Rincon Mountain Presbyterian Church

Some very significant birthdays occurred or will occur this month. Reggie Jones turned 80. Nick Dunlap, our Youth Director, turned 30. Marianne Evans, our Associate Pastor’s wife also had a birthday. Melissa Kruis, my daughter turns 15 today. Shelley, my wife, has a birthday in a few days–the same day as Thomas Palmer’s. Mini Finni, Emma Joy Finnegan, was born last Saturday, a bit premature but very healthy. I’m sure there are other birthdays in our church of which I was not aware. Since the last post spoke of new life I thought I’d follow it up with more of the same.

I wrote the following back in June and I was hesitant to post it then. I think I’m ready now. It may have been more helpful/meaningful to have posted it earlier.

The last two months of Susie’s life have been a blur. They have been very tough. From an ‘innocent’ visit to the ER, to admission into the hospital, to being on oxygen 24/7, to being on a machine that forced air into her lungs, to the ventilator in ICU, and finally the ventilator through a tracheotomy. And it only got tougher.

Last Friday I was present when the doctor clearly presented Susie’s desire to finish the race to her dear husband, Ross. There we stood, Ross at Susie’s right, me at her left and the doctor at the foot–each of us dressed in the yellow gowns meant to protect us from the infection inflaming Susie’s pic-line. She had put up a tough fight against the cancer that had spread through her body. She had endured the tough ordeal of the ventilator and tracheotomy for 3 weeks. She had resolved to give it her best shot at her husband’s request. Now came the tough job of convincing him it was time.

With a look of resolve, Susie locked eyes with the doctor and extended her right hand, palm up, first toward Ross and then toward me, inviting him to tell us the things she had written to him and to other staff. The doctor explained Susie’s condition, that she had been through a tough battle but that the cancer was too strong and too pervasive. She was ready to go and be with Jesus.

Oh, this was tough on Ross. He wasn’t ready then. He is not ready today. He will not be ready. Ever. But the longer Susie remained on the ventilator, the longer she would suffer. She had been tough–a real fighter–all of her life. A strong resolve fitted into that little frame. Never one to hold back on her respectfully held opinions, she  made them known up to the very end. And Ross knew she had had enough. He wanted more. More time. More laughter. More toughness. More Susie.

But the time had come to let her go. She needed to go to that place where there is no cancer, where there are no tears, where there is laughter and music and singing. She needed to be in the very presence of Jesus. He had been calling her home and the time had come.

So, around 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 18, the nursing staff–who made a tough time as easy as possible–began to administer morphine in order to help Susie fall into a deep sleep. Because our tough little gal had been on a pain medication 7-10 times stronger than morphine for some time, all the morphine did was wake her up and make her more alert. This was a blessing for her and for us.

The crowd in her room had swelled to a dozen people standing around in those yellow gowns. We sang hymns, we read Scripture, we caught up with each other and with Susie. We laughed, we cried, and we cried some more. Susie was as confused as we were as to why she wasn’t falling asleep. Each time she closed her eyes for some time a staff member would come in and test her alertness by gently calling her name and each time she would open her eyes wide and we would all laugh and she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

The staff began administering larger doses of the strong medication she was on while they continued the continuous drip of morphine. Susie stayed awake for several more hours but as we grew more quiet she grew more sleepy. Finally, Susie would not be aroused by touch or voice. She fell asleep.

Susie breathed on her own for about a half-an-hour and then a voice did rouse her. He called, “Susie. Dear, sweet, sister Susie, come. Come with me. Take my hand and walk with me and join me at the feast. It is time for laughter once again. And you’re going to be singing and dancing for some time. Here, have some new wine to quench your thirst.”

Life isn’t tough for Susie anymore–just for the rest of us.

The bad thing about patience is that it takes so long to get it. I mentioned this in a sermon recently and it seemed to strike a chord with the congregation. We want patience and we want it now. How long are we willing to wait for what we want? Is God teaching us that what we want is not what we need when it takes so long to get it?

The Greek word for patience is ‘macrothumia’ which is a compound word. We recognize the first part, ‘macro’, which we kind of know means big or extended or large. But what does ‘thumia’ mean? ‘Thumia’ actually means ‘anger’. So, ‘macrothumia’ literally means ‘a long time to get angry’. And this makes sense, doesn’t it? If it takes me a long time to get angry over an issue then I have learned patience in that situation.

I am growing in patience. It takes me much longer to get angry over things that would set me off in a heartbeat. At the same time, I still have a lot more patience to learn. I’ll just take my time and not get angry!

I was recently asked this question by a parishioner:

“I would like to purchase some Reformed commentaries. Would you recommend a few for me to purchase?”

