Dr. Dennis Atwood... Pastor's Blog

epiphany

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:14:00 GMT

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we live day in and day out. Our lifestyles are very busy and very regimented. In fact, it usually takes an illness or a snow day (not happening) to throw us off our routines. We are all creatures of habit and we certainly need predictable patterns to govern the orbit of our existence. There is a certain safety and comfort in the routine. In fact, it wouldn’t be a very healthy way of living if every day was a massive shake-up filled with unexpected chaos.

God is the One who created the patterns and rhythms of nature—seven days, 24 hours, four seasons. These patterns provide the contours for our living. They are predictable in their coming and going yet we do not know what will happen within the context of each day, week, and season.

Likewise, God is faithful in the rhythm of our living. Every day, week, and season, God is active and alive. Yet the challenge for us lies in being open to God’s surprises within these natural rhythms of life.

I’m convinced that like individual people, churches also live within a certain rhythm. We have a predictable routine to our life together. And the challenge is always for us to be open to God’s surprises on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis. We can take the routine for granted. We can lose our way and get out of the rhythm of worship, fellowship, spiritual formation, and service. We can get lulled into complacency. Or we can look to experience God in fresh and new ways.

This is the season after Epiphany. Open your eyes. God is appearing. God is manifesting the sacredness of the Trinity into our world. Each day, week, and season is a new opportunity to connect with God and experience God’s blessings. Our shared task is to discern—daily, weekly, and seasonally—what God is doing, where Jesus is leading, and how the Holy Spirit is prompting. So pay attention. Be open. God is moving.

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Rethinking Peace

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:05:00 GMT

“Prince of Peace” is the title we best know and remember about Jesus at Christmastime. Yet peace is a word that suffers from much misuse. We tend to use peace in mushy, meaningless ways. For example, while we may pray for peace in the war-torn areas of our world or cities, we don’t exactly envision peace in such a way that would require us to make a commitment toward justice and equality in our daily lives. Instead, we tame and domesticate peace into something small and safe, as in, “All I want is a little peace and quiet!” Or, “Can’t you just leave me in peace?”

Yet the peace of God is neither mushy nor meaningless. God’s peace is a word of power and transformation. The Bible invites us to explore all the dimensions of God’s peace—its shape, its flavor, and its ability to change our lives in radical ways.

Consider Jesus’ radical statement: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”(Luke 12:51). Jesus also used the word peace in other seemingly contradictory statements. On one occasion He said to the disciples, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

This might come as good news to some people, like Lucy who remarked to Charlie Brown, “I hate everything.” Charlie says, “But I thought you had inner peace?”Lucy replies, “I do have inner peace, but I still have outer obnoxiousness!” Unfortunately, Jesus’ idea of peace does not include a free pass for being obnoxious or rude.

Jesus causes us rethink what we mean when we talk about peace. He presents us with a new kind of peace that cannot be found anywhere else in this world. On the night before he went to the cross, Jesus gathered for a meal with His disciples and told them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27).

The peace that the world gives comes from receiving the latest I-phone under the Christmas tree, a rewarding job, or a nice vacation. But just what is this peace that Jesus gives? And why does Jesus sound like a Prince of division rather than the sweet familiar Prince of Peace we thought He was?

Perhaps the time has come for us to rethink the kind of peace Jesus offers. As Frederick Buechner put it, “The contradiction is resolved when you realize that for Jesus peace seems to have meant not the absence of struggle but the presence of love.”

A follower of the Prince of Peace is one who wraps his or her life in the agenda of God’s kingdom. Following the Prince of Peace will almost certainly cause some friction with the all-consuming pursuit of personal happiness, and sometimes with the folks around you.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt. 5:9). He said peacemakers, not peace lovers or peacekeepers. Peacemaking is a positive, active response, not an idle, passive resignation. Peacemakers are not wimps or doormats to be trampled on, but instead they are a calming, proactive force committed to rooting out the causes of alienation and hate. And Jesus said that peacemakers bear a striking resemblance to their Father in heaven.

So rethink the peace of Jesus this Christmas. Rather than the absence of conflict or a trouble-free life, the peace of Christ is the realized presence of God’s love in the midst of whatever this world throws your way. No, the peace of Jesus is not as the world gives.

originally appeared in The Mount Olive Messenger, Dec. 14, 2011

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Tis' the Season of Advent

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:24:00 GMT

For most people in American society today, the Christmas season begins the day after Halloween. I started hearing nonstop Christmas music on the radio the first week of November. But when I was a kid we never saw a Christmas decoration until after Thanksgiving. Now, professional marketers drive the great machinery of Christmas. Christmas is all about shopping, going to holiday parties, being with family, shopping some more, eating large meals, watching football games, getting in some deer hunting, school vacation, opening presents, returning presents, and doing more shopping at those after-Christmas sales. This time of year you’re as likely to be greeted with “Happy Holidays” as “Merry Christmas.”

Our modern celebration of Christmas does have a time for giving—and of course receiving. It is a time for reliving the magical story of flying reindeer and jolly old St. Nick, and roasting chestnuts over an open fire (although I’ve never actually seen anyone do this). For many people, above all else, Christmas is a time for being home with family—and that is a great thing. In fact, most of the things associated with our modern celebrations of Christmas are very good.

It’s just that the modern “spirit of Christmas” is almost completely detached from the spiritual significance of Christ’s birth. What we enjoy today—and what drives the American economy this time of the year—is a thoroughly cultural Christmas. It may be argued that our modern version of Christmas is fairly harmless and enjoyable for the most part. Others might argue that there is a conspiracy to “take Christ out of Christmas.” However, it’s not the job of the government, or society in general, to remind Christians of the true meaning of Christmas. That is the job of the churches. The story of Christmas is the church’s gift to the world not the other way around.

Enter the Season of Advent which is the beginning point of the Christian Year. The word advent is derived from the Latin meaning “to come” or “to arrive.” The church’s celebration of Advent as a season of preparation for Christmas can be dated back to the fifth century. The earliest recorded Feast of Christmas was held in 354 A.D. to celebrate the birth of Christ. Advent calls us toward God’s time of entering into human history. Advent intrudes as an opportunity for all followers of Jesus to recapture the significance of this season by pondering the mystery and meaning of his first coming and by being reminded that we are to live each day wide awake and watchful for his next coming. Rightfully so, Advent turns the tables on our culture’s version of Christmas.

In the season of Advent we have four Sundays to focus on the significance of the birth of Jesus. The church sanctuary may be decorated with the color purple (the symbol of royalty), a Chrismon Tree full of symbols of ancient Christianity, and the Advent wreath with four candles—one lighted each Sunday during Advent surrounding the Christ Candle which is lighted on Christmas Eve. You will also hear the unmatched sounds of Advent as we sing of Christ’s humble coming in the flesh to be the savior of the world.

So in the midst of our modern culturally-driven, stress-induced, and often peace-less Christmas season, I urge you to set aside some time each day for personal and family devotion and prayer. And be sure to gather with one of our local congregations for Advent worship in order to contemplate the significance and meaning of John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us… full of grace and truth.”

-this originally appeared as a guest article in the Mount Olive Messenger, Dec. 7, 2011

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Deep Faith Desire

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:46:00 GMT

I closed last Sunday morning's sermon with the words of a prayer of humility and faith from Thomas Merton. It may be the most powerful prayer, other than the Lord's Prayer, that I have found. I return to these words often and share them now with you.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to know you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road; Even though, I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always.

Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death; I will not fear, for you are with me. And you will never leave me to face my perils alone. AMEN.

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DEEP FAITH

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:00:00 GMT

This Sunday we will begin a seven week journey at FBC in spiritual formation. DEEP FAITH is a curriculum that I have spent many hours writing and developing over the past six months. I am excited that we are finally ready to begin this journey. Seven days for seven weeks is the goal for us as individuals and as a community to deepen our relationship with God. It is an opportunity to experience lasting transformation. I am convinced that for so many of us in the church, and outside the church, there is a gnawing sense that there's got to be more to life than what we are experiencing from day to day. It all begins by honestly evaluating our desires. Do you really desire to know God in a deeper way and experience life as God intends?

In our weekly worship, small groups, and daily personal devotions we will seek to create a space where God's Spirit can work within us. I hope and pray that our congregation will seize this opportunity to go beneath the surface. God desires for us to desire him and let our lives be shaped into the image of Christ. May a deeper faith begin in us, and ultimately through us, as we intentionally place our lives before our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Pray, participate, and plan for your life to be transformed! You can find out more about DEEP FAITH by clicking the icon on our home page.

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Three Days and Nights

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:09:00 GMT

It was Sunday night when we realized one of our cats was missing. For over two years the daily routine has been: pets outside during the day and inside the house at night. We have two cats and a dog—all female—which seems to provide some balance to our three boy universe, ying to our yang. (However, with son number one now in college the dog has defaulted to me.) My younger two sons each have a cat. The cats, and the boys, have a nightly drill. After showers and teeth-brushing is done, just before prayers, the cats assume their nightly position—Sox on Cole’s bed and Sophie on Noah’s bed. But Sunday night Sophie was nowhere to be found. This was the first full night in over two years that the cat had not come inside for the night. Noah, who is ten, was not happy about not having his sleeping buddy. We assured him the cat would show up. Next day, nothing. On Tuesday, I made some “cat missing” fliers and we put in them all over the neighborhood. Tuesday night came. Still nothing. I called Animal Control. Nothing. For three days and three nights we scoured the neighborhood calling for a cat that was not there.

Since we live next to a small swamp I began to fear the worst. On Monday I heard a story about a hawk that had recently snatched up a small dog living nearby and dropped it several miles away—near a Vet’s office ironically enough. That dog didn’t hunt again. I also heard about a coyote recently seen prowling the golf course behind my house. With each passing day Noah got droopier and droopier. It’s hard for a parent to watch a child suffer loss and not be able to fix it. But I knew there was nothing more we could do.

Then on Wednesday morning, as Noah and Cole were outside about to head off to school, suddenly Cole came running in the house saying, “I found Sophie!” “What? Where?” I asked. “In Miss Beth’s car! It’s still locked!” In a few minutes, after rustling up the next door neighbors, Sophie was free and Noah was a happy boy. Turns out curiosity almost killed the cat. Our good friends had been loading up their GMC Envoy on Sunday afternoon for a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Apparently, Sophie crawled undetected into their SUV during the loading of golf clubs, beach stuff, and luggage. For three days and nights Sophie hunkered down in the belly of a GMC never making a sound. They never knew she was in there!

So as this cat’s tale turns out, Sophie took a spontaneous vacation to South Carolina for three days with no food or water. She could have jumped out along the way or been run over. But instead she hunkered down for three days and nights entombed in a GMC… and Wednesday morning was like resurrection! After the initial joy, Noah and Cole had to rush off to school. But their joy was palpable. Their beloved cat that was as good as dead, they could now touch and see and speak to. She was alive and present! It was priceless. More than the cat’s return, seeing my son’s joy was the greatest satisfaction of all.

So I’m going to tell them tonight to remember how it felt to experience the surprise and joy of being reunited with someone they thought was gone forever. I want them to remember the sights, the smells, the touches of holding someone they thought they would never see again. Separation and loss is indeed painful and real—even if it involves a family pet.

In a small, tangible way, Sophie’s excursion to Hilton Head reminded me of just how joyful and tangible and real it will be one day to be reunited with those whom we have loved and lost. Our pain here is real, and sometimes we need a signal of the greater reality that awaits people of faith in the Christ who spent three days in a tomb. That final Easter morning is truly going to be glorious. In a strange and funny way, a curious cat and a little boy gave me a grace-filled moment—a foretaste of the gift of eternal life.

(Noah and Sophie two years ago.)

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The State of Faith

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 03:28:00 GMT

Here’s another indicator that America’s congregations are shrinking and people are thinking less about faith. In a report, “American Religion: Contemporary Trends,” author Mark Chaves concludes that over the last generation religious belief in America has experienced a “softening” in which far more people are willing to say they don’t belong to any religious tradition than in the past. Using data from over the past forty years, as many as 20 percent of all Americans say they don’t belong to any religious group compared to just 3 percent in the 1950s. Yet 92 percent claim a belief in God, but don’t identify with religion as a part of their identity. Researcher Bradley Wright says, “Forty or 50 years ago, it was almost a form of deviance not to be religious.”Chavis says these trends developed slowly and he doesn’t think they can be reversed by amped up evangelism or other efforts. The study also reported that older people are more likely to be religious than the young. No surprise there. Immigrants also tend to be active religious believers.

Call it a shift or a decline, but the religious landscape has changed greatly. People are more willing to leave the faith and traditions in which they were raised and demographics have certainly played a major factor in the decline of faith. Just more solid data that we in the church must reach down deep into our faith and make it real in our own lives before we can offer a faith with substance to the growing numbers of disinterested and disenfranchised people with whom we live and work each day.

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What to Pray for in a Hurricane

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:42:00 GMT

What do you pray for when a hurricane is approaching? For more on that question, we turn to George Stephanopoulos and the Reverend Pat Robertson.

Responding to a question on May 1, 2005 from ABC host George Stephanopoulos about why a God "so involved in our daily life” would allow a tsunami to kill hundreds of thousands of people, Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, replied: "I don't think He reverses the laws of nature. The reason for that tsunami was the shifting of tectonic plates in the Indian Ocean. I don't think he changes the magma in volcanoes and I don't think he changes the wind currents to bring about hurricanes. So, I don't attribute that to God, or his lack, or otherwise…" Good point.

Earlier, according to The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) on June 10, 1998, Rev. Robertson had claimed that his prayers to God helped steer Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and Hurricane Felix in 1995 away from Hampton Roads, Virginia, the headquarters of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. The Virginian-Pilot further noted that "Robertson also believes that various natural disasters are signs of God's will and that the world will suffer more of them before the arrival of 'the end of the age.'

So which is it? Does God reverse the laws of nature or does God direct hurricanes to wreak havoc and judgment upon some but not others?

Well, in Luke 13:1-5, Jesus asks: “Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Okay.

So those eighteen victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we’ll all be in the wrong place at the wrong time—metaphorically speaking—if we don’t repent. Not sure how much that helps my “what to pray for in a hurricane” question.

Next. In the Sermon on the Mount, in speaking about loving one’s enemies, Jesus says: “…for he (your Heavenly Father) makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). So now we have God sending sun and rain upon good people and bad people—perhaps through the laws of nature—regardless of their personal ethics or religious affiliation.

In conclusion, things happen both to good and bad, innocent and deserving people. Maybe God is directly, or indirectly responsible, and maybe not. We’ll probably never know on this side of eternity. But we do know that God is with us when the sun shines and when the rains fall and the winds blow.

Psalm 46:1-3,11 tells us: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

So, what do you pray for when a hurricane is approaching? I’ll be praying that the blasted hurricane will blow eastward out to sea! But I’ll also be gathering bottled water, batteries, duck tape, gas, chainsaw oil, and some charcoal for the grill just in case.

God will be with us, and God will be expecting us to be good neighbors to our brothers and sisters after the storm has passed.

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Shibboleth!

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:45:00 GMT

My sermon last Sunday was about the Canaanite woman Jesus encountered in the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon. In that encounter, Jesus blasted down a number of walls—culture, religion, and gender to name a few. I also mentioned an obscure story found in the Old Testament Book of Judges 11-12. It’s a sad and strange tale about a Gileadite warrior named Jephthah who would also later serve as a judge over Israel for six years. After Jephthah achieved victory over the Ammonites and sacrificed his daughter (which is another crazy story), the neighboring Ephraimites cross the Jordan River heading into Gileadite territory. A battle ensues in which the Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites. As the Ephramites are retreating they must pass through the fords of the Jordan held by the Gileadites.

So, whenever a fugitive of Ephraim comes requesting safe passage, the Gilaedites ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If the fugitive says “no” they said to him, “Then say the word shibboleth” which is a Hebrew word meaning both “ear of corn” and “river.”

Apparently the Ephraimites could not pronounce correctly shibboleth so they would end up saying “sibboleth.” If the fugitive says “sibboleth” instead of shibboleth then it’s obvious he is an Ephraimitie and he is killed. As a result, over 42,000 Ephraimites are killed at that time.

Ever since then, the word shibboleth has come to refer to “any expression that serves to distinguish one set of people from another” (The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible Vol. 15. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009:231-232).

So what’s the point? This strange and tragic story is perhaps the first time in recorded history where language is used as a dividing wall between people that ultimately determines whether one lives or dies. The way one pronounced a single word, i.e., one’s accent, determined whether he would live or die!

Think about how language has become a dividing wall between people these days? In politics and religion, in high school hallways and social circles. Words become gigantic walls that identify who is in and who is out—who’s with us and who’s against us.

Think about the examples of political, religious, and social snobbery you have already witnessed this week. Think about the pathetic level of public discourse that has taken place in American life over the past several weeks. While it's very tempting to mix politics and religion, the issue for God’s people is really about life in the kingdom of God. How are we then to live as people who have experienced the love and grace of God?

In the story of the Gileadites and Ephraimites, we see how words are used to identify the enemy and label someone as deserving of death.

In the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28—just as in his many encounters with Samaritans, tax collectors, and assorted sinners—Jesus blasts a gaping hole in the divisive walls that we erect in the name of geography, theology, ideology, or politics.

Jesus praises a woman who is outside his faith—for her great faith! What might he say to us today? What walls might we need to tear down? Christ wants to open our eyes to his embrace of the whole world … and to see the same possibility he sees in each person.

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Summer Slips Away

fbcmopastor@bellsouth.net — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:05:00 GMT

It’s been a busy and full summer. I’ve put almost 4,000 miles on the old Suburban driving to Florida and Mississippi. At church we’ve had children’s camp, youth camp, youth mission trip, and VBS. Thank you God for Felicia who is younger than me! A week from tomorrow I will be taking my first-born son to Charlotte for his freshman year of college while his two brothers will soon be in middle school. Many of our lifelong memories of “family time” come during the summer months. As this summer comes to a close soon, I will be holding the memories of this summer close, and looking forward to the new ones yet to be created. “But I will trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand” (Psalm 31:14-15a).

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