Date M arch 2017
Shar ing OURFait h New Hope's M onthly Newsletter
LOOKINGINWARD Rev. St eve Nor den , Sen i or Past or nor den@NewHopeWor ship.com ? 614.766.5445 ? NewHopeWor ship.com/Pa stor Steve
NEWHOPECHURCH A M inistry of the Reformed Church in America
Rev. St eph en M . Nor den , Sen i or Past or Rev. Sar ah E. Pal sm a, Associ at e Past or
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SUNDAYWORSHIPSCHEDULE 9:00AM Contem por ar y Wor ship Sunday School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
10:15AM Sunday School for Adults and Youth Pr aise School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
11:15AM Tr aditional Wor ship School House Sunday School for Kids
......................... 4739 W. Pow el l Rd. (Next to the Columbus Zoo)
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......................... New Hope's Mission To Reach people for Chr ist, Root people in Chr ist, and Rel ease people to ser ve Chr ist.
In a few shor t w eeks w e?ll be into that m uch anticipated season of the year w e call M ar ch M adness. I don?t w atch near ly as m uch NCAA basketball as I used to. But, I do enjoy w atching the NCAA tour nam ent and am alw ays am azed at the unexpected that tr anspir es in br acket-busting gam es. A r ecent conver gence of events caused m e to do som e r eflecting on my per sonal jour ney. A high school classm ate posted a pictur e on Facebook of our 1968-69 basketball team . We had w on the Far East Tour nam ent (our ver sion of the state cham pionship) the year befor e and w er e favor ed to w in it all that year. I?ll spar e you the hear tbr eaking details (w hich have been told in m ultiple ser m ons over the year s). We m anaged to lose by thr ee points w hen w e did not scor e in the last four m inutes. W hat astounded m e w as the level of pain that som e of us still car r y over that defeat as evidenced by the com m ents on that photo. Equally astounding w as our individual angst over the par t w e per sonally played in that loss. A few days after the Facebook post, a package ar r ived in the m ail fr om my high school coach. In the package w as a hom e gam e pr ogr am fr om the 1968-69 season, a Far East Tour nam ent pr ogr am fr om 1969 and a statistical sum m ar y of the 1969-70 basketball season ? my senior year. That opened up another conver sation w ith team m ates that w as equally if not m or e painful. M y senior season our team w ent 3 - 22, a com plete r ever sal fr om the success w e had enjoyed the year befor e. Ther e w er e any num ber of r easons posited for our dem ise and cer tainly w e didn?t have the talent w e had the year befor e. But, as I r um inated on that season, tw o things stood out. Fir st, w e w er e not a team . We w er e a gr oup of individuals w ho w er e m or e concer ned w ith per sonal success than being w illing to m ake the sacr ifices that w ould lead to team success. Second, w e w er e ver y undisciplined. I?ve com e to r ealize that both of these shor tcom ings ar e often pr esent in my spir itual life. W hen they ar e, the w ell-being of the chur ch, the body of Chr ist, is com pr om ised as is my per sonal spir itual gr ow th. The Apostle Paul in his fir st letter to the chur ch in Cor inth speaks dir ectly to these tw o per ils in the life of discipleship. He em phatically states that w hen w e ar e m or e concer ned about per sonal pr efer ences and asser ting our selves in the life of faith, divisiveness in the chur ch w ill quickly follow. Additionally, for us to m atur e in Chr istlikeness, discipline is r equir ed. Each year M ar ch M adness coincides w ith the season of Lent on the chur ch?s calendar. Lent is a season of r eflection and pr epar ation w hen w e take that inw ar d look and ask, ?God, how w ould You change m e? W her e ar e You leading m e? W hat ar e You calling m e to be and do?? As w e enter this season of Lent, I encour age us to take these questions ser iously to the end that w e gr ow in our pr actice of spir itual discipline and har ness our gifts, passions and ener gies tow ar d building up Chr ist?s body, the Chur ch.