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Celtic Thunder Christmas - Christmas 1915

Wrong Motives, Right Attitude

Yesterday was the day that a devotional I wrote for the Western PA-Germany United Methodist Partnership's Advent Devotional Book was featured. I wrote the English version and one of our German UM's translated it into German.

Here's the full devotional book. [click here]

Wednesday 15th December

Numbers 24: 2 – 7, 15 – 17

Today’s passage records the last of the prophet Balaam’s attempts to earn respect and rewards from the king of the land. All he has to do is pronounce a curse against the children of Israel as they finish their journey towards the promised land. Twice now, Balaam sought an omen that he might use as a curse, but both times Scripture states that "God met with Balaam." (Num 23:4,16). Each of those encounters results not in a curse, but in a blessing. The king is angry and Balaam agrees to try again.

So King Balak waits while Balaam prays, again looking for something he might say to bring a curse on the Israelites and bless King Balak’s forces. But this time, we read in Numbers 24:2, the spirit of God literally comes upon Balaam. What proceeds from the resulting pronouncement is even more than a blessing, it includes a prophetic picture of how God would one day bring the blessing of the coming Messiah upon the earth through these Israelites. Balaam sees the Messiah as the "Star" and a "Scepter" who will ultimately reign over all … even King Balak’s lands and peoples.

In spite of his wrong motives, Balaam was aware that it was a path to utter failure if he misrepresented his God. How about us? In our lives, how well do we represent our God? We claim we know the Messiah and he’s coming again soon. Do people around us see that in our lives, or do we merely represent ourselves and our own ways? This Advent, as we prepare ourslves anew for Christ’s Second Coming, let’s make sure our lives, our actions, and even our words, are such that those around us can see his "Star" rising in our lives.

Dayton D Mix

Pastor First United Methodist Church in Reynoldsville, PA, (USA)

 

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Mittwoch 15. Dezember

4. Mose 24, 2 – 7 + 15 – 17

Die heutige Bibelstelle handelt vom letzten Versuch des Propheten Bileam, Respekt und Belohnung vom König des Landes zu bekommen. Er braucht nur einen Fluch gegen die Kinder Israels am Ende ihrer Reise ins gelobte Land auszusprechen. Zweimal schon hat Bileam einen Spruch gesucht, der ihm als Fluch dienen könnte, aber beides Mal heiβt es in der Schrift, „Und Gott begegnete Bileam.“ (4. Mose 23, 4,16). Jede dieser Begegnungen führt nicht zu einem Fluch, sondern zu einem Segen. Der König ärgert sich und Bileam ist bereit, es aufs Neue zu versuchen.

Deshalb wartet König Balak, während Bileam betet und wiederum nach etwas sucht, was er als Fluch auf die Israeliten und Segen auf König Balaks Truppen aussprechen könnte. Aber dieses Mal heiβt es in 4. Mose 24,2 dass der Geist Gottes auf ihn zukam. Die daraus entstehende Verkündigung ist mehr als ein Segen, denn sie enthält die prophetische Verheiβung, dass Gott eines Tages durch das Volk Israel den Segen des kommenden Messias aller Welt schenken wird. Als „Stern“ und „Zepter“ sieht Bileam den Messias, der schlieβlich über alles herrschen wird -- selbst über König Balaks Länder und Untertanen.

Trotz seiner falschen Beweggründe war sich Bileam bewuβt, dass er den Weg des völligen Versagens einschlagen wird, falls er eine falsche Vorstellung von seinem Gott gäbe. Und wie steht es mit uns? Wie gut stellen wir in unserem Leben unseren Gott dar? Wir behaupten, wir kennen den Messias und seine baldige Wiederkunft. Erkennen unsere Mitmenschen das in unserem Leben, oder stellen wir uns lediglich selbst und unsere eigenen Wege dar? Wenn wir uns in dieser Adventszeit erneut auf die zweite Wiederkunft Christi vorbereiten, dann sorgen wir doch dafür, dass unser Leben, unsere Handlungen und selbst unsere Worte so sind, dass unsere Mitmenschen Seinen „Stern“ in unserem Leben aufgehen sehen.

Dayton D Mix
Pastor First United Methodist Church in Reynoldsville, PA (USA)

Here's the full devotional book. [click here]

SCROOGED!

