Sermon on I Corinthians 13

I Corinthians 13


1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.



 
SERMON

I used to wear black on Valentine’s Day. I did.

I told my wife this. “Why?” she said, “that is just weird.”

“Well, the first year, it was a group of us guys that had a group we called the losers club. We were freshmen in college. We had the theme, “There ain’t a woman we can’t scare!” We would see each other on campus and we would put a big “L” on our foreheads. Our secret little nerdy society. Since none of us had a shot in the world in having a date we decided to all dress in black, go to the basement of the student union, and goof off. We might have even played a game of RISK that night”, I replied
“My sophomore year my fiancé broke up with me on Valentine’s Day,” I went on, “And the next year I got dumped on the week of Valentine’s Day.”

“You got dumped on Valentine’s Day?” Jennifer said, “that is kind of cold.”

It was. And it was my tradition from that point on, because I did not really have someone I was in a relationship with for several years at that time, that I would wear black on Valentine’s Day.

Might also be one of the reasons I developed a strong interest in Johnny Cash in my 20s. The man in black.




I don’t know about you, but I was always eager to get Valentine’s when I was a little kid, but stingy in giving them. I would pour over which Valentine’s to give to what person, because I did not want to give any one person the wrong impression. You give too nice a Valentine to some girl, and that girl might think you like her when you really don’t. Or she might know you like her, and make a big scene about how she does not really like you. High pressure stuff this Valentine’s day.




For some of us, the high pressure can last into adulthood. For many couples, it is a special time every year to express their devotion to one another. I read in the paper how J.H. McCuistion always has doted on Marybeth McCuistion on Valentine’s Day, and it over fifty years has not forgot to make the day special. At first, I want to say, “Good job, J.H.” This is quickly followed by, “Thanks a lot J.H, for making any of us who ever fail on Valentine’s Day look bad.”





My wife always tells me that Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark holiday designed to make vendors more money, so I don’t need to do anything for her. I always do a little something, which always at one point includes an electronic dancing and singing animal that professes my love that I picked up at Walgreens. My personal favorite is the dalmation that is dressed as a fireman and sings, “Fiiiiireeee..bow bow bow….”
As I said earlier, we as a nation talk a lot about love. We love our new pick-up truck and we love our favorite flavor of ice cream (mine happens to be Tin Roof Sundae). We love the way someone laughs, we love the last good movie we watched. We say we love lots of different things.


In our culture, we often think of love as some sort of sentiment. As an experience that makes us feel full of joy and appreciation.


In our culture, we often make the idea of love something that is about us. Making us feel good. Making us feel appreciated. Making us feel adored. So, then people describe themselves as “falling in love” when they discover a romantic interest, and then later say they “fell out of love” when that romantic interest becomes tired or boring, and the novelty of their presence wears off.


Our culture gets love so wrong. Love is not a sentiment. It is not a feeling. It is not something you just fall into, the way you fall after missing a step and stumble down the stairs. It is not something you fall out of, the way you might fall off a parade float on Missouri Day if you got the lawn chair you were sitting on a little close to the edge of the trailer and you hit a bump and went flying. It is not even something that is really about you and getting your needs met.


In fact, love is the opposite of it being all about you. It is not about you. Love is an action word. It is something you should give more than receive. Love is a choice to care about someone more than yourself. It is not a wave you ride, like a surfer coming into shore. It is a decision you make and then act upon.


A cursory reading of the book of Corinthians lets you know that it was a struggling church. They were getting just about everything wrong. They turned the Lord’s Supper into a kegger. A prominent man in the church is sleeping with his father’s life, and the church is tolerating the behavior. They are not even sure if they believe in the death and resurrection of Christ it appears!


When we get to I Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul is discussing with the church a problem they were having with the exercise of spiritual gifts. I appears that several people in the church were making the receiving and exercise of spiritual gifts all about them. One person would believe that they had the gift of prophecy, and eagerly announce their gift and flaunt their abilities before the church. Another would say they had the gift of healing, and attempt to impress everyone with their gift. Another would say God had given them the gift of supernatural insight, and would begin to force his “insights” into every situation. Another would say he spoke in tongues more than others, and that these tongues were a badge of spiritual honor. Church became a spiritual beauty pagent, a competition between them to demonstrate whose gifts and skills that were given to build up the church are most valuable to it. Paul has a message to the Corinthian church. He is very direct. Corinthians, he says, it is not about you-your gifts, your status, your goodness.
After correcting them about any certain hierarchy of gifts, the apostle Paul wants them to be aware of the virtue that must infuse all that they do as Christians and as a church. And that virtue is love. He says to the Corinthians, in effect, it is not about you, it is all about love.

I Corinthians 13 starts by talking about how everything else is inferior to love. You can all sorts of great and wonderful things, but if those wonderful things are not accompanied by love they do not matter much. He wants them to know that spiritual formation begins with character transformation.

You can understand all Scripture and proclaim God’s Word perfectly to the whole world. If you don’t have love, it does not amount to a hill of beans. You can have enough faith to look at Pike’s Peak, and tell it to move south 20 miles, and the mountain obeys. You can be that powerful in your spiritual walk, but if you are unloving and self-centered, it won’t matter for much of anything. You be the richest person in the world, and then give all your money away to the poorest of the poor. But if you do all this, and you don’t have love in your heart, it is a completely hopeless and worthless gesture.

Husbands, you can provide a beautiful home for your wife. You can be the most handsome man on the planet. You can work your fingers to the bone to support your family. You can buy her the perfect present every Valentine’s Day. You can go to every chick flick she wants you to go to, and cry at all the appropriate parts. You can compliment her every day. You can sit by her side and hold her hands every time she is sick. But, if you do not love her, if you do all these things in some strange sense of obligation and duty, you are just wasting your time.

Wives you can cook a perfect meal for your husband every night, you can give birth to children who grow up to find the cure for cancer, and you can be the sexiest woman alive, but if you are selfish and don’t love your man with all your heart, all of the hoops you jump through are not going to mean a thing.

Parents, you kids can have all the right clothes in the perfect home. You can know what your children think before they think it, and have all the right words, but if you don’t truly love them, all those things to be a “good parent” are not going to matter.

So, what is love then?

Let us look at verses 4-7, and simply take each of these descriptions of love step by step.

Love suffers long—Some more contemporary versions use the word “patient”. Long suffering is a better explanation of the word here. Note that in our culture we think love makes us feel lighter, happier. Scripture says true love begins with the willingness to suffer for those you love.

Love is kind—pretty self explanitory

Love does not parade itself—Again another good expansion of the word in the New King James Version. Love is not about saying “look at me!” Look how loving I am. In more contemporary translation will be translated “boast”. This is an easy one to stumble on. Some of us do something loving for someone and want everybody to notice. We say or act like, “Hey look at me, my dear wife, look at the wonderful thing I have done for YOU. Aren’t I so LOVING. The Bible says at that point you are not being loving, you are being selfish and self-promoting.

Love is not puffed up—The literal meaning of the word that is often translated proud. The word picture behind the word is someone who is walking around with their chest out and their nose in the air. Ego leads us to do things to make ourselves feel proud. For people to take notice. God says that love is humble, serving in ways that people hardly notice. It is not proud.

Love does not behave rudely—This word for rude is interesting. It most literally means unpresentable. It speaks specifically most often of a person who is in defiance of social and moral standards, resulting in embarrassment, disgrace or shame. It is often used in relation to sexual misconduct that brings shame on one’s spouse, family or church, but it is not used for this exclusively for this. A person who loves does not bring shame, embarassment, or ridicule on their family because of their lack of character.

