So, last year my wife and my mother-in-law gave me a bunch of these glow stone thingies to line the slate path in my garden. There were at least a hundred of them and they looked very cool at night. But after a while, there were less and less of them. I thought maybe they were evaporating. I realized one of the local animals must have been stealing them so I collected them up (what was left) and Bonnie used them in the bottom of a glass vase with a flower arrangement. So, now they are turning up all over the place. I think the squirrels buried them as food for the winter and when they tried to eat them, spit them out. Gonna use the rest inside. After I wash off the squirrel spit.

Sometime around the middle of last week, I noticed that some of the leaves on my giant tomato plant had large brown spots on them and were turning yellow. A few had dropped off. I regularly check my plants for signs of cutworms, hornworms, spider mites, that sort of thing and had seen no trace of any of them. So, I did some reading. The next day I went out and even more of the leaves were turning yellow and brown. This time, I recognized what I was seeing. Early blight. Early blight is a kind of fungus called, Alternaria solani. Once in the soil, it can be hard to get rid of. It survives the cold winters and if you plant in the same spot next year it will attack the new plants. It gets splashed up onto the plant with rain and watering and enters the plant through cuts and tears made by insects and animals or at the joint of the stem. If it gets into the stem itself it can quickly infect the whole plant. In the case of my plant, I got a fungicide and vigorously sprayed the whole plant and the soil around the base. I hope I was in time to save the plant and keep my tomatoes coming. Time will tell.

Racial prejudice is like the fungus infecting my tomatoes. It’s hard to get rid of. If left unchecked, it will affect the entire person and reduce the amount of fruit. It’s an ugly thing, making that formerly beautiful person look sick and dead. Like fungus, the racial prejudice of others can splash up on us through regular contact. It may only infect us a little at first, so little that we don’t notice. Soon, though, if left untreated, it spreads and we find ourselves with a systemic infection affecting the whole person. You may continue not to notice it but others will. It’s ugly.

Racial prejudice in a Christian is even uglier. The recent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia which resulted in the death of a young woman protesting the protestors, brought out an ugly side of America. Many of those who were involved in the violence and explicit racism claimed to be Christians. That’s not Christianity as I understand and try to live it. That’s not what it means to follow Jesus and it’s certainly not how I read my Bible. The day after that terrible incident in Charlottesville, many came out of church around our town to find flyers by the Ku Klux Klan on their cars. They quoted scripture (out of context and wrongly interpreted) to justify their views on the superiority of white people over others. They were blatantly trying to recruit Christians by using scripture, hoping that some don’t really know their Bibles. My thanks to Tom Mowers and his sons for gathering up the ones left at our church and disposing of them.

Don’t be deceived by slick talk and the misuse of scripture. As far as God is concerned, there is only one race, the human race. All humans of every ethnicity were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27) and when God sent His Son, He sent Jesus to the whole world (John 3:16) because His love is international in breadth. Jesus’ command to His disciples in Acts 1:8 compels us to share God’s love everywhere, with all people, even “to the ends of the earth”. Nobody gets left out. The cross of Christ tore walls down between people. To embrace hatred or prejudice towards another racial group is to disparage the work of Christ and put walls back up. Don’t believe it when groups like the KKK or other white supremacists or Neo-Nazi groups try to put Jesus’ stamp of approval on it. That’s not the Jesus you know. That’s not the real Jesus.

Racism is sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant. It’s a fungus in all forms—a blight on your soul. If you embrace it as a Christian, it will make you ugly to the world and other Christians, destroy your witness for Christ, and make your spiritual fruit rot. The solution is to apply prayer and God’s Word, the Bible, liberally and aggressively to yourself. Get to know the real Jesus in a deep and meaningful way. You will thrive and you’ll help others to thrive as well by sharing the love of Jesus. Oh, and get to know your neighbor too!

Pastor John

Abraham Lincoln

A few years ago, I visited the Norman Rockwell museum in Massachusetts with my family while on vacation. It was amazing to see many paintings and illustrations on display that I’d seen in the Saturday Evening Post and other publications throughout my life.

