Brown's Praise and Prayer report 2-8-12

    Praise the Lord for this beautiful Tuesday evening. As we walked the clouds began to break away to allow the glory of the full moon to shine through.  The Lord has spangled the spacious skies with countless stars.  Only our Lord can make the world beautiful and glorious.

    Pray for the following:

        Carol Lee, who is going in for a heart procedure tomorrow.

        Sarah Deuel, going in for a surgery tomorrow.

        Myron Rake, from Wesley, had complete hip replacement today - the first surgery of his life. 

        Mariah - who is still at Upstate Medical, fighting a blood infection and trying to regain strength before continuing chemo.

        Gary McFadden (Mariah's grandpa) is undergoing chemo.

        Donna Butler, who is still recovering from major surgery.

        Leila Burlingame, who suffers from Menier's disease.

        Sandy Wingard, Mike Wingard's mom.

        My mom, back in India, who is getting weaker.

        Rodney Haines, recovering from recent surgery.

 

    We extend Christian sympathy to the following:

        Juna Tinkham, on the death of her brother, Ken Short, who was 93.  Juna and Ken were very close, and had gotten together for lunch every weekday over the past several years.

        Mike and Esperanza Wingard, on the death of Esperanza's mom, Mrs. Lopez in Colombia, Central America.  Mike, Esperanza, and Christina flew to Colombia on Friday to attend the funeral service on Saturday.

        Grayson and Leila Burlingame, on the death of Grayson's brother Don, who was 74 years old.

        The Maynard family on the death of Doris Maynard.  My wife's Aunt "Coonie" was from Smyrna, NY, and had lived for many years on the same hill where my wife grew up.  Aunt Coonie was a graduate of Keuka College, with a degree in Science Education.  She married a dairy farmer and lived graciously there for many, many years.  She also taught Sunday School for many years.  She cared for her disabled sister-in-law, Aunt Jean, for many years.  (Aunt Jean, according to Doctor's prognosis way back then - at Robert Packer Hospital - should have lived only to the age of 2, not to the 78 years that she actually lived.) 

 

        Pray for the building project.  We are expecting to break ground in the spring.  We have 3 estimates from various contractors, and one of them seems very promising. 

 

        We'll meet tomorrow evening for midweek services, starting with a meal at 6 PM.  We will be studying from the book of John, chapter 3. 

 

        We praise the Lord, for He is faithful and trustworthy, mighty and merciful.  Blessed be His name.  

  In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/qG9pbbAuOqY

 

On FEBRUARY 11, 2012 Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott, at 5:30 PM - There will be a Special Banquet prepared by Joe Walker, including a variety of international Cuisine...  It will be a great celebration. At  6:30 PM there will be a Hymn Sing with Aric Phinney at the Grand  Piano and  Yancey Moore at the Organ.  Dave Berry will lead the  Hymn Sing.

   

Hi Brown and Friends at UCUMC,

 

I hope all is well with you. I just found out that our last 6 messages to you have not gone through. AOL has decided to reject messages from our regular account (which is why I’m writing you from my secondary account).  A few weeks ago, I noticed that all my messages to coworkers with AOL accounts were not getting delivered. After a week of trying to get it resolved, I asked my coworkers to give me a different email address at which I could reach them.

 

If you’re interested, you can see at the bottom of this message the counsel from my email postmaster at the end of my runaround with AOL. So if you have a new email address or can open one, that will make it a lot easier for us to communicate with you.  AOL doesn’t seem to want us to. L (If you decide you want to switch to another address, it’s easy and free to sign up for gmail. J )

 

Immediately below and attached are the most recent two messages we’ve sent out.

 

Bless you.

 

Dave

---------------------------------

 

1.      Tomorrow I’m scheduled to leave at 4:00 am (Monday afternoon in the US), for a day of meetings in Jakarta with leaders of Indonesian Peoples Network, a multinational, multi-agency network focused on the unreached groups of Indonesia. From there I plan to fly to Sumatra, to visit one of our teams there for a couple of days.

Please pray:

a.       For Jean, as she stays in Bandung without me, for God to reveal in fresh ways His care and protection for her.

b.      For me, that my interaction with a variety of leaders and workers will be used by God to increase the effectiveness of many ministries in Indonesia, that the Father would be pleased as the Son is glorified among those who have not yet heard. 

 

2.      Attached is an edifying summary of the answer to your prayers for Greg’s recovery from Dengue fever. It’s a short piece he wrote for his school newspaper (Roberts Wesleyan College, where he’s now in his last semester). Praise God for His mercy and protection!

 

3.      I recently received this report from one of the Asian countries where we did training last year in Church Planting Movements: “More Hindus coming to faith since the [CPM] training and people implementing principles.  PTL!”  Let’s thank God that He’s at work in such marvelous ways!

Brown's Daily Word 2-7-12

Blessed be the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for this new day In His Kingdom. The Lord blessed us with a very spring like day yesterday, and last evening was brilliant and beautiful. Yesterday was sunny and stunning. The Lord Blessed us with brilliant moon lit night. Alice and I walked for over 4 miles last night. The Full Moon was beaming brightly and the stars were shining gloriously.

