Thankful for Beauty
By Micha Kandal
Friends,
Today, I encourage you to think about why this day is good, whatever “good” means to you—whether it be joy or contentment or simply an extra moment to breathe. I encourage you to do this because I don’t think we reflect on this often enough. I want you to know that my intention isn’t to give you another box to check off of your to-do list, or for this question to serve as a median of conviction. My intention is just a reminder, one that has changed my view on what’s good and how there is such truth and power in recognizing the good things.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with Samantha (dear friend and roommate), and I’m still thinking about it. Maybe it’s because I overanalyze all things, but this spontaneous conversation was too real not to share. It began with me venting all of my frustration, about my life and specifically how it doesn’t look like I thought it would at this point in time. I was justifying why I thought it was okay to be annoyed with God and why I thought I had the right to essentially demand the changes I thought I wanted. I’ve been in this season of waiting, a season I’m very familiar with—waiting to graduate, for a relationship, for connections with administrators for job offers, for fall to actually get here, to feel content. A considerable amount of waiting.
(To compliment this season with my negative attitude, I was also treating my relationship with God like a formula. I was praying prayers of contentment and reading scripture that seemed like it applied to seasons of waiting, yet I woke up each day more frustrated and discouraged.)
It was after my rant that Sam asked, “Why don’t you just focus on something else? What if instead of thinking about what you don’t have or what you want, you focus on being thankful.”
Mind blown.
This idea didn’t even cross my mind. Yet Jesus directly spoke through Sam in that spontaneous-angst-filled conversation to open my eyes. I love when He does that. As a black and white thinker, those clear concise moments of instruction are total blessings, ones I rarely deserve.
So moving forward, in the weeks following that conversation, I began writing down why I was grateful. Having no idea where to even begin, my observations of gratitude varied from “thanks for coffee” to “God you are SO good, and the ways you provided for me in that random moment completely blows me away.”
I also started reading Psalm 143, specifically meditating on verses 4 & 5 which says, “So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”
The combination of spending intentional time in scripture and honestly praying what I was actually feeling, resulted in a change that shifted my heart. My relationship with God started to feel more like an actual relationship. I began to subtly notice the shift of my thoughts and how dwelling on the wants and desires became less. Slowly, seeing the joy in the mundane and noticing things to celebrate each day became easier and more life-giving.
Along with this change, comes my new responsibility in my relationship with God. A responsibility that requires honest conversations and moments of listening. Since I started this habit of being aware of what I’m grateful for, I have experienced true and genuine joy. I know this isn’t a coincidence because 1.) I don’t believe in those, and 2.) I’m still in a season of waiting, for all of the same things I mentioned before. God has completely transformed my way of viewing each day, simply because I let Him. I’m still learning how to see the beauty in everyday, but I’m also learning to love searching for it.
I encourage you to look for the beauty, the good, the things to be grateful for. It might be the hardest thing you’ve done this year, or maybe it’s just a new perspective to use. Regardless of your circumstances, I encourage you to do your own searching for the beauty and for the things to be grateful for. I ask you this because I believe with my whole heart that your joy is waiting.
Humbled and still learning,
Micha
I'm Thankful for Psalm 37:4
By Danny Tippit
Psalm 37:4 has to be right up there as being one of the most misunderstood verses in the bible. Here is what is says in the New King James Version…
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
So what do you think when you read that? Emphasis on ‘your heart?’ I know for me in my early days as a Christian when this verse came across my path it told me that God will grant me what I desire. Somewhat like a genie, right? Not so much. Many, many, many years later God has helped me understand what being a disciple of Christ really entails and how desire plays a part in our lives.
