There was another point I left out of the sermon be-cause it would have taken a lot more time to set up, but I was reminded of it earlier today. So often, one of the hardest parts of “not worrying” is the “letting go” that comes with it. What I mean by that is that all of us have different stressors in our lives. For some, it’s the daily grind of working — getting projects done, emails sent, meetings attended, etc. For others it’s the strain of maintaining relationships, particularly those relationships that don’t come as naturally. Think of the coworker you don’t see eye-to-eye with but have to collaborate with, the family member you had harsh words with and don’t know how to reconcile. Of course, there’s also stress that comes with money, health issues, following the news, etc.

One of the lies we tell ourselves is that we have to hold on to all these stressors. We have to keep them close to us and we cannot let a single one of them drop cause if we do, who knows what will happen? And what that means is that we grip them tighter and tighter and tighter, the whole time wondering why we can’t relax, why we feel so off, why it feels like God is so detached. The truth of the matter is, God is not detached, but we’ve filled our hands with so many things and have refused to let go of any of them, we cannot accept the good things God offers us. We’re so convinced that we are the only ones that can hold all these things together, that when we hear Jesus say, “do not worry about your life…do not worry about tomorrow,” we can’t help but think, “That’s nice, Jesus, but if you knew everything I was holding with you’d realize I can’t afford to relax.”

I’ve told this story before, but years ago my Old Testament professor was talking to my class about our impending finals. She said she’d received emails from students talking about all the stress they were under, all the obligations they had committed to, etc. And she said that she’d emailed them back, encouraging them to find time to rest, and been met with more emails explaining that rest was not an option for them. If they did not do these things, everything would fall apart. Inspired by those emails, she took time out of our class to say to us, “I know this is a stressful place. I know a lot of you are here because you are the types who work hard, take on lots of responsibilities, and then sacrifice your health and well-being to get things done. Let me remind you that in the Creation story, God took a day off to rest and, somehow, the world kept spinning. If God can take a day off and nothing falls apart, I think you can give yourselves a break and rest. Do not worry. God is in control.” Sin lies to us and tells us that if we stop worrying, our lives will fall apart. Jesus reminds us that’s not true. So, let go of the stressors that are harming you, open your hands, and receive the blessings God offers.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

The next three Saturdays (July 11th, 18th, and 25th) are going to be wonderful times here at Hope Valley Baptist Church. Starting this Saturday, July 11th, we will be hosting Vacation Bible School from 9:30AM – 12:30PM. These will be days filled with fun, learning, and fellowship for the kids in our community! We’ve got games lined up for them to play, crafts ready for them to assemble, missions projects for them to participate in, and, most importantly, Bible stories for them to hear that all tell them one very important thing—God loves them!

Our theme for this year is “God’s Toolbox: Built for a Purpose.” Each Saturday, we’re going to be exploring a different theme with the kids, reminding them that they have been made by God to do good things for other people. The themes include phrases like, “God created me,” “I am equipped,” “I am strong,” “I can help others,” and “I can build God’s Kingdom.” I love these themes because it tells the kids who come to our VBS that they are already a part of God’s kingdom. They are already a part of God’s plan for the world. They can already live like God wants them to live and do the things God calls them to do.

There are several things you can still do to help out with these Saturdays. The first is to pray. Pray for the kids that are going to be coming to the church these Saturdays. Pray that they would have fun, make friends, and learn more about God. Pray for the volunteers as well, that we would be able to help disciple these kids and show them what faith looks like.
The second thing you can do is to reach out friends, neighbors, and family members to invite more kids to come! You can register on the church’s website or you can call up to the church office to let us know you’re coming. Also, kids can drop in on any Saturday, so if a kid can only be here on the 11th and 25th, bring them on!

Finally, if you have the time, we can always use more volunteers to help out. Whether that’s walking around with the kids, helping the various stations prep for them, or helping to clean up throughout the day—there’s always work to be done. If you are planning to volunteer, please try to be at the church by 9:00 AM each Saturday.

I’m looking forward to these next three Saturdays and all the things God has in store for these children and for us as a church!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

This week, Robin and I got a reminder of what it means to be the church. This week has been a busy one up at Hope Valley. We’ve had meetings to prepare for and attend, special documents to print up for services, a funeral service to plan, and then the day-to-day stuff that comes with working at a church.

