Weekly Words from Randoon …

            For the week of 10/28/2007

            Welcome to one and all! Special greetings to the several new folks on this weeks list.

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 101 Kids: 6 Offering: $6,750

Sunday School Class – A fabulous Introduction to the Old Testament with Gayle Doornbos, each Sunday immediately following worship.

Monday Night Football – Ben’s beloved Green Bay Packers take on the Denver Broncos tomorrow night. Join us at Goofy’s Bar & Grill @ 5:30pm for conversation, football and dinner or appy’s.

Next Sunday – 11/4: All Church Brunch at Romio’s Pizza & Pasta. Complimentary lunch and beverages and great time to visit with one another.

PRAYERS –

God, we lift up Marshall to you and pray that you would meet him in the midst of his anxiety and in his need to leave graduate school. We also pray for his dear parents that you will help them to help Marshall.

Christ, our Lord, we do pray for peace in the world.

Lord, help all of us to be responsible in casting our votes in the upcoming elections.

Holy Spirit, bring comfort and healing to the many lives tragically effected by the wildfires in Southern California.

REFLECTIONS – on “The Shadowy Temptations” Colossians 2:16-23

Shadows are intriguing…what is a shadow? In terms of Physics, Philosopy, Theology? Just what is a shadow?

We know that a shadow is an image projected on a back surface when an object blocks out light. But, think about it further…beyond just the physics. A shadow is am image given off by a real object. But, the shadow doesn’t have any substance. It’s just a shape where there is no light. And, a shadow is an inaccurate representation of the real object….it distorts based upon angles and distances…and it lacks detail.

And shadows can appear to have substance and cause us to act inappropriately. I was driving home from work one night during my teens on a dark and cold night. I was pretty tired…and I had been a little distracted from messing with my AM Radio in my ’61 Ford F100 Pickup. 19^th Street was dark and shadowy back then, with a few strange lights here and there. On this particular evening, as I looked up, there appeared to be someone running in the street. I slammed on the breaks and skidded to a stop … only to realize I had just done an emergency stop to avoid the shadow of a jogger. Yep. Weird. And no, I was not in any way altered…just confused.

Today, in our study of the end of the 2^nd chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Paul uses the idea of Shadows to distinguish between various vain attempts as RELGIOSITY and following the REAL AND LIVING JESUS CHRIST.

Here’s where some philosophy and theology enter the picture. Paul was a Jewish man educated in the Greek-influenced rabbinical school of Gamaliel. That would give him access to some extensive use of the idea of SHADOWS.

As you recall, Plato, believed that the material world in which we live is all shadows. And, that reality is separate from what we experience. So, while you and I may own a chair or two, somewhere there is the reality of ‘chair-ness”. This is called platonic dualism.

Now, add to this Paul’s Jewish faith training in which he is familiar with a God of shadows, whom we meet in Exodus when Moses requests to see God. Moses is given a glimpse of the shadow of God’s back and is left with radiant face and blown mind.

Now, having met God in Jesus Christ, Paul tells the Colossians and you and me about living in the REALITY of God, not in the shadows of religiosity.

Colossians 2:16-23

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. ¹⁹ He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Don’t be Drawn into the Shadows – Stand firm in the REALITY OF CHRIST. Look at Jesus...not at the shadows cast all around us. There are three types of SHADOWS to which Paul refers. #1 is the shadow of legalism, #2 is the shadow of mysticism and #3 is the shadow of asceticism. The Shadows of Relgiosity with which we are tempted to SPAR are vain things. Boxers train with ‘shadow boxing’. This is the practice of punching at shadows of one’s self on the wall or in a mirror. It’s no fight at all. It is simply very initial, mindless loosening up.

SHADOW #!- Ritutalism/Legalism- “don’t let anyone pass judgment upon  you” … regarding Food/Drink, Festivals/Traditions/Observances. Dietary rules and observances of calendar dates have long been ways that human beings demonstrate devotion to deity. But, diet and deity, while spelled similarly don’t have much to do with each other if we hear God’s word from Paul to the Colossians.

Legalism consists of coming up with ways to look religious, say, “hey I’m religious” without having to actually embody the values of one’s religion. I am not saying don’t discipline your body for health purposes. Don’t drink too much booze– it’s bad for you and for everyone else. But, these are more functions of good sense than ways to win God’s favor or ways to change the world by putting faith in action.

