A Gathering in October

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By Wil Triggs

October and December are months that make me think of Caroline Hoch—the Caroline behind the Caroline Fund that is set up to help families with the many costs involved in adoption.

December because that’s the month she was born. That’s my birthday month, too. As her great-uncle, we always did something together to celebrate.

A summer birthday could have all kinds of possibilities—pool parties, Great America, a campfire at a park, other things. And Caroline had family members who took full advantage of warm-weather birthdays. But December is cold. Plus, I think Caroline felt a little upstaged sometimes by sharing a birthday month with Jesus.

So I always made it a point to remember and do something with her. It was special and fun for us to share that month. We weren’t born on the same day, so anytime in the month would do. For me, it was a treat to do something with just her, to celebrate that we had both made it through another year, and to look forward to something special in the year ahead. I remember sitting in a darkened movie theater munching on popcorn together, painting ceramics at a paint-your-own pottery shop or eating some of her home-baked cookies, which she seemed to always be baking whenever we went over to her house.

We can’t do that in December anymore, which brings me to the month of October. It was in that month that a car struck and killed her. Since Caroline and her family had moved to Spokane, we heard the news by phone. First about the accident. Then, weirdly, that she was gone. How could it be?

And so it was that we made our way from Illinois to Washington State for the gathering that was her funeral. It was the only time we’ve made our way out there to see family. We’re glad we were able to go, but it still seems dreamlike. Not a nightmare, but a dream where family come together to grieve and love each other.

I remember walking into the funeral home—situated in a park-like setting—and we saw Caroline’s younger brother Elijah, walking and holding hands with people we didn’t know. We called his name, and without saying a word, Elijah broke away and came running to us. We gathered him close, holding tightly to each other, and we began to cry.

This year, as another anniversary comes near, Holly, her mom and my niece, posts this on Facebook:

holly'snecklace.jpg

“This heart I wear around my neck in October is very special to me. It has little monetary value, but the center heart that fit perfectly there and is now missing was tied around Caroline's wrist when we buried her. It was given to me by the Child Life specialists at Sacred Heart Medical Center. The heart-shaped hole represents the hole in my heart that still remains with one of my babies gone home to Jesus before me. Someday that hole will no longer be there, praise God! But today I feel it deeply. Missing my girl.”

We live in the hope of the Resurrection. It’s great to think of children joining families through the Caroline Fund here at College Church. Every child is a gift, a miracle really, and the element of adoption underscores for me that we are all adopted by God into his family and he is preparing a gathering at his table in his home for us, forever.


Got Any Jesus?

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by Beth Kucera

Every once in a while, I take a turn at using my limited retail selling skills and work a day as a floor walker in the shop in which we sell antiques. It is an established antique store that contains a-little-bit-of-this-and-that. The shop owners like to have dealers staff the shop and I enjoy the odd day out to take my turn wandering from floor to floor to help customers, open display cases and wrap purchases as needed.

Recently while I was wandering around, a customer walked up to me and simply said, "Got any Jesus?" 

That was it. I suppose being a preacher's kid and enthusiastic church volunteer—a more theologically based and creative answer should have immediately come to mind—instead I stared blankly and replied, "Pardon me?"

"Jesus, JESUS—you know THE Jesus—I buy vintage framed pictures of Jesus, the Last Supper or praying or in the boat with the big storm. You know, with his arms open, you know:
J-E-S-U-S.” The fellow was agitated and impatient.

"Yes, yes, I know Jesus, well, yes, let me show you what we have," I replied. He and I headed off to look at the shop's offerings.

What he was looking for and collects are those early 20th century framed prints that used to grace many homes and Sunday School rooms—the artist renditions of Jesus at the table with his disciples or Jesus alone in the garden or Jesus with arms outstretched surrounded by little lambs and smiling. All six-feet tall of handsomeness, complete with brown naturally wavy hair, (always shampooed I might add) and blue eyes and soft pastel robes. That Jesus. All the better if these depictions are in their original frames and in good condition, with no mildew marks and not faded from the sun. The shop had one framed print, even that wasn’t in the best condition.

My insistent customer looked at what we had for sale and said, No, no, I already have THAT Jesus. I am looking for the really unusual Jesus. "

Actually, if Beth’s customer had looked more carefully at Jesus in the boat in the big storm, he would have discovered THAT Jesus Christ, the son of God, whom even the wind and waves obeyed, a unique Savior we can trust with our very lives.

A New Day Dawning

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Every day begins with dawn, and every day is new and fresh, unlike any other day ever. "Dawn signals the start of something new. It's a natural theme for fall--the beginning of a school year and the end of summer.

But "dawn" also suggests all kinds of other new beginnings:

  • The joy of a new year of serving in a ministry of the church.
  • The beginning of our preaching series in Romans 8.
  • The start-up of small groups, both new and those already established.
  • The journey of refugees from homeland to alien land, where a new life awaits.
  • The "safe family homes," where children can find the dawn of a home that is truly safe.
  • For those who mourn, they might find themselves in a darkness before dawn. Yet with time, dawn does comes.

Just about a year ago at Connection Point, a new small group came together, clueless to what God had in store for group members. Here's their story.

Our small group had been meeting for a few weeks, when we planned to have breakfast with another couple in the group who loves coffee as much as we do.

We sent the cheerful email to confirm, “Looking forward to our breakfast.”

Then the reply came. Our friends had been up for two nights in a row dealing with their son and the police. Did we still want to come? Our reply, “Of course.”

Over great coffee and a simple breakfast, we talked, cried, laughed and prayed together. On that bright fall morning, it was as if Jesus had pushed us into the deep end with the single promise that he had not abandoned us.

Our small group is now coming up on its one-year anniversary. As we look back, I think most all of us would say, “Wow. What a year!” Considering that most of us didn’t know each other a year ago, we’ve waded through a lot together this year.

A partial list of the challenges/issues our small group and its families face include:

•    Under-employment/job transition

•    The death of a parent

•    Felony crime

•    Drug-related charge

•    Psychological issues/illness

•    Same-sex issues

•    Marital discord and separation

•    Working after decades as a homeschool mom

•    Water, water, water everywhere, but must it be in the basement and the empty condo?

•    Caring for a grandchild with disabilities

Did all that really happen? And in just one year? Yes, and our group isn’t even that big. All of that happened and for many of these areas, there is no end in sight. But guess what? He has not abandoned us. And we haven’t abandoned one another. Ours is not a group that expects special status as Christians. Life can be hard. But through everything, the even better truth is this: God is good. One of the ways we see the goodness of God is through this group of people, most of whom we barely knew just a year ago.

So if we’re not looking at all of this stuff, what is in our sight? Last year we read through 1 Peter. Our weekly look into God’s Word helped us to make the focus on God and not ourselves or our struggles. We didn’t ignore the struggles, but we didn’t let our group time get turned into a therapy session. Our focus was on the wonder of Jesus.

As we focused on Jesus, some of our best conversations were the ones with God. In those quiet moments after the prayer time had ended, there was a sweetness and awe that lingered as we realized that our hope wasn’t a vague “we just hope things turn out,” but a steadfast hope and confidence in Christ and the gospel.

Some people think College Church is “the perfect church with perfect people.” None of us is perfect, but all of us are deeply loved by our Savior. God has entrusted us with some precious people who are walking through tough times. It is our gift and our honor to share our own struggles with each other and to know that we care for one another. We want to please Christ and honor him through all of this.

May grace and peace be multiplied in us!

By the way, we have room for a few others to join us…if you’re up for a wild ride of trust. If not us, there are many other groups. Jump into the deep end—get connected to a small group.

There are a number of ways you can get connected to a small group. Go to the Small Groups Finder or contact us at smallgroups@college-church.org or attend this Sunday’s Connection Point event at 12:30 p.m. in the Commons.

Why I Read Fiction

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Action, adventure, mystery, romance--stories encompass all of the journeys through life. Jeremy Taylor explains his penchant for fiction in this post for OneWord Journal.

Occasionally I am asked to submit a “summer reading list” (or “winter reading list” or whatever—pick your season) so that interested church members can see my literary interests and perhaps even mimic them. Whenever this happens, I’m generally chagrined and a tad embarrassed to note that my reading list is predominantly fiction. Whereas our august church leaders are reading classical theological works by church fathers or lengthy and important treatises on doctrine by contemporary preachers and theologians, I am reading books by John Grisham and Stephen King. Is there something wrong with me?

Is reading fiction something Christians ought to be embarrassed about? I don’t think so.

In fact, I would argue that reading fiction is not only acceptable, it’s beneficial. Now, if you’re reading Fifty Shades of Gray or other trashy novels filled with explicit sex or gratuitous violence and foul language, that’s arguably a different matter. After all, we are exhorted in Scripture to be careful what we think about (Proverbs 4:23), what we dwell on (Philippians 4:8) and what we see (Matthew 6:22-23). All three commands certainly apply to the material we choose to read. But there’s a lot of room between being careful and refusing to read anything other than the Bible.

It’s true that fiction should be approached with caution. For every great book that communicates—or at least is informed by—the truth of the gospel, there are many others that glorify evil. You can lose yourself in a good book, and it’s not healthy for believers to be immersed in material that is vulgar or that entices us to sin. That doesn’t necessarily mean we should only read “Christian fiction.” One of the most complete and compelling gospel presentations I’ve ever read was in a Tom Clancy book. And even purely secular stories contain elements of universal human experience that illuminate man’s search for the divine.

With that in mind, here are five reasons I read fiction.

