Category: Celebrations

Throughout out year we set aside time to celebrate the faithful, to give thanks, and to turn and become like children.

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Blog Celebrations Our story Partnership Special events Updates

Upson Downs: March Madness?

Shall I start with an apology or a cliche? Or shall I just start on the daunting task of updating you all on our latest goings-on? I choose the latter, so here goes: Already in the month of March (!!), we are shooting for full coronavirus vaccinations among our adults. I hope you get the point! As Covid-19 cases abate, we are opening up to more visitors. It was a  real joy to welcome a Peruvian family this past Thursday, who stopped by because our out front presence attracted their interest; we shared a meal and God’s word with our new acquaintances. As our Thursday zoom Bible study continued, we were relieved and thankful to see a brother from Myanmar. Things are getting worse there since the military coup, and danger seems to be escalating. Also, communications are being severed throughout the country, so contact with those in Myanmar is a real blessing.  


The Jesus Centered Bible has been our focal point for 2021. It’s a helpful way of synthesizing the Bible and helps to turn our eyes upon Jesus, which is only appropriate-as Colossians 2:17 states, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” Everything coheres in Him. Without Him, the world is truly incoherent, and the void is filled with a “striving after the wind.” We are also continuing our reading. Currently we are being edified by Os Guiness’ book The Call, and are reading a Bible companion guide.


We are busy and productive, seeking to equip ourselves and grow in the measure and stature of our Lord. We are looking forward to a leadership study through Hope International University, led by Jack McCorkel in partnership with our mentor, Gene Sonnenberg. We seek to be ever more thankful, prayerful, and accountable to one another. It’s also crucial to connect with our culture and challenge what we are facing with God’s eternal truths. It is our prayer that others might say of us, “See how they love one another,” validating the identity of Christ in our lives.


We are looking forward (finally!) to the wedding of Leslie and Jeremiah in April. They have been very patient in the disappointment and uncertainty. Leslie will be sorely missed, but we are full of thanks, anticipating much fruit in the Kingdom and we are even glad for the delay in some ways, as it seems to have had some unforeseen benefits.


Rich is still deeply missed here, but continues to be integral to life together in so many ways. His memories, his teachings, his leadership and love linger among us. His library enriches us and his scholarship resonates in myriad ways. We were uniquely gifted by his presence.


As for me, I am recuperating here in this lovely space known as the B & B. It was designed and constructed by loving hands. Here it stands as a beautiful reminder of what love in action looks like. It’s named the Bird and the Baby in honor of Rich, and in honor of that great saint, C.S. Lewis, and his favorite pub in England. It is the perfect spot to heal after hip replacement. It’s amazing how the human body heals, and how human creativity and gifted hands of doctors are used in the process. Thanks be to God, the ultimate healer and Creator in whose image we have been made.
My physical therapist is on her way, so I will close, knowing I have missed telling you about so much of the joyful and abundant life with which God has graciously blessed us.


Keep us in your prayers, and thank you so much for your interest in our lives here at Church of the Servant-King.
Grace and peace to you all,

Regan

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Blog Celebrations Our story Updates

Upson Downs: Happy New Year!

For those of you who are interested in our life here, thanks for reading my intermittent writings. Never has a silly title, “Upson Downs” been more appropriate than in describing the year 2020. As Ben Rector sings in his Thanksgiving Song, “‘Cause we made it through, I do believe, the longest year in history…” And so I do also believe last year seemed to go on far too long. There’s always the recap of events from the previous year, and we had some truly unforgettable occurrences. 
Jack took his 3 week mission trip to Southeast Asia with Gene Sonnenberg where he literally preached to and taught thousands. What a truly remarkable opportunity! The joy of this journey was deeply overshadowed by the death of Rich, as Jack was en route home. Rich’s passing was not unexpected as he had been seriously ill for a long time, and especially in the last few months of his life. Thankfully Rich was home for his last Christmas, 2019, but was in and out of the hospital the rest of his days, more often hospitalized than not. We were able to be with him, never leaving him alone right up to his last breath. This was not the homecoming we had wished for Jack, but he and Rich had counted the cost together before Jack embarked. And it was especially costly for two men who had loved each other so intensely. The whole holiday season of 2020 was indelibly marked by Rich’s conspicuous absence. Rich, the tradition maker, the lavish gift giver, the master storyteller, the event planner, the one who made every occasion remarkable and unforgettable was not with us this year. But he was remembered and celebrated and will be forever I hope, as his legacy lives large in and among us.
Then Covid-19 came to our shores and changed all of us forever. On March 13th, an administrator came to my ESL class and sent everyone home, presumably for a couple of weeks while our buildings were sanitized. Most of us left a lot of our “stuff” in our classrooms, anticipating a short absence. And here we are, January of 2021, never returning to our classrooms, learning to teach remotely, attempting to navigate the wide and wild world of the internet to connect to our students. Zoom was the primary connecting point, with so many other platforms arising to meet the needs of reaching every student, keeping them interested and engaged from afar. Most of us worked from home and were able to stay employed. We were here in our homes still near one another, able to connect daily, reaping an unforeseen benefit of life in community. Our homeschooled children barely noticed the difference educationally, but navigated a new reality outside of school  with masks and restrictions and unspoken anxieties and uncertainties. 
New challenges brought new opportunities, and technology allowed us to reach across great distances for online Bible studies. Brethren from Myanmar have dropped in, along with local friends, new seekers, connections from Mexico and Ohio. We finished new books this year: Families at the Crossroads, Love Thy Body, Healing the Wounded, and Priests to Each Other. We have carried on our life together by God’s grace, and were able to send some of our own to strengthen and encourage our brothers and sisters in other congregations.
Notably, three new lives have graced us in 2020, Madeleine Jane, Richard David (Rocky,) and Julia Rose. Blessings all ours with 10,00 beside. Great is thy faithfulness, oh God our Father!
So much more I could say, but this has already gone on much too long. So to the “longest year in history” we bid farewell, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith to lead us through another year of life in the Kingdom. May we be found faithful. Here’s to a year of love, joy, partnership, repentance, challenges, adventure, and surprises. Keep us in your prayers. Grace and peace to you all.

