Verse 4

We all love our Christmas music.  I have been hearing suggestions from several of you about what songs to play and sing this Christmas.  There are the old favorites.  There are some new and beautiful songs.  There are traditional songs, and some of those traditions have become songs we sing every year.  

When we sing these songs something happens.  Maybe it is just me, but when we share music together in the context of Church, I hear and perceive God's message of peace, continuity and power over the things of this world.  Verse 4 of O Come O Come Emmanuel is a prayer expressing what we should all seek and this seasonal sense of peace.  "O come desire of nations, bind.  All peoples in one heart and mind.  Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease.  Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.  Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel.  Shall come to thee O Israel."  The spirit of this verse is remembering the voices of the angels praising God over the birth of Jesus saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, peace to those upon whom His favor rests (Luke 2:14)."

Three things happen in this praise chorus spoken (we want to believe sung) by those angels.  The first is our attitude when we come to God for petition.  The Lord's prayer begins with this same exaltation of God and God's power ... "Hallowed be thy name!"  The angels give God praise.  They profess that God has power both in heaven and on earth, even though this power is opposed by cosmic evil from the unseen realm (Satan), corporate evil from groups who conspire to do evil, individual evil from people who choose evil and infirmity (things that happen because we live in a fallen, dangerous world).  Our attitude and belief is that we worship a God who has (as Jesus said) overcome the world (John 16:33).

The second thing that happens is a blessing of peace.  Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)."  God's power and blessing are upon those who choose peace.  Maybe you apply an attitude of peace which quells strife or conflict at the family table.  Maybe (as is prescribed in O Come O Come) you decide that pride, envy and quarrels are a poor witness in a world that needs the blessing of peace.  Maybe you become willing to listen to the Jesus who wept over Jerusalem and said, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace (Luke 19:42)!"  Peace is a freely-offered expression of God's grace.  I think, like many things God desires for us, we have peace by submitting to God's will and way and putting away our knee-jerk reactions that bring on quarrels and strife.  Peace isn't easy.  Peace isn't our natural reaction.  Peace is of God.  Peace is truly a submission to God.

The third thing that happens is God's favor.  The blessing from Luke 2 and from the 4th verse of "O Come O Come" is ... God favors us when we follow Him vs the pull of the culture in which we live.  Many Bible verses come to mind here.  We find God's favor and peace when we "tell the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)."  We find God's favor when we choose to "turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39)" and decide not to engage in those non-essential arguments.  We find God's favor when we understand that contentiousness is allowing Satan to get a foothold and refusing to submit to Christ's plan.

A final point.  Peace is NOT acquiescing to evil or leaving evil unchallenged.  Speaking the truth in love means we DO speak out against evil, but we flow from God's Word and we flow from God's love of people (yep, all of them!).  Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached the Gospel as the Nazi leaders led their people far from God's plan.  Million's died, including many American soldiers.  The entire world felt the pain of war.  Jesus, as He stood outside Jerusalem and wept, understood that perfect peace arises from seeking and following God's plan.  "O come desire of nations, bind.  All people in heart and mind.  Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease.  Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.  Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee O Israel."  Randy

Progress

Over the past months I have learned a thing or two about progress.  I used to view progress as moving forward.  But C. S. Lewis makes a point that I think applies to our progress.  "We all want progress, but if you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an-about turn and going back to the right road."  The Bible calls this repentance.

Do you remember John the Baptist saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near (Matthew 4:17)!"  The Bible (and C. S. Lewis) knows that the word "repent" means, turn around.  If you are sliding into a ditch, you must first slow your acceleration.  If you find yourself in a hole, first stop digging.  So ... let's STOP and consider where we are.

First, we are the Church.  We are part of the Ecclesia of Matthew 16 that Jesus said would prevail against the very gates of hell.  The Ecclesia is "called-out" of the worlds chaos to offer the truth, the way and the life contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So, let's stop.  Read and review what we believe.  The Church prevails against the gates of hell by becoming a place/source of truth ... a place where we offer a direction ... a place that "offers them Christ (Wesley)" so that they may have life, and have it in abundance.

Second, we are kingdom-bringers.  I offered a quote from N. T. Wright (the great Bible scholar) who said, "We are not here to get ourselves to Heaven ... we are here to bring Heaven to earth!"  When Christ comes close (like in the story from Matthew 4) the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Third, we are all worship leaders.  Last week we sang, "give thanks, with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy one."  We professed and sang about the "goodness of God."  We reminded the congregation that "in the mountains, in the valleys, in the shadows of the alleys, in the fire, in the flood, always is and always was ... there was Jesus."  Can we become engaged, excited and thankful about these truths?  I sure can!

Let's stop, turn around if necessary, find the road Jesus has drawn out for us, and go down that road with a new song in our mouth (Ps. 40), praising God for what He has done.  Today, on the first Sunday of Advent, let's remember that the Jesus we worship didn't come to encourage us to keep moving on the road to destruction ... He came to (as the song says) "set His people free."  Randy

Thanks-Giving

Last Sunday I had the honor of doing a funeral for the mother of a friend.  This occasion was really a time of giving thanks for a life lived well and for a person that became welcome, blessing and goodness for her whole family.  One of the passages I used in the eulogy was from Psalm 23 ... "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil ... my cup runneth over (Ps. 23:5 KJV)."  As I was giving thanks for this life well lived, I thought about how God demonstrates His love for us and how He gives us abundance in the midst of all of our struggles in life.  And He doesn't just give a little ... "our cup runneth over!"

As we enter the season of Thanksgiving (the community Thanksgiving service is here Sunday evening at 5pm) lets remember that these words are historically and completely connected ... thanks ... giving.  Thanks is our response to God and Psalm 23 is David's giving thanks for a God who watches over him.  But it is also an expression of God's act of giving to those He cares for.  God gives guidance (the Lord is my shepherd).  God gives peace (He leads me beside still waters).  God gives renewal (He restores my soul).  He gives discipline (thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me).  He gives assurance in the midst of danger (Yea though I walk through the Valley of Death, I will fear no evil).  He gives presence (for Thou art with me).  He gives sustenance (Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies).  He is our source of goodness and mercy (surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life).  And God gives a sure and eternal destination (I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever).  God gives ... and God leads us to give as we remember what He has done and who He is!

As we come into the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I hope we enter these times in a spirit of giving.  Giving to our church for the things that are before us.  Micah 3:10 reminds us that we cannot out give God and, in fact, God will notice and respond to our giving ... "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple.  "If you do", says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in!"  that is God's promise ... do you believe it?

And I hope we will enter with a spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude.  We will sing "Thanksgiving Song", as is our tradition, this week.  My favorite line in the song is ... "Grateful for the hands we hold, gathered round the table."  The old song "Come Ye Thankful People Come" will be part of our evening Thanksgiving Service.  Be grateful for the good things God has provided.  Be grateful for hands around the table ... hands that will not always be with us on this side of heaven's doors.  And remember the first line of Psalm 23 ... "The Lord is my shepherd ...  I shall not want!"  Randy

Baseball, Faith and 17 Inches

You may have been watching the World Series of Baseball over the past few weeks.  I admit to not watching a lot of baseball during the season (though I am a Braves fan), because the season is long and my interest is only tweaked when we get close to the post-season games.  This year's World Series was won by the Houston Astros.  But there is something we can learn from baseball that is applicable to our faith.

In the movie, Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones makes a speech to Ray (the main character), about the timelessness and nature of baseball.  He says, "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball!  America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers.  It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again.  But baseball has marked the time."  James Earl Jones could have just as easily been talking about the Church.  It is timeless ... it is constant ... and it is important in every time and context in history.  Why?  Because Jesus stood before a rock face (that looked very ominous) in Caesarea Philippi and told Peter (who had just confessed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God) and said ... "Upon this rock I will build my Church (ecclesia, 'the called-out ones') and all the powers of hell will not conquer it! (Matthew 16:18)."  The Church of Jesus (not baseball) IS the true constant through all the years!

What can we learn from all of this?  If you know a little about baseball, you will realize that home plate is 17 inches wide.  It is in the rules and it is a part of the game.  17 inches ... always!  They haven't made the plate wider to make it easier for the pitcher to throw the ball over the plate.  They haven't made it narrower so that the batter has the advantage.  It is 17 inches ... that's it.

There are (at least) 2 current issues that come to mind as we begin our church life as Abbeville Methodist Church under the umbrella of the Global Methodist Church.  The first relates to standards.  I will post (and send out to all) a copy of the Catechesis of the Global Methodist Church.  It is "17 inches", just like it has always been, because it derives its authority from God's Word.  What we believe is only true because it is underpinned by Scripture.  In my message last Sunday I quoted Isaiah 40:7-8, "Grass withers and flowers fade away when the Lord's breath blows on them, but the word of our God will stand forever."  As Christians, we have our differences, our opinions and our skirmishes, but God doesn't have those arguments in the Divine Council ... for God's word is enduring truth.  It doesn't change to make it easier for me or you.  It is given, not so we can change or transform it, but so that IT can change and transform us.  17 inches is the width of home plate.

My second point relates to grace and the nature of people.  Babe Ruth, a giant in the history of baseball, struck out 1,330 times.  He got 2,783 hits ... about double the number of strikeouts.  But those are a lot of mistakes.  Nolan Ryan, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball, gave up about 4,000 hits.  By those statistics, we can note that pitchers don't always throw the ball where they want and batters don't always hit the ball.  Baseball, and life, is not a game where we are perfect.  So ... we need a model or standard of perfection.  His name is Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)."  We seek Him.  We strive to do well.  We (according to Hebrews) set our eyes upon Him.  We acknowledge our imperfections but we don't ask for rule changes for us ... the plate is still 17 inches wide.  It always has been and hopefully always will be.

We seek Jesus' narrow way (Matthew 7:14) that leads to life ... not the big tent that leads to destruction.  We could convince ourselves that the road should be widened, so that more traffic could pass.  We could ask for the plate to be widened so that it becomes easier to reach 1st base.  But then the game becomes something different.  And the one that defines and perfects our faith is no longer the authority over that game.  We are, historically, not very good at understanding the consequences of rule changes!

All of this discussion is really about something that is not a game after all.  It is about our decision we make (or made) when we say/said, "I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and place my trust in Him ... I receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Holy Scriptures."  Do you remember saying something of that sort when you became a Christian and became part of Jesus' Church?  Is Isaiah 40 still true, and does that word of God you confessed changed?  Is Jesus still the truth, the life and the way, or has some "other" way been given by the Divine Council of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?  Is the Gospel story of Jesus different because some group has decided the Gospel (or home plate) needs to be widened or narrowed?  These are the questions of our time ... the ones you need to answer ... and, if you still believe in Jesus' authority, I welcome you to a church filled with imperfect people, trying to get from here to first base, knowing that I will (at best) hit the ball about 1/3 of the time (even the best humans messed up).  That is the Church (ecclesia, the called-out ones) in whom Jesus has placed His Spirit that will (by God's power) prevail against the very gates of hell.  And all the people said ... AMEN!