Week of Prayer starts Sunday

The annual Week of Prayer, sponsored by the SDB World Federation, begins on Sunday, January 3.

The daily meditations for 2010 were written by Pastor Jonas Sommer of Brazil.

It is too late to mail you a booklet, but we can send you a pdf version by e-mail. If you want to join in prayer with Seventh Day Baptists around the world, click here and request your booklet today.

Let's begin the New Year together on our knees.

For the New Year

A couple of anonymous reminders found at appleseeds.org.

A Recipe for 2010

Take 12 fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite. Pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into 30 or 31 equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.
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And a Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit,
Spirit of the Risen Christ,
Be with us today and always.
Be our Light, our Guide,
And our Comforter.
Be our Strength, our Courage,
And our Sanctifier.

May this new year be a time
Of deep spiritual growth for us,
A time of welcoming
Your graces and gifts,
A time for forgiving freely
And unconditionally,
A time for growing
In virtue and goodness.

Come, Holy Spirit,
Be with us today and always.
Amen.

Tiger, guilt and grace

ABP Senior Columnist Jim Denison, in his latest “FaithLines” column, meditates on the Tiger Woods scandal, our common human condition of sinfulness, and grace.

Some excerpts:
"I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all my heart." With these now-famous words, Tiger Woods responded to the allegations of extra-marital affairs that dominated the news in the weeks before Christmas. His website posting of Dec. 2 was his first major public word on the scandal, which has engulfed his life and career. He continued: "I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family."
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Denison continues by explaining that we are all sinners and that “private sin” isn’t private. Then,

Third, actions produce consequences. When we sin against God, others are always hurt. God can forgive, but the results endure. When you hammer a nail into a two-by-four, someone else can remove the nail -- but the hole remains. Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay. Always.
_______________

Denison concludes by including several important Biblical references that explain how grace triumphs over guilt.

For the complete commentary, click here.

First SR of 2010 on-line

Happy New Year! And Happy New SR issue!

The Sabbath Recorder for January is now posted on-line. The topic is missions and you can learn more about Burundi and Malawi in Africa, and Ecuador in South America. See how SDBs are reaching out to the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota. And would you believe some Sudanese SDBs have relocated in ALASKA??

Enjoy, and thanks for reading the SR! You can download the pdf here.

New Year's Communion-- On-line!

As seen on Facebook, Pastor George Lawson from our church in Colton, Calif., invites everyone to a unique Communion service:

You are cordially invited to join us at Maranatha Community Church for our very first online Communion service! We believe that Communion allows us the opportunity to reflect on God's love for us. And what better a day for reflection than New Year's Day?

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Here's the link for more information.

Christmas Eve Prayer

On this night, we wait for the light.
You, O God, are the light.
You are the light of creation.
You are the light we wait for.
You are the Light of Christmas Eve.

On this night Your light shines.
On this night darkness is shattered.
On this night chaos is overcome.
You are the Light of Christmas Eve.

Your light shines through the Child that is given.
Your light shines in the Son who is born.
Your light shines through His ruling and His judgment.
You are the Light of Christmas Eve.

Wonderful Counselor–
Guide us from our sinful wanderings and sickness of heart.
Mighty God–
Move again across the waters and make Your creation fresh and renewed.
Everlasting Father–
Cling to Your children in their stress and grief and bring them joy.
Prince of Peace–
Overcome our selfish and warring ways and bring us justice and peace.

You, O God, are the light.
You are the light we wait for.
You are the Light of Christmas Eve.

Come this night.
Come every night.
Come to us. Come to all of us.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen

Christians as the Romans saw them

From ABP Senior Columnist David Gushee:

My Christmas week reflections are inspired by a brilliant 25-year-old book by historian Robert L. Wilken. I picked up The Christians as the Romans Saw Them in hopes of finding resources for my research on the sanctity of life. I thought that Wilken might reveal the extent to which the Romans noticed the unique early Christian commitment to protecting human life.

Instead, the book focuses on five pagan observers who offered a barrage of criticisms of the young religion. The five critics in chronological order were Pliny, Galen, Celsus, Porphyry and Julian, and each critic was more sophisticated and devastating in his critique than the one before.

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As the article continues, Professor Gushee (Mercer University) focuses on the writings and work of the apostate Julian. You may read Gushee's article here.