For myself in particular, I know that I’ve had pastoral care meetings this past Monday. I led staff meeting on Tuesday morning, where we started looking ahead to things like Graduate Sunday, the first Sunday of July, and VBS. I met with a family to plan a funeral service for their mother and have coordinated with another pastor who will be participating in the service. As I write this article, I’ve worked with Robin to get a prayer list together and sent out, proofread the rest of this Illuminator (if there are any typos, I’m sorry), and started prepping for a committee meeting I have this afternoon. In addition to that, we’ve had our usual Wednesday foot traffic at the church.

I say all that to say that just as Robin and I were get-ting to a place where we could really get into a groove and work on the things we needed to, a man rode his bike up to the church and told us that he needed help. We sat in my office and talked for a little bit. And I must confess, my mind was racing through a thousand other things I “needed” to be doing in that moment. Prayers needed to be written. Volunteers needed to be contacted. Paperwork needed to be reviewed. And again, I’m going to confess, there was a part of me that thought, “Just tell this guy you can’t help and you can get back to the stuff that needs to get done; the stuff that matters.”

Then, I remembered something I’d literally just read Wednesday morning. When preaching about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that the Good Samaritan “will always stand before us as a nagging reminder that we must … see men as men.” He goes on to talk about why the Priest and the Levite may have passed by the injured man on the Jericho Road and argues that they may have had perfectly valid reasons to keep going — be it religious duties, civic duties, or just fear of bandits on the road. He says the question of the Priest and the Levite is, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” Dr. King writes, “Then the good Samaritan came by, and by the very nature of his concern reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ … The good man always reverses the question.”

So, Robin and I helped him. We stopped doing all the church things that needed doing. We went and got a gift card to help pay for some medicine. We gave him some water to drink. We took him to Burger King to get some food. And, amazingly, when we got back, the church had not fallen apart. Emails went out. Prayers got written. Volunteers were contacted. Paperwork was reviewed. And a man who needed help was seen and helped. I’m grateful for Dr. King’s sermon and his conviction to call me out of my own selfish preoccupation and attend to this man. Dr. King asked both Robin and I, “If you do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” Thanks be to God, we saw past the day-to-day and were able to do the work God called us to do.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

We are entering an interesting time of the church year this coming Sunday. We are entering Ordinary Time. Now, you may read that and think, “What is he talking about?” Basically, the church year is divided into two halves. Starting on the First Sunday of Advent and running through Trinity Sunday, the church calendar is in a pretty consistent rhythm of anticipation and celebration. Advent anticipates the celebration of Christmas. Lent anticipates the celebration of Easter. There are a few Sundays between the end of Christmastide and the beginning of Lent, but for the most part, that first half of the church year is spent in those two modes: anticipation and celebration.

Now, however, we enter the second half, a long stretch of Ordinary Time that, this year, ends with Christ the King Sunday on November 22nd. On a practical level, that means the paraments on the pulpit and the communion table will be green through November 15th (Christ the King Sunday gets white paraments). On a pastoral level, that means that I’ll have a little more freedom in what kinds of sermon series I want to preach and which passages I want to preach from.

But, you may read the name for this season, “Ordinary Time,” and think, “Well, that just seems condescending. Yes, Christmas and Easter are special, but ‘ordinary time’ makes this part of the year just sound…boring.” While there is some debate on where the name came from, the most common explanation is not that the church thinks these Sundays are “boring”. Rather, they are “ordinal” numbers, that is, they tell us how long it’s been since Pentecost. So, for example, this Sunday, June 7th is liturgically known as the “Second Sunday after Pentecost.” That continues until November 22nd, the “Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost” aka “Christ the King Sunday”. These numbers keep track of where we are in the church calendar.

