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TIP
Addendum
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Abraham Lincoln
Quotes
"America will never be destroyed from the outside.
If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed
ourselves."
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than
to speak out and remove all doubt."
"I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to
do or not do any particular thing, He finds a way of letting me know
it"
"I can see how it might be possible for a man to
look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how
he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God."
"I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration
that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have
lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left,
and that friend shall be down inside of me."
"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be
its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through
all time, or die by suicide."
"If the end brings me out all right, what is said
against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong,
then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
"If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a horse
have? Four, calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg"
"In all that people can individually do as well for
themselves, government ought not to interfere."
"No man has a good enough memory to be a successful
liar."
"Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong."
"One is a majority if he is right."
"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side;
my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right"
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself."
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel
a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more
than you earn."
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Don’t Let Your Misses Define You
by Jason Cruise
It happened incredibly fast. I was walking down a
tree line by a cut corn field on the way to my stand when I saw a bruiser
buck run a doe in heat over an incline in the field. I mean, he appeared
out of nowhere. He stopped at 78 yards fully broadside just long enough
for me to set off the sonic boom with my muzzleloader. He looked my
way, then looked at her, and continued following her into the timber.
If misses were symphonies, in that moment, I’d have
been a maestro. It was a beautiful tragedy.
As hunters we tend to remember the few times we missed
instead of the many times we connected. Luke 22:54-62 details the story
of Peter’s one big miss when he denied Jesus. I’ve always thought it
ironic that, though he was arguably the strongest evangelistic preacher
in the New Testament, most Christians remember Peter’s one bad day of
denying Christ instead of remembering the amazing things he did in Christ’s
name. I mean, I’ve never seen someone healed just from walking in my
shadow (Acts 5:15); I’ve never walked on water (Matthew 14:22-36); and
I’ve never watched thousands come to Christ in one single sermon (Acts
2:40-41). Peter not only saw those things, he did all those things.
Don’t let your misses define you. Jesus reinstated
Peter to his ministry with just a few words (John 21:15-19), making
Peter living proof that God’s grace can take a coward and turn him into
a world changer.
Peter spoke from personal experience when he wrote,
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude
of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
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From: Brother Seamus - Music
for your Spirit
Sent: Wednesday, January 1, 2020 3:55 PM
To: William Gibbons Jr
Subject: Re: Happy New Year
Happy New Year, Bill!
Great email, thanks. Apart from the fascinating content, I
love your writing style.
A book of short stories, essays or a novel on the horizon?
Maybe essays, a book of essays on Christianity?
All the best!
Seamus
Seamus Byrne
SOL Productions
Quarantine Hill
Wicklow Town
Co. Wicklow
A67 X585
Ireland
Mob: 00 353 86 054 9816
Web:
www.brotherseamus.ie
------------------------
From: William Gibbons Jr
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 11:31 AM
To: 'Brother Seamus - Music for your Spirit'
Subject: RE: on the horizon?
Hi Seamus,
Thank you for the compliment. Considering
the newsletter I intended for last Thanksgiving looks like it will not
be ready until Independence Day (July 4th), I sincerely doubt
any of those things you mentioned are likely to come to pass. Truth
be known, as “a photographer who writes,” I do not like the “writer”
process all that much. Most of the time, my writing takes place when
I feel a compulsion to make some notes during my prayer and Scripture
reading time in the morning before I even get out of bed. I keep pads
of paper, and pencils, in my nightstand just for that purpose. I started
doing that back in the 80s, when I was writing a lot of poetry. The
problem is, to share any of that means I have to type it into the computer
(one finger typist). I did have a dictation program for a time but,
after a Windows 10 update over a year ago, it just stopped working.
I tried to find help online. It was too old for tech support, of course.
I also remembered Windows 10 was supposed to have a built in dictation
program, so I tried to set that up to no avail. Hours later, I decided,
even as a one finger typist, I could type things in faster than all
the time wasted trying to get modern electronics to assist me. Plus,
when I had a functional program, I still needed to become an astute
editor to catch the errors between what I said, and what the computer
heard.
Short emails, like this, or the Happy New
Year email, tend to be composed straight into the computer. But, as
I am typing, I am also seeing a large pile of tablet pages full of notes
sitting next to the monitor, waiting for me to find the motivation to
start typing them into the system . . . .
. . . . I actually had more already typed
into this email, but my computer totally locked up requiring me to unplug
it to reboot the system, and this was all Outlook had auto-saved as
a draft. It has been doing that quite often after the last big Windows
10 overhaul. I am not sure if it is related, or just the timing of a
computer starting to show its age.
Well, I suppose I should stop here and
do something about the 42,034 photos, dating back to March 2018, waiting
to be processed into their appropriate inventory folders and renumbered.
Oh wait, this email is supposed to be about the writing stuff waiting
for my attention, not all those pesky photographs.
Be well my friend. It is always a joy to hear from you.
God’s peace,
william
Acts 5:29
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I removed my email "General Notes,"
but here is a photograph of the newsletter notes next to the monitor:
%20Notes.jpg)
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What are the inventors saying
about their own kids?
Steve Jobs (founder of Apple) shockingly described
their low-tech parenting approach in a New York Times article describing
the launch of the iPad :
(https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/steve-jobs-apple-was-a-low-tech-parent.html)
“So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs,
trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting
the shelves.
“They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how
much technology our kids use at home.”
I’m sure I responded with a gasp and dumbfounded
silence. I had imagined the Jobs’s household was like a nerd’s paradise:
that the walls were giant touch screens, the dining table was made from
tiles of iPads and that iPods were handed out to guests like chocolates
on a pillow.
Nope, Mr. Jobs told me, not even close.
Similarly, in an interview with The Mirror, Bill
Gates (founder of Microsoft) explained how they approach technology
with their children:
(https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/billionaire-tech-mogul-bill-gates-10265298)
“We often set a time after which there is no screen
time and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable
hour.
“You’re always looking at how it can be used in a
great way – homework and staying in touch with friends – and also where
it has gotten to excess.
“We don’t have cellphones at the table when we are
having a meal, we didn’t give our kids cellphones until they were 14
and they complained other kids got them earlier.”
(quoted from https://yourgeardeconstructed.com/parents-internet-safety-security-screen-time-guide)
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Greetings
Friends!
Preparing believers to live their faith daily
. . . . that is the part of the total mission statement of Immanuel
Lutheran Church that the preparing team works on each month.
1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a. “You are not your
own; you were bought at a price, so Glorify God with your body.” Who
are you living for? As Christians, we live for God, not ourselves.
To live a Gospel-shaped life simply
means we think of God more than we think of ourselves. Simple,
but not so easy. We think about ourselves all the time; how we
feel, our opinions and knowledge, what we want, what we look like, what
WE think of others and what others think of US. We don’t
think about God more than ourselves. If we did, what would that
look like? I listened to a sermon online this week. Here
is a story from it: A woman at work made a mistake. A
big mistake. A costly mistake. Then, her boss went to his boss and basically
took the blame for her mistake. He said he didn’t train her right,
he didn’t follow up as he should have, etc. He put his
job on the line. He lost credibility, he lost social capital so
to speak. The woman afterwards, pressed him to tell her why he would
do that. She said, “I’ve had people blame me before, even when
it wasn’t my fault, but I’ve never had someone take the blame
for me.” After pressing him some more, he responded, “OK, I’m
only going to say this once. I’m a Christian. My whole life
is based on a man who took the blame for me.” The woman immediately
responded, “Where do you go to church?”
