JOY to the world???

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...” —Isaiah 9:6a

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Even the world around us seems to be a little kinder & a bit more thoughtful. Yet I am also aware that a very real part of the Christmas story is remembering how King Herod was nervous about the rumors that there was a baby king out there somewhere, so he ordered that any baby boy be killed immediately. And hundreds of mothers and fathers found their joy over new life turned into the depths of despair and grief over fresh pain. Christmas wasn’t joyful for them. (Matthew 2:16-18)

This year, even as our family celebrates Christmas with Joshua who is growing more excited every day, we also feel the sting of pain as we miss loved ones who’ve died in the past few years. For me, this will be the first year without my mom.

Many others have had these same feelings we’re experiencing. Christmas isn’t the same anymore because a husband, a wife, a parent, a child, or even a close friend is gone now and the holiday is now a stark reminder of what is missing in our lives. We miss our loved ones. We’re not sure if we even want to decorate or celebrate or even go to church… because it hurts too much. Can we bear that much pain? Do we have to? What do we do? How can we walk through this time of joy and peace, when we feel neither? What do we do about the loneliness? What about the questions and the doubts?

As Christians, we turn to the Bible, where we read: "My help comes from the Lord." (Psalm 121:2)

But how can that help come? In the times of grief and sorrow, it may be nice to hear how good God is, and how helpful He can be, but deep down, we need to know how He's going to help us!

First, we can expect to find God’s help as we go to Him in prayer. Jeremiah 29:13-14 reminds us that if we seek God, we WILL find Him. If we want to know His help and His comfort, we have only to ask & He will be with us. In fact, that’s what it means when we call Jesus, Emmanuel: “God Is With Us.”

Secondly, we can expect to find God’s help through the words He's already spoken... in the Bible. For it is in the Bible that we read words like these:
“He heals the brokenhearted & binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me...” (Psalm 23:4)
“I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

The third way we can expect to find God’s help is through his people. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are expected to “rejoice with those that rejoice & weep with those that weep…” (Romans 12:15). God, through his people, weeps with us, even as we grieve… As we surround ourselves with friends and family, even though it might be painful. As we continue to celebrate important times, with important people. As we talk together and weep together about our loved ones, our memories, our doubts, our fears, and our feelings. And a funny thing will begin to happen as we remember together, and weep together, and walk through our grief together… the loneliness will begin to heal and the weeping will eventually turn to rejoicing.

This year, a part of the message of Christmas, for me at least, is a fresh reminder that God wants to be with us… If we’ll let Him. We need to intentionally surround ourselves with God’s people, His Word, and with prayer… For “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…” and He is Emmanuel… God with Us!

Can Divorce Be Forgiven???

My cousin Gordon wrote a note on facebook about how difficult it is for some Christians to accept someone who has been divorced... in fact, SOME will deliberately SHUN even a family member who has divorced. He challenged his readers to rethink that practice and make a change.

Now, I DO agree that Scripture is clear that God HATES divorce... If the concern is over the SIN of divorce, OK... but Scripture also says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and WILL FORGIVE our sins and Scripture is also clear that Jesus said there was ONLY ONE unforgiveable sin... And he did NOT spell it D-I-V-O-R-C-E. So to justify the "shunning" some religious traditions prescribe and practice because of the 'sin' of divorce, requires that you believe that Jesus was wrong. Is that such a good idea?...

OR... Perhaps the shunning of a divorcee is simply a statement that we believe God is powerless to forgive and Christ's sacrifice was not really enough. After all, who does He think He is... God?
Seems theologically dangerous to me. Wasn't Lucifer condemned to Hell for trying to overrule God?? Who are we to call something 'unpardonable' when God gave His Son, and Christ shed His blood, to forgive ANYONE who repents?

AND if God HAS TO condemn a divorcee because divorce is sin, then God must HAVE TO condemn the gossip to Hell along with the glutton and the liar and those who judge others.
I choose to believe the Bible and the God it reveals to us… The God who despises and hates ALL sin, including divorce, and yet is ALWAYS faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our sins.

One more thought: Jesus taught us to pray: “forgive us our sins AS WE FORGIVE those who sin against us.” I wonder if He really meant it?

He also said: "Let him without sin, cast the first stone."

A tune that's been running through my mind...

This Christmas, I find myself returning again and again to the carol: Angels from the Realms of Glory. I ‘hear’ it in my head, I sometimes catch myself humming it, I was even whistling it one day! But I never sing it (except during church) because I know the music, not the words.

Today I actually looked it up in our hymnal (#220). And now I love this song even more!

As a pastor, I get tired of songs or poems or readings that just tell you something… but that’s it. You know, the reading done because it’s this holiday or that and Mrs. McGillicuddy likes to have that 52 stanza poem read every year on that day. Or the song that says “I can’t wait until I can tell you about my special day…” and then never does tell you about it.

This song is SO different from those descriptions! First of all, it is a story song… almost a ballad kind of idea. If you take all the verses of this song, you have the high points of a complete story (in this case, of Jesus’ birth). This isn’t one of those songs where you can easily get away with just singing the first and the last verse! Or you’ll miss a big piece of the story!

Secondly, I like the way the song is actually addressed to someone. While many hymns and ‘churchy’ songs are addressed to God, many times they aren’t. Think of ‘How Great Thou Art’ where the whole thing is addressed to God, as opposed to a song like ‘Amazing Grace’ which speaks about God and God’s grace.

This song is aimed at those that will encounter God… It is addressed to the angels who were in the primary role of being spectator, to the shepherds who were in their usual role of being the outcasts, the sages (or wise men) who were the intellectual (and probably even rich!) people of their day, and the saints… which is the very term the apostle Paul used whenever he spoke of people who followed Jesus and accepted him as their Lord and Savior. THAT’s US!!! We encounter God, through the birth and life of Jesus, in just the same ways that those shepherds, angels, and even sages did. We come and we worship him. We give him the gift of our attention and our presence. We make him more important than anything else.

This Christmas, I pray that we all come to a deeper understanding of OUR role in the Christmas story. The angels, the shepherds, the wise men, and even the Holy Family itself are all incomplete without us… the ones who believe in Jesus and accept Him as OUR Lord and OUR Savior. We are part of the Christmas story!

And thousands of years later, the invitation still calls out to all…

“Come & Worship…
Come & Worship…
Worship Christ The Newborn King!”




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

Church & State

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” —US Constitution, Amendment 1.

