From The Pastor

Brothers and sisters,

In just a couple of Sundays, we will be celebrating All Saints Sunday. Now, if you’ve been coming to Hope Valley for a while now, you know what things typically look like on All Saints Sunday. You know what this Sunday means to folks and for folks. But for those that may not know about All Saints Sunday or for those of you who may be thinking, “I remember we always do some-thing that day, but I can’t remember what,” let me tell you a little bit about it.

All Saints Day has been celebrated by the Catholic church for centuries. Basically, it is a holiday on which Catholics remember and celebrate the saints of the Catholic church, i.e. Saint Peter, Saint Christopher, etc. They will also celebrate anyone who died for their faith. (By the way, we get our word, Halloween, from All Saints Day. “All Saints” can be written as “All Hallows” and since “All Hallows” is on November 1st, that makes October 31st “All Hallows Eve,” aka “Halloween.”)

However, as time has gone on, Christians—particularly us Protestants—have begun to refer to all believers as “saints,” since that is one of the words used by Paul to describe us. And so, we Protestants have be-gun to celebrate All Saints Sunday on the first Sunday of November. All Saints Sunday, then, is a time to remember those Christians that have come before us and celebrate their lives and their faith journeys. It is a time to contemplate the ways in which we have been shaped by “so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1; NRSVUE).

It is also a Sunday on which we honor specific church members and/or the immediate family members of church members who have passed away within the last year. It’s a time when we can come alongside their family and remind them that we love them, that we are with them. It is a time to remind them that we loved their family member, too. It’s a time to catch up, tell stories about the person, and be grateful for all they meant to each of us.

This coming All Saints Sunday, we’ll be remembering five people who have gone on to glory: Bonnie Lyon, J.J. Bush, Dorothy Moore, Herb Finch, and Carolyn Tippett. During the service, we’ll read their names and have any family present stand. Then, we’ll light a candle for them and ring a bell. It’s a touching moment as we remember them.

So, plan to be here on Sunday, November 2nd as we remember those saints who have gone before us. Come to honor their legacy. Come to spend time with their family. Come to worship a God who promises us that death does not have the last word.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

In just over two weeks, we’re going to be having our annual Fall Festival here at the church. As you all know, this is a night when we come together as a church family to offer things like Trunk-or-Treat, carnival games, prizes, crafts, and food to our neighbors. It’s a wonderful time each year as we set aside a Saturday to provide good, clean fun for families in our community. Every year I look for-ward to this event because every year it is a reminder of the joy that comes from time spent together.

Read through just about any part of the Bible and you will find biblical authors who write about joy. Even in the midst of hard times, they will find reasons to celebrate and to speak of the goodness of God and the joy that brings them. The psalmist declares, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). As Paul ends his first letter to the Thessalonians, he writes, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). The whole of the Bible speaks to the idea that in good times and in bad, be-lievers can find joy because we know that God is with us.

Why do I bring all this up? Because right now, there’s a lot of stuff happening in our world that seeks to steal our joy. The news apps on my phone love to send me upsetting headlines that, as a whole, send a message that the world is scary, that fear is good, that community is fundamentally broken, that joy is silly. But joy is not silly. It never has been. It has always, always been a form of resistance. To acknowledge that life is difficult and still choose joy takes strength and dedication. I’d argue, it takes faith.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus talked with his disciples and gave them his final sermon. According to John’s gospel, Jesus touched on topics like love, persecution, community, justice, and more. But I think one of more important things he told his disciples was this, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10-11; emphasis mine). When facing trying times, Jesus tells the disciples his joy would be with them, if they would simply believe in him and follow his lead.

So, on October 25th from 4:30-6:30 PM, our church will have a Fall Festival. We’ll have it because it’s a fun event for everyone involved. We’ll have it because it will bring joy to our community. We’ll have it because in the midst of all these headlines desperately trying to tell us the world is falling apart, we can remind folks that community is still possible, people can still be good to each other, and there is still joy to be found. We’ll have it because Jesus tells us that his joy is in us and that makes our joy complete. Let us be joyful believers in Christ!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

A little over three years ago, I preached a sermon series entitled, “Faith and Art.” It was a series designed to connect different passages of scripture with pieces of art hanging in local art museums here in the Triangle. Since then, several folks have mentioned to me that they’d enjoy doing a series like that again. So, I spent some time in the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Ackland Art Museum and I found six new pieces I’d like for us to talk about as we move into autumn.