Now, what that means for us as individual believers is simple—this time of the year is one meant for exploration. There’s no pressure to be preparing for Christmas and all its celebration. The quiet reflection of Lent and the pomp and circumstance of Easter Sunday have faded. We are entering a time of the church year when we can meander through Paul’s letters if we want to. We can spend some time reading stories about Abraham or Moses or David. We can challenge ourselves with some of Jesus’ harder teachings (think the Parable of the Dishonest Manager). And in so doing, we have the unique opportunity to draw closer to God in ways that feel uniquely personal. Where is God leading you during Ordinary Time? Which books, which passages, which characters is the Holy Spirit guiding you toward? Or, which part of Jesus’ life is compelling you these next twenty-five weeks? If you’ll seek God’s guidance, this time will be anything but ordinary.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

By the time you’re reading this article, I will hopefully be done with some of the most tedious parts of moving into a new place. It’s not the packing up I find the most tedious. Nor is it even the unpacking of boxes that gets to me (that can be weirdly fun, i.e., “What’s in this box? Oh! That thing!”). No, the most tedious parts of moving into a new place, in my opinion, are laying down contact paper in all the shelves and cabinets, getting everything cleaned, and deciding where everything is going to go in the kitchen.

First of all, while I recognize the importance of using contact paper to line shelves, it is persnickety and the paper loves to bubble up, fold up, or stick to itself. All I’m trying to do is lay it flat; why won’t it lay down?! Then, there’s all the cleaning that comes with getting a new place. Running cleaning cycles for the dishwasher, the washing machine, the dryer. Cleaning the bathroom and getting it ready to be used. Wiping down all that contact paper in all those shelves while ignoring all the egregious folds and bubbles. Cleaning dishes, glasses, silverware, cooking utensils, pots, pans, and more! And then deciding where everything will go so it’s in the easiest place to get to while cooking, maximizing ease of use without minimizing counter space. It’s … a lot.

But once it’s all done, it’s amazing the sense of peace that settles in. A kitchen that has been fully prepped is a wonder-ful thing to behold. Y’all know that I like to cook and it is amazing how relaxing it can be to walk into a kitchen and know, “I have everything I need. It is here, at my fingertips.” Weeknight meals come together quickly. Friends can casually chat as the cooking happens. And holiday gatherings are so much easier when the kitchen feels like it is actively helping you. Taking the time to set things in order makes extraordinary things possible.

When I think about what it means to be a Christian, I believe there are certain basic things we have to set out first, things that must be done before moving on to more complicated, extravagant theology. We believe that God is the Creator of all things in this world. We believe that God created human beings and called them, “very good.” We believe that even though all people have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, God still loves them. We believe that the kingdom of God is not just a place far off, in another time and place. We believe that because of Jesus, his life, his death, and his resurrection, the powers that would hold humanity back have been defeated. These are basics, yes. They are nowhere near as annoying to lay down as contact paper, but once these basics have been laid down, more beautiful theological convictions become possible.

Because God created all people and loves all of them, we Christians have the audacity to believe all people deserve respect and dignity. Because we have been convicted of our own sins and found that God’s grace is sufficient, we can build community with people others might steer us away from. Because of the stories of Je-sus’ ministry, we know how to reject ideas that would deny the image of God in another per-son. By the way, the most effective way I’ve found to address those ideas that would tell us another person is unworthy of love, respect, dignity is to simply ask, “Would Jesus love that person?” If the answer is, “Yes,” then my faith actively moves to help me say, “Then I will love them, too.” And, thanks be to God, the answer to that question is always, “Yes.” Lay the foundations and extraordinary faith becomes possible.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

This week’s article is pretty simply summed up by saying, “Thank you.”

First of all, thank you to everyone who participated in Operation Inasmuch. Because of your support we were able to put together over a dozen “Thinking of You” bags for those church members who cannot come to the church as often as they’d like. Those bags included some freshly baked cookies from our congregation!

In addition to those, we were able to put together one hundred “Community Bags” to give out to our friends and neighbors here in Durham who are struggling. As I write this article, there are still plenty of bags that need to be distributed. So, when you come to church on Sunday, be sure to stop by the vestibule and take a couple to keep in your car. When you see someone on the corner, on the median —wherever — who needs some help, you can offer them that bag and let them know they are loved.

Also, thank you to the volunteers who went to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC on April 28th! That group of volunteers continues to represent our church well by reaching out to folks in need.

Thank you as well to the children, the children’s ministry, and the music ministry here at Hope Valley for taking a trip to Carolina Reserve to sing for the residents there. I know you all brightened their day.

Finally, on behalf of myself and my family, thank you all for the celebration this past Sunday. The luncheon itself was a wonderful time of fellowship together. It is hard to believe it has already been five years since I came to Hope Valley Baptist Church. We’ve had plenty of wonderful times together reaching out to our community, helping those in need, celebrating the goodness of God, and lifting one another up. We’ve also endured plenty of difficult moments in the life of the church, the wider world, and in my own personal life. I’m grateful for all of you and the ways God has continued to bring us together. Thank you for Sunday. May we continue to seek God together and live faithfully according to our call as Christians.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

This past Sunday, April 19th, I mentioned the idea that becoming a Christian does not require us to forget who we are or where we came from. That point was prompted by Peter’s encouragement to Christians to remember they were “ransomed from the futile conduct inherited from your ancestors” (1 Peter 1:18) and I wanted to expand on it here.

I think the reason Peter says this to Christians is because he understands that if we fall back on old habits, old routines, or old ideas, and expect them to save us the same way God saves us, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. The things we’ve inherited from “our ancestors” cannot save us—only God can. But I want to make sure to emphasize that I don’t think God wants us to disown our histories — the people, the places that made us who we are. Rather, they need to be put in their proper place and understood through a Christian lens.

For example, I’ve told y’all this before, but I have been deeply formed by my hometown, Goldsboro, NC. A wonder-fully strange little city in Eastern North Carolina, I am who I am in part because of this odd place. It is a city filled with eccentricities and contradictions. I sat in classes with friends whose families would travel to New York City every year to see Broadway shows or go to the US Open. Right next to those kids were others who were given special absences when the Wayne County Agricultural Fair started because they needed to go and prep their tractor for the tractor race that night!

Goldsboro is a city that has always encouraged a sense of service and community. It’s easy to get plugged into volunteer opportunities in Goldsboro, helping build houses with Habitat for Humanity, serving at booths during the Relay for Life, or basically anything the Goldsboro YMCA gets up to. You know, positive things to bring people together. At the same time, when I was growing up, one of our most beloved traditions was a celebration of civic unrest. For years, Goldsboro celebrated something called, “The Derailebration.” Over a hundred years ago, a railroad company ran tracks through Center Street in downtown Goldsboro. Frustrated by the noise and inconvenience of the trains, the citizens of Goldsboro went out one night and took up all the tracks! For over a century we celebrated this act of collective vandalism. Those celebrations ended years ago when Amtrak—you know, the train company—started courting Goldsboro to put a station there! (Admittedly, it’s a connector bus stop four blocks over from Center Street, but my point stands!) My hometown is ridiculous; I’m so proud to be from there.

My point in all this is simple: I don’t believe God would want me to disavow Goldsboro. For better or for worse (I think better), I have been shaped by that strange little city. And I’d like to think God loves the weirdness that comes from a place like Goldsboro because God loves how wonderfully unique each person is. I’m sure each of you has a strange story from where you grew up. Or you have memories of wacky events in your life that make you chuckle. You’ve been shaped and molded by those things — and I don’t think God wants you to for-get them. Rather, I think God always wants us to understand that these wonderful, unique, weird stories are all part of God’s story. Let us place our faith in God’s story and bring our whole selves to it.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

At the end of this month, we will be starting up one of my favorite traditions here at Hope Valley Baptist Church—Operation Inasmuch. For the last several years, we have dedicated a week at the end of April and into early May to missions. This year is no different. Operation Inasmuch will run from April 26th to May 3rd. The goal of this week is to find opportunities to do the work Christ has called us to in our communities, to serve others, and to let them know that they are loved by God and by this church.

I’m particularly excited about Operation Inasmuch this year since we were not able to have our Holy Wednesday Hand-Washing service again this year. (Truly, I am going to do everything I can to make sure I don’t get sick until after Easter next year!) On that night, we usually talk about the ways that Jesus calls us to be servants to others in the way that he came to be a servant. We model that servant attitude by washing and drying each other’s hands. It’s a service that asks us to take time out of our day, see our brothers and sisters, and do what we can to show them they are loved.

Operation Inasmuch works because of that same spirit. It works because we know that Christ has called us not only to serve him, but to serve our wider community. Each person is a beloved child of God and so it is always worthwhile to show them that. It is worthwhile to let them see the church in action, so they can say, “I have seen God’s people and they have seen me.”

