Brown's Daily Word 3/25/16

 Praise the Lord for this GOOD Friday.  I spoke to some of my friends and family members overseas  this morning .  They are celebrating Good Friday services at various times and in various forms.  Some attend the services during the morning , some during the Midday, and some attend in the evening.  I spoke to  a couple of  dear friends, who live out of State.  Their son who was 50 years old died a few weeks ago.  Their daughter works and lives in Saudi Arabia.  They shared  that even though they are going through the grief over the death of their son the Lord, the risen Lord, has given them His peace.  Their daughter who lives  in Saudi Arabia will be celebrating her first Easter in Saudi Arabia.  I also spoke with our daughter, Laureen, who will be leading the Easter services at her church in Washington, DC.  We are planning on attending an Easter Vigil in our Neighboring Episcopal Church tomorrow evening, and will be attending the Sunrise service hoisted by the local Baptist Church.  We will be gathering for our Easter Celebration Sunday morning at 11:00 AM.  There will be special music along with praise dancing by the children.  This is our First Easter Service and celebration at our new Church.  We are excited and are thrilled to be here.  Those  of you who live in the vicinity, please join us  for a great celebration and worship.  It is going to be brilliant and beautiful.  Somehow Jesus, the Risen Lord, visits His people wherever they gather to worship Him.

    It is, indeed, Good Friday.  As I reflect on our Lord’s bitter sufferings and death on the cross, I  am reminded abut  a service in which communion was shared with a small group of people who had Downs Syndrome.  It was a Sunday evening service in a small local church.  That night one of the neighborhood nursing homes which cares for a group of adults with Downs Syndrome had brought them to the service.  Some in the church may have been distracted by their outbursts, laughter, and mis-timed amens.  The pastor was impressed and amazed by their simple childlike faith and genuine enthusiasm for hearing God’s word.

    When it came time for communion they  all gathered round the altar and the pastor began to make his circuit with the bread and the wine.  Communion was crowded that night.  The gathering was two deep.  Standing directly in front of the pastor, was one of the men from the nursing home.

    When the Pastor arrived at the  place at the altar he offered the bread to the man in  the front  and said “The Body of Christ broken for you.”  He then gave him the wine and announced, “The blood of Christ shed for you for the the forgiveness of all of your sins.”  Upon hearing these words the man blurted out, “For MY sins.  For MY sins.”  He sounded like he was being given a precious gift.  The joy in his voice rivaled the joy of any child I’ve ever seen on Christmas morning.  This man, in simple childlike faith actually believed the words spoken by the Pastor.  But they were not the Pastor’s words.  They were Christ’s words.  They were words of forgiveness.  They were words of good news.  That night this young man with the faith of a child believed the words of Christ and as a result he tasted the forgiveness of HIS sins.

    The scene that unfolded was powerful and glorious.  It was moving and uplifting. This man with Downs Syndrome preached a joyous three word sermon that night at the altar that ranks among the best sermons ever preached.  As I reflect on the event I am blessed and moved and humbled.  As we meditate this Good Friday upon our Lord and Savior bleeding, suffering, and dying on the cross, let our hearts turn to the simple words of this sermon preached by a man with Downs Syndrome; ‘For MY sins. For MY sins.”

 In Christ,

Brown

https://youtu.be/3M4uUJibpvw

Brown's Daily Word 3/24/16

Praise the Lord for His wondrous grace and amazing love that He lavishes upon us every day, every season.  The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering of fellowship and study.  I had a note from our daughter Laureen, who lives in Washington, DC, who shared that she walked to see the cherry blossoms in our nation's capital.  She said the flowers are in full bloom, luxuriant and stunning.  Our Lord makes all things glorious and colourful in His time.  Yesterday I spent some time gazing at the spring flowers and listening to the spring birds.  It was all sweet and ethereal.

    Praise the Lord for this Maundy Thursday.  Maundy Thursday, also known as “Holy Thursday,” is the Thursday of Passion Week, one day before Good Friday (the Friday before Easter).  Maundy Thursday is the name given to the day on which Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples.  This Passover meal is commonly known as the Last Supper.  Two important events are the focus of Maundy Thursday.

    First, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples and thereby instituted the Lord’s Supper, also called Communion (Luke 22:19-20).  Some Christian churches observe a special Communion service on Maundy Thursday in memory of Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples.  Second, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet as an act of humility and service, thereby setting an example that we should love and serve one another in humility (John 13:3-17).  Some Christian churches observe a foot-washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday to commemorate Jesus’ washing of the disciples' feet.

    The  image of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples is a very vivid one.  John  wrote, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him."

    When we read such detail in a Gospel passage, we can really begin to picture the scene in our minds.  Jesus' hands began taking the feet of his followers one by one -- each of them simple, uneducated folk, taking their dusty callused feet in his hands, pouring water over them, and then wiping them dry.  How he must have loved each of them.  How he must have agonized for them, because he knew that His time had come and His disciples still didn't understand.  He knew that one of these disciples whose feet he had washed would later share the bread and wine of the meal and then betray Him.

    In this incredibly poignant scene John understood that Jesus was teaching His followers, and ultimately each one of us, a very important lesson about our Christian witness -- about living the way God wants us to live.  Jesus, the consummate teacher, was showing His disciples that hospitality is basic to leading a Christ-like life and that hospitality is a basic ingredient of true servanthood.

    In one way, Jesus' disciples would have understood what Jesus was doing when He washed their feet since in the culture of that time, any good host would make sure his guests' feet were washed by a servant when they entered the house.  It would have surprised the disciples, however, that Jesus, the host,  was washing their feet.  That was part of Peter's objection to Jesus' washing his feet, but Jesus was showing his disciples that true hospitality goes much deeper than basic good manners.  In washing even Judas' feet, Jesus was extending hospitality and His acceptance even to the one who would betray him.  Even though Jesus crucifixion, Jesus didn't push him out of the community.  To the end, Jesus offered Judas a chance to change.

    Jesus told his disciples: I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.  Jesus says the same thing to each one of us, and if He could include Judas, shouldn't we think very seriously about those we find it all to easy to exclude?

    Many feet walk into our lives  every day - old, young, feet belonging to different races, the poor, children, the needy, the arrogant, the annoying, those whom we love and those whom we fear.  Whose feet would we be willing to wash?  Whose feet would we rather not touch at all?

    Jesus showed by his example that we really don't have a choice in the matter.. Washing each other's feet can be an intimately loving act, but we must also remember that there are other consequences of that unconditional love.  Though Judas didn't change his mind, Jesus generously offered His love to him, regardless.  Jesus loved and gave of Himself to the very end.  Today, Maundy Thursday, Jesus began His final way to the cross.

 In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/kJM0hFvz_64

Brown's Daily Word 3/23/16

Thanks be to Jesus for this new day.  We will gather for Mid-week study and fellowship this evening at 6:00 PM with a special meal followed by study at 6:30 PM.  I drove around the countryside yesterday, by the farm lands and meadows, hills, streams, and pastures.  I saw  cattle grazing unhurried and unafraid.  The Spring birds are out in strength, serenading and singing sweet melodies as   songs of praise to the Lord, the God of all creation.  I stopped by to see two farmers.  One of them is blessed to have over 700 acres of land where he and his son farm.  They have a dairy, but they also raise chickens and turkeys.  They produce their own maple syrup.  I feel a very keen affinity to farmers. 

    Some of our friends went hunting for razorbacks (wild boars) in the south.  They came home with a bountiful harvest.  One of the hunters shot a bobcat.  

    Praise the Lord for this wonderful world.  We continue to pray for His peace in all of the places, in all of the countries, where terror and violence rear their ugly heads.  We pray the Lord, the Lion of Judah, might destroy the strongholds of the enemy.  "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

    Dorothy Sayers, in a book of her essays entitled, "The Whimsical Christian", has one essay called “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged,” where she writes, “The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore — on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe.  It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium.  We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.” 

    I am amazed at Jesus’ ability to live without fear.  He stared it in the face and went on with his life.  I love the picture of strength in meekness that John paints of Jesus where he says, “The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing,and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:2-5).

    At the most dangerous hour of Jesus’ life, he calmly took the role of a servant.  He did this, as John said, knowing that “the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.”  Jesus knew the power he had (and continued to have).  He has the power to walk away from danger,  He has the power to destroy his enemies, He even has the power to blow up the universe, but He ignores what he could do to those who came to destroy Him, and chooses to concentrate on serving those whom He loves.  He does all this, even though it would look as though his enemies had won.  The Bible says, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things. . ."

 In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/63tsdDnJtdQ

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