The Scandal of a Containable God (a homily for the building consecration service)
On June 2, 2025, we held a consecration service at 1836 B. St. Below is a lightly edited version of the homily Pastor Jesse preached that evening.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (1 Kings 7:22-30)
The Scandal of a Containable God
We are here to do something strange. We are consecrating and dedicating a structure, a building to the God who transcends space and matter. The God who, if he had hands and fingers, molded together the Milky Way galaxy like a Lego set. You know those new Lego sets that look like a bouqet of flowers? 750 pieces. That’s the cosmos to God.
So what right do we have to ask God to come and dwell within this conglomeration of concrete, steel, glass, and wood. It’s only matter. Why should the transcendent God care about 1836 B St? Why should he care more about 1836 B St than 1832 B St Hayward? Or why 1836 B St than 19722 Center St., Castro Valley? And isn’t God everywhere? In family worship and community groups, we invite God’s presence into our houses.
Solomon speaks the tension in our passage, the dedication of Israel’s temple. He’s just spent years and millions of dollars and man hours constructing the most ambitious architectural monument in Israel’s history. Israel completes the temple in 1 Kings 7. Solomon invites the whole assembly of Israel in verse 22 for the dedication. In front of everyone, Solomon clarifies the mystery and irrationality of it all, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
God is high and lifted up. He is other than us. His ways are not our ways. As humans, we continually try to contain him. We try to squeeze God into our lives, our agendas, our time frames rather than the other way around. We do this with church. How often do we make our ministry plans without ever asking “What does the limitless, powerful God want for our worship, our children’s ministry, our preaching, our CGs?” Rather, we seek to contain God.
Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! The God of the Bible is uncontainable. He refuses to be contained, to be constrained. He is the Creator, you the created. You exist for his purpose, not he for yours. He is not supporting cast in your life drama. He is the star, the blazing Sun in the middle of the solar system. Until you submit to his gravity, you cannot be free. You ever tried to go against gravity? Anthony Edwards, the high flying NBA slam dunker has a vertical over 5 ft. He can go against gravity higher than the rest of us and longer, but his hang time is maybe over a second. One second, and gravity’s got him again. You can’t contain gravity and you can’t contain the God who made gravity. No house, not Solomon’s temple, not Paris’ Notre Dame, not even Grace Lutheran on Hayward’s B street can contain him.
So what are we doing here? What is Solomon doing at the Jerusalem temple?
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; No heaven, no house can contain God, BUT What’s incredible is Solomon boldly asks God to constrain himself. God does constrain himself. He restricts or limits himself. That’s a kind of containment, right?
He constrains himself in three ways. First, his people.
He constrains and contains himself in his people. He says so in verses 23-24: O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; There is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath.
Again, he is the uncontainable God, the eternal and exceptional one. Yet, Solomon says, this uncontainable God is the God of Israel. The very name God of Israel reveals a limitation. He’s not the God of Egypt, the God of Hammurabi or Babylon, but the God of Israel.
These are his people because he has entered into covenant with them. keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants. A covenant is a limitation, a constraint. I agree to be this to you and not this. I will be your God and not your tormentor. It’s a constraint of possession. God is constrained by the people he has chosen and loved.
To illustrate, think of your marriage or your married friends. A marriage is a self-constraint. It contains two individuals and persons. I contain my wife in a way that no one else can and vice versa. It’s the same way with God. God’s people in a real way possess him and contain him. They don’t contain him exhaustively, but they do contain him truly. Which is why when Israel becomes utterly polluted by sin, God expels and exiles them from the land. Like the God who populated the pleaides, whose holiness burns hotter and brighter than the sun, was contained among his people. The uncontainable God constrains himself among his people.
2. The promise. He constrains and contains himself in his promise to his people. His promise constrains and contains him. He will live among his people and he promises to be with them. Solomon highlights the promise to King David, to his Father. Verses 24-25: you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him. God declares a promise to David that one from his family would always be king.
Promises constrain us. On Facebook marketplace, when I promise I can come pick up a desk in Oakland this weekend, my weekend gets complicated. It’s more limited, less free. I need to be sure I have time to go to Oakland this weekend. I’m constrained by my promises. Our promises limit our options, our freedom. The more serious the promise, the more the constraint. The traditional wedding vow includes the promise to forsake all others. Constrained to one.
God makes a bold promise. If you know the history of Israel, the first king, the one before David, King Saul was a major dud. He was a rebel, who turned against God. You and I use the past to predict the future, which means we probably would not have promised anything to David. So far the kings had a bad track record. Wouldn’t it be wiser for God not to constrain himself?
There’s a sense in which my word, my promises contains me. My promises reveal my character and personality. My word, my promises contains me. Same with God. The uncontainable God constrains himself with his people and in his promise.
3. Finally, the Lord constrains himself to his people’s prayers.
This is actually Solomon’s major point in this prayer of dedication. Look at the contrast between verses 27 and 28 Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, Even though you’re the uncontainable God, hear my prayer.
You know whose god was truly uncontainable? The theism of a Thomas Jefferson, a God who made the earth, set it in motion, and then watched from a distance to see how the experiment went. Jefferson’s God would not be limited or contained by any appeals.
But what Solomon is praying is that God would be responsive, that he would listen to his people and act for them. Prayers are constraining.
Last year, my wife and I took two quick little overnight trips in the area. One was to Monterrey, the other to Healdsburg, both on our points. Both were about the same distance away. Both were on credit card points. But one was refreshing and light. The other was not. The difference was that we had our kids with us. Listen, I love my children, but there were a lot more requests. Could we go to McDonalds? Could we put on a podcast? Can we go to the pool? Constraining.
But this is Solomon’s main point. He prays that God would listen to his people’s prayers. If he would constrain himself, and listen to his people’s desires, their joys and laments, their sufferings, their litanies of need. A new car, a trustworthy friend, to hear their confession that they looked lustfully once again. She blew up at her kid again. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
The uncontainable God bends his ear his children’s cries.
The answer is yes. Yes. Remember, the question Solomon asks? “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? It’s really THE question, the heart cry of every human. Is there a God? Is he near? Does he care?
Yes.
