Author Archives: Brook Fonceca

A Good Word

Our worship gatherings have been so much fun lately!  Even though I hung out with my daughter in the nursery during the conversation time of our meeting, I was told that the adults were having too much fun listening to Pastor Stuart.  Here is a link to last Sunday’s talk.

 

A Good Word

 

In our passage, Numbers 6:22-27, the word “bless” occurs three times. 1) God commands the priests to say a blessing over the people, 2) the blessing itself, and 3) the Lord says, “I will bless them.”  This Hebrew word translated bless is interesting.  The resources I consulted simply gave the definition, bless.  There is also another aspect to this word, but I will touch on this later.  Bless is such an over used and under appreciated word.  In order to get another perspective on this word, I looked to the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament from around 200 BC and was widely used by the early church.  The Greek word used for this Hebrew word is where we get the word, eulogy, which literally means, good word.  Do you believe God speaks good words about and over you?  Also, do you believe that we have a part in this good word?

 

The Lord told Moses that Aaron and his sons were to speak this blessing.  It is a priestly act.  Now since we are under the New Covenant of Jesus, we are a holy priesthood unto the Lord (1 Peter 2:5).  As such, we can participate in the sharing and declaring this good word concerning the people of God.

 

Lastly, the second aspect of this word “bless” is to kneel.  In former times, if someone was to bless you, you would kneel before them.  We see this with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  (Also, consider the process of being knighted.)  What does this mean for us in a less formal society?  It still speaks of posture.  In order to receive a blessing, we need to stop, listen carefully to the good word, and then act on it, submitting ourselves to the Lord who is the source of the good word we speak.

 

After meditating on the passage last week, did you hear a good word from God.  When you think of friends and loved ones, do you hear a good word from the Lord for them?  As priests, we have the joy and privilege of serving one another in Jesus by sharing a good word.  I pray you experience this joy soon.

 

Grace and peace,

Brook

Covenantal Love as Blessing: Receiving God’s Words for Us

I love hearing missionary stories.  It was a delight to listen to our Guatemala team as they shared their experiences during their mission.  If you missed it, here is a link to the recording.

 

For the next few weeks I will be sharing some thoughts from the priestly blessing for the people Israel found in Numbers 6:22-27 (NIV).

 

The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

   “‘”The LORD bless you 
      and keep you; 
   the LORD make his face shine on you 
      and be gracious to you; 
   the LORD turn his face toward you 
      and give you peace.”‘

“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

 

This passage is familiar to most of you, and it has become a favorite of mine.  I have been reflecting on it for a while and realized that I would like to understand it more fully, since I recite it almost daily over my family and as a benediction following most of my talks.

 

The biggest surprise for me in beginning to study this passage is that these are not just happy words, though they do bring joy, but an expression of covenantal love from God toward his people.  And as such, it requires a response from his people.  Even though as Christians, we are under a new covenant established through the work of Jesus Christ, we can learn how to live covenantally* from this passage, since it has found its fulfillment in Christ.  My encouragement this week is to reflect on this passage, reading it as God’s words to you.  I have been blessed by them, I pray you will be, too.

 

Grace and peace,

Brook 

 

* living covenantally: committing our selves to live within God’s commitments toward us 

 

Leading by Love, Kingdom Style

It was great to have Pastor Stuart, Jendy, and their family back with us after five weeks in Guatemala.  Stuart took the opportunity last Sunday to share some reflections from his time in Guatemala.  Here is a link to his talk.  This Sunday we will hear from the team we sent to Guatemala in June.  Please come to hear encouraging, uplifting, and challenging stories from their mission.

 

Since I wrote last week about individual identity and responsibility found in the collective view of the church, I wanted to address this issue from a kingdom perspective.

 

The ways of the kingdom of God run counter to the ways of man (actually, it’s probably the other way around).  Jesus said that the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all, and that kingdom leaders are not to lord it over their fellow believers.  So, what does it mean to be a kingdom-style servant leader (I believe this is God’s will for all Christians.)?  It means to love.  It means to care about other people enough to do something, even if it is inconvenient.  

 

So why do I keep going on about this?  Because Jesus also said that if you try to save your life you will lose it.  I believe spiritual growth happens when we look beyond ourselves and love.  Jesus set the example and gave us the Holy Spirit as our guide.  Ours is to listen, love, and lose our life that we may be found in him.  Let’s continue to love.