Does our character, our attitude toward ourselves
and others show that we live by Grace? Are we living for Jesus?
Grace by what Jesus did for us? If we live a Gospel-shaped life,
cultures will change. Living by grace is counter-cultural. Paul
said if you understand grace, costly grace, grace coming from a crucified
Savior, then that grace teaches you to say no to ungodliness. Sin loses
it attractive power. It’s not our willpower. We would fail. Ungodliness
just has no attraction, no passion, no power over us. It’s not just
about seeing others through the eyes of God. It is thinking
about God more than ourselves. It is living for the Glory of God in
everything we do, not just on Sunday mornings. It’s not
about I shoulda, I woulda, I coulda. It’s about Jesus did. Our
lives then are a response to the amazing Grace given to us through our
Lord’s brutal crucifixion. He bore our pain, he became our sin,
he suffered death so that we can live for Him. If we live for
ourselves, we will never be satisfied. Nothing on earth can satisfy
us completely. Those of us older folks know this to be true. So,
living our faith daily means everyday in everything, living for
Jesus. By doing so, we are Worshipping God.
I don’t want to say make time for God everyday because
that implies that we need to schedule God in and around us. Instead,
we want to schedule everything else in and around God. The need
is so deep because of what Jesus has done for us. May our hearts
burn with our desire to serve God every day in our work, in our homes,
in our communities and in our church.
Peace,
Jeanie BD
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Luke 10:41-42 (Martha and Mary)
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he
came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to
what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that
my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are
worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed
only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away
from her.”
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More from
Pastor Chuck Foerster
(see also the In His Steps pages)
As I did on the In His Steps
pages, I mostly left the text unaltered, keeping his capitalizing, and
bold highlight, emphasis. I have also shared other items from
the services which seemed to emphasize the message being shared.
_____________
Homily for Christ the King, November 22nd, 2020
. . . . Today in our church calendar, we celebrate what
is called “Christ the King” Sunday. We might expect the readings to give us
something that sounds a little more regal and royal, a little pomp and circumstance.
Something that sounds a bit more kingly. Our vision of what a king is supposed
to look like and what a king is supposed to be. Maybe a reading that
has Jesus decked out in long flowing robes and a jeweled crown. Or even something
from the old testament that compares Jesus with the great kings of old, something
from Revelation that has Jesus with all his enemies as a footstool, or the
heavens opening up and the almighty’s voice thundering from the clouds. But
instead, Matthew gives us a KING of an entirely different variety.
Instead of the KING in the purple robe with gold thread, Matthew gives us
the homeless Jesus, the sick Jesus, the imprisoned and hungry Jesus, the Jesus
sleeping on the park bench. We might think to ourselves, . . . This is our
KING????
When we heard the text or read it, there may have been
a strong inclination to see it as simply judgement; as punishment/reward
for either something we did, or something we failed to do in regards to
the least of these. Notice how the text never mentions faith or
belief or doctrine or our confession or repentance; it gives no laundry
list of how to earn salvation. It only points to how we treated the least
of these as the final judgement. All the things that we have grown up with
that we thought were needed to be faithful followers, are missing.
However, these things are not mentioned, perhaps
the text is pointing us to something else. Maybe Jesus is trying to tell us
something we might not have realized up to this point; In our haste to make
Jesus into this warm fuzzy, shepherding, comfortable, loving savior, we have
missed the point of what he came to do. Perhaps the whole point of this Sunday
and this particular scripture is that we have created an image of Christ
that FITS OUR agenda; maybe it is the one with earthly power, supreme
leader, whacking down those that we think need to be whacked. Aggressive and
seeking his own WILL. Which Jesus have we placed on the thrones of our hearts?
We say that we long to SEE Jesus . . . but what if we have
been looking in the wrong places? Because Matthew tells us that Jesus of the
Gospel is found right in the middle of the least of these. He is to be found
in the darkness of prison, in the pains of hunger, in the cold of nakedness,
in the fear and loss of illness. If we struggle to look in those directions
or look the other way because it is uncomfortable, we have missed an opportunity
to see where Jesus dwells.
Maybe the point of the text today is that when we fail
to see the least of these, we condemn ourselves to a private hell, . . . where
Jesus is merely an image, a plastic figure stuck to the dashboard, a bumper
sticker or a nice idea in the Bible, rather than a living breathing person
who we can interact with every time we become vulnerable to another human
being. When we fail to see Christ in one another, we live differently, not
as deeply, more likely to choose sides based on our personal opinions, more
likely to claim our RIGHTS rather than our responsibility. But what if . .
. what if we could look into the face of that person and see the face of Christ.
Would that change us? Would our hearts be transformed?
Next Sunday, we enter into Advent, a season of waiting,
longing, and listening. The darkness of winter is expected and as faithful
followers, we will wait for the light and the first cries of a tiny baby.
A child that changes how we speak of “KINGS”. A child that redefines power
and authority. A child king that has come to GIVE himself away. A KING
on a donkey, a KING who washes his disciple’s feet, a KING who lays down his
life for others.
So today, here and now, we are asked to see Jesus in places
we would rather not look. We are asked to remember that every encounter
we have with “the least of these” is an actual encounter with Jesus.
It is not a metaphor. The person huddled beneath the blanket is our king.
The person at the off ramp stop sign is our king. The person dressed up against
the cold, ringing the bell outside of Meijer is our King. The person smelling
of liquor or in need of a shower, is our King. May we become so aware of the
presence of Jesus in our world that our eyes are wide open and we might be
able to see our king. Amen.
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Homily for 2nd Sunday in Advent, Year B, Dec 6th, 2020
I love Advent . . . my favorite time of the year . . .
a season of hopeful anticipation, of time of preparation for the most incredible
event in all of history . . . a time of waiting and excitement . . . the king
is coming . . . So today’s text might cause us to scratch our heads a bit;
here comes this text about John the Baptist . . . at first glance, this text
may seem totally out of place . . . totally disconnected from what we believe
this season is all about. Baptism and repentance? During Advent? Shouldn’t
we be talking about Jesus birth and shepherds and mangers?
The Gospel says that John appeared in the desert proclaiming
a baptism of repentance. So you see, there are two parts to
what John is doing. The first part is that John is calling the people to
repent. You might already know that the word “repent” means to turn
around, it has to do with a change of heart. It means a renewal, a metamorphosis,
in this case, a reorientation towards God. To repent is to be willing
to go in a different direction, a radical change from the popular culture
and status quo.
And then there is the other part of what John was doing,
baptizing. John was not simply baptizing, but was baptizing in
the river Jordan. The person to be baptized would enter the water on one side
where John was, and after being baptized, exit the water on the other side.
The river Jordan symbolized something for the Jewish people, the people that
were coming to John. The Jordan was the river that the Israelites had to cross
before they could enter into the Promised Land. It symbolized a dividing line
between the wilderness that their ancestors had wandered and the land flowing
with milk and honey. So crossing the Jordan was, for them, an image of entering
into an entirely new life. A new beginning. A re-birth of sorts.
For us, “Baptism" means both; a total immersion into something
and a passing through. It means immersion into the life of Christ, the life
of the church, the creeds, the confessions and the prayers. It also means
a passing through, from the old life, the sinful self, the old Adam, to a
new life, new birth in Christ. Baptism is where our journey into faith begins.
It is our re-orientation to God. Baptism is the beginning of our future in
Christ.
So I guess Advent and baptism really do go hand in hand.
Well you see, God has created us in such a way that we
are Advent people . . . we are not only waiting for the coming of the Christ
child, but we are preparing for what we are becoming . . . for God’s
shaping us into what God will have us be. In other words, whether we know
it or not, we are undergoing a spiritual transformation, a metamorphosis,
a renewal.
