Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this Friday. Praise the Lord for the season of Easter. We are excited about the Five 4 Five Concert this evening, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main Street, Johnson City, New York.
The Johnson Family loved the Lord and loved children. The two sons of Sarah Jane loved the Lord, and they loved their mother. They built the church in memory of their beloved mother. This is a gothic Church built in a Cathedral motif with stone walls. The concert will be held in the sanctuary. We are praying the Lord would bless, touch, and save many young people today through the music and the message of Five 4 Five. Please pray for all the organizers, the band members, and the participants.
Today I will be conducting a service of death and resurrection for a dear woman whom I had known since 1990. She was one of nine children born of Czechoslovakian- Ukrainian immigrant parents. She loved the Lord, and I will be sharing about our eternal home in and because of Jesus the Risen One.
It has long been said, “Home is where the heart is.” What is home? Kentuckian John Ed Pearce, long-time writer for the Courier-Journal, stated, “Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.” It has been said, “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.” I believe people don’t really want houses; we want a home. Someone who once said, “All of life is a coming home,” also confessed how lost he felt. How many of us are searching for home, but we don’t know the way? Some of us are lost and we need a Guide – or a Savior – to lead us home. Others know the Guide and have caught a glimpse of home, In Hebrews 11:8 we read how Abraham journeyed toward his promised inheritance, not knowing exactly where he was going; he just got up and went. He was headed to a Promised Land, or a promised home. Back in the book of Genesis we discover that when Abraham journeyed he left something behind. In Genesis 12:1 God said, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” Abraham left behind his country, his family, and his father’s house. In other words he left all that he had grown up with, and all he had ever known. He had a home and he abandoned it at God’s command! Why? God promised him a better home! And in verse 15 we read, “Truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.” Abraham left behind the only home he ever knew, and if he thought back upon it he might have been tempted to return? Why? Because he desired a home just as we do! He desired a place to belong, and to fit in. Abraham was not alone in this feeling, for in verse 14 we read that all the fathers of faith declared that they sought a homeland. If Abraham had allowed memories of his childhood home to lure him to go back there, he would have missed something greater. God wanted to give his family a greater legacy – a spiritual and godly inheritance – but he had to leave the influence of his father’s household to receive it. We are told in verse 13 that the great fathers of faith all realized that the promise of home was far off, and not in this present life, and they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” They were looking for a heavenly country, or a heavenly home. Patch Adams said while searching for home he would eventually find the right path, but in the most unlikely place. Some of you here will discover home in what the world sees as an unlikely place – Jesus. And those who already know him need to understand that until we reach our home in heaven, Jesus is to be our home. Many Are Longing for Home (2 Corinthians 5:1-8) In verse 1 we read how our bodies are just an earthly house, or tent – just a temporary dwelling, and not our real home. Verse 6 speaks of being “at home in the body,” but our bodies are not truly our home. Our real home, according to verse 2 is our “habitation which is from heaven.” It is the place where, according to Revelation 21:4, there will be “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying . . . [And] no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” If we have accepted Jesus into our heart, then we are keenly aware that something just doesn’t feel the same anymore – things have changed. In his book, "Lord of the Rings", Tolkien wrote, “Not all who wander are lost . . .” If you know Jesus you are not lost, but you are just sojourning. Our inner yearning for heaven causes many of us to feel as though we are wandering, when in reality we are on a “quest” to see Jesus. We are “pilgrims on the earth,” as Hebrews 11:13 states. 1 Peter 2:11 says we are “sojourners and pilgrims.” We are not wandering aimlessly, and we are not lost. We are on a journey, just passing through this life, and we have a Guide for the journey, which is Jesus the bright and morning star (2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 22:16). Jesus is our North Star and guiding light; however if we don’t know the Guide, or we cannot find him, then we really are lost. Jesus knows the way home, for he is the one who has prepared it (v. 2). He has already made the long journey and he has been there and seen it. Not only has he been there, he will make the journey back as well; therefore he knows the road very well, and has it memorized. In fact he tells us that we too should know the way (v. 4).
