THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT
John H. Bigelow
For the week of December 26, 2010

Both our son John and daughter Leslie were athletic competitors in high school. Leslie was in track as both a runner and hurdler and John was a hard hitting tennis player. They both learned the need, not only for endurance but also for staying focused. You can’t look around when you’re running down the track and it goes without saying you don’t take your eyes off a tennis ball in play.

Endurance is something that is gained through constant effort and willful determination. You don’t just get up one morning and announce you’re going to run 25 miles. It takes a lot of dedicated practice and building up of both body and mind to acquire the necessary endurance to “stay the course."

The writer of Hebrews really caught my attention in Chapter 12:1b-2a(NLT) with these words, “… let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.” I can understand exactly what the author is saying and in looking at the history of God’s people it needs to be said.

This year, as I’ve have read through the entire Bible, I’ve saw, time after time, what happened when his people took their eyes off the Lord and focused, for however briefly, upon an idol. They stumbled and fell, missed the ball completely, and often suffered much more than just loosing the game.

If, as Christians, we are determined to live our lives in and through Jesus, then it is imperative that we remain focused in that endeavor and practice, determinedly, the values of Christian living that Christ demonstrated for us.

I can think of no more appropriate words with which to end this year and begin a new year of Christian service than “let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us…by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends.”



My Message for this week
Consider the Christ
Text: Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. 21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

They are not wealthy people, the man, some years older than the woman is a carpenter by trade and the woman, who is engaged to him, is really only a teenager…a young teen at that.

Today their faces can be seen on the evening news most any night or in a photograph on the cover of Time or Newsweek. For this journey Mary and Joseph are without a home or shelter, much like those refugees we are so accustomed to seeing in the news. It is winter, it is cold and Mary is due to give birth at any moment, but still they go for it was decreed.

They make their way to Bethlehem where they must register and find that the tiny inn is full, there is no room. Was it a cruel innkeeper who turned them away? No, it was a kindly innkeeper who offered them shelter in the stable.

So there, in a lowly stable, not much more than a cave under the inn Mary and Joseph found shelter, and there it was that God decided to reveal himself to all humankind. The question is, “If Jesus came to reveal God to us, then what do I learn about God from that first Christmas?
Four words come to mind for us to ponder. HUMBLE….. APPROACHABLE….
UNDERDOG …… and COURAGEOUS. Let’s look at them one at a time.

Before Jesus almost no pagan author used “humble” as a compliment, yet the events of Christmas point inescapably to what seems like an oxymoron: a humble God. The God who came to earth came not in a raging whirlwind nor in a devouring fire..

HUMBLE. Unimaginably the Maker of all things shrank down…down…down…so small as to become an ovum, a single fertilized egg barely visible to the naked eye, an egg that would divide and re-divide until a fetus took shape --- enlarging cell by cell inside a nervous teenager.

“Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,” marveled the poet John Donne. “He made himself nothing, he humbled himself,” said the apostle Paul more prosaically. The God who showed up that first Christmas came in an unexpected glory, the glory of humility. “ ‘God is great,’ the cry of the Muslims, is a truth which needed a supernatural being to teach men,” writes Father Neville Figgis. “ That God is little, that is the truth which Jesus taught man.”

This is the God who emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder. It is a God who depended on a teenager for shelter, food, and love.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited this country some years ago the reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her 4000 pounds of luggage including two suits for every occasion … a mourning outfit in case someone died…40 pints of plasma….and white kid toilet seat covers.

She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost twenty million dollars…..

In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough.

APPROACHABLE. Those of us raised in a tradition of informal or private prayer may not appreciate the change that Jesus wrought in how human beings approach deity.

Hindus offer sacrifices at the temple. Kneeling Muslims bow down so low that their foreheads touch the ground. In most religious traditions, in fact, FEAR is the primary emotion when one approaches God.

But among the people who walled off a separate sanctum for God in the temple and shrank from pronouncing or spelling out the name, God made a surprise appearance in a manger. What can be less scary than a newborn with his limbs wrapped tight against his body? In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear. To illustrate this the first people invited to visit Jesus were lowly shepherds from the fields. Our God is certainly approachable.

UNDERDOG. Such a crude word, probably derived from dog fighting and applied over time to predictable losers and victims of injustice. Yet as we read the birth stories about Jesus we cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.

Even the family’s mother-tongue summoned up memories of their underdog status: Jesus spoke Aramaic, a trade language closely related to Arabic, a stinging reminder of the Jews’ subjection to foreign countries. Since God arranged the circumstances in which to be born on planet earth – without power or wealth, without rights, without justice – his preferential options speak for themselves.

COURAGEOUS: It took courage to risk descent to a planet known for its clumsy violence, among a race known for rejecting its prophets. What more foolhardy thing could God have done? The first night in Bethlehem required courage as well. How did God the Father feel that night, helpless as any human father, watching his Son emerge smeared with blood to face a harsh, cold world?

Lines from two different Christmas carols come to mind. First, “The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes,” seems to me a sanitized version of what took place in Bethlehem. I imagine Jesus cried like any other baby the night he entered the world, a world that would give him so much reason to cry as an adult.

The second, a line from “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” seems as profoundly true today as it did two thousand years ago: “The hopes and fears of all the years do rest on thee tonight.”

“Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator,” said G.K. Chesterton. The need for such courage began with Jesus’ first night on earth and did not end until his last.

Amen.

Peace and God’s blessings to you all from Pennsylvania.
Pastor John

Worship and Happenings at Pilgrim this coming week
Sunday, Dec. 19th. @ 6:30 PM Childrens Christmas Program followed by Birthday Party for Jesus
Tuesday, Dec. 21st @ 7:00 PM Choir Practice
Friday, Dec. 24th @ 9:00 PM CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Sunday, Dec. 26th ALL DAY >>> STUFF THE TRUCK <<<
Sunday, Dec. 26 @ 9:15 AM Sunday School Opening
Sunday, Dec. 26th @ 9:30 AM Sunday School
Sunday, Dec. 26, @ 10:30 Worship


BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Sunday, Dec. 19th ...Pat Jolly
Monday, Dec 20th ... Mackenzie Hughes
Tuesday, Dec. 21st ... Shelia Ward
Saturday, Dec. 25th ... Butch Everhart, Don Mize & Jesus Christ

THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT
For the week of December 19, 2010

Have you been to the mall lately? Of course you have, you must have been because it looks like everybody has been there shopping. If I didn’t see you in the mall then it was definitely in one of the bigger department stores. Maybe I saw you in Sam’s Club, crowded in with the thousands of others, each of whom seemed to be trying to empty the shelves. Joy to the world was not in anyone’s thoughts, nor I suspect, was peace on earth, good will to men. It was all about getting what you wanted before someone else got the last one.

A couple of weeks ago, as I crossed the parking lot into Sam’s I watched a man headed for his car with two, yes, two shopping carts, each practically over-flowing with what had to have been gifts. He was pushing one and pulling the other and looked like a little choo-choo. I’m not sure, but I think it was his wife right behind him with another cart full.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how much he had spent in there and I still wonder what part of his total Christmas shopping was represented by that one stop at Sam’s. I also wonder how long those gifts will last; will all of those presents still be in service or even wanted this time next year? Will any?

What impact will those gifts have upon the recipients? Will they be returned and exchanged for something else? Will they even remember who gave it to them a few years down the road?
All these thoughts came to mind as I read 1Timothy 2:6 (NLT). Paul writes, “He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” Now there’s a gift that no one will ever match. God gave his Son, who inturn, gave his life that we might know the joy and freedom that comes through that gift alone.

Can we give a gift as precious and lasting as eternal life? Why then, do we try to out spend God? Indeed, is there anything that we can give that can even approach God’s gift?

Yes, we can tell others about the salvation gift. We can donate a Bible to a shelter or a nursing home. We can visit in the hospital and tell others of the wonderful gift of life that can be theirs for the asking. It doesn’t take a shopping cart to carry the most precious of all gifts; it takes only a caring heart.


