Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

Luke 2:22-40 Greg Brown has a song called "Waiting."  Everybody's waiting for something:  the county fair; the return of a friend; a bus to take them to someplace better; a new job; a personal epiphany or spiritual enlightenment.  Everybody's waiting for something. When we wait, we have three options.  One is to ignore the possibility of positive changes and just lapse into a state of passive hopelessness, going about life as usual. The second is to wait, and then, out of frustration or impatience, take matters into our own hands.  If you remember the story of Abraham and Sarah, trying to fulfill God's promise of heirs to the childless couple by having Abraham sire a son by Sarah's maid, well, you know that usually doesn't work out very well. The third option is the one we see modeled by Simeon and Anna in this passage from Luke.  It is actively waiting in expectancy, in eager hope.  It's living with no doubt that what God has promised us, God...

In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists. This first enrollment occurred when Quirinius governed Syria. Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled.   Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea.   He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant.   While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby.   She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.                                                 ...

I Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,  for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.   While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through...

Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-29 Our heroine, bound hand, foot and every where in between by heavy ropes is tied to a set of railroad tracks.  Helplessly she struggles as the train roars down the track and the villain with the cheesy moustache wearing a black hat and frock coat rubs his hands and chortles in glee. Taylor Swift, in her music video, "Mean," uses that image to describe how it feels when people act in unloving ways -- name calling, back stabbing betrayal, lies and put-downs.  I can relate to that.  I've felt tied up in knots because of what someone said about me or did to hurt me.  I think we've all been there. But sometimes, there are things we do that tie ourselves up, that bind us.  As human beings, we may choose to respond in anger, do something to get back at someone or nurse a grudge.  We may treat someone unkindly because we're jealous. or out of selfishness and self-interest, quarrel, insisting on getting our own way.  Whe...

Matthew 16:13-20 If you were at a party, and you saw someone slip something into someone's drink, and they wouldn't believe you when you told them, what would you do?  Would you be willing to create a scene, knock the drink out of his or her hand, risk looking like a fool? Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was.  Some people said Jesus was John the Baptist, a man who came to convict people of their personal sin and lead them to repentance.  Some said he was Elijah, a prophet who was going to confront the ruling parties about their oppressive and unjust reign.  Others said he was Jeremiah, another prophet who warned the nation of Israel to turn back to back to God. There are some people today that say Jesus was just a man -- a good man, perhaps even a prophet.  He was a great teacher who preached about moral and ethical behavior.  He was an advocate for justice and the rights of the people.  He was a man, and the miracles and the re...

Matthew 15:8-28 James Dean was the original rebel without a cause.  From the movie screen, he became a symbol of rebellion and wild, reckless behavior as he bucked the system. Jesus, on the other hand, was a rebel with a cause and a mission.  His mission was to lead the lost sheep of Israel back into right relationship with God and with other human beings.  Jesus was out there raising "heaven," making the religious powers that be uncomfortable and bucking the system. When the Pharisees criticized Jesus and their disciples for not following the ritual of washing their hands, what Jesus was responding to was the "tradition of the elders," an oral code which was a human  interpretation of the Law of Moses that intensified the demands of the law.  The Pharisees and other religious leaders used it to their advantage to financially support their favorite causes while ignoring the needs of their own aging parents and the poor.  By following it rigidly, they...

Matthew 14:22-33                         Romans 10:5-15 Do you have beautiful feet?  Have you ever thought about feet being beautiful?  Oh, yes, feet can be achy.  they can be stinky.  Feet can be calloused, dry or dirty.  They can even be made of clay, but how often do we think about feet being things of beauty? Romans 10:15 says, "...beautiful are the feet that bring good news."  Beautiful feet belong to people who have put their faith in Christ and are obedient disciples. I think beautiful feet are wet feet. In Matthew 14:22-33, we read a familiar story.  The disciples are back out on the Sea of Galilee when another storm catches them out in the middle of the lake.  This time, Jesus isn't even with them.  He stayed behind, insisting that they go on ahead of them while he went off by himself to pray and rest. ...

The country will look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down— Every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps. But there's a holy seed in those stumps."                                   Isaiah 6:13, THE MESSAGE "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12 "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14 "When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."                ...

Mark 4:35-41 Romans 8:18-28 It was like no other storm many of us had ever experienced, even those of us who have been through tornados.  We went to bed on Sunday night with our world looking one way and woke up on Monday morning to an almost alien landscape and a natural disaster to deal with. In the Gospel of Mark, we read the story of another terrible storm.  It was not uncommon for sudden storms to roll down the hills surrounding the Sea of Galillee, picking up speed and strength as they went until they hit the Sea with hurricane force winds. It was a terrifying experience.  The wind shrieked through shredded sails as rigging snapped.  The storm whipped up huge waves that quickly filled the boats.  Lightening flashed; men shouted in terror. And where was Jesus?  The men found Jesus asleep on a cushion in the stern of one of the boats.  "Teacher, don't you care that we're all going to drown?!?!?" This last week, a little bo...

Romans 8:31-39 Some of my church folks and I were standing around talking at a wedding reception.  In a year that seemed to be centered around death, it was good to be present at an event that marked a new beginning, that celebrated life.  One of the guys is a farmer, and I asked if I could come help during calving time.  He was surprised, but he understood my need to experience birth and life for a change. Without doubt, death is part of the human experience, whether it's the end of physical life and relationships or it's the multitude of lesser deaths that are just givens in life.  They are losses and changes in our lives, like the loss of a job or our health or a broken relationship.  There's the lesser death, the loss of hope and a future that comes with tragedy as a flood or storm sweeps away our lives as we know them, or we are forced to sacrifice our dreams and plans when unforeseen circumstances throw up roadblocks in our life path.  But ...

FREEDOM THROUGH CHRIST, Part 1 Matthew 11:28-30 Romans 7:15-25a Do you ever have days when you feel like a werewolf? Yes, I said werewolf – that creature of folk lore and popular books, movies, and even television programs. A werewolf is usually an ordinary person who is under a curse or is bitten by another werewolf. This person, who may be a decent, law abiding citizen is changed into an evil, destructive beast during the three days of the full moon. The person may hate what he or she becomes and does, but the curse has enslaved them. We all have had those experiences where we do something we really shouldn't do, but we loose our self-control and do them anyway.  It's like when those last two pieces of pizza in the 'fridge' call my name just as I'm heading up to bed. I know I shouldn't eat them, I know I'll regret it, but I go ahead and eat them anyway. Then, at around 2:00 in the morning, my protesting stomach wakes me up. Or, Tom has said...

Genesis 22:1-14 Isaiah 49:14-16 The labor pains begin all too early at 28 weeks of gestation, and little Maneesha, the subject of one of Anne Geddes photographs, comes into this world weighing in at just under one and a half pounds. How fragile she must look to her parents, laying in the incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit with all those tubes and wires. So tiny, born too soon -- would this child survive? Kate Braestrup, in her book Here if You Need Me, tells this story of another little girl. It is late October near Masquinongy Pond in Maine. Six year old Allison had followed the family dog into the woods during a picnic. The dog returned – Alison did not. The Maine Game Warden Service has mounted a search – dozens of game wardens and volunteers, search dogs and cadaver dogs and a search plane. Allison has wandered into an inhospitable environment, night is coming on, and the Warden Service chaplain has been called. Her parents huddle together on a picnic table be...

Because, most of human history has been marked by wars and conflicts of one kind of another, we gather together each year to honor and to remember those who have joined humanity's struggle against evil, oppression and injustice on our behalf. Some are friends, relatives and neighbors. Others are completely unknown to us except as statistics or names on grave stones, plaques or war memorials. Some have given their lives and some have given their health.  Bodies scarred, they  still carry fragments of bullets and shrapnel, or walk with false limbs.  Others exist from day to day suffering from post traumatic stress syndrom, the pain of their wounds or from exposure to the instruments of war.  How then shall we honor these men and women who have served their country and those who continue to do so? Are flowers and flags enough or does such heroic self-giving call for action on our own part? God answers through Jeremiah 29:7: we are ...

Acts 17:22-31 I Peter 3:13-22 Have I ever told you how Tom and I met? It was in early November, 1976.  We were both substitute teaching at the same high school in a small, rural community in the thumb of Michigan .  In my morning classes, my students told me about the other sub they had, that "weird Mr. Van." At noon, I sat by myself in the teacher's lounge eating my lunch and reading a book.  There were two other teachers in the room -- an older, middle-aged man and a young man about my age.  The older teacher leaned over and introduced "Tom Van" to me.  Three weeks later, we had our first date. How many of you were introduced to your spouse or special someone by a friend or family member?  How many of your close friends did you meet through someone else? There are other important introductions that happen in life, like the first time a newborn child is laid in the arms of a parent.  That child is introduced to the congregation of a church wh...

Acts 7:55-60 I Peter 2:2-10 There are three things my husband and I are on the look out for when we're on a road trip.  One, is clean restrooms and another is good convenience store pizza.  We also love to stop and read roadside historical markers, especially the older ones that have plaques set in a big boulder, probably from a local field.  This idea of marking historical spots has been around for a long time.  Back in ancient biblical times, people would pile up rocks or stand up great stones, like the ones that are found at Gezer, Israel.  Whether it's the standing stones at Gezer, the classic roadside historical marker or monuments like Mount Rushmore, they all serve as reminders of some great event or to memorialize the life of a great leader or a local hero.  They are standing witnesses, testifying to some important event from the past. Of course, not all stones are used in monuments.  Some are gathered in from the fields to bui...

Acts 2:42-47 There are some things I just can't do without hearing my mother's voice as I remember those teaching moments my younger sister and I shared as we watched her prepare meals.  She would talk as she worked, explaining everything she was doing.  When it came to preparing liver (and she did make the best liver and onions), she always told us to scald the liver with hot water.  Years later, as an adult, when I noticed this step wasn't mentioned in any of my cookbooks, I asked her why she scalded the pieces of liver.  She replied, "Because that's how your grandmother did it." I wonder now how many generations back this practice goes, and how many mothers taught their daughter to, first, scald the liver. Do you hear those voices of instructions, guidance and wisdom, too?  Does someone whisper to you in your mind's ear, something like, "measure twice, cut once?"  Or "always use a wooden spoon when you're making bread?" T...

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 I Peter 1:17-23 So, there I was on Saturday, wandering through the garden center of one of those big home improvement stores, surrounded by plants and flowers in 6-packs, gallon containers and planters and racks of brightly colored seed packets.  Tom is always a bit apprehensive when he sees me disappear into this mass of vegetation because it usually results in hoping that the car's suspension system can handle all those flats of plants and bags of compost.  It was his lucky day.  I only bought a 12-pack of marigolds to put in the planter in front of the house. I like marigolds.  They're hardy, and they'll re-seed themselves.  Seeds are awesome little bits of God's creation, don't you think.  Inside even the tiniest seed is the genetic material, DNA, which produces a plant like its parent plants, which will produce seeds which will produce more plants like it.  If I remember my high school biology correctly, ...

Acts 2:14a, 22-32 I Peter 1:3-9 In the movie, "UP," we see Carl's front door door and listen as he unlocks, one by one, six locks follwed by the drawing of the chain bolt.  Carl is grieving the death of his wife, Ellie.  He's angry -- Ellie is gone, the big city has grown up around his home, and the world as he knew it is gone. I imagine the disciples felt much the same -- grieving and angry, and most certainly afraid.  They had locked and bolted the door in the house where they were hiding out from the authorities after Jesus' death.  If I had been there, I would have dragged out every piece of heavy furniture I could find and piled it in front of the door. And then, Christ appeared to them on the evening of the day of his resurrection.  A week later, he appeared again to them, challenging Thomas to unlock his own grieving heart and doubting mind to touch his wounded hands and side. Forty days later, at the feast of Pentecost, Peter stood before...

Consider the Easter Lily.  With it's white trumpet shaped flowers, the Easter Lilies are often called the "white robed apostles" because they herald the good news:  Christ has risen, and with him there is hope, new life and the promise of resurrection and eternal life. Consider the Easter Lily bulb.  As I hold it in my hand, I look at the package it came in and then back at the bulb, and wonder to myself, "Really?!?" Really?  From this brown, scaly, withered looking thing I hold in my hand is suppose to grow the plant with the beautiful flowers I see in the picture?  Really? How often do we look at our lives and circumstances at hand and wonder, "Really?  Really, God?  Can something good come from all these changes?  Can something joyful grow from our losses?  Can something hopeful rise up from the ashes of our pain?" And God answers with a cross, an empty tomb and a risen savior, "Yes." Whatever our lives may look like at this mome...

Matthew 21-11 So, what does Palm Sunday and the days before the Passover feast and a song by Elvis Presley have in common?  People were all shook up -- ah-huh, ah-huh, ah-huh. Jesus and his disciples did not quietly sneak into Jerusalem under the cover of darkness.  When Jesus hit town, it was an event, a parade, a royal procession.  By the time Jesus left Jericho and headed for Jerusalem, a large crowd was following him.  Along the way, it had grown,  and I believe it was this crowd that went before him, laying their cloaks and tree branches on the road before him. The citizenry of Jerusalem didn't know what hit them.  Matthew tells us that the city was in turmoil, stirred up and shook up, not knowing what was going on or who this man was who was entering their city like a king. And Jesus kept stirring and shaking them up. In the temple, he overturned the tables of the money changers and the ones who sold doves and forcibly drove them out.  ...

This is part five of the series, "Whose We Are" based on Wesley's Covenant Prayer.  Please see an earlier post for the complete prayer. "I freely and heatily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal." Philippians 1:20-30 Matthew 26:36-46 All things, LORD?  Everything, including my will, my affections, my stuff, my personal power, my life? While the others waited at the entrance to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, Jesus took three of his most trusted disciples farther into the garden to stand watch and pray for him during this dark time of his greatest need.  These three, Peter, James and John, had been with him since the beginning of his ministry.  These were the three that Jesus took with him to the mount of the transfiguration. Christ, both fully God and fully human, agonized and struggled with what it would mean for him to yield all things to God's pleasure and disposal, including his very life.  Flat on his fa...

This is part four of the series, "Whose We Are" based on Wesley's Covenant Prayer.  Please see an earlier post for the complete prayer. Matthew 8:18-22 Philippians 2:1-11 "Let me be full, let me be empty.  Let me have all things, let me have nothing." Have you ever discussed the question, "If there was a fire, what three things, besides family members and pets, would you take with you?"  Several years ago, for a rural Marion family, that question became a reality.  It was a bad fire, and what wasn't burned was ruined by smoke and water damage -- furniture, clothing, family pictures -- almost everything they owned was gone. Can you imagine finding yourself reduced to living out of a motel room with only the clothes you were able to pull on and a few other things you could grab as you rushed out the door? Jesus didn't have a lot, himself.  If he followed the advice he gave his diciples when he sent them out to minister on their own, ...