The
Lord has blessed us with another dazzling day . It is beautiful and
bright. The Eastern Sky is cloudless. We have had a cold spell but,
thanks to Jesus, it is making a brisk exit, making room for very warm
days. It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. We are getting ready for
worship this coming Sunday, the Lord's Day. We will meet for worship at
11:00 AM. We are planning and preparing for a mega-party and reception for
"Grads and Dads" this coming Sunday after the morning worship.
Our Church has invited the graduates from the local high school, the Class of
2016. The church is preparing all kinds of exotic foods to share and
celebrate with Graduates and all the dads. Our young friend Shawn is in
charge of cooking the BBQ chicken over a wood fire. It will be aromatic,
and exquisitely and exclusively delicious. Praise the Lord that we get to
celebrate His ineffable love and marvelous extravagant grace and above all
"His Goodness and Tender Mercy".
Alice and I walked along Main Street and some of the back streets yesterday, meeting and greeting
people. We ran in to a small group of people gathered on the lawn of a
lovely home on Main Street, located next to the iconic Peck Library. We
know the lady who owns this lovely and winsome house. She invited us in
for a grand tour of the house. It was built in 1840. One
fascinating story about the house is that it used be the Funeral Home in Town.
The Lady brought the house to make it her dwelling place
eventually. The Lord takes the "Funeral Homes" and makes them
into homes where life reverberates again, where people gather,
feast, laugh, and celebrate. As it is written in the Psalms,
"you have turned my mourning into dancing".
My wife loves the music and songs of singer Steven Curtis Chapman. He once said, “In The Gospel, we discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed.” Ian Pitt-Watson tells the story of his little girl. He writes, “There is a natural, logical kind of loving that loves lovely things and lovely people. That’s logical. But there is another kind of loving that doesn’t look for value in what it loves, but that creates value in what it loves".
I
am excited for the hazy and lazy days of summer. I am selecting some
books for my summer readings. I love to read the old classics. I
have two sets of classics published and bound in the decades past. One of
the books I have selected is "Les Miserables". One of
the greatest movies ever made is Les Miserables, because it is based on
one of the greatest books of all time by Victor Hugo. In the movie, Jean
Valjean constantly gives grace to people around him, because he has first
received grace from an old priest who saved his life, in spite of the fact that
he had stolen from him. One of the people to whom Valjean extends grace
is Fantine, a single mother who loses her job and is forced into prostitution
in order to support her daughter Cosette, and be able to survive herself.
One evening, after she is abused and beaten by a group of men, Jean
Valjean takes her to a safe place and cares for her. Fantine says to him,
“Why are you being so kind?” At first she thinks he wants what all the
other men wanted. When it dawns on her that there are no strings
attached, she says, “You don’t understand. I’m a whore, and Cosette has
no father.” Jean Valjean responds with these amazing words of grace, “She has
the Lord. He is her father, and you are his creation. In his eyes
you have never been anything but an innocent and beautiful woman.” There
is God’s unconditional, inescapable love. We see ourselves as we are, but
he sees us for what we can become. The apostle Paul asked the amazing
question, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and
patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
That is the way God’s unconditional love works. His kindness leads us to come home. The Bible says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
In Christ
That is the way God’s unconditional love works. His kindness leads us to come home. The Bible says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
In Christ
Brown
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