oasisCHURCH

Church on Christmas Day?

This article is likely to offend someone. How’s that for a hook?

Before anyone asks the question I will answer it. “Yes, there will be an Oasis worship gathering on Sunday, December 25—Christmas Day” (additionally, there will also be a worship gathering on New Year’s Day the following Sunday). The sign in the photo is a fake. It's merely a way to display and introduce the irony in this topic.

However, there has been an abundance of discussion, debate, criticism, etc. all over the country about churches who are canceling services on Christmas Day and whether or not it is right or wrong, etc. I am not sure I would go as far as to say it is “right” or “wrong”. I don’t think it’s a “right” and “wrong” issue. But I do think it is important for us to consider a few questions in context of Christmas Day falling on Sunday. Ponder questions such as: 

1. What do I truly cherish most about Christmas?
2. Why do I truly celebrate Christmas?
3. Who do I believe the Christmas holiday is most for? Family? Jesus? Both?
4. Which family is Christmas mostly about? My birth family? Or my re-birth family?

Much is communicated every year about Christmas in regards to what the “reason for the season” is. Some shout aloud about “putting Christ back in Christmas,” while others bemoan the fact that retail stores are “pushing Christmas out” by replacing the term "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" in their ads. Still others grumble about the increasing "secularization" of Christmas as they seek to remind us that, "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Everywhere you look, there seems to be some complaint about Christmas and how it's to be celebrated. And (don’t miss this) religious people are the ones who scream the loudest.

Yet, it is these same people who are concerned about this year’s Christmas Day because it happens to fall on a Sunday. How inconvenient.

Do you see the rub?

Ed Stetzer from Lifeway research says, “According to a December 2010 LifeWay Research report, 74 percent of Americans agree (strongly or somewhat) that ‘Christmas is primarily a day for religious celebration and observance,’ yet 67 percent of all Americans also agree that, ‘Many of the things I enjoy during the Christmas season have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ.’”

Aha! There’s the rub.

If the most enjoying, precious, treasured aspect of Christmas were truly the celebrating of the fact that Jesus Christ has broken into this world by leaving heaven and being born into humanity in order to save us from our depravity and sin, then rather than bemoan the fact that Christmas Day is on Sunday we would long for Christmas Day to be on Sunday; or at least we might expect that the family Jesus came for—his family—would gather on that much anticipated day and celebrate His coming and His presence in our lives.

Perhaps what the “religious people” are saying during the holiday Christmas season is somewhat true. Competing forces are encroaching on the meaning of Christmas. The holiday is taking on other meanings, other significances. Certainly the retail marketers hope so. The multiple meanings of Christmas are compatible and uncontested as long as they don’t meet head to head. BUT when they coincide on a Sunday, it spells disaster for the Christian significance of the day.

In which case we should probably admit the truth about Christmas and why and how we celebrate it. The celebration of Jesus’ birth in a church gathering on the day of the holiday is less important than the commercial importance of giving and receiving gifts. Celebrating communion with our “blood of Christ” family is less vital than rekindling our nuclear family connections around a table loaded with food. Worshipping the one for whom the holiday is named is less essential than filling the day watching parades and football games on TV and tearing open needless gifts and gadgets.

Maybe there is some truth in familiar holiday songs that there is no place like home for the holiday and the idea that Christmas is primarily for the family.

How does a celebration of Jesus’ birth compete with these ideas? Apparently, from my quick research this week, it doesn’t fare well at all for a significant percentage of Christians—at least in the Protestant church. Interestingly, among our Catholic brothers and sisters, attending a worship service on Christmas Day is nothing new. In fact, they do this every year regardless of what day of the week the holiday falls on. For as much grief as Protestant Christians have given to Catholicism over the years, when it comes to Christmas Day I can’t help but think they’ve had it right all along.

I began this article by suggesting that it would likely offend someone. It certainly was not my intention to offend. But hopefully you have been challenged to take some time in the next few weeks to contemplate the four questions that were asked in one of the earlier paragraphs. If Christmas Day is not really about the worship of Jesus, then we Christians probably shouldn’t be so adamant about insisting that the world recognize Jesus in Christmas. Or, when it comes to Christmas, are we merely proclaiming with words something that we do not actually intend to practice with deeds? Are we proclaiming one thing while actually practicing another?

“Jesus is the reason for the season! Keep Christ in Christmas!”

Are we sure?

If the primary “reason” for the season that the world SEES us celebrating (not HEARS us celebrating, but sees us celebrating) is our nuclear family, parties, gift-exchanging, decorating, eating, etc… then the proclamations in the above statements are quite frankly not true. In fact they are hypocrisy—meaning, we shouldn’t make such statements if we know it would be an inconvenience for us to have to practice what we preach.

To make a more true statement we would have to say, “Jesus is part of the reason for the season,” and “Add Christ to all the other things we love about Christmas.”

