Sermon: Light Source; John 1:5-9

In today's sermon (click on title for audio), I discuss John chapter 1, verses 5 through 9 where the Gospel writer John writes to us about the Word that became light through life. It's a fascinating section because John, the writer, throws in his first discussion about John, the Baptist, into the mix. On cursory glance, that seems entirely irrelevant and non-germaine to the topic at hand, but careful examination reveals it to be quite relevant for us today as we are faced with having to choose from many lights that try to beckon to us each day. And this passage can also show us what part we have to play in the grand cosmic narrative between light and darkness.

Evangelism vs. Proselytizing

The difference between evangelism and proselytizing -- what is it exactly? I think this is getting to the root of my discomfort (and perhaps many others) with what is often termed evangelism.

For starters, you might want to visit the dictionary definitions of evangelism and proselytize.

The difference I see is that evangelism is neutral -- I proclaim what I believe and leave it at that. There is no pressure on the listener. I have no motive other than to share what I already have.

Proselytizing is significantly different in that the ultimate motive is to turn (convert) the listeners into my clones, to make them join my organization (denomination). Because of this motive, everything I do is geared to achieve that goal. There is, therefore, unavoidable pressure applied to the listeners. I am allowed to use ethically questionable methods, because the end (conversion to a set of beliefs -- which is falsely equated with salvation) justifies the means.

Does this mean that in evangelism I should never ask for decisions to be made? No, I don't think so. But what I do think is that I shouldn't make blanket appeals. I need to work with each individual, know where they are in their spiritual journeys, seek guidance from the Holy Spirit, and gently pose questions to help each seeker cross the line of faith. I cannot use any pressure, I cannot use any guilt, I cannot use anything even remotely manipulative (or can be considered manipulative by even one person) in evangelism.

In other words, I am highly critical of those asking for decisions during public meetings because by its nature, there will be pressure. It is something that goes against my beliefs of evangelism. It crosses the line into proselytizing.

I am also critical of "evangelism" that does visit people individually, but slowly (or not so slowly) turns the pressure on them to make a decision in favor of a set of beliefs.

The Holy Spirit and the individual who is making the spiritual journey have to lead the way. My job is to observe and to suggest course changes, but never in a way that violates free will.

Photos from the air

Here are a few photos taken during the flights back from Anchorage.

Devil's Thumb from the air	Eastern peaks near Petersburg
Coast near Anchorage	Peaks near Juneau
Shadow inside rainbow	Mountains near Juneau

Reflections on this week

Now that I've had a couple of nights following the meetings in Anchorage, here are a few of my reflective thoughts:

On Soul-Winning

I agree wholeheartedly with the major premise of Bob Folkenberg's ShareHim initiative. What is the major premise? As I understand it, it is that every church member should be active participants in the gospel work. Even when I was at Tualatin, that was my vision of what all churches ought to be.

The misgivings I have are in regards to the processes and methods. Maybe I'm too cynical and skeptical... Maybe I've worked in teams and with projects too many times... And maybe I shouldn't be projecting my experience in software development processes and projects to spiritual processes and projects... But I think my experience in the software world is quite relevant to the spiritual.

I just don't believe in a one-process-fits-all world. I don't believe in (an anti-pattern, using a software development process term) silver bullets. I believe that all processes need to be tailored and customized to the environment and circumstances in which the processes will be applied. So when the call is to take the process and methods that were presented and apply them directly into every context, I hear loud alarm bells ringing inside of me.

So what does this mean for me? I believe I need to firmly resist attempts to push cookie-cutter processes and methods. I need to take the principles and derive tailred processes and methods that have the best chances of success in my local context. It may end up looking very different from what was presented, and I need to make a case showing why this is better.

On Enthusiasm

There were a couple of workers at the meeting, only shortly removed from their conversion experience. I envy the enthusiasm they have. Have my years of growing up and living in the church made me too cynical of some things that go on? Have I become too comfortable? Could I, should I, be doing more?

On Confidence

In these meetings, I was surrounded by most who have had formal theology training, and many who have done post-graduate work at the seminary. I felt wholly inadequate for the work I've chosen to take on.

