Stories of Grace

“The Stories of Grace series is intended to capture snapshots of God’s grace and glory amidst our every day lives. They are real stories of real people who have seen the fingerprints of God amidst the ordinary—God’s favorite canvas. Each story is personal, unique and, often, unfinished. Through it all we get glimpses of God’s steadfast love, sufficient grace, and ongoing presence with his people.” 

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“I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone.” Although I don’t fully endorse Alanis Morrisette’s theology, the first line of her song “You Learn” typifies the lesson God has been teaching me.  The last several years have been a journey of a trampled heart finding more hope and joy than I thought possible through a newfound confidence in my identity in Christ and understanding of God’s sovereignty.

Two and a half years ago, I lost my husband, Spenser, to suicide.  Spenser’s death left me in a confusing wake of grief and relief, a horrific end to six years of a difficult marriage, and unveiled previously hidden wounds and weaknesses in my life and faith.  A month later, a close friend died unexpectedly and suddenly from cancer.  A year later, I lost another dear friend to suicide.  In the midst of all this loss, I was hit by more waves, as I struggled to make sense of a life that was much different than I thought it would be, battled health issues and injuries, and felt the weight of a demanding and stressful profession. Internally, I questioned God’s justice and goodness and doubted His love for me, and relationally, despite my sincere efforts, I failed to connect in community with other believers, sinking deeper into isolation and loneliness.

I feel as though I am often viewed by others in two extremes: one being that I am impossibly broken and too damaged for “normal” Christians to care for and know and the other being that I am impossibly strong, unaffected by my trials, and thus without any need for help or encouragement.  Both views are lies.  What is true is that I have been deeply wounded, but thankfully, God has never been and never will be surprised or overwhelmed by my brokenness or doubts. Rather, He searched for me and found me in my loneliness in the dark (Psalm 139:1). He is a true friend and cares for me.  I belong to Christ and He knows every ache and pain of my heart. He understands the isolation of grief and unkindness because He chose to experience it Himself through His life and death on the Cross.  And I do have a strength, but that strength is a gift from God that I fight to remember and renew each day by His grace and power alone.  I am full of insecurities and prone to bouts of pessimism and cycles of incessant introspection.  My flesh and my heart fail and I grow weary of doing good (Psalm 73:26; 2 Thessalonians 3:13; Galatians 6:9).  But the foundation of my faith is not my feelings or efforts, it is Christ and the work He has already done for me.  God strengthens my weak knees when I feel I cannot go on and comforts me when I feel isolated and misunderstood (Hebrews 12:12).  His Word reminds me of what is true when I get lost and confused by lies. There are still some days when I am unsure how I will get through the next day, but God’s love is steadfast and never ceases and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:21-23).  He has been faithful to grow my ability to see beyond my circumstances, to doubt my doubts, and to trust Him to continue to be my good Father for the rest of my days and through eternity.

A dear friend shared with me some encouraging words on a particularly dark day that sparked an epiphany in my heart.  She reminded me that God doesn’t only see me healed from my wounds; He sees me simultaneously as I was before my wounds, now with my wounds, and in the future completely healed and resurrected.  He doesn’t promise that I won’t have scars or any memory of my pain and struggles.  After all, Jesus still has scars and the wounded Lamb is worthy, in part, because He was slain (Revelation 5:12).  God promises something better.  He will always be with me through every wave of loss and sorrow and wipe away every tear (Isaiah 41:10; Revelation 21:4).  He promises to eventually show me that every tear was worth the pain because my story is part of a bigger story that God has written and my scars have meaning and beauty that I trust will result in a deeper joy than I can imagine.

My foolish heart might still trade all that I have now for those I have lost and for the possibility of the fulfillment of the withered dreams that were, but I continue to pray for a steadfast faith that remembers that the path the Lord has me on now is what is best for me.  My life is not what I expected it to be, but I will fight to believe in the truth of Romans 8:28; that I have a Savior and perfect friend who loves me, has chosen me, and has sovereignly chosen these trials for my good and His glory.

