Professional Documents
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The Book of Revelation: The Lamb and His Enemies The Book of Revelation: The Lamb and His Enemies
Dr. Rubel Shelly in Room 200 at 6:30 PM. Dr. Rubel Shelly in Room 200 at 6:30 PM.
Revelation is an unapproachable part of the Bible Revelation is an unapproachable part of the Bible
for many people, written in strange symbols. In for many people, written in strange symbols. In
this class, Dr. Shelly takes you past the common this class, Dr. Shelly takes you past the common
interpretations and gets you into the meaningful
pages of this beautiful book.
RSVP THIS WEEK!
interpretations and gets you into the meaningful
pages
Father figures of of
allthis
agesbeautiful book. invited! All fathers,
and kinds
stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, and special father figures.
Childcare is available! Childcare is available!
RSVP www.woodmontchristian.org/signup RSVP BYwww.woodmontchristian.org/signup
RSVP FEB. 3 at www.woodmontchristian.org/
fatherdaughterdance OR CLICK HERE
Woodmont Christian Church 615.297.8563 www.woodmontchristian.org 3601 Hillsboro Road Nashville, Tennessee 37215
Coffee & Conversation
Monday, Feb. 13
As we enter 2017, America remains politically
polarized. How do we as a Christian community
grapple with this? What can we do to help our
nation heal?
OUR MIS SION:
Join Clay Stauffer and the Christian Church Growing Disciples of Christ by Seeking God,
Regional Staff for coffee and discussion Sharing Love, and Serving Others.
around Clays book Preaching Politics in the
Boardroom from 1 PM to 3 PM.
OUR CORE VA LUES:
Welcoming
Outstanding Worship
Outreach
Different Traditions
Mission & Ministry
On The Move
Nurturing
Transforming
Join us Tuesday night, Feb. 7 from 7 to 9 PM for our opening worship For assistance, please call the church office at
gathering and keynote by Dr. Brian McLaren in Drowota Hall. 615.297.8563 or email info@woodmontcc.org
A suggested donation of $10 is requested.
Get the most up-to-date information at
Wednesday and Thursday programming includes lectures, worship www.woodmontchristian.org
seminars and workshops on songwriting, worship leadership,
Psalm study, the post-modern church and more! Tickets are deeply Woodmont Christian Church
discounted for Woodmont members at just $20 per day and onsite 3601 Hillsboro Road
registration is available. Nashville, Tennessee 37215
615.297.8563
For event schedule and registration, visit
www.woodmontchristian.org
www.convergencemp.com/event.php
pg 2
JESUS and the Spiritual Life
by Clay Stauffer
This Sunday, we will begin a new February sermon series called Jesus and the Spiritual Life. I
am also challenging you to read the book of 1 Corinthians during the month of February, one of
Pauls great Epistles. Who is Jesus? How do we understand him? What was he about? How is he
alive today? What does it mean to follow him?
I like the way N.T. Wright begins his book Simply Jesus: Jesus of Nazareth poses a question and a
challenge two thousand years after his lifetime. The question is fairly simply: who exactly was he?
What did he think he was up to? What did he do and say, why was he killed, and did he rise from the dead?
The challenge is likewise fairly simple: since he called people to follow him, and since people have been trying to do that ever
since, what might following him actually entail? How can we know if we are on the right track?
Habitats Eight Day Build
I dont know about you but I wrestle with these questions all the time. How can we be faithful followers
Day 1:
of Jesus in 2017?
What does that look like? We simply cannot know what Jesus expects of us if we do not read and study the gospels, what
Raise wall panels
he did and said. So, in addition to 1 Corinthians, I will be preaching from select gospel passages where Jesus causes us to
Install exterior blue
Impact
stop, think, and challenge our own presuppositions. In my experience, I have found that the ones who think they have Jesus
figured out are the ones who actually need him the most. Just an observation. board
Install windows
Top plate house
There is another short book that I am recommending by Henri Nouwen to go along with this series.
