  One of the best things about the account of the resurrection in the Gospels is the various reactions of the disciples and others. Those reactions range from ecstatic fist pumping on the end to consternation and scheming on the other.
But no one shrugged. Because no one, not even Jesus’ disciples saw it coming. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”- Mark 16:6 God Is Surprising The best thing about God is that he loves us. The second best thing about God is that, loving us, he made a way through his Son, Jesus, to save us. But somewhere down that list of wonderful things about God we come to the fact that he is surprising. It is delightful to have a surprising God, a God who “upsets the world’s wisdom (1 Corinthians 3:19.)” It is good to have a surprising God. Don't be surprised if God surprises you. As we celebrate Easter again remind yourself of the benefits and responsibilities of following a surprising, confounding, upside-downing sort of Savior. How to Respond to a Surprising God 1. Act surprised God is surprising you for a reason. He wants to you to experience more of him, a fresh revelation of his nature, and his love for you. Resist the temptation to play it cool. If God goes to the trouble of blowing you away, have the decency to be visibly, demonstrably blown away. And, along the way, enjoy the ways that God surprises you. 2. Don’t give up on certainty But wear your certainty like a winter coat, something you get the benefit of in the cold, but which you remove the moment you step into a warm foyer. Be really certain about what you’re certain of, right up to the point where God takes your certainty away. Be certain that people who get a diagnosis of terminal illness invariably die of that illness . . . right up to the point where God miraculously heals. 3. Know where the surprise won’t come from While it’s true that he makes all things new, it’s also true that God himself never changes. He does not break faith, there is no sin in him, and his character is always, invariably, a matter of love. 4. Be God’s co-conspirator Sometimes in my friendship with a non-believer I imagine that, having been given access to my friend’s life, I have been recruited to be God’s “inside man.” I find a window in the house of my friend’s life and make a point of leaving it unlatched that God might sneak in and surprise my friend someday by jumping out from behind his furniture. I hope that’s less creepy than it sounds. The point is that, being grateful for the way in which God has surprised me, I want to make it possible for God to surprise my friends in the same way. 5. Add an asterisk to everything else In humility, be aware that having a surprising God and being a human with limited insight means that the next surprise could come from just about any direction. And that surprise could mean a change in my politics or in my circumstances or in my heart. And while I can’t know ahead of time what shape that surprise will take, I can trust the God who’ll spring it on me. 6. Be the surprising servant of a surprising God Let your neighbors and friends find you just as delightfully surprising as the God that you serve (1 Peter 4:4.) We are God’s prank on a world that he wants to save. Play your part with mischief and grace. 7. Know God is never surprised While God often works in ways we find unconventional, remember he is never surprised. Adam's sin didn't surprise him, and Jesus was ready to die and rise on our behalf. He is never caught off guard, and he knows your yesterday, today and tomorrow. Written by Joel Tom Tate
0 Comments
 Parking proximity to the Brandon Town Hall Our Brandon Campus is a ministry of Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church where the mission is to make more and better disciples. The Brandon Campus is a place for the unchurched and the dechurched where faithful informality and an unconventional approach to doing church might open the door through which unlikely people can make their way into the Kingdom.
