It has been advised that we always approach God quietly because God speaks in a whisper. While we are busy getting more of what we have enough of, while we are so noisy as a society, we don't hear the voice of God because we've been too loud. We must learn to receive God's whispering voice. The season of silence is the season of Lent which begins this week, but we're not into that season yet. We're in a season of bright light, the end of Epiphany. In the Old Testament Moses goes up on the mountaintop, ...
A Family Circus comic strip shows the children of the family on Easter morning. One asks, "Who laid all these eggs?" The reply of another child is, "The Easter Bunny." "Who colored them?" Again the reply, "The Easter Bunny." The first child asks again, "Who gave us the jelly beans?" The reply, "The Easter Bunny." The family is then shown going to church. In church, the minister is preaching, and asks, "They came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled back, 'Who could have done this?' " And the child in the ...
Saul's conversion is important to us because we are always wanting detailed accounts of the journey of those people who have become great or famous. They always fascinate us. We avidly consume all the minute specifics we can find about them, sometimes even stooping to seek out tidbits of gossip. We are titillated by the trivial. Why was Sir Winston Churchill buried in a small country cemetery rather than in Westminster Abbey? Why was Churchill born in the servant's quarters of Blenheim Palace rather than ...
There are a lot of folks around these days who seem to be ready to unload a bit of their discouragement and depression upon you. A man tells that it seemed every time he walked in the door, as he came home from work, his wife would pounce on him with long tales of woe about the day's calamities and problems. Finally, he sat down and talked about it with her. He said that, after some discussion, she agreed that before she hit him with the day's disasters, she would at least let him first sit down and eat ...
A Peanuts cartoon strip shows Charlie Brown and Linus as they summarize their team's baseball season. They report that in 12 games they almost scored a run. In right field Lucy almost caught three balls, and once she almost made the right play. They decided between them that they led the league in "almosts." We Christians do not have an "almost" Savior. We have a Lord who saves to the uttermost. He did not and he cannot fail. At this writing, according to the experts, losses from savings and loans (S & Ls ...
... they went out to seize Him, for they said, "He is beside Himself." (Mark 3:21) I'm not a big movie-goer and I hardly ever watch the same movie more than once, but there is one film I have seen five or six times, and I'd see it again if I could find it. Evidently, a lot of other people felt the same way about this film, because it ran in one big city movie theater every day for twelve years. The film is called "The King of Hearts," and it has to do with an insane asylum caught up in the middle of World ...
And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) Have you ever thought about how lonely Jesus was as He made His way to Calviary’s hill and hung on its cross to die? Someone has compared it to the feeling you get in the hospital as you are being wheeled into the operating room. You feel radically alone as you wave good-bye to your family and friends, because they can’t undergo your surgery for you! You have to do it yourself. You are surrounded by people - the ...
A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?" "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today." The little boy replied, " Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!" We begin Holy Week celebrating Christ’s presence in Jerusalem. We have been prepared by ...
I, the Lord, search the mind and try the heart, to give to everyone according to their ways. (Jeremiah 17:10) In our text from Jeremiah, the prophet proclaims God's judgment over each of us as individuals, but sometimes I wonder: who really believes in a Last Judgment any more? Who takes seriously the idea that God "searches the mind and tries the heart, to give to everyone according to their ways"? A number of years ago, a judge named Horace Gray was forced to free a guilty man because of a legal ...
I have let you see [the Promised Land] with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. (Deuteronomy 34) The art of living is not so much our ability to pick one path and pursue it doggedly to the end. It has more to do with how well we are able to change paths and shift directions when the situation demands it. Most of all, the art of living is the ability to respond with grace and faith when the journeys we make in life are interrupted and left unfinished. If I may use the analogy of sports: life is not ...
"So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place of a skull, which is called in Herbrew Gol'gatha. There they crucified him ... (John 19:17-18)." The story continues, and we know it well. He was crucified with two other criminals - one on each side. We know about the sign that Pilate hung on the cross - proclaiming Jesus (sarcastically) to be "King of the Jews (John 19:19-24)." We know about how the soldiers divided up his clothes (John 19:23-23). We ache when he thirsted, and they ...
"There are so many religions in the world. Everybody believes in God his/her own way. Consequently, it can't matter what you believe: That wouldn't be fair if it did! No, it does not matter what you believe; it's if you believe that counts. As long as you believe in something. That is what counts!" "Ah, the church; who needs it? All you get there is a lot of hassles: Money-talk, changes, all those aggravating things. Hey, I want some peace; that is what I need! Heck, who can get close to God in the middle ...