1. I love stories. I read fiction because I love stories—just like pretty much every other person throughout history. For as long as humans have been able to talk, we’ve been telling each other stories. Storytelling has been part of every culture that has ever existed. From rich oral traditions, to crude drawings scratched on cave walls, to elaborate pictographs etched on Egyptian papyri, to hand-inscribed scrolls, to hardcover books and mass-market paperbacks and audiobooks and e-books, stories have always been a part of our humanity.

2. Stories and literature are part of our Christian heritage. Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites maintained careful oral and written accounts of their rich history. The psalmists and prophets used lush imagery in describing who God is and what his plans are for his people. And of course Jesus used stories—parables—to communicate important truths about the Kingdom of Heaven. The parables he told about the Kingdom of God contain characters, plot, conflict, action, mystery, redemption . . . the same elements that make up a good novel today. Through the ages, stories have remained a crucial element in the growth of the church and the spread of the gospel. Medieval writers like Dante Alighieri penned epic works of poetry, truths about the Christian life and man’s eternal destination. During the renaissance, authors like John Milton and John Bunyan took up the torch. In the 1800s, George MacDonald worked weighty theological issues into his children’s books, influencing other writers like C. S. Lewis and Hannah Hurnard, who came along a century later. More recently, authors like Frank Peretti, Jerry Jenkins, and Ted Dekker have penned international bestsellers with Christian themes, proving that there are millions of people from all walks of life who are willing and eager to read about ultimate truth in the form of a good story.

3. Fiction communicates truth. Fiction doesn’t just entertain—it communicates truth. We read fiction because it can teach us things about ourselves and the world we live in. Why do you think Jesus was a storyteller? Because stories are a terrific vehicle for getting truth across to people. Humans are naturally story-oriented beings. I think six of the most anticipatory words in the English language are: “Let me tell you a story.” That’s what Jesus did. And that’s what fiction writers do.

4. Fiction conveys experiences. I read fiction because through stories I can experience things I’ve never done, go places I’ve never seen, meet amazing people who are either dead or never existed. When you read a good book, you become immersed in it. Fiction allows the reader to experience the world in a way that facts could never match. It’s one thing to read about something. When you read nonfiction, you get lots of facts. But you don’t experience things the way you do when you read a story about that same thing. You can read a hundred nonfiction books about war, but when you read a book like The Things They Carried (by Tim O’Brien) or Matterhorn (by Karl Marlantes), you experience the sights and sounds and fears. It’s one thing to read about a concentration camp. But read The Auschwitz Escape (by Joel Rosenberg), and you’ll be there. And fiction helps us understand other people, too. When you read, you develop a bond with the characters whose experiences you’re sharing. You can empathize in a new way because you've lived through someone else’s struggles. A recent study indicates that kids who read a lot have more empathy than kids who don’t. This is science! Not only that, but reading and discussing a novel with a non-Christian friend can be a gateway to discussing deeper issues.

5. Fiction speaks to the heart. Not only can fiction allow you to experience the subject matter in a personal way, it can also make you feel things deeply. Do you remember crying when you read Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows in elementary school? Or being filled with pride and exhilaration when Peter defeated Fenris Ulf in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Fiction opens a window to a place deep inside you where emotions live and breathe and where you can find new insights about yourself. That’s a place where God can speak to you.

Ancient Truths Along the Journey

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Read the words of Anthanasius as he focuses on the Crucifixion and Resurrection, much needed for 21st Century pilgrims of faith.

"Jesus Christ made the creation itself abandon its silence. What a wondrous thing! In his death, or rather, in that triumphant monument of his death--I am referring to the cross--all creation confessed that he who was revealed in a body and who suffered was not just a mere man, but was the Son of God and the Savior of everyone. The sun was turned away [by darkness], and the earth quaked, and the mountains were shattered, and all creatures crouched down in awe. These things showed that Christ on the cross was God, and that all creation was his servant. In its fearful response, the creation was bearing witness to the presence of its Maker.

"Every person owed an outstanding debt that had to be paid. For as I have already said, everyone was due to die. This is above all why Christ came to live with us. His purpose was this: after he had proved his divinity from  his works, he went on to offer a sacrifice on behalf of all, handing over his [bodily] temple to death in our place. He did this for two reasons. First, he wanted to free us and make us no longer liable to the original Transgression. Second, he wanted to show that he is stronger than death. In his own body he demonstrated that he is imperishable, and that he is the firstfruits of everyone's resurrection!"

John Chrysostom reminds us that we are not home yet . . . 

"If you're a Christian, you don't have a city on earth. God himself is "the designer and builder" of our city (Heb. 11:10). Even if we were to possess the whole world, we would still be "foreigners and travelers" in every land (Heb. 11:13). Our names are engraved in heaven. Our citizenship is there. So let's not be like little children who overlook what is truly great, and admire what is of no account. Remember: it is not the prominence of our city, but the virtue of our souls, that provides our true adornment and security!"