-Regan

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Celebrations Updates

Easter greetings

We have been celebrating this sacred season, and anticipating Jesus’ triumph over the grave. “Death, where is your victory? Death where is your sting?” We are carefully trying to observe social distancing, gathering outside and in smaller groups to remember and honor our Lord in the torment, silence, and darkness before the great vindication. 

We have met in smaller groups to prepare ourselves for Easter. On Wednesday some of us met to read The Women of Easter and imagine ourselves in the times surrounding and following Jesus’ last days on earth, and then his resurrection. Also, some watched the Gospel of Mark. 

We found ourselves helped in our reflections, preparing our hearts for the most important event in Christian history. On Friday night, several events happened: a Good Friday service which some participated in, a Seder event, remembering, rehearsing, and learning about great and ancient wisdom from our ancestors, the Jews. 

We must never forget that Our Lord was a Jew and no doubt celebrated many seders in his life. Others reflected upon Good Friday, considering death, guilt, and the “best laid plans.” We were all edified. Some watched The Passion of the Christ remembering that however brutal and violent the portrayal, it was surely much less than what our Lord actually suffered on our behalf.

On Saturday we gathered to prepare for our Easter celebration and feast. While strictly observing stay-at-home restrictions these past two weeks, we managed to create a real Easter feast: roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, green bean casserole, and homemade challah bread from our provisions on hand. 

We are truly blessed. And we even get dessert! May we NEVER forget to give thanks for God’s gracious bounty. We wish you all good health, joy, life abundant, and victory through Christ. He is risen indeed.

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Celebrations Our story

A Cloud of Witnesses

Our Celebration of the Faithful was once again a needed reminder of the “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us and who both inform and help complete our faith. Contrary to the illusion of relentless individualism, we are indeed indebted. Probably more so than we could fathom even if we were to try.
First of all, we are fundamentally indebted to God beginning with the initial breath we take. From this essential element of life, every step we take thereafter (both literally and figuratively) we owe to others. Given this reality, it is incumbent upon us to embrace and celebrate our indebtedness rather than resent or “outgrow” our inherent neediness.
So we purpose to acknowledge the faithful lives of the saints that we might be encouraged to also be faithful witnesses today and for future generations, “Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful,” is certainly an appropriate song to call us on.
To that end, this year we learned about David Duplessis, the “donkey”, who humbly sought unity in the larger body of Christ. We were reminded of the remarkable transformation and subsequent steadfast witness of Nixon’s “Hatchet Man”, Charles Colson. The short but powerful life of Borden of Yale served as an implicit indictment of our often complacent lives. “No reserve, no retreat, no regrets.”
Samuel Lamb was a frail and weak man made powerful and effective by God to lead the Underground church in China. His 20 years of imprisonment and “re-education” by Chinese communist merely served to strengthen and deepen his cheerful trust in God. We learned that the activism of Cesar Chavez was informed and motivated by his radical faith.
Richard Wurmbrandt reminds us both of the constant presence of the Lord to sustain in unimaginable circumstances as well as the current persecutions and martyrdom today of Christians throughout the world. Isn’t the very least we can do is to be mindful of and pray for our brothers and sisters today?
We were given a “first person” account from Elizabeth Eliot of her courtship and marriage to Jim Eliot, who, along with faithful partners became a martyr in Ecuador. Incredibly, Elizabeth and Rachel Saint (sister of one of the martyrs) went on to live among and minister to those who had murdered their beloved.
This is what faith looks like. It is all the more remarkable therefore, that Hebrews 11 states,…”that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (RSV) Peterson in The Message translates this truth as, “God had a better plan for us, that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole; their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.” (Heb. 11:40)
So gird up your loins. Joyfully celebrate and embrace your indebtedness in all its glory! And give thanks by living lives of faithfulness and partnership.