Our culture tells us our personal lives and personal behavior are our business. The truth is everything we do has an effect on the people around us. And we can often do things and say that what we are doing is personal, when it has far reaching impacts on our parents, our spouse, our children, our friends. When we don’t take other people in consideration before we do something immoral or shameful, we are being completely uncaring and unloving.

Love does not seek its own—It is not self-centered or self-seeking. Love is the opposite. It puts the object of love first. Hate is not the opposite of love. Selfishness is.

Love is not provoked—Pretty straight forward. Love is not retaliatory or reactionary. It thinks about what is most loving. It does not demand its rights.

Love does not think evil—This is an awkward statement in the New King james Version. The NIV gets it better. It says, “keeps no record of wrongs”. In other words, when you love someone you do not dwell on all of the things that they have done wrong. You have grace. You forgive if you love. You don’t have this big list of the things someone has done wrong that you use to manipulate them or punish them whenever you do not get your way.

So often we do this. We say we love someone, but the minute they slip up we remind them of everything they have ever done wrong in their entire life. We keep a laundry list of sins about a person, and we never let it go. A person who does this is choosing NOT TO LOVE as God commanded.

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth—This is another interesting word choice in the original language. It is interesting because the word for iniquity here relates closely to injustice. Furthermore, injustice is contrasted with truth. So, what this part of the passage is saying is that love finds joy when it is able to find ways for people to get treated fairly, equally, to have equal opportunity and be able to overcome. When we stand for injustice, when we remain silent in face of that kind of evil, we are choosing to be BOTH dishonest and unloving.

Love bears all things—a positive way of describing the willingness to go through hard things in order to love. And a commitment to not only suffer in order to love in the past, but a willingness to love the same way in the future.
Love believes all things—Love trusts those it loves. It looks forward to the future with a trust which knows that in that love will overcome.

Love hopes all things—It always looks to someone, and sees there potential, their ability, what God is going to do with them

Love endures all things—Again a loving person has made a commitment to love. A person who loves a church or a person does not just love them when it is easy. They continue to love when it is hard.

Love never fails—We think of love as sentimental, soft, cuddly. Love is instead tough, tenacious, and always victorious.

Then this passage goes on to describe our human efforts as incomplete. If we do good thing, but we do them without love, we will find that what we have put our focus on has no eternal value.

If we choose to live in love, we will be like a child. We will have to grow. We will have to put away childish things. And we will have to look toward Christ, who is the described as that which is perfect.

You want to be mature, Paul says, learn to love. Immaturity is self-centered. As we grow we learn to love. We learn to be others-centered. True Biblical love is a sign of maturity. My Karis is the most beautiful thing in the world, but she is also completely self-centered. When she wants something she cries. If she is interested in something she grabs it. She doesn’t consider how it will effect other people. Nor should she. She is 8 months old.

But if you are still as self-centered, inconsiderate, and unempathetic as Karis when you are 20, 30 or 40, you are a childish selfish jerk. God wants us to grow up in Christ. And growing up in Christ is growing in the kind of love that Christ shared and demonstrated for us.

You want to be strong in Christ? Choose to love?

You want to live a life that matters? Love.

Want to make an eternal impact in the world? Love.

You want to prove your strength as a man, as a husband, as a father? Then choose to truly love. Love courageously. Choose to put others above yourself, even when it hurts. Love sacrificially. Choose to put aside your selfish agenda to serve your family, your friends your church.

You want to be the kind of woman God wants you to be? Love with endurance. Choose not to just act lovingly when you feel like it, but choose to truly be kind and fair even when you don’t want to. Choose to see the best in your friends, your husband, and your children instead of looking to find fault. Treasure the people God has given you in your life, instead of longing for something better. Your love will make your world better, your life better, everything better.

Above all though, if you want to have a life that matters, live a life full of the love that Jesus demonstrated. A life full of love. A life full of compassion. A life that had love that changed people and healed people.

If you want to have a life that matters, if you want to have a life that is triumphant and victorious model your life after the love of Jesus. A love that was not afraid to leave the comforts of heaven to dwell with men and women like you and I. A love that was willing to be patient and bear with people like you and I as he taught and led us. A love that was so sacrificial that Jesus laid down his life in an act of complete suffering and agony. A love that found victory through suffering, and was able to heal others through his wounds. Trust in that love, live in that love, and God will reward you, God will bless you, and God will allow you to have a life that has eternal impact. Amen.

Book Review of Love Is a Flame

Love is a Flame

Compiled by James Stuart Bell

Bethany House Publishers

Reviewed by Clint Walker

Love is A Flame, the moment you recieve it, is different than you expect. Although not a bad book, it will be helpful for you to read a review before you purchase the book on false pretenses.

When I chose to review this book, I chose the book because it had Gary Chapman's name at the top. Gary Chapman has written many books on love. Most well known of his books is the book The Five Love Languages. Little did I know that the large name where the author's name should be was actually the person who wrote the forward, not the person who wrote or compiled the book. Actually, the book has very little to do with Gary Chapman. Instead it is a compilation of how people have worked their way through marriage for the long term.

This book, if I were to summarize it, is Chicken Soup for the Married Soul. It is all about how committed love between two people can overcome all sorts of obstacles. The stories are compiled by James Stuart Bell. Each chapter is about 2-5 and written by real people who share their true life stories of love. Nearly each story has a challenge that the couple had to overcome, and a brief narrative about how they got through it. The stories can be read at once, or slowly for a little inspiration over time. They might even be good for a couple to read together and then discuss.

I think this book is a good book for the right person. I will probably give it as a gift to a married woman in my church, or as an "extra" gift for someone getting married. I would not recommend it to someone who does not read romance novels.

This book was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review

Ranking the presidents

Right now I am watching a documentary on television on Ronald Reagan. Reagan would have been 100 this month if he was still alive. I have also seen suggestions/artistic renditions that would place Reagan on the Mount Rushmore monument.

This has gotten me to thinking a little bit. First, I don't think Rushmore is rendition of our four best presidents as it is. Usually Washington and Lincoln are rated in the top4. They deserve it. I think if Theodore Roosevelt was not on the Mount, he would not even show up in the top 10. And Jefferson's presidency is in my top 10, because of westward expansion alone. The rest of his presidency is mediocre.

My top 5 presidents are:

1. Abraham Lincoln--saved the union during the civil war

2. George Washington--saved the country from falling apart before it started

3. Franklin Roosevelt--saved the country during the great depression

4. Ronald Reagan--defeated communism

5. Lyndon Johnson--defeated segregation, promoted civil rights

Quite an ecclectic bunch.

Who are your top 5

Here is another video of the baby playing on the floor. Such a fun age right now.

This is Karis playing on the floor this morning. So fun!

Battle of the Bulge

My mother in law was correct in her comment. This is the picture of the battle of the bulge. I will give you a choice of books next time we visit Kris, and will get your book out in the mail to you.

This week I lost two pounds. Now there are two ways to look at this. I could say I had a bad week because other weeks I have lost a lot more weight. Or, I could say that losing two pounds is still progress and be happy that I am still making progress. I choose the later over the former as an attitude this week.

I have lost a total of 35 pounds in one month and two days. That is not bad progress. Do I wish it would work faster? Yes I do. Will that happen? Maybe yes, maybe no. As long as I am making progress toward my short term goal (8 lbs a month) and my long term goals (which include a number of things including a couple of different weight goals), then I will keep my chin up.

I still need to push harder toward my exercise goals, and that will accelerate some more loss. As will working harder not to save up as much food for the supper meal, but eat more evenly through the day. And, while I have gotten my Ruby Red/Code Red addiction under control, I have not sworn either off completely.