Some lessons and reminders for Christians in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

PASTOR'S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS LETTER 2010

As we have approached our annual celebration of Christmas, I’ve been preaching a different kind of sermon series: following the themes and storyline of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol.


We see ourselves in Ebenezer Scrooge, for we are all sinners like him. In the book of Romans we read “There is none righteous, no, not one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom.3:10,23)

In chapter one, we see Scrooge in his counting house with his miserly, mean, grumpy, “HUMBUG” attitude. Once home, he has a vision of his long dead partner, Jacob Marley, who had mastered the miserly, mean, grumpy, “HUMBUG” attitude long before Scrooge made an art of it. Marley, it seems, is there to warn Scrooge that the eternal punishment he’s getting for his sins, is also Scrooge’s fate unless he changes.

Scrooge gets to see Christmases long ago when the Ghost of Christmas Past comes to visit. The joy and love of Christmas rushes back to his mind and his heart. He also gets to see how little choices back then, one at a time, have set up his lot in life in the present. By the end of the second chapter, Scrooge begs the spirit to stop revealing these heartbreaking memories. His regret is overwhelming. He has learned repentance.

Chapter three is where he meets the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows him how Christmas is celebrated by others. He sees them simply enjoying one another and thanking God for His blessings. Scrooge then realizes that even the most destitute who celebrate the birth of Christ are far richer and more blessed than he is. And, while seeing Christmas in the home of his underpaid clerk, his heart is broken by the plight of little, crippled Tiny Tim. Scrooge, who had just learned the cost in relationships of his past choices, has now opened up his heart to this precious needy child. He has learned to love.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, in chapter four, silently points towards Scrooge’s own future. Scrooge learns that Tiny Tim has died because of the lack of money needed to provide the medical care. Scrooge realizes that his lack of compassion even to the one worker he has, has indeed been a major factor in the boy’s death. He is heartbroken. Then Scrooge eventually ends up in the cemetery looking in horror at his own headstone. Again he pleads that he might be given a chance to change things and make different decisions. He has learned of his need for a new start and the need to show compassion whenever you can.

The final chapter of this short little book shows Scrooge as one who has been forgiven and granted a chance to make different choices. He is literally a changed man. He starts Christmas by buying gifts to give and then going to church to worship the Christ of Christmas. He continues to live for many more years. Through his financial support, Tiny Tim does get the care he needs and he does NOT die. In fact, Dickens lets us know that Scrooge becomes like a second father to the boy.

What will it take for us to come to an awareness of our own sin, a desire for repentance, and the opening of our hearts even more in love for those around us? We all need to realize our sin, repent, and show compassion. He confessed his sin & was forgiven.

First John 1:9 reads: “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...”

This Christmas, I pray that each one reading these words will willingly reexamine our lives & hearts, so that we may be like the changed & forgiven Scrooge.

I also want to invite you and your family to join us on Christmas Eve as we, like the altered Scrooge, worship Christ together as we celebrate his birth.

Pastor Dayton



Christmas Eve service starts at 7:00 on Dec. 24th... Come & Worship With Us!

Marriage Skit By Chonda Pierce And Ken Davis

What's Really Appropriate For Christmas?

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” —Isaiah 7:14

Christmas is almost here again, and people are pretty much doing one of three things: they’re looking forward to it, ignoring it, or dreading it. If you’re one of the ones looking forward to the holiday, you probably are one who has some very specific memories attached to Christmas from your own past. And it seems the day just can’t get here fast enough. (Just ask any 7 year old!)