This year, the month of November brings us not only the Thanksgiving holiday, but also Election Day, which we hope will be the end of the presidential contest… Sometimes it has felt more like a civil war fought with words.

The campaigns often seem to bring up the role of religion and faith in our candidates and seems to renew the debate regarding the role of religion in American public life.

I found it interesting when I discovered that you can’t find anywhere in the Constitution , or even the Declaration of Independence, the idea of keeping all religion and all government separate. The closest I found was the Bill of Rights, where the federal government’s power over the rights of the states is clarified, when the first amendment says Congress can’t legislate a mandatory religion nor can it make a law that would in any way prohibit the ‘free exercise’ of religion. It never says religious groups have to be completely free of government… it says the CONGRESS has to keep its nose out of religion.

Thomas Jefferson once answered a letter to a friend who was worried that the government might impinge on the religious rights of citizens, by saying there was a ’wall of separation’ between church and state that the government could never get past, so his friend wouldn’t have to worry. That phrase has been used in the past century to claim that Christians ought to stay out of government and churches absolutely must remain neutral in all things political.

Now, I’m not about to tell you who you ought to vote for… for president, or representative, or even for a local political officer. BUT, I am hoping that you can hear my concern that we, as Christians, have both a right and a duty to get involved in the selection of our leaders. God chose for us to be born in a land where we, the people, are the decision makers regarding our leadership.

I think Abraham Lincoln, (and George Washington, among others) had it right when they would call for a National Day of Prayer or a National Day of Thanksgiving… They weren’t trying to force or coerce people into a religious expression or observance… But they, as president, could invite the American people to boldly go to God Himself in prayer and thanksgiving.

As we approach Election Day, and then Thanksgiving Day, let’s remember that there is no wall that separates us from the affairs of our nation… and, like so many of our presidents before us, we can invite others to join us in the free exercise of religion… including the right to go to the Almighty God in prayer for our nation and the leaders we are electing.

I’ve included the text of President Lincoln’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation as an example of how government can invite, but not legislate, in this area. He issued it in the midst of the American Civil War, and it still rings true today...

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.



No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

(signed by President Abraham Lincoln)

Reformation Polka

A friend of mine, Nathan Eshelman, just shared this ditty with me in honor of Reformation Day...

What did you expect?

This is my pastor's letter this month in our newsletter: The Sound of the Trumpet

En route to California in January 2002, while on vacation, I found myself caught short several times but what I saw. We saw museums and memorials, and we all learned a lot by what we experienced. But as we traveled through the states of New Mexico and Arizona I also heard God speaking to me in what I DID NOT see… and that startled me.

You’ve got to understand that I, like millions of others, grew up with images of the American Southwest gleaned not from National Geographic, but rather from cartoons like the Road Runner and the episode of the Brady Bunch where the clan toured the Grand Canyon. I went into this trip knowing that we would have to pass through the desert, and I expected hot sun, scorching heat, and miles and miles of sand, rocks, canyons, and cactus trees like I saw Wile E Coyote hide behind in those childhood cartoons.

What I found in most places along I-40 where we traveled was dry earth, but little sand; Joshua trees, but never once did I see what I thought could be called a cactus (like Wile’s); and cold days and colder nights… especially at the Grand Canyon where we almost had to turn around because of a sudden icy burst of sleet and snow as we headed towards the canyon. In fact, once we got to the Grand Canyon, we almost froze because of the arctic-like chill and howling winds. My expectations were NOT met. I had a faulty picture of what to expect. My perception was wrong.

On the other hand, when we stopped at the Painted Desert, which we had not planned on doing and I had never heard of before (and of which I had no real expectations), I was overwhelmed by the beauty and variety of colors and hues at every turn. When we saw the sign to turn off the interstate, I figured I would see four or five shades of gray and brown. Instead, I saw multitudes of vibrant colors showing off God’s creativity. Once again, my expectations were not met, but in such a positive way this time.

Later on, when I was praying, the Lord reminded me that I have often had to face the reality of unmet expectations in the same way. I head into situations with my expectation of what will (or should) happen and am disappointed when things don’t line up the way I envisioned them. I have a particular perception of someone else and, regardless of what they do, I’m likely to see in them exactly what I had expected to see based on my own pre-conceived ideas and perceptions.

I suspect that I’m not alone in this. We all have those kinds of moments, those kinds of expectations, those kinds of perceptions… sometimes even unconscious perceptions. And the Lord reminded me that day as we drove on that I can miss the beauty and wonder and joy of an experience if I go into it with a wrong perception.

Likewise, I can miss the beauty and wonder and joy of a relationship if I go into it with a wrong perception of the person. But how do we get the right perspective? How can we fix our perceptions? I was reminded that day of two answers Paul gives to that dilemma.

The first, found in Romans 12:1-2, is that we need to let God wash our minds and renew them of erroneous thinking. Let’s seek His perspective and see how He looks at things, at situations, and especially people.

Second, in Philippians 4:8, Paul reminds us to look for the good, the lovely, the honest, the pure. We are to head into situations, events, experiences, and relationships by looking for the positives… never the negatives.

How about it? Are you facing unmet expectations about a situation or event that didn’t go the way you thought it ought to? How about this one… Are you having troubles with someone… a neighbor, a friend, an elderly acquaintance, a co-worker, or even someone in the church? Could it be a case of mistaken perceptions?

If so, let’s fess up to the Lord, and allow Him to renew our minds, our expectations, and perceptions of the people, situations, and events He puts into our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to truly enjoy the events, experiences and people in our lives.

PASTOR DAYTON

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” —Romans 12:2a (NIV)


Think On These Things…
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” —Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

True To Plumb

This was my pastor's letter for September 2008:
We started this calendar year with a slogan of “Get It Straight in 2008.” How are we doing?

I am reminded of Amos 7:7-9 where there is a prophetic vision where God Himself sets up a plumb line.

Now, for a non-construction kind of person like me, I haven’t seen a lot of plumb lines in my life. I am told that a plumb line is essentially a heavy pointed weight on the end of a string. I understand that a builder can ‘line up’ a vertical wall and make sure that his wall is exactly up and down straight by hanging a plumb line from the top and letting gravity pull the weight… and thus one can compare the building with the standard of what ought to be.

Amos sees God use a plumb line and then, prophetically, God declares that the lives of the Israelites are not measuring up to the standard God has set.

