Meeting Time

This past Sunday was weird.We didn’t have worship service at CCF. Along with many churches in our area, the snow put a halt to our normal activities. Not having worship service on Sunday was even more significant as we had not met during the week before Christmas either.

It was a strange Sunday. I wrestled with regret for not having a meeting of some kind during the week and wondered how we might manage to have an extra service in the coming week. Hopefully our CCF Family has been able to enjoy some extra time with family and friends but it’s Christmas right? “Jesus is the reason for the season” and all that…you know, if you are a Christian you “should” be in church at Christmas. Even people who never attend church any other time of the year go at Christmastime.

“Why didn’t you all have a Christmas Eve Service?”

These are some of the thoughts and questions that have been looping through my brain over the last 48 hours or so.

A pastor’s mind can sometimes drive a person crazy!

It was really good to have extra uninterrupted family time. We laughed and ate and Jordyn and I watched a lot of football and laughed some more when Becky said “The Giants just don’t look right in green and gold!” (she thought the G on the Packer helmets was for Giants). My wife is an awesome woman but definitely NOT a football fan.

We certainly made the most of the snow day but I was unable to completely escape the questions and concerns that I incessantly ponder this time of year about worship services, special events, etc. Like I said, I sometimes drive myself crazy!

I finally gave up thinking about it last night and escaped into a book that I received as a Christmas gift. “Bonhoeffer- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxes. As Christianity Today accurately says, it is a massive biography so I only read about one fifth of the book last night. I have read Bonhoeffer’s writings before but not a biography. From Metaxas’ book, I am getting a better understanding of this compelling figure of modern history. Bonhoeffer questioned the status quo. He was raised in a family that placed great importance on the truth and as a result, his theological studies alone would not satisfy his soul. The very existence of theology suggested the existence of God. And if God was, then knowing Him had to be more than religious exercise. The church had to be more than just a place for ritual and formality. The God of the universe could not be confined to a building or organization. Bonhoffer observed, in his day, that the church had become “the most grandiose of all human attempts to advance towards the divine.” And further stated that it is“far too easy for us to base our claims to God on our religiosity and our church commitment, and in doing so to utterly misunderstand and distort the Christian idea.”

 Of course Bonhoeffer was observing a different culture and time. The German Lutheran Church in the 1920’s was probably quite different from the average evangelical church of America 2010, but the principle is the same. The Christian “idea” is that God came to us. This is Christmas right? At least what Christians say is the reason we celebrate.  The Word became flesh and we received grace and truth through the person of Jesus Christ.

Our religiosity may be less formal but just as capable of serving as a distorted substitute for an actual personal relationship with God, which is the most incredible gift and only hope that any of us have.

As much as I love my church (and I do). As much as I love worshipping with, praying with and preaching the word at CCF, it is all about the real and living person of Jesus Christ. He is. He has always been and He never changes. He never leaves or forsakes us. He is never snow bound or hampered. Nothing slows down or prohibits Him. He is not dependent on us keeping our scheduled worship services intact.

Along with the instruction to preach the word, pray together, worship together and love one another, God’s word also says: “Be still and know that I am God.” “Come unto Me all who are weary and heavy laden.” “Pray in secret.” To His disciples He reveals the “secrets” of the Kingdom and scripture promises that God will judge the “secrets” of man in Christ Jesus. He is personal and involved in every aspect of our personal lives.

He is the God who revealed His glory in the Temple and promised that the gates of Hell would never prevail against His church.

He is also the God who ministered to Elijah in a cave, appeared to Moses in the wilderness, rescued Jonah from the belly of a whale and revealed His future plans to the Apostle John while he was in exile on Patmos.

He has been faithful to His own in the cathedral and the dungeon. The King’s Courts and the slave quarters. He makes poor and makes rich. Brings low and exalts. There is no place where He does not see and the darkness is as light to Him.

His Spirit knows no bounds and He is unimpressed with the loftiest expressions of religion, largest of churches or number of meetings.

He runs to the humble and heals the broken. He is love! He is life! He is salvation! He is our righteousness! He is! When we worship and when we don’t. When we meet together and when we don’t. When we “have church” and when we don’t.

Our most grandiose attempts to reach the divine have failed but He has reached us!

In human form, with all the fullness of God, He came to us as a servant and although our sins had separated us from God, He made peace by the blood of His cross. In His body of death He has reconciled us to God. By His resurrection He has defeated the last enemy, death. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together and still He stands at the door of our hearts and desires personal fellowship with us! You! Me! Think about that. During this time when we can’t meet together, I have been reminded that the Lord of the universe stands waiting to meet with me. I hope you have too.

If He is willing, I will see you soon. We will sing to Him, pray to Him, talk about Him and celebrate Him together! 

Time to Post

2010 is almost gone. Wow. What a year it has been for the Burton family! We even went to Narnia! OK, it was Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs (we were there in April).
As usual my blogging has been lacking. My last entry was lamenting the end of summer and now here we are on the verge of Thanksgiving! It has been quite a year and looks to finish with a real bang.
My oldest, Amanda, her husband Josh and my grand daughter Jaelynn are in town and it has been great to see them some. My brother-in-law, Ryan is getting married the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend and then of course, the Christmas festivities begin and take us blazing into 2011...whoa!
Just amazes me how time keeps moving faster. The Lord is good and we keep trusting Him. He is good and His mercy endures forever! I am so glad that my God is not intimidated by time. He is not intimidated by anything!

Where Did Summer Go?

I haven't blogged in quite a while so I thought I would write a short one. About time right DP?
Seems like I have been busier than ever. Don't know if I really have or I am just older and get tired quicker.
It has been a good Summer. Hot but good. We took our annual family beach trip and enjoyed it immensely. I did some serious reading and had some great time with the Lord. No cellphone. No computer....I needed that. Probably need a lot more of that.
Jordyn and I have not played much tennis this Summer. She is a busy girl...working and everything else and it has been super hot outside. We did go to the court this past Sunday night and played a set. It was so fun.
Maybe we will get some time in when the weather breaks a little but since she is starting college that could be a challenge. Oh well. There are certainly more important things than tennis.
Every year about this time I get a little sad that Summer is winding down and this year is no exception but I am excited that Beck and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage this September! I love that woman. She is simply the best! And she is my wife. Wow! God is so good to me!
Amanda has been here most of the Summer while Josh serves in Afghanistan. We have enjoyed spending time with her and our granddaughter Jaelynn.

CCF is always cool. I love being a pastor!
God is always working and we have been blessed to see Him continue to move and work in Community Christian Fellowship. We love our family in Christ and look forward to seeing what the Lord will do next in and through the believers of CCF.
So that is about it for this one. Did not have any philosophical comments or observations on my mind. Just checking in. Sometimes it's cool to go back and look at old posts. Kind of like a journal. Man I wrote some lengthy ones in the past. Once I get started sometimes I can't stop (just ask the people I preach too!)
See you soon!

In The Clouds

Beck, Jordyn and I had the opportunity to travel to Colorado Springs last week and we were amazed at what we saw. First, the reason why we went: Amanda had a baby! Yes, I am a grandfather...kind of freaky.
It is another one of those milestones in life that reminds me how fast time is flying and how fleeting this life is.
I can remember like it was yesterday, the first time I met Amanda. I went to see Becky (I was in love...still am) and she crawled up on my lap, looked me dead in the eye and said: "Are you Jim Burton?" She was 2. That was 20 years ago.
Now Amanda is a mother!
Her daughter's name is Jaelynn Isabella Rivera and she is beautiful and healthy, by the grace of God.
For more pics of our trip and to see Jaelynn click on my wife's blog: http://www.beckums.blogspot.com/
Amanda and Josh (her husband) are doing well. Josh is an officer in the Army and currently stationed at Fort Carson. They hope to be moving much closer to Virginia before too long but for now they live in beautiful Colorado Springs so we got to go there.
So while we were in Colorado Springs last week, we visited a couple of popular sites. Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak. The above picture was taken from about 13,000 feet, near the summit of Pike's Peak. In the  clouds. It was awesome. 
We were "in the clouds" all week, literally, spiritually and emotionally. God is awesome. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1: "His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made."
He made it all. Pike's Peak. The Garden of the Gods. Amanda. Jaelynn. Me...and you. He made it all and it (you and me included) all belongs to Him. Psalm 24:1
"The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
   the world and those who dwell therein."
Have you acknowledged your maker? The One by whose will you live and move and have your being? This awesome Creator has revealed His eternal power and divine attributes in the things that He has made and He has revealed His divine love through His Son Jesus Christ.
Even though mankind saw the mountains, the sea, the stars and the miracle of  new life, we rebelled against God. 
We all went our own way. We all broke His Holy Laws. We all alienated ourselves from the very God who created us...but He still loves His creation so He made a way for us to be reconciled unto Him.
Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through Me." 
The Bible says there is no other name given under heaven by which men might be saved other than the name of Jesus. 
He took our sins. He took our rebellion. He took our shame. He took it upon Himself and went to the Cross. Laying down His life. Shedding His blood. Dying a criminal's death and paying our price. He rose again on the third day, defeating death and He has ascended into heaven and has all authority in heaven and on earth and one day all will know this. 
The Bible says that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead. The One who made those peaks. The One who knit together Jaelynn in Amanda's womb. He is coming. What will you say when you stand before Him?
Look at His creation. Look at your life. Look at your heart. Confess your sins and your need to be forgiven. Repent and trust Jesus to save you. He will lift you from the pit into the clouds! 

Investment Strategy

Have you seen any of these commercials recently about buying gold? They warn of the falling dollar, rising debt and volatile stock market while talking about the solid value of gold.

Yesterday Becky and I were eating supper and the TV was on when an ad for “goldline.com” came on. It depicts a professional looking couple in their mid 30’s, preparing some dinner maybe, as if they just got in from “the office.”

They are discussing money and the man says something like “Maybe it’s time we rethink our investment strategy.”

I started pondering this statement. “Maybe it’s time we rethink our investment strategy.”

The ad was obviously designed to convince people with stocks or savings of some kind to consider investing in gold but I began to think about my own investment strategy. I have no stocks to worry about or other monies that I need to be careful with but I have been blessed with very valuable commodities. We all have.

One very valuable commodity that we all are given is time. Time is so precious. We are only given a certain amount and we only have one chance to invest it.

It is not hard to see, in our day, that much time, if not most of our time, has been invested in earning money. So we can have things…more things…bigger homes…newer cars…security for the future. Is this really a wise investment of our time?

What have we sacrificed for more money? Many times we trade our one and only chance to raise our children for more money. Is that a wise investment of our time? Has this strategy been good for our families?

We sacrifice time with our spouse in this endless pursuit of money. What kind of returns have we received on this investment? Dividends of broken homes and shattered lives, but we have more money! Guess the divorce lawyers are getting that return.

 We foolishly put very little investment into the most precious of earthly relationships and then wonder what happened. Why didn’t it work? Where did we go wrong?

Marriage and children are precious gifts. We would be wise to rethink our investment strategies in these areas.

And if we are courageous enough to rethink our strategies to invest the precious commodity of time, what about our faith? How much of our time are we investing in such a precious gift as our faith?

There seems to be less and less time left in our ever busy schedules to invest in our faith these days and so many appear to be trapped in the relentless cycle of busyness. So consumed by this world.

The Bible says that our faith is more precious than gold and the outcome of our faith is the salvation of our souls. So how can we invest time in our faith?

If we really would rethink our strategies and invest less of our time in the pursuit of money, we are, at the same time, cultivating and exercising the precious gift of faith so its genuineness may be tested.

If we consider what scripture says is valuable instead of all the other influences and desires that we follow, the constant pursuit of money is just not a priority.

But what about our stuff? What about our standard of living that we have worked so hard to achieve? What about our retirement goals? Education and travel plans?

The Bible says the world and its desires are passing away but the one who does the will of God will abide forever. I believe that is why Jesus seemed to care so little about obtaining money. Why he said that God considered the successful farmer who built bigger barns to store his crops a fool. Why Jesus said not to worry about what we would eat or wear….that a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions.

Maybe that is why Jesus said even to sell your possessions and give to the poor and provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old. Treasures in heaven.

Time to rethink our investment strategies?

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The Sweetness of Unity

As a pastor of a relatively young fellowship of believers, one question that I get constantly is "How's the church going?" I appreciate the interest that people have in Community Christian Fellowship but my answer is always so inadequate. I usually answer that question with something really eloquent like "pretty good." Wow. Really? "Pretty good?"

It is really hard to articulate to someone how "the church is going" but today was a good "snapshot" of how CCF is going. Today was another reminder to me that God is indeed doing a work in our church and I have to say it is "pretty good." Actually it is better than that. It is sweet.

What happened today? Record attendance? Huge offering? New building? No, no and no. What happened today was another demonstration of love by serving one another with pure joy.

Because of the snow, we were unable to meet at our normal location or our normal time but that didn't faze the people of CCF.

"Where?" "What time?" "We will be there!"

And I am not talking people who show up, sit in a chair or pew for an hour and then go home. I am talking about people who arrive an hour or more before we start to work and work hard, and then stay after the service to serve more.

The trailer has to be hauled to the location, unloaded. Then everybody works as one to set up sound, a children's department and everything else we need in a new location that nobody is used to. Then when the worship service is over (and our worship is never only an hour!) everything has to be broken down and loaded back in the trailer and hauled away.

It requires flexibility, patience and a willingness to simply serve and it requires teamwork. I saw all of that today and more. I saw a family that God has made, not only working together, but serving Him with joy and true unity. It is so sweet.

Jesus said "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Apostle Paul urged the believers in Ephesians to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

I love to preach but the most powerful message that is proclaimed from Community Christian Fellowship is the love for one another and unity in the Spirit demonstrated every week and magnified in challenging circumstances like today by our family in Christ at CCF! Thank you Lord!

The next time someone asks me "How's the church going?" maybe instead of "pretty good" I will say, "It is sweet!"

Worship In The Snow

This past year I heard a sermon in which the preacher ask a question that haunts me every time I am tempted to complain about the weather. He simply asked "who are you complaining to?" So, although this snow storm has prohibited us from having church at the school tomorrow, I will worship the Lord. I will not complain.
"God thunders wondrously with his voice;
   he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the earth,'
   likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour." Job 37:5-6

First Post of 2010

I realized I had not posted a new blog since last year and the fact that my wife has really been blogging it up lately, somehow compelled me to post something.

I have no deep thoughts to write tonight and maybe that is what I need to do more often anyway...just blog...period.

2010 is starting as a blessed year for sure.

This picture of Beck and I was taken on Jan. 17th at Community Christian Fellowship's 5 year Celebration Sunday. Wow! I still cannot believe it has been five years! And what the Lord has done in that time is nothing short of miraculous.

As we said from the very beginning, it is all His work, we just have "front row seats!"