"An Incredible Day"

Readings 1 Corinthians 15: 19-26 John 20: 1-18

The first Easter was an incredible day.  Jesus would prove that death is not the end.  That in death we actually enter a new womb, a womb of new birth where all physical, and emotional pain and suffering come to its end.  For Mary Madeline and the two disciples it started out with disbelief, fear, and bewilderment, as we heard in the reading this morning.   Just before arriving at the tomb, they had returned to the upper room, in fear for their lives.  I find something very peculiar about the first account of discovering the empty tomb?    Despite all Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and the disciples had seen Jesus do, from healing the sick, raising the dead, to calming the stormy seas, and despite all that he had said about His death and resurrection, after the cross was raised, no one really took him seriously or held on to any hope.   After he was laid in the grave, they never expected to see Jesus again.  Let us remember that these were people who were with him 24 hrs. a day for much of his 3 year journey to the cross.  Truly I believe, they though it is finished.  

You would have thought that one of them would have been curious and brave enough to go and watch near the tomb, to see if his words would come true.  In fact, as I studied the scriptures, I began to wonder if they took in anything, He had said to them.  When Jesus died their hopes seemed to have died too, their convictions grew dim, and indeed their faith seemed all but lost as they huddled in the upper room where they had just celebrated the Passover, hiding in fear that the authorities would treat them just as they had treated Jesus.  Did you notice that the resurrection is first discovered by a women, not by Peter, the rock who would later formed the church?  This women did not go the tomb to see if the Lord has risen, but rather she went with the hope of helping Jesus’ Mother clean and wash the body for proper burial.  Nicodemus and Joseph if you remember only placed the body in this tomb temporarily.    In the end, no one believed him nor his words even though they had seen his miracles and felt the touch of his wondrous compassion and love for all peoples.     

But for us, we know the “the rest of the story”, the part they didn’t.  It wasn’t finished, nor was He and some of us have encountered the risen Christ for ourselves.   We know what Jesus has accomplished for all who have or will believe in Him.  All who have accepted his offer of unconditional forgiveness, love and acceptance, have experienced God’s Amazing Grace in action.   Jesus seals this love offering with his physical death, manifested in our lives through those who believe in the resurrection.   

Here is where we need to pay close attention Folks, for we should never lose our hope in the promises of God.  We need to hold onto our trust in Jesus, our trust in God.  The convenient that was sealed on Good Friday is real for all who will believe.   

Yet, are we much different today because we know the whole story?  Doubt fills many who still do not understand Jesus’ mission.  We know what Jesus accomplished for the world and we know why He die, right!!! OR DO WE?    

Some of you don’t look convinced.  Where then are our Hallelujah’s today?    Or is it still incomprehensible for most of us, to accept this extraordinary love offering God brings to completion through the physical death of Jesus.   Because that is what Good Friday and Easter Sunday are really all about FOLKS!  It’s all about how much Jesus loves you and me.   Is it still too difficult to believe that we do not have to accomplish anything to receive this love?   That even the most evil deeds of my human nature can’t destroy the power of Jesus’ love for me and that Jesus’ love for me has no conditions.   It was always there, but it is now made visible, sealed with this extraordinary extravagant love act of unconditional forgiveness offered to us through the cross.  

Some people still say to me “But just a minute Sim!”  There must be something I’m missing for I truly don’t completely feel this love for me.  I believe in it, but I just don’t feel it.   What am I missing?   I’m sure there must be something, because it still eludes me.  I believe in His love but I still don’t feel this love.  I don’t understand this love.  This is a reality for many of us, but there is still hope folks. 

There are many of us who can honestly say they do not feel or understand this loved, “There are many of us who do not feel worthy no matter how much we accomplish, no matter how much compassion we show others or how hard we try to follow the straight a narrow path.   Many today still do not fully understand the cross, and His covenant, of unconditional forgiveness, “Father forgive them for them for they really do not know what they are doing”.  Folks many of us do not understand what we say or do at times but understanding is not a condition, you do not have to understand.  Those words from the cross "when accepted in faith" can take the lease off our bondage to wrong doing.  They are words that were meant for you personally.   Jesus isn’t holding anything back from anyone, his love and forgiveness are truly unconditional, no strings attached and He waits, no, He longs for you to just accept it. 

