Father Abraham's Children (all of them)

  Each day I awake and think, "I don't have a clue!" A clue to what it really takes to be a child of God in this life. Each day I awake and wish I had enough faith to be a disciple of the Christ. You know a follower, one who tries to discipline themselves after the teachings of Christ Jesus. Historically they have been called Christians and God's people.
  Paul taught that a person is justified before God by faith,  independent from any obedience to the law. Baptism of any type, works, and any religious practices are only responses to our salvation. It is faith alone that saves us. For no one can confess Jesus as Lord except through the gift of faith from God's Holy Spirit.
  If we want such a faith, one that relies fully on God (like Abraham) and frees us from the pressure of trying to justify and save ourselves (religious law), we begin by admitting openly and honestly that none of us has enough faith (at least all the time) to either justify or save ourselves.  Our daily prayers are, "I believe. Help me in my unbelief." If we truly have faith we are praying each day to receive faith.
  Such a faith (trust in God's love) becomes possible when we put ourselves in a situation or position in which we hear and experience God's love over and over again. Such a place is in the middle of God's children, who are descendants of Father Abraham. They are the historical community of faith. Today we call it the church universal or people of God.
  In short each of us, who don't have a clue, admit our faith comes totally from God. It, not works, keeps us in the universal community of faith.
A community that includes all children of Abraham: Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, as well as their descendants.
  Christ Jesus acknowledged he came to fulfill the covenant of Abraham. Christians believe he was the worlds Passover lamb. As that lamb of God, Jesus made salvation by faith a reality for the people of Abraham. He was the Christ or Messiah in Jewish history.
  Do you acknowledge you do not have enough faith? Not a clue? If so you are on the first leg of being a descendant of Abraham. Do you accept the gift of faith from God, since on your own you have none? If yes, do you understand you now belong to the community of faith and are a member of the covenant people of God as was  promised to Father Abraham?
  If you so will you now put yourself into a position in that community where you must have faith? Where God can use you as a member of his covenant people. Those who totally rely on God to fulfill their call or purpose in life. Our Father Abraham did.
  Admitting you don't have a clue is the first act of humility. Humility is required if God is to ever use you, like he used Father Abraham. Even Jesus recognized this shining example of the faith God seeks in people. His life fulfilled this covenant relationship. As disciples we are to follow his example. So growth begins with, "I don't have a clue!"

Lent is a different view

  Tradition! Tradition! Sings the Fiddler on the Roof. And no season holds more tradition for the majority of Christians than the period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. There are five main traditions within this period: Ash Wednesday (which is Wednesday February 13th this year); Lent (40 days till Easter not counting Sundays); Palm Sunday (Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem); Holy Week (includes Maundy Thursday [Last Supper] and Good Friday [Crucifixion] ending with Easter (Resurrection).
   Ash Wednesday : The ashes remind us at the beginning of Lent that none of us have ever done a great work in the church. If the world applauds you for your Christian work, humility helps us to remember that it was work was done by God.  We just happen to be the instrument of choice at that particular moment. The ultimate humility of the ashes is a gentle reminder that we are not Gods and therefore we do not know what is best for others. We leave that to be between them and their God. The final sign of humility associated with the ashes is the words ashes to ashes spoken at most funerals. They remind us that no matter what we think about how great we are, it doesn’t mean a thing at death. Only God controls that part of our lives.
   Lent: Lent is the only path to Easter. It is a special time for prayer, meditation and confession.  During this period many people will fast in some fashion or another during the forty days till Easter. Sundays are not included in Lenten practices. By the way Lent comes from a Middle English term “Lente” or “Springtime.” Hence this is a period of spiritual renewal.
  Palm Sunday: This is a day when we remember in humility how Jesus made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The same people, who later cried “Crucify Him!” were standing on the sides of the rode waving palm branches. The waved palm branches to honor royalty. The shouted Hosanna, which means God save us!
  Holy Week: We remember the last week of Jesus on Earth. On Maundy or Whits Thursday we remember the last supper in the upper room and Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Friday is remembered as God’s Friday or Good Friday when Jesus was crucified. We believe he was the Passover Lamb for the whole world.
  Easter: This important season of tradition ends with celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, whom we declare to be the Christ.
  In summary we begin with humility, practice repentance and a renewal of our spiritual nature, experience the work and sufferings of Jesus, and end with a victory over death! It is a unique time and yes it is something we should do all year long. However, we are human and it is good to have special days during the year.

What is an inauguration?

