Risen Hope!

It been a few years, but we are going to have Pastor Dale White narrate the resurrection as we enjoy an Easter morning passion play at 11:00 am in the Randy and Rod ReCreation center.  This is a historic moment of faith you won’t want to miss.  We need you and your friends to help us pack out this splendid auditorium that was designed for theater and to accommodate a large number of people.  Join us as our church family gathers a new momentum for a new start in Easter 2017.

Happy Holy Week,

It almost sounds a bit funny to say “Happy”, but it is true.  One fruit of the Spirit is Joy, and are we ever experiencing joy! We are having fun this Easter watching God move mightily in our presence as we experience springtime in Washington Cathedral. (Or using other terminology, experiencing “revival” in our church.)   Last week Sally Jo Holmes and Marilyn Biggs had to be just overjoyed as they led our prayer wave for this Easter. Most of us signed up to pray 10 minutes a day for the last few weeks and then on the Friday night before Palm Sunday, we began our 24 hours of prayer for renewal in our church and community. I can’t express how it felt to have tears streaming down my cheeks at each of the Palm Sunday worship services, as hundreds of people came to the cross to dedicate or re-dedicate their lives to Christ.  I just wish I could have seen the face of our two prayer captains in those precious moments. I could, however, see the face of Pastor Becca after delivering a soul-filled message. This had to be have been the greatest response to a message she has ever seen in her ministry career.  After those Palm Sunday services, there was just a joy in our church as we met new friends - laughed and visited. Later, on Tuesday at our staff meeting, when Pastor Jackie shared with us the touching response of those who wanted to meet with a pastor a spontaneous cheer rose up.  And that was just the start of Holy Week.

Pastor Rex and his team have an awesome Good Friday service planned in the beautiful Spirit Falls Sanctuary in front of the waterfall and the three crosses.  The flow of the service, the moment of communion, the praise music and the message - I can’t wait to see what God has in mind for us on Good Friday.  Our youth pastor Josh and I were sharing about the cross as he prepared for the Wednesday night youth group and we both teared up discussing that holy moment.  Our prayer together after our meeting was such a joy-filled experience.

Saturday at 4 pm there will be a Easter egg hunt in the recreation center pool.  How cool is that! The kids never forget it and it is back by popular demand. After our big 11:00 Easter Service on Sunday, there will be a huge Easter egg hunt on the beautiful grassy hill with a view of the whole valley.  Mark Thompson, the famed ventriloquist, will be there. Spread the word and bring friends to either or both of these one-of-a-kind events.

And who doesn’t love Pastor Linda’s enthusiasm at the Sunrise Service in Spirit Falls at 7:00 AM?  What a way to start off the greatest Easter of our lives. The music will be beautiful, with our very own young soprano, Dani Burke, closing out the service. (I know sunrise is at 6:17 am, but in the Puget Sound area the sun is rising off and on until 7.) You’ll enjoy the birds, the wildlife, the light off the flowers and the waterfall. We have seen, ducks, geese, a bald Eagle, a red-tailed hawk and doves, who all join us for this tremendous moment.

Someone in the staff meeting was teasing Pastor David about his cooking and Pastor Josh took exception to it saying, “Hey I’ve been eating his cooking at church since I was a baby.”  Our beloved Single’s Pastor is working hard to prepare an Easter breakfast for the community. On the menu are delicious pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes and juice.  It will be served from 8:00 am to 1O:30am.  What a great event to bring your neighbors to.

The featured event of the entire Easter weekend is happening at 11:00am in the Randy & Rod ReCreation Center. We have canceled all the other regularly scheduled services in order to bring our entire church together for one amazing moment of renewal. You will experience the Easter story first hand -- from Jesus being removed from the cross, portrayed by our amazing actors in this kid-friendly presentation, to his resurrection from the Garden tomb, originally designed by a Hollywood director.  The actor playing Jesus is our own Raffael, whose Christ-like enthusiasm is spreading throughout our church. Pastor Rhonda and the choir will be at an all-time high as they sing Easter hymns. I will have a short, positive Easter message that I promise you will be the most inspirational I have ever delivered.   Our worship leader, Eliot Stone is bringing together a peak performance by our worship team.  He has even recruited his dad (a famed guitarist) to join him.  The praise itself will be so authentic it will express the cry of your heart.  They will all be joined at the end by children choirs, teen choir in a moment so wonderful that it will impact the rest of your life.

