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- Our Father Who Art… - Our Father Who Art… It seems like every church service that I attend asks the congregation to recite the Lord’s Prayer. I say “recite” because, even though the prayer is printed in the bulletin, we tend to recite it by memory. We just rattled it off, too often without thinking because it’s so familiar to us. Even though this prayer was given to the disciples as an outline of how they should talk with God, nevertheless, there it is and I’m left with wondering how meaningful it is for us to simply recite. The disciples had asked him to teach them how to pray. And what he gave them was what to include, not what specifically they should say. I think too often we see the Lord’s Prayer as THE prayer and everything else is secondary, maybe even conversation. But wait, that’s an important point. Continue reading
- Ears, But Did Not Hear - Ears, But Did Not Hear: I recently completed a story that, at its core, expands on the parable of the Good Samaritan. I imagined a merchant from Samaria, who travels to markets along the Jordan River, and has been hearing stories of Jesus’ ministry, scoffing at them, discounting them as fables. The merchant is unaware that he is just behind Jesus and His disciples, as they make their way to Jerusalem. The merchant has been trying to explain away all the stories of Jesus' ministry in his own mind, and, at one point, he actually witnesses Jesus’ miracle, and struggles to find a solution, an answer to how the “trick” was done. He had eyes but would not see, and he had ears, but refused to understand. In the end the weight of Jesus’ truth, gave him a new perspective, a new life. An awakening to a loving God. Continue reading
- Shoeboxes of Cash or Redemption? - Shoeboxes of Cash or Redemption? What I understand is that Jesus, on his final journey to Jerusalem, had stopped in Jericho, staying overnight at the home of the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. The tax collector and his family were changed by that encounter. Then, as Jesus started up the Jericho Road, he passed the Elisha Spring where Bartimaeus was begging and his sight restored. You get the distinct impression from the scripture passage that the tax collector was aware that his sinful behavior was wrong. If we haven’t already done so, we need to take seriously the stories we read in the pages of our Bible. Most are very familiar to us, like the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, and the converted tax collector. The lessons from our Lord and Savior are embedded in those stories. Continue reading
- I Used To Do That! - I Used To Do That! I used to jog 5 miles over my lunch hour when I was Dean at the college. I used to be able to translate Latin into English, and English into French. Graces and gifts from God that we, maybe, have neglected, or simply didn’t recognize in the flow of our lives. Sometimes those graces come according to God’s schedule, not ours. And Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor—and you shall have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.” Sell all I have? Was He serious? Everything on your list of “Used to do” and mine has passed through the hands of God, all those are His. Continue reading
- God Bless the Pandemic - God Bless the Pandemic: God bless the pandemic? Are you crazy? Who could imagine anything that would have brought our entire world to its knees? Even in times of war, that has a tragic effect sections of the world, there were places untouched by the fighting. What happened to us in the midst of the pandemic was the common denominator throughout the entire world. We could empathize with far reaching areas because we were in the same pain, the same grief. If you read all of Matthew 24, you could come away feeling pretty depressed. You might even ask yourself is the pandemic all part of “the horrors to come”? Continue reading
- Proverbs, Parables and Nursery Rhymes - Proverbs, Parables and Nursery Rhymes: Last night I felt led to dig into an old file, one labeled Notes and Ideas for Homilies. For some reason, I dated these particular notes, January, 1972, nearly 50 years ago! Yikes! From my notes, I could tell that I was listening to a homily or sermon on the Book of Proverbs. As I thought about what my notes were telling me I realized that Proverbs were written for a purpose. The great achievement of Israel was to develop a conventional body of convictions, that gave cohesion to the Israelite society as well as an agenda for the instruction of the young. Continue reading
- Marching Order - Marching Order: Setting the stage: Jesus has been crucified, dead and buried in a tomb. Only one disciple, John, was there on Calvary with Jesus’ mother, Mary, and the other Mary. The other disciples were hiding in the city, fearful of retaliation by the Jewish leadership. Then, the Resurrection and the instructions given to the women at the tomb for the disciples to meet Jesus on the hillside near Capernaum, in Galilee. Matthew’s gospel continues, and the eleven make the three-day journey into Galilee, where Jesus spends time with them, calming them of their excitement of seeing Him alive, then He gives them their marching order that will serve them throughout their lives as apostles. Continue reading
- If You Only Knew - If You Only Knew: James and John were asking, but they did not know what they were asking for, and Jesus told them, in no uncertain terms. Are like those blessed brothers, are we seeking? Why do we come here together as the church? I think most of us would say we came to worship, almost as if was God calling and we’ve responded. I have to confess that there are times when I would prefer the comfort of my living room, my PJs, a cup of coffee, and a streaming Church service by a Pastor that I have high regard for. I would hazard is a guess that many of you find that to be a comfortable approach to worship as well. Call it a gift of the pandemic.You can’t blame James and John for wanting to step up into military leadership when He “sits on His throne.” Much later, the transformation of these disciples will happen, but they had much more to learn. How about you and me. Do we have much more to learn? Continue reading
- Water, Water Everywhere? - Water, Water Everywhere? I read and studied “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” when I was in 7th Grade English. It conjured up interesting mental pictures of long adventure, of lost and of found, of mystery and visions, and on the way, I learned a bit about poetry and song.How long can our Christian lives be sustained without Living Water? His Living Water is everywhere, His Living Word is life. Continue reading
