Model Aquarium

The 2nd-graders at Maple Avenue have been learning about urban and sub-urban communities recently. As part of that process, they are making a model urban community. (That’s “model” as in not-to-scale small representations of real places.) Each student selected a building from the city of Niagara Falls that they were to build. Samuel missed the day they picked, but lucked out and was given the Aquarium of Niagara – someplace all my kids love to go. After probably a week or so of (loose) planning – including photos of the real building as a guide – this past weekend was the time to put his thing together, and I think I’ve finally been paid back for some of the projects I had to make (with my parents!) when I was in school – a model of Windsor Castle in England from 6th grade comes to mind.

 

Anyway, as much as we may have wanted this to be Samuel’s project, Darcy and I both have a little too much of a perfectionist streak to stay out of the frey. So, together we constructed a surprisingly realistic looking model of the Aquarium. Fortunately, despite the work that Darcy and I both put in, the best part is all Samuel. There is a mural on the side of the building that we captured on film. Using the picture as a guide, Samuel was able to reproduce the mural on the side of our model. Check it all out below!

 

The Aquarium said they wanted to see it when he (and the school!) was done with it – and he’s very excited to show them!

 

 

Worship Debrief – An Encounter with Jesus (Mar. 28-29)

Following our look at Jesus through the Apostles’ Creed, we took at look this weekend at one of the Jesus encounters in the Bible. Pastor took the account of the rich young ruler coming to Jesus in the Gospel of Mark and opened it up for us to show some of the things that can interfere with our relationship with Jesus. Whether it is money and material things, or something else, we need to ask God to reveal that which can creep into our lives and hold us back. God has designed us to be great if we will lean on Him. Pastor’s key point: “Sacrifice is the investment to greatness.” In other words, we – like that rich young man – need to give up that which we think makes us great and turn that over to God so we can know what truly makes us great.

If you didn’t follow that, then think about how hard it is for Pastor Chuck to pass a hot Krispy Kreme and you’ll have an idea how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (For the record, there are no longer any Krispy Kreme stores in New York State!!!)

Production Notes:
Saturday, 3/28 – 7:00pm:

• My monitor mix was off, so I was hearing everything a little skewed. How’d things sound in the congregation?
• I finally got a chance to hear Matt lead some worship! Since I will be out of town next weekend and he will be filling in, I wanted to give him some extra exposure. I thought he did great – but would appreciate additional feedback I can pass on!

Sunday, 3/29 – 11:15am:

• Sunbeam Sunday and the pressure was on. It’s a weekend when we have A LOT of visitors. While we want them to experience God first and foremost, it’s a weekend when we strive to put our best foot forward.
• To that end…we started on time again! (Woohoo!!!)
• I was very please with how the band played. OK – I had some flubs, but everyone else did great! That band really does put in a lot of work each week and sometimes they don’t get recognized for it!
• The pre-school kids were great as always…at least from what I saw. I was a bit distracted while they were up there.
• God was working to put the right people in the right place this morning. John – grandfather to one of the pre-schoolers – was singing as the kids came in and had some physical difficulties. I had gone up with him and was there to help, a paramedic was in the congregation, and the rest of the staff had far more experience in dealing with these kind of things than I did. While it was disruptive to the little one’s portion of the service, we were able to minister to this family in a rather unique and unexpected way (though one we’d rather not repeat!)

I hope that you had a great worship experience and pray that God will open the doors in your life for an encounter with Jesus.

Coffee – The New Equality?

I don’t like coffee. I did not grow up in a home that drank coffee; I did not hang around people either in high school or in college that drank (much) coffee; and the one or two times I’ve actually tried coffee, it tasted bitter and made me wonder what anyone could possibly see in the drink…outside the caffeine addiction, that is!

Back in December for my birthday, my supervisor at Northtown gave me a Tim Horton’s card. I generally prefer Panera, Starbucks, or Dunkin’ Donuts (they all have Chai – Tim’s does not), but between the food and some non-coffee drinks I can manage OK at Tim’s…usually. So, in an effort to get out the door a little quicker yesterday, I figured I could catch breakfast on the road – their Smoothies with a bagel/donut combination. However, they were out of the flavor that I really like (Pumpkin Spice – it’s like Chai without the tea!), so I asked for French Vanilla. I got…

…coffee!