I have been going door-to-door inviting people to our church this Easter and icing my knees at night. I have had so many amazing Godly experiences.  But today I went to get my hair cut and they asked me if I had any plans for Easter. I basically told them just what I have told you.  My stylist, who is new to our country from Vietnam, told me his testimony with enthusiasm. Coming from a background of no faith, he prayed to Jesus that he could get his family and himself out of Vietnam and after being stabbed in the back he promised while in the hospital that he would find a church for his wife and children.  He said, “Pastor your inviting me to church is an answer to prayer of several years.”  Well the rest of the barber shop asked me what the meaning of Easter was and I got to do a practice run on my sermon only with questions and answers. It must have been okay because everyone there committed to come to church this Easter.

I’m thinking about just getting my hair cut all day rather than going door to door. It was a lot more fruitful and my knees don’t hurt as much.  But, unfortunately, I don’t have that much hair.

I dare you. Surprise us by your attendance this Easter. I have given my life to building this great caring network and your presence at that 11 am service means more to me than you will ever know.  I can only imagine what it will mean to your family and to God himself as we all join together in this moment of miracles.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

King of Your Heart

Palm Sunday is essential to our experiencing the true power of Holy Week.  Holy Week is one of the most celebratory weeks of the Christian year and the time when God can prepare our hearts to move deeper and grow closer to Him. In the four Gospels, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before His Resurrection, which is what Easter is all about. Growing up in this church, as I child, I just loved Palm Sunday.  It was a time of festivity – party time at church. No one needs to convince a child that a holiday is a good thing, just the name sounds like Disneyland.  Some of my best memories were of all the excitement surrounding what God was doing in our church every Holy Week. Yes, little kids are very observant and can see when God is working in their family, friends and church community.

For Christians (Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox) Zechariah 9:9 rings prophetically true during this holiday.  “The Coming of Zion’s King - see your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  We believe that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Kings on Palm Sunday.  I have entitled my message - King of Your Heart.  That is what over a hundred of us have all been praying for 10 minutes each day for the last three weeks.  Praying that something significant would take place in the joy of each heart at Washington Cathedral as we come to realize that we are in this “#Together.”

Springtime in the heart cannot take place until people come together.  When the church experienced Pentecost, it was because they were following the wishes of their beloved Jesus that they stay together until God’s Spirit came upon them in power.  And wow - were they all amazed when the first church was formed.  People loved one another so much that it pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ.

After Palm Sunday, when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and the guards came to arrest him, Jesus said…”am I some kind of dangerous revolutionary that you would come to get me with knives and swords?”  The answer actually was “yes”.  Jesus’ courageous love started a revolution that is still changing the world. Won’t you join the party this week.  We join Christians all over the world recognizing Jesus as King of our hearts.  For parents, please don’t deprive your kids of the life changing joys of Holy Week.  As one who was raised in the church. I can’t tell you how foundational these experiences are to the character of our beloved children.

Your friend,

Pastor Becca McCary

People of Springtime

According to the passage from Jeremiah that I will be sharing this Sunday, there are some people who are people of Spring Time.  They are the ones who hold groups together.  Without them, families would distance themselves from one another, churches, communities and nations.  These happy bridge-builders remind the old prophet Jeremiah of springtime.  

This weekend we are going to celebrate springtime come rain or come shine.  I challenge all of us to dress for spring.  The weather report says that it is going to continue to drizzle but, nevertheless, we are going to celebrate springtime with bold confidence that spring is coming. Warm Sundays, with birds singing with all their gusto, baby bunnies, squirrels, lambs, and flowers blessing us all around.  Even the crankiest person will not be able to resist the renewing power of the miracle of springtime.  

How would you like some springtime in your soul this weekend?  New creativity, New joy, New friendships, New beginnings - God making all things new right before your eyes.  I like the saying - "The day God created Hope was probably the same day that he thought up springtime."  You and I need a day of springtime in our souls, so let's not miss the celebration this weekend.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Think Spring

My wife Jackie, bought a decoration that said ‘Think Spring’ and it is the first thing we see when we walk through our front door.

