Looking at the BIG PICTURE!

Dear Crosswalkers, God would have us, on a regular basis, step back and take a look at the big picture for what God is doing in the world and how we can be a part of it.  This is such a time for Crosswalk Church.  God has blessed us in so many powerful ways, and yet as our Christian to the Core (C2C) studies have reminded us, we need to periodically revisit God’s vision for our church family and for our own individual lives.  To do this, we must remind ourselves of God’s call on our lives and then see how we can impact the world around us. According to the Barna Group, research from the past year reveals six major religious trends in America. These trends are called "megathemes."  According to Barna, these megathemes should encourage us to "revisit (our) criteria for 'success' and the measures used to assess it."  The six trends that Barna identified are: 1.  The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate. For example, research in 2010 showed that while most people regard Easter as a religious holiday, only a minority of adults associate Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 2.  Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented. Less than one-third of born again Christians planned to invite anyone to join them at a church event during the Easter season. 3.  Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life. Spiritual practices like contemplation, solitude, silence, and simplicity are rare, while the importance of lifestyle comfort, success, and personal achievements is growing. 4.  Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.Christians are becoming more open to involvement in the community, especially as it pertains to justice and service. 5.  The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.Possibly because of the fear of being labeled judgmental, Christians have become tolerant of a vast array of morally and spiritually dubious behaviors and philosophies. 6.  The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.While contemporary Americans find it difficult to identify any specific value that the Church has added to society, they have no problem identifying the faults of the churches and Christian people. I encourage you to mull over these trends.  Do you agree with the accuracy of this assessment?  How should this reality impact Crosswalk Church?  Where should we boldly stand against these trends?  How can you make a difference?  According to the Barna Group, "The Christian Church is in desperate need of a more positive and accessible image ... and the most influential aspect of Christianity in America is how believers do — or do not — implement their faith in public and private." This year, we are partnering with The Renewal Project and our friend, Doug Stevens, to guide us through a process of revisioning the future of Crosswalk Church.  The goal is for us to become the missional church God wants to us be.  This means rediscovering how we can build bridges into our community and impact our world to bring health, healing and salvation in the name of Jesus.  Please begin to pray for this process, and in March we will begin this adventure together with a new sermon series entitled “Building Bridges with your Life.” Meanwhile, this Sunday we will wrap up our present series on God’s blessings by looking at the blessing of a healthy family.  While this will be a practical study regarding our biological families, rest assured that this message will have something for everyone.  Why?  Because what the Bible teaches about biological families applies to our church family relationships as well!  Also, the key to having a healthy family is to always look to God as our heavenly Father!  I hope to see you in church this Sunday!! Blessings, Pastor John

What Do Pablo Picasso, Emily Dickinson, Tiger Woods, Ernest Hemingway, and Ulysses Grant have in Common?

Dear Crosswalkers,

A scholarly article in The Wilson Quarterly highlights a study that dispels the myth of the lone genius.  Apparently, we are made to work together in friendships and partnerships.  The study points out that the eminent social theorist Erik Erikson acknowledged that his wife of 66 years, Joan Erikson, worked with him so closely that it was hard to tell where her work left off and his began.  But she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry and he is world famous.  The study points out that the Frenchman Braque and the Spaniard Picasso created Cubism together, but the lively and witty Spaniard became the star while the quiet Frenchman was relegated to the shadows. Could Steve Jobs have reinvented Apple apart from the creative designer Jonathan Ive?  Maxwell Perkins was a great editor who discovered and shaped the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.  How much of their creative genius would have been realized without the genius of their editor and silent partner in the wings?  According to the rules of the PGA tour, professional golfers must play tournaments without coaches or managers. So the caddie ends up assuming the role of psychologist, strategist, and wise counselor.  Tiger Woods, has had caddie Steve Williams by his side for nearly 11 years.  Does Williams get the credit he deserves for his boss’s success on the links?  At the 2000 PGA Championship, on the second to the last hole of the tourney, Woods needed a birdie to catch the leader. Williams calculated his approach shot was 95 yards to the flag—but he told Woods 90.  Williams told Golf magazine: "Tiger's distance control was a problem, so I would adjust yardages and not tell him." Woods ended up hitting the ball inside two feet from the cup and went on to win. Williams has said that he gave Woods incorrect yardages for nearly five years!  Emily Dickinson was a poetic genius, but history has discovered her decades-long bond with her sister in law, Susan.  Dickinson called her “Imagination” and Susan was a constant source of inspiration to the famous Emily. 

In The Masculine Mandate: God's Calling to Men, author Richard Phillips shows us that behind many of the great men in history is a humble person, a quiet friend, who helped make that man great. Phillips writes:

There are two statues in Washington D.C. that together tell a remarkable story. One is the massive memorial to General Ulysses S. Grant that stands at the east end of the Reflecting Pool, literally in the morning shadow of the U. S. Capitol building. Visitors can hardly miss this majestic depiction of the legendary general atop his war stallion. Grant's military leadership was decisive to the Union's victory in the Civil War, and he is considered a symbol of the force of human will, an icon of the strong man who stands against the storm when all others have shrunk back.  Some two-and-a-half miles away, in a pleasant but nondescript city park, stands a more commonplace memorial. The statue of this lesser-known Civil War figure, Major General John Rawlins, has actually had eight different locations and is hardly ever noticed by visitors. Rawlins had been a lawyer in Galena, Illinois, where Grant lived just prior to the war, and he became Grant's chief of staff. Rawlins knew Grant's character flaws, especially his weakness for alcohol. At the beginning of the war, Rawlins extracted a pledge from Grant to abstain from drunkenness, and when the general threatened to fall away from that promise, his friend would plead with him and support him until Grant could get back on track. In many ways, it was Rawlins who stood beside the seemingly solitary figure of Grant the great general. Rawlins' memorial is modest compared to the mounted glory afforded Grant, yet without his unheralded love and support, Grant would hardly have managed even to climb into the saddle.

