feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)
Dear family,
I guess that our church summer began this past Sunday with the introduction to our new summer teaching series. At 9:50a.m. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was in town, and why I hadn’t gone to the beach too, but in the end it was great to have so many in the service. Thank you for your faithfulness to come, even if it is not before 10:00a.m.! You defy all the prognostications that determine whether people will go to church or not, parking availability being one of them in this culture. From the time that one wife sat in front of me this Sunday to the arrival of her husband who had to park, nearly ten minutes had elapsed! Thank you for coming to a church with no parking! Of course, if you left home a little earlier parking might be a bit easier! Just a thought!
I quoted from Richard Lovelace’s book, “The Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal” in which the author, then a professor of church history at Gordon-Conwell seminary, focuses mainly on the necessary constituent elements of renewal and reformation in the church, in order for her to be an effective transformational agent in society, to engage what he describes as the “satanic power structures in American culture.” “The mind’s natural darkness concerning itself, the world and God is so extensive that it cannot be remedied by a short summary of essential truth. It demands ‘the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27); the whole of God’s written revelation constantly searched out for its current implications concerning the church and the world in order that ‘the man and woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ ”
As a church, we are committed, as best as we are able, to the pursuit and the proclamation of the whole counsel of God and to the non-negotiable necessities of biblical study with the consequent application of its implications, in corporate settings of public services, in our home-groups in the neighborhoods, as well as in the private place of devotional study and meditation and prayer. We are committed to both personal and corporate biblical problem-solving, recognizing that a spiritual comprehension and apprehension of holy doctrine is foundational to the fulfillment of holy duty; that the personal and practical out-workings of faith in our discipleship are rooted in the propositional articulations of faith – in the truth of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that we need to continuously expound and experience, whether from Old or New Testament text. We want to mature in the example of Jesus who opened the scriptures to reveal things supremely about himself. Referring to this same scripture (Luke 24:27) Lovelace writes: “This grounding of the redemptive core of truth in the whole context of biblical revelation was probably the content of the apostles’ teaching in the newborn Christian community described in Acts 2. The content of this infant theology must have been fairly rudimentary, judging from the problems and responses in the early church, so it is obvious that a fully articulated theology is not essential to the flourishing inner life and expanding outward witness of a new Christian community. But the church needed such theology in order to handle the questions which would confront it during the wider expansion of its missionary witness, and this was provided in the gift of a theologian through the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.”
Unquestionably, Paul was brilliantly empowered to relate revealed truth, not only to the internal situations of new church life, but also, and crucially, to the external cultural contexts in which these churches found themselves. He was able to model two necessary things:
An understanding of gentile culture that enabled him to engage it and its intellectual spokespersons;
An understanding of the differences between the non-Christian thought world and the biblical world view, that gave him “intellectual traction in resisting any dilution of the Christian outlook through fusion with anti-Christian thinking.” (Lovelace) Thus Paul’s warnings about the folly of the world’s wisdom and his warnings against the empty deceits of human philosophy and tradition, or anything that is not “according to Christ.” (1 Cors.3:19; Cols.2:8)
Similarly, in our time and culture, we need the capacities, spiritual and intellectual, to both influence culture without being influenced wrongly by it. We need to be able to be rightly and appropriately pro-active in our engagement with culture, at the same time that we are rightly and appropriately protective of the church. The effective defense of the gospel in the public square is not at odds with an alert defensiveness of the traditions of the faith and the fathers. Defending the faith and defending the faithful are equally important.
We do not pursue our faith in a vacuum or in a hermetically sealed controlled environment. We live in a particular cultural context, with particular traits and values, characteristics and ideologies, mores and presuppositions, contradictions and confusions, troubles and temptations, fears and fantasies, oppositions and opportunities, challenges and blessings. And of course, when we use the word culture, we are in fact talking about a system of thought and practice, belief and behavior that is significantly multicultural. Indeed we are in the world. What world? As those who are “in Christ” what are we facing in this world, not only personally in terms of our individual encounters and experiences with our culture, but what are we dealing with collectively, corporately, communally, nationally, at this period of our American history? It is not our intention to be exhaustive on any one subject area, or even cover all the main issues begging discussion (we will only have about a 45-50 minute presentation on each topic, over about 6-8 weeks, so clearly it will be very limited) but we do at least want to open up, kick-start and stir the necessary thinking, appropriate deliberation and even debate, about some significant areas that inform our understanding of the relationship between Christian faith and culture. Among the things that we want to cover over the summer are discussions and examinations of the following subjects: understanding the nature and necessity of truth in a postmodernist context; a discussion about the nature and practice of tolerance amidst diversity of cultural convictions; a discussion about how we respond to cultural sexual mores; treatment of consumerism and its relationship to postmodernism – its impact on the church by way of designer faith and religion; a look at how we deal with certain prevailing cultural characteristics like anger or contempt; a discussion about the possibilities or impossibilities of Christian influence in public policy; what about the issues we are dealing with when it comes to religious liberty in our culture.
