Gratitude

Pk’s Corner

November 2016

Gratitude

1 Chronicles 16:34 “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.”

We are getting into a time of year that will just get busier.  The holidays are rushing toward us like a runaway locomotive.  There is so much to schedule and to prepare.  There are so many events that have to be attended.  In all this hustle and bustle, we may be tempted to forget worship.

Have you ever thought about why we worship, and why we give our time, talents and gifts to the church?  I challenge you with this one word answer…Gratitude.

The reason we celebrate this holidays is to express our gratitude to the risen Christ.  Thanksgiving, though steeped in the traditions of the Pilgrims, is actually a day set aside to be thankful for all that we have, whether it is much or little.  Christmas is set aside so that we can honor the birth of the one person who will save us from our sins and give us eternal life. 

But we tend to overlook that each Sunday is set aside to give us an opportunity to show gratitude to God for his love.  His creation provides our every need, and there is nothing we have that did not originally come from God’s creation.  Many of us are grateful for God’s hand of providence that has brought us through rough times, and even deatdly illness. 

This is what worship is truly about; showing our gratitude to a loving God.  Now, God does not force this upon us.  He does not demand we thank him, that is not what a loving parent does.  It is our privilege to offer God our thanks.

When we come to worship, we need to be there to show our gratitude, and not just in our presence, but also in our giving.  Loving our neighbor and meeting their needs shows gratitude to God for meeting our needs.  Our time of offering is a sign of Gratitude to all that God has done for us.

So, as we plunge into the coming holiday season, let’s not neglect any opportunity to show our gratitude to the one who has given us everything.  Show your gratitude by worshiping, giving, loving, and helping.  Remember everything God provides in your life, and be thankful.

Amen

Change

Pk’s Corner

September  2016

Ephesians 4:17 (NRSV)  ¹⁷ Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds.

There is a change in the air.  The weather will soon start cooling.  The kids have already started school.  Clothing styles are moving from keeping cool to keeping warm.  In a few months, our government will even change.  The question is, are you changing. ?

Knowing Christ is not about keeping things status quo.  Knowing Christ is about change.  Knowing Christ means you are putting on a new self and casting the old away. 

In Wesleyan terminology this is called going on to perfection.  These changes that take place are because God is working on you to bring you closer to him.  Our acceptance of Christ is the step we take then God takes it from there.  But it also means that we have to be willing to let go of our old life.

Each day a conscious decision must be made, do we fall back into our old ways, or do we let God continue to do his perfecting work on us.  Paul understood the temptation to those who wanted to fall back to the old ways.  Each and every person has within them the voice that tells us the old way was better.  We can choose to listen to that voice, or we can choose to keep Christ in our hearts.

God calls us and will keep calling us to have a deeper relationship with him.  That relationship shows in the way we live and the way we love one another.  It isn’t always easy, but every step we take with Christ brings us closer to him.

So, are you changing?

Amen

Keeping the tomb empty.

Pk’s Corner

April 2016

Mark 16:6 but he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.” (NRSV)

I can only imagine the fear, surprise, joy and sorrow that was felt when the women first came to the tomb.  In the four gospels, we have similar accounts of the event, and they all lead to one conclusion; the tomb was empty.

We celebrate the new beginning that this action means.  Death has been conquered and is no longer to be feared.  We have a risen savior who has died for our sins and then came back to life to bring us to him.  We have hope in the risen Christ, and that hope gives us strength to face the trials of life.

But, we also tend to hang out at the tomb.  God empties the tomb, and still we want to fill it up.   The tomb is meant to be empty, and we insist on keeping it full.  You see, we tend to gravitate back to world views and thus we come back to the tomb.  Death is abolished, yet the world seems set on living in death.

Now you are probably thinking, “Gosh Kent, what has gotten into you”, all I ask is you bear with me.   The reality is this, any time we turn away from Christ we go back into the tomb.  Every time we do not love our neighbor, we fill the tomb.  Every time we stop loving one another, we fill the tomb.  Every deaf ear turned to those in trouble, fills the tomb.  Every time we ignore a hungry person, every time we refuse to shelter the homeless, every time we have not shared the word of God, we fill the tomb.

The empty tomb is meant to stay empty.  The only way to keep it empty is to be the people God has called us to be.  Not the once a year Christians who think about following Christ during Lent, but the 24/7, 365 followers of Christ we are called to be.

You see, the empty tomb moved the bar up.  We are not called to be white washed tombs, but children of the Risen Son.  We are not meant to be among the dead, but to live with the living Christ.

So, are you keeping the tomb empty?

Amen

Who Killed Jesus?

Pk’s Corner

March 2016

Mark 15:20 (NRSV

 ²⁰ After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him out to crucify him.

Once while I was getting a cup of coffee between church services, one of the members of the adult class confronted me.  Her voice was a bit on the shrill side as she point blank asked me the question, “Preacher, who killed Jesus.”

It seems the class had a discussion going that descended to blaming a particular people for crucifying Christ.  The camps divided into blaming the entire Roman nation, or the entire Jewish nation.  My response as I looked her in the eye, “I killed Jesus”.  Needless to say, this set her back, and a whole new discussion ensued. 

As I look at this verse, I realize how easy it is to replace “they” with “we”.  We stripped him, and we led him to the cross.  

You see, we have all sinned, and only the one without sin can save us from sin, but that had to be paid for at the cross.  Each of our sins is like a hammer strike on the nails.  Yet, our repentance is a new resurrection into the Body of Christ.  

Granted, in that time and place, the blame of crucifixion falls on two peoples, the Roman army and the Jewish hierarchy, but ultimately the crucifixion hammer is in my hand. 

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” puts in a nutshell the power of Christ in our lives.  That one act of execution covered every sin everywhere for all eternity.  This means that those who repent and believe will have everlasting life. 

Yes, the blame is laid on you and me, but the gift of eternal life, is Christ’s to share with all who believe. 

Thank you God.

Amen

Do, Be, Do, Be, Do, Be

Pk’s Corner

November  2015

Matthew 28: 19a, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,…”

After 3 years of traveling with Jesus, the disciples were now ready to continue Christ’s work.  On the mountain top, just before the Ascension, Jesus gives them this last instruction, “Go and Make”.

That commission has since been handed down to all believers.  The church as the body of Christ is called to make Disciples for the Kingdom of God.  The United Methodist Churches mission statement is, “Disciples making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World”.

There is a problem though.  Are you a disciple?  That is the question we have to ask ourselves.  The next question is “What is a disciple?”

A Disciple is a person who follows and learns from another.  So now the question is “Are you following and learning from Jesus Christ?  Just going to church one hour a week does not make you a disciple.  To be a disciple means following, learning, growing and living in Christ.  To be a disciple means putting Jesus first and everything else in the back.

We are coming upon the holiday season once again.  Soon we will be caught up in the revelry and fun of what the holiday has to bring.  It will be easy to be consumed by the fun, or the stress of the season, and to not follow Jesus.

As we plunge head long into this season, I pray you will look for ways to follow Jesus and learn from Jesus.  The churches task is to provide you with the guidance to be a disciple. Take advantage of that.  And once we become the disciples we are called to be, then we can go about making disciples of all nations.

Remember, to Do discipling means you first must Be a disciple.  Like a Frank Sinatra song, you cannot have the Do without the Be.

Amen

Weddings, Marriage, Life

October 2015

Mark 10:9 “Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate”.

Later this month, my eldest and only son will be getting married.  He is engaged to a wonderful, beautiful and loving girl, and I have no doubt that their marriage will be long and filled with happiness and love.

Weddings are not the start of a marriage.  The start was when these two first said “Hello” to each other.  What brought them there?  I believe God did.  You see, a godly marriage is one that God acts in, from the very beginning.  The wedding, as a ceremony, confirms God’s act in bringing these two together.  It also signifies God’s future action in keeping the marriage healthy and vibrant.

Christ pointed out how important God saw marriage.  He made this couple so they could come together and create a new life.  That’s what marriage is about, it is a new creation.  Married people go from being “ME”, to being “WE”.  I believe that by trusting in God, He will bring us together with the person we are to share our life’s journey with.

The Wedding though, is just the start.  It is one day in a journey that started some years ago.  It will bring two families together to confirm the viability and integrity of this union, and it will build a convent relationship between the couple and God.   God will join them together, because this couple trusted in God to bring them together. 

I look at this couple preparing this new life, and I reflect on my own journey that has led to 28 years of marriage, and I know God has called us together.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, permit me an indulgence.   I ask that you lift Gavin and Caitlyn in prayer as they start this most beautiful and wonderful adventure in faith.   I know the wedding will be beautiful.  I pray the marriage to be strong and God focused and that their life together will be long and filled with happiness and wonder.

Thank you

Amen

Promises

Pk’s Corner

September 2015

Matthew 5:4 (NRSV) ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

As I reflect on this past month, I realize that we had many opportunities to mourn.  We have tragically lost friends, neighbors, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.  Many of the deaths were results of long illness, and quite a few were sudden, and unexpected.  It is so hard to find comfort when a tragedy blindsides you.  

Jesus promised that any time we mourn, we will be comforted, but there is a caveat.  We are comforted when we take refuge in Christ. 

You see, death is a part of life.  As a friend once told me, we are not getting out of this alive.  Our bodies are finite creations.  The heart has a limited number of beats that it will beat.  Our lungs will only expand so many times until they will not be able to hold air.  Our bodies wear out, that is the way of a world that has fallen into sin.

That is also not what God intended when he created.  Creation was supposed to be full of life, not tainted with death, and yet humanity fell and here we are.  Jesus came to stop death.  Jesus came to release us from the bonds of death, by offering us life.

Those who mourn will be comforted.  We know, because we have a promise from Christ, to live with him eternally.  This is not an empty promise, nor the ravings of a mad man.  Death has already been denied, when Christ rose from the grave.  We, who believe, know that Christ reigns eternal, and we are called to live with him for eternity in heaven.  We are comforted knowing that there is a future, and there is a hope.

Meanwhile, we plod along, trying to make sense of the loss we feel.  We try to hold it together.  We often forget in our sorrow, that Christ shares this with us.  Christ who knows the feeling death brings, knows the hurt we feel.  We are not alone.

For those of you that are hurting, I beg you to give it to Christ.  If you are not involved in a church, please go.  In that church God provides people who will and can share your grief.  God provides comfort, not just in prayer, but also in presence.  Sometimes that presence is the person sitting next to you in the pew.  Be assured, even in your darkest time of sorrow, God does not and will not abandon you.  Blessed are you, for you will know the comfort that comes through Christ.

God does not allow sorrow to last forever.  Trust him, he is only a prayer away.

Amen