Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Happy? Not Happy? Always Joyful?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" Anyone else besides me remember singing that song as a kid? We had so many versions! We tapped our toes, stomped our feet and even did all three!  It never dawned on me when I was a kiddo that I could choose not to show it.

Now that I'm an adult, I wonder how many of my fellow adults would just cross their arms and say to themselves, 'I'm not clapping, tapping, or stomping and you can't make me!"

I've been doing lots of thinking about happiness and joy this week as I've been preparing for this week's sermon. As Christians, we should have joy. But does that mean we're always happy? Is there a difference? If so, does the difference really matter?

We enter into a new phase of our Luke study this week because we'll be talking about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem - what we usually call "Palm Sunday." But it's August! How can we consider a Palm Sunday message on August 27th? Are we even allowed to do such a thing?

This brings us into a small internal conflict with how we have been raised as Christians in the 21st century. We can't help but be influenced by the 20 centuries that have gone before. Early on in the church - especially when people didn't know how to read - the church came up with the idea of the church calendar. Every week in the church year would have a special focus. For those of you with a mind to count - that's 52 lessons each year. Each year those 52 lessons would be repeated to some degree. Every Easter we would talk about the resurrection. Every Christmas we would talk about Jesus' birth. Every Palm Sunday we would talk about Jesus and his parade of disciples walking into Jerusalem.

Here we are though now in the 21st century with Bibles all over the place - even on our phones. We can study until our hearts are content... so why be content with only 52 lessons? And why stick to talking about Palm Sunday only on Palm Sunday?

We have 5 more chapters to talk about in Luke's Gospel - and all of them take place in the last week of Jesus' ministry. Pretty concentrated stuff. Some lessons there He really wanted us to know about - and so we're going to take our time and study these final 5 chapters just like the other ones. Each week we'll look for the special lessons the Holy Spirit moves us to consider.

This week we consider happiness and joy. As Americans we say we have the right to pursue happiness. As Christ-followers, I say God is righteous to pursue us - and that pursuit we call joy! My happiness is often dependent upon my circumstances. Let's face the truth that our circumstances are not always happy ones. But God's pursuit of us? God's love for us? Always dependable and always a cause for joy!

Praise Team - Artist Focus on For King & Country. Our praise team this Sunday is made up of Brandi, Missie, Makayla and first-timer, Jefferson Weixel. I'm thinking Makayla might have had something to do with Jeff singing. Ha! However God works, right? Seriously - all the songs this week will be from the group, For King & Country, and Makayla definitely had something to do with that. Early this year Brandi asked all the praise team members which groups did they want to develop? This one was Makayla's choice.

The Praise Team will open with "It's Not Over Yet." As a congregation we'll all sing together 3 songs: "Proof Of Your Love," "Shoulders," and "Fix My Eyes." The first and third of these congregational songs we have sung before. Now we know which group got us started on them! Before we get into the sermon, Makayla will sing the special: "Priceless!"

Thanks so much praise team for all your work this week. Let's all show up on Sunday and make sure to show our appreciation!

Keep Praying. Always always always we pray for Dave and Jenny. We were so delighted to read Dinah's good report on Facebook: "My mom has been working ever so diligently to regain fine motor skills. This is a daily battle to unscrew & squeeze toothpaste, apply lip balm, eat soups & jello... and yes write her name. Today, she walked 15 feet in the hallway and wrote her granddaughter a note!" As Dinah reminded us... "May we never take for granted God's blessing every single day!"

Let's also be praying for Jan Calendine. Jan's sister, Ethyl, was admitted to the hospital this week for a broken hip. Jan has recently lost two other sisters in the last 15 months so please keep her and their family in your prayers.

Marci and Denny lost Denny's mom last week. The funeral will be this coming Tuesday - for only close friends and family. Marci and her family certainly need our prayers.

Aaron struggled with a horrible headache that sent him to the ER this week. I know he would like our prayers.

Jack really struggled in church last week with his balance and anxiety. We must keep praying for Jack and Sheri. Then Aimee and Loni are still going through their treatment regimens too. So many needs in our small congregation! I don't know about you but I find it is easy to be overwhelmed. Then God's Spirit reminds me that overwhelmed and on my knees is not a bad place to be.

