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5-1-11

16. May 2011 by admin.

message 5-1-11 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

worship 5-1-11 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

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Easter 2011

5. May 2011 by admin.

Easter Worship 2011 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

Easter Message 2011 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

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May Newsletter article

3. May 2011 by admin.

Kings and Kingdoms

Being a peruser (I guess that isn’t a word but it describes me best) of news, I have become aware that there will be a rather large event happening in a couple days. At the time of you reading this it is very likely that Prince William will be married to Kate Middleton. I’m not a big follower of all things royal and many probably think that this wedding has gotten too much attention, but I thought it was an interesting topic if for no other reason than it could be the most watched event in human history. Not because it is the most important event of all time, but when you combine the fact that royalty is something that means at least something to pretty much everyone in the world, and that technology will make it available like never before, it seems likely that it will have quite a few viewers. Since I was unable to officiate the wedding at Westminster Abbey (mainly because I was not asked) I thought I would try to pull a little lesson out of it all.

Even in a country like ours, where we have never had official Kings or Queens in charge, we still see our children pretending and dreaming about being kings and queens or princes and princesses. A big part of it probably has to do with our desire to be the one in the spotlight. I know we are not all extraverts and not all of us want to be surrounded by thousands of adoring fans, but I think we all have a part of us that likes being appreciated and looked up to.

Another factor in the popularity of a royal wedding is that we seem to almost need to put someone in the spotlight. We no longer live in the days (in most of the world) where Kings and rulers of countries demanded praise and adoration, and yet we still can’t stop watching them, reading about them, or emulating them. For you it might not be a king or a princess but you might put your favorite actor in the spotlight or a favorite athlete. Once we have put someone in that spot we naturally also start to like the things that they like. Why else would advertisers spend so much money to have celebrities sell underwear and car insurance?

Wanting to be in style or do some things like your favorite celebrity can be pretty harmless, but it occurred to me that we just got done celebrating another big day in the history of the world that had something to do with royalty. Maybe it wasn’t the most watched event, actually it appears that no one saw it when it happened, but we know as Christians that the resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in human history. Of course Jesus’ birth and death are quite important, but really I’m not sure those would be known about if it were not for his conquering of death through his resurrection.

Now if there were a ‘celebrity’ that would be a good idea to copy or emulate it would be the Son of God. The problem is that it seems that we would rather look at Jesus’ reign more like the British do the royalty of England. It’s nice and interesting and it had some importance in the past but it doesn’t really affect our daily actions anymore. This is especially apparent during the season of Easter. We are all ready to show our respect and worship for our King Jesus and thank him for what he did, but pretty quickly we go back to the daily grind of taking care of our business and doing what’s best for us. Posting on Facebook or telling your neighbor that Jesus is awesome and Easter was a great day is great and all, but if we as Christians don’t follow the teachings of loving our enemies, forgiving those who hurt us, and helping the widows and orphans the rest of the year our worship of Jesus appears a little less authentic.

So enjoy the wedding of Will and Kate if you want and by all means continue to celebrate the Christian holidays, but maybe we all need to take a little more time to think about what it means for our everyday lives to call Jesus our King.

God Bless,

Pastor Brad

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