SHADOW #2 -Mysticism/Special Knowledge – “don’t allow yourself to be condemned” by …False humility or worship of God through intermediaries. I am sorry but for me this includes the veneration of the Virgin Mary and Saints. I respect and value what these great ones teach about God and following Jesus, but i worship Jesus directly, not through ANY INTERMEDIARY or SPECIAL SECRET METHOD

Part of our Reformed faith is based upon the Tenet of UNION WITH CHRIST – that means you and Jesus....not an angel, a pastor, a priest, or a church YOU AND JESUS.

SHADOW #3 - Asceticism/Self Denial – don’t submit to the temptation to impress yourself or others with severe disciplines and self-denials that don’t manifest themselves as service to others. ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These sorts of practices simply draw us away from a world created by God and lead us into the temptation of thinking we are really special...”I don’t drink, dance or chew...and i don’t run with the girls that do...”

One that blew my mind at a church I once spoke at came up when I was chastised for giving an example from a movie. This group of people rejected all movies rated higher than G as ungodly and sinful. But, before the children’s time, the kids sang a song about “chop, chop off with Goliath’s head”.  Sorry, give me “Crash” or anything but that.

The Risks of Shadow-life

Focusing  to the point of distraction on things that are merely temporary. “These things are all destined to perish with use”. In fact, the serious danger in these shadows is the distinct possibility that our self-produced traditions and rules deceive us from the true daily calling to follow Jesus here and now. “…they are based upon human commands and teachings.”

Ritualism, extreme mysticism, asceticism … dancing in the shadows…has the tremendous power to DECEIVE us into thinking we are living lives that please God while all we are doing is pleasing some distorted inner impulse..“such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom…but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

THIS FINAL LINE OF COLOSSIANS 2 SCARES ME. Does it scare you?

I hate the idea that my little attempts to be deeply religious, wise, and so on might only be an expression of my own search for pleasure and self-satisfaction or status rather than ACTUALLY FOLLOWING JESUS ! This is a real call to self examination!

Renouncing the Shadows and living Reality

The REALITY IS UNION WITH CHRIST, as I touched upon before. This means Connection to Christ as HEAD OF THE BODY. Friends, Colossians calls us again and again and again to a SIMPLE faith.

One of our community practices here at Sanctuary is to own the fact that WE BELONG TO GOD. That means we don’t have to go find God. God has found us in Jesus Christ. As those who belong to God we don’t need legalism, mysticism or asceticism. WE NEED CORAM DEO – that’s Latin for “In the Face of God”

Coram deo is the doctrine of the Christian Life  which says that we Christians have the joy and privilege and responsibility of living all of life gratefully “in the face of God”. We needn’t legalize our life with rituals, spiritualize our life with mystical side-practices or public and private acts of self-denial and severe discipline.

You see, the real test of our faith is whether or not the REALITY of JESUS, who is reality, is EVIDENCE IN REALITY IN MY LIFE AND YOUR LIFE. Is Jesus reducing Randy to love … even enemies? Is Randy offering the gifts given to him by God to something bigger than himself: do RR’s time, talent, monetary treasures go beyond his front door?

LIVING THE REALITY OF CHRIST brings us to the reality of each new day. we wake up every morning and say, “Jesus, here I am face to face with you. Where do we go today?”

We repeat that prayer as we encounter traffic, difficult people, awesome people, challenges and joys – throughout the day.

And, when we go to bed at night we say, “Thanks for this day together Lord,  and now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep….and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 88 Kids: 3

Monday Night Football tonite @ 5:30 Goofy’s Bar and Grill. Peyton M. and Colts in Action.

Still forming small groups. Contact Mark Mohrlang to get in one. Mark.mohrlang@gmail.com

Harvest Fest – This coming Saturday the 27^th in the McDonalds Parking Lot behind Taproot at 85^th & Palatine. Come out and meet our neighbors and help Sanctuary and the Green Bean host our part of this huge Greenwood Event!

Mark your calendar for Sunday the 16^th of December @ 7:00pm for a special evening of Christmas entertainment as Sanctuary, The Green Bean and Taproot Theater present an evening offering a special Christmas play, tasty seasonal goodies, live music and Christmas Cheer. Plan to bring friends to this wonderful event!

PRAYER –

Lord, we pray for peace in our world.

God, be with those who are homeless as these cold winter months set in.

Christ, be with Ben and Cherie Katt and their team as they continue work on planting Awake Church in the Aurora/Lichton Springs neighborhood.

Thank you Lord, that Ben has been asked on a Mayor’s task force to study and serve the Aurora area.

God, we also thank you that The House is up and running as a church plant. Bless the Turnbull’s and their team as they press forward.

