Be Ready for Him | Pastor John Hardie
“Santa Claus is coming to town,” the little song warns. “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!”
Why be good? Well obviously… because if you aren’t good, you won’t get a gift from Santa – serious stuff indeed for a child.
In the matter of the coming of Jesus Christ, we are dealing with eternal life and death, a matter so serious even many Christians would rather not think about it. The Bible warns us to not be sleeping when He returns. Rather, we must be awake and alert, for we know not the hour.
In the famous prologue of John’s Gospel it says of His first coming, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11) How sad for God’s chosen people.
The prophetic writings pointing to a sacrificial Messiah failed to capture the interest and imagination of the Jews. But whose fault was that? The coming Messiah’s power and authority were much more interesting to readers of prophecy than His sacrificial role. And because he came to be the Lamb of God, he was neither recognized nor received by most people.
When it comes to Jesus’ return, we must be better prepared. We want to be people who anticipate and prepare for His return with joy and awe. If we are faithful, His appearing will be transformative for us. John declares, “We will be like him for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Wow!
For the unprepared, it’s a different story. “At the end of the age the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50)
Advent is a short but serious season intended to move us towards readiness. Nothing good can come from being caught unprepared for the world’s true King. But if we are prepared, we will have every reason to await his coming not with dread, but with unimaginable joy.
WHAT IS ADVENT AND WHY DO WE CELEBRATE IT AT CITY CHURCH?
Advent is a four-week preparatory season leading up to Christmas. It encourages us to wait and to prepare. Our goal is to more greatly appreciate the astonishing humility of the Incarnation of the Son of God – and anticipate His coming again in power and glory.
The Bible does not tell us to observe Advent, but it has been a part of the historical church’s calendar for a long time, calling us to prepare the way for the Lord. The City Church Elders believe that observing Advent helps us combat many distractions of the holiday season.
HOW ADVENT HELPS US
1) Advent helps us align our December calendars with the story of God. Often we spend more time in December thinking about the demands of Christmas than the glory of Christ. Through gathered worship on Sundays and family devotions/readings during the week, Advent helps us to dedicate December as a time to reflect on what is most precious to us: God’s gift of Himself in Christ eclipsing all others.
2) Advent stirs our longings for the second coming of Christ. Though Christ’s Kingdom is already present in the world (and in us!), it is also not yet fully realized. Advent stirs our hearts to pray for Christ’s return, to groan for the current brokenness of the world and ourselves, and to give ourselves more fully to God’s redeeming purposes in the world.
3) Advent gives us a strategic opportunity to share the hope of Christ’s coming with our friends/family who are not yet connected to Jesus or the church. Both as the church gathered on Sundays and the church scattered throughout the week, the lead up to Christmas affords us a great opportunity to share the Gospel. Many of our friends/family who are not connected to Jesus will consider coming to church and talking about Jesus during the holidays. We want to be available for these opportunities, for the glory of Jesus and the good of our loved ones.
OBSERVING ADVENT IN MY HOME THROUGHOUT THE WEEK
Advent is traditionally celebrated with an Advent Wreath, a circular candle holder that supports five candles. Each night, when an individual, family, or group gathers to celebrate and pray, candles are lit: one candle during the first week, two candles during the second week, and so on, until all five are lit on Christmas Eve.
Advent wreaths and candles can be purchased inexpensively at local stores or online. Or, you can observe Advent with a wreath and five candles that you already have in your home. However you choose to arrange your Advent Wreath and candles is unimportant; what is important is devoting ourselves to prayer, reflection and doing God’s will as we look back at Christ’s coming and look forward to His return.
A note to parents with young children: Whether your family has been observing Advent in your home for years, or if you are new to the practice of Advent, the key thing is not perfection as you go through the liturgy with your family; rather, the most important thing for your children during Advent is for them to see you, their parents, hold high in reverence daily worship in the season upon us: the celebration of the Incarnate Christ and the anticipation of His Second Coming. As your children grow each year, they will begin to imitate your reverence for the Christmas season and for Advent, one day bringing the reverence and worship to their own home and family. Each daily practice should take about 10 to 20 minutes to go through.
Outline of Advent Liturgy in the Home (Morning or Evening):
*Readings, hymns, and liturgy found in the separate weekly handouts.
Say the Responsive Advent Reading.
Light your Advent Wreath: one candle in the first week, two candles in the second week, etc.
Sing the weekly hymn stanza(s).
Read the Scriptural reading(s).
Pray the Advent prayer.
