What God's love looks like

But whoever has this world's goods,


and sees his brother in need,


and shuts up his heart from him,


how does the love of God abide in him?


My little children,


let us not love in word or in tongue,


but in deed and in truth. I John 3:16 and 17

Every time I thought the giving was complete, more of our church family walked into Chapel on the Hill with still more items for a Mississippi Christmas. It was short notice, but our people know how to shop - and how to give.

We had committed to 30 $25 giftcards to Old Navy. We got 34. We had committed to 30 $25 giftcards to Best Buy. We got 32. And we added 16 $25 giftcards to Walmart. We committed to 5 boomboxes, with batteries. We got 50. We committed to 30 Christmas CD's. We got 103. We committed to 25 plastic Christmas trays. We got 75. And we committed to 200 Christmas stockings. We got 325. And we even threw in some Christmas plates, napkins, candles, and a Monopoly game-gift, for good measure.

Even as we were packing up the items at church last night, our church family members were calling from the local mall, "Are you still there? Can I bring more stuff?"

Whether it's Thanksgiving dinner boxes for the people of Paterson, New Jersey (through our own Ladies Fellowship and Star of Hope Mission), shoeboxes for children around the world through Operation Christmas Child, new clothing gifts for People With Aids in the Village, sending teams of men (this past October, and planning now for January) to a hurricane-stricken Gulf, $80,000 a year for world missions through our own Faith Promise program, or meeting the needs of fellow church members and funding the dynamic ministry here in Cedar Grove, Chapel on the Hill is a giving, praying, going, doing, caring church. Two hundred people, committed to God and His Word and trusting Him to multiply their efforts, can change the world.

Praise God - for what He is doing in and through us! And please pray for the people of Lakeshore Baptist Church, their neighbors in that community, and the entire Gulf coast of America.

Sing for Joy!

The music has stopped


and the pews are empty -

but that's not how it was yesterday. It's Monday - and the echo of yesterday's worship service reverberates in our hearts.

I keep hearing the choir's anthem, "Sing for Joy! Shout aloud to the Rock of our Salvation!" It's a refrain that plays over and over in my mind.

Sing for joy. God has given us so much. What a day we had! From Mike and Dona greeting everyone at the door, to the teachers and ushers and instrumentalists and sound men all ready to serve with gladness, to seeing Pastor (returned from a time of illness) leading the voices of the choir in excellence and soaring majesty...to Paul D'Angelo leading us all in song that now matches the exuberance of the choir...to Pastor Bill, taking us through the Word of God and focusing our hearts on the practical, logical extension of thankfulness:

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name, but do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Hebrews 13:15-16)

And so, with gratitude, we are doing that - seeking the well-pleasing sacrifice to God. We as a congregation have gone and shopped for things to make Christmas in Lakeshore a little happier, a little brighter, for those who have lost everything. The final tally will be tomorrow night, when we package it all up - but we believe we will meet - and exceed - our commitment of 200 Christmas stockings, 25 plastic Christmas trays, 30 Christmas music CD's, 5 small boomboxes with batteries, 30 $25 giftcards to Old Navy, and 30 $25 giftcards to Best Buy. It's all part of our ongoing partnership in Lakeshore Baptist Church's relief-and-rebuild effort in that Gulf town, so completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. And we are blessed beyond measure to share in this, even just a little bit.

And Lakeshore Baptist Church made the Herald News in southern Mississippi. The article is here.

Yes, the sanctuary is quiet today - but our hearts still ring out, and our actions still carry on, as we sing for joy to the Rock of our salvation!

Chapel on the Hill pictures taken by Chuck Anderson III of NoPattern.

What We Can Do

I've got a list, and I'm checking it twice...

It's for Lakeshore, Mississippi, and we need these items on or before Tuesday, November 29th.

We need:

200 Christmas stockings (empty)

25 plastic Christmas trays

30 Christmas CD's

5 (or 10!) small boomboxes, complete with batteries

30 gift cards to Old Navy, each in the amount of $25

30 gift cards to Best Buy, each in the amount of $25

I've written more about this on my personal blog, Liberty and Lily.

Leave a comment here or e-mail us at chapelonthehill@juno.com - and let us know what you can do so we can help give the Lakeshore community a little bit of Christmas this year!

A Mississippi Christmas

I've been thinking a lot about what Christmas will be like along the Gulf coast this year. Our church will send a team again in January, but I keep thinking, and praying, there must be more we can do now.