 

Grace and peace,

Brook 

 

The Me in the We

I had a great time with you all last Sunday at our VLC worship gathering.  The topic of community is one that I think about a lot.  There was so much more I wanted to share.  Here is a link to the recording of that talk.

 

In this week’s article I want to talk about “The Me in the We.”  We all know the old saying, “There is no I in We (or Us).”  While this is true, it is also true that We cannot exist without I/Me.  Community is where two or more people come together under a common purpose.  Where the above saying seeks to circumvent the influence of self-centered individuals from dominating community, the I/Me that I am encouraging is one that is established in love and seeks to engage those around them in a way that is uplifting and Christ honoring.  

 

You may have heard me use the term collective instead of corporate in describing community.  The reason I do this is because corporate finds it root in corpus (body) and, to a certain extent, lines of individuality are blurred within the context of body.  Collective, on the other hand and to a certain extent, retains the traits of individuality while simultaneously exhibiting something greater than the self.  Both are useful in certain contexts, but in the context of smaller community, collective seems more appropriate because by highlighting individuality we also highlight personal responsibility to the community.  When everyone is responsible (responding appropriately to one another), then the collective is truly a community of love.

 

So my encouragement for this week is found in 1 Peter 1:22, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

 

Grace and peace,

Brook 

Community and the Posture of Clay

Ok, you may have to read through my bias a little bit, but I was so encouraged by Autumn Fonceca’s talk this last Sunday at VLC.  If you missed it, click here to listen. This Sunday I will be talking about community as it pertains to love and mission.  I would love for it to be more than a monologue, so come with your thoughts and ideas.  And, as usual, we’ll pass the microphone.

 

Sometimes my reading and research take me far and wide across books, blogs, and articles.  This week was one of the more interesting ones.  In a serendipitous way I happened upon a video blog of Phil Shepherd a minister from Fort Worth, Texas.  In short, his encouragement was for church communities to take a posture of clay – malleable, moldable.  Clay with too little moisture is rigid, inflexible, and will break under too much pressure.  Clay with too much moisture is mushy, messy, and unable to hold a shape.  But clay with just the right amount of moisture is usable, strong enough to hold a shape, and yet soft enough to be amendable.  

 

Like the Scriptural illustration of God being the potter and we being clay, it works well on both an individual and community basis.  Lately I’ve seen this in our church community, as a group we are taking the posture of clay.  Not only to the moving of the Spirit, but also in relationship with one another.  Even in our Sunday morning talks, we are allowing ourselves to be challenged in our understanding of love, mission, our identity in Christ, and the power of our story.  We’ve wrestled with the assumptions, the status quo, and the ruts that we’ve accepted in our lives and the implications of making changes as they are revealed to us through the Spirit, the Scriptures, and by one another.  It’s not an easy road, but I do believe it is a more excellent way.  We need to experience the Spirit, examine the Scriptures, and engage one another in community, for it is the context of development given to us by Jesus and by which he purposes to fulfill the mission of the kingdom.  I feel privileged to be with you in this season of shaping.

 

Grace and peace,

Brook

 

Try Something New for 30 Days

I have been encouraged lately by what has been happening in our Sunday worship gatherings here at VLC.  Last Sunday, Kim Nowlin gave a great talk on (re)discovering our identity in Christ.  If you missed it, click here to listen.  This Sunday, I’m please to announce that we will be hearing a message by my wife, Autumn, about living missionally. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

 

Lately, my posts have been a little on the serious side, so I thought I would share something lighter today.  There is currently a lecture conference going on in Edinburgh, Scotland, called TEDGlobal (TED=Technology, Entertainment, Design).  One of the talks given there was from Matt Cutts titled “Try Something New for 30 Days.”  In this talk he shares his experience of taking 30 day challenges and discovered that 30 days seems to be just the right amount of time to fully experience something new, but not be bound to it forever.  If you like what you experienced, you can permanently implement it, if not, you can let it go on day 31.  His take away line, “Anyone can do anything for 30 days.”