If you find that confusing then you are not alone, for Thomas was somewhat confused as well. He asked, “How can we know the way?” (v. 5). The answer is that though we don’t know the way in and of ourselves, we can come to know the one who does know the way, Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (v. 6). He is not only our Guide, but he is the “way,” the “road,” the “path,” the “gate” (Matthew 7:14), and the “door” (John 10:9). Jesus is “THE WAY.” Perhaps that’s why the first followers of Jesus were called “followers of the way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:14). He is the “only” road to our homeland in heaven. There is no other way, and no other religion, and no other work that will get us there. Jesus said, “No one comes to the father except through Me” (v. 6). Remember what Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me . . . My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). We have a home in Jesus, when he makes his home in our heart. In Revelations 3:20 Jesus said to us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him . . .”
In Him ,who is our Eternal Home,
Brown
Today, Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert. This concert will be held at Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 308 Main St. Johnson City, NY. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5.
The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO.
The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Tickets are available at itickets.com or by calling 1-800-965-9324.
Tickets can be purchased from Arrowhead Christian Bookstore 607-798-1793
Union Center UMC—Pastor Brown, umcgospel@aol.com or by calling, 607-748-6329.
First Presbyterian Church—Jeremy Finn, JMFinn@hotmail.com or by calling 748-1544.
Hawleton United Methodist--Ray Haskell, wpuckey@stny.rr.com or by calling 669-4373.
First Baptist Church Owego--Rev Marlene Steenburg, mcsteenburg@aol.com or by calling 607-232-2302.
Boulevard United Methodist Church--Rev Tony, blvdumc@stny.rr.com or by calling 607-797-5675.
Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church-Phone number is 797-3938
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 4-10-08
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for His Word. It is written that the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. His Word does not return void. I spent a couple days in Washington, DC, attending a conference on Preaching . Some of the speakers for the event included Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Life", Chuck Colson, and Bishop William Willimon, from Northern Alabama conference of our United Methodist Church. It was a great blessing to be there, to hear and to know that our Savior is alive. He is risen. He is reigning. He is coming again. He has built His church upon the Rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. It is a blessing to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and it is a great blessing to belong to the Church, His body. We are getting really excited as we prepare for the big event for this week - the "Five 4 Five" concert on Friday evening. I spoke with two of the lead singers of the bands. They love the Lord, and they are excited to share the Good News with the young people tomorrow. Just a reminder - the concert will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow evening at the Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main Street, Johnson City. We still have tickets for sale - so you can buy your ticket at the door. There is still time to send or bring your young people. Please pray for the Lord to pour out His blessings on all who attend.
Hugh Latimer, the first Protestant Bishop of Worcester, and English Reformer and martyr, in a sermon preached before the King’s Majesty in April of 1549, tells the story of a young woman in London who was asked by a neighbor, “Mistress, whither go ye?” “Marry,” she said, “I am going to St. Thomas of Acres to the sermon; I could not sleep all this last night, and I am going now thither; I never failed of a good nap there.” More recently, theologian Thomas Allan has written: “It takes a great amount of skill to take the gospel and make it boring, tedious and dull. Our preachers today, it seems to me, have mastered that skill right well.” In past generations it was the expectation that ministers would spend hours in prayer, study and preparation for the Sunday sermon; and these men used to stand boldly in the pulpit on Sunday morning, with open Bible in hand and proclaim, “Thus says the Lord.” It used to be that Christians would walk miles to hear a good sermon. It used to be that Christians would feel cheated by a sermon that was less than an hour in length. It used to be that people read sermons, discussed them at Sunday dinner, and readily compared the merits of different preachers they heard on a regular basis. “Where as 200 years ago the preaching of Jonathan Edwards made all of New England quake in its boots. Preaching is indispensable to believing. And believing is a prerequisite to salvation. Preaching is the sine qua non—the “without which nothing”—of faith and everlasting life. John Stott, the former rector of All Souls, London, put it this way: Preaching, he said, is indispensable to Christianity. Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost. For Christianity is, in its very essence, a religion of the Word of God. No attempt to understand Christianity can succeed which overlooks or denies the truth that the living God has taken the initiative to reveal Himself savingly to fallen humanity; or that His self-revelation has been given by the most straightforward means of communication known to us,namely, by a word and words; or that He calls upon those who haveheard His Word to speak it to others.
