Christmas - the season for whom?

Hi All,
I have spent the day wrapping Christmas presents for grandchildren, grand nieces and nephews with my wife. After spending all day yesterday feeding approximately 140 people and 150 meals, it was a slower day though my body doesn't like I slowed down. I have of course been pondering things as a I do when I have down time and some of those things bring me joy and others sorrow. It is black Friday in the western world, the day when stores hope to make enough money to carry them through the first part of the new year. Little do they realize that they have a day when the Christian world moves from Thanksgiving into Advent, the season of hope, peace, love and joy as we focus on Christmas, the season of celebrating the gift of God that brings us promise and freedom.

This last Wednesday Pastor Bob Boyce and I shared the pulpit as we do each Thanksgiving Eve and Easter sunrise morning. Bob is a Baptist. He and I were having a conversation that makes both of us crazy. It is all the good people of God who question how a Baptist and Methodist can share a pulpit and get along. We're great friends. Do we really think that we are so different that we cannot share the joy of the season of hope and love? Some don't and I find that depressing. What do they think is going to happen at the receiving of the promise as we stand together, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist or Methodist? Do they somehow believe that there will be different lines? I think so sometimes. Shame! We miss out on so many opportunities to share ministry, mission and witness.

Let's talk about Christmas for a moment. Did you know that "X" is the Greek symbol for Christ? Did you know that Advent is a season of preparation following John the Baptizer preparing the way for the Lord? Do we really get so hung up on what we can and cannot do during the season? I once did. But now I realize that the sooner the Christmas commercial season begins, the sooner I get to start witnessing to people who honestly will not listen during the rest of the year. I get to share in christian behavior as we share meals, share laughter, share a little of the bounty that God has given us and share love. Like no other time of the year in fact. So if the powers that be want to take "Christ" and replace it with "X", the jokes on them. If they want us not to have nativity scenes, their legal maneuvering just brings more light to the facts surrounding the nativity and the birth of Christ and we get to witness that much more. If they want to focus on money, we focus on challenges like Angel Tree Ministries, Jesus is not your Birthday, and feeding and helping the poor, the lost and the marginalized. HMMMM! Isn't that what we are supposed to be doing all year long anyway. Now even those who want to push us into oblivion are acting like us. Maybe God is working in the world after all. So as Christians, smile, share a song or too, get over the ritualism that separates us and allow the season to open folks to relationships that they are not open to any other time of the year.

Just random thoughts, but then, that's what the label says.

What is church?

This week the members of Grace got to experience church. We too often think of church as that thing we do on Sunday mornings when we come to worship. So many of us even come to that experience not prepared to meet God but come hoping that they can feel better about themselves at the end of the time spent there. I hear so many people say, I feel so much better after attending Sunday worship. And I must admit, I am always glad to hear people say that. But that is not what worship is about nor is that church.
So Thursday we attended the Parksley Trunk or Treat and agreed to do concessions. But we had a great twist as a surprise. We gave it all away. We passed out 204 Hot Dogs, 224 Hamburgers, donated another 20 Hamburgers to the Fire Company who loaned us their grill, three boxes of chips and I am not sure we know how much water and soft drinks we gave away. But to see the look of shock on peoples faces and the thanks from so many haggard parents that we would actually do it made it worth it. You see church is about people. Church is about giving of ourselves that people might see the face of God in action. Church is surprising people with "God loves you - its free" and seeing the realization that God is real and actually does the unthinkable. So this week, the members of Grace who worked that concession from 4 to 8 PM, who struggled to stay ahead of the crowd and failed so many times, got to see church. You know it was also funny as we reflect on how patient the crowd became when the word spread that it was all free. It makes you appreciate the story of the fish and loaves on the mountainside. Who knows, it may start something new and incredible among the people of Grace.

Laity Sunday 10/20/13

Today 10/20/13 is Laity Sunday. I am not preaching this Sunday morning as we celebrate the Laity of the church. It was the laity that began the church, kept the church running and maintained the Gospel between visits of the Pastor in the days of Circuit Riding. I am thankful for the laity of Grace.

Sunday October 13, 2013

There is no sermon to post this morning. But what a day it was in the church. We celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Graceful Ringers (our Hand Bell group) and a 98th birthday of a women who still drives herself to church. We spent the worship service in song and music from the Choir, the Hand Bells and a good old fashioned hymn sing. Next week is Laity Sunday so sorry for the break.

Is there life after death

Last night I preached and we had an interactive discussion about the topic of this post, Is there life after death. If we simply believe the scriptures the answer to that question is an easy one. Yes there is life after death when we are talking about physical death. How do we know? Jesus speaks to it through the Gospels and the Epistles. John 3: 16: ^NRS  John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life, clearly gives us that God wants us to know that Jesus is sent here for the purpose of assuring we do not perish but have eternal life. I have added some other scriptures that lead us to the same conclusion through the scriptures alone.