I now have a deeper love for the Lord and understanding of His Word than I would have if God had not allowed my heart to be trampled. I know what it is like to feel Job 3 and Psalm 88 and through His grace and mercy have been able to imperfectly and humbly point other broken hearts back to Christ in a way I never could have if I had not felt that pain and walked the path I have walked. God has given me glimpses of sweet joy in my suffering and shimmers of peace that surpass all understanding (Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 4:7).  I am reminded that God will not break the bruised reed or quench the faintly burning wick (Isaiah 42:3); He does not despise the broken or contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).  So I am grateful to be bruised and slain by the hands of a sovereign, loving God (Job 13:15).

Though I may never experience the blessing of a loving family of my own, feel known and as though I belong in a church community, or see the friends I have lost again, by God’s grace I have been able to comfort others with the comfort He has given me (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).  And it is perhaps a better blessing for me to be able to love and care for others in the ministries and places that God has called me to.

As Alanis might say, “what it all comes down to, is that I haven’t got it all figured out just yet.” But I’m thankful for the strange but full, broken but beautiful, life He’s given me.  I pray for a heart that consistently laughs at the time to come and does not fear anything that is frightening (Proverbs 31:25; 1 Peter 3:6); and I set my hope towards the day when all things are made new (Revelation 21:5) and I will fully understand why every tragedy, every triumph, every tear, will be worth it in the end.

– DCC Member, Janiece

If you are a member with DCC and have a story of grace to share please email . 

Ethnic Harmony, Mercy Ministries, Mercy Update

The Mercy Ministry Updates are a regular snapshot of our Mercy Ministries in DCC, where we are working to serve and uphold the value and dignity of God’s most vulnerable image bearers in our city. Each update highlights one of our focus areas, as well as provide a listing of upcoming events, and current prayer requests across all of our focus areas.

Gospel Framework

The Bible, as God’s inspired word, displays God’s good design and our radical need for a savior, found only in Jesus, and calls us to live out our new identity in Christ as we engage the world around us.

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”Zechariah 7:9-10

God speaks through Scripture to his people, calling them to faithful action to care for the most vulnerable people around them. Often in these instructions, we see four populations listed – the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, the poor – as a description of those who were most vulnerable in their midst. And we also often see these instructions intermingled with instructions to care for brothers and sisters (“one another”), which is to say, the love that we have for those who are vulnerable is not some “out there” love but a “from here” love that starts in the family of God, rooted in God’s love for us. We love because he first loved us, and has given us the commandment to love others. (1 John 4:19,21). This is good news for us because it means we can put the love of others into practice right here in our church and in our city.

Mercy Focus Highlight: Understanding Disproportionality

As a church we support and partner with several mercy ministries and want to share and highlight their on-going work.

Racial Disproportionality, that is, the underrepresentation or overrepresentation of a racial or ethnic group compared to its percentage in the total population, is a reality in every one of our mercy focus areas (Life/Abortion, Foster Care/Adoption, Juvenile Detention, Sex Trafficking, Homelessness, and Refugees). This means that people, families, and communities of color are more affected than white people, families, and communities (in King County and nationally). So as we care for the most vulnerable populations in each of these areas, we should seek to understand this reality so that it can inform our care. Other types of disproportionality also exist in many of our mercy focus areas, such as the economic disproportionality of women seeking an abortion, and even some interdependencies between them, such as children in foster care and juvenile detention, or juvenile detention and sex trafficking. Similarly, those whom we seek to serve in these areas have, without question, experienced trauma, which likewise informs how we understand and care for them.

These factors lead us to understand the complexity and scope of sin’s impact on our world. In turn, this should also lead us toward increased empathy and informed care for those we serve and increasingly see the measure of Christ’s gift to us in our salvation. As we simultaneously see the depth of sinfulness and brokenness of the world around us and the height of God’s love for us in Christ, we will move toward others in love as he has loved us.

Upcoming Events

Not all events are sponsored or hosted by DCC, but serve those in our focus areas. See linked details for each.

• UGM Women’s Recovery Program Graduation – Jan. 23
• Foster Care Support Group – Jan. 25
• REST Volunteer Training Day – Jan. 26
• World Relief Sea-Tri-Kan Info Session – Jan. 27
• Northwest Health and Human Rights Mental Health Provides Training and Info Session – Feb. 2
• Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Day – Feb. 5

Partner Prayer Requests

Please join us in praying for the people impacted and involved in each of these focus areas.