SERMON

Nothing Is Impossible With God

Sermon Text: Luke 1:26 38

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

In January of 2002, a hospital in London, England, mistakenly sent letters to over 30 unsuspecting patients informing them that they were pregnant. The hospital’s computer system, which normally is used to send form letters telling people that their operations have been postponed, was in the hands of a clerical worker who hit the wrong key.

And so, instead of informing patients about a rescheduled procedure, the computer sent identical form letters telling the recipients that they were “great with child.” Among the recipients of the letters were six elderly men.

Can you imagine the surprise of those six men? “Your doctor at Such-and-Such hospital is pleased to inform you that you are expecting a baby!” Quite a shock, to say the least. Some of the women were probably surprised as well. “How can it be?” some of them may have asked. “That’s not possible! I think I’m going to be sick!” There was possibly some high anxiety in the homes of some women patients who received this letter.

Don’t you think Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced troubling thoughts when the angel of the Lord first appeared to her? Mary was a virgin engaged to be married. She had never been with a man even the man she was to wed.

But one day, an angel of the Lord appears to her and announces, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Having an angel appear to you is surprise enough, but his message is a stunner.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Mary was doing when the angel appeared to her. She may have been deep in prayer at the time, but it’s doubtful. Women of that era didn’t have a lot of time to spend in spiritual contemplation. They were up at the crack of dawn baking bread and drawing water and cleaning the house and spinning yarn and mending clothes and grinding wheat and caring for children. Most likely, Mary was engaged in some boring domestic chore when the angel appeared to her.

The Lord chose to enter an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.
Luke records, “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’ ”(vs. 29-33, NIV).

It’s a story that never grows old. It thrills us every year with its simplicity and yet great beauty: “A virgin shall conceive . . .”

The impending birth of a child is a source of both joy and apprehension in most households. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will he or she be healthy? Who will the baby look like?

There are many superstitions and old wives’ tales that claim you can predict a child’s destiny by some physical characteristic at birth. According to a book of superstitions collected by Alvin Schwartz, here are a few indicators of your child’s destiny:

• If you have a bald-headed baby with big feet, it will get straight A’s.
• If it has a big mouth, it will be a good singer.
• If it has big ears, it will be generous.
• If it has curly hair, it will be lucky.
• If it is born on a Sunday or on New Year’s Day or during a full moon, or if it has a full set of teeth when it arrives, it also will be lucky.
• But if it has only one tooth, it will be a vampire.

Was the baby Jesus bald-headed, big-eared, or born on a Sunday? Who knows? Mary certainly wouldn’t need to use superstitions or old wives’ tales to tell what Jesus would be.

An angel told her before he was even born. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”

Author and Pastor Bruce Larson tells of how one mother’s prophecy shaped her child’s destiny. Don Morgan lost his mother when he was a small boy. Many years after her death, a family friend shared with Morgan the details of one of his mother’s last conversations.

The friend had asked, “Are you worried about Donny?” And the mother replied, “He’s going to be all right. He is going to serve God all the days of his life.”

Don Morgan was too young to really know his mother. No one had told him that this was her prediction for his life. How could she have known that he would become a pastor? Had God given her a special vision of his future? Morgan says he will never know the answer to that question on this side of heaven.

It is interesting to note that the angel refers to Jesus as “Son of the Most High.” There are many names for God in the Bible. There is El Olam, the God of Eternity. El Shaddai, God the Provider. Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is peace. But the angel identified Jesus, the coming Messiah, as the Son of El Elyon, the Most High God. This is a name of greatest power and glory.

It is almost as if the angel is saying to Mary, “The God of Anything-Is-Possible is speaking to you!” And the angel reinforces this message when he reminds her that her cousin Elizabeth, who was infertile and well past childbearing age, is also with child by God’s power. The conclusion to the angel’s message is: “For nothing is impossible with God.”

When you hear those words, how do you respond? Most of us nod our heads and smile. But do we really believe it?

Some of us, perhaps, have family members who are not believers. We have been praying that they will come to know God. But do we really believe that will happen? Hear the word of the Lord: “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Some of us may have loved ones who are trapped in addictions. We no longer recognize them as the people we once cared about. We pray for their restoration, but we’d be surprised if they actually kicked the habit. “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Some of us have lost our way in life. We’re not sure what we want, but we know it is not what we’ve currently got. We yearn to believe that there is more to life than constantly running like a hamster on a wheel. But do we believe that God has the answers for our life? “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Mary’s greatest qualification for being chosen as the Mother of God’s Son was her faith in God. When the angel told her that nothing is impossible with God, Mary believed him. It’s that simple. In spite of her poverty, in spite of her humble station in life, in spite of the Jews’ current oppression by the Roman government, in spite of the fact that Mary was a virgin she still believed that God could do exactly what God said God would do.

God works through those people who have faith in God and respond when God calls. Nothing else about them matters.

Abraham was too old, Moses lacked eloquence, Joseph was the youngest kid and he had a prison record, Ruth was a working-class widow, Rahab was a prostitute, David was a simple shepherd, Simon Peter had a temper and every last one of them experienced a transformed life when they put their faith in God. God chose them because they believed in God and they responded when God called.

Someone once said that one sign of spiritual maturity is, “the quiet confidence that God is in control, without the need to understand why He does what He does.” Mary had that kind of faith. She believed in God’s promise and she accepted God’s plan.

Think about it. “God, I’ll do anything You ask me to do, only spare my wife and children.” Could he not trust his own family to God?

He began to realize that his lack of surrender was choking off his relationship with the Lord. Once he surrendered his life entirely to God, his joy and faith returned. David Wilkerson became a successful evangelist, the founder of Teen Challenge, and the author of the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade.

In this Christmas season, Mary gives us the perfect example of how to say “YES” to God. Just for a moment, Mary is given a glimpse of eternity. Salvation has come, not just for the rich and powerful, but for the poor and oppressed. Salvation has come, not just through an earthly kingdom, but through an eternal kingdom. Salvation has come, not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.

Just for a moment, Mary experiences God’s vision for the redemption of humankind. How does she respond? “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” There is no more perfect way to say “yes” to God’s plan. She saw the vision, she accepted the promise, and she was included in God’s plans. That could be the story of every person who seeks to follow Jesus.

Evangelist Alan Walker once told about a girl who had a rich and lovely voice. She was singing in the choir of a church in East London. Her fame spread until one Christmas she was invited to sing one of the lead parts in “Messiah” at the Queen’s Hall.

One of her closest friends went to this girl’s teacher, asking whether he thought her friend was equal to the task.

Here was her teacher’s response: “If she tries to remember what I have tried to teach her,” he said, “and merely tries consciously to follow the rules of correct breathing and voice production, she will break down. But if she can forget everything and think only of the wonder of the message she is singing, she will be all right.”

The night came. At last she stepped forward and began singing, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

The music flowed in great beauty from her lips. She forgot the audience and the occasion, and sang as one who knew the meaning of it all, sang in the strength of the living Christ whom she knew and who was in power within her own life.

As she sang, the audience was strangely moved. That night was one to be remembered. Why? Because she was not trying merely to follow directions or obey a set of external rules; she had found a Spirit of power, within.

This Christmas season, you and I can experience power within our lives by saying “yes” to God’s plans and purposes. “Nothing is impossible with God.” Open your heart fully to Jesus, the Immanuel, God with us.

May Christ be born, or reborn, in you today.

Amen

Christmas lights at Tanglewood

JUST ONE OF THE MANY MAGNIFICIANT DISPLAYS
OUR TWO GROUPS SAW THIS YEAR.

The Happenings at Pilgrim Reformed Church for the week of December 12, 2010

Our church Calendar for the week of December 12, 2010
Tuesday, Dec, 13th
7:00 PM ... Choir practice
Thursday, Dec. 16th
7:00 PM ... Choir practice
Saturday, Dec. 18
1000 AM Fill treat bags
Sunday, Dec. 19
9:15 AM ... Sunday School opening
9:30 AM ... Sunday School
10:30 AM ... Worship Service
6:30 PM ... Children's Christmas Program followed by a Birthday Party for Jesus

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Wednesday, December 15,th ,,,, Van Everhart & Richard Swing

If you would like to donate to the cost of filling the treat bags please see Johnny Sink


THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT


Just the other day I was going through the toy section of a large department store where they have all the dolls one could imagine and was amazed at the tremendous variety there are. There were dolls for every occasion, or you could even purchase a doll that had an extensive wardrobe and then you could dress it for whatever occasion your doll might find itself attending and it seemed there was an endless wardrobe o from which to choose. By chance, as I was passing through the display I noticed a young girl with her mother. The child looking closely at one doll exclaimed, “Oh Mommy, I just love her! And look at all the clothes she can wear!”

