Maggie talks about loving the criminals in order to break the cycle of violence.
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Embracing a God-Sized Vision: Laura Jones
Welcome Home
I’ve moved 20+ times in the past 25 years, so being settled here now gives me a sense of immense relief. All that successive putting down roots and pulling them up again has left me emotionally exhausted. Shredded. Fragmented. One of the most comforting things to me about Tabernacle is the acceptance I feel here. I am welcome just as I am, fragments and all. I’m not expected to have it all together or to fit a certain mold. Even our children are allowed to be themselves and to be present, not sequestered away in a separate part of the building but welcome in the mix, like a real family. Tabernacle feels authentic to me. I love the honesty, the focus on each person as someone of incomparable worth – the whole person with all their good, bad and broken bits.
Every place I’ve lived, God has brought me the most amazing, heart-level friendships with local women. Through these beautiful friends, I’ve been challenged to see things from different cultural viewpoints. I’ve realized that some of my beliefs about God reflected my own culture rather than scripture, and as a result I’ve learned that God is even bigger than I had given Him credit for being. One of my favorite things about Tabernacle is the desire to see God in bigger ways and the willingness to live with the tension and mystery of not having Him completely figured out.
I cherish the diversity at Tabernacle, and as the church family continues to reach out and expand, I hope that people from even more ethnic, color and language backgrounds will find their home among us. I would especially love to see genuine friendships develop across the cultures. Logistics make this more of a challenge in the U.S. than it is overseas. I’m still finding my feet here, struggling to find the time and energy needed to make meaningful connections, but I’ve experienced firsthand what a lifeline it can be so I’m motivated to work toward it. I look forward to getting to know people beyond the surface of “how-are-you?-fine” and discovering together how our unique experiences and perspectives will contribute to our collective understanding and expression of God’s amazing love for the world.
My Prayer for Tabernacle:
- May Tabernacle continue to be a place of welcome, hope and healing for broken people, and may Jesus continue to be the center of everything we do, the source of all we are.
- May we lean together into the mystery of life, unafraid to wrestle with hard questions and okay with not having all the answers.
- May we find practical ways to truly connect with one another, developing soul-friendships across cultures.
- May Tabernacle become more and more a full reflection of God’s kingdom, a blended family of people from every culture and every background.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Content goes here “Welcome home!” These were Sterling’s first words to our family when we joined Tabernacle Baptist Church in February. Actually, I felt at home at Tabernacle as soon as our family started attending last September. This was a huge surprise to me. For 16 years we served in Kenya, Cyprus and England, countries where I had felt profoundly at home. I especially loved worshipping alongside people from multiple nationalities, and I had thought we were giving that up when we moved back to the States last year. Then we found Tabernacle! I’m so glad that God’s ways are higher than ours. I remember sitting at the church-wide picnic at the home of Ler Htoo and Lay Htoo, tears streaming down my face while listening to the gentle harmonies of worship songs in various Burmese languages. I didn’t yet know anyone, and I didn’t understand a word, but my heart basked in a fresh wave of God’s grace to me as I thought: “These Tabernacle people are my tribe.” I was raised in a cross-cultural American home: my mom is from Kentucky and my dad is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I loved visiting both sets of grandparents and early on came to appreciate the beauty of diversity. I grew up in a Salvation Army church in Michigan, graduated from a conservative Christian college in Kentucky and was baptized by a Methodist minister in New Jersey. I went to Bible College in Detroit, lived among the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Nairobi and taught at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya. After meeting Matt in Kenya, we lived in the Fan early on in our marriage (two different apartments, each within three blocks of Tabernacle!) before serving with the International Mission Board in Cyprus and England. Now we live in Bon Air with our two children, Jack and Sophie, a fluffy cat called Luna and a chirpy cockatiel named Pearl. I’m an introvert who loves people. I cry easily but always because I feel deeply. I need strong tea, good books, spicy food and fresh air. I dream of peace and quiet. And seriously: I’m done moving.[/author_info] [/author]
Deacon Ministry: An Introduction
DEACON MINISTRY: A DESCRIPTION
The word deacon is based on a compound Greek word that means, “through the dust.” In ancient times, it referred to those servants who walked through the dust to wait on tables — waiters and waitresses with dirty feet — but it came to be used generally as a term meaning, “to provide care for.” Hermann Beyer says that of all the words for servant int he New Testament, this one “has the special quality of indicating very personally the service rendered to another.” So a deacon doesn’t have to be someone with good business sense or who is a leader in the wider community. A deacon only has to be someone who is willing to walk through the dust to render service for another. In Matthew, Jesus says, “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your diakonos — your servant” (20:26).
In line with our scriptural understanding, twenty-first century deacons are selected and affirmed by their congregation to be servants of the church body, who lead not only with words, but also with hands eyes, ears, and feet. They equip and encourage us to follow christ as he leads us out into the world. In the coming months, pray for these servant leaders as we ordain them and recognize their gifts for servant leadership.
THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
The laying on of hands is an ancient practice of the Christian community, which stems back to Acts 6 when the seven chosen to serve stood before the apostles, “who prayed and lad their hands on them” (6:6). This practice serves as an opportunity for the congregation to affirm the ordinand and offer a prayer of blessing over their service. All are welcome to participate in this special ritual.
Lenten Reflection: Day thirty-one, All is Grace
Brennan Manning on what needs to be reordered in the church and what is unessential – Our preoccupation with trivia.
Lenten Reflection: Day Thirty, There is Something Better
Melvin Bray on broken truth, hope and grace
Lenten Reflection: Day Twenty-Nine, Crazy Love Math
In love, 1 plus 1 doesn’t equal 2. Matthew Russell sees resurrection in places of pain where it doesn’t’ make sense for love to grow. Maybe God is making all things new.
Lenten Reflection: Day Twenty-Eight, Commodifying Love
Block confesses that his book, Flawless Consulting, was given its title by the publisher in order to sell more copies, but the quick selling of grace and healing can be detrimental to the community and church. Bruggemann and Block speak about what it means to restore our humanity and our communities.
To the question, “How do we flip the script and learn to be human again,” Block says, “We want to restore our humanity…the interdependence, our connection to each other is how we are going to sustain ourselves.” What does restoring our humanity look like?
Lenten Reflection: Day Twenty-Seven, Tiny God
Father Greg Boyle talks about creating God in our image and ripping off roofs to be with those outside.
Worship: Ordination, 3.30.14
Today is the fourth Sunday in the lenten season. We celebrate the ordination of our newest deacons.
Lent can be a dangerous time. People come to the church looking for discipline and a new way to live; they come to be challenged—prepared for the heartache and joy of the cross to come. The problem with Lent, however, is a direct outgrowth of this urgency: we contain the season to six weeks of doing good, rather than building a Lent that becomes a life. This, very simply, is what Jesus asks his disciples to do at this climax in the Sermon on the Mount. Do not be holy because it is what the world expects of you; rather, learn to live holy lives because a closer relationship to the God who sees in secret will be reward enough.
– Maryetta Anschutz
Embracing A God-Sized Dream: Bya Wann
Blessings
Even though sometimes we do not know exactly what God’s will is for us individually and as a group, we do know from our lived experiences as refugees that God is with us and showers us with uncountable blessings. We came from northern Burma as refugees. We also belong to Lisu tribe. Lisu people are believed to have originated from the area of Mongolia, and by 400 BC, they were believed to have dispersed from that area.
One of the greatest blessings we have received from God is the Tabernacle Baptist Church. Regardless of differences in culture and language. Tabernacle has embraced us as one of its own in Christ Jesus in the spirit of brotherhood. Individuals and families at Tabernacle have extended their warm welcome which helps us experience God’s love and presence in the community. Moreover, they are teaching us English at our homes, giving us bakery training every week, providing us with transportation to attend church services and also a great space to worship in our own language. These are only just a few, but everything about Tabernacle tells God’s love and how much he cares for us.
We pray that Tabernacle will continue to be a light and salt in the world.
Bya Wann