We didn’t read it, but elsewhere in chapter eight, when Israel’s priests carry the ark of the covenant into the temple, into the holy place, God’s glory cloud, thick and splendid and terrifying and beautiful, saturates the temple, so much so that the priests, the holiest, the saintliest, the godliest, could no longer stand to be there because the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. The uncontainable God allows himself to be contained. Not fully, of course. It was not as if God was only there in the temple and nowhere else. But he was contained, constrained in some real way, he was present in his glory. He allowed himself to be contained in the temple.
But the temple is merely a warm-up, a prelude to the ultimate answer. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Dwelt. The uncontainable God enfleshed. The uncontainable God contained in skin, bones, DNA, tissue. Jesus is God with us. He is the true temple.. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” declared Jesus in John 2. Then John gives us this commentary. But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Jesus is the true temple.
And if that’s true, then Jesus is the key to our passage. Remember, God constrains himself by his people. But what if his people are faulty and fallen, but Jesus is the truly righteous one. He is the remnant who truly contains God’s presence. In Jesus, all the promises of God are a yes (2 Corinthians 1:10). Solomon asks God if Israel prays towards the temple, if he would listen. Now, we pray towards the true temple, the Lord Jesus. That’s what it means to pray in the name of Jesus.
If Jesus is the true temple, what does this mean for this space, for this carpet, these concrete walls? Is this merely matter? Is this sacred space? Is it more sacred than the cafeterium at Creekside Middle School?
The way we tend to think of sacred space has more of a pagan overtone than Christian. Sacredness takes on a kind of magical or mystical quality. But the Christian use of holy or sacred is always related to God. To be holy or sacred is to be set apart for the Lord. In the Old Testament, the instruments in the temple were set apart, the tools used to sacrifice to God. But after Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, what’s interesting is that it is people rather than objects that bear holiness. It is those saved by Jesus who are now sanctified, set apart.
And that connects to one more way the old testament temple is fulfilled. Jesus is the true temple. But all those who are in Jesus are also the temple. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16–17)
Brothers and sisters, you are God’s temple. You contain the uncontainable God. You bear his presence. The Spirit of God dwells in you, lives among us. You are holy and it is you and what you do that makes this building sacred.
This was one of the chief objections of the Reformers. They objected to the ways the Roman Catholics idolized space and buildings and shrines. Martin Luther contended that what consecrated a place was not sprinklings and anointings but the word of God rightly preached. God’s Word is what set apart the sacred.
And as we believe that God does not dwell in temples made with hands, so we know that on account of God's Word and sacred use places dedicated to God and his worship are not profane, but holy. And that those who are present in them are to conduct themselves reverently and modestly, seeing that they are in a sacred place, in the presence of God and his holy angels.
Christ is our temple, and we are the temple. And therefore, the three ways God constrains himself are still what we as the church do every week.
Solomon rehearses the promise. Remember the promise, and that's what we do when we listen and read God's word and preach God's word. We are rehearsing God's promise every Sunday. Solomon asks, would you hear our prayers in this temple? And that's what we do. A worship service is just one long prayer, one long prayer to our Lord. What we do in this building is assemble as God's people. You are holy because of Jesus - what he has done for us.
This is my hope for us in this new building, that we would actually be the people of God, that we would be holy, that this building doesn't make you holy. You make this building holy.
Because of the Spirit of God living in you and friends, may this building be a house of prayer.May we pray bold prayers, just like Solomon prayed a bold prayer. May God answer our prayers - the prayers that are prayed in this building for His glory and for our good.
Is this building sacred? No, but you are- the church of Christ, who he died for. And because we come together in the name of Christ, we are His temple. We are his body. The Spirit of God - that same spirit of glory that the priest couldn't handle - is alive and at work in us.
O Lord, would you listen to our pleas? Thank you for bending down your ear to hear us. O Lord, thank You that we are your people. O God, would you be alive in us and among us in Christ's name we pray, amen.
A Reflection: Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Top: The very first service at Marshall Elementary in April 2010
Bottom: last service at Creekside on March 23, 2025
Looking Back
Indelible Grace Church held its first service on April 4, 2010 at Marshall Elementary. In the 15 years of our existence, we have primarily met at a public school in Castro Valley. When schools closed during the pandemic, we met at San Felipe Park in Hayward. When schools resumed reservations again in 2022, we were thrilled we could use Creekside Middle School because even before the pandemic, we were worried about outgrowing the space at Marshall Elementary. We have seen God move and provide for us time and time again.
We are grateful that the schools in the Castro Valley Unified School District have been our home all these years. The district allowed us to use the spaces we needed to do ministry on Sundays. The gospel was preached, the sacraments were administered, our little community grew, ministries were added, and - most importantly - Jesus was worshiped.
While we thank God for CVUSD, renting a public space came with its challenges. Setting up and tearing down our AV system and chairs every week was tiring. Having to put away a chair and tear down immediately after service made post-service fellowship time awkward. Storage was limited. Our nursery was a science classroom at Marshall and a wrestling room at Creekside. Moreover, we were at the mercy of the school district. When the schools closed during the pandemic, it meant we had no meeting space. In 2023, when the district informed us of a new policy in which holiday weekends were unavailable for reservation (they’ve since made an exception for churches), it meant scrambling to find another meeting space.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. When we were forced to search for an alternate meeting spot in late 2023, we came upon Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (ask the staff if you don’t know the story!). What was just going to be a rental space on a few holiday weekends ended up becoming much more.
Over the past year, the elders and staff of IGC have been meeting with the pastors of Good Shepherd - dreaming and praying about what a partnership could look like. By the grace and provision of God, we will be moving into the Good Shepherd North Campus (formerly Grace Lutheran Church) this Saturday. Our first official service there is this Sunday, March 30. Lord willing, we will be able to call the campus of GSNC our home for at least the next several years.
Service at Good Shepherd North Campus in December 2023
Looking Ahead
The prayer of our leadership is that this new season of our church will not just be about having a building. What good is a building if we don’t steward it well and if everything about our church stays the same, but with less setup? We don’t want our Sundays to be more convenient - we want our church to be more devoted to the Lord. We want this new season to be marked with a holy expectation that God would move among his people, that IGC would be revived and rebuilt, and that the Spirit would bend and break and use us for his glory in the East Bay.