My favorite Rockwell painting is Norman Rockwell’s own self-portrait. It’s anything but serious. When we visited his studio, I was happy to see the same helmet hanging on the top of his easel that appears in his portrait. Rockwell bought the helmet in 1923 from an antiques dealer in Paris France. The dealer said it was a military relic. As it turns out, it was a modern French fireman’s helmet. He kept it close by to remind himself of his own foolishness.

Many other famous artists, including the likes of Durer, Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Dali painted self-portraits. If you were to do your own self-portrait, how would you do it? How do you see yourself? Serious? Comical? Winner? Loser? Hero? Clown?

At Walt Disney World, you can buy a parody of Rockwell’s self-portrait. It features Mickey Mouse seated in front of the easel, paint brush in hand. In this version, when Mickey looks at himself, he sees his creator, Walt Disney. I wonder, how do you think God sees you? Do you see you the way God does?

Ephesians 2:10 says,

 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

You are God’s workmanship. That’s right, God thinks you are a real piece of work! In Greek, the word “workmanship” is poiema, from which we get the word, poem. You are God’s poem. Don’t think about something wimpy. Think about Homer’s Odyssey, or Beowulf who slayed the monster Grendel. Powerful poetry. That’s you. Regardless of how you see yourself or how you feel about yourself, when God looks at you he sees an amazing work of art.

That word, Poiema, is only used in one other place in the New Testament. That’s in Romans 1:20.

 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God. (NLT)

Whenever God paints, He paints a self-portrait. That’s the incredible scenery you enjoy when you are gardening, or hunting, or fishing, or hiking, or taking a walk. Even the powerful storm is part of how He is revealing Himself. And you are also one of the things He created.

You are a part of God revealing Himself, right here, right now, just as you are, before you take one step. And being transformed in Christ, you are gifted and equipped to reach the whole world. You are God’s powerful poem, part of His self-portrait, created to know Him and reflect Him.

So, during the Sunday School hour, the kids made a headband with floppy ears that stuck up. As a prank, the ushers came down the aisle to collect the offering, all wearing a set of these bunny ears. I laughed and, to show I was not phased, used it as a transition into my sermon time. After they departed, and before the sermon, I’m thinking bunny ears, Easter. I waxed eloquent about adapting popular culture to teach spiritual truths, IE the Easter Egg and Rabbit, symbols of new life etc. Later, I found out that the ears were donkey ears. Donkey. Jesus riding. Palm Sunday. Palm smacks forehead.

A volunteer observed that our regular clientele list is growing every month. Sure, we get the emergency situations, like the family who came today because their home burned down in a fire this past weekend, but a growing group of people need food to supplement the groceries they can afford on a regular basis. Most seem to be working very hard just to get by. Some carry multiple jobs to make it work.

At a leadership level, our church is beginning to plan a shift to more needs-based outreach. I call it ‘boots-on-the-ground’ ministry because it comes alongside of those who need it at their point of need. It’s very practical. Churches do a lot of ministry that is self-perpetuating and there’s nothing wrong with programs that build up your people, however, we need to do more than simply meet the needs of those we already care for. That there are more and more needs to meet around us is apparent. We have no lack of people to serve.

When I arrived here a little more than four years ago, through our deacons’ ministry, we used gas and grocery gift cards to provide for people who asked for help. We discovered that we were going through our entire benevolence budget in the first three months of the year and, therefore, were unable to help others very much as the year progressed. We struggled to find a better way to really help. As it turned out, in some cases we weren’t helping at all. Through some addiction counseling, I discovered that several people who received our cards were selling them to pay for drugs here in the community. We definitely didn’t want to contribute to the epidemic heroin problem that we, like many towns in Pennsylvania, have been experiencing. We needed a better way.

Our food pantry, officially named “The Deacon’s Cupboard”, was born of one woman’s interest in caring for the poor. From that idea, a group of interested people came together and we started to discuss how we could meet the need for food without enabling dependence or poor behavior. Because of my previous experience with the Pennsylvania Food Bank, I knew that food was available in large quantities for pennies on the pound. When I introduced the idea, our kitchen leaders seized on the opportunity to use food in their ministry as an outreach.

