Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

I  Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-9 When you have a "brown" thumb like I do, a dying plant is not an unusual sight.  Before giving up on it and discarding it, I'd try regular watering, a bit of plant food and misting the leaves to remove the dust.  However, there does come a time when no amount of TLC will work, and the plant will end up on the compost pile. So, some people came to Jesus and asked if the Galileans worshiping at the Temple who were slaughtered at the order of Pilate, were being punished for their sins.  The popular belief at that time was that if you weren't a good person, God caused awful things to happen to them. Were they implying that since nothing so horrible hadn't happened to them that they weren't sinners? By comparing themselves to the Galileans, I think those folks were trying to justify their lives.  Jesus taught that being "good," that is putting their time in at the Teimple, making all the required sacrifices a

Philippians 3:18-19      As I have told you many times and        now say with deep sadness, many          people live as enemies of      the cross.  Their lives end with              destruction.  Their god is their              stomach, and they take pride in      their disgrace because their                  thoughts focus on earthly things. Luke 13:34-35       "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you!  How       often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  but       you didn't want that.  Look, your house is abandoned.  I tell you, you won't see me until the        time comes when you say, 'Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord's name.'" Several years ago, I worked for an organization whose music system was turned to the local country-western radio station.  When a song was really popular, like when Billy Ray Cyrus hit it big with "

I have told my parishioners that God heals, not in ways we want, but in the ways we need and often through unexpected means. I also tell them that there is nothing that God cannot redeem and bring healing from it. I believe these are both true, because I have experienced these truths in my life.  The following is one such experience, and surprising to me, the healing came through telling stories. In the fall of 2013, I found myself serving a new church in a new community two and a half hours away from our home and my husband's new job, the dream job that I had prayed for him.  The distance between us is challenging, but with my husband's former work, he often had long-term assignments working all over the state and the country.  Over the years, we have developed our own strategies for keeping our relationship strong.  Truth be told, this would not be the first time I'd ever moved to a new place and had to rebuild my social and professional networks. While I expect

I felt my Lord's atoning blood close to my soul applied; me, me he loved the Son of  God, for me, for me he died!            from  Glory to God, Praise and Love            by Charles Wesley, 1739               ( United Methodist Hymnal, #58) Question for you -- of all the Holy days in the Christian calendar, which is the most important? For years, I though it was Christmas with the lights and the decorations and the anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ child.  Advent is the season of lights, as each Sunday another candle is lit until on Christmas Eve when the sanctuary glows with candle light as we join our voices in singing, "Silent Night." Lent, leading us to Easter, is a season of increasing darkness as we meditate upon our sinful nature.  Each Sunday in Lent, we extinguish a candle to remind us of the day Christ's light left the world.   Sacrifice, death, suffering -- comparing the seasons of Advent and Lent, it's like

Photo by Channel 4, CBS News    Denver, Colorado Luke 4:1-13 Romans 10:8-15 Living in the Most High's shelter, camping in the Almighty's shade, I say to the Lord, "You are my refuge, my stronghold! You are my God -- the one I trust.           Psalm 91:1-2 On January 29, 2016, Channel 4, CBS News, Denver Colorado, reported that, in Westminster, Colorado, firefighters came to the aid of a man and his cat stuck in a tree after the ladder he was using to rescue the cat fell, leaving both the man and the cat stranded 30 feet above the ground. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt?  Well, maybe not literally, but the human race has the habit of making decisions that  figuratively leave us stuck up a tree.  When that happens, who are we going to call?  In case of temptation:  call 911 JESUS. Whether we're talking about cats or people, we end stuck up in those tress, facing the consequences of our actions because of the less than

Luke 9:28-36 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 The light bulb goes on, it's an epiphany!  A new idea, a different perspective, a deeper insight and understanding, a revelation, something beautiful and wondrous unveiled -- TA-DA! The season of Epiphany is bookended between two stories of light and revelation.  It begins with the story of the Wise men who followed an unusually bright star to greet the new king of the Jews, the one anointed by God and given authority to rule.  It ends with the story of the transfiguration, where Jesus was the one who lighted up the night with the glory of God.   Wonder, mystery awe! They are stories frozen in time, part of the history of the faithful.  However, God's word challenges us to look for revelation, new insights in old, familiar stories, asking of them, "How is this part of my story?" TA-DAAAH! That's a bold statement, isn't it.  It says, "Look at this.  This is something special, something wonderful"  wit