In processing this transition with the elders, one of them reminded us of the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness and worshiped in the portable tabernacle (Exodus 25-40). Surely it was grueling for the Levites to set up and tear down every element whenever the Israelites moved. And yet, it was worth it because the glory of God was with them in the tabernacle. Solomon’s temple replaced the tabernacle when God’s people settled (1 Kings 5-8). It was more than breathtakingly beautiful; it was the place where God’s presence resided. But it was also the place that God’s presence left (Ezekiel 10), due to the disobedience, idolatry, and passivity of the people.
This sad episode in the history of the Israelites is a sobering reminder to us: it doesn’t matter where we meet if God is not there.
It is our prayer that this new building will be a place where God meets with us. And that in this space we would be all the more devoted to the teaching of the Word, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42).
May our church’s knowledge, love, and hunger for God increase. May we dream bigger about what our church and ministries can do - things that weren’t as feasible at a public school. May we consider ways we can get involved in the community that weren't as possible before, and may we reflect God's heart to the people of Hayward (and beyond) in our midst. Ultimately, may God do his good work in and through us, and may he get all the glory.
Pastor Wade & Tracy Ong
A New Year's Reflection & Recap of 2024
The primary principle that upholds a church is that it belongs to Jesus. He is the foundation (Ephesians 2:20), he is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), he is embodied by her members (1 Corinthians 12:11-27), and his love is set upon her (Ephesians 5:25). This has been true of our church from our beginnings and continues to be true in our fifteenth year. We've endeavored to remember these things and live in light of this truth: Indelible Grace Church belongs to Jesus.
In 2024, we continued the work of rebuilding and restructuring our church. A few highlights: The Worship Study Committee thought and prayed through our values of worship and created a philosophy of worship for IGC. The Children's Worship Study Committee learned about and discussed the discipleship of our children in the context of the children's worship service, which was launched this year. The nursery for our littlest ones restarted. We had several Discipleship Intensive Groups begin, and we began reimagining what community groups will look like next year. The basketball ministry began. People were baptized.
And yet we know that all those things, by themselves, are not the ultimate work of the church. As important as they are, they are still only partial elements that help us fulfill God's intention of IGC making disciples and being a place of prayer and worship. We recognize that no program, person, or plan can define us. Only the Spirit's sure and steady work in our congregation can do that. And so we look to God alone to guide us.
In my time at IGC, I have learned that God usually works in slow - and sometimes imperceptible - ways. Sometimes a person's heart is dramatically changed, but most often it is changed tiny bit by tiny bit by tiny bit. I'm reminded of Eugene Peterson's quote about ministry in the local church: "Why do (we) so often treat congregations with the impatience and violence of developers building a shopping mall instead of the patient devotion of a farmer cultivating a field? The shopping mall will be abandoned in disrepair in fifty years; the field will be healthy and productive for another thousand if its mysteries are respected by a skilled farmer." Our task is not to build a community based on our preferences, compel actions and demand change in our people, or create unique and novel experiences for attendees. Our task is to patiently and faithfully tend to the soil that he has put under our feet. Jesus himself will build IGC as he sees fit because we belong to him.
We will see more movement in 2025. Lord willing, we will worship in a new meeting space on Sundays. Lord willing, people will come to faith and come to love Jesus. Lord willing, God will use us to heal hurting folks, and defeat the reluctance of those who are wary of the church, and answer the questions of doubters, and raise up leaders, and reconcile broken relationships, and set a burning in the hearts of those who hear the scriptures spoken. We pray for these things.
But most of all, we pray that we will see the glory of Christ and be transformed into the same image of him, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). We belong to him; may he do his good work in us.
Pastor Wade
On Advent and Time
This is the first week of the church season of Advent. Many of us did not grow up observing Advent or any church season. So I want to explain what Advent is and what the benefits of the church calendar are.
Not long after the apostles, the early church started celebrating the birth of Jesus. The incarnation, that is, the coming of the unseen God in human flesh in the person of Jesus, is the mystery that lies at the heart of Christian faith. However much the cross lies at the center, the incarnation is the prior reality that makes the death of Jesus meaningful, the death and sacrifice of God’s son. So it makes sense the early church looked to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Contrary to many myths about the origins of Christmas in pagan rituals, the actual date lies in the math of a Christian historian named Africanus who concluded that Jesus was likely born on Dec 25. The church quickly accepted this and institutionalized it. It wasn’t long after that church leaders started commending their people to attend church daily in the lead up to Christmas. By the 6th c. it became part of the church calendar. (If you want more deets, check out “Christmas Isn’t Pagan” and “The History of Advent.”)
Advent comprises the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Its themes are a preparation for the coming of Jesus. Advent comes from the Latin word for “coming.” Actually, it’s a preparation for the comings (plural) of Jesus. It’s a remembrance of the incarnation, the first coming of Jesus Christ as a babe born to Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem. Even more prominent is the second coming of Christ for which we are still waiting.
So why don’t all Christians observe advent? Most Christians do recognize some version of the church calendar: Orthodox and Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and even some Calvinist denominations. But those dear English Puritans considered the church calendar to be a Catholic add-on. Lent, Advent were not in the Bible, so they discarded it. Those low church Puritans are the theological ancestors to modern day Baptists, non-denoms, charismatic, and evangelicals, which dominate the California church landscape, who typically don’t observe the church calendar.
Now, I love the Puritans. The PCA is a Puritan denomination. The Westminster Standards, which is our confession, were largely composed by English and Scottish Puritans of the 1640s-1650s. But I think they were wrong on throwing out Advent and the church calendar. Let me give you three quick reasons: a cultural, a biblical, and a pastoral argument for advent and the church calendar.
First, cultural. Organizing time is central to creating and changing culture. What and who we celebrate really matters and reveals what we value as a people. Revolutionaries know this. Both the French Revolution and the Soviet Revolution created alternate weeks and holidays to stamp out the influence of the Christian church. The French increased the week to 10 days and they replaced Christian holy days like Christmas and Easter with festivals celebrating the nation. A calendar has a significant influence in shaping people and culture. Just think about the controversy of Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Both have whole narratives and implications about American history and identity attached to the second Monday in October.
