A Dark Day

The black clouds shrouding the sky mirror the hopelessness that’s been building in your heart over the past few hours. You force your body to stop shaking from the internal agony. You wish you could scream at the crowds jeering at the spectacle before you, but fear of outing yourself holds you back.

Fear.

The same cursed fear that kept you from defending your rabbi. The same fear that caused you to flee for your life, rather than be arrested with the one who said Follow Me. Now he hangs from a cross. A bloodied, beaten display for all Jerusalem to witness.

A few short weeks ago you watched as he healed the sick and crippled. Now, in a few short hours he will breathe his last breath.

This last day has been nothing short of a catastrophe.


Have you ever experienced a catastrophe? They come in all shapes and sizes from a flat tire on your way to an important meeting, the sudden death of a loved one, or news that shakes the very foundations of your life.

The fantasy author and philologist J.R.R. Tolkien coined the term Eucatastrophe. It comes from the Greek prefix  ευ-, meaning good, and καταστροφή ("sudden turn"). Tolkien viewed a eucatastrophe as a sudden turn in fortune from a disastrous situation to an unforeseen victory.


Beyond the examples in myth and his own fiction, Tolkien also saw the term explain aspects of his own Christian faith. He writes this in his essay “On Fairy Stories”:


"The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy."


Without the catastrophe of the cross, we don’t get the sudden, unexpected, joyous turn of events that Easter morning brings. The darker the night, the brighter the joy of the dawn. Where have you experienced your own eucatastrophes? That's part of your story. Your testimony. Those sudden turns toward grace are reminders of the work Jesus continues to perform in our lives.


“. . . though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

- C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

That, my friends, is the story we’re invited into.

--Zach Sollie

Our journey into The Book of Acts began in January and has continued on!

We've had three baptisms and some awesome guest speakers since our last new letter. Praise the Lord!

We've been bless by some fantastic guest speakers leading the Sunday Service! 

Things are always happening at the church!

We had a great STAGE NIGHT in February, featuring local musicians Ricot Aladin and Walking Phoenix. Keep an eye out for the next concert coming up in the summer!

Lets remember to pray for the names written on the walls in the Worship Center. Each of those names represent someone who needs to encounter Jesus. And lets also remember to pray for those in the church who are hurting right now.

I was skeptical when I first watched The Chosen. In my past experience, Christian films and shows tend to be poorly written with a bent towards being preachy. However, with each new episode I watched, I kept growing more and more impressed by the writing, acting, and overall production of the show. 
There were many moments I liked as I watched season one, then season two. But one scene, in the final episode of season two, stood out to me and has remained fixed in my mind since first viewing it. 
In the scene, Jesus and Matthew are standing on a hill overlooking their camp where the rest of the disciples have been working to prepare for an event. The other disciples had been bickering and arguing recently and Matthew and Jesus have this exchange:

Matthew: I hope they can find a way to work together.
Jesus: What do you mean?
Matthew: They can’t seem to agree on a single thing lately . . .
Jesus: Oh, I’ve noticed. In some ways it’s to be expected.
Matthew: But not desired, surely. 
Jesus: No. But it’s what’s bound to happen when you start something that’s open to all, truly, all people… 
A Message for All People
This exchange impacted the way I looked at the church and even Christianity as a whole. 
For years, I’ve had the frustration of trying to find the right church or group of Christians who believed the “correct” doctrine and followed God the “right” way. As one might expect, I had little luck in finding a church like that. I would grow frustrated at the contradictions or differences between denominations and practices. One church believed a certain way about baptism, another had disagreements with the type of music played on sunday morning, and still another with those qualified to be in leadership. 

This scene highlighted that it’s normal that we would have disagreements on how to live the Christian life since each person comes from a unique life experience. And more importantly, it’s to be expected. God’s not looking at all our disagreements in shock that we aren’t completely unified. 

