From Pastor Rod - A New Year Message -From January 2019 Newsletter

            As we move into the New Year, it is natural to turn our attention toward resolutions and new beginnings. These things are well-intended, but so easily broken.  In our house, we have started to speak of “directions” instead of resolutions.

            A resolution can be broken quickly and then easily put aside.  A “direction,” however, is something we can work towards all year.  We may veer off course sometimes, but we can always keep turning back into “the direction” of where we want to be.  Recently, we’ve also chosen to come up with a single word that sums up what is our overall intention for the year.  This word helps us focus on our direction for the year.

            If I were to choose a word for our church this year, I would choose the word “vision.”  I believe it is time for us to really focus on what is our vision and our mission for Auburn Presbyterian Church.  Several of my sermons over the past months have touched on this, and sometime this Spring, we will become very intentional about this.

            I would hope that central to this vision will be Jesus’ great commandment to love God and love our neighbor.  We know that a church will grow deeper and wider when it makes a firm commitment to the great commandment.  As a community of believers, we also need a mission – a stated purpose of what we want to do as a church – how do we put our words into action.  In other words, how specifically are we engaged with God’s work out in the world.  We will have a few gatherings where we can learn to identify just exactly how God can be uniquely shaping us for a specific action or mission.

            It is my hope for you that you will find 2019 to be a tremendous year to discover once again the goodness of the God who has called us to new life in Christ.  Don’t start your day with the broken pieces from yesterday.  Every day is a fresh start.  As cliché as it may sound, every morning we wake up is truly the first day of the rest of our lives.

So today, help us Lord, to redeem the time wisely.  Help us to use the 8,760 hours given to us in this new year in the wisest way we can for your glory.  I wish each of you enough wisdom to make every day of this new year better than the day before!

Happy New Year!

Rod

From Pastor Rod -From December 2018 Newsletter

With the cancelled service because of snow in November, Advent seems to have really sneaked up on us. Advent is certainly a time of celebration and anticipation of Christ’s birth, but it is more than that.  It is only in the reflection of Advent that the miracle of Christmas can be fully understood and appreciated. And, it is only in the light of Christmas that our life as followers of Jesus Christ makes any sense.  

            When we light the Advent candles each week, we talk of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.  We try to focus on expectation and anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas.

            This is of course, all well and good.  But this Advent season, I invite you to look at a different Advent as well.  I want you to also think about the expectation of the coming year in our own church. The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming.” What is coming for us here at Auburn Presbyterian in the new church year?  What can be new and different?  How can you yourself go above and beyond what you normally do to advance the life of our church?

            When you look back at this time next year, what areas of growth will you have seen in yourself and our church?  Where did you find moments of success and fulfillment?  When was a time that you helped lead or facilitate positive change? 

            Advent signifies the beginning of a new church year.  As a season of preparation, Advent is a good time to examine our own activity within the church.  What are we doing as a mission?  Can you help as an elder, serve on the session, or volunteer to work on a committee?  Can you invite a friend, or welcome a visitor?

            The promise for the church is Jesus Christ.  He has come, and He will come again.  This is the true essence of Advent.

Advent blessings to you all,

Rod Seel

From Pastor Rod - From Newsletter November 2018

This past week has been yet another of horrendous news … news of an unspeakable mass shooting in a temple of God, an individual sending letter bombs, and a hate-driven double murder.  These terrible actions once again leave us struggling to understand the hatred and evil that seems so prevalent in our world today.  We look for answers.

            Sometimes, the answers just aren’t very clear to us. We can’t understand how such evilness and hatred can fester within someone to bring them to the point of committing such atrocities.  But we believe that God’s presence sustains us in every circumstance, even amidst hatred, evil and death.

            In times like this, I believe it is up to each of us to rise up, and resist the evil and hateful rhetoric around us.  Let us confront the hate from within and without by speaking even more loudly about the kindness, hope, mercy and justice we know from our God.  Let us be sure that our own words and our own opinions are formed with compassion, sympathy and wisdom.

            Many of you have asked me my thoughts on how we react to this here in our own church.  I hope we don’t rush to actions that are based on fear.  Let us not overreact.  While there is discussion in this and many churches of armed guards, locked and bolted doors, concealed carry parishioners, security cameras, etc., personally, I don’t believe that is how we are meant to worship.