However, in this day and age, it may be easy to miss; this
season may seem ordinary and the rush to arrive at Christmas, typical. Even
in this year of pandemic and political chaos, our celebration of this life
changing event, may not be all that unusual. As we struggle to give ourselves
and our families some sense of normalcy, it would be natural for us to simply
treat this season like all the years past, to hear the Christmas story as
a wonderful tale from 2000 years ago. Most of us have heard it so many times.
Certainly our culture often treats it as business as usual or a way to distract
us from our tribulations and grief. But if we see Advent as merely “getting
ready” and Christmas merely a remembrance of an historical event, they can
easily become just another Advent, just another Christmas.
The danger of seeing Advent only as a time to prepare for
the “remembrance” of Christmas is that we totally miss the message
of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel:
Turn your lives around and look! Re-focus. Be Ready. God
not only came 2000 years ago, but God comes today! Ready or not, God comes.
In the midst of the holiday rush. God comes. In the midst of our grumbling.
In the midst of our grieving, in the midst of our celebrating, God comes.
IN the midst of a pandemic and a country divided; God comes. In the midst
of our not being ready . . . God comes. Maybe, it is not supposed to
be normal! Maybe Advent and Christmas are God’s way of telling us nothing
will ever be normal again. Because of what God has done in Christ, there is
no more normal.
Advent is the beginning of the future. It is the beginning
of an incredible, hope filled, promise-kept future. As we look at what God
has done by sending Christ into the world, we receive a glimpse of our new
life, a new focus of what God has in mind for us, a future that is very different
from the one that our culture has in mind. It is a future that offers real
hope in hopeless situations. Where there was only death before, now there
is life. It is a future that promises peace where only war has been known.
It is a future that has Jesus Christ at its very center, where before worldly
things were . . . and it begins NOW. As Christians, this season has
us preparing for the arrival of a savior during Advent, and what we are saying
by doing this is that we are turning our hearts and lives around, we are repenting
of our old life and re-focusing our hearts towards God. We are once again
reorienting our lives to Christ.
This future is here. Not in its fullness, not as it one
day will be . . . but make no mistake . . . it has arrived . . . in the form
of a tiny baby. We are in the midst of that future. Advent calls us to SEE
our place as people of Christ by pointing and preparing for the future that
will be . . . by living in that future NOW. Today.
As we journey forward in this Advent season, may we be
reminded of the gift of our Baptism into this new future, may we turn and
reorient our lives towards God and may we realize that even when we are not
ready, God comes to us. Amen
_____________
From: cfoerster@immanuel-gl.org
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2020 10:55 AM
To: news at Immanuel
Subject: Monday Morning Thoughts
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working
for the Lord rather than for people. — Colossians 3:23
I know, Mondays (and other days) can be difficult to get moving.
The struggle is real.
Have you ever had those days where it feels like you are
not making much of a difference in what you do. Perhaps because of the pandemic
you have been working from home and it has begun to feel "normal" but not
quite right. Perhaps things are so different at work it seems a struggle to
accomplish what you did before. Maybe your motivation is lacking or your heart
is not fully into it. But then you see the trash collector or the janitor
and you see that they are still content to be working and they even seem joyful.
Perhaps following the advice of the writer of Colossians
is a good place to start. If we struggle with motivation, it could be because
our motivation is off kilter. Martin Luther once said that the Shoe Maker
does not honor God by placing little crosses on his shoes, but rather by doing
the best possible job he can and selling his shoes at a fair price, treating
others with respect. I wonder if we were to perform our jobs as if we were
working for Jesus might it have an impact on our work and how we feel about
it? Certainly it makes one think about how we can honor God is every aspect
of our lives, not just on Sunday.
I invite you to take a moment, right now; calm your mind,
quiet your heart, breathe deeply of God's spirit . . . and imagine that God
has given you your present task, no matter how challenging, and he has given
you the talent, the strength and the ability to complete it. May you embrace
this task as deeply as you embrace the one who has called you to it.
_____________
Homily for Advent 4, Year B, December 20th, 2020
I don’t know about you, but whenever I heard the Song of
Mary, The Magnificat, that we read for our first reading, it always seemed
to be such a lovely poem or hymn, sung by a maiden in lovely colored flowing
clothes, or perhaps that was just how the artists painted her or how history
captured her. I never really preached a sermon on the Magnificat, at least
not one that focused on how absolutely radical Mary’s song was. For
example, did you know that Mary’s song is longest set of words spoken by a
woman, (a 13 year old girl no less) in the New Testament. And it is spoken
in the presence of her kinfolk Elizabeth while her husband Zechariah, a temple
high priest, endures his Holy Spirit imposed silence. Look at the Magnificat;
Mary responds with joy at the news, even though her pregnancy during this
point in history would be enough to get her stoned to death. The song is soaked
in Jewish history, echoing the words and stories of Old Testament Matriarchs.
The implications of the Magnificat are so subversive for powerful authorities
that it has been banned by those authorities from being used in public,
several times in history.
Far from being just some flowery, demure song of a virgin,
Mary’s words spell out a radical upheaval for those that unjustly rule and
a dramatic reversal, lifting up those that are under the oppression of the
powerful. Her prophetic words ring out across all time, what God was doing
in the person of Jesus and what God is still bringing to fruition through
the Holy Spirit.
Mary’s proclamation regarding what God has accomplished,
will accomplish, including the humble birth of a Messiah, is a radical change
from the status quo. It points to God’s kingdom intentions and is so counter-cultural
that it might even just topple our “silent night, holy night” perception
of the birth of the Christ child, the one wrapped in swaddling clothes lying
in a manger. I say this because it speaks of a drastic upheaval for our century,
changes that we seldom think about or hear about during this season of all
is calm, all is bright.
Certainly, the underlying message of Christmas is all about
Hope, and Peace and Joy and Love. But those things won’t happen without something
changing, some things giving way for the radical way of the KINGDOM OF GOD.
Remember those mountains and valleys that needed to be leveled? Those verses
speak of radical change to open the way for GOD’S way!
Yes, God is love. Yes, Christ has come to demonstrate God’s LOVE for the entire
world. By being born a human . . . so that he might die on the cross for all
humans. This is what our faith tells us.
We are a funny lot, aren’t we? We desire growth without
change and change without conflict, but with the birth of Jesus,
God gives us neither. Mary’s song makes that dangerously clear. Cast
the mighty down from their thrones? Scattering the proud, lifting up the lowly?
Fill the hungry, sent the rich away empty? Change and conflict abound!
No wonder this song has been called subversive; Mary speaks of an incredible
hope being ushered in through her womb of God’s own son who has come to set
the world as we know it ablaze!
Looking at the bigger picture, the Magnificat and the implications
of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom in Jesus Christ, should cause us to examine
what it means to follow the Messiah. Like Mary’s song, our faith can no longer
be considered passive. If we truly desire to live the proclamation of the
Magnificat and the birth of Jesus out to its full extent, it will mean our
faith is less of a Hallmark Christmas movie and more a declaration that God
has come to overthrow and upend our comfortable Christianity so that what
is proclaimed in Mary’s song will come to fruition.
And in this year, in our present day, that proclamation
can come through OUR ACTIONS, through OUR speech, Through OUR charity, Through
our walk with Christ.
Seen in this light, Faith is not some sweet invitation
to self-realization; it is not some be all you can be proposition,
but it is literally the practice of dying and rising of self so that GOD’S
KINGDOM COMES, So THAT GOD’S WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! This
is the faith that Mary exhibits and it is the same faith that we have been
called to, that the Holy Spirit has poured out on us!
Not a Have to, but rather that God’s love compels us to
sing out from the mountaintop that God is doing something incredible . . .
now it may not be all that comfortable for those who are already comfortable,
but God’s ways are not our ways. With Mary we are hopeful, because God has
come and is coming to change the world. Being so moved by God’s love, we are
moved to proclaim with Mary, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices
in him.
Indeed, God has looked upon us and blessed us for all of
time. May our Advent continue to be a reminder that God has come to bring
about what is needed in our lives so that we might be ready to receive the
Messiah and bear witness to God’s promises fulfilled in a tiny baby born in
a barn. Amen.
_____________
Homily for 2nd Sunday in Advent, Year B, December 5th, 2021
I love Advent . . . might even be my favorite church season
. . . a season of hopeful anticipation, a time of preparation, of looking
forward; like last week’s text said, stand up, lift up your heads, your redemption
is drawing near. It is a time of waiting and excitement . . . the king is
coming . . . and then smack dab in the midst of this excitement, in the midst
of our anticipation, we have this text about John the Baptist, preaching
a baptism of repentance . . . at first glance, discussing these two things
may seem totally out of place . . . totally disconnected from the season we
are in. Baptism and repentance? During Advent? Seems more of a Lent
theme, doesn’t it? Why are we talking about Baptism and repentance now? What
do these things have to do with Advent?
Our text says that John appeared in the desert proclaiming
a baptism of repentance. There are two parts to what John is
doing. The first part is that John is calling the people to repent.
You might already know that the word “repent” literally means to turn
around, it has to do with a change of heart. It means a renewal, a metamorphosis,
in this case, a reorientation towards God. To repent is to be open
to go in a different direction, a radical change from the popular culture
and status quo. It is a giving up of the worlds power for a divine power.
And then there is the other part of what John was doing,
baptizing. And remember, whenever we are told location in the Bible,
it is usually significant. John was baptizing, but not simply baptizing,
but was baptizing in the river Jordan. The person to be baptized would
enter the water on one side where John was, and after being baptized, exit
the water on the other side. The river Jordan symbolized something important
for the Jewish people, the people that were coming to John. The Jordan was
the river that the Israelites had to cross before they could enter into the
Promised Land. It symbolized a dividing line between the wilderness,
the place of chaos and danger and the exile, and the promised land flowing
with milk and honey. So, crossing the Jordan was, for them, an image of entering
into an entirely new life. A new beginning. A re-birth of sorts.
For us, “Baptism" means both a total immersion in something
and a passing through. It means immersion into the life of the church,
the creeds, the confessions and the prayers. It also means a passing through,
from the old life, the sinful self, the old Adam, to a new life, new birth
in Christ. Baptism is where our journey into faith begins. It is our re-orientation
to God. Baptism is the beginning of our future in Christ. It is the covenant
between us and God that leads to that radical transformation called repentance.
So what again, what is the connection to Advent? The coming of the Messiah?
I think it is appropriate that the scripture about the
coming of Jesus comes not to all those powerful people listed at the beginning
of the reading, but to John, wild eyed, wilderness dweller wearing not robes
of purple, but rough clothing. The wilderness represents a specific theme
in scripture; danger. And because of the danger, our human need. No Kroger
or Speedway in the wilderness. The wilderness is a place that exposes our
need for God. In the wilderness, we learn to trust and rely on God. It is
a place where we are ultimately vulnerable and our “power” is laid aside.
We wait and watch as if our lives depended on God showing up because they
do. And if we are honest, how often are we stuck in that wilderness?
But you know the problem with this whole season and the
readings? It is far too easy to fall into the trap of limiting what God has
done to the pages of the Bible as some part of history. Its easy to lose focus
and resign ourselves to hearing the Christmas story merely as a wonderful
tale from 2000 years ago. Most of us have heard it so many times. I suppose
this is one way to view Christmas and the Advent season leading up to it;
as remembering Jesus birth, probably how most of our culture, even our Christian
culture views it. However, seen in this way, seen as merely a remembrance,
Advent and Christmas easily become a chore, a bother, no different than any
other secular holiday, oh sure there is more work planning worship, the decorating
of the sanctuary . . . but we can grow ho-hum about it, perhaps we get caught
up in the consumerist mentality of how many more shopping days are left or
we reject it outright because of what it has become for so many.
The danger of seeing Advent only as a time to prepare for
the “remembrance” of Christmas is that we totally miss the message of
John the Baptist in today’s Gospel: Turn your lives around and look! Re-focus.
Be Ready. God not only came, 2000 years ago, but God comes today! Ready or
not, God comes. In the midst of the holiday rush. God comes. In the midst
of our grumbling. In the midst of our grieving, in the midst of the wilderness,
in the midst of our celebrating, God comes. In the midst of our not
being ready . . . God comes. So, Advent is not really about remembering
a historical event, but rather Advent is the beginning of the future. As we
look back to the past, God sending Christ into the world, we receive a glimpse
of our new life, a new focus of what God has in mind for us, a future that
is very different from the one that our culture has in mind. It is a future
that offers real hope in hopeless situations. A future that promises peace
where only war has been known. It is a future that has Jesus Christ at its
very center, where before worldly things were . . . and it begins NOW. As
Christians, we are preparing for Christmas during Advent, and what we are
saying is that we are turning our hearts and lives around, we are repenting
of our old life and re-focusing our hearts towards God. We are once again
reorienting our lives to Christ.
This future is here. Not in its fullness, not as it one
day will be . . . but make no mistake . . . it has arrived . . . in the form
of a tiny baby. Advent calls us to SEE our place as people of Christ by pointing
and preparing for the future that will be . . . by living in that future NOW.
Today.
As we journey forward in this Advent season, may we be
reminded of the gift of our Baptism into this new future, may we turn and
reorient our lives towards God and may we realize that even when we are not
ready, God comes to us. Amen
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Homily for Pentecost 10, Year C, August 14th, 2022
It’s a safe bet to say that today’s Gospel text (Luke
12: 49-56) will probably never be read at a funeral or a wedding. Probably
safe to say it won’t be used as a baptismal verse anytime soon either. By
and large, we avoid conflict and division in our congregations at all
costs, yet here Jesus is talking about bringing just that. We want peace
and moreover call Jesus the prince of peace, yet Jesus says that’s not
what he came to bring. With all the divisiveness in our world already, it
would seem like this would be the last thing that we would want or that a
loving God would bring.
I think first we need to examine the context in which
Jesus is talking. The disciples are being warned that if they follow Jesus
they will face opposition, hardship, being jailed and beaten, and some
being executed. He is reminding them again, that following him will be no
walk among the flowers. It will mean sacrifice and for some the sacrifice
of their lives. If the disciples want the peace that Jesus offers, they
will have to struggle and strive to get there. It will not be an easy
road.
In our context, we live at relative ease when it comes
to our faith. Oh, sure we can claim persecution, but more often it is
simply our fear of not being popular that is our persecution. Truth be
told, for the most part we follow the status quo, or our perspective of
it. We live a Christian life of acceptance when it comes to that which we
agree with and get miffed it anything threatens our privileged way of
life. Even that word privilege raises the hackles on our neck. There is a
tremendous gap between the sacrifice of those first disciples and our
north American context of sacrifice.
Throughout Luke’s Gospel, Jesus announces a new
community — he calls it the kingdom of God — this kingdom is
governed not by those in power, not by military might, not by the wealthy,
not by human authority, but by a divine sense of justice and equity. It is
a kingdom where all those in need are cared for, where forgiveness is the
norm, where the poor are at the head of the line, where wealth is shared
rather than hoarded, and where the weak and lonely are honored. It
is a kingdom that comes when anyone has the nerve to look at the way
things are and say, “this isn’t right,” but this type of kingdom
peace, comes with a sword. It has an unavoidable effect: it divides
people. Those who benefit from the way things are will fight tooth
and nail to oppose anyone who tries to change things. And they will
adamantly keep their blinders firmly in place to avoid having to see the
reality of injustice. It seems to me that’s the kind of division Jesus
was talking about. Those that are seeking kingdom justice and those that
are content with the status quo. Jesus challenges us all to take off our
blinders and at least see the injustice, the poverty, and the suffering
that is so prevalent all around us. The first step toward doing something
about it is to remove the blinders that keep us comfortable. To be able to
“see the signs,” if you will, of where God’s kingdom needs to break
through.
This text is difficult. I considered preaching on
something else. But as one of my preaching professors used to say, “if you
are not agitating somebody, chances are you are preaching a message that
is far too placid.” Because the scripture is meant to pry us off dead
center. It is meant to show us the cost of following Jesus.
If we could point to a cost of discipleship, a cost of
following Jesus, it would probably start off with this passage, and then
we could have an open, honest discussion about our faith walk. The
disciples of Jesus had it rough and they knew full well about the
persecution because of their commitment to Christ. Do we? Notice
Jesus is talking about what will happen; that is to say, what will happen
if you are following Jesus. There will be those that oppose you. There
will be those that call you foolish, there will be those that cast you out
of their life. It might happen within families, it might happen with your
friends, or neighbors. But sooner or later, if you are following
Jesus, it is going to happen.
Which makes me wonder; what if my faith in God never
causes me to come into conflict with the world. What if it never causes me
to question systemic systems that oppress. What if it never is a stumbling
block to my acceptance of the status quo. What if the way I live out my
faith allows me to keep my blinders right exactly where they are, thank
you! . . . . Well, perhaps we are missing something in our faith walk.
Perhaps we don’t quite understand what it means to be a disciple. Maybe we
have misunderstood the calling of Jesus to be his disciples.
For I am convinced that if our life is absent of some
conflict with how the world is, we have watered down the scripture in our
hearts to the point where it only comforts. If there is not some kind of
tribulation because of our faith in Jesus Christ, perhaps we are too
timid. If we are not experiencing some sort of consternation and struggle
because of who we follow, maybe it is because we are lukewarm in our
approach to the message of Jesus Christ and our calling as disciples. If
we are to testify to our Lord and savior with our lives, it is going to
mean that we may fall short in the popularity contest at work. If we are
to bear bold witness to what God has done and how Jesus has come to save
all people, we might lose a few “friends.”
Jesus told the disciples on more than one occasion that
following him would lead them to all sorts of trouble, persecution and
hardship with the world. What makes us think it would be any different for
us if we are following the same Jesus?
But God is at work even in this timidity. The Holy
Spirit working on us, building a sense of courage within us so that we
might be real, authentic followers of Christ, in spite of the cost of
discipleship.
May we be given the strength to remove our blinders to
see God’s kingdom unfolding and be able to proclaim the salvation of Jesus
Christ in all we say and do. Amen.
_____________
The above sermon was followed by the following "sermon
hymn" which felt worth keeping here.
How Clear is our
Vocation, Lord How clear is our vocation, Lord,
when once we heed your call
to live according to your word
and daily learn, refreshed, restored,
that you are Lord of all,
and will not let us fall.
But if, forgetful, we should find
your yoke is hard to bear;
if worldly pressures fray the mind
and life itself cannot unwind
its tangled skein of care:
our inward life repair.
We marvel how your saints become
in hindrances more sure;
whose joyful virtues put to shame
the casual way we wear your name,
and by our faults obscure
your pow'r to cleanse and cure.
In what you give us, Lord, to do,
together or alone,
in old routines or ventures new,
may we not cease to look to you,
the cross you hung upon,
all you endeavored done.
(Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903-2000)
|
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Homily for Pentecost 22, Year
C, August 28th, 2022
Context is everything. This
isn’t the first time you have heard me say it. It is true, I believe
in every situation where we are trying to communicate to one another.
Like most scripture, the context of today’s Gospel is vitally
important to our understanding of Biblical texts. This is especially
true in the case of parables. Parables are meant to make a point and
can be descriptive or prescriptive, but they always “travel alongside
of the main message”.
The context surrounding this
dinner that Jesus is invited to is especially important. In the Ancient
Mediterranean, male, urban culture, there was strong competition
for status. It would have been reflected in seating arrangements,
including in synagogues and at banquets. Normally a host would invite
peers or people of somewhat lower social status. The Dead Sea
Scrolls and other Jewish sources indicate that seating people according
to rank was a Jewish custom as well as a Roman one….Status was currency.
Now, to refuse an invitation to such a meal without a good excuse would
insult the host’s dignity and naturally, if one were invited, it was
expected that the invitation would be reciprocated by the guest. We
don’t have to look to far to see this play out in our own culture, maybe
even at a wedding or at a dinner for V.I.P. guests, where the one seated
closest to the host is considered somehow more deserving of honor than
those seated farther away.
The Gospel text in Luke describes
such a scene. Jesus is invited for a Sabbath meal by a leader of the
Pharisees. Jesus watches as the guests scramble for places of
honor around the table. These guests know the general pecking order,
and they jostle and shove each other while vying for the best, most
prestigious spots near the host. Standard practice in Jesus day.
After observing this scenario
for a while, Jesus calls them out with a parable. At first glance,
Jesus’s parable sounds like some good advice for the culture of his
day; don’t do something that might cause you embarrassment and dishonor,
instead, use this tricky technique to make yourself look good and take
a lower seat. That way, when the host invites you to a better seat,
you can, with all the humility you can muster, make your way
to the V.I.P. section. But rather than helping the elite avoid dishonor,
I believe that Jesus is pointing out the difference between false modesty
or scheming and the purpose of true humility.
The next part of the text illustrates
this perfectly, when Jesus instructs them to invite people to a banquet
that have no way of repaying them and no way of bringing any kind of
prestige to their lives. Instead, Jesus tells them, invite those that
no one would ever invite to a fancy schmancy dinner party, in doing
so, you reveal your true self. Of course, this advice would have gone
over like a lead balloon, for in an honor/shame culture that Jesus is
in, it brings no honor, fame or good fortune to follow this advice.
It would do nothing to advance the person’s standing. It is the exact
opposite of what they believed would be the proper etiquette.
I think this is a major point
of this text: Stop trying to increase your standing in the sight
of human beings. This may be hard to hear, but I believe that on some
level, we are all trying to portray this image of someone we are not
in order that others will like us, accept us, think well of us. Maybe
even in order that GOD will like us or bless us or we will find more
favor with God. We have put on these masks because we mistakenly believe
we can hide behind them and no one will see who we really are. As if
God won’t see who we really are. But the truth is in the kingdom of
God you do not need to cultivate a persona. You don’t have to be popular,
or pretty or wealthy or a V.I.P. It is ok to be blind, lame, crippled,
not enough, sinful people, because in that recognition, in that seeing
who we really are, we are humbled in order that we can truly become
who God created us to be.
Think about it; we are humbled
by mistakes, by choices, by loss, by illness, and the big one, by death.
It is God’s way of pointing out that you are not in control, you are
not God, I am; and I see you for who you are and I love you
as my beloved. The incredible blessing in being humble is that we
finally realize our lives have been in God’s hands all along. We can
give up our false sense of power and realize our weakness is ok. We
can give up our jostling for the best seat and see that we have already
been given the best spot. We don’t have to keep up with the Jones’ because
we have already received everything by the grace of God. We can be fully
known as one of God’s beloved, and we can begin to see others in that
same light.
Being humble allows us to deal
with truth of our lives and the lives of those around us in love. Otherwise,
our tendency would be to try to control or manipulate people, situations,
even grace. Otherwise, our image of self might become a stumbling block.
Humbleness keeps us vulnerable and able to love as God loves. Humbleness
steers us in the direction of a loving God that embraces us in spite
of shortcomings, in spite of our lack of prestige, in spite of our low
status. God welcomes us into the dinner hall!
You, YES YOU, have been
invited to banquet of the king! However, there is one caveat; To eat
and drink with God is to live in tension with the pecking order
that mostly defines our society, even our churches, and working against
that status quo will be difficult and tiring. But it's
what we're called to do as followers — to humble ourselves and place
our hope in a radically different kingdom. To embrace as we have been
embraced, love as we have been loved, honor as we have been honored,
forgive as we have been forgiven and share grace as it has been shared
with us.
The feast has been set in your
honor, sisters and brothers, not because of who we are, but because
of WHO GOD IS, not because of what we have done, but because of WHAT
GOD HAS DONE through Jesus Christ. May we go into the banquet humble,
with empty hands, ready to receive what God so generously pours out.
Let us enter in to the banquet with the prayer that all may be fed with
this life-giving meal. Amen.
_____________
Monday Morning Thoughts, August 29th, 2022
Dear faith family,
I'm guessing you have heard the expression, "my cross
to bear" or something similar. I imagine the saying comes from Jesus'
instructions to would be disciples to take up their cross and follow
Jesus. (found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke)
In our day and age, it seems like this has come to
mean that we have a burden to bear in our lives, something difficult
or weighing us down that we have been "given" to carry through life.
This may look like it parallels Jesus carrying a cross on his journey
towards his death and ultimately the salvation of the world. However,
the full verse that we paraphrase is actually:
"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples,
he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8:34
The key to this passage I believe is that Jesus tells
the people that they need to deny themselves if they wish to
be a follower. So, what does it mean to deny oneself? Do I need to sell
all my stuff and give it to the poor? Should I be giving more money
to the homeless? Do I deny myself by how I live, like not having any
earthly pleasures? How is it that this is a prerequisite to following
Jesus? One of the text studies on the Greek word that is translated
"deny" in English defines it as to "lose sight of oneself and one's
own interest."
So, denying oneself has to do with where we place
our focus. Is our focus on God? On the cross? Or is it on our own interests.
Elsewhere Jesus reminds us that we cannot serve two masters. Perhaps
in asking us to deny ourselves before following, Jesus is asking us
to refocus our lives on God and serve God as the master of our lives.
By doing so, we are able to take up the cross of Christ, knowing that
our burdens are being carried by Jesus who has walked this path before
us.
Let us deny ourselves by realigning our focus; heart,
mind and soul, on God and on following Jesus. May we find ways to lift
high the cross and proclaim the overwhelming, never-ending love of God!
Blessings on your week. Pastor Chuck
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Homily for Pentecost 13, Year C, Sept 4th,
2022
(Gospel Reading: Luke 14:25-33) One of my seminary
professors tells a story about the baptism of the Gauls. It may not
be historically factual, but it is a good story.
The Gauls were warlike people who in ancient times
inhabited what is now France and Belgium. They spoke a Celtic language
and were Druidic by religion. By the time of the Christian era they
had been conquered by the Roman Empire and were supposedly under its
control. But the Gauls never did take too well to being conquered!
A number of Christian missionaries ventured into
Gallic territory and, over time, many of the Gauls became Christians.
As the story goes, when a converted warrior was baptized in a river
or stream, he would hold one arm high in the air as the missionary dunked
him under the water! When the next battle or skirmish broke out, the
warlike Gaul would proclaim 'This arm is not baptized!' grab up his
club or sword or ax, and ride off to destroy his enemy in a most unchristian
manner.
In today’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus is speaking to
disciples and would be disciples. The first hyperbole, hating family,
that Jesus uses would have been counter cultural to all of the listeners
because the family unit was revered. In the first century, Jewish families
were so central even to existence; quite often families engaged in the
same livelihood for well-being of the entire family. To lose one member,
could mean hardship for the others. Family was vitally important to
survival.
Jesus reference toward carrying the cross makes reference
toward incredible sacrifice, his own, and the sacrifice the group of
twelve would make in being followers. There was no comfortable, cushy
path that lay ahead for the 12. This would be no rose-petal covered
journey. Now, the next two illustrations Jesus uses are a bit more practical;
naturally, no one uses their hard-earned resources, whether it is money
or material or troops, until they know that the end result will be worth
the cost. No one would set out to build something unless they knew they
could afford to do so. The illustrations Jesus uses are meant to wake
up his listeners so they understand that following this rabbi is not
for the casual disciple or the weekend warrior. He means to make it
clear that before you say the words “I will follow you”, you
better know what you are in for. It will mean renouncing other
allegiances and placing God front and center of our entire lives.
Essentially what this text does is it poses a really
difficult question for modern day followers like us and wanna-be disciples.
Are you willing to make the commitment that is required to be a Christian?
Jesus wants us to count the cost of discipleship as well,
which will mean an examination of just how important we believe our
faith in Christ is? What are we willing to sacrifice? How has it changed
our lives? How does following Jesus sustain, renew, restore and transform
us? If we completely belong to God through baptism, is it reflected
in how we live out our earthly existence?
In the card game POKER, there is an expression when
a player feels they have a good enough hand to beat all the other players.
They are willing to bet every chip they have, every dime on this
one hand. The expression is of course going ALL IN. Today’s text
begs the question, as followers of the living Christ, as disciples of
Jesus; ARE WE ALL IN? or have we tried to hold a part of our
lives separate from that following? Are we ALL IN on Jesus?
I am well aware of the gravity of the question that
is put before you, the question that God asks through scripture. I know
how very difficult it is to count the cost of discipleship and then
surrender over our very lives to God. It is a daily struggle, a daily
discerning of how to be most faithful. And I know how many times I have
failed in that struggle. How many times have I failed to go ALL IN on
Jesus. Following Jesus though is about sacrifice; it is about a level
of focus that causes us to give our allegiance to nothing else,
to have NO other gods before the Almighty God that we worship in Jesus
Christ.
But the truth of our human condition is that
we do not have what it takes, out of our own strength, resolve
or determination, to see this sacrificial way of living through
to the end. Ultimately, we do not have the wherewithal to follow Jesus
as we should. The good news is that God, working through Jesus,
the Good Shepherd, helps us to persevere in the life of discipleship;
when our energy wanes for doing what is right or when our patience has
reached the breaking point, when we just want to go our own way and
do our own thing. This is when Jesus comes to us and nourishes us, tends
to our wounds and brings healing. This is when we are dusted off, re-focused,
set back on the path, so that we might once again, rise, take up the
cross and follow Jesus. This is what makes the good news good.
Thanks be to God, for the incredible, impossible
to comprehend, gift of grace, for God’s love in Christ which has brought
us this far along the way and the mercy which will sustain us and provide
for us for the rest of the journey. Amen.
Sermon Hymn “Will You Come and Follow Me”
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare, should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer pray'r in you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the pris'ners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?
Will you love the you you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?
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Philip Yancey
https://philipyancey.com/praying-all-the-way-to-the-bank
As the statistics on illness and death
due to COVID-19 keep rising, the economic statistics keep falling. In
March the stock market lost more than $11 trillion in value,
and has been yo-yoing ever since. While the more fortunate are mourning
their dwindling retirement plans, the truly desperate have joined the
36 million Americans applying for unemployment benefits. How will
they pay the rent or feed their families?
While watching the news one day, I flashed
back to another time of financial crisis, the Great Recession of 2008.
I had just written a book on prayer, and got an unexpected call from
a New York journalist. “Any advice on how a person should pray
during a time like this?” he asked. “Does prayer do any good in
a financial crash?” In the course of the conversation we came
up with a three-stage approach to prayer.
The first stage is simple, an instinctive
cry for “Help!” For someone who faces a job cut or health crisis,
prayer offers a way to give voice to fear and anxiety. I’ve learned
to resist the tendency to edit my prayers so that they’ll sound sophisticated
and mature. I believe God wants us to come exactly as we are,
no matter how childlike we may feel. A God aware of every sparrow
that falls surely knows the impact of scary financial times on frail
human beings.
Indeed, prayer provides the best possible
place to take our fears. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares
for you,” wrote the apostle Peter. As a template for prayers in
crisis times, I look at Jesus’ night of prayer in Gethsemane.
He threw himself on the ground three times, sweat falling from his body
like drops of blood, and felt “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point
of death.” During that time of anguish, however, his prayer changed
from “Take this cup from me…” to “…may your will be done.” In
the trial scenes that followed, Jesus was the calmest character present.
His season of prayer had relieved him of anxiety, reaffirmed his trust
in a loving Father, and emboldened him to face the horror that awaited
him.
If I pray with the aim of listening as
well as talking, I can enter into a second stage, that of meditation
and reflection. OK, my life savings has virtually disappeared.
What can I learn from this seeming catastrophe? In the midst of
the crisis, a Sunday School song ran through my mind:
The wise man built his house upon the
rock…
And the wise man’s house stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon
the sand…
Oh, the rains came down
And the floods came up…
A time of crisis presents a good opportunity
to identify the foundation on which I construct my life. If I
place my ultimate trust in financial security, or in the government’s
ability to solve my problems, I will surely watch the basement flood
and the walls crumble. As the song says, “And the foolish man’s
house went splat!”
A friend from Chicago, Bill Leslie, used
to say that the Bible asks three main questions about money:
1) How did you get it? (Legally and justly, or exploitatively?);
2) What are you doing with it? (Indulging in needless luxuries,
or helping the needy?);
3) What is it doing to you? Some of Jesus’ most trenchant
parables and sayings go straight to the heart of that last question.
A financial crisis forces us to examine
how money affects us. Am I stuck with debts I accumulated by buying
goods that were more luxuries than necessities? Do I want to cling
to the money I have when I know of people around me in dire need?
Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,”
and we know that heaven will include no homeless, destitute, and starving
people.
As the stock market dove to uncharted depths,
I couldn’t help thinking of private colleges, mission agencies, and
other non-profits, which depend heavily on the largesse of donors.
The IRS has dramatically loosened the rules that limit charitable deductions
for 2020, hoping to encourage more giving—am I giving serious attention
to the urgent appeals that fill my mailbox this year?
Which leads me to the third and most difficult
stage of prayer in crisis times: I need God’s help in taking my eyes
off my own problems in order to look with compassion on the truly desperate.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus described a kind of upside-down kingdom that
elevates the poor, those who mourn, the justice-makers and peace-makers,
and those who show mercy.
The novel coronavirus has temporarily accomplished
that societal reversal. In airports, janitors who clean the banisters
and wipe the seats of airplanes are now as crucial to safety as the
pilots who fly the jets. Each night, people in major cities honk
horns, howl, or shout their appreciation for the health care workers
who keep us alive. We’ve learned we can get along without the
sports industry that pays top athletes $10 million per year to chase
a ball; meanwhile, harried parents of young children have new appreciation
for the teachers who earn less than 1 percent of that amount.
Last month Time magazine put some of the real heroes on their
cover: cafeteria workers who serve up food to needy children.
They could just as easily have profiled hospital orderlies or paramedics.
The question is, will we use this crisis
time to re-evaluate what kind of society we want, or will we return
as soon as possible to a society that idolizes the wealthiest, the most
coordinated, the smartest, the most beautiful, and the most entertaining?
A just, compassionate society builds on a more solid foundation.
The Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the Beatitudes, ends with
Jesus’ analogy of the house on the rock: “And the rain fell, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not
fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
In the days of a collapsing Roman empire,
Christians stood out because they cared for the poor, because they stayed
behind to nurse plague victims rather than flee afflicted villages,
and because platoons of wet nurses would gather up the babies abandoned
along the roadside by Romans in their most cruel form of birth control.
What a testimony it would be if Christians resolved to increase their
giving in 2020 in order to build houses for the poor, combat other deadly
diseases, and proclaim kingdom values to a celebrity-driven culture.
Such a response defies all logic and common
sense. Unless, of course, we take seriously the moral of Jesus’
simple tale about building houses on a sure foundation.
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"Christians are not better than non-Christians; they are just better
off. They are like two men on a plane, one who is wearing a parachute,
and one who is not. Both men have to jump. The one who is wearing the
parachute is not better than the other man, but he is certainly better
off."
— Ray Comfort "Faith is for Weak
People"
_______
“Books will give you the basics.
The Holy Spirit fills in the details. Trust the Spirit." — william
_______
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows
are in the seeds of today." — Native Proverb
_______
"Christianity is being concerned
about [others], not building a million-dollar church while people are
starving right around the corner. Christ was a revolutionary person,
out there where it was happening. That's what God is all about, and
that's where I get my strength.”
–
Fannie Lou Hamer (civil rights activist)
Originally Intended
End For This Newsletter
I was hoping this to be like
the finale of a display of fireworks. A whole lot of everything all
at once, but then it is done. I would like to shift my time to the backlog
of my work. I am just now reviewing, numbering, and filing into my inventory
photographs from over two years ago. As I write this, I have 42,743
of my images (files) in thirty-three folders waiting for processing.
I still have poems, in file drawer folders, I wrote as far back as 1989
that never got typed up, or into a computer. Plus, other than newsletters
and the previous year pictures of the week pages, I have created only
one truly new item (Red Dawn Movie at Fitzgerald
Park - Scrapbook Photos) in half a dozen years for my website.
That is just the william's works
piece of my puzzle. I also have 25,530 photos, and artwork images, in
414 temporary folders from the emails sent by you or others to me, and
from the Internet, which I saved to process into permanent folders for
use in my exercise slide shows. I have play lists in my computer (Windows
Media Player) from our CDs that I select from each day I am exercising
indoors on my treadmill, and Health Rider. I figured out it takes a
slide show of 555 images to get me through my exercise routine without
repeating any. I learned early on that if your exercise becomes too
tedious and boring, it will not be long before you let things go, and
are not exercising at all.
Some years back I started revamping
my exercise folders to hold less than 150 each (in varying amounts),
so I could mix and match a fresh slide show every time by copying the
alphabetical files into an empty folder until I reached 555. Adding
new images also keeps things from becoming too mundane. A little side
note about a good source of quality pictures if you have Windows 10
as an operating system. Microsoft regularly changes that first screen
picture when you turn your computer on. For whatever reason, those are
called lock images. They are hidden in your computer, and removed often
as they add new ones. But they can be copied and saved if done as soon
as they appear. I ran across how to find them, and rename to view them,
in an article several years ago. I thought about including it here on
the addendum page, but it is a mix of text and graphics. If interested,
just email me and I will attach it to a reply.
