A Growing Conversation

Historically, the Hospital Church blogs are for general consumption – and we really want to encourage you to check our blog site every week for our newest addition. This week’s blog, however, will be very specific to the Florida Hospital Church Family and very directed in its purpose. Our goal is to provide a forum for thoughts, ideas, and dreams for the services at our church.

As many of you have noticed and brought to the church staff’s attention, our church appears to be approaching a transition point. As more new members have arrived, and as new visitors are coming through our doors, the 11:30 am Exchange service is filling to overflow. At the same time, our 9:00 am Morning Worship has a fairly small attendance which appears to be due to a combination of time and style. Our children’s Sabbath School classes (an important driver of our church’s growth over the years) are near full capacity.

So where do we go from here? This is a question that the church staff has been thinking about for several weeks, and there are several possible directions they have considered:

1. Maintain current services; open overflow seating in a classroom at 11:30 am. (Children & Adult classes remain at 10:15 am – does not relieve crowding)

2. Maintain current services; create Friday evening worship opportunity. (Children’s programming only at same time as new service)

3. Continue 9 am Morning Worship as is; duplicate The Exchange at 10:15 and 11am. (Children & Adult classes remain at 10:15 am – does not relieve crowding)

4. Maintain 11:30 am Exchange; move 9 am service to 10 am, restructuring style somewhere between Morning Worship and The Exchange. (Children’s programming at 10 AND 11:30 am; Adult classes at 10 OR 11:30 am)

5. Maintain 11:30 am Exchange; move 9 am service to 10 am, restructuring style somewhere between Morning Worship and The Exchange. (Children’s programming at 9 AND 10 am; Adult classes at 9 AND 10 am)

6. Offer 2 styles of worship service at the same time – one in Worship Center and one on 3^rd floor. (Children & Adult classes remain at 10:15 am – does not relieve crowding)

7. Maintain current worship services; add additional Exchange service at 12:45 or 1:00pm. (Children’s programming and Adult classes at 10:15 AND 11:30 am)

8. Maintain current worship services and Sabbath Schools; add additional Sabbath service late afternoon or early evening. (Children’s programming only at same time as new service)

You may have another idea, suggestion, or thought about our current situation not presented here. This is your opportunity to make your voice and your ideas known, to be a part of an important decision that will affect the way the Florida Hospital Church continues to do ministry, make a difference in their community, and “Love people into a lifelong friendship with God.” Let the conversation begin!

Note: We would like to know who is joining our conversation, so we ask that your comments be made with your name rather than anonymously. Also, in order to keep our conversation on track and productive, please only submit comments relevant to this topic. If you have anything you would like to address that does not pertain to the point of this blog, please contact the pastors directly. Thank you.

Good or Bad by CeCe Clark

Recently, I read a quote that struck a chord with me. If I could remember who said it, I truly would give them due credit here, because the truth and wisdom in this statement is blatant. “I believe that there is just as much good in any situation as there is bad. You just need to know where to look.” Wow.

At first, the temptation is strong to qualify this concept – to make it conditional: “That may be true of many situations, but…” or “If you knew the circumstances I’m dealing with…”

At the age of 51, my mom suffered a severe stroke. It was inconceivable that a woman so vibrant, so healthy, and with such a servant’s heart could have been struck down in one fell swoop as she was. For two years, I watched this woman – whose vocabulary was suddenly limited to 8 to10 words – face this attack head on with all the positive determination of a motivational guru. She pushed through physical, occupational, and speech therapy for two years…and made no progress to speak of. By the grace of God, and through sheer determination, she kept on. Today, she has limited weakness on her right side and in her speech, but she still has this amazing positive spirit. It cannot be squelched. She found the good, and the ability to place her focus there. The results have been spectacular!

For years, although I have followed her lead and made an intentional effort to accept this loss in my life, I was not quite able to consider this tragedy a blessing…until about two weeks ago.

I was able to spend some time with my mom and dad and, as usual, we sought out a casual restaurant for some good food. We were in their home town, and a waft of nostalgia was in the air. As we enjoyed our food and caught up, our conversation turned down more serious avenues, and eventually we landed at the topic of Mom’s stroke. My mom looked me square in the eye and said, “I’m glad it happened.” What? WHAT? It amazed me! It astounded me! It freed me. As she shared her thoughts, her reasons, how she felt that her life had ultimately been blessed by this savage attack, I found the years of anger, regret, confusion, and loss melting away. It was awesome! What I saw in my mom’s face was so sincere, so real, I knew that she had found a personal blessing and intimacy with God through the whole thing, and I was finally at peace about it all, too.

“There is just as much good in any situation as there is bad. You just need to know where to look.”

When we look to Christ, when we seek his time, his fellowship, his pleasure, we can find the good. We can find real joy, and we can let go of our losses and our struggles. It is a truly amazing phenomenon. When seeking his face is my number one priority, and when focusing on meeting the needs of others is priority number two, joy will come. Maybe my circumstances won’t change. I might even have to sacrifice my will. But my heart will be light!

And now I wonder: how is my heart today? On what am I focusing? Who have I inspired? Whose burden have I lifted? Who is feeling better today because I was here?

. . . And what about tomorrow?

CeCe Clark

Screamo by John Monday

Screamo is a genre of music that probably needs no description beyond its name. Whether or not you’ve heard of it, your initial impression, based only on the name, is most likely correct. Screamo bands feature loud, driving drums, lots of guitar, and very little melody. While many bands have vocalists, the vocalist is not the front person. The vocalist, like the instruments, is there primarily to back up the Screamer. The Screamer is the focal point of the band and he . . . well, he screams. It’s a very taxing job. In fact, I’m told a screamer that can do the job for more than a few months is a much sought-after commodity. Many begin to suffer bleeding vocal chords or some other physical limitation. I’m not a fan, either of Screamo or its redeemed counter part, “Christian Screamo”, but my nephew is. Not only is he a fan, he’s an artist, a performer, and a young man with a ton of integrity and influence.

One day as I was writing checks (an activity I don’t relish) I decided to turn off the music I usually listen to and turn on some Christian Screamo. The reasons were really pretty simple:

1) I don’t want to be a crotchety old man who complains about young people these days, and

2) I really like my nephew and want to connect with him at the place where he connects with God.

So I listened to Christian Screamo for two hours. Yep, you read right – two hours. When I was finished writing checks, I was aware of two things. One was no surprise – I had a headache. The other caught me completely off guard – I was in a state of worship.

The lyrics were almost completely a mystery to me. I’d occasionally hear a “Jesus” or a “Holy, Holy”, but I didn’t begin to understand 90% of the words. So what happened? Is Screamo going to be the music of heaven? Did the experience blow some sort of blood vessel in my brain that caused a euphoric feeling? Did God actually smile?

I have a hard time explaining worship or even fully understanding it, so I’m not sure exactly what happened. What I know is that, after two hours, I felt closer to my nephew, and connected to and lifted by God. Worship does that.

John Monday

Did Jesus Really Mean What He Said? by David Achata

Amy and I have been reading Francis Chan’s new book together called Crazy Love. No, it’s not a book about marriage; it’s a book about the love Jesus has for us and the love he wants us to passionately give back to Him and our world.

Finishing chapter 6 the other night left me quite disturbed. The chapter was called “When You’re in Love.” I won’t even try to explain—I’ll just quote the end of it and let you sort it out:

“If you merely pretend that you enjoy God or love Him, He knows. You can’t fool Him; don’t even try. Instead tell Him how you feel. Tell Him that He isn’t the most important thing in this life to you, and that you’re sorry for that. Tell Him that you’ve been lukewarm, that you’ve chosen_____________ over Him time and again. Tell him that you want Him to change you, that you long to genuinely enjoy Him. Tell Him how you want to experience true satisfaction and pleasure and joy in your relationship with Him. Tell Him you want to love Him more than anything on this earth. Tell Him you want to treasure the kingdom of heaven so much that you’d willingly sell everything in order to get it . . . ”(p.111)

I had a hard time praying some of the things Francis suggested I pray and an equally hard time finishing the paragraph. I’ve been thinking on the above prayer for four days now. I want so badly to be this honest with God. I want a heart change because that last part really got me: “Tell Him you want to treasure the kingdom of heaven so much that you’d willingly sell everything in order to get it . . . ”

Here's what I think: the person who can’t pray that prayer either doesn’t think Jesus meant what he said or doesn’t understand the nature of the Kingdom. Guess what? I’m that person. Are you? Do you think Jesus really meant it? Ever since I read the above paragraph, I’ve had little peace of mind except in praying this prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola:

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous,

to serve You as You deserve:

to give without counting the cost,

to fight needless of the wounds,

to work and not seek for rest,

to toil and not seek for reward,

save the reward of knowing I am doing Your will.

Amen.

David Achata

In Search of a Spiritual High by Andy McDonald

The one consistency I have found in myself and fellow humans is that we are inconsistent with great consistency. Nowhere is that more evident than in the life of devotion to God. Each year, or post each excursion into sin, we make a new pledge to spend time with God and his word. For those who follow through, there is an initial “high”. To be in the presence of the God who forgives, loves and restores—the God of grace, is exhilarating.

For those who have been there before, even in the ecstasy of the moment with God, there is a far off rumble – the sense that this will not last. A fear that the excitement and thrill of grace will wane, our commitment to time with God and his word will waffle, and at some point we will withdraw from our exercise of devotion.

It isn’t unlike any other human promise. Whether dieting or exercise, study or hobby development, at some point the joy – the vision of what might be – fades. We move on to new challenges or enter a mood of depression from our failures.

An illustration of this could be intimacy with one’s spouse. There is a clear sense of oneness and bonding when a husband and wife share the pleasures of sexual intimacy culminating in the “high” of oneness. In too many relationships, this sexual intimacy high becomes the focus and the primary, if not sole, moment of intimacy.

In contrast, the healthy couple realizes that this special intimate moment is just that – a moment in the larger picture. To expect any relationship to feel that way 24/7 is not realistic. Yet that is what too many new and old Christians alike expect from their relationship with God—that it must nearly consume them in the joy of oneness from spending time together in devotion.

Such expectations are absurd and unrealistic. These expectations set us up for discouragement and failure. It moves us toward a dissatisfaction of anything relationally less than a spiritual high. Our relationship with God varies. During Jesus’ time on this earth his relationship with God varied. It was never disconnected, but different. When Jesus is alone with his Father on the mountain, the intensity of their relationship was different from at the cross, or garden, or even the transfiguration. Certainly every prayer prayed by Jesus was not the same as the one in John 17. Never out of contact or out of the will of the Father, but the intensity of relationship would change. Life has rhythm with high and low points even in the life consistently connected to God.

To operate with unrealistic expectations of our relationship with God will sabotage the development of true intimacy. Intimacy is created from the ebb and flow, the closeness and distance, the in-your-face awareness and the sense of aloneness, the reuniting, and both the casual and deep conversations. It is not created from just the wonderful, overwhelming, brief and fleeting as they are, moments of spiritual ecstasy.

The Christian life—a growing relationship with Christ—is more like watching an oak tree grow rather than corn. Change is happening – there are dryer years and wetter ones. Storms, fires, and floods come and go. Measured against last year, the growth may seem insignificant but we are still growing.

Knowing dry times will come helps us not presume we are in the desert, but only that there is no special rain today. It will return as we continue to build a depth of everyday friendship that does not rely just on moments of ecstasy for its validation. We are God’s children. On rainy days, feeling refreshed by the Spirit, we are God’s children. In those times when it feels as if our prayers don’t reach the ceiling and we are living in a dust bowl of spiritual dryness, still we are God’s children. The good news is that, once we offer Jesus our lives, we are his regardless of the spiritual climate.

Andy McDonald