This was given at the little church I preached at in Lynnville, IL on February 8, 2004… It is ‘noted’ as ‘_02’ because I posted the manuscript on this site many years ago…

The Scripture is from 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11…

       “No one would have believed in the last years of the nine­teenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurances of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dis­miss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

In our younger days, whenever my friend Henry or I had any serious project to work on regarding any of our vehicles, we always wound up doing it in the garage at his house outside of Edwardsville, IL. There, we pulled and overhauled engines, replaced clutches, and rebuilt front-ends together. Small jobs, like replacing brakes or installing a new 8-track could easily be done in an afternoon, but the more complex jobs usually found us working late into the night.

In those days, KMOX would broadcast the ‘Radio Mystery Theater’ at, I believe, midnight, and we would take a break to pay attention to the drama being ‘built’ before us! Now, radio shows, by necessity, require the listener to ‘believe’ in what they are hearing… and in the dim light provided by a single trouble-light and two small bulbs mounted on the rafters, one in each bay, it was easy and fun to let ourselves become engrossed in the story as it played out on the ‘TV screen’ of our minds… that is, our imaginations.

As most of you know, the words that I opened with come from the very first page of H. G. Wells’ classic ‘War of the Worlds’. It was published in 1897; just three years after a Bostonian named Percival Lowell founded a major ob­servatory where the most elaborate claims in support of life on Mars were developed. People at this time tended to believe in the possibility that Mars supported some kind of sentient life. Even as late as 1938, when Orson Welles presented the story as a radio-play, many people who had missed the introduction readily believed that the earth was being invaded by Martians and panicked!

Henry used to have an LP with a recording of that broadcast, and we were both fascinated by it… Orson had done an excellent job in transcribing the book into what an unsuspecting listener might well believe was an evening of music interrupted with a series of newsflashes regarding the apparent invasion of Earth from Mars. Henry and I both knew how to ‘see’ with our ears, and we loved to listen to stuff like that. Indeed, I still have a number of recordings of old radio shows that I would take and listen to in the truck once in awhile!

Television, on the other hand, has eliminated the need to ‘see’ with our ears… it has brought many things to ‘life’ for us over the years. Consider the antennae that sprung up from Uncle Martin’s head each time he needed to send a message… it was no longer necessary to ‘believe’ in something with your imagination… the special effects people could make it real! So much so that many of the younger generations may have very stunted imaginations… there is very little left for them to imagine that hasn’t been ‘created’ in some form or other in some film, TV series, or video game! And thus, our abilities to ‘believe’ in something unseen have diminished!

In noted astronomer Carl Sagan’s very popular PBS series and book of the early eighties, Cosmos, he uses both history and theory to build many of his hypotheses. In the chapter titled Blues for a Red Planet he tells of young Percival Lowell’s fascination with the planet Mars, and how over time it came to be his life’s work. He went into the deserts of Arizona and built what was at the time one of the most powerful telescopes on earth and dedicated most of his evenings to staring through it at the red planet while taking notes and drawing sketches of what he thought he saw. Let me read how Dr. Sagan summarized all of his efforts.

“Lowell’s lifelong love was the planet Mars. He was elec­trified by the announcement in 1877 by an Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli, of canali on Mars. Schiaparelli had re­ported during a close approach of Mars to Earth an intricate network of single and double straight lines crisscrossing the bright areas of the planet. Canali in Italian means channels or grooves, but was promptly translated into English as canals, a word that implies intelligent design. A Mars mania coursed through Europe and America, and Lowell found himself swept up with it.

Percival Lowell’s notebooks are full of what he thought he saw: bright and dark areas, a hint of polar cap, and canals, a planet festooned with canals. Lowell believed he was seeing a globe-girdling network of great irrigation ditches, carrying water from the melting polar caps to the thirsty inhabitants of the equatorial cities. He believed the planet to be inhabited by an older and wiser race, perhaps very different from us. He believed that the seasonal changes in the dark areas were due to the growth and decay of vegetation. He believed that Mars was, very closely, Earth-like. All in all, he believed too much.

We have now sent reconnaissance satellites into orbit around Mars. The entire planet has been mapped. We have Landed two automated laboratories on its surface. The mysteries of Mars have, if anything, deepened since Lowell’s day. However, with pictures far more detailed than any view of Mars that Lowell could have glimpsed, we have found not a tributary of the vaunted canal network, not one lock. Lowell and Schiaparelli and others, doing visual observations under difficult seeing con­ditions, were misled—in part perhaps because of a predisposition to believe in life on Mars.”

The Life Application Commentary tells us that, “The truth never loses its power. People, however, often lose their grip on truth.” How true that is! Do you know what you believe? And how have your beliefs changed through the years… and why? The Easter Bunny… the Great Pumpkin… Tooth Fairy… someone suggested ‘wishing on a star’… these are all things that our childhood mind accepted but our adult mind does not. How about the concept of the man being the ‘master of the home’… or of one man’s right to own another? These were merely social issues that were in need of being changed! And of course there is the ever changing world of technology that sometimes forces us to change what we believe to be possible or not on an almost daily basis!

Is it any wonder that many people no longer know what to believe? Paul Simon once wrote,

“So you see, I have come to doubt

all that I once held as true.

I stand alone, without beliefs…

The only truth I know is you.”

In our lesson today, Paul is calling the Corinthians back to the truth… back to what they had been taught to believe. Matthew Henry’s Commentary says that…

“It is the apostle’s business in this chapter to assert and establish the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which some of the Corinthians flatly denied, Whether they turned this doctrine into allegory… by making it mean no more than a changing of their course of life; or whether they rejected it as absurd, upon principles of reason and science; it seems they denied it in the proper sense. And they disowned a future state of recompences, by denying the resurrection of the dead. That heathens and infidels should deny this truth does not seem so strange; but that Christians, who had their religion by revelation, should deny a truth so plainly discovered is surprising, especially when it is a truth of such importance. It was time for the apostle to confirm them in this truth, when the staggering of their faith in this point was likely to shake their Christianity. He begins with a summary of the gospel, what he had preached among them, namely, the death and resurrection of Christ.”

Let me reread the first two verses of today’s lesson, but this time from The Living Bible…

Now let me remind you, brothers, of what the Gospel really is, for it has not changed – it is the same Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is squarely built upon this wonderful message; and it is this Good News that saves you if you still firmly believe it, unless of course you never really believed it in the first place.

Has your belief in what the Bible says changed over the years? It shouldn’t have! Oh, yes, our knowledge of historical accuracy has improved… our acceptance of social issues, such as the equality of women, has slowly taken place… but the Gospel itself has not changed! It had not changed then… and it is not changed today! The story is just as true and relevant for us as it was then!

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… He was buried… He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve… after that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… He appeared to James… then to all the apostles… and last of all he appeared to Paul also!

Believe it! Accept it! Live it!

In the 6^th chapter of Isaiah God asks, “Whom shall I send?” Who indeed? For it is only through our reading His Word… it is only through listening to it with, more than our eyes and ears, our hearts… it is only through accepting and believing and feeling what we have read… that we can become the true Christians that we are expected to be. Only then will we see the work He expects us to do. Only then will we be able to stand up and reply, “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”

Based on ‘The Love Chapter’, 1 Corinthians 13, this was written and used at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on February 1, 2004 and, with a very minor update (Included in this version…) again on May 18, 2008 at the Hartford East Maple Street Chapel…

       I have stated, at different times and different places, that change is sometimes a good and necessary thing… and I stand by that statement! However, if the truth be known most of us tend to resist change of any kind… I know that I certainly tend to resist it unless I can see a clear and present reason for it. Let me give you an example of what I mean from the time I had started back to driving over-the-road some years ago…

       After about the first or second week of being back I had gotten ‘settled’ into one particular truck. It was not one of the newer ones, but it worked just fine for what I was doing. Then happenstance caused it to be used by somebody else over a weekend and I was put in a still older one ‘temporarily’. After about two weeks of continually missing ‘my’ truck being on the lot at the same time that I was, I told them I’d just stay in my temporary one for now. You see, you get used to what you’re driving… you learn it’s quirks and it’s good points… and it is just easier to keep everything situated in a truck that you are familiar and comfortable with. However, the cold weather one week caused some of the other trucks to have problems, and my truck was needed to fill in on some other jobs that I just didn’t do. So, for the latter part of that week I played ‘musical trucks’ and had a different one everyday. Some mornings I wouldn’t even know which one until the office people would get there at 7 and see what was available! Even though this meant that I was in a much nicer, newer vehicle each time, it also meant that I couldn’t leave as early as I liked. I also had to put up with other people’s trash, the stink and ashes of cigarettes, and lots of other stuff that had been left in each one. Then, after hitting the road, I would have to learn how that particular truck handled and ‘drove’, if you will. And on that particular week, it happened more than once that snow was falling heavily out of the skies! Just give me something I know and am comfortable with!

       Another example of how some people resist change requires my telling a little bit of a story.

       My older cousin Jim had lived with us for some years as we were growing up, and was always one of my favorite cousins. When I was in my mid-teens, or so, he married into a very Slavic family. I can remember being at the reception where all kinds of ‘exotic’ foods… at least they were to me at the time… were being served, and the band… dressed in traditional costumes, as I recall… played the ‘Beer Barrel Polka’, and many, many others… and people actually got out on the dance floor and danced to them!!!