January 20 has an interesting history to a word always used on that day - inauguration. This history might help you understand what is said at any inauguration in our nation's capital. It has helped me better understand some of my favorite inauguration remarks. We'll look at those after scanning the history of the word inauguration.
  In ancient Rome, an "augur" foretold the future by observing the flight of birds. The augur's method of forecasting reflected the root of the word, which at that time meant literally "One who performs with birds." It evolved into the verb "inaugurare" or "foretell the future from the flight of birds." This verb was applied to the installation of someone in office after the appropriate omens had been determined. Since then we have lost the association of this action with forecast or birds.
  But let me suggest that the original intent of those ancients is quite appropriate today. Words spoken by several of our Presidents have seem to be for the birds (sometimes eagles, other times Dodo birds) and indicators of where our nation was headed at the time. It also in retrospect forecasted what our nation was about to face.
  The one closes to my heart was John F Kennedy, even though he kept the Corps of Cadets standing in freezing weather for two hours before he made his belated entrance. Once he found his position on the podium he uttered his famous eagle words, "Ask not what you country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." JFK seem to recognize that our nation was heading toward being a society in which individuals expected the government to take care of them. He was saying look to serve, not to be serve.
  Other birds (turkeys) of our nation were outraged at JFK's remarks as an "augur" and before his term was up they silenced his voice. Since then we have become a nation heavily influenced with me first people. Industrial leaders are me first when the give or receive huge incomes and bonuses for being fired or doing an average job. Poor people are me first people when the lose all incentive to pull themselves up by their own boot straps. The average citizen is a me first person, when they say to heck with being evolved in life and curl up on the couch with their remote control.
  Inauguration day can be a day when we forecast the future by watching the birds. Remember the words of Harry S Truman? "The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony." Dwight D. Eisenhower reminded us that, "whatever America hopes to pass into the world must first come to pass in the heart of America." Eagles speaking at a time when this nation was seeking to be eagles, a nation of self sustained people.
  Today let us hope that the President from Hawaii sees a bright future for us after observing our flight in life. Does this President see us as a nation seeking to soar to new and greater heights? Does he see us concerned with not only other people, but the preservation and development of our resources. Resources that stretch from what we find in the ground to what we find in the people and from industry to education and from service to technology.
  If President Obama sees this in our nation, then we must fly with him to new heights far above any self centered political agendas promoted by the turkeys in our society. You know the ones, they say things like "Me, me, me, me, me," and could care less about "you, you, you, you, you." If our augur can see the eagles, it will be a great four years. If not it will be four years of turkey baloney.
  As a patriot who believes in Duty, Honor, Country I pray the Republican and Democratic eagles take us to new heights and don’t let the any of the Republican or Democratic turkeys drag us down. Let this inauguration lift us as a nation, so we can again soar with wings of eagles in the future!

New Age of Sense and Sensibility!

My 2012 Christmas Message: New Age of Sense and Sensibility!
     I waited until today, December 22, 2012 to write my Christmas Message. After all if the Doomsday people had been correct, there would be no Christmas 2012. But I believe and pray that the Mayans were correct in that today is the first day of a new era! And what I pray about that new era is that this world that has gone mad with greed and hatred would return to being a world of Sense and Sensibility.
    Just think what it would be like to have leaders in government, religion, finances, business, education, military, marketing, entertainment and every other profession show us common folk some good old fashion common sense and sensibility about decency about everything.  Instead of “what’s in it for me?” let it be, “what does this do for my neighbor?”
    In my faith my Holy Scripture teaches in John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And Jesus’ basic message was we are called to respect our fellow beings on this planet we call Earth. Respect regardless of the differences to us. Respect as to their well being in regards to my acts and belief in life.
    This Christmas let us make our gift the acceptance of a new era, as predicted by the ancient Mayans, and live lives that reflect Sense and Sensibility in all things! If we can maybe Christmas will last all year long! Have a Great New Year and a New Era!