 

From his talk, I saw a correlation between 30 day challenges and our summer Mission of the Spirit project.  I know for the last five weeks, or so, we’ve been challenging ourselves spiritually and intellectually through our discussions on Sunday mornings.  I’m feeling that in the remaining days of summer it would be fun to ask the Holy Spirit if there is a 30 day challenge for us in regards to the mission of the Spirit.  I am praying about some things that I would like to do.  What are some things you have always wanted to do?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Also, the underlined title to Matt Cutts’ talk is a link. It’s only 3 minutes long.  Enjoy!

 

Grace and peace,

Brook 

 

Filling the Void

I hope all is well and that you are finding relief from the heat on these warmer days. Last Sunday we had a wonderful message from Grant Teagarden on understanding the Father’s love.  This Sunday, we have the pleasure of hearing a message from Kim Nowlin.  From the few conversations I’ve had with her this week, I’m excited to hear it in its entirety.

 

It is probably no surprise to you that I am still meditating on love and its implications for our personal, collective, and kingdom lives.  I have found that the ideas from my article from last week, Serious About Love, are actually transferable to a great number of areas in our lives.  As I continued thinking and praying, the passage, Jeremiah 31:31-34, came to mind.

 

31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, 
   “when I will make a new covenant 
with the people of Israel 
   and with the people of Judah. 
32 It will not be like the covenant 
   I made with their ancestors 
when I took them by the hand 
   to lead them out of Egypt, 
because they broke my covenant, 
   though I was a husband to them,” 
            declares the LORD. 
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel 
   after that time,” declares the LORD. 
“I will put my law in their minds 
   and write it on their hearts. 
I will be their God, 
   and they will be my people. 
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, 
   or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ 
because they will all know me, 
   from the least of them to the greatest,” 
            declares the LORD. 
“For I will forgive their wickedness 
   and will remember their sins no more.” 

 

In this passage I see that God in exchanging the old covenant with the new removed the external code of righteousness for one that is internal.  The change is from a one size fits all approach to being in relationship with God to one written on the hearts of every believer and administered by the Holy Spirit.  How I see this playing out in real life is that just as God in removing the structure of the Law and replacing it with a person, I too in my relationships need to let go of forms, positions, and even rules and in place insert myself.  There is no other way to love.  I know this is easier said than done, but at the present, I can’t ignore the door before me.  I pray this encourages you to seek the Lord for ways in which you might be the best option in place of something less personal.  Let me know what you think.

 

Grace and peace,

Brook 

 

Serious About Love

The conversation we had at our last VLC worship gathering was incredible – reminiscent of a highly engaged college lecture with questions and comments coming from all over the room.  We finally had to call time, because we could have continued for hours.  Here is a link to the recording of that conversation.  The talk, jointly shared with Ken Karnes and I, began with the topic of forgiveness, but toward the end of our discussion the focus opened up to include what it means to be a Christian, heaven, and hell.  As the focus opened up, so did the stance on the traditional positions of these topics, leaning toward inclusivity and faith in God as a just judge.  

 

For a moment I felt that we may have gone too far, then it occurred to me that we hadn’t gone far enough.  The tendency, when embracing a more open and inclusive view toward spirituality, is to become lukewarm and complacent, as if it doesn’t really matter.  But, I realized that when we seek openness we must also become more resolute in our commitment to loving God by loving those around us.  If we believe that the message of God’s love is for all people and is accessible by all people, then we as agents of that love must be willing to love beyond ourselves to the place that we find ourselves completely dependent on the God’s grace to be love for others.  That was Jesus’ example for us.

 

It is not our responsibility to create an entrance exam for heaven and give Jesus a thumbs up or down after our assessment.  Rather, we are to care about the people Jesus brings us, believing that heaven is a worthy destination for everyone and that it is our responsibility to love those who are before us so that they too will know and love Jesus and would want to do the same.

 

So, what does this love look like?  My answer may be a bit subjective, but Jesus didn’t give us the Holy Spirit for nothing.  Not only does the Holy Spirit reveal Jesus to us, but he also fills us with his grace and power so that we can walk in the ways of Jesus.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to love as Jesus loves, just as Jesus did, only doing and saying what he saw and heard from the Father.

 

If we are serious about this, then we can expect to be stretched by what we hear from the Spirit, but we can also expect to find the grace and strength of the Spirit to carry it through.  I’m excited to see what will unfold as we seek to love this way.