       As fate would have it, I went to work for Jim’s father-in-law in his heating-and-air-conditioning business for one summer during my short stint in college back then. He was really a great guy and I learned an awful lot from him about designing, building, and installing heating and cooling systems, and I have had occasion over the years to make use of that knowledge. He and his wife were both first-or-second generation from ‘the old country’, and still talked with slightly more than a trace of an accent. Indeed, the wedding that they had helped arrange for their daughter was probably like coming home for them… that was their normality! Still, they were Americans and proud of it, and tried very hard to adapt to the changing ways of both this country and the times. Yet, I remember working with him in the shop one day when Neil Diamond’s ‘Play Me’ chanced to be playing on the radio. Do you remember the words? “She was morning, and I was nighttime,” was how it started out. The words of the chorus were, “You are the sun, I am the moon. You are the words, I am the tune. Play.”

       Now, I was then, and still am, a huge Neil Diamond fan, and I thought this was one of his most beautiful and ‘soulful’ songs. Yet my employer listened to it playing and just about had a fit! “Listen to that,” he said. “Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous… ‘I am the words, you are the tune’… what does that mean? It’s just nonsense!” And he went on in that vein for some minutes… that was just too different… too much change, if you will… than he was able to deal with!

       One Sunday at the little church I pastored in Lynnville, IL, I used another Neil Diamond song as the prelude to that morning’s service… “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother!” This song was a huge hit in the early seventies, and was done by many performers over the years… we even sang a version of it in choir during one of my high-school years. And it is a very moving and meaningful song… I mean, just listen to these opening lyrics… “The road is long, with many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where, who knows where. But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him…He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother” Can you think of any more suitable thought to open a worship service with? And yet I’m sure that many of them there that morning, as some of you might, sat there and thought, ‘What is all of this?!’

       These verses that I read constitute what most call the Love chapter, and I’m sure that all of you have heard it a number of times in your life, and some of you may be very, very familiar with it. For many, it is one of the most beautiful, most eloquent passages in the Epistles… and probably one of the most quoted. It has also been ‘updated’ by various artists over the years to say the same things but in different, more modern connotations. Yet in any guise, it has never lost one iota of its meaning or intent. Who among you will deny that in these verses are found the most accurate and understanding definition and description of what love is supposed to be? Who here has never been moved by hearing, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

       Oft time, this is used in describing the relationship between a husband and wife, and is certainly suitable for that purpose! But the Life Application Commentary points out that, “Society confuses love and lust. Often, so do believers. Unlike lust, God’s kind of love is directed outward toward others, not inward toward one’s self. It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against natural inclinations. It is possible to practice this love only if God helps us set aside our own desires and instincts so that we can give love while expecting nothing in return. Thus the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others.”

       Isn’t that an amazing thought? “… the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others.” Now, do you want to hear something even more ‘amazing’? Let me turn that idea around… The more love we show to others, the more we become like Christ! That’s what these verses are about… showing love for others! And that is what this Neil Diamond song is about… showing love for others! Let me read all of the lyrics to you…

The road is long, with many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where, who knows where
But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother

So on we go, his welfare is my concern
No burden is he to bear, we’ll get there
For I know he would not encumber me
He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother

If I’m laden at all, I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart isn’t filled with gladness of love for one another

It’s a long long road from which there is no return
While we’re on our way to there, why not share
And the load, it doesn’t weigh me down at all
He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother

Again, I cannot think of a more appropriate song to use to help focus our minds on what God would have us do with our lives. And yet many would sit there and still think how much nicer a good, ‘regular’ hymn might have been to open a service with! We are resistant to change! And that is dangerous!!!

       I want you to take just a minute and think about some of the things you’ve done this past week… just think about some of the things you do each day. Now, think about the week before… and the week before that… how many of those things have been the same each week? How many of them do you think you’ll do again this week? We are resistant to change!

       And yet, the very idea of being Christian, even on its most basic level, means that we must change our hearts and our lives to reflect the overpowering love of Christ and pass it on to others! Being a Christian isn’t just about being at a worship service each Sunday, although that’s a part of it. Being a Christian isn’t just about reading our Bibles and praying, although that’s a part of it. Being a Christian isn’t just about singing hymns and putting money in the collection box, although that’s a part of it. Being a Christian is about being like Christ! Being a Christian is about love! Being a Christian is about taking care of our brothers and sisters! Being a Christian is about changing the world! And how are we going to do that when we won’t even admit that there is any more to the world than that small one we live in?

       Again quoting from The Life Application Commentary, “Paul wrote that love endures forever. In morally corrupt Corinth, who these letters were addressed to, love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning. Today, people are still confused about love. Love is the greatest of all human qualities and is an attribute of God himself. Love involves unselfish service to others. Now, listen to this… Faith is the foundation and content of God’s message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is the action. Faith informs action; hope influences action; love is action. When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves.”

If we are to become the Christians that we are called to be… called by Christ, Himself, mind you… then we have to get out of our ‘comfort zone’… we have to get out of the notion that the world revolves around us and our own little problems. That’s not to say that we can’t ask God for help with our own problems… that is also a part of what being a Christian means… but we have to open ourselves up to the rest of the world, and to all of its problems, as well! That’s what it means to love our fellow man! That’s what it means to be Christ-like! That’s what it means… to be a Christian!

Quoting from the 8th chapter of the Book of Nehemiah, verses 1-3, 5, 6, and 8-10, as well as the Gospel of Luke 4: 14 – 21, this was given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on January 25, 2004… and it rings true even More-so today!?! 😦

       “Mayor Dawgmeat… and my beloved constituents of Dogpatch… I could stand heah and bask in the sunshine of your warm greetin’… forever!” “Bask on your own time Phogbound!” “Yeah. Git to the point!” “Now, I bet you’all been wonderin’ what Ah’ve been up to in Washintin these last eighteen years.” “We didn’t care just so long as you wus there and we wus here!” “Go ahead, Senator… tell ‘em!” “I done got the United States Senate to pass the Jack S. Phogbound Bill!” “Hurray!! … There’s no Jack S. like our Jack S.!” “Through ma’ efforts, little old Dogpatch… poor, unknown, poverty-stricken Dogpatch… is gonna’ be world famous!”

       I think that’s enough for now!

       During my junior year of high school at Edwardsville I played the part of Senator Jack S. Phogbound in the Edwardsville Junior Theater production of ‘Lil’ Abner’. These words are from my big speech at the beginning of it… yes, after all these years I still remember most of it!

       The fact is, many of my friends and family are sometimes amazed as how much I do remember. I can remember songs that I sang in eighth-grade boys-chorus as well as from each of the succeeding years … I can remember many of my teachers’ names as well as most of those of my fellow students… I can recall bits and pieces of different poems and speeches that I had to memorize for various classes…“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” That was from the second grade. “How I love thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois!” Fourth grade! And I can certainly recall many of the incidents and experiences that I thought were ‘momentous’ in my life. I remember being baptized when I was fourteen or so, and almost word-for-word the talk that the elder had with me beforehand. I remember my first kiss (second grade), and my first new bike (eighth birthday). Indeed, I could go on and on and on.

       Over the years, though, some memories begin to fade… or to become ‘mixed up’ with others. It is also very true that we tend to remember those things which were pleasant and forget those that were not! So, occasionally I find myself being ‘called to task’ for a faulty memory by someone who claims to remember better than I, or by finding some physical piece of evidence that reminds me of what actually was! Furthermore, it sometimes gets difficult to remember something that happened just last week… they say that’s a sign of something, but I forget what! Generally, though, I do pretty well, and it has been my privilege to draw on many of those memories for the stories that I use in my articles and sermons… in other words, in the service of God!

       In the verses from Nehemiah we read how the Israelites gathered in the street and clamored to have the Law read to them. What is missing from these verses is the fact that the nation of Israel was just returned from captivity in Babylon… a situation that was precipitated by their falling away from God yet again! Now, God had forgiven them and reconciled them back to their promised land. But with the older generations not having followed the statutes nor passing them on to the younger before that captivity… and the fact that during their captivity most had not been allowed to hear the Law on any kind of regular basis, if at all… many would have had no memory of ever hearing these words and would have been hearing them now for the very first time!

       In these verses and those that follow we hear how the people of Israel opened themselves up to what was being read… they let the words of God spill over them and into them, filling their very soul, their very being… and even more importantly, they vowed to follow what they heard, and took steps immediately in that direction. The only problem was… we’re told that they went through this cycle of abandonment and atonement over and over again throughout the centuries… in other words, they would continually ‘forget’ who and what God was and all that He had done for them!

       In our verses from Luke, Jesus has just returned from His time in the wilderness where He was tempted three times by Satan. We learn that He “taught in the synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Then, while in His home territory of Nazareth, He attends the synagogue and reads this passage from Isaiah… “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

       How many of you could pick up a Bible right now and turn to that passage in Isaiah? (It’s from Isaiah 61.) Furthermore, until I just read it, how many of us remembered this particular passage from Luke? Just how good is our memory of the Word of God?! Even I rely on my computer and the programs that I have there to help me find various passages that I’m looking for! And yet, if each of us were to pick just one book of the Bible and commit to reading four chapters a day, the longest would be read through in one month, while many would be read through as many as four times in that same month… we would come to KNOW it! And we really do need to know it in order to make use of it… and defend it!

