Thoughts for the New Year

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

(Psalm 82: 3-4)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

(James 1: 27)

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

(Hebrews 13: 1-3, 16)

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

(Micah 6: 8)

Merry Christmas to All at Springfield!

Marnie, the kids and I are on the way to Missouri and Michigan to see our extended families, so we won't be with you today or next Sunday. After taking the year off from traveling last Christmas, we are off in the minivan this year to drive the roads! (Hope Clint Propst and I don't have to make another trip to Ohio like we did two years ago to retrieve a broken down van.)

What a year it has been at Springfield! We have had some very sad times, like the loss of Agnes Bennett, one our longest standing members. The departure of Agnes is truly a milestone of a faithful generation passing onward. She lived a long and faithful life, so it was possible to celebrate that life and share joys in the midst of the normal sorrow at her funeral. It was much harder to see the silver lining in the passing of Kyle Mack, who tragically lost his life in a car wreck this fall. It was a difficult and terrible thing to see a young life cut short.

But we have also had many times of great joy. We welcomed Kenneth's family from Ghana! (One sure way to grow your church is to import members from afar;-) We have added so many new people that I hate to mention names for fear of leaving some out. We had a great retreat with Randy Harris that inspired us and will serve as the first of an annual tradition for years to come. We have welcomed Gene Kraft home from Afghanistan (but Ray Gibson was shortly sent off in his place). We have seen baptisms of our young people and many inspiring stories of service and devotion.

I think we will all look back on 2007 as a great year... a milestone where we grew and began a pattern of growth that will carry on for years to come.

Please join with me in praying this holiday season for our church. Pray that we will have the vision and leadership to go forward in 2008. Pray that God will send us new people to join with us in our mission to serve God in our community. Pray that our hopes and dreams will be one with God's hopes and dreams for what we should be doing in Springfield.

Love and Peace to all,
Mark, Marnie, and the Kids

Would He Mind?

Donny was the best friend a seven-year-old could ever have. We did everything together. We rode bikes together, ate King Vitaman Cereal together, played war together, and spent the night at each other's house every weekend. We were blood brothers. We both hated girls, and we stuck up for each other when someone called me fat or him four-eyes. We even had a secret fort we built in the woods - a true friendship.

Donny looked up to me and rightfully so. I was older than him by two months, a fact I frequently reminded him of, and I out-weighed him by thirty pounds, a fact he frequently reminded me of. Age and weight are two factors that loom large in seven-year-olds' relationships, so when Don had a question, he would often come to me.

One December day, as we played in a snow bank, throwing snowballs at the Anspaugh's statue of the Virgin Mary, Donny had a question. We had been talking about Christmas, the number one December topic for seven-year-olds, when he posed a quasi-question/comment about Christmas being Jesus' birthday.

I must confess now that I rarely, if ever, knew the answers to any of Donny's questions. Usually I'd just act like I knew and he would believe me. But this time was different. I actually knew the answer. This was my chance to tell Don something about Jesus other than he was a prefix for various swear words.

"No! No! No!" I blurted out, scorning Donny for his ignorance. "It's not his birthday and don't let anyone tell you different. No one knows when his birthday is!"

Donny sat there for a while, I guess embarrassed that he had even asked. He knew better than to argue theological issues with a guy who went to church on Wednesday nights, but in reply he mumbled, "If nobody knew when my birthday was, I wouldn't mind if they just picked a day."

I still remember what Donny mumbled that day in a snow bank. Donny, who had never been to church a day in his life, saw a smiling Jesus who said, "Go ahead, just pick a day!" and I saw a frowning Jesus yelling, "No! no! No! For the last time, it's not my birthday!"

Do we really think that he cringes when we sing about mangers? When he hears songs about Bethlehem and wise men, does he pull his hair and say, "It never says three, it never says three ...." I doubt it. I really doubt it.

All these years later, I wonder if Don remembers what I told him. I hope not, because he now has a two-year-old who's almost ready to ask him the same question. What a shame if that's the only thing he remembers about his friend who went to church three times a week.

Mark

It’s Advent Again

The word “advent” is not an English word we use very commonly these days. It comes from the Latin word, “adventus”, which means “coming”. In Christian terms it means, “The coming of Christ our Savior”. Interestingly, the Greek word for “coming” is “Parousia”, which we may recognize as the term used for the second coming. The similarity in the two has made the traditions that surround Advent to include continual readings and reminders for Christians to consider the dual nature of the waiting that Hebrews endured as they expected a coming messiah and the waiting we endure as we live expecting a second coming. For centuries Christians have formed traditions of readings that fit various themes in Advent. Below is a traditional Advent responsive reading that we will use today in our service. I thought it is especially appropriate as we consider those around us who are poor and needy and tend to have especially difficult times at the holidays.

Psalm 146
ALL: Blessed are the poor and needy, for God’s kingdom surely is theirs. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
ALL: I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
ALL: When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
ALL: Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
The Maker of heaven and earth, The sea, and everything in them-The Lord, who remains faithful forever.
ALL: Blessed are the poor and needy, for God’s kingdom surely is theirs.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free,
ALL: The Lord gives sight to the blind
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; ALL: The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the aliens (strangers);
ALL: And sustains the fatherless and widow; But he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
ALL: Blessed are the poor and needy, for God’s kingdom surely is theirs.

Come, Share the Lord*

We gather here in Jesus’ name, His love is burning in our hearts like living flame.

For thru the loving Son the Father makes us one.

Come take the bread,

come drink the wine,

come share the Lord.

No one is a stranger here, everyone belongs.

Finding our forgiveness here, we in turn forgive all wrongs.

He joins us here, He breaks the bread.

The Lord who pours the cup is risen from the dead.

The One we love the most is now our gracious host.

Come take the bread,

come drink the wine,

come share the Lord.

We are now a family of which the Lord is head.

Tho unseen He meets us here in the breaking of the bread.

We’ll gather soon where angels sing.

We’ll see the glory of our Lord and coming King.

Now we anticipate the feast for which we wait.

Come take the bread,

come drink the wine,

come share the Lord.

*Bryan Jeffery Leech , 1984