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Wild Love Wins (Love me, don’t leave me - overcoming the fear of abandonment) - that is the title of my sermon on one of the most beautiful and most powerful chapters in the Bible - Romans Chapter 8. This will be our focus as we study this passage. Every person needs love. Our biggest failures, addictions and twisted self-defeating behaviors come from deeply imbedded insecurities in a desperate need for love.
"The local church is the hope of the world." These were the passionate words of Ryan Romeo as he spoke in our area at a fabulous concert last summer called Outcry. Pastor Linda attended the Christian concert for her birthday featuring some of the top Christian bands and artists. She was so touched by the fervor of the young worship pastor named Ryan Romeo, who through Cody Williams (Director of Development for the band Jesus Culture) had put Ryan in touch with David Crowder, Jenn Johnson from Bethel Music, and many of the leaders of millennial Christians in the United States. Linda was so impressed by their passion for the local church that she picked up a copy of the book "OUTCRY" by Ryan Romeo. Giving it to me she said “this sounds a lot like our new theme Love First.”
Once upon a time, there was a church that really needed a boost. The church prayed -- the senior adults prayed and the children prayed; the singles prayed and young couples prayed. Everyone who visited the church prayed. Because isn’t that what you do in church? They were all praying that God would somehow let go of His power in order for the church to reach a very troubled world with the love of Christ.
I love the old joke where the mountain climber falls off the mountain and is holding on to a cliff with a thousand-feet drop beneath him and he yells out… "God help me!" Suddenly he hears the audible voice of God saying, "just let go and my angels will catch you and fly you back to the top." The man looks down and then yells back. "Is there anybody else up there?" I think most of us can relate to experiencing stress. In this season when the kids are getting pictures of their first day of school, they are often somewhat nervous about meeting new friends, learning new material and getting back to school. Teachers are often stressed getting ready for classes that have a high student teacher ratio. Business men and women are often stressed wondering how they are going to pay all their bills. And everyone is stressed because Equifax, without asking us, has all our personal information and half of all Americans lost their identity security as this company was compromised. In fact, I think I just stressed us all out in promoting this sermon on moving from Stressed to Blessed.
It was like a moment from heaven. We rented a cabin right across the river from where my grandparent's old trappers cabin once stood. The sound of the roaring Wallowa River has always been therapeutic to my soul. When I was six months old I lived there with my parents as they prepared to start a church in the Tri-Cities called the Cathedral of Joy. All my life is marked with those mountains. The first fish I ever caught was right there in the Wallowa River…
Sometimes we get a glimpse of glory and the only thing we can do is praise God! The other day on our evening walk, I saw the most beautiful sunset. The colors shone through the trees with such brilliance, that I thought – “If I saw a picture painted with those colors I would think the artist was making it up.” No sunset could have those depths of color. But there it was and I could only say praise God!
by Pastor Linda Skinner For many years now our church has selflessly sent youth teams to Honduras to work amongst the poorest of poor. I’ve had the privilege of leading the amazing team on our annual auction supporting our mission projects. As part of the auction, the youth team kids work hard. They procure items for the auction and help on auction night as part of their preparation for the trip. It has been one of the highlights of my ministry at Washington Cathedral watching the kids who go on these trips come back with such a heart for Jesus and the “little ones” he loves in all parts of the world.
This year, for the first time since we have been working in Honduras, I had the honor and privilege of going on the Youth Mission trip with the team. That means I got to work with the team in preparation for the auction, in preparation for the trip and taking part in all aspects of the trip. For all of us on the team, our hearts were stolen by the children we served in La Paz, Honduras. But in addition, my heart was stolen by the young people from our church who went on this trip.
Every step of the way, I watched them courageously step out of their comfort zones and do things they never imagined they could do. As the time to go on the trip approached, there was the combination of excitement mixed with a little trepidation. For some, this was their very first mission trip experience--and they had no idea what to expect. In preparation, they had to have vaccinations not necessary in this country. And we had to brief them on health hazards and dangers of entering into a third-world country where you do not know the customs or speak the language well. I know this all added to their sense of apprehension.
John says these words in 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear….” I witnessed this phenomenon the minute our kids stepped into the San Jose Orphanage and met the children of the orphanage. Despite age, language and cultural differences, they were drawn to one another. The love of Christ shone on the faces of our kids. Before I knew it, they were had a soccer game going, they were playing “go fish” and teaching one another “clapping songs”. Loved reigned supreme in the hearts of all.
Every day, they grew closer and closer to one another. We learned one another’s names. We even visited homes of some of the children in the NiCo Tutoring center. God worked in our hearts and none of us wanted to leave. But the day came that we had to say “good bye,” and again that beast of fear entered in our hearts. Fear of leaving and letting go. Pastor Rey asked us to be brave and not to say or do anything to hurt the hearts of these children who have suffered their entire lives with feelings of abandonment. We needed to be strong to hold back the tears and leave them with joy and laughter.
I think this was the hardest assignment our kids faced. I was so proud of all of them. They showed such maturity and compassion. They were crying inside because they didn’t want to say "Adios", but outside they were filled with joy for the time God had given them with these precious little ones. As our bus drove away, they shouted one another’s names saying “Adios”, some of the kids ran alongside our bus, waving, laughing and calling our names. It is a picture of “Love and Courage” that will forever be emblazoned on the hearts of all of us. We went on a Holy Adventure and God changed us all.
This weekend Pastor Josh, our Youth Pastor and Mission Team Leader, is going to preach on his life verse Joshua 1:9 and he will be interviewing some of the team members. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to celebrate what God is doing in our midst through the youth of our church.
Reflections from Pastor Tim: Football is in the air and everybody's team is undefeated! Like the start of football season, it's also the time when students are readying for a new school year. And as Christians we always find this as a time when we can focus on recharging our faith as we cherish the final fanfare of another amazing summer. I hope you all want to stretch your faith muscles and begin preparing for the amazing time we can anticipate as our Lord "coaches us up," so we too can claim that undefeated promise.
We're continuing with our sermon series on "finding your life verse." I'm excited because Dr Dale White, my dad, will be teaching us with a message taken from the book of Matthew this Saturday night. And, to add an exclamation mark, Vanessa Love will sing for us, which always is a joyful time. After the service, I have the pleasure of doing a Saturday evening baptism. If you are interested in being baptized, please contact the church office.
On Sunday, I will be sharing my life verse given to me by theologian/philosopher Carl F.H. Henry. Dr. Henry was a long time personal friend to Billy Graham, serving on the board of directors of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He also helped start Christianity today, Fuller Theological Seminary, and was instrumental in the emergence of evangelicalism from the more dogmatic fundamentalism. The one time I was honored to meet him, he asked me about Washington Cathedral and then gave me a life verse. After explaining to him I already had a life verse, he told me I had a new one – Romans 15:13. “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Not only does this verse resonate with our vision of becoming a “great caring network,” but resonates with the times we are in. There is so much going on in our world today that it can fill our hearts with frustration, disappointment, bitterness, and doubt. But it is during “tough times” like these that God works his hope miracle best.
I believe that this weekend is going to be a fun, prophetic, empowering encouraging experience. Please join us.
Your friend for the rest of my life,
Pastor Tim
This is a very special weekend at Washington Cathedral. Pastor Marcelo Almeida will be back preaching in both the 9:30 and 11:00 am worship services. Our Brazilian congregation, The Vine - Seattle, will join us at 11:00am with their all-star praise band along with Eliot and his praise band to lead us in worship. As many of you know, Pastor Marcelo is one of God’s amazing people of our century. He has planted five of the largest churches in the world. He and his best friend, Pastor Alousio, started Vidiera in Guyana - Brazil, where it has grown to 30,000 people a week; and a network of starting 2,000 churches around the world. He started a church with a friend named Abraham near the Amazon River with a small group and it grew to 55,000 people. He then moved to Portugal and took a Teen Challenge ministry and built it into the largest church in Portugal. After turning that church over to a disciple, he started the second largest church in Portugal. Now he is President of “The Vine – International” and starting churches in the United States, Asia, Africa and all over Latin America. It is one of the great movements of our time. Please don’t miss his timely message on Discipleship. Pastor Tim will be speaking at The International Vine Conference at 9:30 Saturday morning in Spirit Falls Sanctuary. You are all invited. Saturday afternoon at Cottage Lake Park starting at 3:00pm we are having our Annual All-Church Picnic and Barbecue. Bring any lawn games you might enjoy or swimming if you like. Hamburgers and hot dogs available, please bring a potluck side dish for everyone to enjoy. Pastor David sharing a message from our series: “My Life Verse” taken from the Book of James. The worship starts at 5:30pm and will be over by 6:30pm.
Don’t miss a $27 ($50 value) ticket to the Husky football game. It is Faith and Family night and we get to go down on the field to watch the teams warm-up prior to the game. Check with the Washington Cathedral App or website, because the Deadline to buy the ticket is the 23rd of August.
This is the Summer of Family fun. Bring family and friends and join in the fun.
For me, reading the Bible, is more than just sitting down and reading a book. It is having a conversation with a Living God. Sometimes the conversation flows easily. Sometimes there are lulls in the talking. Sometimes God is extremely comforting and encouraging! Other times, the conversation gets quite heated.
That is part of what amazes me about finding a life verse. It is often just one sentence or two from the Bible, but throughout every season of life, it speaks to me. It challenges me in unique ways. It encourages me. It reminds my heart to return to Jesus. No matter what I'm going through, God speaks to me through my life verse. Despite that it is written for all people to read, it feels like God wrote it just for me... like he preordained this as the mission statement for just my life.
Hebrews 4:12 puts it this way:
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
When it comes to life verses, I cheat a little. Mine is a life book: 1 John. I grew up hearing my dad recite the book from memory every Saturday when we drove to church. I could see God working on his heart though it week in and week out, even though the words he recited were always the same. When I became a teenager, I started to sit down and read the book for myself. I cried. It was like God was speaking right to my heart. Now, 15 years later, when I sit down to read 1 John, do you know what happens? I cry. It's like God is speaking right to my heart. Despite how many times I've read it, it's more than an old comforting text, it's living and active. God convicts my heart of sin. God reveals new things to me. God leads my heart closer to Jesus as I'm reminded of who he has called me to be.
My prayer for every person in Washington Cathedral, and every person reading this, is that you would make God's word a bigger part of your relationship with him. That we could all find life verses, memorize them, and allow God to speak to us through them in living and fresh ways.
Pastor Becca
