Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this last Friday of September. Today we are just three months away from Christmas day. Those who live in the area join us for our weekly television outreach this evening at 7 p.m. on Time Warner Cable channel 4. We are gathering for an evening of food, fellowship and prayer this Saturday September 26, at The Wesley United Methodist at 6 PM. The food will be prepared by our own chef Jeff Skinner. Those of who live in the area and have to work Sunday, join us for this Saturday gathering. Wesley United Methodist Church is located at 1000 Day Hollow Road , Endicott.
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 84. One of my favorite worship songs is based on this Psalm. ( Better is one day in your house than thousand elsewhere.)This psalm is one of a handful classified as a Song of Zion. Pilgrims probably sang it together as they made their way up to worship God at the temple in Jerusalem. The song captures the joy of those who were making their pilgrimage to the temple, expecting to meet the presence of God there. The Christian life is a journey of growing in the life of faith. We acknowledge that it is always God that first moves toward us, but we also move toward God, and the primary way we move toward God is through the spiritual disciplines.
Over 1500 years ago, St. Augustine wrote the following lines that have become famous, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee". With those words he captured the sense of spiritual longing that many of us have as we make our way as pilgrims in this life seeking to deepen in our relationship with God.
A pilgrimage requires a sense of expectation and confidence. In Psalm 84:3,4 the psalmist describes the expectation of blessedness for those who dwell in God's presence. Even the sparrows and the swallows find their place in the temple, and the temple dwellers, “ those whose livelihood involves serving God in the temple", are called happy and blessed. The psalmist is confident and expectant that God is near those who have the privilege of living near the temple and praising Him there.
The imagery of the sparrows and swallows finding a place in God's presence reminds me a bit of our Lord's famous words found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. The simple message is that the way of the pilgrim is the way of humbly placing trust in God. The Psalm, as well as the Matthew passage, suggests that ultimate fulfillment and joy in life is found in humbly placing our trust in God, not in self-serving concern and worry for our personal well being. The primary experience of pilgrimage is usually found in the journey itself. Often, journeys can be quite difficult. Yet, as the psalmist reminds us, we will find Gods strength and presence with us along the way. We may travel through the deserts of life, experiencing times of barrenness in which it seems as if God has abandoned us. The 16th Century mystic, St. John of the Cross, referred to such times as the dark night of the soul.
Instead of seeing such times as a crisis of faith, St. John of the Cross wrote that these are times that God uses to awaken our spiritual longing, and so, through these experiences, to deepen our faith. They are valuable, though often painful, parts of the experience of growing in our life of faith. Our vision and expectation of God sustains us not only in the times of joy but also through the times of trial and pain.
Finally, a pilgrimage is complete when one arrives the destination. In verses 10-12, the psalmist speaks of finding a place in God's home, saying that one day spent in a God's very presence, in His dwelling place, is better than a thousand days spent of serving his own self-interest.
Let us travel in the way of the pilgrim, keeping our sights set on our true home that we may find as the psalm concludes: "O Lord of hosts, Happy is everyone who trusts in you."
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VdUiKagWjU
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 9/24/09
Good Morning,
The Lord gave us a summer-like day yesterday, the first full day of Autumn. We are just three months away from Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful gathering last night for our midweek service and Bible Study. We are studying the Book of Revelation, a prophetic book intended to change how we see life. History is going somewhere, headed toward a purposeful conclusion, one in which Jesus will return to right every wrong and dry every tear. It will be a new world of justice, healing, and hope. It also has an impact here and now, not just when the end of days occurs. The future impacts the present. This prophecy should affect our goals and priorities, how seriously we resist sin; how we pray, our love for unbelievers, and our determination to obey God. “We live in the present as people who will be made complete in the future” (N.T. Wright). Because of this prophetic book we see how the Risen Lord is the author of history. History is His story.
Eugene Peterson writes, “The biblical story began, quite logically, with a beginning. Now it draws to an end, also with a beginning. The sin-ruined creation of Genesis is restored in the sacrifice-renewed creation of Revelation…the story that has creation for its first word, has creation for its last word.” God will come to make all things new; he will bring forth a new Heaven and new Earth. Then (finally) we will see God’s will fully done “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
This apocalyptic book gives us great hope. A young child was reading this final book of the Bible, finished it and excitedly cried, “We won!” Isn’t it comforting to know that the final battle with sin has already been decided? We have the assurance that, though we are living in a Hell-threatened environment, it is a Heaven-penetrated world. This should give us confidence in facing tomorrow. History is headed to a wonderful conclusion because our Lord, the Author of history, reigns!
When will Jesus return? His coming, according to Scripture, is “immanent,” which means it could occur at any time, even today. That is not the same as claiming that his return is “soon.” It would be a presumptuous claim, and anyone making such a claim is implying that they know something the Bible does not reveal. Beware of date-setters! Many people have set dates that have come and gone and they’ve lost much credibility. Beware of those who believe they know the identity of the Antichrist. Many preachers, who seem very sure of themselves, have confidently proposed names only to look foolish in the end.
We must ask ourselves this question, “Is God’s love and redemption working in the history in which I live?” As we await our Lord’s return, how are we faring? We are living somewhere in the midst of God’s story, where pain and sorrow and sin afflict us daily, but we confidently trust the Author as we turn the next page. We can be driven by a fear of tomorrow or we can trust the One who holds tomorrow in His hand. The vision of Christ in the book of Revelation is there to sustain us as we undergo the hardships of this present world.
Our job is to be watching and waiting, ready for whatever happens. However events transpire, God will prepare and equip us. We need not fear the coming Day of the Lord. Eugene Peterson again writes that the resurrection appearances of Christ are not complete; there is one more to come. The risen Christ will return and put evil in its place. In the meantime, we need to proclaim the Gospel with a sense of urgency, and encourage one another with this Blessed Hope: God will prevail!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmFMkpT12fE
The Lord gave us a summer-like day yesterday, the first full day of Autumn. We are just three months away from Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful gathering last night for our midweek service and Bible Study. We are studying the Book of Revelation, a prophetic book intended to change how we see life. History is going somewhere, headed toward a purposeful conclusion, one in which Jesus will return to right every wrong and dry every tear. It will be a new world of justice, healing, and hope. It also has an impact here and now, not just when the end of days occurs. The future impacts the present. This prophecy should affect our goals and priorities, how seriously we resist sin; how we pray, our love for unbelievers, and our determination to obey God. “We live in the present as people who will be made complete in the future” (N.T. Wright). Because of this prophetic book we see how the Risen Lord is the author of history. History is His story.
Eugene Peterson writes, “The biblical story began, quite logically, with a beginning. Now it draws to an end, also with a beginning. The sin-ruined creation of Genesis is restored in the sacrifice-renewed creation of Revelation…the story that has creation for its first word, has creation for its last word.” God will come to make all things new; he will bring forth a new Heaven and new Earth. Then (finally) we will see God’s will fully done “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
This apocalyptic book gives us great hope. A young child was reading this final book of the Bible, finished it and excitedly cried, “We won!” Isn’t it comforting to know that the final battle with sin has already been decided? We have the assurance that, though we are living in a Hell-threatened environment, it is a Heaven-penetrated world. This should give us confidence in facing tomorrow. History is headed to a wonderful conclusion because our Lord, the Author of history, reigns!
When will Jesus return? His coming, according to Scripture, is “immanent,” which means it could occur at any time, even today. That is not the same as claiming that his return is “soon.” It would be a presumptuous claim, and anyone making such a claim is implying that they know something the Bible does not reveal. Beware of date-setters! Many people have set dates that have come and gone and they’ve lost much credibility. Beware of those who believe they know the identity of the Antichrist. Many preachers, who seem very sure of themselves, have confidently proposed names only to look foolish in the end.
We must ask ourselves this question, “Is God’s love and redemption working in the history in which I live?” As we await our Lord’s return, how are we faring? We are living somewhere in the midst of God’s story, where pain and sorrow and sin afflict us daily, but we confidently trust the Author as we turn the next page. We can be driven by a fear of tomorrow or we can trust the One who holds tomorrow in His hand. The vision of Christ in the book of Revelation is there to sustain us as we undergo the hardships of this present world.
Our job is to be watching and waiting, ready for whatever happens. However events transpire, God will prepare and equip us. We need not fear the coming Day of the Lord. Eugene Peterson again writes that the resurrection appearances of Christ are not complete; there is one more to come. The risen Christ will return and put evil in its place. In the meantime, we need to proclaim the Gospel with a sense of urgency, and encourage one another with this Blessed Hope: God will prevail!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmFMkpT12fE
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 9-23-09
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Today is the first full day of Autumn, as we entered the Autumn season yesterday afternoon. Just 2 days ago, as my wife was walking, she commented that she had seen no snakes all summer. Not a minute later, right on cue, one showed its ugly face along the roadside. Autumn is one of the gloriously beautiful seasons in the Northeastern United States. As the sap slows down in the trees, the leaves slowly change to shades of brown, gold, orange, and red. Through all the years of our lives this change has always happened, as though triggered by a clock. We often ponder as to what is the trigger for this great event. Is it the coming of frost? (We have not had any yet.) Is it because the earth is becoming dry? (This year is not so dry.) Is it more related to the amount of time that the leaves are out on the trees? Whatever is the "trigger", God is faithful, and He is the author of all the seasons.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Praise the Lord that His love never fails. It is written, "The Lord said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind. . . . As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (Genesis 8:21, 22)
One of the blessings of living in the Northeast or New England is the dramatic change of seasons. According to the Biblical story, seasons as we know them apparently started sometime between the Garden of Eden and the flood. If there were seasons in the Garden of Eden, they must have been very mild, since Adam and Eve had no need of clothing. They began wearing clothes, not for protection from hot or cold weather, but to hide their shame after having disobeyed God's command. Only after the flood do we have God's promise that "as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Clearly the wide shifts of seasons as we now know them have been established by this point in the biblical narrative.
Considering that a flood had just wiped out most life on earth, it was very comforting for God to say that there would never be another flood--that the seasons would always continue. To this day, there is something comforting in knowing that as surely as day follows night, the seasons will follow each other - spring, summer, fall, and winter. We can depend on the seasons. When winter approaches, we know that in the spring the flowers will bloom once again, the trees will again leaf out, and we will have another year of crops to provide food for our tables.
God's promise does not apply only to nature's seasons. God's promise of continual seasons also relates to our experience as human beings. Our physical body is part of the natural world. As with the rest of nature, it goes through cycles, the largest of which is the cycle of birth, growth, maturity, old age, and death.
These are the large seasons of our life. Infancy and childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. Some of us do not experience all these seasons physically. We grieve when a young person dies because he or she did not get the chance to complete a full life cycle. Growing old is mandatory; growing wise is optional. Our physical stages are not a matter of choice--but our spiritual stages are. We have all met older people who seem not to have progressed emotionally beyond their earlier stages. They still center their lives around themselves, or the way they look, or their material possessions, or even being involved with "the right crowd." They have not come to the wisdom of centering their lives around the real center of the universe--the Lord. In John's Gospel, Jesus gives us a sense of that urgency in the spiritual seasons. "You say there are still four more months until the harvest," he says, "but look around you! The fields are ripe for harvesting right now!" The Lord was not talking about the physical fields. For that, the disciples would have had to wait the four months until the crops ripened. No, Jesus was talking about the spiritual fields. Whatever season of life we are in, the fields are always ripe for harvest.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-zJHgaoVa4
Praise the Lord for this new day. Today is the first full day of Autumn, as we entered the Autumn season yesterday afternoon. Just 2 days ago, as my wife was walking, she commented that she had seen no snakes all summer. Not a minute later, right on cue, one showed its ugly face along the roadside. Autumn is one of the gloriously beautiful seasons in the Northeastern United States. As the sap slows down in the trees, the leaves slowly change to shades of brown, gold, orange, and red. Through all the years of our lives this change has always happened, as though triggered by a clock. We often ponder as to what is the trigger for this great event. Is it the coming of frost? (We have not had any yet.) Is it because the earth is becoming dry? (This year is not so dry.) Is it more related to the amount of time that the leaves are out on the trees? Whatever is the "trigger", God is faithful, and He is the author of all the seasons.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Praise the Lord that His love never fails. It is written, "The Lord said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind. . . . As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (Genesis 8:21, 22)
One of the blessings of living in the Northeast or New England is the dramatic change of seasons. According to the Biblical story, seasons as we know them apparently started sometime between the Garden of Eden and the flood. If there were seasons in the Garden of Eden, they must have been very mild, since Adam and Eve had no need of clothing. They began wearing clothes, not for protection from hot or cold weather, but to hide their shame after having disobeyed God's command. Only after the flood do we have God's promise that "as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Clearly the wide shifts of seasons as we now know them have been established by this point in the biblical narrative.
Considering that a flood had just wiped out most life on earth, it was very comforting for God to say that there would never be another flood--that the seasons would always continue. To this day, there is something comforting in knowing that as surely as day follows night, the seasons will follow each other - spring, summer, fall, and winter. We can depend on the seasons. When winter approaches, we know that in the spring the flowers will bloom once again, the trees will again leaf out, and we will have another year of crops to provide food for our tables.
God's promise does not apply only to nature's seasons. God's promise of continual seasons also relates to our experience as human beings. Our physical body is part of the natural world. As with the rest of nature, it goes through cycles, the largest of which is the cycle of birth, growth, maturity, old age, and death.
These are the large seasons of our life. Infancy and childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. Some of us do not experience all these seasons physically. We grieve when a young person dies because he or she did not get the chance to complete a full life cycle. Growing old is mandatory; growing wise is optional. Our physical stages are not a matter of choice--but our spiritual stages are. We have all met older people who seem not to have progressed emotionally beyond their earlier stages. They still center their lives around themselves, or the way they look, or their material possessions, or even being involved with "the right crowd." They have not come to the wisdom of centering their lives around the real center of the universe--the Lord. In John's Gospel, Jesus gives us a sense of that urgency in the spiritual seasons. "You say there are still four more months until the harvest," he says, "but look around you! The fields are ripe for harvesting right now!" The Lord was not talking about the physical fields. For that, the disciples would have had to wait the four months until the crops ripened. No, Jesus was talking about the spiritual fields. Whatever season of life we are in, the fields are always ripe for harvest.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-zJHgaoVa4
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