The comfort I take is that I believe that when God calls, God also equips; that God's strength and grace work best in my weaknesses; that the first generation of the Christian church was built up by mostly those who were unlearned through formal schooling but had been trained by Jesus himself in his school of daily experiences.

So although I have no confidence in myself as to accomplishing the task that I believe God has called me to do, I have confidence that God will not let me down. This is the one and only thing that keeps me going day after day. Whatever natural gifts and abilities I have, when I place them in God's hands, he is able to use them to work out his plan in my life and in the life of others that I touch.

Both right before leaving for the meetings this week, and during it, the work I've been doing has been affirmed by a number of individuals. I'm grateful for these affirmations. They strengthen the tiny faith that I have, and they give me the courage and confidence I need to take the next few steps into the unknown.

Back in Petersburg

It was a relatively uneventful trip back to Petersburg. I rode over to the airport with the pastor from Nome, who was hoping to fly back today. Nome is one of those places where the airport shuts down frequently during bad weather. I think he was supposed to leave last night, but no flights were making it there. In fact, he says that many times, the flight would reach Nome, but is not able to land, so it flies back to Anchorage.

His flight was supposed to leave this morning, but the plane taxied a short distance, then due to some mechanical problem, came right back. He's hoping to make it out tonight. It's nice of the Anchorage airport to provide free public WiFi access.

My flight was delayed about 40 minutes. But once we got on our way, everything was fairly smooth. Going into Juneau and then all the way down to Petersburg, I was able to see snow-capped peaks floating above the clouds. I did take quite a few photos -- I'll find out tonight if any of them are any good.

There must have been a huge tailwind or something from Juneau to Petersburg, because most of the time lost at Anchorage was made up by the time we landed. It feels almost tropical here compared to the sub-zero temperatures I experienced during the earlier part of the week.

Upon my return, I discovered that our front windows now have pseudo-curtains on them.

Strip Malls

There are plenty of them in Anchorage. And after not seeing them for over three months, it doesn't bother me one bit that we don't have them in Petersburg.

Rick and I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I got a chicken stir-fry dish -- spicy! And boy, was it ever! In addition to the dried red chili pepper, I think there was a whole jalapeno -- with all the insides and seeds. It's been a while since I've had anything quite so hot. When I make spicy foods at home, I have to make sure it's toned down to where it's noticeable, but not actually hot (to my tongue).

Following that, we again stopped at Coldstone for a bit of ice cream. (Some of the other pastors went over to Coldstone every night that we were here.) This time I tried the standard chocolate ice cream with some raspberries. It was pretty good.

It was on the return to the Conference office that I really noticed all the strip malls, the big-box stores, and the commercialism of urban America. Sure I sometimes miss the convenience, but overall I would rather have the beauty of an idyllic small town than to be overrun by cookie-cutter stores.

Preaching and Coldstone

Monday's seminars was about how churches need to get back into the habit of sowing the
Gospel seeds, nurturing them, and then reaping them. I'm still pondering this topic and
how that applies to our Petersburg environment. The biggest mistake would be to try to
apply the suggested methods and even the suggested principles without making necessary
alternation to bring relevancy to the local context.

Two-thirds of yesterday's seminars was on preaching -- both the ideologies, the
philosophies, and some practical aspects. The presenter, Dr. David Thomas of Walla
Walla, affirmed that preaching should be the most important task of a pastor. And he
gave a number of good reasons why this is so.

In the practical portion, he provided an outline of what ought to be included in the
sermon preparation and delivery process. I found it comforting to see that many of the
things that I've picked up and do already are things that he recommends, perhaps in
slightly different ways. There were also a number of new ideas that I think would be
beneficial.

Following the day's meetings and dinner, a number of us drove out to Coldstone. Yeah,
it's a little ironic that my very first time to Coldstone is in Anchorage, AK during a
sub-zero night! I had a nice, dark-chocolate ice cream with white chocolate chips.

I still have not had a good night's sleep. The pillow is too big, or maybe it's too
soft, or is the room too hot, or maybe not warm enough... Maybe I might finally get a
decent night's sleep tonight.

