Cape Fear
Presbyterian Church
CFPC Monthly Blog
February, 2024
This year on February 14, we will not only celebrate with roses and chocolates but with ashes. In 2024, Ash Wednesday and Valentines share the same day. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Lent is a time of self-reflection and atonement. It is a season where Christians learn to be honest, authentic, and vulnerable because during this season we are called to acknowledge our sinfulness. However, Lent is not only about our sin. It is also about God's mercy. Lent reminds us of God's unending love for us and this world.
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To remind us of this love, Lent invites us to go on a journey with Jesus. This journey eventually will lead us to a cross where God's love is revealed, and our sin becomes real. This is not an easy journey not only because it lasts six weeks but because it asks us to take an honest look within ourselves. Because this journey can be so revealing, Lent can be a hard sell for some Christians. Others love this look within and find Lent to be the most meaningful time of the year. However you feel about Lent, it is a season that takes courage. Perhaps this is why the Bible mentions fear so often.
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Have you ever noticed how often fear is mentioned? Over and over again scripture tells us "to not be afraid." I think what the Bible knows is that to be as authentic and vulnerable as the scripture calls us to be is scary. Because this much vulnerability pushes us to look deep within ourselves and within our communities and ask hard questions. The good news is that along with the hard questions and vulnerable journey we also get Easter. Which, without the journey, would rob us of the true significance of Easter morning.
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I invite you to journey along with us this Lent. Below are a few ways to be connected as we all courageously, with Jesus and each other, take this six week walk to the cross and eventually the empty tomb.
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Ash Wednesday: 12:00 pm (Cape Fear) or 6:00 pm (Lillington Presbyterian)
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Community Lenten Lunch: 11:00 am, Lillington United Methodist Church
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Book Study: Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
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11:00 am - Tuesdays; February 27, March 5, 12, and 19​
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6:00 pm - Thursdays, February 29, March 7, 14, and 21
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Worship and Sunday School: 9:00 am and 10:00 am
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Yours in Christ,
Barrett
January, 2024
Thank you for another wonderful year and all of the support you have provided me, my family, and our community. My family and I continue to remain thankful that god called us to Cape Fear Presbyterian Church and thankful you felt God's call to have us.
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Reflecting on the year and looking ahead is an ancient practice. The month of January is named after the Roman God, Janus. Janus possessed two faces to see the past and the future. Going back as far as the Romans (and probably further), the first month of the year has been used to reflect on the past and look towards the future.
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As Christians, we call this time "renewal". Renewal with God means that we go back to grieve what we have lost, while God prepares us to face what is ahead. Often throughout the Bible our renewal begins in the wilderness. A place where we go to be made new again. This is what John the Baptist was doing when Jesus and the others that day were baptized. It is through Jesus' baptism, life, death, and resurrection that we are made new again.
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We do not have to keep getting baptized for renewal; however, we are called to remember our baptism. Remembering our baptism is the heart of our renewal because it reminds us of our identity as a child of God. Which means the emphasis on God not on us. Our baptism reminds us of God's unconditional promise to accept us for who we are an to forgive our sin. This is why we bring babies to the front. As David Lose points out, "babies, who have not particularly done anything for or against God, remind us that all we can really do is receive God's love with gratitude and then try to live into that as a calling." This is our renewal, our wilderness: remembering God's unconditional love and then moving forward by trying to live into the call of receiving God's love with thanksgiving.
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January 7 is the "Lord's Baptism Sunday." It is a time for us to theologically contemplate why Jesus was baptized and also make space for us to remember our own baptism. I invite you to join us for worship as we together, as a church, remember God's unconditional promise to us as we prepare to move into 2024. All along, doing our best to receive God's love with gratitude.
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Happy New Year!
Barrett
December, 2023
As the song goes, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and I love it! I love the
decorations, the music, the excitement, the parties, the shopping, I love it all except all the
waiting. Have you ever noticed how much waiting there is during this season? Whether it is
waiting in line at the store or on the road or waiting for the Red Ryder range model air rifle BB
gun (Christmas Movie), or our Christmas bonus (Christmas Vacation), or snow (White
Christmas), or our family to come home (Home Alone), this time of there is a lot of waiting.