The book is titled In the Name of Jesus. Nouwen says: Look at Jesus. The world did not pay any Day 2:
attention to him. He was crucified and put away. His message of love was rejected by a world in
Install roof trusses
search of power, efficiency, and control. (36-37). Nouwen points out that so many times we get the
Install truss bracing
questions wrong. We focus on the wrong things. The question is not: How many people take you
seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show me some results? But are you in Install exterior doors
love with Jesus? Put another way do you know the incarnate God? In our world of loneliness and Install deadwood
despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that Day 3:
forgives, cares, reaches out and wants to heal. In that heart, there is no suspicion, no vindictiveness,
Install siding
no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred. It is a heart that wants only to give love and receive love in
Install insulation
response. It is a heart that suffers immensely because it sees the magnitude of human pain and the Caulk plates
great resistance to trusting the heart of God who wants to offer consolation and hope (37). Caulk panel joints
Clean house
This is just an example of how Nouwen pushes all of us to grow in spiritual formation. That will be my goal as we begin this
new series. Day 4:
Blessings, Finish siding
Habitats Eight Day Build Finish insulation
Finish soffit
Asad Mohamed & Asma Abood
Day 1:
Day 5:
Raise
Meet Our 2017 Habitat Family!
wallmarried
panels
Asad and Asma have been since 2007
and are the proud parents of three children Install interior doors
Install
sons,exterior
and a daughterblue
act
zero interest mortgage for Asad and Asma and they look
board Caulk plates
forward to owning a home that has enough space as the children grow. Our boys are so excited
to have their own rooms, Asad says. Install hardware
Install
Asads father windows
is a savvy businessman who pursued betterCaulk panel
opportunities joints
for his family by Install door stops
relocatingTop plate house
them from Somalia to Yemen when Asad was a young Clean
boy. Asadhouse
followed in his fathers
footsteps by pursuing a life in the United States. He was thrilled to be chosen through the United Day 8:
settled in Day 2:quickly found a job and worked to improve
Nashville,
Day 4:
States Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (commonly called the Green Card lottery) in 2003. He
his English. After four years he
Punch out interior
felt stableInstall roof
and had saved money to marry Asma, whoFinish
trusses
enough siding
was his neighbor in Yemen. We Finish landscaping
Finish insulation
respect and listen to each other, Asma says of their marriage. We make decisions together.
Install truss bracing Clean and prepare
excited toInstall
finally ownexterior
a home. This doors
Finish soffit
Asad and Asma are amazed at the generosity of their sponsors and volunteers. We are all very
will provide much needed stability and affordability. Thank
for dedication
Install deadwood SIGN
DayUP
5: ON OUR WEBSITE www.woodmontchristian.org/habitat
you all so much for this opportunity, says Asma.
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy,
Day 3: Install interior doors pg 3 and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Install siding Install trim
Stranger in a Strange Land
by Justin Gung
My parents met in one of the worlds great cities: Hong Kong. It was there that they fell in love
and there that they were engaged. It was there that they were married and there that my older
brother was born. My father worked for a company that moved the Gung family to Kuala Lumpur,
the capital city of Malaysia. Thats where I was born.
Im not offended if you dont know a thing about my birthplace. Malaysia is literally halfway across
the world in Southeast Asia. Its not far from Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. Its also a Muslim
nation. A strong majority of the populace is Muslim and Muslims enjoy many privileges that others do not.
When I was just a year old, the company for which my father worked moved the Gung family again, this time to North
Carolina. By the grace of God, I lived there for the rest of my childhood and youth. For the next two and a half decades, I was
an aliena legal alien, mind you, but an alien all the same. I held whats commonly called a green card, which signified my
status as a legal alien. One day, as a child, I asked my parents why we had to drive all the way to Charlotte. With a twinkle in
their eyes, they said that we had to visit Uncle Sam. Of course, this was their way of saying that we had to spend the day in
some government office to further the process of obtaining green cards.
As a young man in North Carolina, I sensed a call to Christian ministry. So, after graduating from college, I packed my bags
for Princeton Theological Seminary. For two years, I worked at a church in nearby New York City: Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church stands at the corner of Fifth and Fifty-fifth. Central Park, Rockefeller Center, and the
Museum of Modern Art are a few of its neighbors. Its very much at the Crossroads of the World.
Whats particularly interesting is this: If you exit the main doors of the sanctuary and walk across the street, youll be at Trump
Tower, the home and headquarters of businessman Donald Trump. By all accounts, Trump Tower is gaudy and grand. Its
owner designed it to communicate a sense of luxury, decadence, and powerthings that Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller would call
the false gods and empty promises of the world. Even so, there on Fifth Avenue stands their architectural embodiment.
