Un-holy Desecration

A female band in Russia chooses an English language name that is provocative and attends a Christian church to interrupt the worship with a profane political song.

A hate filled man enters a Sikh temple and shoots people at random.

A black Christian church is burned by racist white men.

A mosque is bombed by a different sect of the same religion.

Desecration of houses of worship has been going on for thousands of years all over the world. It is a way of expressing hatred for the different and trying to exert some control over others. We can not stop people from hatred and anger toward others and it is a problem world wide.

I feel that any house of worship no matter what religion should be respected and should be a safe place for those who worship there. In America we are guaranteed freedom of religion and we have almost all the worlds religions represented here.   I pledge my self to respect all houses of worship! Are you willing to make that same pledge?

WWW ???

When I traveled to Jordan I was stopped by customs agents coming and going. Both the Jordanian and American customs agents asked me three questions before letting me pass. Who are you?

Where are you going?

What do you have to declare?

These are good questions for Christians to ask of ourselves as we look to the future. These are good focus questions to help us with the challenge of being Christians in our fast changing world. We can restate them as:

Who are we?,

Where are we going?,

What do we have to declare?

Who are we? As Christians, what is our role in our community and the world? How do we define our relationships with God, the Christian Church, other Christians and most importantly non-Christians?

Where are we going? More to the point what is God calling us to do and be as a part of God’s mission? Are we just sitting here doing nothing? Are we going in the right direction? Are we going fast enough?

What do we have to declare? What is our witness to a world in need of God’s love about the Gospel of Jesus the Christ? In deed do we bother to declare the Gospel to others?

The answers to these questions are significant for marking the difference between a healthy growing church and a social club that has religious overtones. My goal is that my answers will reflect a life dedicated and faithful to Jesus Christ and his mission.

Am I My Brother's Keeper

Gary Kelly wrote: "Pastor Larry I know we are not suppose to add anything to what is not there. Now in Genesis chapter 4 Abel was he not responsible for sharing with his brother what was pleasing to God? The shedding of blood an animal sacrifice. When we read the New Testament I John 3:12, Hebrews 4:11, even the words of Jesus Matthew 23:35 it makes it seem as if Abel was without fault, but he died (the wages of sin). just looking for some input from someone who seems to be knowledgable about scripture. The question was Am I my brothers keeper?"

There are many layers in the story of Cain and Able:

1.    Is blood sacrifice better than a grain offering? Perhaps it is more to the point of the attitude of the one offering the sacrifice. It says that Able offered the “First Fruit” or the best of his crop while Cain brings only an offering from his crop. Do we give of our best – first fruits – in our offerings? It does not matter what kind of offering if it is the best we have.

2.    Was Able with out fault? Able offered a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of his sin, so he acknowledged his fault before God. His relationship with God was at peace. He died not because of his sin but because of his brother’s sin.

3.    Am I my brother’s keeper? I note here that Cain used that question as a means to deflect God’s question. Answering a question with a question is an old and well used tradition. Here is a clue to Cain’s problem not wanting to own up to his own responsibility for his actions in the way his offering was made and for the killing of his brother. Cain was selfish and self centered and it corrupted his relationship with God and that is the real issue of the story.

Troubles

I am confronted regularly by people who want their religion [God] to protect them from all kinds of troubles. The Christian faith was never meant to make people withdraw from life and hide in a protective shelter. Jesus sent his followers out into the world with a mission, sometimes telling them to go without even a change of clothing. Jesus gave us a faith that enables us to handle life’s troubles rather than avoid them.

Christianity does not offer us release from our problems; it offers us ways to solve our problems or live through them. We are blessed with spiritual strength to face and conquer anything life might throw at us. We live in an uncertain world with men and women who do not fear God and will do anything to get their own way. The ones who attacked the World Trade Center two years ago and the ones who continue to terrorize innocent people create troubles for the rest of us. The attack on the Sikh temple on Sunday was done out of hate and confusion of the Sikh religion with Islam. The are two very different faiths.

Add to that the occasional natural disasters and uncertainty is the order of the day. An earthquake, tornado or flood is not God’s punishment on those people as some proclaim but nature doing what it needs to do. Jesus said, “It rains on the just and unjust alike.”

Our faith in Jesus the Christ gives us the power and understanding to overcome all uncertainty and to live with confidence. Through prayer, devotion, scripture study, and fellowship with other Christians we can undo any and all troubles that the evil ones send our way. Remember the words of St. Paul,  “I can to all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.”[Philippians 4:13]

That Little Dash

As a Pastor I have walked through many cemeteries to bury the bodies of souls that have returned to the Lord. Often tombstones have only a name and two dates with the dash between them. A lot happens between the date of birth and the date of death and often the memory of those events are lost to history. 

What makes that dash meaningful?

1. Remember that everything you have is a gift from God.
2. Every thing you have now you will loose for you can not take it with you. Even the great kings of Egypt who tried could not.
3. While you are in possession of what ever you have you are a steward who makes decisions on how it will be used.
4. How you use what ever you have will determine the kind of person you are and the condition of your souls at the time of your death.
5. You will account to God for the condition of your soul.

What you are at birth is God’s gift to you what you are at death is your gift to God. 

Make it a good gift.

The Man in the Box

I have been watching the generation of my parents passing away one after the other. In my family there are only two left my mother and my dad’s youngest brother. Neither of them is in great condition. I have been attending the family funerals and noting each passage from this life to the next.

Standing by my father’s grave side was an eerie experience. He had been cremated and his ashes were carried to the grave site in a small thin cardboard box. The four by four grave was only about two feet deep and I watched a man from the funeral home kneel down and gently place the box of ashes in the bottom. The preacher said a prayer and it was all over.

As I contemplated that grave the thought that came to mind was, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The sandy red dirt that was returned to the grave will cover the box ok but the first good rain will seep down to the box of ashes and it will dissolve and collapse. Truly all that remains of my fathers body will be mixed with the Texas earth and one day no one will be able to tell it was ever there. It is fitting to the man in the box to become one with the earth. 

Loans $$$

As children, our daughters received allowances to learn how to manage money and to buy their own treats. When they were about 10 and 7, the younger one suddenly never had any of her allowance left just the day after she received it. 

When I questioned them, I discovered that the youngest had made the mistake of borrowing a small amount from her big sister a few weeks before. In doing so she agreed to pay 1% interest a day, compounded, on that loan! 

Neither of them really understood what that meant and big sister began collecting 100% per day and the tab had really run up. They both learned a lesson in economics that day and big sister had to pay back the extortion and loaning little sister money was no longer allowed.

All of us need to learn the lesson of borrowing money and how it works. There are many small loan companies that do the same thing as big sister did but they know exactly what they are doing.