This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then said the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer...” (Amos 7:7-8, NIV)

As Christians, we believe the Bible can act like a plumb line for our lives as followers of Jesus. By reading the Bible we can learn of God’s ways & God’s standards. Then, with the power of God to help us, we can repent of the ways in which we haven’t lined up & we can adjust our behaviors & our attitudes to match his Biblical standard.

So, now I need your help… I know what God has spoken to me that I need to get straight in my life… How about you? Is there an area in life where you struggle and would like to understand God’s ‘plumb line’ for that area? Perhaps a particular teaching or Scripture that you are still not quite sure about?

Let me know… As I work on sermon planning and Bible study topics, I need to know what would be most helpful to you in your Christian walk.

Then, together, we CAN keep it straight in 2008!

Inclusivity

I was at a meeting a few days ago where we tried to elect a chair of a group. Ought to be pretty simple, right? Everyone of us was an ordained pastor with college educations and masters of divinity degrees.

An hour passed and we finally elected five people to serve as a "team" of leaders with the highest vote getter expected to be the 'convener' who would act as THE chair when we needed someone to represent the group at conference events.

The thing is, our bishop had released us to go to our meetings with the idea that we were trying to 'discern' what GOD wanted... and WHO God wanted... as our chair.

Now, by my understanding, to discern what God wants is akin to saying find out God's idea and then go with God's idea. After all, if you aren't going to follow God's directions, then why ask what God's will is?

But before we voted, we were subjected to parliamentarily confusing procedures (that not even ROBERT with all his rules would recognize), specifying that IF the vote didn't go the way we thought it ought to with the right 'inclusivity' then we would add some people to the 'team' to better reflect the inclusivity of our church.

We prayed and listened for God's leading and then each one marked their ballot and submitted what we felt we had heard God say. And five pastors were chosen.

And, lo and behold, 3 of the 5 chosen were white men and 2 of the 5 were white women. Apparently God must have made a mistake because there were no other minorities represented. SO... the tellers were instructed to find someone of color that got some votes. And that person was added to the team and thus, now, God's error was corrected.

HUH?

Can we honestly claim that we both heard God when we voted and discerned the top five and then also claim that we have to correct the results of the discernment process? Do we really believe God helps us discern? Because it seems more like we believe WE have to fix God's discernment process!

And personally, if INCLUSIVITY is going to be the standard by which we judge God's will and God's discerning process, then why did we only ask about whether we were inclusive of gender and race. Were we inclusive age-wise? How many elected were in their 20s? 30s? 40s? 50? 60s? Isn't that part of being inclusive?

How about being inclusive of geography? How many were from the Pittsburgh area? How about Connellsville or Erie or Kane Districts? Isn't that part of being inclusive?

How many were pastors of large membership churches? How many from small membership churches? Isn't that part of being inclusive?

How about the liberal/conservative realm? Or the people who have brown eyes compared to those others? How about the bald ones vs. the full head of hair ones?

At what point does the fallacy of 'inclusivity' get recognized as just one more DEMONIC way of DIVIDING people?

Now understand, I am personally in favor of trying to be fair to everyone... but as the church we claim that we are ABOVE the practice of treating people differently because of race, creed, gender, etc. So why are we now making such distinctions so important?

And the particular man of color that was selected happened to be African-American, but were we slighting the native-American pastors or the Asian-American pastors or the Hispanic-American pastors? Will he be able to speak for the minority women? A white male apparently can't be trusted to look out for white females... so how's a black man going to speak for an Asian woman?

Now, I happen to respect that particular man, and I think he can be a great help to any team he's a part of... but what are we saying when we claim that we voted based on what GOD spoke to our hearts and he was not elected... but we want him on our team, not because he has anything of value to offer but just because he happens to have been born with the right skin color we want to be seen with for political appearances?

I am embarassed. I am disgusted. That man has MUCH more value than just being black. His skin color has NOTHING to do with his ability to be a good pastor or a good representative for a bunch of pastors.

And by putting ourselves in the place where we claim to hear God and yet we then have to 'correct' God's revealed will as discerned by the body, then aren't we setting ourselves up as being more wise and more just than God is?

Is that really a smart move?

Let's resolve to STOP looking at whether someone is black or white or male or female or rural or urban or old or young and let's just SEEK GOD AND HIS WILL! And then luet's just do it!

"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well."
--Matthew 6:33

First Day of School

Monday was this year's first day of school for Josh... He was EXCITED!!!!

The Missing Door

(This was my pastor's letter for the August 2008 edition of our church's newsletter: The Sound of the Trumpet)

- - -

In the introduction of Michael Card’s book The Hidden Face of God, there is a revealing story of Vincent van Gogh, the famous artist of the 19th Century.

Van Gogh had once felt called to the ministry, but had never been able to pass the theological entrance exams. Instead, van Gogh opted for a more incarnational ministry… among the coal miners in a small town in Belgium.

Bit by bit, over a three-month period, Card writes, van Gogh served God by reaching out to these poorest of the poor. In fact, he followed Jesus’ admonition to the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Paycheck by paycheck, as van Gogh saw more and more need, he gave away just about everything.

Card then writes “So completely did he reflect the sacrificial simplicity of Jesus that he became known as ‘the Christ of the coal mines.’”

“But those in the church who had authority over him did not feel this extravagance was appropriate, and he was eventually dismissed. It was a failure that hounded him for the rest of his life,” Card writes.

Throughout the rest of his life, even as he discovered a ‘ministry’ of expressing himself through art, van Gogh struggled with a sense of failure… even though we now recognize he was a genius! He felt like a reject… and felt the church was the one who had rejected him. He no longer felt he could turn to the church for strength or support… and became estranged from the Lord of the Church as well… Jesus Himself becomes a stranger to this one who had once emulated him so completely.

Card then draws attention to the last church painting van Gogh ever made, not long before his death: the Church at Auvers. Card writes:

“What many art critics have commented on is not the swimming colors but the ominous lack of a doorway leading into the church. Vincent painted a church that no one could get into. Having tried all his life to work hard enough to ‘get in,’ it appears that he could not imagine, in this last image of the church, a door that might allow him, with his enormous load of pain, to enter in…. Together with the scarcity of references to Jesus in his last letters, the absence of the door in the painting reveals his most fundamental fear: that there is no way into the church and, even more agonizing, that there is no One waiting on the other side of the missing door.” (pp. 12-13)

Vincent van Gogh died on July 27, 1890, as a result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds from a suicide attempt two days earlier. His brother, Theo, was with him when he died, and reported Vincent’s last words were, translated: “the sadness will last forever.”

How many times do we, today’s church, share our opinions and our thoughts about the way someone else is doing their job in serving Christ? How many of those times are we alienating those very ones who love Christ and are trying to serve him? How many end up like Vincent van Gogh... carrying an overwhelming load of pain and feeling abandoned by Christ and the Church?

No small wonder that the author of Hebrews writes: “...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13, NIV)

Not everyone will agree with the way everyone else does stuff… not even in the church. But we can make sure that constantly show God’s love and compassion by encouraging one another… so that no one ever sees us as a church without a door.

Who can you encourage today?

Thoughts about Grappling With God

In early July I was looking ahead at the lectionary readings for August and was struck by the Old Testament readings. In particular, the August 3rd reading from Genesis 32:22-32 about Jacob wrestling. I knew that I knew I just had to preach this passage. And that God wanted to speak to me as well. (Actually, most of my preaching has been whatever God has been speaking to me from a text and the congregation just gets to listen in.)

With Mom getting sick, and then dying, I wasn't around for a Sunday morning until today... and I still felt I was supposed to preach that text. For lack of a super catchy title, I simply called it "God Grappler."

Even though I had an outline, what follows are more my notes, or perhaps reflections, from this morning.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

GENESIS 32:22-32

Jacob remembers how badly he had treated his brother Esau and gets worried when God sends messengers (angels!) to alert him that Esau is heading towards him. Jacob got really serious about needing to do some soul searching and seeking God for some help and I notice that Jacob starts clearing out any distractions... He makes arrangements for his kids (11 boys) and his wives (2 actual wives and 2 'significant others') and all of his stuff and servants to be in two different places. The text seems clear that he's trying to 'cut his losses' in case the worst happens and Esau actually attacks. But I remember Jesus talking about separating yourself away from others and 'getting alone' in order to seek out God. Isn't that where the idea of a prayer closet comes from?


So Jacob is alone... verses 9 through 12 talk of Jacob actually praying and asking God for help. No repentence is explicitly cited, but there's a definite seeking God! Little wonder that God shows up later in the story!


Verse 24 says that "a man" wrestled with him till daybreak. Verse 26 seems to hint that this is a human form of God and when the man renames Jacob, his rationale is "because you have struggled with God and with men..." Jacob, in verse 30, names the place Peniel "because I have seen God face to face and yet my life was spared." Hosea 12:3-4 says in one verse it was God and in the other that it was an angel.


In several other places throughout Scripture we read of God appearing in human form and being referred to as 'The Angel of the Lord' so I guess I don't see this as much of a problem... It appears to me that this is simply a pre-incarnation theophany of Jesus. And if so, it would make sense that Jesus would not want Jacob to see him in the light and then find out that he had wrestled with God because it would have decimated Jacob's understanding that to see God is to die. So to have encountered God face to face in the dark would do the work in Jacob's life that God was after without completely undoing him. (Perhaps sort of like today's cliche that God will only allow as much as you can handle.)


So, 'the man' says let me go because it's almost morning... The response Jacob gives is, not surprisingly, 'NO, not without your blessing!'

I struggled with this for a while, but then, reflecting back on that Hosea passage again I realized that even from the womb, this guy has been trying to carve out a place for himself... He grabbed his brother's heel, he manipulated and schemed to get his brother to trade away the birthright, he tricked Isaac into bestowing Esau's blessing on him instead... and then all of the back and forth scheming between his uncle Laban and he in the ancient ancestral homeland. I think there's evidence here that this guy has a deeper unmet hunger for MORE than just the physical things like wives and herds and property. His hunger is for the blessings, the birthrights, the 'spiritual' dimensions of life. And he has tried to get that hunger met through his own scheming and manipulation.

Even when he encounters God as he flees from Esau, and we read the whole 'Jacob's ladder' narrative, Jacob tries to make a deal with God. IF you bring me back... THEN I will serve you... It sounds to me like He wants the blessings and gifts of God without having to commit to a relationship with Him.

Twenty years pass and he's met someone who's given him a run for his money in the lying and manipulating end of things. He barely gets out of that encounter with Laban in one piece.

Now he's here about to meet Esau. He's scared. He's invoked God Himself to come and intervene. And I believe God listens and answers... but not necessarily in the way Jacob had hoped or wanted. Instead of physical deliverance (which he DOES get later) from his brother, he gets a physical AND a spiritual intervention.

In verse 26 Jacob is still just trying to 'wrestle' a blessing out of this one who has engaged him in this struggle. The 'man' asks about his name and offers him a new one... 'One who has struggled with God and with men' and something CLICKS in Jacob's head... He knows of MANY times when he's struggled with men... but 'when have I struggled with God?' And I can see the lightbulb coming on and realizing this must be more than just some 'man' that he is struggling with now...

And Jacob does something he hasn't done before. He asks this 'man' what his name is. He's always wanted the things of God... but now he wants to KNOW more about this God Himself. And the Bible says THEN the mysterious wrestler gives Jacob his blessing.

It took the struggle to get Jacob where he needed to be to let go of his scheming ways and finally seek God. Many struggles with Esau and then Isaac, Laban, and now this 'traveler unknown' as Charles Wesley would word it in the 1700's.

SO... how are we like Jacob now-a-days?

I see LOTS of signs of spiritual hunger... spirituality in our marketplace, our businesses, our boardrooms, our televisions, our movies, and even in our children's literature. We want there to be more than just the physical reality. We want spiritual truths and spiritual realities. So Goosebumps books, and Harry Potter, and demonic horror movies, and even Disney shows, all try to capture us and enthrall us with the premise that there is some spiritual truth beyond what we see in the physical.

Like Jacob, we want a piece of that reality... but also like Jacob we have a past filled with unrepented sin and a desire to have the spiritual without getting to know the true God of the spiritual reality. And so we walk away from all those other spiritual things, still 'hungry.' Like Jacob, we're still looking for the right 'blessing' even after we've gotten everything we've tried to lay our hands on.

I believe the answer comes with Jesus' wprds in the Sermon on the Mount, when he admonished his listeners to "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

It's the act of asking and seeking and knocking and wrestling and struggling with God that defines us and strengthens us and matures us into who God wants us to be.

I think of the times I play hide and seek with my four year old son Josh... I may hide, but I WANT him to find me! I want him to SEEK me! Because the joy and excitement comes even more forcefully when he FINDS me!

Jacob never got the blessing he was looking for until he got past the 'give me' stage and grew into the 'What is your name?' stage. When he actually wanted to know this God... then the blessing came unasked for.

Jesus said that's how it is for us, too: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

One of Jacob's later descendants, Jeremiah the prophet, would write God's prophetic words on this subject this way to Jacob's distant grandchildren who were about to face another defining struggle: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you..." (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

The Bible is supposed to be like a mirror... we ought to be able to see how we look by seeing ourselves in the mirror... and in the Bible. How do we find ourselves in Jacob's wrestling story? Where do we fit in? And how do we now respond?

One more thought... From that point on, Jacob, or now "Israel," was known by his limp... His wounding helped define who he was and helped people to know it was really him. Somewimes we have have been wounded or hurt, but yet found a blessing hidden in the midst of the pain... an unexpected positive in the midst of a whole slew of negatives... Perhaps, we carry the wound with us to remind us of how God can, and did, work in the middle of that difficult time. After all, even Jesus was 'known by his scars.'

What are our scars? Have we struggled long enough to keep at it, until we get to know God Himself in the midst of the struggle?

Or do we settle for whatever happens to tickle the spititual hunger and never seek HIM?

Remembering Mom's Final Chapter

We buried Mom on Friday at the Myrtle Cemetery just outside of Shinglehouse, PA. She had always wanted to be buried in a place where there would be shade... and she is literally under the boughs of the only tree. Josh is standing in about the spot where she ended up being buried. Many of my father's family (on my Grandma Mix's side) are buried throughout the cemetery, including my little brother who died at birth back in 1968.






Mom's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Norman Cox, of the Rixford Evangelical Church in Rixford, PA officiated for most of the service and I preached the eulogy (or message or sermon or naming or witness or whatever you want to call it!) Here are my notes...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Memorial Service for Virginia Milne
August 8, 2008 11:00 a.m.
Howard’s Funeral Home
Shinglehouse, PA
The Rev. Dr. Norman Cox
The Rev. Dayton D. Mix

DAYTON’s Notes:
When a loved one dies, we expect there to be hurt, and loss, and deep pain. But as Christians, we do more than just grieve and bury our departed loved ones. We don't just gather to "pay our respects."

Sure, that‟s a PART of what we do, but as Christians, we deliberately gather together to do more than that, don't we?

As Christians, we come together to praise God for His promise of new life from death and for His promise of comfort and hope even when we walk through the darkest valleys of life, even the ones that are filled with shadows of death itself. And we celebrate the good life of the one who has departed from us.

This day, in this place, we are gathered because of our mom, our wife, our grandma, our great-grandma, our sister, our aunt, our neighbor, our friend: Virginia Pauline Peterson Milne.
We gather together because of her death, but not really. Because it wasn't in death that we loved this woman, was it?

The reason each of us is here today, for this time, is a reflection of her LIFE, not her death.
In her life, she touched us. In her life, she loved us, she cared for us, she prayed for us, and she gave to us.

These are issues of life, not death. These are the reasons we are here...

Because of her life.

SO I propose we acknowledge that she is gone from us, that she has "died" as they call it, but then let's move on to the reasons we are here. Because Virginia Milne's living out of her life affected us.

With that in mind, the Scripture text I share today is a little different than you might have heard at a funeral before… And yet, as I prayed about how Mom fit into the grand scheme of the Biblical story through the ages that continues right up to now, THIS is the passage that I believe God Himself shared with me about this remarkable lady we are here to celebrate.

READ: Hebrews 11:1-2 (NCV)
"Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even when we do not see it. Faith is the reason we remember great people who lived in the past."

Did you catch that?

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even when we do not see it.

Mom had a HOPE stone… a token that reminded her that even in the midst of the lousiest circumstances, God never leaves us alone and He offers us HOPE… no matter what.

Even when things got bad towards the end, Mom never lost her hope… She constantly was heard saying, ?It's gonna get better… one way or another… It's gonna get better!?

She was SURE that there was HOPE with God… and she knew that healing and hope were real… even though she couldn't see it right then.

Sort of like being stuck in the cold drizzling rain at noon… You may not be able to see the sun… but the very fact that you can see the rain means that the sun IS out there somewhere on the other side of those clouds.

Well, Hebrews 11 goes on and talks about all of these heroes of faith throughout the Bible… Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses… and more.

So how does this relate to Mom?

Just this, every single one of these people listed in the great Hall Of Fame of Biblical Faith… was messed up…

Look at the people that God called great heroes of faith… Noah (who was a drunk), Abraham (who was a liar), Sarah (who laughed when she heard God‘s crazy plans), Isaac (who picked favorites between his sons), Jacob (who was a manipulative schemer), Moses (who was a runaway murderer who repeatedly let his anger get the best of him), Rahab (who was a prostitute), Gideon (who was a scaredy-cat), Barak (who hesitated when God said to do something), Samson (who was distracted by his temptations), Jephthah (who came from a ‗ad‘ family), David (who had an affair with another man‘s wife and then had him killed), and Samuel (who was great in the church, but didn‘t do very well in raising his kids).

GOD ALMIGHTY lists these same people who messed-up, as being the men and women of faith that we are supposed to look up to, and remember, and follow their example of faith.

If THEY are in that list, then today, as we remember Mom, who would NOT have claimed that she was the most religious person in the world and didn't always make perfect choices, DEFINITELY fits there too!

Because Mom was a REAL person wasn't she?

She was quick to share her real feelings… with pretty much ANYone… She could get angry in a moment‟ notice. She could come up with some pretty down-to-earth commentary on the world around her… whether it be a comment about doing what you sat down to do or get off the pot OR whether it be an exasperated exclamation, something like: WELL, DANG!‟

And if she was particularly animated, she would start pointing a finger at you… with that one sort-of-off-center pointer finger…

John Paul and Laura love telling the story of a time when they had argued or disagreed or something, and Mom kept getting more and more frustrated… and, somehow, as she got madder… they got her laughing… which made her madder still…

Mom was a woman in touch with her feelings. She wasn't perfect… but she was real.

And while we could probably all look back and tell each other some way that she wasn't what we expected or how she somehow disappointed us, we choose to offer our forgiveness for her failings… because she was simply human… just like ALL of us are.

She wasn't perfect.

But like those people in the Bible who were full of problems and mess-ups, and yet turned in faith to God and would later be called a hero of faith… So I believe Mom was as well. We can look to the Bible and read about all those people's real, everyday lives and the way they messed-up and yet still turned to God. Mom may not have been perfect, but there is much that we can learn from her as well.