Okay, it was French Vanilla coffee, so they were close. But it was still coffee. I loaded it up with sugar (Splenda) when I got to work and it was at least drinkable. But it was still coffee! I frequent these places so infrequently 1) because I don’t have time, and 2) because it’s really not in the budget, that to go and get the wrong thing is really annoying. Especially when it’s coffee! Everyone assumes that you drink coffee in this country…it’s like a national addiction. While specialty teas and hot chocolates are becoming easier to find, you still have to ask (and probably pay a little more) for them. There’s a definite inequity when it comes to hot drinks. Forget racism or gender-bias; forget marriage-equality and illegal aliens. We need coffee-equality! Tea and hot chocolate drinkers need the same consideration as those who drink coffee. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and specialty drinks should all be equal in cost and availability – better yet, they should be the same – so that everyone can feel loved, appreciated, and get their morning caffeine without discrimination, bias, or…

…wait. Would that then make everything…”coffee?” Never mind – I don’t like coffee.

* The view expressed in this post are solely those of the author and – let’s face it – really can’t be taken seriously!

Prepare for Worship – An Encounter with Jesus (Mar. 28-29)

Honestly, that’s what every worship time should be: An encounter with Jesus. While God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is always with us, when we come in worship our hearts and minds are (or should be) opened for us to see Him. Worship is one place that we come to meet with Jesus and receive God’s grace, healing…or whatever He has for us.

On the heels of our series on The Apostles’ Creed and a more in-depth look at the person of Jesus, however, we are going to look at what an encounter with Jesus can mean. Our Gospel reading is one such encounter – Jesus’ meeting with a rich, young ruler. From this meeting – this encounter – we can learn a lot about the truth of the Kingdom of Heaven. And there’s even more than that to look at, so come join us.

As an extra treat, this week is our annual Sunbeam Sunday, featuring the children of our Early Childhood Center. The pre-school at First Trinity has a great ministry to both young children and their parents. One Sunday in March every year we invite the Pre-school families to church (they are welcome all the time, of course) and have their kids participate in our service singing of a couple of songs. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to introduce families to First Trinity and ultimately to Jesus. So, if you see a family you don’t recognize, say “Hi!” and welcome them warmly to our church.

The readings for this week:
Old Testament:  Psalm 138: 1-3
New Testament:  Acts 4: 13-22
Gospel:  Mark 10: 17-31

Sunday
Gathering:  “What We’ve Come Here For”
Opening:    ”Love the Lord”
                   “Shine, Jesus Shine”
Offering:    ”Seek Ye First”
Closing:      ”Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”
Sending:    ”Your Grace is Enough”

Saturday
Opening:  “Love the Lord”
                 ”Shine, Jesus Shine”
Prayer:    ”Seek Ye First”
Closing:   ”Lord I Lift Your Name on High”
Sending:  ”Your Grace is Enough”

Not an Infection…Right!

So, after a week taking the Nasal spray I was prescribed last Monday, I’m not really feeling a lot better. I still cannot feel my teeth (not really a surprise, there) – actually, it’s more like the “numbness” you feel when you have your braces tightened – and Monday morning I started getting really stuffed up. So, even though I really didn’t want to, I called the doctor’s office again. Naturally, they had me come in (another co-pay!) so that he could talk with me and tell me what I already suspected: I have a sinus infection.

In defense of the nurse practitioner, my doctor did tell me that viral issues clear in under a week. So, they really cannot diagnose and begin treating the bacterial infections for at least a week. And since the sinuses are pretty well obscured by the rest of the head, there’s no good way to see what’s going on aside from imaging procedures that insurance companies won’t pay for.