Consider the questions in light of the Scripture reading.
Adult and/or older children prayer.
Conclude with the benediction.
Ash Wednesday | Pastor John Hardie
Most Christians are familiar with the Christian Calendar’s “feasts,” more commonly known as holy days or holidays. These feasts include Christmas Day, Easter Day, and Ascension Day. But we also have fasts.
Fasts are important, too -- not as days to celebrate, but days to mourn and seek forgiveness. The primary fasts are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the season before Easter. Lent is a season for careful self-examination. We don’t want to begin Lent on a Sunday, because Sunday is ever the day of Creation and the day of Jesus’s Resurrection. The time to launch a season of deep penitence over our sin is best done during the week.
This year, Ash Wednesday is February 14. City Church will hold a service at 6:30PM. This is a day of “Christian obligation.” This doesn’t mean that everyone is invited. It means that everyone who can make it, should make it.
This is not a day for indulging our appetites. It’s a day to note where our appetites have taken us. It’s a sober day of thinking about how, in many ways, we’ve let God and our neighbors down by not living according to the best and most beautiful teachings and standards God has given us through Jesus Christ. We receive ashes on our forehead as a sign that we are humbling ourselves before God.
The good news is that God is faithful to use our honesty, to use our contrition to serve the purposes of His grace. He renews us by setting us on a path of regeneration that leads us right back to the Cross - but with more appreciation and gratitude and power than before.
I invite you to join your fellow congregants on Ash Wednesday, February 14 @6:30pm.
See you there!
“Incarnation” | Pastor Jack Carter
C.S. Lewis wrote: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became man… If the thing happened, it was the central event in the history of the Earth — the very thing that the whole story has been about.”
Andrew W Jones writes: “The Incarnation is the center of all history. Everything that happened before the Incarnation was leading up to it, and everything that has happened since can only be understood through it. The Incarnation is what history is about.”
John the Apostle wrote: “The Word (Jesus) was made flesh (fully human). He lived among us and we saw His glory, the glory that is His as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Thus the cosmic consequences of the birth of this baby in Bethlehem are vast beyond measure. Jesus is the way, truth, and life; this reality is not simply one option among many or merely the Christian’s “religious” perspective. All things were made through Him, born of Mary. He is the light and the life of men. So when, in time, in history, the Logos became flesh, it was much more than the arrival, advent, of a religious teacher or spiritual guide. He came as King, the true imperator of all the world. Let all the earth be glad!
HOLY WEEK 2023
Holy Week was very special this year at City Church. On Palm Sunday, we presented our palms and walked beside Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9. We imagined him clearing the Temple with lion-like dominance, fulfilling Malachi 3:1. On Maundy Thursday, after hearing a moving homily from Pastor Joshua on “The Power of Love,” we had wonderful participation in the foot-washing as we sought to imitate Jesus’s command to love one another as he has loved us. We then shared in the Lord’s Supper after responding to questions (in seder-like fashion) from some of our young people. On Good Friday, we entered into “The Way of the Cross” via meditations from fictional-but-plausible eye-witnesses. We heard from the centurion, the penitent thief, and Mother Mary and others as we prayed and sang songs glorifying Jesus.
On Resurrection Day, Pastor Jack presented the earliest Scriptural teachings on “The Resurrection of the Son of God.” He helped us see how clear and strong this message was in First Corinthians 15, based upon what Paul had received from Peter and other apostles only a year or so after Jesus’ resurrection.
Let’s give thanks for the Holy Spirit inspired messages and music, and all our brothers and sisters who planned, decorated, made slides, rehearsed, welcomed, played instruments, read assigned readings, and welcomed and prayed for those who came in need of help.
We’ve been with the Lord who has clearly been with us. He is Risen. We are blessed!
Expecting | Pastor John Hardie
From the Pregnancy Center 2022 Christmas Devotional
My wife, Melanie and I recently entered the hallowed realm of grandparenting. Two precious one-year olds now populate the “Photos” folder in our phones—a boy and girl. Fisher and Kylie.
Before they were born, our daughters loved to stand side by side, comparing their protruding bellies, imagining how important the two cousins would be to each other. “They’ll be life-long friends!” Oh, happy expectation!
In his gospel, Luke tells us about two other babies and what happened when Mary was expecting. “In those days Mary arose and went to a town in Judah. As she entered the house of Zechariah she greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Luke 1:39-41
John and Jesus were cousins. Moreover, each were a vital part of God’s plan for salvation. Even before they were born, they changed their mother’s lives. Elizabeth had felt old and empty. Now she’s expecting a child! When Mary walked through her door, baby John did a backflip, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
When the babes became men, they didn’t minister together, but each was ever in the other’s thoughts, for each of their ministries depended on the other’s.
A few weeks ago, our grandbabies came to our house for a visit. When Fisher’s parents put him in his car seat to leave, Kylie’s parents carried her over to “say goodbye”. Neither of these children can talk, but Kylie looked intently at Fisher and suddenly leaned way over—almost out of her father’s arms—reaching out to Fisher as if to say, “We belong to each other.” It was so touching. We all saw it and were moved.
The stories of John and Jesus and Kylie and Fisher make me marvel at the mystery of who God brings into our lives. We never know who is going to come, or when, and become a profoundly important person to us.
Expecting is good—especially as we prepare for Christmas. We don’t have to be pregnant to be expectant. Jesus came into the world to reconcile man to God, and people to people. Only in Him do we find the grace to heal our terrible estrangements and live as the family of God.
This is what God wants. This is what God has planned. Bursting through the door of our life just might be a person sent to us from God Himself. This is what it means to be expecting.
Advent: What, How and Why?
What is Advent and Why Do We Celebrate It at City Church?
Advent is a four-week preparatory season leading up to Christmas. It encourages us to wait and to prepare. Our goal is to more greatly appreciate the astonishing humility of the Incarnation of the Son of God – and anticipate His coming again in power and glory.
The Bible does not tell us to observe Advent, but it has been a part of the historical church’s calendar for a long time, calling us to prepare the way for the Lord. The City Church Elders believe that observing Advent helps us combat many distractions of the holiday season.
How Advent Helps Us
Advent helps us align our December calendars with the story of God. Often we spend more time in December thinking about the demands of Christmas than the glory of Christ. Through gathered worship on Sundays and family devotions/readings during the week, Advent helps us to dedicate December as a time to reflect on what is most precious to us: God’s gift of Himself in Christ eclipsing all others.
Advent stirs our longings for the second coming of Christ. Though Christ’s Kingdom is already present in the world (and in us!), it is also not yet fully realized. Advent stirs our hearts to pray for Christ’s return, to groan for the current brokenness of the world and ourselves, and to give ourselves more fully to God’s redeeming purposes in the world.
Advent gives us a strategic opportunity to share the hope of Christ’s coming with our friends/family who are not yet connected to Jesus or the church. Both as the church gathered on Sundays and the church scattered throughout the week, the lead up to Christmas affords us a great opportunity to share the Gospel. Many of our friends/family who are not connected to Jesus will consider coming to church and talking about Jesus during the holidays. We want to be available for these opportunities, for the glory of Jesus and the good of our loved ones.
Observing Advent in My Home Throughout the Week
Advent is traditionally celebrated with an Advent Wreath, a circular candleholder that supports five candles. Each night, when an individual, family, or group gathers to celebrate and pray, candles are lit: one candle during the first week, two candles during the second week, and so on, until all five are lit on Christmas Eve.
Advent wreaths can be purchased inexpensively at local stores or online. Or, you can observe Advent with five candles that you already have in the house. However you choose to arrange your Advent Wreath is unimportant; what is important is devoting ourselves to prayer, reflection and doing God’s will as we look back at Christ’s coming and look forward to His return.
See the Advent Guide HERE
In the Morning or Evening:
Say the Advent greeting.
Sing the hymn stanza.
Light your Advent Wreath: one candle in the first week, two candles in the second week, etc.
Read one of the four readings.
Children say the Advent prayer.
Consider the questions in light of the Scripture reading.
Adult and older children, pray as you feel led.
Conclude with the benediction.
New City Church Children’s Director
Dear City Church Family,
Over the past several months, Pastor Joshua was tasked with reviewing the City Church Children’s Ministry. After reviewing the current state and gathering feedback from parents, he has completed his analysis which includes next steps to develop and build this ministry.
Due to this analysis, the Elder Team is excited to announce that they have hired Amy Landeg to be our City Church Children’s Director.
Amy Landeg has been a member of City Church for 2.5 years. She is married to Bob and has three kids Lisbeth (10), Bobby (8), and Debbie (5). They currently attend Annapolis Christian Academy where she also works as a part time aid. She loves working with kids of all ages and challenging them to understand the importance of having faith in Christ. She wants to be an encouragement not only to kids but also those who are in constant contact with those kids whether it be the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. that they can find hope in the truth of God's Word. She wants to help build a strong community between the church and the family.