Pause for a moment this year and reflect on all of your various Christmastime rituals. Then ask yourself, what is MOST meaningful to me about all of it? The answer to that question is your own personal true “reason for the season.”

Oasis will have two Christmas weekend celebrations. One will be on Christmas Eve from 5:00pm-6:00pm. The second will be on Christmas Day from 10:00am-11:30am.

Merry Christmas!

 

MP3: Prayer Meeting Encouragement From Chris

 

Click to listen to a brief word of encouragement about prayer.

 

This Wednesay night, November 30, from 6:30-8:00pm at Jimmy and Julie Durst's house Oasis Church will begin a weekly gathering to just pray. Come join us.

A Concert of Prayer Sunday, Nov. 6 at Oasis

At tomorrow morning's worship gathering we will be doing something very special. From time to time at Oasis gatherings we have conducted what we call "concerts of prayer." Throughout the worship in song we will also be guiding the gathered church in specific prayer focuses.

Concerts of prayer have always proved to be meaningful Sundays for those who have experienced them. We hope you will come to the Sunday worship gathering with your heart and mind prepared to personally meet God tomorrow.

John 11 Sunday Morning -- This Sickness Is For the Glory of God

This Sunday we will dive into John chapter 11, which contains one of my favorite events in all the Bible, the raising of Lazarus after four days of being dead. Before Jesus did that miracle, however, he made a very scandalous decision and very intriguing statement. That's what we will discuss this Sunday at the Oasis gathering.

Hope to see you at the Pomeroy Senior Citizens Center at 10:00am this Sunday.

God Of This City

Chad mentioned that we will be singing "God Of This City" from the Pomeroy levee this Saturday night, and praying that His will would indeed be done in Meigs County, and that people's eyes would be opened to see that He is in fact the God of our city.

Here is Bluetree, authors of the song "God Of This City" telling the incredible story about how the song was born from the Holy Spirit.

Good Music

Lately there has been an outpouring of quality new music that I want to make you aware of. Also provided in this post are the links to iTunes in case you want to listen to samples or download the music right away.

"Church Music" by David Crowder Band

On this CD is a great mix of sounds you may have heard on other DCB projects, plus some new ideas. Right now my favorite song is "Shadows", but it is sure to change as the more I listen to the album the more each song grows on me.

"Love Is On The Move" by Leeland

So far (in my opinion) Leeland has not produced an album that is below the level of excellent. In fact, I might even go as far saying they have not recorded a song that I wouldn't consider to be excellent. I have a feeling we are going to continually become more and more familiar with Leeland's music, as you hear it being played in Oasis gatherings already.

"We Shall Not Be Shaken" by Matt Redman

I have always loved Matt Redman's worship leading ability. I find him to be a humble lead worshiper who has a great passion for Jesus and for connecting people with Jesus. Matt's new CD is full of wonderful encouragement for adverse times. If you are struggling with the current state of the world's affairs, then you will find this CD to be a great reminder of God's sovereignty.

"Welcome To The Masquerade" by Thousand Foot Krutch

I don't know about you, but every now and then at our house (and in our vehicles) we like to turn it up a notch (to eleven) and really rock 'n roll. Thousand Foot Krutch is a band I am hearing more and more on Octane, Sirius/XM's new metal rock station. They easily fit right in with Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Five FInger Death Punch, etc. If you like it loud, check this one out.

Concert of Prayer

Yesterday's worship gathering was a refreshing experience, as we focused all of our time on communication with God and edification of one another through a concerted effort of prayer. It is always interesting to see the changes that take place on the faces of people gathered in the room throughout an experience like yesterday. When I first explained that during the morning we will be moving around and praying with one another and for one another, the looks I saw were, "Oh great, I am not gifted to do this," and "Oh no, I knew I should have said I could come in to work today," and "Man, its not really my thing to pray out loud," and a whole host of other looks. But once that initial ice is broken, and everyone steps outside of their comfort zones, the looks on faces begin to change. What I saw was fear became compassion; looks of uncertainty became looks of faith and assurance; stones became waters of grace; disdain and apathy turned to love and mercy.

That's what prayer does. That's what worship does. And that is why concerts of prayer are going to become a regular part of our Sunday worship gatherings. You can expect to experience one every three to four weeks for a while.

Melilla Jones

This precious little girl is the daughter of Travis and Emilie Jones, Oasis members and missionaries to Bulgaria. Oasis has a very special bond with this family, and although we are presently separated by several miles, we will be walking closely with them in the days ahead. You may have heard by now the news that Melilla (3 years old; turns 4 in April) has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Travis and Emilie were planning to move to Bulgaria next month, and now their plans have drastically changed for a few years. In these coming days we will be remembering Melilla in prayer as often as we gather together as a church, and we ask that you, individually and with your family, take time out to pray for her.