Anyway, after a three-hour break from Northtown, I returned to work armed with a new nasal spray (to reduce swelling) and an antibiotic for the infection and should be on the road to recovery…

Worship Debrief – The Apostles’ Creed, Part 3 (Mar. 21-22)

Picking up where we left off last week, we concluded our series on the Apostles’ Creed. Specifically, we continued to focus on the section proclaiming the nature and person of Jesus. It is a section that was written to combat Gnosticism – a belief system that claimed a special, secret knowledge from God and denied all that was material…including the humanity of Jesus. From the scriptures, however, we know (and state in this Creed) that Jesus was both fully God and fully human. If not, there was no way that He could have been the instrument of our salvation!

Last week, Pastor gave us the first 5 of 10 things we can learn about Jesus from the Apostles’ Creed – all of which point to the fact that Jesus was fully human. This week, we looked at points 6-10.

Jesus:

• Descended to Hell to proclaim His victory. This is confusing to many, so Pastor explained it this way: Jesus died and His spirit went straight to Heaven. After three days, He descended to Hell to proclaim His victory over sin and death, then He ascended back to Heaven…grabbing His body and appearing to many people on the way (see next).
• Rose again to forgive out sins and give us life.
• Ascended (to Heaven again) and gave us gifts to use.
• Is seated at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us.
• Will come again to judge and reward.

It is this death, resurrection, and the work of the cross that we celebrate this (and every!) Easter season.

Production notes:
Saturday, 3/21 – 7:00pm:

• We started on time. This is a far more rare occurrence than it should be!
• This was one of those nights where I got a little lost in the worship…which is fun, but can detract from my leadership if I lose the congregation! From what I could see, you all had a good worship experience too. Did you?
• Had to fix a sound issue at the beginning of the 5:30 service. I was very glad it did not carry over to the other services – that kind of stuff is so distracting to worship!

Sunday, 3/22 – 11:15am:

• We started on time this morning too. Almost as rare as it is on Saturday…unfortunately.
• No keyboards this week…Janet had another commitment. Sometimes it can be hard to adjust, but the song choices this week made that much easier. Thanks to Jubal Myer for some great planning!
• I liked watching Paris, who gave his testimony and was baptized last Wednesday at the Lenten service, usher and carry out the work God has chosen him for.
• It was great to have the pictures from Haiti showing the progress on the church down there. First Trinity gave generously to buy bricks to build that church, and now we can see it coming to life. I can’t wait to see pictures – or even video – or worship in that building when our teams go down next.

“I’m in color on the Front!”

Those are the words of my second son, Samuel, as he showed me a copy of the Buffalo News at dinner last night. The paper was from his grandparents (we don’t get a newspaper) and on the front page of the Niagara Section is a picture of his class. A dairy farmer had come to read a book on the making of applesauce – from the orchard to the table. The book, titled “The Applesauce Bandit,” was part of the National Agriculture week and the State’s annual Agriculture Literacy Week. According to the caption, twenty schools and 1,100 second graders participated.

You can see the picture here – click the middle tumbnail in the top row. Samuel can be seen in the middle of the picture (2^nd row, center) next to his friend Anthony, who incidentally, has just started coming to AWANA with us.

It’s fun to see your kids in the news…at least for good stuff. I’m not sure it will help Caleb’s perspective though. He has long stated the Samuel is the most famous kid at Maple Avenue School!

Prepare for Worship – The Apostles’ Creed, Part 3 (Mar. 21-22)

As Easter closes in on us, we conclude this week Pastor’s 3-part series on the Apostles’ Creed. Last week, we left off with Jesus having died. But those of us who already know the story know that this was not the end. We profess a risen and living Savior in the church and this Creed states that very clearly and concisely. If you need to refresh your memory – or catch up – you can check out the past two sermons online over the rest of the week and then come on out and celebrate the work that God has done.

The readings for this week:
Old Testament:  Isaiah 53: 9-12
New Testament:  Ephesians 4: 1-10
Gospel:  John 19: 23-30

Sunday
Gathering:  “Seek First”
Opening:    “I Will Raise My Voice” 
                    ”The Wonderful Cross”
Offering:    ”Take Me In”
Closing:     “Holy Is the Lord”
Sending:    “Go and Do”

Saturday
Opening:  “I Will Raise My Voice” 
                  ”The Wonderful Cross”
Prayer:    “Take Me In”
Closing:    ”Holy Is the Lord”
Sending:   “We Want to See Jesus Lifted High”

Not an Infection!(?)