Holy Days and Pagan Days

  It’s that time of the year. Where do we draw the line between “Christian” and “pagan” customs, such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter? These three more popular special days all have a connection to some “pagan holiday” in terms of time of the year and the kind of celebration. The only holy day (holiday) that is nearly pure in its Christian origin is Pentecost (A Jewish Holy Day), which celebrates the birth of the first church.
  So what should I do about these pagan slanted days and my own faith? Should I support them, boycott them vigorously, ignore them, or keep them in perspective with my faith and ethics?
  In my youth I understood from my particular church that they were against a or any special day for celebrating Christmas, and if I recall, it also felt the same about Easter. I don’t recall anything big about Halloween. Our town always had a great big Halloween party on Front Street with awards for best kinds of costumes, vats to dunk for apples, cider and powdery donuts, and lots of pumpkin jack-o-lanterns.
  But even though our church didn’t celebrate Christmas and Easter, almost all of the members did. We just looked upon it as a cultural holiday. As I have matured, I have seen how that distinction has greatly expanded. Christmas and Easter are Special Marketing seasons for American retailers. Their coffers have benefitted from these celebrations. Our economy depends upon them.
  When was Jesus born? Exactly what happened at Easter? Neither question is of concern to the retailers celebration. That is why in most Churches we take a special evening and a special morning to celebrate these events within the walls of our church. That is my major separation.
  Paul taught the followers of Christ that they are in the world, but not of it. So my special religious events are celebrated with my own people, and I don’t impose them on others.
  In turn I can pick and choose within my own society or culture which special days I want to celebrate and which ones I don’t. It is the same option I had when I lived in or visited other countries. I found some of the Greek, Mexican, German, and Israeli holidays to be great fun! I enjoyed getting to know the people in the places where I traveled. I never once took on their celebrations as my own.
  The same is true in my own country. When I walk around and feel surrounded by the retail Christmas, which starts in early October, I don’t take them on as my own. They are popular, so somebody must like them.
  I don’t believe there can ever be a culture totally based on one set of religious standards. Ever where I look, I see “religious based countries” with deep religious divisions within themselves. Unfortunately the religious bullies try to reign over the others, and ruin it for all. I see this today in the major Moslem movements throughout the world. They don’t care to share their space with anyone different.
  So where do I draw the line between religious and cultural celebrations? I keep the religious ones within my religious body, and pick and chose which cultural ones I will celebrate. Let’s see I love chocolate bunnies, powdered donuts, and cider. I hate the loneliness and stress I see in people around our retail orientated Christmas, because suicides increase and people go deep in debt to satisfy children seduced by clever marketing tools. It is a season of depressions of all kinds.
  In my life there is no line needed between pagan and Christian, because they are two separate worlds. In my spiritual world a man’s word is honored. It ain’t so in the one where I now live.

Angels Are Real But Not Like the Paintings
Angels are a hot topic these days for TV and publishers. It isn’t uncommon to hear conversations about whether or not people even believe in angels.
  Discussions, such as that, are a waste of time. But it would be the same in a laboratory if someone asked do we believe in atoms. No one has ever seen them, so why can’t we question it? Growth in the scientific world is built upon collected data. As long as the data supports previous conclusions we can continue accepting it as a fact, not a belief. Believing says, “I hope this or that.” Fact says, “I know this much to be true.”
  In Hebrew the word is malak. In Greek the word is angelos. Both words  mean messenger. I don’t mean I believe they mean messenger, I know from fact they mean messenger. Their most common use in Scripture denotes spiritual and superhuman beings, who are messengers from God. There are only a few books of the 66 books in the Bible that do not mention these messengers (malak or angelos): Ruth, Nehemiah, Esther, the epistles of John and James. The doctrine of these messengers or angels became more distinct in the later periods of Jewish history. Angels are more significant in the New Testament writings. Angels appear more frequently with the coming of Jesus, whom we call Lord.
  According to Jesus (Joshua in Hebrew) angels are personal, sinless, immortal beings, existing in great numbers, and in close relation with individuals and the history of the kingdom of God. They appear to us in human form. We know little of the history of the angels themselves.
  The denial of the existence of Angels comes from attempting to define them with natural or physical laws or facts. If in a research laboratory we attempted to define something in the chemical arena with laws of physics we would produce a lot of confusion and misunderstandings. Any theories derived from this method would be wrong and incomprehensible. The first thing in all growth of knowledge is to establish a basic truth in a particular arena and build on it.
  To comprehend angels or messengers from God, it is important to understand the foundation of their existence is in the spiritual realm, the realm beyond space and time. In my tradition we happen to call that the kingdom of God. Scripture for me is like the laboratory notes of other people. It is their understanding and conclusions built upon what others before them have discovered about the kingdom of God. Some theologians call this revelations, and I agree.
  In Scripture angels have real value to humans. They force us to widen our view and understanding of God's creation. They give us a better insight into the position of Christ. They give us a glimpse into the other world. The are an example of how God's perfect joy works. They also remind us of the high rank of human beings. Angels deliver us messages from God. Not speculations or opinions, but direct revelations of something God wants us to know. In a manner of speaking,  God simply eliminated the middle man (prophet) so there will be no misunderstanding.
Sunday, Dec 23, for the vast majority of Christians around the world is the Angel Sunday of Advent. It celebrates the direct revelation that the Messiah was being born that day. Not if you believe. It declares we believe for a fact the Messiah was born. Period! End of Story! Now build on that information or fact. Thank God for angels. If God had chosen to bring that information through inspiration to a human, we would have studied it six ways to Sunday and split seventy different ways in our interpretation. In the end nothing new would have come out of it except a lot of books stating opinions as fact. Thank God for angels. The angel that resides and oversees us agrees!    