Related to the significance of time and culture, it is a cliché to speak of Western culture as increasingly secular and less religious. In his tome, A Secular Age, philosopher Charles Taylor tells one historical account of how Western culture, in which God was once universally presumed, has lost its belief in God. A key transition Taylor notes is the modern notion of time. It was once believed that time could be sacred, that it could be consecrated and set apart. By contrast, modern people believe time has no sacred meaning. It’s just one endless stream of meaningless minutes.
But I’d argue that sacred time still creeps back up on us. Even when you kick it out the front door, it comes in the back. Americans still have a sacred calendar. The holidays (holy days) involve Thanksgiving, July 4, Presidents day, MLK day, and Veterans Day. We use time to remember our country, to be thankful for it. Rather than celebrate God and rest in him, we celebrate America and rest from work. Actually, in the absence of a transcendent God to worship, American holidays are more often consecrated to Mammon, to the god of money. Business loves the American church calendar. It’s deeply ironic that the biggest sales, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, immediately follow the one consecrated day on which we’re supposed to be thankful. Apparently we’re not that thankful.
Biblically, there’s a strong biblical case for the church calendar. Actually, I’d argue this cultural argument for a church calendar is a biblical argument. After God saved his people from Egypt in the Exodus, alongside the giving of the law, the tabernacle, and the priesthood, God also instituted a calendar. The most basic unit was the Sabbath, every seventh day, marked by worship and feasting. Every month’s beginning is also celebrated with a special sacrifice (Num 28:11). This was in addition to the daily offerings. At the beginning of the litany of scheduled offerings, God says “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ (Numbers 28:2). Time was organized around God and his appointments of time. These regularly scheduled sacrifices are framed as food for God, not in the sense that he needs to eat, but in a regular fellowship meal with his people. This is a Father scheduling regular family meals with his children.
Then there were the special festivals and holidays: the Passover, the Feast of Weeks (their Thanksgiving festival). The seventh month was especially packed, The Day of Atonement, Feast of Booths. These holy days were never arbitrary. For instance, in the Feast of Booths, the people would make tents out of palm branches, willow boughs, sticks, and leaves and camp out for seven days in these “booths.” The reason? That your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.
God is not going to save every generation from slavery in Egypt and have them camp out in the wilderness. But every year, the people will reenact this great salvation act. Children are enculturated to a deeply symbolic ritual about how God gave their ancestors homes in the desert. Actually, the meaning is more profound. We’re always living in booths on this earth, because God is our permanent home. How about that for a sticky cultural practice? How fun would that be for a child?
So in sum, the Old Testament calendar from the seven-day week with its Sabbath to the daily offerings to the special annual festivals was all about God’s providence and redemption. They were about remembering and celebrating and reenacting God’s mighty works, his provision, his salvation.
Now, that’s the Old Testament. The argument of the Puritans and their offspring is that this all ended with Jesus. The New Testament does not continue the Jewish calendar.
There’s some truth to that story. At several places, the apostle Paul addresses issues related to the Jewish calendar. For instance, in Romans 14, Paul contrasts Christians who consider one day more sacred than another with Christians who consider each day alike. He puts these calendar issues in what he calls matters of opinion, Paul says don’t quarrel with each other. Rather let your conscience guide you and love and accept those who think differently than you. The church calendar is a place where Christian liberty and charity should reign. I could not agree more.
There’s also Colossians 2:16. He writes let no one pass judgment on you…with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Then v. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. This passage is particularly interesting, because Paul gives us the key to interpreting the Jewish calendar. The substance of the calendar is about Christ. It’d be ridiculous to celebrate the Day of Atonement completely missing how the cross of Christ fulfilled it. Every part and festival of Jewish calendar, Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Booths, are all about Jesus. He is the Passover lamb. He is the true thanksgiving provision. He is our home.
But let us be careful here. Paul is not saying that time and calendars don’t matter and should be discarded. They do, as we’ll see. He is rather saying that Christ is the substance of the calendar. Merely observing the Jewish calendar will not save you, because only Jesus saves. But time and calendars do matter.
Paul himself continues to mark time by the Jewish calendar. In his closing remarks in 1 Corinthians, he discloses “I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.” (16:8). Or Acts 20:16 notes Paul’s desire to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. The New Testament has many references to the Jewish calendar. Jesus on the last day of the Feast of Booths, the celebration of God’s provision in the dry wilderness, gets up and says that whoever believes in him “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Or the significance of Jesus being sacrificed right after Passover. Or the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks. The New Testament does not abolish the Jewish calendar. It rather shows how, as Paul says in Col 2, Jesus is the substance of it.
Which leads us back to the church calendar. The calendar that developed in the early church is organically connected to the Jewish calendar. Easter has supplanted Passover. The church also celebrates Pentecost, not as a harvest festival of crops but as a harvest of the Holy Spirit who’s been given the harvest of the nations. The Feast of Booths, also called Tabernacles, approximates Christmas as we celebrate both that Christ is our permanent home and that God has come to the tabernacle with us (John 1:14).
The church enacted a calendar seeking to make time revolve around Jesus Christ, the substance, around his birth, death, and resurrection, and his giving of the Holy Spirit. Lent, Advent, Pentecost, Easter. It’s an aid to help us make time literally revolve around Jesus, rather than our own agendas.
Finally, a pastoral concern. There is Christian freedom here. You are free in Christ to observe Advent or Christmas or not. But what you are not free to do is to keep your time to yourself. Everyone is called to consecrate time itself to the Lord of time. Without intentionality, your time will inevitably revolve around work or your kids’ school, your leisure or your vacation or travel. That reinforces the myth your time is about you. You’re the Sun the universe and God revolves around you
We’re told in the Bible that we must have a right relationship with time. The old KJV translates Eph 5:16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Or Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. It strikes me that numbering our days or redeeming our time probably involves intentionality with how we structure our calendar. And it’s helpful here to think again of the Jewish calendar. God split it into days, weeks, months, and years. How do we consecrate our days to the Lord? Do we have a family worship time? The obvious week consecration is the Lord’s day Sabbath. We worship each week with God’s people. But what about months and years? I’ve been a part of churches that had monthly prayer meetings. I really like that as a continuation of the spirit of the new moon sacrifice. Annually, celebrating the great Christian seasons of Lent, Advent, Christmas and Easter, are ways to think about a yearly calendar oriented around Jesus. I’ve personally found it helpful to make Lent a time of personal fasting. Honestly, if I don’t have a season for it, I would not do it in any regular way. Or maybe you and your family decide to do an annual spiritual retreat, each August or maybe January.
