Fast for the Lord

“Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back-a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people-law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places-firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. “If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there – Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so! (Isaiah 58:1-14 MSG)

Ok. I know I’m a day early for fasting, but I wanted to remind all of us that while today is Fat Tuesday, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and the day we begin our 40 day journey that reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, days that are meant to draw us closer to God…

We need to do a fast that shows forth the light in the dark places. A fast that gives bread to the hungry and a place to sleep for those who have none. We are to do things that draw us closer to God and shows His presence to everyone around us. Not because we are trying to puff ourselves up and draw attention to ourselves but to draw us closer to God. So get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins… Stop doing things for your own good, but love God and others, shining His light in the darkness….

And get ready for the journey of your life…

Son of God

This is the year of Mark in the lectionary…

Jesus is called the Son of God 3 times in the Gospel of Mark. One was at the baptism of Jesus which was earlier this year in Epiphany. One time was this past Sunday at the Transfiguration, and one time later in the Gospel…

These first 2 times it is the Father that proclaims Jesus is His beloved son, someone who is loved by God and should be listened to.

At the baptism, only Jesus hears this voice though as he rises up out of the water (read Mark 1:1-11). I wonder why Jesus needed to be told that He was the son of God and beloved by the Father? Did he not already know this? Or maybe we as he readers get in on the inside at the beginning, that there is something more to this Jesus…

The second proclamation of Jesus as the son of God, there are a few more witnesses. James, John, and Peter get to see Jesus standing and talking to Moses and Elijah… And if that wasn’t enough, he turns bright white, not like any white they had ever seen before, but shining… They see Jesus as he is, God! And again if that was not enough, the Father speaks to them and says that Jesus is His son and beloved by Him, and they should listen to Him. (read Mark 9:2-9) And why did Jesus tell the three of them not to tell anyone until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead? They just got proof that Jesus is God, and He told them to not tell anyone, why?

The third time Jesus is proclaimed the son of God, it is not by God the Father, and it is not by a disciple… Mark 15:39 Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” A Roman centurion! A gentile! Not someone on the inside who walked with Jesus for 3 years, or who should know that he is the Son of God, but a Roman guard, who witnessed His death and through this knew that He was God…

Do we see Jesus as the Son of God, and if we do, how do we live our lives so that others will know that Jesus is the Son of God?

Live the Gospel out loud – showing the world that Jesus is the Son of God and you are a disciple of Him!

A time for change

Last Sunday was my last Sunday at the congregation I was serving. Tomorrow is. New week and new possibilities and the first time in 5 years I’m not leading worship on a Sunday when I’m not on vacation.

In this time of transition and discernment if where God is leading me, I cling to the strength that God gives me. Philippines 4:13 says I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Jeremiah 29:11 says I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans for a future based in hope. God gives us strength to do the things that come into our lives. God has plans for each of us, plans for a future based in his hope.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. God is always with us and gives us strength to make it through.

I’m leaning on my Lord and I know he will see me through.

February 2012 Front Page

I received this in an email and thought it was worth sharing…

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding…

ALL BUT ONE !!!

He paused, took a deep breath, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, ‘Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?’

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.’

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister…….’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.
She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’

Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our Destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Are You Jesus?

Got this in an email and had to share…

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding…
ALL BUT ONE !!!
He paused, took a deep breath, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, ‘Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?’
She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.’
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister…….’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.
She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our Destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Wondering…

Today I had come into the office with the hopes of getting so much done…

Yes I know I set myself up for failure right there.  I had high expectations of my day. I had planned out what was going to happen and how many things would be done by lunch and how I would go and visit the hospitals after lunch and maybe get a walk in before hand bell and choir practice tonight…

Then the phone rang and someone wants to have a meeting…  Why didn’t someone tell me there would be all of these meetings that seemingly have nothing to do with ministry. Most meetings I’ve been to are ways to find ways to keep us from being with the people.  Do we not realize that ministry happens usually not in the walls of the church but when we are out in public with the people. At the gym, the Y, or McDonalds, or the library, or the local pub, or on the streets, in Wal-Mart, or the grocery store. Jesus spent his time at synagogue worshiping but then he spent the most of his time with the people, and not the people he went to church with. He spent his time outside of church with the people where they were in their environment, not asking them to change because he was there, but being there so he could bring God’s love and mercy and grace to them, where they are.