The Old Testament reading for last Sunday was taken from Isaiah 40, one of the very powerful passages that declares about the Lord of Eternity and His steadfast permanence in a world that is transitory in its many aspects. When I was in graduate School in the late sixties of the last century, many philosophers and theologians were saying that God was dead, and predicting the death of the church. Today almost no one can remember the names of those who made those dire predictions, let alone the titles of their books, but the church of Jesus Christ is thriving and God is still very much alive.

In Isaiah 40 we read about the Word of God. God’s Word was God’s Word yesterday, it is God’s Word today, and it will be God’s Word 5000 years from now. Kingdoms will rise and fall. Ideas will come and go. The values of the world will change, but God’s Word will remain the one constant in a world of change and confusion.

The emperor Diocletian tried to revive the old pagan religions of Rome by persecuting and killing Christians. He set up a stone pillar in his own honor, inscribed with the words that he wanted to describe his legacy: “For Having Exterminated the Name Christian From the Earth.” How far short of his goal he fell! His monument was more of a tribute to the endurance of Christianity than it was to himself. Another Roman leader made a coffin, symbolizing his intention “to bury the Galilean” by killing Christ’s followers. He eventually admitted that he could not put the Master in his coffin. The Waldensians represented the history of the church with a picture of an anvil with many worn-out hammers lying all around it. At the bottom of the picture these words are inscribed: “One Anvil — Many Hammers.”

Isaiah told of an everlasting comfort, of the everlasting Word of God, and of an everlasting strength. It is written, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). Those who were in exile lost hope, and because of that they lost their strength and desire to go on. Even the young were beaten down, weary and defeated, but those who placed their hope and trust in God did not lose heart, and they did not lose strength — regardless of their age. Their hearts and minds soared as they thought about what God was going to do. As new strength and courage entered their hearts it began to affect their bodies. They gained a new enthusiasm for life and a new strength to go on. You never gain that strength unless you are willing to wait on the Lord.

Our God is an inexhaustible resource. He has never experienced fatigue or weakness in even the most remote sense. Isaiah then moved on to remind the people of Israel of what God does for all who trust in Him. Verse 29 states that "He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak." The very thing that we need most when we experience disappointment with God is what He already offers to us and supplies to us.

He is the source of all strength. In verse 30, we are given a universal truth that we often times forget: Everybody experiences weakness. Weakness is a perfect euphemism for describing the source of disappointments we face, including our disappointment with God. We experience disappointment because there are inherent weaknesses in the world in which we live. In verse 31 we are given a word of hope to help us to make it through life’s disappointments: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." Yes, we will become weary as we encounter life’s disappointments, but that is not the final word. There is strength offered to those who will reach out and receive it.

"They will soar on wings like eagles." What a magnificent picture! Isaiah chose the image of one of the most majestic of all birds, the eagle, to describe this special impartation of strength by God. In a moment of ecstasy, God showers His strength upon the weary one in such a manner that the individual is “lifted” above life’s disappointments, like an eagle soaring on the wind.

"They will run and not grow weary." I envision Isaiah describing the kind of strength that came upon the prophet Elijah when he was enabled to outrun King Ahab, who had a head start riding on his chariot (1 Kings 18:44-46). This is another incredible visitation of God’s power upon an individual suffering from weakness.

God’s strength usually comes to us in the ordinary ways. We don’t live life soaring in the clouds or always running in the fast lane — life is more a matter of persistent walking. It is in the dark stretches of life that the most difficult thing to do is to continue to walk and not quit. It is when we are faced with disappointing circumstances that we need the strength to keep on pressing on. Then it is that we need a faith that stands firm and shouts defiantly, “Yes, I will believe God and His Word no matter what!”

Philip Yancey has written, “If we insist on visible proofs from God, we may well prepare the way for a permanent state of disappointment. True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will” (Disappointment With God, p. 241).

I believe that Our Lord's primary goal for us, as His children, is to move us to the place where we trust in nothing but Him alone. He wants us to be completely dependent upon Himself. He will use whatever means He must to bring us to that place. We have an ageless God who is able to give us strength to overcome our weaknesses. The answer that He gives us is to demonstrate unwavering faith in the face of our disappointments and keep on believing that He will come and renew our strength so that we can walk and not become weary. Disappointments will come, but Jesus the Way, gives us the strength to keep on walking even when it hurts.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/1CBNE25rtnE



On FEBRUARY 11, 2012 Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott, at 5:30 PM - There will be a Special Banquet prepared by Joe Walker, including a variety of international Cuisine... It will be a great celebration. At 6:30 PM there will be a Hymn Sing with Aric Phinney at the Grand Piano and Yancey Moore at the Organ. Dave Berry will lead the Hymn Sing.

Sponsored by The Union Center UMC.