 In Seattle, meteorologists tell us we have only had four days without rain since November, so yes, we are ready to think spring. On Sunday we had a spring day. Day five on the count-down for nice days this winter. The birds were singing at dawn. I had not heard them sing with so much gusto! Maybe Seasonal Affective Disorder affects song birds too. The day was just rejuvenating for all of our community. I like to think we all need renewal or springtime in our soul. Artists, authors, CEO's, grade school children, athletes, marrieds and singles. Springtime is not only a phenomena of nature, it is a state-of-mind. So let’s think newness, sunshine, realistic optimism, and enjoy the beauty that we are surrounded by. Let’s think spring.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim

Power of Presence

If you know me, you know that one of my great passions in life is baseball. Specifically coaching baseball. The other day, while helping a group of catchers practice different mobilities for blocking pitches, I thought to myself...”I could be here all day.”  I just love coaching youth players!

Well, my team (Bothell Rockies) has a short list of values that we constantly review. One of them is the value of “togetherness” and the other day, I read them this quote from Babe Ruth who said, “the way a team plays as a whole determines its success”.  If you’ve ever played on a team, or work within a team at your job...you know these are true words.

Not only is togetherness crucial to a team, it’s crucial for every church. It’s something every follower of Jesus should value if they desire to have gospel-effectiveness in their community and the world. But this value of togetherness isn’t as easy as some may think.

We live within a culture that is quickly losing its grasp of togetherness and leaning more and more towards celebrating individualism. The cost? Too many have wandered into the desert of isolation where all sense of team, unity and community go to dry up and die.

One, if not the best reason a church should value togetherness is because the Bible has a lot to say about it. Jesus said...”wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there.”  The Apostle Paul speaks to the church being like a physical body made up of parts that rely on each other for proper function and effectiveness.

One reason I believe some find togetherness hard to commit to is because they think they somehow have to be just. like. everyone. else.

Not true!

Our differences, when not looked upon as right, or wrong...better, or worse - but actually celebrated, are what make the Church so valuable to the world. A City on a hill kind of church like Jesus described!

I’m excited to talk more about the real power of being present this Sunday, and to look closely at some of Jesus’s teaching about why it’s such a crucial value for us who make up Washington Cathedral, as we live in these urgent times.

Will you join me, and maybe bring a friend? See you Sunday!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

#Together

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God,  for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 (NLT)

This week I have the privilege of kicking off a series of messages for Sunday mornings.  It is called #Together!

I was born in this church.  My dad's assistant Jane Bishop, who is now in heaven, had a dream that my mom and dad would have a baby that would be a great blessing.  (Talk about pressure being put on a baby) My mom Jackie, prayed about it and God opened her mind to the possibility of me.  My dad joked that he always wanted 10,000 kids so he was already sold on the idea.  When my mom was in labor with me I refused a quick easy child birth, so my dad drove my mom up to the church property and drove fast on the bumpy dirt road so they could go back to the hospital.   It worked - and I was born. Emily Boyce, Pastor Linda’s mother, was watching my big sister Elise and my big brother Roman. And my parents named me after her, Rebecca Emily White.

When I was a baby, all of the church meetings were in our home. When people held hands in a circle, I crawled into the middle because I could feel the prayers. When the church had a board meeting at our house, I thought the Board of Directors would enjoy passing around my guinea pig and my brother’s turtle so they wouldn't get bored. 

When I was in Junior High, I was BORN AGAIN in the church.  I went to SPU and one of my professors came to preach at our church. I was blessed to marry my sweetheart, Ben McCary, who also was born in the church and I met him in the nursery.  When I was in kindergarten I would help with the babies. I helped teach Sunday school with my mom.  I was blessed with a scholarship to Princeton Seminary where I was able to get my Masters of Divinity while attending a conservative Baptist inner-city African-American church. 

All of this is to say is that I, like every other child who grows up in a church has a deep desire for unity, teamwork, and an authentic love of Christ.  It hurts kids when adults suffer a divisive spirit.  When egos take over in the church kids are discouraged in their faith and want out. 

Come this week and hear how the Bible shows us that God designed the church to run smoothly through the love of Jesus Christ.

One Ditch At A Time

When I was in high school, I went to work part time for a contractor who built luxury homes in the Tacoma area. I was excited to learn the trade of building and even bought a really nice tool belt, framing hammer and square. I showed up to the job site on my first day- ready and eager!  As I approached the contractor, he did something that completely caught me off guard. He handed me a shovel and said, “You’ll need your gloves...”  Suddenly, my first day went from genuine eagerness, to a bit of fear as I knew a shovel and gloves meant I wasn’t going to be building much of anything that day.

