Re-Member

“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.”  — 1 Thessalonians 4:13

At a recent informational meeting for our new medical insurance plan, a pastor who serves on the Board of Pensions opened with a devotional on change. Everything changes. As the inspiring devotional continued (Really, it was inspirational—no sarcasm intended.) I began to daydream on how staying the same is much like being in a rut.

The idea of a rut made me remember a time, some thirty years ago, when I was hunting with my father-in-law on the farm. Pa, my affectionate name for him, was standing in the bed and leaning against the cab of my GMC 4-wheel drive pickup. We slowly churned along the muddy field road with all tires spinning. I didn’t even bother steering the truck for it churned straight ahead in the rutted path.

The spinning and the mud must have slowly turned the steering wheel, because all of a sudden, the truck jumped out of the rut and leapt forward and to the left, directly into a tree. The tree was large enough that it didn’t fall, and my solid steel pipe bumper didn’t budge. We stopped instantly. Pa was thrown forward a few inches against the truck cab. Nothing was broken: tree, truck, or Pa’s chest, but my ego was sorely bruised as were Pa’s ribs.

On his birthday last year, November 2, my father-in-law had a stroke. He survived in a reduced quality of life for nearly five months. In addition to being updated on our new insurance plan, the information meeting gave me the opportunity to remember Pa, his birthday, and some of the good times we shared together.

At this time of year, many people pause to remember loved ones who have passed on to the next life. Halloween actually got its name from the phrase, All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day. Although many churches do not acknowledge All Saints Day, it does us good to take time and “re-member” our departed loved ones.

I once heard a minister teach that when we gather as the Church to receive Holy Communion we are “re-membering” as a Church. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24). We do not simply remember Jesus death, but we “re-member” ourselves to Christ and “re-member” ourselves with others of our church family. In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we recommit ourselves to the Lord and become a member again, re-member ourselves to the family of God.

As I reflected upon Pa’s absence from our lives, his memories became a present reality in my life once again. As we sing songs and hymns of praise this Sunday, we will be joining with him and all the heavenly hosts in worship. We grieve as Christians, but “not as those who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13). When we worship, we “re-member” ourselves with our departed loved ones and all the saints and angelic hosts in united praise of God.

Re-membering also looks ahead. When we worship and celebrate the sacraments, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). As we worship this Sunday and possibly remember those who have gone on before, let us re-member ourselves to the hope set before us. Someday, maybe soon, we will see the Lord and the glories of heaven firsthand.

Jesus is Coming

“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” —Acts 1:11

Many of you have heard some version of the Chicken Little story. A small chick becomes fearfully obsessed that the sky is falling after an acorn falls on its head. Chicken Little sets out to tell the King that the world is about to end and gathers animal friends to join the journey. The story ends as a fox invites them to his home and eats them all. There are other versions with happier endings, but the moral of the story remains the same. Don’t be a chicken about everything or don’t believe everything you are told.

I lived my own version of Chicken Little, and it completely changed my life. In my faith journey at around age 17, I was seeking to find what it truly meant to live the Christian life. Previously, I thought believing God existed and trying to live a good life and going to church qualified as being a Christian. My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, described a Christian as someone who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who had asked Jesus to come into their life and forgive their sins. To her (and Biblically I came to discover), a Christian lives everyday with God in their heart and life.

My Chicken Little story continued as I attended a service at her church where a preacher from Asbury College was sharing about the 1972 revival that had occurred at the college. He also talked about the Second Coming of Jesus. Having never heard about a “Second Coming,” I became very excited. As I left the church that night, I greeted the preacher, “My church doesn’t know that Jesus is coming back, but I’m going to tell them.” So, similar to Chicken Little, I headed off to tell the priest. After church the next Sunday, I went to my priest and tried to warn him about the second coming of Jesus. His response, although caring, honest, and probably truthful, did not meet my expectations. I never went back.

I went off to college that Fall knowing that Jesus loved me and wanted to have a personal relationship with me. I now knew that believing there was a God up there somewhere was not enough. I needed to walk and talk with Him everyday, but I was going off to college. I didn’t think this was a good time to make a religious commitment. So I postponed any decision on my part and ran from God my first three months at school. Running from God is never a peaceful journey (Ask Jonah). So after I returned to college the Sunday night following Thanksgiving break, I knelt at my dorm bed and asked for God’s forgiveness and prayed, “Lord, I’m done running. Come into my heart.” My life has never been the same since that day.

As I think about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I definitely don’t want to be a Chicken Little. I don’t want to be the guy who carries the sign, “The end is near.” But, as Christians, we believe that Jesus arose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return to judge the living and the dead. Jesus is coming back. There is a judgment day in everyone’s life when we will face God.

A challenge for Christians today is to be truthful without being judgmental. How would you or I respond to a young Chicken Little today? Would we share his/her enthusiasm about Jesus’ return? We must share the love of God and warn people of the coming judgment of God at the same time. Holiness and grace, love and justice go hand in hand. Jesus loves you. Invite Him into your life today as Savior and King. He is returning someday, maybe soon, as King and Judge.

Rest or Exercise

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”   —Ecclesiastes 3:1

After a busy and exhausting summer, I am trying to find space and quiet to refuel my spiritual, emotional, and physical tank for the fall and Christmas push. Oh yes, I said Christmas. Look around, the last rain and windstorm nearly emptied the trees. The landscape has put on its winter garb. I decided to re-energize myself by taking a short walk down to the church and back prior to a mini-vacation. On the downhill part of the trip, with my legs whining about having to hold back the whole way down, I questioned my plan. Maybe I should have driven down after taking a short nap. Nap or walk? Which is better?

The miracle feeding of the 5,000 came at a time when Jesus and His disciples were greatly in need of rest but the crowd had an even greater need for care, teaching, and food. After the disciples returned from their first ministry tour, Jesus encouraged them to relax and recharge, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Upon arriving at their retreat area, they were overwhelmed by the crowd who had run ahead of them. The rest for the disciples turned into exhausting ministry. “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34). The need of the crowd outweighed the need of the disciples.

If you are tired, what should you do—nap or exercise? It depends upon your circumstances. Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything. If you are exhausted from lack of sleep and over exertion, you may need to nap. If you are tired from stress and being out of shape, you probably need to take a walk, get your heart pumping, and breathe some oxygen into your system. What comes naturally to us is usually the wrong response. If we feel depressed and lonely, the natural reaction is to stay home and mope around. The greater need is for us to get out, experience life, and be a friend to someone else. What I have experienced in my personal life, I have also seen in church life.

The kingdom of God is not simply doing more things. Being busy for busyness sake is not ministry. There are times when churches and Christians need to slow down, step away, and rest. But for churches in decline with limited finances, the natural reaction is to cut back and limit ministries. The greater need is to spend yourself in outreach, ministry, and advertizing.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 teaches us that life has rhythm. There is a time to work harder and there is a time to rest. In ministry, my rhythm gets confused when I begin skipping days off. A funeral, a special conference meeting, or an emergency falls on my day off, and I throw myself into ministry with no problem. Later, I might lazy away an afternoon thinking I earned it. Then, maybe, I’d waste a morning on another day. Before long, I would forget if I was taking a workday off or working on my day off.

Learn well the rhythm of life. Work hard and then rest. Walk then nap. Pray and do. Reach out and rest up. Where are you today? What is your natural inclination? You probably need to push yourself to rest or exercise depending on your own personality and situation. Jesus is Lord over all of life. He invites the weary to come to Him for rest. But He also sends the waiting into a hurting world in need of God’s Grace.

My Way

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”—Proverbs 14:12

My granddaughter has officially entered the terrible twos. To me, it’s the terribly precious twos, but nonetheless, Addi turned two last month. It is every parent’s desire for their children to be healthy and grow to become self-sufficient. Addi is well on her way, at least she thinks so.

Addi is very talkative, and one of her favorite phrases is “By self.” She says it all the time usually with an exclamation point, “By self!” When she is getting out of the car, climbing up or down from the table, eating her food, or carrying her latest, bigger than life toy, Addi exclaims, “By self.” “By self” means I want to do it by myself. I can do it myself. I don’t want your direction or help. Often, the phrase is accompanied by an equally emphatic, “Big one!” “Big one” means I want the entire cookie, the whole piece of fruit or bread. I want to drink from the big glass or hold the entire slice of pie. “By self! Big one!”

Addi’s “By self” attitude is captured for adults in the famous Frank Sinatra song, “I Did It My Way.” Even by briefly hearing the song, we understand it describes the sad and rebellious nature of our culture. The song begins, “And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain…I’ll state my case…I did it my way.” It appears the strongest argument for having lived a full life, according to the song and our culture, is by doing it “my way.” We often take the abilities and power God gives us and use them in selfish ways.

God created human beings and gave them dominion over the earth. We were created to take charge. I believe God desires for us to take our God-given abilities and use them to take control of our lives and the situations around us. God gave Adam and Eve one restriction, not to eat “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen.2:17). This God-given power was to be used under God’s rule and lordship.

The book of Proverbs states, “There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death” (14:12). We can do things our way, but we usually end up exactly where we don’t want to be. Genesis 3:6 describes the first human act of independence. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Can’t you almost hear them saying, “By self.” “I want to do it my way.”

Don’t get me wrong. I believe God wants us to serve Him in unique and creative ways. There are hundreds of open doors and creative paths waiting to be entered within the will of God. God is ready and willing to pour His Holy Spirit into and through us in never-before-imagined ways if we would but surrender to God’s will and way.

Whether it is Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” or precious little Addi demanding, “By self,” we see a desire to live free from control and accountability. God promises to supernaturally open doors and give us a blessed future if we seek to follow Him with all our heart. If we seek first to serve the Lord and His Kingdom, God will give us far more that we can ever get from the world. Do you want to do it your way and end in destruction or will you seek to go God’s way in His love and power and find life, hope and a future?

