FOUNDRYcast

It is 2016, we a dependent on our devices. I heard someone the other day say “ how did anyone get anywhere before GPS?” But the thing about our electronic devices, our cell phones, our internet routers etc. is that they must be within range of the appropriate emitted signals in order to be of any use. To put it another way, while signals are being emitted all around us, they don’t do us any good unless we utilize the proper receivers.

This week we are going to look at a story about the young prophet Samuel (you can read this story right here). In this story we will see how Samuel hears from God but doesn’t recognize the voice of the one he serves, doesn’t receive the signal if you will. We will see how a shift in what Samuel expects changes everything for him and will ask ourselves what it is we expect.

This story like most in the Bible clues us into who God is, and in this case the story comes right out and says it: God is a God who comes and God is a God who calls. God comes to and calls out to Samuel, until he is ready to respond. And we know as a people who just celebrated Christmas that God is a God who has come to us and now present amongst us is one who calls us each to follow him.

Join us this weekend as we celebrate a God who come and who calls.

Waiting is part of the holiday season. Kids are waiting for Christmas vacation, gifts and seeing their family. Adults wait for some time off, travel and other parts of celebrating the season. The biggest question I remember asking as a kid during Christmas was "Are We There Yet?" This question is part of travel, waiting on the vacation to start and when Santa is coming.

This Sunday we looked at the experience of waiting in the life of Joseph, Mary and the rest of the world. They were asking "Are We There Yet?" just like all of us have. Chad breaks down some of the emotions Jesus' parents had during their own season of waiting.

Our scripture text came from Luke chapter 2 (you can read it right here).

Through reading scripture we see the different emotions based off of waiting.

1. What Are You Waiting For?
2. The Waiting is the Hardest Part
3. The Wait is Over.

Thanks for being part of worship this year. We will see you again on January 3rd.

What happens when we read the New Testament scripture that fulfills the Old Testament scripture before we read that Old Testament scripture itself? What happens when we realize that Advent comes before Christmas, but also after Christmas, since Advent rolls around every year. What happens when we start feeling the tension between longing and fulfillment – between “the now and the not-yet?”

Jesus comes into our world to bring about absolute change. He does this in three different ways and promised to do it thousands of years ago through the prophet Isaiah.

And...how Cousin Eddie teaches us this all.

What is waiting? As a kid we all waited for many different things. Advent, a historical celebration of the church, is a season all about waiting. Advent asks us to do three things and they are all wrapped up in time.

1. Reflect on the people who were waiting on Jesus to come. (the past)2. Reflect on what Jesus is doing around us right now. (the present)3. Prepare for the return of Jesus. (the future)

This Sunday we talked about the role of prophecy, not as future telling but as truth telling. When we are preparing and waiting for Jesus, we will be put in situations of truth in our own lives. By waiting, we are confidently expecting God to do everything he said he would.

So what is hope?

There are some words that we use so often, in so many different ways that I think that they loose meaning all together. This week in spending time in chapter six of Hebrews I realized that one of those words is hope. I use it all the time in my everyday interactions: “Hope this email finds you well,” “I hope the weather is better tomorrow,” “ I hope she remembers to bring that package,” “I hope you have a great day.” And we use it all the time in church, especially in the upcoming Advent/Christmas season as we await the coming of Jesus. Hope is a buzz word of sorts during Christmas.

We’ll talk about what hope is NOT. A preview here, hope is not a vague sense that things are going to turn out alright, hope is not just something we just think about, and hope is not simply a wish.

We’ll talk about what our scripture says hope IS. Let’s just say it has something to do to with who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and what he is doing amongst us.

And of course we will talk about what any of this has to do with us gathering in a gym turned sanctuary every Sunday morning at 10am.

Get ahead on your reading here (Hebrews 6:18-20) and join us this week as we think about why weekly worship matters.

When I was a kid we still had night church. I remember trying to skip church once I hit high school. One time Mom caught me and told me to get there right away. So I did. The only problem was I was wearing cut-off shorts and a Guns N Roses T-shirt. Let’s just say the night didn’t end well.

Those are big questions. And they make us ask even more questions.

What is actually going on during that hour on Sunday when we come together that makes it different than the rest of the week? What happens “at church” that is different from sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee or sitting in a stand or blind somewhere? How are our kids affected by not being in worship?

One of my gripes is when I hear people individualize Sunday morning. If we think of ourselves as individuals in the middle of tons of other people…it is easy to justify not being part of worship.

But Jesus calls His church the bride of Christ. The New Testament talks a good bit about the church being gathered together in worship. In Revelation, we don’t see anything about the individual in eternity, but plenty about the church worshiping together. Something happens when the church worships well. When it doesn’t…well scripture tells plenty of stories of how the lack of worship affects mission, purpose, serving the poor and many other issues.

Over the next 5 weeks, Foundry is going to be talking about worship and why worship matters. We will be using the book of Hebrews for our conversations. Tomorrow, we will specifically be talking about WHY we worship. You can read ahead and get ready for Sunday. We would love to see you there.

So what do you think of character of God is like?

As we have been talking about #DoOvers these last 6 weeks, we have focused on some of our mistakes and some of the second chances God has given us. We’ve talked about fun things, good things, crummy things and disastrous things.

What do you think the attitude of Jesus is like when we get a #DoOver?

In our own brokenness, I think we often think Jesus is frustrated with us when we need a second chance. But if we look at the whole story of scripture we can see a drastically different outlook than what we create on our own.

In Revelation 21 we read about the whole story of what Jesus is doing. We learn more about Jesus being big enough and where Jesus decides to spend eternity.

The biggest help we find out in this story has to deal with our own worries. How do we live with them, get away from them and live life without worries overcoming and overwhelming us? We read what God himself, the Creating Father, has to say about worries and how we can find hope in the future pulled into the present.