We do this by:
I would like to report to you that we are making progress on our Brandon campus. As with anything new it takes a couple times trying to find the right footing. After five Sundays at the Brandon Town hall, I think, we have hit a good stride. Brandon Campus tutorial:
As someone who has experienced the uncomfortable feeling of attending a new church but not feeling like I fit in, I have some insight into how to create an environment where people feel welcome but not called out for being the newcomer. This past Sunday we had a potluck following the service. The invitation was open to anyone with the intention of having everyone in one place to experience and catch the vision. As stated above, our intention for this service is designed for those who feel uncomfortable in formal church setting, those who have been hurt by the church or those who have never been to church. I have a desire for everyone to love Jesus as much as I do, so we want to make attending church as easy as possible. If after reading this you are as excited about our vision as we are, please visit our Brandon campus or contact Abbey at abigail@furnacebrook.org. Best, Abbey Yesterday we received tragic news regarding people in our fellowship, news we’re not ready to make public, but of which people are becoming aware. It’s asking a lot of you to ask you to curb your curiosity while stirring your concern, but that’s what we’re asking. Biblical Response to Tragedy In the meantime, we’d like to offer you this biblical approach to responding to tragedy. 1. Mourn. It’s a verb, something that you do, and not just a matter of feeling sad. Matthew 5:4, Ecclesiastes 7:2 2. Leave everything private that can safely remain that way. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 3. Say everything that you need to say and nothing that you don’t. It is a great temptation in the face of tragedy to respond verbally, and some things need to be said. But even the best words do less good than ill-considered words do harm. James 1:19 4. Don’t look for or accept short cuts and easy answers. Nothing good comes of trying to make short what God left long, or easy what God has permitted to be hard. The valley of the shadow of death is, indeed, long and difficult to traverse, but we have a good traveling companion. Psalm 23 5. Your grief can rot into injury or ripen into resolve. Carefully manage your grief, exposing it to the light of the Lord, to see it mature into a greater resolve to bring about the Kingdom of God, the place where the “shalom,” the peaceful, right-ordering of things prevails under God’s lordship. 6. Pray to God and for God. No grief touches us but that it grieves him also. He does not need us and he does not suffer from lack of our prayer. But he loves us and when we pray about a tragedy we have the opportunity to acknowledge the way in which sin and its direct and indirect effects have touched his Father’s heart. This is the spirit in which many of the Psalms might be prayed. 7. Let grace prevail. Look for opportunities to extend and receive grace. The impulse to publicly demonstrate your concern can run contrary to the interests of grace. If, as you become aware of more details, you need help processing this event please contact us in the office and let us walk through it with you. (Email pastor@furnacebrook.org, or call 483.2531) Written by Joel Tate    We Did it Backwards...
This past Sunday at 11:00 we had our last service at the Center Street Bar and we did the service from 9:00 at Pittsford in reverse order! We decided to arrange the service so that it built up to the act of worship and the Spirit was present and the voices beautiful in that place! It was fresh and invigorating in the way that new things are, and it served as a test run for something exciting that we are doing starting this week! Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church is all about making more and better disciples, and in our pursuit of that mission we’ve been blessed with a vibrant church, but there can be problems that come with growth. On recent Sundays at our Pittsford Campus we could have used more seats and parking spaces, and we believe that trend will continue as God uses us to make more and better disciples here. Anticipating God’s continued work, we’re positioning ourselves for growth. Below are updates to our current worship times and locations, starting Sunday, March 17th. New Worship Menu Options 1. Pittsford Service at 9am 9am Pittsford worship | 67 Gecha Lane, Pittsford At Pittsford at 9:00 we will go on having the vibrant and compelling worship experience to which so many of you have become accustomed. Nothing will change. 2. Forest Dale gathering with Barry Tate at 9:30am 9:30am Forest Dale Gathering |1895 Forest Dale Rd., Forest Dale At 9:30 Pastor Tate’s father, Barry Tate, will lead a gathering in our Forest Dale location. Designed primarily with the people of the Forest Dale Campus in mind, but open to anyone.This gathering will look to use a combination of Bible teaching, prayer, and simple, traditional worship to bring about healing and a deeper gospel experience. There will not be any children’s ministry or communion at this gathering. We have committed to taking this gathering through May (Barry Tate’s term of availability) and will make a decision about extending it through the summer by the first Sunday in May. Note: the Forest Dale 10am Service will no longer occur. 3) Brandon Worship at the Town Hall, 11am 11am Brandon Worship | Brandon Town Hall, 1 Conant Sq., Brandon And at 11:00 we will be offering a fresh and intimate worship experience at the Town Hall in Brandon. Building on the success of our once-a-month services at Center Street and employing an original order of service that makes our concluding time of acoustic worship the focal point, this service will include much of the same content as the 9:00 service but in a different format. There will be children’s church and weekly communion. This service is specifically geared towards those who are newer believers, unchurched, or may not be comfortable in any type of Church environment. Our goal is to make Jesus known, and we are specifically hoping to love our neighbors who are hurting, most in need of Jesus, and who reflect our prayer for a ‘messy Church’. We serve a powerful, chain-breaking, river splitting, mountain crumbling God, and we’re eager to see him move powerfully in our Church, and specifically in the Brandon community. Note: the second sunday service at Center Street will no longer occur. Brandon Worship Service: We Expect God to Work Powerfully! We’re excited about the Brandon Town Hall service, and believe that it will become a very important part of how we accomplish our mission of making more and better disciples for Jesus at Furnace Brook. Not only does having a worship service at 11:00 in downtown Brandon significantly expand the scope of our ministry, but there are reasons to be intrigued and excited about this service in particular. Those of us who had the chance to worship at Center Street this past Sunday have an idea of what this could be and we’re thrilled about it. But for this to happen we will need your help. In order for Moses to part the Red Sea, God called him to take a step of faith, and put his staff in the water first. God foiled the Egyptians and liberated the Israelites, but Moses was faithful in trusting God and taking action in obedience (Exodus 14). Pastoral intern, Abbey Elliott, and Pastor Tate will be recruiting people to commit to volunteer and attend the service through May. That means that you may get a call from one or the other of them, especially if you already live in Brandon or points north. Here’s how to respond when they contact you:
Not sure if you’ll be able to attend the Brandon service? Throw yourself into supporting it (and the other things your church is doing) through prayer.