I mentioned in my worship debrief that I was fighting some kind of sinus infection over the weekend. Actually, I had been feeling sinus pressure on the side of my face, which migrated somewhat to the head and is currently reducing the feeling in my upper left teeth (which is a very weird sensation!) Well, after a very active weekend with the boys (which included my parents, grandmother, and at least one other babysitter!) I finally got in to the doctor this morning to find out what was going on. Actually, the guy I saw was the nurse practitioner – but he was still helpful…and admitted to taking medication like I do; on schedule, but not necessarily at regularly as I should. Anyway…

The short-story is that I do not have a sinus infection. Or maybe I should say: not yet. He seemed to indicate that it was a possibility. It seems that the pressure that is kept at bay (for the most part) by ibuprofen is something called rhinitis. A quick search online shows that to be a generic term for a runny nose caused by a cold or allergies. Some other sources mentioned an inflammation of the mucus membranes, which this guy did notice. So, instead of giving me an antibiotic I was prescribed and nasal spray that is supposed to reduce the swelling inside my nose and open up the sinus pathways to promote drainage.

Or…something like that.

See, the symptoms of this rhinitis are not really what I’ve been experiencing…aside from the swollen mucus membranes. I’ve been with my doctor for over 20 years now and have always had great confidence in their treatments. However, I’m just not feeling it this time. Okay, it’s only been twelve hours and two doses. But I’m just not seeing how sniffing drugs is going to help me feel my teeth again.

Worship Debrief – The Apostles’ Creed, Part 2 (Mar. 14-15)

[I believe] in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended into Hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Okay, this weekend was a bit tiring for me. Darcy traveled with the Middle School Youth to the Sawmill Creek Resort in Ohio for the youth gathering they attend yearly. That left me home all weekend with 4 rather active boys and our typically active schedule. On top of that, I’ve been battling some kind of sinus infection since Thursday night…which means I’ve been on the ibuprofen (Motrin) most of the weekend (I have a Dr. appt Monday to get this resolved!) And somewhere in there, we worshipped!

We looked at the the second article of the Apostles’ Creed (above) this week. Well, half of it at least. This is the longest section of the Creed as it was written to combat some of the heresy that surrounded Jesus at the time. A group of religious zealots known as the Gnostics were teaching that anything of the flesh was bad and were denying the humanity of Jesus…contrary to the teaching of scripture. However, we know that in order to be our savior, Jesus had to be fully human as well as fully God or He would have been unable to fulfill God’s righteousness.

Here’s what the Creed as to say. Jesus:

• Was conceived by the Holy Spirit to meet our needs. He could not be sinless otherwise.
• Was born of the Virgin Mary to be our Savior.
• Suffered in order to heal our hurts.
• Was crucified to make us acceptable to God.
• Died and was buried to free us from death and hell.

More to come next week…

Saturday, 2/28 – 7:00pm:

• I love having musicians who can step up and lead worship with minimal practice.
• Despite a good congregation and a good band, I felt off this week. I think it was this infection thing I’m fighting…rather distracting to worship.
• How was your experience?

 

Sunday, 3/1 – 11:15am:

• Okay, normally any of our bands can cover those weeks when we are short on practice. Every once and a while, it doesn’t work. You may not have noticed, but this was one of those weeks!
• I left Matt guess as to the key in two songs. Fortunately he’s good enough to catch that quickly.
• My guitar went mysteriously and horribly out of tune on “My Savior Lives.” On top of that I flubbed a few leads that I had nailed in sound check.
• There were a couple of songs where we just weren’t on the same page as to the feel we were going for. It happens!
• Still, I could hear the congregation singing out on all songs.
• Band members hung in there and pulled together.

So, let me know about worship experience. I would love to hear how God met with you and also to be able to pass on some encouragement to the band.