It has been a
time of going and coming over the last few weeks. We traveled to Vermont last
week to attend the service of death and resurrection of Mr. George Cameron.
George died at home, peacefully. He loved the Lord Jesus and he loved the
church. He served the Lord faithfully. He was ready to go home. John Wesley
said, "Our people die well". Indeed, those who love Jesus and serve Him die
well. They say good night here and say good morning up there where there is no
more death, but joy, joy all the time. From Vermont we drove to Boston to spend
a couple days with our grandchildren and their parents. It was a treat.
Last Saturday I
participated in the 50th year wedding anniversary celebration of Gary and Jan.
It was a great blessing. The Lord blessed us last Sunday in His House with His
presence. Sunita and Andy celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary on the first
of September. We praise the Lord for sweet Sunita and awesome Andy. We are
blessed.
We will begin
our Wednesday evening gathering for Bible study tomorrow at 6 PM. We will be
studying the book of Hebrews.
Our Church,
along with the Binghamton House of Prayers is hosting an weekend of Prayer
Conference on the October 18-20, 2013. This will be held at the Historic First
United Methodist Church, Endicott, NY. One of the featured speakers and leaders
for the event is Rev. Nigel Mumford of England. We are
excited.
As we enter the month of September
we are confronted with the possibility of another war in the Middle East. We
are called to seek peace and pursue peace. Peace is our
deeply held conviction that wars will stop not when one army defeats another but
rather when all armies "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks and study war no more." In other words, peace comes as I rely
less and less on the things of this world and rely more and more on the promises
of God. That is why Isaiah
26:3 (NKJV) can declare, "You will
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
you."
Peace is not limited or
reserved for those times in life when everything is in perfect order. Peace is
not the absence of tension or hardship, but the presence of Jesus, the Prince
of Peace, within us in the midst of whatever storms may be raging around us.
Peace is not a guarantor that every day will be easy and smooth. Rather, peace
is the fruit of the spirit that blossoms in our hearts and reminds us that even
though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we can fear no evil
because the Lord is with us.
Living with a
spirit of peace in the midst of the storms of life is what Herman Melville was
describing in the character of the harpooner in his novel Moby Dick.
Melville portrayed all of the
characters on the whaling vessel as being busy at work as they seek out the
great whale that has become the obsession of Captain Ahab. Everybody on board is
furiously at work except one, the harpooner, who sits still and undisturbed.
The harpooner is not caught up in the frenzy of a ship sailing through a storm
to catch up to and then kill a giant whale. Instead, says Melville, "The
harpooner sits in tranquility and rises with a sense of calm to do his work."
Though the storm and the fury are all around him, the harpooner is able to
maintain a sense of tranquility and calm that allows him to do his
job.
This is what peace looks like:
tranquility and calm in the midst of the storms of life that allow us to get on
with our lives and do what needs to be done. That kind of peace does not come
from anything this world can provide; it comes only from the Living Lord and,
more precisely, from our relationship with Him as the Christ in every
Crisis.
In Christ our
Lord,
Brown
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