Welcome to the World!

We are the proud parents (and big brother) of a beautiful baby girl!

Tuesday, April 17th I started timing contractions. My biggest hope for Jack all along has been that we would have the opportunity to explain to him what was happening and who he would stay with while we were at the hospital. Thanks to our friend Miss Courtney who came over Tuesday evening with her overnight bag, we were able to have some sweet family time, kiss our son goodnight, and he was able to sleep in his own bed. After singing bedtime songs and a few extra kisses, we anxiously, nervously, excitedly headed to the hospital.

Upon arrival, we went through the check in procedures in the triage room. My doctor just so happened to already be at the hospital and was able to check my progress personally.  She told us I was too progressed to go home but thought we still had some time before things would get interesting. She prescribed rest until she returned in the morning. Unfortunately for my poor husband, the triage room we were in was the last available room. Thankfully for us, we got the last room available! Either way, Ryan did not leave my side, even though that meant he had to sleep in a chair.

The next morning could not come soon enough. With my doctor's blessing, the nurse hooked me up to the portable monitors and we took to the hallways. I wish I could obtain the video surveillance in the maternity ward from Wednesday morning since my tall, groggy husband supportively joined my in walking and lunges.

Progress throughout the day felt as though we were losing a race to a turtle, but we remained determined and optimistic. Meanwhile, my mom had been driving from Austin, TX since 4:30 that morning. To everyone's surprise, my mom made it to the hospital in time for the birth of her granddaughter. I am so thankful I was able to have my husband AND my mom by my side.

We heard the sweet cry of our daughter, Ellie Spring, at 6:45 pm, Wednesday, April 18th. She was 19 1/2", 6 lbs. 5 oz. We were amazed by the frozen moment and filled by the complete love of our growing family.

The hospital congratulated us by giving us an actual room that just so happened to have two beds. Lucky Ryan! This time we anxiously waited for morning because we missed Jack and we were so excited for him to meet his baby sister.

We are a very blessed family of four.

Anticipatory Vision

Notes From the Pastor...

At Easter we proclaim the resurrection story, and we say, “Praise God!  What was dead shall live; what was dark shall shine; what was forgotten shall be remembered, for Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!”  This is a powerful story, but unless the story becomes flesh and blood in Ruidoso it ends with last of our annual
proclamations: “…just because he lives.”

In short, the resurrection story must become our identity for it to powerfully change our lives.  This means that we cannot identify with former things that once entrapped us; whether it is our possessions, our past, or our position in life.  Yes, I am a member of professional clergy, but what does it mean to be clergy in light of the resurrection story?  Yes, I am a husband and father, but what does it mean to be a family man in light of the resurrection story?

The Westminster Larger Catechism, written in 1648, opens with a question: “What is the chief and highest end of man?”  The answer is then confirmed by the catechismal candidate: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.”  Likewise, Julian of Norwich wrote, “The greatest honor we can give to God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”

Family of faith, I so urge you – live out the resurrection story!  Be people of anticipatory vision; living gladly with friend and foe confident in God’s love for you.

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

My Good Friday Meditation:

Eloi, Eloi lema sabachani;

My God, My God why have you forsaken me?

God lived among:

Flesh walking, teaching,

admirable life.

But now abandoned, utterly alone.

Innocent, draped in blood and

suffering,

But this is not the horror.

The horror finds being in

homicidal loneliness.

This is hell.

The absence of God, reserved for

the godless;

Still it is I, the so called religious,

who knows this absence.

Is this not to be avoided?

At all cost, "Flee from darkness,"

I pray, "Medicate me from

suffering."

Yet within it,

I know my God,

and in forsakenness,

my God is with me.

Humanity Testifies

Notes From the Pastor...

A Holy Week parable:

Two men die and go to heaven.  One was a sinner; the other, considered a saint.  When they come to the pearly gates Peter asks them both: “Which of you lived a Christ-like life?”  In proud posture the saint spoke up first, “I abandoned, rejected and despised my flesh.  I continually tried to live a purely divine life.”  The sinner sheepishly turned his eyes downward and mumbles, “I messed it up so many times.  I tried to be better, but I kept tripping over my humanity. ” “Oh I see,” said Peter to the saint, “Well by your confession, you dreamed of equality with God but you neglected to be Christ-like.”  And to the sinner Peter replied, "You lived in Christ-likeness, not because you sinned but because your humanity testifies that you were lowly, weak and dying of a sinful nature – just like Christ.” 

In the multiplicity of spiritualism around us today we are taught to despise the weakness of our flesh and strive for divinity, and those who reach this level of enlightenment, they are considered saints.  But this is not the story of incarnation.  “There can be no theology of the incarnation which does not become a theology of the cross,” says Jurgen Moltmann.  Therefore, as Martin Luther suggests, at the cross God descended into our sinful nature, even our death, not so humanity can become divine, but so humanity may disbelieve their false notions of divinity and be given a new humanity in the community of the crucified Christ.  This is what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 12 when he quotes Christ as saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

So may you come to know God in the lowliness, weakness and dying of Christ.  May you love the one who lived in true humanity: abandoned, rejected and despised.  And may you obscenely find hope in the crucified.

