From The Pastor

Brothers and sisters,

There are a lot of different ways to tell that it’s Christmastime right now. The decorations in people’s yards. The endless ads telling me how many shopping days are left till Christmas. The fact that Mix 101.5 is nothing but Christmas music right now. But for me, one of the main ways I am constantly reminded it’s nearly Christmas is my Instagram feed.
For those that may not know, Instagram is a social media app that runs based on an algorithm. Basically, I “follow” different accounts on the app to see their posts. Instagram’s algorithm then monitors which accounts I follow and which posts I click on to suggest new accounts for me to follow and new posts to click on. I follow several different cooking accounts on Instagram and all those accounts are putting out holiday/Christmas recipes right now. Their stuff looks good, so I click on their posts and watch the whole vid-eo they’ve posted. That then tells the algorithm that I like that content, meaning I obviously want to see more of it.

Long story short, my Instagram feed is buried in thirty to sixty second videos of Christmas recipes right now, particularly Christmas cookie recipes. One account is showing off the five different recipes they made to make their “Christmas cookie box.” Another account is showing how they recreated their great grandfather’s bakery out of gingerbread. Yet another account shows how they made “log cookies” that are made of two different doughs swirled together, then sliced, and individually cut to look like log slices, before being baked and packaged to look like a bundle of firewood.

Now, baking has always seemed like magic to me. I can bake, but only if there is a recipe and only if I follow it exactly. But in watching all these different accounts, all these different posts, all these different cookies, I noticed something. For the most part, the basic ingredients stay the same—flour, butter, sugar. And a lot of the basic techniques are the same—dry ingredients to one side, wet ingredients to the other, cooling doughs once mixed. It isn’t until midway through the recipe that you begin to see how each cookie is uniquely its own or how each baker adds their unique personality to it. They start with the basics, build a strong foundation, and allow their creativity to flourish.

In that way, these Christmas cookies re-mind me of the faith of individual Christians. We all agree on the same basic tenets—Jesus Christ is the son of God; our sins are forgiven when we place our faith in him, etc. And a lot of broader ways we express our faith are the same—serving our community through volun-teer work; talking with others about our own faith, etc. But as we grow more and more into our faith, we learn how to express ourselves in ways that are more consistent with the gifts God has given to us. Some folks are called to be musicians. Some folks are called to not only volunteer with organizations but lead them and create opportunities for others. Some folks are called to teach others about the faith. It’s not magic, but it is amazing what God can do with us when we affirm those basic beliefs, build a strong foundation, and focus our creativity on honoring God.

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Back in 2019, while I was the pastor at Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, I preached a series of sermons that used Christmas carols as points of emphasis. It was very similar to our “Faith and Art” series, but with carols instead of art pieces. On the Sunday of Peace, I wanted to focus on the idea that the things God desires are different from the things people desire. In particular, I wanted to focus on the second verse of one of my favorite carols (as printed in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal) and the righteous indignation of the carol’s author. With that in mind, here’s what I wrote back then:

Now, the carol I wanted to take a little closer look at today is our final hymn this morning, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. I have always loved this particular hymn. As a child, it was mostly because I liked the tune — it is so different from the sound of most Christmas carols. As I got a little older I started to like it more because of the presence of the angels. Now as an adult, I love it because of the fact that while this carol is certainly more melancholy than most of the others we’ll sing over the next few weeks, the writer, Edmund H. Sears, never gives up hope. He dreams of a world, as he says, “When peace shall over all the earth Its ancient splendors fling,/And the whole world give back the song Which now the angels sing.” Sears was a pastor all the way back in 1849 and while his exact inspiration is not known, most folks seem to think he wrote this carol in response to the many wars raging in Europe and in response to the end of the Mexican-American War. And so I love the kind of resilient hope that comes from the second verse. In the first verse the pastor establishes that the song the angels are singing is “Peace on the earth, good will to men.” Not only that, but the song comes from “heav’n’s all-gracious King.” And so in the second verse he writes, “Yet with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long,/Beneath the angel strain have rolled Two thou-sand years of wrong;/And man, at war with man, hears not The love song which they bring:/O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!” Sears believed deeply that the war, the violence, the strife that was afflicting his world was not God’s intention. In this carol, the angels sing God’s message of peace and good will, and Sears is confident that one day the world will sing along with the angels. But at the moment, it seemed to him that people would rather continue on with their sinful ways. They’d rather drown out the music of heaven, with the noise of worldly power. And so I love that line, “O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!”

So many things in our world clamor for our attention. So many of those things claim that they can offer us hope, peace, joy, and love, but only if we’re willing to ignore the truth — that the angels have been singing a song of peace over the world for thousands of years, but we’ve allowed ourselves to listen to “men of strife” instead. This Advent, I’d encourage you to push back on the things that cause you strife and hear the angels sing, “Peace on the earth, good will to men.”