We have a couple of al fresco services thrown into the summer mix, when we will not be having any teaching, and that will challenge our coverage, but I hope this gives you some idea of what we will be about, and furthermore, I hope it strikes a chord, meets a need, elicits your blessing. I really appreciate the many of you who spoke to me after the service on Sunday expressing your positive responses and support and interest in what we are seeking to present. Thank you. And when all else fails: THINK, BABY, THINK! Next Sunday: A TIME FOR TRUTH
Thoughtfully yours,
Stuart
We are featuring some of the writings of Dr. Os Guinness throughout this series and here is a list of some titles that you should consider reading during the summer:
Fit Bodies Fat Minds (Why evangelicals don’t think and what to do about it)
Dining with the Devil (The mega-church movement flirts with modernity)
Time for Truth (Living Free in a world of lies, hype and spin)
God in the Dark (The assurance of faith beyond a shadow of a doubt)
Unspeakable (Facing up to the challenge of evil)
The Case For Civility (and why our future depends on it)
Long Journey Home (A guide to your search for the meaning of life)
The Call (Finding and fulfilling the central purpose of your life)
Character Counts (Leadership qualities in Washington, Wilberforce, Lincoln and Solzhenitsyn)
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)
Announcements
SUMMER BARBECUES: This Sunday Care Company will be hosting a barbecue after church to raise funds for Urban Hands Scholarships. Bring your appetites and help us support this wonderful ministry.
CHURCH PICNICS: July 4 and August 1, we will be having special church gatherings to replace our regular Sunday service:
July 4, 11:00am, Church service in Garfield Park followed by a picnic
August 1, 11:00am, Church service in Burke Lake Park followed by picnic.
Congregants are invited to camp at the park on the preceding night. Visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/burkelake/ for details on camping.
PARENTING DISCUSSION GROUP: There will be a parenting discussion group meeting on 3 more Saturdays this summer (7/17, 8/21, 9/18), for parents, or parents in waiting. The group will meet from 6:30- 8pm at COSC with childcare provided. Contact Luke Goodrich if you are interested, lukewgoodrich@gmail.com.
NO MEN’S BREAKFAST THIS MONTH: Contact Matthew Tropiano for information on other men’s ministry activities, matthew.tropiano@navy.mil.
ROMANS BIBLE STUDY: Men, if you are interested in a summer-long study on the book of Romans, contact Brian Slusarz, bslusarz@worldvision.org or 847-971-1172.
JOIN US FOR URBAN HANDS PRAYER AND FASTING DAYS: Tuesday (22nd) I AM the Bread of Life (Speaker TBD); Thursday (24th) I AM the Light of the World (Speaker: Matt Tropiano). Other prayer focus: Holy Spirit filled and freed worship! We will be providing more space for intercessional worship during our evening sessions. Please prayer that these times of worship and prayer are powerful and transformative for all present. Please also pray for Ben Doggett, Lindsey Kiser, Ozzie Johnson, Craig Montgomery, and Monique Sommer, who will be preparing to lead worship each evening.
SOFTBALL: Come out and cheer on the COSC Softball team—The Flock, Monday at 7:00pm, Field 4, West Potomac Park. If you have any questions, e-mail Anne Hall, anne.hall16@gmail.com.
SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER FOR URBAN HANDS: July 11-17th—anytime, any day! Copy/paste this URL into a web-browser to sign up: Here
For general questions or building use inquiries, send an e-mail to office@christourshepherd.org.
To communicate updates for the pastoral letter and/ or the church bulletin, send an e-mail to ben@christourshepherd.org. The church bulletin will be completed by end of day on Thursdays.
Bulletin Board
Postings not officially sanctioned by COSC.
Ads will be posted for up to 4 weeks. After that time period,
please contact the church office to see if space will permit the
ad to remain posted.
HOUSING AVAILABLE: Furnished bedroom and bathroom available starting Aug. 1 for CF at 10th & E St. NE. 15 min walk to Union Station and Eastern Market Metro. Shared kitchen and laundry plus internet access and ample storage. Must appreciate young children. $750/mo or $1000 split between two renters (includes utilities) plus $100 security deposit. If interested, Contact melsunuk@gmail.com.
MATH TUTOR NEEDED: The Southeast White House, a non-profit organization in SE DC, is looking for a summer math tutor to match with one of the girls in their program. This would entail 1-2 hours a week. If interested, contact Karen Tuttle at sekids@gmail.com or 202-575-3337.
MATH TEACHER WANTED: Rivendell School in Arlington, VA, is committed to “helping children explore God’s world and discover their place in it.” If this mission exites you and you are a math teacher, we’d love to hear from you! We are looking for a part-time math teacher to begin work Aug. 2010. Please find application materials at rivendellschool.net, or call the school office, 703-532-1200.
EVENING OF HEALING PRAYER
The Evening of Healing Prayer will be held on Tuesday, June29th at 7:30 PM. This prayer service is open to all those currently attending a COSC homegroup. If you would like to schedule a 30 minute prayer appointment, or attend the service for a time of silent prayer, please e-mail or call Deborah at the church office by Friday, June 25th: deborah@christourshepherd.org / 202-544-9599.