Archive for the ‘Pastor’s Ponderings’ Category
December 14, 2011
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We went to Austin for the birth of our new granddaughter Georgia Ann. She’s named after Jane’s mother. The slide show is just a very few of the many pictures taken on phones and cameras. Baby and parents are at home now and getting settled in with the newest member of the household. I guess we all know who will be ruling the roost for a while. She is a beautiful little girl with a head full of dark hair. Tracie had that same kind of hair but we also hear that Jeremy had a head full too.
Monday I experienced some beginnings and endings. Tracie called Monday morning and said she was being admitted to the hospital and should have the baby early afternoon. The baby was born at 3:52pm. That was the beginnings and the endings were the funeral for Chuck Swiderski at noon. Chuck was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church here in Orange and it was my honor to preside over the funeral. The day was a reminder that we experience life and death everyday and we must prepare ourselves for all that life throws at us. While Georgia has her life ahead of her as a new beginning we see that Chuck lived his life in a way that left his children and grandchildren missing him with the ending of his life. As Christians we believe that Chuck has experienced a new beginning, a rebirth into a new body and a new life with our God and Jesus Christ our Savior. Our lives can be rewarding and so can our deaths. We just need to pay attention to the teachings of Jesus Christ and live our lives the best we can today, each and every day. Chuck did and he received his reward.
Tracie and Jeremy received a reward Monday as an expression of their love for each other. Georgia will continue to be a blessing to us all and we will do our best to raise her knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ. Baptism is in the works for this little girl, maybe even on Christmas day. Hope you all can be there.
God’s peace and blessings to all with prayers for a Merry Christmas all around,
Randy
Tags:Baptism, Birth, Christmas, church, death, God, growth, Jesus, Jesus Matthew Peter Spiritual growth, Luke, meditation, methodist, united
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December 8, 2011
Well it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around this Branch household. Lights up inside and out. Although the outside light display could use some work. I will try to get to that soon.
I like to think of the lights we all put up each year represents a lot more than our own pride in how many lights we can put up. Wouldn’t it be nice if the number of lights stood for the amount of light that shines through our hearts out into the world to represent Jesus Christ and the light He shines into the world. Wouldnt’ it be nice if our witness to our Lord and Savior was as bright as the lights we put up. Hmmm, just something to think about. The lights can be simple adornments for our home during the Holiday Season or they can say Merry Christmas, we believe in Jesus Christ.
Well any way how about having a Merry Christmas,
Randy
Tags:Christmas, Holidays, Jesus Matthew Peter Spiritual growth, lights, Merry
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November 22, 2011
This picture is of a sunset I took with my Iphone. In case you are wondering I seldom get up early enough now a days to get the beautiful sunrise pictures.
Last weeks lectionary scripture was from Matthew 25:31-46. Dust your Bible off and read it. Jesus comes and sits on His throne and gathers all the nations before Him and separates them as a shepherd would separate the sheep from the goats. The criteria for the separation was very simple. The ones on His right hand (sheep) were called to everlasting life because they gave a meal to someone who was hungry, a drink to someone who was thirsty, clothing to someone who had none, visited the sick and those in prison and welcomed a stranger. All very simple acts of help done by people because they saw or heard of someone in need. They acted in a way that Jesus approved of by just helping others. All of these very simple acts are vitally important to each of us. I would like to stress the importance of the one I listed last, welcoming a stranger. You know that old “love your neighbor” commandment that Jesus gave us. If we are good at welcoming then most likely that helping part will be a natural act for us. It is very important for us as Christian witnesses to the teachings of Jesus Christ to be open, warm, caring, giving and loving to our neighbors and strangers. Chapter 25 gives us three parables and at the end of each we see a warning of the judgement that Jesus will bring. Why not act as He suggests and make the world and eternity a much better place? Have you helped anyone including a stranger lately? He calls us to Help in simple ways.