So finally, what about Advent in particular? Let me first invite you to do the devotional our church has put out. It’s got some good questions to draw out the heart. Advent has traditionally been a penitential season, meaning it’s focused on showing penitence. As Protestants, we don’t believe in penitence, at least not in the stereotyped and formulaic rubbing our noses in the ground when we sin or going to the confessional. But we very much do believe in repentance, which could in fact involve confessing your sins to a brother or sister. It is good to spend this time of Advent with some concentrated time with the Lord asking the invitation of Psalm 139: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Perhaps you journal this month every Sunday. Perhaps you go for a 10 minute prayer walk each day at lunch.
And if you fail, that’s ok. That’s actually built into Advent. Advent is about how things are not right, how we are so frail and faulted. But Jesus is coming. And he has come. And he will come again! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Why Children's Worship?
We recently replaced our three children's classes that met during the sermon and communion portion of our service with a children's worship time during only the sermon. I saw this as a shift from what was essentially a Sunday School to something more akin to a worship service for our children. A thoughtful parent and former teacher in the old model recently asked "Is there really that big a difference between the two?" There's a lot in children's worship that resembles a traditional Sunday School. That's true. Why make a distinction? Why prioritize worship over Sunday School? The following seeks to explain what in my mind was the difference as well as why I think it matters.
When I think of Sunday school, the goal has to do with some mastery of knowledge, hopefully the Bible or some doctrine. That's why Sunday schools were started in the late-19th century. It sought to give religious and biblical instruction to children whose parents weren't Christians and who didn't attend church. It wasn't happening at home, so reformers sought to supplement the neglect with the church. The model for the Sunday school is in the name: the school. A school presumes ignorance as the chief problem and seeks to remedy that problem with instruction and information.
Education and schools are massively important in our society. There's been an extraordinary explosion in the amount and quality of schooling over the last hundred years. Education has produced unprecedented wealth, expertise, and technology. I feel this personally. Higher education provided a door out of poverty for my grandparents and even my parents. Conservatives and liberals alike believe in education as a pillar of our society. That's produced a deep faith in education. One Ivy-league historian has called the twentieth-century faith in schooling the "education gospel." (Even to name drop an "Ivy-league" professor confirms that gospel). Education is the answer not only to poverty and economic mobility, but racism and prejudice and inequity and hatred. We can educate the ills out of our children. Bay Area people will move all over, commute long distances, and pay exorbitant amounts for a better school for their kids.
This education gospel undoubtedly has an influence on the church and especially how we think of children's ministry.
Christianity involves a system of knowledge that needs to be taught. It was that way from the beginning. The Lord commissions Aaron as high priest and commands him to "teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken." Jesus was a rabbi, which means "teacher." Paul referred to his work in terms of teaching. Christians from an early time have sought to express their beliefs in creeds and confessions. We are to give away and guard that body of teaching. That's why our denomination calls the ministry the office of teaching elder. Teaching is important. (Lev 10:8-11; Matt 8:19; 1 Tim 4:11, 16)
But Christianity is not merely a system of knowledge and a sermon is not merely the dispensation of information. To miss the relational and personal (or what theology calls covenantal) nature of our God and his salvation is to completely miss the proverbial boat of salvation. It is to see the trees and miss the forest. We do need to believe the right things about God. But just as important is knowing God, personally. Here's how Jesus defines salvation: And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3) This is not just a knowledge about Jesus. It is knowing Jesus. There is dispensation of information in a sermon, to be sure. But the goal of the sermon is to know God more. To hear him personally. To love him more, to believe him more, to have his Word intervene into the chaos of our internal life and the grind of life lived and make some difference in how we breathe and live and love others.
So what does this have to do with Sunday school and what our kids do during the sermon?
Here's an illustration. Let's say as a child, you're parents told you about a wild Great-Uncle Bart. He was legendary in the family. Great Uncle Bart had traveled around the world in a hot-air balloon. He was a co-owner of a Premier League team and was an original investor in Apple. There was nothing he hadn't done. You loved hearing stories about Uncle B. But you had never actually met him. You knew a lot about Uncle Bart but you don't know him. Imagine the joy of the day when you got to meet Great Uncle B and hear his stories from him.
Sunday school is talking about Uncle Bart instead of talking directly to Uncle Bart.
My primary concern about doing Sunday school during the sermon is that it communicates to them that faith is primarily about knowing something about God rather than knowing God. The Sunday sermon is NOT analogous to a classroom. Salvation does not come through acquiring knowledge. That's a post-Enlightenment heresy that sees new data, new science, new knowledge as salvific. That's the education gospel. It's also a very old heresy called gnosticism, which viewed knowledge or "gnosis" as the key to salvation. The Christian gospel by contrast says salvation comes through being introduced to God in the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing and loving him who first loved us.
I know lots of people who grew up in church. They went to Sunday school. They knew about God, his rules. But they didn't know God. Scores of millennials and Gen Z who grew up in church are walking away from faith and church. They know about God but they don't know God.
Such can be true of us with God. In fact, you could say that this was the prime problem of the Old Testament saints. They knew about God, but they did not know God. That's what God says will be the difference in the new covenant. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying “Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. ..I will be their God and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 31:31-35).
And our children CAN know God. That Jeremiah passage, God says that they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest. When the disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest, Jesus says Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:1). God holds up a child to say, "be like this child." Know me like this child.
Too many Sunday school formats never take a moment to discern what God is already doing in this child. They major on the dispensing of knowledge and rewarding it. They don't expect God to do anything in the child at that moment. They don't invite the child to repent and believe. And the entertainment-music-thumping-high-energy-self-esteem-boosting production that passes for children's ministry in many modern churches is ill preparation for the kind of sober-minded, thoughtful, prayerful, God-exalting attitude needed for participation in the worship of our God.