            Let us consider how Jesus would react.  Jesus rebukes a disciple who brandishes a sword to defend him, telling him in Matthew 26:52, "For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  Jesus did not use violence to protect himself, as the writer says in 1 Peter 2:23: "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

            It is clear what Jesus and his apostles did or said, when it came to responding to violence.  They were nonviolent to the bitter end.  The apostles endured imprisonment, beatings, torture and martyrdom at the hands of their enemies, and never once lifted a finger to defend themselves through violent means.

            As I spoke in my sermon this past Sunday, it is important that we seek God’s wisdom in times like this, and not man’s wisdom.  I’ve made my position clear in past sermons – if it was up to me, our front doors would be wide open every service, demonstrating that above all, we are a welcoming church.

            We are all entitled to our own thoughts about this, and we should discuss and express them freely, and respectfully.  Let your session members know how you feel, and any decisions will be made at the session level.  Feel free to let me know your own thoughts as well.

            In the meantime, keep in your care the parents, the brothers and sisters, relatives, neighbors and friends, of all those affected.  And pray for ourselves, who are struggling to make any kind of sense of all this in our world.

God’s blessings,

Rod Seel

From Pastor Rod - Who is this Jesus? -from Newsletter October 2018

The title of a recent message I gave was “Who Is This Jesus?”  In the gospel of John, Jesus gives us seven "I am" statements about Himself, helping us to answer this question.

 1. "I Am the Bread of Life" Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" on three different occasions.  That was the first "I am" statement and it was the one repeated most often. Jesus did not say he was like the bread they had just eaten.  He compared Himself to bread.  He was emphasizing that He wasn't just bread to fill someone's hungry stomach, but He was the bread that sustains, the living bread and the bread of our communion that represents his body, given up for our salvation.

 2. "I Am the Light of the World."   Jesus is the Light of the World to brighten up our dark places.  Simply put, this means that Jesus brings light into any dark situation.  Jesus is the very embodiment of light. Wherever He is, nothing is dark because He is the light of the world.

 3. "I Am the Door." Jesus said He is the door that we can enter. Doors provide an entrance in and an entrance out of something.  Jesus let people know that He was the entrance into their good things and exit out of their bad things.

 4. "I Am the Good Shepherd." Jesus is the Good Shepherd that provides for us and protects us.  A good shepherd cares for His sheep no matter what. Jesus as our shepherd provides for us by giving us everything we need.  He protects us and keeps us out of harm's way.

 5. " I Am the Resurrection and the Life."  We can live again because of Jesus who is the resurrection and the life.

 6. "I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life."  John 14:6 records these three metaphors that Jesus used to emphasize who He was.  In doing so, he told us that “no one comes to the Father except through me."

7. "I Am the True Vine."  The entire chapter of John 15 is about the true vine.  He was emphasizing in general that He is the vine and we are the branches. In order to bear fruit, we must remain in Him.

             So who is this Jesus?  He is Bread, Light, Door, Good Shepherd, Resurrection and Life, Way, Truth and Life, and the True Vine.

 God bless,

Rod Seel

Auburn Farmers Market - Vendor Guide

Auburn Farmers Market has been a tradition in our community for over 18 years.  It has always been held in the parking lot of the church on Tuesday afternoons throughout the summer.  That tradition continues today.

Down through the years people have enjoyed – fresh fruits and vegetables, home decorations, specialty items, bedding plants, crafts, jewelry, baked goods, jams and jelly, live poultry and many other products. 

Vendor Rules

1. Vendors are not allowed to buy products and “resale” them at the market.  (They must be produced locally by the seller or an associate in the area.)

2.  There is no charge to the vendor. 

3.  The hours are 12:30 to 4:30 every Tuesday – May through September. 

4.  Vendors can set up 15 minutes before sale time and are limited to one space per vendor.  (Vendors may park in a space before set up on a first come first serve basis – there are no reserved spaces.) 

5.  Vendors are strongly encouraged to advertise the market.  (You may consider joining with other vendors to have a stronger impact on the customer base.)

6.  A restroom at the church is open during Farmer Market hours. 

(Guidelines were a product of Auburn Farmer’s Market Advisory Board)

A Vow for the New Year

Making plans for your life in the New Year?  Could it be that God already has a plan for you and is patiently waiting to make that plan a reality?  When one considers how everything seems to have a purpose in nature (atoms, genes, plants, animals, etc.), it makes sense to believe that each of us has a purpose as well.  On the other hand, if all of creation seems to have just happened without any reason, then this means our minds and spirits must have no reason or purpose as well.  How can we trust them?