Love you all much! Be happy if you can. Be joyful no matter what. Hope to see you on Sunday! - Pastor Mark

Picnic Saturday / Exile Living Sunday

Good Friday morning Church Requel,

Words only today. Nothing fancy. Nothing clever. Only this: I love you all with all the love Christ gives to me. There are so many words in my heart this morning. So much I want to tell you. Please keep reading.

But first this...

Picnic / Pool Party Saturday Night. Tomorrow night - Saturday, August 12th from 6:00-8:00pm we will get together for one last Church Requel Hoo-Rah before the school year begins! Come to Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane, for a picnic, swimming, fellowship and our annual CR group picture. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. CR will provide the meat, lemonade and paper goods.

School Supplies Give-A-Way Sunday. Your generosity to our students is overwhelming. Thanks so much for all your gifts of school supplies for our young students. A dozen of us stayed for about an hour after last Sunday's worship service to bag up all the school supplies. We plan to give it all away this Sunday! If you are a parent of a young person returning back to school, you'll want to make sure you show up to church this Sunday. We filled bags for all the students we knew about. Then we filled extra bags for all grades. Parents, bring your kiddos. Grandparents, bring your grandchildren. Friends, bring your neighborhood children. Let's send our children back to school knowing how much Jesus and His church love and support them.

Indians Tickets Purchased. We purchased 37 tickets to go see the Cleveland Indians play on September 8th. Thank you to all who reserved and paid for a ticket. Many thanks to Brandi Walker, who concluded the transaction for us - even though she was on vacation this week! We will have a great time together.

Exile Living - Part 2 Sunday Morning.  We will study Luke 19:11-27 again this Sunday. We started last Sunday (watch here) to learn 10 principles for exile living from Jesus' parable of the minas. I told you last Sunday that it would take us 3 Sundays to study it all. 

Last Sunday we learned that as exile Christ-followers on Planet Earth, we should be living our lives with Christ as our sovereign, loyal to him as our king, managing well our resources for His kingdom, knowing we will be accountable some day.

In Part 2 we discover together that God expects growth, but how and what kind of growth? God will give us rewards for our growth. How does that work? Finally serving Christ as king takes courage. How do we not flounder with fear? We attempt to answer these questions as we continue our study of the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:11-27.

From my heart to yours... Now onto the real meat of this letter to you, my friends. I'm writing from my heart as quickly as the words come out of my mind. Little editing. Lots of feeling and emotion.

I am your pastor. I love to be your pastor. I know your love for me as well.

My #1 way to show you my love is to tell you of God's love for you, to let you know that God sent His son to Planet Earth to teach us how to live, to sacrifice His life for our sins, to rise again and give us hope for our own future beyond death. AND just as importantly my job is to remind you that God is still around as the Holy Spirit to live and empower you for the passionate and hopeful life God has created you to live.

If I ever try to do anything beyond preaching this gospel to you, then I will fail you (and me.) I have nothing else to offer you. There is no hope beyond God's love, Christ's sacrifice & resurrection, and the Holy Spirit's Presence and Power in our lives.

Period. Full Stop.

So what leads me to write to you what seems to be so obvious and self-evident? I have come to recognize that what should be obvious isn't so obvious. We can tend to get wrapped up in our own cleverness. In leadership principles. In strategy. In growth (or lack of it.) In causes. In programs. In well-intentioned solutions to today's most pressing problems.

The gospel is the only solution. My main job is to communicate this gospel to you. Please, Lord, continue to remind me to keep my main job the main job.

Yesterday I attended a leadership conference aimed at pastors and business leaders. Thousands attended hundreds of sites all over the world. It was very successful. It was done with excellence. The speakers were top notch in their fields and spoke with eloquence. Two of the speakers were well-known pastors from large well-known churches.

As I was walking home after the conference I was bothered by something. I didn't know what it was, but it was right at the edge of my subconscious mind. And then it dawned on me. I didn't hear the gospel once all day. I heard all about leadership principles, succession plans, coping with grief, fighting the injustice of our legal system, how to share differing opinions with reasonableness and respect, how to be creative, how to empathize - and it was all really good!

But there was no gospel. No hope for the hopeless from the God Who so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.

I noticed. 

Now believe it or not, this long letter of words is not meant to be a criticism of the conference. I'm not throwing stones. I felt privileged to be there. (A large local church paid my way to be there and I'm thankful.) I don't expect anyone to read this beyond the small group of people we call Church Requel. What I'm telling you is the change that occurred in my heart during my 5 mile walk home last night.

