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Christmas at Washington Cathedral

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By Pastor Tim White

Happy Holidays.  What a great time of year! It looks like the holidays outside.  Rain and wind make for a perfect time to sit by the fire, read a book or have a soul-filled conversation over a cup of coffee.  It just feels like the holidays with this kind of weather.  And the joke is that we have this weather almost all year long.  But we don’t care.  It is a great time of the year.  

This Sunday Pastor Becca will be kicking off a life-changing message series called: Christmas Lights the Night.  She is sharing the Christmas story in an expository message from the Gospel of John.  At the same time, Pastor Michael and his elves will begin to decorate the campus with lights getting ready for our dazzling Christmas Eve services with real live animals and a petting area.  (Pastor Michael loves Christmas - he has It’s a Wonderful Life memorized.)  

And of course, we will be participating in all of our special projects to help those who are hurting in our community and around the world.  Every year it seems like Christmas ministries just grow at Washington Cathedral. One of our post-Christmas evaluations told us we needed to do less -- but do it better.  When we met as a staff we asked the question – “What should focus on?”  Every staff member was so passionate about the different areas of ministry that no one wanted to cut anything.  So, as the leader in this movement, I was led to lead the way. Therefore, after 33 years of Santa Conspiracy we are going to take a year off. This was a ministry that was so dear to my heart and you have heard the story of how the Lord started it.  We still have some bears, so we will be sending out a few Santa’s to carry on the good work.  

This year we need to impact our community with the life-rescuing message of Jesus Christ focusing on the impact of Christmas.  We have our ministry to the homeless; to the convalescent homes; the building of a new school in the Patmos slum of Kenya; hospitals, and neighbors who are looking for a faith -- these will continue.  It will be, I think, the most dramatic Christmas we have ever experienced as a church family.   Christmas Lights the Night dramas will be Friday, December 22, at 7:00 pm; Saturday, December 23, at 5:00pm, and Sunday, December 24, at 5:00pm. Our special guest for Sunday morning, December24 9:30am and 11:00am, worship services will be Dave Irish.  And of course, we will have our beautiful Candlelight Communion Worship at 11:00pm Christmas Eve.

Going into Christmas: 

  • Washington Cathedral Choir Christmas concert at Redmond Town Center Saturday, November 25, from 1-2pm.
  • The Mix Worship with Pastor Helio preaching and international praise including a potluck dinner on Saturday, November 25, at 5:30pm
  • Pastor Becca McCary preaching on the Sunday, November 26, at 9:30am and 11:00am, kicking off the series: Christmas Lights the Night.
  • Pastor Linda Skinner will preach the following week, December 2 & 3, on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Mark. Saturday, December 2, is our Volunteer Christmas party at the Café put on by Bill & Millie Porter.
  • I will be preaching the weekend of December 9 & 10 on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Luke.  For the kids (and anyone else who wants to join in) a special Christmas Cookie Decorating time led by Pastor Becca in the Café.
  • Pastor Becca McCary will be preaching the weekend of December 16 & 17 on Christmas Lights the Night from the Gospel of Matthew.  Plus - an all-church Christmas Carol sing-a-long with hot apple cider for 20 minutes of the service.  In addition, the youth will be having their Christmas party that afternoon.
  • Pastor Rey Diaz will be joining our preaching team at the weekend service on December 30 & 31, New Year’s Eve.

There are going to be a lot of great events and special ministry opportunities as we enjoy a focused - refreshing - incredibly inspiring Christmas at Washington Cathedral this year.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Friend of God

By Pastor Tim White

I have been following Jesus Christ since I was 10 years old. And, after all these years, I am closer to him than I ever dreamed possible. I am amazed by his words now more than last year. I love the verse where Jesus speaks from his heart and says, “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me, I chose you.  I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.  This is my command: Love each other.”  John 15:15-17

I have to admit that it seems a bit presumptuous to call myself a “friend of God.”  I am not alone, in that Paul continued to call himself a slave of Jesus Christ.  But I have to admit that Jesus has been a best friend - more than I could ever imagine.  He certainly is a friend to me and I want so much to be counted on to be his friend.  I want to be the kind of friend who rightly preaches the Word of God; who loves His people with integrity and faithfulness; who is a resource of His grace into a world that is so broken; who invests his life in the people He has assigned me to love.  I want to be a friend of God from the bottom of my heart.

This week I am sharing the vision of Washington Cathedral for this year’s campaign "Love First!”  Last week I began to cast the vision of discipleship. Encouraging the good people of our church family to view their family, friends and neighbors as people who they long to pour their life and faith into creating a circle of influence.  If we could all do that, our church would spread the Good News tenfold.  Isn’t that basically what every one of us wants to do whether we are a grandfather or a grandchild.

This week I want to share the new plan for the empowering organization that will help every disciple become a discipler.  That kind of organization only works through fostering two-way friendship.  I have spent 33 years being at the head of a clumsy organization. No organization is perfect.  They become bureaucratic and political by nature. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on this subject. It is called “institutional entropy.”  But friendship cuts through the Gordian knot that prevents the church from being all that Jesus envisioned.  I have entitled this message – “Unlocking Your Giftedness.” Would you please join me and enter into this all-important dialogue that will shake the world with the love of God and rebirth our church by empowering its people to be all they were meant to be?

Your friend for the rest of my life,

By Pastor Tim White  

 

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The Power of The Other

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The Power of The Other

When they are to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”  And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” "You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.” 2 Kings 2:9-10

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Love is an Action

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Love is an Action

It is easy to say I love you as an affirmation of goodwill, but the ones we really love know it through our actions. We can say we love the world, but what do we do to show it?

God so loved the world that He gave His Son. What was this all about? It was about bringing humanity home to be restored to the Family God has created. When we discover the love of Jesus, we know that our response is not just to say that He exists, but rather that we get to share a life of love with Him and those who He calls us to love right around us.

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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Every creation of God is unique in its beauty.  When I was ten years old I decided I wanted to join 4H. (4H at that times was for farm kids to grow and learn life skills needed for living in the rural area).  As my project, I chose raising sheep.  My family had raised chickens, cows and pigs, but no one had every tackled sheep.  I wanted to learn more about being a sheep farmer so I went to group meetings and we learned about raising sheep.

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Wild Love Wins

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Wild Love Wins

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.

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Hope of the World

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Hope of the World

"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.”

Love First

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.