“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”  ~Bill Vaughan (columnist and author)

So here’s the question:  Are you entering the new year as an optimist or as a pessimist?

Let me be pessimistic for a moment.  2012 is the year that I will turn FORTY!  Ugh…

Now let me be optimistic.  2012 is the year that I’ll celebrate FIVE years here at Northminster!  Woohoo!

2012 is also the year that Robin and I will welcome (God-willing) our third child into the world.  2012 is the year that Macy, my four-year-old, starts Kindergarten.  2012 is the year that I’ll get to take Micah (who will be seven by then) to his first opening night movie—of The Hobbit, no less!

But for a lot of us, 2012 will not be an easy year.  2012 will bring a lot of hardship, a lot of suffering, a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety.  In fact, even for those who are expecting it to be a great year, 2012 may turn out to be really hard.

I don’t say this to be pessimistic, but to remind us that, whatever circumstances we face, we can always have hope.  We can have hope because we have a God who stands with us even in the midst of our difficulty.  We can have hope because we have a God who cares about us—so much that he sent his Son into the world.  We can have hope because we know that Jesus defeated death when he rose from the tomb.  Because of Jesus, death is not the end of the story for us!

As we move into 2012—whether it turns out to be a great year or a hard year—we can move into the future, not as pessimists but as optimists.  With that in mind, I want to leave you with one of my favorite passages of hope:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look!  God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  (Revelation 21:3-4)

–Pastor Markus Watson

Remember the Oldsmobile marketing campaign where they would end each commercial with the words, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile”?  Of course, this was an attempt to make the Oldsmobile brand feel young and relevant.  But it also reflected the reality that the world has changed—a lot!—in the past 20, 30, 50 years.

This new world affects not only companies marketing their products.  It has also affected the Church (that is, all churches—Chrisitanity around the world, as a whole, especially Europe and North America).  Whereas Christianity once held a dominant place in our culture, that just isn’t the case anymore.  Christianity has lost its place at the center of culture; instead, it is today only one of many options available to people as they journey through life.

On the negative side, this has resulted in far lower church attendance over the years, and attendance continues to decline.  Fewer people are being exposed to the life-changing love of Jesus.

But on the positive side, this new scenario has forced the Church to rethink who it is and why it exists.  What’s our purpose in the world as the people of God?  And, more specifically, what is our purpose as Northminster?

Over the next eight weeks, we’ll be in a series that I’m calling Crash Course:  Being a Church with Purpose.  What I want to do in this series is begin to look at why we exist.  Why has God put us here on this earth?  Why had God called you and me together to be a part of this particular church?

My hope is that over the next eight weeks we’ll get a sense of who we are as a church, why we exist, and where God may be calling us in the future.  I’m looking forward to learning and growing together with you over the course of these eight weeks!

For those of us who call ourselves Christian—who consider ourselves to be followers of Jesus—there’s no question that the center point of history is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That’s one of the reasons Easter is such a big deal for us!

So, then…  Why have we been spending all this time in the Old Testament this year?  Haven’t those stories been rendered irrelevant by the coming of Jesus into the world?

That’s a good question.  Here are a few reasons why the Old Testament is important for us:

1. The Old Testament is our story.  I heard one pastor refer to the Old Testament as our “mom and pop” stories.  They are the stories that tell us—the people of God—who we are and where we came from.
2. It gives us a bigger picture of God.  We don’t always understand why God did the things he did in the Old Testament, but it helps us understand that God has been involved in human history since the beginning.  God didn’t start getting involved when Jesus came (though the coming of Jesus was certainly a new and deeper way of God getting involved!).
3. It sets the life of Jesus in context.  Here’s what I mean by that.  If we didn’t have the Old Testament, we would have no way of understanding the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Jesus’ death was the once and for all sacrifice for humanity’s sin—the perfect atonement.  But this would mean nothing to us if we had no understanding of the Old Testament’s system of offerings and sacrifices.  We would also have no sense of who Jesus was as the Messiah if we didn’t have the Old Testament to shed light on what it means for the Messiah to come.  We need the Old Testament in order to understand Jesus.

So, we’re going to keep looking at the Old Testament over the next two months—four weeks in the book of Ecclesiastes and four weeks in the book of Jonah.  I’m excited to keep learning and growing as we continue to “kick it old school” for the next couple of months!

Easter is a little bit like lightning—you never know when it’s gonna strike!  You know what I mean, don’t you?  Easter happens on a different day every year.  Sometimes it’s early; sometimes it’s late.  I heard one pastor share that when he was a kid, his family (who didn’t attend church) would often miss Easter because of that!