For what it is worth, here was my response:

“Great question. There are not many commentaries that go verse-by-verse unless there are multiple volumes. There is an excellent set of commentaries on the New Testament called New Testament Commentaries by Hendriksen and Kistemaker that are on sale right now at Amazon for $140. They are reformed and have some technical material, i.e. Greek references, but they are good for laymen as well. A great Old Testament set of commentaries is Keil and Delitzsch but those are even a bit more pricey.

Ryken’s Bible Handbook is a great reformed resource but it is not really a commentary. It gives the big picture on the books of the Bible but does not get into verse-by-verse commentary.

One book that has really, really impressed me is the new ESV Study Bible. It is not a commentary per se but it has excellent verse-by-verse notes along with charts and maps and many other helps. World magazine named it Book of the Year last year. If you buy one, you are also given a code that allows you access to the online addition which is not different from the hard copy but it is very helpful to be able to use it online. It is on sale right now at Amazon for $31 and I would highly recommend it.

Matthew Henry’s commentary on the Bible is a six volume set that you can usually get from Amazon for less than $100 and it covers the entire Bible. Henry is a puritan so it is a little old but it is good theology and it does go verse-by-verse.

Another thought is if you are willing to use online materials then monergism.com is a great site. You can find multiple reformed commentaries on every book of the Bible at that site.”

If you’ve got other ideas or recommendations let me know.

Luke and Nick and I go eat at a local restaurant every Wednesday for lunch in order to sample the local fare but also to get to know and be known in the community. We’ve enjoyed my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Molinitos, often but have expanded our horizons by visiting My Big Fat Greek Restaurant (great lunch specials), its more local counterpart, Zayna’s Mediterranean Bistro (near Le Buzz) and Le Buzz itself. Sertinos, Fortunatos, and Viv’s are also on the list.

We have utilized these lunch opportunities to enjoy good food and have great discussions. We try to focus our discussions on the vision for the church and how our ongoing ministry fits into that vision. They have been very profitable discussions.

But we noticed one significant detail at each of our luncheons. Because there are three of us we are almost always seated at a table with four chairs. There is often an empty chair at the table. One day while we were talking over a nice gyro with tangy tzatziki sauce about how to engage the community, Nick suggested that we fill the empty chair with a community leader. If we can get a local principal from a local school, a local business owner, a local librarian, a local fireman, or other local pastors to join us for lunch each week we’ll get to know the needs of this community from someone who works or serves here.

When we have these community leaders fill the empty chair we want the conversation to not center on the church but on the answers to these two questions: “What does your organization/business need most?” and “What do you see as the most pressing needs in this community?”

Our goal is that the chair never be empty and that when we hear of some of these needs we see how RMPC can help meet them. If you know of someone who needs to sit in our empty chair let me know.

I have recently been challenged in my thinking on this biblical concept especially in my role as pastor. I am often seen as, and can be led to think of myself as, the lead person in the work of the church here at Rincon Mountain. And in some ways I am the lead person. As I pray and read and think about the work of the church and the roles of all the believers, I have been called to discern God’s vision for us and to cast that vision among the body. As one who has been specifically trained for teaching and preaching the word of God, I am to lead by example and in instruction.

But my leading in these ways necessitates following or followers. Pastor Luke and I are no different than the rest of the body in that we are all to be making disciples. This calling is common to all in the church. We are all to make disciples as we all prayerfully speak the word of God to those around us. This is the truest sense of the priesthood of all believers. We have all been set aside to live holy lives and we do this as we all grow in discipleship. I need to feed on the word of God as I study it  and as I hear it taught and preached. As I grow I become a better disciple and I am better equipped to engage those around me by prayerfully speaking the word of God to them.

We are all part of the same mission team, equipping each other in the word of God in order  to better engage each other and the world with the the word of God.

It is critical when we begin to think about engaging others in our lives with the truth of the gospel that we 1) understand the gospel, 2) make it a practice to prayerfully “preach the gospel to ourselves” on a regular basis, and 3) prayerfully speak the word of God to others.

The ‘others’ to whom we should prayerfully speak the word of God begin with those we know best, i.e. family members and close friends. Most likely, if we have been believers in Christ for some time then these folks will also be believers. Some may be strong in their faith and others may need encouragement in their faith. Next, we can share with those who have already expressed some interest in spiritual matters or are curious about the faith claims of Christianity. Finally, we can prayerfully speak the word of God to those who are unbelievers.

I recently received a link to a blog that gave some great tips for how to begin to be more evangelistic. Here are the tips and the link. Start soon to put these tips into practice.

A Few Tips from J. D. Greear for Gospel Sharing

* I frequent the same places. People in our society don’t respond well to strangers, so I try to eat, drink coffee, buy gas, get my car worked on, and shop, etc at the same places. Relationship is not essential for evangelism, but it sure helps. At most of those places I mentioned people know me by name. Inevitably a chance comes up to pray for them, ask about their lives, invite them to church, etc. For example, several of the people from my local coffee shop have started to come to our church, and a few have become believers and gotten baptized. My mechanic has recently attended our church.