I’m not going to list out all six in this article—you’ll need to come to worship or tune in to see which pieces we talk about—but in looking over the six pieces as a whole, I realized there were some common threads connecting them all. I didn’t mean to pick pieces that seemed so connected, but art has a tendency to resonate with whatever we’re feeling when we view it. And so, I suppose these pieces all stirred up similar things within me. They connected with me at this particular time, in this particular place, for their own particular reasons.

In looking these pieces over, there’s a consistent theme of appreciating life for what it is and living in that moment. Artists, so often, try desperately to capture one moment, one idea, one dream and communicate it to the rest of us. These pieces speak to that message from the artists—live now; life is precious. There’s also a consistent theme of choosing to do the right thing in the moment. Art often seeks to encourage our better angels, empowering us to do right by others, and challenging us to value things like truth and beauty and grace.

So, starting on October 5th—with a break on the 19th for a guest preacher—we’ll be looking at these works of art and asking ourselves, “What do these pieces stir up in me? And how do they connect to my Christian faith? How can I take the lessons of these artists, filter them through the lens of scripture, and find faithful ways to live and express myself?” I’m looking forward to this series!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

As you all know, we’re in the midst of our, “I’m Just Trying to Help” sermon series that looks at various phrases Christians will say that are not as helpful as we might think they are. I mentioned one phrase this past Sunday that I wanted to dive into a little deeper here in the Illuminator. I told y’all that my high school Calculus teacher’s extra credit policy was based on a phrase she claimed was in the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves.” I want to take a moment to unpack some of what that phrase says.

Ultimately, the idea this phrase is pushing is that a person has to take some initiative before God will swoop in and help them. On the surface, that feels logical. If a person is in a bad situation and is not doing anything we think would help their situation, it’s easy to say, “Well, there’s no need to waste time or effort on them.” Whether we like it or not, that’s a judgmental attitude. It’s saying that the person does not deserve help because of who they are. They only deserve help if they’ve earned it.

But on top of that, by throwing God into the mix, “God helps those who help themselves,” we’ve snuck a kind of works righteousness into the way we think God views others. “Show God your good works, then you’ll get help” or “Show God your works, then you’ll receive God’s grace.” That is not scriptural. Let us remember Paul’s words to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God helps whoever God wants to—not because one particular person did more than the other, but because all people need God’s help. Always.

I wanted to write about this because I increasingly see faith leaders, particularly some Baptists, coming out and saying that empathy—the ability to walk in another person’s shoes and the desire to help them—should be considered a sin. They argue that it is wrong and sinful to show empathy toward other people. Or they will argue that there is an order in which you should extend your empathy—almost a flow-chart that tells you whether or not you have to care about a person. And there’s a judgmental attitude that comes with that. There’s a judgmental nature that comes with saying, “This person doesn’t deserve my help” or with saying, “To help this person would be a waste.”

Let me quickly correct the record here—empathy is not a sin. It never has been. It never will be. It is never wrong to look at another person, feel empathy for them, and choose to help them—whether they’ve “helped themselves” or not. If you feel called to help someone, then help them. Why do I say all this? Because, thanks be to God, Jesus did not look on sinful humanity and say, “I’m not going to help them till they help themselves.” Thanks be to God, Jesus did not decide that empathy was sinful and that people should be left to their own devices, desperately trying to do enough to get God’s attention and compel God to help them. Empathy is not a sin. God does not withhold help till someone “deserves” it. Cause if God did, we’d all be in trouble. Show people grace simply because God has shown you grace.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

I’ve already mentioned this, but a few months ago I signed up for a tennis drills class through the Raleigh Parks department. Over the last six or so weeks, I’ve ridden over twice a week to get back into playing tennis. The whole experience has been fun, but the other night we had a lesson that struck a chord with me.

