Made to Worship by Tami Cinquemani

I love balancing a checkbook. Yes, I know many people would rather go to the dentist and get their teeth drilled, but for me, the task of going through my banking receipts and making sure the total on my bank statement matches that of my home record is fun! I will hunt down a discrepancy as tiny as a penny until I discover where the error has taken place. And then, when my totals fall in line, I am a happy woman.

My husband has things he enjoys doing that I detest: spicy hot food, playing geography games, and cross-country skiing (ANYTHING having to do with temperatures below 70 degrees for that matter) to name just a few. We decided early in our marriage that there were some things we were just not going to do together.

We are all wired differently. Different likes and dislikes, goals and dreams, pleasures and pains. There is one thing that each one of us was created to do, however. Worship. In each one of us is a desire to be in communion with our Creator. It just makes sense. Our God created us to be in relationship with Him, and souls taken so far from the adoration of the Creator/creature bond can only long for the most intimacy our humanness allows. Our life circumstances may heighten or mute that desire, but it is there.

Being physically present at a place where worship is taking place – whether individually or corporately - does not guarantee that you will receive the fullest experience. There were many guests at the wedding where Jesus performed his first miracle. However, being seated at the wedding and sipping a beverage – even a good, quality beverage –did not change the guests. It was the realization of the One whose presence created the miracle. Worship is not an event. It is not something we go to that merely requires us to occupy a seat. Worship is an active pursuit. It is realizing and responding to the presence of the One who created each one of us – those who enjoy balancing their checkbooks as well as those who thrive in frigid temperatures. Each one unique, but all created with a need to worship.

Tami Cinquemani

It's Already Done by CeCe Clark

The tendency to value our accomplishments is so great. We put titles after our names, hang certificates on our walls, and blush when people acknowledge our successes. We are driven by our culture, our pride, our sense of self-worth to be sure that we will have accomplished something at the end of our lives.

We like to feel needed. We like to know that our efforts count for something and that our work has affected the status quo. When we are asked to volunteer, don’t we feel a sense of satisfaction that we are needed? That we can bring something of value to the table? That we are, at least in some small way, validated? Even if we choose not to do it, we like to know what we can DO, because then we know that we matter.

We are worn out from all our efforts. We strive to balance a ridiculous number of tasks and images. We want to be sure that we keep up, meet deadlines, and avoid failure. It’s no wonder that the concept of Christ’s sacrifice for us is so difficult to grasp! Here we are, struggling to DO.

But we serve a God who is striving to tell us that it’s all been DONE!

Think about it. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. You are, in God’s eyes, already cherished. Even before we accept Jesus, God deems us worthy - worthy enough to have sacrificed HIS SON for us. And once we claim Jesus as our Savior, our work is DONE. We have done enough. The rest is total freedom! Complete surrender. Complete acceptance.

Do we really believe this? Do we live like we believe it? Are we OK with it? Are we willing to allow this same experience for others?

Take some time today to sit in the presence of the God who created you. Rest…Read…Dream…Pray. Contemplate WHO you are in CHRIST, and that there’s nothing you can do to lose God’s love - or earn it. Just be. Get to know HIM, and let Him INSPIRE you!

CeCe Clark

Motivating by Fear by Chad Hess

"Fear is the mother of violence. If we weren’t afraid, then people that are different might annoy us, but they certainly would not enrage us." I found this statement from a sociologist in a clip for a new documentary entitled Anatomy of Hate, a Dialogue for Hope. It really made me think. Fear is one of the most powerful motivators, and it is very easy to breed. Even within the church, fear is frequently used. Consider the evangelist’s warning against the unpardonable sin.

So if fear is effective at getting people into the church, what is the problem? The problem is that fear is not the way God operates. "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). Let’s face it; if God wanted to use fear to motivate us, he could easily do so. Fire coming down from heaven, the earth opening up beneath your feet, deadly animals appearing from nowhere and surrounding you, each of these would be quite effective. But you cannot have a lasting relationship (which is what God ultimately wants) based on fear. That’s why God uses love. Love is a more powerful motivator, but it is much more of a challenge. It takes time, patience, and provides no guarantee that the person will respond in the way we desire.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18). How many times do we see God telling his people to “fear not”? That is still his plan for us today. It is so easy to spread fear. I see it all the time among political leaders and Christian leaders. But we cannot love people and fear them at the same time. “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Are you willing to invest the time and energy required to live like Jesus, and “love people into a life-long relationship with God”?

Chad Hes

Sabbath Blog Gone Off Track by Jeff Cinquemani

Whenever I am scheduled to preach, my thoughts during the week preceding the sermon are heightened, to say the least, towards anything that might pertain to the topic being covered. This last weekend, I gave the last sermon in our Sabbath series with a talk entitled “How Fun Can Holy Be?” I think that is why I got caught up in an internet blog focused on the Sabbath. I’m really not sure why, but while I was “Googling” I hit one of the links, and it put me smack-dab in the middle of this Sabbath blog string. So I just began reading the entries. Some were just comments, some were responses to the comments, and some were accusations criticizing others for their opinions either way.

As I kept reading down, page after page, seeing how the conversations almost took on a life of their own, I started to wonder: What question or comment started all of this? Being the “gaming” guy that I am (my wife says I can make a game out of anything), I decided to try and guess what the original post was by looking at the evidence before me. I read them all, from the first entry all the way to the most recent blog. I came up with what I thought were the top three possibilities: 1. What activities do you think God condones on the Sabbath, and what is true reverence? 2. Is there scriptural evidence that the Sabbath was God’s day for us to enjoy and have fun? 3. How “far” can couples “go” on the Sabbath?

