As one of 15 church plants supported by Acts 29 West for 2018, they put together a pretty incredible video that tells a bit of our story, who we are, and how God is working in/through our young church plant to be "the flourishing presence of Jesus in every sphere of life!"
As a church plant, we've come a very long way in our first year. Seemingly overnight, we've gone from a fledgling community of 20 families to a church of over 150 people who consider this community their home. Through countless conversations and opportunities to live out our vision to "savor and share the Life of Jesus in every person, place, and thing," we've realized that this vision is... lacking. Sure, it sounds decent and accurately describes much of what we're about, but it isn't quite connecting to the ethos or heart of the passion we have for our broader community (or our church community, specifically).
You’d think that, as someone who stands in front of a big group of people to describe the unfathomable love of God on an almost-weekly basis, writing a short blog post to preview an event all about “knowing God” would be a walk in the park. It’s not. Explaining why it’s so hard for me to put into words is also a real challenge (and thick with irony, as you’ll soon understand)! But here it is (bear with me)…
(Justin Chappell)
A name tells a story.
Consider the street names near your home. Someone came up with those names, and there was almost certainly a degree of intentionally and purpose embedded in the chosen name — even the not-so-original suburban street names! The same degree of intentionality and purpose is embedded in the name of a church. For that reason, a couple of convictions have shaped the naming process for the “Longmont church plant.” First, a name must be vision-formed. It needs to tell you why we exist. Second, it must be uniquely and specifically focused on place. It should reflect the realities of Longmont. So, in order to understand our name, you need to know a little about Longmont…
I’ve learned that people in Longmont really want their story to matter. There’s a shared longing to write a better story for yourself and share in the stories of others. I believe this is why more and more people are calling Longmont home each year (and very few leave). It’s a place of beauty and unexplored opportunity — especially the opportunity to craft a more meaningful story. And if you had to choose somewhere to do that, wouldn’t you choose a place like Longmont?* But what if we can’t write a better story? What if the frustration and brokenness of our stories can’t be crafted away? This is where the Gospel offers unprecedented hope — the hope that Jesus can redeem our stories and rescue us into his more true and satisfying Story.
In many ways, Longmont is just like any other city in the Front Range of Colorado. It’s filled with stories of joy and sadness; delight and sorrow; satisfaction and longing; connection and loneliness; adventure and boredom. There’s beauty and brokenness all around us; but we have our own take on these realities. While sharing in the unique stories of my city I’ve become more and more burdened to see them found whole and given new life in the Redeemer’s Story. This particular burden has given birth to a particular vision, for a particular place, and it’s uniquely reflected in the name we’ve chosen...Redeemer Longmont.
And with that, we can now officially retire the placeholder of “to-be-named Longmont church plant.” A praise worthy retirement, indeed.
—
A name absolutely matters; but eventually the name becomes the vehicle for describing an experience. What does Apple or Twitter mean apart from your experience of their products and services? The same is true for the local church. The name Redeemer Longmont wasn’t pulled out of a hat, but what does it actually mean apart from your experience of it? The vision for Redeemer Longmont is to embody the redeeming story of Jesus in all of life for all of Longmont. This is a vision anchored by invitation and experience; the invitation to be found whole and flourish in the Redeemer’s Story, and the experience of a community loving fully with the Redeemer’s courage. With this vision before us, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our name was simply the vehicle for describing a greater and more satisfying experience of Jesus in, and through, our community?
This is the hope behind our name. Join us in praying this vision for Redeemer Longmont to life!
*https://smartasset.com/mortgage/top-boomtowns-in-america-2019
Did you know that upside down Christmas trees are a thing? Seriously. You can either buy a fake one that is designed specifically to sit in the stand that way or hang them from the ceiling like a chandelier. They’re apparently “all the rage” for several reasons:
In-store displays keep far more of the ornaments at eye level and, at home, far more ornaments are out of the easy reach of both toddlers and pets.
In smaller homes and apartments where square footage is at a premium, it’s far easier to squeeze an end table or couch next to (or maybe under?) the inverted branches.
It affords some more creative means of decoration (I gotta admit, this one with tinsel is pretty dang cool).
After the Tate Museum in London featured one as a work of art (complete with roots wrapped in gold leaf!), where artist Shirazeh Houshiary quoted a Buddhist monk for inspiration, some now consider it a non-conformist statement piece contra more traditional Christmas celebrations.
But the most popular reason (by far) is this: you can fit more presents underneath an upside down Christmas tree.
Besides the fact that we need more reasons to indulge our consumeristic tendencies like we need a hole in the head (we don’t), it’s remarkably stunning how far we have gotten from the original meaning of the upside-down Christmas tree.
That’s right. This is NOT a new fad.
This tradition is rooted (hah!) in the European middle ages where, the legend goes, a Benedictine monk named Saint Boniface noticed the triangular shape of the pine tree could serve as a visual symbol of the Trinity. He turned it upside-down so that the tip pointed from Heaven down to Earth, symbolizing the movement of God the Son (Jesus) leaving Heaven to be born as human baby. This is what Christians call the “incarnation” (from Latin meaning, “in the flesh”), and the entire reason why we celebrate Christmas every year!
So yes, it is a non-conformist statement, but one that is more explicitly connected to its traditional roots (I can’t help myself!) and against contemporary efforts to repurpose it for whatever we want!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a depth of cosmic irony more thick than a slice of year-old Christmas fruitcake!
At this point, you’re probably wondering how in the world this is relevant or helpful outside of an obscure question at an upcoming Trivia Night (if you’re lucky). Don’t worry, I actually have a point with all this: If we can so easily forget and hijack the deeply significant spiritual meaning of an upside-down Christmas tree and twist it for our own (thoroughly American) purposes, what other aspects of Christmas have we unknowingly distorted? Where else do we think we are rightly appreciating Christmas but are, in reality, operating off of a paradigm that has more to do with 21st century consumerism than the birth of the world’s Savior? Our guide to answering that question, the means by which we recover the original beauty, and the way we fully take hold of it is, of course, by exploring Jesus’ incarnation and it’s multi-faceted implications on our lives.
Thus, this Advent’s sermon series (starting December 1st) will explore how the birth of Jesus radically turns upside-down what we think we know about Christmas in four significant areas of life: Power, Peace, Generosity, and Family.
My hope for this Christmas season is that, as the Gospel seems to be turning us upside-down, we’ll realize that we’ve actually been upside down the whole time, and that the birth of Jesus would do a work in our hearts that results with us more truly and more beautifully… well… right-side-up.
For the last 2 years, we’ve been mentioning off and on about “sending a church plant to Longmont,” and you’ve of course met our Church Planting Resident and his wife, Justin and Caitlin Chappell. Well, that is finally becoming a reality! In September, 2020, we will be (tearfully + joyfully) praying over them and any Longmont families who commit themselves to the mission of starting another church from scratch, and sending them out to give the “Gift” of the Gospel away in Longmont…
In September, we’ll be starting a new sermon series in one of the most dramatic narratives in all of scripture: the Book of Acts. The author, Luke, picks up right where his Gospel left off and gives us a historical picture of both the explosive outward growth and extraordinary inward transformation of the early church…
In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Mt. 1:1-17), he does something absolutely revolutionary, he includes four women: Bathsheba, Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth (plus Mary, of course). A King’s genealogy isn’t just a record of who He happens to be related to (a la today’s explosion of interest in exploring family genealogies), it is the royal lineage from which his authority and legitimacy is derived. For Matthew to include women in time and culture that doesn’t allow women to have any authority was not only unheard of, it would have unsettled, disturbed, and potentially alienated his original audience…
One of The Table’s own, Jeff Motter (PhD), teaches Political Rhetoric at the University of Colorado Boulder, is the Curator for TEDxCU, and has worked for both Democrat and Republican political campaigns. He has also written for numerous academic journals on the topics of democracy, politics, and culture, and is anxiously awaiting the publication of his first book, Rooted Resistance: Agrarian Myth in Modern American Culture. You might say he knows a thing or two about politics, so we are especially excited to have him offer some perspective ahead of this year’s midterm elections…
While writing this blog post in a public space, I overheard a nearby conversation. It was two women that seemed like they just met. And as you’d normally do when you first meet someone, you share your story. You give context to who you are today, give examples of your favorite things, share the motivation behind your work, build bridges over shared experiences, and dream about future endeavors. That’s what was happening. And then I heard, “I want this to make a difference – to help make things better!”
When we launched Neighborhoods on Sunday morning (9/9), we showed this incredible video put together by one of our own - Documentary Filmmaker, Director, and Animator Chad Clendinen. His considerable gifts in storytelling powerfully illustrate how our definitions for “community” and “neighborhood” are inherently flawed and insufficient, as well as unavoidably influenced by our (very suburban) environment…
