Brown's Daily Word 12-16-11

 

Good morning,

    Praise the Lord for this Friday.  Pray for our Friday Evening television outreach this evening on Time Warner Cable channel 4 at 7 PM.  Some of us will be attending Handel's Messiah at the Binghamton Forum this Evening at 8 PM.  One of our ministry teams will be preparing and serving a Christmas Meal tomorrow at noon at the First United Methodist Church .

     It is beginning look a like Christmas everywhere you go.  Yes, there are signs of Christmas everywhere.  Centuries ago, however, there were not many signs.  There were a couple of signs in particular, though, that brought the reality of the presence of the Lord home to several people. The year was 734 BC.  Ahaz was king of Judah.  Rezin was king of Aram, modern day Syria, and Pekah was king of Israel.  Rezin and Pekah combined forces and surrounded the city of Jerusalem.  It must have been frightening to Ahaz and the people of Judah.  So the Lord God, through His prophet Isaiah, gave a sign to a frightened and somewhat wavering Judean king that would encourage him to remain firm in his political commitment to Tiglath-Pileser, III, king of Assyria, and resist Syria and Israel.  The details are in Isaiah 7and 2 Kings 16.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

     Sponsored by:  The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.

     4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast

        Across from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.  

         The Corner of McKinley  Ave and Monroe  Street . Endicott

            Praise and Worship Service

        First United Methodist Church, Endicott

        Sponsored by  Union Center UMC

        6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship

        6:30 PM  Worship

            Music:  Laureen  Naik      

            Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley,  Endicott

        Music:  Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore

        Preacher:  Rev Brown Naik

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion

        7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive

        Music:  Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin

        Preacher:  Rev. Brown Naik

    The sign the Lord gave was this: a young virgin  would be pregnant, have a baby, and refer to him as "God is with us."  This reference, Immanuel, was a reminder of God's promise that He would be with David's dynasty in a special way. By the time this child was old enough to make wise decisions, the nations of Syria and Israel would be destroyed.  The immediate context here in Isaiah referred, most likely, to Ahaz's son, Hezekiah.  The greater context, of course, refers to Jesus of Nazareth. Ahaz discovered encouragement in the sign given by the Lord.

    728 years later, another sign of encouragement would be given.  The third gospel evangelist, the beloved physician and historian, Luke, recorded it in Luke, chapter 2.  Shepherds were tending to their flocks on a Judean hillside when, suddenly, they were interrupted by angels who told them they had a sign for them from the Lord.

    As the sign given to Ahaz had to do with the birth of a baby, so did this one.  It was the sign of a baby lying in a manger.  It is not by accident that the sign was given at night.  The scriptures tell us the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night.  The magi from the East were guided to the place of Christ's birth by a star at night.  The shepherds went to the manger at night.  Night has always played a significant role during the Christmas season.  Christmas Eve worship, midnight masses, and the lighting of candles, which symbolizes that the Christ-child is the Light, which has come into the world to overcome the darkness, surrounding us, all have to do with night.  It was a dark world when Christ was born and it is still dark in some respects.

    During Advent, with all its merriment, delight, and joy as preparation is made for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we discover the darkness of the world is dark indeed.  There is still unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world.  The darkness of hostility and violence is overwhelming in various parts of the world.

    The darkness of the world is dark indeed.  Yet, the good news of Christmas is that all that darkness, whatever its cause — fear, murder, strife, unrest, violence — may be dispelled by the Living Light of Bethlehem's Baby.  The darkness of the world may be overcome.  The darkness you and I experience may be overcome.

     We may be experiencing the dark night of the soul from anxiety, loneliness, uncertainty, and a host of others dark situations.  Though we may be in the dark, we have good news from the Lord.  There is a sign in everybody's night.  It is the Christ-child — the Light of all humanity.  God gave that sign at night to remind each of us that in the darkest hour of our lives, the Most High God gives a sign that brings life and light.

  In Christ,

    Brown

http://youtu.be/vftEpuxUo1E

Brown's Daily Word 12-15-11

Good morning,
    Praise the Lord for this season of excitement and anticipation.  We once again become like children.  Our hearts become tender and are softened as we pause and ponder about the wondrous birth and the gift that came down at first Christmas long time ago in Bethlehem.  Today is our daughter Laureen's birthday.  She was a Christmas baby.  We praise the Lord for Laureen.  She ia a huge part of our Christmas blessing. 
    All my high School and College class mates back in India are retired. They ask me when I am going to retire.  There's no theology of retirement in the Bible.  We are still followers of Jesus Christ, no matter how old we are.  You and I are meant to be sent, whether we're teenagers like Mary or senior citizens like Zechariah and Elizabeth.  The example of Elizabeth and Zechariah makes it very clear that God has no has-beens.  This story is a word to the elderly that God is not finished with you yet!  Christmas is a time of surprises and things that take your breath away.  There so many people that are so methodical and so calculated that they leave no room for surprise.  They do not leave any room for the Lord to work in their lives either.  In fact, all of life can and should be full of surprises.  Most of us measure our lives by the breaths we take.  Perhaps it would be better for us to measure our lives by the breaths we miss.  Those times of amaze­ment and astonishment, when suddenly our attention is carried away, are when God catches us by surprise.  He takes our breath away.

