Israel Forsakes God

15th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:4-13

Jeremiah was a young priest who God sent to His fallen children, the Israelites, seeking to draw then back into His fold.

They had strayed far, far from His presence and He longed to have them back.

Jeremiah’s whole ministry was a challenge and an opportunity to draw them back into a covenant relationship with God. God promised them, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”

Throughout Israel’s long history, time and time again they strayed from God’s loving presence. Still, God always kept a remnant of them, offering them chance after chance to be redeemed. He offered them the promise land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Praise God! He is slow to anger and full of patience with them, as well as with you and me yet today.

I believe that God allows us to stray not because He wants us to, but because He created us with free will. And because of that free will, we want to do our thing, our desires and not the will of God; however, there will be a day of judgment for our behavior.

I’m going to take a big step here and ask this:

Are we so busy today with the world so full of noise that we don’t hear the voice of God speaking to us?

Paul was so bent to destroy the Christian movement that he was seeking Christians to take back to Rome to be crucified. As he was traveling, God struck him down on the road to Damascus. Paul’s words were, “Who are you, Lord?”

I sense with all my heart that we are a special chosen vessel of the Lord today, intended to share His message of love and forgiveness to the whole world. He has planted us in his promised land. But like the chosen people of Israel, we have forsaken God’s desire for our own. We have raped our land of its rich minerals for the sake of a profit while not doing God’s will. We have allowed society to cripple the church’s witness and time with God for one or two hours of time a week in our lives. Look at the church’s services today compared to what it was 50 years ago.

Commerce today is 24/7 today. The church has no control or voice in our world. If someone goes to the corner of our streets, crying out the love of God, they are labeled a religious freak or fanatic.

Yes, I know the Lord is slow to anger and patient, but let us wake up to the potential to see the judgment that I spoke of. It is more than 2000 years closer to us than when Christ walked among us on the earth.

Let us pray!

Not Peace, but Division

13th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: St. Luke 12:49-59

We all love a gentle Jesus. Recall these images of our Lord:
· A soft, glowing headshot
· A man holding a lamb on His shoulders
· Jesus sitting among the little children, holding one on His lap
· A tiny baby cuddling in His mother’s arms

Yet there are also the images of Jesus being crucified and suffering and dying on a cross. We don’t often envision Him as an angry, irate, and temperamental one, but there is the image of Him chasing the money chargers from the temple with a raised whip in His hands. He used a raise voice to call the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers.”

And we gloss over these words of our Savior: “Do you think I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I tell you, but rather division.

We don’t care for a Jesus who stirs up divisions and irritates us, yet He speaks truth to the power of this world, both political and religious, and to all others. For there will be a final judgment for all our human actions.

Life can be a terrible experience through one must pass, a life full of decisions until we pass through and emerge triumphantly from them, until we climb the golden stairs to the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus had the cross ever before His eyes and mind.

Oh yes, there will be divisions between mankind, even members of our family and members of the world’s family.

The story of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 comes to mind. Even when the vinekeeper does everything right, the outcome might not be a harvest one hopes for.

A man built a vineyard on a fertile hillside and removed the stones from it, dug in the soil, and planted choice vines. He hoped for a harvest and built a fence around it and a winepress for the fruits. In the fullest of times, he went to see the fruits of his labors. The grapes were unfit for wine.
We are God’s chosen ones today, and we have a choice: whether to accept Him and engage in a spiritual rebirth and “Awakening” to encounter a new life with Him.

But created with free will, our lifestyle may be like that vineyard’s, producing unfit grapes or unfit actions by our behavior for the Lord. We yield to the lower side of humanity and its lifestyle.
Satan slips in and drives a wedge between us and our Lord, rendering us unfit to produce blessings for our Lord.

May we see that divisions between us are not always bad, for it may be division that awakes a spiritual awakening and revival in our lives. The Lord can open the doors of our lives open to deeper love in Him.

It’s like the person who said cancer was the best thing that ever happened to him. Not the illness, but the awakening to what is important in his life: his loved ones and realization of love and need for his Lord.

May we take the divisions that happen in our life not to separate us from one another or the Lord, but as a spiritually awakening growth that happens in our lives, awaking us to the fullness of this life and the life that awaits us in the heavenly kingdom.

Let us pray!

No Room in Heaven for Earthly Things

12th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture: St. Luke 12:13-21

Two things stand out about this rich man in our scriptures in this parable.

First, he never saw beyond himself. Second, he never saw the need for the eternal kingdom that is open to all who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

We go into God’s closet and are shown a brand new pair of threads that are made just for us. Are we lost in the material things of this world?

In Christ, we are dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item in our new way of life is custom-made by our Creator with His label. A new Easter outfit cannot be worn with our old, smelly tennis shoes. Our new clothes of renewal cannot be worn out with our shoes and stinky socks of anger, malice, and slander. Once we put on the garments God has created for us, we must rid ourselves of the filthy garments of this world.

The image of filthy rags works for this present world only. We think very highly of our closets overflowing with the latest styles for today. However, in this parable Luke turns our attention away from our earthly positions to the eternal treasures that are meant to define our labors for the Lord. Even new Easter clothes don’t make it into the eternal kingdom of God.

We are to turn our hearts to labor to cultivate the true eternal gifts of our Lord. The scriptures from Luke and 2 Colossians 3:1-11 could not be more aligned in their meaning. The scriptures tell us to set our minds on the things that are above, not on the things of this earth. We are, therefore, to store treasures that are rich in God’s love for us in abundance.

The rich fools’ total lives and labors are totally centered on the material labors of this life.

His words were on himself: I, me, my, mine

A schoolboy was asked what part of speech is “my” or “mine.” He answered, “Aggressive pronouns.” The rich fool was aggressively self-centered.