God’s Peace and Blessings to all this Thanksgiving,
Randy
Tags:America, Bless, bridesmaids, Common, ethics, God, growth, integrity, Jesus, lamp, Lectionary, light, Lord's, Luke, Matthew, meditation, methodist, psalms, readings, Revised, Romans, Samuel, Scripture, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, spirit, spiritual, Spiritual growth, storm, study, Thessalonians, united
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November 12, 2011
Iwo Jima Memorial
I wrote this post yesterday and did not post it, so it is a day late for Veteran’s Day.
Lets all remember to give thanks to our Veterans and thanks to our God for their sacrifice. While we all know that war is a terrible thing and something that none of us want, we all know that it is a part of life. As long as we as human beings put self before others we will always have disagreements that lead to seperation and yes even war. While many factors come into play to get nations to the point of war, each one of us as Christ’s children are responsible for resisting the need for war. When a nation feels justified in the need for war then it’s population is responsible for supporting that nation in its efforts. Our Veterans answer that call to protect our freedom and our way of life. They deserve more than they get. The least we can do is thank them for the sacrifice they have made.
In our Matthew 25:14-30 Lectionary Scripture for this coming Sunday we hear Jesus tell us the parable of the talents. Money entrusted to three men. Two of those men take the money/talent and grow it into more. The third man hordes the talent he was given, afraid to take a risk. All three were rewarded for their efforts. Two were given more and one had everything taken from him. As Christians we are called to be a people who are willing to sacrifice some of our time, some of our money, some of the abilities that God has given us. When we ignore God’s call to take a risk, you know like step out on faith, we are denying that He is our God or at least denying Him in a part of our lives. While love is the driving force behind the ministry Jesus Christ has given us we also must remember the warning about being cast out into the darkness.
Soldiers in the armed services are asked to make sacrifices of time, money and abilities. Sometimes even their lives. If we believe in our God and His Son we too should be willingly to give of our selves even more.
Randy
Tags:America, Bless, bridesmaids, Common, ethics, God, growth, integrity, Jesus, lamp, Lectionary, light, Lord’s, Luke, meditation, methodist, psalms, readings, Revised, Romans, Samuel, Scripture, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, service, spirit, spiritual, Spiritual growth, storm, study, Thessalonians, united, veterans, war
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November 4, 2011
In Matthew 25:1-13 we hear Jesus tell us the parable of the Ten Virgins (bridesmaids) and the Bridal Party. Jesus again is speaking to the hard hearted, set in their ways, religious authorities. People who were afraid of the message that Jesus was bringing to them as the Messiah. Jesus uses this parable because it set a scene that all would recognize. A bridal party in Israel was something that everyone wanted to be a part of and looked forward to. Essentially what Jesus is telling the Pharisees and Scribes is that they have come to His party unprepared. There is no oil in their lamps (Holy Spirit) for the light that will show them the way into Heaven. Others cannot get that oil (Holy Spirit) for you. We each and everyone must find the love for God in our own hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to illumine our paths. When we succumb to the Holy Spirit’s leading ways we then will be able to see through the darkness of this world and go about our lives walking a path alight in God’s love and being a light to others. We are to be thankful that our God has given us an unlimited supply of oil for our lamps so that we will be ready for that eternity He has promised us. Our prayer, our study, our meditation and our involvement in the Church will give us more than enough oil through out our lives to give light to our paths and show others the light for their paths.
It was tradition in Jesus’s day to not know when the bridegroom would be coming. It could be at any time day or night. One never knew when the bridegroom would send someone out into the streets to announce his coming. We are to always be ready to hear the call or miss it and be left out in the darkness.
How is the oil level in your lamp? Our faithfulness in our prayers, study, meditation and Church life are signs of how well we are prepared or even that our lamp is lit.
God’s Peace and Blessings to all,
Randy
Tags:bridesmaids, church, growth, lamp, Lectionary, light, Matthew, meditation, methodist, oil, Prayer, Scripture, spirit, spiritual, united
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October 24, 2011
I borrowed this picture from Geowalk on my Ipad. The picture is of a tornado taken from what they called tornado alley. It made me think about the Thessalonian scriptures and the turmoil that must have been in the churches in Thessalonica. Paul’s words are meant to calm the storm. Just wondering what people see when they come into your church on Sunday. Do they get the sense that storm clouds are brewing.