Now, it only makes sense that Jesus knew the Scriptures… after all; He had firsthand knowledge in writing them! But knowledge of the Scriptures doesn’t necessarily mean that one knows how to use them, or is using them properly. After all, Satan quoted scripture to Jesus while tempting Him in the wilderness. The Life Application Commentary points out what a sobering thought it is, “that Satan knows Scripture and knows how to use it for his own purposes! Sometimes friends or associates will present attractive and convincing reasons why you should try something that you believe is wrong. They may even find Bible verses that seem to support their viewpoint. Study the Bible carefully, especially the broader contexts of specific verses, so that you understand God’s principles for living and what he wants for your life. Only if you really understand what the whole Bible says will you be able to recognize errors of interpretation when people take verses out of context to make them say what they want them to say.”

It has been said on more than one occasion that Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction. Think about it! If the generations growing up behind us fail to grasp the true meaning of Christ… if they twist His words to mean things that better suit what they want to believe instead on what He meant… or even go so far as to dismiss Him as ‘legend’ or ‘folklore’… just ‘somebody who was a very good teacher and a really nice guy’… Christianity will die with us! Because you can be certain that people who do not believe in the validity of Christ will certainly make no effort to pass the story of Him on to their children, or to their children’s children!

I have been looking at some older Books of Worship and other period pieces, and I am amazed at how much things have changed even in just the last fifty years! The things that I can remember being taught as a child are argued openly by those who are supposed to be learned in such things. The truths that our parents and grandparents never questioned are now held up to ridicule or ignored. If we were talking strictly of social issues or matters of technology then I would say YES, by all means, change is sometimes good… and sometimes even necessary! But… if we are talking about the word of God, we MUST remember that it NEVER changes! It is as valid and accurate today as it was when Jesus Himself walked this earth! The only thing that should be different in today’s world is how we apply its principles to today’s issues! And the only way we can address that with any certainty is if WE know what it says!

Don’t trust your memory! Read your Bible! Read it regularly! Know what it says! Listen to what God is telling you while you read it! Then, when someone in Satan’s employ (even if they themselves are unaware of it) tries to tell you that what it ‘really’ means is this, this, and that, you can state unequivocally that they are wrong, and back up you declaration with the facts!

But, whatever you do, don’t stop there! Once you know it… once you have let God’s word flow over you and through you and around you… once you have let it fill you, just as the people of Israel did in the verses from Nehemiah… then you must pass it on… you must tell the story to others! And I don’t know about you, but I love to tell the story!

What story? Jesus Himself said it in the last of these verses… “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The Messiah has come!

Quoting from the 3rd chapter of letter of Paul to the Ephesians, verses 1-12, this was first given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on January 04, 2004, and again at the Hartford (IL) East Maple Street Chapel on June 07, 2009… The manuscript, by itself, was also posted on this website several years ago…

       I don’t like mysteries! Or, rather I should say I don’t like unsolved mysteries… I want to know the answer to everything! That’s one reason that I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes’s stories… I can really appreciate his step-by-step observations and consequent deductions, and often try to emulate them in my own life.

For example, I remember talking to a friend one time on her cell phone when she commented that her battery was getting low. I chanced to call again some time later and she managed to tell me that she was still where she had been before the phone went stone dead. When she called me back about ten minutes later she was astonished when I answered, “Ahh, you went out to the car and plugged the phone in!” It was no great feat of deduction on my part to reason that if she was still at the same location as before she had not had a chance to charge up the phone and that it had gone dead… and that if she were talking to me just a few minutes later that she must have gotten to the nearest charger, which most likely was her car. Yet that simple bit of reasoning took her completely by surprise! As Sherlock himself sometimes surmised, the results of ones reasoning may seem astonishing until one explains how simply they are arrived at. The trick is, however, to look for those simple explanations and be open to them!

I had a couple of games that were very popular as I was growing up… one of which professed to use ultra-modern technology (For the time!) to solve ‘crimes’, while the other pretended to use ‘voodoo’ to answer various questions. I don’t remember the name of that one, but the game board consisted of a plastic cauldron attached in the middle into which you would put a stick and ‘stir the pot’, saying something like Shakespeare’s, “Trouble, trouble, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” You would then ask your question and swing this plastic skull hanging from a plastic limb around the board until it would start ‘jumping’ and finally come down to touch on one of the answers printed on the board! Mysterious, right? Well, it didn’t take long for me to determine that the ‘skull’ must have a magnet in it… and if that were the case then there must be a corresponding magnet that was moved around the board as you stirred the cauldron. With that as a clue, it took even less time to be able to ‘see’ where the piece was under the cardboard, and learn to stop it at whatever answer you wanted!

The other game was called ‘Lie Detector’, and consisted of this plastic ‘machine’ and decks of question, solution and suspect cards. A solution card was placed into the machine in such a manner so as to not let any of the players see it. Then each person would pick a suspect from their group of cards, insert it into the machine and then insert one of the true-or-false question cards. The player would then insert a metal probe into the corresponding hole in the top of the machine and press. If the answer was yes, a large needle on the machine would move and point to ‘true’… if not, the needle would point to false and a loud bell would ding… just in case you missed the needle moving! Since this was before the days of electronics being everywhere, you had to reset a spring-loaded lever to reactivate the bell each time you got a false answer… and since most of the answers were false, you had to reset it an awful lot during each game… which was a pain! So we soon learned that if you didn’t press so hard on the probe, you could see the needle start to move towards ‘false’ and stop pushing before it went down far enough to set off the bell. From that, it didn’t take much more to look down into the holes and see just what was happening. The card with the name of the guilty person, which was inserted at the beginning of the game, had a series of holes punched in it. Each suspect and question card also had holes punched in them at various places. When you inserted all of the cards into the machine and looked down into the holes from the top, you could see that some of them lined up. If you put the probe into the holes that lined up, it would go through and push on a plate that caused the needle to move towards ‘true’… if the holes did not line up, the probe would be stopped by whichever card didn’t have a hole and you would push the whole thing down until it set off the bell. Thus, with a little practice you could just put in the different cards one at a time, look down the holes to see which ones lined up and figure out who the guilty person was without ever even touching the probe or resetting the bell! Another mystery solved!

Indeed, one could say that for all intents and purposes, most of my professional life has been spent in the pursuit of solving mysteries! Before the days of plugging your car or tractor into a computer and letting it tell you where the problem is, mechanics had to determine for themselves just what the ailment might be, as well as how best to fix it… and the really good ones would also try to figure out why it did it and how to prevent it from doing it again… and I am proud to say that I was considered to be one of the really good ones. Armed with boxes of gauges, hoses and adapters, as well as all kinds of electrical and electronic testing equipment, I would soon have more diagnostic hookups to a tractor or combine than a person in intensive care! And like someone in intensive care, some problems were easy to find and repair, while others were far more elusive! And while the computers that I work on today are far smaller… and much less greasy… the same basic ideas of testing and analyzing still apply.

Obviously, I tend to approach life in a similar manner… trying to reason out all that I see around me and not accepting mysteries. And… as you might also guess… this sometimes works… and sometimes doesn’t! These verses talk about one of the more elusive of life’s mysteries.

The Life Application Commentary tells us that, “Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem and, eventually, had been imprisoned because he took a stand for the equality of Jews and Gentiles as Christians (believers in Christ). The Jewish antagonists saw Paul’s teaching as radical and destructive to temple practices. Thus, Paul was writing here that he had been imprisoned for the sake of Gentiles. The religious leaders in Jerusalem, who felt scandalized by Jesus’ teachings and didn’t believe he was the Messiah, pressured the Romans to arrest Paul and bring him to trial for treason and for causing rebellion among the Jews. Paul had appealed for his case to be heard by the emperor, and he was awaiting trial.

The noted psychotherapist Viktor Frankl maintained that people can endure any “what” as long as they have a “why.” He spoke with credibility — he had survived the Holocaust. Paul suffered greatly for his outspoken faith in Jesus, referring to himself as “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” How could Paul persevere in the face of such suffering? He had a “why” for the “what.” Paul knew that his life was in God’s hands and that nothing had come into his life that had not first passed through nail-scarred hands.”

Paul then takes a moment to be sure they understand just why he is on the side of the Gentiles… a moment to briefly explain the ‘mystery of Christ!’ Quoting from Barnes’ Notes, “This does not refer to anything “mysterious” in the person of Christ; or the union of the divine and human nature in him; or to anything difficult of apprehension in the work of the atonement. It refers to the hitherto concealed doctrine that through the Messiah, the Gentiles were to be received to the same privileges as the Jews, and that the plan of salvation was to be made equally free for all. This great truth had been concealed up to this point, or, at best, only partially understood, and Paul says that he was appointed to make it known to the world.”