Now my hope for our kids' salvation is not in some program. It is in the Holy Spirit's regenerating power. And I actually do think we need a time to teach our kids the Bible, to teach them doctrine. But if we're going to only have one program for our children (and right now our church appetite and volunteer willingness seems to indicate we can only sustain one program right now), I think we should major in creating an environment where kids will not just be talked at by adults or taught new information or be rewarded for content mastery. We should major in kids being invited and encouraged to relate to God personally. I always want to keep forefront in our minds the goal of introducing them to God, of them hearing from God themselves and talking to God themselves.
The goal of our children's programming needs to be preparing them to participate in the church's worship service fully. We need to grow them in hearing Jesus' voice in the Scripture. We need to grow them in paying attention to the Holy Spirit's movings. And we should not wait until they are in junior high or high school. Children can know God now.
One last thought on your contribution as a parent (or your support of a parent). The studies all show the parents' faith as the most determinative factor in passing down the faith. We can in children's ministry help them experience the living Jesus who is their Good Shepherd. But most importantly, your child needs to see you in worship and in the preaching hearing Jesus' voice and responding to the Spirit. Children's ministry begins and ends with knowing God through Jesus Christ. But children's ministry also begins and ends with you, parent, with God working through you to introduce your child to your Lord that you know, surrender to, trust, love, and worship.
Pastor Jesse
Why I'm Grateful to be Presbyterian
I had the privilege of attending our denomination's (the Presbyterian Church in America or PCA) General Assembly this June. Now, you might not know or care much about our denomination, which is why I want to speak about why I'm grateful for our denomination.
What is General Assembly, you might ask? It's a meeting of all our church's leaders from all over the nation. Presbyterianism is a lot like the American federal system of government, which has local (city and county), regional (state), and national (Washington DC) levels. Presbyterians have local sessions (a particular church's leaders), regional (presbyteries), and national (general assembly) levels too. Actually, it would be better to say the American government is a lot like presbyterianism, since it came after, but that's off topic. Anyway, we had our general assembly in Richmond, Virginia this year. General Assembly is like a giant church conference with worship and speakers and seminars combined with a huge business meeting where important matters of the church are reported, discussed, debated, and determined by vote.
I grew up in a Baptist church. Baptist churches are known for being autonomous and independent, which means they do not recognize any external authority outside of their leadership. Autonomous churches sometimes associate with other churches (like Southern Baptists) but those associations are rarely binding. I've found that the further west and north you go in the United States, the more autonomous churches there are. Non-denominational churches are the epitome of autonomous churches, and California is a veritable hub and hotbed of non-denom churches. All that to say is that I know it's strange for some of us, that our church is part of a denomination. And if the latest religious polls are true, non-denoms is ironically the only "denomination" currently growing.
But against all those trends and what seems to be the non-affiliative waters here in Cali, I'm incredibly thankful to be in a connected church. By virtue of being in the PCA, we are really and organically connected to churches all over our country and even the world. I shared an Uber with a pastor from St. Louis and a church planter from Connecticut. I was a stranger but we immediately had something in common by virtue of the same faith we profess. I loved being led in worship by brothers and sisters from a different corner of the church. And there's a lot of us former Baptists in the PCA (some tongue-in-cheek call the PCA the second largest Southern Baptist denomination) who love being in a more churchly and connected church.
Being part of a denomination like the PCA means we have to submit to each other. That's a bad word among many Americans. Submission or subjection is a threat to our independence and our liberty. But this is one blind spot for Americans. Christ does not say that the life abundant is marked by independence and autonomy. Rather, he says that it is in dying to ourselves for the sake of thers that we actually discover life. Subjection is the path to life; first and foremost to the Lord and then to each other. If you remember our 1 Peter sermon series, the command to subject ourselves formed the core of the book, running from ch. 2 until the end. It's because of this prevalence that subjection is baked into our denomination. Pastors, elders, and members vow to subject themselves. "Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?" they asked me when I was ordained. Being Presbyterian gives me lots of opportunities to fulfill this vow.
As you know, subjection is hard. So is being a connectional church. We are connected to churches that hold radically different cultural and political ideals than Indelible Grace. If you were to attend General Assembly, you'd hear a panoply of American accents, especially the plethora of Southern accents (Tennessee sounds different than Texan which sounds different than Mississippi). Sometimes people and churches and presbyteries say or propose things that I do not agree with and even potentially find offensive. But that again is the point. The difference is the point. The PCA is not about us, not about me, or my team. The PCA is about Jesus who is making for himself a people from every nation, tribe, and language. And submission is usually more spiritually important than being right. Being right often puffs us up with pride, whereas submission forms us into the image of Jesus.
You don't have to love or know about the PCA. That's yet another thing I love about our denomination. In order to be a member, you don't have to know or agree with all the PCA doctrine (though you should, because it's beautifully biblical :). You just need to believe in the simple gospel that Jesus came to save sinners like you and me by virtue of his death and resurrection. But I do hope that we will all grow in our capacity to submit to the Lord and to each other. I do pray we will become a little less American (and Californian?) in the personal value we put in our independence and autonomy. The path to spiritual maturity is in the opposite direction, towards needy dependence and a life surrendered to Christ.
Pastor Jesse
Why Discipleship Groups?
Apollos needed a spiritual tune-up. Acts 18:24-25 describes this leader in the early Jesus movement as having been "instructed in the way of the Lord" and that he "taught about Jesus accurately." It even says he was a bold speaker about the way. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak, it says "they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately." Apollos was a faithful follower of Jesus. He was a leader and teacher. But he was lacking in some department and needed correction, edification, and encouragement. Apollos needed discipleship.
When you hear the word discipleship, what do you think of? Perhaps for many of us, we think of a long-term teacher-student relationship, a kind of Christian Mr. Miyagi who will whip you into spiritual shape. Our paradigms for discipleship often come from college or high school ministries where there was a clear age and maturity hierarchy. Such discipling relationships are precious and formational and often rare. Yet they do not exhaust the meaning of discipleship. We have no indication Apollos' relationship with Priscilla and Aquila was long term. Indeed, Apollos was sent off from Ephesus shortly after to help the church in Achaia. Discipleship in the case of Apollos was fixed and focused.
One danger in the Mr. Miyagi paradigm is its potential passivity. You're waiting for some older Christian to come, see potential, and take you under her arm. We must remember that our discipleship is first under Jesus. Discipleship is primarily about following Jesus and becoming like him. And Jesus was never passive. We are responsible to God for our own discipleship. Yes, the church is the context where discipleship happens, and the church must provide opportunities and invitations for discipleship. Like Priscilla and Aquila. Discipleship will not happen on accident. You cannot wait on the church to do it for you. It requires ownership, intentionality, boldness, pursuit, and perseverance.
It's this kind of fixed and focused discipleship we see in Acts 18 we are seeking to do with our Discipleship Intensive Groups (DIGs). They're short-term groups meant to explore some area of Christian discipleship so we can understand and live "the way of God more accurately." And there are all sorts of benefits to such a format. These groups are meant to mix up our church community in good and healthy ways. In our first DIG anger meeting last Thursday, it was a delight to see people who've worshipped together for months get to meet and talk for the first time. These groups are short term commitments, which is also advantageous in the midst of the busy schedules of Bay Area people.
What about our community groups? This is a season of respite and reorientation for our community groups. Please thank your community group leader. They have been leading for a long time with little break. And it's a difficult job, navigating everyone's expectations and schedules. As a community groups pastor, I've found that it's easy for community groups to to become cliquish and in-grown. They become more self-focused and less hospitable. Even good goals like vulnerability and intimacy can easily quench spiritual vitality and a missional consciousness. A major reason alongside community for our groups has to be discipleship, growing in Christ-likeness together.
So we have need for a recasting of vision and an equipping of leaders before we relaunch community groups. But this is not to say you can't hang out with your CG in the meantime! Indeed you should! The summer is a great opportunity for some social hangouts. I've found that the more people hang out outside of CG, the better CG actually is. Your desire to keep going in CG means that CG is working! So in the meantime, three things:
Keep pursuing those relationships you had in CG and make them about Jesus. Ask how you can pray for each other this summer.
Join a DIG this summer and fall. We'll have several options in the fall.
Please pray for the relaunch of CGs and consider if the Lord might be calling you to lead or host in some way.
Children in Worship at Indelible Grace Church
I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. (2 John 4)
At IGC, we love children. They are not simply the offspring of our members. They are not distractions to what we do on Sundays. They are not even the future of the church. They are the church. Our covenant children are the living stones that comprise the house of God (1 Peter 2:4-5). Therefore, it is our duty and privilege as parents to help foster their love for Jesus and what he’s doing to shape them as worshipers of the living God.
When it comes to our Sunday gatherings, we have an opportunity to train them to participate fully in the worship service.
Before Sunday
Ask the Lord to search your heart and prepare it to worship alongside your children. Consider your attitude and tone when you talk about church on Sunday. Is it something to check off our list of duties, or are we genuinely excited?
Remind your child that you will be going to church together the next day. You can build anticipation by reminding them of why we attend: to meet with God’s people, to hear him speak, to respond in worship, and to be equipped to live lives that honor him. Jesus eagerly anticipates meeting his children at church (Mark 10:14).
Do what you can to ensure you can leave the house to make it to service before it begins at 10:30m. Set the alarms. Lay out the outfits. Plan to be in the car early enough so you don’t have to rush. etc.
Before service begins
Consider sitting toward the front. Children tend to pay attention better when they’re closer to the action up front.
Take a few moments before service to calm down and focus on what is about to happen.
Explain the elements of the liturgy:
Song of Ascent. This opening song is a call to God’s people to gather and focus our attention on God.
Call to Worship. This is God’s word inviting God’s people to worship him.
Singing. We sing because God commands us to. Singing is a way to express our hearts to him. The songs also contain truths about who God is, and they are a way for us to learn more about him.
Scripture reading. When we read scripture, we are hearing the very words of God. He is speaking to us through his Word.
Sermon. The preacher explains what God is saying in his word and is helping us see why it matters to us.
Communion. The bread represents the broken body of Jesus. The wine represents his blood that was spilled for our sake. Eating and drinking these elements reminds us of his sacrifice and feeds our faith, which constantly needs nourishing. Communion is only for those who have been baptized and have professed faith in Jesus (and confirmed by the church if they were baptized as babies).
Song of response. After the Word of God is preached and communion is taken, we respond to God through music.
Benediction. This is God’s word of blessing over his people as service concludes and God’s people go back into the world.
During service
Sit with your children. They may want to sit with their friends, but they are less likely to be distracted when they are with you. And you get to model to them what it looks like to be attentive, reverent, and worshipful.
Sing the songs and let your child hear your voice. Even if you’re not a great singer, it’s better that your children will remember their parent singing out-of-tune to God than not at all.
The sermon should be (hopefully) intelligible to your child. A handout will be given to your child so they can follow along with the sermon.
After service
Ask your child what their favorite part of service was, and why they liked it.
Ask them to share what they learned from the sermon, and you can share what you learned as well.
Talk about how your family might apply the things you learned in church.
Find the songs that were sung in service and play them during the week. You can find every song IGC sings on Spotify or Youtube.
““I cannot read the Word, I cannot sing, I cannot pray, without leaving some trace on the tender mind. How solemnly, how affectionately, how believingly, should I then approach this ordinance with much godly fear and preparation!””
Why have a nursery?
The answer lies in an often-overlooked Scripture. Each Christmas, we read Luke 1 about how Mary is visited by an angel announcing a virgin will conceive a son. But it's what comes after that's intriguing. Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, also miraculously pregnant in her old age. Luke 1:41 says, "And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb." The baby leaped. The baby John knew something special was happening. The presence of the Messiah in utero was enough to make another baby in utero leap for joy and praise. This infant knew the presence of the Lord immediately.
Our children can know Jesus even in the womb. That's one reason we baptize infants here. It's also why we're starting nursery. We believe our youngest can know and praise the Lord, and we want to create an environment where that knowledge is intentionally guarded and fostered.
From this central reason, we can deduce other reasons.
We believe our youngest know the Lord through the body of Christ, the church, expressing his love and care. Baby John knew the presence of Jesus from the voice of Mary. Nursery is an opportunity for our children, whether they are verbal or not, to hear the presence of Jesus in our voices.