I thought of this encounter this week as I was reading Paul’s letters to Ephesians and Colossians. In Ephesians 1:3 and 7 (NLT) he writes, “…we belong to Christ…He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son.” My mind flashed back to that child in the store and I hoped the doll would get to belong to her just as we belong to Christ. What a shame, however, that the doll would never know its owners love as we know Christ’s love; would never be able to return love or communicate affection; would never even be able to dress itself to please its owner.

Though all the clothes were in the dolls little wardrobe it could put nothing on itself to make the child happy. Here again we differ from the doll. Colossians 3:12 (NLT) says, “Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

God has told us what we must wear but we have to choose to put them on. Remember how proud we were when our mother exclaimed the first time we dressed ourselves, “Oh, how nice you look!” God is just like mom and we should feel proud to please him. But look at Colossians 3:14 (NLT) “… the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love.”

Unfortunately you can’t see these clothes on yourself in a mirror, but others will see them and God most certainly will give you a thumbs up every time you’re dressed in your Christian “outfit.”





Sermon, December 12, 2010


WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME?
Sermon Text: John 1:6 8, 19 28 (NIV)

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
24 Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Have you ever been frustrated because you were trying to talk to someone who simply was not listening? Would you wives hold up your hand? Isn’t it frustrating to feel like no one is listening to you? --- Don’t you want to yell, “Pay attention! This is important!”
In our Bible passage today, a man named John has come to the people of Bethany, near Jerusalem, with an urgent message--a message of the utmost importance.
“There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

Can you imagine a message more important than that? “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

Before he was even born, John was chosen for this most important job. ----- An angel came to John’s future parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and told them that they would have a son. ---- And this son would be an instrument of God.

In Luke 1, verses 16 and 17, the angel says, “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

And so, from a young age, John knew his purpose in life: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. To make them ready to receive the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the One who would restore the throne of Israel and set the Israelites free from the oppression of the Roman government.

Actor Jimmy Cagney once gave this advice to a fellow actor, “Walk in, plant yourself, look the other fellow in the eye and tell the truth.”

That was John’s method of spreading the message. --- He didn’t use fancy language. --- He didn’t call attention to himself. He called the people to repentance and the washing away of sins; he even baptized them as a symbol of this new life they would lead when the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, came.

And the people listened! But they did not understand. Some of the leaders of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, became concerned when they heard of John’s claims.
Weren’t THEY the official voice of religion among the people? So who was this John, and where did he get the authority to preach that the Messiah was coming?

The exchange between John and the priests and Levites in verses 19 through 27 resemble a “yeah-well” interview. Somebody seems to be missing the point.

First, the priests and Levites want to know if John is the Messiah.
No, I’m not, John replies.

Are you Elijah? they continued. ---- Second Kings, chapter 2, records that the prophet Elijah never died, but was transported directly to heaven in a chariot of fire. For this reason, the Jewish people had always believed that Elijah may come back to announce the Messiah. Remember, this was in last Sunday’s Sunday School lesion?

But again, John said no. Was he some other Prophet? No, again. Wasn’t anybody really listening to him? He surely thought to himself. Why won’t they listen? His job was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah.

To make his point clearer, John quotes from the prophet Isaiah, who, more than 700 years before Jesus’ birth, gave us the best description of the Messiah in the whole Old Testament. Isaiah 40, verses 3-5 read, “A voice of one calling; ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”

John drives this point home by altering the wording slightly: “I AM the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” Don’t they get it? ---- It’s not about me, John is saying. ----- Who cares who I am? ---- I’m telling you about the Messiah. That’s the whole point.

“I baptize with water,” John replies, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
The removing of another’s sandals was the job reserved for the most menial, least respected servant in a household. Yet this is how John views himself and his mission in relation to Jesus. “He came only as a witness.”

It is interesting to note that the word “witness,” used in both its noun and verb forms, appears more times in the Gospel of John than in any of the other three Gospels combined. This is John the Baptist’s “singular purpose” in the world.

John used a variety of images to communicate his mission.

In a discussion with his own disciples about his relationship with Jesus, John said, “You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full.”

In the Middle East, it was customary for the friend of the bridegroom (today we call him the best man) to be sure that no one went into the room of the bride except the proper lover, that is, the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stood by the door so that only the bridegroom could enter. Therefore, the bridegroom would have to identify himself, usually by speaking a few words.

Using this imagery, John says that his responsibility was merely to introduce the bride to the bridegroom, that is, to introduce Israel to Christ. John’s task was to “make straight the way for the Lord.” And that is our task today. On this third Sunday in Advent we are to prepare a straight road into our hearts. How are we to do that?

ACCORDING TO JOHN, WE ARE TO REPENT OF OUR SINS AND BE BAPTIZED INTO A NEW LIFE. Baptism is a symbol of death and re-birth, a symbol of washing away the old life. To receive Jesus into your life is not the same thing as adding on a new room to a house.

It requires instead that we demolish the old house, every part of it, and build a brand-ne
w one on a new foundation. We must give up our old way of life before we can receive the abundant life that Jesus came to give. We cannot receive the Messiah, His presence or message or mission, unless we are ready for it.

How will you prepare for this Advent season? How will you “make straight the way for the Lord?” Are there un-confessed sins, fears, prejudices, habits that are keeping you from a fruitful, committed Christian lifestyle? Is there apathy or unbelief in your life that needs to be confronted?

Advent is not meant to be a warm and fuzzy season in the life of the church. It is a time that demands soul-searching and repentance and change.

Author Patsy Clairmont wrote that one year, she decided to write “Noel,” the French word for Christmas, in bright lights on the roof of her house. Unfortunately, she ran out of lights halfway through the project, so she ended up with just the word “NO” in flashing, multicolored lights on her roof.

Some of us want to say “NO” to the Christmas season too. We are too rushed to enjoy it. We are too detached to experience it. We are too cynical to believe in it.

There is only one solution to our problem: we must prepare a road in our hearts for the Messiah to come in. We must repent and be baptized into a new life.

The Alcan Highway built as a lifeline to Alaska during World War II and was built over the roughest sections of land instead of the easier and more direct western slope because of fear of a Japanese invasion. Old-timers recounted instances of having big pieces of equipment swallowed in the soft tundra, or mile-long sections carried away by raging torrents after a rain. The work of building the road was both frustrating and dangerous.

Why did they do it? Because their country needed that road. It was as simple as that. A diesel operator named Tiny put it well. He said, “We belonged to the nation and we got sent!”
This was John’s simple answer also. “I was from the nation of Israel, and I got sent.”

Road-building is a difficult job. Society tells us that this season is a time for tinsel and bright lights and materialism. The Bible tells us that this is a time to examine our hearts and abandon our old ways.

Which road will you choose this season? I pray it will be the road to a new life in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Pilgrim's gifts to those in need.

Jack said this was about the best load ever!
This is what loving your neighbor is all about.
Amen and Amen!

What's happening at Pilgrim this week

Monday, December 6th 6:00 PM Property Meeting in Library
Tuesday, December 7th 7:00 PM Children's Practice
8:00 PM Choir Practice
Wednesday, December 8th 1:00 PM The Pilgrim Circle visits Abbotts Creek Rehab with gifts for residents to give to family members.
7:00 PM Finance Meetinc in Library
Thursday, December 9th 4:00 PM Senior trip to Tangelwood
7:00 PM Choir Practice
Friday, December 10th 4:00 PM Senior Trip to Tangelwood
Sunday, December 12th 9:15 Sunday School Opening
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship Service including our wonderful Cantata.
Sermon: "Would You Please Listen To Me" John 1:6-8,19-28

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Monday, December 6th ..... Doris Cranford
Tuesday, December 7th .... Chip Edwards
Thursday, December 9th.... Rita Hodges




THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT

“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” is a common saying. In many ways, perhaps, it is the very foundation of our everyday lives and if we were to stray too far from this concept society, as we know it, would most certainly crumble.

This kind of reciprocal arrangement, however, is not something that humankind invented although many seem to think they came up with the idea. Economists use the “law” of supply and demand as the basic tenet of commerce. Nor did scientists invent the idea or “law” that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Expressed in our everyday lives I am willing to give $2.77 cents for a gallon of gas or $24.95 for a shirt simply because I have need of what I am purchasing and feel the exchange is fair. When this equation becomes too one sided commerce stops. Either we refuse to buy or the other refuses to sell. In business both sides must be satisfied.

A successful marriage has this same concept as its foundation. There must be at least reasonably equal giving for a relationship to last. This, of course, also has the benefit on the flip side, there is equal receiving.

But how does this work in our daily religious life? Are we givers as well as receivers? The apostle Paul addresses this idea in the very beginning of his letter to the Romans. He writes in Romans 1:12 (NLT) I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be blessed.

This powerful Christian knew that faith had to be shared to be successful. Even as strong a believer as Paul was he needed the encouragement of others. He knew that the church could only survive where people were willing to be blessings to each other and in equal measure.

So, how do we measure up? Do we bless others only as we are blessed by them? Do we pray for others as we would have them pray for us? Do we love others as we would have them love us? If not, we had better “get with the program” because the future of the church depends on it.



Sermon,December 5, 2010

EXPECTANT LIVING
Sermon Text: 2 Peter 3:8 15a

The Advent season is a season, a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. Unfortunately, most see it as a time of getting ready for….Christmas.

At this time of year, many children have already written, or are just sitting down to write, their letters to Santa. It’s exciting trying to fit all your wishes into one well-worded little note. Maybe it would sound something like these letters:

Dear Santa, Please give me a doll this year. I would like her to eat, walk, do my homework, and help me clean my room. Thank you, Jennie

Dear Santa, Thanks for the race car last year. Can I have another one, only this time one that is faster than my best friend’s race car? Roger

Dear Santa, I wish you could leave a puzzle under the tree for me. And a toy for my sister. Then she won’t want to play with mine and I can have it to myself. Merry Christmas, Cassie.

Dear Santa, You can send me one of everything from the boys’ section of the Sears catalog. But nothing from the girls’ section. I can’t wait for Christmas to come. Kent

Dear Santa, Could you come early this year? I’ve been really super good, but I don’t know if I can last much longer. Please hurry. Love, Jordan.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? To children, Christmas seems to take forever to arrive. And it is so hard trying to be good while you wait for Santa to come. Like little Jordan, we are tempted to ask Santa to hurry up and get here earlier, before we break under the strain of all that unnaturally good behavior.

Children can relate to today’s Bible passage. The Christians in the early church are waiting for Jesus to return. They are excited. They are ready. But days pass, and then months, and then years. They are still waiting. People around them begin to mock their faith. False teachers infiltrate the church and fill their minds with doubt.

“So, where’s this Jesus you’re waiting for? Do you think he forgot about you?” They go so far as to suggest that God no longer works in human history. Maybe God just set this world in motion and then went out to lunch. And never came back.

And sadly, many Christians start to believe them. Maybe Jesus isn’t returning. Like little children at Christmas time who get tired of being good, some of these early believers go back to their old ways of life.

So Simon Peter, a follower of Jesus, writes this letter to reassure the believers in the early church.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.

So, waiting for Christ’s return became an important element in Christian life. The final chapter in God’s love affair with humanity has not yet been written. Christ is coming again to take us unto himself.

Some of you may remember writer James Thurber’s story of a thin and lanky prophet who went around Thurber’s boyhood hometown crying, “Get ready! Get ready! The world is coming to an end!” The community called him the Get-Ready Man. Many citizens ignored him; most thought he was a kook.

Simon Peter knew what that was like. The society of his day didn’t want to believe him either. But the Bible tells us very clearly that someday, the Get-Ready Man and Simon Peter will be proved right. And will any of us be ready for that day?

Phillips Brooks, the 19th century Christian leader who composed the beautiful Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” once wrote: “The coming of the Lord has been the inspiration of the Christian world. The power of any life lies in its expectancy.”

“The power of any life lies in its expectancy.” What are you expecting this Christmas season? Are you expecting crowds of people, jam-packed schedules, family tensions, stress-filled shopping expeditions?

Are you expecting a big Christmas bonus, or a Martha Stewart-inspired party? Or are you expecting to meet Jesus?

THE POWER OF EXPECTANCY STARTS WITH SEEING LIFE THROUGH GOD’S ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. If you and I are discouraged, downhearted, dispirited it is because we are looking at the world through human eyes and not Divine eyes.

Pastor Ron Mehl counseled a young woman who was deeply disillusioned with her life. This woman had bought society’s concept of who she should be. She had done all the things that her friends were doing.

And she was miserable. She cried, “I’ve lost my virginity. I’ve lost my sense of values, I’m twenty-one years old, and I’m just tired. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I thought it was going to be so good.”

Here is a young woman who made the mistake of living with an earthly perspective. She bought the lie of the “good life” that is promoted so successfully in our movies and magazines and commercials. She thought that the purpose of her life was to “grab all the gusto” she could get. And at just twenty-one, she is already tired and hurt and disillusioned. She is not alone.

There are many people in this world, especially young adults, who have given up on achieving a fulfilling life. They are afraid of relationships. They live as virtual loners. They’ve done it all and have nothing left to show for their experience, except a bad case of disillusionment.

These are exactly the people that Peter is talking to in this letter. They started out as Christ-followers. But the ways of the world looked so attractive to them.

“Come on, everybody’s doing it.” “If it feels good, do it.” “Life is short. Play hard.” “All the beautiful people do it.” Looking at the world through human eyes.

But how do we take on an eternal perspective? How do we see the world as God sees the world?
WE DO IT, FIRST OF ALL, BY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD WILL EVENTUALLY PERISH, EXCEPT GOD.

Nothing in this world is permanent. Our favorite car will rust out. Our nice house will decay. Our best pair of jeans will fray and fade. Our money will be passed on to our heirs and the IRS. And when Jesus returns to claim his kingdom, everything we strive for and hold dear will be destroyed. ---- Everything. ----- Only the soul is eternal.

As Peter says in this letter, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?”

Journalists Bill and Judith Moyers did a documentary on death and dying in the U.S. They discovered that many of the terminal patients they interviewed found peace in the face of death. In fact, many of them found greater meaning and beauty in life after learning that they would die. One man lived four years past his doctor’s prognosis. In that time, he learned to cherish every moment of life. As he said, “If you are told you will never see spring again, and you live to see spring, spring takes on a whole new life.”

Nothing focuses our priorities quite like the knowledge of our own mortality. Advent is not a season for focusing on a morbid subject like death. But it is a season for looking beyond the present moment to the eternal, and then evaluating our life in the perspective of eternity.
So the question for this Second Sunday in Advent is, what do you want to do with your life?
For the Christian, there is only one answer: to live in a loving relationship with God and with everyone else with whom we share this planet.

THAT’S WHAT ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS ARE ABOUT--CLAIMING THE MOMENT--TAKING TIME TO NURTURE THOSE RELATIONSHIPS THAT MATTER MOST.

The Qiché Indians of Guatemala take the concept of purposeful living very seriously. Each Qiché tribe has a person who serves as a “day keeper.” The day keeper’s job is to show the other members of his tribe how to use each day well, making every moment count.

To the day keepers, living each day well is an art form, and it requires concentration and guidance. The day keepers remind the people to do every job, no matter how mundane, with a sense of purpose.

Let’s take this message from the apostle Peter and use it as our “day keeper,” to remind us of how we should live holy and fruitful lives. The Christmas season, as most of us experience it, seems almost designed to distract us from God-centered living. There is so much pressure to shop, - shop, - shop and rush, - rush, - rush and spend, - spend, spend.

And all for what? How many of us remember the Christmas presents we got last year? The gifts of Christmas are temporary; the message of Christmas is eternal. The Almighty God came to earth in the form of a man.

Christ lived among us and shared our suffering and pain. He died a horrible death in order to save us from our sins. He opened up the way to eternal life for us. And someday, he will come again to establish his perfect and eternal kingdom here on earth.

Until that day, our job is to share the love of Jesus Christ with everyone we know.
Our greatest legacy will be the lives of those who know God’s love because of our efforts. Whose life will be transformed because you shared with them the love of Jesus?

Claim this moment for God. Let that be the true present you give this Christmas. The present of a life lived out in service to God and service to others

Amen

HAPPENINGS AT PILGRIM REFORMED CHURCH THIS WEEK

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP, STUDY AND SERVICE
THIS WEEK

Tuesday, November 30 ...
7:00 pm Bible study
8: 00 Choir
Wednesday, December 1 ...
7:00 PM Pilgrim Circle Meeting in Parsonagwe
Thursday, December 2 ...
7:00 PM Choir
Sunday, December 5 ...
9:15 Sunday School Opening
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship & Holy Communion
6:00 Youth Fellowship

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Saturday, December 4 ... Brenda Truell


THIS PASTOR'S VIEWPOINT
John H. Bigelow
For the week of November 28, 2010

There was a beautiful “contemporary folksong” sung many years ago I believe by Glen Yarbrough, one of the better known members of a group called the Limelighters. I believe the title was “How Easy We Forget.” It used different alliterations to begin each verse, such as “Give me a rose in the wintertime,” “Tell me of peace when there’s talk of war,” and “Give me your love in the autumn years,” but each verse was completed by the phrase “How easy we forget.”

I was reminded of this song in reading what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:1 (NLT) “I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, what happened to our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. God guided them all … and he brought them all safely through the waters of the sea on dry ground.” This event is certainly one of the most vivid accounts of God’s intervention in the affairs of his people for their welfare.

Indeed, without God’s guiding presence and the parting of the Red Sea, it is hard to imagine a successful outcome of the Hebrew’s escape from Egypt. The entire episode was told and retold down through the years so that it is unlikely that there were any who did not know of what God had done and was still capable of doing for his people.

Yet, how easily the Hebrews forgot. How quickly we, too, turn from the experiences of the past, those lessons learned in times of real trial by either ourselves or those who came before, and think we can do things “our” way.

Paul exhorts us to not forget, or to turn from following God and his leadership. As God delivered his people by the parting of the sea, he delivers us by the blood of his Son shed upon the cross.
Perhaps a new verse might be added to the folk song that would go something like this, “Tell me of Christ when the times are hard, or when I’m feeling low. Tell me of Christ and his promises, I’ve got nowhere else to go. God is good, most any time and yet, So tell me of Christ when the times are hard, how easy I forget."

Sermon, November 28, 2010, First Sunday of Advent

HUNGRY FOR GOD


Sermon Text: Isaiah 64:1 9 (NIV)

Bible scholar E. Schuyler English received a phone call one day.
A woman’s voice said, “Dr. English, I am calling from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The hand of God is here.”

Excuse me? thought Dr. English. The hand of God is at the museum?

Then Dr. English recalled that several months before, he had ordered a replica of Rodin’s sculpture, The Hand of God, from the museum gift shop. It had finally arrived.

The prophet Isaiah was eager to see the hand of God at work among his people. He implores the Almighty, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you . . .”

Welcome, on this first Sunday of Advent the season of the church year set aside to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. This is also a season of anticipation and joy. ------ The world waits to celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down . . .”

Arthur Gordon tells of a friend of his, an Episcopal minister, who was deaf and almost blind, but he was also a person of great faith and joy. It was Christmas time.

Gordon and his friend went into a crowded drugstore. On the back of the entrance door was a mirror. This mirror was placed so that as they turned to leave, his friend’s reflection came forward to meet him.

Thinking that someone else was approaching, the kindly, but the almost blind clergyman stepped aside. So, naturally, did the image.

Again Gordon’s friend moved forward and once more met himself. Again the old pastor retreated. A hush fell on spectators in the store who did not know quite what to say or do.
On his third advance, Gordon’s companion realized he was facing a mirror. “Why!” he cried, “it’s only me!” He made a grand bow to his reflection. “Good to see you, old boy! Merry Christmas!”
The whole store exploded in delighted laughter and one bystander said, ‘That man really has what it takes.”

Advent is a season of surprises. We await the celebration of Christ’s birth, and we wait for the fullness of God to be revealed.

Isaiah lived in a time when God seemed to be conspicuously absent. It was he who wrote that “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” (9:2) Darkness was a good description of the people’s plight in Isaiah’s time. Had God forsaken them? Isaiah longed for some sign of God’s presence and power. The absence of God speaks almost as loudly as does God’s presence.
When you have been separated from the presence of God for too long, you either stop caring about it, or you hunger for a move from God that is so earth-shaking that it leaves no room for doubt or apathy.

In this passage, Isaiah is reacting to the absence of God among the people of Israel. You and I can appreciate that. Many of us hunger for God to show Himself in our lives. Was there ever a time when you yearned to know that God was with you?

Maybe there was a season of your life when doubt and anxiety crowded your every thought. You had to convince yourself to get out of bed in the morning. You tried to pray, and the words just wouldn’t come. Have you ever sent up a desperate prayer like this, “God, just show me that You are real. Just show me that you are there. I can’t make it without You.”

Christian singer Chris Rice begins a song about searching for God with these words: “I would take ‘no’ for an answer, just to know I’d heard your voice.”

But why would God remove His presence from His chosen people, the people of Israel?

This was the same God who had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt; at one time this God had been a constant, visible presence in their lives. He had taken the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to guide and protect them in the wilderness. He had sent manna, food, every day so that the people would not have to worry about their physical needs. He had sent numerous prophets, judges, priests, and kings to lead the people and administer God’s justice. Why would God, who had shown such constant attention and care before, seemingly turn His back on God’s people?

We see the answer in the second half of verse 5: “But when we continued to sin against [God’s ways], you were angry . . . you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.”

So here is one answer to the absence of God: Our sins separate us from God and keep us from experiencing God’s presence.

When we knowingly and repeatedly do that which we know is not God’s will for our lives, we feel ourselves separated from God. Let me say very clearly that not every instance of the absence of God is due to some sin in our lives. Those of you who are extremely conscientious don’t need to use this Bible passage as luggage for your guilt trip.

But in many cases, we fail to experience God’s presence and power because we have allowed un-confessed sin to separate us from God. We have turned from God….not he from us!

A newspaper reporter researched a story on pilot training in the Air Force. I found this particularly interesting as Sue’s nephew was an F-15 fighter pilot and just recently retired from active duty. The reporter wrote that in these training sessions pilots are warned about “hypoxia,” or lack of oxygen to the brain.

The pilots are put in a simulation chamber that simulates the atmospheric conditions at 30,000 feet in the air. Then, the pilots are told to remove their oxygen masks. Next, they are asked to write out the answers to a few questions. Within a minute after they begin writing, their partner in the training exercise will move quickly to force the oxygen mask back on the would-be pilot’s head. Why?

Well, of course they don’t want to kill pilots in training but … moments after receiving the oxygen, the pilot looks down at his paper and is shocked to discover that his answers are illegible. Here’s what unnerves him. He thought he was writing clearly.

Similarly, spiritually starved people may not know anything is wrong, but unless someone explains how to obtain the ‘breath of life,’ those disconnected from God will never gain spiritual ‘consciousness.’

The people of Israel were so caught up in their sins that they had lost spiritual consciousness. Isaiah was begging God to revive them. At this time, the people of Israel had wandered into idolatry, worshiping foreign gods. Many of them had abandoned the guidelines for purity that had marked them as a chosen people.

Widows, orphans, strangers, and poor people had once been protected among the Israelites. Now, they were exploited and oppressed.

In Isaiah chapter 30, the prophet declares, “These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’” (vs. 9-11). (NIV)

“Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.” This is a vivid picture of a people who are on spiritual life support. They are very near death. They prefer lies to the truth. They know that they are living in sin, and they don’t want to be reminded of the danger they are in.

