Brown's Daily Word 2-22-13

Praise the Lord for this last Friday of February. As we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem during this Lenten Season, we reflect on His suffering that also shed grace and light on our suffering, too. I was visiting with two women yesterday. Each one's husband died prematurely. One died in a car accident. The other died at home. They shared how the Lord has granted them hope and assurance. My mom, who is 85 years old, is very frail and does not and can not talk and is very immobile, needing 24/7 care. I visited a man this week, who has a brain tumor and is under hospice care. His wife shared in and with tears how the Lord is with them as wife and husband during these dark days.

It is written in Romans 5:1-5, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

“Suffering” has very much become a dirty word in the vocabulary of faith. It casts a negative shadow on the experience of believing, but suffering is a key part of the Bible, especially in the New Testament, where the words “suffer” or “suffering” occur 86 times. God doesn’t cause our suffering, but I believe God can work through it to bring about resurrection. As Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Through our suffering, God can bring about new life greater than we ever imagined.

J.V. Cheney once said, “The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.” It is our tendency to dread suffering, to run from it, to avoid it at all costs, but life is simply full of too many troubles to avoid it for very long. In the play “The Shadowlands,” about the life of C.S. Lewis, Lewis says, “We are like blocks of stone out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of the chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect. The suffering in the world is not the failure of God’s love; it is that love in action.”

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/JoC1ec-lYps

Those of you who live in the region, please join us for our Weekly TV outreach, on

Time Warner Cable Channel 4, 7:00 PM.
A Special Saturday Evening of worship, Testimony, preaching, and fellowship banquet will be held:
Location: First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott.
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM
Speaker: Dave Hettinger.
Dinner Menu: Chicken with home made rolls and desserts.
Chef: Joe Walker
For Information, Call 607-748-6329 or 607-748-1358

Brown's daily word 2-20-13

Praise the Lord for this good day the Lord has given us as His gift to us that we might get up and walk in the newness of His life, loving and serving Him. We will gather this evening at 6 PM with a special meal, followed by cleaning and scrubbing the floors and doing some manual work in the new addition of the church.

In his book, "Questions God Asks Us", Trevor Hudson relates one of his favorite stories, one told by Carlos Valles, a Spanish priest who works in India. The story first appeared in Father Valles’ book, "Let Go Of Fear: Tackling Our Worst Emotion". Once, while cycling through the warm Indian countryside, Carlos Valles describes how he became aware of a strange stillness in the air. Nature seemed to have stopped, as if waiting for something to happen. Sensing danger, he stopped pedaling, got off his bicycle, and looked around. Suddenly he understood the reason for the eerie silence. In the low grass a cobra stood up with its hood spread and its tongue flicking. Carlos followed the snake’s gaze. It was fixed on the branch of a bush just ahead. On the branch sat a little bird, completely paralyzed. Carlos comments: "I had heard that snakes do that to birds. Now I was seeing it. The bird had wings, but could not fly. It had a voice, but could not sing. It was frozen, stiff, mesmerized. The snake knew its own power and had cast its spell. The prey could not escape, though it had the whole sky for its range.
Carlos decided to do something. He stirred the breeze with his presence. He tried to break the snake’s hypnotic hold on the bird by waving his arms. He shouted human sounds. Eventually his efforts were successful. Reluctantly, the cobra lowered itself to the ground and slid off into the grass. The countryside came alive again with its surrounding sounds. And the bird, freed from its paralysis, found its wings and flew. It discovered its voice and began to sing once more."

Hudson states that this story is a powerful parable. “Many people today,” he writes, “find themselves caught in the hypnotic gaze of the snake. Some are immobilized by fear or depression or despair or by some other dark feeling. Some are trapped in destructive and addictive patterns of behavior."

I love the miracle that recorded in John 5. Jesus, our Lord, was coming to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem on a Sabbath day. This pool had a long interfaith reputation of being a place where people went to find healing in its waters. However, the pool had a dismal record of providing healing for many people. It is still in Jerusalem today, but it stands there as a symbol of all the so-called self-help promises that are made today in the form of books, dvd’s, do-it-yourself programs, self-appointed gurus, New Age philosophies, political theories, and the like. There are many stores with pools of these types of resources. Unfortunately, they usually fail to deliver the expected results of healing and help.