May I suggest that when we place conditions upon the love we want to share with others, the condition becomes the lease?  Jesus’ Love will never fail you, but love with conditions becomes love in chains and makes us feel unworthy, and unlovable to others.   Jesus offers that same love to anyone of us who will accept it and it will literally change your life forever!   Jesus destroyed the “if” in love with Easter and because we are an Easter People we need to learn to remove the “if” we placed on the love we share with our Lord, with our families, and with each other.    When you are able to touch and taste this love in your life if only for a moment, you will have lived in Him and He will have lived in you and you will know that you are loved.   This is the love that we all long to experience and it is the love that builds relationships, binds families and strengthens community.     A love freely given, you do not have to be worthy, nor do you have to understand.  God loves us because we are His.     ISN'T THAT INCREDIBLE!! 

                                          "Outrageous Love"

  

   

"What The Traditional Good Friday Doesn't Tell You"

Reading:  John 16: 16-23
Have you ever thought about this “what’s so good about Good Friday”?   Any takers?  Good Friday is like a double edge sword.  So then let us take a closer look so we can grasp the full experience. Where is the Good in Good Friday?  
It was because of this terrible tragedy that you and I are given this option.  If we can embrace the fullness of Good Friday we are given the opportunity to begin to live all over again with a new vision.   This option for the believers would be coined “the way of the redeemed”.     It was on that Day, through what seemed a tragedy, that Jesus releases the greatest power on earth.  A power that can change your life and bring you into a closer relationship with your God.  The power of unconditional forgiveness, love and acceptance, the power of GRACE.   And all you have to do, is accept it.  It was always there from the very beginning of creation, Grace I mean, but now made visible and graspable.   Using the metaphor of filthy rags, meaning all the things that hold you in bondage, selfishness, guilt, shame, loneliness, and alike,  can be exchanged for a garment covered in the fullness of God's GRACE.  That is truly the GOOD NEWS  of the Cross Folks.  It is through the acceptance of Christs offer and the following of His way, that we are transformed and made ready to be a new being.   And what is this way you may ask?   Right living, so you may die with a clear conscience freed from bondage.  Saved by grace and presented to God the Father in the righteousness of the Christ.     

                                             "You Found Me" 

    

It was a tragedy for Mary, for his brothers, for the disciples and many others who were following him, the day of great darkness on the hill of Golgotha.   BUT for us there was to be a new dawn!  It was Friday, but SUNDAYS A COMING FOLKS, a day of new beginnings.  Jesus accepted his lot in life and He choose the cross, so that we might know and experience this transforming love and forgiveness he offers us.  Here we can grasp and understand the other side of the double edge sword.  For what seemed to be a disaster at first, it has now turned into this radical love offering, the gift of God’s “Amazing Grace” to all who would accept it.  

In the wisdom teachings of Solomon we hear:  The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will ever touch them.  In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died and their departure was thought to be a disaster and their going from us to be their destruction, they are at peace.  May I add my own though here, home in the arms of our heavenly parent where we truly belong.  

Therefore the day of crucifixion, our day of tragedy has two sides to it,  because two days later it turns into a day to celebrate a day of a new life, new beginnings.    Not just for Jesus but for all those who believed on Him.  No matter how you view it, out of tragedy suffering and pain comes new life.  In our weakness Gods power is always manifested.   Just when we think all is lost, God will show up folks.  We don’t see it at the time of our pain and suffering but it will come.  Ask any mother what happens after her water brakes and the pain that follows.  During the last moments of her pregnancy her pain turns into the joy of seeing new birth take place as she first lays eyes on her newborn.  This same joy is felt all over, and over again by our heavenly parent when one of us is transformed, truly borne again, John 3: 5-7.   New birth can only take place when something comes to its end, when the tears dry up and the old fades away there is a new day.   That is the way of nature and that is the way of the CROSS, as hard as it is for us to accept during our time of pain or suffering.  Not one new thing in life that is good comes without some sacrifice, without some form of pain or suffering, loss, surrender and then death.  Ironic as it may sound tragedy has two sides to it, a bad and good, two lives, one of suffering and one of relief.  There will always be difficult events in life that have to be endured where suffering, pain hardship, or disappointment find their roots.   Can you relate:  You wanted it so bad and you worked so hard for it, you sacrificed a lot to attain it, but it didn’t materialize.   A relationship ends!!  Your life has been going along fine but all of sudden a young child, a spouse, a beloved mom or dad is take from you through an accident, illness or natural causes.   You have just seen the Doctor and he gives you news you do not want to hear.  Helplessness, fear and emptiness fill your very being.  These are the same feelings Jesus must have felt as he expressed his feeling to God in the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22: 39-46 and again while hanging on the cross:  why do I have to endure this suffering Father?   Is there not another way”?   No matter how much Jesus must endure, no matter how much you have to face, for the believer, there is always an Easter Dawn.  You may have heard the Rev Dr. Tony Compolo echo these words from his famous sermon:  It’s Friday, but Sundays a Coming!   Here is where you can turn your darkness into new light, knowing that something Good will come out of every tragedy.  Somehow, someway, God will bring us new life.  Trust in Jesus, Trust in God.  

                                          "Softly and Tenderly"

          Your resurrection Folks, begins and ends at the the Cross 

"When The Cheering Stops"

"When did we stop Cheering" 

March 20, 2016  Readings  Philippians 2: 5-11  Psalm 118  Luke 23: 13-25

Some years ago a book was written with the title "When The Cheering Stopped." It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson became an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that this would be the war to end all wars and the world would be made safe for democracy.   On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs.   He was actually more popular than their own heroes.  To the Christian this story may begin to sound familiar.    The same thing was true in England and Italy.    They said that President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be all right,   the signs of a saving messiah. Societies are always looking for a messiah but, what do we do when we find one? 
The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. It didn’t take long for people to become more concerned with their own agendas than they were about a lasting peace.   At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition he was not re-elected and the President's health began to fail.  Once heralded as the new world Messiah, he ended his days with a broken confused spirit.
It's a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar to us.   It seems to be the ultimate reward for someone who tries to bring a message of hope and unity to a people who have been living in kayos, pain and suffering as their way of existing.  I’m not kidding folks there are people who identify, and get meaning from the amount of kayos, pain or suffering in their daily lives. I’m not just talking about physical pain and suffering but also mental, caused by the way we think.    Ernie Larson coined the mind that is addicted to self-destruction as, stinking thinking.  Try and take that pain away and they get hostile, because it is part of who they are, part of their identity.   The concepts of loving without conditions, unity, peace of mind, everything for the good of all, why these ideals becomes the enemy!!   It’s not as if people in general don’t long for these concepts, for we all do, but they will uproot and expose why we are in pain, suffering and kayos in such a way that people will resist the changes these concepts can bring about, preventing them from hearing the saving words of The Christ.  We need not look any further than ourselves, our broken  families, or our unhappy divided church communities.  

 It happened that way to Jesus.  When he emerged on the public scene he was an overnight sensation.   The masses lined the streets as he came into town.   On Palm Sunday leafy palm branches were spread before him and there were shouts of Hosanna.   In shouting Hosanna they were in effect saying "Save us now" Jesus, Save us from our adversaries and our oppressors, your the one who can bring to us a new life, a new way of living.   Great crowds came to hear him preach.  They began to build expectation of a changed world.   But the cheering, even for him, did not last for long.   There came a point when the tide began to turn against him too.  It was so settle at first, not many noticed.    People still came to see him, but the old excitement was missing, and the crowds were not as large as they had been.  His critics now began to publicly attack him, even the closes of his 12 began to turn away and question his motives.   They became afraid to speak out, for fear of the masses, as they began to perceive that the fickle public was turning on him.  Soon the opposition began to snowball.  When they discovered that they could not discredit his moral character, they began to take more desperate measures.  Before it was all over a tidal wave welled up that brought Jesus to his knees under the weight of a cross. Folks at some point in our lives we all have to deal with difficult circumstances and we all experience the weight of personal burden. Here we must trust in what Jesus has accomplished for the sake of all.   

In order to guard ourselves against the folly of allowing our pain and suffering to dominate our thinking, our behavior or allow it to become a major part of our identity or our way of life, our attitude must become more like Christ's.  

Jesus was humble willing to give up his personal human rights for the sake of all.   We must take on the attitude of a servant, serving out of love for God and others, not out of quilt, fear, or obligation as many are now doing.   Remembering  that we can choose our attitude, we can approach life expecting that we be should be served while all the time looking for the respect we deserve for our efforts, or we can look for opportunities to serve others, and in so gaining there respect in the right way, from a humble heart.  Folks, our human nature with its legal rights and worldly ways, wants us to want for the best in life, even if it is at the cost of others.  On the other hand Jesus wants to give us the best there is in this life.  It is and always will be within our choices. 

                                  " Why do we stop cheering"

   

"Reward Or Punishment" My Choice??

March 13, 2016: Readings: Psalm 126, Philippians 3: 4-14, John 12: 1-8 

Paul and Judas have a great deal in common and this morning I would like to explore the circumstances of their lives and of their deaths.     At first glance, it looks like Paul is boasting about his achievements.  But he is actually doing the opposite, showing that human achievements, no matter how impressive, no matter how great, cannot you earn a position of favor with God.   This is usually were our human nature kicks in the most, with its human logic.  We just can’t seem to disconnect from thinking that goodness has to give me an advantage over bad people in the eyes of God.  Human logic wants me to believe that goodness makes God choose me over a bad person.  Paul’s experience with God has brought him to the understanding that you cannot buy your salvation you have to choose Gods ways over your own, It a personal choice.   With our freedom of choice, we can choose God.  God on the other hand has already chosen us, there is not need to influence God here.   This truth if you accept it, is your pathway to being truly free and to suffer affliction or reap your reward.   What is the prayer then “ Not My will Lord but thy will be done.” Do you suppose that’s where salvation begins and ends, with surrender? God gives us the will to freely choose and this act of God’s extravagant love, the gift of FREE WILL, actually exonerates God from having to judge or punish us.   Think about the implications here folks.  When we exercise the gift to choose, we can and do call down upon ourselves a clean conscience or invite chaos, reward or punishment, the choice is ours.  Therefore, the discussions we make for our lives, is free from God’s will for us.   Being found right in the eyes of God then cannot be earned, only chosen.   
Paul had impressive credential, and upbringing; he was a respected Jewish Pharisee with a mission.  The mission, to destroy the followers of Christ and persecute the church especially those who preached the message of Christ.   Paul thought that this new religious movement was heretical and blasphemous because, to him Jesus was a fraud and did not meet the expectations of what the Messiah would be like.   Paul assumed that Jesus’ claims were false and therefore wicked.  In addition, he saw this new movement, later to be coined Christianity, as a political menace because it threatened to disrupt the fragile harmony between the Jews and the Roman government.   Paul had an obsession and according to the Law and his religion, he was perfectly justified in carrying out his acts of persecution.  Paul had not met or seen Jesus personally because his reign of terror was after Jesus’ death and resurrection.   

Judas on the other hand, a thief by trade, had been taken in by Jesus and made a disciple.  Just think of it, Judas is able to be physically in presence of Jesus daily, to walk with him, to talk with him and to personally hear and gain from his wisdom teachings.  How fortunate this man could have been, you might think that this would be enough for automatic transformation, a chance for Judas to turn his life around, for the better.   But Judas’ obsession, concerning his own ego, and doing things his way keeps him from having the personal relationship with Christ that is life changing.  He never does get the message and never see Jesus as the Messiah.   To Judas, Jesus is just another man, a prophet, who can be exploited for his own personal ends, his greed and ego keeps him spiritually blind.    It appears that Judas never had second thoughts about his life until it was too late.  Then he tries to make it right but cannot forgive himself for what he has done.  Judas’ FREE WILL takes him to a terrible end as he takes his own life.  Shouldn’t these two disciple’s story cause us to seriously reflect upon the GIFT OF FREE WILL that have been given to us? 

This is a great example of how our choice exonerates God from our punishment and its aftermath.   WE choose, God doesn’t send us anywhere folks.  Even though God is blameless here, God grieves over Judas’s death and his loss, the death he chose by his own will was truly a tragedy.   God often grieves over our choices as well.   

On the other hand Paul who was certainly just as much a threat to the moment as was Judas, with his crusade against the Christians has a personal encounter with Jesus.    Unlike Judas when the opportunity comes to him he submits to Christ and the personal relationship that is essential with Jesus takes place.  Paul unlike Judas forgives himself, receiving Christs’ forgiveness and begins a new life in HIM.  Paul replaces his obsession of hate with an obsession of extravagant love.  The joy and peace that Paul finds in this new relationship with God gives him the strength to live life to the fullest, no matter what circumstances the world throws at him, and in the end dies for his love of Christ, bringing Glory of God.

Now I know that Paul’s and Judas lives are not like ours, but yet we have the same choice to make at some point.   We may be having a personal battle inside ourselves with some worldly issue, some personal struggle that need to be addressed.  The choice we make exercising our God given gift of FREE WILL, will have a great effect on how we live now and how we will die.   Here are three things for you to consider this morning.

1.  Have you accepted your own faults and frailties, can you forgiven yourself and begun to seek the will of God in your life.  

2.  Who is Jesus for you, have you recognized Him as your Messiah, the one who offers to change and save you from your destructive nature the nature of the self.  

3.  Have you used your free will to chosen the way of the Lord, or are you still going it alone?   

My hope for you today is that you will seriously consider Paul’s plea for Christ, your choices in life will determine how you live, how you die, and your life to come. 

Some after thoughts:  

What did Jesus mean when he said “you will always have the poor with you” John 12: 8

Gods Will For Us:  That you will come home, come back to him. 

Surrendering to Jesus begins our pilgrimage home.

Extravagant Love:  God has already chosen us: will we choose God?

"Is It All About The Goal" "What Abut The Journey?"

March 6, 2016  

The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright tells the story of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life.  When he was 9 years old, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his reserved, no- nonsense uncle.   As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him.  He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.  "Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how straight my tracks lead me directly to my goal. There is an important lesson for you hear Frank,"  said the Uncle.  

Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how that experience had contributed to his philosophy in life.   "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss out on the things in life, that my uncle had missed."  You see, Frank Lloyd Wright saw in those tracks what his uncle could not: It is easy to let the demands of life keep us from the experiences of the journey.  I hope many of you heard this profound revelation.  Lets hear it again.  It is easy to let the demands of life, {reaching out for a goal or concentrating on a destination} keep us from the experiences of the journey.  The most important things in life cannot be found in a goal or a destination, but on the way to, during the journey.  Life is lived within your interactions with, and in the personal relationships you encounter along the way to your goal.    Why, because for some the goal is never reached but it was and is the journey that makes up their lives.  My hope is that you are enjoying your life journey folks!  
Don't get me wrong, we need to set goals and work to fulfill them.  No sane person would argue otherwise.   But here's what young Frank Wright discovered at the tender age of 9, and what some don't learn until later in life and for others, sometimes never.  The objective in life is not all about a goal or a destination, as important as they are, it’s really all about the journey on the way.  That is why Jesus never gave us direct answer but gave us parables.  He didn't teach a goal, or a destination, he taught "A WAY", a way to live and a way to die.  What did he say " I  am the way" meaning my life's journey is the way, the truth and the life.   The mistake here can be that you trash the journey teaching, thinking that if I just professing his name I short cut all the other stuff and I am safe.  
We need and make goals but 'THE LIFE" and it's experiences are taught and found along "the way".   In other words what kind of footprint will I leave when and if I achieving my goal.  
Many make the mistake of focusing on or obsessing over the goal so intently that they become spiritually blind or even spiritually bankrupt.   Blind to the fact that sometimes they compromise their own values, run over or even crush others lives in their attempt to achieve their goal.   Countries have even been known to gone to war over a goal.   In the Second World War, the goal was to exterminate an entire race of people, the Jews and rule over all others as the supreme ruler.   If profit or saving becomes the ultimate goal as it is with many business corporations and religions institutions today, we again run the risk of compromising ethical and ecological values taught to us by "The Way".  This is why it is so important that people who worship the one supreme God fellowship and teach each other in the ways of God as shown to us through the life, death and resurrection found in our Holy Scriptures.  This is why the example of Jesus is so important in the lives of individuals and families who follow the Christian way found in the Gospels.   We need not only to take the message in but then we need to take the message outside the four walls of our group or church.  We need to become the examples for all others to see, not by only saying what we believe, but by actually doing what we say we know.   You know there is an old saying: if you say you know it and don't do it, then you really don't know it.  As followers of Christ it is our mission, it is our calling.   We must at some point in our walk with Jesus begin to live and share the freedom we have found in His way, truth, and life.  Just as you cannot skip ahead from grade 1 to graduate high school without putting in the time and living the journey.  You can't skip ahead to your goal without learning and living "the way" trash any part of the journey and you risk not reaching your goal folks!

Paul couldn’t contain himself, and gives us several important principles for our calling.  That right folks, I am talking about “YOUR MINISTRY” for you to have ministry and you are called by God through Christ to exercise it.  How can we do this without offending anyone?   Paul give us insight here and tells us:   

1. Find common ground with those you encounter.  Jesus’ love teachings are universal, you will find them everywhere.   Religion cannot contain them nor does religion hold the patent.   Besides God does not profess to have "a religion". only a people.  To show unconditional love of self and neighbor, compassion for the poor, the sick the homeless and those who are lost, these are universal Holy values.  

2.  Avoid a know-it –all attitude.   The Christ is cosmic and so are the teaching.  You can find them everywhere.  Any religion that proclaims "to be the way" is nothing more than noisy bell.  I can tell you what I believe but if it does not show up in the way I act and what I do, I too am just a noisy bell, for that which I do not do I do not really know.    Even those who walked with the Master daily didn’t know for sure, especially when he tells them He has other sheep in other pens.   John 10:16  ^"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."   Here you might interpret what he is saying as: they may not now my name as you do but they do know my voice, the voice that teaches them the truth about God and His way.   

3.  Make others feel accepted.  Jesus hears from his disciples that some, not of their group, are using his name to drive out demons.  They want Jesus to rebuke them, what is his response.  If they are not against us they must be for us. Let them be.    

4. Be sensitive to others needs and their concerns.   Love and respect others as you would with yourself.   Share with the less fortunate consoling them in their pain and celebrate with them in their times of joy.   
5.  Look for opportunities to tell them about your faith in Christ, and what it has done for you.  Do not be ashamed of your Gospels.  The last one # 5 talking about or sharing your faith outside your group or church is very scary for many in the Christian Church today.   I would like to suggest here that not just one, but all 5 principals that Paul is exposing us are to be equally important for your ministry as they were for Paul in his ministry.  Unfortunately for some of our brothers and sisters in the Christian tradition the goal of salvation has become the main event leaving all else secondary or in some extreme cases, not relevant at all.  In this instance the first 4 principals Paul teaches usually go by the way side and the journey as the means to an end become secondary or nonexistent.    Paul understood that it is during the journey that you learn to live the way and accept others for who and where they are. Then and only then can you truly begin to serve those who do not think as you do.   Goals and agendas are important but on their own lead to isolation, separateness, exclusion, burn out, frustration, and anxiety especially.  If your journey in life has brought you to faith, do not be afraid, look for opportunities to share your faith with those who have none, there is where blessings abound for both. 

"The Gift That Keeps On Giving"

Feb 28  2016 Readings Isaiah 55: 1-9 1 Psalm 63, Corinthians 10: 1-13, Luke 13: 1-9

The connection with today's parable of the Fig Tree is self-evident especially to those of you who are gardeners, especially to those of you who weed and prune in the hopes your efforts will produce a good product.   The parable is about a man who owned a vineyard.  In that vineyard was a fig tree--a fig tree that just didn’t seem to want to produce.  "Cut it down," the owner said to his vine-dresser. "For three years I have been looking for fruit on this tree and have found none. Cut it down. Why should it continue to occupy good ground?"   Now I ask you folks, is this not a good metaphor for many of us humans.  Each and every one of us was meant to produce something, something good I mean.   Each and every one of us has something we are good at and it was mean to be useful.  You know the old saying use it or loose it, RIGHT!!  It is up to us to discover our gifts, nurture them, prune and cultivate them so we can begin to use them to help God in the building of “thy Kingdom come.”  

Time and time again God continues to be patience with those of us who do not take advantage of our gifts or the opportunities He has placed before us.  At the same time God will not take away our freedom to choose, even it if causes suffering and punishment to fall upon both us and or an innocent bystander. 

That is the message of today's Epistle Reading - a reading in which Paul

reminds us of all the opportunities that God's chosen people missed - and

the results that they themselves created, brought either reward, or punishment for their choices.