Refugees

• Praise God for answering the prayers of World Relief and others, as the federal government announced that it will continue working with all of the organizations that work to resettle refugees in the U.S.
• Pray for those seeking entry into the US, with the recent drop in federally allowed refugees, and elsewhere – that they would be provided for and cared for by the church globally.

 Foster Care & Adoption

• Kids in extended foster care – if a child doesn’t have permanency at the age of 18 then they can apply to be in extended foster care, a program for 18-21 year-olds. Pray they would learn the skills they need for independence, and that they might not lose hope of having a family and a place to call home. 
• Kids aging out of foster care – this is one of the most vulnerable populations of kids. They leave foster care without support and are susceptible to a variety of different dangers from sex trafficking to drug and alcohol abuse to homelessness. Please pray that God would move in the hearts of those families that He wants to adopt the children aging out of foster care.

Sex Trafficking & REST

• By God’s grace, REST has seen their ministry grow significantly over the last few years, and with that has come to the need for new office space. Please pray with REST as they search for office space in Seattle for their administrative team so that they can continue to serve the survivors they work with as effectively as possible.
• As we enter 2019, let’s also be praying for God to transform hearts throughout our city and area. Let’s pray that God will bring many people out of brokenness and into faith and relationship with Him, and let’s pray that He works in and through REST for His glory and the good of many!

Homelessness & UGM

• In 2019 we want to double the number of mentors in our men’s recovery program, going from 20 to 40. Please pray that God would call the next cadre of mentors to the Mission.
• Safety and protection of our homeless neighbors during the wind, rain, and cold of the winter months.  

Juvenile Detention

• Please pray for God to comfort the children that are away and have been away from their families and loved ones during the holidays and who may be feeling particularly lonely and without hope. 
• Please pray that God would open the eyes and hearts of these children to see the real hope they have in Christ despite the circumstances in front of them and for the Lord to put people in their lives that can encourage them to place their trust in Jesus and grow to be more like Him.

Life & CareNet

• Continued favor in the Communities CareNet is serving – For open doors with the social services agencies and health facilities, that these agencies will see the benefits they offer to clients
• New Mobile schedule in 2019 – For direction and provision as they expand their schedule to include DCC and more hours in current locations 

Stay Connected

Join the focus area city groups in order to hear more regular updates, events, and opportunities to serve.

• Mercy Focus: Homelessness
• Mercy Focus: Juvenile Detention
• Mercy Focus: Orphan Care
• Mercy Focus: Refugees
• Mercy Focus: Sex Trafficking
• Mercy Focus: The LIFE project

Scripture | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

A Lesson from Billy Graham

On Sunday we walked through Psalm 119:11 and the importance of “storing up God’s Word in our heart that we might not sin against him.” You can listen to it here if you missed it. This post is a follow-up to that sermon in hopes of offering practical help in how to begin stockpiling the riches of God’s Word in your heart this year. 

A 2006 interview with Bill Graham (the most well-known evangelist of the 20th century) in Newsweek reported the following:

‘If he had his life to live over again, Graham says he would spend more time immersed in Scripture and theology. He never went to seminary, and his lack of a graduate education is something that still gives him a twinge. “The greatest regret that I have is that I didn’t study more and read more,” he says. “I regret it, because now I feel at times I am empty of what I would like to have been. I have friends that have memorized great portions of the Bible. They can quote [so much], and that would mean a lot to me now.”’

Think about that. Billy Graham wished he would have memorized more Scripture. There’s something to learn here. I took that to heart when I first read it and I’ve thought about it ever since. I remember saying to myself, “If this is something that the greatest evangelist of the last 100+ years feels at the end of his life, how likely is it that I will feel the same way unless I make some changes now?” Answer: Very likely. By God’s grace, albeit imperfectly, I’ve been attempting to work that out ever since. 