Best Of the Bloggies.....

Some blog posts that caught my eye:

Commentary on the high quanity of memoirs published and produced these days by Scot McKnight

On being a strong small church by Dennis Bickers

On Lists by Mark Rambo

Shawn's foray into local politics

Stan notices a change in Obama's hairstyle

Amy's world tour

Slogging Along

This week was marked by slow progress on the weight loss front. This was disappointing, but probably to be expected

Measurements

Jennifer and I did our measurments for the first time in three weeks. I was ok with the progress, but confused about the areas where I seemed to regress.

I lost two inches in the last two weeks in both my belly/waist and in my chest. I lost an inch in my biceps (might have to return tickets to the gun show). I gained over an inch in my thieghs though, and am wondering what that was about.

We will discover as the weeks progress what all this means.

Weight

This week I only lost 4 pounds. This is understandable for a number of reasons. First, I did not get in to work out. Also, although I managed my portions well, my schedule and circumstances forced me to eat less healthily.

Total

33 pounds lost since 1/5.

As we start this sermon, we are going to practice a little Hebrew. Are you ready? I want to hear you say this word, “chesed”. Ok say it: (chesed) Make sure you put the ch sound at the beginning of it. Good, now clap whenever it is used. Does anyone know what this word means?

Shorthand, it means love in Hebrew. But this word, chesed, this word for love in Hebrew has deep shades of meaning. And most of them relate to a loyalty to covenant.
Today we can use the word love in all sorts of ways:
• I love my wife
• I love my car
• I love peanut butter chocolate cheesecake
• I love this weather
• I love the color yellow
• I love the Broncos (that is the only time you will hear me saying those words)
• I love to go to Waterworld
• I love my favorite coffee cup
• I love the smell of fresh baked pizza
• I love God

Our nation is a nation that has been blessed with more material resources than any nation on earth. We have indoor plumbing, nearly every adult has a car, and we throw away more food than many nations consume.

Yet we are a nation that is starved for the experience of love. And we chase after all sorts of false gods that offer all kinds of false loves. That is how we can use the same word to describe our affection for the color yellow and the worship of our Lord.

We as a culture often believe love and sex are synonomous. We spend millions of dollars on cheesy romance novels. We spend even more on porn. People fall in and out of love more often than they change clothes it seems. We are confused about what love really is often times.

Possibly what we are most confused about love is in the belief that love is a feeling. That feeling we call love is not really love, it is hormones and chemical imbalances. Love, as the Bible describes it, is an action. Love as the Bible describes it, is based on a choice, not a feeling. And true love is not best described by that sense of euphoria we feel. Love is best described by God. God describes his love most clearly in Scripture.

So this year as we approach Valentines, we are going to take a look at some of the many things that the Bible has to say about love, about marriage, and about sex. So often we get things wrong in this regard.

In the coming weeks we will talk about the gifts of singleness and marriage, and how they each are callings to truly love others in a Biblical way. We will talk about how love is defined in I Corinthians 13. We will look at how temptation to disobey the boundaries of sexual love that God has given us lead to all sorts of problems. And, we will discuss some principles the Bible gives us about how to love one another in the bond of marriage.

Anyway…back to this word “chesed”. It is the most prominent Hebrew word for love in the Old Testament. And, as I said, this word for love relates to the concepts of covenant and loyalty. The idea is that we love God best by keeping covenant with him, and we live best when we are faithful first to God and then to each other. Faithfulness in covenants with God and each other is what defines love, according to the meaning of the word, “chesed”.



COVENANT


The book of Ruth, with almost universal agreement among scholars, is about a series of events that encourage us to live lovingly, hesed kind of love, that kind of love that is kind, faithful, steady, and honest.

It is most of all about God’s faithfulness. But, it is also about how by living the way God wants us to we are blessed. Because the best kind of relationships are the kind of relationships that have steadfast love for God and one another as part of them.

Interestingly, though, we are not left with a comfort or assurance in the goodness, the lovingkindness, and the faithfulness of God as we begin this story. No, the first thing that we learn is that Naomi has had her husband die. Then she has had her sons die. And there are three survivors. One named Orpah. One named Ruth. And then Naomi. Three widows. No visible means of support.

Naomi and her husband had been immigrants to Moab from Israel. She decides she is going to trek back to her people. She encourages her daughters-in-law to do the same. Orpah does as Naomi instructs her. She heads back to family after a tearful departure.

The Bible says that Ruth did the opposite. Ruth clung to Naomi the Scriptures said. Naomi told her she needed to come back to her people. Ruth would not go. She said the words that are often said at marriages to communicate the faithfulness, the chesed, of committed love. Ruth said:

“ Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”

Naomi and Ruth head back to Israel, and then to Bethlehem within the nation of Israel. People greet Naomi. She says, “Call me Mara, for I am bitter. The Lord has dealt harshly with me.” She said “the Lord has dealt harshly with me”. This detail of Naomi’s experience is included so that we will ask the question of whether this is Naomi’s perception or is this truly what God is doing. Is God full of lovingkindness? Is God a God of steadfast love? Naomi has her doubts, as might you if you lost your husband, and then all your children in close succession.

Chapter 1 ends by telling us that they have arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest. This is good because it is a time of plenty for the people of Bethlehem. But neither Naomi or Ruth had planted anything.

Thankfully, there was this provision in the law of God. This provision allowed for the widows, and the poor to follow along with the harvesters and to glean the scraps that the harvesters drop or miss.

Ruth goes to glean, and by God’s grace she is gleaning on the land that is owned by Boaz. Boaz is a relative of Naomi. He comes out from town to see his workers. He blesses them in the name of the Lord. He notices Ruth. It turns out, his foreman have noticed her as well. She has not been taking breaks. She has been working hard. And she is outworking all of the other gleaners. It is her only source of income.

Boaz introduces himself to Ruth. He tells her to stay with his crew. He convinces her it is safer than being a strange woman going from field to field. She thanked him for his lovingkindness, or chesed, toward her. He invited her to eat with him and his paid staff. She ate till she had her fill, and kept some for Naomi as well.

When Boaz talks to Ruth he also tells her that the word is out about her. He knows that she has come as a immigrant worker. And that she has come to take care of Naomi. He tells her that God is faithful, and that he will take her under his wing. God will show Ruth his chesed for her chesed to Naomi

Boaz continues to show chesed, or faithful love, to Ruth. He orders his men to let grain drop for Ruth, so that she will have over and above what she usually has. He makes sure she has enough to eat and enough to drink. He has been looking out for her.

Naomi is excited. She tells Ruth that Boaz is a good man, a close relative, and thus a resource for help for them. She encourages Ruth to continue to glean in Boaz’s field.

It gets to a point when the winnowing is nearly complete, and the harvesting process is nearly done. This is good for the people, the end to a time of hard work. This is a time for action of Ruth and Naomi. After this party, the time to see Boaz every day will be lost, and the hope of their connection with him with be done as well.

Boaz obviously has a soft place in his heart for young Ruth. It is time that Ruth and Naomi make their advance. It is their last opportunity before winter approaches.

You see, Boaz was in the position of being a close relative, which means he also had the opportunity to be a kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman redeemer, through a process of Levirate marriage and family property rights laid out in the law given to Moses, had the opportunity to both claim the inheritance of Naomi’s family and take Ruth as his wife.

So, Naomi sets up Ruth to go to the harvest party. She covers herself for most of the party. But, as Naomi instructed, she keeps a close eye on Boaz.

This is a party, and it appears that the women are not near the men at the party. The barbeque comes out, as does the cooler. People eat. They drink. And Boaz drank enough of the harvest wine that his heart was made cheerful (Boaz was a good man, not a perfect one), and he felt sleepy, and he found a place to lie down a take a little nap.

Per Naomi’s instructions when he fell asleep with that smile on his face and started snoring, she snuggled herself up next to him. She uncovered his feet or his legs the Scripture says. Basically, she uncovered him on the lower half of his body, and then placed herself cuddling in his lap. I imagine some breeze blew along at some point. In any case, something startled him, and awoke, and groped around. While trying to figure out where he was and what was going on he looked down and there was this woman lying in his lap.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Ruth,” she said. I am your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative.”

Now this is not the best pick up line I have ever heard. Can you imagine? “Hey baby, this is Ruth. We met at a family reunion, and I thought, that is just the man I want, and what better place to find a man than at the family reunion.”

Ruth was instructed by Naomi to say nothing. But Ruth is startled into saying something. She says that she wants Boaz to put his “wing over her”. Putting a wing over someone is something someone does when one person decides to take care of another in Hebrew idiom. It is something that God does for us when he is faithful to us, he takes us under his wing of protection.

Putting a wing over someone was also an allusion to a husband taking a woman as his wife. In a marriage ceremony there would be a big party, and then at some point the husband would come and take his cloak, or his wing, and set it over his wife, like a teenage girl taking her boyfriend’s letter jacket when I was in high school, and they would go to their home and become husband and wife.

Here they were. This well respected, handsome, wealthy middle aged bachelor. This young attractive widow dressed beautifully. In a compromising position. What would Boaz do? He could have had his way with Ruth right there. She was that needy. She was that vulnerable.

Boaz chooses live in love. In the lovingkindness of integrity and covenant. Of obeying God’s word. And he tells Ruth they will wait. And he will go to the gates, where business is done, and he will negotiate for the right to marry Ruth, because there is a relative that is a closer relative to Naomi and Ruth than he that could lay claim to Ruth and Naomi and their small parcel of land.

So Boaz goes to the city gates. He says there is this land that he wants but the other man has first rights to it. The man says he wants the land. Oh no!

But then he says that the land comes with two widows that the man will be obligated to support if he takes it. The man wants no part of the women. He basically says, “I want nothing to do with the women. Too much headache for me. If you want the land, it is yours!”

That day, because of how the law works, Ruth became his wife by right. And the men patted his back and blessed him. Ruth and Boaz had a child, and Naomi was the nanny for the little guy. His name was Obed. The women of the city said that God had been faithful, or shown his hesed, to Naomi, by giving her a daughter in law that was better than seven sons, and a grandson in her old age. They said that God had given that baby to Naomi out of his faithful lovingkindness, his hesed.

And that little baby, born of a immigrant worker and a middle aged farming leader, was born to faithful, loving parents. Obed, that little baby, as it turned out was the grandfather of David. In Bethlehem. He brought hope to a peasant widow, a bitter woman without hope, and a lonely bachelor waiting for God’s woman to come to him in God’s time. God was loving because he was faithful to his promises. God is good.

Out of the union of the faithful Ruth and the loving Boaz came a king named King David. Best King Israel ever had. And out of this amazing story of hope came the line of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, who came to show God’s love and faithfulness to a world who also often believes hope is lost. That like Naomi is bitter and feels abandoned.

Even now, God is reaching out in his loving kindness, or his hesed to the world. He is reaching out through the Word of Jesus. He is reaching out through his Holy Spirit working through frail and feeble vessels like you and I. As we are faithful to live holy lives in commitment to God, as we are faithful to live loving lives with grace and integrity with one another, as we are faithful to share about the faithful love of God, with others, we are able to bring the love of God to the world. A world that is hungry for the kind of love that last that more for a night or a season. A world that is hungry for the kind of love that doesn’t run when it gets difficult. A world that is hungry for the love that we can only find with God and those who are faithful to loving as he has loved. Amen.

Week 3: Back in the Saddle Again

This week I approached my weigh in with a little less confidence than last week. After gaining a pound I was beginning to wonder if this Weight Watchers thing was going to work. Yet, for the most part, I was faithful to both our family plan and our weight watchers plan.

I walked in to the hospital to weigh. When I stepped on the scale I thought I was doing something wrong. I weighed myself over and over again. But the scale did not vary. Lost 11 pounds from last monday to this monday.

I made a couple of adjustments in my behavior this week that might have been related. First, I made sure I used my medication on a regular basis. Also, I made sure not to drink my pop for the week within 24 hours of weigh in.

I want to do better with exercise, and work out more often. I suppose with all of the work and child care issues I am juggling that will just take time.

P.S. Free book for whoever tells me what the picture up on top is about

The Week 2 Curse

I have went through two weeks of weigh ins in working through our weight watchers journey.

I was stoked after my first weigh in.I had not weighed since October, which i used as my baseline. Since I ate nothing but unhealthy food the two and a half weeks before the diet I thought I might even gain weight. I was wrong. I was down 19 pounds.

This last week was a bit more discouraging. Went to weigh in hoping that my momentum would continue. I gained one pound. Both weeks I stuck to the diet. There were a few differences. I had a soda on Sunday last week. I had soda the week before, but on Saturday instead. But would that account for weight gain when I have been staying within my budget of food points? I don't know.

What I do know is that when I work hard to manage my diet and exercise more, and then I gain weight, then I feel discouraged. But, I have committed to this process with Weight Watchers for three months. We will see how next week goes.

Sermon for 1.16--A little rough in the manuscript this week

Acts 10

This morning I am going to do something that I do not usually do. I am going to preach on a passage I have preached on here before. It was when I started here at Fowler First Baptist. But, being as we are coming to Acts 10, and I think the lessons that we can learn from this passage are as important now as they were then, I have chosen to preach on Acts 10. Rest assured, even though much of the outline is the same, the sermon was put together again this week.

But before we dig into the Scripture I want to tell you a story. A true story that happened to an American Baptist pastor several years ago. A story of something amazing that happened in a quite ordinary place.

Tony Campolo tells a story of being at a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was an east coast guy, trained from an early age to rise early in the morning. And when he got to Hawaii, his internal clock was all messed up. So he ended up in a Diner between one or two in the morning looking for something to eat. An old, run down, gritty diner.

The cook and the wait staff were as gritty and tough as the atmosphere. Then about 3 in the morning these gals walked in. It did not take long to notice that these young ladies were prostitutes. The people in the diner talked with the table, and with one another.

It came up that one of the women had a birthday the next day. She shared that she had never had a birthday party. She had been abused by her parents, run through foster care homes and children’s homes until she ran away and made her way to the streets.

The girls left after their meal to get back to work.

Dr. Campolo came up with an idea. He gave the cook some money. He said, “I want you to make a cake. A big one. And I want you to get ice cream with all the toppings. I will go get the rest of the stuff. We are going to have a birthday party tomorrow. I will get the candles and the party hats and a gift. Can you just have the cake and ice cream ready?”

Are you sure?

Positive?

Sure I can have that ready.

And the next night the whole diner was set up for a birthday party. And that streetwalker walked in. And there were kazoos and streamers and candles and singing.

And there was laughter. And small presents. And tears. Lots of tears.

As the women went back to work, the man who ran the diner asked Campolo, “What do you do anyway?”

“I am a preacher,” he said

“What kind of church do you go to” he asked

“The kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3am,” Campolo responded




“No you aren’t. The Man said. Because I would go to a church like that!”

