Old Meets New

As most of you know, this Sunday is Palm Sunday, the day we recognize Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week before His death and resurrection. It also marks one year since Ascension Church had its first public worship service. That's right, a year ago we went public with 4:30 pm worship services in a private school library with significantly fewer people than we have regularly attending our current 10:30 am services in the public school auditorium where we meet now. God has brought this church through its first exciting year and we are excited to imagine what He will do in years to come.

To celebrate, we are having a special banquet to mark this milestone in the life of our church. We are also having a Passover seder conducted by a Messianic Rabbi from Chosen People Ministries, an organization with which we've had good relations. The goal of this seder is to demonstrate how Jesus, the Messiah, is clearly portrayed in the Passover meal. Sure our church may be reasonably young, but the roots of the Gospel we proclaim are ancient. It should be both fun and edifying for everyone who comes to this event on Sunday evening.

As I've been mentioning for the last several weeks, our big EasterFest celebration is coming up next Saturday, April 7. We will be finalizing all the elements of it this coming week and are prayerfully excited about this outreach opportunity. Please continue to keep this event in your prayers this week and I'll keep you updated, as always, right here... same day, same blog.

Much Adeu about Something

This week, the world's largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, first touched American soil here in Queens (JFK Airport is in Queens in case any of you wondered if this monster could land on the Long Island Expressway or Woodhaven Blvd.). This gargantuan aircraft resembles most other planes in the air, though by appearances, this one looks as though runs on a diet of fried foods and complex carbohydrates instead of jet fuel. In any event, this bloated big bird should be starting regular passenger service to JFK in the near future. The way I figure it, land enough of these babies at the airport in a day and you may double the population of the borough if for only a few fleeting moments.


Why do I mention the A380 here. Well, it brings more people into Queens at any given time than any other mode of transport. Granted, most of them won't stay here, but at least the first destination for the passengers, wherever they come from, is Queens.

Bringing in a lot of people has been in the forefront of my thinking these days as we continue to develop our big EasterFest event through the church. Restaurants are donating food; posters are going up; press releases have gone out; and we are hoping for God to bring us people from among the neighbors to grow our Gospel community. While they won't get to EasterFest on a big jet plane, they'll get there. After all, God is far more reliable than any airline these days anyway.

Signs of Spring abound as well. Tuesday evening at 8:00 was the vernal equinox, where as theory has it, an egg can stand on end for a few minutes because of the equilibrium of the Earth's gravitational pull. I didn't try it myself. Don't care to actually. At this point in March, with the exception of Christ's return, of course, all I want is melting ice and snow and baseall season. I rest in the hope of all these things happening with absolute certainty.

Spring Things

This Saturday is St. Patrick's Day and my original plans called for taking the youth group to the parade, not because any of them are Irish (I don't think any of them are), but because it's a parade, and everyone loves a parade. The weather, as often is the case with this parade, it rather threatening, and I'm not feeling all that well. Hence, I had to cancel.

It's not every year that I get the chance to go to this parade. Typically, it's on a weekday that is not given at most jobs, so this would have been a great opportunity.

An Irish friend of mine once told me that he didn't like the St. Patrick's Day parade because the pipe bands marched with Scottish Highland Bagpipes and not Irish Bagpipes. As an Irishman, he didn't like being frequently mistaken for a Scot, and resented the Highland presence in a in a distinctly Irish celebration.

After some research, I discovered that my friend was right. Scottish bagpipes are used in this and most other parades with pipers piping. I also discovered that the reason for this is that traditional Irish bagpipes are played while sitting down. Highland pipes are used in parades because they can be played while standing. It's kind of difficult to march in a parade while sitting down. As someone who's grandmother's maiden name was Livingstone, Scottish bagpipes seem just fine in any setting to me.

As I've mentioned in some recent posts here, our Ascension EasterFest is really shaping up. We've put together some nice posters and postcards. I thought I'd give you a first look at the front of our postcard here (Click on this image for a larger view). On the back, is some more detail about the event itself as well as information about our worship services and contact information. We're all very excited about the EasterFest and are praying that God will do wonderful things through this major seasonal outreach.

Ya Gotta Love March

Kudos to my old friend Mike McKelvey from seminary who once carefully explained to me that "bone-chilling" cold is colder than cold that chills you, "to the bone." He said that cold temperatures only reaching the bone (to the bone) are less frightening than cold that actually chills the bone. That's right, aside from theology, doctrine, and preaching, men in preparation for ministry often engage in mindless banter.
Mike has a point though, that I came to appreciate this week. It's the first full week of March and in these few days, we've seen a representative sampling of the entire winter. Hey, March in New York is always an adventure.

March paints a picture for me of the human struggle. During this 31 day month, we witness winter taking a last few sucker punches in its dying fight against spring. Fight as it may, the cold dark days of winter inevetably loose the battle against renewal in the spring. We witness the rebirth of living from the dead as trees begin to bud, flowers bloom and brown grass turns to green.

Sin's grip on our life is like winter producing cold, harsh conditions in our hearts. When the Gospel takes hold of our lives it's like a spiritual month of March, bringing in the renewal of our hearts while our sinful nature continues to put up a good fight. As winter gives way to spring, so the Gospel transforms our hearts with the promise of a spring-like renewal.

The other thing about March is that it's the last month I have to live without baseball. That's right, just four weeks before I get to make regular sermonic anecdotes about my beloved New York Mets. After a disappointing post season last year, I'm most anxious for the season to start again.

I do need to cut this blog entry short here. With everything going on surrounding our EasterFest and other spring plans, together with Michael's trip out of town this weekend to gather material for a program we want to offer through the church, I still have a sermon to prepare for Sunday. Pray for me on that one, my prep time is limited this week.

Ascension at the Movies

Last Friday night, The Indie Society, Ascension Church's ministry for singles and couples without children, went to see the opening of Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story at a local movie house. We had a good turnout with 15 people showing up to see a fine film about this abolitionist with strong faith and conviction.

I think many of those of us who attended the film would recommend it as it is well acted and directed. Admitedly, though it couldn't be blotted out entirely, Wilberforce's faith was somewhat downplayed to bring more attention to his social activism which ultimately ended the slave trade in 18th Century Britain. The most disappointing part of the film for me was where a dying William Pitt comments about wishing he had the same faith as Wilberforce. There was an opportunity to hit a home run here, but we are forced to settle for a bunt as Wilberforce turns the conversation to politics and not the Gospel.

It was great to have a good gathering of young adults from the church together, after which we retired to a local watering hole to discuss the film. The Indie Society is but one of several exciting ministries of our church. We have others.

Several of us met this past Tuesday evening to firm up some plans for our big Ascension Easterfest scheduled for April 7. This will be a major community outreach in connection with Easter to broaden our reach and, God-willing, expand the Kingdom. We will have a major promotion campaign with posters and fliers and newspaper ads, etc. Music, Crafts, Games and other activities are scheduled, but this will not simply be a festival or carnival. There will be follow-up with new friends and, as the Spirit directs, Gospel opportunities a plenty. Please pray for this event as we continue to work on the details.