Praise the Lord
for this Wednesday. We will gather for our mid-week fellowship and study this
evening at 6 PM. There will be a meal at 6 followed by Bible study at
6:30. Adult choir practice begins at 7:30.
I will be
conducting a service of death and resurrection for Leila Kretchik, who died on
April 21. She was taken to the hospital on Good Friday. Her husband had died
on April 21, 2004. Leila died the very day and the very month that her husband
died 8 years ago.
In the face of
death the Bible makes an audacious claim and proclamation: 1 Cor
15:51-57: "Behold, I show you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin;
and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have a new
hobby - Bird watching. There are so many birds that migrate to this region
during Spring Season. There are also so many flowers that bloom during the
spring season in this region. The Lord makes our souls full by His beauty and
splendor that surround us. He reveals His glory and beauty all around us. Like Jacob, we
wake up to the real world and say, “Surely the Lord was in this place and I did
not know it.” Gen 28
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s well-known lines remind us:
"Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s well-known lines remind us:
"Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries."
The only thing that keeps us from
seeing and hearing is a heart that is dead or dulled by the struggles of life.
That is why we need a new heart, the heart that is "Born Again", transformed by
the grace and power of the Risen Lord, so we can see the bush afire with God; so
we can see the stairway to heaven; so we can hear the voice of the Risen Lord.
The Risen Lord will give us a heart that is fully alive if we ask him to do
so. It was St. Irenaeus who said, “The glory of God is man fully
alive.” Paul wrote: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is
unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2
Corinthians 4:18).
I cannot imagine what it would be like to go through life and never understand that there is more than meets the eye, to be so absorbed in the material world that you never meet the Risen Lord, to have been surrounded by his glory and majesty all around us and yet be totally clueless — sleepwalking through life.
Someone has written: “There are two birds that fly over our nation’s deserts: One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. The vultures find the rotting meat of the desert, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.” What are you looking for?
Jesus said that there is a difference between those who have been transformed by the Spirit of God and those who live only in the natural world. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. . . . ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:11-15). God has promised that he can transform our hearts if we come to him. He said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
The Bible puts it this way: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV). The day is coming when the dark glass will be removed, and all that can be seen will be seen. We will see with new eyes, hear with new ears and feel with new hearts. But it can begin now, as we open our hearts to the world of God.
Spain once controlled both sides of the Mediterranean Sea at the Straits of Gibraltar, an important and powerful position for any nation with a navy. The Straits of Gibraltar became the symbol and pride of Spain. The Spanish aristocracy had their coins minted depicting the two Pillars of Hercules — the name given to the projections of rock on either side of the strait. On the coin, they placed a scroll over the pillars that read, “ne plus ultra,” which means “no more beyond.” Eventually, however, courageous Spanish sailors made their way through the Straits of Gibraltar and headed for the high seas. They sailed south to Africa, then around its horn to Asia, and eventually across the Atlantic to the New World. It opened up a whole new world. They understood what they never thought possible before. A radical shift in their world view took place. As a result, they forged a new set of coins. T hey were like the old coins, except for one thing: one word had been left off — the word “ne.” It no longer read, “ne plus ultra” (No more beyond), but simply and more realistically, “Plus ultra” — More beyond.
There is more beyond our world as we know it, but only those with new eyes will see its wonder, only those with new ears will hear its music, and only those with new hearts will experience its ecstasy.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to go through life and never understand that there is more than meets the eye, to be so absorbed in the material world that you never meet the Risen Lord, to have been surrounded by his glory and majesty all around us and yet be totally clueless — sleepwalking through life.
Someone has written: “There are two birds that fly over our nation’s deserts: One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. The vultures find the rotting meat of the desert, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.” What are you looking for?
Jesus said that there is a difference between those who have been transformed by the Spirit of God and those who live only in the natural world. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. . . . ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:11-15). God has promised that he can transform our hearts if we come to him. He said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
The Bible puts it this way: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV). The day is coming when the dark glass will be removed, and all that can be seen will be seen. We will see with new eyes, hear with new ears and feel with new hearts. But it can begin now, as we open our hearts to the world of God.
Spain once controlled both sides of the Mediterranean Sea at the Straits of Gibraltar, an important and powerful position for any nation with a navy. The Straits of Gibraltar became the symbol and pride of Spain. The Spanish aristocracy had their coins minted depicting the two Pillars of Hercules — the name given to the projections of rock on either side of the strait. On the coin, they placed a scroll over the pillars that read, “ne plus ultra,” which means “no more beyond.” Eventually, however, courageous Spanish sailors made their way through the Straits of Gibraltar and headed for the high seas. They sailed south to Africa, then around its horn to Asia, and eventually across the Atlantic to the New World. It opened up a whole new world. They understood what they never thought possible before. A radical shift in their world view took place. As a result, they forged a new set of coins. T hey were like the old coins, except for one thing: one word had been left off — the word “ne.” It no longer read, “ne plus ultra” (No more beyond), but simply and more realistically, “Plus ultra” — More beyond.
There is more beyond our world as we know it, but only those with new eyes will see its wonder, only those with new ears will hear its music, and only those with new hearts will experience its ecstasy.
In
Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/byIpfEVxhs4
http://youtu.be/byIpfEVxhs4
Friday April 27,
2012
Television
Outreach
Time Warner
Cable Channel 4
Time 7:00 PM
Saturday Evening
Worship Service:
Location: First United Methodist
Church
53 McKinley
Avenue
Endicott,
NY
Sponsored
by: Union Center United Methodist Church
Time: 6:00
PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Date:
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Speaker: Jason Garen from Davis
College
Special Music by the Praise Band of the Cross Point
Church, Binghamton.
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