Words of Encouragement: An Investment Worth Making!

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

I recently received a facebook message from someone who was in my youth group as a young man. I was so encouraged and uplifted by his words I decided to share them with you:

Dear Tim,

35 plus years ago you ministered through football (and many other avenues of activities) to a young boy who did not understand this world. After many times in jail and years of drug and alcohol addictions, your words of encouragement (and I am sure many prayers) have finally found a home in this man’s heart.

I have looked for you many times and tonight God placed your face on facebook. My heartfelt thanks to you and Jackie for believing enough in us young boys to spend time (and lots of energy) on us. This man is very thankful and grateful to you! I am a Pastor now for about ten years. I have worked with youth and adults and Counseled for over 5 years at Teen Challenge.
I currently have been pastoring and working with Native Americans here on the Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota, for the past 2 1/2 years. Tim, thank you, may God richly bless you as you continue to serve Him. I have never forgotten your investment.

Phil Wolverton

You never know how God will use your heartfelt prayers and words of encouragement. I pray that you are an encouragement to your family and friends and that you receive God’s encouragement for your own life.

Happy New Year!

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

A Christmas Thank You

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Merry Christmas! I pray that you are experiencing the beauty of this Christmas Season! What wonderful things are happening this year!! Our Santa Conspiracy was a wonderful time of spreading the joy of Christmas with those in the community that need it most. Each year I experience incredible joy when we come together as a church family and reach out to the community with no expectation of return!

I want to give a special thank you to the entire church body who donated over 2,000 bears; and the 300 Santa’s, Mrs. Clause’s, Elves and helpers who participated in the Santa Conspiracy this year!













We received this touching letter of thanks from the UW Medical Center. It was so inspiring I wanted to share it with you all:

Dear Kind People at Washington Cathedral,

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Reverend Tim White, Dan Edwards, Mary Loeser and Marcia McLaughlin for visiting our oncology patients this past Sunday. Amazingly we covered tall three oncology units and even made it to in-patient rehab and antepartum. Wow! What a feat! And thank you to Diane Lutterloh for making arrangements and working with me on the details.

Christmas is a difficult time to be in the hospital. It’s amazing what a visit from Santa can do to lift spirits, no matter what tradition you follow! The bears are very special - and who doesn’t need a cuddly bear to help them feel better?! Thank you to all the members of your congregation who donated and collected them.

I think Santa brings out the child in all of us, and I saw patients’ and staff members’ faces light up as Santa entered units and rooms, bringing the spirit of the holidays and brightening a gray afternoon. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and all the time and effort that went into making this happen.

May you all enjoy a blessed and happy Christmas season.

Gratefully,

Irene Hopkins
Program Coordinator, Volunteer Services
UW Medical Center

I pray that you have a very Merry Christmas and I hope to see you at one of our Christmas Services:

Christmas Bursts Into Beauty: Friday 12/23 @ 7pm and Saturday 12/24 @ 6pm & 8pm (Live nativity, ballet dancer and dancing cherubs, beautiful harp music, Christmas carols, live Christmas animal petting zoo, cookies and cider, and Frosty & Rudolph will greet you at the door!)

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service: Saturday 12/24 @ 11:30pm (Pastor Linda will be giving a special Christmas Eve message).

And one service on Christmas Day: Sunday 12/25 @ 11am (Pastor Becca McCary will be sharing a Christmas message to inspire you). Call the church office to reserve your complimentary tickets today 425.869.5433.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

New Christmas memories that will bless for generations!

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “Literature is the memory of peoples; it transmits from one generation to the next the irrefutable experiences of men. It preserves and enlivens the flame of a history immune to all deformation, far from every lie.” (Nobel Prize Lecture, 1970) Literature may not have all the answers to our questions, but without it we would have very little history to question.

Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovadsk in 1918. He lived through the Marxist Lennist revolution in Russia and he was imprisoned for remarks he made against Stalin. He witnessed terrible evil and his literature is part of the witness of history which Stalinist tried to snuff out. He had been fighting in World War 2, had been decorated for heroism twice, attained the rank of captain and he spent eight years in prison for his anti-Stalinist remarks. On his relief he was kept in exile until 1956. He was expelled from the writers union and banned from Russia. In the West his literature faced a backlash of disbelief. Communists considered his literature a betrayal. It was only in his almost unbelievable story that the truth was contained. Toward the end of his life he embraced Christianity and demanded a civilization founded on love, compassion and the humility of its leaders. His unbelievable story was the only way the incredible truth found its way through history.

Christmas begins with an incredible story. “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:12-14 KJV) What a vision! Peace on earth, good will toward men- - - Glory to God in the highest! Many people have questions about the Christmas story and its central historical evidence hidden in literature. This story does not provide answers to all of our questions- - - How many angels? What did they look like? Why didn’t anyone video tape it? But it also provides questions that still rock our world. What if the baby born in a manger was the Savior? What would our lives be like if we still followed this vision- - - Peace on earth and good will to all men- - - giving glory to God in the highest?