But believers trust that there is a great Intelligence that brought everything into existence.

There is a Mind and a Heart at the center of all creation.  If that’s the case, then life can only make sense when we seek what the Creator has in mind for us.

Jesus, who knew the Mind and Heart of God better than anyone who ever lived on Earth, once said to the erring Peter: “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mark 8:33, NRSV).

Setting our minds on human things can get us into trouble.  That’s why it often seems we live in a crazy mixed-up world.  How can life ever be fulfilling, without the purpose God has for that life?

To set one’s mind on divine things leads us to consider the one vow we should take seriously for the New Year.  Your will, Lord.  Your will and nothing else.             

From Pastor Tom - Little Faith + Big God = Huge Results

Is it possible to be filled with faith and doubt at the same time? Yes!

You can have faith that God wants you to do something and still be scared to death. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is going ahead and doing what you’re called to do in spite of your fear.

You have to begin with the faith you already have – it may be just a little, but you start there. A beautiful example of this is the story of the man who brought his sick son to Jesus in Mark 9:

Jesus looked at the man and said, “I can heal your son. If you will believe, I will heal him.” The father then makes a classic statement: “Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.”

Have you ever felt like that? “Lord, I have some faith. But I also have some doubts.”  This man was filled with faith and doubt, yet despite his honest doubts, he went ahead and asked Jesus for a miracle. And he got his miracle – Jesus healed his son.

No matter how weak or how frail you think your faith is – it’s enough.

Matthew 17:20 says, “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed, nothing will be impossible to you.” That’s not a lot of faith; in fact, it’s just a little faith. But what else does that verse teach? “If you have faith as the mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, ‘Move’ and it will be moved.”

Don’t get this reversed. We like to read this verse backward. We want it to say, “If you have faith like a mountain you can move a mustard seed” – as if it takes enormous faith to do a very little task.  But that is not what the verse says.  It says:  “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed, nothing will be impossible to you.”

Everybody has faith – the difference is what you put your faith in.

 God wants us to start with the faith we have.  Based on the example of the mustard seed – you don’t need a whole lot of faith to do great things for God. You just need a little.

 So here is how it works:

Little faith + a very Big God = Huge results

You take your little faith and say, “Lord, I believe! Help me with my unbelief!” And you put it in our Big God. And then he’ll show you how he works out huge results.

 Blessings - Pastor Tom

From Pastor Tom - Four Keys to Navigating Spiritually Dry Seasons

Let’s be honest – all of have times when we find it hard hearing God’s voice.  We have all experienced a period of spiritual dryness – a place some would call a spiritual desert.  The spiritual desert IS NOT a fun place to be. It is dry – lonely – and HOT!  During this season our relationship with God feels distant and lifeless. When we sense that God is distant here are four things to practice that can help us get closer to God:

 1. Confess Our Sin

There are always sins that we knowingly and unknowingly commit.  If we continue committing sins that we know God wants us to stop – it puts a strain on our relationship with Him.  The strain on our relationship does not mean He does not love us.  If anything – the strain is a demonstration that He wants us to move closer to Him.  We can move closer to Him by confessing our sin before Him.  Remember:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9 (KJV)

2. Remember Our Worth

In 1 Peter 2:9-10 we are told that we are chosen and that we have value. The Bible says:

“You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NASB) 

We are not chosen because of our gender – height – weight – or education. We are chosen because of God’s mercy. We are exalted and elevated in His presence – that is a reality!

3. Pump-Up The Praise

When God feels far-away it is easy to turn down our praise. During desert seasons – our praise should be seen and heard.  We need to remember that it is easy to praise God when things go well – but the true men and women of character praise God through the good times as well as the bad times.  The Bible says:

“I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:2 (NASB)

4. Get Up – Get Dressed – Go To Church

When we go through desert seasons the very place we run from is where we need to run towards – CHURCH! Guess what – you are not the only person going through a dry season. There are others who are going through something similar. However difficult it looks – do not stop going to church.  Healing and inspiration happens when we are together. In fact – we are better together.  The Bible says:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25 (NASB)

Are you going through a dry season?  What do you do when you go through dry seasons?

Blessings – Pastor Tom