“Preach the Word!” Paul admonishes Timothy in II Timothy 4:2. “Be prepared in season and out of season,” he says. One of the essential qualifications for the office of presbyter given by Paul in I Tim. 3:2 is that he be able to preach. Why? Because preaching is fundamental to the job. The power of preaching—because preaching is the sharing and applying of this book—lies in the fact that God has spoken and continue to speaks through His Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed,” Paul says in II Tim. 3:16. Opening up this book and reading and expositing its truths is not the same thing as opening up and reading Shakespeare, and listening to a university lecture about one of his plays. Shakespeare is inspiring, but the Scriptures are inspired. And there is an eternity of difference between the two. The first truth that is fundamental to preaching is that Almighty God has spoken in the pages of the Bible; that He has revealed Himself, His will, His law and the way of salvation in the words of the Bible. And without that conviction, preaching is nothing more than a discourse on Semitic literature, or the sharing of one man’s ideas and opinions. I like the definition Andrew Blackwood, former editor of Christianity Today, gives for preaching. He said: Preaching means God’s way of meeting the needs of sinful men through the proclamation of His revealed truth by one of His chosen messengers. But far from being a collection of pious sayings and sentiments from days gone by, the Bible is the vehicle that God uses to still reveal Himself, His will and His salvation to mankind. God still speaks through His Word today. For the Word of God is living and active, Hebrews 4:12 says. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The power of preaching, because preaching is the exposition of the Word that God has spoken and still speaks through, secondly, lies in the fact that this Word can change hearts and eternal destinies. God’s Word is a living thing. That conviction underlies true biblical preaching. God’s Word has power, therefore, to change you. It has the power and ability, by the working of the Holy Spirit, to change your mind, melt your hard heart, cause you to love and forgive the unlovable and unforgivable. It is powerful. The Word of God can convert the soul. It can move you to tears. It comforts and relieves your fears. It can give you wisdom, strength and courage. The Word of God is active. It plants seeds in your heart. It moves within your soul, often times when you are not even aware of it. It breaks down walls of hatred and mistrust. It binds hearts together. It sheds light on the paths of our life that we might see things as they really are and not as wish to see them. I read a story recently about the conversion of the most notorious drunk in a small Texas town. Apparently the town drunk wandered into church one Sunday morning. And after the sermon he came forward during the altar call with tears streaming down his face. He was gloriously saved that very morning. After the service, the pastor of the church ran up to the man, grabbed his hand, and said, “What was it that I said this morning that changed your heart?” “Nothing,” the man replied, “it was your text.”“It was your text.” Biblical preaching is powerful, because God has spoken and speaks through His Word, and that Word can change hearts and destinies. In Isaiah 55:11 God declares: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
In Christ,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event.
On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert. This concert will be held at Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 308 Main St. Johnson City, NY. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5.
The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO.
The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Tickets are available at itickets.com or by calling 1-800-965-9324.
Tickets can be purchased from Arrowhead Christian Bookstore 607-798-1793
Union Center UMC—Pastor Brown, umcgospel@aol.com or by calling, 607-748-6329.
First Presbyterian Church—Jeremy Finn, JMFinn@hotmail.com or by calling 748-1544.
Hawleton United Methodist--Ray Haskell, wpuckey@stny.rr.com or by calling 669-4373.
First Baptist Church Owego--Rev Marlene Steenburg, mcsteenburg@aol.com or by calling 607-232-2302.
Boulevard United Methodist Church--Rev Tony, blvdumc@stny.rr.com or by calling 607-797-5675.
Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church-Phone number is 797-3938
Praise the Lord for His Word. It is written that the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. His Word does not return void. I spent a couple days in Washington, DC, attending a conference on Preaching . Some of the speakers for the event included Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Life", Chuck Colson, and Bishop William Willimon, from Northern Alabama conference of our United Methodist Church. It was a great blessing to be there, to hear and to know that our Savior is alive. He is risen. He is reigning. He is coming again. He has built His church upon the Rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. It is a blessing to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and it is a great blessing to belong to the Church, His body. We are getting really excited as we prepare for the big event for this week - the "Five 4 Five" concert on Friday evening. I spoke with two of the lead singers of the bands. They love the Lord, and they are excited to share the Good News with the young people tomorrow. Just a reminder - the concert will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow evening at the Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main Street, Johnson City. We still have tickets for sale - so you can buy your ticket at the door. There is still time to send or bring your young people. Please pray for the Lord to pour out His blessings on all who attend.