Father, we ask you to be with Nancy and her family as they work through all that is involved with the death of John Murray. Thank you for John’s life and for his confession of Jesus Christ as Lord last Spring and his affirmation of faith just two days before his passing.

Jesus, you are such a winsome figure to youth. You inspire young people. We pray that you will be widely known among kids here in Seattle. We particularly pray for the work of Young Life.

REFLECTIONS – on Colossians 1:24-2:15  “You’ve Got it”

For the past two weeks, my dear friend and colleague, Ben Katt, has been preaching in our Colossians series. He has been working through the sometimes confusing, but very informative section of Paul’s letter wherein the Apostle defends his work, describes his relationship with Jesus and clarifies for the Colossian Christians what really counts. And, what is it that really counts? Well, “what is it?” is actually the wrong question. The proper question begins with “who”…”who is it that really counts?”

Paul’s answer: Jesus the Christ.

In this passage of Colossians, Paul makes it clear that God has made himself clear in his action of the Incarnation/Atonement/Resurrection of Jesus. All the mysteries of the ages are laid bare and open in Him. What is the great mystery of God and faith and life ?? well, uh…actually…that there’s no more mystery. Look to Jesus and see all we can know, understand and appropriate about God and a life of faith that restores Creation and glorifies Creator.

Amidst age old temptations to get into the latest Christian-Spiritual-Trip-Social Cause-Moral Issue-Political posturing – THERE STANDS ONE TALLER, STRONGER, MORE SIGNIFICANT AND ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTE: JESUS.

Skip the Trips! Go directly to Jesus. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Don’t fret on yesterday. Don’t dread today out of powerlessness, fear or lack of resolve. Instead LIVE IN JESUS NOW.  In Jesus Christ, you and I have ALL WE NEED …. For today, tomorrow and forever!

We have all we need.

We have all we need.

We have all we need.

I have all I need.

You have all you need.

Memorize this…and then include it in this prayer: “Jesus, thank you that you have given me all I need. Now, where do we need to go together today?”

Maybe your destination will be a habit of addiction that is destroying your life and needs addressing today. Maybe it will be a relationship that is broken or not being maximized. Then again, maybe it will be taking the risk to live beyond yourself and serve others. But, the bottom line is that you and I have all that we need – and the adventure and meaning of a life of faith are literally a prayer away “Jesus, what are we going to do together today?”

Thank God that God has made it simple – that we needn’t grasp for knowledge, mine for mysteries or practice bizarre habits of asceticism or indulgence to get any closer to God or to make our lives work. No. instead, we have all we need in a God who comes to us as we are in Jesus Christ to take as to where God wants us to be in Him.

Thanks Ben for inspiring me with these thoughts for living through your last two weeks of excellent work in God’s word. For any who wish to hear The Reverend Benjamin Katt’s messages, they are available on podcasts at www.sanctuarycrc.org. Please access them for free.

Now………..Get out there and LIVE JESUS TODAY…and in so doing, MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK!!

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 98 Kids: 6 Offering: $3,028.00

Congratulations to Brian and Bethany Hudson on the occasion of baby Sophia’s Baptism!

Monday Night Football at Goofy’s Bar and Grill: 5:30pm Monday.

Harvest Fest is upon us. To volunteer for this wonderful outreach to Greenwood contact Hayden Smith hsmith@sanctuarycrc.org.

Small Groups are forming. Join in? contact Mark Mohrlang. Mark.morhlang@gmail.com

PRAYERS –

God we thank you for the life of John Fason and that he is now at rest and peace with you after winning his battle with cancer.

Jesus, thank you for our children and we ask you to look out after all expectant mothers.

Holy Spirit, give us strength to live out our faith in the places where we live and work.

Father, bring peace among your warring children everywhere.

Lord, protect Lisa and Rachel Etter as they travel to Kenya and Rwanda for the next several weeks.

Jesus, thank you for Brian and Betsy Turnbull and their new church, THE HOUSE. We praise you for the great start up service last night.

REFLECTIONS – on “God’s Great Pleasure” Col. 1:19-23

Take a minute to think about a time when you were really, really pleased….deeply satisfied…tickled pink…absolutely fulfilled…when something was just perfect….think it…feel it…re-live it…

For me…one of my most well pleased moments took place with Nancy and the kids on our boat. We travelled from Seattle to Nanaimo, then Pender Harbor and on up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet where Young Life’s Malibu Club is located…and we traveled to the end of the inlet to a place called Chatterbox Falls.

I pulled into the mouth of the River outlet at the Falls and anchored to the ancient boulders on the shallow sea floor and was held squarely in place on the hook by the rush of water coming from Chatterbox Falls. We were so close in that sometimes we got a little misted by the spray from the falls, which was nice since it was a smoking hot summer day.

