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- Good Morning, Lord - Good Morning, Lord: I awaken. It is still dark and very quiet. I look at the clock – 1:55 a.m. I, sigh, turn over, and snuggle down into the warmth of my bed, trying to return to sleep, but it evades me. My mind is at work, a left-over thought from yesterday, or a new one for today? I quiet my mind and try some tricks of relaxation… nothing. After a time, I roll over, look, again, at the clock -- 2:12 a.m. I finally accept the fact that I am wide awake. To what purpose? Somewhere in those 17 minutes of wakefulness my mind turns to Jesus in gratitude for just being Lord, or, perhaps, He can help me return to sleep. No, there is something else. I reach over, turn on the bed-side lamp -- my day begins. Without exception, early mornings, lead me into the Word, into devotionals, into prayer-time, into my informal conversations with God. What about you? What is your story? Continue reading
- Jesus Loves me - Jesus Loves Me: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. How old were you when you first learned that song? Do you know all the verses? Remember watching a group of little kids sings these Sunday School songs, as I call them? “What a Friend We have in Jesus”, “This Little Light of Mine”, and, of course, “Jesus Loves me.” Those kids can really get into it, maybe just a little off key, but their hearts were in it and we were blessed by their music. Continue reading
- Advent - Advent: "The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I believe that Bonhoeffer was an exceptional theologian and Pastor, and a man of great courage and depth. So much of his writings have broadened my understanding of Christianity. But his statement on Advent, well, I don’t know exactly what to do with it, or to fully understand it. Continue reading
- Got Joy? - Got Joy? And in a recent Watchword, I included the following closing prayer: Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your Word. By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy, live according to it, and grow in faith and hope and love; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. As I thought about that prayer, it caused me to wonder how do we receive the seed of your Word through the Holy Spirit within? I have no answer. Do you think you're a joyful person? You know one of those people who is so nice to be with, who seems to incorporate you into whatever they're doing and you sense that it's genuine and filled with love. I don't fit into that category. For the past week I have been down, not with Covid or RSV but with just a bad cold that has caused me to constantly cough and sneeze, runny nose -- you know the routine. One morning, as I was making coffee (and coughing), I had the urge to sing! Between coughs! Seriously, I sang, ‘Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place’. Joy, not in my circumstances, but from deep within. Continue reading
- Advent Unfolds - Advent Unfolds: Zachariah is a priest, well-schooled in prophecy, and yet not sure and unprepared for a prophecy to be revealed. Miracle after miracle. He heard the angel of the Lord tell him of the familiar scenario of Abram and Sarai facing a similar challenge, and yet God promised to make Abraham “the father of many nations.” That promise was kept. Now the same thing was happening to he and Elizabeth. She, in her old age, would give birth to a son, and that son would be John the Baptist, who, even before he was born, was filled with the Holy Spirit. According to tradition, at age 30, John would become a Levitical Priest in time to baptize Jesus the Christ. This is just one of the many miracles that prepared the way for the revealing of Jesus Christ to the world. Continue reading
- House Cleaning - House Cleaning: David, in repentance, is saying, “create in me a clean heart, oh, God, and he is speaking for all of us. Me and you, with our cluttered minds filled with concerns and pressures, and the fatigue brought on by the violent world around us. Create me a clean heart, a nonjudgmental heart, a heart that believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, a heart that trusts Him. We pray that, but are we doing our part? Here at the start of Advent, that period leading up to the welcoming of the infant Jesus, the incarnate God among us, that laid the groundwork for God’s forgiveness of our sins, our unclean heart, our failure to love our neighbor. Have we considered that God does more than forgive our sins? Continue reading
- Bible Trivia - Bible Trivia: From a scripture standpoint, the ministry of Jesus could be bookended by the Sermon on the Mount, early in his ministry, and the Olivet Discourse, the final teaching ministry to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, just days before his crucifixion and Resurrection. Over those three years His popularity grew, reflected in the number of followers, and the size of the crowds that gathered. The stories of Jesus’ ministry reached the Pharisees and Sadducees and the teachers of the law early in his ministry. He was called a ‘mad rabbi’, and they paid little attention. But then as the reality of His ministry became more distinct, efforts to discredit Him took on murderous intent. Jesus defined the law in its core principles: Love the Lord with everything you have and love others as yourself. Continue reading
- I’m Not Crazy! - I’m Not Crazy! During the Prayers of Intercession in a recent Sunday worship service, I became aware that there was another presence on the pew with my two friends and I. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure sitting on the back of the pew, at the aisle end, just off my friend’s shoulder. I turned my head slightly toward the figure and it did not move, just sat there. I was aware that I was not concerned, felt no threat, did not try to understand it’s presence, and simply accepted the presence and returned to prayers. As the worship continued that image stayed with me. I believe in angels. There are too many references to angels in the Bible not to have some assurance of their existence. Continue reading
- A Day of Thanks - A Day of Thanks: The German mystic and philosopher, Meister Eckhart, once wrote: “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that will suffice.” I think we underestimate the importance of the ‘thank you’. The acknowledgment of a gift given, assistance provided, support extended, or simply friendship that has no qualifications, it’s just always there. This day of Thanksgiving is an opportunity to think back on what we have been given…and to give something in return: thanks. Actually, “thanks” seems too small a word. Gratitude may be better. Gratitude is like a personality characteristic, it just shows up nearly all the time in all that we do. We are here, in this place to give gratitude. Maybe we should call this day “Gratitude-giving.” We are here to honor, with grateful hearts, what God has done for us. Continue reading
