Good Morning.
Praise the Lord for this First day of May. Today is our daughter Sunita's birthday. She turns 30 today. The Lord has raised her up to be a beautiful woman. She is a woman after the heart of Jesus her Lord and a sweet servant of the Lord. We praise the Lord for her faith and for her witness. The Lord recently blessed Sunita and Andy with a new house in our Nation's capitol within the city precincts. They moved to their new house last weekend and now Sunita is just one mile from work. Sunita and Andy love Washington. They are part of a Mission Church, ( Anglican) that is committed to minister to the last, the least, and the lost.
In the midst of fear of the swine flu, we need to continue to worship Jesus, the winsome Physician, and keep on offering His grace and mercy to a world that is seized with fear and panic. One of my friends wrote me saying that the Lord of Righteousness is angry at the sin of the world. Indeed, the world is busy glamorizing sin and legislating unrighteousness. As He sent the Flood in the past He could allow a pandemic to pervade the earth if He so chooses, so that we can repent and turn to Him for healing and salvation, and so be saved. Jesus came to seek and to save the Lost.
Our Lord was a wonderful story teller. He related a story about two brothers. The younger brother asked for his share of the inheritance even before his father had died—and after he got, he squandered it all. He came back home as a last resort, certain that his father would reject him and turn him away in shame. Yet, his father ran to him, threw his arms around him, and wept with relief and joy at his return.
The older brother, on the other hand, was a model of rectitude. He did all the right things at just the right time—but, we discover, he did so for a hidden, sad, purpose. The older brother believed the lie that his father’s acceptance and approval of him was at best conditional. Therefore everything he did was done in order to earn his father’s approval and acceptance. When his father threw a welcome-home party for his immoral brother, who deserved none of that, years of doubt erupted. Jesus said, “Then he became angry and refused to go in” (Luke 15:25-28). Many people, like the older brother, mistakenly build their worth on a false scale, and often pay the price of ANGER. They try so hard to do all the right things so that people will include them and love them, invite them, accept them, seek them out, and respect them that when they see someone else receiving acceptance they react with confusion and anger. They cannot rejoice with the one who is rejoicing but, in their jealous state, they become deeply angry with the people whose very acceptance they tried so hard to earn. Building your worth on someone else’s acceptance and respect will only lead to an escalating anger. The father realized that his older son was outside, refusing to come in. “His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you and I have never disobeyed your command….”” (Luke 15:28-29). Notice what the "good" son really feels - a slave... He had sunken into self-absorbed BITTERNESS. “For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.” —Luke 15:29 Anger, bitterness, and finally RESENTMENT were the unhappy result - resentment toward the very one whose love and respect the older son was trying to earn. When people are addicted to approval, then every imagined slight they experience is magnified and remembered, any time they feel neglected, go unrecognized, are insufficiently thanked, or feel under-appreciated more fuel is added to the fire of their brooding resentment. “But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” (Luke 15:30). The welcomed return of the younger brother was more than this one could bear. You get the feeling the older brother never wanted to see his brother again, mostly because there would never be any competition for his father’s attention, love and respect. Jesus invites us to discover God’s plan for us to find the self-worth He intends for us. When the older son has dumped years of anger, resentment, and bitterness on his father, “The father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" (Luke 15:31-32). Listen again to the father, our Heavenly Father, say to the older brother and to you, “Son, daughter, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Hear the love and respect, acceptance and approval that is within this father’s heart. Despite the son’s anger and accusations, the father continued to love the son.
God’s love isn’t based on what we have accomplished or failed to do. God’s love is always with us. God's love reveals His prevenient grace. In fact it is grace upon grace. The father (in the story) did what God does, revealing God's way with us. God seeks to heal the broken and welcome home the alienated. God seeks to unite those who have suffered severed friendships and to end enmity between us and Him. God is so committed to bringing about reconciliation between us and Himself. He mysteriously makes that possible through his son Jesus.