Now maybe you aren’t called to sit at a truck stop in Pueblo at 3am and looking for drug addicts and prostitutes to throw birthday parties. But unless we are willing to open our hearts to people, unless we are willing to make changes in what we do and how we do things, unless we are willing to break away from our pet traditions and our normal routines, unless we are willing to be led by the Spirit to grow and change we will miss the hope that God has set before us.

The Scripture tells us about what happened when the church first started out on the move to reach the world. And this true story happened 2000 years ago in Israel. And involved several people, but most noticeably the apostle Peter and a centurion, which is something like a general, called Cornelius



Peter has been busy in his visits to the churches of Israel. He is being hosted by Simon the tanner in Joppa. Joppa is a seaside community north of modern day Tel-Aviv. He went up to the rooftop terrace to pray. Eventually he got hungry. A meal was being prepared for him. Peter looked out at the Medditeranean sea, took in a nice ocean breeze, and his eyes started to get heavy. Soon he was taking a nap during his prayer time, and God spoke to him then through a vision.

The dream went something like this. There was this giant sheet that seemed to come down from heaven. It went as far as he could see in the sky. As the sheet got down to where he could look over it, he saw the sheet filled with all sorts of animals. Many of which were considered unclean by a kosher Jew. God tells Peter, “Rise, kill, and eat”. Peter says he cannot, that he has never eaten food that was not kosher. The voice said, “What God has called clean, you must not call common, or unclean”. Then the sheet went up. This vision happened three times.




A day earlier there was another man who was given a vision by God. He was a Roman soldier. His name was Cornelius. Cornelius was a devout man. He gave to those in need. He prayed constantly. The Bible says he feared God. This is another way of saying he was a “God-fearer”. “God-fearers” were people who practiced faith in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, but had not become Jewish and been circumcised.

In that vision Cornelius was visited by an angel. The angel told him that his prayers had been heard and his giving had been noticed by God. And then the angel told Cornelius to send some of his people to Joppa, to the home of Simon the Tanner, and to ask for Peter.

Now after Peter had seen his vision about not calling what God has called clean unclean for the third time, the servants of Cornelius came to the gate of Simon the Tanner’s house. They were asking about Peter.

Peter could hear the commotion from the rooftop. As he was beginning to check things out, the Spirit said to him that these men were sent by God, and he should not be afraid of them and afraid to go with them. This was helpful because they were Roman soldiers, and going with them to who knows where might be a little scary.

So, Peter went with the men. And they went from where Peter was staying in Joppa a little further up the road in Caesarea where Cornelius the Centurion was stationed. He brought a few of the church leaders from Joppa with him.

Peter heard that Cornelius had a wonderful reputation among Jews and Gentiles alike. He was devout. He was prayerful. He was generous with those in need.

Peter soon arrived where Cornelius was staying. Cornelius had gathered friends and peers for Peter’s arrival. When Peter walked into the house they treated him like a rock star. In fact, they got so excited that they began to worship him.

Peter stopped this fuss over him immediately. He said that Jews don’t usually go into homes of the Gentiles, because Gentiles are considered unclean and unholy. But, God told him he should not judge Cornelius as unclean through a dream, so he was there to do what God said. So then, Peter asked, “What did you bring me here for?”

Cornelius told Peter about his regular prayer time. And how during his prayer time he was told to seek out Peter. He told Peter how God led him directly to the house that Peter was staying at. And he told Peter that God would bring Peter with the message that he would need to hear that would be the answer to his prayers.

Peter’s eyes lit up. He now had even more confirmation that God was bringing him to this house of Cornelius to tell Cornelius and his men about Jesus.

So Peter told everyone there about how Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in Scripture. Peter told them about how Jesus had died and rose again. Peter told them how Jesus had the power to forgive sins and give them new life.

Even as he was speaking, people started to believe. And as they started to believe, they began to speak in tongues. And they began praising and worshipping God. All the Jewish believers were astonished! The Holy Spirit was coming upon Gentiles, Romans no less, just like the Holy Spirit had come upon them. It was becoming obvious that the gospel was for these Gentiles as well as the Jewish believers in Jesus.

Peter asked the people with him, “Can we come up with any reason not to baptize them?” I imagine there was probably joyous laughter at that moment. And the people who came to faith were baptized. And Peter stayed at the house of the Centurion for a few days. Then he headed back to Joppa, and eventually to Jerusalem.

I love this story! I love all the things that it can teach us.

I love this passage because it tells us that God is always working beyond what we expect. He is always doing more that we have ever imagined or hoped for. Just when we think we have God understood to where what he is doing is completely predictable and we can have every little situation under control, he puts us in a situation where nothing is under our control. But everything is under his control. And he blesses us. And he blesses others through us.

I love this passage because it shows us that nobody is outside of the love of God and his grace. Jesus did not just die for people who were raised in the church. And thank God! Because if the gospel was only for those who were raised in religious and morally upright families I certainly would have been left out! But Jesus came for everyone! Nobody is outside his grace and forgiveness.

But if you had to ask me what the most important insight for me with this passage was, I would have to tell you it is a lesson that the people of God always have to learn and relearn. It is the lesson Israel was taught when God told them “If my people who are called by my name will pray and humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear their prayers and I will heal their land”.

To me the most important message here is that in order for Cornelius to be reached, for he and his friends to accept Christ, it was Peter that needed to do most of the changing, not Cornelius. And when Peter and his friends had their hearts changed, then they were able to bring change into the world around them and reach it for Christ.

God always works to change the world from the inside out. From inside a believers heart out into the world. From a revival in a church and change in their hearts, to then being able to have effectiveness in reaching their community.

So, Let us look at our little outline in our bulletin here. And I can illustrate my point.

When one thinks of a Roman soldier in the ancient world, one generally thinks of a greedy, immoral persecutor. A man who has blood on his hands. A bully to the Jewish people.

Cornelius, however, was nothing like this.

Again if you look at your outline you will see that

He was seeking GOD and seeking TRUTH. He even knew God well enough that when he saw the angel he said, “What is it Lord?” He knew the Lord’s voice! The Lord was working in him and speaking to him even before he accepted Christ.
He was moral. He had a reputation for giving to the needy. He was an enemy occupier, but all the Jews held him in high regard as a good person.
He was hard working. He had to be. Climbing to rank he had was no easy task
He was a leader. Did you notice how his people were loyal to him? How so many were gathered for Peter’s arrival?
He was inviting people on a spiritual journey. He was an evangelist before he even knew Jesus. He was inviting people to hear about and follow God even before he had heard the knew Jesus.

The picture here of Cornelius is not of a man who needs to make drastic change. He just needs someone to help him understand more of who God is and what God is doing in his life. He needs someone to come and help him find what he is missing and does not understand. Cornelius does not need to get off the path he is on, he just needs someone to point him in the right direction to the next, very important step. He needs someone to tell him about Jesus, and help him bring everything he has known and heard about God together.

The picture of Peter is quite different. Peter is an apostle. Peter is the leader of the early church. But in order to reach Cornelius, God really needs to work on Peter’s heart. Peter needs to grow and change, or he will fail in the mission God has given him and the church.

Look at our outline. What was Peter like?

The apostle Peter was prejudiced. That is why God had to send him the vision with all of those unclean animals to eat. He had prejudices against people who were not Jewish, and had no intention of reaching out to them.

Peter was spending time with people that were just like him. Which means primarily Christian believers of Hebrew decent.

Peter felt apprehensive and afraid. He kept arguing with God about the animals not being able to be eaten because they were unclean. God had to tell him to go with the men who came to get him and tell him not to be afraid. God generally tells people not to be afraid when they are in fact, afraid. He reinforced when he arrived that he was only at the centurion’s house because a dream had told him to come.

In addition to these challenges Peter had some good qualities. Qualities that allowed him to reach Cornelius and his friends. Those qualities were:

Peter was obedient to what God commanded

Peter was open to growing and changing when prompted by God to do so.

This much is true. Both Peter and Cornelius needed to change. But if you really looked at who had to change the most in order for Cornelius to be reached, well it was Peter that needed to change.

So what does that mean for us, here at First Baptist Church of Fowler?

Well it means a few things. If you will look at your outline you will see:

If we are going to reach our neighbors, then we are going to need to be the ones that grow and change.

Friends, I hate to say it, but if you are waiting for the world to walk through the doors of the church and decide to join our little congregation and be just like us you will die waiting. IT WILL NOT EVER HAPPEN.

If you are waiting for the world around us to all the sudden become more eager to understand Christianity and receptive to Biblical values, and run to your front door or through the doors of our sanctuary in droves to understand what Jesus is about, you will be waiting a long time. The world is the world.

No, when the world changes it changes because Christians are willing to grow and change, and then take that change into the world as humble ambassadors of Jesus. The world changes because we change. The world changes because believers are not happy with the way we are. We are not content to coast along in the backwash of half-hearted Christianity. Our community changes because we as Christians and as a church are willing to respond to the convicting, prompting words of the Holy Spirit

Revival, one missionary that I worked with told me a while ago, is like a fire. You don’t start a fire by taking a blowtorch to a big log in your fire place. You start a fire by putting out a little fire starter, some tinder, and some kindling. Then as the fire grows you add the big heavy pieces of wood.



Passionate Christians are the tinder and kindling that starts the fire of revival. Then as the revival grows like a fire, it begins to have an effect on half-hearted Christians, and then the world seeking to know Christ. But a spiritual movement that has an impact on our world begins with you and me.

It is like the quote you see for point #2

The Bible says if MY people who are called by MY name will HUMBLE themselves AND pray AND seek my face AND turn from their wicked ways …. (2 Chron. 7:14)

If you want this community to be more full of Jesus, we need to allow this church and our hearts to be consumed with a passion for serving Christ and reaching others for Christ. And if that pushes us beyond our traditions or the way we grew up or what our preferences are, then so be it.We, as the Scripture says…need to humble ourselves and allow God to do a work in our heart.

If our church gets stronger, it will be because WE CHANGED.

It will not be because everyone else has mysteriously been convinced by God to join our ministry. It will be because we allowed God to let us see others differently, to love others more freely, to share the gospel with greater effectiveness and humility.

This is because churches and communities, and people for that matter, change from the inside out.

You allow God to change your heart. Then God starts to move in our church. Then things start happening in our community and world. But if you are not willing to learn, grow, change, be challenged, and be pushed to act differently and see things differently, then don’t expect anything to change around you.

Unless we are willing to humble ourselves, and be willing to make following Jesus our passion instead of just our hobby, we will continue to struggle in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our congregation, and in our witness. Unless we are willing to let God challenge us and grow us beyond our narrow perspective, we will not grow. Unless we are willing to make those uncomfortable steps to begin to hope and dream of new ways to reach and disciple our children, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, we will miss the opportunities for vital ministry that is ahead of us.

I hope we won’t let this moment called today, pass you by. God has got great things in store just down the road.

Book Review of the Healthy Pastor

THE HEALTHY PASTOR: EASING THE PRESSURES OF MINISTRY
By Dennis Bickers
ISBN 978-0-8341-2553-7
Beacon Hill Press
Reviewer Clint Walker

I first became familiar with Dennis Bickers when he came out to Colorado to lead a pastor’s workshop for our regional collection of American Baptist Pastors. Rev. Bickers put together a workshop around the topic of The Healthy Small Church, which is also the title of one of the books he has written. I was transitioning from an associate/support staff in congregations of 150-225 to a solo pastorate of about 30 souls. Soon after I became familiar with Bickers his book on being a missional church in a not so mega church setting was released, which was also a helpful guide for me in beginning my journey as a small church pastor. Recently Bickers has released The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry .

As one may be able to deduce from the title, the latest book transitions from addressing the state of the church to helping pastors and families understand peculiar role of a pastor. Like his previous books, it focuses much of its attention to issues related to being a leader of a small-membership congregation. The Healthy Pastor is a helpful primer for understanding the challenges of being a pastor in a small church, and a helpful guide for a pastor and a congregation in helping to address those concerns.

Bickers’ books are a lot like Bickers himself. They are direct, forthright, straightforward, and easy to understand. The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry attempts to address specific areas of concern and stress for the pastoral leader. Each chapter begins by describing the problem that a pastor faces as the pastor ministers, and then moves toward sharing some ways of coping or addressing that concern.

The book has three strengths. First, it is an excellent guide for folks beginning in being a solo pastor in any congregation, and especially a small congregation. It clearly summarizes many of the potential pitfalls and roadblocks that pastors will face, and gives some guidance in how to bypass or overcome those bumps in the road. This will be helpful for a minister and the minister’s family to understand instead of jumping into pastoral leadership with blinders on. Also, the book is an encouragement for pastors who are a little further down the road in ministry. Small church pastors often feel isolated and alone. The Healthy Pastor gently encourages a pastor that they are not alone in the pressures that they face. Finally, this book would be helpful for a group of people, such as a Pastoral Search Committee or a Pastoral Relations Committee, who are seeking to support a pastor in his ministerial journey, and empathize with the difficulty of the pastoral calling.

This is an excellent book. If I was a judicatory minister, I would offer it to all of the new pastors that came into my care.

Sermon for 1.9--From the series on the book of Acts

Acts 9:32-42 (New King James Version)

32 Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda. 33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately. 35 So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. 37 But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.



I have lived most of my life in small towns. The town I went to high school in had no stop lights, although the population of the town was a little closer to Rocky Ford than to Fowler. I went to college in the big city for a year, but after a year I had enough of it. I moved to a college of 500 in Kansas in a town of 2000 people. I attended an American Baptist Church of about 30 to 40, and felt right at home.

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There are a lot of things that love about small towns. I love that you can walk into the grocery store downtown and people know who you are, and sometimes they know exactly why you are there without saying anything. I love that you can see a car driving through town and know exactly who is in the car when the car is two or three blocks away. I like that one of the clerks at the city hall when I pay my water bill is the daughter of the guy who has been working on the church furnace and the furnace at the parsonage the last couple of days. When I lived in Kansas in college, I came back a couple years later for a visit and to attend a wedding. I went to Shirers restaurant just north of town in Lyons, KS. It was a restaurant I went to with the church people on a weekly basis. I always drink a lot of water with my meal. When I walked into the restaurant the same waitress was working that often worked while I dined there. And she served me the way that she remembered from being there. Which meant that the waitress remembered to put a pitcher of water at our table near me, because otherwise she would have to run back and forth to refill my cup every minute or two. I loved that. And I like that when my wife worked in La Junta and lost her phone that someone was able to track her down at the Arkansas Valley Community Center and was honest enough to give it back. There is a lot to love about a small town.

One of my wise friends, now passed away, was a human resources manager. He was also my landlord for a while. One night while sitting out late in the hot tub visiting with him, he was telling me about his approach to interviewing people. He said, “I always just ask people their strengths. Because, if I ask them their strengths, I can easily figure out what their weaknesses are.”

“How’s that?,” I asked.

Vic said, “A persons greatest weakness, or even an organization’s greatest weakness, is always a result of their greatest strength. If a person is a type A go-getter, don’t expect them to be meek and sensitive. If a person is really strong is supporting and caring for each individual person, don’t expect them to be a numbers driven, hard-driving type. You can always tell a person’s weakness simply by discovering their strengths.”
A small town’s greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness. Sometimes, during the first year of being here, when friends from out of town would ask me about how things were going I would say something like this, “Well the nice thing about being in Fowler is that it is a slower pace of life, things move more slowly, and everybody knows what is going on with everybody else. The challenging thing about moving to Fowler is that things it is a slower pace of life, things move more slowly, everybody knows more about you than you know about them.

A small town’s stability, consistency, and sameness year after year is its greatest strength. At times it can be its greatest weakness as well. Once people make a judgment about you, that judgment is pretty much set for decades if not for life. At times it can be comforting to head into the store or restaurant for coffee and see the same people in the same chairs week after week and year after year. But there are some times for many of us when going to the same places at the same times day after day and week after week can begin to feel like we are stuck in a rut that we will never get out of. Like we are living in some small town version of the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray is forced to live the same day over and over again.

The attitude about things never being able to change can seep into our own view of ourselves and our situation. We can feel like we are stuck in our personal lives. Maybe we are stuck in a grudge that we hardly even understand why we continue any more, like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matheau in the movie Grumpy Old Men. Or maybe we never see how our financial situation could improve. Perhaps we wonder if we will ever find a way to get healthy again. Or we just want to stop having the same argument with our spouse over and over again, or having to listen to the same complaint.

I cannot tell you how many times when I have heard one person complain about another person, and then say, with their hands thrown up in the air, “But they ain’t never gonna change”.

Both of the people that we find in Scripture this morning are in the middle of situations that most doubt are really going to change. They and the people around them are in differing stages of grief and loss. Each of them is a part of a church which is kind of an upstart church. They are not in significant cities, although Joppa is closer to that than Lydda.



The apostle Peter, as a leader of the young church of Jesus Christ that is just being born, is going from congregation to congregation to help them get headed in the right direction, and get square about good doctrine, and to offer these very new congregations support from their mother church.

While on his listening tour, he performs one miracle in each city that makes a big difference. Each miracle is performed for one specific person. Each miracle requires Peter to come to them, instead of them seeking out Peter for help. Of course, it would be hard for the dead person to go anywhere as Tabitha was…but still..Peter comes to these people in need. But Peter comes to these people, in their homes, in their rooms, to perform the miracles.

Each miracle intervenes in what is assumed to be a hopeless situation. Aeneas was completely bedbound for 8 years the Scripture says. In other words, people had given up hope of him getting better. Tabitha or Dorcas, both names mean “Gazelle”, was dead.

Each miracle is not simply to benefit the person receiving the healing. Each miracle builds up the community and church as a whole. A bunch of people came to believe because Aeneias was healed.

With Tabitha, there is more detail. You see, Tabitha lived her life as a blessing to others. She took care of widows, who were the poorest of the poor in the ancient world. She made and gave them clothes to wear. She was, as a matter of fact, the leader of the church of the outreach to those in need. She was known for being charitable to numbers of people.

Peter was called to her. The women were all grieving at her house. It was a mad house. All of these poor women were carrying tunics and dresses and all sorts of clothes that Tabitha made for them.

We don’t realize what a big deal this is today. We can run to a second hand store or Family Dollar or Walmart and buy clothes fairly inexpensively. Not so in the days of Tabitha. Most people had one garment to wear. Maybe two. Yet, Tabitha was making these women who did not have anything clothes. And beautiful clothes at that. Clothes that they could be proud of.




The house is a madhouse. Peter asks everyone to leave to room. He tells Tabitha to wake up. She opens her eyes. She sees Peter sitting there. She quickly sits up. There is more work God has for her to do after all!

Her life is extended. The widows and destitute receive their leader and caretaker back from the dead. The churches compassionate ministry goes on. The church’s reputation grew. Many people came to the Lord.

What you need to learn from Peter’s ministry with the church in Joppa and Lydda through miracles is this: YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN. YOU HAVE HOPE. GOD IS LOOKING TO, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, INTERVENE IN YOUR SITUATION. IN YOUR LIFE.

So often it is easy to believe that we are just stuck. Our health declines, and we forget that as long as we have breathe, and as long as we have life, God has a purpose for us. WE ARE NEVER GOD FORSAKEN. WE ALWAYS MATTER TO GOD.

So often we feel trapped. We believe that our choices or circumstances have led us to an undesirable and inescapable future. You don’t have to feel that way. God wants to strengthen you. God wants to heal you. God offers you new life. God offers you new hope. God offers you a new heart. WILL YOU TRUST HIM?

We can also see that God had a plan for each of the churches that Peter visited. They would never be the same. Nor should they ever be.

Sometimes, when we live in a place where there is a slower pace of life, where things don’t change very fast, it can be hard to see and understand how the Holy Spirit works within people, how God is growing us as individuals, and how God is working in our congregation. We wonder what God is doing. But if you pay attention you can see God’s hand at work all around you. In the slow but steady change of a person’s heart. Through the growing joy in an otherwise dour acquaintance. Through a new visitor attending on Sunday morning. Through a significant conversation with someone that you never really expected. Be assured that he is at work. Like God’s healing power in this story, God is coming toward us, offering us new hope and the opportunity for new growth and new life. He is not leaving us to our own devices. God is coming into our lives, our churches, our homes, our rooms with his gift of healing and hope. We just need to open our eyes to see it. Amen.

Lessons Learned--First Week

I have been doing this weight watchers thing with Jennifer for 5 days now. Here are my initial observations:

About the method
I really enjoy the method of weight watchers online. I am able to manage it much the same as I might manage my budget. I have so many points that I am given for the day, and I am asked to keep my "spending" within that a certain limit. I am also given extra points for a given week, which function as a small "cheat" to the diet as you go along.

For me, it is really helpful to view what I eat or don't eat in terms of "cost". I want a candy bar, but I have to ask myself, "How many points will that cost? Is it worth it?" I think it is helpful to view things this way. Because in some very real ways what we eat or do not eat does cost us. Thus, the system works to train you in eating the right things, and not just the right amount of things.

One of the most surprising things to me is how much of a role fiber plays in how much points something has. If something has a lot of fiber, then you should eat a lot of it, because its points will be minimized.

The diet trains you to eat the "right" things. Most fruits and veggies have zero points, and thus cost nothing against your diet.

Each diet is individualized based upon gender and weight, which I also think is interesting. I weigh more than my wife, so I am allowed more points. As I lose weight, my points are reduced. Weight watchers is shrinking my stomach and my appetite based on where I am at, and gradually helping me lose weight without starving me. I like that. I think it is better at producing life change.

On My Thinking

I am not sure my thinking is changing as much as I might have hoped. I thinking that say, in a year or so, when I am done with my WW journey, that I will be able to have a montser cheeseburger with fries. Or go to a pizza buffet. Or have a chicken bacon ranch sub sandwich. It is probably better to put these things behind me, but I have yet to do so.

On the other hand, I think a dietary change like this is something I could work with long term. I am not starving. I get the munchies, but I have not been hungry.

For once tomorrow I am eager to go to the scale and see if I have had any results. We will see how that goes...

From the Dailys: From Verse and Voice by Soujourners

"Because we cannot see Christ we cannot express our love to him; but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do for them what, if we saw him, we would like to do for Christ."
- Mother Teresa

From the Dailys: Quote from Common Prayer

Prayer from the end of my devotional Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.

