4th of July Sunday in the USA
Sorry. I don't have a sermon text to share today. I didn't preach and I was away from Intl Church of Bangkok.
This Sunday started with an early morning jog (5:30am). Yes, we're still a bit jetlagged. Then I settled in at home for awhile waiting for time to go to church. I turned on the TV and was disgusted by the church services I saw. Apparently the American flag is the new cross because the flag had replaced the cross in almost every church service I saw.
I listened as preacher after preacher used the founding documents of the United States as their Scripture and gave thinly veiled political speeches. The only alternative were a couple of pop psychology sermons telling me that "if I just believe, God would bless me and take away all my problems."
Now I should say, I'm a proud American. I'll happily celebrate Independence tonight with friends at a BBQ and fireworks show. What I don't like is patriotism in Christian worship. We worship God, not our nation. And nationalism can become an idol (and it is a big one in the US right now). And that brings me to the church service we went to this morning.
The family went to Low Country Community Church in Hilton Head, SC. I think it was the right church on a lot of levels.
Despite my aversion to patriotism in worship, it is something I know you have to do. And LCCC did it in a clever way. I don't know if this was intentional, but the opening "patriotic" song was "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond. What I loved about it was that it's a celebration of America as an immigrant nation and sort of says there is room for anyone who dreams of freedom. That's the best of American patriotism. It's also the most biblical vision. And it counters some of the anti-immigrant bigotry being parroted around the country right now and mixed with Christianity.
The service was packed. They had seating for 144, but I think the crowd reached 160 by 10 minutes after the start. There was a nicely done baby dedication. The music was well done - although I didn't particularly love the choice of songs. They weren't very constructive for group singing. The sermon was really well done.
The pastor was preaching the third sermon in a series from Jude. Jude is a book that warns against false teachers. And the pastor was making a powerful point. Avoiding false teaching is not just a doctrinal issue; it is a life issue. Not only do we have to "know" truth, but we have to take action based on it.
And so he called LCCC and those of us visiting to put our faith into action in our communities to bring salvation to our communities. One of the highlights was a call to deal with people who have doubts with mercy and grace rather than condemnation.
It was a great message and follows some of the stuff I'd been reading this week (Paul Borden's, Assaulting the Gates).If you are in Hilton Head - I'd recommend checking out LCCC on a Sunday.
A couple of other things I learned today.
Our sympathies go out to Amy Dircks (our pastoral associate). Amy's father died on Saturday. We are grateful for his life and for his public profession of faith in Jesus just a few weeks back (although we suspect he'd become a Christian some time ago). Please pray for Amy and her family as they mourn his loss. He had been ill and this was an expected death, but it's still hard to take.
And congratulations to Den Vichakyothin. He is a pastoral assistant for music and was contacted recenly by GMMM Grammy Records to participate in an acoustic guitar album. Great news. Pray for Den as he seeks to use his gift for music to spread God's love throughout Thailand.
This Sunday started with an early morning jog (5:30am). Yes, we're still a bit jetlagged. Then I settled in at home for awhile waiting for time to go to church. I turned on the TV and was disgusted by the church services I saw. Apparently the American flag is the new cross because the flag had replaced the cross in almost every church service I saw.
I listened as preacher after preacher used the founding documents of the United States as their Scripture and gave thinly veiled political speeches. The only alternative were a couple of pop psychology sermons telling me that "if I just believe, God would bless me and take away all my problems."
Now I should say, I'm a proud American. I'll happily celebrate Independence tonight with friends at a BBQ and fireworks show. What I don't like is patriotism in Christian worship. We worship God, not our nation. And nationalism can become an idol (and it is a big one in the US right now). And that brings me to the church service we went to this morning.
The family went to Low Country Community Church in Hilton Head, SC. I think it was the right church on a lot of levels.
Despite my aversion to patriotism in worship, it is something I know you have to do. And LCCC did it in a clever way. I don't know if this was intentional, but the opening "patriotic" song was "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond. What I loved about it was that it's a celebration of America as an immigrant nation and sort of says there is room for anyone who dreams of freedom. That's the best of American patriotism. It's also the most biblical vision. And it counters some of the anti-immigrant bigotry being parroted around the country right now and mixed with Christianity.
The service was packed. They had seating for 144, but I think the crowd reached 160 by 10 minutes after the start. There was a nicely done baby dedication. The music was well done - although I didn't particularly love the choice of songs. They weren't very constructive for group singing. The sermon was really well done.
The pastor was preaching the third sermon in a series from Jude. Jude is a book that warns against false teachers. And the pastor was making a powerful point. Avoiding false teaching is not just a doctrinal issue; it is a life issue. Not only do we have to "know" truth, but we have to take action based on it.
And so he called LCCC and those of us visiting to put our faith into action in our communities to bring salvation to our communities. One of the highlights was a call to deal with people who have doubts with mercy and grace rather than condemnation.
It was a great message and follows some of the stuff I'd been reading this week (Paul Borden's, Assaulting the Gates).If you are in Hilton Head - I'd recommend checking out LCCC on a Sunday.
A couple of other things I learned today.
Our sympathies go out to Amy Dircks (our pastoral associate). Amy's father died on Saturday. We are grateful for his life and for his public profession of faith in Jesus just a few weeks back (although we suspect he'd become a Christian some time ago). Please pray for Amy and her family as they mourn his loss. He had been ill and this was an expected death, but it's still hard to take.
And congratulations to Den Vichakyothin. He is a pastoral assistant for music and was contacted recenly by GMMM Grammy Records to participate in an acoustic guitar album. Great news. Pray for Den as he seeks to use his gift for music to spread God's love throughout Thailand.