Questions about the service menu options? Email office@furnacebrook.org. Prayerfully, Pastor Joel Hey everyone!
We’re almost through week 2 of the step challenge. How is everyone doing? Has anyone done anything out of the ordinary just for the sake of the step challenge? I have been doing more snowshoeing! This is not a winter activity that I used to enjoy doing but for some reason this winter I’ve done it a bunch. It’s an activity that my grandfather loves doing as well so we’ve been out in the woods together and it has been such sweet fellowship. When I was a freshman in college, I decided to become a plant-based vegan. It was during the Lenten season that I prayed over my health and asked God to heal me and make me healthy again. Praise the Lord, I have come a long way in my health. God has given me a passion for helping people create healthy lifestyles. I hope you find some encouragement in this. In this season of Lent, perhaps God is asking you to be more deliberate with your food consumption. Part of the motivation to stay active comes from feeding our bodies the proper nutrition to stay moving. With the winter months being cold and long, we tend to pack in the carbs and leave out the fruits and veggies. Conveniently, this week is the beginning of Lent! I encourage you to evaluate what you’re consuming and see if there are some adjustments you can make. Consider the following questions about your dietary habits:
Bottom line, is what you’re consuming edifying to God? Lots of rhetorical questions here, but food for thought. Pun intended. Here are some recipes that I have become staples in my diet for long days:
I love suggestions! What are your meal and snack staples? Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? Eat well! Abbey Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2   The Step challenge starts today! I’m super pumped and I hope you are too. For more information about the Step Challenge, check it out my previous post.
For the next month we will walk/run/hike/ski (or whatever) to stay positive and finish this winter season out on a strong note! Tune into the blog for fun fitness ideas, and tag us on social media and use the hashtag #stepwithit to win weekly challenges. Step With It challenge: Get Stepping! 1) Register directly on our website or follow the links on Facebook or Instagram. 2) Choose a weekly activity or challenge to push yourself! 3) Submit your weekly step totals on Facebook, Instagram, or by email to abigail@furnacebrook.org. And or share with the #stepwithit. 4) Enjoy the benefits of fresh air, exercise, and community encouragement! Join us each Wednesday and submit your weekly step totals on Facebook, Instagram, or by email to abigail@furnacebrook.org. The individual with the most steps will be announced on Thursday morning. Don’t forget to tag Furnace Brook on social media with your pictures using the hashtag #stepwithit. Also, tune in to the blog as I’ll be posting words of encouragement, health tips, and recipes! 5 Reasons to Join the Step Challenge As a scientist, I always ask the question, why? So why do the step challenge with Furnace Brook?
How to track your steps Whether you have a step tracker or not, keeping track of steps is easy! Consider the following methods for step tracking. 1. Use your fitbit, smartphone, or step tracker to keep track of steps. 2. Log your miles. 1 mile is approximately 2,000 steps. 3. Use the Health App on your phone. Its probably already keeping track of your steps for you! 4. Use an app on your phone to log your steps. Here are some useful ones I have used in the past:
When I started running before Garmin watches and FitBits, I made my mom do this for me ;). What fitness Apps do you use? Have you ever done a step challenge before? What keeps you motivated? Written by Abigail Elliott  Valentines Day feels like the quaintest, most old fashioned of the public holidays we still enjoy in the United States. Granted, much of what’s old fashioned about it has been smoothed out by the hot irons of commercialism and political correctness. If someone brings one card to school he must bring enough for every classmate (and the teachers to boot). And generally speaking the holiday has more to do with chocolate than with actual romance.
Men: Here’s How to Express your Love without Losing your Masculinity But romance is a real thing and it’s really worth celebrating. And Valentines Day seems like a good opportunity to reflect on how a man who wants to love the other gender can do a better job of that without forfeiting his masculinity. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. - Ephesians 5:25 Men: Here are 8 Ways to Love Your Valentine And, in the spirit of celebrating the spirit of Valentine's Day, we offer these tips for men who love women. 1. Men who love women are respectfully considerate of the ways in which women are different. Loving women means taking frank stock of the ways in which they are different and honoring those differences. 2. Men who love women work hard at being good men.They work to be competent and capable, to be fit and active, and to have the sort of character that makes their physicality and ability a blessing to women and not a cause for discomfort. Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them." - Proverbs 20:6-7 3. Men who love women reject pornography. If you are a man who loves women there can be no room for pornography in your life. 4. Men who love women expect a lot of women. Love without admiration is really just a fond contempt. And if a man admires women let it be because they are resilient, sacrificial, intuitive, capable, diligent, relational, and strong with the fierce strength of mothers made indomitable by love. Let a man admire women because they bear the image of God with grace and mystery. And if a man’s love for women is full of admiration let his regard for women be full of expectation. 5. Men who love women offer to lead. And they are especially willing to make that offer when the leadership is going to be most costly and thankless. But they are careful to offer and not to insist. 6. Men who love women are emphatically faithful and monogamous in relationship. Men love all women best when they love one woman exclusively. 7. Men who love women accept the leadership of women. Not only that, they follow in such a way as to make the woman leading feel honored for her leadership. 8. Men who love women do things like walk on the side of traffic. They express their love of women with the little gestures of deference and protection that still possess some charm for those who prefer not to take offense.They make these gestures with no aim of being petted for having done so and being careful not to take umbrage when the gesture is rejected. What are some other things you think are true of the man who loves women? Comment below and let us know! Written by: Joel Tate   It’s mid February, who is feeling the winter blues? I love the wintertime, like love it, but some days the cold seeps into my bones and I can’t shake it. I’m convinced living in Vermont makes you a stronger person. We have to put on three layers top and bottom to make it through the work day, start our cars 20 minutes ahead anytime we want to go out, and wear boots everyday for 5 months.
The Secret to Living in Vermont Vermont-living is not for the faint in heart, but some of us have the privilege to call the Green Mountains our home. Part of living in Vermont and surviving the winter months is finding activities outside that you love. Seriously, it is the secret to surviving. You’re cold? Go outside. It is counter intuitive, but it works. Try it. You’ll feel better because you took in the fresh air and doing a mental detox and you’re exercising rather than eating a pizza. My personal mantra is laps before lattes. I tell myself if I can do anything a with the forethought that the espresso machine is waiting on the other end. My core winter activities include Nordic skiing and hiking. I’m kind of a wimp about winter running and mostly stick to the treadmill in the wintertime. Lame, I know. What are some of your winter activities? I know the Brandon Free Library and Maclure Library have snowshoes available for community members to use. Join us for the Step With It Challenge I’ve been blessed to be able to work at Furnace Brook this winter. Mary and I have been hiking local trails a couple times a week and it has helped remarkably with my mood! During one of our hikes we decided we wanted to encourage other people to get outside and enjoy all that God has blessed us with here in Vermont. So, we have created the Step with It step challenge beginning 2/20 and ending on the first day of spring, 3/20. We are asking you to join us in finishing the last leg of the winter season. The step challenge is an easy way to hold each other accountable to getting outside and staying active. We often forget how beautiful it is outside because we’re just trying to stay warm. For the next month we will walk/run/hike/ski or whatever to stay positive and finish this winter season out on a strong note. There is a calendar available on the registration form available for printing off to log your steps and there are some creative activities to try if you’re looking for inspiration. Join us each Wednesday and submit your weekly step totals on Facebook, Instagram, or by email to abigail@furnacebrook.org. The individual with the most steps will be announced on Thursday morning. Log your steps however you choose. Note: 1 mile is approximately 2,000 steps. Step With It challenge: Get Stepping! 1) Register directly on our website or follow the links on Facebook or Instagram. 2) Choose a weekly activity or challenge to push yourself! 3) Submit your weekly step totals on Facebook, Instagram, or by email to abigail@furnacebrook.org. And or share with the #stepwithit. 4) Enjoy the benefits of fresh air, exercise, and community encouragement! Don’t forget to tag Furnace Brook on social media with your pictures using the hashtag #stepwithit. Also, tune in to the blog as I’ll be posting words of encouragement, health tips, and recipes! Be well, Abbey Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2   Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. - 1 John 5:1