I noticed. And it bothered me.

For the better part of two years we've done nothing other than teaching the Gospel (of Luke.) Did you know that this past Sunday was our 75th sermon from Luke? Wow! I've never ever done that before. I never really intended to do it this time. I never imagined it would take so many weeks to work our way through the study one verse at a time. So... when I spent an entire day at a church to learn about leadership and growth, it was really noticeable to me when the plain, powerful gospel message we've been talking about was absent. (It's a two-day conference. Maybe today?)

I noticed. It bothered me. And it refocused me.

Then, as I was plodding one step in front of the other, it occurred to me that maybe... just maybe... this is the journey God set me on back in 2009 when we started Church Requel. Eight years ago I wouldn't have noticed the missing gospel. I would have focused on all the clever sayings of men rather than the absent powerful teachings of Christ. Ok, so I'm not leading a supersized megachurch. But I do have the freedom to explore and teach God's good news as He unfolds it for me.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for supporting me and loving me and encouraging me. I am not deserving of you. And I'm certainly not deserving of the incredible mercy God has shown me by gently moving me to a place of humility so that I might begin to fully appreciate His love for me.

And for you.

Hope to see you all this weekend. Love, Pastor Mark

Principles Of Exile Living

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Sunday morning we will begin a three-part sermon, continuing our study of the Gospel of Luke. We arrive at the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19. Many times in my own study I have deferred this parable for the Parable of the Talents in Matthew's Gospel. Both parables are given near the end of Jesus' ministry. And they are very similar in many ways. But not in every way!

This week I decided to look at this parable with fresh eyes and I challenge you to do the same. In the end I came up with the idea of how we should live as exiles on Planet Earth, citizens of God's Kingdom waiting for the King of kings and Lord of lords to return. As I worked my way through the passage I came up with ten principles. I then realized there was no way we could cover each of these within the time we typically have for the sermon. So I divided this one sermon up into 3 pieces. We'll cover the first 4 principles this Sunday. I can't wait to share them with you!

10 Commandments Skit. Our junior-high class, The Missionaries, will present a skit for us this Sunday morning. All Summer they have been studying the 10 commandments. Bessica, Cindy and the class members have been working on a modern day re-telling to put the 10 Commandments in language they all understand. I think you'll find it worth your while to come and see what our students have been learning. Who knows? Maybe you'll learn something new too! Thank you Bubby, Anna, Emman, Cohen, Saudaie and Grayden for your work!

School Supplies. Speaking of our students, this is the last Sunday to bring school supplies with you to help out our kiddos get back to school. Over the next two days shop those bargains. Clip those coupons! Bring paper, pencils, crayons, and every other kind of school supply you can find. Our students - AND THEIR PARENTS - will greatly appreciate it. 

One more thing - if it's possible - would you consider staying after church for a few minutes this coming Sunday to help organize all these school supplies into the bundles we will give away next Sunday? We really appreciate Amy for organizing this school supply giveaway. Our best way to show her our appreciation is to stick around and help her out Sunday so next Sunday will go well.

Picnic & Pool Party. This coming Saturday, August 12th from 6:00-8:00pm we will get together for one last Church Requel Hoo-Rah before the school year begins! Come to Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane, for a picnic, swimming, fellowship and our annual CR group picture. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. CR will provide the meat, lemonade and paper goods.

Please let us know you will be coming by signing the sign-up sheet in the foyer. We really need you sign up. This week we will be purchasing the meat and reserving the number of life guards and we really need a good count. Right now many of our regulars are not on the list!

Sign Up For The Indians Game. I know this is still a couple months away, but we need to pay for the tickets now. We have reserved 40 seats for the Friday, September 8th Indians game against the Baltimore Orioles at 7:10pm. It's also Sugardale Dollar Dog Night AND there are fireworks after the game!

This Sunday is the last Sunday to make your reservation! We have reserved 40 seats, but only have had 20 sign up and pay. We need 25 to get the discount. PLEASE - If you are planning to go sign up and pay for your tickets by Sunday.

You can go to give.ChurchRequel.org if you'd like to pay for your tickets online with your credit card. We've already had quite a few people use our online donation website - it's so easy to use! If you decide to use our online donation site, make sure to select the designation "Indians Tickets 2017" in the drop down box. Let's thank Brandi for making these arrangements for us. Thanks!

Hope to see you all on Sunday!

Love you! Pastor Mark