See, most of the class is relatively new to playing tennis, meaning we spend a lot of time on basic stuff. A lot of that is taught through just getting out there and hitting the ball. But tennis can be frustrating because it’s really hard to consistently hit shots. There are a lot of little things that you have to combine into one fluid motion. And sometimes coaches don’t do a good job of explaining all those little things. They use vague “tennis language” instead. Even something as simple as, “Give me a forehand” can be tough.

Let me break down what all goes into hitting a routine forehand. First, you have to see what direction your opponent hit the ball. Then, you have to run to the general vicinity of the ball. Once there, ideally, you split-step, make micro-adjustments to your footwork, and turn your shoulders. Next, your racquet must go back and drop to about waist-height. As the ball gets closer, you then shift your weight forward onto your front foot, twist your torso to create torque, bring your arm forward in a low-to-high motion, make contact with the ball long enough to drive it where you want it to go, flick your wrist to give it a little spin so it stays in play, and follow through to complete that spin and reset your body for the next shot, which will be coming in two to three seconds! If any of that is off, you’ll hit a bad shot and/or a shot you didn’t mean to hit.

Well, the other night, our coach asked everyone to hit three forehands to three different spots on the court. Everyone tried and most struggled, since they are new to the game. But rather than get frustrated with us, coach stopped and broke down each individual part of hitting a forehand—every part. And we practiced each individual part. And then we practiced putting them together. And before long, we were all hitting forehands and directing them where we wanted them to go. And he told us, “See? You should never be intimidated by a forehand, cause you’ve seen that you can hit every single part of the shot correctly. You know you can do it cause you’ve already done it!”

In Christianity, I think we can be very good at speaking our own language, saying things like, “Wait on the Holy Spirit’s guidance” or “Discern God’s call in your life” or even, “Repent of your sins.” We can say these things easily enough, but sometimes it’s hard to get down to the specifics. “Ok. I want to wait for the Spirit’s guidance. But what does that mean? How long should I wait? Can I do other things while I wait?” Instead, we would do well to try and break down these concepts into simpler actions. Instead of just “waiting on the Holy Spirit,” read your Bible. Take some time to pray. Come to church. Do things that bring you joy. Allow yourself time to be quiet and sit with your thoughts. And sure enough, you may hear the Spirit speak. By breaking stuff down like that, we need not ever be intimidated by part of our faith. We can do each individual part and then start putting them together. And, before we know it, we can explore more difficult or subtle parts of our faith—cause we’ve already done each part!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

This week’s Illuminator article is pretty straightforward — thank you! Starting on the last Saturday of June, we hosted our annual Super Saturday Adventures. For three Saturdays this summer, we reached out to kids within our community and within our church to tell them one very important message: God loves them very much. I said this on Sunday, but programs like this do not happen unless a lot of people dedicate a lot of time and effort to them. So, thank you!

As for what the kids learned, we used stories that had animals in them to help teach the children about all the various ways that God reaches out to people and loves them. On the first Saturday, they learned about Creation and how all the different animals show how much God loves us. They also learned how we can show our love for God and for the world by taking care of Creation.

On the second Saturday, they learned about Jonah and the Whale. They heard a story where someone didn’t do what God asked them to, but also a story where God still loves that person. It was a lesson for them that God is with us during tough times and will see us through those tough times. With that, they went over and met our newest family in Hope House and learned a little bit about our ministry to refugees.

And last Saturday, they learned about the birth of Jesus and how he was God in the flesh. They learned that God loves us so much, God decided to become a person and walk around with us, and how all the animals came to witness Jesus’ birth. For their final mission project, they decorated some of the Christmas boxes we will be sending to Scarlette Jasper and Olive Brand Ministries this fall and they learned about caring for other people in other places.

Each time these children came to our church, they were taught about God’s love, shown God’s love through the volunteers who came, and were given a chance to participate in our ministries here at Hope Valley. It was a wonderful opportunity made possible, again, by all of you. No matter what you did — being here the days of, planning, praying, prepping, or donating money — know that your contribution helped do the work of God’s kingdom here in Durham. Thank you!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

It’s been a while since I’ve done a recap article here in the Illuminator. In the past, I’ve waited till the end of the year to write about some of the things we’ve done over the previous twelve months. We’re a little over halfway through the year, so this week, I want to remind you all of some of the things that we’ve done in the last few months.

