Archive for the ‘Pastor’s Ponderings’ Category
March 31, 2013
How Does the Resurrection Affect Your Life?
Father Basil Pennington, a Roman Catholic monk, tells of an encounter he once had with a teacher of Zen. Pennington was at a retreat. As part of the retreat, each person met privately with this Zen teacher. Pennington says that at his meeting the Zen teacher sat there before him smiling from ear to ear and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally the teacher said: “I like Christianity. But I would not like Christianity without the resurrection. I want to see your resurrection!”
Pennington notes that, “With his directness, the teacher was saying what everyone else implicitly says to Christians: You are a Christian. You are risen with Christ. Show me (what this means for you in your life) and I will believe.” That is how people know if the resurrection is true or not. Does it affect how we live?
And we have to ask ourselves, How does the life I lead reflect the resurrection of Christ in my life? When I interact with others in my daily life do those around me see someone resurrected or do they see someone with bitterness, hatred and no hope? We choose! We choose the resurrected life or we choose the life that leads to death!
On this Easter morning make a choice….
Tags:Christ, Easter, faith, hope, resurrection, teacher, zen
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March 28, 2013
Another interesting look at Holy Week and how we deal with it or not!!
The Tomb Is Easier than the Cross
In just a matter of days Holy Week takes us from the mountain of festive palms to the mountain of Golgatha’s despair. And that is why we resist it so. I mean, do we really need the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week? What’s so wrong with just jumping from one parade to the next and skipping all the sacrifice and death stuff? What’s wrong with simply moving on to the joy of Easter, with its white bonnets, Easter eggs, family, friends, big ham dinner, and of course the empty tomb.
Well, I think we know the answer to that. For starters, an empty tomb, at face value, is a lot easier to deal with than a dying, bleeding Savior on a cross. Add to that all the pain and suffering that comes with Holy Week, is it any wonder that the human tendency is to try and ignore the events of the week and simply move on to the Easter celebration? But as much as we’d like to skip Holy Week we know that the only way to Easter is through the cross. We know where the parade of Palm Sunday leads and we also know that we’re part of that parade. That is to say, we know this intellectually. Our hearts are another story. Our hearts may be more in sync with the disciples and the fear and disbelief that led them to run away. It would seem that 2000 years later Jesus’ disciples are still running away.
Jeffrey K. London
Tags:church, easter celebration, human tendency, jesus disciples, methodist, religion, theology, united
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March 26, 2013
If I Can Be the Donkey…
Corrie Ten Boom was a famous Christian whose testimony of suffering in Nazi concentration camps and God’s grace through it all touched millions of lives. A few years ago, in a press conference following a ceremony in which Corrie Ten Boom was given an honorary degree, one of the reporters asked her if it was difficult remaining humble while hearing so much acclaim. She replied immediately, “Young man, when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments in the road and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?” She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in his glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”
About the Donkey
People often speak of donkeys in belittling terms. You may have heard the expression, “I’m just someone who has to do all the donkey work.” Or “So-and-so is as stubborn as a mule” (a mule is part donkey).
These sayings overlook the contributions of a truly valuable animal. Donkeys have served the human race for thousands of years. They were once prized as symbols of humility, gentleness, and peace.
In Bible days, donkeys that had never been ridden were regarded as especially suitable for religious purposes. So it was most fitting that Jesus sent for a colt to perform the royal task of carrying Him into Jerusalem. How enviable was that donkey’s mission! How like our mission as Jesus’ followers!
A missionary in China calls herself “the Lord’s donkey.” She’s a humble believer, “carrying” her Lord faithfully into town after town and training others to do likewise. The Lord has need of many such “donkeys” in today’s world, humble people who will carry Him into their Jerusalem and make Him known.
The donkey had to be untied before Jesus could use it. We too must be released from worldly attachments if we are to serve Christ. Are we willing to be the Lord’s donkey?
Tags:donkey work, Jesus, methodist, nazi concentration camps, religion, stubborn as a mule, theology, united
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March 25, 2013
I ran across this article or lead in to a sermon and found it really does apply to so many of us. Read it and meditate on it. Ask yourself what it is that Jesus Christ will save you from when you call on His Name?
Pastor Randy
Save Us
When we wave our palms and boldly cry out, “Hosanna,” do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from? Save me from anger. Save me from cancer. Save me from depression. Save me from debt. Save me from the strife in my family. Save me from boredom. Save me from getting sent back to Iraq. Save me from the endless cycle of violence. Save me from humiliation. Save me from staring at the ceiling at three a.m. wondering why I exist. Save me from bitterness. Save me from arrogance. Save me from loneliness. Save me, God, save me from my fears.
In viewing Palm Sunday from that angle, we can begin to see the potential for some real depth in this celebration, for embedded in our quaint pageantry is an appeal to God that originates in the most vulnerable places inside of us; and it bubbles, almost beyond our control, to the surface. “Hosanna.” “Save us.” Please God take the broken places that will tear us apart and make them whole. We beseech you, God, jump into the water and drag our almost-drowned selves to shore. “Save us.” “Hosanna.”