Time for new Eagles

Two recent conversations struck me funny. One person asked, "How do you know which group is God’s people?" The other asked, "Who calls a person to be a pastor? the people? the elders? or God?" Answers to both questions depend upon your view of religion. Is it a personal or corporate thing? This little story may clarify.
There were two baby eagles in the nest, all alone for several days. Their parents went to forage for food and never returned. Perhaps they were now trophies displayed in some great hunters den. Meanwhile the eaglets realized they were now on their own. They must do something if they were to survive.
It was a big drop over the side of the nest. But they must risk it. It would be their first flight. As the went into the air their wings weren’t strong enough to give them flight, but enough to gently take them to the ground. They landed near the edge of the forest where a flock of turkeys were assembled.
Now, how many of you know that turkeys always stay in a flock. The focus of their lives is pecking out a daily living. They are short sighted, so they never plan ahead. When there is danger they run for cover. Once a turkey always a turkey.
But as turkeys go, this flock that was assembled were a nice bunch. As a group they were very friendly. They looked out for one another. They had compassion for the baby eagles, who had landed. So they raised and nurtured them to be good little turkeys. They taught them to focus on earning a daily living and fitting into the group. The little eaglets, also were taught not to take risk or challenge authorities. As they grew they became very good at keeping their beaks to the grindstone. Even their religious views remained inward, regional and self-serving. The good little turkey eaglets helped the leaders maintain control over the entire flock. The future seemed secure and all was right in the world. Or so it seemed.
One day one of the turkey eaglets, who was now a pastor, was fired from his job. The elders thought he was getting to big for his feathers, when he begin to examine and question certain traditions in the church. At the same time, the other turkey eaglet asked his pastor if God ever talked to him and if so, how did the pastor know it was God talking. The pastor was very upset with his question and told him not to concern himself with that question. The elders would decide for him.
Days later the two young turkey eaglets were walking near the edge of the forest. Both were filled with despair. Inside them they ache to learn more about God. More then just what was found in books written by turkeys. While they were good little turkeys inside, there still beat the heart of an eagle inside.
As they walked they noticed a great bird soaring high in the sky. Eagles can see far ahead and always forage for food for the days ahead. When there is trouble they rise far above it and only swoop down for survival. As they watched they heard, "Who, who!" When they looked up they saw a wise old owl. In life, we are fortunate to meet such beings filled with wisdom.
The old owl asked if they knew who that was soaring so high in the sky. They anxiously said they did not. The owl replied that it was an eagle, the greatest bird in the sky. The turkey eaglets were awestruck. The owl asked if they knew they were just like that bird. Oh no! They were good little comfortable turkeys with degrees from good turkey schools. You know the ones that teach people to be exactly like everyone else.
But their curiosity got the best of them. Perhaps their eagle hearts pumped a little faster. They asked how they could know for sure if they were in fact like the great soaring eagle. The wise teacher told them to go out of the forest into the field and begin flapping their wings. So they did. As they stretched and flapped the turkeys in the forest were highly agitated. How could they go against tradition and all the elders wisdom? As the flapped they slowly begin to rise and as they rose they got braver and braver. As they got braver they flew higher and higher, until they were soaring like the great bird. They had become eagles! Each of us has to live with turkeys, but we don’t have to let them keep us from soaring like eagles.
God calls pastors to congregations. The elders may examine and determine the terms of call. The people may confirm God’s call on a person. But, only God can take a person away. The elders may ask it, but only the people can confirm it. Of course, I write of eagle style organizations and not the ones run by turkeys.
God speaks to people and only those people know if God is speaking to them. How? If it comes true it must have been from God. If not it wasn’t. Do I speak the word of God? Only time determines if a person was a eagle. Most eagles in the Bible, and particularly the chief eagle, were rejected by the religious turkeys of their day. But eagles don’t acted on things according to how turkeys will react. They act on things because that is what they feel God wants them to do. And until they act they will never know if it was from God. That doesn’t scare eagles, but it frightens the heck out of turkeys.
The world is in a great disarray over the religious conflicts scattered all over the planet. Why? The turkeys are in control and the eaglets are either afraid or indifferent. Why? Greed? Power? Fame? Or anyone of the thousands of underlying motivations of sin.
Its time foe a modern day Abraham or Moses to say, "Lets flap our wings and rise above these turkeys."
(I want to thank an old friend a Southern Baptist preacher and author for the basics of the turkey eagle story. His name is Peter Lord. He told me to say, "This is Lord’s story!")