In light of that, you’ll notice that there is a list of planned activities in another part of this Illuminator. I would encourage you to look over those activities and see if there’s one you’d like to participate in. If you’re not sure you can participate in any of them, see if there’s one you’d like to donate to. If you’re not sure you can do that either, that’s totally fine; pray for the church as we go out and do these things. Pray that we would lift up the hearts of those we help. Pray that they would hear a good word about a God who loves them.

I’m looking forward to the end of this month!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Easter is quickly approaching! In fact, by the time the next Illuminator comes out, Easter Sunday will have already come and gone! So, I wanted to write to you all this week and give you a breakdown of the services we have coming up during Holy Week.

First, this Sunday, March 29th, will be Palm Sunday. During worship we will celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the holy city of Jerusalem. The children will process in during our first hymn and wave palms in recognition of that first Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode in on a donkey. Be sure to join us for worship at 11:00AM!

Then, on Wednesday, April 1st, we will have our yearly Hand-Washing Service in the sanctuary. That service will start at 6:30PM. For that particular service, we will meditate on the way that Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet, modeling for us the kind of service he calls all of us to. We will wash each other’s hand as a tangible part of our worship, reminding ourselves that we are called to serve others.

Our Good Friday Service will be on Friday, April 3rd at 7:00PM in the church sanctuary. In my opinion, this is one of the most meaningful services all year. Throughout the service, we well read about and meditate on the death of Jesus on the cross and what that means for us as Christians. The service ends in darkness and silence, reminding us that in the immediate wake of the cross, the light of the world seemed to have gone out.

Finally, on Easter Sunday, April 5th, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in our church sanctuary! Worship will begin at 11:00AM and we will spend the hour singing songs of joy and praise as we remember the truth that Christ is risen, sin’s power is broken, and death has lost its sting. Make plans to be here that day and celebrate the resurrection with our church family.

In addition to all those services, don’t forget that we are having our annual Easter Egg Hunt and Craft Fair on Saturday, April 4th from 10:00AM to 12:00PM. All children are invited to come make crafts, hunt for eggs, and hear the Easter story!

I’ll look forward to seeing you all throughout Holy Week!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

Planning for this month has been a challenge for me. It hasn’t been because of any particular kind of stress or worry or anything. Instead, I’ve been combining March 29th and April 5th in my head. The transition from March to April during Holy Week is throwing me off. And so I have to keep reminding myself that, outside of Palm Sunday, none of the Holy Week activities start till April—which is closer than I think, but also not that much closer. It’s this weird sense of almost rushing to Easter.

It does not help my sense of rush and hurry that we’ve had such beautiful spring days of late. The sunshine. The mild temperatures. The flowers blooming. It makes me yearn for spring and summer. I’m done with the cold and the wet and the grey of winter. I’m ready to move on to the good stuff!

Now according to the church calendar, by the time this article comes out we will be over halfway through Lent. We will finally be closer to Easter than Ash Wednesday. Lent is forty days (not counting Sundays), meaning Friday, March 13th will be the 21st day of the season. And there is a natural inclination to want to rush to the end. For three weeks we’ve reflected on sin and confession and repentance. Let’s get on to the resurrection and grace and hope! But there’s an issue with that impulse.

I had a theology professor who used to remind us that Christians often get too focused on one part of the Easter story. On the one hand, Christians can get too focused on the crucifixion, leaning into the idea of the pain and suffering of Jesus, on the sin and brokenness of humanity. They linger there too long and the resurrection becomes almost an after-thought. On the other hand, Christians can get too focused on the resurrection, rushing past the cross because it makes us uncomfortable and leaning into the fact that sin and death have no power over Jesus.

What my professor advocated for was simple: acknowledge the importance of each step along the way. Jesus’ life and ministry are important—it is good to spend time reading about them and dwelling there a while. But we must recognize that those miracles and those teachings led Jesus to the cross—it is good to spend time reading about that terrible event and dwelling there a while. But we must remember that the story does not end with the cross, that it leads to the first Easter Sunday—it is good to spend time reading those stories and dwelling there a while. We should not rush any of them.

So as we move through these final twenty days of Lent, let us not rush ahead to Easter Sunday. Let us spend some time contemplating our sins. Then, let us spend some time remembering the cross. Then, let us spend some time celebrating the resurrection! We should not try to combine March 29th and April 5th. We should not rush the end of winter because we’re ready for spring. Let us take these seasons as God intended, recognizing the value in each of them.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben