Posts Tagged ‘Common’
Lectionary Scriptures for 4-19-15
April 13, 2015Lectionary Scriptures for Sunday 4-12-15
April 6, 2015Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
March 25, 2013I 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
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
June 18, 2012I was just thinking about the Twelve Commandments or is it maybe thirteen. You do remember Jesus telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves? Of course those would be eleven and twelve but where is thirteen? Well let’s look in John 15:12 where Jesus tells us “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you!” You may be thinking that they all say we should love each other and that loving God and loving our neighbor are actually a part of the original Ten. I would say that Jesus made sure that we knew the original Ten were essential and if we were not following His love commandments we would not be using the glue that holds them all together. Remember from Mark:
Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Mar 12:30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Mar 12:31 The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
So love would be essential to all that we do and who we are as Christians and is punctuated in John 15:12 with “love one another as I have loved you.” He is telling His disciples that love is what will hold His Church together. Can you see now how important love is to our Christian beliefs? Can you also see how divided the Christian church is? Do you think that love is left out of the equation in the differences we have in our denominations and the teachings that divide us? Yes, I think there is much hatred and bigotry “exclusiveness” in some “Christian” churches today because they pick and choose scripture that suits their own priorities. They then make those scripture primary over the “thirteen commandments.”
Jesus tells us that if love is not in the equation then it is not of Him. Jesus was very wise in His teachings and I sometimes wonder why Christian churches don’t listen to Him. Love your neighbor as yourself! That means you cannot pick and choose by color of skin, ethnicity, language spoken, denomination, immersion or sprinkling or affluency. Just love your neighbor!
Pastor Randy
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
June 15, 2012Our Bible Study time each week for the past 7 weeks has been centered around the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. Dr. Alcorn does a wonderful job of reaching into the Bible and gleaning scriptures that refer to Heaven. This week we took up another book called “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper. I recommend either of these books as a very rewarding and inspirational read. In each of these books I am reminded that there is a very great reward that none of us living today deserve so let’s give thanks for our belief in Jesus Christ. It is just that belief that gets us that reward and there is nothing else required of us.
When I think about this gift God has given us it turns my heart towards the loving relationship that He desires us to have with Him. He loves us no matter what we do and that love poured out upon everyone on this earth helps me to think about returning that love to Him. Not because it is required but because when I think about Him my heart is warmed and His love is reflected in me and from me. When am I reflecting that love? When I am visiting those who are homebound! When I am smiling at those whom I meet each day! When I am helping someone in need! When I am doing the things that reflect God’s love for His world. I have to look at all of these things not as things I do but as God’s love for us being poured out from me as a willing vessel.
You see I truly believe that if you love someone you do things for them because you love them. God loves us and has done and is doing for us just because He loves us. Our response to that love should be that we show our love for Him by being His willing vessels that pour His love out on the world.
Smile at someone today! Better yet smile at everyone today! Smile because you know God loves you and because you know you love God! It is a marriage made in Heaven!
Pastor Randy
Lectionary Scriptures for 6-10-12
June 8, 2012Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
May 28, 2012
This is Memorial Day and it is a day of remembering and honoring those who have given so much for their country. While this can be a time of sorrow as we remember those who have sacrificed everything up to and including their lives, we must also remember why so many have sacrificed so much. Our freedom and our way of life depends on their sacrifice. So lets also remember those who are currently serving our country in all of the military armed services. Let’s remember them in our prayers. Pray for their safety, for peace and for sanity in this crazy world we live in.
As we are praying let’s remember that there is nothing in the teachings of Jesus Christ that supports war. His way is a way of peace that reaches out in love to all. Let’s remember that as believers in God and Jesus as the Christ we should be praying for our country to find peaceful solutions to all disagreements in this world. Too many times throughout history men have taken destructive paths in the name of Jesus and we must always remember that it is not a teaching of Jesus to cause harm to anyone.
So we must pray for our country and it’s leadership. Pray that they will seek peaceful solutions to every crisis we are facing as a country. When our leadership chooses or is forced into military action, then we must pray the action we take will be quick and decisive with little or no loss of life on either side. We must pray that all who are involved will come home safely and if they make the ultimate sacrifice then we must pray for their families to be filled with the grace of God and be able to reach out to the world with the love of Jesus Christ. Pray for all of those who serve in times of war because so many suffer from the stress of war and all of its horrors. Pray that they may be able to return home and live a life of peace with pride in their service to their country.
Well I guess the question is “Are you praying for those in the military, past and present, for your country, for those who have suffered loss of any kind?” I believe that our prayers for those who are or have been in service to our country and their families are the best way for us to remember and honor them.
Have a blessed Memorial Day by spending at least a part of it in prayer, Randy
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 