^NRS  Luke 23:43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

^NRS  John 5:24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

^NRS  John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

^NRS  John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

^NRS  1 Corinthians 15:51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." ⁵⁵ "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So the Bible clearly indicates that there is life after death. We are not completely sure whether that life is physical or entirely spiritual, since Christ after the resurrection was both, walking through walls and doors, appearing and yet ate meals and was touched and felt. But it is clear from the worldly arguments that Biblical proof does not fulfill the requirement of many as proof of the existence of something. Sadly I believe that this convicts us in our own belief strength. God intends that we accept that God is real and that what God tells us is also real and full of the authority that we need. 

In an earlier discussions we used a method to decipher whether or not something was true. That method is based on scientific logic in order to arrive at what the world determines is truth. Let us use this same method tonight. Our measure of whether something is true was to first look for historical or scientific evidence of that truth. Then we look at the collaborating witness to that truth to determine whether or not something happened. So let see what happens when we apply that to this topic.

First is there historical or scientific evidence to life after death? Truth is we have little evidence as to whether or not there is life after death and yet, we have the Law of Conservation. Why is this law important? It says simply that energy cannot be created or lost, nothing comes to be that does not already exist and nothing perishes. It can be changed but it cannot be destroyed. Hmmmm. So if our human existence is a form of energy and I think all of you would agree that we are, then we understand that we cannot be created or destroyed. OK! If we cannot be created then we came from something. The Bible again helps with this. We have two passages that we know from Genesis that tell us that we are in fact created from something so that passes the first test.

^NRS  Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

^NRS  Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

And what then do we go to. The scriptures from the early reading clearly indicate that we are going to be with Christ in a new place called Heaven.

Still not convinced? Well let’s look to the second test, collaborating evidence. If we Google life after death books there are 591 million hits. If we begin to look at those books what we see is book after book listing people’s experiences in a place they call heaven. I had an Aunt Cora who slipped into a coma when she was young. She came out of the coma and told everyone until the day she died that she had been with Jesus and he told her she would live be a certain age. She died the year when she said Jesus had told her she would die. I had a great conversation with a Hospitalist in Farmville. He said that his experience was so dramatic that he believed that there is a heaven and a hell because of it. He said that he has been present at thousands of deaths and that many smile, reach out to someone, some say names, some say Jesus but all of the ones who seem to see something beyond us seem peaceful except. The exception is that some see something that frightens them so much that they cry out, Not there, oh please not there. What do you make of that? During the Sunday night discussion several people witnessed to the stories of seeing into a place of flowers, of peace and joy and being at the bedside of those who were passing into the next realm and their final words and actions which also lead witnesses to understand that there is something else beyond this physical life. 

Still not convinced? Using a model for proving or disproving a theory certainly gives credibility to the fact that there is something beyond this physical life. Our Christian faith tells us that there is a heaven and a hell. What do you think?

Technical difficulties

I want to apologize to those who may be having trouble listening to the audio files associated with bible study or sermons. I have been using Fileden as my server source for these files and simply have gotten tired of them being down, causing interruptions, etc. I am in the process of moving all my files to Mediafire which is supposed to be a better platform. Thanks for your understanding during this transistion. I will also be cleaning up a bit in the process. Leave me a note to let me know what you think of this site and what I can provide to make it better. Also, if there are topics you would want to discuss, please send them to me as well.

Random thoughts on this Wednesday

I have not posted random thoughts in a while but today has been an interesting day. It started with a great prayer meeting at the church, the prayer was Mark 11: 20-25. "Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. ²³ Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. ²⁴ So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." We have been meeting on Wednesday mornings, learning more about prayer as we seek a spiritual revival of the church. There is a shift of the wind but it is too early to tell where it lead us. While there this morning Bonnie was dealing with the news that her brother (57) has pancreatic cancer and it has gotten into his liver. She has weathered great adversity in the last six to seven years and so prayers are needed her way and especially for her brother and his family as they fight a courageous battle. Then a friend asked how to say goodbye to a member of their family and so I asked God  to be gracious as I responded to that request. Finally, great news, my son the Baptist minister has been called to a new church. I think it will be a great adventure for him and I believe God will use him to share the Gospel. I just wish he and I could set aside our challenges and be father and son again. So my prayers on this day are that God's will be done in all things, but with radical prayer I pray for the right answers and for the right kind of healing(s). 

Week of 4/21/13

I will not be posting a sermon this week. My friend Don Foster is preaching. I will pose two questions to see who might be reading and open them to comment and discussion.
1) What does the recent events in Boston tell us about evil in the world?
2) In light of Jesus comment to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, how does an affirmative Same-Sex Marriage ruling from the Supreme Court change the way we behave as Christians in America?

Anonymous Comments

From time to time I get anonymous comments concerning postings or sermons. Often these comments are personal in nature, not that that will prevent me from replying to them. Since I don't have the ability to know what the intent of the question is or in some cases, like the post that was sent in on 3/11/13, not sure if all the post came through, please include your name. The most interesting thing about the life as a minister is that your life is always on center stage and people will ask you things that they would not likely ask someone else. My life has been full of ups and downs, mistakes and successes. Some of those mistakes, like past marriages  have been failures at living the kind of life that God calls us to live. Thankfully, God forgives repentive hearts.

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