I wonder why we spend so much time in meetings trying to control things, and make everything the way we want it to be.  Why do we try to force our ideals and needs on everyone else around us.  We are not all created the same way, and God loves each of us the same. He gives us all the same grace, and NONE of us deserve it. We are all sinners and broken. And that is truly the wonder of it all, that God love a sinner like me, even though I do not deserve it, even though I let him down each and every day.

Thank you for the cross and for loving me. Help me to be som empowered that I will go and be with your creation where you created it and love it as you do unconditionally…

January 2012 Front Page

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

This is the first month of the New Year 2012! Time to make resolutions… But is a resolution something we follow through on? So many times we say we are going to walk more, start exercising, eat less, stop eating so many sweets, stop smoking, start reading our Bible more…

There are so many things we want to do and we think they will be easy to do, so we plan to start to do this in the new year. I for one know these changes are not easy. I made a lot of changes in the time I have been here especially over the past year and a half. I have changed my exercise habits and eating habits, and it has paid off. But I did not start exercising or go on a diet I made a lifestyle change. If I had not changed my lifestyle, things would have been bad, very bad.

Yet we seem to forget that we are already new. Christ made us a new creation, when He followed through and was faithful to the plan that was set in motion from the beginning of time. We have all been given a new lifestyle to live, one in Christ! He has accepted us as is, and continues to work to perfect us. We just need to allow Him to continue the good work He started in us. So remember that as one year passes away, and the new one comes upon us, that you are a beloved child of God, a new creation! You are a wonderful work of art being ever molded and shaped into the perfect ideal for you in the eye of God.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Happy Birthday Jesus!  Let us celebrate this day, not by wondering at all we have received this day, nor for all we have been given this day, not in the gifts under the tree, or the family gathered around us, but let us celebrate for the birth of our savior!  God stepped off His throne and descended to be among us, just like us, Emmanuel – God with us!  He gave up what was His to claim, and took on our likeness, and our form and came to be with us.  Celebrate this day the most wonderful gift you could have ever received a God who moves heaven and earth to be in a relationship with you!

Happy Birthday Jesus, thank you for coming and giving us your light, love, mercy and grace so that we might shine you to the world, and be in relationship with you, the Father and the Spirit! Thank you Jesus for the greatest gift we ever could have asked for or received, You!

Gracious and marvelous baby born to us this day, come and fill our lives with your love and mercy so we might shine your light to this world that so needs the relationship you came to bring us. Guide us and lead us to live in your light and love, and give us strength of your Spirit to be you in this place. Amen. 

Emmanuel

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

Emmanuel – God with us.  The hope of the world comes to us this night as a baby born in a manger.  A meek beginning for the one who created all of us, and stepped off the throne to come and be as one of those whom he created, so that we might know His love and show forth that love to the world.

As you gather this day, remember the reason we gather with family and loved ones.  A great cloud of witnesses and bountiful love in a family here surrounds us, yet the reason we gather is to celebrate the birth of our savior! This is the night before the birth or Jesus. The birth of the one who saved you from your sins is the reason we gather this day.  This is the reason we have what we have also. God has given us everything in our lives, our families, our children, our parents, our provisions for living, are all gifts from God, and the greatest gift is the one we gather to celebrate this night!

So as we await His coming to us as a baby in the manger, remember and truly ponder that everything you have was given to you by God, and work on understanding that God calls you to work with Him, not as an advisor but as a fellow mission worker in the fields spreading His love.  Allow him to increase in your life, so that when others see you, they see Jesus, and the love and mercy that only He can give.

Gracious and loving savior, increase so in our lives that we are bubbling over with your mercy and grace, so that when people see us, they see You and are moved to be with you in relationship, so that everything you have given us will help to draw all of creation back to you.  Amen.