Please read scripture from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8. It is from last weeks readings. This scripture reminded me of an article I read from my Leadership Bible. The article talks about Integrity and what it means to have integrity. I have copied the article below and I hope it tells each of you that it is vitally important for us to be like Paul. We must talk the talk and walk the walk. Too many people have used the excuse that there are nothing but hypocrites in Churches today. While we who are in church recognize that we are imperfect beings, we also know that we need to be working towards perfection.
When we talk about integrity today, we generally use other, closely related terms such as ethics and morality. But a clear understanding of the concept of integrity requires clear thinking about all three words. Each has a distinct meaning. When properly used, they bring clarity to a crucial but often misunderstood leadership essential:
Ethics refers to a defined standard of right and wrong; good and evil. It’s what we say we believe and do.
Morality is a lived standard of right and wrong, good and evil. It’s what we actually do.
Integrity means “sound, complete, integrated.” To the extent that a person’s ethic and morality are integrated, that person has integrity. To the extent that a person’s ethics and morality are not integrated, that person lacks integrity.
Lets look at this another way. If John tells you he will lie, cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that way, he also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has integrity-twisted as it may be-because the moral- ity is consistent with the ethic. If John claims to cheat and steal but doesn’t cheat and steal, he is moral in practice but lacks integrity, because his morality doesn’t match the ethic. Think about that a bit.
You can have a high or low ethic. You can be moral or immoral. Your choice. But if you want to have integrity, you must choose your ethic and live to match it.
The Bible teaches a high and holy ethic. A person who claims to be a Christian and to live by Biblical standards makes an ethical statement. He or she has committed to a certain morality. For that person to have integrity, then, he or she must live by the Biblical ethic. Jesus makes it unequivocally clear that the worst choice is the hypocritical one.
Lots to think about here. Have a blessed day and be at peace with who you are knowing that your efforts to grow spiritually will be rewarded based on how much effort you put into that growth. Meditation + study + prayer = Spiritual Growth.
Randy
Tags:cloud, ethics, growth, integrity, Lectionary, meditation, methodist, morality, morals, Prayer, Scripture, spiritual, storm, study, Thessalonians
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September 22, 2011
In our Bible Study last night we went over Matthew Chapter 7. The sunset above was taken outside of our fellowship hall a while back. While God’s natural beauty and His Word warms the heart, His Word also warns the heart. The scripture below is out of chapter 7 and is a part of the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus.
Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. Mat 7:22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ Mat 7:23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you evildoers!
Jesus reminds us here that it is not just lip service that He requires of us. We must believe with our hearts and not just our minds. We must be able to live our lives as Christians in a way that speaks our hearts to those who witness our lives every day. We must use our minds to study the Word, to learn the lessons and then allow our hearts to speak, to live those lessons learned in the Word.
Most of us at some time have been touched by the Holy Spirit and have given our lives to Jesus Christ. Some over time though will become influenced more by the world than by the Holy Spirit. He does give us a choice. Growth in our knowledge of God’s Will and in His Spirit are so important but do us no good if we don’t let it flow into our hearts and flow from our hearts into the world.
There is power in the name of Jesus Christ and Jesus is warning us about using that power without living our lives in a way that brings glory to God and to our Savior. There are people who use the name of Jesus to bring glory to themselves, for their own self-gratification, for the wealth and power His name can bring. Please pray for them and forgive them.
Have a blessed day and remember to pray for forgiveness to always be in your hearts,
Randy
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September 15, 2011
In my last post I mentioned “The Lord’s Prayer” and the forgiveness it requires of us. Please read it, meditate on it and note that Jesus feels it is so important to forgive He explains the forgiveness part. This scripture was copied from the International Standard Version.