He instructed me to dig a ditch. A large one. He said it was for drainage and it needed to be 8ft long, by 3ft wide, by 3ft deep. At this point, I had to look around and make sure I wasn’t working at a cemetery! Was I digging my own grave out here?!?

Upon giving me the instructions, he left to another job site. Suddenly, I was all alone. Just me and my shovel. I began the long and painful task of digging the ditch. It was hard work!  A few hours later the contractor returned to look at my progress. He offered some “atta-boy” sentiments, which was nice, but I was really wanting to be done with this job!

Later, I finished the huge ditch, got into my car and drove home dirty, exhausted and hoping I didn’t make a huge mistake taking this job. Well...it wasn’t a mistake at all.

The next day, he had me come back to the same site, except there were no shovels. It was a day spent learning the basics of home construction! The contractor told me that while the ditch was indeed for drainage and very important to the house, he had me do that job just to see how well I would follow his instructions. Those listening skills my parents had taught me as a boy had paid off!!

In the book of 2 Kings, there is a story of people who were instructed to dig ditches. A lot of them! The reason for the ditches was quite simple: Listen to what God was telling them to do, then do it in a trusting way and see what happens. The Bible actually has quite a lot to say about faith and action. Psalm 37 tells us to “trust in the Lord and DO good...”

I hope you’ll join me this Sunday, as we explore this story of ditches and trusting God in 2 Kings 3. This will be a conclusion of our series on Trust and I hope that if you’ve heard any of these messages, you’ve grown in your understanding of trust and faith. It’s never something we will perfect. No one does. This is a long journey of progression toward growth and maturity. The key is in not giving up. God is with us and He’s always good and faithful to prove Himself trustworthy!

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex

Hurry Up and Wait

In the military, they have a saying “hurry up and wait.” That’s because there is a lot of waiting when you serve in the military - and because the military is serious business so they hurry to the points, then they wait.  So it is with life.  We rush to the hospital to wait and wait and wait for a child to be born.  We wait for those we love to pass on to heaven because it is the right thing to do.  We rush to the doctor and we wait in the waiting room.  We rush to fill all the forms out for a new job, a new house, a new car, a loan, a refinance, a college application and we wait.

 Last week, one of my hero’s – (even though he is younger than I am, he is still my hero) – Matthew Barnett  sent me a note.  He has a spiritual gift of prophecy and from time to time I get these odd notes from him.  One time he commented on my Facebook page “you need to be the first one to the conference you are speaking at and the last one to leave and visit with as many people as possible”.  I received his word and wow! what a blessing that conference turned out to be.  This week, he left a note for me that said, “You need to preach on Psalm 37”.  I have only spent a few times with him so I cannot say I know him well.  I think I know his dad better.  But I do consider him a friend – especially after watching God work so mightily through his life at the Dream Center.  I don’t know if he sent that note to  a lot of people or just to me, but after his comments about the conference I took his note literally and I am preaching on Trust so it is Psalm 37 this week.   As many of you may already know – this is a powerful passage and it is one of the “Trust in the Lord and Wait upon the Lord” passages.

 As I drove to work for an appointment this morning there was some construction. I let someone merge into my lane and the person behind me started to make all kinds of gestures.  Some of them were clearly not favorable.  She was not cheering me on for my act of kindness, which slowed us down for maybe 3 seconds.  She kept pointing to the man sitting next to her.  I (and my 135 pound dog Gus, who takes these kind of threats more seriously than I) looked at her and the man setting next to her and he shrugged his shoulders in timidity.  She kept yelling at me – I could not hear her, but it looked like she was going to bust a blood vessel back there.

 I would like to say this is a ‘one-in-a-million’ occurrence in our world, but we have all had experiences similar to this – right? Our whole community needs to learn to Rest in the Lord, Wait on the Lord, Trust in the Lord.  Well, it turns out that Psalm 37 has some fresh, innovative, practical solutions for all the pent-up restlessness in each of us.  As we all know, trusting God and waiting on God and resting in God is much easier to say than to do.  Psalm 37 is a birds-eye view from the mountain-top of our little world and shows how we  need God’s perspective to really develop that inner peace, strength and poise in order to act rightly in following God. Won’t you join me this weekend as we are all blessed by an encouraging Biblical message right from God to each of us?