The Apostle Paul said, “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him….” (Colossians 1:21-22). Christ took all our hostility and estrangement onto himself and in doing so wonderfully and incomprehensibly made a way for us to renew our friendship with God. The Good News of all this is that the moment I accept Jesus by faith, I enter into a personal friendship with God that not even death itself can break! Paul said, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” See, WHEN WE BUILD OUR SELF-WORTH ON GOD’S SACRIFICIAL LOVE FOR US, WE NEVER HAVE TO FEAR REJECTION—WE ARE ALWAYS AND FOREVER GOD’S CHILDREN! “The father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” When we accept Jesus as our friend and Savior, opening our hearts to God’s love, acceptance, mercy and grace, we are at that very moment adopted into God’s family. Paul said, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…..” (Romans 8.38-39).
When we are in Christ we never have to fear rejection when we fail or try to win the approval that Christ died to give us. Through Jesus we are accepted, we are approved, and we are loved. We don’t have to earn it, win it, deserve it, seek it, worry over it, or ever fear losing it. This is God’s way. We can build our very life upon it. Because of Jesus we can quit trying to weigh our actions and everyone else's on some artificial scale. No one person can fulfill our need for acceptance and approval. That is God's job. Let us remember that like the father told his son, God is telling us that “you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” When we are in Christ the riches of heaven are ours! The greatest treasure of all is the blessed assurance that we are always and forever His beloved sons and daughters.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFaIGSyENsY
A THIRD GRADERS EXPLANATION OF GOD
Written by Danny Dutton, age 8, from Chula Vista, California, for his third grade homework assignment to "Explain God."
One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way, He doesn't have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.
God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.
Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church. Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK.
His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore, He could stay in heaven. So He did. And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the times.
You should always go to Church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God. Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And, besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.
If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.
And that's why I believe in God."
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 4-30-09
Good Morning, I love to read the Book of Revelation. We have been studying the Book of Revelation in our Wednesday evening study. Though the Book of Revelation speaks much about tribulation and suffering, the main focus of the Book is on the Risen Christ and His majesty, authority, and power. We read in Rev 19: 6, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the almighty reigns". In Revelation 5 :12 it is written, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."
A story is told of a man who loved old books. He met a friend who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible he had found stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “Somebody name Guten-something had printed it.” “Was it Gutenberg?!”, the friend exclaimed in horror. “Why yes, I think it was.” “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. A copy has sold for as much as $2 million.!” “His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn't have brought a dollar. Some fellah name Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” --- Some people can know the cost of everything; but the worth of nothing. “… Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Worthy is, of course, related to the word worth. Who determines the worth of an item? In this passage the angels, living creatures, and the elders, numbering in the myriads, thousands and thousands, proclaim the worth of Jesus, the Lamb. He is worthy because of who He is, what He did, and what He is able to continue to do . Fritz Kreisler was a master violinist born in Vienna in 1875. Prior to WW II he gained great acclaim as a person who could play the violin as no one had before. A story has been told of how he acquired his Stradivarius. He was invited to the home of a wealthy Englishman who owned the instrument. After dinner, Mr. Kreisler asked if he could see the instrument and hold it. It was brought from the safety of its location and placed in his hands. He asked his host if he could play the instrument. After being granted permission, Mr. Kreisler play so beautifully and the owner of the violin was moved to tears. He presented the Stradivarius to Kreisler saying that because of his virtuosity, Kreisler was more worthy of its ownership than he himself. Kreisler was worthy of the violin because of his love of music and his finely honed skill in playing the instrument.
We are worthy of the love of Christ because of His love for us. Verse 13: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!’”
Many on earth struggle for self worth and self esteem. Often people look for self worth and self esteem in wrong places and wrong sources. As followers of Christ, our worth and self esteem come from Jesus the Lamb of God. Once we put our trust in Him when He becomes our Good and Winsome Shepherd, He pours upon us His Worth, His grace, and His beauty. Once we surrender our lives completely to Him, we live under His sovereign power and His merciful authority. We do not need to strive for self esteem, we do not need contend for self worth, and we cannot earn it. It is given freely and abundantly. He gives us His triumph, His Lift, and His Joy.