Mat 6:9 “Therefore, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
Mat 6:10 May your kingdom come. May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us today our daily bread,
Mat 6:12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Mat 6:13 And never bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Mat 6:14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Mat 6:15 But if you do not forgive people their offenses, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”
Holding grudges, being spiteful, living a life where you are always ticked off at someone is not the life that brings us closer to God. Unforgiveness that we hold on to keeps us from growing spiritually and moves us in directions that God does not want us to go. Jesus knew this and gave us a daily prayer that would remind us of how important forgiveness is to us. Keep your faith walk in line with the scriptures and your walk will be in line with God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Pray this prayer like you mean it. Not just from rote memory. Jesus gave it to us because it is important and means something to each of us.
Have a blessed day by making it a day in which you practice forgiveness,
Randy
Tags:church, Common, Lectionary, Lord's, methodist, per, Prayer, readings, Revised, Scripture, united
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September 12, 2011
A sunset like this brings peace to my soul. Scenes like this remind me of the wonderful God Creator and His Peace filled Spirit.
Is forgiveness a word in your vocabulary? It is a word in Matthew 18:21-35. Peter thinks that he has gone well beyond what Rabbinic law calls for when he tells Jesus he should forgive a whole whopping 7 times. Rabbinic law says that you should forgive 3 times but not the fourth. Jesus’ response is Seventy Seven times or Seven times Seventy depending on the translation you are reading. Jesus then tells us about the king who forgives the debt of his servant. A debt that is of such large size that it is not possible for any one man to amass. When the king finds out that his servant would not forgive a very minor debt from someone else he has his servant arrested and thrown into prison to be tortured until repays that exorbitant debt.
This parable leaves no doubt that Jesus teaches us to forgive those who sin against us. We also see it in “The Lord’s Prayer”, you know the part about forgive me as I have forgiven those who sin against me. The life we lead has to be one of forgiveness. A forgiveness led life is a life that gives a very positive witness by not being bound up in hatred, prejudice, spite and vengeance. These very negative emotions are against all that Jesus teaches us and are absolutely not a part of the love walk we are all supposed to be a part of in the world God has given us.
Does unforgiveness routinely block your witness? Are there times when you actually say you hate someone? Are there times when you just want to get even? These are all results of unforgiveness and this is why Jesus speaks so often of forgiveness and loving your neighbor.
Forgiveness for some is easy and for others it is the hardest task we will ever be able to undertake. It is just not a natural action but a supernatural action that we can only make happen because the Holy Spirit is alive and working within our hearts, giving us the spiritual growth that allows us to resist our instincts toward the negative feelings. Keep strong in your faith, study your scripture and always know that forgiveness is the way of Jesus Christ.
Have a great day and be at peace with the world,
Randy
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September 3, 2011
In Matthew’s scripture reading from 18:15-20, Jesus is giving instructions to His disciples.
Mat 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and confront him while the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
Mat 18:16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two others with you so that ‘every word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Mat 18:17 If, however, he ignores them, tell it to the congregation. If he also ignores the congregation, regard him as a gentile and a tax collector.
Mat 18:18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven.
Mat 18:19 Furthermore, truly I tell you that if two of you agree on earth about anything you request, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
Mat 18:20 For where two or three have come together in my name, I am there among them.”
I believe Jesus is giving this instruction to His disciples and us as a last resort. Everything else Jesus teaches us is to help keep us from getting to this point in a relationship. Just a couple of examples are in the beatitudes. Matthew 5:5, “How blessed are those who are humble, for it is they who will inherit the earth!” and Matthew 5:9, “How blessed are those who make peace, for it is they who will be called God’s children!” Being humble and being a peacemaker are in the beatitudes because Jesus knew our human condition and our tendency toward pride and self serving righteousness. There are many other examples to give but to me these two are the most important. When we humble ourselves before our God, we humble ourselves before our brothers and sisters in Christ we will seek to live in peace and act out our most important call to be servants to each other. Being right or justified in our feelings becomes much less important as we see the way of peace and love Jesus teaches us.
Be strong in your faith and humble in your spirit. Bold in your efforts to share the “Word” with others while having a servant attitude. Faith, Hope and Love, Abide in these three but Love is the greatest.
Have a great Holiday weekend,
Randy
Tags:church, Common, Lectionary, methodist, per, readings, Revised, Scripture, united
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Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 