A mystery! I don’t know about you, but I have sometimes wondered why the world runs the way it does. I mean, doesn’t God have any better control over things than it appears? Let me read this from the Life Application Commentary; “The God, “who created all things”, has always been in control of his creation. The plan of salvation… the mystery of the church, and the revelation of his wisdom across all the realms of creation… will occur according to the eternal purpose. God’s plan did not arise as an emergency measure when Adam sinned; it did not occur because God somehow lost control. God has always been in control, and his eternal purposes will always be accomplished. The central theme of this letter is God’s great work of joining Jews and Gentiles together in a unified body — the church. God could only accept sinful people through a sacrifice that would cover their sins. Jesus Christ gave that sacrifice — himself — through his death on the cross. In Christ Jesus our Lord, God accomplished the plan he had prepared before the world began.” Furthermore, according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “We have not merely been saved that we might escape hell; we have been saved in order that God may present a people which will astonish the whole world.”

In verses 7 – 9, reading from The Living Bible, Paul says that, “God has given me the wonderful privilege of telling everyone about this plan of his; and he has given me his power and special ability to do it well.

Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the most useless Christian there is, yet I was the one chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles the Glad News of the endless treasures available to them in Christ; and to explain to everyone that God is the Savior of the Gentiles too, just as he who made all things had secretly planned from the very beginning.”

In many ways, I’ve often felt that God has also “given me the wonderful privilege of telling everyone about this plan of his; and that he has given me his power and special ability to do it well.” And like Paul, I generally feel as if “I did nothing to deserve it… that I may well be, sometimes, the most useless Christian there is…”  And yet the truth is that each and every one of us has been “chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles… our friends and family and neighbors and co-workers… the Glad News of the endless treasures available to them in Christ; and to explain to everyone that God is the Savior of we Gentiles too… just as he who made all things had secretly planned from the very beginning!”

The Life Application Commentary says, “That the Gentiles being included in God’s grace is called a mystery. This “mystery” was a plan at one time hidden but now revealed. The mystery was hidden, not because only a few could understand it, but because it was hidden until Christ came. God had made this mystery known to Paul by revelation. A “revelation” is a direct communication from God. Paul had refused to believe in Christ and had persecuted anyone who did. God got hold of Paul and made known to him… through personal revelation… that Jesus Christ truly was the promised Messiah of the Jews… and the light to the Gentiles as well. Both Jews and Gentiles would be included in the church.”

Regardless of how hopeless things may seem on occasion… regardless of how chaotic the world might appear, or how out-of-sync things might be… the ‘mystery’ that we seem to see is only in us! There is no mystery to God! He has a plan… the same plan that He has had from the beginning of time. And even though we may not always be aware of what it is… the only real mystery is why we can’t just simply trust Him enough to believe… to believe in Him… to believe in His plan… and to believe in ourselves enough to take our part in it! After all… His Son believed in it enough to become one of us and die on the cross… just how much, exactly, is He asking you to do!!!

Using verses 1-11 of the 2nd Chapter of the Gospel of John, this was given at the little church I served outside of Jacksonville (IL) on January 18, 2004.

(Click on link for video…)

https://www.youtube.com/live/tI4zMPrggCE?feature=share

       This little red, white and blue card is proof that, at one time at least, I knew how to operate heavy equipment. As best I recall, it cost me just over two hundred dollars… and two hundred dollars back then was probably about like five hundred today! I mean, I was paying .08 – .10 cents a gallon for gas, and until I got this card, had been making $1.25/hour! The big letters at the top of it read ‘International Union of Operating Engineers’, and shows an initiation date of November 11, 1973. I didn’t necessarily remember the date, but I remember the day. You see, it wasn’t enough to just walk in to the business office, plunk down my money and say ‘I want to be an Operator!’ …I had to prove to them that I was an operator!

       At that time, the government was sponsoring a training program through the union, and on the acreage behind the hall were a number of government-surplus earthmovers, dozers, cranes, etc., most of which were being operated by young men who were eagerly spending their morning loading dirt from one pile and moving it to another, then spending the afternoon loading it from the second pile and returning it to the first. One of the instructors was called into the office, and I was taken back to where the dirt was flying. We first of all stopped one of the earthmovers and he had me climb up into the operator’s seat. Most of this government equipment was equipped with second seats for the riflemen to sit and protect the operator, so the kid that was running that machine moved over and sat in that seat. Now, I had run a lot of machines in my day, even at that young age, but I had never been on an earthmover! He told me how to work the controls to make it move, and he reached over and operated the controls to load it… All I actually did was steer it across the field! OK.

Next, I was taken over to one of the large dozers spreading and leveling the dirt brought over by the earthmovers. Now, I had run several dozers over the years, but all of them were very old with cables, hand clutches and huge steering levers… this machine was all automatic power shift with a multi-function hydraulic blade and tiny steering controls… once I figured out how to make it move I could make it move dirt, but I wasn’t near as smooth as I might have been on a more familiar machine.

I had been told that I was to be tested on just three machines, and so far I wasn’t doing real well!

Finally, the instructor who was testing me took me over to an end-loader… now I was in my element! I had been running loaders of one kind or another since before my legs could easily reach the pedals. I climbed up, shooed everybody out of the way, and put that machine through its paces, loading up one bucketful of gravel out of one pile and dumping it on another, zip, zip, zip. As I climbed down off of it, the instructor just smiled and said, “Why did you go so fast?” I had proven myself… and got my card!

The Life Application Commentary says that until the time of today’s verses, “the disciples (those who had been called thus far) were following Jesus for their own reasons. Others may have been questioning who Jesus was and were following him to find out. John says that when the disciples saw the miracle, they believed in him. The miracle demonstrated Jesus’ power over nature and revealed the way he would go about his ministry — helping others, speaking with authority, and being in personal touch with people.”

“The six stone water jars were normally used for the ceremonial washing of hands as part of the Jewish purification rites before and after meals. According to the Jews’ ceremonial law, people became symbolically unclean by touching objects of everyday life. Before eating, the Jews would pour water over their hands to cleanse themselves of any bad influences associated with what they had touched. When full, each jar would hold twenty to thirty gallons.

The number six and the water jars have been allegorized by various commentators throughout church history. The fact is, Jesus did not make random choices of objects when they were used in miraculous actions. Even the miracles operate under a system of consistency. It is often enlightening to inquire about the reasons behind Jesus’ use of elements like mud, spittle, bread, water, fish, etc., in his miracles. In this case, the empty water jars may symbolize the emptiness of Jewish ritual when true faith is absent.”

Why did Jesus perform miracles? Again, quoting from The Life Application Commentary, “The Gospels record thirty-five miracles, or signs performed by Jesus. In the Gospel of John, each miracle was a sign intended to point people to the truth that Jesus is the divine Son of God come down from heaven. These signs were remarkable actions that displayed the presence and power of God.

The miracles recorded in John’s Gospel (and indeed all the miracles recorded by the other Gospel writers) demonstrated God’s great love for people and his concern for their individual needs. But on a deeper level, they also revealed Jesus’ glory — Jesus’ unique, divine nature portrayed in such a way as to claim our loyalty and reverence. The sign of turning water into wine was a partial unveiling of Jesus’ full identity. His power over nature, death, sin, and evil revealed him to be the promised Messiah. As Nicodemus said, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him”

What was that? “…no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him”. So yes, this and all of His miracles were intended as a sign of proof that God was with Him! Where I had to climb up on and operate three different machines in order to prove my worthiness as a heavy-equipment operator, Jesus performed miracles to prove that He had the full support and backing of God, His father! Why, then, do we sometimes find it so difficult to accept these miracles as that proof?

Part of it, no doubt, is the fact that they occurred so very long ago… over two-thousand years! And with the passage of time comes an acceptance of amazing things, and with that acceptance comes a lessening in that ‘amazement factor’! I looked up the word ‘miracle’ on the internet… there were over 5 million listings!!! Everything from the Children’s Miracle network to Miracle Glue to Miracle software to the Miracle Theatre Group… it would seem to me as if we have lost just a bit of the impact of what a ‘miracle’ really is! I’ve talked before about how many ‘miracles’ occur around us everyday! Through so many ‘miracles’ of technology and modern science we can talk to, visit with, and sometimes even see anyone around the world anytime we want… we generally live longer and are more healthy than our predecessors… and yet, even though we live longer… and have more ‘disposable’ time… we have come to expect instant gratification or access on every level, from instant food to instant knowledge, to instant communication and transportation! What our ancestors might have considered miraculous has become not only commonplace, but an expected part of our lifestyle!

       So it is that many of our generation… and certainly many more of the younger ones… become less and less impressed with the miracles listed in the Bible… after all, so many of them can be accomplished today by using our current technologies! And I’m going to sit here and tell you that, for the point that I want to make right now, that’s OK… because WE shouldn’t need the proofs of His miracles to convince us that He is the Christ… we have the proof of the test of time!

Over that same two-thousand-odd year period of time, the story of Christ has prevailed and been proven over and over again… it has survived countless attempts by Satan and his minions to dilute it, distort it, belittle it, confuse it, or even eliminate it altogether! Even today there are those who try to call into question the teachings of Christ and distort His words to seem to support homosexuals… there are those who use the ‘feel good’ properties of Christ’s love to try to strengthen the individual and weaken the power of the Church… and there are those who have committed themselves to an outright war against Christianity and the elimination of all Christians. Some people do this in the belief that they are following their ‘god’… some have tried to ‘modernize’ Jesus’ words and have convinced themselves that they are doing what He would have wanted… but I put it to you that ANYTHING that disrupts or detracts from the actual message… the very words… of Jesus, and of His apostles that followed Him… can NOT be from followers and believers of Christ! And if that be the case, we must consider just who they are truly following and working for… whether they realize it or not!

One of my commentaries points out that Jesus had followers… people who believed in Him and His ministry… even before this incident, this ‘first miracle’. Would it help us if we were to walk with Him everyday? Would it help if we could reach out to Him, talk to Him, and listen to His words at every turn, just as those who followed Him then did? Is that a ‘trick’ question? Of course it is… because in everyway, we do walk with Him each day… we do talk and listen to Him at every turn… don’t we?!

All of these miracles are listed in the Gospels as a proof of Jesus’ birthright for the people of that day, and have been repeated throughout the centuries as a continued source of proof if and as needed. But I put it to you that the miracle for us… the very proof for the people of our time… is not in Jesus’ ability to change water into wine… but in His ability to change the very people who are looking for that proof… the ability to change us into the people He would have us be… the ability to change the very world… if WE just look at the truth of His words and accept them unconditionally AS His words!

After all… if He were to have come one thousand years ago, do you think His message would have been any different? How about five hundred years ago… or even one hundred? I say not! If Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then His words are and must be truly eternal! If that be the case, how can anyone who claims to follow Christ claim that His message for today would be any different?!

I do NOT have a card in my pocket stating that I am a Christian… hopefully any who would chance to question me about that would just be able to tell. And unlike my old union card, which shows the last dues being paid sometime in 1975, there are no dues or time limitations on my being a Christian. God is the God of ALL time! He created the universe and all that is in it! He was there at the dawn of time… He was there to give the Ten Commandments to Moses… He was there during the reigns of David and Solomon… and He was there when His Son was nailed onto the cross and died on Calvary! This is and always has been His world.

How can anyone think to improve upon His teachings?

First given at the little church in Lynnville (IL) on January 11, 2004 and slightly updated as to dates, etc. for today, 2022…

  THE NAMING OF CATS

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn’t just one of your holiday games;

You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter

When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,

Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,

Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—

  All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,

  Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:

Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—

  But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,

  A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,

  Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,

  Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,

Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—

  Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,

  And that is the name that you never will guess;

The name that no human research can discover—

  But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,

  The reason, I tell you, is always the same:

His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation

Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:

His ineffable effable

Effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

       These words are from the ‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’, written by T. S. Elliot and first published in 1939. Some of you may recognize them as being the lyrics from one of the songs in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, ‘Cats’, which is based on that book. I use it here to make a point and ask the question… what’s in a name?

       Time was when people believed that each name meant something in particular, and great care was used when naming an individual. Native Americans have always taken pride in naming infants with regard to some significant event surrounding their birth, while for many years Europeans have had countless numbers of books telling what each name means. Indeed, we have record in the Bible of what different names meant, and even of names being changed… Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which we’re told meant ‘rock’, and Saul became Paul after his visit from the Lord. And yet, as Shakespeare’s Juliet ponders, as she considers Romeo’s family name and the ongoing history of violence between their families, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet!”

       How many names are you known by? Most people call me ‘Steve’, but there have been… and are… many others. When I was little, many at my church in Hartford called me ‘Stevie’, and when I chance to visit there today, some still do. I have been called Steven, Mr. Luebbert, Rev, and when I had a CB I was known as ‘Busted Knuckles’. For most of the years that I worked over at Naples I was known as ‘Ed’, for reasons that would take far too long to tell here. My point is that I have been known and identified by many different names and titles over the years, and I generally have answered to all of them… like I’ve always said, I don’t care what you call me as long as you call me for dinner!

       In the chapter leading up to the one I read from this morning, God had been reproaching Israel for their stubborn disobedience, but here He tells them to, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name;”  

       Some of you reading/hearing this knew my brother or met him when he was at the church I preached at in the early 2000s a couple of times with our mother. And many more of you might remember hearing me ask for your prayers for the both of them from time to time. While he had always been ‘Mike’ to the family, he had gotten the nickname of ‘Lou’… short, I always assumed, for Luebbert… when he was in high-school, and that was the name that all of his friends and co-workers knew him by. Indeed, if I were to ask any of them about ‘Mike’ they wouldn’t have known who I was talking about… and it took awhile for me to know who they meant when they might call and ask for ‘Lou’.

What you don’t know about him is just how sick he really was. You see, unbeknownst to any of us, Mike had become a drug-addict and alcoholic at a very early age, and in spite of being ‘forced’ to clean up his act by different employers and mom on more than one occasion, he would always wind-up going back to that way of life… and this abuse of his body wound up destroying it. I won’t pretend to remember everything that mom had ever told me, but I know he was diabetic, had hepatitis, and cancer, just to name a few things. Indeed, the doctors had given him less than a year to live… for several years! He died peacefully in his sleep the Friday after Christmas of 2003… though nobody knew it until the following Sunday. So it was that I spent the Saturday after that at a memorial service in his honor in Collinsville… and I have to say that I learned a lot about my little brother while there.

You see, it was three or four years before he died that he finally did get himself straight… and not long after that that he found his way back to God and Jesus. And since that time he had used every ounce of strength and courage that he could muster to help others get themselves straightened out and back onto the pathway of life, as it were! Over a hundred of them were at that memorial service who had come to pay their respects, and many of them rose to give testimony as to how great ‘Lou’ had been and how much he had helped them get their own lives in order. No matter how much physical pain he might have been in, he would always be willing to get out and help or talk or comfort or strengthen any of them that needed it at any time.

Every one of them knew him as ‘Lou’, and indeed some learned for the first time that his real name was ‘Mike’. But there were also just about as many family members, friends, and church family there that knew and remembered him as ‘Mike’, or even ‘Mikey’… not to mention ‘dad’, ‘uncle’, ‘cousin’, or ‘son’… and many of those didn’t know who ‘Lou’ was until that service!

I must confess to have felt both proud of my little brother… and a little taken-aback by all of that… and… yes, just a little envious! I remembered the kid that I had teased to the point of anger on occasion… the one who wasn’t always real good at doing what he was supposed to do… the one who stole cigarettes from the neighborhood store and was caught smoking them on the playground when he was seven or eight! And in recent years I had been made aware of his really bad habits… the ones that killed him… and yet, here he had gotten turned around and touched more people in the last few years of his life and helped them to get straight, and many of them to find God, than many of us do in a lifetime! Would that I could affect so many people so openly! And yet… I remembered him telling me once, and mom confirming it at another time, that it was reading some of the articles that I had written in the monthly newsletter that helped inspire him to work as hard as he did to follow the path back to ‘church’ and God… as mom put it once, he was awful proud of his big brother, as well!

I’m sure that there were many prayers being offered up that day, as well as the days before and since, in his name… and many of them would have been for ‘Lou’ and many would have been for ‘Mike’. Do you think God knew who they were talking about? Of course! By the same token, God knows your name, as well!

In Luke 12, verses 6-7, Jesus asks, “What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them.  And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.” If He knows the number of hairs on your head, can you at all doubt that he remembers your name? And our verses today tell us even more!

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;…  when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you… When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Our God not only knows us… He claims us as His! We belong to Him! And He watches over us every minute of every day and protects us!

My point is that every one of us are probably known by many different names, or at least for wearing many different ‘hats’, if you will. And I ask you to consider some of them for a moment… how do your co-workers look at you… who do they know you as? How about your neighbors and friends? Do they see a different person than the one sitting here today? Or do they see the image of our Lord reflected in your face, and in your actions?

Whenever, and However, you might commune with our Lord, I ask you to consider this… if God knows you by name… and knows each of the names that you go by… are each of those names… those personas… worthy of Him? In other words, if God were to summon you by any of the names that you might be known by, would that summons cause you great joy… or great fear?

Let all of God’s people say Amen!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023!!

This was written for the January 2001 edition of the church newsletter I did for some years back then… I had posted it in manuscript on this website some years ago, hence the ‘version2’ notation!

“Ok,” I said. “Push down on the clutch.” “The what!?” she answered. I knew it was going to be a long afternoon.

Susie and I had known each other for a very long time. In fact, I’d been told that we had played in the same crib as babies. And in spite of not seeing one another for years at a time, and being in separate school districts (she went to Roxana – I went to Edwardsville), by high school we were very close friends.

Susie had lived in the same small house trailer, with her mother, all of her life. And this was at a time when single parents were not an accepted part of society. Still, by high school she was a bright, outgoing (even ‘bubbly’), normal(?) teen-age girl. She primarily took care of herself and the house while her mother was working and was a living example, in most ways, of what the ‘modern woman’ was to become. Yet, as in each of us, there were gaps in her education. One of these, for her, was driving. Susie is the only person that I have ever known, personally, to flunk Drivers Ed. Not in the classroom, but on the road.

I can recall her telling me that her instructor kept telling her “Miss *****, it is customary to SLOW DOWN for a corner!” At one point she broke the antenna off of her mother’s car by getting too close to a mailbox. When we each graduated from high school in 1971, she was still not driving! So, that summer I offered to try to teach her.

After picking her up sometime after lunch, we drove out to the outer parking lots at SIUE, which were empty at that time of year. (And no mailboxes in sight!) My ’67 Fairlane was a nice size car to learn to drive in, and, with its small 6-cylinder engine, was easy to control. But it was a manual transmission! Something that Susie had, apparently, never been around. My work was cut out for me.

We spent the afternoon learning how to start and stop with a clutch, how to shift gears, how to back up, how to go forward, how to turn while going forward, how to turn while backing up, how to park, etc., etc., etc. Towards evening I let her drive some on the roads around the main campus, which were also pretty much empty at that time of year.

By the end of that summer, I believe, she had gotten her license. I liked to think that I had some small part in that, even though at times, watching her drive, I wouldn’t admit it to anyone!

As close as we were that summer, within two years we were each married (to other people), and within three had seen each other for what has turned out to be, probably, the last time.

I’m not one who usually thinks much about ‘New Years’. Sometimes it has been a day off from work, but normally, to me it is just another day of the year. At the times that I do ponder upon it, though, I tend to reflect upon the people that I have known, the friends that I have made, the friends that I have lost, the places that I have been, the places that I’ve never made it to, the things that I have done and experiences that I’ve had, and those that I have missed out on.

It’s good to reminisce. Sometimes, a person needs to stop, turn around, and look at the path that they have taken in order to remember why they are where they are, and why they are going the direction that they are going. It is certainly something the Israelites should have done more of!

Consider how many times, in the Old Testament, that they would ‘forget’ the things that God had done for them and move away from the path that He had directed them to. Even in a time that God worked directly among the people, they ‘forgot’.

God may not ‘reside’ in a visible temple anymore, but He certainly works and resides among us by being a part of each of us. And when we take the time to look back at our life path we can see all of the places where God has taken an active roll in our lives, even if we didn’t realize it at the time.

Each of our lives is an intricate web of friends, family, experiences, losses, joys, happiness, and sorrow. And when we look, we can see how God has worked to weave all of that together, and become part of it, to make us into the person that we are today. And that person is very special to God. He will certainly continue to be with each of us throughout the New Year.

And I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next!

‘Happy New Year!’

Please excuse the sound quality… as I note, there are a lot of background sounds from the various heaters, etc. in the background…

       OK, THIS is a ‘Difficult’ one to ‘share’… It is a VERY personal… yet very POWERFUL… message!!

At the time that I first wrote the original version of this I was living alone in my little rental house in Wood River, IL. When I first returned to the area in 2005, I was attending classes at ‘Lewis & Clark Community College’ (I graduated in the spring of 2009, wearing a Gold Rope across the stage! ), attended and took my turn in the pulpit at the ‘Hartford East Maple Street Chapel’ as I could (The former Hartford ‘Church of Christ’ that I had grown-up and been baptized in…), drove a truck 10-12 hours every day to pay my bills, and still managing to ‘fend’ for myself day-to-day, doing my laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc… just like THOUSANDS of other people do everyday!!

In the original 2008 version I mention how strange the weather had been that year… but I have No recollection of what I had been referring to! As I write today, Christmas Day, 2022, the temperature outside is up to 16 degrees (Fahrenheit, for my readers in other countries!), while the last two days have seen highs in the single digits and lows down to -8!?! And just as the temps began to plummet, the boiler that heats our house decided it didn’t like working that hard and decided to take a break! So I have been kept busy dealing with alternate heating sources, frozen pipes, and a water-heater that decided to start leaking not long before all of This! So-it-is that the ‘Peace of A Christmas Morning’ that I describe here is sorely lacking this year, at least in my little parcel of the globe.

Further, when I first thought of rewriting and recording this I had the notion of setting our Huge brush pile outside to burn in the early a.m., let it burn through the day, then setup to record in front of it as it died down during the evening… But I’m sorry, I am NOT sitting out there in 10 degree weather! So, here I am still in my office, dressed to stay warm on Christmas morning 2022!

As I said, the original version of this was written in 2008 and given on December 28 of that year at the little church in Hartford that I had grown-up in… and… as I prophesied here… is now gone! I also posted the ‘manuscript’ on here on December 26, 2019, although I have rewritten parts of This version to bring it up to today.

I also need to point out that portions of this were written very specifically to That congregation… But for the most part I’ve chosen to leave them intact since the general concepts can apply to Every One of us!?!

The verses are from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-14…

“There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

A time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

A time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

A time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil — this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”

NIV

The weather in the fall/early winter of 2008 had been really strange! I had worked late on a project the Wednesday night before Christmas that year, so it was around 7:30 or 8 in the morning when I got up and going on Christmas Day. As I’m sure many of you know, waking up all alone to a silent Christmas morning can be a bit dis-heartening, so the first thing I did was just open up the front door to see if I might be able to sit on the porch for a little bit. That early, it was still a bit cool, but not Too bad, so I went out… and was just awe-struck with how quiet it was! There were No cars, no train or factory or plant sounds in the distance, no radios or boom-boxes blaring at the Laundromat across the street… I walked to the sidewalk, then all the way across Wood River Ave. in just my sweats and my moccasins, and never heard a sound or saw a soul! My first thought was it was the ‘silence of the dead’, but I immediately changed that… what I was experiencing was the Peace of a Christmas morning!!

       Now, I know that the date that the world chooses to celebrate the birth of Christ has absolutely no Biblical base, just as I know that the celebration of His birth has absolutely Nothing to do with our salvation… But still, isn’t it great to have at least One day/year when the majority of the world stops and recognizes the mystery and ponders the meaning of the Christ child? And for just a few minutes that morning, I was able to literally ‘feel’ that mystery and ‘magic’ in the very air around me as I personally experienced at least the total peace in that part of Wood River, Il at that moment of time!

       I said that the weather this year has been really strange, but that hasn’t been the only thing, at least for me. Indeed, I would have to say that much of the last Three years has been rather strange for me. You see, it was just over three years ago when I made the decision to leave behind every aspect of the life I had spent some 30-odd years building and start all over again… and so it was that I found myself living back in the town where I had grown-up as a child, attending the church that had been so central to that childhood, and going to school! Talk about déjà-vu all over again! Much of it has been almost like learning to walk all over again… except that this time, I’ve had to teach myself, with nobody there to catch me each time I’ve fallen… and if anything has gotten easier from all of this, it’s been learning how to fall!

       Anyway, as I was saying, there have just been a number of strange things to deal with sometimes… one recent example might be how the instructor of one class this last semester docked me for not being creative enough, while another instructor really got on me about being Too creative… so much so that other students in the class started to take issue with him and defend me! So what you learn from that is that if you want to be creative, you have to be true to Yourself, and not worry so much about what others might think… and to anyone that knows me, That has Never been a problem for Me!

       I have made some new friends this last year or so, but I seem to have lost even more… some just seem to go by the wayside, while others… well, I’ll just say that it was very strange to get a call from people I knew in Jacksonville one day telling me that my best and oldest friend had been found dead in his bed that morning… he had had a heart attack, and, living alone like me, there was no one there to help him or call for help… THAT really makes a body stop and think.

       We’ve also lost some very special people here in the last 3-4 years… so many, in fact, that some are given cause to wonder about the future of our little group here… as well they should! I mean, consider with me for a moment… for the most part, I’M one of the youngsters here each Sunday!

       But you know what? One of the hardest but most important lessons I have come to terms with… or should I say, Tried to come to terms with… is that no matter what happens, God is in control… even when we mess up and just get things completely wrong, He can Still take that and help us to learn, and make the most of it!

       Some of you may remember the song that put many of the words of these verses I chose this morning to music… indeed, I remember very distinctly sitting here one Sunday morning in the mid ‘60’s and discovering them in the Concordance of my Bible and realizing for the first time that they were Biblical! Let me read them again…

Eccl 3:1-14

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil — this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

       When I first started attending classes again, I felt that I could probably proficiency out of many of them… that is, just taking the tests for the credit, but not actually take the class… but decided that spending the time in a classroom environment would probably be a good experience for me… and while I feel like I was right on Both counts, I have to say that there has not been One class that I did not learn something in… and Most of them, I learned a Lot! And I’m not talking about just facts and figures here… I’m talking about learning things about myself that I didn’t know… learning and discovering skills and talents that I never suspected… and, on occasion, recognizing that there are some that I just do NOT have! God has been teaching me!

       When I first started attending here again, it was with the hope that I might be able to study and relearn many of those lessons taught me as a child, but seem to have grown foggy over the years… but many of the teachers I grew up with are either no longer with us, or are just unable to perform that function any longer! But, again, you know what? God has seen to it that I Still have been learning the lessons I’ve needed to learn… even if much of the learning has been on my own!