Worthy is the Lamb,
In Him,
Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4CCLnmf1Q
A story is told of a man who loved old books. He met a friend who told him he had just thrown away an old Bible he had found stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “Somebody name Guten-something had printed it.” “Was it Gutenberg?!”, the friend exclaimed in horror. “Why yes, I think it was.” “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. A copy has sold for as much as $2 million.!” “His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn't have brought a dollar. Some fellah name Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” --- Some people can know the cost of everything; but the worth of nothing. “… Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Worthy is, of course, related to the word worth. Who determines the worth of an item? In this passage the angels, living creatures, and the elders, numbering in the myriads, thousands and thousands, proclaim the worth of Jesus, the Lamb. He is worthy because of who He is, what He did, and what He is able to continue to do . Fritz Kreisler was a master violinist born in Vienna in 1875. Prior to WW II he gained great acclaim as a person who could play the violin as no one had before. A story has been told of how he acquired his Stradivarius. He was invited to the home of a wealthy Englishman who owned the instrument. After dinner, Mr. Kreisler asked if he could see the instrument and hold it. It was brought from the safety of its location and placed in his hands. He asked his host if he could play the instrument. After being granted permission, Mr. Kreisler play so beautifully and the owner of the violin was moved to tears. He presented the Stradivarius to Kreisler saying that because of his virtuosity, Kreisler was more worthy of its ownership than he himself. Kreisler was worthy of the violin because of his love of music and his finely honed skill in playing the instrument.
We are worthy of the love of Christ because of His love for us. Verse 13: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!’”
Many on earth struggle for self worth and self esteem. Often people look for self worth and self esteem in wrong places and wrong sources. As followers of Christ, our worth and self esteem come from Jesus the Lamb of God. Once we put our trust in Him when He becomes our Good and Winsome Shepherd, He pours upon us His Worth, His grace, and His beauty. Once we surrender our lives completely to Him, we live under His sovereign power and His merciful authority. We do not need to strive for self esteem, we do not need contend for self worth, and we cannot earn it. It is given freely and abundantly. He gives us His triumph, His Lift, and His Joy.
Worthy is the Lamb,
In Him,
Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4CCLnmf1Q
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 4-29-09
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for another brand new day in His Kingdom . I did read this story some time ago. In Scotland in the 1800's there lived a man of great promise and potential. He was engaged to be married and suddenly was discovered to have a degenerative eye disease which eventually left him blind. His fiancee refused to marry him and his world seemed to be falling apart. --- George Matheson wrote the hymn, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go.” These are the words.O love that will not let me goI rest my weary soul in Thee;I give Thee back the life I owe,That in Thine ocean depths its flowMay richer, fuller be.O joy that seekest me through pain,I cannot close my heart to Thee;I trace the rainbow through the rain,And feel the promise is not vainThat morn shall tearless be.My very favorite line in that hymn is I trace the rainbow through the rain because it speaks of the beauty of hope in Jesus the Risen one through the storms of life.
In Christ,
Brown
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C. S. Lewis I gave in, and admitted that God was God. C. S. Lewis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxH2Ow3ep88As Bill was approaching mid-life, physically he was a mess. Not only was he going bald, but years of office work had given him a large pot belly. The last straw came when he asked a woman co-worker out on a date, and she all but laughed at him. That does it, he decided. I'm going to start a whole new regimen. He began attending aerobics classes. He started working out with weights. He changed his diet. And he got an expensive hair transplant. In six months, he was a different man. Again, he asked his female co-worker out, and this time she accepted. There he was, all dressed up for the date, looking better than he ever had. He stood poised to ring the woman's doorbell, when a bolt of lightning struck him and knocked him off his feet. As he lay there dying, he turned his eyes toward the heavens and said, "Why, God, why now? After all I've been through, how could you do this to me?" From up above, there came a voice, "Sorry. I didn't recognize you."
Praise the Lord for another brand new day in His Kingdom . I did read this story some time ago. In Scotland in the 1800's there lived a man of great promise and potential. He was engaged to be married and suddenly was discovered to have a degenerative eye disease which eventually left him blind. His fiancee refused to marry him and his world seemed to be falling apart. --- George Matheson wrote the hymn, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go.” These are the words.O love that will not let me goI rest my weary soul in Thee;I give Thee back the life I owe,That in Thine ocean depths its flowMay richer, fuller be.O joy that seekest me through pain,I cannot close my heart to Thee;I trace the rainbow through the rain,And feel the promise is not vainThat morn shall tearless be.My very favorite line in that hymn is I trace the rainbow through the rain because it speaks of the beauty of hope in Jesus the Risen one through the storms of life.
In Christ,
Brown
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C. S. Lewis I gave in, and admitted that God was God. C. S. Lewis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxH2Ow3ep88As Bill was approaching mid-life, physically he was a mess. Not only was he going bald, but years of office work had given him a large pot belly. The last straw came when he asked a woman co-worker out on a date, and she all but laughed at him. That does it, he decided. I'm going to start a whole new regimen. He began attending aerobics classes. He started working out with weights. He changed his diet. And he got an expensive hair transplant. In six months, he was a different man. Again, he asked his female co-worker out, and this time she accepted. There he was, all dressed up for the date, looking better than he ever had. He stood poised to ring the woman's doorbell, when a bolt of lightning struck him and knocked him off his feet. As he lay there dying, he turned his eyes toward the heavens and said, "Why, God, why now? After all I've been through, how could you do this to me?" From up above, there came a voice, "Sorry. I didn't recognize you."
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 4-28-09
Good Morning,
I was driving early afternoon yesterday. The temperature reached 98 degrees. It was 110 degrees F, in New Delhi, India yesterday . The Lord of the Heaven and Earth was heating up the earth. The flowering trees and bushes were aflame, with colorful blossoms praising the Lord indeed. I had some flu-like symptoms yesterday, so I went to see a doctor and was put on an antibiotic. The Lord gave me a good rest last night. Praise the Lord for all His gifts of mercy and love.
I was looking at the Mathews account of the Resurrection of our Lord.
"And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it." (28:2)
When Matthew told his version of the resurrection story, he filled it with a host of apocalyptic images that the other gospel writes do not include: earthquakes, splitting of rocks, opening of tombs. It is Matthew's way of signaling that the resurrection was not just something spectacular that happened to Jesus, but a decisive event in human history. Jesus' resurrection turned the world upside down, and so turns our lives upside down as well. On that first Easter morning the women who, according to their culture were not allowed to be witnesses, were called by God to be witnesses to the resurrection. All the disciples who had run away in fear and trepidation and Peter, who had denied Jesus, were called "my brothers" by the risen Christ. Women, who by law and tradition could not hold positions of authority, became agents of reconciliation. The last were first and the first were last and, just as Jesus had said, the last, the lost, the least, and the forgotten found a place at the table in God's kingdom.
As we live in the afterglow of our Lords Resurrection may we know freedom from bondage, healing from brokenness, reconciliation with neighbors; forgiveness of sins, light in the darkness, hope for the future, and confidence to face the struggles of every day life, grounded in resurrection faith - that the power of God's love is stronger even than the power of death.
He is Risen.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzTjY79nGRE
I was driving early afternoon yesterday. The temperature reached 98 degrees. It was 110 degrees F, in New Delhi, India yesterday . The Lord of the Heaven and Earth was heating up the earth. The flowering trees and bushes were aflame, with colorful blossoms praising the Lord indeed. I had some flu-like symptoms yesterday, so I went to see a doctor and was put on an antibiotic. The Lord gave me a good rest last night. Praise the Lord for all His gifts of mercy and love.
I was looking at the Mathews account of the Resurrection of our Lord.
"And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it." (28:2)
When Matthew told his version of the resurrection story, he filled it with a host of apocalyptic images that the other gospel writes do not include: earthquakes, splitting of rocks, opening of tombs. It is Matthew's way of signaling that the resurrection was not just something spectacular that happened to Jesus, but a decisive event in human history. Jesus' resurrection turned the world upside down, and so turns our lives upside down as well. On that first Easter morning the women who, according to their culture were not allowed to be witnesses, were called by God to be witnesses to the resurrection. All the disciples who had run away in fear and trepidation and Peter, who had denied Jesus, were called "my brothers" by the risen Christ. Women, who by law and tradition could not hold positions of authority, became agents of reconciliation. The last were first and the first were last and, just as Jesus had said, the last, the lost, the least, and the forgotten found a place at the table in God's kingdom.
As we live in the afterglow of our Lords Resurrection may we know freedom from bondage, healing from brokenness, reconciliation with neighbors; forgiveness of sins, light in the darkness, hope for the future, and confidence to face the struggles of every day life, grounded in resurrection faith - that the power of God's love is stronger even than the power of death.
He is Risen.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzTjY79nGRE
Monday, April 27, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 4-27-09
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the Lord's day, on which we can come apart to be with Jesus and His people. Something wonderful and glorious happens when the Risen Lord comes to transform our lives, to anoint our hearts, and to fill our cups. The mercury reached the upper 80's here in New York yesterday. We are having a heat wave. Alice spent the weekend with Jessica in Philadelphia. Laureen spent the weekend with some her Grove City Friends in Lancaster. The Lord blessed us with a blessed Sunday. We celebrated 14 Baptisms. We also had family cook off after the worship services. It was great day of worship, celebration, and fellowship.
The reading for Sunday was taken from Luke 24: 13 ff, the story of Emmaus - the Burning Heart Experience. As the men were traveling toward Emmaus, the Risen Lord joined the weary travelers. The men invited Him to be their guest, to join them for the night. He took over the situation, and became the host. In the breaking of bread they recognized the Risen Lord.
In the ancient Greek myth The Odyssey we read the epic tale of Odysseus, a valiant warrior who fought bravely in the Trojan War. According to legend, his homeward journey after the war was interrupted over the course of many years as the gods had decided to test Odysseus' true mettle through a series of trials. His journeys carried him far and wide as he encountered mythical beasts and lands, many of which have passed into common speech and language, such as the cyclops, the Procrustean bed, Scylla and Charybdis, the sirens' voices.
Meanwhile, back at his home, Odysseus' wife and family presume he must have died on his return from Troy. Finally, however, the day came when the gods released Odysseus and he arrived back home at last. Instead of simply marching through the front door and crying out some Greek equivalent of, "Honey, I'm home!", Odysseus decided to determine whether anything changed during his long absence. Did his wife still love him? Had she been faithful? In order to find out, Odysseus disguised himself to look like a stranger in need of temporary lodging.
The housekeeper, Euryclea, welcomed the apparent traveler and performed for him the then-standard practice of foot-washing. Doing so, Euryclea regaled the stranger with anecdotes about her long-lost master, Odysseus, whom she had also served as a nurse when he was young. She proceeded to tell the traveler about how long her master had been missing, noting that by then Odysseus would be about the same age and of about the same build as the man whose feet she was washing. When Odysseus had been a young boy, he was once gored by a wild boar, leaving a nasty scar on his leg. As Euryclea went about her task, her hand brushed against the old scar and instantly her eyes were opened. She then recognized, with great joy, her beloved friend and master!
Recognition scenes like that have long exercised a strong pull on the human heart, but no such tale is as dear to our Christian hearts as the one in Luke 24. Apparently, it didn't require too much effort on the part of Jesus to keep from being identified until he was ready to make himself known. Seldom has the shock of recognition been quite as strong as for these men, partly because of the sheer amount of time Jesus had spent with them. Cleopas and his walking companion were to be with Jesus for some several before they recognized Him. Their walk to Emmaus was a journey of seven miles, which could take a good two hours or more. That was the Easter afternoon trip on which these two disciples set out. The Sabbath was past by the time they started out. If it hadn't been for the Sabbath, they would have left Jerusalem a day earlier. They simply felt the need to get out of town. Staying in Jerusalem was proving too painful. The whole city seemed haunted by the memory of what had happened to their master, Jesus, on the previous Friday.
Indeed, as the days passed, their grief intensified. Frequently the day after the funeral is far more difficult than the days that were filled with formal activities and rituals. When all the official ceremonies are over and you're alone in your home again the reality of it all begins to hit you. It was so also for these two. As the new week began on Sunday (the first working day of a new week), Jerusalem had largely gone back to business as usual. The vendors were in the streets, the marketplace was abuzz with commerce, and life went on. Yet, how can the world go on after you've suffered a loss so deep you find it difficult to breathe? For this reason these two disciples decide to "get away from it all" and leave town. There was no longer anything in Jerusalem for them anyway. Jerusalem had become like a house after someone dies, a place empty of people and full of memories.
The men set out for Emmaus, but the act of putting some distance between themselves and the Holy City didn't make them forget the terrible things that had lately happened. They could not stop talking about recent events. Perhaps they were trying to make sense of it all, comparing the actual events concerning Jesus with the things they thought were going to be true of him. Then, suddenly, the stranger who had appeared so clueless a moment before, changed. First of all, He called these men foolish, and before they could raise an objection to this, the stranger has launched into a quite serious and thorough Bible study. After that the rest of the trek to Emmaus just flew by as this anonymous fellow traveler re-told Scripture's story. Even that cosmos-shattering day in Jerusalem was followed up by a Bible study session.
Frederick Buechner found hope in the understated nature of this tale of recognition because "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 to the mall where the noise of commerce and the rush of people keep you from thinking about life. Maybe you retreat to a bar where booze and beer nuts help numb you to the more bitter truths that swirl outside. Maybe you go to a matinee at the movies where you go to take in the escapism that Hollywood offers. Maybe the TV remote sweeps you away from it all as you channel surf. 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.
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.
The simple truth 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 Emmaus, go some place where, if we're lucky, we won't run into anyone from church. But then we run into Jesus and even if our glimpse of him is momentary, we know for sure he was there, and we know all over again that the world changed and our future burst in on a day called Easter long ago. It changes us. There are any number of things in our lives that drive us to 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, He is with us in all places, all the time. Were not our hears burning within us. Look! It's Jesus.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fl_nqGJc0
Praise the Lord for the Lord's day, on which we can come apart to be with Jesus and His people. Something wonderful and glorious happens when the Risen Lord comes to transform our lives, to anoint our hearts, and to fill our cups. The mercury reached the upper 80's here in New York yesterday. We are having a heat wave. Alice spent the weekend with Jessica in Philadelphia. Laureen spent the weekend with some her Grove City Friends in Lancaster. The Lord blessed us with a blessed Sunday. We celebrated 14 Baptisms. We also had family cook off after the worship services. It was great day of worship, celebration, and fellowship.
The reading for Sunday was taken from Luke 24: 13 ff, the story of Emmaus - the Burning Heart Experience. As the men were traveling toward Emmaus, the Risen Lord joined the weary travelers. The men invited Him to be their guest, to join them for the night. He took over the situation, and became the host. In the breaking of bread they recognized the Risen Lord.
In the ancient Greek myth The Odyssey we read the epic tale of Odysseus, a valiant warrior who fought bravely in the Trojan War. According to legend, his homeward journey after the war was interrupted over the course of many years as the gods had decided to test Odysseus' true mettle through a series of trials. His journeys carried him far and wide as he encountered mythical beasts and lands, many of which have passed into common speech and language, such as the cyclops, the Procrustean bed, Scylla and Charybdis, the sirens' voices.
Meanwhile, back at his home, Odysseus' wife and family presume he must have died on his return from Troy. Finally, however, the day came when the gods released Odysseus and he arrived back home at last. Instead of simply marching through the front door and crying out some Greek equivalent of, "Honey, I'm home!", Odysseus decided to determine whether anything changed during his long absence. Did his wife still love him? Had she been faithful? In order to find out, Odysseus disguised himself to look like a stranger in need of temporary lodging.
The housekeeper, Euryclea, welcomed the apparent traveler and performed for him the then-standard practice of foot-washing. Doing so, Euryclea regaled the stranger with anecdotes about her long-lost master, Odysseus, whom she had also served as a nurse when he was young. She proceeded to tell the traveler about how long her master had been missing, noting that by then Odysseus would be about the same age and of about the same build as the man whose feet she was washing. When Odysseus had been a young boy, he was once gored by a wild boar, leaving a nasty scar on his leg. As Euryclea went about her task, her hand brushed against the old scar and instantly her eyes were opened. She then recognized, with great joy, her beloved friend and master!
Recognition scenes like that have long exercised a strong pull on the human heart, but no such tale is as dear to our Christian hearts as the one in Luke 24. Apparently, it didn't require too much effort on the part of Jesus to keep from being identified until he was ready to make himself known. Seldom has the shock of recognition been quite as strong as for these men, partly because of the sheer amount of time Jesus had spent with them. Cleopas and his walking companion were to be with Jesus for some several before they recognized Him. Their walk to Emmaus was a journey of seven miles, which could take a good two hours or more. That was the Easter afternoon trip on which these two disciples set out. The Sabbath was past by the time they started out. If it hadn't been for the Sabbath, they would have left Jerusalem a day earlier. They simply felt the need to get out of town. Staying in Jerusalem was proving too painful. The whole city seemed haunted by the memory of what had happened to their master, Jesus, on the previous Friday.
Indeed, as the days passed, their grief intensified. Frequently the day after the funeral is far more difficult than the days that were filled with formal activities and rituals. When all the official ceremonies are over and you're alone in your home again the reality of it all begins to hit you. It was so also for these two. As the new week began on Sunday (the first working day of a new week), Jerusalem had largely gone back to business as usual. The vendors were in the streets, the marketplace was abuzz with commerce, and life went on. Yet, how can the world go on after you've suffered a loss so deep you find it difficult to breathe? For this reason these two disciples decide to "get away from it all" and leave town. There was no longer anything in Jerusalem for them anyway. Jerusalem had become like a house after someone dies, a place empty of people and full of memories.
The men set out for Emmaus, but the act of putting some distance between themselves and the Holy City didn't make them forget the terrible things that had lately happened. They could not stop talking about recent events. Perhaps they were trying to make sense of it all, comparing the actual events concerning Jesus with the things they thought were going to be true of him. Then, suddenly, the stranger who had appeared so clueless a moment before, changed. First of all, He called these men foolish, and before they could raise an objection to this, the stranger has launched into a quite serious and thorough Bible study. After that the rest of the trek to Emmaus just flew by as this anonymous fellow traveler re-told Scripture's story. Even that cosmos-shattering day in Jerusalem was followed up by a Bible study session.
Frederick Buechner found hope in the understated nature of this tale of recognition because "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 to the mall where the noise of commerce and the rush of people keep you from thinking about life. Maybe you retreat to a bar where booze and beer nuts help numb you to the more bitter truths that swirl outside. Maybe you go to a matinee at the movies where you go to take in the escapism that Hollywood offers. Maybe the TV remote sweeps you away from it all as you channel surf. 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.
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.
The simple truth 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 Emmaus, go some place where, if we're lucky, we won't run into anyone from church. But then we run into Jesus and even if our glimpse of him is momentary, we know for sure he was there, and we know all over again that the world changed and our future burst in on a day called Easter long ago. It changes us. There are any number of things in our lives that drive us to 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, He is with us in all places, all the time. Were not our hears burning within us. Look! It's Jesus.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fl_nqGJc0
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