LIGHT VERSUS DARKNESS

By: Russ Jackson

Matthew 5:14-16 English Standard Version (ESV)

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

This past Sunday Barry spoke about this passage declaring the words of Jesus that indeed we are the light of the world. This light is not our light, but the reflected light from Jesus, who came to save the world.

The people that lived in the time that Jesus spoke these words would have immediately understood the concept. When the sun set on their day, the world became very dark. They didn’t have street lamps, headlights or porch lights to illuminate their way. Travelling after sunset was a difficult and often dangerous task. If you have ever been far away from civilization perhaps you have experienced this all pervasive darkness.

Here are some facts about Light and Darkness that may help you understand some of what Jesus was expressing:

Light is able to overcome darkness. Even a small amount of light can illuminate an area so that we can see our surroundings.

There is no darkness so dark that light cannot illuminate.

There is no such thing as darkness, really. Man cannot turn a switch and make a sunlit day into a dark day. Man cannot create darkness. Darkness is only the absence of light. Let that sink in for a moment.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 (ESV).

Darkness cannot overcome light! It’s a fact!

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” Luke 11:33-36 (ESV)

If the light of Jesus lives in you, then darkness cannot overcome you and your light will shine before people and give glory to your Father.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

Yay God!

A Story of Reflection Of It All!

By: Russ Jackson

In the five plus years that I have been associated with New Circle Church, I think I have experienced almost all of the range of human emotions and spiritual trials one person can encounter. I was there as God seemed to breathe life into, what would eventually become, a group of people dedicated to doing what we can to make the Circle City new in Christ.

There have been very joyous moments as we have experienced baptisms, new relationships, new friends, new co-workers in Christ and more than a few marriages. There have been times of pain and loss when people that we have grown to love have moved away for work, gone to other mission fields or faded in their faith. There has been growth, numerically and spiritually as well as God’s gracious provision in the form of some very precious new babies. I’ve experienced the relocation of our meeting place at least 5 times (Unleavened Bread Café, the Our Redeemer Lutheran church building, The Oaks Academy, TOTS on Mass Ave., back to Our Redeemer, which finally became home to New Circle church).

Through it all God has been our loving Father, guide and protector. We can only ask that the next 5 years of New Circle church (should he provide it) bring Him glory and honor as we work together to make His name known among the people of Indianapolis.

A Story of Something Deeper

By: Nathaniel Hood

Things felt different when I walked in the building that housed the people of New Circle Church. Weeks prior, I had been attending services with a church that valued lights, loud sounds, catchy choruses and the like, and I felt hungry. Upon arrival to the Midway, I started to fill up.

The lyrics of the songs were deep, contemplative, and dense. The people looked me in the eye when they spoke and asked about my story. They were serious and kind. The teaching and liturgy was intentional and grounded. It was as if I was receiving my first steak dinner after years of fried rice.

And what was the difference? I can say whole-heartedly, especially after working as New Circle’s director of Music & Arts for over a year, that the difference is the Scripture, and the difference is Christ. The activities of New Circle Church are checked against the Bible before they are carried out and the impact is evident. Christ works through the hands and feet of New Circle Church and I felt Him from my first Sunday worshipping with the church.

“If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love.” – John 15:10

A Story of How Kindness Led To Repentance

By Jennifer LaPrees

Our family began attending New Circle a few years ago. I was working through some hard things and feeling closed and cold and crabby, not at all inclined to give most humans the benefit of the doubt. My friend, Christy Purnell, was one of the three people left in the world that I still liked and trusted (that’s only a slight exaggeration), so when she invited our family to New Circle we showed up.

And we've continued to show up for about a year and a half.

That connection with her combined with the work of the Holy Spirit drew our family to NCC despite my wariness toward any and all things “church”.

"Its the kindness of God that leads us to repentance," (Romans 2:4) I personally know this verse to be true because the one thing I was not defended against was the kindness and humility that permeates this group of people. It is prevalent and incredibly powerful and I would consider it the best “feature” of this church and these people. This tangible kindness has defrosted me—as I’ve gotten to experience it in each Community Group I’ve attended, where it’s not uncommon to snuggle with babies and hear about my brother and sisters in Christ’s weeks. I feel it during retreats when the others courageously share their stories. The kindness even exists in the communion of shared meals, and painting parties, and of skipping stones.

This is a kind people. The kind I enjoy being around.

A Story of How God Provided Peace Through Community

By: Chris Norris

2016 was a tough year for me. On May 6, 2016, I lost my mom to a 6-year battle against breast cancer. This battle was full of ups and downs, with few glimpses of hope, generally followed by great disappointments. There were always new and/or growing tumors, in addition to various types of chemotherapy failing in their attempts to rid her body of the aggressive cancer.

Needless to say, this 6-year physical battle was also an emotional battle for everyone affected. During the months leading up to her death, I was still actively leading a community group at my apartment with other college students that attended New Circle with me. There were nights that I had no energy to lead, but I would power through for the sake of fostering community. Eventually it hit me - why do I keep trying to put up this front? Everyone in my group knows what I'm going through and loves me. No one expects this from me.

I finally surrendered my pride and one night at community group I asked, "Could we start tonight by just praying for me and my family?" This turned into an hour-long prayer session with many emotions shared together. It was then that I realized that just because I was a leader didn't mean I needed to try to carry the group on my own. They had my back the whole time. The weeks leading up to her death, other members of the group would offer to lead for me so I could take that off my plate. I didn't want to cancel group because community group was the one time a week I could join with my fellow believers and pray for peace amidst the suffering I was experiencing.

