Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-30-11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for Christmas. I trust you all had a very blessed and very rich Christmas. Laureen, Janice, Jeremy, Micah, Simeon, Ada. Sunita, Andy, Jessica, and Tom all came home for Christmas. It was great time of celebration, worship and feasting. I have posted some of our Christmas Eve and Christmas day photographs on my Face Book page. You are most welcome to visit them there.
This is the last Friday of 2011. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness throughout the passing year. We will also count on His faithfulness in the coming year.
We read in John 1 about the essence of Christmas, the salient truth about the Incarnation, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Eugene Petersen in The Message paraphrased this verse, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood" (John 1:14). Dwell means "to live in a tent" or, as military folks would understand, "to bivouac." Theologians define it as "to tabernacle." In the Old Testament this word dwelt (past tense of dwell) and its derivatives literally denote "residence." Often the word was used to depict the glorious presence of God that resided in the tabernacle and Solomon's temple.
Thus, when Jesus became flesh and blood He moved into the neighborhood, He took up residence; He "tabernacled" among us.
Before Jesus was born God visited His people performing mighty and miraculous works. God's people would then stack stones or build a monument or erect a synagogue in honor of God's revelation. The physical erection of monuments and buildings was their way of saying, "God was here." The power and presence of God had visited them in a place and so, in order not to forget, they constructed a reminder. When Jesus entered the world the verb tense changed from past to present -- from "was" to "is."
Because of Jesus' birth, because of the incarnation of God, because the Word became flesh, we now say: "God is here." God is present in all of His splendor and glory. We don't have to erect structures to remind us of God's visited presence. God is already here. "God is here" is more than a theological doctrine, it has practical implications. First, Jesus became a man to show us God. When Jesus became a man He showed that God was not merely a principle but a person. Jesus was not an idea of God, not a picture of God, but God Himself in human form.
Two young men on a battlefield in World War II made it to the safety of a foxhole in the midst of enemy fire. As they looked out before them across the battlefield they perceived the horror of dead and dying men, twisted barbed wire, the earth scarred with deep holes left by cannon fire. Many men lay lifeless, others crying out for help. Finally one of the men cried, "Where in the world is God?" As they continued to watch and listen they soon noticed two medics, identified by the red cross on their arms and their helmets, carefully making their way across the perilous scene. As they watched, the medics stopped and began to load a wounded soldier onto their stretcher. Once loaded they began to work their way to safety. As the scene unfolded before them, the other soldier now boldly answered the honest, but piercing question of his friend, "There is God! There is God!"
When Jesus became a man He came to show us God. He came in the midst of the loneliness and the horror of a world gone mad. Yet, in the chaos and confusion, Jesus announced that God is here. Where in the world is God? God is here in Christ. Christ has come among us to show us who God is and what God is. Jesus shows us God in a way that we can understand. In a way that renews us and that gives us hope.
In one act of becoming human He identified with our pain. He felt the pain of loneliness, the hurt of rejection, and the sadness of losing a loved one to death. He also felt the scars of mental and physical abuse. When we suffer pain, we want others to understand. We want others to be like us so they can identify with us. We don't want to be alone. We want others to feel our pain and our hurt. When Jesus became a man He understood us, He identified with us, He felt our pain, and He hurt.
Joseph Damien was a nineteenth-century missionary who ministered to people with leprosy on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Those suffering grew to love him and revered the sacrificial life he lived out before them. One morning before Damien was to lead daily worship he was pouring some hot water into a cup when the water swirled out and fell onto his bare foot, it took him a moment to realize that he had not felt any sensation. Gripped by the sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more hot water on the same spot and felt nothing whatsoever. Damien immediately knew what had happened. As he walked tearfully to deliver his sermon, no one at first noticed the difference in his opening line. He normally began every sermon with, "My fellow believers." This morning he began with, "My fellow lepers."
God is here. He is here understanding our hurt, and identifying with our pain. He feels. He hurts. He cries. Jesus became a man so God becomes touchable, approachable, and reachable. Often when we refer to God's location we point upward or look toward the heavens. Most often we think of God as being up there, far removed from the cares and concerns of this created world, but because Jesus became a man God came down here, living in our midst. We could never reach Him up there, but in love He came down here to us. He became touchable, approachable, and reachable.
In Jesus our Emmanuel.
Brown
Friday, December 23, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-23-11
Merry Christmas,
Here we are on the eve of Christmas Eve. We are all a-scurry amid the last minute preparations for our celebration of the great day. We are greatly anticipating the arrival of Sunita and Andy tonight, as they make the trek from Washington, DC to join us in the fun, frolic, and festivities. Jess and Tom are planning to be here by Christmas morning;Janice, Jeremy, and the children plan to arrive on Monday. What a delightful time of year! As traveling for Christmas is on Micah's mind right now, she has been making her telephone calls, keeping us abreast of every happening in their family.
May the Lord provoke us and anoint us to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus with great joy and unparalleled gladness. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Those who live in the area join us for our weekly television out reach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4.
One of the programs we watch on TV is "Extreme Makeover- Home Edition". We have been undergoing our own extreme makeover of the parsonage basement over the past few weeks. The transformation is wonderful, and so very much appreciated.
The Bible is primarily the story of God's extreme makeover. He created you and me in His own image. We were not made to be robots. He gave us the capacity to choose whether to live the way He created us to live or to do our own thing. The Bible says the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God. In the process, they became alienated from Him. Ever since the days of Adam, we all have chosen to do the same thing. Our disobedience and rebellion have established a chasm between us and God. The Bible says in the book of Romans, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Bible continues to say, "The wages of sin is death." That's the bad news, but the Good News is that God has done something about it. God has taken the initiative. The Creator God has come from the outside, breaking into human history in the form of "the second Adam," His Son, Jesus Christ. That baby at Bethlehem grew up experiencing everything you and I experience, yet without sin. The Bible says that He himself bore your and my sins on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
This is the Extreme Make over of NEW CREATION. The Apostle Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the extreme makeover of SPIRITUAL REBIRTH. The coming of Jesus Christ into the world makes possible this extreme makeover!
Frederick Buechner, in his book titled, "Listening to Your Life", wrote:
"When the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth that is as unassailable as any truth. Art, music, literature, western culture itself, with all its institutions and western man's whole understanding of himself and his world. It is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened, whenever, wherever, however it did. And there is a truth beyond that for millions of people who have believed since. The birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life, but a new way of living it. The truth of this incarnation should never cease to amaze us. The mystery of the eternal, cradled in a manger, elicits awesome wonder and grateful praise."
God, since the very time of Adam and Eve, has reached out to all humankind. The Old Testament gives record to it as the prophets foretold the coming of the Savior of the world. All through human history, up until that night in Bethlehem, men, women and children have, in anticipation of that coming, experienced this extreme makeover. And it has been happening ever since that night since Jesus came.
In Christ,
Brown
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Sponsored by : Union Center UMC
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Christmas Day Worship Services:
Wesley UMC 9:30AM
Union Center UMC 10:00AM.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-21-11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this last day of Autumn. The winter season begins tomorrow. We will gather for our Mid-Week fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM. We are getting ready for the Christmas Eve services and for Christmas day Worship.
Praise the Lord for this season of giving gifts and receiving gifts. My wife loves to give gifts to our children, grandchildren, and family members. She plans and shops for gifts. She is one of the early birds that flies around all the shopping place on Black Friday.
Our Lord Jesus, who is the inexpressible Gift from heaven, asks in Matthew 7:7-29, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a snake?" Psalm 84:11 says, in the Living Bible Translation, "No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right." God's nature is to give us good gifts.
The Apostle Paul used for the word "gift", "charisma." "Charisma" was a totally free and unearned gift which a soldier sometimes received. On special occasions, for instance an emporer, on his birthday or on his accession to the throne, or the anniversary of it, handed out a free gift of money to his army. It had not been earned; it was a present; it was simply a gift of the emperor's kindness and grace.
In the same way, Paul said, "Our sin has earned us death. If we got the pay we had earned it would be death. It is death that is due to us as a right." Then Paul went on to say, "But what we have received (from God) is a free gift, a "charisma"; we did not earn it; We did not deserve it. What we have earned is eternal death, but out of his grace God has given us the gift of eternal life, a really indescribable gift."
If you undertook this Christmas to give your dearest one the gift most needed, what would you select? When thoughtfully given, a Christmas gift provides some kind of answer to two questions. On the one hand it attempts to meet the needs and the tastes of the person for whom it is intended. On the other, it reflects to some degree the appreciation and the insight of the person who gives it. We search the stores and catalogs for the gift that is characteristic of ourselves as well as being appropriate for our friends. An appropriate gift does two things: it reveals the affections of the person giving it and it suits the needs of the person to whom the gift is given.
Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, told the parable of a prince who fell in love with a young maiden in his kingdom but wanted her to love him for who he was, not what he was, a prince. At first he thought he would order her to the palace and there propose marriage, but even a prince would like to feel that the girl he marries wants to marry him for who he is. Or perhaps, he thought, he could arrive at her door in full splendor, and with a bow, ask for her hand in marriage. But even the prince wanted to be wanted. Again, he thought he could masquerade as a poor peasant and try in that way to gain her interest. After he proposed, he could pull off his "mask". But, he thought, such a masquerade would be a phony, a fake.
Finally he decided to give up his princely robes and move completely into her neighborhood and to be himself. There he would take up daily work as, say a carpenter. During his work in the day and during his time off in the evening, he would take time to get acquainted with the people around her, begin to share their interests and concerns, begin to talk their language. He would really become one of them. And in due time, should fortune be with him, he would make her acquaintance in a natural way and hopefully she would come to love him as he already had come to love her. He would then ask for her hand. This he did, and when she did come to love him, he told her who he really was.
` This is Kierkegaard 's way of summarizing God's Christmas gift-giving decision. God wished to join our lives with His in a loving relationship and he could have done it anyway he wanted. But he rejected a fake way and came as a real gift revealing his loving nature and at the same time meeting our deepest need.
Praise the Lord for the "indescribable gift" which is real. "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6: 23b).
In Christ,
Brown
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Sponsored by : Union Center UMC
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Christmas Day Worship Services:
Wesley UMC 9:30AM
Union Center UMC 10:00AM.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-20-11
Praise the Lord for the Wonder of Christmas. In our finite minds we fail to grasp and cpmprehend the mysteries and the depths of Christmas. We come to the event o Christmas as little children and wait on the Lord with a sense of wonder and awe . The Lord blessed us with a extravagant weekend. Some of us as a team attended the presentation of Handel's Messiah. . It is always a treat. One of the ministry teams prepared and servesd A christmas meal in down town Endicitt at the Firs United Methodist church, Saturday noon and our church presented a living Nativity with a full cast Saturday afternoon in the city center of Endicott. followed by our Saturday Evening worship. It was all blessing every way. We met for worship yesterday at Wesley and Union Center followed by Christmas dinner gtherings at both churches. Praise the Lord we have ample reassons and occasions to celebrate the grace and he gift of Jesus our Lord. The Choirs sang at both churhes including the Chilren Choir. We praise Jesus the heart of Christmas.
One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Luke 1 . The Magnificat. The When we hear the words read as part of the Christmas gospel, we are captured by the poetic loveliness of the cadence. I would like to share some quotations from famous scholars about the Magnificat. E. Stanley Jones, a famous preacher amd missionary to India said that the Magnificat is “the most revolutionary document in the world.” Martin Luther, said that the Magnificat “comforts the lowly and terrifies the rich.”The Magnificate is God’s revolution. The Magnificate is the charter, the document, the constitution of God’s revolution. Magna Carta is the fundamental document on which freedom is based in English society. So also, the Magnificate is God’s charter; it is God’s Magna Carta. That document lays down the fundamental principles of the Christian revolution.
In the Magnificate, God totally changes the order of things. God takes that which is on the bottom; and God turn everything upside down, and puts the bottom on top and the top on the bottom. God revolutionizes the way we think, the way we act, and the way we live. Before God’s revolution, we human beings were impressed with money, power, status and education. We were impressed with beauty, bucks and brains. But God revolutionizes all of that; God totally changes all of that; God turns it upside down. The poor are put on the top; the rich are put on the bottom. It is a revolution; God’s revolution. The Magnificate clearly tells us of God’s compassion for the economically poor; and when God’s Spirit gets inside of Christians, we too have a renewed compassion and action for the poor. Our hearts are turned upside down.
God tells us in the content of the Magnifiact that He regards or respects the poor, exalts the poor, feeds the poor, helps the poor, remembers the poor. In that same chapter in Luke, we hear the story that God chose a peasant girl, Mary, to be the mother of Jesus. In Christian language, before the revolution, we were impressed with the rich. After God’s revolution, we are impressed with the poor. Before God’s revolution, we are impressed with bucks and beauty. After God’s revolution, we are impressed with paupers and poor people. Let the revolution begin in your life, and mine. This is God’s revolution in our hearts. God’s value is to respect the poor, exalt the poor, feed the poor...within our hearts and actions.
The Magnificat is a prelude to the whole gospel, and the theme of the whole gospel is that God respects the poor, exalts the poor, cares for the poor, feeds the poor, remembers the poor, helps the poor.
In Christ,
Brown
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Sponsored by : Union Center UMC
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Friday, December 16, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-16-11
Good morning,Praise the Lord for this Friday. Pray for our Friday Evening television outreach this evening on Time Warner Cable channel 4 at 7 PM. Some of us will be attending Handel's Messiah at the Binghamton Forum this Evening at 8 PM. One of our ministry teams will be preparing and serving a Christmas Meal tomorrow at noon at the First United Methodist Church .It is beginning look a like Christmas everywhere you go. Yes, there are signs of Christmas everywhere. Centuries ago, however, there were not many signs. There were a couple of signs in particular, though, that brought the reality of the presence of the Lord home to several people. The year was 734 BC. Ahaz was king of Judah. Rezin was king of Aram, modern day Syria, and Pekah was king of Israel. Rezin and Pekah combined forces and surrounded the city of Jerusalem. It must have been frightening to Ahaz and the people of Judah. So the Lord God, through His prophet Isaiah, gave a sign to a frightened and somewhat wavering Judean king that would encourage him to remain firm in his political commitment to Tiglath-Pileser, III, king of Assyria, and resist Syria and Israel. The details are in Isaiah 7and 2 Kings 16.Saturday, December 17, 2011Sponsored by: The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity castAcross from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.The Corner of McKinley Ave and Monroe Street . EndicottPraise and Worship ServiceFirst United Methodist Church, EndicottSponsored by Union Center UMC6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship6:30 PM WorshipMusic: Laureen NaikSpeaker: Rev. Earle CowdenChristmas Eve Candlelight Service4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, EndicottMusic: Aric Phinney and Yancey MoorePreacher: Rev Brown NaikChristmas Eve Candlelight ServiceA Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple DriveMusic: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily SabinPreacher: Rev. Brown Naik
The sign the Lord gave was this: a young virgin would be pregnant, have a baby, and refer to him as "God is with us." This reference, Immanuel, was a reminder of God's promise that He would be with David's dynasty in a special way. By the time this child was old enough to make wise decisions, the nations of Syria and Israel would be destroyed. The immediate context here in Isaiah referred, most likely, to Ahaz's son, Hezekiah. The greater context, of course, refers to Jesus of Nazareth. Ahaz discovered encouragement in the sign given by the Lord.
728 years later, another sign of encouragement would be given. The third gospel evangelist, the beloved physician and historian, Luke, recorded it in Luke, chapter 2. Shepherds were tending to their flocks on a Judean hillside when, suddenly, they were interrupted by angels who told them they had a sign for them from the Lord.
As the sign given to Ahaz had to do with the birth of a baby, so did this one. It was the sign of a baby lying in a manger. It is not by accident that the sign was given at night. The scriptures tell us the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night. The magi from the East were guided to the place of Christ's birth by a star at night. The shepherds went to the manger at night. Night has always played a significant role during the Christmas season. Christmas Eve worship, midnight masses, and the lighting of candles, which symbolizes that the Christ-child is the Light, which has come into the world to overcome the darkness, surrounding us, all have to do with night. It was a dark world when Christ was born and it is still dark in some respects.
During Advent, with all its merriment, delight, and joy as preparation is made for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we discover the darkness of the world is dark indeed. There is still unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The darkness of hostility and violence is overwhelming in various parts of the world.
The darkness of the world is dark indeed. Yet, the good news of Christmas is that all that darkness, whatever its cause — fear, murder, strife, unrest, violence — may be dispelled by the Living Light of Bethlehem's Baby. The darkness of the world may be overcome. The darkness you and I experience may be overcome.
We may be experiencing the dark night of the soul from anxiety, loneliness, uncertainty, and a host of others dark situations. Though we may be in the dark, we have good news from the Lord. There is a sign in everybody's night. It is the Christ-child — the Light of all humanity. God gave that sign at night to remind each of us that in the darkest hour of our lives, the Most High God gives a sign that brings life and light.
In Christ,
Brown
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-15-11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this season of excitement and anticipation. We once again become like children. Our hearts become tender and are softened as we pause and ponder about the wondrous birth and the gift that came down at first Christmas long time ago in Bethlehem. Today is our daughter Laureen's birthday. She was a Christmas baby. We praise the Lord for Laureen. She ia a huge part of our Christmas blessing.
All my high School and College class mates back in India are retired. They ask me when I am going to retire. There's no theology of retirement in the Bible. We are still followers of Jesus Christ, no matter how old we are. You and I are meant to be sent, whether we're teenagers like Mary or senior citizens like Zechariah and Elizabeth. The example of Elizabeth and Zechariah makes it very clear that God has no has-beens. This story is a word to the elderly that God is not finished with you yet! Christmas is a time of surprises and things that take your breath away. There so many people that are so methodical and so calculated that they leave no room for surprise. They do not leave any room for the Lord to work in their lives either. In fact, all of life can and should be full of surprises. Most of us measure our lives by the breaths we take. Perhaps it would be better for us to measure our lives by the breaths we miss. Those times of amazement and astonishment, when suddenly our attention is carried away, are when God catches us by surprise. He takes our breath away.
The only problem is that some of us have too carefully ensconced ourselves in religious tradition to be surprised by anything. That had just about happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were good people. The Bible says, "Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord" (Luke 1:6). Now that's the profile of a very religious person. They went through all the right motions. They obeyed the Law. They were faithful in worship. They prayed fervently to God.
Zechariah and Elizabeth teach us that our God is a God of surprises. Zechariah was a clergyman, a priest. He was faithful in carrying out the functions that were assigned to him in the temple worship. Apparently, he wasn't accustomed to hearing the Word of God as it applied itself in a highly personal way to himself. How tragic it is when we see a person who should be noted for their faith in the Lord, stumble in disobedience. When God, through the Angel Gabriel, spoke specifically to Zechariah, Zechariah became confused. He doubted. He spoke back these words, "How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years" (Luke 1:18). Gabriel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur" (1:19-20).
Sometimes God has to use severe methods to get our attention, especially those who lead. If we don't shut up for a while and listen, God may have to shut us up. There need to be times of renewal. There need to be times of reflection and contemplation. I envy that segment of the Roman Catholic Holy Orders which are referred to as the "contemplatives." These monks, such as Thomas Merton, take vows of silence. Some of us would benefit from at least periods of silence, times in which we stop our talking, our ceaseless babbling, so as to drink from those deep, cool, refreshing springs of spiritual water, which the Lord yearns to provide.
It is a great blessing and a gift to have time off on Lord's day to worship, to witness and to celebrate. Only slaves worked for seven days. We are set free to serve the Lord and to worship Him. Let us remember this. No matter how old or young we are, we are meant to be sent. Let us be willing to be surprised by the Lord of time and Eternity. Let us Open ourselves to a maturing faith that enables us to be continually used by the Lord.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/Cqnrn89uf0k
Praise the Lord for this season of excitement and anticipation. We once again become like children. Our hearts become tender and are softened as we pause and ponder about the wondrous birth and the gift that came down at first Christmas long time ago in Bethlehem. Today is our daughter Laureen's birthday. She was a Christmas baby. We praise the Lord for Laureen. She ia a huge part of our Christmas blessing.
All my high School and College class mates back in India are retired. They ask me when I am going to retire. There's no theology of retirement in the Bible. We are still followers of Jesus Christ, no matter how old we are. You and I are meant to be sent, whether we're teenagers like Mary or senior citizens like Zechariah and Elizabeth. The example of Elizabeth and Zechariah makes it very clear that God has no has-beens. This story is a word to the elderly that God is not finished with you yet! Christmas is a time of surprises and things that take your breath away. There so many people that are so methodical and so calculated that they leave no room for surprise. They do not leave any room for the Lord to work in their lives either. In fact, all of life can and should be full of surprises. Most of us measure our lives by the breaths we take. Perhaps it would be better for us to measure our lives by the breaths we miss. Those times of amazement and astonishment, when suddenly our attention is carried away, are when God catches us by surprise. He takes our breath away.
The only problem is that some of us have too carefully ensconced ourselves in religious tradition to be surprised by anything. That had just about happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were good people. The Bible says, "Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord" (Luke 1:6). Now that's the profile of a very religious person. They went through all the right motions. They obeyed the Law. They were faithful in worship. They prayed fervently to God.
Zechariah and Elizabeth teach us that our God is a God of surprises. Zechariah was a clergyman, a priest. He was faithful in carrying out the functions that were assigned to him in the temple worship. Apparently, he wasn't accustomed to hearing the Word of God as it applied itself in a highly personal way to himself. How tragic it is when we see a person who should be noted for their faith in the Lord, stumble in disobedience. When God, through the Angel Gabriel, spoke specifically to Zechariah, Zechariah became confused. He doubted. He spoke back these words, "How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years" (Luke 1:18). Gabriel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur" (1:19-20).
Sometimes God has to use severe methods to get our attention, especially those who lead. If we don't shut up for a while and listen, God may have to shut us up. There need to be times of renewal. There need to be times of reflection and contemplation. I envy that segment of the Roman Catholic Holy Orders which are referred to as the "contemplatives." These monks, such as Thomas Merton, take vows of silence. Some of us would benefit from at least periods of silence, times in which we stop our talking, our ceaseless babbling, so as to drink from those deep, cool, refreshing springs of spiritual water, which the Lord yearns to provide.
It is a great blessing and a gift to have time off on Lord's day to worship, to witness and to celebrate. Only slaves worked for seven days. We are set free to serve the Lord and to worship Him. Let us remember this. No matter how old or young we are, we are meant to be sent. Let us be willing to be surprised by the Lord of time and Eternity. Let us Open ourselves to a maturing faith that enables us to be continually used by the Lord.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/Cqnrn89uf0k
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sponsored by: The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.
4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast
Across from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.
The Corner of McKinley Ave and Monroe Street . Endicott
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-14-11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will gather for our Mid-week service with a very special dinner prepared by Chef Lawrence, followed by Bible Study and Choir practice. Our granddaughter Micah called me yesterday from Boston, all excited, and announced to me with great joy that got their fresh Christmas tree yesterday. Alice and I went in haste and made our annual holy pilgrimage to one of local Christmas tree farms yesterday after 4.30 PM and tagged a beautiful 9.5 feet tree. It is an almost perfect tree. It was a beautiful day followed by a glorious evening. Alice and I took our daily walk for over 4 miles between 7 and 8.30 PM. When we walk almost during the night it makes the very short autumn and winter days very long.
Jesus is the Lord of time. He transcends time and space, yet He is involved in time and space. He intervenes in our time and space with His blessings. This is why, "when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him" (Galatians 4:4). In Galatians 4, Paul seized the moment with an early confession of faith drawn from the worship and proclamation of the Christian congregations of the mid first century AD. When the time was exactly right, a child was born. A son was given. And He was given the name Everlasting Father.
Paul asserted, "…that God is our Father" (v.6b). In the Gospel of John, chapter 1 it is written, "As many as received Him to them He gave the authority to be come sons and daughters of God". In Jesus Christ we are children of a God who is a Father, and He is also a Father who is a God. He is Everlasting. This is such a paradox. In the Manger was a Baby who is a Father. This is beyond human comprehension. This same Father is "from everlasting to everlasting," to borrow language from the Psalms.
What Do we Need This Christmas? Through this Child we are granted what we really need, life as it comes to us from a Father who lasts forever. We have in Jesus God, who is revealed as the Everlasting Father( Isaiah 9) All of our toys, gadgets, clothes, all the things of this earthly life aren't going to last forever. A relationship with Bethlehem's Child does. This Child introduces us to an Eternal Father who always provides what we need, (not what want, but what we need).
Moreover, our relationship with this Everlasting Father is such that we, His adopted children, can come into His presence. All of us who are in Christ are children of God. We aren't orphaned! He really is our Father. He really does embody perfect Fatherhood.. He is the kind of Father,who wants us to come to Him with our grief, our trouble, our anxiety and our hopelessness as we confront the reality of things not lasting forever.
While editing notes in The Quest Study Bible, Marshall Shelley underwent a test of faith. His wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter who was severely retarded and completely invalid. Eighteen months later, a second child was born who lived for only one minute. Six months after that, their first child died. Shelley said he was obligated to ask God his most honest questions. He said, "God's not offended by that. In fact, He invites it!"
Only an "Everlasting Father" could invite us to bring to Him all the emotional and spiritual junk that we've been carting around for years. This Everlasting Father born in Bethlehem's barn grew to die and be resurrected from the dead so we could make it through this earthly life, a life that is cruel where children are sometimes born retarded, where children sometimes die from hunger and disease, where children are abused by earthly parents and the system of slick and sick greed and exploitation. It's a world in which we "big children" have gotten our priorities all fouled up, thinking we really need something, when, in reality, we know we don't need it at all. Each of us suffers from the harshness of this earthly life.
I'm so glad there is an Everlasting Father who listens to us and provides for us. He grants to us what we need, and He knows what we need better than we know ourselves. The Lord God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, is the Everlasting Father who knows best. So when you are tempted to rely upon the provision of the world, I invite you to remember the provision that comes from Jesus Chris, a Child.
We are so blesed because of Jesus.
Brown
http://youtu.be/DSlIx7xqANg
Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will gather for our Mid-week service with a very special dinner prepared by Chef Lawrence, followed by Bible Study and Choir practice. Our granddaughter Micah called me yesterday from Boston, all excited, and announced to me with great joy that got their fresh Christmas tree yesterday. Alice and I went in haste and made our annual holy pilgrimage to one of local Christmas tree farms yesterday after 4.30 PM and tagged a beautiful 9.5 feet tree. It is an almost perfect tree. It was a beautiful day followed by a glorious evening. Alice and I took our daily walk for over 4 miles between 7 and 8.30 PM. When we walk almost during the night it makes the very short autumn and winter days very long.
Jesus is the Lord of time. He transcends time and space, yet He is involved in time and space. He intervenes in our time and space with His blessings. This is why, "when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him" (Galatians 4:4). In Galatians 4, Paul seized the moment with an early confession of faith drawn from the worship and proclamation of the Christian congregations of the mid first century AD. When the time was exactly right, a child was born. A son was given. And He was given the name Everlasting Father.
Paul asserted, "…that God is our Father" (v.6b). In the Gospel of John, chapter 1 it is written, "As many as received Him to them He gave the authority to be come sons and daughters of God". In Jesus Christ we are children of a God who is a Father, and He is also a Father who is a God. He is Everlasting. This is such a paradox. In the Manger was a Baby who is a Father. This is beyond human comprehension. This same Father is "from everlasting to everlasting," to borrow language from the Psalms.
What Do we Need This Christmas? Through this Child we are granted what we really need, life as it comes to us from a Father who lasts forever. We have in Jesus God, who is revealed as the Everlasting Father( Isaiah 9) All of our toys, gadgets, clothes, all the things of this earthly life aren't going to last forever. A relationship with Bethlehem's Child does. This Child introduces us to an Eternal Father who always provides what we need, (not what want, but what we need).
Moreover, our relationship with this Everlasting Father is such that we, His adopted children, can come into His presence. All of us who are in Christ are children of God. We aren't orphaned! He really is our Father. He really does embody perfect Fatherhood.. He is the kind of Father,who wants us to come to Him with our grief, our trouble, our anxiety and our hopelessness as we confront the reality of things not lasting forever.
While editing notes in The Quest Study Bible, Marshall Shelley underwent a test of faith. His wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter who was severely retarded and completely invalid. Eighteen months later, a second child was born who lived for only one minute. Six months after that, their first child died. Shelley said he was obligated to ask God his most honest questions. He said, "God's not offended by that. In fact, He invites it!"
Only an "Everlasting Father" could invite us to bring to Him all the emotional and spiritual junk that we've been carting around for years. This Everlasting Father born in Bethlehem's barn grew to die and be resurrected from the dead so we could make it through this earthly life, a life that is cruel where children are sometimes born retarded, where children sometimes die from hunger and disease, where children are abused by earthly parents and the system of slick and sick greed and exploitation. It's a world in which we "big children" have gotten our priorities all fouled up, thinking we really need something, when, in reality, we know we don't need it at all. Each of us suffers from the harshness of this earthly life.
I'm so glad there is an Everlasting Father who listens to us and provides for us. He grants to us what we need, and He knows what we need better than we know ourselves. The Lord God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, is the Everlasting Father who knows best. So when you are tempted to rely upon the provision of the world, I invite you to remember the provision that comes from Jesus Chris, a Child.
We are so blesed because of Jesus.
Brown
http://youtu.be/DSlIx7xqANg
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sponsored by: The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.
4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast
Across from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.
The Corner of McKinley Ave and Monroe Street . Endicott
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 12-13-11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this glorious season. Praise the Lord for the way our Lord invaded this world with His truth and grace. Shakespeare wrote that "all the world's a stage," and Luke2:1-4 details how God set this stage for His grand and glorious Christmas production! In fact, more than seven centuries before we come to the scene of Jesus' birth, the prophet Micah told us that the setting would be Bethlehem. When we consider that God was making preparations for the birth of Christ, we have to think about the message of the prophet who said, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth …" (Micah 5:2).
It was no coincidence that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, for as De Boylesve states, "Augustus, while sending forth his edicts to the utmost limits of the East, little knew that on his part he was obeying the decrees of the King of kings." God's direction is evident even in the movement of the population. Caesar had thought to feed his pride and eventually fill his coffers through this census and taxation process, but God was using this to get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be. W.H. Van Doren wrote that "to locate an infant's birth, 60 millions of persons are enrolled." God prepared a world and set the stage for His Christmas production.
We do not know who composed the well-known Christmas carol, "Away In A Manger," but we do know that Almighty God prepared the Christ child — "the Way" laid in a manger for his bed. God prepared a way of deliverance in the person of Jesus, "For," as the angel said unto the shepherds, "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). That Christ was a Savior tells us that He was literally, a deliverer Who has given us rescue and safety through His great salvation.
Furthermore, in the person of Jesus, God prepared a way of delight. The angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10), and this word "joy" has the idea of cheerfulness and a calm delight. God made a way for us to know Jesus and, through knowing Jesus, subsequently to know joy. Jesus is our deliverer and our delight. He is God's glorious gift for you and for me.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/oW9O1zVeb-8
Saturday, December 17, 2011
4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast
In Front of The First United Methodist Church.
53 McKinley Ave , Endicott
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Praise the Lord for this glorious season. Praise the Lord for the way our Lord invaded this world with His truth and grace. Shakespeare wrote that "all the world's a stage," and Luke2:1-4 details how God set this stage for His grand and glorious Christmas production! In fact, more than seven centuries before we come to the scene of Jesus' birth, the prophet Micah told us that the setting would be Bethlehem. When we consider that God was making preparations for the birth of Christ, we have to think about the message of the prophet who said, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth …" (Micah 5:2).
It was no coincidence that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, for as De Boylesve states, "Augustus, while sending forth his edicts to the utmost limits of the East, little knew that on his part he was obeying the decrees of the King of kings." God's direction is evident even in the movement of the population. Caesar had thought to feed his pride and eventually fill his coffers through this census and taxation process, but God was using this to get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be. W.H. Van Doren wrote that "to locate an infant's birth, 60 millions of persons are enrolled." God prepared a world and set the stage for His Christmas production.
We do not know who composed the well-known Christmas carol, "Away In A Manger," but we do know that Almighty God prepared the Christ child — "the Way" laid in a manger for his bed. God prepared a way of deliverance in the person of Jesus, "For," as the angel said unto the shepherds, "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). That Christ was a Savior tells us that He was literally, a deliverer Who has given us rescue and safety through His great salvation.
Furthermore, in the person of Jesus, God prepared a way of delight. The angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10), and this word "joy" has the idea of cheerfulness and a calm delight. God made a way for us to know Jesus and, through knowing Jesus, subsequently to know joy. Jesus is our deliverer and our delight. He is God's glorious gift for you and for me.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/oW9O1zVeb-8
Saturday, December 17, 2011
4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast
In Front of The First United Methodist Church.
53 McKinley Ave , Endicott
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
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