May the peace of the Lord go with you, wherever he may send you

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you in the storm

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you

may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors

From the Dailys: Quote from St. Francis

I also admonish and exhort those who preache to use well-chosen and chaste words that are practical and edifying. And let them point out what is evil and what is virtuous, what merits punishment and what leads to eternal glory. And let your discourse be brief, because the Lord's words were few when he was on earth.

St. Francis, Rule of 1223, Chapter iX

(From through the year with St. Francis, p. 25)

New Steps in the New Year

Generally, I have tried to avoid placing personal goals and aspirations on this blog. The thought process behind this decision being that although I would welcome some accountability through this blog, I generally do not like self-appointed accountability partners. And there is always that one person who decides to bring up my goals and be my self appointed mentor. Or there is that one person completely invested in my success when I set goals that then gets depressed when I do not accomplish all that I hope to.

Right now, I have decided that these reasons are not good enough reasons not to share some of my goals. Even if by sharing them I am exposed as a failure and a loser in the next few months, I think I am going to use this blog as a place to talk about some of my goals and aspirations for 2011 and beyond.

Tonight I am finishing off some soda and pizza, and that is because Jennifer and I are beginning a 3 month trial membership to weight watchers, and I need my last fix before I have to get on the wagon. My goal is to drop 8 lbs a month until I meet my long term goals. I have never done weight watchers. While Jennifer is going to meetings, I am doing my stuff online at home. We will see how it works. We have also set up our 15 commandments of our diet that we are planning on sticking to.

Tomorrow: some learning and study goals

What Have I Read this Year?

Dennis Bickers, in his blog on ministry, has wrote a convicting post about how we as pastors often do not read enough. It made me want to check on what I have read this year. So I am going to try and list what I have read below and think about how I have done with my work-related reading and my reading in general. I am going to do this a little at a time



1. The Male Factor by Shaunti Feldhahn (Partial Read, Partial Skim)



2. Transforming the Small Church by Shannon O'Dell



3. The Strategically Small Church by Brandon O'Brien



4. Lead Like Ike (Partial Read, Partial Skim)



5. The Journey Home (Fiction)



6. Dig Deeper:Tools for Understanding God's Word


7. Chosen (Story of Esther)


8. It had to be you (Fiction)


9. Doctor Jesus


10. They Almost Always Come Home (Fiction)


11. Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise (Fiction)


12. Plan B by Pete Wilson


13. Heading for Heaven (sermon collection from a puritan preacher)


14. What Happened to My Life--about women's issues in middle age


15. Churched (spiritual autobiography)


16. Imaginary Jesus (Fiction)


17. Suprised by Hope (Reflection on the Biblical Book of Jonah)


18. The Sacred Journey (On Spiritual Discipline of Pilgrimage)


19. What Your Son Isn't Telling You (Focus on the Family book)


20. 66 Love Letters (Partial Read and Partial Skim)--on Bible as love letter


21. Crazy Love by Francis Chan


22. How to Build a Life-Changing Men's Ministry


23. The Shark and the Goldfish (Business Management Parable Book)


24. Tithing (Part of Ancient Spritual Disciplines Series)


25. The Liturgical Year (Part of the Ancient Spiritual Disciplines Series)


26. The Emotionally Healthy Church


27. Gilead (Fiction about a Pastor's Life)


28. God's Prayer Book (On the Psalms)


29. Seeds of Turmoil by Bryant Wright


30. Understanding the Koran by Marteen Elaas


31. Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello



ok...there might be more...I will see....


See the sidebar for other books I am working my way through

Review of NO MORE CHRISTIAN NICE GIRLS by Coughlin and Degler

NO MORE CHRISTIAN NICE GIRL
By Paul Coughlin and Jennifer Degler Ph.D
ISBN 978-0-7642-0769-3
Bethany House Publishers
Reviewed by Patricia Walker

If you are a woman that…..
Tries to please everyone else
Avoids confrontation whenever possible
Has difficulty speaking up when you disagree
Wishes you could have …would have ….should have.
BUT really feel that this is the way Christian women should be….
then RUN to get NO MORE CHRISTIAN NICE GIRL, grab a highlighter, and give yourself some time reading this fascinating book.

The chapters are intriguing, discussing how Christian women often feel social and cultural pressure to act a certain way which does not compare at all with the strength of women in the Bible, much less what Jesus modeled for us. The authors talk about how “Nice” can actually have the opposite result than we would expect. “Nice” can ruin relationships both personally and professionally, and how Jesus taught us to speak with love and truth, even if it might upset someone else.

The book is set-up with questions at the end, which can be used individually or in a book club.
Though it is an easy read, you will want to take your time. If you are like me you will want to buy some more copies of NO MORE CHRISTIAN NICE GIRL for friends when you are finished reading this great book. You will NOT want to let this book go!

Guest reviewed by Patricia Walker (Friar Tuck's Mom)

**This book was provided by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review

Review of The Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello

THE CLOUDS ROLL AWAY
By Sibella Giorello
ISBN 978-1-59554-534-3
Thomas Nelson
Marketed by Litfuse Group

At first glance, it does not seem like much of an assignment. A cross is burned in the back yard of a hip-hop mogul who has bought a plantation in Richmond, Virginia. The FBI and Agent Raleigh Harmon are brought in to expedite the investigation of the event. The assignment was intended as part of a hodge-podge of dull cases given to Agent Harmon by her boss, who is trying to run her out of the FBI one way or the other.

It is not long before the investigation of the “hate crime” of the plantation renamed “Rapland” becomes a bigger case than anyone expects. Other crimes happen at Rapland and in the area which accelerate the investigation, and the risk Raleigh Harmon must face both to her career and to her safety and well-being increase as well.

At the same time Agent Harmon is involved in working the case at Rapland, she is involved in a task force working on urban crime in Richmond, which also eventually presents threats to her career and her safety.

In addition to her normal work challenges, Raleigh Harmon must navigate her investigation through social circles of the Richmond elite that she has grown up in and known all her life. This creates many challenges, as the people she must interview are also the people she goes to church with, and who attend parties and social functions with her and her family.

The Clouds Roll Away is a wonderfully written book. Even though it is written by a faith based publisher, it could easily be successful in a mainstream market. It is a page-turner of a crime-novel, and could easily be made into a movie or a pilot for a television series. It is that good. In a world where guys like me have to suffer through Christian novels about Amish women and supernatural thrillers designed to manipulate readers toward a fearful faithfulness, The Clouds Roll Away is a breath of fresh air, and one will eagerly pass on to friends.

Most readers will enjoy relating to Raleigh Harmon the person. She is a high-society woman that likes blue-collar work. She can afford to wine and dine at fine restaurants, but instead chooses Hardees and Burger King for most of her meals. She is smart and earthy, strong and sweet. And once the reader finishes The Clouds Roll Away, they may well seek out the other books in the Raleigh Harmon series.





Giorello has a way of combing excellent character development, breath-taking suspense, and weaving several strands of stories together seamlessly. The result is a novel that should have a wide audience, and a growing fan base for a very talented writer.

Rating: 4 star
Faith Element: Low to Medium
Credits: This book was given to me by the Litfuse Group via Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.

Giveaway! Book Review Tomorrow

Sibella’s celebrating the release of The Clouds Roll Away by giving away a KINDLE prize pack worth over $150.00!

One Grand Prize winner will receive:

• Latest Generation KINDLE with Wi-Fi


• $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com

To enter simply click on one of the icons below! Then tell your friends! Winner will be announced January 3, 2011 on Sibella's blog: http://sibellagiorello.blogspot.com/.