As we look at the passage in John 5, Jesus noticed a paralyzed man who had been lying beside the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. Note that Jesus never told him to get in the pool. This is an important observation because Jesus was about to demonstrate His. We also observe that, instead of healing the paralyzed man immediately, as he had done with so many others, Jesus asked him: “Do you want to get well?”

Our Lord asks us the same question whenever we find ourselves paralyzed in one way or another. Believe it or not, there are people with a variety of ailments or afflictions of body, mind, spirit, or relationships who prefer the familiarity of the old sickness rather than the unknown and sometimes scary prospect of a new and healthy beginning to their lives. A sad fact is that some people grow so accustomed to being sick, depending on the good will of others, and receiving sympathy and attention that they might become anxious about regaining their health and independence. A kind of “comfort zone” is created around the sickness or affliction that helps to prop up an individual and to spare that person from having to be entirely self-sustaining. It could be argued that today there can be certain “benefits” that come with being sick. There are people who have begun to rely on and be comfortable with benefits in the form of welfare programs, subsidized medical and civic programs, grants, charitable gifts, the sympathy and compassion of friends, the emotional support of family and professional caregivers, to name just a few.

The new freedom that Jesus Christ offers to those who are paralyzed in some way or another is not a freedom that the world can give, but it is a freedom that can bring release from whatever holds us captive. It bursts with new possibilities and potential for living. For those of us who may be paralyzed or hypnotized by some negative force within or without our lives …who feel stiffened and frozen in the gaze of whatever it is that has got us in its grip …there is amazing Good News in John chapter 5. Jesus comes walking along to meet us at our Bethesda pool, at the place where we live out our paralysis. Jesus makes a new freedom available to us – to live, to love, and to serve him.

Today, in the power of His risen presence He continues to come to those of us who are paralyzed in our different ways. His question, “Do you want to get well?” brings with it the hope that we can live beyond paralysis, that we will get up, and pick up our mat and walk. He offers the hope that we can be set free from whatever holds us captive, that we can fly again, that we will find our voice and sing once more. May we hear Jesus’ command : Get up! Pick up your mat, and walk!

In Jesus our Lord.

Brown

http://youtu.be/kNAV98bAqng

Brown's Daily Word 2-19-13

Praise the Lord for this Lenten Season, we can pause and ponder about life and the Lord, the giver of life. We ponder anew about mysteries of divine purposes and the grace of the Lord that permeates all of life. In one of our Wednesday evening gatherings a woman who is new to the group said she has been praising the Lord for His grace that she has experienced. A young mom brought her 5 year old daughter to church last Sunday. I asked young girl what her name was and she answered with a winsome smile, "Grace". John Wesley preached on grace. John Newton sang about grace. The Bible embodies grace upon grace in all its pages. Let's face the fact that there are times when we have trouble with “grace,” especially when it is extended to those whom we consider undeserving. How easy it is to be envious when someone else gets recognition, or some provision, or a raise, or the limelight, or receives something we thought only we should get or had a right to. Are we sometimes envious when God is generous to others?

The Bible is full of examples of seemingly unfair situations. Let me cite a few examples. For instance, God chose Jacob - the manipulator, liar, and cheat - over his dutiful brother Esau. God chose a runty shepherd boy instead of his strong and handsome brothers. Job, a pious and good living man, suffered the loss of everything he owned – his property, his stock and his children. Jesus chose to have dinner with a thief and cheat named Zaccheus instead of the religious people like the Pharisees and temple officials. After watching a widow drop two puny coins into the temple collection buckets, Jesus said that the widow's pennies were worth more than a rich person's millions.
What about Jesus‟ story of the prodigal son? A feast was prepared for a disgraceful, runaway son when he returned home after wasting all his inheritance? Nothing was given to the older son who had worked hard and faithfully while his brother had gallivanted around having a good time. We don't always like grace because it seems unfair and we seem to be overly preoccupied with the idea of fairness. We have an innate sense of justice, fairness, and egalitarianism; and so when things don't seem fair to us, we are quick to get a strong sense of righteous indignation and want to do something about the offensive unfairness. If the truth be told, we don't really want fairness and justice where God is concerned. What we so easily forget is that if God treated us how we deserve to be treated, for many of us there would be a very scary outcome. As it stands, however, we receive God's grace through Jesus Christ, and all of our sins are not counted against us because Jesus already paid the price on our behalf.

It is true that grace isn't fair, but, if we are truly honest with ourselves, we don't really want what is “fair,”. After all, we're getting a much better deal than just “fair.” It is easy for us to forget this and be un-gracious to those around us and fail to be agents of God's grace. All too quickly we fail to understand, receive, and live out God's unconditional grace and forgiveness. We fail to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people.

Rob Bell does an effective job of communicating what is expected of the followers of Jesus Christ. “When we empower others,” Bell says, “when we extend grace to others, in their oppression – whatever that may look like – we find out about the grace that God has extended to us.” Our God is generous, full of grace, and forgiving. He gives gifts, not according to what we deserve. God gives generously because of who He is and not because of who we are. We are sinners, rebels against God. Much of the behavior of humankind was and still is displeasing to God, but God did not give up on us. God gave us His only begotten Son rather than give up on humanity. Jesus died for the whole world. The death of Jesus was unfair but that was God's grace at work.

Philip Yancey calls this the new math of grace. When we go shopping, all our purchases are added up and we have to pay. If God did that, we couldn't afford all that we owe. God doesn't calculate what we deserve but is generous and forgiving. In the words of Rob Bell, “So may we come to see that grace isn't fair. Redemption isn't fair. Liberation isn't fair. May we extend this unfairness to others …May we find somebody who needs what we have, only to discover that they have what we needed all along.”

In His Grace,

Brown
http://youtu.be/a7ob0Jiyq8s

Brown's Daily Word 2-18-13

After the winds of night-time, it is now a sunny, beautiful, and calm morning in Upstate New York. Had there been snow on the ground we could have called it a blizzard because of the intense wind. Praise the Lord for the new day, and the Lord's new blessings and faithfulness day to day.

The Lord blessed us with a full weekend of sharing, celebration, worship, and witness. One of our ministry teams prepared and served a meal Saturday noon at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. Another team prepared and served a special meal which was served at 5:30 PM at the Union Center UMC. We gathered for worship both at Union Center and at Wesley on Sunday morning. There was also a gathering for dinner and a hymn sing at Wesley UMC at 5:30 PM yesterday. It was all good and was a great blessing.

Yesterday's reading was taken from Psalm 91. The opening verse of this psalm have been quoted countless times and repeated in the hearts of God’s people even more frequently: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” There are two striking images for God here. One is a large bird sheltering its young with his wings: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” The majestic eagle comes to mind as he protects his young high on a craggy mountain ledge. In a way, he is the “most high” of all living creatures. We are protected by God, even as an eaglet in the nest is protected. No predator comes near because the father eagle is standing next to his young so that his shadow falls over them. This is a picture of extreme tenderness of God. The young are lovingly cared for and protected.

The other image is that of a military fortress: “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” Again, “His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” God is both tenderness and strength. Tenderness without strength would fail to give the needed protection, but strength without tenderness would not be the kind of protection you would want. God’s strength provides our protection and, because it originates in the heart of God, we are reminded that He cares deeply for us.
We are invited, to dwell in the shelter of the Most High and rest in the shadow of the Almighty. If we walk with Him and trust in Him then He will cover us with His wings and protect us. All of life finds meaning and purpose in a relationship with God. The psalmist wrote: “‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.’”

In the context of a love relationship with God even the greatest disappointments in life have meaning and purpose — because all of life finds its meaning and purpose in Him. Our relationship with God is the filter through which we look at all of life. That relationship helps us to interpret all the things which happen to us. He stands in the midst of the situation we face, holding out His arms to us.
I love the story of Jesus’ disciples when they left Jesus on the shore and headed out into the Sea of Galilee. A terrible storm arose and they were straining at the oars just trying to survive. The wind was against them. It looked as though the sea was going to swallow them. Then, suddenly, something worse than the storm frightened them. Their worst fears were realized as they saw what they thought was a ghost floating across the waves. They did not realize it was Jesus walking on the water toward them. Screams of terror arose from the boat. Just as they thought they were going to perish, they heard a familiar voice say, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid’” (Mark 6:50).

I believe that Christians throughout the ages have lived through the same experience. Just as their worst fears were realized, just as they thought the storms of life were going to overcome them and the waves would swallow them, just as they thought they were going to perish, they heard a familiar voice call out to them saying, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. It is not disaster, it is me!” See Him coming to you now. Hear Him speak through the storm. Hear him say, in the words of the psalmist: “Because you love me I will rescue you. Because you have acknowledged my name I will protect you. I will be with you in trouble. I will deliver you.”
In Christ,

Brown
http://youtu.be/8aWWE_nug5Q