· “my crops”

· “my barn”

· “I know”

· “I’ll tear down”

· “my small barns and build bigger ones”

· “then I’ll sit back and live the good life”

But the Lord said to him, “Fool, your life will be taken from you this very night. Then, who will get all your earthly treasures.”

While not many of us think we are rich fools, when we are compared with people in our community and the world who have little or nothing, we are living in abundance. How have we used our blessings to express our love unto the Lord? Are we still using our blessings for earthly things?

What is wrong is that there are more rich fools still seeking to tear down their little barns and build bigger ones to store up more? Jesus tells us not to be concerned about what we will eat or wear. If He feeds the flowers of the fields and the birds of the air, who neither sew nor reap, how much more are we taken care of than these creatures, us who were created in Jesus’ very image.

Let us pray!

Miracles of Jesus

Here's an really cool list of where to find records in the Bible of the miracles Jesus performed on earth. I scanned and uploaded it (with some help from my descendants and their new-fangled technology).

Clash of Temperaments

10th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture: St. Luke 10:38-42
 
When there’s a clash in temperaments, we need to stop and recall this old Indian proverb:
“Don’t condemn a person until you have walked a mile in their moccasins.”

Jesus knows what is about to happen as He is on the way to Jerusalem. This is a stop of rest and relations with two precious friends, Martha and Mary. He is beginning to realize the intensity of inner battle in His heart. He prays, “Father, not My will but Your will be done.”

As we come to the reality today of a large number of friends are coming to our house for dinner, Martha is excited about this event. As the lady of the house, she has prepared for this in-gathering.
· She has cleaned the house from top to bottom.
· The best china has been polished.
· A beautiful tablecloth made by her mother drapes the dining room table.
· The table has been prepared with the best silverware.

Now it’s time to prepare the food. There will be between 20 and 25 guests. The potatoes are ready to be cooked. The meat of the day, lamb and goat, is slowly roasting in the oven. There is gravy to be made and there are several veggies to prepare. Martha has baked apple and cherry pie for dessert. As she walks by the kitchen door, she sees her sister Mary among the men as she is speaking. And her temperament boils over! She says, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to prepare this large meal? Tell her to give me a hand.”

Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about the little things, yet only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better thing, and that shall not be taken from her.”

One person may say, “Lord, of all the pots and pans and things, since I have no time to be a saint by doing lovely things or walking late with Thee or dreaming in the dawn’s light or storming heavy gates. Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.”

Now think, once again, where Jesus is about to go. To Jerusalem, where He will be crucified.
May we all open our hearts and minds and quietly meditate on who we are: Martha or Mary.

May we pray unto the Lord, asking Him, “Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner, and save me by Your grace.

“Open our hearts and lives to see that divinity is possible for each of us when we center down and hear your low, soft voice whisper.”

God calls us all. Insert your name into this statement: “Richard, I love you and will use whatever you offer me to bring peace to you and all others. I need a kind word and helping hands to show and to spread My love for and to a sinful world today.”

Help me to be faithful to my commitment to You. Let us pray!

4H

Today, we did not have a regular session in the church building. Rather, we answered the call to be the arms and feet of Jesus in our community and volunteered at the local 4H. Check out the pictures Katie posted on Facebook!

Who is My Neighbor?

8th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture: St. Luke 10:25-31

One hot North Carolina afternoon, a family is going home from a family outing. Then they came upon 2 Native American teenagers selling watermelons at a 4-way crossing.

They stopped to get a melon. They immediately started to barter about the price. After several unfruitful tries with no luck…

…one of the teenagers stated, “Sir, these are the only things we have in this world.” The man was so touched with the words of the teenager tears appeared in his eyes and began to run down his cheeks. They bought all the melons the boys had.

In a movie, the interaction between these 2 white men in their 30s and these 2 young native boys would not look like that.

This is a good example of a story about who my neighbor is.

Luke 10:27 reads that we must love the Lord our God with
· all our heart
· all our being
· all our strength
· all our mind and love
· our neighbor as ourself

Our scripture for today tells us the story of the good Samaritan who stopped to help a bleeding and beaten man left on the road to die.

As one views this scripture, one is told that our neighbors are not just the person who lives on either side of us, nor the person who crosses the street, nor the one who lives behind us.

ALL of these are our neighbors. Any of us should be ready to reach out to anyone who needs help.

One side of my family tree has a real problem with alcohol.

A cousin at age 18 or 19 was arrested by the Illinois state police in 1957 for driving 100 miles an hour, seeking to get away from it all. He was fined and classified as a drunken driver.

Another, my own brother, became an alcoholic. Praise God that today he is a dry alcoholic, but he is still an alcoholic. His drinking took its toll on his body, and at 84 years old he struggles daily with his health.

Consider:
· A man who beats his wife and children
· Another one who abuses his little children

All these and countless of millions of others are a serious problem to our social environment, yet each one of them is our neighbor. We must help them any way we can to correct their addictions.

Like our Lord, we need to reach out to these individuals.

All too often, the good Christians in our world don’t see or sense people with these social problems as neighbors, and we either fail to reach out or flatly refuse.

Our Lord has reached down to see and touch each one of us.

Likewise, we need to reach out and embrace each one of these people with the same love and compassion and concern that Jesus gave to each one of us.

All too often the church’s population stays safe and secure within the confines of the church structure.

God, help us and forgive us, for we have almost completely lost Christ’s ministry of searching out and reaching real needs of others who so desperately need to be understood and loved.

Anyone who would lower themself to aid the suffering like our Lord Himself did as a suffering servant, dying for each and every one of us, offering each of us forgiveness. We need to do the same.

For all humanity is the offspring of the church of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray!