On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in my building we have a coffee shop. Coffee and a pastry of some type. All free, but they take donations. Lots of talking (mostly women, so there you go) and a fair amount of laughing. Tuesday morning I was sitting next to Mary Lou. Since there were about seven conversations going on, I was just sitting and drinking my coffee and letting the noise run in one ear and out the other. Then Mary Lou turned to me and said, "I better watch what I say. You're a religious person." That immediately made me wonder what she had said, but then I began to think of the word 'religious.' 

What does 'religious' mean exactly? We assume it is related to 'religion,' right? Practically the same word. Most of us have a definition in mind that concerns going to church. But what about when someone says something like, "I eat breakfast religiously." Does that mean they eat breakfast in church. No, it means they eat breakfast daily at the same time. And then there was my roommate in Christian college who told me he dated religiously. What did that mean? That he dated regularly or was it that he only dated the young lady in church? I don't know. But back to Mary Lou.

Mary Lou is a Catholic, so I looked up the meaning of a religious person in the Catholic church. "A member of a religious order who is bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience." Maybe she meant it like that, but it doesn't apply to me. I am not a member of a religious order, I have taken no vow of poverty. I suppose I am chaste, but that is unavoidable. And as for obedience, that would depend on who I am obedient too. I give my obedience to God and God alone. Still, I imagine Mary Lou was using the word in the way most people use it, that being someone who walks the path of holiness and righteousness and who is above even hearing unclean things. That is not me, either. Any holiness or righteousness in me comes from Jesus, not me. And if I was above hearing and seeing unclean things, well, I would never turn on my computer, radio or television and I would never go outside.  You cannot get away from worldliness, but you don't have to participate. 

So, am I a religious person? No, not at all. I am a Christian. A believer. I have sinned in the past and I will sin again. I have chosen to accept Christ as Savior and He has accepted me, as He promised He would. DO NOT try to be religious. Never. Just be the best child of God you can be.  

Blessings.

"It just isn't fair! I worked all my life and now this! I can't even walk without a walker or cane because of the pain!" 

Ah, yes, one of those times when you keep your mouth shut and listen. There is nothing you can say that will help the frustration and there are a lot of things you can say that will just add to the frustration. So, you listen. A person, still very independent, but now feeling the struggles of growing older.

You could talk about your own experiences, but they don't want to hear about your pain. You could say it will all be OK, but that isn't true. You could get philosophical and say that this must come to pass, but that might get you slapped. Nothing you can say. Of course, I am a pastor, so I have all the answers straight from the Word, except that I don't have all the answers and what I do have is not comforting.

People during the time of Christ live maybe 45-50 years. By the time you hit 40 (if you hadn't already been made a partaker of one of the unpleasant ways to die) you were getting old. Try and comfort someone with that information. So, you listen. Except that in this case the question came, "Doesn't your Bible say something about God being fair to us when we live a good life?" 

First, that is an indication that the person doesn't read their own Bible. The Bible says we will suffer, we will struggle, we will face dark days. 'Fairness' is not a huge issue in the Bible. When we sin, we are shaming our Savior. He paid a huge sacrifice, of which only His horrible death was just a part. He who knew no sin became sin for us. If God were fair, we would die when we sinned our first sin after our salvation. And yet, we live on. 

But what does the Bible say about fairness?

Very, very little, actually. 

Colossians 4:1 is just about the only place we find 'fairness.' It may be inferred elsewhere, but when we infer something in the Bible, we are on shaky ground. The verse says, Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. Yeah, well, that really doesn't help the lady in question. But, maybe, if you turn it and shape it a little, it can work. Maybe...... Except the rest of the paragraph says this, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with prayer and thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the Word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.

You see, God isn't talking His fairness toward us, but rather the wealthy toward those who work for them. And Paul is also giving them an extra burden. Does that seem, well, fair? Not really, at least in the way we understand 'fairness.' So maybe God's understanding differs from our understanding. And God's understanding would have to be right.

This begs the question then; what about our sufferings, pain and frustrations? Well, pray about it. We are supposed to pray about everything. But then Paul says this in Philippians 4:10-13; I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul is not saying that God will be 'fair' to the faithful. Who could be more faithful than Paul? But Paul is saying that through Christ, he can do all things in spite of the circumstance.

Now, let's review. The Bible does not say that God will pave the way for the faithful through this earth. We are going to be hit with everything, and often more, than the worldly person. The difference is that we have the strength to overcome even though we are beset with all sorts of problems. And when we do overcome, we are lifting the name of Jesus.

So, what is fair? Depends. Do we want God's strength to overcome, or do we want our strength to fail? Shouldn't be a hard choice. 

There were those who were saying that this week's eclipse signaled the end of the world. One of the cohosts of the television show 'The View' said the eclipse and the recent earthquake in New Jersey and this year's rise in cicadas are all because of climate change. Others gushed that this was a once in a lifetime event and they bought special glasses for which to watch it.

While certainly unusual, it does happen at least two times a year in some part of the world. Some years have had five eclipses. Those who felt this marked the end of the world probably also thought the change of the millennium was the end of the world. There is a church in my area where the pastor is going to have to come up with some kind of explanation as to why Jesus didn't appear in the clouds. The woman who blamed climate change for eclipse and earthquake and cicadas apparently never had a single day of school. The ideal cohost for 'The View.' And those who insisted on watching it, you had a much better view watching the video on TV with no danger of frying your eyeballs.

There was an 'Eclipse Party' in the building where I live. Around noon I was getting off the elevator on the second floor where I live. and a lady was standing there with a cart filled with finger foods and bakery waiting to get on to go downstairs to get ready. "Are you coming down later?" "No. I'm going to pass on this one." That got me a dirty look. I don't go to events where there is alcohol and I don't go to bingo and things like that, and that and really bothers this woman. She has said to at least one other person that I must think I am too good for them, which is silly. This event had no drinking, as far as I know, but I just had no interest. My window by my computer overlooks the courtyard where the party was held and I could hear all the laughter and it sounded like a good time, but large groups like that bother me. And then came the big moment. The eclipse. I heard a few exclamations and then someone said, "What, that's it? I missed my nap for that?" I had to laugh. Climate change is so weird.

The thing I got out of this is that these events are so regular and so precise that they can be predicted centuries in advance, and you can follow the same formula and go back in time and see where it has happened before. Nature is like that in every respect. And for something to be so perfect, there must be a plan. 

I once pried the back off my father's wind-up pocket watch. I examined all the gears and springs. I took it apart to see the connections. (And no, I could not put it back together and yes, I was punished severely. I didn't always deserve the punishments I received, but I did that time.) I think now about that watch and the craftsmanship that went into its creation, and I am amazed. But all of the earth and the solar system and the whole galaxy all works in predictable union, crafted by the hand of God. That is just amazing beyond words.

Besides, I am still waiting for that once in a lifetime event that will likely never happen.....the Cleveland Browns winning a Super Bowl.

Blessings!    

Yes, I know I am a day late on this blog. But there is a reason, which I will get to in a bit.

If you think everything is going to remain the same, you are fooling yourself. A baby is born. You don't expect the little critter to stay little forever, do you? No. They pass through stages. Little grunt to rug rat to WHAT ARE YOU DOING to heartbreaker to adult. Everything just moves along. You buy a house and in a few years you are replacing the hot water heater and then the siding and then the stove and on and on. Everything just moves along. Of course, there are memories along the way. But time always wins.

In 1975 I was called to a church as minister of music and Youth. Oh, yeah! I had arrived. Or so I thought. But everything just moved along. In time I became a pastor of a small country church, then a home missions pastor, then pastor of a city church, then a pastor of a larger church in another city, then a pastor in a small town. All along the way I did other things to help pay the bills, but the ministry was a constant. I spoke at conferences, wrote for a couple of Christian magazines and got a killer education, both scholastic and experiential.  

And even though it was good and fulfilling and I never wanted it to stop, the truth remains; Everything just moves along.

I retired. I could no longer be the pastor I needed to be. I wanted to be that pastor. Desperately. But I was sick and weak and worn out. Tired. It had all gotten away from me.

Retired. No way I could retire. NO!

I retired and got really sick. Had surgery. Very weak. Finally, coming up on Christmas, I was feeling good again. And on Christmas day, I began to experience the effects of COVID.

Even though I have had a difficult retirement so far, I keep in mind that everything just moves along. For me, someone who gave his life to the Lord over fifty years ago, everything moves along as He wills, in His time. And, about five weeks ago, the time arrived.

I was granted permission to start a worship service here at my apartment complex. It is a retirement complex. Getting out on Sunday morning to go to their own churches, some many miles away, is hard for folks, and they still want to worship. It starts this Sunday, April 7, 2024. I cannot wait.

I have to keep telling people that it is not church. This area is strongly Catholic and Lutheran and Methodist with various European faiths thrown in. There are some Baptists and Episcopalians and some non-denominational types in the mix. All of these have different denominational beliefs and traditions, so if it is a church, many would be turned away. In my mind, it will be better than a church---it will be a worship service, based on Biblical principles.

Imagine......no Board meetings, no committee meetings, no concern for a Youth program, no denominational meetings, no squabbles about lighting or carpeting or drapes. No annual reports. No finance committees (because there will be no offerings).....Nothing but the Word of God.

So that is why this blog is late. Dozens of little details. But it is going to be great. And I can be a real pastor again! When someone gets sick, I can just walk down to their room. I don't have to drive in the dark and then walk over uneven ground. I don't have to fear falling. I am stronger than I have been in years. And, as a benefit, the ladies here make really good cookies.

I have been attending a couple of great churches, and I hate to leave that behind. But at 10:00 on Sunday morning, this old retired guy starts a new chapter. I keep you folks in prayer, now I ask you to keep me and this worship service in prayer.

Blessings.  

The disciples were pretty much confused, I think. Jesus was telling them what was going to happen, but they had always been told that Messiah would come as a conqueror. They expected Jesus to raise an army, but He was saying other things. The mother of James and John even asked Him to put her boys in the prime spots of His kingdom. There may have been a feeling of disillusionment, as well. Judas Iscariot had betrayed Him. It would be just a short time and Thomas would be expressing his doubts. The disciples were heavy with grief.

Of all people, you would have thought Mary would be on top of it. The angel had come to her to announce the birth, she had spent decades with Him, she had given Him motherly direction, as when He turned the water into wine. She may have understood more than most, but she was still a little in the dark.

The cheering crowds of a few days before really had no clue, and neither did those who had condemned Him. They cursed Him, they mocked Him, they called for His death. The guards at the tomb should have expected something great, but when the angel appeared, they fell to the ground in a faint. It was all a spectacle. Something to do and to see before the heat of summer set in. Stonings and executions always drew a big crowd. Say what you wanted to about the Romans, but they always put on a great show. 

There were those who stayed true. Those who risked their own lives to prepare His body. Those who had loved Him and had come to the cross to grieve. But still, there wasn't real understanding. The women who went to the tomb to anoint His body went early on Sunday in accordance with the law, not to witness the Resurrection.

All of these people were Jews! They had heard the words of the various prophets! They had heard Isaiah's words about the horror of His death! They had the information! But traditions and reasonings had swayed them all.

And, of course, there are those today who, even with the whole story, still follow the traditions and reasonings rather than feel the power. The new dress and the sharp necktie and the easter egg hunt and the easter basket with candy takes on as much significance, and perhaps greater significance, than the Word of God. And the true meaning become murky.

But in that moment before the light of the rising sun, something began to happen. The earth began to shake. A sound, a grinding noise was heard in that cemetery as the stone rolled away. A white light with the image of a man in it began to descend from heaven. The guards saw it and collapsed from fear. As the morning mist began to thin, women approached the tomb with their burial oils. There they saw the gleaming figure sitting atop the stone. Fear came upon them. And then the angel said, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, Who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay!

What more do we need? At Christmas we have an amazing story, yet we seek to dress it up in pretty wrappings. Why? And now, as we look at the greatest moment in all of history, we attach other worldly things to it, even calling it by a name that is an insult.  The greatest words in history are the words of Jesus as He gave up His life; It is finished! And as the women approached the tomb and the angel said, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, Who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay!

And just like that, the world changed. He is risen from the dead! Make the Resurrection count for something great this year. Don't worry about your church. Focus on the job He gave you and the church will take care of itself.

Blessings. 

Oh, my! Do you love the election cycles as much as I do? All the information and insight we receive thanks to the media and the campaigns of various candidates! Truely, we live in inspired times! 

My usual thing I do leading up to an election, in my case that would be the primary election in Ohio on March 19, is to do some research on the various candidates and issues on the ballot. But, more and more, I wonder why I bother to research at all. I mean, all the information you might need is on the commercials. 

On election day I was on the road and was listening to the channel I get the traffic information on. An ad came on the radio. It started by saying a candidate's name. The announcer let disgust drip off every syllable of the man's name. He went on to trash the candidate for crimes he had been charged with in a different state as well questionable political failures. I was a little alarmed to hear these things. My research had turned up some personal mistakes from decades ago, but he had been acquitted. This was new information and I was so glad to have found out before I cast my vote. Next was a commercial for a tire company and then an announcer began to extoll the virtues of a candidate. Without mentioning his name, the announcer told us how wonderful he was, a loving husband and father, a man who truly deserved our vote. The peaceful music in the background made you know this was a quality man. As the ad ended, the announcer said, "Good for Ohio, good for America." I was filled with pride! And then he finally spoke the candidate's name. It was the same name as the previous commercial! WHAT! How could this be?

Politics as usual. Every two years we are caught up in it. Every four years we have the presidential election. And every election, whether for city council or county commissioner or various national offices, are said to be the most consequential election of our time. Only doom and gloom results if you don't vote as I say.