[Spoiler Alert]--
If you don't have the time to read the entire opinion piece now, I'll give you his challenging conclusion:
Christianity was persecuted not because most Roman leaders couldn't handle religious diversity, but because they could not accept a kind of diversity that taught people to detach from primary loyalty to the Empire, its sponsoring deities and its way of life.
I am among those who teach that precisely this detachment is a non-negotiable aspect of our faith. But I see that it is just as destabilizing to nations and tribes now as it was then. Christians will always feel both internal and external pressures to resort to nationalized religion, and this corrupted form of the faith is the version most prevalent in the United States.

Following the Star

I clicked on a great link from an Associated Baptist Press release this morning.

"Following the Star" is a well-produced devotional guide geared toward youth and young adults, but I think us "older folks" would benefit from it as well. Focused on the Advent season and the preparation of Christ's arrival, an animated star moves across the top of the screen as you click from the "Presence of God" intro, to "the Word of God," to the "Devotion," to the "Conversation with God" (prayer), and the Benediction. Other helpful guides explain each section-- very well done.

The devotions are written by Tracy Hartman, professor of homiletics and practical theology at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

I stayed at the site longer than I should have just to listen to the beautiful and gentle guitar music (by Rodrigo Rodriguez) playing in the background. His stylings of Christmas hymns alone are worth checking this site out.

Top 10 Religious Liberty Stories of 2009

As the year draws to a close, the Baptist Joint Committee asked Don Byrd, BJC Blogger, to take a look back at 2009 and list the church-state stories that attracted the most attention. Don has had the good fortune to survey religious liberty Web sites and news items daily as he writes the BJC's "Blog From the Capital".

Click the link to read Don Byrd's countdown of the top 10 religious liberty stories of the year.

With Christmas comes Hope

A Christmas Message from the Baptist World Alliance

"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

Christmas is the season of HOPE - hope that the ordinary and the mundane can be transformed into instruments of beauty to the glory of God.

How can we fail to be moved by the extraordinary story of a betrothed couple and an arduous journey and a simple cattle trough where divinity touches down on earth?
Realizing that something special has happened, a star came out to gaze, shepherds bowed down in worship, and magi paid tribute to the one whose appearing has cosmic proportions.
A village in ancient Israel becomes the erstwhile home of the Messiah promised of old and Bethlehem bears the message of hope to the entire world.

This hope is not earthed in a context that is predictably calm or a social situation where injustice can find no home. This hope is not birthed in the magnificence of earthly splendor and the extravagance of worldly excess. No! This hope is born where earthly powers are drunk with might, where little children are entirely at risk and sages have good reason to fear.

Hope is found where no signs portend that it could ever exist. Hope is available where reasoned assessments suggest its non-existence or death.
Hope becomes a reality because of the Incarnation!

May this season be for you one that is filled with hope because it is shot through with the consciousness of the coming of a Savior through whom God makes all things new.


Neville Callam
General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance

Bentz departure to Lesotho postponed

From the Mark and Linda Bentz family:

Our departure to Lesotho, Africa has officially been postponed until July 22, 2010.

Now What?
Someone told us when we began this journey into missions in the fall of 2007 that it may take a couple of years to raise support. Had we believed him (sorry Pastor Nate), we may not have continued on. But for some reason, we have complete peace! The last thing we want is to be on the mission field outside of God's perfect timing. Is it a coincidence that, twice in our lives, God has had us move on that exact same day? We will spend these next few months staying with Linda's sister & her family in Milton, WI. Mark will return to substitute teaching. God has laid it on our hearts to set a few goals for the limited time left in the states:

- To regularly spend time growing relationships in our home church & looking for ways to minister.
- To discover with our home church what it means to be a "sending church" for missionaries.
- To reach some goals in our personal finances.
- To allow the kids time to be "normal" and participate in extracurricular activities.
- To have a totally awesome, fulfilling semester of homeschooling.
- To continue seeking out every opportunity to share our passion for Africa missions.

Support raising:
If you are already supporting this mission monthly, THANK YOU! Your faithfulness encourages others to follow. Your contributions will continue to grow the Outgoing Support Fund until the time we depart. Because of your faithfulness, this fund should be at 100% by July!!
Our Monthly Support is currently at 40%. Please pray that it will grow to 100% by June so this work will not be postponed again!! If you are interested in pledging monthly once we are in Africa, please e-mail us now or mark on your pledge card for contribution to begin "upon departure".

You may also contribute on-line at the Africa Inland Mission website. Be sure to designate the funds to: Bentz, Mark & Linda

Thank you so much for your continued prayer & support.
May the Lord bless you abundantly!!!

Mark, Linda & kids

Famous? From Adams Center?

