ISSUE 4 PAGE 2

Matt’s Minute “I have a present: it is the present. You have to learn to find it within you. If you can learn to love it, you just might like it…A simple rule: every day be sure you wake.”

--“Save Your Generation” by Jawbreaker. Geffen Records: 1995.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food or drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

--Jesus, Matthew 6:25, 34

I was going through some old music not too long ago and ran across an album that I used to listen to in high school from a band called Jawbreaker. The group is not an explicitly Christian group nor does it necessarily have any spiritual message to it. It more expresses the angst and frustration with a rather loud polemic against an apathetic generation. Yet, it reminded me of my own struggle to fully live in the present moment. Then, I remembered what Jesus said about stressing about the past and fretting about the future.

In the 1960s, a band by the name “Grass Roots” produced the song “Live for Today.” Anyone remember that one? “Sha-la-la-la, live for today/ And don’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, hey, hey hey/ Sha-la-la-la, live for today/ Live for today.” There are countless poets and artists that express this same emotion, this same desire to live in the present, to make the best of the moment and not look back or get bogged down by worry for the future. Is this desire to “live for today” some universal, transcendent truth? Is this message congruent with what Jesus articulates in Matthew 6?

While I think there is some connection between the poets and Christ, I believe the message of Christ is

drawing from a deeper well. I think Jesus would agree that the past is past and the future is unknown so there is no reason to worry.

The call from Jesus to live in the present is a call to a more alive state of being, a more awake reality that allows us to see life in all of its complexities.

Ghandi once said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Mother Teresa once said, “You can do something today that will outlive your life.” What are we doing to make the most out of today? What will generations to come say about what we did (or what we did not do) to make our world a better place? Reinhold Neihbur penned the Serenity Prayer, but is often used in its truncated version. The fuller version speaks of living for today.

“Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.

Amen.”

In Christ, Matt

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

Sunday Sermons 8:30, 9:30 and 11:00 am

February 19 We are blessed to have with us VIRTUE, the premiere touring ensemble from Northwest Christian University. NCU’s touring group started in 1934. Two of our congregation’s "Timothys", Scott Iken and Dan Russell; Wayne and Jan Jackson; as well as Pastor Bob are a part of that tradition. The current group members are Matt Trevorrow, Tabitha Yeasley, Jason Haggard, Crystal Rutherford and Lia Davey. They will be bringing the message in song for all three services

February 26 Pastor Matt Gordon Palm Sunday already? This Sunday begins our first week of our Lenten sermon series, “40 Days a Week.” During the season before Easter, we will explore Biblical themes presented in the Gospel of Mark of the week leading up to and including Jesus’ death and resurrection. Each Sunday will be a differ-ent day of the week, beginning with Palm Sunday.