We care for you...

 That is easy to say but very hard to do, because it is usually required at the least convenient time and place in our lives. It’s not what we want to do when we want to do it. See the problem?

Caring for another is grueling, tiring hard work. Just as the mother of a sick toddler. Ask her how she was feeling too. She will probably tell you a story like this. Elizabeth (now 24) was two or three and bouncing off the walls feeling good. The problem was Barbara and I had the flu at the same time. Both had fever aches and pains we were miserable. Elizabeth was fine. Do you see the problem? We would bargain with each other as to who would get up and take care of her this time fixing her lunch or cleaning her up or whatever. It was great for her but bad for us. Caring for another is easy to say but hard to do. Usually it’s not convenient.

The other morning as I was picking up children on the bus route I stopped in a usual spot in front of the house of two children. An adult who I later found out was an uncle came to the bus to say they had gotten up late and were putting on their shoes. I asked how long that would be and he replied, “Five or ten minutes.” Now I can’t wait for 5 or 10 minutes and the children can’t wait that long either. So, I asked if he could meet me at a later stop. The man replied he had “no wheels.” I looked at the two trucks in the driveway and rolled my eyes as I looked away. Yes, I know not very Jesus like but I did it. I was about to say “I’ve got to go,” when in my ear was the word GRACE. You see that is what I had been thinking about earlier and praying about. Now I was going to have to extend some, UGH. Did I mention it’s usually not convenient? So somewhat unwillingly I agreed to come back around in 5 or 10 minutes and pick them up. That would delay the children already on the bus on time etc. and the children waiting to get on the bus too. They would not be late to school just a little later than normal. I came back around and there are the children ready to go. Grace extended yes grudgingly and yet I had received similar grace by other bus drivers for my own children previously. End of story, not quite yet. That afternoon I stop in front of the house to let them off and no parent, no trucks and no signs of life at all. The children are too young to get off by themselves so I ask the school to call the parent. The radio crackles and the school was unable to contact any parent. The children had to go back to the school to be picked up by a parent later. I guess it was just one of those days for them. It became one of those days for me.

I would just rather preach to you to extend grace to others. I would rather not have to do it and be inconvenienced. I would rather it be when it was good for me than to rearrange my schedule. I would rather they be worthy of it or deserving of it by my standards. I would rather…Do you see the problem?

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. 1 John 4: 7-8 The Message

The problem is I want them to conform to me (God and others) rather than me conforming to them (God and others).  That is the problem for all of mankind. It’s a problem and all too often seen all too often.

Grace has a way of covering that up by erasing sin and freeing us to live free and allow others to live free. 

Grace is how God cares for us and how we are to care for you.

When practiced, it really is amazing!                       

In His Service and Yours

The Rev

He cares for us...We Care for You

 Seems like a simple statement. He cares for us. Well…it is simple but for many it is so hard to believe. I guess because we define care by our needs and wants.

In pre-marital counseling I talk with couples about their love languages. What gestures, words actions make them feel loved by their mate? It is usually the simple touch or a note in the day or phone call just to find out how they are that makes one feel loved. It’s a good exercise to share with your spouse especially after a number of years because needs and desires change over time and maturity. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus and those two planets often collide over this “feeling loved” issue. Why?

Because we often express our love like we would like to be loved. Do unto others as you would have them do to you is the golden rule but our method causes problem. Let me explain it like this if your spouse only spoke Japanese and your only speak Gullah (a language of the islands of coastal South Carolina) there would be a problem. Each of you could say I love you in your own language because that means so much to you but neither would understand the expression. You don’t speak the same language. However, if you moved past your language and learned to say “I love you” in your mates language. They would understand and appreciate the effort. They would feel more loved.

Recently I heard a message about the paralyzed man with four friends and Jesus. Jesus was teaching a packed house when the roof began to chip and crumble on their heads. These four friends had to get their friend to see Jesus. He could heal his legs and the only way to get him in front of Jesus literally was through the roof so that is what they did. They dug through the dirt and mud expanding the hole one dirt clod at a time until it was big enough to lower their friend on his mat before Jesus. Can you image the disruption below in the house? Jesus had to stop because all eyes were turned above to see what was happening.

It was happening; the mat came down in fits and starts, no Hollywood special effects or levitation. A little more here and there on this side and then that, it must have been frightening to the crowd and the paralyzed man to experience the process. The mat stops right in front of Jesus and he says,

Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2 NIV 1984.

If you were the man on the mat what might you be thinking? “What the….? I need my legs healed so I can walk! What is this about sins?” You might have a hard time believing God cares for you when he did not even meet your immediate need! You might think that because we score how others care for us from our needs and wants. But God looks first to the most important and not the most immediate. The most important thing for each of us is forgiveness of our sins. Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter of sin and forgives what a blessing.

That’s just like God to act from his authority to extend the blessing of grace first and then to give us a task. Jesus does that here. He then goes on to say “get up take your mat and go home.”  Matt. 9:6 NIV 1984. The man did just that. He obeyed the task Jesus gave him after the blessing of grace.

God has cared for you from before the beginning. The blessing of grace came BEFORE the task before me. My tasks are not necessary to gain the blessing it has already been given. That is how God has cared for us as so what will we do in response to this grace? Jesus said for us to care for others. As we have experienced God’s care then care for others. What about extending grace first and then explaining the task at hand? He cares for us…We care for you!        

In His Service and Yours

The Rev

The year started slowly...

…it picked up the pace soon afterward. This year we started slow as Barbara and I without children or pets went off for 6 days with no schedule or obligations. I have never done that before. It was good with lazy days and lazy nights. However, all good things must come to an end. In my family every new year picks up the pace with our wedding anniversary (30 years this year) the 7^th, Geoff’s birthday (17 years) on the 8^th and my mother’s birthday on the 11^th (89 years).

Several challenges came to the surface by the 5^th with the church. That adds to the pace of life as well. A new year also brings the hope of new opportunities and possibilities. “Oh the places you will go,” Dr. Seuss wrote in a book I use for graduate gifts. It is true of each of us as well. Yet, we become consumed with our situation or our perceived situation instead of the reality of who we are and whose we are.

Sunday in a message series titled WHY? I spoke of what motivates us to do what we do. Often we are motivated solely by our needs. Many “get religion” when they are in trouble, a hard time or a tight spot. God is so real and so close because we need him to be. Our need there again motivates us. Soon afterward we move away back to our “real” life apart from God and the closeness we previously enjoyed. Those needs often include our fears of failure, rejection and acceptance.

God has spoken to all of our needs and fears in his presence. His presence brings light and life to our darkness. As we remain near his presence we remain in his holiness. Paul writes in Romans 8:31 (The Message) “With God on our side like this, how can we lose?” IN other words WE WIN. Have you considered that? No matter what God has accepted us! I remind you of Paul’s words

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV 1984

 That means acceptance no matter what. God knew our disposition and desperation and still died for us in spite of us. WE WIN NO matter what!

This morning I was speaking to a gentleman whose grandfather is near the end of his life. The cancer has progressed and the young man said they are praying for a miracle of healing or for God to take the grandfather. I thought about that and said you can just pray for healing. If he live he is healed if he dies he is healed (whole and holy). You see the grandfather is a believer. Either way he wins. You know Paul said,

 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 NIV 1984

WE WIN!

No matter what in Christ WE WIN!

Let’s live 2013 like WE WIN!

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? Romans 8:31 The Message

WHY? Because WE WIN!

In His Service and Yours

The Rev