Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

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...