It took me years to recognize it, but Mom knew Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. She had a deep spiritual hunger that only He could satisfy. She knew Him as a friend she could talk to and as someone she could go to for help. So she wasn't religious… that's OK, neither were most of the people on that list in the Bible either. They weren't considered faithful because they had done a bunch of religious things…

They were considered faithful because they knew God personally. That was Mom. She wasn't perfect, but she knew Him. And because of that, the Bible assures us that she will be with Him forever in Heaven…

And the Bible also says that any of us, who trust in Jesus Christ and allow Him to free us from our past by admitting we‟e messed up and asking God to forgive us, will know Him too!

Mom didn't have it so easy… she once told me that by the 11th grade, when she finally quit school, she had been in 17 different schools in her academic career. Between children's homes and foster homes, she had endured the chaos of constant moves and transitions… so she finally just said, enough. Years later, it would bother her so much that she had never graduated that she would go back and get her G.E.D. and celebrate her completion of high school the same day John Paul graduated from Demopolis High School. I can look at my mom and learn a lesson of going back and finishing the things I gave up on.

Mom taught us that family is a relative term. You choose to be family as much as being related to your family. As a foster child, she had learned that being part of a family wasn't dependent on sharing the same blood in your veins. Her final foster family, the home of Herb & Beulah Fuller, was to be the place that finally felt like home… Grandma Fuller once told me that my Mom had so become a part of their family, that Grandpa Fuller had worked things out to be able to claim her as a part of the family even on the tax forms… but then she decided to get married.

But the Fullers were family now... And Grandpa & Grandma Fuller, along with Uncle Calvin & Aunt Pat & Uncle Roddy & Aunt Wanda, and their families, were some of our closest friends and most faithful visitors. It didn't negate the relationships with the other relatives we were actually biologically related to… we simply had MORE aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents than most of our friends.

Mom also taught us a lot about believing in someone. I remember the early years after Mom & Dad separated, and then divorced. Not everyone she picked to hang out with had their act together very well. Even when Norm finally came on the scene, he… well... still had some rough edges. But Mom had seen the kind of man he could, and would, become… and she believed in who he was becoming… She saw more… She saw the HOPE… And this woman, after three marriages that hadn't worked out, showed us what it means to be committed to someone and stay with them "through richer or poorer" and "for better or for worse…"

And Norm in turn, has taught us what it means "to have and to hold…, in sickness or in health…, till death do us part…"

And I can look back on their marriage and pray that my wife and I can be as absolutely consumed with each other and dedicated to each other as these two have been for more than thirty-three years.

Mom has taught us how to face adversity and sickness as well. She was the most positive person I have ever known in the face of cancer. She faced this disease not as a death sentence, but as one more obstacle that just needed to be overcome. And like Job in the Bible, the disease never did overcome her… She was still who she was inside… No disease could change her.

And Mom knew the God of Hope had promised healing… and she hoped, and she prayed, and she trusted, and she believed.

Some might say, but she died! How can you talk about her hope and healing?

Let me use the words of Hebrews 11…

Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live in this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
–Heb 11:13-16 (MSG)

Her hope wasn't just in doctors and medicines… Her hope was in the God of healing behind those doctors… And just like there are times that a beginning pianist can really nail a piece of music, there are some musical works that only a skilled and practiced pianist with years of experience can master.

Mom knew that the doctors and medicines we have available are like that beginner musician… pretty good at what they‟e mastered so far… and WAY OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE when it comes to some of the harder and more complicated sicknesses, illnesses, and injuries that the Devil Himself tries to throw at us.

Like those people in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, Mom knew that ultimately the healing she would have to have would be from God Himself. And there was a possibility that the earthly physicians wouldn't be able to do everything that she would need in order to be healed.

She knew that she knew that God would heal her… and she hoped it would be here, through earthly doctors… but she was just as certain that even if it wasn't that way, she would STILL be healed. Her faith never waivered on that point. The Great Physician had promised… and therefore she had something she could HOPE in… Someone she could Hope in!

But one last thought, before we finish… In the Bible, it says that for all those people who had received the promise… but hadn't seen it completed yet, it also goes on to conclude:

Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours. –Heb 11:39-40 (MSG)

Mom's promise of hope continues in those of us here today… Hope for our marriages, hope for our families, hope for our healing, hope for our eternity… Let's take what she learned by trial and error and through struggle and pain and let's use that which she learned to help us in our lives… because, as Scripture says, we are part of the legacy of her life because we are part of the promise she saw and hoped for.

If we KNOW God like Mom did… if we have admitted that we have had messed up lives and need God to forgive us, then we can know Him! THAT's what we mean when we talk about having faith… or being saved!

It's simply knowing Him! That's faith!

Let's put her faith together with our faith… her life together with ours… and let's see the completion of the promise…

For those who know Jesus as Lord & Savior, we WILL see Mom again…for Heaven is offered to all who ask Him for forgiveness and allow Him to be their Lord.

I look forward to that day when I get to see her again…

For this woman WAS, without a doubt, one of the heroes of faith… Her life, and her faith, have been used by God to form me and help me grow up in as a Christian… and make me who I am today…

and I'm going to miss her…

(PHOTO: My wife, Gay, and my Mom, Virginia, at her church's Mother-Daughter banquet just a couple of months ago. This is about the only picture she ever liked that showed her in her wig)

Son Harvest County Fair

Vacation Bible School starts this evening! And the entire church (with the possible exception of my office) looks GREAT!!!! Decorations of a country style... The curriculum is called SON HARVEST COUNTY FAIR. A great portion of the week revolves around the idea of the Bible's listing of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

Carlie Gritzer and her team (from here at First Church and across town from the CMA church of Reynoldsville) have done an AMAZING JOB!!!

I decided to join in the spirit of the week and have adopted the persona of "Sunny D" one of the fruit farmers that comes to the County Fair... Check out my new picture taken this morning in character...

Come visit us! 6:30 - 8:30 each evening Sunday 7/20 - Thursday 7/24 and then a celebration at our church camp on Friday night 7/25! Need more info? 814-653-8593

Prayer Request

The doctors informed us yesterday that there was nothing more they could do for my mother at the hospital. So they released her to go home. Visiting nurses and hospice are our connection to the medical community now. The doctor thought we only had a couple hours but so far she has gotten her strength back a little. The cancer in her lung is NOT gone, and the tumors that spread to her brain have been somewhat controlled by the radiation... but it is her heart that's doing her in. Her heart is simply racing most of the time... sort of burning her out. They tried the medicine that they use for that with other people, but then her heart rate started to have 20 to 30 second stops where the EKG was literally a straight line. So she's at home, and she feels better just by being able to get some rest and by having family home. My brother lives close to her and his daughter, her boyfriend, and my brother's granddaughter are all up from Demopolis, Alabama. My sister got in on Thursday from Montgomery, Alabama with her son. Josh and I are hanging out as much as possible... I'm taking vacation for a while in order to be with her as much as I can.