It only takes a mild case of procrastination for one to ignore Christmas: “I’ll worry about Christmas when I get done with these other things.” And of course, you never get done with the other things in time. So this action eventually turns into dread.
For those dreading it, I suspect it may be financial. These are tough times. In my own family, we just spent some five months with my wife on sick leave and unable to work. It’s hard to do everything you want to do when all of the sudden the job ends or sickness intervenes. We all get caught off guard at times. And yet Christmas, and our own expectation of what we want to be able to do to celebrate and make it a special day, still rolls around every year, regardless of the finances available.
But some that may be dreading Christmas have a much deeper reason than just finances. You see, there’s been a story going around for a while now that Christmas is actually a celebration of JESUS. And for those who, for whatever reason, hate Christianity and anything to do with Jesus, the Christmas holiday becomes almost a horror. You have to hear that name. The songs of old talk about the ‘new born king’ who is laid ‘away in a manger’ bringing “Joy to the world’ are just too much.
Often, these are the people who push aside the “Christ” of Christmas and opt for some “Happy Holidays” instead. And in the past seventy years or so, our society has even developed a whole canon of ‘Happy Holidays’ music so that Christmas can be celebrated without all that Christ talk. So now we hear the music of White Christmas, of Rudolf saving Santa, of Frosty and his magic hat, of grandma in a hit & run accident with a reindeer, of chestnuts being cooked by a fire, of a kid who wants teeth as a gift, and of another kid who’s misbehaved so much that he expects nothing for Christmas. And there’s even a few that are so suggestive that I’m embarrassed to even write about them.
What on earth do these songs have to do with Christmas? Very Little. And Lots. They have very little to do with the gift of a savior given by God Himself; sending his one and only son to live and die and be raised again.
But they also have a lot to do with Christmas because the savior that was born came to a world that wasn’t Christian and didn’t really even realize how much they needed a savior. They didn’t know God. They didn’t even know that they didn’t know him… let alone care.
The gushy, warm feelings of imagining a peaceful land without war is about as close to heaven as many people can ever get. In fact, without Jesus, it is as close as any of us could ever get. But with Jesus in our lives, we can know the peace of God.
Besides, the influence of Jesus Christ on the world around us is still pretty pervasive. Courts and marketplaces may have walked away from many of our earlier, Christian practices as a nation, but people the world over still know Christmas as a day of peace and hope, whether they know Jesus or not.
The first Bible passage I quoted, from Isaiah 7:14, is in the midst of God delivering Judah’s King Ahaz from an attack by a foreign army. God tells the king he’s going to deliver him from his enemies and he allows the king the privilege of a special sign as proof that God will keep his promise. Ahaz tells God “No.” He doesn’t want a sign. But the Lord gives him a sign anyway, so that everyone will understand that it was GOD ALMIGHTY who really rules and reigns. God's sign describes a young woman who will give birth and have a miraculous son. And it goes on to describe how the birth, and life, of that child will be a reminder of God’s care for his people.
In fact, whoever that little child was in Ahaz’s day, he didn’t grow very old before the enemies of Ahaz were no longer even nations! The child's name was Immanuel. His name literally meant "God is with us!" Every time Ahaz (or anyone else) said this child’s name, they were reminded how much God was with them and how he had delivered them from their enemies. What a reminder! What a gift! What a gracious and loving God!
And yet, like so often in Scripture, God had a double meaning in that sign of the child. Yes, it referred to someone that Ahaz would have been able to see in his day (if not, then God would have been a liar). BUT God also was looking ahead to another day when another young woman, this one an actual virgin, would conceive and have a baby who would also be called Emmanuel… the very one that would save us from our sins.
And that second child, Emmanuel (in Greek) or Immanuel (in Hebrew) was truly more than just a reminder that God was with us… He literally was GOD WITH US!
In the midst of our day in and day out stuff that happens, even when it seems so ungodly and even hostile or painful, God is still with us. When the finances are tight, when the neighbors cause trouble, when things aren’t going well at work, God is still with us.
And, like Matthew did with a verse in Isaiah written to a king about an invading army, God will take seemingly unimportant things from our pasts and our surroundings and open up spiritual truths to us… helping us to see that God really is here with us at all times and in all places if we’ll turn to him.
And so it is that the world feels the ‘warmth’ of the season and celebrates as best as it can with “Happy Christmas’ and ‘Feliz Navidad,” and yet doesn’t realize that there’s more to the story. But as they see that story and peace exhibit itself in our lives, then they too will want what we have… and they won’t just have to imagine.
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” —Matthew 1:23

More than one day's work

Last night, back in the hotel after our extended family's Thanksgiving celebration, I had a chance to just lose myself in the book of Psalms. I had no plan, just opened the book and silently asked the Lord where should I go. And I looked down at the page and felt such a compulsion to read the passage I opened to.