With all this in mind, where do you think would be the best place for a church? Of course! Directly across the street! Planting
a church to stand as a contrastan alternative witnessto a gold-colored skyscraper would be any missionarys dream.
Cant you just see that busy intersection in Manhattan? On one side of the street is a symbol of The City of Man; on the
other is a symbol of The City of God. On one side stands a temple to an earthly ruler; on the other stands a temple to the
Divine Sovereign who left the glory of heaven and came to the world with redemptive, self-giving love. On one side stands a
monument to the idols of money and power; on the other is a holy sanctuary where the gospel is preached, the praise of God
is sung, the prayers of the people are raised, the children of the church are educated, and the sacraments of the church are
celebrated. And heres the best part: that great sanctuary on the corner of Fifth and Fifty-fifth was built because of a Middle
Eastern man whom we know as Jesus.
When Jesus was an infant, his family was forced to flee from violence in their homeland. They found blessed sanctuary in the
land of Egypt: And [Joseph] rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until
the death of Herod (Matthew 2:14-15a).
Undoubtedly, during his boyhood in Egypt, Jesus would often think of his ancestors: the Hebrew people who had been slaves
there long ago. And, like any Jewish boy, he would have studied the scroll of Leviticus, which commands: Any immigrant
who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were
immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God (19:34-35).
Perhaps thats why it was so easy for Jesus to love the other and outcast in his ministry: he knew precisely how they
felt because he had been other and outcast, too! Those who have never been other and outcast may find it hard to
empathize with others. But not Jesus. He himself had been a refugee, an alien, a stranger in a strange land. Indeed, his entire
people had, too.
I shudder to think how my own personal history would be different if my family had never immigrated to America. But even
more, I shudder to think how the history of the world might be different if Jesus and his family had not been given refuge in
Egypt. One thing is for sure: Today, on Fifth Avenue, there would only be a gold-colored skyscraper and not a holy sanctuary
across the street to rival it.
pg 4
A thank you letter from one of our RITI guests:
pg 5
Whats Really You?
by Roy Stauffer
Anne and I began this New Year of 2017 in the
hospital helping her recuperate from a bilateral total
knee replacement, which means she had both her
knees replaced. They actually took a CAT Scan to
uniquely custom-make knees for her body. Surgery
took only two hours. (She was in such great shape!)
We spent three days in the hospital, nine days in the TOA
Rehab Center, and have now been home since January 9th.
Everyone asks, Hows Anne doing? My answer is, Shes painfully progressing.
Pain is a big part of the healing process and we knew that before choosing the
surgery.
So, in the midst of all of this, what is really you? What determines your identity, your
uniqueness, who you are? Is the answer not what we call the soul or spirit the
non-physical aspects of you? This includes our experiences, memories, hopes,
dreams, loves, emotions, feelings, thoughts, desires, personality, consciousness,
self-awareness, spark of life. The soul is what gives the body life. And this is what
lives on and gives you continued identity after the
body is gone.
Who we really are is not dependent on our physical body, but housed in the
body (or some would say trapped in the body) until the body dies. Our real
identify is not based on the physical. Its like going to a 30, 40, or 50th class
reunion. At first you dont recognize anyone. Everyone is older. So many are
bald, gray, pot-bellied, not in the shape you knew them in high school. Even your
narrow waistline and broad-mindedness have changed places. Does anyone
recognize you? But then you start talking and sharing memories. We played
football together. I sat next to you in Spanish. You start sharing emotions,
feelings, and love. Yes, love, because your high school years will always be special.
Maybe this is what the reunion will be like in heaven. Who are we really? What Noon in The Boardroom
makes us unique and special? The ancient philosopher Descartes said, I think, with Thom Schuyler &
therefore I am. I would change that to, I love, therefore I am. Life is all about
relationships based on love. And love is eternal!
Emmie Thomas
The retreat will be led by Sandy Clingan Smith, who is a Woodmont Elder, spiritual director, retreat leader and
one of the founders of Still Waters of Nashville. Sandy has never, ever gotten to the bottom of her to do list.