One of our biggest projects was back in April. We participated once again in Operation Inasmuch, a week of service that seeks to live out Jesus’ observation in Matthew 25:40. We put together care packages for struggling people here in Durham. We made Thinking of You bags for members in our church who can’t come as often as they’d like. We cleaned up around our church, making the space more hospitable to everyone who comes through.
One of the projects for Operation Inasmuch was a planned trip to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. The original volunteer day had to be rescheduled, but we still had folks go and sort food for the disadvantaged in our area. In fact, that project was so popular we have another group going in just a few days!

In May we hosted Jordan High School students as they took their AP tests, providing them a safe, quiet, consistent space to take these tests. All the teachers involved spoke highly to me about our facilities and about the church members they interacted with. It was a great way to be a good neighbor!

In June, we took a church trip to the North Carolina Museum of Art to take in the gifts and talents given to artists by God and to ask ourselves questions about our faith. And, of course, we also started our Super Saturday Adventures for the summer, providing the children in our community with a place to come and learn and fellowship with other people. They’ve learned about God’s love for them in Creation. They’ve learned about God’s love for them in difficult times. And they will continue to learn about God’s love on the 26th of this month!

We’ve done a lot over the last few months and there is even more to do in the coming months! God makes a lot of promises to us in the scriptures. One of them is that, as servants, we have a lot of work to do! But the other wonderful promise God makes is that work will be good, fulfilling, life-giving work. Let us continue to serve our God, draw closer to each other, and be a light for our neighbors!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,
Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to answer a simple question: can a banana play baseball?

Jokes aside, last week I went to D.C. to attend a Savannah Bananas baseball game with friends. The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition baseball team that travels around the country and plays a different kind of baseball in various stadiums. Basically, they’re like the Harlem Globetrotters, but baseball. The Bananas play against other exhibition teams and place a heavy emphasis on entertainment. For example, the first out of our game was a pop-fly to left field. So, the outfielder just put his glove up and caught the ball, right? Not this guy. He caught the ball mid-backflip and did a “superhero landing”. Beyond that, there were dance numbers, a toddler race, a pitcher on stilts, and more!

But there’s one thing the Bananas emphasize above all else—the fan experience. Banana Ball (the version of baseball they play) is focused on making sure fans never get bored. There’s a two-hour time limit—no 12-hour, 24 inning games here! Bunting is outlawed (you’ll be thrown out of the game if you bunt). Walks are wacky (after ball four, every player on the team must touch the ball). And if a fan in the stands catches a foul ball, it counts as an out! The team will go into the crowd during games to celebrate with the fans and sometimes a fan will be brought out onto the field to participate in the shenanigans. But one other thing caught my attention about their love for their fans.

Scrolling through Instagram after the game, I saw a video on how to try out for the team. They emphasize four major things with the first three being pretty obvious: high-level baseball experience, entertainment ability, and social media presence. But the fourth I appreciated. In the video they say, “The name of the organization is Fans First Entertainment. That means you will never big league a kid who wants your autograph, you will always put the fans first, and you will always be a good teammate.” I mention that because I appreciate the humility the Bananas project. In less than ten years, they’ve become this phenomenon with appearances on SportsCenter, games on ESPN, and sold out stadiums all over the country (they sold out Bank of America Stadium, where the Panthers play, twice—meaning 150,000 people over two nights!). And yet, the philosophy is still, “Fans first.” We heard that a lot last Saturday—how grateful they were, how much they appreciated us being there—and it shows.

Humility is something that we Christians ought to know something about. It is a major point in our theology and our understanding of our relationship with God. We believe that we ought to be humble in the presence of the Lord, acknowledging our dependence on God for all things. We ought to be humble in the presence of other people, believing that they have some-thing to teach us, some gift to give us. We believe that we are saved because Christ himself, God in the Flesh, was willing to humble himself enough to come to earth, live among us, suffer death on a cross, and still seek redemption and reconciliation for all of us. To be Christian is to be humble. It is to think of the needs of others first and figure out what we can do to meet those needs. All of it in the service of our God, who loves us more deeply than we could ever imagine.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

By the time this gets sent out, the summer season will be upon us! Officially, summer begins on June 21st, though I think we can all agree that summer really begins about Memorial Day. Considering it’s been 90° plus all this week, I’m saying summer has begun! With it, come a lot of “summery” things to do. There’s a lot more grilling out that happens this time of year. A lot more trips to the pool, the lake, the ocean happen as well. Baseball is in full swing—pun fully intended.