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

"Inscribed on the very heart of God's grace"

Notes From the Pastor:..

There is a question lingering in the back of our mind; it is lodged somewhere between our perpetual planning of dinner and the memories of summers spent at grandparents.  The question arises a few times a week
when we are confronted with the reality of faith, and it often is drowned out by the constant chatter of the urgent.  The question takes different language, nuance, and colloquial tone, but it always expresses the same sentiment: What should I do to practice by faith?

At Palm Sunday we hear a simple, yet challenging directive to the question of faithful behavior.  The Jerusalem crowds are overjoyed at the entrance of their possible Messiah.  They gather on the road and offer a joyous reception in song, palm branches, and the laying down of their coats on the road.  The scene
depicted by all four Gospels has Jesus received in great hospitality.  And there is not one among us that would not rush out to highway 70 to do the same if Jesus approached Ruidoso.

Hospitality is a simple, yet challenging means to practicing our faith.  Throughout Scripture we hear a divine decree to offer hospitality, and in doing so, we are informed that we actively welcome God in our midst.

Theologian Miroslav Volf writes in  Exclusion and Embrace: “Inscribed on the very heart of God’s grace is the rule that we can be its recipients only if we do not resist being made into its agents; what happens to us must be done by us.  Having been embraced by God, we must make space for others and invite them in  – even our enemies.” 

May First Christian Church continue to be known for her hospitality, and may we consistently invite friends and neighbors into our life of grace; as such, we live out the grace we have received.

Grace,
Pastor  Ryan

Traverse the Desert

Notes From the Pastor...

On Monday I drove to Las Cruces for a Clergy meeting with my peers from the border region of New Mexico and Texas.  The long desert view between the Organ and Sacramento mountains always draws me into the spirit of contemplation.

In the local history book, Tularosa, C.L. Sonnichsen countlessly depicts frontier men, women, and children traversing the desert from the populated community of Mesilla to rural outposts in Tularosa, Apache lands, and Lincoln.  The brave souls who traveled through a land that would become White Sands Missile Range did so keeping promises to others and themselves regardless of personal cost.

In the March 7, 2012 issue of  Christian Century I learned: Theologians have frequently viewed betrayal as a grave sin.  For John Calvin, unfaithfulness or infidelity is at the root of the fall.  […]  In Dante’s Inferno, the ninth and lowest circle is for those who betray what they should be most faithful to.

The Lenten journey to the cross is harsh.

We suffer the weekly reminder that Christian identity can be understood only as an act of identification with the crucified Christ.  Yet we fear such identification will cost too much.  While we demean betrayal as a grave sin, it is a great temptation.  After all, we have worked hard to get to where we are and the desert of Lent threatens to take everything we hold dear and let it fade in the sun, wind, and sand of discipleship.

To this I say, stay faithful my friends; keep your Lenten promises.  Jurgen Moltmann, in his great theological work, The Crucified God, informs, only a cowardly faith “tires to protect its ‘most sacred things’, God, Christ, doctrine, morality, because it clearly no longer believes that these are sufficiently powerful to maintain themselves.”

I trust our family of faith will not give into the ‘religion of fear’, but faithfully traverse the desert of the cross.
My prayer: may we possess a brave faith that journeys to the cross, and through our Lenten travels, may we find the cross has journeyed into us.

Grace,
Pastor Ryan

Let the words come alive

Notes From the Pastor...

Kristyn and I enjoy watching the NBC talent show The Voice; one thing we have noticed the coaches continually tell their team members when they perform a song, is they have to believe and experience the words even if they did not write the lyrics. Sometimes this is a difficult position even for talented vocalists.  The lyrics at times tell a story that is disingenuous to their life experience; yet they must find some part of the
song that they believe and connect with in order to become passionate about the message they are conveying.

On a higher, holier level there are significant portions of scripture that, even though I have studied their authorship, context, historical setting, and grammar, I have difficulty relating to and participating within my life’s journey.  With that said, recently a small portion of Ephesians has come alive within me.  At the end
of the letter to the church in Ephesus, the author (traditionally Paul) says,

“Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”  

These words have come to mean everything I wish for the family of faith gathered at First Christian Church Ruidoso.  Peace, and love with faith, is my heart’s prayer.   I am blessed to be your pastor, and I celebrate all the tangible ways we are an open, inclusive, Christ-centered family of faith!  You are gracious with one another, patiently trusting that the Holy Spirit works in the life of all our members.  You give grace to anyone and everyone through the undying love of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I see within you the practice of peace and love with faith.

Without a doubt my growing family is blessed to be part of this large family of faith!

Grace be with all,
Ryan