A preacher once compared the hardening effects of sin to an athlete’s calluses. He used the game of baseball as an example. He noted that “at the beginning of the season when you begin swinging the bat in practice, you soon develop blisters and have to stop. But a good thing you can do is come back the next day and swing the bat a few times again. Then come back the next day and swing a few more times. Before you know it, by swinging the bat over and over, you will develop calluses and be able to hit home runs all day without hurting your hands.”

He went on to say, “In the same way, when we repeat a type of sin day after day, we grow hardened to it. Our hearts callous over, and we sin without even feeling it anymore.” “We have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away… ”

The people are dying from their sins, and still they don’t want to turn away. The prophet Isaiah, who was called by God to bring the people back to Him, fears that God will completely abandon them. And so he cries out that God will show His hand: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.”

Maybe you have felt that same desperation. You, too, have prayed that you might see any sign of God’s work in your life. The silence was deafening. And you wondered, is there any reason left to have hope? And the answer is, yes.

Because God made us, God can also save us. As long as we are in God’s hands, there is still hope.
After all these words of despair, we come to verses 8 and 9: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.”

In these two verses, Isaiah tells us that we cannot save ourselves from our sins. But God, as a loving Father, can and will do so. We can be re-created in God’s image. Just like a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel, we may lose our shape temporarily. But so long as we stay in the potters’ hands, we can still be molded into something worthwhile.

Some Sundays ago I told of often visiting the shop of a friend who is potter and I was puzzled by one operation which seemed to have little purpose. Norman was beating a lump of clay with a large mallet. It looked as if nothing was happening, so naturally I asked, “Why are you doing that?”

“Just wait and watch the results; then you’ll understand,” was the reply. Heeding the advice I soon noted that the top of the lump of clay began to quiver and swell as little bumps formed on its surface.

“Now you can see the need for the pounding,” he pointed out. “I could never shape the clay into a worthwhile vessel if these bubbles remained in it, so I must gradually work them out.”
Have you ever experienced God working out the bubbles in your life? Sometimes it’s not pretty, but it is necessary. The hand of God is at work seeking to save that which was lost.

And that is the meaning of Advent: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” (II Corinthians 5:18)

Pastor Richard Exley tells of a Puerto Rican woman called Black Evie who found Jesus when she had hit the bottom of the barrel. Evie was a drug addict.

One day, Evie came down from a three-day high to find her infant daughter dead. ------ Evie had no idea what had happened to her child. Not long afterwards, Evie suffered a mental breakdown and was sentenced to a hospital for the criminally insane. She descended into a catatonic, uncommunicative state.

A local pastor began visiting Evie in the hospital. Every day, he read Bible verses to her. She sat and stared straight ahead, not responding in any way. Seven months passed before the pastor broke through to Evie.

One day, as he read to her from God’s Word, a tear trickled down Evie’s face. By the end of the week, Evie was out of her catatonic state. She prayed with the pastor and gave her life to Jesus. Today, Evie became the director of a rehabilitation program in Puerto Rico.

God has come to us in the babe of Bethlehem. We may not see the heavens rend or the mountains tremble. But God is at work in the lives of those who open themselves to Him.
Advent… A time of preparation …. A time to open ourselves and be ready for His coming.

Amen.

Opportunities for Service and Worship
Tuesday, November 23 …
7:00 PM Bible study
8:00 PM Choir
Thursday, November 25 …
All Day THANKSGIVING
Church office closed.
Sunday, November 28 …
All day STUFF THE TRUCK
9:15 Sunday School Opening
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship
11:30 Annual Church Meeting

Everyday… Please be in prayer for each other.

Birthdays this week
Tuesday, Nov. 23rd …
Katherine Davis & David Rollins
Thursday, Nov. 25th …
Sylvia DuVall
Friday Nov. 26th …
Mary Alice Swing
Saturday, Nov. 27th …
Travis Hege & Gerald Hege
Sunday, Nov. 28th …
Shirley Truitt

This week's Pastor's Viewpoint and Sermon follow

THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT

I had a friend, a member of a former church, who was searching for God’s will in his life. He had come to a job related crossroad. One direction offered, it seemed, great promise in terms of possible career advancement and income as well as the opportunity to get away from a superior he didn’t like. But, making this choice meant he would have to move far away, disrupt his family among other things not to mention also leaving his church home in which he was very active..
He did a lot of praying. He prayed “God, please show me direction – to stay in a muddled political mess here, or leave for potential big money.”

Within minutes he saw the initials G-O-D on the back of a truck that had just merged into his lane. Almost immediately he saw the word CHRISTIAN on a billboard and then a truck trailer parked at a home and garden business that he was sure said “Jahway” on it’s side. Looking back he saw it said “Roadway” but he was still sure he saw “Jahway.”

He turned off the highway he was on and a red truck in front of him advertised that it had been sold by James Ford. He then passed 13th Street and then a mailbox that had only the word “four” on it.

As soon as he got home he began trying to make sense of these “clues” and thought that perhaps the Bible could cast some light upon the mystery. He found there was no chapter 13 in James so he tried James 4:13 and here’s what he found. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. ‘ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:13-17 NIV).

Look at what we also find in James 1:5-6 (NLT) . “If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you….But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer.” My friend asked and received because he expected God to answer. I might add that his experience reminds me of the last line in Robert Frost’s Road Not Taken…”And that has made all the difference.” It certainly did in my friends life…he stayed.

What would you like to ask God and are you prepared to seek his answer? He’s got one waiting and it too could make all the difference in your life.



Sermon, November 21, 2010



REACHING OUR FULL POTENTIAL
Sermon Text: Matthew 25:14 30 (NIV)

A young man was seen pedaling around a college campus with a T shirt reading “I’m going to be a doctor.” A sign on the back of his bicycle proclaimed: “I’m going to be a Mercedes.”

Roy L. Smith once told the odd case of an Australian youth who suffered a concussion while serving with the armed forces in Korea. At the time of his injury the young man was 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall. The blow started strange reactions within this soldier’s body so that he began to grow. Today he stands 6 feet 3 ½ inches high!

Needless to say this is a very strange case. But there are innumerable instances of people who never grow to reach their full intellectual and spiritual stature until after they suffer some terrible blow.

Here is the question for the day: Are you reaching your full potential as a follower of Jesus Christ? Are you growing because of some blow you have suffered or simply because you long in your heart to be more like Jesus, are you moving forward in your spiritual life?

In Matthew 25, Jesus warns his followers that the kingdom of heaven, the fulfillment of God’s plan for humanity, will come upon them suddenly, at a time when they least expect it. And then he gives them a number of parables, or word pictures, of what this kingdom of heaven will be like.

In verses 14-30, Jesus says, 14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 ”‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. What is Jesus saying here? How are we to apply this ancient parable to our lives today?

I love this inspirational poem from Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, a former president of Morehouse College which can well guide us through the ups and downs of life.

“Life is just a minute / Only sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon you, can’t refuse it. / Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,
But it’s up to you to use it. / You must suffer if you lose it,
Give account if you abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute,/ But eternity is in it.”

And this catchy little poem perfectly captures our first point for today. According to Jesus’ parable of the Kingdom we will be held accountable for the stewardship of our lives.
Most of us connect the word “stewardship” to the wise management of our money or our time. But God has blessed us with infinitely more resources than just our time and money. We are called to be wise and generous stewards of our health, -- our intellect, -- our compassion, -- our wisdom and life experience, -- our influence, -- and our relationships.

In this parable, we are called to invest our lives in such a way that we see a rich return. Jesus is encouraging us to dream great dreams – to make our lives count for something. Some of us would prefer not to have great dreams. A man once said, “It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows by the cultivation of an insignificant life.”

And that’s true. You can escape much pain and trouble if you never take a risk, never give of yourself freely, never step out in faith. But you will be missing so much of the abundant life that Jesus promises to his followers.

Are you cultivating an insignificant life? The best way to answer that question is to examine your motives. Are you working at your job to bring glory to God, or to get a paycheck?

Are you using your paycheck in a wise and generous manner taking care of your family and contributing to the Lord’s work? Or are you using your money to indulge in more stuff or more status symbols to impress your neighbors?

How do you use your time? Do you submit your time to God first, before you ever fill out your Day-Timer?

What about your relationships? Do you work to build others up, or tear others down? Or do your needs always come first? Do you care about others for themselves, or for what they can do for you? Do you take more than you give? Do you look for the opportunity to share your faith with others?

Famed baseball player Mickey Mantle died at age sixty-three of alcohol-related liver disease. Not long before his death, Mantle said to someone, “You talk about a role model? This is a role model: Don’t be like me . . . God gave me the ability to play baseball and I wasted it. I was given so much, and I blew it. I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up. I want to start giving something back.”

How sad it is to discover at the end of your days that you have been cultivating an insignificant life! No amount of money or fame or status can make up for a life that was spent in self-centeredness and vanity.

The second point of this parable is that our view of God affects the stewardship of our life. The first and second servants trusted their master’s commands. Even when he was gone, they proved trustworthy and wise in their handling of the master’s property. And in the end, they earned the master’s trust and fellowship. But the third servant viewed his master as a hard, unpredictable man and acted accordingly.

How do you view God? Do you see God as an absentee parent, a vague abstraction, a cosmic police officer? Do you see God as a hard-to-please taskmaster who piles on more expectations than you can possibly fulfill? Do you skip over those verses that speak of God as kind, gentle, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love? It is vitally important to examine your view of God, because your view of God will affect your ability to step out in faith.

Pastor Michael Yaconelli used to play an unusual game of hide-and-seek with his two young sons. Yaconelli would hide while his sons looked for him. Just moments before the boys found him, Yaconelli would jump out of his hiding place with a loud shout. Naturally, his two boys would run off screaming in the other direction.

But one time, the boys turned the table on their father. Just as he popped out of his hiding place, the older boy announced, “Hey! He isn’t a monster. It’s our dad! Attack!” And the two boys pounced on their father with giggles and hugs.

Pastor Yaconelli likens this moment to the time when we come face to face with God, our Heavenly Father. At first, we may feel immobilizing fear. At the same time, we cannot help but acknowledge that this incredible Presence is also our loving Father.

When you trust God’s leading, you will be able to follow. When you trust God’s provision, you can give of your resources generously. When you trust God’s love and mercy, you can share that love and mercy with others. Everything starts with your view of God!
And finally, Jesus is teaching us through this parable that what we do here in life has eternal significance. Our influence stretches on for many generations, long after we are gone. One life can have an immeasurable impact on this world. And when we invest our lives in glorifying God, God will honor that investment by multiplying it far beyond anything we could do with simple human effort.

There is a beautiful prayer by John Piper that expresses the desire to let God work through us for His glory. Piper prays daily, “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.” That is the prayer of a man who is an obedient servant of God.

Lois Cheney in her book, God is no Fool, tells a revealing parable about a man who was touched by God. God gave this man a priceless gift --- the capacity for love. The man was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried this capacity for love like a jewel and he walked tall and with purpose.

From time to time he would show this gift to others, and they would smile and stroke his jewel. But it seemed that they’d also dirty it up a little. Now, this was no way to treat such a precious thing, so the man built a box to protect his jewel. And he decided to show it only to those who would treat it with respect and meet it with a reverent love of their own.

Even that didn’t work, for some tried to break into the box. So the man built a bigger, stronger box, one that no one could get into, and he felt good. At last he was protecting the jewel as it should be.

Upon occasion, when he decided that someone had earned the right to see it, he’d show it proudly. But they sometimes refused, or perhaps they smudged it, or just glanced at it disinterestedly. Much time went by, and then only once in a while would someone pass by the aging man. He would pat his box and say, “I have the loveliest of jewels in here.”

Once or twice he opened the box and offered it saying, “Look and see. I want you to.” And the passerby would look and look, and look. And then he would back away from the old man, shaking his head.

The man died, and he went to God, and he said, “You gave me a precious gift many years ago, and I’ve kept it safe, and it is as lovely as the day you gave it to me.” And he opened the box and held it out to God. God glanced in the box, and in it was a lizard - an ugly, laughing lizard. And God walked away from him too.

Love guarded and unexposed. A jewel turned into an ugly lizard. A servant cast into the outer darkness.

Friends, life is not to be hoarded. It is to be lived fully, abundantly, without reservation. It is to be invested in love, in hope, in faith so that a wonderful harvest of lasting influence will be reaped.

So, how about it? Are you reaching your full potential as a follower of Jesus Christ?
When you face the Lord, will you have the joy of hearing these words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”?

Today is Reign of Christ Sunday. Let us open our hearts that Christ may, indeed, reign there.

Amen

Opportunities and happenings through the week!

Tuesday, November 16...7:00 PM Bible Study

8:00 PM Choir Practice

Thursday, November 18 Senior Adventure to Seagrove Leave 9:00 AM

7:00 PM Choir Practice

Sunday, November 21 9:15 AM Sunday School Opening

9:30 Sunday School

10:30 Worship Service

6:00 PM Youth Fellowship

Please remember OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD BOXES.Last collection date is November 21st.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK

Friday, November 19th ... Sara Beck & Ethan Edwards

Saturday, November 20th ... Jacob Morris

AND NOW TAKE A LOOK AT SOME PHOTOS OF OUR CHICKEN PIE DINNER & COUNTRY STORE DAY BUT FIRST A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO THE MANY WHO WORKED SO HARD AND LONG TO MAKE IT THE SUCCESS IT WAS!~!!

Our Chicken Pie Dinner and Country Store

Where you were greeted warmly at the door...

and discovered many beautiful things to take a chance on

or just buy and buy...

...and buy. And all for a wonderful cause!

Everywhere there were smiling faces...

in the kitchen...

at the tables...

while eating and

serving!

there was plenty of help at checkout and...

and in the kitchen!

There was a friend on the floor and...

friendly service at the tables.

And now the pastors Viewpoint and Sermon for Sunday, November 14, 2010

THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT

For the week of November 14, 2010

High church officials and regular members of local congregations often, and unfortunately, share a common belief. This is nothing new of course, it’s been going on for years. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this belief and in looking at it we may discover this belief as one our own, and hopefully, alter it.

The church is in the process of selecting names to put before the congregation for election to the positions of deacons, elders, council or consistory members and others to serve on various boards. Invariably you will hear, somewhere in the process, that so-and-so has no training in doing this or that particular job for which his or her name has been set forth.

If that objection doesn’t come up in committee it is almost sure to be raised when some individual is asked if she or he will serve if elected. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like that before. I’m just an ordinary person. Why not ask _______ ? There’s a person with a lot of experience in doing that.”

In my Bible reading this week this very issue came up when the Jewish high church council was confronted with the early preaching of Peter and John. Acts 4:13 (NLT) says, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had no special training.”

The council members, you see, didn’t know anything at all about the Holy Spirit Christ had sent his followers to enable and empower them in their ministry. They saw them as just ordinary men with no special training so how could they speak with such conviction and boldness.

At the same time, Peter and John felt that they were far from ordinary because they were called out by Christ himself. As Christians, we are also called out by Christ and should be led by the Holy Spirit to do his bidding. When it comes up in your life, be bold, for as Christians, you are anything but ordinary.




Sermon, November 14, 2010

HOW A CHRISTIAN GRIEVES
Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13 18

13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

In a technological society, we often need instructions for using new products. But where on earth do they find some of the people who write these instructions? Many instructions are hopelessly vague while others seem totally unnecessary to anyone with even minimal brain power. For example:

Once on a camera were these instructions: “This camera only works when there is film inside.” Well, duh! Big surprise there.

These thoughts were found on a package of airline peanuts: “Open packet and eat contents.” Do they really think we would try to eat the peanuts, foil wrapper and all?
On a chain saw was this wise advice: “Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands.” Ooh, that hurts.

And finally, on a steering-wheel lock was this counsel: “Warning--remove lock before driving.” Unless, of course, you plan on making right turns only.

But even worse than the really obvious instructions are instructions that don’t make sense at all. Ones that read like these:

Grasp the gizmo in your left hand. With your right hand, insert the doohickey into the little whatsit just below the bright red thingamajig and gently, gently!, turn it in a clockwise direction until you hear a click.

Attach the long thingamabob to the whatchamacallit. Do not under any circumstances allow the metal whatsit on the end to come in contact with the black plastic thingummy.
Failure to follow these instructions will result in damage to the doodad. I ask again. Where do they find the people who write instructions?

Much of the book of I Thessalonians is concerned with giving instructions.

The Christian believers in the city of Thessalonica faced persecution from the outset. In spite of this, the Thessalonians appeared to be a faithful community of believers. The apostle Paul, author of I and II Thessalonians, often praises them for their faithfulness, holy living, and generosity.

Yet he also wants to make sure that they are thoroughly instructed in the issues of the faith, because he knows they will come under great pressure from the surrounding society.
Keep away from promiscuity, he says to them, follow Christ’s example of holiness, work hard to support yourself, live at peace with your neighbors.

The first half of I Thessalonians, chapter 4, teaches the believers in Thessalonica how to live as Christians. The second half of this chapter teaches them how to die in the same manner. And here is where St. Paul’s attitude is so much healthier than our own.

We all crave instructions on how to live better, but rarely do we give much thought to the question of how to die better. In fact, we would rather avoid the subject altogether.

In the book, Children’s Letters to God, a little boy wrote, “Dear God, What is it like when a person dies? Nobody will tell me. I just want to know, I don’t want to do it. Your friend, Mike.”
Mike is wiser that most of us. He recognizes that death is part of life, and he wants to know what he ought to do when that time comes. So, for any of us who are as wise as Mike, listen again to what the apostle Paul wrote: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him . . .”
Dying is an important part of living, so let’s spend a few moments thinking about this unique event in human experience.

LET’S BEGIN HERE: SECULAR PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH DEATH -- EXCEPT IN JEST.
If you are going to talk about death in polite society, you better do it with humor. Most people will think you are being morbid if you even mention the obvious that sooner or later all of us must die. Of course, there is something healthy about laughing at the Grim Reaper.

Before British actor Robert Morley died, he asked that his credit cards be buried with him. That is a novel way to try to take it with you. I wonder if they take Visa in Heaven? After Morley’s funeral, the London Times was bombarded with letters from readers pondering their own needs after death.

Wrote M.L. Evans of Chester, England: “In the unfortunate event of a miscarriage of justice and I spend several thousand years in Hell before my sentence is quashed, I will take a fire extinguisher.”

Heather Tanner of Woodbridge, England specified that she wanted to be buried with a good map. “I have immense trouble finding my way in this life,” she said, “so am extremely worried about the next.”

A pair of earplugs would accompany Sir David Wilcocks of Cambridge. “In case,” he writes, “the heavenly choirs, singing everlastingly, are not in tune.”

Maurice Godbold of Hindhead, England would take a crowbar: “In case the affair proved premature” and he needed to get out of the casket.

In writing this I recalled one of my personal favorites, that folk song of the 60’s that asked “can I tale my D-28 to heaven when I die?” referring to one of the finest Martin folk guitars.

If you are going to mention death in front of most secular people today, you better do so in a joke. Secular people don’t like to think about death. And yet, dying is part of living and we need to face up to it and prepare for it. But there is a second thing we need to see.

THERE IS A HEALTHY AND AN UNHEALTHY WAY TO GRIEVE WHEN YOU LOSE SOMEONE TO DEATH. When someone you love dies, it hurts. Sometimes the hurt is overwhelming. We call the process of dealing with that hurt, grief.

People handle grief in different ways. Some people try to deny their grief. They keep a stiff upper lip. They cram their emotions deep down inside and maintain a cheery countenance to their family and friends. I suspect they are the ones who suffer most. For grief that is not expressed in one way will be expressed in another. And the latter expression will be far more destructive than the former.

Other people become fixated on their grief. They refuse to be consoled. They refuse to move on with their life as if life has lost all meaning.

According to a study done by the National Institute of Medicine a few years ago, “Many persons who have a death in the family suffer such intense grief that they jeopardize their own physical and mental health.” Severe, continual grief can create enough physical stress, according to this study, to cause heart attacks or cancer.

Often well-meaning individuals unwittingly encourage bereaved people to grieve in unhealthy ways. A young woman who worked in a day care tells of witnessing a failed attempt at comfort between two little girls. A little toddler was crying one day.

A three-year-old girl walked over, patted her arm, and in her sweetest voice said, “It’s okay. Don’t cry. It’s okay.” But when the tears kept flowing, the three-year-old changed her tactics. She stomped her foot and announced in her most authoritative voice, “I said it’s . . . OKAY!”
We try to rush people through the grieving process. “Isn’t he over it yet?” We try to deny the grief. “Just don’t think about it, Mama. Let’s talk about something else.” Or worse, we withdraw from the grieving person out of fear or awkwardness. Our silence is even worse than our words.
Paul does not tell us not to grieve. What he says is, do not grieve as those who have no hope. Grief is a natural part of losing a loved one to death. A healthy person must grieve. The question is what is different about how a Christian grieves?

FIRST, WE ACKNOWLEDGE OUR HURT THROUGH BOTH TEARS AND TALK. We express to those closest to us honestly and openly the pain we are feeling, including our anger and our disappointment.

The widow says, “I am so angry with him for dying and leaving me alone that if he were here right now, I believe I would kill him.” And we understand. Her feelings are perfectly natural and she needs to express them.

The widower says, “I will never forgive God for allowing my wife to suffer like that.” But time passes and he does forgive God, and he learns to lean on God for support as he adjusts to a new life without his partner.

This is life. Death and grief are part of it. We need to express our grief through both tears and talk.

AT THE SAME TIME WE NEED TO REMIND OURSELVES THAT AS CHRISTIANS WE BELIEVE THAT BOTH LIFE AND DEATH ARE TRANSITORY.
Walter L. Wilson, M.D., was talking with a man who was an atheist. This non-believing man said he believed death ends all. Dr. Wilson agreed with him.

To the surprised atheist, Wilson said: “Death ends all my wanderings, all my tears, all my perplexities, all my disappointments, all my aches and pains; death ends it all, and I go to be with my Lord in glory.”

When a Christian grieves, he or she grieves with hope, in the knowledge that their loved one has met the Lord face to face. Believers find their completeness in death, because it leads to the life that is truly life abundant.

Around 125 A.D., a Greek by the name of Aristeides wrote to one of his friends, trying to explain the extraordinary success of the new religion, Christianity. In his letter he said, “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they accompany his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.”

He was describing the difference between the way pagans greet death and the way Christians greet death. “They rejoice and offer thanks to God,” he said, speaking of Christians.

Can we face death with rejoicing and thanksgiving? I’m not suggesting that we deny ourselves the chance to grieve. We must grieve but we grieve in hope. Jesus came to save us from death, and he gave his life as a sacrifice so that we could live forever in communion with him.

Dr. Diane Komp, a pediatric oncologist, described herself as an agnostic/atheist when she first entered the medical field. But working with dying children gave Dr. Komp an unshakable faith in God.

She tells of a typical case from her early years: seven-year-old Anna had fought leukemia for five years. She had no more strength to fight. But moments before she died, the little girl suddenly sat up in bed and announced that she saw angels. A smile lit up her small face as she described their beautiful singing. And then this little child, radiant with joy, lay down and died.
Diane Komp came to believe that God came for little Anna. She had seen the Lord face to face, and she lives with him now forever.

How do we face grief? Openly and honestly, but always in the knowledge that Christ has triumphed over the grave.

And how do we help others who are going through the grieving process. The apostle Paul says near the end of this passage, “Therefore, encourage each other with these words.”
Encourage each other by talking about death? Yes! That’s exactly what he means. Talk about it. --- Vent your emotions. --- Express your fears. --- Ponder the mysteries. But emphasize the hope!

Let’s return to our Bible passage: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him . . .”
This is the reality of death for followers of Jesus Christ: death hurts. It hurts bad, but it is not the end. We will be raised up to eternal life, and we will be with the Lord forever!

Amen.