Faith and love are two key components that make us people of God. They are such small words yet hold so much weight. Being born into the family of God means that we’ve entered into a larger family circle- a family of believers. It’s a big family composed of people from all over the world and possibly your next door neighbor. Regardless where we came from or how God adopted us, we have one thing in common to unite us. And that is the love He lavished on us! Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that when it comes down to it, three things remain, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” At Christmas time, it’s easy to feel the warmth of the holiday and the love of friends and family. However, not everyone is as blessed as some. For some, it is difficult to fill the base of the tree with gifts let alone put food on the table. For others, it means remembering the loss of a loved one or those that can’t make it home for Christmas. The night Mary gave birth to Jesus, the first Christmas, her situation was certainly not merry and bright. She gave birth to a baby without a midwife, in a barn, and put her newborn in a feeding trough. But in that moment, love was born. The greatest gift that God gave to his people and that we can share with our brothers and sisters is love. It says in 1 John, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” On the darkest of nights, in less than ideal circumstances, God lavished his love on us. Enjoy these easy Peanut butter no-bake cookies that look of beds of straw. Ingredients ½ cup creamy peanut butter ¼ cup honey (or maple syrup for vegan)! ¼ cup coconut oil measured in the solid state. 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder ¼ tsp sea salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup quick cooking oats ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut Instructions Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, set aside. Combine peanut butter, honey salt and coconut oil in a saucepan and heat, stirring continuously, until melted and well-combined. Stir in vanilla and cocoa powder. Add quick-cooking oats and mix well. Add coconut and stir until completely combined. Drop 1 TBS portions of mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all your cookie mixture. Let cool in the refrigerator or freezer until hardened. Serve cold or frozen! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator! Adapted from Joy Food Sunshine Written by: Abigail Elliott  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. - Luke 2:11
When Christine and I were dating we decided one time to make popovers. I’d mentioned my love for them and she responded with a blank look. I was determined to make some for her. I was visiting her at college and we scrounged up the necessary utensils and ingredients and enjoyed our time together in the kitchen. But when the time came to remove the popovers from the oven it was a disaster. Somehow I’d ended up with a dozen little pucks so inedible that not even the birds had any interest in them. I could blame it on the use of a dorm kitchen and dorm tools. I was certainly a very inexperienced cook. Maybe the ingredients had been subpar. I kept going over the recipe I’d been given, making sure that I’d used all the right ingredients in the right proportions. I’ve been cooking long enough now that I think I know what happened. I think that the person who wrote down the recipe for me had thought about some step or other that it went without saying, forgetting that the recipe was being written down for me. “Surely I don’t need to tell Joel,” the thinking went, “to unwrap the stick of butter before adding it to the batter.” That’s what happens when we’ve been doing something for a long time: things become old hat to us and they go from being something we delighted to say to be something that might go without saying. Let me say it: you will never have a Christmas worth having if Jesus is not the first ingredient. If you get everyone the perfect gift, on time and under budget, but Jesus is not the first ingredient, it’s all for naught. If it snows on the way home from the Christmas Eve service and all the next day while you sip hot chocolate in your pajamas, but Jesus is not the first ingredient, it amounts to nothing. Praise him today. Talk about him and talk to him, all day long. Make it all about Jesus or you’ll spend the next few days looking over your recipe, scratching your head, and wondering what you did wrong. Here is a Popover recipe to try (hopefully successfully). Merry Christmas! Written by: Joel Tate |
Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church Blog
|
RSS Feed