There really isn't much to write about today's closing session in the morning. Overall I
enjoyed the time spent this week in Anchorage, getting together with other pastors in
Alaska, discovering that many of us share similar issues and struggles in leading
churches in this state.

When I looked up synonyms for the word evangelism, there weren't any good ones, but
plenty of ones with just horrible connotations. And evangelism itself doesn't hold very
good connotations today.

So what would be a better replacement? Is there another word that is better, or perhaps
a phrase? What about the phrase, "Proactive sharing of the Gospel," as a possible
replacement?

Now what kind of sermon can I work up using Coldstone ice cream...?

On to Anchorage

The morning started out a tad busy as I still had to pack for my trip to Anchorage. Before leaving, I also wanted to post up a few more flyers for our Bread/Cereal class in 3 weeks. So after packing the suitcase, I took the flyers and briskly walked (also a good way to get some exercise at the start of a week I know will be spent sitting around for much of it) into town. There were some gusty winds and little snow pellets coming down. The way to town was against the wind, so that meant pulling my jacket hood far out in front and looking down to try and get some shelter from the storm. After posting a few more up, I turned back home -- a much more comfortable walk with the wind at my back.

Upon returning, I took my suitcase over to the airport to check myself and the bag in. And then I drove back home to grab some lunch before returning to the airport for the boarding. It's a little different here, as you can tell. The airport, for one thing, is a 5 minute drive -- and heavy traffic means we might encounter a few other vehicles on the roads... And since there are just two daily flights serving a community of 3,000, the airport has no services. In fact, there is no waiting area past the security gate. Once past security, it's straight onto the plane. So if there are bags to be checked, passengers here arrive early, check the bags in, then go back home until boarding time.

For whatever reason, the flight was packed, both to Juneau, and then to Anchorage. I was seated up front to Juneau, and then all the way in the back for the segment to Anchorage.

Approaching Anchorage, I could see the ocean -- filled with ice floes. I'm pretty certain this is the farthest north I've ever been.

Once the plane stopped at the terminal, the back door was opened for the crew to service the beverage carts. And with it came a blast of near-0 degree air. And since I was seated in the very back, that meant it got really cold, very quickly. Those of us in the back were soon seeing vapors from our breathing. Yes, it is colder here. Petersburg is almost tropical compared to Anchorage.

What I found interesting is that because Anchorage is so much farther west, the sunset is nearly an hour after Petersburg's. However, sunrise is past 10 a.m. So it looks like there is about an hour less of daylight at this lattitude than there is in Petersburg this time of year.

Dave Brown from Wrangell was on the same flight, and after we picked up our baggage, we looked around, then at one another, and wondered, who was going to pick us up? Dave called the Conference office and was assured someone would be found to pick us up. After some time, Dan, with whom I will be sharing a room the next few nights, finally found us and took us to the Conference office.

Dan is a Bible worker in Kodiak. He's been there for about nine/ten months now. Prior to Kodiak, he was in New Mexico. A bit of a change, I would think.

For the first time in over 3 months, I was on top of a freeway. And saw Lowe's... And shopping centers... And snow measured by yardsticks.

We had a wonderful dinner, which was followed by some get-to-know-one-another games. There was a game a little like musical chairs, except that the person without a seat had to say something about him/herself and everyone for whom the statement wasn't true had to find a new seat. The one left standing would then have to say something.

There were a couple of games based on Gestures. A rhythm game where the leader would say a category, then everyone else in the circle would have to name something from the category, in time, without skipping a beat.

There were "prizes" which were given out, but not enough for every person to have one. The evening ended with an adaptaion of the white elephant gift exchange game. I did not end up with anything.

The actual meetings begin tomorrow morning.

Project: FAITH HOUSE Manhattan

A new interfaith community experiment, led by an Adventist pastor and logistical support provided through the Adventist church, has just launched in New York City. Click on the title above to go to their web site.

Here is a description of this project taken from the site:

Faith House will seek to bring progressive Jews, Christians, Muslims, and spiritual seekers of no faith to become an interfaith community for the good of the world. We have one world and one God. Nothing is impossible. Who can stop God from teaching us how to live together in community?

We envision a vibrant urban faith community to which all are welcome to bring the treasures of their faith. We believe that in this respectful and disarming environment in which we are all learners as well as teachers, the depth, the beauty, and the truthfulness of faith in God will shine and capture the imagination not only of the cynics looking from the outside, but also the imagination of the cynic within each of us.

God uses people to change the world. No matter where you live on this planet, we need your help at every phase of this journey. Efforts that change the world take time, energy, and unlikely people to come together. Only after people work together and persist over a long period of time, will the tectonic shift happen.

Love is the way. There is no other way. And there are not enough people who really believe this. Let’s support each other any way we can as we learn to live the kind of life that can make this dream a reality.

Today's sermon on John 1:1-4: Foundations

Today's sermon audio is available.

I examine the first four verses of the Gospel of John and see how John begins to build up the proposition that Jesus is the eternally divine God. The application for us today is that unless we are secure in our foundations of what the Bible claims about Jesus, we are inviting deceivers to come in and sweep us off our feet.

Next Sabbath I plan to work through verses 5 through 9.

I hope I get enough time to prepare this coming week, as I will be in Anchorage from Sunday to Thursday attending the AK Conference pastors meetings.

Snow continues to fall on and off. There hasn't been much more accumulation, but if the forecasts are correct, the temps are supposed to dip considerably below freezing over the next several days. And I'll be traveling farther north just in time for the colder weather. Brrr... (which according to the Scrabble Dictionary, is an actual word that can be used in Scrabble -- just thought you'd like to know).

Fair, then snow

We awoke this morning to fair skies, and nearly a full moon. There was a dusting of snow on the ground. As I was driving Elise over to the hospital, I noticed how the moon might become picturesque if it traveled to just the right location in relation to the landforms.

After returning to the apartment, I was doing some reading and studying, but keeping an eye on the moon. It was right around 8 a.m. when I noticed the moon was goint to set behind Kupreanof Island, so quickly, I grabbed the camera and tripod, and in open sandals (but I did have socks worn), rushed out toward the Narrows. I first took a grab shot just on the sidewalk outside the apartments before heading across the street and over the guardrail.

Here are a couple of moon images, plus an image of the clouds starting to roll in from the west.

Later in the morning, I made my way out on foot to the bank, insurance office, and the church. It was dry, but icy and slippery, when I started out. By the time I had finished my business at the bank, it was starting to snow. By the time I got out of the insurance office, it was snowing hard.

I did more cleaning up of the last Christmas stuff at the church, and then stepped outside to go to the toy store (to purchase some LEGO bricks for this Sabbath's sermon), the Post Office and then back home. By this time, the ground had an inch or so, perhaps more, of snow. And it kept coming down.

On the way back from the Post Office I stopped at the big grocery store to put up a flyer for the bread and cereal cooking class that we will be holding in three weeks. While there, Bob Carter of the Presbyterian Church, bumped into me and asked to take one of the flyers for his church. I was more than happy to have him spread the word.

I walked back from there using a route I had never used before. It is one of the walking paths through the muskeg, going past the Manor, and out to the ballfield. From there I took 8th street back towards the apartment. Altogether, I think I walked around 4 miles today.

Elise went home early today. The nursing director is out of town, and the other nurses there aren't quite sure how Elise is supposed to be legally classified while still in her training hours. So Elise has a couple of unexpected days off this week. She will resume next week after all the right people are back. She called me just as I arrived at the church. If I was driving, I could have gone to pick her up, but as I had walked... Elise didn't have boots nor a coat with her. She purchased a coat at the Salvation Army Thrift Store before walking home.

So taking advantage of this unexpected break, we all went back into the city. Since our auto insurance is up for renewal this month, we purchased a new policy here. And then we went to the library and spent some time there before going to the Salvation Army Thrift Store to look around and pick up some things Deloris had picked out for Shelley and Amy to look over. By this time the snow was thick and heavy. The top of our pickup had 3 or so inches in the hour or two that had passed. Tomorrow looks to be an interesting day.

Mild panic attacks...

I've been a part of a number of children's choirs, string ensembles, bands, and other choirs over the years. However, I've never directed one, let alone start one from scratch. And I've also never led out in any type of children's groups. Let me see... have I had any instruction in elementary education...? Nope. I found my college diploma, and when I looked at it, it still said Computer Science.

So I've been having a bit of anxiety and some mild panic attacks when I think about what I've gotten myself talked into doing...

I suppose it's all the better for God to work his grace -- and I'm going to need a flood of it, really, really soon. And I'm going to need a few more spiritual gifts that I don't yet possess.

If you're planning to visit us in 2007...

You might want to plan it to coincide with the Little Norway Festival to be held during May 17-20. The Chamber of Commerce website has the details on this annual festival.

There's no guarantee skies will be clear and blue like you see on the Chamber site. But I'm sure you'll experience some good Viking fun.

The individual responsible for many years of planning and running the whole show is leaving the city (gettin married, from what I hear), but word is that she'll be back and the new organizers might even get her back into the thick of things.

Findings on longevity

Here's an interesting article from the NY Times that I found through The Oregon Adventist Pastor blog.

The major premise is that how long a person stays in school is a strong determinant, even more than lifestyle and wealth, of a person's longevity. What is it about education that lengthens life? Studies suggest that it is because education teaches people to delay gratification. They are better able to look to the future, plan for it, and wait for it to come.

About halfway through the article (there are 3 pages) Adventists are mentioned, but disputes the traditional perception of diet being the primary reason why Adventists tend to live longer. Rather, it suggests from a study that the tight, cohesive social networks that Adventists have with one another is the major reason behind their longevity. (You know what I'm talking about -- you've gone to a church gathering in a state or country that you're sure you don't have any friends or relatives, but upon arrival you find out that there is someone who knows someone else you know -- or even knows you through some third party.)

Adventists are strong proponents of education. My guess and opinion is that Adventists tend to be better educated than the population at large. Our theology is one that emphasizes delayed gratification. And as studies have shown, we have tight social networks. Our focus on healthier living certainly helps.

Like most things, it seems to me that Adventist longevity is a result of a combination and a balance of many things. As a church and as Christians, we need to emphasize all these aspects as essential to life as God wants us to have, and not get tunnel-visioned on just one aspect.

Christmas is over

Since we did not have a Christmas tree inside the apartment this year, how does a family determine when Christmas is over? Traditionally, it's been the taking down of the tree.

This year, maybe the end is signalled by the deconstruction of the gingerbread house --

I've been cleaning up the Christmas decorations at the church this week. I just realized that I still have to take apart and put away the fibre-optic tree.

New Living Translation, 2nd ed.

The New Living Translation (NLT) is my favorite translation and the one I use primarily. The last few years, I've been using either web-based Bibles, or the one included in a recent QuickVerse library. I've known for a while now that the NLT was revised and is now published as the Second Edition.

What I didn't realize was that many of the phrases and thought interpretations that caused my eyebrows to raise up a bit and say to myself, "Huh...? Does it really say that?" in the first edition have been corrected in the second. I found this out as I was reading the printed version (first ed.) against the QuickVerse library (second ed.)

After discovering how much better the second edition is in removing interpretation bias, I determined that this was a required "upgrade" and ordered the new NLT ("new New...?") from Amazon.com.

I recommend to anyone who uses the NLT and is still using a pre-2004 edition to get the new edition (some of the 2007 publications are being labled NLTse). A basic one can be had on sale for less than $10.

A visit to the Manor

Mountain View Manor is the city-run assisted living facility. The Petersburg Christian Ministerial Association is responsible for the Wednesday morning devotionals there. Each of the pastors interested in leading the devotionals rotates through the schedule. It looks like each pastor ends up being scheduled to go there every other month.

Today was my turn. I got to meet Mary, Betty, Pat, Ann, and Lorean (who is a member of my church). We sang some songs, I read a few verses from Ecclesiastes (since that is this week's Bible reading) chapter 3 and commented about how time is a gift and we need to make sure we use this gift wisely by seeking God in all we do. I asked them, since they have many more years of experience in life than I do, what they would advise a young person like me...

