Brown's Daily Word 4-1-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this first day April. It is going to be a beautiful and blessed weekend. Those of you who live in the area please join us this evening at 7 PM for our weekly TV outreach on Time Warner Cable channel 4. We will gather for our Saturday Evening Fellowship and worship tomorrow at 6 PM at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. We will meet for worship at 8:30 and 11:00 AM, and at 9:50 for Sunday School at the Union Center UMC. We also meet for worship at 9:30 AM at the Wesley UMC. As we read and reflect on Isaiah 53, we determine that it must be an eye witness report of the Crucifixion of our Lord, though the prophecy was given by the Lord to Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Christ. In these verses, we visualize the rejection of the suffering servant. He was rejected, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. One of the most powerful prayers in the midst of suffering was uncovered from the horrors of Ravensbruck concentration camp. Ravensbruck was a concentration camp for women built in 1939, where over 90,000 women and children perished, murdered by the Nazis. Corrie Ten Boom, who wrote "The Hiding Place", was among those imprisoned there. The prayer, found in the clothing of a dead child, says: "O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us: Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering, our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. " Jesus suffered for us that we might not suffer the anguish of eternal damnation. He willingly suffered and died on a brutal cross for my sin that I might not have to experience hell. Glory, what a Savior! He has carried our grief. He accepted our pain and heartaches. He was SILENT before his accusers. As He was accused, ridiculed, and mocked, He was silent before His enemies. Nothing would change their minds. He was THE Lamb of God who came to take away our sin." By His stripes we are healed." Can sickness, even sickness unto death, be such a blessing for a Christian? On the surface it would seem not. How can a Christian do God’s will if he is lying in bed, flat on his back? How can pain, discomfort, medical treatment and surgery as well as the compounding effects of medication be in any way a blessed state? Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, “You prayed for my husband. He had cancer.” Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, “He died.” Campolo felt terrible. But she continued, “Don't feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn't take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence. But the lady told Campolo, “After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We've sung. We've laughed. We've read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they've been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing.” And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, “He wasn't cured, but he was healed.” (Tony Campolo, “Year of Jubilee”, Preaching Today) Jesus died so we might be healed of our sins. We may not be cured, for we still sin, but we are now healed from the presence, power, and eventually, the punishment of sin. God does all things well. You have probably never heard of the island of Molokai. Well, it’s located in the state of Hawaii. And it has quite a history. You have to go way back to the late 1800’s to understand its significance. You see, back then, there was no cure for the highly contagious and deadly disease called leprosy. A disease that would attack the extremities of the body, the ears, the toes, the nose, the fingers. A horrible dreadful disease which today is curable, But it wasn't back then. - So, in order to keep the disease at bay. In order to keep it from spreading and creating an epidemic, the government would send lepers to a colony on the island of Molokai where they would be secluded and isolated from those who were not infected with the disease. - Well, in 1873, there was a young, brave Catholic priest named Father Damien who volunteered to spend his life serving the people secluded on the island of Molokai. When he arrived, he was startled to see people who were not only suffering physically, but socially, and emotionally, and spiritually. In the leper colony he saw extreme drunkenness, immorality, abuse, and an overall sense of hopelessness. What he saw were people who desperately needed to know the answer to a question we all ask... where is God? They needed God’s presence in their life. - And so, in 1873, Father Damien lived among the 700 lepers. Knowing the dangers, realizing the inevitable results of so much personal contact with a highly contagious disease. He built hospitals, clinics, and churches and built some 600 coffins. And the whole while he was giving them the answer to that question... where is God? - And whenever a church service was held. He would stand up in front of the lepers, and he would warmly and lovingly address them as "my dear brethren." But then one morning in 1885, at the age of 45, in a calm clear voice, instead of "my dear brethren," he began with, "My fellow lepers, I am one of you now." - You see it was out of love that a humble priest became one of the them. Out of love he gave those lepers a gift that would change their life for all of eternity. He shared with them the answer to the ever-present question... "Where is God?" And the only way he could give them the answer is by becoming one of them. http://visitmolokai.com/kala.html Jesus came to die for sinners like you and me. He became sin for us that we might have the opportunity to live in Him. He took our place that we might have a place with Him. In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNxo3ILkCn8 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger

Brown's Daily Word 3-31-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this last day of March. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful mid-week gathering last evening. The food was delicious, and the study and sharing were sweet. As we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem we look at His humility and grace. In Philippians 2 we read, "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every Name". There was no mistake in Jesus’ humility, sacrifice, and sufferings. In C.S.Lewis' Narnia, before Aslan suffers he tells Susan and Lucy that his sufferings must be done, and so it was with Jesus. It was the LORD’s will to crush Him and put him to grief ( Isaiah 53). When Aslan rises he tells Susan and Lucy about a deeper magic that was never told to nor known by the White Witch – that when someone who had done no treachery willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for blood the stone table would crack and even death would work backwards. Jesus' sacrifice meant that life would be lived under God’s grace and not under the curse of the Law. When we by faith appropriate the death and sacrificial offering of Christ at the cross we are adopted by Him and we share His eternal life as an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished. We are empowered by Him to storm Satan’s house with Him and breathe God’s words on those enslaved to Satan because of their sin and call people back from the coldness and deadness of condemnation to the warmth and vitality of communion with God. (When Aslan was raised from the dead and breathed life on those who had been turned to stone by the White Witch and they became Aslan's army against her.) It is written in Hebrews that Jesus endured His cross because of the joy set before Him. Jesus sees us standing sinless and righteous before God (just as sinless and righteous as He is). In the same way, in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", Aslan went through the anguish of death in order to see Edmund the Traitor as Edmund the Just and Narnia released from the power of the White Witch for good. Because Jesus bore our iniquities and offered Himself for our sins God will reward Him with riches and Jesus will divide the spoil with His people just as victors divide up plunder when they conquer a kingdom. In Lewis' classic tale the White Witch was defeated and how all in Narnia celebrated the reign of Aslan. He caused Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to sit upon thrones and made them rulers of his domain. God says that one day we shall wear a crown and sit with Jesus and reign with Him under new heavens and on a new earth where righteousness dwells. Amazingly, we can be royalty and the only reason this promise is secure is because of Jesus. When He exposed His soul to death, Jesus was numbered with the rebels but He was there to bear your sins and mine. In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOY0mjjmx8Y 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger

Brown's Daily Word 3-30-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this last Wednesday of March. We will gather for our mid-week fellowship and study, beginning at 6 PM. The choir will meet at 7:30 PM. We are excited about our Wednesday Evening gatherings. It is great thrill to be with God's people to share a meal, to study the Word of the Lord, and to provoke one another to love the Lord and serve Him with our lives. During this Lenten season I take some to reflect on the Suffering Servant as it prophesied and portrayed in Isaiah 53. God tells us to “Behold” to give our complete attention to Jesus Christ, His Servant, because Jesus knows and does what is necessary to bring us back from condemnation into communion with God. Because of Jesus’ willingness to humble Himself to do God’s will, God exalted Jesus to the highest place, gave Him victory and made Him Lord over all. When earthly kings seek victory, when they seek to spread and secure their domain, they forcibly humble others and make others their servants. They never choose to be humble servants to achieve victory. C. S. Lewis portrayed this kind of dominance in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" as the White Witch, the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia, humbled Edmund to serve her selfish ends to bring his sisters and brother so she could turn them to stone and secure her throne in Narnia. God says kings will shut their mouths because in Jesus they now understand what they never saw or heard. That is, humility is the way to victory. Humility is what the arm of the Almighty Lord looks like. Who would have believed that a little baby born in a stable with a feeding trough for a crib could deliver Israel from an oppressor stronger than Rome? Even John the Baptist needed God to reveal to him that Jesus was in fact the Savior of the world because Jesus did not look like a Savior. Jesus grew up like a shoot to be cut off. "He grew up like a root out of dry ground" and He came up for the purpose of dying. Jesus was poor. He did not have earthly possessions, power or glory. He was dismissed and rejected by people – considered worthless and unworthy of our attention. Jesus was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. He endured such disfigurement and humiliation that He did not look like Himself; He did not even look human! For this reason mankind refused to believe that