Politics has always been around. Even in the days of absolute rule by a king there were politics. Behind the scenes there was scheming going on just to gain the king's ear. The book of Esther is full of political intrigue. The pages of the Bible and all history drip with political desire. We look at our time now and think that the world has never seen such turmoil. Why, our politics pale when compared to the Roman Empire and even, if you read your American history, our own past. The Burr-Hamilton duel in 1804 comes to mind. Our politics? Child's play. It is always ugly. 

Let's look at the first century Israel. The Pharisees, arch conservatives, facing off against the Sadducees, the liberals. The Scribes, who tended to go whichever way best suited them. Then you had the splinter groups; the Zealots and the Essenes. The Zealots were even more conservative than the Pharisees. They were militant. The Essenes felt they were above it all and went away to copy Scripture (it is to these folks we owe thanks to for the Dead Sea Scrolls). There was constant conflicts between them all. 

And then Jesus came along and all these groups joined together. Not to praise Jesus, but to hate Him. With a mere parable, He was able to cut to the core of their politics. Though they all hated each other, they were all fearful of Jesus. And so, they all formed a common bond. They met, they schemed, they weighed their options. And the more people began to follow Jesus, the more their options focused down. Finally, there was just one answer; Jesus had to die.

And He did and all those backroom deals paid off. Now they could get back to what they were good at; hating one another.

Except, the grave could not hold Him. Jesus arose! Hundreds of people saw Him! The leaders came up with lies (they were, after all, political animals). But it was too late to put the cork back in the bottle. 

We need Jesus again today in our politics. Not as someone to scorn and hate, but as One we can praise and worship. However, when Christians get just as political as the non-believers, do we gain? We often say, "He has good Christians values" but is that really enough? Do they really believe? 

Of course, go vote. But also pray. Turn that hate you might feel into love for these people. Then, and only then, will it be the most important election ever.

Blessings.

I am usually more careful. I really am. No one likes to feel like that, but......

I am allergic to pork. It didn't start affecting me until I was a middle aged adult. It started slow. At some point I realized that I got sick whenever I ate ham.  In time, maybe ten years or so, the only pork I could eat was bacon, which was fine. After all, what is life without bacon? After moving to Indiana, I found out what life without bacon was like. Imagine, no bacon! Well, there is turkey bacon, but really?

The last real bout of pork sickness came at Wabash hospital in Indiana, where I was a patient for a few days. I was feeling pretty good and I ordered potato soup for lunch. I asked the lady on the ordering phone if there was bacon in the soup and I was assured there was not. And it was good! Very good! And a few hours later I got sick. Sicker than I ever remember being. Everyone was alarmed. They kept me an extra day, I suppose because they thought I was going to die. The next day I was still sick and in so much pain I could hardly move. An aid came in and suggested I eat some soup, and then the light came on. I asked if the potato soup had bacon. She pulled out a list that had all the ingredients to the food in the kitchen. Bacon wasn't listed. At that moment a nurse came in to do vitals. She was drawn into the conversation, and she left for the kitchen. There she found the box of mix for the soup and right on the list on the box it said bacon. That is how I am affected.

So, I check labels. Pepperoni has pork in it, so only vegetable pizza. No eggs cooked in bacon grease. No little bits of bacon in a salad. I never want to be that sick again.

Saturday a lunch companion and I went to a Chinese buffet restaurant neither of us had been to. I happen to love egg rolls and so I took two. I have eaten at two such buffets since returning to Ohio and have had no problems. I never thought about it. I was halfway through my second roll when my friend said, "I thought you couldn't eat pork." "I can't. No pork on this plate." "You didn't see the sign above the rolls? 'PORK FRIED EGG ROLLS.' Go look."

A couple of hours later I started getting sick. By 9PM I was buried under covers. Sunday morning, I hurt so bad I didn't want to move. It lasted till around Monday noon.

While I was agonizing, my brain still functioned. Mostly it was saying 'YOU IDIOT YOU IDIOT YOU IDIOT YOU IDIOT!' But there were a few normal thoughts, as well. I knew I would survive, so at one point the thought came; 'This is how we enter into sin. Satan puts sin in front of us and we avoid it. But then he puts it in something that is pleasurable. Cheating a few dollars on our taxes, feeling flattered when someone from the opposite sex compliments us, breaking the speed limit on that lonely stretch of road, losing our temper because we were provoked. Then, once we have sinned, we realize it and feel badly. But then, we get over it and we find out that it did feel good!' And sin has entered into our lives and has gained a foothold. 

Hebrews 12:1---Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Even a tiny sin is sin. Set it aside.