- Got Any Habits? - Got Any Habits? I have to confess I’ve had a number of habits, over the years, some good and some not so much. Some are in the past, some are still with me. I learned to smoke as an 18-year-old in Korea and held on to that habit until I was in my 30’s and got some smarts. Jesus was teaching His disciples about living according to His Word. Some of those lessons were in the form of parables, sometimes the lessons were about teaching the disciples how to pray. Sometimes His lessons were about opening their eyes, as well as their ears, to understand life around them and to be aware of the movement of the Holy Spirit, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Lessons of go and do likewise. Continue reading
- Here Comes Pentecost - Here Comes Pentecost: As the Spirit has moved us in our Christian walk, we hear more and more that the Old Testament is all about Jesus Christ. There are books written and studies designed around this very topic. As you may have taken this seriously, spending time in the Old Testament books and chapters you may find yourself questioning, where, where is Jesus in that passage? Maybe you’re looking with the wrong set of eyes. If we start with the clear assumption that the Old Testament is, indeed, all about Jesus Christ, and you consider the power of the Holy Spirit in whatever portion of that testament you are reading, the grand design of the triune God is to reveal Christ exactly at the right time in His story. Continue reading
- Complaining and Self-pity - Complaining and Self-pity: During the course of Jesus’ ministry, He and the Twelve walked the Holy Land, from Capernaum to Calvary. They crossed the Sea of Galilee more than once, and walked around that lake, over the hills and through the valleys, and along the southern course of the Jordan River. How many times did they climb the very rough and steep Road from Jericho up to Jerusalem? Seventeen miles. Did He listen to complaining of the disciples as they stumbled along at times, probably exhausted? Maybe there was some questioning about why are we doing this and where are we going, that probably resulted in another lesson from Jesus. God incarnate. God made flesh and dwelt among us. From birth to resurrection, He experienced first-hand life as a human, all the pains and the joys. Continue reading
- Worry, Worry, Worry - Worry, Worry, Worry: How often in the morning have you recited Psalm 118:24? You know, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” You don’t need to look it up, it is right there on the tip of your tongue. Praising the Lord is a good way to start your day. You have praised the Lord for the day, now, what has happened to your worries and concerns? Let me ask, how do you humble yourself before the Lord, burdened down by all those worries? How can you manage everything that weighs heavily on you in order to seek the Lord? What is the impact of you living on over-load? You know, your is schedule is full and you keep adding to it. It seemed that you never learned the value of “No”. Continue reading
- You Did Win the Lottery! - You Did Win the Lottery! Yesterday’s news carried the announcement that some poor person had won the Powerball lottery, $700 million! I wonder if he/she even knows what that means. The winner did choose to take the cash, and I would do the same, but that left a measly $490 million, with all taxes paid. How sad, how very sad.Does that sound cynical? Maybe just a little. It’s possible that looking at that situation from my age and stage in life, let’s me view it from little more pragmatic standpoint or possibly from the standpoint of what do I worship? What is dearest to me? Continue reading
- The Power of Aha! - The Power of Aha! A moment of epiphany, the sudden realization that you finally knew something that was there before your eyes all along, but failed to fully understand. Perhaps a little thing and it was confusing. I had such a moment in junior high school math, trying to understand finding the square root and then an aha moment and it all came together! Just a little thing, a turn of phrase, an awareness, and the problem was solved. In our Christian walk, we have many of those aha moments as we go through life with our Lord Savior. Maybe a final awareness that the voice you are hearing in your head is actually the Holy Spirit, pointing us in the direction of Love. Continue reading
- God Moments - God Moments: A few days ago, I experienced what I can only think of as a “God moment”. “We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there.” Each of those moments is a look behind the curtain, a blink of the eye that reveals a tiny slice of Heaven. Continue reading
- What Is Your Name? - What Is Your Name? Mike Wittmer, in a recent Our Daily Bread, wrote a devotional, entitled “What’s Your Name?” He begins with this statement: “Someone said we go through life with three names: the name our parents gave us, the names others give us (our reputation), and the name we give ourselves (our character). So, what do you value most -- A good reputation or maintaining a sterling character? I think the answer to that question varies as we go through the ages and stages of life. Those three names that we carry around, work for the here and now, in this sphere. But, according to Revelation, there is a fourth name, one given to everyone who is victorious by God. Continue reading
- How Do You Worship? - How Do You Worship? In the Matthew 11 passage, Jesus is clearly perturbed. He started his ministry in Capernaum. He moved there from Nazareth, and built his own house (He was a carpenter, you know.) His house was a gathering place and he taught. He was well known in the town and people came from surrounding areas to hear Him. He was a frequent rabbi in the synagogue and on the beach. He is perturbed, for his message for more than a year, had always been peace, and come all weary I will give you rest. And they had turned their backs on His Way and Word. Jesus says, “I know all the things you do…” He tells us, in no uncertain terms, that resting in Him is a form of worship. Continue reading
- Be Still and Know - Be Still and Know: This verse is familiar to us, so simple and to the point, and yet…why do we find it difficult to follow God’s admonition to “be still and to know”? I think we can understand the “be still”. That would mean to calm your mind and do nothing but focus on the Almighty. The rest of that, “know that I am God” is less clear, especially the “know” part. How are we to know, or maybe better yet, what are we to know? We acknowledge God, we pray to Him, we read His Book and study His Word, but what do we actually Continue reading
- The Voice of the Shepherd - The Voice of the Shepherd: Recently, prior to Sunday morning worship where I was to do the homily, I was, as usual, a little nervous. As I prepared, I became aware of that voice in my mind telling me “be at peace”. I thought about Ezbon and how his sheep recognized his voice. I also thought about the other voices that I often hear, not the voice of the Shepard but the voice of negativism, a voice that sometimes encourages me to go in ways that I did not and should not go. Multiple voices, some bringing light and blessedness, some bringing darkness. What is the difference? Our discernment among those voices rests in our commitment to Christ. Continue reading
