.:: Pastor's Corner ::.
Holy is a word that seems to have dropped out of current American Christianity. In our desire to be political egalitarians, that is a person who believes that all people are equal, we may be suspicious of someone trying to lead a holy life because we have come across those who communicated that they were superior to others in their holiness. Therefore, some American Christians have ignored or shied away from the word “holy.” That is unfortunate because we are called to lead holy lives to win others to Christ by the holy lives we live.
In 1 Peter 1:13-25, the entire section is titled in the New International Version of the Bible as “Be Holy.” A focus passage would be verses 15-16, which says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'” You may ask, “Well, how do I be holy?” On esuggestion is given in verse 14. It says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” Another way is study the lives of Christian saints in the Bible and throughout the history of Christianity these past two thousand years, and put into action what you learn from the saints who have gone before us.
See you this Sunday, November 1, 2009, to celebrate All Saints' Day.
In Christ,
Pastor Ernie
In the schedule of the church, we are more than halfway through the Sundays after Pentecost. This coming Sunday is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and in ten more Sundays it will be the 24th Sunday after Pentecost on November 15. The following Sunday will be Christ the King on November 22 followed by the First Sunday of Advent on November 29. As the warm sunlight shines brightly through the office windows, all these coming events seem remotely distant. But they are coming, and we need, again, make a new adjustment in our routine.
Routine may be distasteful in some people's mouths. It sounds so average, ordinary, and commonplace that do we dare say it, boring. Yet we need a fixed, regular method of doing things, or a habitual doing of the same things in the same way. Some of you who understand computers know what I mean. A routine is a set of coded instructions arranged in proper sequence to direct a computer to perform a sequence of operations, or the sequence of operations performed by a computer. And, how grand life is for those who work with computers when this happens.
For those who are turned off by such a mechanical understanding of routine, the word can refer to an act or skit that is part of some entertainment, like, the Marx brothers were famous for their comedy routines. For the audience their comedy routines were funny, but one could argue that for the actors and some audience members the routines initial effectiveness can wear off. Both actors and audience may begin to yearn for new material. Yet even with new material there are some standard routines that are always assured of effectiveness when the new material is adapted to the routine.
In James 2:1-17, we learn that favoritism in whatever shape or form is a routine that does not serve anyone well for any amount of time. In Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 and 22-23, we learn that a good name is more desirable than great riches; the rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all. Do not exploit the poor...for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them. Has that routine not been played out before except that time and place and actors' names have changed? In Mark 7:24-37, we learn how Jesus heals people whose daily routine was changed forever and given new meaning.
May we allow Jesus' life to come into our lives and give us new meaning and purpose in our daily fall routines. We may see some new colors coming through what would otherwise be a drab mechanical grind.
God hears the Israelites' murmurings and tells Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). Prove here means to test their faith by providing only one portion sufficient for one day. This sounds familiar does it not? Yes, in the Lord's Prayer we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).
Not only did they eat bread in the morning, they had quail to eat at twilight. Plus they were instructed to gather on the sixth day twice as much for preparation for the Sabbath. When they gathered the bread for the first time, it was not like any bread they had seen before. It was “a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground.” They asked each other, “What is it?” The name of the food, manna, is explained by an expression meaning “What is it?” Typical of us human beings, especially children and youth, when we are introduced to something we have never eaten before, and we are unsure if we will like it. Moses tells them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.” Moses also told them, “Gather of it every man of you, as much as you can eat; you shall take an omer apiece, according to the number of the persons whom each of you has in his tent.” In Exodus 16:31, the manna is described being like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it “was like wafers made with honey.” This description of the honey makes me think of the psalmist who wrote “O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!”
When Jesus in John 6:24-35 explains who he is to the people he had fed five barley loaves and two fishes to, he tries to explain to them that this is temporal sustenance. He tells them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you.” In the conversation, the people make reference to Moses and the manna in the wilderness. Jesus reveals to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” When we come to celebrate Holy Communion on Sunday, August 9, 2009, may we come with grateful hearts to Jesus so that our hunger and thirst for righteousness may be satisfied by him (Matthew 5:6).
NOTE: Some of the thoughts in this brief article were inspired by information found in the footnotes of The New Oxford Annotated Bible on Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15, pages 87-88.
The word “watch” has several meanings for us. We readily think of a timepiece like a clock or wristwatch, but here it could refer to “a period of time for guarding” or “ the act of staying awake for some purpose” but more likelyit means “to remain awake for devoational purposes; keep vigil.” In our preparation for the coming of Christ, we need to remain awake and keep vigil. How do we do this? Our passage suggests to us, according to Elmer G. Homrighausen, that we live as believers in God's eternity. Homrighausen points out “faith orientates [people] to eternity, whereas scoffers remain children of time.” Living life from the perspective of God's eternity, we are freed to live in the present without anxiety.
“Alright,” you may say, “but how do we live without anxiety in this life, even if we do accept intellectually that we as Christians live in God's eternity?” Agian, our passage suggests that we live lives of holiness and godliness day-in and day-out wrapped upi n God's eternity. You may ask, “But what does a life of holiness and godliness look like in the world we now live in?” An excellent question and the response is found in 2 Peter 1:5-7, which says, “For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
Living a life of holiness and godliness hastens the coming of the day of God, as we see in version 12 of 2 Peter 3. Let us hasten the coming of the Lord by living holy and godly lives in this Advent Season.
Vera Epperson will be contacting families within our church to ask them to participate in the devotional given before th elighting of an Advent Candle on the Advent Wreath during this Advent Season. It is a meaningful part of the service.
The Advent Season celebrates the first coming of Jesus Christ in his birth at Bethlehem. During the Advent Season we will also celebrate two baptisms on Gaudete Sunday (December 14th). Kim Warford and Carrie Campbell have made it known that they wish to follow their Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. Part of the preparation for baptism is repentance, which is the mephasis of the first two Sundays of Advent. So, how fitting it is for them to be baptized on Gaudete Sunday with its theme of rejoicing. Come and celebrate with them their baptism and their new birthin Christ. Invite friends and relatives to come and witness their commitment to Christ in this Advent Season to serve the newborn King.
Because of the hard-work of the trustees and those they have coordinated to help with some of the refurbishing going on, we now do have heat for the sanctuary and the educational building. Thank you for your faithful ministry,so that, when the weary traveler does come in they will be physically warmed. However, may the physical warmth be a metaphor for the spiritual warmth that we have in our hearts because Christ dwells in us. May the indwelling presence of Christ in you and me reach out to those who enter in the House of the Lord known as Mt.Zion and welcome them into the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and find salvation.
Through all our Christmas celebrations, may we rejoice and share the good news that Jesus Christ was born to save. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
In Christ,
Pastor Ernie
What is so important about the number forty? Forty is a multiple of the number four, which was a sacred number in the Old Testament. It would be interesting to chase down all the instances of fours in the Bible, but for our purposes we will focus on the number forty.
Forty was used “as a round number to designate a fairly long period of time in terms of human existence or endurance.” Forty days or years was also used for “the common duration of critical situations, of punishment, fasting, repentance,” and vigil.
Jesus, according to Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-2, spent forty days in the wilderness. Matthew 4:2 says that Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was hungry after that time. Mark does not mention fasting in his brief account of Jesus' experience in the wilderness. Luke says that Jesus did not eat during the forty days and was hungry afterwards. Precedence was set by Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 34:28 where he did not eat bread or drink water for forty days and nights, while he recorded “the tables, the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” The other high profile precedence was Elijah as recorded in I Kings 19:8, who went to Mt. Horeb for forty days and nights. Before he arrived, he was sustained by food and drink that the angel of the Lord provided for him.
The Old Testament was the Bible for Jesus' day. In that testament, fasting was associated with repentance. Jonah 3:5ff shows how the people of Nineveh believed God and repented, and showed signs of their repentance by proclaiming a fast, putting on sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. Esther 4:3, 16 and Joel 1:14, 2:12, and 15 are other examples of fasting being associated with repentance.