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Celebrations Special events

Turn and become like children

We just finished our Celebration of the Children and it was brilliant! Thirty some years ago our pastors conceived the idea of a church calendar where sacred events would be celebrated as a church family. We would celebrate the faithful, that “cloud of witnesses” such as the ones listed in Hebrews 11. We would set aside time to “turn and become like children.” The Celebration of Life Together would be time set aside to do just that.

But this week we celebrated God’s gift to us in our children. We usually start with a basic theme for the week, and this year we chose “time travel.” After a wonderful visit to the Dreamworks concert at the Hollywood Bowl, we had our spectacular opening day. Our seven kids became time travelers for the day. After climbing into their time machines they traveled to 6 destinations in history where they were needed to solve problems.

Each followed a different route to various times in history. They visited Ancient Greece where they trained for the Olympics in archery and javelin throwing and learned how to use their brains and the pulley system. There was a visit to Medieval Times where the children rescued the princess from a dragon lady with the help of a trusty steed and knights. They stopped in to help some cave people interpret their cave drawings and throw some rocks. Pyramid building and hieroglyphics were on the agenda for Ancient Egypt, and their help was required in China’s Ming Dynasty to repair the Great Wall and repel marauders. We all ended up in the Chat N Chew, a 50’s diner where we enjoyed shakes, floats, and burgers and danced at the sock hop.

We swam and played games together at the pool. The rest of the week we took day trips to the zoo, railroad museum, miniature golf, and flew some kites together. At night we gathered to play games, watch movies, and enjoy a crazy mixed-up dinner at the Time Travel Inn. We gave thanks at each gathering, and as the week closed we once again realized the great gifts God has given us in our children. Jesus himself blessed the children and exhorted us to become like them. Once again God teaches us through a Child. We look forward to the rest of our celebrations this year, especially anticipating our Celebration of the Faithful in August.

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Celebrations Updates

And God bless us all, everyone!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…seems as if there are more and more of them each year. We talked about splitting up households for Christmas Eve/ Christmas morning, but I for one am not ready for that! We reluctantly acknowledge, however, that we will have to eat in two locations on Christmas Eve :-(…The rest we will attempt to do all together.

We lit our second Advent candle this Sunday night, the Bethlehem candle, which followed our first one, the Prophets’ candle. There are so many fine and wonderful Advent traditions that we can all be thankful for and from which we can learn and imitate.

Last night we tried humming some Christmas songs and letting others guess the answer. You have to be a bit brave for that one. Then we imagined what some of the headlines in the Bethlehem Gazette might have been on Christmas morning. That sent our imaginations soaring.

We look forward to Christmas caroling this weekend, the pastors’ high tea, strolling through Naples along the canals, and just being together to anticipate the coming of our Lord into this world. How He has changed the entire course of history, and how He has indeed changed our own histories! Wonderful, Counselor, and He shall reign forever and ever. God rest ye merry! And God bless us all, everyone!

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Celebrations

Celebrations

This seems like the ideal time to start writing a bit about our church celebrations throughout the year. Taking a page from our Roman Catholic brethren, we attempted to create something of a liturgical calendar. Many years ago we saw the need for Christians to create traditions more aligned with faith and practice. Consequently, we developed Celebration of the Faithful, Celebration of Life Together, Turn and Become Like Children, Celebration of the Children, and Celebration of Grace and Thanksgiving.

I will address this last item first as we are in the midst of it right now. Giving thanks is a necessary component of the Christian faith. Scripture abounds with references to thanks and thanksgiving. Many of King David’s Psalms are songs of thanksgiving, for example: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.” (Ps 9:1) To choose but one of the many New Testament examples, Romans 7:25 says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Accordingly, we set aside this week to focus on gratitude in speech, prayer, and action. We began with a Gathered Worship emphasizing words of thanks. Sunday morning found us gathered with one of our sister congregations where we were treated to some wonderful singing, sax playing, and reflections upon God’s “Amazing Grace.” How sweet the sound indeed.

Wednesday night we will be together preparing for our feast. Working together is another form of worship, one which we hope He will find acceptable.Thursday about 50 of us will gather for our glorious repast at the church building where we will turn our attention on our honored guests: shut-ins, nursing home residents, the lonely and the hungry. We share stories, food for the soul, and, of course, lots of food for our bodies!

Friday will find us re-enjoying our banquet, gathering to give thanks, and then joining in on our traditional dance of the leftovers. This year we will be decked out in 80’s regalia as we dance the night away. Then some of us will head over to the bowling alley for midnight bowling. Whew! We hope that this whirlwind helps to put us in the thankful frame of mind that God wants to see in His children.

G.K. Chesterton reminds us: …” that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” More on other celebrations later, but for now and always may we be abounding in thanksgiving!