When I tell my grandchildren the history of Christmas in my lifetime it will be full of Christmas bursts into beauty, hospital visits dressed as Santa, and friendship with fellow Christian dreamers that I will always cherish. Adventure in the face of difficult odds- - - and lots of faith and love! There will be a sparkle in my eyes when I tell about how much I love my family, friends, church, community and the poor around the world. And about how every Christmas was a miracle- - - dozens of miracles! Marriages saved- - - lost people who found faith- - - worried people who found deep happiness. I wonder what memories we will create this Christmas as we remember the first Christmas!

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

P.S. If you would like to be a part of the Christmas miracle at Washington Cathedral just dive in we need all the help we can get! Call the church office 425.869.5433 or visit our website at www.wacathedral.org.

How to Get in the Christmas Spirit

“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:14 (NLT)

There was a young man who just never seemed to fit in. He dropped out of school when he was 15. He hadn’t found his area of giftedness. During some hard financial times he found himself taking a very low-paying job as a court reporter. He even had to teach himself shorthand before he could land the job. The job was somewhat boring, but the stories he heard about the injustices happening to children in society deepened his anger towards the way things had become. He did however discover that he liked to write. He tried to work for court reform because of his concerns about how children were being treated. He found zero success. So his writing turned into fiction. No one wanted to publish his novels so he published his work in a serial form in a cheap newspaper that was not very well respected. His creation of stories about children who had become criminals brutal, but his writings challenged institutionalized poverty. His characters were enchanting and later this would be what Charles Dickens would be remembered for. He was born in 1812 and died in London in 1870. Everyone one knows his classic story entitled A Christmas Carol where Scrooge is transformed by catching the Christmas Spirit. I think this work of art has been performed on stage by many fine actors, but Scrooge McDuck and Mr. Magoo are two of my favorite actors playing Mr. Scrooge (of course I am joking- - - partially). The story is captivating (as are most of Dickens other stories), but the transformation of someone who is self-absorbed, judgmental, and in bad humor- - - into the delightful Christmas Spirit enjoyed by Scrooge touches all of us.

Here are some ideas on how to catch the Christmas Spirit this year:

1. Remember that the Christmas Spirit is the Holy Spirit so make time for spiritual renewal during this season.

2. Avoid self pity like the plague! If your family has to have a tight Christmas- - - make it memorable.

3. Do something for someone else on Christmas.

4. Bring someone to the Christmas services and watch how God uses your friendship to light a fire in another human being.

5. Start a new Christian family tradition this year- - - the sky’s the limit. Have grandpa read the Christmas story- - - pray holding hands- - - express what means most to you about Christmas- - - buy everyone a cross to wear for the Christmas service- - - put up a picture of the kids in Honduras and say a prayer for them- - - have someone over that would otherwise be alone on Christmas. You name it!

I believe that God has planned for you to experience a refreshing, wonderful Christmas this year! Let’s get in the Spirit of Christmas as each of us experiences the transformation of “Scrooge to an angel” and become ambassadors of Christmas joy!

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White

Learning to Embrace Chaos

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Genesis 1:1 (NLT)

Most of us hate chaos. When life feels like a rollercoaster ride our need for control puts butterflies in our stomach and screams in our brain. Yet we all know that the most important times in our lives are uncertain, chaotic, fearful, adventurous, courageous, and just plain wild, uncontrollable chaos. We see this in the very first verse in the Bible. Three Hebrew words describe the chaos at the beginning of our planet. The first is to which is translated “formless” it literally means “confusion, empty place, wasteland”. The second is “waabowa” which is the Hebrew word translated as “empty” or “void”- - - it means a “meaningless desolate wilderness”. And the third Hebrew word is “choseck” which is translated as darkness and it literally means “misery, destruction, death ignorance and sorrow”. These three words describe the chaos that the creative power of God hovered over (some translations say “vibrated with”). This word is used to describe a mother bird as she hovers over her eggs to bring them to life. This is the dance that the Spirit of God did with chaos.

How do you react to chaos in your life? You are going to face it sometime- - - in Leadership Wisdom From Unlikely Voices David Fleming has a chapter on how good leaders handle chaos. He says, "Simply put, chaos is not the enemy of life and creativity. It is, rather, a necessary ally.” Pamela Meyer, in her book Quantum Creativity, tells us to embrace chaos and when she gives this lecture to business people they usually chuckle. The point is that the avoidance of chaos leads to all kinds of problems including the most basic one—unwillingness to embrace the quality that brings creativity to the surface (and that would be God!) When our lives feel chaotic it’s time for the Spirit of God to hover over us and to do His work. Chaos is part of the divine energy of life. It brings us to the brink of either madness or meaning. God invites us to become a part of His creative process. You see God is always creating. Even if formless and void describes part of our lives. We all know that from hindsight- - - when we look back at chaotic times, we see that creation and meaning came not in spite of that season, but as a result of it. To live in the midst of disturbance, (chaos) is to live in the stuff of creation. I guess this isn’t impossible unless we are working with the Creator, but it is adventurous when we see the chaos as an opportunity for the Creator to do something new in our lives.

Your friend for the rest of my life,

Pastor Tim White