Each weekday, I try to listen to a five-minute radio broadcast called Writer's Almanac. Host Garrison Keillor reads entries from a daily almanac of birthdays or events from the literary world, then a poem.

Today's broadcast "caught my ear." Did he really say Adams Center, New York?

I pulled up the website and sure enough, today is the birthday of someone born in that little village in upstate New York, the home of a Seventh Day Baptist church since 1822. And there's a good chance that Melvil Dewey, developer of the Dewey Decimal System, knew about that church. Here's the entry about Dewey from today's Writer's Almanac:


It's the birthday of Melvil Dewey, born in Adams Center, New York (1851). He went to Amherst, and to support himself there he worked in the college library, and he decided that it needed to be reorganized. At the time, there was no consistent method that libraries used to organize books. Some numbered shelves, some arranged books by size just to look nice, and some libraries tried to alphabetize the whole library, which meant that every time they got a new book they had to redo the entire system. Dewey saw a better way to do this, but for awhile, he couldn't decide whether to be a missionary or to put his time into reorganizing the library system. But he chose the latter, and he started to figure out a system of categories and subcategories, based on older ideas. As he researched, he wrote in his diary, "My heart is open to anything that's either decimal or about libraries."

And he came up with the Dewey Decimal System, which is still used today in many libraries, a series of classifications divided and subdivided into subjects and assigned a decimal number to each book.

Work Progressing on New Church

Last Sunday was a "work day" for members and friends of the Yakima, Wash., SDB Church.

After selling their older building earlier this year, the church members bought land and have begun construction on a new facility. Levi Bond took some photos of the progress. Looks like a good old-fashioned barn raising!

Back to Instrument-Free Worship?

Jim Skaggs posted the following at his One Eternal Day blog:

In an Associated Baptist Press article about worship changes in some Churches of Christ, churches that have traditionally shunned the use of instrumental music in worship, Seventh Day Baptists receive an incidental mention as "early promoters of hymn singing":

During the Reformation, clear divisions began to emerge. Some groups influenced by Martin Luther retained the instruments. Those influenced by John Calvin placed strict limits on music in worship. Still others, influenced by Ulrich Zwingli, disallowed music of any sort.

Calvin's influence was greatest among Baptists and the Churches of Christ. He placed three restrictions on music in worship: scriptural songs only (mostly the Psalms), human voices only, and unison singing only.

"Most Churches of Christ and Primitive Baptists long ago gave up the restrictions on text and part-singing but cling to the one against instruments," Richardson pointed out.

Different Baptist groups traveled differing routes. For example, Seventh Day Baptists, strict sabbatarians who know a thing or two about defending a minority position against steep odds, were early promoters of hymn singing, despite criticism from other Baptists. [emphasis added]

At various times in Baptist history, instrumental worship was rejected because it was practiced by the Church of England, which persecuted the free-church followers like the Baptists. Organs were often rejected – and later violins – because they were used to provide worldly entertainment.

Click here for entire article.

White Christmas 2009

Some of our churches take an offering toward a "White Christmas Gift"-- a special boost for a special need at this time of year.

The SDB Missionary Society has compiled a “White Christmas List” of needs of our sister Conferences and churches around the world. It is not as easy task to decide where to send funds. Here is a brief look at this year’s list.

Medical:
• Need for medical supplies and equipment in the Cameroon. They ran out of serum and medicines for wounds. Their clinics have many with HIV/AIDS.
• The hospitals and clinics in Malawi are always in need of supplies and equipment in their medical work. They are looking for funds to help with beds. They could use a newer ambulance to help with the work there.
• Other needs for the work in India and The Philippines.

Schools:
• Several of our Conferences have schools connected with the churches. Needs are for teacher salaries, furniture, basic school supplies, chalk or marker boards, and money for uniforms. In some of the schools the students use a small lap-sized slate for practicing penmanship and math. This saves on the cost of paper.
• Schools in Uganda and Burundi are without roofs and some have no building at all.

Family needs:
• Cooking pans and utensils, carpentry tools, clothing and blankets.
• Funds to purchase equipment and supplies to start businesses for the women

Transportation:
• To teach the women in the village in areas of evangelism, childcare, and home nursing.
• For the General Secretaries to reach the remote villages to help organize, develop, and teach the congregations.
• Bicycles (range from $100 to several hundred dollars) are needed for the pastors and leaders.

The Missionary Society has many more details of these needs. You may call them at (401) 596-4326, or e-mail them here. Thank you for your kind consideration.
You may send your gift to the SDB Missionary Society, 19 Hillside Ave., Ashaway, RI 02804.