victory comes through humility and did not give Jesus a second thought but we hid our faces from Him. But God tells us to turn our faces to Him and pay the closest attention to Him. When you do you this you will understand that victory comes because Jesus was willing to come and sacrifice Himself and suffer for our sins. In Narnia, Aslan said that the White Witch has renounced her claim on Edmund’s life and the whole camp cheered. However, Lucy noticed that Aslan didn’t cheer but seemed deeply sorrowful. Aslan was planning on taking Edmund’s sins and bearing them for him. In a similar way, when we first see the pain and sorrows of Jesus we may think God was punishing Him for some sin He committed. That’s how dull our sins make our perception. In reality it is certain that Christ, who had no sin, was lifting up our grief and shouldering our sorrows and carrying them away from us as if they were His own to bear them on Calvary in our place. The White Witch scorned sacrificial love and said she would take all of Narnia including Edmund’s life; then she pierced Aslan to death. What she didn't know and what we need to know is that it was Christ who was pierced through violently until dead for our rebellions. Jesus was struck down violently so we would no longer be God’s enemy but would become God’s family. Jesus was scourged so healing might be available to us. God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so that in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God. In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP4JSVMBdZg 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger

Brown's Daily Word 3-29-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this new day. It is going to be another brilliant and beautiful day. Thank you Jesus. Let us start by looking at the transaction that took place between our Lord and the woman of Samaria as it is recorded in John 4. Jesus must love women; He made so many of them. This woman from Samaria, who had been offered contempt, shame, and judgment was being offered the living water of God’s grace. She was being given the fullness of Christ’s entire purpose and mission in this world, but she didn’t quite understand yet, how this could be. Her response showed no depth of understanding as she said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” It surely was an exhilarating moment for her. But in the next instant, she must have felt that it would all unravel, as her past once again intruded on any hope she might have for the future. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” This gently spoken command must have felt like a punch in the stomach as this man with so much to offer her asked her to do something she was incapable of doing. Then Jesus did something troubling to her as he spoke to that place within that she wished so badly to keep hidden. She knew that the line, “I have no husband” didn’t tell the whole story. Jesus words revealed that he that he knew it too. “You are right in saying ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” As the woman stood there, in one stroke Jesus dismantled anything she could have hidden or left out, or any half-truths she could have gotten away with telling; he exposed her sin. He named the demon that was haunting her for so long. What would he have said to us in a similar confrontation? What secret sins would be identified by Jesus? It is a wonder that this woman did not run away. Jesus’ disciples would come back and they would all move on, and no one would ever know what had happened. Yet, despite her discomfort, she stayed. In fact, she confessed her sin, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” With this statement, we see that this sinful Samaritan woman, even in her ignorance about Jesus, knew something very important. She perceived that He is full of mercy and that He is full of grace. She knew that from the second he saw her he knew all about her sinful past and her shameful present, but he didn’t run from her as so many Jews would have done. Instead, He talked to her, He asked for a drink, and He offered her living water. As she confessed who she is, a sinner, one who has not lived up God’s commands, Jesus confessed to her who He is, the Messiah. “The woman said to him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called the Christ). When he comes, he will teach us all things.’ Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he’” This is the essential Christ and his mission. He did not come to run away from sinners. He did not come to shun, scoff, and whisper. He came to do that which no one else can do, or is willing to do. He came to save the world, though it was utterly and helplessly lost in sin and degradation. He came to save sinners. He came to be with those who have no business hoping to be part of God’s kingdom and offer them the Living Water of eternal life. Jesus came to this woman in the hour of her greatest need, and He comes to us in ours. We read in Romans"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is what He tells us from the cross, and from the empty tomb. He is not running away from us, or shunning us, and He doesn't desire to break us. Just the opposite, He came to be broken, to be shunned, and to be crucified in order to give us life. “God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” AMEN In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4l2yY2r95g 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger

Brown's Daily Word 3-28-11

Praise the Lord; it is Monday. It is going to be a brilliant and beautiful day. Thank you Jesus. He blessed us with a full and beautiful weekend. I conducted a service death and resurrection for Shirley Barbin on Saturday. She was the mother of Don Barbin, who formerly came to UCUMC before moving to North Carolina some years ago. Her son sang with his guitar, "Precious Lord take my hand; lead me home". The Lord blessed the service by His presence. The Lord opens the door for us to proclaim the sure and the certain of Resurrection for those who die in the Lord. It is written indeed that those die in the Lord are blessed. Our Saturday March Madness banquet was a huge treat. Lou Pasquel, Rodney Haines, and the team prepared a sumptuous feast. They served to a full house. The presentation of Simon Peter by Dr. James Geer PhD following the banquet was a great blessing. There was a great gathering for the presentation. The Lord blessed us during our morning worship services. I preached at Union Center and my wife Alice preached at Wesley. Our granddaughter Micah called on her way home from the church in Cambridge MA. She was riding with her parents and told me all about her Sunday Worship experience along with her Sunday School experience, and the bagels, cream cheese, and fruit galore following the morning worship. The Gospel Reading for yesterday was taken from John 4, the encounter of our Lord with the woman of Samaria. The King James translation reads, "And He must needs to go through Samaria". I spoke on the "Must-ness of the Gospel, regarding loving the unlovable as our Lord loved us so that while we were yet sinners He died for us. Dr Tony Campollo, shares the story of Ted and Miss Thompson in his book, "Who Switched the Price Tags?" Ted Stallard was a young man who was turned off by school. On a given day his appearance was very sloppy. He was expressionless, unattractive, and slow. Often he would simply sit in class and stare off into space, unresponsive, which was an irritation to his teacher. Miss Thompson enjoyed bearing down her red pen -- as she placed big red X’s beside his many wrong answers. One day Miss Thompson opened Ted's records and read them more carefully. They read: 1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation. 2nd grade: Ted could do better. Mother seriously ill. Receives little help from home. 3rd grade: Ted is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year. 4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever. Christmas arrived. The children piled elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted's package fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker, but she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too. At day's end, after the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher's desk and said, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you. I'm glad you like my presents." He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude. The next day, the children were greeted by a reformed teacher -- one committed to loving each of them, especially the slow ones. Especially Ted. Surprisingly -- or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few. Graduation came and went. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Ted for a long time. Then, one day, she received this note: Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Ted Four years later, another note arrived: Dear Miss Thompson: They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Ted And four years later: Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Ted Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted's mother would have sat. The compassion she had shown that young man entitled her to that privilege. Every day we come in contact with people like Ted. However, for some, the hurt doesn’t always show on the outside. Some people wear a mask to cover the invisible pain that exists just beneath the surface of their lives. It may be your next door neighbor, a member of your family, a spouse, a friend, the person sitting next to you right now. It is the private pain that they live with every day that eats away at their soul. The pain is often caused by sin and failure. If we would only realize just how much healing we could bring about in the lives of these broken-hearted, hurting people, those that the world, and sadly some Christians, call the unlovable. If we would only learn to respond to their hurt with love and not condemnation, as Jesus did. In order to bring about healing in their lives, first and foremost we must bring them to Jesus Christ. He alone is the healer of invisible pain . In order to do that though we must first learn to become lovers of the unlovable. The event of John 4, bears witness that Jesus was a lover of the unlovable and He calls us to do the same. Since He is our example in all things we need to pay close attention to His leading. There are many who seemed to have it all together. If you would meet them on the street you probably could not know guess the depth of their pain. Behind their masks there may be deep emptiness in their hearts and a sense of failure. Many feel unlovable, unforgivable, and perhaps even forsaken by God. The Samaritan has a "checkered" past. She had 5 failed marriages and now she was living with a man in sin. She was society's outcast, who came to the well at the sixth hour to draw water (in theheat of the day). Perhaps her family and friends had disowned her. She was also a Samaritan of “Mixed Race”, part Jew/part Babylonian. Her life was about to change that day when she meet Jesus Christ. She experienced healing in her life that day, when she met the One who loves the unlovable. In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger