Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

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, ...