Jesus was still in the middle of his farewell discourse to his disciples. He was trying to comfort the despair that they were feeling when they had first heard the news (during the last supper) that Jesus would be leaving them (John 13:21, 33; 14:1). He had comforted them with the good news that he was on the way to God the Father, that in associating with Jesus, the disciples had been in fellowship with the Father (John 14:6-11). Whoever believed in him, Jesus said, would be able to do the works that he ...
What is the matter with you? Why do you never seem to understand what I say? You have ears: Why do you not hear me? Or are you blind? Can you not see what I am doing? You have eyes: Why can't you see? Our Bible lessons for today speak directly to us. It is as if they were written with us in mind. They all make at least some reference to problems of sight and blindness - to the problem that plagues us. "Wait a minute, Pastor! You must be kidding. These lessons cannot have much to do with our parish. To be ...
Reading the title you may jump to the conclusion that I do not know football. To be sure, the saying usually goes: “The best defense is a good offense.” But consider the plight of Joe Paterno when he became head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions in 1967. He realized that he did not have a squad of outstanding athletes, particularly defensive players. To Paterno, defense was the key to winning football games. What was he to do? In his own words: “I had to find a way of playing great defense without ...
What would happen if you lost your sight? In June, 1985 I had surgery for a brain tumor. When the doctor came in my room the first night I was in the hospital, he told me what my prospects were. He said I could lose my sight in one or both eyes, or my speech, or the ability to walk. He said I might not even live through the surgery. So the possibilities were frightening. I remember saying to the doctor, "I only need one good eye. More than that I need to be able to speak." I knew a preacher needed his ...
Text: Luke 4:18-19 - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Some years ago a friend wrote to the Russian author, Turgenev, telling him that he felt that the most important thing in life was to put one's self in second place. Turgenev replied to his friend: "I suspect that the ...
Text: Jeremiah 17:5 - Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord." Let's face it, we are paradoxical, a people who, while expressing our trust in Almighty God, are motivated by the apparent conviction that humanity is more to be trusted. That which is real is that which is pragmatically, empirically proved to be of value to humanity, and it is almost without exception something that humanity has produced. We have closed our ears to ...
"Jesus left that place, and as he walked along he saw a tax collector, named Matthew, sitting in his office. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at his house, many tax collectors and outcasts came and joined him and his disciples at the table. Some Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and outcasts?' Jesus heard them and answered: 'People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who ...
"So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than sparrows!" (St. Matthew 10:31 TEV) The other day I was visiting a man about forty-five years old in the hospital. He was not a member of our parish, but I was informed that he had a spiritual problem and that he might appreciate visiting with a minister. He did have a spiritual problem, one that we all can have at times. You see, the man had been in an automobile accident a few days ago. He was "out with the boys" one night - actually something he rarely ...
"For the man who wants to save his own life will lose it; but the man who loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." (St. Mark 8:35 TEV) "We're only number two; we try harder!" I'm sure you've all seen the magazine ad of the car rental agency that uses this slogan. In a way the slogan strongly reflects some of our national thinking. One of the key doctrines of our American enterprise is hard work. If a person's going to succeed in life, we say, he will have to exert himself. It is often ...
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. (John 19:17-18) Death is a common experience of life. All who lived in the past died. Every one of us now living will die sooner or later. Approximately five thousand Americans die every twenty-four hours. Almost two million deaths occur in our country every year. There are ...
Today, fasting is a lost practice. Since Vatican II, Catholics do not require fasting. Except for Episcopahans and Lutherans, most Protestants do not know what fasting is. And very few Lutherans and Episcopalians take fasting seriously. Yet, fasting has always been a part of religious devotion, both Christian and non-Christian. For instance, the Bible takes fasting for granted. In looking for a text commending fasting, I could not find one. Fasting is assumed. Jesus took for granted that people would fast ...
Ever hear of a baby born wearing diapers? Of course not! Ever hear of a person being born again wearing nothing but a cross? This happened to St. Francis of Assisi. When Francis decided to be a priest; his father disinherited him and brought him to trial before a bishop. Peter Bernardone demanded that his son give back all the money he took from him for the church and the poor. Francis threw a bag of money at his father's feet. Francis shuddered when he saw how his father clung to the money. Francis called ...
"Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored." (v. 10) Prayer: Dear Lord, when we call on you for help, we have our own idea of the kind of help we want, when it should come, and how it should come. Help us to realize that your answer may be different from ours, and will always be more effective. Amen. While waiting in line at the bank, Earl, a friend I hadn’t seen for some time, told me of a visit he recently had made to a doctor. He said, "I was having some skin problems, and ...