journey?

Awards Night for the Ministries Council

David and Mary Ann Bell receive the "Golden Muffin Award" for their outstanding work this year with the Friendship and Hospitality Ministry. With the award goes our great appreciation for their faithfully providing refreshments during the fellowship time each Sunday. Special thanks to Mary Ann for the muffins!

The "Golden Hammer" Award is presented to Allawayne Carr. Her work with the Worship Ministry this year involved overseeing the renovation of the front of the sanctuary, involving knocking down of a wall. She also led in the knocking down of the wall in the youth room this summer. Thanks, Allawayne, for helping open up space for worship and for the youth ministry.

The Worship Ministry also created the Worship Arts Team this year, who have done a beautiful job with decorating the church for special seasons.

The prestigious Church Publicist Award goes to Susan Krotz, who has made First Christian Church the most publicized church in town! Susan's work with the Evangelism and Compassion Ministry also involved helping us all with creation care and developing the church Community Garden. Not pictured is Elaine West, who receives the "Heart of Compassion" Award for helping us make Christ's love real for people in need.

The coveted "Golden Shoe" Award goes to the head of the Discipleship Ministry, Barbara Hale.

The poem with the award: "There was a young woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children, and always knew what to do." The award recognizes the wonderful growth in children and youth ministry, with as many as 35 children and teens on Wednesday nights and the creation of His House ministry for children this year.

Loretta Tanner receives the "Silver Whistle" Award for leading the Ministries Council and keeping us all in line! The Ministries Council was created when we revised the church constitution 18 months ago, and the Chair-Elect of the congregation was made leader of the Council. Loretta has done a great job as the first leader of the Council.

In 2009 the youth room and the front of the sanctuary were renovated. His House children's ministry was created, and children and youth ministry grew. The youth are reaching out to serve the community in such ways as the Hayride on the Square to raise money for Loaves and Fishes. We made commitments to care for God's creation and started a Community Garden. We had lots of good articles and pictures about our church in the Carroll County News. Thanks to the leaders of the Ministries of our church for all this progress! It wouldn't have happened without you.

Wednesday Night Youth Ministry, Dec. 9, 2009

As usual, we had our rock, paper, scissors to see if the boys or girls were going to pray over the meal.

There is one person from each group to represent. Whoever wins rock, paper, scissors prays for the meal, and that group gets to get their food first. We are slowly seeing more kids stepping out in faith and taking the prayer challenge. Even if they don't win the rock papers scissors, they are still willing to pray.

Barbara prepared the nice yummy warm chilly, which was perfect on such a cold night.

We had 4 letters that were written to James, the boy from Haiti the youth is sponsoring. An offering was taken up for him. $7.00. Shannon suggested we put some things together to send for Christmas, such as crayons, coloring books, etc.

Last night was supposed to be our worship service, but that has been postponed till next week. We had 2 options for the kids, those that wanted to take the Spiritual Gifts Survey stayed in the youth room, and those that didn't, went to the sanctuary with Scott for a lesson on "Submitting to Authority."

This is the second lesson in a series on Spiritual Warfare. This may seem like an intimidating subject that a lot of people would rather not discuss, but lets face it..... the devil is real, and he's real mad. These kids are slowly trying to follow Christ, and sure enough, the devil is at the door trying to stop them. We have been in prayer, and believe the best way to help equip them for this type of battle, is to give them the knowledge, tools, and resources through the Word of God. This was only the second lesson in this series, but it seems they are very understanding and want to learn more. From the lesson last week, one youth said last night.... "Knowing that we really aren't at war to see which side wins or loses makes it easier. The devil loses in the end, the goal is to stay straight." That is something we discussed last week, and it is so encouraging to hear them still talking about it. And it's very true, God gave us the ending of the "story", the devil loses, he just wants to take everybody with him that he can. Those of that have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, need to keep focused on Him, and spread the word. If we can be contagious for Christ and infect others, there's that many more, God can pluck from the enemy's grasp. PRAISE GOD!!!!

We had many prayer requests, and lifted those up to God.

We ask that all of you be in continual prayer for these kids as they are on their walk. Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers.

Amanda and Scott

These are notes on Wednesday’s Youth Lesson

Authority
Permission to photocopy this Bible study from CoreTruth™ granted for local church use.
Copyright © 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. Loveland, CO. www.group.com/CoreTruth
Notes: You’ll need Bibles, paper, newsprint, tape, and pens. Create
and photocopy a list of Army ranks, scrambled out of order (see
page 9 for the correct order). Also make photocopies of the
Richard Foster quote on page 9.
Have teenagers form small groups, and pass out copies of
the scrambled list of army ranks. Challenge groups to work
together to put them in the correct chain of command, from top
to bottom.
When everyone’s finished, have teams share their guesses.
Then reveal the right answers, found on “The Army Ranks”
handout (p. 9). Ask: Why is this chain of command important
in the Army? In what other areas of life are authority
positions necessary? Why?
Say something like: Today we’re going to look at society’s
“chain of command” and how Christians should relate to
authority figures.
Read aloud Romans 13:1-7, and then ask: Does this passage
mean we won’t be persecuted if we simply obey the
government? Explain. What situations and behaviors do you
think are included in submission to governing authorities?
What things are not included?
Hang up two sheets of newsprint and list kids’ ideas about
situations that are included on one sheet and scenarios that
aren’t included on the other.
Say something like: These instructions about relating to the
government and paying taxes seem out of place here in the
middle of Romans. Why does this even matter? Let’s look
more closely to get at Paul’s main point.
Assign one-third of the teenagers Romans 12:1-8, one-third
Romans 12:9-21, and the remaining third Romans 13:8-14.
Prompt these three groups to read their passages and discuss:
Submitting to Authorities
Lesson 2 – CoreTruth™
Authority • Lesson 2
Page
Authority
Notes:
Permission to photocopy this Bible study from CoreTruth™ granted for local church use.
Copyright © 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. Loveland, CO. www.group.com/CoreTruth
How would you summarize this passage? What is the main
verse? How does the passage influence the way you read
Romans 13:1-7?
When they’re finished, invite a spokesperson from each group
to present their findings to everyone else.
Ask: What do you think a Christian’s main motivation for
submitting to government authorities should be?
Affirm students’ answers and draw their attention to Paul’s
emphasis on loving others in Romans 12:9, 12:16, 12:20, and
13:8. Say something like: Paul’s point is that Christians are to
be good citizens, displaying patience, love, and submission to
authorities for the sake of the gospel. His instructions here
are remarkable when we consider how the government of
Rome was treating Christians.
Explain that Nero, the Roman Emperor, had already been
persecuting Christians for several years before Paul wrote this
letter. Nero committed horrible acts against Christians, such
as having them torn apart by wild dogs or setting them on fire
to serve as lamps for his parties. Paul himself was going to be
imprisoned twice for his faith and was eventually put to death
by Nero’s government.
Prompt teenagers to revise the two newsprint lists any way
they’d like in light of their study of the scriptural and historical
context.
Then have teenagers re-form their original small groups, and
pass out copies of the “Quote by Richard Foster” handout
(p. 9). Ask: How do Foster’s comments on submission relate
to Romans 13:1-7? How was Jesus’ life an example of
the principles Paul explains? How can submitting to the
government be a way of showing love to others? Who is
above you in your life’s “chain of command”?
Direct small groups to brainstorm 10 practical ways
teenagers can practice submission in their personal and civic
lives. Challenge them to focus on situations in which their
behavior might cause others to be intrigued by their faith.
Prompt teenagers to each share one specific idea that they’ll
put into practice this week and then pray for each other.
Authority • Lesson 2
Page
Permission to photocopy this Bible study from CoreTruth™ granted for local church use.
Copyright © 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. Loveland, CO. www.group.com/CoreTruth
Authority • Lesson 2
The ARMY RANKS
The correct order (from top to bottom) is
General
Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Corporal
Private
QUOTE BY RICHARD FOSTER
“Power is discovered in submission... [Jesus] called into
being a whole new order of leadership. The cross-life of
Jesus undermined all social orders based on power and
self-interest.”
—Richard Foster, from Celebration of Discipline.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

The First Christian Church of Berryville invites the community to attend an Old Fashioned Christmas Eve Candlelight Service on Thursday, December 24th. An open house with homemade holiday treats begins at 10:30PM. The one hour service beginning at 11:00PM will include traditional Christmas carols and scripture readings accompanied by the classical musical talents of the Phillippe Family Quartet. Free nursery services are available. First Christian Church is located at 306 E. Church Street. Look for the candles lighting the way. First additional information contact Susan Krotz 1-870-423-7311

Our Beautiful Christmas Door

It was such a pleasure to walk up to our church this past Sunday morning, and to see how lovely are the Christmas wreaths on our front door. What a pretty church, we thought, and how inspiring it is to know that the wreaths and greenery used have come to us from a local farm and were made by our neighbors. We felt so grateful to our "Christmas Season Decorators" for their care and thoughtfulness in choosing local artisans and Ozark grown boughs to help us celebrate, and to bring witness the birth of our Savior. Our thanks to them.

Possible Angel Sighting

Two beautiful girls were observed dancing late last night in one of the shop windows. They wore exquistic and fancy gowns and looked so, so, wonderful. They twirled and twirled, around and around they went. My goodness, they were the BEST dancers the town had ever seen. Does anyone know who they are?

Someone said they were visiting Berryville from New York City! Someone said they were famous dancers from the Tulsa Ballet! And someone said they were angels. Oh my!

.

Do you know who these dancers are?

Exciting Sunday School Class, Not an Oxymoron

The adult Sunday School class is engaged in an exciting study of the Gospel of Mark. Although Loretta Tanner leads the class, class members bring insights from reading Bible commentaries, share notes from study Bibles, and make applications from our own experience. Even though some people would consider the starting time of 9:30 on Sunday morning to be "early", nobody falls asleep in class! The discussion is lively and keeps everyone thinking, and sometimes laughing.

Ken Hale says, "I believe that we are getting a depth of study during our Sunday school class that is rare. We routinely have those "ah ha" moments that open our eyes to biblical insights before unthought-of by ourselves. I think this is a result of the group discussion style we use."

Teacher Loretta Tanner says, "I am gaining a better understanding of the Kingdom of God."

This is NOT your grandmother's Sunday School class where everyone sat and listened to the teacher lecture and stifled a yawn. This is important stuff for a vibrant life of faith. Here's the Sunday School challenge: If you think Sunday School is not for you, we dare you to come for several weeks. If you don't enjoy it and find it helpful, we will give you a "Get out of Sunday School free" pass for the rest of the year. But we are confident you will want to keep coming!