As confident as I was about my guesses, I couldn’t have been more wrong. After all the reading, I finally couldn’t wait any longer. I had to see the “results” to my little game. The original blog entry was apparently from a new believer that wrote into a Sabbath Keepers Blog. It read as follows: “I am so very excited about my new found love affair with Christ and the day he’s set aside for me and him to be enjoy our “date”.

I couldn’t help myself. I had to read many of them all over again. How could it have gone so far off track so quickly? I had to respond. I wanted someone to say, “I’m so glad for you!” But unfortunately, I was not a member of the blogsite so it never got posted.

I decided to go ahead and write my sermon, but this week I may join that blogsite!

Jeff Cinquemani

Lunch Prayer by John Monday

I was standing in line at the counter of Everybody’s Mom, my favorite greasy spoon within walking distance of the church, contemplating whether to have French fries or onion rings with my sandwich. It was lunch time with the normal bustle of people coming from the hospital making their way into and out of the café. I was alone in the line, and only vaguely aware of the people standing around me, when I noticed the couple in front of me move in an unusual way.

The man gently touched the elbow of the woman standing beside him, obviously steadying her, but as soon as he touched her she recoiled in pain. The motion was unusual enough that it pulled my mind away from the great onion ring debate and fully focused me on them. The young man, maybe nineteen or twenty, tenderly said, “Sorry Mom,” and they moved a step closer to the counter. Those were the only words I heard them say, but the pair held my complete attention for the next twenty minutes. The ashen color of the woman’s skin, the ill-fitting hat covering a head with thin splotchy hair, and the close proximity of Florida Hospital’s Cancer Institute were all the clues necessary to understand, at least partially, their situation.

After I ordered I sat at a table across the room from the mother and son, out of hearing but in plain view. I have no idea of their story, but I saw life in the interaction between the two that words could not have communicated with any greater clarity.

Was he a young man seriously contemplating death, perhaps for the first time? Was he considering harsh adolescent words that he wished he had never uttered? Was he thinking of a future without the mother that he thought would never leave?

Was she considering all the things that she wanted to teach him but hadn’t found the time? Was she thinking of his future wife, a women she might never meet? Was she thinking of the grand children she might never know?

I don’t know the specifics of their situation, but the love between them was palpable as were the broken hearts on their sleeves. So I sat there, thankful to be alone, reminded that we are in a world full of beauty and broken hearts, and I prayed.

I prayed for them, and I prayed for me. A prayer that I now extend to you: If you are comfortable and comforted in the heart of Christ, may your heart be broken for those that His heart is broken for, and if your heart is broken and full of fear, may you find comfort and rest in Christ. Amen.

John Monday

How Robots Will Take Over the World Unless We Stop Them by David Achata

I love science fiction, and robots fascinate me. My wife thinks it’s silly—but I think she’s wrong. In the new movie Terminator Salvation, Robots rule the world while the humans are the insurgents, trying to take back their planet. I can relate with this movie because I feel like I’m trying to take back a world run by robots

I was talking with my friend Zach today, and he was telling me about a book he’s working on. The idea is about how to prevent people from becoming religious robots. That got me thinking about how the idea behind robots is that they are supposed to make our lives easier. However, the truth is that the things we create often end up owning us.

I think Religion is like that. Religion isn’t bad, but it can get bad really fast. Religion is like the framework of a house. It gives me boundaries to live my life in, but it’s not my life. My life requires me to think, move and adapt, not to polish framework. Yet, I find people all around me who are religious robots. The framework that was supposed to empower them to work out how to live life has ended up owning them.

Perhaps unconsciously, we sometimes preserve a culture that’s long gone when the call of Christ is to create a new culture for a new time and a new people. His culture is a culture of love, compassion and life transformation, not robotics. Let’s win the world back from the religious robots.

David Achata

Growing Up by Jeff Cinquemani

The last few months for me have been painful to say the least. However, though the physical pain is centered in my back with a herniated disc, the real pain is in my "psyche". To now have to "sit on the sidelines," so to speak, while others are actively involved in sports or recreations is just not me. And, though my wife may not entirely believe me, it truly does pain me to have her lifting the water jugs while I stand and watch.

It’s well over a year now since I've turned 50, and during that time I had one of my physician friends tell me that I now will have to exercise twice as hard just to maintain my current stamina and strength. He said that everyday cells are deteriorating faster than they are building, and if that wasn't bad enough, I also found out that – with 50 – there comes a slower recovery time after exhaustion, a quicker fatigue time during exertion, and of course, a longer time to heal after any kind of set-back.

Talk about depressing! Well, I thought I would do a little investigating on my own, and sure enough, it really is depressing. Statistics show that, the closer you get to the "50 mark", the higher the rate of depression among both men and women. Now it was obvious that I was not the only one who researched this statistic. Everywhere I looked on the Internet were companies all targeting their ads at me with products, procedures, and programs all promising me a better, newer, healthier "me".

Wow! How engrossing this could get. I mean with enough money and a little help from my friends, I could actually turn back time – well at least make it look like it for a while.

And that is where I stopped. I thought, Wait a minute. If 50 is the proverbial mark that someone has finally grown up, then maybe I should. Maybe there's a really good thing about turning 50. Maybe that is where I stop worrying about me "growing up" and start focusing on something else for a change. What if I turned my attention from my adventure to someone else's? What if I thought first about someone else's prosperity and preservation instead of my own? And what if I looked first at how my experience could help others instead of making it my excuse for entitlement.

I told my wife a while ago, “Look, if all I talk about when I get old is my "regularity", my medications, and my ailments, then just shoot me.” Well, she hasn't bought a gun yet, but you can bet I'm still gonna get this back taken care of before she signs up for target practice.

Jeff Cinquemani