Video – The Nicene Creed in a Graveyard

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Pastor Foley

In Pastor Tim’s last post, he shared about our Easter service that we held at a graveyard.  This was new for the DOTW church leaders, but what wasn’t new was the Nicene Creed that we recited together.  Every week, our congregation shares the Nicene Creed together after the sermon is preached.  If you’re wondering why we memorize and recite the creed, take a moment to read about Why Every Christian Should Memorize the Nicene Creed.

As we stood among the grave stones, the last two lines of the creed held special significance.  It says, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen.”

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Easter Service in a Graveyard

Posted on April 3, 2013 by tdillmuth

Post by Pastor Tim – Easter Sunday fell right in between our study of two different Works of Mercy, so we did something that you might consider strange.  I’ll cut right to the chase . . . we had our Easter service in a graveyard.  Not our sunrise service, but our regular 10:30 AM service among the tombs.  Why?

We did this for a number of reasons, and I assure you that one of those reasons was not to be on the cutting edge of some new church growth trends.

  • This is where the early church worshipped!  In the Roman Empire, Christianity was still an illegal sect and quite often they would gather together in cemeteries.  One reason why they worshipped in a graveyard was that in doing so, they were surrounding themselves with a “great cloud of witnesses” that had died before them as martyrs.  For the early church, this wasn’t simply a history lesson, as the martyrs in the cemetery were their family, friends and fellow church members.
  • Also, this was one place where people could gather together without suspicion as it was fairly common to go to a cemetery to honor the dead.  We experienced this on Easter morning as well.  No one stopped to ask us what we were doing and I didn’t even see any cars slowing down to watch.  Granted we had a small gathering on Easter morning, but it wasn’t really strange to see a group of about 15 people gathered around a grave stone.  After a while though, not even the graveyard was completely safe for the early Christians.  A 1993 article in Christianity Today says,

Christians worshiped in suburban cemeteries also because of the practical concern to keep out of sight of imperial and local authorities inside the cities. In many places, even these meetings came to official notice. We find the imperial prefect in Alexandria (c. 258) proclaiming: “It shall by no means be permitted you or any others either to hold assemblies or to enter into the so-called cemeteries.”

  •  The message of Easter finds a fitting context in a cemetery.  1 Corinthians 15:55-57 says, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We are often reminded of the finality of death when we visit a cemetery, but in light of Christ’s victory over the grave, we should instead be reminded that death isn’t final, but as Paul said, it is simply temporary like sleep.  On Easter Sunday, we studied Matthew 28:1-10, and it was fitting to be in a cemetery as we read about the women visiting Christ’s empty tomb!
  • A cemetery is filled with Christian symbols and reminders of Christ’s resurrection.  There are many symbols which hold deep significance of which you may have never realized.  For example, most graves in a cemetery face east because of the Scripture that says that Christ will return from the East.  Clergy members were often buried facing west though, as they needed to be facing their congregation to lead them, when Christ returned.  This wasn’t done exclusively in cemeteries, but also in churches with the pews built so that worshippers would face east as they looked to the altar.  Additionally, it is interesting to search the gravestones for crosses, Bible verses, prayers and remembrances of a strong faith in Christ.

Even in Christian circles, cemeteries are equally associated with sadness and spookiness.   But whether you hold your regular church service in a cemetery or not, it should be a place of worship and a reminder of the hope of eternal life that we have in Jesus Christ.

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You Could Do Good Unto The Least Of Jesus’ Brothers And STILL Miss The Foundational Truth Of The Parable

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Pastor Foley

WLO_openhomeFrom Pastor Foley–Today marks the start of our month-long blog focus on the Work of Mercy of opening your home.

As always the temptation arises to begin the month by building a case as to why you should open your home, before moving on to lots of creative ideas about how you can do it. After all, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” That’s, you know, reasonably clear cut.

And trust me–there’s zero chance that I’m going to try to preach that command away or to blunt its incredible, well, bluntness. But I do want to note this: Jesus doesn’t start his parable with that command. So neither should we start our interpretation of the parable there either.

Instead, he starts here–and so should we:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (emphasis mine).

You might be surprised how many sermons and websites and Bible guru-type posts there are that attempt to answer the question: Why are sheep good and goats bad? What, in other words, is so wrong with goats?

Let me suggest that such a question, fascinating as it is, runs the risk of becoming an adventure in missing the point and that the far better question–which sets us up exquisitely to hear the message of the parable is this:

Why sheep and goats at all?

Sheep and goats are an odd metaphor, really, when you reflect on it. Why not just talk about the wicked and the righteous, or good people and evil ones? After all, Jesus squeezes all four of these terms  into one verse, Matthew 5:45. What is added by the sheep-goat characterization?

Just this absolutely essential point:

Pasture. Sold. Separately.

In other words, before we dig into what separates sheep and goats we need to remember what they have in common: Neither species is capable of generating their own grazing land.

Translate that into the overall subject of opening your home and you get this:

Um…Why is your home closed in the first place? Who closed it?

Remember: All Works of Mercy are predicated on the idea that all we are doing is passing on the grace we first received from God. Keep that in mind and you will never be tempted toward works righteousness. In other words: If you’re playing with house money, what can you possibly give to the house that it doesn’t already own and that would thus place the house in your debt?

This is the proper starting point for this and every Work of Mercy: We begin with God’s gracious action toward us. That’s the foundation of every Bible story. Our action in response to that foundation just shows whether we understood the foundation (and the founder) rightly–or not.

In the case of the sheep-goats parable, the sheep are described (in verse 34) as “you who are blessed by my Father.” That’s about as grace-based as you can get. And notice that the sheep do not simply respond modestly to the Lord when he commends them for the food, the clothing, the shelter, and the visitation. They don’t say, “Ah, Lord, it was nothing, really.” They say, “What are you talking about?” As in: “I really have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a sheep.”

The sheep-goats parable is first one of identity and then (and only then) one of action. When we understand that nothing in this pasture-world of ours belongs to us, then there’s no great angst or anxiety in opening whatever home you happen to be in. It is not yours. You are a sheep. If the shepherd throws another sheep in with you, what are you going to do? Go on sheep strike?

So this month, before we talk about the whys and hows of the Work of Mercy of opening your home, let’s first ponder the whats, as in: What are we?

Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3, NIV).

His pasture. Not ours. Any sheep would understand that: The shepherd opened his pasture to us. Of course we’ll scoot over if he sends another sheep to join us in our corner of it. And we won’t even think of our act of opening as praiseworthy, since it’s not.

You’d have to be a goat not to understand that.

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