"Random Acts of Christmas!"

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, How Still We See Thy Light!

Right after the terrorist explosion in Oklahoma City our church started a program called Random Acts of Kindness and it was published on the internet. A school principle called and asked if they could use the idea in their Junior High School, someone from an international company asked if they could post the concept in their company and join in. It seemed that in the face of brutal terrorism, people were ready to join forces to do something positive – something significant to affect the tone of the world.

Christmas has been the world’s anti-terrorism pill for over 2,000 years. Terrorists believe that if they do something mean spirited and insane, people will investigate their philosophy to try and understand what would cause them to do something so dastardly. Christmas is just the opposite. It is a random act of kindness! God gave his only begotten son to become a savior to the world. And so we celebrate the darkest days of winter with giving. We give to our family, we give to our friends, we give to our favorite charities and family times are sweet because we try to think of others and not just about ourselves.

In 2007 our world needs many more “Random Acts of Christmas.” In fact, we want to teach our families about how important this approach to life can be. So we are going to decorate our sanctuary and campus with glittering stars which display “Random Acts of Christmas.” Here are some that we are going to be involved in as a church.

• Providing Christmas for every family, living in the Tegulsegalpa dump.
• Providing Christmas for dozens of struggling families in our community.
• Sending out hundreds of Santas to provide Christmas at many convalescent homes in our area and give away thousands of teddy bears.
• Going out to feed homeless teenagers in Seattle; a city with more homeless teenagers than anywhere else in America.
• Providing a Christmas Concert for the state ferries ministry for disabled people and providing Christmas for each one of these people.
• Sending out our Martial Arts School to feed, clothe and befriend the homeless in our area.
• Providing “Christmas Bursts into Beauty” which will reach out to thousands of people with the good news of Christmas. It is amazing what a beautiful impact the singing, dancing, children, fellowship and positive message have on so many people.
• Giving away truck loads of food to Hope Link for struggling families.
• The Pacesetters will provide gift boxes through Samaritans Purse Organization for the poor in Africa.
• The Build the Family foundation will be raising money for “Turning Point Investments,” which provides zero interest micro loans to struggling families in our community and gives them an opportunity to turn things around.
• Every “Tiny Little Church” will have a Good Samaritan project, bringing a Christmas blessing to some part of our community.
• This year, many families will be giving special gifts to help build the Re-Creation Center for our community.

Just think of the hundreds of different ideas that each of us can do to surprise someone with a “Random Act of Christmas.” It doesn’t have to cost money; it can be a good deed, a volunteer project, a note written, a meal for a neighbor or maybe it is just going out of our way to encourage a very discouraged person. Can you imagine if every family, every one of us, tries to see how many “Random Acts of Christmas” we can do during Christmas 2007.

We will have thousands of glittering stars with the anonymous “Random Acts of Christmas” written on themhanging everywhere, decorating the Cathedral with the glory of Christmas. The kids will never forget Christmasseason 2007!

Tim White

Psalms 66 turned into a prayer for today by my heart and God's grace.

We present our lives to God that he might teach us to be truly thankful and fill our hearts with life!

It is high time we start making happy noises about God! Can we help but boldly proclaim His name and giggle out His praises?

Every time we hear the old Bible stories about what God has done throughout history we are impressed. The glorious deeds He performed amaze even our modern minds. But when He works today, we find it impossible to hold back our enthusiasm.

Many of us have been through the crucible of life. We have been tested and tried, and we have tested God's love in the valley of pain and sorrow. And God was there too! He has allowed us to experience incredible difficulty and then He uses these very things to prepare us for His purposes!

Today, I renew my pledge to my God. I strive to carry out those promises I made to Him when I cried for His help in my troubles. I yield up to Him my servitude every day He gives me to live. And I offer to Him my sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Therefore, today, we present our lives to Him that He may teach us to be truly thankful and fill our hearts with life.

The Death of the Great Man Theory!

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said give us a king to lead us, this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”

1 Samuel 8:6-7 (NIV)

It is not the X’s and O’s; it is the Jims and the Joes. This is a phrase used by football coaches at coaching clinics. The idea goes, “I don’t care what formation and plays that you have - your future is going to be set by the superstars on your team.” Is that really true or is that just another pop culture view of life that causes more harm than good? Perhaps it undermines teamwork, the most powerful force in winning athletics. I say that because there is a view of life that is spread by Inside Edition, MTV, and most of western culture that tells us that some people are just “great”. They should walk the red carpet, be devoured by paparazzi, and fill our history books to describe what is really taking place on this planet. Will Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ever end senseless war and poverty in this world? Or will Princess Diana? This view of life even comes into the church and the view of religion. It is called the Great Man Theory and it is time for this theory to die. A great man builds a church, a ministry, a business or a nation, right? That is what the people of Israel tried to talk Samuel into and he knew the imperfections of humanity, without reading Inside Edition.

Oxford Professor Isaiah Berlin used a line from Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason to write a very insightful essay proposing that perhaps the Enlightenment did not give us the ultimate picture of science or philosophy. The line he borrowed from the giant of rationalism (who many postmoderns forget was writing in critique of rationalism alone without faith) was, “a crooked timber called humanity”. In this essay, Berlin points out that after the Enlightenment, two great forces were unleashed on the world: science, which has transformed the world, and universal philosophies such as Marxism or Nazism, etc. Each set of universal ideas promises to create an earthly utopia masterminded by a great man. Any means can be justified in achieving such an idealistic end. As a child, Berlin experienced two revolutions in Russia that deeply influenced his perspective and planted seeds of skepticism concerning the Great Man Theory. Whether you agree with him or not, his writings are fertile with thought-provoking ideas.

I have had the privilege of meeting some great people, many of whom left me feeling somewhat disappointed. I met Paul Hornung, the great Green Bay Packer running back at a party. He was one of the most versatile athletes of all time. And he was a notorious playboy. He once said, “Never get married in the morning, you never know who you might meet by night.” He was suspended from the NFL for gambling on games. There he was sitting in the corner all by himself at a party. So I went over to talk to him. I said, “You are Paul Hornung, aren’t you?” He said, “Yeah, who are you?” I said, “I’m nobody famous; I am just a pastor of a local church who had a friend who invited me to this party.” And then I said, “How are you doing?” He said, “Terrible” with the most painful groan I have ever heard. I asked compassionately, “What is the matter?” He said, “I am at fancy party with lots of booze which my liver can’t take, beautiful women in dazzling dresses and my knees hurt so bad that I am stuck in a corner talking to a pastor!” I was a bit disappointed after meeting that great man. But I also met Bart Starr, the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, and he signed a football for my dad and even personalized it with Best Wishes Dale White. You never know where you are going to find great people. The fact that we are all “crooked timber” is not an excuse to miss the high calling that God has for us. But it is an opportunity to see life as it really exists. I have met some great preachers and came away thinking, “Wow, I know a half dozen Sunday school teachers, farmers, single moms and janitors who leave me with an impression of greatness that far exceeds this celebrity!”

The Great Man Theory always breaks down at some point. I did not build Washington Cathedral alone. Jackie has played a more crucial role than I have. When I hear my daughters pray, I am so humbled; I learn more from them than I will ever teach them. Many times I have been paranoid, afraid, insecure… and people like Ray and Joanne Vath, or John and Greg Hanna have bolstered my confidence. Elling and Barbara Halvorson are the ones that stuck their necks out to get our Re-Creation Center started. I could tell the stories of Jane Bishop, Marcy Marquez, Emily Boyce, Wayne Meyers, Bill Holmes, Bill Biggs, and so many more. The specialness of Washington Cathedral is the team God creates to create it. This has considerable implications for building a meta church; a church that can only exist as the leadership team yields to the leadership of God. Think about the implications! We have a lot to learn together about what this means for Washington Cathedral. God is working among us.

Tim White

Tiny Little Churches

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called to you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9

Tiny Little Churches. The name came to me at a small group’s conference 23 years ago. I was at New Hope Community Church and Dr. Dale Galloway was speaking about their TLC groups and how they had revolutionized not only their church, but churches around the nation. They referred to them as Tender Loving Care groups and my friend Dr. Galloway made a statement that TLC does not stand for Tiny Little Church because we don’t want lay pastors thinking they are ordained clergy. In our constitution and bylaws we have a program of training called Washington Seminary where we actually believe that some lay pastors will become ordained clergy. My wife Jackie and I received much of our training from such a lay pastor in our home church – his name is Dick Sanders. As I listened to the provocative lecture by Dr. Galloway I sat next to Bill and Sally Jo Holmes, Rich and Linda Skinner, Roy and Pam Seymour, Michael Fernandez, Rob and Nancy McJunkin (they were not married yet), David and Carol Gerzsenye (they were not married yet either), and others who you may not have known, Jane Bishop & Emily Boyce. I was surrounded by “miracles” waiting to happen; life long ministries that would incredibly impact the world if they could just catch the vision of Tiny Little Churches.

Last Sunday as I stood at the door, I visited with lifelong friends, Chuck and Mary Loeser, who I’ve known as for the past 20 years. They are Tiny Little Church pastors who have been considering their Sunday school class a Tiny Little Church for a long time. Chuck & Mary have helped people move, brought meals to families in crisis, they pray diligently for the kids in their class, attend their scout awards nights and on and on. As we stood there, children of all ages, one and two at a time came up to give them a hug. These kids said that they are praying for Chuck and Mary. As they spoke, I thought, “I am in the presence of two of the greatest pastors that I have ever met.” My respect for them and their Tiny Little Church was soaring in the sky.

Recently there has been discussion about whether or not we should change our name for these Tiny Little Churches and call them Small Groups. (A name that seems to be more widely used by other churches.) The more I considered that idea the more I thought about that discussion with Chuck and Mary and I thought “no way.” Tiny Little Churches is what they are and we don’t need to change the name, we need to understand the importance of the name. “TLC = Tiny Little Church” and that name communicates a revolutionary, meta church idea; fulfilling the mandate of scripture to insure that lay pastors are recognized and treated with the same respect as professional clergy. It is indeed the priesthood of all believers.

Please help me in honoring the pastors of all the Tiny Little Churches in our midst – Sunday School Classes, Boards, Home Bible Study Groups, Missions Groups, Youth Groups, Small Groups, eGroups, Support Groups, etc. (the list goes on and on.) Thank you God for the wonderful Pastors of the Tiny Little Churches at the heart of our church family.

Tim White