This Sunday we will look at “How to Have Healthy Friendships.”  The Bible says,

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.  If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble(Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Contemporary studies confirm what the Bible has said all along!  God made us for relationships, and that includes healthy, caring friendships.  We all need someone to confide in, someone who believes in us, someone who will be brutally honest with us, someone who will help us on the journey.  We need someone we can bless and encourage and invest our lives in.  Are you willing to be a quiet friend to someone?  Do you have a quiet friend to whom you can show your appreciation?

Why not invite a friend to come to church with you this Sunday as we celebrate healthy friendships?

I hope to see you in church this Sunday!!

Blessings,

Pastor John

Is Marriage Becoming Obsolete?

Dear Crosswalkers,

We are in a great series of studies on the fantastic subject of God’s blessings.  Any reading of the Bible has to conclude that God wants to bless his people.  In the month of February we are focusing on God’s particular blessing in relationships.  Last week, we saw that all healthy relationships are based on the biblical virtues of humility, authenticity, showing honor, acceptance and forgiveness.  We also saw how unhealthy and dysfunctional tendencies such as codependency can be overcome.

This week we will look at “How to have a Healthy Marriage.”  Our culture is clearly moving away from placing a high value on marriage.  A recent study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time magazine, indicates that four out of every ten people say marriage is becoming obsolete.  This is a marked increase from 1978, when 28% said marriage was no longer needed or desired.

According to the study, about 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married.  This is a fivefold increase from 1960.  Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married.

Here’s what an Associated Press story reported:

"Marriage is still very important in this country, but it doesn't dominate family life like it used to," said Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University. "Now there are several ways to have a successful family life, and more people accept them."  Still, the study indicates that marriage isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Despite a growing view that marriage may not be necessary, 67 percent of Americans were upbeat about the future of marriage and family. That's higher than their optimism for the nation's educational system (50 percent), economy (46 percent) or its morals and ethics (41 percent).   And about half of all currently unmarried adults, 46 percent, say they want to get married. Among those unmarried who are living with a partner, the share rises to 64 percent.

Maybe you heard the old joke that asks, “Why is marriage like a hot bath?”  Answer:  “Because once you get in it, it isn’t so hot anymore!”

It’s easy to make fun of marriage, devalue it, and even disregard it.  Yet the Bible teaches that marriage is God’s gift to people who fall in love and want to raise a family.  It was always God’s plan to have marriage be the foundation of a healthy society.  This is why at Crosswalk we regularly teach about healthy relationships in the marriage.  It is also why we encourage live-in couples to please God by getting married, and come alongside them with loving care and counsel to make it as easy as possible for them do to so.

At the same time, the single life is also affirmed by God.  Our Lord Jesus was never married (although interestingly, the Bible repeatedly says that the church is his “bride”); and the apostle Paul said he gave up the right to have a believing wife for the sake of advancing the Kingdom of God.  There is no shame in being single, and no one is a second class citizen in the church of Jesus Christ.  In fact, of Crosswalk members, 60% are married and 40% are single.  We praise God for our singles, and apply most of our teaching on marriage in such a way that it is valuable for friendships as well.

I hope to see you in church this Sunday!!

Blessings,

Pastor John

Learning from Sex Trade Professionals

Dear Crosswalkers,

In our series, "Healthy Habits:  The Life God Blesses," we now come to relational health.  For the month of February, Lord willing, we will look at how to have healthy relationships, marriages, friendships, and families.  We kick it off this week with the fact that God wants to bless us with healthy relationships.  So many have fallen into dysfunctional patterns of relating to each other and they don't know that there is a way out.  This Lord's Day, we will look at what the Bible has to say about overcoming unhealthy relational patterns and getting on track for relational health.

To get us thinking about the virtues that lead to relational health, I want to share a compelling story from my recent reading What Good Is God?, by Philip Yancey.  Yancey writes about being invited to speak at a conference on ministry to women in prostitution, or as they prefer to be called, Sex Trade Professionals.  He had written a book on God's Grace, and they wanted him to speak on the subject.  After some discussion with his wife, Yancey agreed to accept the invitation on the condition that he could have the opportunity to question the women and hear their stories.  This is what he writes about the end of his conversations with the women:

I had time for one more question. "Did you know that Jesus referred to your profession? Let me read you what he said: 'I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.' He was speaking to the religious authorities of his day. What do you think Jesus meant? Why did he single out prostitutes?"

After several minutes of silence a young woman from Eastern Europe spoke up in her broken English. "Everyone, she has someone to look down on. Not us. We are at the low. Our families, they feel shame for us. No mother nowhere looks at her little girl and says, 'Honey, when you grow up I want you be good prostitute.' Most places, we are breaking the law. Believe me, we know how people feel about us. People call us names: whore, slut, hooker, harlot. We feel it too. We are the bottom. And sometimes when you are at the low, you cry for help. So when Jesus comes, we respond. Maybe Jesus meant that."

Yes.  Maybe Jesus meant exactly that!  Here is one key to relational health that we won't have time to cover this Sunday:  Humility.  Humility of heart and mind is one of the great secrets to having a healthy relationship with God and with others.  The NT says,

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love(Ephesians 4:2).

...And all of you, serve each other in humility, for "God opposes the proud but favors the humble" (1 Peter 5:5).
Think about every relationship in your life.  Every one of them will be healthier if we add a heaping dose of humility!

I hope to see you Sunday!

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John Christie