The people of Israel in the Wilderness stories of Moses during the Exodus, had seen God's goodness, they had many opportunities to praise and to trust God - but they grumbled and complained instead.  Their negative attitudes and choices turned them towards their old ways, causing them great turmoil and chaos. They called down upon themselves their own judgment and punishment through choice and many innocent were also inflicted.  Even during their wilderness time God provided all that they needed.   He gave them freedom from the slavery of Egypt, but rather than placing their trust in God, many turned back, worshiped the golden calf and the success it was supposed to bring.  Their choice once again brought death to 120,000, both guilty and innocent in a single day.   The things, Paul writes about here should become for us examples so we do not fall into the same evil traps as they did.   That we might recognized when we become idolaters in a modern world.  Let not us become like those who claim to worship, to eat and drink spiritually from the word of God, only to rise the next day setting God word aside during the rest of the week.   So I ask you to consider this morning, what is it that you are passionate about?  What you are you devoted to accomplishing in this life?   What fruit are you bearing?  Tough questions in a modern teck world with all it luxury and affluence.  

Note, first of all from the parable of the Fig Tree that the fig tree isn't asked to produce bananas.  Often we think we need to be something we are not.  All God is asking of us is to be the best we can with what we have.  The Owner of the Vineyard doesn't ask anything extraordinary out of the fig tree.  He asks only that it accomplish what fig trees ought to accomplish.   You and I have differing gifts.  Some of us have nice singing voices.  Some are thinkers, others are artistic.  Some are good with numbers; others are good with people.   Some have the gift of compassion, listening, and some just love people no matter what.    All of us have some natural God given ability.  The secret is to find our natural abilities, or giftedness and offer them in respect of self and service to others.   That's what genius is.  When we say that someone is a genius, all we are saying is that they gave maximum effort in the area of their lives where they have natural ability.  That's it.  That's the secret of being fruitful - find what we're naturally good at and give it our best.  The point is that God does not ask us to become what we are not. 

A man was walking through the countryside when he noticed a young fellow standing at attention in the middle of an open field.  The walker coming back along the same path noticed that the fellow was still there in heat of the afternoon.  Curious, he approached and asked what the young man was doing.  "I'm practicing for the Nobel Prize," the man replied.   "How's that?" asked the visitor.   "Well," said the young man, "one of the criteria is to be outstanding in a field your choice."

God is not asking of us that we win a Nobel Prize.  He is not asking that we produce more fruit than everyone else - or better fruit than that which our brothers and sisters in Christ produce - but he does expect us to produce the fruit that we are able to produce.   With a little pruning, cultivation and nurturing each one of is able to bear good fruit in abundance.   Each one of us is gifted by God with the ability to produce what the Scriptures call in some places "fruits of the Spirit.”   This fruit is described in the fifth chapter of the Letter to The Galatians.   The fruit contains the attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.    We who call ourselves Christian have a master teacher and mentor of these fruits of the spirit.  It is through a personal relationship with the Christ that we are made whole.  For this we give God the thanks and praise. 
                                 "And the Gift was Conceived" 

POVERTY and INEQUALITY In Jamaica

      POVERTY and INEQUALITY 

In Jamaica

Education, skills training, and providing nutritious food for students leads the way!

                      

  

The Salisbury Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada in Salisbury N. B is helping to break the debilitating conditions of poverty and inequality found in the Island of Jamaica.  How are we doing this?  Our Student Missions Project is supporting struggling young adults in Jamaica.  The program provides a weekly allowance for transportation, food, personal incidentals {clothing} and some registration fees, for the training programs at the Theodora Skills Training Center in Negril.   The monies we collect are send directly to the admiration of the School to assist selected students who make the commitment to complete a  certified course at the Theodora Skills Training Center in Negril Jamaica.  The Center, which is located in a very high tourist and hotel area of island is constantly in need for certified employees in Computer IT, housekeeping, cosmetology, and lifeguard & first aid.  The Center which is at the present time operating mainly by volunteers and generous givers is always looking for funds and ways to expand what programs might be offered.   Have I cough your interest? We need your Help!  Want more information on how you can help?  Email us at: salisburyunited@nb.ailbn.com  or sim65rush@gmail.com

Want to get involved? We can help you!   


Pictured above is Pastor Sim Rushton and Romario [Mario] Johnson of Negril Jamaica our first sponsored and successful student.  Mario is now working at the Boardwalk Beach Hotel in Negril.    

The Skills Training Center also helps young adults to complete their basic school courses.     

  

                  Want to make a difference "Lets make a difference"

If you are a member of Facebook, LinkedIn twitter or have a Google + account and you want to help, please share this message with your friends.  As little as a toonie a day, less than a large cup of Tim's coffee a day can make the difference in a students life.     Blessings   

                                      Take a minute and watch