Brown's Daily Word 9-4-13

  Praise the Lord for the beautiful and brilliant days of September here in New York.  The season of sweet summer is making way unhurried to the dawn of the amazing Autumn season.  We see the luscious green trees are being transformed in to colorful foliage.  The apple trees are over-abundant in fruit.  Even the crab apples are abundant.  New York is one of the top growers of apples.  When Alice and I were in the days of our reckless youth we used raise two gardens, growing all kinds vegetables and some strawberries.  I used to raise bees, harvesting gallons of natural honey.  Now  we have several fruit trees.  The peaches and the pears are luxuriant . We put a small kitchen garden this year.  This is our first kitchen garden.  The Lord blessed us with lots of cucumbers, lots of peppers (both sweet and hot), loads of tomatoes, huge eggplants, beans, pumpkins, squash, and zucchinis.  The garden is sign of our Lord's faithfulness and abundance.     Yesterday I harvested a half-bushel of vine ripe tomatoes as well as some mega sized egg plants.

    Praise the Lord for the seasons in Nature and the seasons of our lives.  Many of my colleagues and friends are turning 65 this year.  Many are contemplating of retirement.  Some are praying for refirement.  I am reflecting on the essence and the mystery of time.  Time is important to us.  When we  were in school, we spent a lot of time trying to learn how to tell time.  The writer of Ecclesiastes asked this question a long time ago, reminding us that one of the most important things we can do is to learn what time it is.
    "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). 
    "Be very careful, then, how you live—not foolishly, but wisely, knowing how to make the most out of every opportunity, for these days are evil.  Because of this do not be foolish, but know the will of God" (Ephesians 5:15-17).
    Ecclesiastes is a very challenging and provoking book to read because it keeps bringing up problems, but it doesn't really help provide any solutions.  It gives all kinds of helpful, if somewhat sobering, proverbs such as, "What good does it do to become rich, because you will die and your children will spend it all?"  And, "vanity…it is all vanity."  This book, however, sets us up for the coming of Jesus. The preacher of Ecclesiastes is showing us we can't do it by ourselves.  We have to be reborn; we have to learn to rethink and live in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  For a lot of these questions, Jesus is the direct answer.
    Paul reminded the Ephesians that in order to know what time it is—so you could redeem the time—you had to do that in the context of knowing God's will.  There is an image of space and time and the current of God's will running through space and time.  It is one of God working in situation after situation, circumstance after circumstance, person after person to accomplish His good and ultimate will that will be completed with the coming of Christ.  Christ will establish His kingdom and will be part of that.  Until then, there is a current of God's will that is working. Sometimes He's working in ways we can see and celebrate.  Sometimes it flows underneath and is hard to find.  Nevertheless, He's still working.
    The apostle Paul said, "In order to know what time it is, you have to know what the will of God is."  You have to know what God is doing in and around you—in situations around you—so you can align your life and put your life in the center of this current of God's will.  As God is working in those situations, He will make you part of His work.  As part of His work, there will be a time for you to speak and a time to be quiet.  There will be a time to embrace and a time to refrain based on what God is doing in the moment.
  In Christ, our Eternal Contemporary.
  Brown
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     Join us for Wednesday Evening Gathering today:
     6PM  Home made supper.
    6.30PM Bible Study.  Book of Hebrews.

Brown's Daily Word 9-3-13

      Praise the Lord for the month of September.  Here in America the Beautiful , Labor Day brings summer to close and ushers in new season.  Here in New York, the Empire State, the children will be starting the school this week.  My wife is going back to School today.  Students in her School will be coming back to school tomorrow.

    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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