       Next Sunday is the first of a new year… and I predict that sometime within the next 24 months… and possibly much less… the subject of the future of this little group of faithful followers will begin to take on more and more importance… first, our attendance will continue to shrink as more of us are no longer able to be here… but even more than that, I fear that we may soon be unable to fill the leadership and teaching roles for each service… indeed, there may well come a Sunday in the not too distant future that we might not even be able to fill this lectern on a regular basis! Why is that? Because our ‘fire’ is all but gone out… there is barely a spark left! Maybe enough to get each of us here the rest of the distance we need to go with our own lives, but Certainly not enough for anyone outside to see!

And I Know of which I speak, for My fire has been ebbing for some time now! I have had 2 close friends, this last year, take me to task for reusing some of my old talks instead of studying and writing a new one each time… and though I may argue that they are Good talks with a  good message, and that I just don’t always have the time to put towards assembling a proper study… in the end, I have to admit that they are right… because the Biggest reason I have sometimes chose to recycle material is that My fire for doing God’s work was down to a dull glow! And I think it’s time we ALL start to do something about it!!

       Verses 12 and 13 say that, “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil — this is the gift of God.”

It is time that we start being Active Christians again!! Let’s get someone local here to contact the city and other organizations and offer the use of this building for things like Scout packs and afterschool study programs! Let’s start putting together some neighborhood potlucks and/or meals During The Week, and then get out and make sure the neighborhood Knows about it!! I, for one, would love to set-up and do the weekly Bible study I wrote using old TV westerns as the base… and open and advertise it to the general public! Let’s see if we can get some singing groups organized to make local appearances around the area and Show people what voices can do without a piano or organ! Let’s get started, right now, planning some kind of Vacation Bible School for this next summer! Let’s DO Something!!

       Most congregations and denominations that celebrate Christmas use it as one of their ‘strengthening’ times of the year… they know that if nothing else, many of their members will attend at least at Christmas and at Easter… but the ones who are “successful”… the ones who have masses of people attending and taking part throughout the year… are the ones who are true to the ideal that following Christ is not a part-time thing… it is not something that you can concentrate on once-or-twice a year and think that’s enough! The only Christian that Jesus will recognize is the Christian who follows the Lord’s leading 24/7… until their dying day!

       These verses from Ecclesiastes tell us that there is a time to everything under heaven… and I say to you that unless we make this a time to plant… a time to heal… a time to speak, and embrace, and Love… then it will most assuredly become a time for us… as a congregation… to die!

       As I said, I have left most of that just as I wrote it in 2008, but I think everyone will see how it can be applied to themselves and their own congregations. So let me just add and close with this…

       I truly love the lights, brightness, happiness, and the ‘magic’, if you will, of the Christmas season. But it is imperative that we remember that Jesus never told us to remember and/or celebrate His birth! If this time of year helps some to think about and ponder the ‘mysteries’ of Christ and His father, then fine-and-well! But it is only through the DEATH of Christ and His Resurrection that we are saved!!!

Amen!

…”One of our ‘jobs’ was riding in the wagons as we picked corn. The weather was always chilly, and the air would be full of the smells of crushed cornstalks, milkweed and tractor exhaust. (To this day, the smell of diesel smoke takes me back to those days!)”…

I don’t often use this format to talk about personal issues… I’m going to today.

       I don’t often use this format to address political issues (Though Some may dispute that…)… I’m going to today…

       I don’t often mix politics and religion… but I’m going to today…

       I have not posted on here for some weeks now. It has been about a year-and-a-half since health issues kept me from attending services and participating in events, etc. at the little UMC church I was a member of at the time. And given the internal struggles occurring in that denomination over something that Should be a simple matter of reading and accepting the Truths written in the ‘Breathed Word of God’, I found myself resisting being a part of all of that even after my physical condition improved enough that I might have returned. Indeed, I have often felt that I’ve reached more people who actually Listen through posting my thoughts on here… in Spite of F@c3b00k! and others doing all that they can to block my getting Out to them?!

       Still, life goes on…

       As I write this the counting is still continuing 5 days after what we call our ‘Mid-term Elections’… And I can only say that, given the current condition of our country and our world, I am very disappointed in the ‘results’ to this point… and in the delays! Just as an example, to look at a county-by-county map of the election results in my state of Illinois, I would guess-ta-mate at least 95% of the geographical state voted one way, but due to the overwhelming populations in the major cities and their general dependence on government, the ‘state’ went to them! Our system is breaking down!

       Due to government interference our supply chain has been suffering for two years now and, by most reports, is about to fail. Personally, we have tried to prepare as best we can… but even at that the best we could hope for is a few months after it does… IF we can manage to hang-on to what we have!

       And in MY mind, the root of All of this is ‘man’s’ failure to Worship and Obey the Lord!?! To paraphrase what an instructor of mine once taught, ‘To Follow God’s Word is to Obey the natural Order of the Universe!’ So, of course, the reverse would be that to Disobey, or simply ignore, the Will and Word of God leads to dis-order… and chaos!  ‘Which is where we find ourselves today!

       However…

       I DO believe in the Power of God!

       I DO believe in the Power of Prayer!

       I DO believe in the Power of Love!

       …and so, because of all of that…

       I DO believe that we have the Power change this world back to what God had intended it to be!?!

       So… to that end, let me read, verbatim, the article I wrote for the November 2002 issue of the monthly newsletter I put together for some years back then. Before I do, though, let me remind you that this was one year after the attacks and destruction of the ‘Twin Towers’ in New York and the Pentagon, along with the downing of a 4^th aircraft and the resulting deaths from that…

Knee high by the Fourth of July! That’s how they used to determine if that year’s corn crop was doing all right or not. These days, a person could get lost in most cornfields by the Fourth of July…it’s that tall! Harvest seems to come much sooner these days than it used to, as well. Between new seed technologies and modern farming practices and machinery, some crops are coming out of the field in August, and in a good year, almost all fields are bare, and many are worked up, by the end of September. This certainly wasn’t the case when I was a youngster growing up in Hartford!

        As best I recall, September was when we would start checking out equipment. Our New Idea one-row corn-picker and homemade barge wagons were for the corn, while the new Case combine (well, it was new when we bought it!) would be changed from wheat settings to bean. Usually, most, if not all, of the corn was done by Halloween. (I remember because people would always call around that time to see if we had any cornstalks they could get for party decorations. Sometimes we did, sometimes they had all already been run through the corn-picker.) And the beans were always just a little later than the corn. I can remember working, some years, in the snow to get out the last of the crops, and I recall our neighbor at Edwardsville waiting for the ground to freeze hard enough to support his combine in January, but normally, everything would be done by Thanksgiving, thus giving us true cause to celebrate the holiday (and the excuse for this story!).

My brother and I were, by far, the oldest grandkids on that side of the family. And as such, we were the only ones to ever really ‘participate’ in a full harvest season before Grandpa retired from full-time farming. One of our ‘jobs’ was riding in the wagons as we picked corn. The weather was always chilly, and the air would be full of the smells of crushed cornstalks, milkweed and tractor exhaust. (To this day, the smell of diesel smoke takes me back to those days!) In between trying to hang on as we bounced across washouts and ditches and dodging the ears as they were thrown out of the picker into the wagon, we would pull shucks off of some of the ears that the machine had missed. Being brothers, we would then start shelling them and throw the kernels at one another.

Riding on the combine was a different story. There were no little jobs to do, just ride and stay out of the way. Our combine was THE last Case built with the operator’s platform on the right-hand side. The next year’s models were all on the left, like everyone else’s by then, and ours was the last serial number of that year! There were no cabs then, and safety shields were mostly still in the future. The small operator’s area was taken up by the seat, steering wheel, shift levers, speed control, throttle, clutch and hydraulic controls, etc. etc. etc…everything, then, was controlled manually. So the only place for my brother and I to ride was in the grain tank, which was right next to the operator! This was only a tiny fraction of the size of today’s machines, but a small child might have been covered up if not careful. On top of that, the unloading auger lay at the very bottom of the sloped walls, and could easily ‘gobble up’ anything that got into it. We were both old enough that neither presented a problem (we could easily hold ourselves up to the edge of the tank, and could get out ourselves if needed) but the practice was to set each of us out of the tank and off of the machine before the grain was augured off. One time, however, Grandma had driven up just as Grandpa was pulling up to the truck to unload. He lined up, turned on the unloading auger and jumped off to see what she needed. Mike and I were still in the tank! We looked at each other…and grinned ear-to-ear! We knew we should have gone ahead and climbed out on our own…we knew the danger…but neither of us was worried about it. We knew we could hold ourselves up out of the way, and decided to have ‘fun’ with it!

As the last of the grain worked out of the tank and the rotating spiral of the auger became visible, we both started screaming ‘help – help’ and pounding our feet on the sides of the tank like we were slipping. We were both laughing so hard it was difficult to shout ‘help’, but Grandpa didn’t see that! Hearing us scream and realizing what he had done, he ran up the ladder, shutdown the entire machine and lifted us out of the tank. Mike and I were laughing hysterically by now, but he wasn’t. When he realized that we were all right he sent us home with Grandma. Despite our protests, we never did get to ride on the combine again!

