Praise the
Lord for this new day, a gift from the Lord indeed. It is a great day to be
alive and to live standing on the promises of Jesus. One of the readings for
last Sunday was taken from Jeremiah 8:18 ff. Jeremiah, who was chosen before he
was born to be the servant of the Living Lord, was known as the weeping
prophet. We read Jeremiah's self disclosure in the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah
8:18 ff: "My grief is beyond healing, my heart is sick within me. Is there is
no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" To the question raised by
Jeremiah and echoed by the countless others in pain and sorrow the answer is
indeed, "There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. There is a Balm
in Gilead to make the wounded whole".
Sunita
called and shared with me that her pastor, who is from Ireland, also preached
from Jeremiah 8. They had a prayer time remembering the innocent people, many
of them Christians killed my the Moslem terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya,
and remembering the innocent and defenseless Christians including women and
children last Sunday in a church in Pakistan, killed by the hateful Moslem
terrorists. The Confused media has covered the terrorist attack in Nairobi,
but has barely reported on the massacre of Christians in Pakistan, because to
report of the massacre of Christians by the Moslem terrorists is not
"Politically Correct". I was moved, deeply moved, by some of the survivors of
the massacre in the church in Pakistan... blood soaked and stained, lamenting
and grieving, yet announcing the forgiveness to the terrorists. I saw Jesus,
the Crucified and the Risen One, the one who is the Wounded healer, present in
these dark and depressing, deadly places and moments.
In his
book, "When God Interrupts", Craig Barnes (who will be installed next
month as the President of Princeton Theological Seminary), tells the story of
how he was trying to prepare a sermon, settle staff conflict, and basically save
the world in one week. He had one more thing to do before going home: he had to
lead a Communion Service at a nursing home. He said, "It was the last thing I
wanted to be doing." He was in the "blue funk" that sometimes settles over the
pastorate. That is when he met Mrs. Lucille Lins. I read from his
book:
"Mrs. Lins
was almost blind and very hard of hearing. She had gradually become shut off
from the world. Her health was slipping away, and now she is confined to a small
room, having given up her house years ago. She has outlived her husband and
close friends. Very few people in our church still remember her. She has lost
almost everything but life itself" (p. 147).
Dr. Barnes
wrote that it was a humble scene. He muttered the words, "This is my Body
broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you." He fumbled his way
through and guided her shaking hand to the bread and the cup. Then she spilled
the juice on his slacks. He thought to himself, "Just one more thing that isn't
going right!" He patted her on the back, said a prayer and was leaving when he
heard her so clearly: "Thank you, God, for being so good to me. Thank you that
I am not forgotten. Thank you for always loving me." Her words were his
healing that day.
Her
insights are that of the Psalmist in Psalm 41. In the darkest moments of life,
when we are at the very end of our lives, shaking and maybe even confused, our
loving and the Living Lord is there. When we are speechless and deaf to the
world, when we may even be spilling our salvation all over ourselves, Christ is
just beyond the veil. In Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, in the
love of a Father who will never let you go, God is good and God is
there.
Dealing
with some of the most depresseing moments and places of life there are no 12
step programs. There are no simplistic answers. But there is one step. It is
the step that God took when He left heaven and came to earth. God's Word
reflects what we all sometimes experiences, and then guides us to the Gospel,
and He is there.
If He is
not to you, as the Psalmist says, "the God of my life," then this morning would
be the right time, to call Him Lord. For all who seek to follow Him, sometimes even
through the fog of life, we cling to the promises and we may even sing in the
night:
What a
Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What
a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O
what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
all
because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
Are
we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our Refuge — Take it to
the Lord in prayer.
Do
thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in
prayer;
In
His arms He'll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace
there.
In Christ,
Brown
An
Evening Praise and worship ...
September 28,
2013
First United
Methodist Church, 53 Mckinley Ave., Emdicot
5.30 PM Praise
and Worship and a time of Testimony.
Preacher:
Pastor Marshall Sorber.
Followed by a
special banquet. All are welcome. For Information call 607-748-6329