For Non-Photographic-Memory-Types

I once heard a pastor say that he’s never had to memorize scripture in his life because he has a photographic memory. That’s not very helpful for all of us non-photographic-memory-types. What about the rest of us who forget our phone number or where we put our keys, let alone how Psalm 23 ends? Years ago, as I was attempting to reinvigorate my practice of scripture memorization, I came across this by John Piper and this article by Andrew Davis, “An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture.” I have been influenced by both. 

A Simple Way to Memorize Scripture. 

I started memorizing scripture when I first began to follow Jesus at the University of Washington, but it was slow going. Previously, I was marking my progress by how much I could remember and because it didn’t stick right away it led to discouragement and, eventually, abandonment of further attempts. But, I discovered something in 2006 that forever changed how I approach this means of grace. What changed?

I stopped focusing on perceived progress and just kept track of daily time spent working on a verse, trusting my brain will get it when it was ready. Operate off of this principle: if your brain reviews something enough it will learn it. No question. Of course, all our brains are different. Some will memorize more quickly than others. Some will need to get more creative than others (e.g. songs, images, etc.). But, in time, it will come. Honestly, even if it doesn’t, no time in the Word is wasted. 

The Nitty-Gritty. 

Here’s how it has worked for me. I try to get at least an hour of personal time in the Word every morning (25-30 minutes in the Bible, 20 minutes in prayer, and about 10 minutes focused on scripture memory).

If I’m memorizing a large portion of scripture, I’ll focus on one verse a day, with the exceptions of Wednesdays and Fridays when I review the verses/sections previously committed to memory. Here’s how it works: 

• REVIEW 10x’s: When I begin, I slowly repeat the verse(s) I worked on the previous day out loud ten times without looking at the text. You may need to look at the old verse briefly to remind yourself. That’s ok and normal. 
• READ 10x’s: Then, I move onto the next new verse and read it carefully and slowly out loud ten times. As I do so, I try to imagine embossing the verse into my brain as I read over it.
• REPEAT 10x’s: After, reading the new verse ten times, I will then repeat that same verse out loud ten times without looking at the text.
• Note: As you memorize, you’ll want to set aside a day or two every week to review, rather than memorize new verses. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you. If you hang in there, you’ll actually begin to learn how your brain memorizes best.

That’s it. That will take 5-10 minutes. You can do it anywhere, whether at home, at work, or on the road. Repeat that every day, or whatever days you have set aside for it, and you will be surprised by how your brain absorbs what you’re doing, over time, even if you don’t feel like its working. It is working. When you hit a hard patch you may need to focus on the same verse/section for a couple of days. Don’t be hard on yourself. The point is to be chewing on God’s Word.

Think about it this way. Psalm 23 has six verses. If you did the above over the next week, you would have it pretty well memorized in 6-7 days. It may take you another week to have it polished. Davis, above, has some great recommendations for how to cement sections of scripture into your memory after you’ve memorized them so that you don’t lose them. (i.e. repeat Psalm 23 once every day over the next 100 days and you’ll never forget it) You’ll have to find what works for you. 

A Transformative Means of Grace

Personally, this has been an incredibly transformative means of grace (i.e. spiritual discipline). But, we do have to watch our hearts. The goal is not merely to memorize for the sake of memorization, but to trust and treasure Jesus more by hiding His Word in our heart. This practice has changed how I pray, what I think about, how I think about what I think about, where I turn for hope, how I read and understand the Scripture, how I offer hope and encouragement to others and more. Give it a shot. You may be surprised by how the Spirit may use even 10 minutes a day in your life as you internalize His Word. 

Christ is All, 

Pastor Adam

Community, Uncategorized

The Life in Community series highlights aspects of our life lived together in community through a mixture of theology, vision, and personal stories. Cornerstone Communities are the primary means of forming meaningful discipling relationships where we can be known, encouraged, and challenged by brothers and sisters in our body, and live out the “one another” commandments in our daily lives. 

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In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes both the blessings and the challenges of a Christian community and how our own expectations have a significant role to play in our participation in and experience of community. As we enter a new year and a new season with our communities, let’s consider what community is and what we can and should expect, as well as what we cannot and should not expect.