Scott Black Johnston, Save Us
Tags:church, Common, devotional, God, Jesus, light, Lord's, love, methodist, Spiritual growth, united
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February 20, 2013
Luke 9:37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 9:38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 9:39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 9:41 Jesus answered, “You faithless and twisted generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 9:42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 9:43a And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
In our lectionary scripture for February 24th we see Jesus coming down from the mountain top where He was transfigured and where His disciples witnessed His visit with Moses and Elijah. What a scene that must have been. An experience that must have really left an impression on Peter, James and John. Yet we read in the scripture above that the disciples were asked to perform a healing by casting out the evil spirit from the child. They could not cast Him out. Only Jesus could accomplish the miracle.
What does Jesus find in todays churches? Does He find the same kind of disciples? You know the faithless and twisted generation! Would He find folks who were willing to come to church occasionally to satisfy the most basic leading of the Holy Spirit? Would He find people who would hear sermons week after week on His teachings and not change a thing about the life they were leading? Would He find people who would hear Him saying that miracles are possible if only you believe, have faith and live your life in a manner that says there is a God who loves us more than we can imagine? A God who has experienced the most heart rending tragedy that we can imagine, the torture and death of His only Son. You see, it is often that very tragedy in our human lives that keeps us from believing and praying for miracles for others. Prayer did not work for me! Why should I pray when God did not heal the one I was praying for?
I do not have answers for all the questions that can be asked about every scenario that can play out in our lifetimes here on earth but I do know God allows us to bend our will in many directions. We can use our will to follow all that this world and the evil in it offers or we can use our will to follow a God and Savior that tell us they know the suffering and heart ache we experience and they are willing to love us through it. Our prayers are heard and just as we cry out to God to hear us and answer our prayers, God is crying out to us to hear His response to our prayers.
Are you listening???????? Or, are you part of that faithless and twisted generation??????????
Pastor Randy
Tags:faith, faithful, Luke, Prayer, twisted, worship
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February 18, 2013
Pete Kendall and Debi Adair are now Mr. and Mrs. Pete and Debi Kendall. We had their wedding at Wesley on Saturday the 16th of February.
It is always a blessing to preside over a wedding. We at Wesley wish Pete and Debi the very best blessings upon their new life together and this new chapter of their life as they move to Johnson City.
They are taking Colleen Adair, Debi’s mother with them and she will be missed here at Wesley. Colleen has been a lay speaker for many years and has a heart for God. We wish Colleen the best blessings on this new phase of her life too.
I will call ahead of the visit we will make this summer. Colleen I hope you have some pies cooked up and ready to eat!
Pastor Randy
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February 10, 2013
If you read these scriptures on what the Church calls Transfiguration Sunday you can get a sense of what our Church has been teaching for so many centuries. As we allow God to work within our hearts and minds we become transformed. For so many of us that transformation takes moments and for others it takes years. For so many of us we fall back into our human habits and ways and then feel God’s work within our hearts and minds and turn back to Him. This transformation experience for us as Christians means we grow in love for all the humanity that God has placed us in and we do it in our own times and way. We go through our daily lives living each moment making choices. Will He lead us or will our human will lead us? The more we practice following God’s will as taught in the New Testament we will grow in our thoughts, habits and practices of living a life of love for all of our brothers and sisters in this world.
A question for all of us to continually ask ourselves is:
Is God transforming me into the person Jesus Christ teaches us to be? Do one good deed today, say one kind word today, pray one selfless prayer today in the name of Jesus Christ and the answer will be a resounding yes!
Have a blessed new week in the name of Jesus Christ
Randy
Tags:church, growth, humanity, Jesus, love, methodist, spiritual, sunday, Transfiguration, united, Wesley
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January 22, 2013
Pray that your hearts will be open to the love that Jesus Christ brings to each of us. The following are a couple of illustrations I came across. One is from C.S. Lewis’s writings and the other is relayed by Pastor J. Allan Petersen:
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”
Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. “I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.” Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan “Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.” With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, “Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!” And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting “as if.” For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn’t return, Crane called. “Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?” “Divorce?” she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him.” Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds.
When we remove our natural tendencies to dislike, be hurt, be jealous and retaliate we truly are being the people Jesus Christ calls us to be.
Pastor Randy
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January 1, 2013
I hope everyone has a blessed New Year. I also hope that each and every one will seek out peace in their own hearts. Finding that peace, that only belief in God can bring, is the only way to find the peacemaker in your own hearts. As Christians we sometimes forget that there are things in and of this world that we hold onto. What seems to hold us back the most are our own opinions and inability to see that others have deeply felt opinions. Finding peace within our own hearts, that peace which surpasses all understanding, helps us to find ways and words that allow us to live in peace and in love with others. We must however always remember that we are all on our own walk with God and we are not all at the same mileage checkpoint. Be gracious to all in the New Year and keep moving in your walk with your Savior.
Peace to all throughout the New Year,
Pastor Randy
Tags:earth, God, hearts, Jesus, New Year, opinions, peace
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December 24, 2012
Merry Christmas to all!!! I truly hope all will find in this Christmas the Joy, Hope, Peace and Love that the four Sunday’s of Advent are all about. The Joy in the anticipation of the Savior for all people coming, bringing us Hope for our future, Peace in our lives because we Love our God and our neighbor. There is a link below with a video message from the United Methodist Texas Conference Bishop, Janice Riggle-Huie. I hope that all of you will spend a few moments watching this video with her message for this Christmas Season.
Have a blessed Christmas and a blessed New Year in 2013,
Randy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xsPehaNohgk
Tags:Christmas, Eve, hope, Jesus, joy, love, peace, UMC, united methodist church
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Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 