Hugh Latimer, the first Protestant Bishop of Worcester, and English Reformer and martyr, in a sermon preached before the King’s Majesty in April of 1549, tells the story of a young woman in London who was asked by a neighbor, “Mistress, whither go ye?” “Marry,” she said, “I am going to St. Thomas of Acres to the sermon; I could not sleep all this last night, and I am going now thither; I never failed of a good nap there.” More recently, theologian Thomas Allan has written: “It takes a great amount of skill to take the gospel and make it boring, tedious and dull. Our preachers today, it seems to me, have mastered that skill right well.” In past generations it was the expectation that ministers would spend hours in prayer, study and preparation for the Sunday sermon; and these men used to stand boldly in the pulpit on Sunday morning, with open Bible in hand and proclaim, “Thus says the Lord.” It used to be that Christians would walk miles to hear a good sermon. It used to be that Christians would feel cheated by a sermon that was less than an hour in length. It used to be that people read sermons, discussed them at Sunday dinner, and readily compared the merits of different preachers they heard on a regular basis. “Where as 200 years ago the preaching of Jonathan Edwards made all of New England quake in its boots. Preaching is indispensable to believing. And believing is a prerequisite to salvation. Preaching is the sine qua non—the “without which nothing”—of faith and everlasting life. John Stott, the former rector of All Souls, London, put it this way: Preaching, he said, is indispensable to Christianity. Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost. For Christianity is, in its very essence, a religion of the Word of God. No attempt to understand Christianity can succeed which overlooks or denies the truth that the living God has taken the initiative to reveal Himself savingly to fallen humanity; or that His self-revelation has been given by the most straightforward means of communication known to us,namely, by a word and words; or that He calls upon those who haveheard His Word to speak it to others.
“Preach the Word!” Paul admonishes Timothy in II Timothy 4:2. “Be prepared in season and out of season,” he says. One of the essential qualifications for the office of presbyter given by Paul in I Tim. 3:2 is that he be able to preach. Why? Because preaching is fundamental to the job. The power of preaching—because preaching is the sharing and applying of this book—lies in the fact that God has spoken and continue to speaks through His Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed,” Paul says in II Tim. 3:16. Opening up this book and reading and expositing its truths is not the same thing as opening up and reading Shakespeare, and listening to a university lecture about one of his plays. Shakespeare is inspiring, but the Scriptures are inspired. And there is an eternity of difference between the two. The first truth that is fundamental to preaching is that Almighty God has spoken in the pages of the Bible; that He has revealed Himself, His will, His law and the way of salvation in the words of the Bible. And without that conviction, preaching is nothing more than a discourse on Semitic literature, or the sharing of one man’s ideas and opinions. I like the definition Andrew Blackwood, former editor of Christianity Today, gives for preaching. He said: Preaching means God’s way of meeting the needs of sinful men through the proclamation of His revealed truth by one of His chosen messengers. But far from being a collection of pious sayings and sentiments from days gone by, the Bible is the vehicle that God uses to still reveal Himself, His will and His salvation to mankind. God still speaks through His Word today. For the Word of God is living and active, Hebrews 4:12 says. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The power of preaching, because preaching is the exposition of the Word that God has spoken and still speaks through, secondly, lies in the fact that this Word can change hearts and eternal destinies. God’s Word is a living thing. That conviction underlies true biblical preaching. God’s Word has power, therefore, to change you. It has the power and ability, by the working of the Holy Spirit, to change your mind, melt your hard heart, cause you to love and forgive the unlovable and unforgivable. It is powerful. The Word of God can convert the soul. It can move you to tears. It comforts and relieves your fears. It can give you wisdom, strength and courage. The Word of God is active. It plants seeds in your heart. It moves within your soul, often times when you are not even aware of it. It breaks down walls of hatred and mistrust. It binds hearts together. It sheds light on the paths of our life that we might see things as they really are and not as wish to see them. I read a story recently about the conversion of the most notorious drunk in a small Texas town. Apparently the town drunk wandered into church one Sunday morning. And after the sermon he came forward during the altar call with tears streaming down his face. He was gloriously saved that very morning. After the service, the pastor of the church ran up to the man, grabbed his hand, and said, “What was it that I said this morning that changed your heart?” “Nothing,” the man replied, “it was your text.”“It was your text.” Biblical preaching is powerful, because God has spoken and speaks through His Word, and that Word can change hearts and destinies. In Isaiah 55:11 God declares: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
In Christ,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event.
On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert. This concert will be held at Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 308 Main St. Johnson City, NY. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5.
The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO.
The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Tickets are available at itickets.com or by calling 1-800-965-9324.
Tickets can be purchased from Arrowhead Christian Bookstore 607-798-1793
Union Center UMC—Pastor Brown, umcgospel@aol.com or by calling, 607-748-6329.
First Presbyterian Church—Jeremy Finn, JMFinn@hotmail.com or by calling 748-1544.
Hawleton United Methodist--Ray Haskell, wpuckey@stny.rr.com or by calling 669-4373.
First Baptist Church Owego--Rev Marlene Steenburg, mcsteenburg@aol.com or by calling 607-232-2302.
Boulevard United Methodist Church--Rev Tony, blvdumc@stny.rr.com or by calling 607-797-5675.
Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church-Phone number is 797-3938
Monday, April 7, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 4-7-08
Good morning,
The Gospel Reading for Sunday, April 6, was taken from Luke 24: 13 ff. It is the record of the post-Resurrection appearance of our Risen Lord. He comes alongside as a stranger, rebukes the travelers for their unbelief, expounds the Scriptures, and is engaged in an in-depth Bible study involving just two people. The stranger is invited to the home of the travelers where He becomes the host. Imagine that. . . the stranger becomes the Host. He takes over.
Christians have been sometimes called a “company of strangers”. When Jesus appeared to the disciples walking home to Emmaus, it was during a period of mourning. Their sadness and confusion about the events of the preceding days preoccupied their hearts and minds. They weren’t prepared to recognize the resurrected Lord. The troubles of the world weighed heavily upon them, and it was with sadness that they responded to Jesus’ question. The proclamation of the gospel was not yet “good news” to them, because they were missing a vital piece: an assurance of the resurrection. Still, they recited what they knew, incomplete as the story was, and they invited this stranger along the road into their company.
What if Cleopas and his companion had not stopped to talk to the stranger on the road? What if they had heeded the admonition we so often impress upon our children and ourselves, “Don’t talk to strangers”? How often we pass up the opportunities we have to become a company of strangers. Those moments are fleeting, and unless we pay attention we miss them, and the world becomes a more narrow, dangerous, and frightening place. As Christians we are supposed to talk to strangers, because we are strangers ourselves. The word Luke uses in this passage to describe Jesus is paroikeis—stranger, alien, sojourner. Another form of the word is paroikia, from which the words parochial and parish are drawn. We are parishioners—strangers, aliens, sojourners, like Jesus, journeying on earth, yet citizens of heaven, as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians (3:20).
When we allow ourselves to become frightened, despondent, or preoccupied by the cares of the world our eyes are restrained from recognizing the presence of Christ in our midst. Likewise we miss the chance to be Christ for others.
Jesus walked with Cleopas and his companion along the road to Emmaus and opened the Scriptures to them. He accepted their invitation to stop at their home for the evening. Although a guest, he quickly became the host at their table. As he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, he was revealed, and then he vanished from their sight. They got up, went out into a night that no longer seemed frightening, and returned to Jerusalem to report what had happened. The gospel was now, indeed, very “good news.”
Frederick Buechner says that all of us travel to Emmaus eventually. Where is your Emmaus? Do you have a place you go to get away from it all, a place to which you escape so that you don't have to think about how lousy life in this world can sometimes be? Maybe you like to go to the mall, where the noise of commerce and the rush of people keep you from thinking about life. Maybe you go to a bar, where you are numbed to the more bitter truths that swirl through your thoughts. Maybe it's a movie where you go to retreat. Maybe it's the TV remote that takes you away from it all as you mindlessly channel surf every evening. We try to escape our troubles, but those troubles end up being like the sky above: they extend over everything and we finally know there is no escape.
But the good news is that it may be precisely in Emmaus where you are most apt to find Jesus. He cares enough for you to be there. Maybe he meets you along the way and walks with you as you silently trudge along; maybe you find him waiting for you once you get to wherever it is you were going. But he's there. You catch a glimpse of him in the kindness of a stranger. You see him in that note of encouragement that came in the mail on the very day you needed it most.
Maybe sometimes you go even to church but you don't take joy in it. The kids have been a royal pain getting ready that morning, spilling their breakfast cereal all over the floor, howling when you combed their hair. You and your spouse snapped at each other in the car on the way to church. The whole week has been one disappointing and frustrating moment after the next until you want to throw in the towel. You settle into your pew feeling more surly than sanctified, more petulant than pious, yet before the service is over you catch a glimpse of Jesus and you just can't shake the sense that it made a difference. You can go on a while longer now. You can get out of bed on Monday morning after all and go back to work.
The simple fact is that we don't spend all of our lives in obviously holy places like Jerusalem. Sometimes we even think that a holy place is the last place we want to be and so we head out of town, head to our Emmaus. We go someplace where, if we're lucky, we won't run into anyone from church. But there we run into Jesus. Even if our glimpse of him is momentary, we know for a certainty that he was there. We realize all over again that the world changed on a day called Easter, long ago. And it changes us even today.
There are any number of things in our lives that drive us to go to our Emmaus. But if we can find Jesus even there, then we sense with renewed wonder Jesus words, "Surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The first time Luke shows us the reality of that divine presence was in Emmaus, of all places. But that's just the point: Jesus can meet us in all places, at any time. "Were not our hears burning within us?" Look! It's Jesus. Praise the Lord.
He is Risen,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event.
On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert. This concert will be held at Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 308 Main St. Johnson City, NY. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5.
The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO.
The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Tickets are available at itickets.com or by calling 1-800-965-9324.
Tickets can be purchased from Arrowhead Christian Bookstore 607-798-1793
Union Center UMC—Pastor Brown, umcgospel@aol.com or by calling, 607-748-6329.
First Presbyterian Church—Jeremy Finn, JMFinn@hotmail.com or by calling 748-1544.
Hawleton United Methodist--Ray Haskell, wpuckey@stny.rr.com or by calling 669-4373.
First Baptist Church Owego--Rev Marlene Steenburg, mcsteenburg@aol.com or by calling 607-232-2302.
Boulevard United Methodist Church--Rev Tony, blvdumc@stny.rr.com or by calling 607-797-5675.
Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church-Phone number is 797-3938
The Gospel Reading for Sunday, April 6, was taken from Luke 24: 13 ff. It is the record of the post-Resurrection appearance of our Risen Lord. He comes alongside as a stranger, rebukes the travelers for their unbelief, expounds the Scriptures, and is engaged in an in-depth Bible study involving just two people. The stranger is invited to the home of the travelers where He becomes the host. Imagine that. . . the stranger becomes the Host. He takes over.
Christians have been sometimes called a “company of strangers”. When Jesus appeared to the disciples walking home to Emmaus, it was during a period of mourning. Their sadness and confusion about the events of the preceding days preoccupied their hearts and minds. They weren’t prepared to recognize the resurrected Lord. The troubles of the world weighed heavily upon them, and it was with sadness that they responded to Jesus’ question. The proclamation of the gospel was not yet “good news” to them, because they were missing a vital piece: an assurance of the resurrection. Still, they recited what they knew, incomplete as the story was, and they invited this stranger along the road into their company.
What if Cleopas and his companion had not stopped to talk to the stranger on the road? What if they had heeded the admonition we so often impress upon our children and ourselves, “Don’t talk to strangers”? How often we pass up the opportunities we have to become a company of strangers. Those moments are fleeting, and unless we pay attention we miss them, and the world becomes a more narrow, dangerous, and frightening place. As Christians we are supposed to talk to strangers, because we are strangers ourselves. The word Luke uses in this passage to describe Jesus is paroikeis—stranger, alien, sojourner. Another form of the word is paroikia, from which the words parochial and parish are drawn. We are parishioners—strangers, aliens, sojourners, like Jesus, journeying on earth, yet citizens of heaven, as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians (3:20).
When we allow ourselves to become frightened, despondent, or preoccupied by the cares of the world our eyes are restrained from recognizing the presence of Christ in our midst. Likewise we miss the chance to be Christ for others.
Jesus walked with Cleopas and his companion along the road to Emmaus and opened the Scriptures to them. He accepted their invitation to stop at their home for the evening. Although a guest, he quickly became the host at their table. As he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, he was revealed, and then he vanished from their sight. They got up, went out into a night that no longer seemed frightening, and returned to Jerusalem to report what had happened. The gospel was now, indeed, very “good news.”
Frederick Buechner says that all of us travel to Emmaus eventually. Where is your Emmaus? Do you have a place you go to get away from it all, a place to which you escape so that you don't have to think about how lousy life in this world can sometimes be? Maybe you like to go to the mall, where the noise of commerce and the rush of people keep you from thinking about life. Maybe you go to a bar, where you are numbed to the more bitter truths that swirl through your thoughts. Maybe it's a movie where you go to retreat. Maybe it's the TV remote that takes you away from it all as you mindlessly channel surf every evening. We try to escape our troubles, but those troubles end up being like the sky above: they extend over everything and we finally know there is no escape.
But the good news is that it may be precisely in Emmaus where you are most apt to find Jesus. He cares enough for you to be there. Maybe he meets you along the way and walks with you as you silently trudge along; maybe you find him waiting for you once you get to wherever it is you were going. But he's there. You catch a glimpse of him in the kindness of a stranger. You see him in that note of encouragement that came in the mail on the very day you needed it most.
Maybe sometimes you go even to church but you don't take joy in it. The kids have been a royal pain getting ready that morning, spilling their breakfast cereal all over the floor, howling when you combed their hair. You and your spouse snapped at each other in the car on the way to church. The whole week has been one disappointing and frustrating moment after the next until you want to throw in the towel. You settle into your pew feeling more surly than sanctified, more petulant than pious, yet before the service is over you catch a glimpse of Jesus and you just can't shake the sense that it made a difference. You can go on a while longer now. You can get out of bed on Monday morning after all and go back to work.
The simple fact is that we don't spend all of our lives in obviously holy places like Jerusalem. Sometimes we even think that a holy place is the last place we want to be and so we head out of town, head to our Emmaus. We go someplace where, if we're lucky, we won't run into anyone from church. But there we run into Jesus. Even if our glimpse of him is momentary, we know for a certainty that he was there. We realize all over again that the world changed on a day called Easter, long ago. And it changes us even today.
There are any number of things in our lives that drive us to go to our Emmaus. But if we can find Jesus even there, then we sense with renewed wonder Jesus words, "Surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The first time Luke shows us the reality of that divine presence was in Emmaus, of all places. But that's just the point: Jesus can meet us in all places, at any time. "Were not our hears burning within us?" Look! It's Jesus. Praise the Lord.
He is Risen,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event.
On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert. This concert will be held at Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 308 Main St. Johnson City, NY. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5.
The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO.
The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Tickets are available at itickets.com or by calling 1-800-965-9324.
Tickets can be purchased from Arrowhead Christian Bookstore 607-798-1793
Union Center UMC—Pastor Brown, umcgospel@aol.com or by calling, 607-748-6329.
First Presbyterian Church—Jeremy Finn, JMFinn@hotmail.com or by calling 748-1544.
Hawleton United Methodist--Ray Haskell, wpuckey@stny.rr.com or by calling 669-4373.
First Baptist Church Owego--Rev Marlene Steenburg, mcsteenburg@aol.com or by calling 607-232-2302.
Boulevard United Methodist Church--Rev Tony, blvdumc@stny.rr.com or by calling 607-797-5675.
Sarah Jane Memorial United Methodist Church-Phone number is 797-3938
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