We believe nursery is a place where the congregation can fulfill their baptismal vows to assist parents in the "Christian nurture of this child.” Nursery is a place where the church can fully be the household of God (1 Tim 3:15), where children are prayed for, cared for, and known by their Christian aunties and uncles.
We believe our youngest are called to praise the Lord in ways fitting to their age. Baby John could not speak, but he could leap in the womb. Far from being a childcare service, nursery is a context where we want to foster our little ones' worship in age-appropriate ways. Nursery will prepare our toddlers for children's worship and congregational worship. They will learn and sing songs, lift their voices and hands in praise, learn to pray and listen to God, and hear God's Word read and taught to them.
We believe there is no strict separation of the natural and spiritual in Christ's kingdom. Our nursery time will be structured to grow our children in knowledge of the Lord but also in self-control, in submission and obedience to good authority, in responsibility, in loving and sharing, and in stewardship. In other words, their sanctification requires things like learning to share toys and spaces, learning to follow the leader, cleaning up after themselves, and even eating in a conscientious, caring way.
Please join us in praying for our nursery care. Ask the Lord whether he is calling you to serve in this beautiful and crucial ministry. Our Lord Jesus promises that whoever welcomes one of these little ones is actually welcoming him (Matt 18:5). Nursery then is a ministry of and to the Lord.
A New Start to Our Children's Ministry
When many of us think of kids and church, we think of wiggly, little toddlers that call our attention away from the worship song, the prayer, or the sermon. Parents of little ones think of the power struggle every Sunday morning from 10:30. You're just trying to manage without a meltdown until children's classes start. We often have a deeply rooted impulse that children, whether ours or others, are a distraction that keeps us from paying attention.
The Christian ethicists Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, write "Interestingly, Jesus put a child in the center of his disciples, 'in the midst of them,' in order to help them pay attention . . . The child was a last-ditch effort by God to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature of God's kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical, countercultural, than his blessing of children" (Resident Aliens, 1989, p.96)
Listen to Jesus in Matthew 18:1-5: At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Few things reveal the heart of a church than their response to children.
Do they have the heart of Jesus?
Do children get the feeling that they're welcome?
Do they have a sense that the God their parents are worshiping cares about them?
Are they shuffled out of service with relief so that now the adults can do real church and their fun hangout time with friends can begin?
Are their classes haphazardly put together?
Is it glorified babysitting?
Do they see their parents hanging out at the back of the class chatting with their friends, rather than hearing the sermon?
All this forms our children's view of God and the gospel.
The Bay Area has long been a national leader in education. WalletHub has designated the San Jose area the #2 most educated area in the country and the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley as #4. Several of the school districts where Indelible Grace members live and send kids to school are some of the highest ranked in the state of California. Our culture values education, sometimes even idolizes education.
But what kind of education is it? It might create kids that perform well on standardized tests or have a better chance at admission into the UC's but most of that education is at best neutral to the Lordship of Christ or at worst outright antagonistic to Christian doctrine and ethics. We live in this intellectually-rich area where Christian claims are increasingly implausible and even viewed as immoral.
If we just wing our children's ministry, we are setting our kids up for confusion and a weak formation. The powers of cultural formation are undeniably in the hands of the tech and media companies. I was talking to an area pastor who was born in Africa but moved to the US in junior high years. He said one of the primary anti-Christian and secular influences is public and college education. I know many of us have kids in public schools. I'm not saying that's bad. Where our kids go to school must be a conscienced, prayerful, and discerning decision. But I am saying that we should not be naive about the power of that formation and we as a church have a primary mandate from the Lord to provide an alternate education that is rooted in a different kind of power, the Spirit of power, love, and self-control.
That's why we're starting this children's ministry study committee. We do not want to just put a band-aid on. We want to pray first of all. And we invite you to pray for us. But then we will do the hard work of biblical study. We want our vision of children's ministry to be rooted in God's Word. Then we want to apply wisdom as constructing a vision and plan for children's ministry we believe God is calling this particular church to put in place.
While this committee gets to work, the session approved some immediate changes for the summer.
We're going to end our regular children's programming this May for an alternative pilot program to be tested this summer. The pilot is going to be a children's worship service that will be concurrent with the sermon for our preschool and early grade school kids. Grades 2nd - 5th would remain in the service for the sermon with resources to help them process and attend to the sermon in an age appropriate way.
You might ask, why? Why not just wait?
There is lots of evidence that the crucial years of childhood development are the early years, especially for linguistic, cognitive, and emotional capacities. Preschool is actually a spiritually crucial and formative time - I'd be so bold to say even more so than grade school. One prominent Christian psychologist has described the first seven years of a child's life as "prime time" for spiritual formation.
At Indelible Grace Church, we believe our children are in covenant with the Lord from the beginning. John the Baptist was moved in the womb when his pregnant mother came near to Jesus in the womb of Mary.
One final note. Our confession begins with this beautiful question: What is the chief end of man? We could replace man with children.
What is the chief end of children? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Notice, it does not say to know Bible stories. Surely knowing the Bible is the primary way we know God. But you can know about God without ever glorifying and enjoying him. Our models of religious education too closely follow the Enlightenment paradigms of modern education that's more about information than formation, more about data than character, more about facts than love. I remember in my Sunday school, I could school all the rest of the kids because I had a good memory. I still remember this arrogant superiority I felt by knowing who was the youngest of Jacob's children. Paul says that if we understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, we are nothing.
That's why we want to do a test program in children's worship. We want to instruct our kids in how to worship and who we worship. But we also want to worship! We'll have songs to sing together. We'll work on some scripture memory verses together. We'll read Scripture and hear a sermon catered to children. And we'll pray together. One of my favorite experiences was a worship night at my former church. We had a corporate time of prayer but all the children were invited up to the front for their own prayer time. I had 5-7 kids ages 3-8 and we went around the circle and prayed for each other and for our city.
Who will be leading this children's worship? We want to have a rotation of teachers that are particularly gifted with leading kids and teaching. I'm actually super excited to be in rotation. Weeks that I'm not preaching here, I'll be helping lead there. I’m looking forward to pastoring our children.
Pastor Jesse