Brown's Daily Word 4-12-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this new day a gift from the Lord. It was one of the warmest days of April yesterday. The crocuses in front of the parsonage are full bloom. The bees are back, hovering over the flowers with a sweet sound. The daffodils are popping open all around along with the trees, the leaves of which are about to burst forth in brilliant vivant colors. Our Lord makes all things beautiful in His time. As we get near to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, we continue to look at the cross. Our Lord God displayed His power and grace in and through the foolishness of the cross. I was reading sometime ago that a few hundred years ago, on the south coast of China, high on a hill overlooking the harbor of Macao, Portuguese settlers built an enormous cathedral. They believed it would weather time, so they placed a massive bronze cross as its centerpiece. Not too many years later, a typhoon came and God’s finger work swept away man’s handiwork, leaving only fragments of the front wall and the cross. Many years later a shipwreck stranded hundreds of men not far out in the same harbor. Some died; some lived. One man was hanging onto the wreckage of ship, disoriented and frightened, having lost sight of land. Yet, each time the ocean swells lifted him out of the waves, he spotted the cross, which eventually guided him to safety. To countless millions, that is what the cross means. It is a glowing symbol of rescue, leading stranded souls, shipwrecked on sin's jagged reefs, from the shadow of death’s darkness to the shining light of new life dawned. It is also a place of hope to countless Christians who come back to the cross, bringing the scattered debris of their lives. It is on the cross that we see the passion of Christ so vividly portrayed. "Passion" comes from the Latin word for suffering. Passion comes from same word as passive. He endured the cross passively for us. Hebrews 12:2 – "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." As we survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, may Jesus grant us a passion to live for Him in holiness and purity. May He grant us a passion to proclaim His passion to all the world. In Rembrandt’s famous painting, "The Three Crosses." we can look first at cross, then at the crowd around cross. At the edge of the painting, a figure stands, almost hidden in shadows. Art critics say it represents Rembrandt himself. We are there at the crowd. May we behold His Passion, His Glory, and, best of all, His victory beyond the Cross. In Christ, Brown http://youtu.be/0QtQlCzr4q8 Saturday evening worship service. Location: First United Methodist Church 53 McKinley Avenue Endicott Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott Saturday, April 16, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:Laureen Naik Speaker: Rev Earle Cowden