Travis and Emilie have begun a web journal at CaringBridge. If you would like to bookmark the page, here is the link. I will allow Travis to tell you Melilla's story. We will most certainly keep you updated with her progress at all Oasis gatherings and via email and bethechurch.com.

Here is how Travis describes Melilla's diagnosis:

In early January 2009 Melilla got a fever and a bad cough. The fever went away, but the cough persisted.

We took her to a pediatrician and she got some medicine for bronchitis...however, the cough wouldn't go away and the fever returned.

We went back to the doctor and they ran some X-rays and blood work to check for pneumonia. However, what they found was that she was anemic and her blood counts were all out of whack.

So they admitted us to the hospital and did a bone marrow test and diagnoses her with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Childrens Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, NJ.

The prognosis is positive and ALL is the easiest form of leukemia to treat, control, and cure! We've got a long road ahead, but in all likelihood Melilla will grow to have a normal, healthy life.

The faith and peace that the Jones family is displaying in all of this is such an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Travis & Emilie, we are so encouraged by you. We hope that we will be an encouragement and a refuge for you.

+++ Lord God, You reign supreme over all things, over all sickness, over all disease. There is nothing that occurs in this life that takes you by surprise, and we are comforted in the fact that you hold everything in your sovereign hands. You have not left us here to figure out how to handle things in this life on our own. You do not sit back idly and watch us unfold the pages of history. Your hand is doing the writing. Your hand is actively involved in our lives. We know that Your hand is with Melilla even now. We do not know all the answers to all the questions, but we rest assured that You are not far away. You are near. We rest in the knowledge that You love little Melilla even more than her own parents possibly could. Fo you knew here before she was formed in her mother's womb. She has been fearfully and wonderfully made. She is Your child. Travis and Emilie have been so faithful to raise Melilla in the knowledge and love of Jesus. Even at a young age she is a worshipper, in spirit and in truth. We pray that You would agree with the prayers of your people and instantly remove the leukemia from Melilla's body. But even more so, we pray that your people would agree with with You and come to greater realization of Your glory during this time in Melilla's life. Give our brother Travis and our dear sister Emilie the peace which surpasses all understanding. Help them to rest in your grace. Hold them up when they are weak. May they find strength in the Gospel of Christ alone. Be their source. Be their peace. For we pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. +++

The Living Room 2???

Last night's house church meeting reminded me of this:

Back in November of 2005 we were having such a great time worshiping God together in song, and we were having many new songs written by Oasis people, so we decided to record a worship gathering live at one of our house church meetings. It started out as a simple acoustic plan, but we ended up adding drums and bass, and it came out pretty nice for an off-the-cuff effort. Here's a sample: Trading My Sorrows.

Back to last night. About 45 minutes of our time was spent invested in worship in songs of praise to Christ the King. Such an experience is evidence, in my opinion, that the church body is truly "getting it" in our study of Revelation. Revelation is not an intellectual book to be debated, but an artistic book to be experienced. Likewise, Christianity is not a philosophy to be argued and fully comprehended intellectually. It is a love song to be sung. Of course, this love song is rooted in truth and understanding. But it also must be felt and passionately responded to. The book of Revelation is filled with songs. People often wonder why the church sings songs all the time. Why is music such a large part of church gatherings? We can easily find our answer in the pages of Revelation. If God created humans as worshipers, then that is what we do. That means Christianity is about worship. How is worship most often done? In our Bibles we see that a great majority of the time when worship occurs it is accompanied with singing, playing instruments, bowing down, kneeling, lying prostrate on the ground, raising hands, dancing, shouting, clapping, and loud choruses of song after song after song! God LOVES music. And we are created in the image of Him. We love music because we are image-bearers of God.

God could have chosen anything He wanted to be the primary tool used as means to worship Him, and He chose songs, music, instruments, singing. Yes, there are many ways we worship Him as living sacrifices. But there is no arguing that the primary means surrounding the throne of God as we glimpse into heaven is song and music and loud choruses of praise made by all the created beings.

What does this mean to me? What should this mean to our church? It means that we have been given the privilege of participating in something here and now that occurs constantly in heaven. Concerts, light shows, sound systems, amazing guitar riffs, soothing vocal harmonies, all of those aesthetics combine to draw us closer to the throne of God. Why? My guess is because that is where those things originate. That is what currently, and eternally, surrounds the throne of God.

I could hear and see last night that we are all starting to learn this fact. And we are learning it with more than our minds. God is doing something in our hearts. And He is moving our bodies to respond.

Is it time for a Living Room 2?

Good Friday Letter to Church

The following is a letter I emailed to the Oasis community last Friday.

Dear friends,

Today is a day of paradoxes. It is a gloomy, yet glorious day. It is a sad, yet joyous day. It is a frightening, yet comforting day. It is a day of great loss, yet a day of eternal gain. It is a day of death, yet it is a day of life. How can this all be? How can a cross of execution—used in the 1st century as a symbol of control, fear, and ultimate punishment—be something that today we wear around our necks with great joy, hang them in our homes and in church buildings to show dedication and love, and include them in our song lyrics to give adoration to God? How can such a symbol mean so much?

Because there is no gospel without the cross. We love Christmas, but the birth of Christ is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. We also love Easter, but even the resurrection—important as it is in the total scheme of things—is no gospel by itself. The Good News is not just that God became man, nor that God has revealed a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the Good News is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof—so the two events do go hand-in-hand); that Jesus has suffered sin’s penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven.

This morning I sat at the breakfast table with my 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, and I asked them if they understood what this day, Good Friday, symbolizes for us. They knew that Good Friday was the day that we remember Jesus’ death on the cross, and they were quick to point out that he rose again on the third day, which is why we go to church on Sunday. You might say that’s a good, basic understanding of things. And I am sure my kids have that understanding because they are growing up in a Christian home, with a Christian family and even Christian extended family. But, as my children continue to grow older and gain more understanding in this life, the most important thing I can teach them is that, even though they are being raised in a Christian family and are learning to lead a moral life, they are sinners who desperately need the substitutionary death of Christ to be forgiven by God.

So not only do I need to teach them the basics of “what happened.” I need to teach them the gospel, every day. I need to tell them that they are sinners, just like their mom and dad, and that sin is a serious problem. Sure, I will need to put it into words that their young minds can understand, but I should not ignore or minimize the seriousness of sin. Through their actions and attitudes they have rebelled against their Maker. And this great God is perfectly holy and must respond with fierce opposition to sin. He must punish it.

Some of you reading this right now might find it surprising that I would teach a 7-year-old and 9-year-old about God’s wrath toward sin. But I would contend that I find it surprising that any loving person would withhold this truth from another person they love. Because only when we understand God’s wrath toward sin can we realize that we need to be saved from it. What makes Good News “good news”? Usually good news comes when we are smack-dab in the middle of some serious bad news. You don’t know good news until you know bad news. That is why so many people in our world, who have lived moral lives and are thus considered “good people” by culture’s standards, do not recognize their need for Good News. If we don’t know of any bad news, then why do we need good news?

So, this is the message I want to teach my son and daughter as the hope of their life: Jesus, God’s perfect, righteous Son, died in their place for their sins. Jesus took all the punishment; Jesus received all the wrath as he hung on the cross, so people like Brock and Kaylee and their sinful mommy and daddy could be completely forgiven.

Do you know the gospel? Do you know that the cross is the center of your life in Christ? Can you explain that to someone else? Is your life cross-centered? I want to give you something to contemplate on this Good Friday. The symptoms that arise from not being a cross-centered person are actually quite easy to spot. Do any of these describe you?

• You often lack joy.
• You’re not consistently growing in spiritual maturity.
• Your love for God lacks passion.
• You’re always looking for some new technique, some “new truth” or new experience that will deepen your faith or pull all the pieces of your faith together.

If you can relate to any of these symptoms, then take some time today to re-focus your life on what really matters. It’s never too late for you to reestablish the obvious truth of the cross as the most important truth in your life. The message that Paul had for Timothy is the same message he has for you. You need to rediscover the truth that first saved you. The key to joy, to growth, to passion, isn’t hiding from you. It’s right in front of you. In fact, He actively seeks and passionately pursues after you with this message. The gospel.

If you have been reading these emails and posts this week and you sense that Jesus is speaking to your heart through the Holy Spirit, we encourage you to respond to the revealed Christ and give your worship to him. Some of you who have read these emails this week have become very committed to the fellowship of Oasis, and you know that God is calling you to partner in ministry with Oasis Meigs. But undoubtedly there is a number of you who are reading this right now and you know you have distanced yourself from the church in general, and thus you recognize a greater distance growing between you and Jesus.

Friends, we cannot exist alone. Your relationship with Jesus Christ is more than just a personal, private, autonomous relationship. You have been created by the Creator to, first and foremost, glorify and give worship to Him. Yes, you can and should do that on your own and in private times. But the worship we so often see demonstrated in the Scriptures is a corporate, community act. The encouragement that the early believers received in the Bible was through public gatherings of preaching and teaching. And one of the most common ways God’s people have been strengthened, comforted, and encouraged has been through the fellowship of the gathered church.

If you are thinking to yourself, Man, it sounds like he is trying to get me to come and join the church, you are exactly right. I care enough about you to exhort you in this vitally important aspect of your relationship with Jesus. Don’t try to do it on your own. One of the things worship requires is humility. It takes a humble person to admit need. We need one another. We need to be together, living out our salvation in a community of grace, love, and truth.

I hope you had a great Resurrection Weekend.