 Your friend for the rest of my life,

 Pastor Tim White

Becoming Trustworthy One Bike Ride At A Time

I love the hit show, “Stranger Things”. Have you seen it? Great acting, storyline, suspense, mystery and most of all- the setting. Stranger Things takes place in a very familiar time for me. The 80’s!

The story is about a group of boys on a desperate search for their lost friend and if you’re familiar with the characters, you know they spend a lot of time riding their bikes through their neighborhood.

When I think of growing up in the 80’s, I think of riding my BMX bike all over town. It’s how I spent my Saturdays and summers. I also have vivid memories of being out too late, or not coming home on time and being in trouble with my parents. They would talk to me about how freedom and responsibility came with being trustworthy. I learned some hard lessons back then about becoming a trustworthy kid, by simply listening to what instructions my parents gave me and following through on them.

When it comes to trust, we spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out if God is trustworthy, but have we ever thought...”Does God trust me?”  “Is he looking to find me trustworthy?” These are important questions.

In the book of Numbers, God says this about Moses: “of all my house, he is the one I trust.”. It would appear that God is looking to trust us...

When we see our faith in God through the lens of relationship, I think we understand that trust is a two-way road. Just as it is in all of our human relationships. God tells us in scripture that He can be trusted, but in order for our relationship with God to be fully alive, we need to show ourselves trustworthy to Him. And by striving to be trustworthy, I don’t mean perfect. Grace is central to a healthy relationship with God. Always has been...always will be.

You see, I believe with every ounce of my being that God has great plans for your life. A calling, if you will, to do great things with Him in this world- because you were created with immense purpose!  The question is...are we living in a way to that honors God and shows that we can handle his blessing and favor, even when life gets difficult? Are we listening to His instructions and following through on them? When we do, I know that God sees us has his beloved children who can be trusted.

This Sunday, we’ll be exploring this question of trustworthiness more and I if you’re seeking a deeper, more adventurous relationship with Jesus, I’d love for you to join me on Sunday!

Grace and Peace.

Rex

Trust: Discovering Healthy Faith and Relationships

I am very excited about the new series we begin this weekend.  I can’t think of another topic more important for our church family than developing Trust.  It is essential in building a healthy congregation and healthy families.  Real communication and collaboration is impossible without the two-way conversation that comes with Godly trust.

Last week, it was Fernando Fox’s birthday. He is one of many amazing kids growing up in our church.  He is “one-in-a-million,” so much so, that his Sunday school teachers turn into his biggest fans.  He has a great sense of humor and an amazing imagination. His parents, David and Rosanna Fox, are doing a wonderful job of raising this masterpiece of a boy.  I think you could credit his sensational big brother, Andres, with helping in this project also.  As I was praying for him and the other kids growing up in our church, I was moved to tears asking God to help us learn more about trusting in a Biblical way. 

As you know, we live in a society which tends toward being cynical and pessimistic – learning to be suspicious and to rush-to-judgement of situations and people. We learn this through a survival response to the deep hurts in our lives.  If someone goes through a divorce, they often become really good at breaking off relationships and refusing to allow them back in their life.

A more difficult way of living is the Christ-like way. That is holding no grudges, lovingly asserting our understanding of what is true, and simply loving the whole world like Christ would. Admittedly, this is the much harder way. It means leaves ourselves open to criticism, judge-mentalism, gossip and to enemies who have no interest in our welfare.

I choose to trust God.  I choose not to wallow in self-pity or exaggeration. I choose to communicate as best I can.  I also choose not to be a door mat, but to speak the truth in love and humility.

This week I am going to start our series, “Trust – Discovering Healthy Faith and Relationships” by showing us the New Testament concept of Trust as the fulfillment of the profound concept of Trust found in the Old Testament.  One of my Rabbi friends once had a long discussion with me about the differences and I learned so much.  I believe that we cannot understand the New Testament Christ-like Trust without understanding the rich meaning of our Old Testament heritage. If God can allow me to communicate how to trust the Father and the Son, then I believe each of us will be better for the time we have spent exploring this critical concept of Trust.  It is going to heal a lot of our wounds and make us a healthier church family.  Please join me as we kick off this new series.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White