God always answers a prayer like that. I've written up some details on what our church - and others - can do, on my personal blog here.

I'm going to talk to Pam Lackey, the coordinator of all this, this afternoon. Sounds like it's going to be an unusual Christmas for Chapel on the Hill, too, as we knit our hearts with the community in Lakeshore.

A Night to Remember

Enjoying this picture of Pastor Paul and Lois Anderson with bestselling author, elegant lady, and sister in Christ, Jan Karon.

To read Donna-Jean's re-telling of this wonderful evening, click on her Liberty and Lily blog, here.

Author Jan Karon at our Chapel Book Event

Chapel on the Hill is honored to present Jan Karon as the speaker for our Chapel Book Event, Tuesday, November 8th, at 7 p.m. Due to the anticipated crowd, we are holding this special night at Brookdale Baptist Church in Bloomfield. Everyone is invited to come - there are no tickets or costs.

We have held eight Chapel Book Teas - each one a labor of love and a work of art, a springboard to share the Gospel of Christ to our community. Just as "Light from Heaven" is the ninth and final of the Mitford novel series (and which will be released tomorrow), this is the final of our Chapel Book Teas for the Mitford books - and what a way to conclude them!

We've been told that TIME magazine will be there, to do a piece on Miss Karon. The author herself will appear tomorrow morning on CBS This Morning; she's scheduled to be interviewed at 8:47 a.m.

We're looking forward to a very special night...

Speaking of James...

Cliff and Leanne, from Chapel, sent me this link from MSNBC about Lakeshore.

The announcer says,

"We are off the map in Mississippi. You have to be a local to find Lakeshore. At the local Baptist church, the only thing left is the steeple.
But faith is still strong. It is not moving mountains, but building homes, one at a time, starting with James Bobbit."

The article is encouraging, and if you click on the video box, you can watch it and see James and the new developments in Lakeshore. They've borrowed a saw mill, and they're turning fallen trees into 2 x 4's for rebuilding.

Chapel on the Hill will be back to help them. And we'll be praying in the meantime.

A Man Called James

Part three of my reflection of the trip to the Gulf conjures up memories of a man called James. He, too, was a member of the local church where we stayed and worked. Upon our arrival we realized that James was in some position of leadership in the area's slow, painful recovery process. He apparently was instrumental in assisting those in this small community - which was just a fraction of something so vast, that still none of us can wrap our minds around it. It is difficult to imagine trying to take the slice of misery we saw and then attempt to multiply it by hundreds of square miles.


But James was seemingly everywhere. When we arose in the morning to fix a yummy "Fried Spam on White Bread" breakfast (displayed here by Jeff, and cooked by Mark), cooked on a small Coleman burner on the back of Mark’s pickup truck, James was soon there. He would often show up at job sites to see how things were going or to give details of the next project. At day’s end, he would be there too.


He even provided the crew with a very crude, cold, but welcomed shower on his property after a long dirty day. James, like the pastor of the church where he attended, had taken the time and talents given him by God to do whatever he could to serve those in need.


It was not until after we had completed a few jobs that we learned how unselfish this man really was. Another great guy, Greg, from a church in Georgia, was also helping in the recovery at Lakeshore. He, too, was invaluable as far as directing the work sites and supplying whatever needs we might have. At the conclusion of one day’s work, Greg informed us that we would now be working at James’ house. We learned that his large mobile home was damaged so badly that it would have to be destroyed.


It had been lifted up by a tornado, smashed against a tree, and then submerged by water which ruined everything inside. We also then learned that in the 7 weeks since the hurricane, James had done nothing to his own home and instead worked tirelessly for those around him.


(James, inside his broken home, with Frank, Blaise, Nate, - Jeff behind - and Cliff)
This man was a model of a selfless servant even though his needs were as great or, in some cases, greater than those around him.


The task at his home was simple while still heartbreaking. All he requested was that we strip his mobile home of whatever exterior sliding was not damaged. His plan was to use those materials to build a small shed to live in for the winter, and continue to help his church family and his community in their own recovery process.


With James it was all about "others" first. As I thought about the attitude of this one humble man, I was reminded of the attitude of a Creator God. I was reminded of the words of Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Serving comes in many forms and on many levels. There is a loving God who gave the ultimate sacrifice to redeem His lost creatures.


Then there is a James, himself redeemed through His Savior, and whose heart and actions evidence outwardly his salvation and that inward change. Thank you, James,
for your continuing service to others and for a powerful lesson of sacrificial living that we can all strive to duplicate as God gives us opportunity.