Christian community, in the broader sense, happens throughout the life of the church: in Sunday gatherings as well as in our Cornerstone Communities, Discipleship Groups, and interpersonal interactions. It is a gift for believers in the present church age used to strengthen, equip, build-up, encourage, exhort, and care for one another. In DCC, we speak about our Cornerstone Communities as the place where we can get to know others and be known by others; where we primarily live out the “one another” commands to love our brothers and sisters in Christ; and where we form meaningful, mutually-edifying, discipling relationships. And it is our sincere desire that everyone who calls DCChome would have such a community.

BLESSINGS OF A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Bonhoeffer describes the nature and very tangible good of the Christian community, which suggests some healthy expectations for community:

• First, the desire for Christian community – the companionship and presence of other believers in our lives – is natural and reflects God’s own trinitarian nature in us as his image bearers. Moreover, God works through various means to achieve his purposes, and by his grace, we get to be part of those means in our care for each other such that when we visit, comfort, or exhort another we are a tangible sign of God’s grace to our brother or sister. So we should expect that we would show the love of Christ to others, and be shown the love of Christ by others (Gal 5:13)
• Secondly, the Christian community is a gift and a privilege and not a guarantee or an entitlement. Like any of God’s gifts, God distributes according to his varied grace (1 Cor 12:18). Realizing it is a gift should lead us to thankfulness for what we have received. It should also lead us to understand the purpose of a Christian community, like the other gifts, is to build up the church and should be motivated by love for others (1 Cor 12:7, 13:1-13).
• Thirdly, we have only one foundation for this community: Jesus Christ, who is our peace with God and with each other. Christ’s work on our behalf enables us to be in relationship with God and with other adopted sons and daughters in his family (Eph. 2:13-14). We should expect that we have this common ground that brings us together, and that our community is not rooted in anything else. Of course, it is great to find shared interests with those in our community, but those shared interests are secondary and are not required for a Christian community.

CHALLENGES OF A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Bonhoeffer also speaks some cautions about community, particularly on our desires for and expectations of the community. He writes this:

Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it has sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams…. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

• We can often import our desires to be loved, or expectations of others to be more to us than they ought, into our communities. And so we must be aware of whether or not we’re seeking community in and through Christ alone, or if we’re seeking something else. It is possible that we would make an idol out of the community (along with any other good thing) if we allow it to become the ultimate thing. (Phil 3:8)
• We must realize that our Christian community is one that serves to point each other to Christ, and not to be Christ himself. We are not saved through a community, but we are encouraged and pointed to Christ in a community. (1 Cor 3:5-9) Realizing too that we’re not perfect, we should expect that there will be times when we sin against and are sinned against by others in our community. That does not mean we should seek to sin against each other, but rather that we should be in the practice of confession and forgiveness when we do sin (James 5:16, Col 3:13).
• We must also be careful not to seek out simply the relational connection of human affection or emotional experience. Surely, we can hope to experience affection and positive emotions in our connection with one another, but this is a byproduct, not the end in itself, of the spiritual reality of being united in Christ and therefore must not be the driver for our expectations. In Romans 12:10 Paul actually instructs us to have brotherly affection – which is to say, we are to shape our affections for others in the body, not to base our participation in the body on our existing affections.

OUR ROLE IN A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Taken together, these encouragements can help us calibrate our desires and expectations for our communities. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, they call us to participate in building these healthy communities. So, for those already in a Cornerstone Community, I’d encourage you in these ways:

• Start with thanksgiving to God for the gift of community that you already have, rather than to lament the community you don’t yet have. Pray for those in your community – by name, and often. Reach out to others with prayers and encouragements for them.
• Use your gifts to serve and encourage others in love, for God’s glory and their good. Ask “How might God use me to bless those in my community?” rather than asking “What will I get from this community?”
• Commit to being an active part of your community. You can only grow in knowing others and being known by showing up. Invite those who are new to your community to grab a coffee and start to get to know each other.

If you’re not yet in a Cornerstone Community, get started with the Foundations class, which lays the groundwork for our life together in DCC. The next class starts this Sunday, 1/13, at 9a. You can read more details and register here.

Stories of Grace