MCC Podcast

This week Eric and I will be team-teaching what the Bible says about dating. You might be surprised.  

And we have intentionally timed our Real series about relationships for February because, whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day makes almost everyone think about romance. I wonder if you realize how big of a deal the day we just celebrated is. It is a day recognized around the world that celebrates love. While February 14 marks a day of candy, flowers, greeting cards, and romantic dinners around the United States, other parts of the world have their own unique ways to celebrate.  

In the United Kingdom anonymous valentines are sent to romantic interests because it is believed that signing their name to the card is considered bad luck.  

In Wales, rather than celebrate love on February 14, residents celebrate St. Dwynwen’s Day on January 25. St. Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers and men traditionally gift women with hand-carved wooden spoons.  

In Japan women make the first move on Valentine’s Day. They give men gifts instead of the other way around, a popular gift being honmei-choco, a homemade chocolate. Men return the gesture on March 14, when men give women white chocolate and other white gifts as a sign of their affection.  

Finland and Estonia celebrate Friend’s Day on February 14, a day for honoring both friends and significant others. Cards and gifts are still given out and can be for anyone from a best friend to a neighbor. February 14 is also a popular day to get engaged in both countries. Additionally, Estonia has an interesting tradition for single people - they can take a ride on the Love Bus in hopes of meeting someone special. Anyone else hearing the background song for the show? Sorry.  

You may be in a romantic relationship (or one that used to be and you wish was again). 

You may wish you were dating someone. 

You may wonder what God has to say about the relationship you’re in. 

You may wonder how what God says compares/contrasts to what our culture says.  

This Sunday we will begin that conversation.

This Sunday I will be talking about friendship in general and how to be a good friend (which also tells you what to look for in those you call “friend”).  

And you already know why this is important. Friendship is good for our soul. Friends can make the ordinary, extraordinarily fun. And good friends ease our pain and lighten our heavy load.  

But not only are friends good for the soul, they’re good for the body as well.  

Friends help us:  

ward off depression 

boost our immune system 

lower our cholesterol decrease 

the odds of coronary disease 

and keep stress hormones in check. 

According to Harvard Health, dozens of studies have shown that people who have social support from family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.  

Conversely, a relative lack of social ties is associated with depression, later-life cognitive decline, as well as increased mortality.  

One study, which examined data from more than 309,000 people, found that the lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50%.  

No wonder God says so much about how to do relationships. And as if to make the point, this goes all the way back to the beginning.

This week we conclude our Streaks series by being reminded, because I think we all know this, that we are not meant to do our faith journey alone. 

We are born to belong.  

We are created for community.  

And whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we spend our whole lives trying to fit in, get in, and stay in. It almost doesn’t even matter what “in” is; we just want to belong somewhere.  

Romans 12:5 (NIV) reminds us that in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  

In a healthy-functioning community of disciples of Jesus we are deeply connected to one another, and when something happens, good or bad, the instinctive response is to rally around one another.  

We will also be reminded that community is not only how we impact each other, but how we impact the world.

This week, Jason Beaver continues our series Streaks by focusing on the habit of Generosity. Jason walks us through the importance of making generosity a regular habit and how it will push to a deeper level of faith when we commit to a plan of regular generosity.

This Sunday we look at a conversation Jesus had that speaks about a 3rd streak we need to be shooting for that is the biggest catalyst for those who are younger disciples. By the way, I don’t mean your age or how long you’ve been following. As a matter of fact, you may have been following Jesus for years or decades and still be a young disciple. And if this habit is not part of your walk, you will stay there.  

This streak comes up in a conversation that started with a question: “Who is my neighbor?” And we find out that being a good neighbor (read that disciple of Jesus) is really just about opening your eyes to the simple things you can do to help someone in need.

Streaks are something that you want to do (or not do) intentionally and consistently because it gets you somewhere you want to go. They are not something someone or something can do for you. You actually have to do it. It’s not something that can be set on autopilot. It requires action on your part.  

Last week we began with the disciplines that surround scripture. By far, the number one catalyst for growth in your faith, regardless of how long you have been following Jesus, is how you engage the Bible.  

This week it’s about prayer.  

A friend once said to me, “A church cannot grow beyond the prayers of its people.” Do you believe that?  

This week we look at why praying is one of the streaks that a disciple of Jesus must have, what we need to make sure our prayers include, and how to make it a daily streak.

This weekend we will begin a series called Streaks. The idea for this series is that there are habits or disciplines that, as disciples of Jesus, we need to develop that will have their greatest impact on our lives if we do them consistently and often. 

Daily is what we should be shooting for. 

Hence - streaks.  

During this series we’re going to look at what God uses in our lives so that we are being changed by Jesus.  

This Sunday we are beginning with the disciplines that surround scripture. By far, the number one catalyst for growth in your faith - regardless of how long you have been following Jesus - is how you engage the Bible.  

Paul wrote to Timothy, (2 Timothy 2:15 NIV),” Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  

This weekend we will see how we can make this streak a reality in our life.

As we start our year I want to remind you that when we say disciple at MCC we mean someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus.  

So this Sunday I want to talk about chairs.  

Have you ever played musical chairs? Probably when you were younger, maybe at a birthday party? Everyone is in a circle and there is one less chair then there are people and someone plays music and when it stops you find a chair. When I was a Student Pastor, we played full contact musical chairs with our high school students. That just removes the pretense of being polite. That was fun.  

I’m going to guess that most of us continue to play this even as adults, we just may not recognize it as the game. But we stand up, We move from this chair to that one, We stake our claim. We want to be the last one sitting in the winning chair because we all know that where you end up sitting in life is a big deal.  

So as we sit on the edge of a new year, I want us to stop and think about where you are currently sitting when it comes to life and your relationship with God. Because, and I want to make sure you get this, where you end up sitting in life is a big deal.

We will remind ourselves what Jesus has brought into our lives and still offers to people today, a message of hope.  

This year we will have 3 Christmas Eve services: 

December 23 at 7:00pm 

December 24 at 5:30pm and 7:00pm  

I’d like to ask a favor. When you determine the service you intend to be part of, please RSVP. 

There are 3 ways you can do that: 

- our website on the Christmas tab 

- a link on our Facebook page 

- The sign-ups tab on our Church Center app 

We’re asking MCCers to do this so we can anticipate how many will be in the room for each service. This also allows us to plan well for children in our nursery and preschool classrooms which will be available for all 3 services.  We know that we have people from the community who will not know to do this so we want to make sure we have plenty of room for everyone. We can and will be ready to expand seating as needed. Thank you for your help in being prepared for that.

This Sunday Rich will continue our Ugly Christmas Sweater series talking about “the blues.” Christmas can be a time seasoned with disappointment. Perhaps you have heard me say that Christmas is the Great Exaggerator. Whatever you are feeling the rest of the year - at Christmas time - the volume gets turned up.