As Amy begins her new position, there are 3 main goals for City Church Children’s Ministry.
Cultivating a Culture of Family Discipleship
Partnering with Families
Equipping Kids
Sunday School
K-2nd: Jesus Storybook Bible
3rd-5th: Foundational Worldview
City Church Kids
K-5th: Connected Biblical Lesson in conjunction with sermon passage/topic
Equipping Parents
Resources including books, videos, podcasts and family workshops
As the Children’s Director, she will be creating and teaching the lesson for City Church Kids. This lesson will correspond to what is being preached in the sermon to the adults. She will be looking for 2 volunteers on a rotating monthly basis to help her.
Please extend a warm welcome to Amy Landeg when you see her. Also, here is her contact information in case you need to get in touch with her.
Email: alandeg@citychurchcc.com
Phone: (440) 679-6262
In Christ,
City Church Elder Team
Basic Overview of Philippians
Excerpt from Pastor Carter’s Class on July 3rd, 2022
Theological Presumption: The Triune God has effected salvation in Christ and is now creating a people for His name, whose present is marked by the life of the age to come, predicated on the death and resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. God’s people are now both “already” and “not yet” receivers of the kingdom of God as they now live the life of the future in the present, awaiting God’s final wrap up, the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel, the good news of Christ; good news of the kingdom.
This letter (Philippians) invites us into the advance of the gospel, the good news about Christ and the Spirit. It points us to Christ, both for now and forever. Christ is the gospel; Christ is the Savior and Lord; Christ is our life; Christ is our way of life; Christ is our future; Christ is our joy; to live is Christ and to die is gain and all to the glory of our God and Father.
He Will Be In You
Excerpts from Pastor John’s Hardie’s sermon
“Who is the Holy Spirit?”
May 8, 2022
When I was entering into ordained ministry, I had some deep disappointments, and some setbacks. I often felt frustrated, depleted, and overwhelmed. I came “that close” to quitting. It was the Holy Spirit that lifted me out of despair. For years I had known I needed more Holy Spirit – and I prayed for Him to fill me, with not much happening that I could tell. But in 1984, when I was hungriest for help, and humbled, suddenly there were people who prayed for me, and my relationship with Holy Spirit was ignited. It had the effect of moving my relationship with God from being based in my mind and imagination and moved it into the depths of my spirit where all my most beautiful and best suspicions about the nearness of God come from. And suddenly there was this sense of closeness, of immediacy. I could tell I had a spirit! And with Holy Spirit’s help I could worship God and experience Him all at the same time.
“And we know that the Spirit helps us in our weakness,” Paul wrote in Romans 8. He knew it, and now I know it, too. Now, when I am yielding to the Holy Spirit, I can tell that God is living in me.
The founder of the religious order my sister belongs to wrote this:
A wise and loving guest can transform the whole atmosphere in a house. Nothing, however, can compare with the transformation wrought by the Holy Spirit if we open ourselves to His power and presence as the Spirit of joy, love, counsel, comfort, grace and life. M. Basilea Schlink in Ruled by the Spirit
It's one thing to live in the Age of the Spirit. It’s another to truly connect personally with the Holy Spirit. This morning I am simply asking each of you: Have you been giving Holy Spirit a wide berth? Or are you seeking Him. What is the atmosphere like inside you these days? Are you playing host to fears and frustrations? Some things in us would be “better out than in.” Would you like to learn more about what it means to offer the home of your heart to the Wonderful Guest, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus and the Father are able to send? Be sure, then, to join in this year’s journey to Pentecost.
Holy Week | Pastor John Hardie
Holy Week – sometimes called “Passion Week,” is the last week of our Lord Jesus’ earthly life. It begins on Palm Sunday and ends on the day of Resurrection.
As a rule, the authors of the four Gospels describe Jesus’ ministry selectively, not comprehensively. But that changes when it comes to Jesus’ last week on earth. In Mark’s Gospel, believed by many scholars to be the earliest, this week takes up five whole chapters, as does Luke’s. Matthew’s Gospel utilizes seven chapters.
These three Gospels – Matthew’s, Mark’s, and Luke’s – focus primarily on what Jesus did in public in his last week. John’s Gospel covers the last week by focusing less on Jesus’ public ministry, and more on what Jesus said and did among those who had been with him from the beginning. John’s coverage of the week takes eight entire chapters of material. More than a third of John’s gospel is just about this week!