Back during the early New Testament days, a disciple was someone who would reflect who their teacher was through their actions, words, pursuits, and, in general, their life (basically a biblical ‘mini-me’). Maybe a little raw in terminology, but seriously, the major Rabbis of the day would pour into their students and those students would absorb and then emulate their teacher. Mathete, the Greek word for disciple, originates from the verb manthano, which means ‘to be in the practice of.’ Jesus may have chosen people, but he produced practitioners of the habits he modeled, a.k.a. disciples. Jesus taught that being a disciple was about symptomatic action overflowing from the heart. He didn’t just want to teach them some great things that they already knew from Jewish scriptures. He knew that one day his very Spirit would dwell inside his followers. He wanted to invade them.
So how does that affect us? Going back to Psalm 37:4 let me read it from the Message version: “Keep company with God. Get in on the best.” How does this change things? First, those desires that are mentioned are not our desires. God desires something better and he wants to share those. Second, he doesn’t want those desires to be something that just meanders in and alongside your desires. Even better, he wants to replace your desires with his. At the very least, he wants to give your current desires more foundation in him.
What I am thankful for is this verse and its meaning is that God has taken my old desires—some good, some not so good—and he has revamped them with a God-centered source. He has taken those fleshly desires away and replaced them with His very own desires. Without rewriting the Bible, let me reword Psalm 37:4 this way, “God wants to spend time with you so you can get to know him and what his desires are for you and your life and how those desires will delight you and fulfill His plan for your life. Then from what flows out of your heart’s desire that is rooted in God will come to fruition.” Oh, how thankful I am for a loving and caring God. Thank you for bringing alignment to the desires in my heart, that my passion is founded in Christ and my drive is energized by your grace!
I'm Thankful for Community
By Kirsten Sidebottom
The story of how I got connected to Barry and Amy Rager and the start of New Circle is a time that I will always look back on filled with a grateful heart.
It was February 2013 when I first wandered up the escalators of IUPUI’s campus center to try out this bible study (aka community group) “with a pastor from Kentucky,” which is quite literally how this invitation was pitched to me.
Backing up a bit, I truly started following the person of Jesus in fall of 2011. When this happened, I initially attended a lovely church in Indy for about the first year of college (2011-2012). But I felt like that wasn’t where God wanted me. I knew there had to be somewhere specific for me, so I church hopped for about 6 months and never really found a place where I felt like I belonged. Honestly, I attended a number of really awesome churches throughout the city, but since I mostly attended these services by myself, I would often walk in and walk out untouched and unnoticed. Even though I enjoyed these different places, I never knew how to get connected. After attending the same churches over and over again and never being invited into a deeper community, I became a little disheartened. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but what I was really searching for (and what God was calling me to) was community and the sense of knowing and being known by others.
The first time coming up the escalator at IUPUI to try out community group was a monumental experience for me. I scanned the room and saw the Rager children playing games. I saw who I’d soon learn to be Barry and Amy. Just them. I was fifteen minutes early, and no one else was there. Only me and two, well six, strangers.
My mind flashed back to all those other times I’d gone unnoticed in the sea of people. I made eye contact with Amy, and she immediately smiled and introduced herself. I met Barry too and they began asking me about myself. This felt different. These people actually cared to know who I was. My soul felt a relief it had never felt before. In an instant, my fears of being isolated and disregarded had been silenced as their care, appreciation and love swept over me.
That night, I knew the Lord was blessing me immensely. I had no idea what all was in store for New Circle and what was in store for me at this church. But I knew I had just found gold from the Lord. The gratitude I have for my journey to New Circle and knowing Barry and Amy is soul deep. I wouldn’t know God the way I do today if I hadn’t given community group a try. I wouldn’t have the friends I have if I hadn’t met Barry and Amy. I wouldn’t be who I am today if Barry and Amy never followed God to plant New Circle in Indy. God is so good to me.
Humility in Gratitude
By Evan Johnson
One of the most exciting things I get to do is preaching in front of a group of people. Even if it’s just public speaking, I don’t possess that fear. It’s just natural for me. However, since there’s a spiritual attachment to preaching, there’s just something truly special about it. Yet realizing that heaviness that goes along with publicly communicating the Word of God, for a long time I would tell people it was God and “not me.” To encourage me as a young aspiring preacher, I would hear that my sermon was really good. Hearing that, I refused to express gratitude. I refused to say “thank you.” In my eyes, I would be taking credit for God’s Word.
This went on for a while until a friend of mine took me aside and told me to get over myself and just say, “thank you.” It had never occurred to me that I was robbing other people of serving me. They wanted to express support for me as a young (sometimes stupid) pastor-in-training. Their support was a means of serving me emotionally, and I was blocking them. I was hindering the Spirit from moving me forward. I was not letting them serving me spiritually. I was not letting them build me up as a brother in Christ.
Showing gratitude towards others is a staple of the Christian life. Here are just [number] ways gratitude is intertwined with living like Christ:
Showing gratitude reminds us that service is not about us. We can get caught up in thinking only about ourselves in our service in two ways: we either focus on how much we’re serving or how others deserve to be serving us. As Christians, the former is usually more likely. Regardless, showing gratitude for encouragement reminds us that we do what we do as Christians not because it’s about us. It’s about the people around us. Hearing the people around us encourage us reminds us of that.
Showing gratitude is a discipline of humility. Humility is both an attitude and a discipline, and it is an attitude that is only formed out of discipline. Humbling ourselves to show gratitude reminds us that we cannot do life alone. Everyone wants to feel validated in their accomplishments as well as their struggles. Being humble enough to express thankfulness to a friend who is there in a hard time or to express gratitude for a compliment after a public speaking venture forces us to take the spotlight off of us. It forces us to focus on how great they are for seeing our struggles or talents.
Humbling ourselves in expressing gratitude shows that we’re letting the Spirit work in our lives. As said before, showing gratitude towards others is a staple of the Christian life. I’m not of the theological persuasion that when Peter passed the bread of life to John at Passover that when John thanked him, Peter said, “No, no, no, no, no. This isn’t me. This is God. I don’t deserve credit for being able to pass this bread to you.” Humbling ourselves to show gratitude frees us from any Christianese barriers we set up for others to think that we’re incredible armchair theologians.
The wheel of salvation turns on the axle of thankfulness. We are thankful that God has saved us. In our thankfulness, we know that it is because of what Christ has done and not us. This does not change our attitude of gratefulness. This needs to bleed into the rest of our life and our daily interactions. We know that God shines through our hearts of servitude. Being thankful of others’ building us up is just as much a testimony to Jesus’ greatness as a novella-long explanation of the Gospel. It shows one of the ultimate characteristics of Jesus: humility.
Why We Show Gratitude
By Cory Paskins
Showing gratitude towards one another is one of the most positive things we can do as human beings and as children of God. Many times we become so busy in our daily lives that we can overlook opportunities to show our gratitude. Often we forget to slow down and take the time to reflect on what the people around us are doing for us and what God is doing for us. That's why in this blog I want to cover the following four questions:
- Why do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
- How do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
- Why do we show our gratitude towards God?
- How do we show our gratitude towards God?
Why do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
At NCC we show our gratitude towards each other, not only because it's the polite and proper thing to do, but because we love each other! We understand the wonderful feeling of being appreciated, so we seek to find ways to acknowledge and appreciate others in the same way.
See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:15-18)
How do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
There are many different ways we can show our gratitude towards the people around us. We can do things like offer to take them out to eat, buy them a gift, write them a thank you letter, or even give them a call to tell them our appreciation. A simple thank you or hug could change the outcome of someone's entire day in a huge way! Showing the people around us our gratitude towards them is a powerful way to share the love of Christ that is in us.
Why do we show our gratitude towards God?
Praise the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all His praise? (Psalms 106:1-2)
We thank God because He is so good to us, and is constantly looking out for our best interests. We thank Him for the unconditional love that He freely gives us. When we think about the fact that God gave His only Son to die for us, how can we not help but to overflow with gratitude towards Him? He created us, cares for us, protects us, and adopted us into His family. He deserves all the gratitude we could possibly give Him and more.
How do we show our gratitude towards God?
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psalms 141:2)
Through Jesus Christ we have direct communication to the Father by prayer, so we can personally thank Him for anything and everything at any time! We can show Him our gratitude by praising Him throughout the week with beautiful songs of Thanksgiving. We can also show God our gratefulness by obeying His commands, following His Spirit and living our lives in accordance to His will.
As you take time to reflect on your own life, can you think of someone who deserves your gratitude? Maybe a parent, friend, or coworker who constantly shows you acts of kindness Looking back on your life can you think of things that God has done for you that you never took time to acknowledged? If so, it is never too late to show your gratitude today!
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Why We Do What We Do: The Church
By Evan Johnson
These past seven weeks, we’ve dived into the reasons why we do specific things in our liturgy at New Circle. We’ve approached questions regarding why we do communion a certain way, why we have a public reading of the Bible, and why we have coffee and doughnuts available for people who walk in our rented doors.
One question remains, though: Why does the Church exist period?
God gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us to do “greater things” than Jesus (John 14:12). Those greater things are to bring renewal and life into the world through two mutually inclusive methods: sharing the Gospel through word and sharing the Gospel through deed.
Sharing the Gospel through Word
“Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.” The quote attributed to Francis of Assisi can be easily misconstrued. The heart behind the quote is that what we do will ultimately matter more than what we say. However, if we live our lives waiting for people to ask us why we live a certain way, we’re going to be waiting for a very, very long time.
God created the world through speaking (Genesis 1). God made his promise to Abraham through speaking (Genesis 1:3). God gave his law by speaking through Moses (Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers). God spoke through the prophets (1 Sam 3:4, 12:1-7, Isaiah 1). God spoke as Jesus (John 10:30). Jesus will win the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation by speaking (Rev. 19:15).
The point is that God speaks. He clearly has a high value of conveying his message through word of mouth. That’s why he made the mouth (Exodus 4:11). That’s how we communicate thoughts, ideas, philosophies, sympathies, emotions, bearings, everything. By speaking the truth that there is new life in Jesus Christ into someone else’s life, he is comforting their soul with our words.
Sharing the Gospel through Deed
While sharing the Gospel through Word is necessary, God’s mercy and justice cannot be overlooked. The church is to be an extension of God’s heart for our broken world. If we are to be the body of Christ, then as a body we must act as Jesus acted. If there are destitute, the church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Psalm 82:3). If there are widows, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 7:12-13). If there are orphans, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Mark 10:13). If there sickly, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 5:17-26). If there are racists, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 9:51-56). If there are marginalized, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 4:1-45).
Understand that this is not a matter of simply copying down an evangelical formula. If we are the body of Christ, then we should have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5). In our likemindedness to Christ, we want to see the world rejuvenated. We want to see the broken and dirty and painful world that we live in find and exist in hope. We want the homeless person on the corner of that street on the way to work to find a home. We want the drug addict that lives next door to find euphoria in something far less damaging that cocaine. We want our coworker to seek reconciliation with her mother or father.
God wants to see tangible change in the community that he created because he created a tangible community. The good news that Jesus is making all things new is not an ethereal idea that permeates the human psyche into the minds of high thinkers and philosophers only to remain there and be thought upon. The good news that Jesus is making all things new is a real idea that shakes apart the human experience like an earthquake and brings forth new life. God’s method of delivering that good news is by word and deed through us, his church.
Why We Do What We Do: Benediction
By Barry Rager
Endings are important. If you disagree with this, simply read a book or watch a movie with a poor conclusion. It is no different in our Sunday Gathering. Yes, we want to thank people for coming and invite them back. Yes, we want to inform people about ways they can take their next step into our family. But we want to do more, and a benediction gives us that opportunity.
A benediction is essentially a blessing. The reason we close each week with a benediction is because we want to speak a blessing over everyone who attended. Here are four reasons why we do a benediction at New Circle Church:
1. We simply desire God to bless them.
As the family of Christ, we want the best for one another. We know that God is the provider of all things. Thus we ask our Father to bless his children. We see a benediction like this in Numbers 6:24-26, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
2. We want people to see God as the source of hope.
The blessing of the benediction may come from asking God to provide for us what we see we need in our lives. An example of this would be the benediction Paul wrote to the Romans, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13) I used this benediction from Paul to speak a blessing over the folks of New Circle this summer when I preached on peace.
3. We want people to see the Sunday Gathering in connection with their lives.
Some people struggle with the integration of their faith in Christ throughout all of their lives. The benediction blesses people by allowing them to go out the door by giving them a parting thought to integrate their faith and life. Jude wrote a benediction to his readers that in Jude 24-25 to show them of their ever present need for God and his integration into their lives. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
4. We want people to know they are sent.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left his people with a blessing and a reminder. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus reminded them that they were to live their lives with a purpose of seeing more people coming to know Him. And hand-in-hand with this commission is the two-fold blessing that he would send his Spirit to help them and that he would be with them until the end.
The benediction comes with power, sending us with power from being believers who are gathered to believers who are scattered. Yet even when we are scattered, the benediction reminds us that our lives continue to be lived in worship of Jesus.
Why We Do What We Do: Communion
By Amy Rager
During my time of coordinating the logistics for NCC’s worship gatherings I spent more time clarifying what communion was, how we did it, and why than any other component.
There are several likely reasons for the confusion:
- Jesus instructed us to observe the practice of communion in remembrance of him but few details are given as to how Jesus served ‘The Last Supper’ to his disciples.
- Some of our builders have had exposure to a denomination that requires participation in communion for salvation, leaving them with an intense need to ‘get it right.’
- Every denomination (and even most churches) celebrate communion differently.
So, I’m excited about this post in our series ‘Why We Do What We Do.’ Because communion is beautiful and the leadership of NCC’s intentionality and prayerfulness in laying out a ‘protocol’ for how we partake in communion each Sunday has resulted in a deep and touching section of our gathering. I hope reading about ‘the why’ of each aspect of NCC’s communion ‘process’ will solidify our understanding and help us approach the cup and the loaf with primed hearts each week.
So, without further ado, here are a few of the most frequently asked questions about communion.
Why do we leave our seats and approach the communion station instead of passing the elements around? For a couple reasons: this allows for each individual to take as much time as needed in prayer and contemplation instead of potentially being cut short when the elements reach their seat, and it facilitates community care (which leads us to our next section).
Why does the person holding the bread say ‘Body of Christ, broken for you’ and the person holding the cup say ‘Blood of Christ shed for you?’ to each individual? 1 Peter 2:9 says ‘You are a... royal priesthood… that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into marvelous light.’ Each believer has the capability and calling to minister to his/her brothers and sisters in Christ on behalf of their Father. Communion is a way that we can minister to each other every week. There is something utterly wonderful and incredibly powerful about looking at each person and saying to them ‘(this is the) Body of Christ, broken for you.’ A unique intimacy develops in that moment as we look each other in the eye and convey assurance that God’s grace is real and received. The cumulative effect of these brief interchanges is a body of believers who care deeply for one another and are accustomed to speaking words of truth and love.
Why grape juice instead of wine? It’s cheaper. Just kidding! Again, there are several reasons. First, we have recovering alcoholics in our body and some who have decided to never ingest alcohol for matters of conscience. While we could have two separate cups- one for wine and one for juice- at this time the pastors don’t believe the benefits of serving wine are greater than the potential for confusion, offense, awkwardness in dispersion, or the increased time required.
Why do we partake of communion every week? At the end of each worship gathering there is an opportunity for response. Maybe we need to repent. Maybe we need to spend time praising God. Maybe we need to reflect on all the God has done for us or on what he is calling us to do. Communion provides an appropriate outlet for all of the above and while it’s not a required response, it’s certainly a beneficial one.
Communion may be a weekly event but let's never let it be a mundane one, New Circle. Jesus gave us a gift when he instituted this tradition, and, like all good gifts, it's meant to be enjoyed.
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