Brown's Daily Word 11/12/15

Praise the Lord for this new day.  Praise the Lord for the rest that He gives us that refreshes and restores us.  Praise the Lord for the strength He gives to us  for encountering new challenges and new opportunities every day.  Alice has been gathering all our Christmas collections -  trees and music.  She has started listening to Christmas music starting at 5:30 AM on some mornings.  She watches her Christmas movies until she goes to bed.  She has been updating me on her progress of in completing the Christmas hats and dresses and all other Christmas gifts for the children and the grandchildren.  Praise the Lord that we get to celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior once again.  Another added blessing that we have is that the Thanksgiving season ushers in the wonderful Advent season and the most magical and glorious Christmas season.  Let us get ready, prayerfully anticipating the best. 

 

    The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering of sweet fellowship and study.  We are excited to host the children for the Release time today.  During our study time yesterday we had a time for questions and sharing.  Some raised the question of the suffering, tragedy, and atrocities that we all  face.  For some the presence of difficulties and suffering in the world means that God is punishing people for something.  For others, however, it is a sign that God is not able to do anything about the problems they face.  Others wonder if God simply does not care. 

 

    William Frey, retired Episcopal Bishop from Colorado, tells the following story:  "When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named John who was blind.  One day I asked him, "How did you lose your sight?"  "A chemical explosion," John said, "at the age of thirteen."  "How did that make you feel?" I asked.  "Life was over.  I felt helpless.  I hated God," John responded.  For the first six months I did nothing to improve my lot in life.  I would eat all my meals alone in my room.  One day my father entered my room and said, 'John, winter's coming and the storm windows need to be up -  that's your job.  I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!'  Then he turned, walked out of the room and slammed the door.  I got so angry.  I thought Who does he think I am?  I'm blind!  I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, 'I'll show them.  I'll fall, then they'll have a blind and paralyzed son!"  John continued, "I got the windows up.  I found out later that never at any moment was my father more than four or five feet away from my side."  In the same way Jesus did not promise to spare us, but he did promise to be with us: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

 

    While visiting Yosemite National Park this past summer, we saw some brave and courageous rock climbers, scaling one of the historic peaks.  Our daughter Janice and her husband Jeremy are avid rock climbers.  Whenever they tell me about their heroic expeditions I cringe. 

 

    In his book, "Unnecessary Pastor" Eugene Peterson wrote, "My tow sons are both rock climbers, and I have listened to them plan their ascents (up a mountain).  They spend as much or more time planning their climbs as in the actual climbing.  They meticulously plot their route and then, as they climb, put in what they call 'protection' - pitons hammered into small crevices in the rock face, with attached ropes that will arrest a quick descent to death.  Rock climbers who fail to put in protection have short climbing careers.  Our pitons or 'protection' come as we remember and hold on to those times when we have experienced God's faithfulness in our lives.  Every answered prayer, every victory, every storm that has been calmed by his presence is a piton which keeps us from falling, losing hope, or worse yet, losing our faith.  Every piton in our life is an example of God's faithfulness to us. . . As we ascend in the kingdom of God, we also realize that each experience, each victory is only a piton - a stepping stone toward our ultimate goal of finishing the race and receiving the crown of glory.

  In Christ our Anchor:

   Brown

https://youtu.be/G3M8QprrlAo?list=PLZy1KU1XXGDjMoQiFpmJTn7pQ8QZmJAqa

Brown's Daily Word 11/11/15

Praise the Lord for this new day.  We will gather for our Wednesday evening fellowship and study at 6:30 PM.  Every time we come together into His presence He blesses us with a great sense of His joy, laughter, and deep joy.  We meet each other, we greet each other, we laugh together, we pray together, we provoke one another to love.  At times we cry.  Above all and best of all we give thanks to the Lord of life and liberty.  Because of Veterans Day in the USA the Schools are closed.  Alice is home for the day, busy preparing for Thanksgiving celebrations, busy with sewing and knitting for grand children.  When the Lord blesses us with grandchildren the milieu and the locus of domestic and personal ministry changes drastically.

 

    As we observe Veterans Day here in America the Beautiful, the home of the brave, we pause to give thanks to the Lord life and liberty for America, "a city built upon a hill".  Brave men and women of America have given their lives, the ultimate sacrifice, in defending freedom around the corner and around the globe.  Brave Americans have given their lives in standing against human oppression, human tyranny, and blatant injustice, defending the the defenseless.  They are, by the thousands, deployed around the world even today, standing for freedom and peace.  May their breed increase.

