Monday Morning After

It’s one of those weeks where my mind…wandering, so here is brief word about Sunday.

 

While worship was going on, the winter coat giveaway was welcoming guests downstairs. Worship focused on the second half of the Beatitudes. What was going on in that audience as Jesus spoke about mercy, persecution, and seeing God? Maybe the blessings and gifts should be reversed. The children were thirsty and James 2:14-17 told me what to do. The choir was marvelous, as usual, including Doug on violin and Darlene’s solo. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

Monday Morning After

My conversion to Christianity was somewhat clandestine. I knew something had changed, but I was still trying to figure it out during the few weeks that followed the night I gave my life to Christ. I lived in the basement of our house and my parents stored their books on a large bookshelf in that room. Several were sermons by Peter Marshall. As a new Christian, I was attracted to books of sermons. Somehow I was able to put my hands on a copy of some of Martin Luther King Jr’s sermons. They were biblically rooted and especially clear to me. Yesterday was his birthday. Today is the day we remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There were some common themes and one repeated stanza was from an old preacher, King would always say:

 Lord, we ain’t what we oughta be;

We ain’t what we wanna be;

We ain’t what we’re gonna be;

But thank God we ain’t what we was! “

 

The words described a life in motion…not arrived. Can they be said of each of us?

On Sunday, we waded into the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-5. Jesus has his audience in mind. As he looks out at the crowd, he doesn’t bring the curse that many expected, but rather the blessing. He saw the poor in spirit, those that mourn, and those who were meek and oppressed. To them he gave the blessing that the kingdom of God had come near to them.  The children helped me think about blessings and they told a little about their trip to help serve dinner at the Samaritan Center last Sunday even though talking about Friday’s overnight seemed a lot more interesting. Ron Vallet shared some insights about the Retired Ministers and Missionaries Thank You Offering. And we reminded everyone about the Winter Kids Coats Giveaway next Sunday! You had to be there. Maybe you were.

 

 

 

Monday Morning After

On Sunday, I started what I hope will be a year- long study of the Sermon on the Mount. To set the stage, it seemed right to talk about the Kingdom of God and the expectations of being part of the kingdom: Expectations for how we live, expectations that people in the kingdom will have an effect on the world; and the expectation that we will participate in what God is already doing in the world. The Mission Church Learning Experience team came up and discussed their experiences and the Winter Coat Giveaway to make a difference in our neighborhood. During the children’s story, I read a story about the king who visits a village. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

Monday Morning After

We tried an Agape Meal on Sunday, sitting around tables for worship in Titus Hall. The early Christians met in homes for worship, combining what foods they had, hearing the Apostle’s teachings, praying, and sharing communion. It was called an Agape Meal. Agape means love, a Greek word used by the early Christian church to describe the love God has shown to us in Jesus Christ, as well as the love we are to have for one another. It was the love associated with grace, a love given not because of merit, but given despite the fact that we did not deserve it.  Imagine Greeks and Jews, slaves and slave owners, men and women, people who would not be “allowed” to be brothers and sisters in daily life, coming together under their common desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ. They would come together to be the Body of Christ, “though it is made up of many parts…they form one body.” The Apostle Paul would go one to say: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (I Corinthians 12:12, 27)  It would be like heaven on earth. Imagine the power of that kind of gathering each week.

And it probably started out that way. While there are many references to “agape” love in the scriptures, the phrase translated “love feast” is only found in Jude 12 (Maybe in 2Peter). In Jude, we read that things have been falling apart. People were coming who claimed to be teachers with greater insights about God, other than Jesus Christ. They were disrespectful of the church’s leadership. They were “…blemishes at your love feasts…”

And there were behavior problems with the agape meals in Corinth, too. People were arriving early and started eating and drinking before all had arrived. “…I have no praise for you, for your meetings do you more harm than good…I hear that when you come together there are divisions among you…for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else…One remains hungry, another gets drunk…” (I Corinthians 11)

What made the idea of an agape meal so appealing was that the differences between people didn’t matter because of the unifying fact that they were followers of Jesus Christ. When those differences became selfish or their common love of Jesus Christ was diluted, there were problems.

The Apostle Paul writes some of his most simple and yet most powerful words in response to what was going wrong. He called it the most excellent way and that it is:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

We had an Agape Meal on Sunday to begin the New Year on New Year’s Day. It was taste of heaven. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

 

Monday Morning After

Now that Christmas is over, we are reminded that there is a lot more to the Christmas story than shepherds and Magi. Shepherds tell all Jerusalem. Magi return to the East and spread the news of anticipation. Mary and Joseph head to the temple for a child dedication and Anna and Simeon rejoice over the news. The word was spreading, and Jesus was still a baby.