But, believe it or not, Easter actually can be predicted with some measure of accuracy!  This year Easter is on April 24.

So now you know that Easter is coming.

Jesus knew Easter was coming, too.  But he also knew that Easter would be preceded by Good Friday.  Jesus knew that in order to get to the resurrection, he would have to go through the crucifixion.

In Hebrews 12:2, we’re told that it was “for the joy set before him” that Jesus “endured the cross….”  Jesus knew something really good was going to come after his suffering.  In fact, the verse concludes that after he rose, Jesus “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Sounds pretty good to me!

So, here’s the thing.  We can jump right to Easter on Easter morning, but it won’t really mean anything unless we go with Jesus through the crucifixion.  That’s what Good Friday is all about.  It’s our opportunity to join Jesus in his suffering so that we can more fully go with him to his resurrection.

To help you do that, I’d like to invite you to two special services on the week before Easter:

Thursday Communion Service, 7:00 p.m.:  This is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday—the night Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples.  In this service, we will experience the passion of Jesus through the use of our senses:  taste, touch, seeing, hearing, and smelling.

Good Friday Service, 7:00 p.m.:  In this service, we will journey through the suffering of Jesus toward the cross.  It will be a service of darkness, as we begin the service in full brightness and leave the service in total darkness, representing the darkness of the death of the Son of God.

[And, in case you’re wondering, we’ll have childcare for both services.  But if your kids are in elementary school, consider keeping them in the services.  Both services are interactive enough that I think they would enjoy being there.]

Many of you know that I’m a huge Star Wars fan.  But I’m also a Star Trek fan!  Not as big a fan of Star Trek as Star Wars, but I definitely love the Star Trek shows and movies.

One of the coolest things in the Star Trek universe is the transporter.  That’s the device Captain Kirk uses to get back to the Enterprise when he says, “Beam me up, Scottie.”  In a nutshell, a transporter allows a person to disappear from one location and reappear in another location.

Wouldn’t it be great if something like that really existed?  We could go anywhere in the world instantaneously!

But the fact is that transporters don’t exist.  If you want to get somewhere, you have to take a journey—whether that journey is to the grocery store or to the other side of the planet.  You might have to walk.  You might drive.  You might fly.  But the fact remains—to get from here to there, you have to take a journey.

Lent is a journey.  And our destination is the resurrection.  It’s a journey that begins this week on Ash Wednesday.

A lot of times we think we can skip the journey and still get to the destination.  But there is no such thing as an “Easter transporter.”  In order to fully experience the power of the resurrection, we need to take this journey through Lent, through the crucifixion, to the resurrection.

How do we take this journey?  Traditionally, it’s by giving something up during Lent—making a small sacrifice, fasting from something.  This allows us to identify, even in a small way, with the sacrifice of Jesus.

But you don’t necessarily have to give something up.  You might take something on.  Maybe you’ll read a Psalm a day during Lent.  Maybe you’ll say the Lord’s Prayer first thing in the morning each day during Lent.  Maybe you’ll go out of your way at least once a day to help someone in need.

The question is, how will you get to the destination—to Easter?  Will you try to transport there directly on Easter morning without taking the journey?  Or will you embrace the journey over the next 40 days so as to experience the fullness of Jesus’ resurrection?

–Pastor Markus

“Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money.”

I’m not sure who said that, but I can tell you that there’s a part of me that definitely resonates with that statement.  To some extent we all love money because money gives us the ability and the freedom to do the things we love.  In that sense, money can be a wonderful servant.

But money can also be a terrible master.

It feels good to have money left at the end of the month; it feels terrible to have month left at the end of the money.  It feels good to own your car completely; it feels terrible to know that you owe more on your car than your car is worth.  It feels good to be able to be generous with your money; it feels terrible to wish you could be generous, but you can’t because of those darned credit card bills.

Debt is, without a doubt, an epidemic in the U.S.  The average U.S. household owes $15,788 in credit card debt. With almost 200 million credit card holders in the U.S., that’s a lot of debt!

Believe it or not, the Bible actually talks about debt.  Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”  If you’ve ever been in debt, you know what that feels like—to be a slave to your lenders…

So what can we do about this?

Along with the other small groups that will begin in October, we’re going to offer a 13-week course called Financial Peace University.  It’s a video series taught by a guy named Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial advisor who has helped thousands of people get out of debt and learn to manage their money well.

The cost for this course is $100, which includes, not only the cost of participating in the class, but also the FPU Membership kit (FPU workbook, over 13 hours of audio lessons on CD, etc., etc.).  If you’re interested in the class but the price seems kind of steep, talk to me or call the office and we’ll see if there’s some way we can help with the cost.