And what do we find? In everything Jesus did, we see that Jesus Christ will have His reign!
Jesus asserts his authority over false religion and the religious spirit of control by clearing the Temple, and driving out the money-changers and animal sellers away single-handed. Afterwards he returns to the Temple daily to teach, and does so without being arrested!
Jesus continues to tell parables. But now his parables are less about the nature of the Kingdom of God, and more about its triumph.
What else does he do? He gives the summary of the law. He teaches about his return. He warns the Jews of impending judgment because they are failing to recognize the time of their visitation. He speaks against the religious leaders in terrible, searing terms. And he prepares himself to suffer and die as a ransom for many, as a sacrificial lamb, as fulfillment of prophecy, and most of all, as an act of love and obedience to the Father.
On Maundy Thursday night, at the Last Supper, Jesus establishes the new covenant between God and humanity in his blood for the forgiveness of sins. He institutes the Lord’s Supper to be a perpetual memory until he comes again.
John’s Gospel does not describe the supper itself. But it does tell us that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. Afterwards, he tells them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34 John then relates what Jesus said to his disciples and what he prayed to the Father. In the end, it all turns out to be about love. He summarizes, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” John 15:9
Then they go to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prays until his arrest.
On Good Friday, the chief priests bring men to testify against Jesus, but they cannot keep their stories straight. When put under oath by the high priest, Jesus confesses that he is indeed the Son of the Blessed One.
He is then taken to Pontius Pilate where he is condemned to die. Condemned, mocked, scourged, and crucified, Jesus says from the cross, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” He and his Cross are established forever as where all people may go to find solace in suffering and unmerited forgiveness.
This is Holy Week, Passion Week. We invite you to Noonday Prayers from 12:15 – 12:45PM. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday we will have worship services at 7PM as we commemorate the awesome acts of love by which Jesus establishes his reign in men’s hearts.
Then on Easter Day, we will gather to celebrate His Resurrection, the inauguration of the new creation. What a week!
“Now, Why Am I Doing This??” - A Short Guide to Lent | Pastor John Hardie
The arrival of Ash Wednesday marks a new season for us at City Church. Historically, the church has invited its members to observe Lent as a penitential season and way to spiritually accompany Jesus to the Cross.
Jesus left enthralled crowds behind in Galilee and set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51f) where he would confront the religious establishment and be killed and raised from the dead.
That path was not easy for him or those who followed him; and we are not looking for an easy way either. Lent is a time to distance ourselves from the distractions of the world, a time to dedicate ourselves to self-examination, prayer, fasting, and self-denial, and meditating on lessons from Holy Scripture.
The season is 40 days, a nod to his time in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. So, you’re 3 weeks into this journey and wondering, “Why am I doing this??” Here are a few things to remember.
We are doing Lent to:
Grow in our devotion to Jesus. Added disciplines are intended to increase our appreciation for Jesus, and indeed our time with Him each day.
Deepen our repentance. Sin is made up of all kinds of wrong. Some evils are things we would never contemplate, much less do. But others have a familiar hold on us. They are evident in our impatience, scorn, envy, independence, and self-pity. We may conceal them from others well enough, but God sees such things, and they do affect our relationships. During Lent we make time for honest assessment, and the expression of regret and sorrow. We also listen to God’s invitation to us to turn to Him, and to seek help and mercy in our weakness.
Strengthen our faith. In Lent, we are not acting alone. God is doing His work. We believe in God. We trust in Him. We depend on him more and more, especially when we fast from food. Each person chooses his or her own kind of fast. Some choose one day in the week to not eat. Others stop eating meat, sweets, drinking alcohol, or a combination. Still others go without a particular meal each day.
We can also choose to fast from things like television, social media, or video games. Fasting from these can open to us ample time for reading, study, and praying. It’s amazing what we can learn about ourselves (and God) by spending some addition time in prayer, study, or silence.
4. Become better intercessors. A deepening awareness of personal sin always makes us more aware of “the sin of the world.” The Lamb of God came to take away the sin of the world. There’s a vital role He’s given us to play in that as intercessors. The mercy we experience drives us to pray for God’s mercy in other people’s lives. Beautiful actions follow beautiful prayers.
As always, remember that the church elders — Pastors Jack Carter, Joshua Segundo, John Hardie, and Pete Hansen and Donnie Hass — are happy to visit with you along the way to offer encouragement and guidance. We are praying that each person and each family has an anointed season with the Lord.