Bobbie's Babble
Words of Wisdom from our Pastor
Each month Pastor Bobbie includes a timely and inspiring article in the newsletter that helps Christians to live out their faith.
A new year has begun and while this is not the first start of a new year we have ever seen and we do not know what this year will hold, God does. I am always saying that our life on this planet is incredibly short and very precarious, and it is. Why did God create His world and our lives in this way? I do not know and it is not for me, or anyone besides the Lord, to know. It is ours to trust and serve, for that is the order of things in God's creation.
The irony is that the more we trust the Lord, the more we serve in the Lord's name and for His sake, the richer and more fulfilling our lives become.
Maybe this year we could all begin a grand adventure and for just this year try God's plan. We don't have to go to Africa or anywhere else. We could begin each day with prayer, could be short, "Lord show me how You would have me use this day of gift." Then we could spend our day in serving our family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, strangers... We serve by keeping a smile on our face, by saying yes more than no, by thinking of others and not ourselves, by always talking with the Lord, by... I have found it amazing that as much as my back hurts, if I am off to the hospital to pray with a family or doing the sermon or visiting with you or... I never even feel or even think about my back. Won't you join the grand adventure, just for this year?
A mother had her infant snatched from her by an intruder in Missouri and in Australia a little girl said good-by to her Daddy whose young life had been snatched away by a stingray. Life hardly seems fair. But where is it promised that life is fair? Where is it promised that we will all enjoy long lives? Where is it promised that we will never endure tragedy or hardship?
There is a place where it is promised that we will never be alone. There is a place where it is promised that we will always be cared for. There is a place where it is promised that someone will walk with us, if not carry us through difficult times. There is a place where it is promised that we will always have a loving, peaceful home and future. Do you know that place? You could start looking in a building with a steeple. Just some thoughts.
This has been a frightening week with another school invasion and shootings this time in a peaceful, spiritual community of Amish. From this tragedy have come some lessons in faith that should not be lost in the myriad of media attention and fear. On the day after the shootings, the boys who were forced out of the school crowded into the outhouse and began to pray rather than fleeing; a representative of the Amish community went to the shooter's family offering forgiveness; the community of other faiths met for a prayer/memorial service; and the Amish families who lost youngsters talked about how their children were prepared to meet God. Is our faith as strong? If not, how can it become so? Just some thoughts as we pray for our Amish brothers and sisters.
We break the bread and drink the cup because Jesus commanded us to do so and because it draws us into a deep intimacy with Him. The bread symbolizes for us His body that was broken for us. The cup symbolizes His blood that was shed as the new covenant for the forgiveness of our sins. He, Who was without sin, paid the sacrificial price for our sins. This is the doctrine of atonement. It has its roots in the Hebrew ritual of animal sacrifice for sins. We no longer have to run around sacrificing animals to atone for our willfulness, but we do have to confess our shortcomings, ask for forgiveness and repent which means turn around. We do corporate confession as part of worship and we then partake of the Sacrament (an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual gift of grace) as we symbolically reunite with Jesus. We do it with the words, Jesus, I remember.
June 2006
As many of you know, I have a philosophy of "everything hurts, what doesn't hurt, doesn't work; thank God for what hurts." This philosophy can apply physically, emotionally and/or spiritually.
I have recently come to appreciate how, when we get bogged down feeling sorry for ourselves, that the Lord has a way of shifting the paradigm for us if we are not willing to do it ourselves.
It is easy to moan about your arthritis until you meet the parent whose preschooler just died. It is easy to complain about the responsibilities of parenting until you read about Chris Gardner who raised his son in a men's room in the San Francisco Subway until Chris became a stockbroker and a millionaire.
Sometimes we need to look not at how bad we have it but how good we have it since we have a Lord who walks us through it all and we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. (Romans 8:28)
As we enjoy our summer time of relaxation, let us not forget to every day thank the Lord for our bounty, our health and our lives. Every breath we draw, every moment we are still alive is a gift of grace from our benevolent Lord, not guaranteed, not earned, but a gift. I have that we will all be focused this summer on how we can be praising and thanking the Lord, not only with our words but also with our deeds. If it hurts, it works. Thanks be to God.
May 2006
On April 30, we welcomed four members into our community of faith. As Congregationalists, we understand that The Lord gathers us into communities/families of faith to be tenants-at-will in the house of The Lord, the church. This is a good time to remember that it is not my church or your church or even our church but that Founders is Christ's Church and that it is a privilege to be a member.
The church was a new structure that Christ created when He said to Simon, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:18) The word "church" does not even appear in scripture before this reference and does not appear in any of the other three gospels.
Christ created the church to be the living representative of "the body of Christ". As members of "the body of Christ" we receive blessings and have responsibilities. We receive gifts of grace in the Sacraments, offered only through the church; we become heirs of the kingdom for Christ gives us the keys to the kingdom through the church; and we have responsibilities for maintaining the church in a Godly manner both physically and spiritually.
How exciting to have a family, not of flesh and blood but of spirit and truth, gathered not through biology but The Lord's will. It is a privilege and an honor. Thanks be to God.
April 2006
This week I received an e-mail from my sister entitled "small world." She asked if I knew someone whom she now teaches with who had been in high school with me a few years ago. Her colleague is someone who sat near to me in just about every class for four years. We had graduated and gone to different colleges and different life paths. This incident got me to thinking about relationships. They come and go in our lives and that can be appropriate or it can be sad and leave a hole in our life.
Human relationships require work and attention if they are to thrive and be nurturing. It is the same with our relationship with the Lord, although we tend to feel that most of the work is on our part and maybe it is because the Lord has this process down pat, if you will.
No matter what we say or do; no matter how many times we turn our back or thumb our nose; no matter how many times we "break the rules;" the Lord is always waiting for us to "come home." But, and it is an important but, we have to make the move; we have to be the ones who are willing to reach out and repair the relationship and that is because the Lord has not moved. The Lord is always ready to love, forgive and bless us if we but ask; if we but make ourselves available; if we but keep up our end of the relationship. This is an important lesson of Lent but I think it is an important lesson for our human relationships as well.
We are called to be more Christ-like. Does that not suggest that we need to also be more loving and forgiving in our human relationships? Do we not need to work at keeping our relationships alive? We sometimes have to forgive what we consider unforgivable but doesn't the Lord do that for us, all the time?
Life can be oh so short and it is very precarious. We need to hold onto relationships, if we can, not just trash them and move on. Imagine how you would feel if the Lord said, "Well, he/she has hurt My feelings for the last time. I do not have to put up with this. This relationship is in the trash can and I am moving on."
Today, reach out and repair or renew human relationships, if for no other reason than in remembrance of the Lord, Who is always willing to repair and renew the relationship with us. Just some thoughts.