* Where relevant, I leave BIG tips. Especially if I know someone is having a bad day. I’ll jot a little note and tell them I’m praying for them.

* I ask people, sometimes, how I can pray for them. Most people don’t mind to be prayed for, and if they don’t want to talk, they answer shortly and I let it drop.

* I invite them to church. Over and over.

* When in a conversation, I use an acrostic I learned years ago to help guide the conversation. F- Family; I- interests; R- Religion; E – Evangelism. Yes, that can seem wooden, I know… but it can also help you move a conversation along. Sometimes in talking about religion I’ll say, “Do you feel like you have a relationship with God?” I get the most interesting responses back to that question. And usually, it provides me a chance to tell them my story… how I grew up in church but came to know God personally later. As I talk about how I came to know Christ, I make sure to give the Gospel along the way. People don’t like to be preached to, but they do like to be asked their opinions, and they do like to hear your story.

Here is the link to this blog: http://thecripps.net/a-few-tips-from-j-d-greear-for-gospel-sharing

“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you remembering you in my prayers” Ephesians 1:15, 16

This past Sunday I preached on powerful prayer noting that in the verses above and those that follow in Ephesians 1, the apostle Paul shows that he makes it a point to practice powerful prayer. In verses 15 and 16 he gives ample reason for us to pray powerful prayers. In verse 17 he shows us the right recipient of our powerful prayers (the source of the power). And in verses 17b-21, he discloses the content of powerful prayers.

I recently read this definition of prayer: prayer is calling out to God to pour out the Holy Spirit upon us that his word would be made effective in our hearts. This is from the excellent book on the ministry of the church, The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. The power of prayer is found in the one doing the praying when the Holy Spirit is present there. The power of prayer is found in the recipient of the prayers, the triune God. The power of prayer is found in the content of the prayer when they prayer is in line with Scripture (“thy will be done on earth…”).

I look forward to growing in the practice of powerful prayer and I look with great anticipation for the results of praying powerful prayer.

When I asked our congregation at a recent meeting if they could tell me the vision of our church not a single soul raised a hand. Now I’m sure that many were just a little nervous about declaring the vision of the church in front of so many people. Others exercised their humility and did not want to impress others with their obvious grasp of the vision. No, those are not correct. The stark, sad reality is no one knew the vision of the church.

Wow! That told me a lot. It told me that I was not doing my job as primary vision caster of the church. It told me that our vision was too complex, too simple, or too confusing. It told me that our church was floundering for lack of vision. Those are hard things to admit when the responsibility lies right in my lap.

Fortunately, our leadership at RMPC recognized that this was the case going into that meeting. We were prepared to launch a new, challenging and exciting vision for our church: EQUIP TO ENGAGE. We are excited about how this simple phrase captures what we have been good at to this point, EQUIPing, and moves us forward in where we need to grow and flourish, ENGAGing.

I will share with you some of the ideas we talked about in the congregational meeting on Oct. 25 and, in the coming weeks, continue to outline what this vision means for our church. Also, I will be taking the month of January 2010 to preach on the vision of the church.

Here is some of what we talked about on October 25:

Former Vision statement: to develop a community in Tucson that knows Jesus Christ and makes him known for the purpose of building up godly families. We have done well at the first part ‘knows Jesus Christ‘ and admit that we struggle at doing the second half ‘makes him known‘ at all.

Rincon Mountain Presbyterian Church is not a destination. Our body is a catalyst for transformation through the gospel. Our body catapults people out into the community to practice gospel transformation. We have lived up to our name: Rincon or ‘corner’. Now it is time to get out of the corner and into the community.

The new and exciting vision of RMPC is summed up in three words:

EQUIP TO ENGAGE

RMPC is committed to Gospel transformation through living as:

• His Voice – the strong ministry of proclamation and instruction in the word of God
• His Body – the intimate ministry of connection, fellowship, and care
• His Hands – the active ministry of service and mercy to the city of Tucson through word and deed ministry; and
• His Feet – the sending ministry of mission & outreach both locally and globally

Some of our commitments:

• We are committed to gospel transformation through gospel proclamation and gospel saturation.
• We are committed to increasingly intimate expressions of fellowship and care within our body.
• We are committed to collaborative work in the city and globally.
• We are committed to being a church of open doors. We want no closed doors.

The sermon series in January 2010 will focus on the four ways we are called to live out gospel transformation: His voice, His body, His hands, and His feet.

If you’re into indie music and love excellent music then here is a good place to go and check out:

http://www.theblackatlantic.com/

Enjoy!