Brown's Daily Word 2-6-12

Good morning,

    The Lord blessed us with another amazing weekend of witness, fellowship, and worship.  We showed the movie, "Courageous" twice this weekend.  It is a very powerful movie with a very challenging and compelling message. 

    The Lord blessed us during our worship service this weekend.  One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Mark 1:29-39.  Jesus meets us in the ordinariness of life.  He is the Good News for the Flawed,the Defiled, and the Excluded.  In  Mark chapter 1, Jesus performed miracles with a great sense of urgency and immediacy.  He healed the man possessed with demons.  He touched and healed a leper.  He healed a woman.  These three persons were flawed, defiled and excluded. 

     Women were particularly excluded from the mainstream of life as they are even today in the militant Moslem culture.  We we hear about "honor killings" of Moslem women and Moslem girls.  We hear about the positing of women inTaliban controlled society.  We read that women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. We read about 10 million baby girls aborted in India.  We read about the human trafficking for sex trade, even the thousands women and children who were brought in for the use of Super Bowl Fans.  We read about pimps selling the services of young women who are defenseless in bondage all around the world.  Jesus  our Lord comes, setting the captives free. 

    It is interesting that in Mark it is the woman who was excluded was the first one to rise up and serve Jesus, the king and the Lord.  In the unfolding drama, the men were mere admirers of Jesus.  The woman, whose name is not written, was the first one to rise up  and Serve Jesus.  In John 4, though the Samaritan woman was defiled, flawed, and excluded, she believed and received new life and immediately she walked in freedom, free from shame and guilt.  She became the first home missionary, running to her city to tell every one about Jesus.  She not only told them about Jesus, but compelled them to come and see Him.

    We read in Mark 1 that these were exciting days in Capernaum, because Jesus was present with authority and grace.  He was in the midst of His people.  Jesus is mighty to save.  When Jesus is present He dispenses His Joy unspeakable to His own.  When He is in the Sanctuary demons tremble.  When He is in the home disease and sickness flee away.  When He amid His people He casts out the demons of  fever, anger, and all the works of flesh as they recorded in Galatians 5.  It is recorded  that Jesus entered the house of Simon Peter after a great time of teaching and  healing in the synagogue on a Sabbath.  When Jesus is present in the synagogue on a Sabbath miracles take place, but what is interesting, in a metaphorical sense, is that Jesus came into Simon’s house, entering the domestic world of his followers.

    So it is with us.  God enters our world, he enters the domesticity and ordinariness of our lives.  Being a follower of Jesus isn’t a mystical, transcendental  experience that takes us away from the responsibilities of this world.  Being a follower of Jesus means that God comes into our lives and he ministers to us in the ordinary and everyday.  Isn’t that what the Incarnation is all about?  “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.  In Revelation 3:20, Jesus said: “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

    We are not to despise the ordinariness of our lives.  We are not to regret our domesticity or even to see it as a barrier to our relationship with God.  If we desire to meet with God, he comes to us in the everyday and he finds us where we are.  Jesus meets us in everyday life.

    There was Jesus.  He had just been teaching at the synagogue.  He had exorcised an evil spirit.  He had left a huge crowd of people in amazement at his authority.  He had confounded the teachers of the law.  His fame was spreading throughout the region as each minute passed.  Then he arrived at Simon’s house where he was told: “My mother-in-law has a fever”.  He went straight to her and healed her from her fever.  He did that because he was not motivated from his own perspective but always the perspective of the person in need.

    It is easy for us to discount the suffering of others because their pain may seem so small in comparison to our own pain.  Still, pain is pain whether it seems to us to be large or small and, if we want to be Christlike, we must address pain and suffering wherever we find it.  We must not judge that pain or compare it to the suffering of someone else and then discount it as “a job too small”.  Jesus meets us in the mundane parts of our life. 

    Over and over again in Jesus’ ministry, his compassion was conveyed through the power of touch.  Touch is an immense gift that conveys the compassion of Christ.  There is real tenderness in the touch of a man who stood in direct opposition to a religious system that was quicker to declare someone as ‘Unclean’ than they were to offer the compassion of embrace.

    He is always willing to come to us in ordinary lives.  He is considerate of our needs.  He shows compassion, particularly through his physicality.  As we engage in mission and seek to proclaim Christ to our friends and families we would do well to consider how we can be Christlike in our approach.  What does it mean for us to enter the ordinary parts of other peoples’ lives?  What does it mean for us to be considerate to their needs, even if those needs appear to us to be small and insignificant?  What does it mean for us to show compassion through our lives? As we pursue mission in our communities, may we do so in the example of Christ  to Simon’s mother-in-law, as shown in this passage.

   In Christ,

    Brown

http://youtu.be/PANiveIKVX0

On FEBRUARY 11, 2012 Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott, at 5:30 PM - There will be a Special Banquet prepared by Joe Walker, including a variety of international Cuisine...  It will be a great celebration. At  6:30 PM there will be a Hymn Sing with Aric Phinney at the Grand  Piano and  Yancey Moore at the Organ.  Dave Berry will lead the  Hymn Sing.