  

    Out of World War II have come innumerable stories and testimonies of great bravery and chivalry.  Over the years I have met some of the men who served in World War II, who are named aptly as the "Greatest Generation".  Where we are at present I go to visit some of the men who gather for lunch Monday through Friday.  I get to talk these men of valor.  Some of them have shared with me stories of great courage and ultimate sacrifice.

 

    Many of you know the story of the courage shown by four chaplains during World War II.   It is written, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).  it was the evening of February 2, 1943, and the U.S. Dorchester was crowded to capacity, carrying 902 service men, merchant seamen and civilian workers.  Once a luxury coastal liner, the 5,649-ton vessel had been converted into an Army transport ship.  The Dorchester, one of three ships in the SG-19 convoy, was moving steadily across the icy waters from Newfoundland toward an American base in Greenland.  The SG-19 was escorted by Coast Guard Cutters Tampa, Escanaba and Comanche.  Hans J. Danielsen, the ship’s captain, was concerned and cautious.  Earlier the Tampa had detected a submarine with its sonar.  Danielsen knew he was in dangerous waters even before he got some alarming information.  German U-boats were constantly prowling these vital sea lanes, and several ships had already been blasted and sunk.  The Dorchester was now only 150 miles from its destination, but the captain ordered the men to sleep in their clothing and keep life jackets on.  Many soldiers sleeping deep in the ship’s hold disregarded the order because of the engine’s heat.  Others ignored it because the life jackets were uncomfortable.  On Feb. 3, at 12:55 a.m., a periscope broke the chilly Atlantic waters.  Through the cross hairs, an officer aboard the German submarine U-223 spotted the Dorchester.

    A German submarine U-223 approached the convoy on the surface, and after identifying and targeting the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the torpedoes, a fan of three were fired.  The one that hit was decisive–and deadly–striking the starboard side, amid ship, far below the water line.  Captain Danielsen, alerted that the Dorchester was taking water rapidly and sinking, gave the order to abandon ship.v In less than 20 minutes, the Dorchester would slip beneath the Atlantic’s icy waters.  Tragically, the hit had knocked out power and radio contact with the three escort ships.  The CGC Comanche, however, saw the flash of the explosion.  It responded and then rescued 97 survivors.  The CGC Escanaba circled the Dorchester, rescuing an additional 132 survivors.  The third cutter, CGC Tampa, continued on, escorting the remaining two ships.  Aboard the Dorchester, panic and chaos had set in.  The blast had killed scores of men, and many more were seriously wounded.  Others, stunned by the explosion were groping in the darkness.  Those sleeping without clothing rushed topside where they were confronted first by a blast of icy Arctic air and then by the knowledge that death awaited.  Men jumped from the ship into lifeboats, over-crowding them to the point of capsizing, according to eyewitnesses.  Other rafts, tossed into the Atlantic, drifted away before soldiers could get in them.

 

    Through the pandemonium, according to those present, four Army chaplains brought hope in despair and light in darkness.  Those chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed.  Quickly and quietly, the four chaplains spread out among the soldiers.  There they tried to calm the frightened, tend the wounded and guide the disoriented toward safety.  “Witnesses of that terrible night remember hearing the four men offer prayers for the dying and encouragement for those who would live,” says Wyatt R. Fox, son of Reverend Fox.  One witness, Private William B. Bednar, found himself floating in oil-smeared water surrounded by dead bodies and debris.  “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying,” Bednar recalls.  “I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.” 

 

    Another sailor, Petty Officer John J. Mahoney, tried to reenter his cabin but Rabbi Goode stopped him. Mahoney, concerned about the cold Arctic air, explained he had forgotten his gloves.  “Never mind,” Goode responded. “I have two pairs.” The rabbi then gave the petty officer his own gloves.  In retrospect, Mahoney realized that Rabbi Goode was not conveniently carrying two pairs of gloves, and that the rabbi had decided not to leave the Dorchester.

 

     By this time, most of the men were topside, and the chaplains opened a storage locker and began distributing life jackets.  It was then that Engineer Grady Clark witnessed an astonishing sight.  When there were no more life jackets in the storage room, the chaplains removed theirs and gave them to four frightened young men.  “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven,” said John Ladd, another survivor who saw the chaplains’ selfless act.  Ladd’s response is understandable.  The altruistic action of the four chaplains  constitutes one of the purest spiritual and ethical acts a person can make.  When giving their life jackets, Rabbi Goode did not call out for a Jew; Father Washington did not call out for a Catholic; nor did the Reverends Fox and Poling call out for a Protestant.  They simply gave their life jackets to the next man in line.