- Baffling? - Baffling? God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death. He led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. We may not fully understand the meaning of the Resurrection, yet, God’s purpose is never man’s purpose. Do we need to understand all things? Or, do we simply need to worship Him? I wonder if we understand even the basic meaning of words and phrases coming from God? Have we read too much into some of those passages that we rely on, and, yet, we understand “none of these things”? Continue reading
- How to Die - How to Die: The pastor tells of his experience early in his ministry, of being summoned to the hospital emergency room: one of his parishioners had been in a horrible accident and was near death. After a time, the doctor emerged, walked up to the minister and said, “For God’s sake, Pastor, teach your people how to die. The pastor continued, saying that from that moment on, his ministry was changed. How one dies is a personal thing, but it carries enormous power for the loved ones who care. Continue reading
- Cockeyed with Gratitude - Cockeyed with Gratitude: Have you ever been cockeyed with gratitude? You know, when thankfulness fills your eyes with tears, and your heart is so full that it fair will burst, and all of your words are adjectives of grace and joy. Have you ever been that cockeyed with gratitude? You know in a very real sense, I think that deep feeling of God’s presence produces all of that, so that even the smallest things in your life take on a shine, a glistening polish of newness even though it’s old, as old as you are, yet its new. It’s when you know that life is good. Continue reading
- The Way of the Wicked - The Way of the Wicked: Our Bible study discussion was on Daniel chapter 6, and as was typical, our discussion led us on a tangent, as we reflected on the way of the wicked in our society. The news has given us mental pictures of vast areas of discrimination, graphic images that are hard to get our civilized minds around, and left us with the unanswered question, Why? We draw on a base of Christianity throughout our lives. The variety of our life experiences has informed us in the past, but never to the degree to understand what we hear and see on our television screens. We are simply not prepared for the senseless, deep and broad acts of hatred. Too often, it is the lions of hatred and discrimination that lead us into darkness and discouragement. Let us remain true to our Creator, and pray that God will send his angels to shut the mouths of those lions so they cause no harm and their roars are just so much noise, signifying nothing at all. Continue reading
- Surely the Presence - Surely the Presence: Friday, October 20, 1983, my friend Mac and I walked into an old school in Columbus Ohio and began a weekend which deepened our relationship with Jesus Christ. By the time we walked out on Sunday afternoon we had an experience so profound it truly shaped our Christian walk the rest of our lives. Cursillo, Via Di Christo, Brethren Way of Christ, Emmas Walk, the name you give the three-day retreat matters little, it’s the content that is so powerful: An uninterrupted, New Testament focused time with Jesus. Continue reading
- Re Formation - Re Formation: We associate the reformation with Martin Luther’s rebellion against the rigidness of the Catholic Church, as reflected in his ’95 Theses’ posted in 1517. But there were any number of Reformers in that era, names we recognize. Turin, Waldo, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, Cromwell, and many more. Let’s be clear, our lives, our character, our behaviors are shaped by what we believe, and what we believe in. Our faith is born in God’s love, and His promises, not by the rules that man has made, in the name of religion. When we accept Christ, we are ‘re-formed’ into God’s love, we are changed, into a new creature in Christ. Continue reading
- What Belongs to God? - What Belongs to God? Good question. What does belong to God? How am I to understand this? Jesus told the rich young ruler to ‘sell all you have, and give to the poor’. That was confusing to him and to us. Why impoverished that young man? It’s not easy to accept the premise that everything we are, everything we have, everything we do is the Lords. We are the Lord's, which means we have our marching orders and they’re pretty simple: Love God and love others. We are to make no exceptions, for any reason. Which explains why it’s not easy. So, if everything we claim belongs to God, then we give back to Him the graces and the gifts, physical, spiritual, emotional…all. Continue reading
- Your Story, My Story - Your Story, My Story: You were baptized, you accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and you do your best to follow the Will of God. You have story. I’m a preacher’s kid. I grew up in the church. I thought I was a Christian, that is, until the circumstances of my life crashed and I found out what Jesus meant when He told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” Since then I have done my best to follow Jesus as Lord. I have story. Continue reading
- Message of Hope - Message of Hope: I suppose I could have titled this ‘the triumph of love over fear’, because that’s my closing argument. It’s easy to find ourselves grappling with fear -- fear of the unknown, of failure, even fear of each other. There exists a powerful force that has the ability to dispel the darkness and bring forth profound transformation: Love. Love is a beacon of light that has the capacity to overcome the darkness of our most daunting fears. This is not a minor sentiment; it’s a courageous and transformative power that can heal and unite. Continue reading
- Free Will - Free Will: Nearly two years ago I wrote an essay entitled ‘Small Minds’ and posted it on my website. I pointed out that the conflict I see between our personal opinions of things, the free will that God has given us, and simple, clear facts that are there before our eyes, and minds, have caused stress and divisions that have taken away from the building up of our nation and our own spiritual growth. God makes it clear that He did NOT create any religion! Not one! Not yours, not mine. He made it clear that each of those man-made “slants” on His Word has a purpose. He implies that we make complex that which is actually very simple – Love others as He has loved us. Period. Continue reading
- Self-Sufficiency - Self-Sufficiency: I think it’s hard to admit that there are times when we are often mired in evil thoughts, impulsive thoughts at the moment, thoughts that if we had a moment to think about we would not have had them. Often thoughts lead to action. While self-sufficiency can be a positive trait, too often we judge others behavior, by our excellent life skills, as if our self-sufficiency is the stuff that others should aspire to. Continue reading