I could tell we were solidly anchored, destined not to swing an inch due to the current from the fresh water rushing into the sea. THEN…I looked ahead and saw the mountains behind Chatterbox Falls…and I heard the roaring water…and I saw the glimmer of the sun on the saltwater around us…and I looked in every direction and saw cliffs…and snowy peaks…and trees…and more water…and tiny waterfalls all over the inlet…and it reduced me to a meditative stupor as I sat on the captains seat on the flybridge deck of the boat.

I hope  you had some image like this in mind. I had trouble making notes about this experience for my message today…because as I touched the keyboard to write…I found myself falling back into the summer experience not too many years ago and wrapped in its serenity.

I wanted to share this story and have you search your memory banks for treasured moments of deep pleasure, because today, our text from the book of Colossians, written the better part of 2000 years ago, is about GOD’S DEEPEST pleasure: HIS CREATION FULLY RESTORED

We will look at just a few short verses this week in Paul’s letter. Colossians 1:19-23

 ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of  your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

A look at God’s Good Pleasure…

God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things…

I do things like outline sentences when I prepare thoughts for a message. This opening message is very clear in its grammar. God is the Subject. This is all about God and action that God takes because God is God. The Action is described in a verb written in a past perfect tense… WAS PLEASED. And…diagramming the sentence, it is clear that God WAS PLEASED by TWO THINGS: 1) to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus…fullness= pleroma … all that is possible. Epitome. All that is necessary. And, 2) through Jesus to reconcile all things to himself. As surely as God was pleased to have the fullness of his perfection and beauty expressed in the God-Man Jesus, God’s pleasure also had a UTILITY … a function.

The function of God’s pleasure was like the function of the anchor on my boat at Chatterbox Falls. It is beyond good looks and feelings…it’s active and stressed and at work…and an absolute life-saver. God’s good pleasure is expressed in Jesus Christ RECONCILING THE LOST AND BROKEN WORLD TO GOD.

We remember and re-live this action that brings such pleasure to God when we look at the Lord’s Table…Bread and Cup…simple gifts…yet HARSH REMINDERS that God’s ultimate pleasure in RECONCILING YOU AND ME cost Jesus Christ EVERYTHING .. Body and Blood.

Our faith is not a happy, clappy faith. It is not a faith of sentiment. It is a faith embodied in the sacrificed flesh and blood of Jesus on the Christ…and all of the horror and sorrow involved in that. And, our faith is borne out often in suffering as well. We are shaped through sorrow and pain..not around it.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of ^a your evil behavior.

Paul is very frank in letting us know that our broken instincts point us toward wicked masters. The word used in the New Testament for “alienated” here means to be “sold off”. The imagery here tells us that without God acting on our behalf to purchase us back to himself in JESUS CHRIST, we are “sold off” as slaves to things that kill and destroy us…that separate us from God’s love and bring sorrow to the heart of God.

continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

God has done it all for us in Jesus Christ…and his work on our behalf is so good it brings deep pleasure to the heart of God. So, what is our role? Simply to continue in faith…to hang in there…to carry on…even when the pleasure part  of things seems far off. How do we pull this off? Well partly through spiritual practices of reading, scripture meditation, prayer, small groups, worship, spiritual conversation, solitude…and by remembering what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Like Paul, you and I have heard and are hearing THIS GOSPEL. The New Testament Greek word for “proclaimed” here is “keruchthentos” which translated literally means ‘a trumpet call’ loud enough for all Creation to hear. God’s love and pleasure in us as his Creatures…his great work in the Fullness of Jesus Christ to capture us once and for all with his LOVE…is like unto that moment of great and deep pleasure that capture me at Chatterbox Falls on the boat…or that moment you recalled yourself..

Here’s how a wonderful man of God and Biblical scholar named William Barclay responds to this love of God expressed in our text today…I will leave you with his thoughts..

“The fact that a [person] is loved…lays upon [him or her] the greatest obligation in the world, the obligation of being worthy of that love. In one sense the love of God makes things easy, for it takes away our fear of him and assures us that we are no longer criminals at the bar of judgment, certain of nothing but condemnation. But in another sense it makes things agonizingly and almost impossibly difficult, for it lays upon us the ultimate obligation of seeking to be worthy of that love.”

May God grant us all the grace and mercy to participate in God’s great pleasure and live lives worthy of his love.

Amen.

Now then. Go out and make it a GREAT WEEK!!

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org