Now, I’m not saying there are no truths we can fully rest on and believe. But I am saying that many of our practices are not necessarily the “right-way” to do Christianity. We are different. We are broken. Whenever you have people who have different stories come together, there is bound to be disagreement. It’s arrogant to think we have everything figured out perfectly. 
Great News

The good news is that God was willing to risk us misinterpreting his words, he was willing to risk us fighting over how best to follow him, he was willing to risk us yelling at each other because we don’t believe exactly the same thing as each other. God was willing to risk all that because his call to follow him is for everyone. 
In today’s world, we see groups form around very narrow ideas; you have to vote a certain way to be in the group, cheer for this one team, say this specific mantra, etc. 

Jesus is different. He didn’t only call those with a religious upbringing. He didn’t exclude those who continually struggle to do the right thing. He didn’t limit his message to the first 100 people. 
He calls everyone to follow him. That includes you too. 
That’s really great news! 
So next time you feel frustrated at your friend who belongs to a different denomination, I challenge you to pause and take some time to thank God for coming for us all before you do anything else. I think it will do us all a bit of good.

--Zach Sollie

We started up monthly church work days again! Setting aside a day to work on building projects and fix things around the church. Thanks to everyone who has shown up and helped out! Work Days are every first Monday of the month from 10AM-4PM

This year's Youthwork Giving Tree was a great success. We had 74 tags on the tree, each representing homeless or hurting youth in our community and the church came together to provides gifts for all of them. Thank you for being a vital part of that this Christmas!

Christmas Stage Night concert this year was a lot of fun! Thanks to Cambria and her band for performing some holly jolly tunes.

Celebrating the new year!

We continue to give 15% of our tithes to the Neemaland Queens & Kings Orphanage in Kenya for the building of a new dormitory and provide for the children there. Here is a collaboration of videos and some building progress pictures sent to us from Grace, who runs the orphanage.

James 1:27
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

The church has been pretty chilly for the last couple of months since the heaters went out at the beginning of winter. Especially for the kid's rooms! But we're very happy to let you know that the rooftop heaters have been successfully replaced! (as pictured) Thank you to everyone who stepped up and gave to make this happen! Your warm-hearted generosity will be felt in our church home. Literally. Praise God for his faithfulness!

In the movie Toy Story, Woody the cowboy begins as Andy’s favorite toy. That is, until Andy’s birthday where he gets Buzz Lightyear Space ranger. This kicks off the story of two opposed characters disliking each other until they learn to understand the other and eventually become friends.

Another movie, Shrek, has the titular ogre meeting up with Donkey and, at first, being incredibly annoyed by his upbeat and boisterous personality. But again, by the end, Shrek and Donkey have become friends.
 
One more film, again animated, How To Train Your Dragon, the boy Hiccup meets Toothless the dragon, the Viking's sworn adversary. At first he plans to kill the dragon, then he recognizes himself within Toothless and they, too, become friends.

In each of these stories there are characters who dislike each other and treat each other poorly. These relationships have reminded me of what I see going on in the world today.

This election cycle has made me really sad with all the anger toward the people who disagree with you. I see many Christians trading shalom (a Jewish salutation meaning peace) for self-righteousness and feeling that they know what’s best, further causing a divide.
 
We were not designed to hate each other. We were designed for community. We need each other for community. For shalom.

In Luke 6 Jesus talks about how as his followers we are to “do good to those who hate us” and “bless those who curse us.”
If you're a republican, when was the last time you blessed a democrat? If you’re a democrat, when was the last time you did something good for a republican?

I think that’s how Jesus would have us live.

Let’s make a commitment as a community to avoid words of hate for each other this fall, but rather, let’s bring shalom to everyone, no matter their political or religious beliefs. I think that shalom will speak for itself and create opportunities for Christ's light to shine brighter than any division.

Tom Bon, Dave & Elizabeth, Noah & Holly Ullman 

Young Adults - Itasca hiking trip

Heartland Women's Thursday Meeting

Men's Canoe Trip

Stage Night - Luke Musselman