After Jesus spent forty days and nights in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry, he went about preaching repentance, as recorded in Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:15. So, as we follow Jesus in this Lenten Season of forty days and nights may we prepare for the ministry that Jesus is calling us to fulfill for the Kingdom of God. May our fasting and repentance be characterized by humility as Isaiah 58:5 suggests for us. May our fasting help us to lay aside the things that distract us from telling the gospel of God. May we use this Lenten Season to “repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
:::Hallowe'en and All Saints Day (November, 2009):::
Soon it will be Halloween or All Hallows Eve. Somewhere in our foggy memory that word “hallow” rings a bell. Oh, yes, the King James version of the Lord's Prayer where we say, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Hallow means to make holy or sacred, like a place hallowed by memories, in a word sanctify. It can also mean to honor as holy or sacred, as it is used in Matthew 6:9. Finally, hallow in another sense may mean to declare holy, consecrate, or bless, as it is used by Shakespeare when he wrote, “Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed.”Holy is a word that seems to have dropped out of current American Christianity. In our desire to be political egalitarians, that is a person who believes that all people are equal, we may be suspicious of someone trying to lead a holy life because we have come across those who communicated that they were superior to others in their holiness. Therefore, some American Christians have ignored or shied away from the word “holy.” That is unfortunate because we are called to lead holy lives to win others to Christ by the holy lives we live.
In 1 Peter 1:13-25, the entire section is titled in the New International Version of the Bible as “Be Holy.” A focus passage would be verses 15-16, which says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'” You may ask, “Well, how do I be holy?” On esuggestion is given in verse 14. It says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” Another way is study the lives of Christian saints in the Bible and throughout the history of Christianity these past two thousand years, and put into action what you learn from the saints who have gone before us.
See you this Sunday, November 1, 2009, to celebrate All Saints' Day.
In Christ,
Pastor Ernie
:::Where do you go to find wisdom? (September, 2009):::
Many people look in all the wrong places, and what misdirects their search for wisdom is their lack of understanding about the purpose of wisdom. Wisdom's purpose is to guide in understanding our relationship with God, with one another, and God's creation. In Proverbs 1:20-33, wisdom proclaims profound consequences to both ignoring and embracing her. One would gain great benefit for their lives if they would listen to Wisdom, who says, “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacence of fools destroys them; but he who listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of evil” (Proverbs 1:32-33). Take a few moments each day, and read a portion of Proverbs. It will bless your life with wisdom.:::Dog Days of Summer (September, 2009):::
The summer is over for most of us. Even the weather these past few days seem more like autumn than the Dog Days of Summer. Many children, youth, young adults, and adults doing continuing education are back in school, and a regular routine around education has begun.In the schedule of the church, we are more than halfway through the Sundays after Pentecost. This coming Sunday is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and in ten more Sundays it will be the 24th Sunday after Pentecost on November 15. The following Sunday will be Christ the King on November 22 followed by the First Sunday of Advent on November 29. As the warm sunlight shines brightly through the office windows, all these coming events seem remotely distant. But they are coming, and we need, again, make a new adjustment in our routine.
Routine may be distasteful in some people's mouths. It sounds so average, ordinary, and commonplace that do we dare say it, boring. Yet we need a fixed, regular method of doing things, or a habitual doing of the same things in the same way. Some of you who understand computers know what I mean. A routine is a set of coded instructions arranged in proper sequence to direct a computer to perform a sequence of operations, or the sequence of operations performed by a computer. And, how grand life is for those who work with computers when this happens.
For those who are turned off by such a mechanical understanding of routine, the word can refer to an act or skit that is part of some entertainment, like, the Marx brothers were famous for their comedy routines. For the audience their comedy routines were funny, but one could argue that for the actors and some audience members the routines initial effectiveness can wear off. Both actors and audience may begin to yearn for new material. Yet even with new material there are some standard routines that are always assured of effectiveness when the new material is adapted to the routine.
In James 2:1-17, we learn that favoritism in whatever shape or form is a routine that does not serve anyone well for any amount of time. In Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 and 22-23, we learn that a good name is more desirable than great riches; the rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all. Do not exploit the poor...for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them. Has that routine not been played out before except that time and place and actors' names have changed? In Mark 7:24-37, we learn how Jesus heals people whose daily routine was changed forever and given new meaning.
May we allow Jesus' life to come into our lives and give us new meaning and purpose in our daily fall routines. We may see some new colors coming through what would otherwise be a drab mechanical grind.
:::Sustenance (August, 2009):::
In Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15, the Israelites miss the seasoned food that they had in Egypt more than they appreciate their precarious freedom in the wilderness. One can hear their anger that is directed at Moses and Aaron in these words: “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Eating bread to the full at the moment was more important than trusting that God would feed them. This may cause some to think of Esau's hunger for Jacob's red pottage in Genesis 25:29-34, which seemed more important in the moment than the birthright given to him. Even though the Israelites anger is directed to Moses and Aaron, the person that they are really angry at is God, which is pointed out in Exodus 16:8.God hears the Israelites' murmurings and tells Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). Prove here means to test their faith by providing only one portion sufficient for one day. This sounds familiar does it not? Yes, in the Lord's Prayer we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).
Not only did they eat bread in the morning, they had quail to eat at twilight. Plus they were instructed to gather on the sixth day twice as much for preparation for the Sabbath. When they gathered the bread for the first time, it was not like any bread they had seen before. It was “a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground.” They asked each other, “What is it?” The name of the food, manna, is explained by an expression meaning “What is it?” Typical of us human beings, especially children and youth, when we are introduced to something we have never eaten before, and we are unsure if we will like it. Moses tells them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.” Moses also told them, “Gather of it every man of you, as much as you can eat; you shall take an omer apiece, according to the number of the persons whom each of you has in his tent.” In Exodus 16:31, the manna is described being like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it “was like wafers made with honey.” This description of the honey makes me think of the psalmist who wrote “O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!”
When Jesus in John 6:24-35 explains who he is to the people he had fed five barley loaves and two fishes to, he tries to explain to them that this is temporal sustenance. He tells them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you.” In the conversation, the people make reference to Moses and the manna in the wilderness. Jesus reveals to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” When we come to celebrate Holy Communion on Sunday, August 9, 2009, may we come with grateful hearts to Jesus so that our hunger and thirst for righteousness may be satisfied by him (Matthew 5:6).
NOTE: Some of the thoughts in this brief article were inspired by information found in the footnotes of The New Oxford Annotated Bible on Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15, pages 87-88.
:::Advent, 2008:::
In the readings for the Sundaysof Advent for 2008, 2 Peter 3:8-15a will be important for all of us to read so that we can receive a balanced perspective on time as we prepared for Christ's coming in this Advent season. For example, somewhere we have heard someone say these following words in a discussion about the Second Coming of Christ, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” These words come from Psalm 90:4, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night.”The word “watch” has several meanings for us. We readily think of a timepiece like a clock or wristwatch, but here it could refer to “a period of time for guarding” or “ the act of staying awake for some purpose” but more likelyit means “to remain awake for devoational purposes; keep vigil.” In our preparation for the coming of Christ, we need to remain awake and keep vigil. How do we do this? Our passage suggests to us, according to Elmer G. Homrighausen, that we live as believers in God's eternity. Homrighausen points out “faith orientates [people] to eternity, whereas scoffers remain children of time.” Living life from the perspective of God's eternity, we are freed to live in the present without anxiety.
“Alright,” you may say, “but how do we live without anxiety in this life, even if we do accept intellectually that we as Christians live in God's eternity?” Agian, our passage suggests that we live lives of holiness and godliness day-in and day-out wrapped upi n God's eternity. You may ask, “But what does a life of holiness and godliness look like in the world we now live in?” An excellent question and the response is found in 2 Peter 1:5-7, which says, “For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
Living a life of holiness and godliness hastens the coming of the day of God, as we see in version 12 of 2 Peter 3. Let us hasten the coming of the Lord by living holy and godly lives in this Advent Season.
:::Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2008:::
The holiday seasons are almost here. Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 27, and the ending of the Christian calendar is Christ the King Sunday on November 23. The First Sunday of Advent is November 30, which is the beginning of the Christian Year. The Second Sunday of Advent is December 7, which is Communion Sunday for us at Mt. Zion UMC. The first two Sundays of Advent have a theme of repentance in preparation for the comin gof Christ at Bethlehem and the color of their candles on the Advent Wreath is purple. December 14 is the Third Sunday of Advent, which is called Gaudete Sunday based on the opening words of the traditional hymn, Philippians 4:4 (“Rejoice in the Lord”). Since the Sunday was more joyous than the others of Advent, rose rather than violet was the prescribed color. December 21 is the Fourth Sunday of Advent and its color is purple. Wednesday, December 24, is Christmas Eve, and we will have a Candlelight Service at 7:00 p.m.Vera Epperson will be contacting families within our church to ask them to participate in the devotional given before th elighting of an Advent Candle on the Advent Wreath during this Advent Season. It is a meaningful part of the service.
The Advent Season celebrates the first coming of Jesus Christ in his birth at Bethlehem. During the Advent Season we will also celebrate two baptisms on Gaudete Sunday (December 14th). Kim Warford and Carrie Campbell have made it known that they wish to follow their Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. Part of the preparation for baptism is repentance, which is the mephasis of the first two Sundays of Advent. So, how fitting it is for them to be baptized on Gaudete Sunday with its theme of rejoicing. Come and celebrate with them their baptism and their new birthin Christ. Invite friends and relatives to come and witness their commitment to Christ in this Advent Season to serve the newborn King.
::: Christmas, 2007 :::
Tuesday evening, December 18, I passed by Mt. Zion UMC. All the lights were on revealing the inner beauty of the church through beautiful stained glass windows. It was a radiant jewel in the surrounding darkness. The light emanating through the stained glass windows exuded an embracing warmth that beckons the cold weary travelers that pass by Mt. Zion to come in and be warm and filled with the good things of our Lord Jesus Christ.Because of the hard-work of the trustees and those they have coordinated to help with some of the refurbishing going on, we now do have heat for the sanctuary and the educational building. Thank you for your faithful ministry,so that, when the weary traveler does come in they will be physically warmed. However, may the physical warmth be a metaphor for the spiritual warmth that we have in our hearts because Christ dwells in us. May the indwelling presence of Christ in you and me reach out to those who enter in the House of the Lord known as Mt.Zion and welcome them into the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and find salvation.
Through all our Christmas celebrations, may we rejoice and share the good news that Jesus Christ was born to save. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
In Christ,
Pastor Ernie
::: Lent, 2007 :::
We are in the season of Lent. Sometimes Lent is also called Quadrageisma. I like the word Quadrageisma, but Lent is much easier to say than Quadrageisma. Quadrageisma means the forty days of Lent as well as the first Sunday in Lent, which is called Quadrageisma Sunday. Lent is composed of the forty weekdays between Ash Wednesday and Easter, and is observed in many Christian churches as a time for fasting and repenting of sins. The sermons preached during Lent are called Quadragesimale.What is so important about the number forty? Forty is a multiple of the number four, which was a sacred number in the Old Testament. It would be interesting to chase down all the instances of fours in the Bible, but for our purposes we will focus on the number forty.
Forty was used “as a round number to designate a fairly long period of time in terms of human existence or endurance.” Forty days or years was also used for “the common duration of critical situations, of punishment, fasting, repentance,” and vigil.
Jesus, according to Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-2, spent forty days in the wilderness. Matthew 4:2 says that Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was hungry after that time. Mark does not mention fasting in his brief account of Jesus' experience in the wilderness. Luke says that Jesus did not eat during the forty days and was hungry afterwards. Precedence was set by Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 34:28 where he did not eat bread or drink water for forty days and nights, while he recorded “the tables, the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” The other high profile precedence was Elijah as recorded in I Kings 19:8, who went to Mt. Horeb for forty days and nights. Before he arrived, he was sustained by food and drink that the angel of the Lord provided for him.
The Old Testament was the Bible for Jesus' day. In that testament, fasting was associated with repentance. Jonah 3:5ff shows how the people of Nineveh believed God and repented, and showed signs of their repentance by proclaiming a fast, putting on sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. Esther 4:3, 16 and Joel 1:14, 2:12, and 15 are other examples of fasting being associated with repentance.
After Jesus spent forty days and nights in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry, he went about preaching repentance, as recorded in Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:15. So, as we follow Jesus in this Lenten Season of forty days and nights may we prepare for the ministry that Jesus is calling us to fulfill for the Kingdom of God. May our fasting and repentance be characterized by humility as Isaiah 58:5 suggests for us. May our fasting help us to lay aside the things that distract us from telling the gospel of God. May we use this Lenten Season to “repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).