Isn’t it funny how different people can react differently to the same fears? My brother and I knew the dangers of the situation we were in, but saw it as an exciting challenge…Grandpa, on the other hand, knew of the very same dangers and feared for our lives! People living in the Washington D.C. area have been in fear of their lives over the past few weeks, while those of us farther away have probably feared for the security and future of our country. The chief priests and rulers of Jerusalem feared the power and might of Rome more than they feared the power and might of God, and saw Jesus as the catalyst to bringing all of their worse fears to life…yet we Christians see Him as the source of our salvation! And over the course of the last year or so, we have all learned to deal with new fears that most never considered before, as well as some old ones that have resurfaced.

On a Wednesday night early in October over one-hundred-and-fifty Christians opted to face some of those fears head-on as Wesley Chapel hosted the Jacksonville Area Counsel of Churches’ panel forum on Islam. Due to the overflow crowd, I didn’t get to hear each of the panelists’’ opening remarks, but I heard enough of them, and of the open question-and-answer period that followed, to gain a small insight into their religion. And, while I do not accept their beliefs, I can understand that those who use it to justify their acts of violence are deluding themselves… for one thing that it does share with Christianity is a philosophy of peace.

In a number of places, Jesus said, “Let those who have ears hear!” Hopefully, all who were there with open ears that night came away with this understanding…while it’s true that most of today’s terrorists claim to be Muslim, not all Muslims are terrorists! Therefore, it is wrong to fear all Muslims out-of-hand!

In 1 John 4:16-19 we read:

“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.

“Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that His love has not been perfected in us. We love each other as a result of His loving us first.” (NLT)

As we sit down with our families to enjoy this year’s Thanksgiving feast, let us each be aware of all of the things that we do NOT have to fear. Most of us have no fear of hunger…God has provided. Most of us have no fear of being alone…God has provided. And most of us should have no fear of death…because God has provided His only Son as our Savior! Amen.

       ADDENDUM: It is amazing how much has changed in the 20 years since that was written! As I near my 7^th decade of life on this plain I find myself sometimes rethinking many of the ‘beliefs’, ‘ideals’, and even ‘foundational standards’ that I might have held through the years. These might be as profound as realizing that ‘Ford’ automobiles & trucks Might not be the Only ones to own (😊) or as simple as changing what my favorite TV show, book, or movie might be. I Have noted, however, that, as I look back at my life, there are a Number of things that I felt very proud of or strongly believed in that time that have taken-on far less importance or meaning in my ‘world’ today. I have also noted that this added age has also caused me to change or, at last modify, many of the thoughts I once held as sacrosanct!

       To that end, I find that I MUST add, here, Jesus’ words from John 10, verse 9, (from the NIV) “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” And in John 14, verse 6, again from the NIV we read, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

       As I have stated on Many occasions, we are to LOVE EVERYONE! But… The Strongest love that I can show any person is to try to lead them to the love, understanding, and acceptance of Christ!!

       And IF we ALL will commit to doing That very thing… If we All will Love our fellow travelers through this life and Teach them, and Obey ourselves, the Truths contained in God’s Word… then God will see us through Whatever evils Satan might throw at us… Whether they be from our neighbors… our leaders… our government… or even the actual End-of-the-World… The Follower’s of Christ will survive!?!

Amen

King James

Ex 20:1-20

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

NIV

And God spoke all these words:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

To quote from ‘Wikipedia’, “Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 album musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, on which the 1971 rock opera of the same name was based. Initially unable to get backing for a stage production, the composers released it as an album, the success of which led to stage productions. The album musical is a musical dramatization of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Crucifixion. It was originally banned by the BBC on grounds of being “sacrilegious”^] By 1983, the album had sold over seven million copies worldwide.” I happen to have one of those first two-album sets! And, yes, it’s release and subsequent popularity at that time cause quite a stir in many of the so-called ‘organized religions’ of the day.

        I have spoken before about how I had used quotes from it during my very first time in the pulpit of the Very Fundamental church that I had grown-up in in Hartford, IL when I was some 17 years old, and gave it again at two even More ‘conservative’ congregations during that next year. So you might say that, in my own small way, I was well-versed in that ‘controversy’ at that time!

        I have also spoken about how during this same time I was quite involved with various phases of building, repairing, and, more importantly, setting up and using the various electronic and recording equipment available at the time. I had some small amount of my own, and still had access to borrowing any of the available equipment at the local high school, and so could, when needed, set-up a fair resemblance of a recording studio… Nothing resembling Anything ‘professional’, you understand, but more-so than most people of the day might have had! So when the elders at the church that a friend of mine belonged to decided to hold a special meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and asked him to put together a small-ish sample of the opera for them to listen to, he selected what he thought were the most pertinent songs, wrote a small dialog to give background and connect them, then came to me to put it all together, record it, and set-up a stereo PA system in their church to play it on!

         I have also written before about how their final decision was that ‘anything that got people to hear and/or think about Christ was a good thing’, how I agreed with that at the time, but have had occasion to rethink that ‘agreeing with’ during the years since!

        At one time ‘Toller Cranston’ was a well-known Canadian skating figure, and during the mid ‘80’s had a hand in putting together a skating Christmas special called ‘True Gift of Christmas’ which consisted of a storyline that connected many of the various Christmas legends from around the European continent. I chanced to see and record it when it appeared on the local PBS station sometime in the early ‘90’s, and have Always enjoyed watching it whenever I can find it.

        Growing-up in the ‘Church of Christ’, Christmas was Never a part of any service, though many of us Did celebrate it at home. I came to be aware, however, of many other congregations who refused to have Any Part of it! Still, when I became a ‘pastor’ in a Methodist church Christmas was Such an Important time of the year and a celebration of Christ’s birth! So when I watched the part of ‘Toller Cranston’s True Gift of Christmas’ that showed Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers marching through the countryside seeking to arrest anyone caught celebrating Christmas, I couldn’t understand why!

        These days I seem to spent some time each day just scrolling through various YouTube videos at random, and some months back started watching a number of clips from the 1970 movie ‘Cromwell’, with ‘Richard Harris’ in the lead role. I had no recollection of it at all, though it had been nominated for a number of awards during it’s run, and even won some of them! And the clips piqued my interest enough to cause me to look for and purchase the DVD of the full movie.

        Having been educated in the United States, I knew absolutely Nothing about Oliver Cromwell, so much of the content of the movie was unknown to me. Oh, I had heard of ‘Guy Fawkes Day’ through reading various fictional sources (such as the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ radio show!), and, of course, the short bit included in the ‘True Gift of Christmas’, but had never had any reason to connect any of it together. To quote, again, from ‘Wikipedia, “Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in British and Irish history, considered a regicidal dictator by historians such as David Sharp, a military dictator by Winston Churchill, a bourgeois revolutionary by Leon Trotsky, and a hero of liberty by John Milton, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Rawson Gardiner.” So when I watched Cromwell in one of the opening scenes storm up to the front during his Puritan Sunday service and attack the three crosses standing on the alter there (The minister protested that they had been a ‘gift’… from their new Catholic queen!), I didn’t understand why… at first!

        Most people will recognize the verses that I read today as containing what is commonly referred to as the ‘Ten Commandments’. This was the list of the ten most important things God expected of His people! And what does number two say? “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…”

        Now, I do Not mean to infer that I support the way Cromwell went about doing it… Yes, it is true that Jesus got upset with the moneylenders in the temple an threw them out… and Yes, Paul gave us some very specific methods to use when a member of the congregation refuses to obey the ‘Breathed Word of God’… But you cannot Force someone to believe any particular way! Still, in regards to obeying the Ten Commandments, and the 2^nd Commandment in particular…

 Cromwell had the right of it!!

        Some years ago I had the great privilege to go on a ‘Walk to Emmaus’. And as a part of that I was given a small pewter cross with the words ‘Christ is Counting on You’ cast into one side of it. I wore this many years, even when I had gone back to and preached at the little ‘fundamental’ church I grew-up in in Hartford… where I was reminded, on occasion, that I ‘really didn’t need to be wearing it’… But, I told myself that I wore it as an emblem, or reminder, of my having gone on the ‘Walk’, nothing more…

        But… after watching that movie I hung it on a peg under one of my hats and have not worn it since!

The 2^nd Commandment is VERY Clear!

        Cromwell had the right of it!

        And, YES, that includes NOT celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ! Most people have always been aware that ‘religious authorities’ had usurped a ‘Pagan’ holiday and assigned it as the time to ‘worship’ Jesus’ birth to Mary… But NOWHERE are we ever Instructed to do so, nor even told when it might have actually been! I have no issue with celebrating Peace, Love, Joy, and Fellowship at that time of year. And if it helps people to think more about Christ and God I see no problem in that either! But as I have said innumerable times, it is Not by the Birth of Christ that we are saved but by His Death… AND Resurrection!

        Cromwell had the right of it!

        I have always maintained that the ‘Ten Commandments’, as we have learned them, are the building blocks of any successful civilization… But they are Also the Commandments of God!! His Son, Jesus, condensed them down to two. In the 12^th chapter of Mark we read how, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.   Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

        What about all of the other commandments that God gave us through Moses? If we obey these two commandments from Jesus we obey ALL of the others by default!

        Yes, Cromwell had the right of it! We MUST return to the simple but thorough truths given us by God and His Son, Jesus through all of the many prophets and peoples that both have worked through over the centuries! To attempt to add to or detract from these truths is to go against the Word… and the Will… of God!