On the other hand, King Herod was also trying to spread the news. By slaughtering the innocent boys, he sought to control his reign and convince the people there was no other king. But that rarely leads to lasting commitment. No one has ever truly been converted by violence. People may say what you want out of fear, but no one is ever convinced of a truth by force. Herod tried, and failed.

Christmas is another living example of that fact. Christmas is persuasion through love. For instance, John 3:17 reads:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

On Christmas Eve, we let a Heavenly Voice lead us in imagining the mind of God considering how He should come to earth. With the children, we wondered what our lives would be like if Christmas had never happened. On Christmas Day, we translated the birth story into several languages, including donkey, cow, sheep, and dove. The children unwrapped all the gifts people brought for the church. After a dramatic presentation thanks to “A Prairie Home Companion”, our thoughts turned to the underlying Christmas message that God is with us in real life, not just the “manger moments”. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

Monday Morning After

I try to avoid any conversations about Santa. Let’s just say, we have a history. My pat response to children’s questions about Santa is: “I don’t know much about Santa, but I do know about Jesus”. It’s too bad, because there are a lot of interesting illustrations that arise when people consider Santa’s godlike qualities. It has always been easier to believe in Santa. You know what he looks like. You can go sit on his lap and hear his voice. And you can make a request and actually get it. Try asking God for a video game. Good luck with that.

The comic strip Calvin & Hobbes often included conversations about Santa this time of year. The young boy Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes,  who comes alive when no one but Calvin is around, are having one of those Santa conversations as Calvin is about to club Hobbes over the head: “Boy, if it wasn’t so close to Christmas, I’d pound you good.”  Or on another occasion, they are sledding and Calvin brags that he has been good all day so far. “I’ve been wondering, though. Is it truly being good if the only reason I behave well is so I can get more loot at Christmas?…Is that good enough, or do I have to be good in my heart and spirit? …In other words, do I really have to BE good or do I just have to ACT good?”

The father like character in another comic strip, ADAM, recently joined the conversation. The boy asks his father:

Boy:       Does Santa judge me only by my actions or by my thoughts as well?

Dad:       Uhh…Just actions

Boy:       So I can think bad things as long as I can control myself?

Of course, Christian teaching would remind us that no one is good, in actions or spirit. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But their question is intriguing in regards to motivation and real change in our lives. We say that God looks not on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. (I Samuel 16:7) We might naturally conclude that doing good with a conflicted heart is meaningless, but sometimes it is by doing loving acts that we discover love for another. It may be by doing servant acts that our hearts are opened.

The Bible teaches that heart and action must go together, but as Christians we understand we are still a work in progress.

“For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey Him, and then helping you do what He wants.” – Philippians 2:13 (Living Bible)

That’s enough about Santa.

On Sunday, the choir sang like the angels and the songs were fresh and familiar at the same time! We read a letter left by the Magi and reflected on their search for God that lead them to the wrong place. When they got to the Holy Land, they seemed to abandon the star and head for Jerusalem, the natural place to find a new born king. But they were wrong. They learned that God often is found in unexpected places, Bethlehems instead of Jerusalems. The children talked about complaining while we read the story of the Grumpy Shepherd. What a great day! You had to be there. Maybe you were.

Monday Morning After

The church not far from my house has an unusual nativity scene on the front lawn. Many churches have nativity scenes. There are plastic ones that glow from the light bulb inside. I’ve seen golden draped 3D characters. Those are nice, but you can’t always tell who is who. There are flat wooden silhouettes that have spot lights on them. Eastwood has one like that. Every year, I think we should sneak out one evening dressed like the wooden figures, take them down and stand in their places.  People drove by and looked would always wonder if one night the characters actually came alive.

But the one by my house is different. There is a flat image of Mary and the baby. You have to look at it for a moment to figure it out (something I discovered you really shouldn’t do on Rt 5, by the way). That “work of art” has been going up for several years now. But the thing that makes it different is the cross. Yes, a large cross has been planted on the lawn, just behind the nativity scene. Having lived in central NY for over 30 years, my first thought was the church was wise to get that cross in there for Easter because the snow is usually still piled high by then and it would be hard to get in in the frozen ground in March, but that isn’t the message.

Ace Collins points out that, “There are two distinct images that define the life of Christ for most Christians and non-Christians alike: the manger and the cross.” One leads to the other. In truth, the two cannot be separated in Christian thought, though we often do in practice. The Christmas story foreshadows Christ’s death with words like:

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21

The magi suggested a dark future with their gifts, one of which is myrrh, an embalming ointment.

The underlying message is that the only way for this birth to be “Good news of great joy” is for this Savior to ultimately die for us on a cross…but mangers come first, the message of Christ in word and deed come first. God welcomes us to the manger at Christmas.

On Sunday, we had our Children’s Christmas Pageant during the service. If you looked up, you would see the large cross at the front the sanctuary, but most were watching the “news reporters” trying to speak loudly while they investigated the news for the Bethlehem Times. They did a great job and Brooke was our Angel letter writer for the morning. The very brief message was that angel means messenger and we need to be listening for the messages this Christmas. I gave my best shot at convincing people to come to church on Christmas Sunday – It only come every six years or so and this is an opportunity to actually worship on Christmas the way most Christians around the world “practice” Christmas. We also asked everyone to bring a wrapped gift to church that Sunday for the children to open, among other things. It was a joyous morning. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

Monday Morning After

Over the last 3 years, November has never given us more than an inch of snow. It is scary that we usually have a record snowfall by the end of winter. It means that the temptation to mess with our church outdoor nativity is great. You see, the mailman suggested that we set the wisemen at one end of the property and slowly move them closer to the nativity each week. The challenge has historically been that the ground is frozen by now, snow has piled up, or that someone will steal them if they are away from the pack (the other figures…Mmmm). Mailmen come up with such good ideas, though.

On a more somber note, we have had a different kind of blizzard lately. Syracuse has been experiencing a daily dose of Bernie Fine, the now former assistant basketball coach. The sins of he and his wife were secrets to most who knew him…family, friends, fellow coaching staff. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23). We all need a savior.

On Sunday, we welcomed new members, heard a letter from a shepherd, and talked about an approachable God. You had to be there. Maybe you were.

 

Monday Morning After

It has been an unusually mild Thanksgiving weekend this year. Actually, it has been one of those years when you have had time to get ready for winter.

My snow thrower is ready and waiting. My lawn mower is in the basement and the shovels are up from the basement. I’ve had time to clean my gutters, rake the leaves, and seal my driveway. We set up the Christmas tree, hung the wreath outside, and tomorrow I will be getting my first Christmas card. Jay and his family always send a letter so it gets here right after Thanksgiving.

I am ready!

I hope I’m ready. Last year, the snow thrower broke down after the3rd storm. It turned out, I wasn’t ready for that. Last week, our beloved Syracuse basketball assistant coach, Bernie Fine was discovered to be not who he said he was. No one in Syracuse was ready for that, not even his best friends.   Health problems?  Are you ever really ready to hear your doctor say, “ I think we should do more tests” ?

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I learned I am going to be a grandpa next year. I’ve never been one of those. I know I am not ready for that, but I don’t care. Ready or not, here it comes!

On Sunday, we started Advent, the season for getting ready. Ready for the celebration of the birth of Christ. Ready for his Second Coming at some unknown day in the future. We looked at Mary. Eugene Peterson translates the Angel’s message to Mary this way: “God has a surprise for you…”  How’s that for an understatement.

Her words were simple and honest: “I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.” I like to think she lived in the present, ready for what is happening now. She wondered about the past, how she got there; and she was anxious about the future, but she set those aside and basically said: “I am ready”.

Are you ready…for whatever God may bring? He brings an offer at Christmas to be “with you”. It is the season to invite him into your life or to renew the invitation again. You may not have all the answers. Faith is a step into the unknown. You can never be really ready. Can you at least be ready for today… now… not the past which can’t be changed; nor the future, which is too big to get your arms around? Christmas is coming. You have time to begin and relive that faith this Christmas. Not rushing or regretting, just living with God today. It is enough just to be ready for that.

 

Monday Morning After

We think someone may be sleeping in the church. The lights are on when the custodian comes in each morning.

I fell asleep in church on Saturday. Not our church. I was at the Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s conference and I was fine all morning, but after lunch I couldn’t keep from dozing off. The speaker was fine, I think (I couldn’t tell. He may have been not fine during the times I was asleep). The topic? I chose the topic, so that wasn’t it. Warren Mortimer told me years ago, he listened to my first few sermons (I was 25 years old) and he said I didn’t say anything wrong, so he knew it was safe to sleep through the next 9 years. Mmm.

I did fall asleep in theology class once. But that was OK because it was after lunch and the professor had fallen asleep, too…yes, while he was lecturing. Of course, I can only tell you this as it was told to me, because I had already fallen asleep myself. To all those who need to sleep in church, God Bless You.

Jesus said: Come to me all you who are tired of carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

On Sunday, we took apart the story from Luke 17 about the 10 lepers and the one who came back to give thanks.  In the end, Jesus tells him his faith has made him well. It was a word about healing, but it did raise an interesting question: Does your faith make you well? Does the practice of Christianity help you to live a better life, a healthier life, even when life isn’t going so well.  And if not, maybe it is time to put it back into practice.

And, of course, we had to have the traditional reading of Thanksgiving at the Tappletons  during the Children’s Story.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Doing your traditions, eating, and even sleeping.