As Christmas is fast approaching, everyone starts to get excited.  Whether it’s because of presents, breaks from school, spending time with family, spending time AWAY from co-workers, whatever the reason – most of us look forward to Christmas as the most anticipated holiday of the year.  Now, one way to take this column would be to say – “BUT WE FORGET JESUS!”  But I don’t think that’s true.  We talk about Jesus all year round – if you are forgetting Jesus at Christmas, I don’t think we’re doing a very good job as a church, and that’s a whole ‘nother issue.
But what I will say is – let’s not forget those who have less.  Christmas is a time meant for family, giving, and thanksgiving.  However, if all of our focus is inward, I believe we neglect the gospel message that we are meant to bring to the world.  Especially during this time when there’s so much to enjoy, can we really celebrate when we have brothers and sisters around us suffering?  This is not meant to guilt people into forgoing their Christmas dinners and giving all the food away (although if you want to, don’t let me stop you).  In Micah 6:8, the Bible says “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Are we doing that this holiday season?  Are we acting justly and loving mercy and walking humbly with our God?
Maybe all it takes is to start a new tradition.  Before opening presents, set one aside that can be donated to a local charity.  Before Christmas dinner, stop by a local food bank to serve those in need.  Perhaps it’s delivering a hot meal to a family in need.  The fact is, we don’t need to travel overseas to help people – according to the Capital Area Food Bank, there are 78,000 people in Montgomery County who are food insecure.  78,000 of our neighbors who are unable to feed their families a full meal.  Where is the justice, mercy, humility for them?
As I consider more and more what it means to be a good parent and am struggling with how to share the gospel with my kids, one thing I know I want to convey is how blessed we are – not just materially, but with the gift of salvation.  We who are rich, can we not give more to those who are lacking?  Jesus in his parable of the sheep and the goats refers to what we do for the “least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  We won’t forget Jesus this Christmas.  Let’s not forget the least of these as well.
P.S.  If you have a heart for serving others or feel convicted to do more for your neighbors, please consider joining the newly formed Community Service ministry led by Eugene Rhee.  We are not looking for people to commit all their free time to the causes we partner with – rather we just want people who have a heart to love our brothers and sisters on the margins.  Please consider joining as we start up next year and have more announcements!

From Pastor David’s Heart
December 21, 2014

So I had attended a church Promiseland PTA meeting a few weeks ago since my son Julian is a 5th grader and I wanted to try and support the ministry as a parent if I could. One of the topics discussed was ideas for fun field-trip events to plan for the future. Snowtubing was one of the ideas for example. So there was conversation back and forth among the group but then I noticed no one was able to volunteer to merely look into the costs and dates etc and report back to the group. I’m a typical guy so therefore I’m sorely lacking in the children’s event planning/detail department. But nevertheless it’s something that needed to be done so I thought why not and raised my hand and volunteered to look into it. I naively wondered to myself what harm could that do to offer to just look into things?
So a short report of several different fun things to do (like glass blowing!) was prepared and submitted. Not long after that I get an email from the group thanking me for volunteering to lead the field trip. Whaaaa? Hey what just happened here I had merely offered to look into it and next thing I know I’ve been “volun-told” I was leading. Very smooth of them that’s for sure.
Of course I’m only good-naturedly complaining about getting deftly roped into further involvement. This is not the first time I’ve tried to be involved. I think it finally dawned on me as a parent that it’s not enough to just expect others to provide these experiences for the kids. The church staff and volunteer Sunday school teachers and other parents have continued to invest in these younger generations so faithfully. And I’ve been blessed not only in fellowship meeting the other KC congregation parents and but also in my relationship with my son. Julian still occasionally recalls the last Promiseland retreat when our 12-bunk cabin had a late night pillow fight of epic proportions. Our cabin was the “cool” cabin. The kids in the other cabin even wanted to join our cabin. I told my son I was pretty much a band geek growing up so I had never in my life ever been considered in the “cool” crowd. So even though I’m not personally thrilled about these overnights sleeping in bunks, or campground tents, or on the Playstation floor upstairs (my back is not crazy about it either) it’s worthwhile to be part of our kids lives and maybe also score some Dad points too along the way.
Our church ministries across the board are relying more and more upon individual participation in order for the ministries to continue their good works. No doubt there are opportunities for each and every one of us to be more involved and quite honestly our participation is becoming essential. We can’t take for granted that the same parents or same church leaders should bear the full responsibility for this congregation’s spiritual well-being. The excellent examples our young adult and high school leaders have set investing their time, energy and heart into the youth over and over again is humbling. How does one say no to making an effort in the name of the Lord? And all this time God is watching.

From Pastor Mark’s Heart
December 14, 2014