This week I had a great planning time with the team of guys who are pulling together GraceCon 2012.  The weekend together really has the promise to be a powerful and fun time together.  The speakers we have, Brandon Lauranzon  and Mike Osborne  are great.  You are going to enjoy them.

They will base their talks on the book of James.  Here is a helpful image that gives you a sense of some major themes in James.

The leaders have a goal of 100 men at GraceCon 2012.  If you’ve registered already, thanks.  That’s a serious help to the leaders who need to plan.  Not registered?  Check you calendar and register now, please.  It is easy, just click here and fill in some quick info—then make a donation using the payPal button.  Students, you guys are free.  You’re welcome!

2010 stands out, to me, as the year that Christ Community successfully transitioned from living and thinking like a “small church” to that of a “medium size church”.  Below is a small piece of an article Tim Keller wrote called Church Size Dynamics.  At the end of my excerpt is a link to a longer excerpt.  If you want to go straight to the 15 page doc, cheers.

We tend to think of the chief differences between churches mainly in denominational or theological terms, but that underestimates the impact of size on how a church operates. The difference between how churches of 100 and 1,000 function may be much greater than the difference between a Presbyterian and a Baptist church of the same size.
A large church is not simply a bigger version of a small church. The difference in communication, community formation, and decision-making processes are so great that the leadership skills required in each are of almost completely different orders.

Size Cultures

Every church has a culture that goes with its size and which must be accepted. Most people tend to prefer a certain size culture, and unfortunately, many give their favorite size culture a moral status and treat other size categories as spiritually and morally inferior. They may insist that the only biblical way to do church is to practice a certain size culture despite the fact that the congregation they attend is much too big or too small to fit that culture.

Longer excerpt here and entire doc here

Luke 2:39-52 has the wonderful theme that Jesus grew up.  And that He grew as a person.
verse 40 “and the child grew”
verse 52 “Jesus grew in wisdom”
verse 46 “Jesus listening to the teachers, and asking them questions”

Somehow this theme presses the edges for me of the wonder of Christ’s humility for me.

Calvin: From the time that he was conceived in his mother’s womb, did he not abound in all fullness of spiritual gifts? for it appears absurd to say, that the Son of God wanted any thing that was necessary to perfection. The reply is easy. If it takes nothing from his glory, that he was altogether, “emptied,” (ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, Philippians 2:6,) neither does it degrade him, that he chose not only to grow in body, but to make progress in mind. And certainly when the Apostle declares, that, “in all things he was made like unto his brethren,”(Hebrews 2:17,) and “was in all points tempted like as we are, sin excepted,” (Hebrews 4:15,) he no doubt includes, that his soul was subject to ignorance. There is only this difference between us and him, that the weaknesses which press upon us, by a necessity which we cannot avoid, were undertaken by him voluntarily, and of his own accord.

Sunday we’re going to look at Luke 2:41-52, the account when Jesus’ parents left him at church.

Some background by  D. Bock:
The events leading to Jesus’ exchange with his parents begin with their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The parents of Jesus were devout Jews. The Old Testament commanded such a trip for three festivals a year (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles; Ex 23:14-17; 34:22-23; Deut 16:16). But by the first century, God-fearing Jews made only one journey a year because of the distances involved (Josephus on Passover–Life 345-54; Antiquities 17.9.3 213-14; Jewish Wars 2.1.3 10-12; 2.14.3 280; Brown 1977:472). The Passover was the major feast celebrated at the beginning of the Jewish year, Nisan 15, which falls in our month of March or April (Fitzmyer 1981:339-40). Only men were required to make the journey, so Mary’s presence shows her commitment (Preisker 1964:373). Jerusalem was eighty miles from Nazareth, so the trip would take three days. Though some have argued that women and children traveled separately from the men as a way to explain how Jesus got lost, there is no ancient text that describes this practice.

One of our global gospel partners wrote this week.  In the midst of a wonderful report on how God is active in his life and ministry, our friend asked for prayer for better sleep.  I’m sending him this old prayer and thought others might benefit from it as well.

Blessed Creator,

Thou has promised thy beloved sleep;
Give me
restoring rest needful for tomorrow’s toil.
If dreams be mine,
let them
not be tinged with evil.
Let thy Spirit make my time of repose
a blessed
temple of his holy presence.
May my frequent lying down make me familiar with
death,
the bed I approach remind my of the grave,
the eyes I now close
picture to me their final closing.
Keep me always ready, waiting for
admittance
to thy presence.
Weaken my attachment to earthly
things.
May I hold life loosely in my hand,
knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender.
As pain and suffering betoken transitory
health,
may I not shrink from a death that introduces me
to the freshness
of eternal youth.
I retire this night in full assurance of one
day
awakening with thee.
All glory for this blessed hope,
for the
gospel of grace,
for thine unspeakable gift of Jesus,
for the fellowship
of the Trinity.
Withhold not thy mercies in the night season;
thy hand
never wearies,
thy power needs no repose,
thine eye never
sleeps.

Help me when I helpless lie,
when my conscience accuses me of
sin,
when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,
when my eyes are
held awake by personal anxieties.

Show thyself to me as the God of all
grace, love and power;
thou hast a balm for every wound,
a solace for all
anguish,
a remedy for every pain,
a peace for all disquietude.
Permit
me to commit myself to thee
awake or sleep.

Amen.