    The only problem is that some of us have too carefully ensconced ourselves in religious tradition to be surprised by any­thing.  That had just about happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth.  They were good people.  The Bible says, "Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord" (Luke 1:6).  Now that's the profile of a very religious person.  They went through all the right motions.  They obeyed the Law.  They were faithful in worship.  They prayed fervently to God.
     Zechariah and Elizabeth teach us that our God is a God of surprises.  Zechariah was a clergyman, a priest.  He was faithful in carrying out the functions that were assigned to him in the temple worship.  Apparently, he wasn't accustomed to hear­ing the Word of God as it applied itself in a highly personal way to himself.  How tragic it is when we see a person who should be noted for their faith in the Lord, stumble in disobedience.  When God, through the Angel Gabriel, spoke specifically to Zechariah, Zechariah became confused. He doubted. He spoke back these words, "How will I know that this is so?  For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years" (Luke 1:18).  Gabriel answered, "I am Gabriel.  I stand in the pres­ence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.  But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur" (1:19-20).
    Sometimes God has to use severe meth­ods to get our attention, especially those who lead.  If we don't shut up for a while and listen, God may have to shut us up. There need to be times of renewal.  There need to be times of reflection and contemplation.  I envy that segment of the Roman Catholic Holy Orders which are referred to as the "contemplatives."  These monks, such as Thomas Merton, take vows of silence.  Some of us would benefit from at least periods of silence, times in which we stop our talking, our ceaseless babbling, so as to drink from those deep, cool, refreshing springs of spiritual water, which the Lord yearns to provide. 
    It is a great blessing and a gift to have time off on Lord's day to worship, to witness and to celebrate.  Only slaves worked for seven days.  We are set free to serve the Lord and to worship Him.  Let us remember this.  No matter how old or young we  are, we  are meant to be sent.  Let us be  willing to be surprised by the Lord of time and Eternity.  Let us  Open ourselves to a maturing faith that enables us  to be continually used by the Lord. 
  In Christ,
   Brown
 http://youtu.be/Cqnrn89uf0k

Saturday, December 17, 2011

     Sponsored by:  The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.

     4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast

        Across from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.  

         The Corner of McKinley  Ave and Monroe  Street . Endicott

            Praise and Worship Service

        First United Methodist Church, Endicott

        Sponsored by  Union Center UMC

        6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship

        6:30 PM  Worship

            Music:  Laureen  Naik      

            Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley,  Endicott

        Music:  Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore

        Preacher:  Rev Brown Naik

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion

        7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive

        Music:  Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin

        Preacher:  Rev. Brown Naik

Brown's Daily Word 12-14-11

Good morning,
    Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will gather for our Mid-week service with a very special dinner prepared by Chef Lawrence, followed by Bible Study and Choir practice.  Our granddaughter Micah called me yesterday from Boston, all excited, and announced to me with great joy that got their fresh Christmas tree yesterday.  Alice and I went in haste and made our annual holy pilgrimage to one of local Christmas tree farms yesterday after 4.30 PM and tagged a beautiful 9.5 feet tree.  It is an almost perfect tree.  It was a beautiful day followed by a glorious evening.  Alice and I took our daily walk for over 4 miles between 7 and 8.30 PM. When we walk almost during the night it makes the very short autumn and winter days very long.
    Jesus is the Lord of time.  He transcends time and space, yet He is involved in time and space.  He intervenes in our time and space with His blessings.  This is why, "when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him" (Galatians 4:4).  In Galatians 4, Paul seized the moment with an early confession of faith drawn from the worship and proclamation of the Christian congregations of the mid first century AD.  When the time was exactly right, a child was born.  A son was given.  And He was given the name Everlasting Father.
    Paul asserted, "…that God is our Father" (v.6b).  In the Gospel of John, chapter 1 it is written, "As many as received Him to them He gave the authority to be come sons and daughters of God".  In Jesus Christ we are children of a God who is a Father, and He is also a Father who is a God.  He is Everlasting.  This is such a paradox.  In the Manger was a Baby who is a Father.  This is beyond human comprehension.  This same Father is "from everlasting to everlasting," to borrow language from the Psalms.

    What Do we  Need This Christmas?  Through this Child we are granted what we  really need, life as it comes to us from a Father who lasts forever.  We have in Jesus God, who is revealed as the Everlasting Father( Isaiah 9)  All of our toys, gadgets, clothes, all the things of this earthly life aren't going to last forever.  A relationship with Bethlehem's Child does. This Child introduces us to an Eternal Father who always provides what we need, (not what want, but what we need).
    Moreover, our relationship with this Everlasting Father is such that we, His adopted children, can come into His presence.  All of us who are in Christ are children of God.  We aren't orphaned!  He really is our Father.  He really does embody perfect Fatherhood..  He is the kind of Father,who wants us to come to Him with our grief, our trouble, our anxiety and our hopelessness as we confront the reality of things not lasting forever.
    While editing notes in The Quest Study Bible, Marshall Shelley underwent a test of faith.  His wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter who was severely retarded and completely invalid.  Eighteen months later, a second child was born who lived for only one minute.  Six months after that, their first child died.  Shelley said he was obligated to ask God his most honest questions.  He said, "God's not offended by that.  In fact, He invites it!"
    Only an "Everlasting Father" could invite us to bring to Him all the emotional and spiritual junk that we've been carting around for years.  This Everlasting Father born in Bethlehem's barn grew to die and be resurrected from the dead so we could make it through this earthly life, a life that is cruel where children are sometimes born retarded, where children sometimes die from hunger and disease, where children are abused by earthly parents and the system of slick and sick greed and exploita­tion.  It's a world in which we "big children" have gotten our priorities all fouled up, thinking we really need something, when, in reality, we know we don't need it at all. Each of us suffers from the harshness of this earthly life.
    I'm so glad there is an Everlasting Father who listens to us and provides for us. He grants to us what we need, and He knows what we need better than we know ourselves.  The Lord God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, is the Everlasting Father who knows best.  So when you are tempted  to rely upon the provision of the world, I invite you to remember the provision that comes from Jesus Chris, a Child.
    We are so blesed because of Jesus.
     Brown
http://youtu.be/DSlIx7xqANg

Saturday, December 17, 2011

     Sponsored by:  The Union Center United Methodist Church, Endicott.

     4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast

        Across from the First Presbyterian Church of Endicott.  

         The Corner of McKinley  Ave and Monroe  Street . Endicott

            Praise and Worship Service

        First United Methodist Church, Endicott

        Sponsored by  Union Center UMC

        6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship

        6:30 PM  Worship

            Music:  Laureen  Naik      

            Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley,  Endicott

        Music:  Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore

        Preacher:  Rev Brown Naik

 

    Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

        A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion

        7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive

        Music:  Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin

        Preacher:  Rev. Brown Naik

Brown's Daily Word 12-13-11

Good morning,


Praise the Lord for this glorious season. Praise the Lord for the way our Lord invaded this world with His truth and grace. Shakespeare wrote that "all the world's a stage," and Luke2:1-4 details how God set this stage for His grand and glorious Christmas production! In fact, more than seven centuries before we come to the scene of Jesus' birth, the prophet Micah told us that the setting would be Bethlehem. When we consider that God was making preparations for the birth of Christ, we have to think about the message of the prophet who said, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth …" (Micah 5:2).

It was no coincidence that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, for as De Boylesve states, "Augustus, while sending forth his edicts to the utmost limits of the East, little knew that on his part he was obeying the decrees of the King of kings." God's direction is evident even in the movement of the population. Caesar had thought to feed his pride and eventually fill his coffers through this census and taxation process, but God was using this to get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be. W.H. Van Doren wrote that "to locate an infant's birth, 60 millions of persons are enrolled." God prepared a world and set the stage for His Christmas production.

We do not know who composed the well-known Christmas carol, "Away In A Manger," but we do know that Almighty God prepared the Christ child — "the Way" laid in a manger for his bed. God prepared a way of deliverance in the person of Jesus, "For," as the angel said unto the shepherds, "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). That Christ was a Savior tells us that He was literally, a deliverer Who has given us rescue and safety through His great salvation.

Furthermore, in the person of Jesus, God prepared a way of delight. The angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10), and this word "joy" has the idea of cheerfulness and a calm delight. God made a way for us to know Jesus and, through knowing Jesus, subsequently to know joy. Jesus is our deliverer and our delight. He is God's glorious gift for you and for me.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/oW9O1zVeb-8

Saturday, December 17, 2011

4-6 PM Living Nativity, with live animals and full Nativity cast

In Front of The First United Methodist Church.

53 McKinley Ave , Endicott



Praise and Worship Service

First United Methodist Church, Endicott

Sponsored by Union Center UMC

6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship

6:30 PM Worship

Music: Laureen Naik

Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden



Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott

Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore

Preacher: Rev Brown Naik



Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion

7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive

Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin

Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik

Brown's Daily Word 12-12-11

 

Good morning,

    "O come all ye faithful, joyful, and triumphant".  The Lord blessed us with a very full weekend of celebration, worship, fellowship, and witness through our Saturday noon dinner, Saturday evening worship, and Sunday morning worship services.  We participate in Operation Christmas Child, blessing the children around the world, and we also participate in blessing the children among us by giving them gifts and partying with them.  It was great day to give gifts to the children and share the wonderful food with them. 

    This coming week will be a glorious week.  We will gather for our mid-week service on Wednesday.  We will make our annual pilgrimage to the glorious  performance of Handel's Messiah, to be performed with full choir and orchestra at the Forum this Friday 8 PM.  Saturday noon we will be preparing and serving a Christmas Meal in Downtown Endicott.  On Saturday evening we will presenting a Living Nativity from 4 to 6 PM at the corner of McKinley and Monroe Streets in Endicott. The Lord has blessed us with a full cast of animals and a full Nativity Cast.  It will be brilliant.  We are praying it will be a great blessing to those who come.  We are for the first time presenting the Living Nativity at the City Center.  We will gather for our weekly Saturday Evening worship at the First United Methodist Church a 6:30 PM.  Rev. Earle Cowden will be preaching.  Laureen Naik will be leading in worship.  We will meet for a very Special Christmas banquet Sunday, December 18 at 5.30 PM at the Union Center  UMC, followed by Carols and lessons.

    The theme for the third Sunday in advent is Joy.  The old Testament reading for yesterday was taken from Isaiah 61.  Joy—true joy—is a recognition that the goodness of God and the salvation He brings will get us through even the worst of circumstances.  The prophet Habakkuk expressed it this way: “Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation”. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)  In other words, I will rejoice even if I lose EVERYTHING!  David wrote, “Restore unto me the JOY of thy salvation.”  Paul said, “REJOICE in the Lord always, and again I say, REJOICE!”  Nehemiah said, “The JOY of the Lord shall be your strength.” 

    Oskar Schindler, immortalized in Steven Spielberg's 1993 prize-winning film, Schindler's List, was a man who rescued the oppressed and endangered, and brought them new life.  He was born on April 28, 1908, in Moravia, Austria-Hungary, which is located in what is now the Czech Republic.  Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, who came down to rescue the oppressed, the broken hearted, and the bound and to give them new life.

    The passage in Isaiah 61 begins with an announcement of divine presence and action.   it is clear that the power and the commission are from the LORD.  The present needs that draw divine attention, as glimpsed through the commission, are daunting.  God's anointed is sent to the oppressed, to the ones whose hearts are crushed, to the captives, the imprisoned and to all who mourn.  Moreover, the divine mandate is to reverse their circumstances and effect a transformation in their identity and activity.  The anointed is to deliver good news to the oppressed, to wrap for healing the broken hearts, and to declare liberty for the captives, opening doors and chains so the imprisoned may find release.
    The commission to "proclaim liberty" is language from the instructions for observing the Jubilee.  During the year of Jubilee property and people held as payment for debt were returned to the families to which they originally belonged (Leviticus 25:10).  The use of the Levitical language in Isaiah 61 is a clear indication that the liberty proclaimed is intended to be made permanent in new social and economic relationships within the community.  Though Jubilee was a rare event to be observed only every fiftieth year -- God's anointed is sent to announce that liberation now.  God's anointed is also "to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God."  This is assurance that God has chosen to act with abundant "favor" and mercy towards Israel and to judge and defeat those who would harm her (cf. Isaiah 49:8). 
    God instructed the anointed to pay particular attention to "those who mourn in Zion."  The comfort which God's anointed is instructed to provide to the despairing in Jerusalem would, however, change the way the people see themselves, the way they are regarded by others and the ways they act.  Instead of ashes on their heads -- a sign of humiliation and grief (e.g., 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1) -- they are given a festive headdress (NRSV "garland;" also in 61:10).  They are treated as honored guests and anointed with "the oil of gladness" (cf. Psalm 45:7).  To replace their dull spirits they are given mantles of praise.  They would accomplish what is needed and what has been too difficult: rebuilding Jerusalem as a city where righteousness and justice flourish.
    The urgency and enormity of the building task are underscored in the description of what the comforted mourners will raise up and repair: "the former devastations...the devastations of many generations."  A new future became possible because God promised to be in "everlasting covenant with them" (verse 8) and because God provided the appropriate work clothes: garments of salvation and robes of righteousness (verses 9-10).  The city where hopelessness had taken root will, by God's spirit and by God's blessing, sprout righteousness and praise.

  In Christ,

   Brown

 http://youtu.be/C6yIgN54R7k

Saturday, December 17, 2011

          Living Nativity;Full Cast of Animals and Full Nativity Cast

           4-6PM

        In Front of The First United Methodist Church.

         53  McKinley Ave , Endicott

        Praise and Worship Service

        First United Methodist Church, Endicott

        Sponsored by  Union Center UMC

        6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship

        6:30 PM  Worship

        Music:  Laureen  Naik