WednesdaysatthePecks.png)
Retreat 2008 is January 18-20. We've posted the registration packet
We made some declarations for 2008 during church yesterday. Click on "Keep Reading" to see what we had to say about our goals/dreams/desires for youth in the coming year.
We declare that in 2008 we will
Retreat 2008 will be January 18-20 at Mt Zion. We'll post the registration form and letter this weekend. The cost will be $95. If you can't afford the full registration cost, just pay whatever you can.
« Keep reading »
Yeah, it's snowing here, and there's a snow day. Unfortunately, that means no Beyondmeasure holiday concert. Bummer. It's not the quantity of snow that we have but how quickly it's falling.
This is a picture taken of Ho Plaza on Cornell campus from the liveview web cam.
Here's a Christmas message I gave in 2004.
She Can Have My Room
This is the Christmas message, so let's start right where we should, First Corinthians 1:27.But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (KJV)
So here's the story so far. Created in God's image and given charge over paradise, mankind fell and was banished from God's daily presence. But… But, God said that the seed of Eve would crush the serpent's head. Prophets through the ages spoke of a coming deliverer, a great king who would come from the line of David and redeem God's people. Centuries of rise and ruin, freedom and occupation, prosperity and exile, but always the promise of deliverance. Then, the prophets went silent... and for 400 years the people waited, expecting and longing for this messiah who would throw out the oppressors and restore Israel's glory.
Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, (The Message)
But no one ever expected what God had in store. Nobody expected a baby would turn the whole world upside down. Nobody expected an aging priest's wife to have her first child in her old age. No one expected a virgin would be pregnant. (You can guess at the chatter around Nazareth at that little bit of gossip. "Did you hear about Mary? Joseph's little 'virgin' is pregnant.") No one expected shepherds to be the first to hear the news of a Savior's birth. Nobody saw three kings from the east blowing into town to worship the newborn king and then leaving by the back roads.
The angels didn't even know what the Father had in store, and when you read the story of Jesus' birth, you can feel the pent up flood that gushed out when the sky suddenly filled with heaven's host. They had already been terrified at the appearance of one angel, but the shepherds must have been completely leveled when all the angels of heaven suddenly erupted into "Glory to God in the Highest. Peace on earth and good will to men!" Centuries of hope deferred, of desire and longing were suddenly wiped away with the birth of a baby to a poor woman of now questionable reputation. They didn't know what He was doing, but they knew that God was suddenly, powerfully and miraculously on the scene.
Nobody expected a young carpenter, a less than reputable working class man with calloused hands to wander out of the desert picking up lowlife followers along the way. They didn't expect a man who spent more time with the drunkards, the sick, the poor and the outcast than the rich, the religious elite or the powerful. No one expected a deliverer redeemer who would shun violent uprising and a forceful rebellion to talk about turning the other cheek and loving ones neighbor. Everybody expected strong and powerful. No one imagined meek and mild. Nobody expected Jesus.
And that's the point. Jesus came to us and said, "You've got it all wrong. You're flying upside down. The last are first. The weak are strong. The poor are blessed and the blind can see." The Messiah wasn't here to throw out the Romans. And if you can hold the stones for just a moment, He wasn't here just to save our souls. He was and is here to open our eyes to God's kingdom among us, to a different way of living, to God's way of love.
Tony Campolo tells the story of a schoolteacher who served several students in her small one-room school, including one kindly referred to as “special.”
When it came time for the Christmas pageant, this child wanted desperately to play a speaking part. The teacher knew that he couldn’t remember lines well, but she came up with what seemed like a solution. He could be the innkeeper. When Mary and Joseph knocked at the door of the inn, he would open it and twice say, “No room!” She thought he could handle this, but just in case, she had someone at the ready to prompt him.
The night of the Christmas pageant all went well until Mary and Joseph got to the door of the inn. Mary knocked. Our little friend opened the door and with his strongest voice said what was expected of him: “No room!”
Mary responded, “But, sir, it’s cold. Have you no place where we can stay? It’s freezing. I’m going to have a baby, and unless you help us, my baby will be born in the night.”
The boy stood there and said nothing.
The prompter nudged and whispered, “No room! Say, ‘No room!’”
The boy turned to the prompter and blurted out, “I know what I’m supposed to say! But she can have my room!”
I know what I'm supposed to say. But she can have my room!
I know what I'm supposed to expect. But she can have my room!
I know what I'm supposed to do. But she can have my room!
The birth of Jesus is the first clue that God's way of life, his kingdom is different than anything we had ever imagined. The birth of Jesus to a poor Judean couple, in a backwater town, in a stable, surrounded by animals and all the smells that come with them tells us what importance the Father places on wealth and standing and propriety. The fact that the birth of the Savior was first announced to shepherds, an outcast and lonely profession, tells us for whom the Father's heart truly bleeds. And you know what, we are all outcast and lonely in His eyes, so His attention and His love have been focused on us. Dallas Willard writes that "The overarching biblical command is to love, and the first act of love is always the giving of attention."
So, this week, as you reflect on the birth of Jesus, think about the greater context of His coming. It's all related. The birth, the living, the message, the dying and rising. It's all part of the whole. It's all connected. They are all part of one story. The Father even uses the birth of the promised son to illustrate the way of His kingdom.
What does Jesus birth tell you about God's kingdom?
What does it tell you about whom He values and loves?
What does it show you about living in the Kingdom of God?
And before we close, I want to echo a friend's heart. This week, when you reflect on the birth of Jesus and when you pray this Christmas, remember those who have no one to care for them, the voiceless and powerless and hopeless. For these He came.
I'd be a liar if I told you I was sorry to leave you with questions for the holidays. I am not sorry at all. I pray that as we reflect on Jesus and the situations of his birth that the Holy Spirit will expand our understanding of God and His kingdom come. Amen.
©2004 David A. Peck and G.L. Baldman Media, Ltd.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to print and share this writing with others with proper citation of authorship. Use in any publication requires written permission prior to use.
A few years ago I was asked to administer communion. I'd been studying John 6, and I wrote this little meditation. I thought it was cool. I haven't been asked to administer communion since. Probably not related. If you're interested...
Eat My Body; or, There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
This is the trouble you get for giving out free meals. An itinerant preacher feels sorry for the people who have been hanging on his every word for so long that it’s now too late for them to go find food. His much more pragmatic staff encourage him to send them away so they can fend for themselves. He counters that they are responsible for feeding them, and he just won’t accept their five-loaves-and-a-couple-fish excuse.
With just what is at hand, he feeds the multitude before dispersing them, sending his staff on ahead to the next venue and slipping away for some quiet time before he too crosses the Sea of Galilee, mostly on foot. The next morning, the multitude, having been satisfied with one handout, cross the lake themselves in search of another free meal or two. And being found by them, Jesus says,“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (John 6:26-27 TNIV)
But as the multitude persists, Jesus declares,“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35 TNIV)
When they grumble at this new teaching, Jesus ups the ante,“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which people may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51 TNIV)
Now, the multitude is really in a tizzy, and Jesus hammers in the last nail,“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58 TNIV)
What Jesus is trying to tell them is that he is all they need; that he is greater than the sum of their earthly needs; that he is able beyond imagination to supply even what they do need in the body. If they will throw in completely with him, he is more than able to satisfy them, regenerate them, sustain them and renew them. In one of the most difficult to swallow teachings he will ever give, Jesus says, “What you need is what I am.”
So on the night he is betrayed, Jesus brings his disciples back to this earlier conversation and instructs them to remember. Jesus tells them to eat the bread and drink the wine “in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) He tells all his followers from that night forward to…
©2004 David A. Peck and G.L. Baldman Media, Ltd.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to print and share this writing with others with proper citation of authorship. Use in any publication requires written permission prior to use.
Matthew 1:20-23
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."God with us. There's something massive in that phrase. What is it? I think "God with us" is going to be the central point in the Christmas Eve service, so ponder it. What does it mean to you? Let us know what you come up with. « Keep reading »
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
Sean lost his other front tooth last night. We put him to bed late because we were working on a project. About a half hour later he scampers down the stairs with front tooth number two. We told him he needs to slow the pace or the tooth fairy will think he's pulling a scam.
« Keep reading »We like to ring the bell for the Salvation Army, and over the course of the season, the Peck family cover several slots at the mall. There's a message below about the need for bell ringers in Dryden. We encourage everyone to spare some time to help the SA care for people this holiday season.
Charlie Hart asks:
I coordinate the Salvation Army bell ringing for Dryden (we always ring at the Dryden Food Market). I have been able to cover most weekends with various community groups, but right now I need folks during the last weekend before Christmas (Friday Dec 21st, Saturday Dec 22nd and Sunday Dec 23rd). I also can make the equipment available evenings during the week if I get some volunteers. I ask people to ring in one hour time slots so they don't get too cold.
Contact me, Charlie Hart, at 844-8796 to volunteer.