Please pray for a peaceful end and for healing and comfort in our family.

The Clergy Letter

I received an email from a college dean suggesting I sign a letter he called THE CLERGY LETTER. As is customary for email, the earlier letter is at the bottom, while my response is at the top.

I'm interested in hearing of other clergy who have received this and whether they did or did not sign on... and why.

Here's my response...

Dean Zimmerman,

Science and religion truly do have much in common and ought to be able to co-exist amicably. I can agree with that much of your letter, but for ME, as a non-scientist, to be the one who puts my name on the line saying that evolutionary THEORY is truly a scientific TRUTH defeats the very purpose of your letter project. As a non-scientist, why would I, as a religious leader, be needed to prove the truth of a scientific theory? The scientific method already defines what it takes to prove a theory. Let’s let the scientists do the proving. I am not qualified. Furthermore, I am NOT one who has read the literature that scientifically PROVES the THEORY to, in truth, be FACT. If such literature does exist, I would be extremely happy to have a chance to peruse such information.

I remain eager to learn more of the proofs that have moved evolution from theory to fact…

REV. DAYTON D. MIX

Here is the original email and his copy of THE CLERGY LETTER...

Dear Reverend Mix,

I am writing to you in the hopes that you will join together with thousands of your fellow clergy members. Please allow me to introduce myself and explain. I am Michael Zimmerman and, in addition to being the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis, I am the founder of an organization called The Clergy Letter Project (http://www.evolutionsunday.org/). The Clergy Letter Project was created to demonstrate that religion and science can be compatible and to offer an alternative voice to those who claim that modern science must be refuted if a religious life is to be lived.

At the most recent United Methodist General Conference, participation in The Clergy Letter was overwhelmingly endorsed. Petition 80990, which states that “The United Methodist Church endorses The Clergy Letter Project and its reconciliatory programs between religion and science, and urges United Methodist clergy participation,” passed overwhelmingly (http://calms.umc.org/2008/Menu.aspx?type=Petition&mode=Single&Number=80990). As the motion urges, I hope you will opt to participate in the activities of The Clergy Letter Project.

The Clergy Letter Project has two major initiatives. First, we have collected more than 11,400 signatures from Christian clergy (including more than 40 active and retired United Methodist Bishops) on a simple two paragraph letter explaining exactly these points. You can read The Letter on our web page (http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/religion_science_collaboration.htm) and I’ve reproduced it below my signature block as well. Second, we have an annual Evolution Weekend event in which hundreds of congregations from around the world participate by doing something to elevate the dialogue about the compatibility of religion and science. Last year’s event had 814 congregations from every state and five countries participating. Participation ranges from a sermon to a lunch time discussion and from an invited speaker to an adult education class. You can look at the list of participants at (http://www.evolutionweekend.org/). Our web pages also list more than 100 sermons that have been delivered on the topic.

I very much hope that you are comfortable signing The Clergy Letter and demonstrating the compatibility of religion and science. And, I hope you consider participating in Evolution Weekend 2009.

To add your signature to The Clergy Letter and/or to express an interest in participating in Evolution Weekend 2009 (13-15 February 2009), simply contact me (mz@butler.edu) by responding to this e-mail. Please tell me the city and state you would like listed with your name. Additionally, please share information about The Clergy Letter Project with friends and colleagues who might also want to participate but who may not yet have heard of us.

Thank you so very much for considering this request. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Michael

Michael Zimmerman
Office of the Dean
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Butler University
Indianapolis, IN 46208

Tel: 317.940.9224
Fax: 317.940.8815
mz@butler.edu

The Clergy Letter
Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.
We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.

Three Simple Rules

“Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit… thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” — Jesus, Matt 7:17, 20 (NIV)

Our bishop, Thomas J. Bickerton, recently told a story of being at a particular Council of Bishops’ meeting when a fight broke out. OK… it was only a conversation but there were several different points of view. Whatever you call it, there were various opinions being expressed over how they (the bishops) could help get our people, and our churches, to be more unified as United Methodists.

It seems that we have learned how to debate well and disagree often. But if we are going to bear the word “United” in our name, ought there not be something about which we agree?

So, the Council of Bishops was trying to formulate some plan, or statement, or idea that could help us refocus on our unity… on what it really means to be “Methodist” in our heritage and “United” in our practice of being the church. And there were apparently a lot of ideas that took a L O N G time to discuss.

But then Bishop Bickerton shared that the conversation sort of settled into silence as one of our older bishops, Bishop Reuben Job, stood up and reminded everyone that we already had a statement, an idea, a plan that ought to be uniting us and identifying us as Methodist… And it was summed up as Three Simple Rules.

Dating back over 250 years to John Wesley himself, the “General Rules of the Methodist Societies,” already addressed these issues and, in essence, were part of the covenant every one of us United Methodists vowed we’d keep. While the wording is old-fashioned, the truth is still there… and still do-able.

In the official text (from the Discipline, ¶103), we are introduced to the rules thusly:

There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admission into these societies: “a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins.” But wherever this is really fixed in the soul it will be shown by its fruits.

Basically, if you have repented of your sins and Christ lives within you, then you are welcome to “join” us Methodists. BUT, we also have an expectation that IF that’s really true, then people around you (inside AND outside of the church) will be able to tell that you have Christ living in you.

With that in mind, the Methodists agreed that any of us who really had Jesus in our hearts, would agree to show it in three ways:

“First, By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind…”
“Second, By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all me…”
“Thirdly, By attending upon all the ordinances of God…”

Bishop Job reworded those three General Rules, for today’s United Methodists, thusly:

1. Do No Harm,
2. Do Good, and
3. Stay in Love with God.

To this day, the “General Rules” are printed verbatim in our Book of Discipline. They are meant to be a part of the daily lifestyle of every person who is a part of the Methodist heritage.

We deliberately watch out so that we don’t cause harm to others with our words, our actions, or our silence.

We consciously look for ways to do good to others any chance we get.