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

Advent is almost here! Even though I’m writing this article on November 19th, the next Illuminator will not come out until after Advent has begun! So, let me run down the Advent schedule for you all and tell you about the special services we are having here at Hope Valley to celebrate the birth of Christ.

First of all, Sunday, November 30th will be our Hanging of the Greens service. This service happens during morning worship and is a time for us to celebrate and participate in the joy and the ceremony of Advent! It is a service of readings and carols in which we finish decorating the sanctuary and explain the meanings behind all the various decorations and symbols on display. It is a dynamic service in which people will move about the sanctuary, special carols will be sung, and all will be invited to contemplate what Advent means for us. Make plans to be here that Sunday!

The next special service will be on Sunday, December 14th, again during morning worship. That Sunday, the musicians at our church will be leading us in our annual musical service. This year, the title is, “Peace on Earth”. The choir will sing. The handbells will play. The children of the church will sing. There will be readings that bring out the message of Christmas. And immediately following that service, there will be a reception—a time of fellowship for all of us to gather, share some food, and catch up with each other before the last big push toward Christmas. All are invited to come, so tell your friends, family, neighbors, etc.

Finally, on Wednesday, December 24th, we will have our Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service in the sanctuary. That service will start at 5:00 PM. This ser-vice always ends up being a delightfully intimate service. It’s the night before Christmas, meaning much of the hub-bub and preparations have been finished, and there’s just a general sense of peace and quiet that comes over the world. In that peace, we gather at the church to hear the Christ-mas story, sing familiar songs, take Communion together, and light candles as we welcome the Light of the World. It serves as a moment to catch our breath before the holiday itself—so come and celebrate with us!

There are other Christmas events happen-ing throughout this time as well—check the rest of the Illuminator for those. But I look forward to worshiping with you all over the next month as we celebrate the birth of Christ once again.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Brothers and sisters,

A few weeks ago, I went up to Charlottesville, VA with some friends in order to go apple-picking. We’d planned the trip for months, talking about how the four of us wanted to do something that felt quintessentially “fall”, if that makes sense. And we had a wonderful time! We ended up picking a literal bushel of apples, meaning I came home with a lot of apples. Fujis, Granny Smiths, Staymans, and Winesaps—all of them freshly picked, all of them delicious. Now I had a quandary: what to do with ¼ bushel of apples?

I started out by making a batch of apple freezer jam using some of the Granny Smiths and the Staymans. That jam has been delicious layered between pancakes on Saturday mornings. The Fujis and Winesaps have made their way to the office with me as afternoon snacks. But the main thing I wanted to make was a fresh apple cake, specifically the fresh apple cake my mother used to make.

So, I texted Dad and asked him if he could find the recipe anywhere in Mom’s old cookbooks or recipe cards. And he delivered, though not the way either of us was expecting. He texted me five pictures of five different recipes from Mom’s cookbooks and said, “It was one of these, but I don’t remember which one.” Each of these, by the way, was drawn from either the Methodist or Baptist cookbooks from various churches in Mom’s hometown, Ahoskie. I looked over the recipes. Some were more helpful than others—one suggested I bake the cake, “in a warm oven till done”—but I chose one to bake, and set to it. And you know what? I picked the right one! My kitchen smelled like Mom’s kitchen. The cake looked like hers. And, most importantly, it tasted just right!

When I was telling Dad about my cake, he asked me which recipe I’d used and how I’d known to pick that particular one. So, I said, “Well, there was one picture where the page looked like it had wrinkled from being wet. Mom didn’t always dry her hands that well after she washed them, so I figured that water damage was from her. Also, that recipe called for a 325° oven and Mom always used to say fresh apple cakes take forever to cook. This was also the only recipe that called for nuts and Mom loved desserts with nuts in them. Finally, I saw where the recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg, but I remember Mom always saying she didn’t like nutmeg so any recipe that called for it, she’d sub in cinnamon. So, you know, that made it obvious.” Dad just laughed and said, “Oh, is that all? You two really did know each other well, huh?”

We celebrated All Saints Sunday this past Sunday. We talked about all the ways those who came before us have shaped us and shaped our faith. But there are a lot of different ways folks shape us, aren’t there? And even when it’s not explicitly faith-related, they can shape how we see the world, can’t they? It’s a gift to be able to live together as a church family and be shaped by such a cloud of witnesses, to be able to encounter challenges and draw on the faith and ideas of others to meet those challenges. Who are the folks in your life who have shaped you as a person and as a Christian? What are the things you still do that they taught you? Can how can that memory provide you with comfort?

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

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