Fear or Faith

“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”—Mark 5:36b

I changed schools in the middle of my first-grade year. Prior to Christmas 1960, I attended Madison Elementary of the Redbank Valley Schools. Over Christmas vacation, we moved to a 40-acre farm. In January 1961, I began attending the Hawthorn Elementary School. Although we only moved 10 miles and my siblings attended the same school, the move traumatized me.

On the first day at my new school, I discovered that I was now in the slowest reading group. During a Christmas vacation lasting just over a week, I went from being in the first reading group to the last. I also learned, by experience, that I rode the late bus. At the close of my first day at the new school, I tried to get on an early bus with the correct number, but I didn’t recognize any faces. My first-grade teacher stopped all the buses and led me from one bus to another until we had checked every bus. None were mine. We then determined that I, terror-stricken and in tears, must ride the late bus. I cried at school for three weeks in a row that January.

No matter how old our bodies grow in years, there remains within us a little child, often fearful and insecure. Many things in life move us to fear and doubt: a new job, a marriage, the loss of a job, or spouse. Words like cancer, divorce, addiction, and guilty can send us cowering in fear. Pause for a moment and think back to the last time your breath was taken away in fear or you faced a new challenge.

The fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark places fear along side faith. Chapter 4 ends with Jesus and His Disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee to the “other” side. The “other” side is where the heathens live. They don’t worship God. They own and eat unclean animals like hogs. It’s the land where little children are warned never to go. As they cross the lake, a storm nearly drowns them all. They awaken Jesus to rescue them, and He replies, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40) And there it begins, fear and faith.

Chapter 5 continues the story as they land on the “other” side. The Disciples’ fears are confirmed. They immediately meet a demon-possessed man living a graveyard. After Jesus casts out the demons, the crowd returns to see the demoniac, clothed and in his right mind, sitting at Jesus’ feet. The scripture tells us, “They were afraid” (5:15).

Jesus and the Disciples return home across the lake without incident. They are met by a crowd that includes a religious man whose daughter is near death. As Jesus goes to the daughter, a woman with a 12-year-long disease comes and touches the edge of Jesus’ clothes and is healed. When Jesus singles her out, she falls before Jesus trembling with fear. Jesus tells her to go in peace for her faith has healed her. Here again, fear and faith. Immediately, some men come to tell the father that his little girl has died. Jesus ignores this report and speaks to the father, “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (5:36b).

Many of you have fears, large and small, real and imagined. These fears keep you imprisoned and immobilized. Hear these comforting words of Jesus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” I remember a plaque given to my father-in-law by his Sunday School Class. It read, “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered, ‘No one’s home.’” Who is home at your house? Fear or Faith?

Disciples Follow

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”—Matthew 16:24

I began dating my future wife the junior year of high school. Her parents were very upset that their daughter was dating me. I really didn't understand, because I thought I was a pretty good guy. When I asked Darlene to explain this, she said it was because I was not a Christian. Now I was really confused for at that time in my life I thought everybody in America was Christian.

Just as swimming in the ocean doesn't make you a fish, so living in a country where the most practiced religious faith is Christian doesn't make you one. By the way, some people believe “none” is now the largest religious preference in America. “None” is the response on a religious survey question when you check, "None—no religious affiliation."

Jesus said if anyone wishes to be His disciple, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. Christian disciples follow Jesus. It is not just a matter of going to church. I was lead, forced, or at least expected to attend church each week of my life until I was 18 years old. But for all those years, I would have to admit, I was not really following Jesus. My salvation rested on the fact that I felt I was a pretty good egg. I never intentionally tried to hurt anyone, but Jesus’ measure of a disciple is drastically different from mine back then.

Disciples follow Jesus. If you claim to be a Christian, when was the last time you read your Bible? Recently on the way home from a Baptism service at the Quemahoning Lake, one passenger quoted several verses from John 3 that she learned by watching the Jesus Film. Later she quoted a large portion from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Amazed, I asked if she had learned all those verses from watching the Jesus Film. “Yes!” was her reply. If you’re not a good reader, have you watched the Jesus Film or listened to the Bible on media enough to memorize the scriptures? When was the last time you prayed? I'm not talking about a simple “help me” prayer but a prayer of serious communion with the Lord or lifting someone else's name to the Lord.

After Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, He told them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).  After telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked which was neighbor to the man who was mugged by robbers. “The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:37). Have you shown your love for God by serving your neighbor in love?

Jesus told the disciples, “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Have you ever told someone else about your faith in Jesus or, at least, invited someone to church? Disciples follow Jesus. Can anyone tell by your life that you are a follower of Jesus?

Jesus invites us to follow Him. If we follow Jesus through prayer, Bible reading, and serving the way Jesus did, our lives should naturally declare our faith without saying a word. We needn’t worry about someone questioning our Christianity.