And we intentionally, (in a methodical way) practice what has become known as the spiritual disciplines... faithfully attending public worship, carefully reading and searching the Bible, purposely praying, thoughtfully reading Christian authors and devotionals, and regularly participating in the sacrament of Holy Communion and the remembrance of baptism.

Throughout this next year, we will regularly focus on ideas presented in this little book.

Let’s show all of Reynoldsville our fruit...

Tour Confirmed

I LOVE what our United Methodist Center staff does with their annual conference center tours for the confirmation classes. Interactive and informative, these tours consist more of meeting people and hearing THEIR story, than in touring a physical plant.

Yesterday was the day our kids went for their tour. We have about 10 adults and 13 youth working towards membership... unfortunately, only 7 youth and 2 adults were able to travel down with me on this particular day. We did the tour, hit Cokesbury, and then stopped at Grove City Outlets where they all got to pick their own lunch and then they got to shop for an hour before heading home.

A special thanks to the staff at the UM Center and to Ken & Sandy Reiter for helping us pull this trip off! What a GREAT day!!!!

Returning to Narnia

I've just finished a SLEW of odds and ends from statistical reports (yes... they were done and submitted by the Jan. 31st deadline) to meetings with construction people and inspectors about our almost finished building project to simply cleaning out boxes of stuff I had put off 'until I have more time.'

All of that to say, I haven't had time to blog unless I gave up something else I was supposed to do... so I haven't blogged. And today will be short as well.

I have been reading a devotional that highlights various passage from C.S. Lewis and I am currently listening to a CD-college course on his life and writings. He and Tolkein are my two favorite authors of fiction and Lewis and Dr. Gary Chapman are my two favorite authors of non-fiction. I guess that makes Lewis my overall favorite.

So it is with JOY and great anticipation that I saw the trailer during the Super Bowl for the upcoming Narnia movie: Prince Caspian. This morning, when I took a break from some paperwork, I found another trailer... and I wanted to share it with someone... so here it is!

Can Two Walk Together...?

“Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place?” — Amos 3:3, The MESSAGE

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” — Amos 3:3, KJV

During February, the world around us looks to Valentine’s Day and focuses on romantic love. I think back to 1991 when I was still planning on asking Gay to marry me… I knew what I wanted… that we be husband and wife... but it wouldn’t work unless she said “YES.” She had to agree or else we could not walk together through the rest of our lives.

And since she had point blank said NO when I asked the first time in 1983, I wasn’t absolutely sure how the night would go. (Actually, she emphatically said: “It’s nice to be that special someone, but it’ll never happen!”) She was heading for college and I still was trying to find out what I was going to do (and trying to avoid anything to do with ministry!) Seven years would pass with her graduating college and getting a teaching job, while I went to whatever job I could, in whatever town I could find it, in order to “find myself.” We could not walk “hand in hand” because we weren’t “going to the same place.”

Tonight, when I stumbled onto this passage from Amos, I mentally traveled back in time to 1991. I had moved to Corry where she was a music teacher and I was a youth director for one of the United Methodist churches. We had now been friends for 13 years and God had done much in directing and guiding each one of us and I was almost done with my undergraduate degree. For six months now, we had been hanging out and talking, visiting and doing stuff together… not dating, but just being friends… talking, laughing, and spending time together.

I asked her dad if I could ask her to marry me, I bought a ring, and proudly showed everyone I knew… except her. And I went to her house and “popped the question.” The nervousness I had, the suspense between my asking and her responding, the almost heart-bursting jubilation, joy, and excitement when she finally said “Yes” are still with me.

All of those memories reminded me how invested and interested I was in being on exactly the same page as she was. I hung on her every word… especially that three letter word: “Yes”.

But as I reflected on this Bible verse more, I could sense the Lord saying there was at least one more application of life-giving blessing in this passage for us this February… not just romantically walking together but also our walk together with Christ. Jesus came and invited us, the church, to be his “bride.” Each of us, individually, are asked to be his and to make him our own. He has popped the question and waits for each of us to respond. How can we walk together for all of eternity if we’re not agreed? How can we walk together if we’re going to the same place?

Just like my asking Gay to marry me, if she had not agreed, or hadn’t bothered to even respond, then there would have been no wedding and no walking together… Not because I didn’t ask and invite, but because of her lack of positive response. And NO response IS a response.

When it comes to Gay and me this second time I asked, eight years later... she did say yes, and we were married May 18, 1991. I’m certain she has often thought that “this wasn’t what I thought I was signing on for” as we’ve faced difficulties and moves and illnesses. She had even warned me on the night she accepted my proposal that she had no intention of ever moving from place to place to place. But she had weighed her choices, she made her decision, and she has faithfully stuck by me through thick and thin, change after change after change…

And because she also said YES to Christ, when my call to pastoral ministry became clear, she did end up moving with me… although I think that was a sign of her love for Christ even more than me! Almost 17 years later, we still walk together… because we daily choose to say yes to each other again… one more time… for another day… and we say yes to Him one more time, for another day.

How about you and Christ? He’s asked and invited. Have you responded? He’s waiting for a decision… and hesitating or not giving a response IS a response just as clearly as if you’d said NO.

Are you walking with Christ?

I Shall Not Be Afraid...

10 Commandments... Hillbilly Style

I just got this email from one of my parishioners... I like the way it gets right to the point.

The Hillbilly's Ten Commandments
(posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro, TN)
(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' before God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

How Much Are We Worth?

I'm still new enough to the MULTIPLY world that I just found out that I can post something I saw and liked from someone else's site. With that newfound power in hand, I want to share a phenomenal post from my sister's friend, Danny, about our worth and value. Well written and well-researched! I don't (yet) know Danny personally, but he's right on the money!

Enjoy!

Link

My first try at sharing a video

Gone From My Sight

My Uncle Roddy (Rod Fuller) died unexpectedly on Sunday. I went to attend his funeral yesterday and was asked if I would participate in the service by my aunt. I ended up sharing a poem that I first found when I entered ministry about 12 years ago. This has become one of my favorite, non-Scripture, funeral resources... It is the image that has been most helpful to me...

Gone From My Sight

by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship, at my side,

spreads her white sails to the moving breeze

and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until, at length,

she hangs like a speck of white cloud

just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says,

"There, she is gone."

Gone where? Gone from my sight. That is all.

She is just as large in mast, hull and spar

as she was when she left my side.

And, she is just as able to bear her load

of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"

there are other eyes watching her coming,

and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,

"Here she comes!"

And that is dying...