I know I sound kind of like an infomercial (“But wait, there’s more!”), but I really do believe that if you or your family struggles with debt and wise money management, this course can change your life.  I personally haven’t been through the class, but I definitely plan on participating in it.

If this sounds interesting to you, but you’re not sure if you want to do it, we’ll be offering a free preview class on Sunday, September 26, at 11:00 a.m. (right after church).  There’s no cost or commitment if you come to this.  It’s just a way to help you decide if this class is something you want to invest in.

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve.  Middle age is when you’re forced to.”  ~Bill Vaughn (columnist and author)

The question is, did you “get” to stay up late on New Year’s Eve or were you “forced” to?

Speaking of middle-age (how’s that for a transition?)…  It’s hard to believe that this is my fourth New Year’s with Northminster!  I was 34 when I started in 2007.  This year I’ll turn 39 and next year the big FOUR-O!

There’s no question that with age comes change.  And with change comes loss.  The loss of energy.  The loss of wrinkle-free skin.  The loss of hair.  That’s what makes change so hard.  It’s not the change.  It’s the loss.

Northminster has gone through a lot of changes over the last several years.  For some, these changes have involved loss.  Loss of certain traditions.  Loss of a particular style of worship.  Loss of some things that just meant a lot to you.

But with change, we gain something, as well.  With age, we gain wisdom.  We gain knowledge.  We gain experience and expertise.

As a church we’ve gained some things, too.  We’ve gained a lot of new and younger families.  We’ve gained renewed energy as a congregation.  We’ve begun to gain a reputation in the community as a church that cares.

No doubt, change is hard.  In 2011, you will experience change.  We all will.  We will lose some things.  But we will also gain some things.  Some wonderful things!  And that’s the hope we have as God’s people—that no matter how much we change or the world changes around us, we can trust God to get us through the losses and rejoice in the gains!

Happy New Year, Northminster!

Starting this weekend, the holiday season is officially upon us—Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years!

We call them holidays because historically these days were holy days. They were days that we committed specifically to God. They were days on which we reflected just a little more deeply on our faith. They were days that we tried to live a little more faithfully as followers of God.

Here’s the thing. I’ve got nothing against taking certain days and thinking more deeply about our faith on those particular days. But too often, focusing on our faith only on “holy days” means we end up focusing on our faith very little on the “regular” days.

But as God’s people, we’re called to treat every day as a holy day, aren’t we? Every day is a day to focus on our relationship with God. Every day is a day to reflect on who God is and how much he loves us. Every day is a day for us to live out our calling as God’s people.

And, believe it or not, that’s what it is to live missionally. It is to recognize that every day we are called to live out God’s love and compassion and justice in the world around us. It is to live out the ethics and holiness of Jesus among our neighbors. It is to invite our neighbors into the reality that every day has been made holy by God and every day is an opportunity for us to bless this world.

Let’s celebrate our holidays with passion. But let’s not forget to live every day with passion—passion for God and passion for the world we’ve been called to bless!

I recently saw a newspaper headline that said something like this:  “San Diego Hasn’t Been This COOL In 77 Years!”  Ain’t that the truth?!  Even though it’s already August, and even though I’ve already had my summer vacation, there’s a part of me that feels like summer hasn’t even started yet!

Being a guy who loves summer, that’s bad news for me.  But here’s the good news.  Even though the weather hasn’t been heating up, it sure feels like things are heating up around our church!

I’ve mentioned all kinds of things in my last couple of Message from Markus articles, so I won’t go into all the details.  But think about all the local mission work we’ve done this year (Hawthorne Elementary, the alley).  Think about the church workday we had on July 17.  Think about the 135 kids we shared the gospel with at Vacation Bible School.  Think about the people God has brought to help lead us into deeper ministry, like our new Young Life Director, Kevin Curtis, and our new Director of Children and Family Ministry, Sandra Erickson.

Then think about the upcoming service day at Madison High School on August 21.  Did you know that we have three other churches working with us on that day to be a blessing to that school?!  Amazing!

And here’s something even more exciting! This past week, our own Bernie Kuchta was interviewed by a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor.  The reporter was referred to him by the folks at CityFest/Season of Service.  Here’s an exact quote of what the reporter said in her e-mail asking for an interview:

“The folks at Luis Palau pointed out Northminister Presbyterian Church as one of the best examples of a congregation with a servant’s heart.”

Can you believe that?  People are beginning to take notice of what God is doing through us!

I’m telling you…  San Diego may not be warming up this summer.  But things sure are heating up here at Northminster!

–Pastor Markus Watson