New images often need to be
resized, cropped, touched up, and renamed so they are alphabetized in
a way that provides a better mix when pulling from various folders.
This takes quite a bit of spare time. Except for lock images I save
whenever I first see them, usually it is later in the evening if I find
time, since I see it as lower priority work, even though it is essential
to my physical well being. A little more time devoted to this, however,
would also help in the mental arena as well. When I originally started
setting up folders in 2006 after my open heart surgery, I put 600 files
in each folder figuring I would just need to pick one. Using those became
boring because they always sequenced the same. I still have a lot of
those early folders (214) which yet hold 27,142 images waiting to be
broken down into smaller units, and re-alphabetized for a better mix.
Until I get to them, they feel like a whole bunch of clutter on a "to
do" list staring me in the face every time I go in to set up an exercise
slide show. I find constant clutter to be highly stressful.
When you add in the daily activities
and work of living . . . . Scripture reading and morning prayer, making
the bed, brushing your teeth, showering, fixing meals and cleaning up
after, my cardiac exercise routines, finding time to get to the Center
even just to water the plants, or change the sanctuary candle in the
prayer room, etc, etc . . . . it becomes a daunting task to find the
time to accomplish any backlog of non-routine work, let alone anything
new. Then, when warm weather arrives it changes everything. Most of
the time, I would enjoy being outside chopping wood to BBQ over rather
than any of the other stuff except taking pictures. But, even photography
gives me pause, because I am aware I will be adding to my backlog of
images needing attention. So, writing has a lot of competition in my
"to do list" world.
None of this is meant to be
complaining. I created my circumstances through my choices, just like
everybody else does. The difficulty, of course, is the discernment of
God's priorities in all of the constant flow of possible activities
passing through our consciousness. That is why I would like to add newsletters
to the list of things eliminated. They are hugely time consuming for
me. I have to laugh, because as I write this, I have been thinking how
much of that stuff I could be getting done if I were not spending so
much time writing about it. I think I have become too much a Martha,
and too little a Mary (see Luke 10:41-42 if you
do not understand the reference).
My best recollection is that
I started writing in earnest when I was creating my poetry to help me
through stressful, and challenging, times of mental and spiritual upheaval.
It could feel obsessive and compulsive, but it did help. This had doctors
originally looking at manic depression (referred to these days as bi-polar
disease) as a possible diagnosis. They decided it was not. I saw it
as an intense search for God, with the spiritual challenges often being
expressed through the mental side roads, not vice versa. It has been
an interesting journey, and writing definitely functioned as a coping
tool. It still does in some fashion, as it allows me to release a lot
of mental activity onto the paper. But writing has almost always felt
like more of a burden than a joy. Especially so, when I transitioned
to primarily prose from the shorter, more succinct, poetry.
The End
(but you never know when you
let God run the show)
The Left’s Message: You Cannot Be
Christian
by Michael Brown - June 1, 2020 - Faith & Culture
- Decision Magazine
It would be one thing if Samaritan’s Purse refused
to treat a gay man. Or mocked a trans-identified individual. Or discriminated
against a lesbian needing medical care. But none of that has happened.
Instead, this massive Christian humanitarian organization
which serves each person alike is getting blasted by the Left for one
reason only. Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian organization that employs
Christian workers and believes in the historic teachings of the Bible.
The Crime of Being Christian
That alone is their crime. That alone is their fault.
And for that unthinkable transgression, for that monstrous evil, for
the crime of being Christian, they are protested by the Left.
It was bad enough that Franklin Graham’s evangelistic
ministry in the U.K. was opposed because of his pro-Bible comments regarding
sexuality and marriage. These days, that is the price for taking a stand
for Biblical truth and opposing radical LGBTQ revisionism.
But it’s far worse when Graham’s humanitarian arm,
Samaritan’s Purse, which selflessly serves the sick and hurting worldwide,
is opposed because their statement of faith is Christian. What on earth
has happened to our society?
As noted in National Review, “the volunteers
for Samaritan’s Purse put themselves in harm’s way, acting as backstops
for a municipal hospital system at risk of being overrun with coronavirus
patients. The group’s evangelical Christian volunteers expose themselves
to infection and disease at no charge to patients, treating the sick
without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation or any of the other
identity groups under putative ‘siege’ in the United States.”
Protesting a statement of faith
Yet on April 15, NBC News reported that “a group
of LGBTQ activists stood several yards away from the Samaritan’s Purse
field hospital on the East Meadow lawn and blasted city and state officials
and Mount Sinai Hospital for partnering with the evangelical humanitarian
relief organization treating overflow patients suffering from the coronavirus.”
“After all, if a Christian humanitarian organization
can be protested during a pandemic for affirming Biblical values, what
will happen to churches and ministries during times of health and prosperity?”
As expressed by Jay W. Walker, an activist with the
Reclaim Pride Coalition, “How was this group ever considered to bring
their hatred and their vitriol into our city at a time of crisis when
our people are fighting a pandemic?”
It is true, NBC News noted, that “The hospital is
staffed with Christian doctors and nurses experienced in treating infectious
diseases.”
And these Christians donate their services to help
strangers, putting their own lives at risk in a living demonstration
of “love your neighbor as yourself.”
“But,” the report continues, “Samaritan’s Purse’s
policies require most contractors and some full-time volunteers to sign
a statement of faith that includes a declaration that ‘we believe that
marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic
female.’”
In the Name of the Lord Jesus
Oh, the horror! Oh, the hatred! How dare this Christian
organization, led by the son of the Reverend Billy Graham, uphold Biblical
values. How dare they affirm marriage as it has been affirmed by the
church and synagogue for two millennia. How dare they refuse to bow
the knee at the altar of political correctness.
Writing in the New York Post on April 3,
Bob McManus pointed out that Samaritan’s Purse makes its mission and
message loud and clear: “Why did you come?” asks its website. “The answer
is always the same: ‘We have come to help you in the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ.’”
And yet that is where the problem lies: They are
Christians coming to serve in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Values of New York City
Somehow, Mayor Bill de Blasio was surprised to hear
that Franklin Graham’s organization was actually Christian. And so he
commented, “I said immediately to my team that we had to find out exactly
what was happening. Was there going to be an approach that was truly
consistent with the values [of] New York City?”
Ah yes, the values of New York City, the city that
aborts more African-American babies than it sees born every year. By
far. And the city that says: If you hold to Christian beliefs and values,
you cannot serve our citizens. Not at your own expense. Not at the risk
of your own lives. Not if you do it as Christians.
Better to let the COVID-19 victims pass away in their
misery. We will not have true Christianity in our midst.
Time to Wake Up
That is how far we have fallen, and we dare not ignore
the handwriting on the wall. After all, if a Christian humanitarian
organization can be protested during a pandemic for affirming Biblical
values, what will happen to churches and ministries during times of
health and prosperity?
Fifteen years ago, I was mocked for saying that those
who came out of the closet wanted to put us—Bible-believing Christians—in
the closet.
That now seems like a lifetime ago. For those who
are still slumbering, it is well past time to wake up. ©2020 Michael
Brown
Adapted by permission from an article originally
published at Stream.org.
Michael L. Brown is the founder and president of
Fire School of Ministry in Concord, North Carolina, and host of the
daily syndicated radio show “The Line of Fire.”
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