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!
About Me
- Dayton D. Mix
- Clarks Mills, Pennsylvania, United States
- I'm a husband, a dad, a son, a grandson, a pastor, & now a grandpa, too! Those are the basic hats I wear in my daily life. I was born & raised in rural Pennsylvania couple of miles from the New York border in a small town, Shinglehouse (Potter County). I struggle with my weight & my own quirks just like everyone else does. I became a United Methodist pastor in 1996 and was ordained in 2003. While I'm officially Methodist, I also consider myself a “charismatic” Christian, as well as an “evangelical”, although not everything identified with either of those labels fits me perfectly. I enjoy genealogy but seldom have time to do much with it. I like playing with eBay. I like to read, watch movies, camp, hike, and talk. I LOVE to write, but usually don't worry too much about formal grammar... instead choosing to write as I probably would speak. And even though I can spell pretty well, I'm a lousy typist, so be gracious. I update my blogs as often as I can, but I have a real life that demands me NOT being at the computer all the time... so there are dry spells!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 22, 2010
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?
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?
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