I ended up reading from Psalm 139 through to 143. Of course, I have read these before, but since August I have begun using the New Living Translation as my primary study Bible so it was like they were each brand new reading for me.

I LOVE this translation! Using primarily the vocabulary list used when Ken Taylor penned his Living Bible paraphrase some 30 years ago, this is an actual dynamic translation of Scripture from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. If I'm working with someone who doesn't really understand the old language of Shakespeare and the King James Bible, THIS is the version I use to expose them to the Scriptures. And since I grew up with that old English as my primary Biblical language, my decision to use this version has really made me reconsider whether I really understand what I've read in the past.

There was SO much the Lord brought to life as I read, but this morning there's one verse I'm still chewing on: "Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips." (Psalm 141:3)

We often talk about finding our refuge and safety in the Lord, and even pray that God will protect us from the wicked, but this verse is a clear indication of how we need to also be protected from ourselves! Often I am my own worst enemy.

SO... today my prayer is that I can yield my control of my tongue (that hasn't worked out so well many times) and allow God to take control of what I say... and guard my lips.

That's more than one day's work right there.

Thanksgiving 2010

This is my Thanksgiving letter for 2010 that's being mailed to family and friends of Reynoldsville's First United Methodist Church.

(clicking on the image should take you to a full size view)

Partners!

This was my church newsletter article from july...

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“Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

—Exodus 17:11-12, English Standard Version (ESV)

In Exodus 17:8-14, there is a record of one of the first battles faced by the recently freed Egyptian slaves on their journey to their ancestral homeland: Israel. The Lord tells Moses to send Joshua out with the fighting men to defend the children of Israel (perhaps a million or more people!) Meanwhile, Moses is to go to the top of the nearby mountain that overlooks the plain where the battle is being fought. God’s deal was this: As long as Moses’ hands were raised in blessing over the fighting Israelite warriors, Israel was winning. But Moses’ hands got tired and he had to put them down every few minutes. And that’s when the enemy, the Amalekites, had the upper hand.


So Moses’ brother, Aaron, and his father-in-law, Hur (also called Jethro), got a rock for Moses to sit on and then they literally helped hold his hands up non-stop and, indeed, the Israelites won the battle!


Who was the leader? Moses, yes, and Joshua, too. But Aaron and Hur were just as important, for they enabled the ministry (God’s blessing through Moses’ outstretched arms) to continue. Without those two, the battle would not have been won.


Last March, (2009) a group of six leaders from our congregation joined me near Pittsburgh for a weekend ministry training event called PARTNERS IN MINISTRY. It was based, in part, on this spiritual principle that there are NO unimportant parts of the church’s ministry team. Agreed, the pastor, lay leader, and some committee heads are much more visible, but we firmly believe we cannot do everything that God has called us to do without the help of every single one of the people that God has sent to this church family.


How are you involved in helping our church minister to others? Are you a volunteer on a work team with the trustees or perhaps our NHN (Neighbors Helping Neighbors) mission group or the LINUS Project? Do you work behind the scenes on a committee helping to set up projects and events? Or are you simply one who has the ministry of Aaron and Hur, encouragers and supporters, who literally make all the difference to our ministry team leaders?


That’s one of the key pieces of the whole Partners in Ministry idea. We are ALL in this together. It’s sort of like having a box with all the parts of a beautiful, sleek mountain bike. It does absolutely no good to anyone unless those separate pieces are assembled together. And if, when you’re trying to assemble that bike, you discover there’s one (or two or 20) of the pieces missing, then there is NO WAY that the end product will be a safe, working bicycle.


Friends, we’re a lot like those bicycle pieces: each of us essential for the completion of this congregation’s true purpose of making disciples. But unless we have stepped into our specific ministries (like Moses, Joshua, Aaron, & Hur did), then our task, and our ministry, will never be accomplished. Furthermore, it is in the coming together that we can be ‘assembled’ by our Heavenly Father. Can you be a Christian by yourself? Yes, but like Thomas, you may just miss the moment when Jesus comes, because you’re not “assembled together.”


What is your ministry? How can you serve God along side us?


What excuses keep you from worshipping with us or ministering with us? What needs to happen to fix that?


Encourage. Serve. Assemble. Attend. Bless. Worship.


And see what God will do in us and through us for His glory!

Getting Back into the swing of things

Well, it has been a LONG time since I was able to post ANYTHING! Personal health concerns, church responsibilities and concerns, and the extended family kinds of stuff have all taken their toll.

Over the next few days, I'll at least post some of the things I have written during my hiatus.

Another New Chapter...

My stepdad got married last night.

Mom died two years ago after 33 years of marriage to my stepfather, Norman Milne. She was 64 at the time and he was 61. Their marriage (like most of our marriages) had its ups and downs. I was there for that wedding in 1975, and through "better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health" they stuck with each other. Norm grew into the kind of husband I still hope to be.

But those vows I heard in 1975 were "until death do us part."

Mom died. Death DID part them.

And Norm, very sad and very lonely, met a beautiful woman, who was also alone, and became friends. They actually laughed together during a time when he wondered if he'd ever laugh again. They talked. She understood the sadness and the loneliness.

They fell in love and on August 28, 2010, they were married.

I have some relatives who were upset that he would marry again. Others who just thought it was "too soon."

I have to admit, it was a tough day for me as one who had been invited to the wedding as part of Norm's family. (It was the first time I've ever cried at a wedding, in fact.) Was it too soon? Was it wrong? Was it disrespectful to my mom?

And as for wrong, his marriage to my mom ended when Mom won her battle against cancer and received the never-ending prize of total and complete healing that can never be taken away. No temporary remission. No short-term healing that would then just make her go through the end-of-life battle again some day as she then lay dying. Mom won! Mom is even now enjoying the presence of Jesus Christ and the eternal life she received when she trusted Him as her Savior and Lord. "... until death do us part." Norm has done no wrong.


In fact, Mom had said before that she was pretty sure Norm would have to get married again some day. (As I recall, she also added something like "He HAS TO have a good woman just to keep him in line!") So it was no disrespect to Mom.

As for too soon, of course it'll always feel too soon! We humans, in our grief, want to hang on to the "way things were" as long as we can... and thus you find some families that can never repaint a deceased's room and end up making a shrine to the dead in their home. It will ALWAYS feel like 'too soon.' But that's just a feeling, not a fact. There is no listing of when would NOT be too soon.

Which of course means that the sadness and overwhelming feelings are mine... and my relatives. WE miss the way things used to be. And I suppose the men in white coats might need to take us away if we didn't. And I know that Norm has many of those same feelings. (It's amazing what you can learn when you stop guessing and gossipping and actually talk face to face with someone!)

Norm has repeatedly talked about NOT trying to replace Mom, but simply to have someone who can be a friend and a companion as he continues to walk on in this life. We haven't 'lost' Grandpa Milne and he hasn't tried to replace Grandma Milne. Instead, he has added a Grandma Becky to the list of people who love us and we too can love!

My presence, in many ways last night at Norm & Becky's wedding, was also a "giving away of the groom" on my part. I acknowledge that Norm is not MINE and required to fit into the box of my expectations and memories of the past. He is his own man. And just as free to live and love as I am.

Was I sad? You betchya! But I was also overjoyed! I am excited for Becky & Norm! May their marriage be happy, honest, and long-lasting!

May God bless, protect, and preserve this new marriage! AMEN!

I have posted pictures (best as I can get on my little Palm Treo and its 'photo/video' features.) Unfortunately, the video has a hyperactive photographer who never did figure out how to sit down and document a wedding, but other than that, the video records the important parts.

GO!

“Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” —Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)


One of my foundational, fundamental core beliefs is that Jesus gave us a directive, a COMMAND, to (1) go, (2) make disciples, and (3) teach them afterward.

It’s nice to send a check to missionaries or to specific mission projects; the Lord only knows how desperately they need our checks. But there is even more of a benefit, for us and for them, to GO and be involved with a mission project. By actually going, you can SEE where your money goes AND meet the very people you will help when you do send checks.

Actually going to a mission field, whether it’s Haiti, Uganda, Guatemala, an Indian reservation, a prison, or the mountains of Appalachia, also shows those ones who are being reached in that area that there are people who want to do more than just ‘feel good’ by writing a check… They see that Christians actually care about them! As we interact with them, work beside them, play with them, laugh with them, and pray with them, we send a much louder message than we could ever do with just a pen and a check.

In 1998, my Parade Street and Spartansburg UM Churches sponsored a short term mission trip to Haiti to help build a medical clinic. (In the aftermath of the recent earthquake, it was good news to hear that our medical clinic in Croix-de-Bouquet (just outside of Port-au-Prince) was relatively untouched and was able to be a major resource for offering hope.)

Our whole family went on that trip, including Michele (aged 10) and Sarah (aged 8). Some questioned what good it could possibly do to take children with us. The truth is: they were a major help in at least three areas. First, while none of my family knew anything about laying block, Gay proclaimed that she did know how to frost cakes. So she & the girls (plus Samantha, the 12 year old girl with us) frosted blocks. The kids had ‘fun’ even though it was really hard work under a really hot, August, Caribbean sun.

Second, my girls got to see how bad ‘bad’ can really be. (The average Haitian family makes less than $300 a year!) When we came home, there would be times that this one would want this or that and start to complain, but the talk would turn around when we started to remember those we had met in Haiti. Our trip really taught all of us how rich we Americans really are.

Third, the three kids on that mission trip actually ministered in ways no adult missionary could have ever done. They played and interacted with the Haitian kids and helped to break down the black/white mentality and the rich/poor bias. For us and for the Haitian kids. Those kids, and their mothers who were nearby and their fathers who were working side-by-side with us laying block and carrying stone, all got to see what a caring Christian was like. And the stage was set for the missionaries who lived there to follow up when those families started to get more interested in the gospel later on.

Amid all of the trip pictures of hard working volunteers, absolutely gorgeous tropical scenery, strange looking plants, & scary looking tarantulas, there’s a picture of Sarah helping a Haitian boy blow bubbles. After a couple times of showing him how, she shared them with him and they simply had fun! And the gospel door was opened!

This summer, our congregation has at least two mission trips: one to Webster Springs, West Virginia, and one to Guatemala. And there will probably be several local mission projects as well.

No matter your age (we had one 80-year old guy with us when we went to Haiti) or abilities, we could use your help if you are able to go with us on one of these mission trips. If you’re not able to go this year, maybe you could help with the incredible costs associated with such undertakings. But please try to plan to go on a mission trip maybe the next year.

Not just to help those at the mission site, but also to be in obedience to our Lord’s command (GO!) and to help us learn all that God wants to teach us.

(For more info on mission projects & trips, contact the church office.)

John Wesley Clayride

consequences of complaining

teacher's bulletin board

DuBois, PA

17 Sept 2009

Greener grass

I took a picture of this piece of artwork in my doctor's office because it just struck a chord with me. How many times do we want what someone else has, or what is just beyond our reach when we have exactly what we need already? In this picture it's made even more poignant because what doesn't satisfy one cow, is exactly what another one desires so much!

Names & faces come to mind! (Especially the face I always see in the mirror!!!!)

FUNERAL: Robert D. Sherretz

One of the tougher things I do in my "Mixed Ministries" is the funerals. Today was one of those days. I officiated as we said farewell to one of the congregation's men and thanked God for his life. Bob Sherretz was always a little bit in the background when I saw him. He had a quick wit and a quick word, even though he no longer had a quick step.

During the funeral, his son Mike drew attention to a plaque he and his dad had seen right there in the lobby of Snyder's Funeral Home, here in Reynoldsville. It said:

Life's journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways totally worn out shouting "Woo-hoo! What a Ride!"

Bob had agreed and chuckled that it had really captured what it meant to live life well.

It was especially fitting since I had felt so strongly that the Scripture passage I was to use was Second Corinthians 5:1-10, which talks about our earthly bodies are like a tent, just a temporary home away from our real home. Tents aren't expected to last forever. Eventually, you start to long for the permanence, safety, security, and comfort of your real home.

Bob's body had been wearing down. bit by bit, for such a long time that the sign Mike shared, and the Scripture God led me to, really seemed to fit this quick, yet quiet, man we had come to honor and commend to Almighty God.

Jesus said (John 14) that he was "going to prepare a place" for us... Bob has given up his temporary 'tent' of a home here on earth for the one Jesus has been preparing for him there. TALK ABOUT AN UPGRADE!

All that's left is to wait till more of the family come on home as well! As Bob has been finding out for a few days now, there's quite a family reunion when a Christian gets through death and enters Heaven.

Please continue to lift up his family in their time of grief.

Christianity on the Gogh

This was my pastor's Easter letter this year. Clicking on the image ought to bring up a larger version.

1 Peter 1:13a

This week I've been just reading and thinking and meditating and chewing on the book of First Peter.

The passage that hit me this morning was simple & short.

First Peter 1:13 "So think clearly and exercise self-control." (New Living Translation) Here's a full day's work and more!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COBY!

Yesterday was the very first birthday for my grandson Coby. Because his daddy was going to have to work, and in order to invite relatives from outside of town, they celebrated his birthday on Sunday.

Last night, his mom said they had actually gone to the local park and played for about a half hour. And he didn't want her to push the swing, but rather wanted to do the pushing himself. Independence starts early!

Happy Birthday little buddy!

Passing The Mantle

As much as Sunday (3/21) was an awe inspiring kind of day, it followed a really tough day: Saturday, 3/20/2010.

Saturday was the memorial service for the Rev. Dick Burns not far from here in DuBois. I've known Dick for about 2 decades, but really started to get to know him well when I was appointed in the DuBois area in 2003.

Being a United Methodist pastor who moves around as part of my 'job' means that we don't get to be near the relatives much. So when we moved here, Dick took our daughter Sarah under his wing and she worked occasionally at the barn with him and the horses. When we dedicated our newborn son in November, it was Dick that we stood before, offering ourselves and our son to Almighty God for Him to lead and guide us as parents and asking for God's blessing upon our Josh. One of our prized pictures is of Dick lifting Josh up before God in prayer.

He's preached in our churches. We've fellowshipped with he and his wife Wilma Jean over the years. He used to ride with me to Renewal Fellowship meetings from DuBois to wherever the meeting was that time. He was the one who sponsored me to be on the national board of the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries.

My daughter Michele, who was shocked that she actually knew someone with that big of an obituary in the paper, probably said it best the other day: "Dad, he was like a grandpa to me and Sarah."

Yep. And like another dad-figure for me.

I sat in that funeral service and saw and heard what a great man he was from so many others' point of view as well. And I walked away realizing that God still has A LOT to do in me. It's hard not to compare yourself to someone as great as Dick was.

But there was only one Dick Burns. Truth is, I don't want to be just like him. He had his own style and traits (and guffaws and snorts!). I could never be like Dick was in the physical. God made me differently.

But I do want the infilling and empowering of the Holy Spirit flowing in and through me like Dick experienced.

In the service, Pastor Doug Burns, Dick's son, compared Dick to Elijah, and so many of us that he poured his life into were compared to Elisha. Elisha was given the chance to walk away and not follow Elijah to the very end. But by sticking with him, Elisha received the double portion of Elijah's spirit.

Pastor John Zimmerman, Dick's son-in-law and pastor of the Corry First UMC (where Dick once pastored), invited anyone there who wanted to be like Elisha and ask for a double portion to rise while Pastor John Seth prayed for that 'passing of the mantle' like Elisha saw so long ago.

Everyone stood!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Since last Saturday, I've been thinking and pondering that experience, their words, and my own reading of the Elijah/Elisha passage which culminates in 2 Kings 2. The truth is that Elijah was never the "coolest" prophet. He spoke harsh words when God gave him a harsh word to be given. He had his own struggles with depression. At the end, he kept claiming that God had sent him first to one place, then another, then a different city altogether. If any of those things were to happen today, our churches, and many of the fellow clergy themselves would deliberately seperate themselves from such a person who claimed he was led, in the big things and in the daily little things as well, by the Holy Spirit, by God Almighty.

Elijah clearly gave Elisha the chance to take the relaxed, easier way of serving God... and he would have been just as much a prophet if he had. He still would have been God's man for his times.

But Elisha didn't want to just settle for the comfortable, easily encountered, publically acceptable version of following God. He wanted to be 100% sold out for God, able to be moved by God's Spirit wherever God wanted to lead him and wanted the "double blessing" of what Elijah had had.

Even as well as I knew Dick and as much as I appreciated him, I didn't know him even a quarter as well as most of the people that were at Dick's service of celebration that day. I can't say if he ever felt any of those things like Elijah did. But I do know that most of us who claim to be Christians now-a-days try to avoid appearing like a 'fanatic' who is 'led around' by God's Spirit. That's weird or strange or 'holy roller' kind of stuff.

We would rather be like those 50 other prophets in training who were 'orthodox' or 'ordinary' in their pursuit of God. I'm sure they served God faithfully and had important ministries to God's people.

But the young protege to Elijah wanted to build his ministry and service to God on the foundation his mentor had already laid.

I don't know about others, but I pray that I can not only follow in Elijah and Dick Burns' path, but also in Elisha's. I want to know and experience the God who leads and guides in 'normal, acceptable' ways AND in the 'non-traditional, Spirit-led moment-by-moment' ways as well.

That's the mantle I want to bear.

Testing Time

Yesterday was a pretty phenomenal day here at Reynoldsville: First UMC. Our Bishop, Thomas J. Bickerton, and our District Superintendent, Sharon Schwab, were both on hand along with myself and the pastors who preceded me. Our 10:45 service was filled with music (handbells, choir, organ, piano solo) and it was sort of like old home day! We dedicated the new elevator (now 100% debt-free!) and then Bishop Bickerton gave an inspirational, Biblically grounded, challenge based on the lectionary readings from John 12 and Philippians 3. We closed with Holy Communion. THEN our newest small group, the "Sunday School Moms," served a wonderful roast beef dinner for us all. WHAT A GREAT DAY!
But before all of that happened, our superintendent both preached and served communion to our 8:15 worship service. One of the key points she brought out was from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13: the idea of testing.

I'm not trying to give a crib sheet of notes about her sermon so that you or I can then go preach it word for word. Rather, I simply want to highlight one point she made (in two parts) and how that relates to me (and maybe more than just me).

The version of Scripture she read from used the word "test" or "tested" (etc.) several times throughout the passage. The version I happen to have in front of me right now is the New King James Version (NKJV) and the word in question is "tempt" or "tempted."

Her point was two-fold. First, this passage uses two different terms in the Greek for the idea of test/tested/testing.

One word, found in verse 13 for instance, pretty much means exactly what you'd think of when you think of a test, a trial, or a temptation (peirazo, Strongs: 3985). Because of some enticement, there is now a choice to do good or to not do good. Sharon used the example of a teacher who helps you to know what you should study in an attempt to help make sure you can not only pass the upcoming academic test, but in hopes that you might actually do well!

The other word is translated in verse 9 as "overtempted" (Green, Jay. The Interlinear Bible, Sovereign Grace Publishers, Lafayette, Indiana: 1986). The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged) (Bromiley, Geoffrey, ed. Eerdmans:1985, p. 822) describes this version of testing as more of a "putting God to the test" (ekpeirazo, Strongs: 1598). 

This second kind of testing, she said, is more like the tests which that one teacher who always had the hardest questions, with almost trivial kinds of questions, liked to give. You were pretty much set up to fail from the very beginning.

The first kind of testing is the way God deals with us. If he has set up a 'life lesson' for us, then, according to 1 Corinthians 10:13, He has already made sure that we CAN pass the test. He has even put an escape hatch into every temptation and test that He allows to come our way. We can ALWAYS pass His tests!

The second kind of testing is more like the way the children of Israel dealt with God. Constant murmuring ("we're free, but I'd trade that for Egypt's onions in a heartbeat") continually set up different standards all the time. There was always one more thing God ought to do in order for them to wholeheartedly follow Him.

That second kind of testing is SO wrong, according to this passage.

Sharon's second point was to apply this to our own lives. What kind of tests do WE put up to test our kids, our bosses, our employees, our students, our teachers... Are we the kind of person that is Christ-like enough that we do not murmur and make unreasonable expectations of God or the people around us? Are our encounters with others the kind of experiences that help to build up another so that they are more able to face the future because of the uplifting encounter they just had with us?

Ultimately, it is testing time. We WILL have tests. We WILL be in a position to make encounters with us a test for others that they cannot pass or else that they find to be life-building.

Where do we come in between those two standards?