Our Kitchen Team held several breakfasts and dinners that were promoted in the community, hoping to attract some who really needed a free meal. At breakfasts, food was offered on a suggested donation basis but many tickets were given away. The most effective idea to emerge that year was serving a meal prior to our summer kids program on Wednesday evenings. We had recently found out that many of the children in our community were going hungry in the summer when the school meals program was not in play. So, we offered a meal to parents and families who brought their kids in to the club meetings. They could come and eat with their children, leave them with us at the church for 90 minutes while they ran errands or did shopping, and then come back to pick them up afterwards. It was a church community  effort and many pitched in. That summer, we averaged about 77 at meals. We ran that program for two summers. Currently, the local school district, realizing the same need, started offering the same meals in the summer break as they did during the school year.

Eventually, the food pantry, which began as a few shelves of food we could share with people who came to ask, grew into a once-monthly open doors opportunity for people to come for groceries. From a few shelves, we’ve overflowed into two rooms and a freezer. Sometimes, we have to store extra food or paper and hygiene products in other spaces as we simply don’t have the room in the pantry area. The kitchen freezer and commercial fridge also get drafted to hold the frozen meat we can’t fit in our own freezer, as well as fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, and milk. This month it was frozen blueberries. Bags and bags of them. Good nutrition is a focus in the ordering of the food by Lynn and Dianne, our leaders. Often, food is placed out for people to try from our pantry offerings and sometimes a crock pot, cooking with a sample recipe, lets people taste a meal prepared with ingredients they can take with them along with the directions for preparation. The pantry is volunteer run, mostly by seniors, and they do an amazing job. Sometimes, a glimmer of future possibilities emerges as a consumer or two begins to help out when we are busy.

In addition to, and supplementing the pantry, is our Bread Ministry. Donnie, a young man from our church, worked for many years with a regional grocery chain. He noticed that bread nearing its expiry date was returned to the central store and often went to waste. Some was being fed to pigs while local people were hungry. So, he asked if he could have some to give away. Since then, hundreds of loaves of bread, along with bagels and sweets have been given away, amounting to thousands of dollars’ worth of assistance. Donnie has since developed contacts in the wholesale food industry and we have benefited from hundreds of pounds of potatoes, bananas, yams, and more. He collects far more than we can use, so he takes them to other food distribution sites such as a storefront church in town, the local shelter, a free lunch ministry, and another church distributing food in the mountains on Blue Ridge Summit.

We continue to wrestle with how to best serve the poverty needs of our community, as I’m sure every church does. We are discussing other ways to be more effective at providing for the genuine needs right outside our doorstep. To meet some spiritual needs, we are talking about having someone available specifically to pray with people who would appreciate it. We are looking for ways to develop friendships beyond a once-a-month giver/receiver relationship. We are beginning to ask questions like, “How do we assimilate people from the pantry into our church community?” “Do we expand to twice a month or more?” “How do we do our ministry and provide dignity for all who come?” “Can we assist people who don’t have insurance to get some?” “Can we help them with job searches?” I’m sure we’ll come to some helpful conclusions as we continue to dialogue.

The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, demonstrates a genuine concern for the poor. We are both encouraged and commanded as God’s people not to ignore these needs but to care for them, and we will do so as long as we have the ability and resources to do so. It takes time, trial-and-error, and a great deal of work to discover how to do this best. God helping us, we continue to serve and to do a better job as we go along.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  1 John 3:17-18

The New Testament word for heart is kardia, from which we get cardiac and cardiology, words with which I am sadly too familiar. According to the Bible Study Tools’ Bible Dictionary, between the New Testament word, kardia and the Old Testament word, lebab, “heart” occurs more than 1,000 times in the Bible. That makes it the most human-related word in scripture. That also means that matters of the heart are important to God.  A Stanford University article on A History of the Heart1 tells us that in the fourth century B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that the heart was the seat of intelligence. In later centuries, scientific understanding of the heart and its role in blood circulation were combined with cultural understanding that made it the “seat of emotions”. As far back as the ancient Egyptians, the heart was understood in this way. The Bible reflects all of this imagery in its many appeals to the heart.

