First Congregational Church Twinsburg

May 07

Faith Formation on the Wilderness Road

By Pastor Hogan in Acts

Acts 8:26-39

When you hear “evangelize or evangelist” what do you think of? Often the idea of someone pointing a finger into someone’s chest and saying if you do not believe, you are going to hell. I think the Scriptures this week is helping us realize that we are involved in “faith formation” in our interactions with others.

Faith formation is every action, experience, or relationship that nurtures a relationship of trust with God and shapes the way we see and interact with God’s world. Faith formation is the very mission of God’s church, to equip followers of Jesus Christ and send them out into the world to spread God’s kingdom. The question in faith formation is are you leaving the person closer to God than when you first met. The view of faith formation tells us that we are tellers of good news, and sometimes, even THE Good News!

The angel from the Lord took Philip from an active and fruitful ministry in Samaria, to an almost deserted road in the wilderness. Philip sees an entourage with the primary individual sitting in a fine chariot. He notices the primary individual is doing something unusual, he is reading a scroll, the book of the Prophet Isaiah. When Philip greets him, the important individual, the head of the treasury for Queen Candace, says a very sad phrase, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The Official of the Queen has come from south of Egypt, to Jerusalem, to the Temple itself, he had purchased an expensive item, the scroll of Isaiah, but after the sale, no one had helped him understand the words of the Scripture he had just purchased.

In faith formation we take the person as they are, from where they are, and help them get closer to God. The man was not an unbeliever, he was a seeker of the God of Heaven and Earth. Yet, when he sought out the faith represented by the Temple, he was not allowed inclusion because of his physical condition of being a eunuch. He was pondering the section of Isaiah that talks of God’s restoration of all things and hope for the eunuchs. All because of the work of the suffering servant.

Philip helped him understand the work of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, and to find full inclusion into the people of God. The man was not excluded, but included through baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ. Faith formation was helping him see the love of Jesus Christ for him and brought him to full inclusion into the kingdom of God.

How are our efforts in faith formation working?

Pastor Greg

Acts, Faith, First Congregational Church, Twinsburg

Apr 25

Was-faith OR Is-faith?

By Pastor Hogan in Luke

Luke 24:13-35

Some of the saddest words in the Gospels is in verse 21 “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in our language begin with the letter D? For example, disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair and death. All of these are summed up in the words of Cleopas and his companion to the stranger who joined them on the Emmaus Road.

Easter Sunday, preached of the danger we have when we turn Jesus in to someone to memorialize, to remember for all the great things he taught, miracles he performed, and sermons he preached. That is “Was-Faith.” And these two, not unwilling to be called “one of the group,” were in despair because Jesus is now in the past-tense. They had heard whispers of the resurrection. Most people have heard rumors of the resurrection even today. But a “Was-faith” had driven all hope from their hearts.

As the story unfolds, Jesus explains the declaration of the prophets, then he breaks bread with him (this is my body) opening their eyes to the presence of the resurrected Christ at their table. Their “was-faith” becomes an “Is-faith.” They rejoin those in Jerusalem and proclaim “The Lord has risen indeed.”

Our disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair and death comes from the “Was-faith.” This what Jesus was when…… “When Pastor so-and-so was here” or “When Mom and Dad took me to church”, or “When I expected the Lord to do something in my life.” All these are “was-events” but Jesus is not a “was”, “He Is!”

That is the Resurrection Message! He is living, and not among the dead. He is life itself. This message has to filter down into every action, relationship, decision, and direction we have in our lives. That is the “The Lord has risen indeed” proclamation that we make every moment as our lives are transformed by the hope that Jesus brings.

Pastor Greg

Faith, First Congregational Church, Luke, Twinsburg

Apr 15

The Story That Sounds Like a Dream

By Pastor Hogan in Luke, Psalm

Luke 24:1-12

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. (24:11)

One of my favorite scholars made an interesting observation about the Resurrection Accounts in the Gospels. “They are told in whispers,” he observed. He meant that these stories are told as if the witnesses thought they could not be true, or it was too good to be true.

God’s working, God’s deliverance leaves us humans “gobsmacked.” The Psalmist uses this same idea in describing the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian Captivity.

“When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
We were like those who dream.” (Psalms 126:1)

When God works in human existence, it is like a dream that is too good to be true. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, when encountered by his followers, to use a modern phrase, “it blew their minds.” But for us, being raised with these stories, having them told over and over again, this good news can become common place, almost mundane or ho-hum. Maybe that is why it seems the power of the resurrection is not at work in the world today. We have reduced the story from “too good to be true,” to a Golden Book children’s story.

But the whisper of the resurrected Christ in just three hundred years will have conquered the Roman Empire, and has become the cornerstone of Western Civilization. Maybe when we hear, “ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN” we should be gobsmacked, as we respond to the news that is too good to be true “ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!”

Blessed Easter to Al.

Pastor Greg

Easter, First Congregational Church, Lent, Luke, Psalm, Twinsburg

Apr 10

LET’S CELEBRATE!

By Pastor Hogan in Psalm

Exaltation, Jubilation, Anticipation, Celebration, Expectation—these would be words that characterize the people surrounding Jesus as he makes his “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. And if the people did not celebrate, Jesus said the rocks would’ve cried out.

It is great to approach something with anticipation. Like a child for Christmas, or a family with the arrival of a new baby. So were those around Jesus anticipating God doing something fantastic.

And God was doing something amazing, for in one week from that day, Jesus rose from the dead! That may not have been the expectation of the crowds that day, but it was the wonderful work of God. God is the God of the rejected, disappointed, disillusioned, and downtrodden. Jesus quotes Psalms 118 about what God is doing in this Holy Week:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.

It is great to have an expectant view of tomorrow, but we have to allow God to be the God of the rejected to truly see the marvelous things God is doing.

Pastor Greg

First Congregational Church, Lent, Twinsburg

God: The Great Inverter, Reverser, Equalizer

Do You Get Tired in Worship?

Green Pastures and Dark Valleys

The Prayer of Struggling Faith

Psalm 100—Not Just for Thanksgiving Day Anymore!

Faith Formation on the Wilderness Road

Was-faith OR Is-faith?

The Story That Sounds Like a Dream

LET’S CELEBRATE!

Faith and Fellowship kickoff!!