Starting in a couple of weeks, I’m going to be preaching a sermon series that centers around various summer traditions we enjoy here in America. Basically, I’ll take a look at a tradition, talk about what I think that tradition sparks in us, and pair it with a passage from the scriptures that speaks to that idea. So, for example, on July 6th, we’re going to take a look at fireworks and the joy they inspire. I’ll pair that idea with a passage from 1 Thessalonians where Paul speaks about the joy of the Christian community. In so doing, I hope that we can connect our faith with some of these things we get used to doing year in and year out.

In addition to broader, American traditions, we have a tradition here at Hope Valley—three years going—of hosting local children for our Super Saturday Adventures! This year, we’re going to be teaching the kids stories from the Bible where animals play a big role. It should be a fun few weeks, as we show these children the love God has for them and the love this
church has for them as well. We also intend to send them out each Saturday with a better understanding of how they can do good things for God’s kingdom.

So, if you’re interested in helping out, the first Super Saturday Adventure is June 28th,
from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. We can always use adults who can walk around with the kids and help them participate fully in everything we have planned. If you know of any children who might be interested, they are invited! And if they can’t come this Saturday, they are more than welcome to jump in on either of the July dates (July 12th or 26th). This new tradition has worked wonderful ly in the past and I look forward to what God has in store for us and for these kids this year!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

I’ve mentioned this a few times now, but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a fantasy book club I joined earlier this year. We meet at a bookstore in Chapel Hill once a month and we talk about the latest fantasy book the leader of the club has chosen. Five months in, I’ve enjoyed all of the books we’ve read — some definitely more than others.

Well, last Thursday, I went to chat with the other book club members about a book called City of All Seasons. It’s a very new book, having literally come out this May, that is co-written by two respected fantasy authors. The novel is set in the island city of Fairharbour and is told through the perspectives of two cousins, Jaime and Esther Pike. Sounds simple enough, until you learn that, because of tragic circumstances that happened decades earlier, the cousins have been separated since Fairharbour exists in two different, overlap-ping dimensions. Jaime’s Fairharbour is stuck in eternal winter and is governed by the oppressive Doormen. Esther’s Fairharbour is stuck in eternal summer and is terrorized by the paranoid Fenestration.

The plot of the book surrounds Jaime and Esther’s attempts to communicate with each other and unravel the mystery of what happened to split Fairharbour in two. And it’s the way they communicate that I want to write about a little bit. See, Jaime and Esther are both tinkerers who learned how to make things from their uncle, Pawel. They communicate with each other by creating new, interesting things that recall their shared childhood, slipping these to each other at places where the two Fairharbours bleed into one an-other (in other words, Jaime finds places not covered with snow and puts his object there, knowing Esther will find it, while Esther finds little patches of snow and places her creations there, knowing Jaime will find them). Their creativity, their connection, and their hope of reuniting keeps them going and does, eventually, help them figure out what happened to Fairharbour all those years ago.

What I appreciate the most about this story is the connection the authors make between creativity and hope. When we create something for someone else, we draw on our knowledge of them and we make something that we believe will bring them joy. We make something that reminds them that they are loved. And I would argue love and joy naturally lead one to hope. As Christians, isn’t our hope tied up in the idea that God loves us deeply? Is our hope not defined by the joy God gives to each of us? To be able to build connections with other people is to create com-munity and a sense that we can do great, wonderful things. If we will place God in the center of it all, we will find that creating and connecting with others connects us more fully to God.

So, over the next few weeks, I would challenge you all to create something for someone you love. Maybe it’s a craft. Maybe it’s a meal or a special dish. Maybe it’s creating a day where the two of you spend time with each other doing something you love. Regardless, think about them and their joy, and create something that sparks it.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

P. S. There is a review on the cover of City of All Seasons that calls it, “Deeply different, strange, and fascinating…” Rarely has a review so quickly encapsulated a book. City is deeply atmospheric and moody, with just enough plot to call itself a novel.