Today, we understand that our intelligence and emotions are actually seated somewhere within our brain, yet we still use the image of the heart to talk about feelings. You might be surprised to know that the word kardia, for heart in the New Testament is never once used to refer to that big muscle beating in your chest. It’s always used to refer to the center of your spiritual life. When you are told to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Mark 12:30) you are not being told to relate your circulation pump to your Lord. Instead, you are commanded to give Him all of your love, all of your emotions, and all of your spiritual being (including your brain) without holding back. Everything. Every little bit.

In February, when we celebrate love through Saint Valentine’s Day, we talk a lot about our feelings for one another, particularly our feelings toward a special someone in our life whom we care about more than any other. Revelation 2:4 talks about our love of Jesus in this way. John charges the Ephesians with having lost their “first love” or the “love you had at first”. The language   suggests not only that they had a greater love for Jesus when they first knew Him but also that the love for our Lord is/should be their first priority.

As we approach the celebration of Saint Valentine, let it remind us of our love of Christ. Let it remind us that our love should burn as passionately now as it did when we first loved Him and that our love should hold nothing back, taking first place in our lives. Love our sweetheart? You bet! Love our Lord? Even more!

Happy Valentine’s!

I first heard the story of the “organ battle” from Chris, an elderly member of the congregation who told the story with a heavy helping of gentleness and grace. It wasn’t until 1955 that the General Conference of the Brethren in Christ authorized the use of instruments in the church for those that desired them. When interest in having an organ installed at the Rosebank congregation developed, the church essentially divided into two factions, those who were for it and those who were against it.

Those who were for installation of an organ in the church, followed the growing tradition among Mennonite and other Anabaptist-related churches that were beginning to use instruments for worship. Those who were against them felt that instruments were used “for worldly entertainment; the introduction of musical instruments in the church would mean the opening of the gates of the church to secular and sinful influences.”¹ Chris was one of the leaders of the “no organ” group. Among other things, he told me they had felt that organs were used in carnivals and those were sinful places.

The debate continued for some time but eventually the time came to vote at the congregational council. By this time, tension was so high that the members of each group had begun sitting on opposite sides of the congregation. Many of each group would not speak to members of the other. Chris told of impassioned speeches made by leaders of each group prior to the voting, each convinced that they were following the will of God. Before the ballots were cast, they did what all good Christians do before a major decision: they prayed. When the votes were counted, those wanting the organ installed were the victors.

The church could have split right then and there but Chris had a change of heart. He told me, “I believed that God’s will was done. We prayed and we trusted God so the vote must have been God’s will.” So, as soon as the results were known, Chris got up from his seat in the front row and crossed over to the other side of the church and embraced the leaders of the opposition. Then, he sat down with them for the remainder of the meeting. Others soon followed suit. He finished the story by saying, “And young man, sometimes that organ just blesses me.” In fact, one of the things I remember best about Chris was he and Katie sitting in the front row, Chris with his hand raised in praise as the organ played on Sunday mornings.

So, what does this have to do with the inauguration? We Christians prayed long and hard before this election, casting our votes as our conscience allowed. As of today, we have a president. He is not all that many wish he would be. He is not the one many would have selected, but he’s the only one we’ve got, at least for the next four years.

Our call, concerning leaders of government in 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2 is to prayer. Paul says,

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (NIV)

We may not have voted for President Trump, we may not even like the guy, but we are called to pray for him. We are also required to submit to the authorities placed over us and not just spiritual authorities in the church. 1 Peter 2:13-15 says,

¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. (NIV)

Why should we submit to authorities such as these? Why should we follow the rule of law in America? Well, a good reading of Romans 13 reveals that

“…there is no authority except that which God has established.”

