The Rock Junior High

I am the Eggman, They are the Eggmen, I am the Church - Goo Goo G'joob

Er... are you reading the title of this post and wondering if I'm heavily medicated this week?  Nope, not medicated - just realizing how confusing some of the stuff in the Bible can seem if we don't take a second to think about what the writers were really trying to say...

So - in case you don't already know, there's a Beattle's song (speaking of heavily medicated), "I am the Walrus".  Now, this song has some super-interesting lyrics in it... at one point the singer is "sitting on a cornflake", then he sings about "elementary penguins" but my favorite part is, "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the Walrus - goo goo g'joob."  Seriously... he's the eggman.   I'm not sure what that means (other than John Lennon was getting cranky about hearing other people decide what his songs meant) and it made me wonder if you guys would get what I meant when we talk about the idea that "I am the church" this Sunday?

When you think about the word "church", what kind of a picture do you get in your mind?  A  little building with a steeple?   A bunch of people dressed in suits and dresses with big hats in neat rows?  Getting out of bed early on a weekend morning?  That's not what we're supposed to see!  The church is us!  Don't quite get it?  Show up this Sunday - we'll chat about it!

PS - Come in your Halloween costume this Sunday if it makes you happy!

Reading is good for you...
Monday - Ephesians 1:22-23 | Tuesday - Luke 24:13-32 | Wednesday - Luke 24:33-49 | Thursday - Romans 10:9-15 | Friday - Matthew 28:18-20 | Saturday - Philippians 2:3-5

Winter Camp 2008 FAQ's

Winter Camp is going to be excellent this year! 

Thought I should post with some answers to your FAQ's!

Location: We're staying at Mountain River Lodge (a gorgeous, just-built conference center complete with sleigh rides, rivers and snow outside and hot cocoa, hot tub, and latte machine inside.)

How much?  $155

How do I save a spot?  Make your $100 deposit by November 3rd!

Is it just our church?  No - another church is going to go along with us!

Will I be able to ski/snowboard?  Yes -  although you'll have to pay extra!

Who do I talk to if I have more questions?  Contact Chandra Blair at: blairchandra@hotmail.com!

OK - I'm not making this up...  Some guy got so upset that the Kansas School Board decided to allow it's school to teach the idea of Creation, alongside the idea of Evolution, that he started a church called, "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster".  While the "FSM" church does have some entertaining things to say about the relationship between the decrease of pirates in the world and global warming - it's mainly there to make fun of Christianity (not just the idea of Creation) and the people who believe it.

So why bother talking about it?  Well, here's the deal.  Ever since Christianity began - it's really irritated people.  Jews who lived in the very early A.D.'s didn't like Christianity (so much that they killed a guy named Stephen over it) because they had been waiting for the Messiah for hundreds of years, and Christianity claims that they missed Him!  Greeks  living at the same time really didn't like Christianity because it said that their gods were bogus.  It shouldn't surprise us that around 2000 years later, people still don't like the idea of Christianity. 

This Sunday, we're talking about  a part of Christianity that even irritates Christians...  we're talking about the idea that God's not interested in us dedicating part of our lives to Him.  He wants it all, every day, all the time.

Reading is good for you...

Monday: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 | Tuesday: John 20:1-18 | Wednesday: John 20:19-31 | Thursday: Matthew 22:36-40 | Friday: Matthew 25:31-46 | Saturday: James 2:13-16

Mean People Suck - But Who Cares?

People can be pretty cruel to each other, huh?  Junior High students can be especially cruel... take a look around at school sometime.  Chances are - there's some kid there who you know is just heinously mean and people just try to stay off of their radar so they don't become the next target for public ridicule.  True?  Now, remember - we've talked about this before.  People like that almost ALWAYS act that way because they are dealing with a lot of private pain themselves - but that's not what this post is about. This post is about knowing that you have immeasurable worth as a person, even when sucky mean people are running around being jerkfaces!

The way other people treat us can sometimes leave us feeling worthless and unwanted, but that's just not true!  Take a second to think about this, if you really believe there is a God, and you really believe that the Bible is what He told other people to write down - listen to what he says about you!

Even before He made the world, God loved us... God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family...  (see Ephesians chapter 1).

God loves you.  God considers you a member of his family.  Even though it hurts when some other person makes fun of you for something, or acts like you don't exist - it doesn't mean they somehow know that you deserve to be treated that way!  It just means that they're selfish and mean and hurting and don't know what to do about it!  You are incredibly important to God - don't let anybody else tell you, or make you feel different!

PS - We'll build on this idea next week - and talk about the "so what?" - why it matters!

Reading...
Wednesday - Ephesians 1:3-8 | Thursday - Ephesians  1:9-14 | Friday -  Romans 8:15-25 | Saturday  - Romans 8: 26-31

Still Sorry...? Here's the Reading Schedule at Least!

So... still no word what our topic for next Sunday will be (we want to teach on the same topic as the rest of the church) so I'll give you a reading schedule here that will be helpful (I hope) regardless of what we talk about this Sunday!  How about a few select passages about patience!

Wednesday - Proverbs 25:14-16 (also fun and practical advice about honey!)

Thursday - Ecclesiastes 7:5-9 (if you've never read anything in Ecclesiastes before, yes - most of it does sound like it was written by a grumpy [but smart] old man...)

Friday - Galatians 5:16-26 (OK - this isn't strictly about patience...)

Saturday - Colossians 3:5-14 (See - Friday.)

Sorry!

Will post about next Sunday and the reading schedule tomorrow!  Our teaching topic for next week is yet to be announced!

Holy Sweet Mother of Giant Blue Elephants!!!

In case you haven't heard already - church is going to be a little different this Sunday.  The Rock is participating in National Porn Sunday!  Long story short is this, back in the day, a couple of guys got together and decided that it sucked that the church was too embarrassed to talk about the problems that people have with and because of porn...  They started a website called XXXchurch.com that tries to help EVERYONE affected by porn - people with sexual addictions, people who get hurt because their spouses choose porn over their marriage, porn stars, people that produce porn - EVERYONE! 

This Sunday, churches all over the US will be talking about porn, some of the problems it can cause, and how people who want to stop messing with porn can get help!  In GforJesus this week - we'll be doing things a little different as well - we'll split our group up (in keeping with the girls/guys night out on the 6th BTW - don't forget!) and talk about... porn.

Reading...

Monday - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 | Tuesday - 1 John 2:1-6 | Wednesday - 1 John 2:7-11 | Thursday - 1 John 2:12-17 | Friday - Matthew 5:13-20 | Saturday - Matthew 5:21-28