 

    As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts could see the four chaplains–arms linked and braced against the slanting deck.  Their voices could also be heard offering prayers.  Of the 902 men aboard the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, 672 died, leaving 230 survivors.  When the news reached American shores, the nation was stunned by the magnitude of the tragedy and heroic conduct of the four chaplains. “Valor is a gift,” Carl Sandburg once said.  “Those having it never know for sure whether they have it until the test comes.”  That night Reverend Fox, Rabbi Goode, Reverend Poling and Father Washington passed life’s ultimate test.  In doing so, they became an enduring example of extraordinary faith, courage and selflessness.

  In Christ our Anchor,

  Brown

https://youtu.be/1KCiMdR1ox0

Brown's Daily Word 11/10/15

Praise the Lord  for this new day.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  A small team of short term missionaries have gone to the area where I was born.  Another team will be traveling there towards the middle of the month. They re all from the Southern tier New York.  They will be working with children, encouraging local pastors and leaders, and coming alongside many who are laboring in the  Kingdom of our Lord and Savior.  I would like to share a portion from the Morning Prayer, "A Diary of Private Prayer", by  John Bailie.  "O God without me, forbid that I should look today upon the work of Thy hand, and give no thought to Thee, the Maker.  Let the Heavens declare Thy glory, to me,  and the hills Thy majesty.  Let every fleeting loveliness I see speak to me of a loveliness that does not fade.  Let the beauty of the earth, be to me a sacrament of the beauty of holiness made manifest in Jesus Christ my Lord." 

    As we watch the news and read the news papers we get glimpses of a world that has gone insane.  Day by day we witness that some of the foundations of the civilization are crumbling.  Godlessness and the lawlessness are rampant.  Men of evil intent and depravity are on the move, destroying and decimating nations and people.  Innocent and powerless people have become soft targets of terrorism and violence.  Christians around the world are facing torture and persecution.  In the midst of all this, though to some it does not make any sense, we turn our eyes unto Jesus.  The Bible says, “Everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).  It goes on to say, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (1 John 5:18).  All this is from God, for Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

 

    In the third century, Cyprian wrote to his friend, Donatus: “This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see. Brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheaters men murdered to please the applauding crowds, under all roofs, misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians. . . and I am one of them.”  While trials are not things we want to think about, it is absolutely vital that we are prepared.  Maybe it will never happen in our lifetime — may God let it be so!  But we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that the biblical cautions about persecution don’t apply to us.  It was Jesus who said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".  Mathew 5

  In Christ.

   Brown

 

    https://youtu.be/TZrxNZibe_I

Brown's Daily Word 11/9/15

Praise the Lord for this month of November.  The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day in His house yesterday.  We are gearing up for a great Thanksgiving Season of giving and receiving, sharing and investing.  The Advent season of the church begins on the last Sunday of this month.  What a way to celebrate and recount  His blessings and all His benefits and, best of all, His tender mercies.  We are planning to host the St. Petersburg Men's Ensemble in live concert.  The group consisting of gifted and very talented musicians hailing from St. Petersburgh, Russia will be with us, presenting their concert on Friday, December 4 at 6:00 PM at the Marathon United Methodist Church, Marathon NY.  Those of you who ,live in the region, please mark your calendars.  Please join us for an evening of great classical Russian Christian music along with some Russian Folk music.

    We are excited that we get to celebrate the Thanksgiving season once again and one more time.  Thanks be to be Jesus our Lord.  There is a theme in the Bible that appears in several different places, and one of them is written in Thessalonians, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16-18).  "Make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:19-20).  "And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:15-17).

    One of the Christian doxologies is based on Ephesians 1:1-3- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesin Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will."

    We  cannot manufacture gratitude by willpower, even though a lot of people try to do this.  In the Biblical sense, ingratitude is the opposite of gratitude. Ingratitude is not a psychological problem.  It's not just an impoverishment of  emotional experience.  It's a sin.  Paul says it's the hallmark of a life that rebels against the Lord., "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile."  Romans 1.  In other words, they perceived themselves to be entitled, to be owed. They didn't see themselves as grateful receivers of grace every moment. 

    I love the prayer from the Book of Common Prayer which teaches us that we owe our ultimate gratitude for God's ultimate gift.  It says, "Almighty God, Father of all mercies …" all the benefits, all mercies, "… we your unworthy servants …" (a phrase which grates in our culture.  We don't want to use it, but if I think of myself as the entitled master, I'll never be grateful.  I'll miss out on God's desire for my life. I'm a creature and I'm a sinner.) "… we your unworthy servants do give you most humble and hearty thanks. We bless you for our creation, our preservation, all the blessings of this life, but above all, for your inestimable love in the redemption of our world by our Lord Jesus Christ."  In other words, more gratitude will not come from more acquisitions, but from more awareness of God's presence and God's goodness. 

In Christ.

Brown

https://youtu.be/twWjeH81krk