Which is perhaps the most faithful thing we can do during this season.
Advent is the season of waiting. As much as I do not like to wait, Advent jolts us out of
the ordinary hustle and bustle of December and says, “not so fast.” This jolt and call to wait is
Advent’s gift to the church. However, this gift of waiting does not mean we wait passively by.
Instead, Advent teaches us to hold the waiting of lamenting and hoping next to one another. As a
church we lament that another year has gone by and the world continues to have wars, hunger,
political discourse, among other woes. On a personal level, Advent gives us permission to lament
that our life may not have gone exactly as we had hoped over the last year. For some of us this
may include praying for specific relationships, a new career, better financial situation, healing,
forgiveness, and/or grace. For others we lament for our children, our neighbors, our parents, or
other loved ones. Wherever you see loss in the world, Advent says to the Church and the world it
is okay to lament that loss.
However, Advent also gives us hope. Advent reminds the church that God is coming and
giving us a Word. Not just any word on a piece of paper but The Word. As the Gospel of John
records, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
(John 1:1) and “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14). A better translation for
“lived among us” is “pitched a tent.” The literal translation is that God pitched a tent among us.
Advent reminds us that our hope and trust is that God is coming in the middle of our laments and
hopes, pitching a tent to bring us The Word. God does this in order to jolt us and the world closer
to God because God so loved the world, that God gave us his only son.
As we approach Advent, I am curious. What are you lamenting this year? Where are you
hoping that God pitches God’s tent and brings The Word in your life and the world?
To help prepare us prepare for the coming of Christ, this year’s theme is Waiting on The
Word and I pray as we wait together for the coming of Christ, you will be able to join us for
some of our Advent activities especially for worship each Sunday at 9:00 am; the Cantata, Dec. 3
at 3:00 pm, aWaiting on The Word study (Waiting on The Word by Malcolm Guite) each
Monday at noon; our Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve Service at 9:00 am. Ali and I would also
invite you to “Chili and Carols” Sunday, December 17, 5:00 pm at the Atkins House (111 W.
Ivey Street, Lillington).
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Happy Advent,
Barrett
November, 2023
In a recent sermon, I referenced Farm Church (www.farmchurch.org) in Durham, an agricultural
based ministry that focuses on the problem of food insecurity in Durham County. Because it is
also a working urban farm, its welcome sign has a sign below it that reads, “Watch Your Step.”
A prudent warning given the rugged setting, but in reality, it is a good sign to place at any church
entrance. When we walk into church where God calls us together, we are all subject to change.
I think this is why most of us come to church. We want to be changed. I am sure there are some
who come to church hoping to hear a message that fits nicely within their preconceived ideas of
this world so that they can remain the same. However, for most of us, I believe we are yearning
for a faith that goes beyond an inspiring or motivating message and seek instead a faith of
transformation. The good news to you, me, and the world is that God is in the business of
transformation. Which means it is not up to us to change ourselves, our church, or the world,
God has already changed the world through Jesus Christ. All we need to do is side-step our own
agendas and follow how God is continuing to change the world through the love, grace, mercy,
and forgiveness found through Jesus.
The type of transformation that Jesus brings isn’t as simple as it sounds…which brings us back
to the “Watch Your Step!” signs. As you enter the church be careful. God is up to something and
it is for this reason that he calls us together, changes us together and commissions us together.
This is why church is important. As we stumble along the path that God has laid in front of us,
we have our church community to steady us, challenge us and love us. We need the church
because when we try alone to witness God’s work in the world, it is hard to recognize. But with
our church family we can take the steps together to follow where God is calling us to be
transformed and where God is transforming the world.
As we approach Thanksgiving and then move into Advent, I invite you to spend some time
reflecting on where you see God changing your life and the life of Cape Fear Presbyterian
Church. Additionally, where are you witnessing God’s transformative joy beyond the walls of
the church? As you prayerfully reflect these changes, I invite you to begin a conversation with
God. Beginning with thanking God for all the ways God is active in your life and then listening
to where God is calling you in 2024. And don’t forget, as you enter this conversation to, “Watch
Your Step,” God has a way of changing every one of our lives.
Yours in Christ,
Barrett