Yep, even President Trump. And the answer would have been “Yep, even President Clinton” had the election gone the other way. According to that same chapter, God had a hand in the placement of the government that has just been established. That’s shocking to some and a bitter pill to swallow for others but nonetheless true. Remember, God sometimes gives us just what we deserve. Think of King Saul in the Old Testament as a negative example.

My advice for today? Never mind what the world says, or even other Christians. You need to show some grace, spend some time in prayer for your President and this government, and be an exemplary model, following the rule of law in our society—all for the sake of Christ. That doesn’t mean you ignore character or injustice or can’t take part in calling for change as needed. Pray and participate as God leads.

I think of my elder brother in the Lord, Chris, and his example of crossing the floor to embrace those with whom he disagreed. Dare we do anything less for Jesus? If we can’t find the strength to do it, perhaps, we need to pray for supernatural grace.

1. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Musical_Instruments A great article on the introduction of musical instruments in Anabaptist churches in the twentieth century.
   

If you’re searching for dignity, the hospital is not the place to look for it. In fact, heavy doses of humility if not humiliation are prescribed. I was there for my second procedure in six weeks, a bypass of the LAD, the artery they call “the widow-maker”. I’d survived a heart attack that probably should have killed me. It’s not so much in what they say as in what they don’t say as they look at the ground and shake their heads. That adventure resulted in the placement of a stent in my RCA and a failed attempt to Hoover a 15-year-old stent plugged with a blood clot. I was lined up for a bypass.

Robotic surgery and the DaVinci robot have been around for a while, used on gall bladder surgery and for other procedures around the country. But robotic heart bypass surgery is comparatively new. The doctor who did my stent insisted that I see a surgeon in Reading, PA. “She’s the best”, he said. I’m sure he was right. The procedure went well and will, no doubt, add many years to my life. That, dear folks, is a blessing.

Back to the dignity issue. What does dignity mean in a place that celebrates the post-surgery passing of gas, bowl movements that get charted, and measured urination? Not much. It’s not that they don’t try, it’s just that the situation demands so much exposure. Perhaps, if I were male supermodel material I wouldn’t have minded so much. However, at my age and in my current condition I minded. I began to mind it less, the longer I was there. Other matters such as learning to walk and breathe again seem slightly more important than needing help bathing or putting on your socks.

I guess there are situations where we have to set aside our pride and just go with it for the sake of a greater good. I’ll have to think about that some more to come up with some witty and profound life applications.

When the woman got to the part of the story where the young husband and wife reveal that they had sold their most prized possessions, the bride her beautiful long hair and the groom his beautiful pocket watch, the young woman began to cry as she read. In fact, she started to cry before she got there, merely anticipating what was to come.

In the story, the wife’s gift to her husband had been a platinum watch chain to go with his beautiful watch and the husband’s gift to the wife had been a set of tortoise shell combs for her hair. Each had made great sacrifice to give a gift to the other.

I thought that the young woman would not be able to finish reading the story. Twice, she stopped and sobbed but then continued on. I looked around the room at the faces of the others listening and saw they were as gripped by what was happening as I was.

Somehow the story, told through tears, highlighted the love and the sacrifice of the gifts of the husband and wife in the tale. It was like hearing the story for the first time again.

When the last words were read, there was a hush. It was a holy moment. The young woman was embarrassed by her tears but we were deeply moved. It was as though God were reminding us of His sacrifice saying, “See? These gifts remind you of my sacrificial gift for you.

In fact, God gave us gifts more than once. First, He gave His only Son to a world pregnant with anticipation. The tears began before the revelation of His gift. Humans weeping for God to send a savior and God weeping for humanity’s fallen and separated existence; yearning for reconciliation.

Thirty-three years after Jesus birth, the Father gave the same gift of His Son again, in sacrifice. And with that gift came yet another gift, the gift of eternal life as the Father raised His Son, Jesus, from the dead.

The young woman’s reading of the story, anointed by tears, was a gift that brought to mind even greater gifts. Another grand irony, and a great joy too, is the young woman was blissfully unaware of the gift she’d given us.