I will never forget that the day before my mom died, I had to drive to Indianapolis to take an end-of-semester final for an economics class, which the professor helped me reschedule from that weekend when he heard about my situation. When my community group caught wind of this, multiple members of the group were at my apartment ready to pray with me before I drove 3 hours back to the hospice center at home to spend the final hours with my mom. They specifically prayed for peace and for comfort.

To this day, I have never experienced the level of peace and comfort that I felt on that 3-hour drive to Evansville, IN. My mom passed away the next morning, but when I think back on that week in my life, what I really remember is the peace God provided for me through the prayers of my community group.

A Story of How The Church Became My Family

By: Mackenzie Coleman

I grew up in a church where putting up a facade was the norm. It was one where you should always appear to live a faithful life, even if that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Before New Circle was officially a church, we gathered as community groups. Thats where I met the Rager Family. I went to their group each week, which was in their home. It was truthfully the first time in my life where I felt that I could be honest about my struggles, doubts, and shortcomings. I didn’t have to appear to be anything I wasn’t. It was like my soul finally exhaled.

Since then, New Circle Church has become an integral part of my life. I've had to opportunity to serve on the worship team, hospitality team, NCC kids, and women's ministry. In every capacity, I was loved and poured into. It was that outpouring of love that revealed to me what Christ's perfect love looks like and how to tangibly live it out in my own life. Attending NCC has changed me as a person and continues to shape me. Five years later, New Circle is more than my church, it's my family.

A Story of Authentic Love and Invitation

By: Audrey Hood

New Circle Church is a place where people are seriously welcome and welcomed seriously.

I truly believe the individuals that make up the “church” called New Circle are different than others I’ve encountered throughout my years in the church. When I first found out about New Circle (through my brother-in-law who lived nearly 600 miles away at the time), I was looking for a new place to worship because I was in the thick of some serious spiritual transformation and other life changes and wanted to explore it all in a place in which I was unfamiliar. I attended NCC when it was still meeting in the gym at The Oaks Academy. I knew then, when the pastor was preaching on the church’s passion for seeing the city made new, that I wanted to come back. It took me about 7 months to go back and call it my home, but when I did, I experienced an encounter with people that felt unreal. I remember sitting on the far left of the auditorium (at this point, NCC was meeting at The Theatre On The Square) when a man approached me and invited me to sit with him and his fiancé. I was open and eager to meet other young  Christians like myself, so I walked over with him as he proceeded to tell me that they typically sat in the front row. So, I was there, in the front row, not just sitting with them, but sitting in the middle of them. They had welcomed me into their friendship and they were actually genuine about it. I got to know this couple, along with so many others over the weeks that followed, but the thing that stuck out to me the most about this really random group of people was the fact that everyone was not just nice, but their kindness was authentic. Consistently throughout the last 3 years, that has been my experience with this body of believers regardless of the heartache it’s endured. Authenticity, that’s what I love about New Circle-- and that’s just one example of a love so tangible that it actually changed part of me.

As New Circle approaches 5 years as a church in Indianapolis, I’d like to invite you to take the next few weeks to hear stories from builders (members), regular attenders, and guests of NCC to show how it has been a place where impact follows action, where lives are transformed through obedience, where emotions are safe to share, and where people are desperate to know Jesus and share his love with others. New Circle Church is almost 5 years old. Look back with me and join us in celebrating 5 years of ministry in Indianapolis!

“Light of the World…Speak"

By: Ben Sholtes

Based on John 1:1-5 and this weeks sermon.

Light of Creativity

Deep darkness foams, total silence of night

Chaos nihilo, awaiting first Light

Divine Breath hovers, awaiting command

“Peace, be still” sovereign Word demands

Rushing of Wind, tumultuous Light!

Breaking forth, transforms the night

What was not...now no longer, 

Divine Breath proves infinitely stronger

Disorder is tamed by Eternal plan:

The Word, the Light, O, Son of man!

Light of the World…He Spoke.

Light of Redemption

Man, Crown of creation stands

Kneels before Sovereign right hand

Blissful garden his to spread

Save one tree whose promise, dead

Finite we, slap Infinite's hand

On our own we vainly stand

In darkness amidst life’s crashing waves

Desperate, reaching, can any save?

"Peace be still” creation's Word doth cry

At last! Man no more may die

Light of the World…He Speaks.

Light of Expectation

We, your people in darkness wait

Silent, our word cannot create

Holy Word within, flickering, His breath!

Yea, divine light, which conquered death

Endure our chaos, soul's peace create

Emmanuel! Word speak, we wait

Proclaim your peace, our breakers still

Accomplish in us Creator's will

May our exile display your “Peace, be calm”

That all may know of heaven’s shalom

Light of the World...Speak!

Note from the author: Brothers and sisters, if you’re not accustomed to poetry, here are a few tips:  Read the poem slowly and prayerfully. Expect multiple layers of meaning. It may even be helpful to read it several times. If something strikes you, stop and rest in the moment. Let the words connect to your life and invite you into prayer, even stillness before the Divine Word. As you feel led, turn your meditations into praise, thanksgiving, confession, or requests. Finding peace in our chaotic world will not come with a hurried spirit. Let this be an invitation into the Advent “Expectation” that Jesus is coming to bring us peace, especially in a season with many worldly distractions that so easily overwhelm us and steal our peace. May the Light of the World speak His peace to you!