• Love one another
• Do for others as you would have them do for you
• Spend time on the things that are important

We sang another song and closed the half-hour period with prayer.

These are wonderful ladies. Though I could tell that their short-term memories have already deteriorated to varying degrees. Long-term memories -- memories of their earlier lives -- they are still strong though.

Ann, I think, felt a particularly strong connection to me. She is half-Japanese, and the rest Swedish and Tlingit (prounounced "Klin-gkit"). Her father came from Osaka as a young man and never left, finding his wife here and building a family. She says there used to be quite a few Japanese in Petersburg, though there really aren't that many left today.

Calling physicians, dentists, vets

If you or anyone you know is a physician, dentist, or veterinarian; wants to practice in a small town; wants a mission experience without going to a foreign country; and doesn't mind the often wet weather, have we got a deal for you!

Petersburg's only vet died last year (and I know at least two kitties that would use the services of a vet). Of the two dentists, one will be retiring shortly (already, appointments have to be made months in advance just to get in). And there is room for another physician to open a practice here (and if the office needs a nurse, Elise might be available...)

Maybe God's calling you... Think about it.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ

One of the things I appreciate most in Petersburg is the community, fellowship, and the brother/sisterhood of Christian believers. We recognize that we have differences, and that's okay. But what transcends our differences and brings us together is that we have a common Father, a common Brother, and we are all led by the same Spirit. Our goal, all of us, is to bring people to Christ so that they can find salvation and freedom through Christ.

Our monthly Ministerial Association meeting reminded me of this once again. Our weekly get-togethers are also reminders that God is much bigger than any of us can even begin to imagine.

Al Solmonson's (Lutheran pastor) Christmas sermon this past Sunday mentions this fellowship that he's found in Petersburg. Al talks about this fellowship about 2/3rd of the way down his sermon.

Welcome, 2007!

In case you slept through it, 2007 has arrived.

We went over to the Herbrandsons yesterday afternoon/evening/early morning to say good-bye to the old year and hello to the new year. We had some dinner, then played some games, while I made an attempt to get rid of some adware that was plaguing a computer.

Getting rid of the adware was the easy part. Earlier in the day, System Restore was used to try to get the computer back to a point where AutoCAD would function again. After that, for one reason or another, AOL's security center user-interface no longer came up. So the computer spent much of the evening and night downloading the security center software again, and installing it. As soon as that was done though, AutoCAD stopped working. Oh, oh... Apparently there are some incompatibilities with the components installed by the security center software and AutoCAD. There probably isn't a solution other than to ditch one or the other. I recommended trying out Windows OneCare instead of AOL's software (which actually is a combination of CA's PestPatrol and McAfee's VirusScan and Firewall). Hopefully that will resolve the current issues.

We took over some inari-sushi over there as our contribution to the dinner. Gerry, in particular was a bit skeptical, as his last experience with sushi was not very positive. But after tasting one of the ones we brought, I'm sure he would have cleaned off the entire plate by himself, if he was allowed to do so.

We got home around 1 a.m. I woke up past 9 a.m. this morning. Since there was a little bit of the sushi rice left from last night, I prepared some eggs and carrots to put into maki-sushi. The tool used to roll the sushi is over at the church, so I made do with a kitchen towel, so the rolls couldn't be rolled as tightly as they should. I guess it really doesn't matter once they get eaten.

Yesterday, in the early afternoon hours, I went over to a couple of homes of members who hadn't made it to church on Sabbath to offer them Communion. I had good visits with them.

We learned that in this city, New Year's fireworks occur on New Year's day. I don't know whether or not it will actually happen today. This month has seen a number of quite windy days. Plus it continues to rain heavily.

Today, no stores are open. In fact, on all major holidays, no stores are open. So we've been having to learn to anticipate and prepare for holidays, to make sure we have all the necessary groceries and supplies. It's not like the big cities where even on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day, you can run out and find something open. Or even if not in a large city, you can drive to one if needed. When we discover we are missing something, we have to rely on the graciousness of friends and neighbors -- which may not be a bad thing.