Asking For God's Kingdom

We who are believers live in a Kingdom that is all but invisible to the world. Only Christ can open our eyes to see the reality of God’s Kingdom - as He did following the Resurrection, when He broke bread and was then recognized by His disciples. Jesus told his disciples, "Blessed are you to see what others have longed to see – the Kingdom in your midst." Jesus also said, "No one can see the Kingdom unless he is born again"(John 3:3). He meant right now. There is a hand, unseen by the world, that provides.

It's like watching football or cricket or basketball. Some folks can observe the game without much of an understanding as to what’s actually happening. It’s the same with the Kingdom of God. Some people look at this world and all they see is a random series of events. So, when we read in the Scripture that all things work to good for those who love God, these same people may think, "If you’re lucky, it does", or "If you work hard, it might", and sometimes, to some folks, it’s all just a "crap shoot".

And just what is the point of loving your enemies and blessing those who curse you? In the kingdom of the world, it makes no sense. But in the Kingdom of God, it is crystal clear. It’s how Jesus lived.

Do I live like that? Occasionally. And in those moments I see God and discover that it’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Take for example the crucifixion and death of Christ. To most people at the time, it meant the end of the hopes and dreams for victory in this world. But to the thief on the cross, it meant new and eternal life. After the resurrection of Jesus, many people began to see the difference Christ makes in THIS life, which continues forever. I was reading the other day that from God's perspective, the resurrection of Jesus means that this life, the "right here and now", matters. It’s why Jesus came back in a physical body.

Can you see that your life matters to God? Can you see that God is for you, not against you? Can you see that life can be lived with love and joy no matter how it might appear?

This Easter, ask for God’s Kingdom. The whole thing. Jesus said, "Seek the Kingdom of God and all that you need will be given to you as well."

A blessed Holy Week and Resurrection Day to all of you,
George

P.S. Please feel free to join us at any of the worship services this week:

• Holy Thursday Candlelight Communion, 7:30PM downstairs in the Social Hall
• Good Friday Worship Presentation, 7:30PM in the sanctuary
• Easter Dawn Worship, 6:15AM on Peconic Bay (at the Warns' home, 8740 Peconic Bay Boulevard)
• Easter Worship, Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00AM

Let's Talk

Adult baptism? Infant baptism? Please share your thoughts using the comment feature............. Let's get a dialogue going!

Petit petit zwazo fe nich

So . . . I've cleaned out the old nests from our bird houses. Everything is ready for the birds to come back or perhaps use one of my new birdhouses for their nests. I'm not sure how much we appreciate what they go through to build those nests.

Male, female, or both collect material and join in its construction. They use spiderwebs, sticks, caterpillar silk, leaves, grass and saliva. They can make hundreds of trips to collect materials. Think it's easy? Try to make a nest yourself. Remember, the center must be soft and one more thing. No using your hands. They don't.

In Haiti there is a proverb, "Petit petit zwazo fe nich." (Little by little a bird makes a nest.) It means that all those efforts, small as they seem, add up to something bigger and better.

During our trip to Haiti we saw so many efforts at helping people to rebuild their lives, starting in the smallest ways. One can see how even a small bag of rice sustains people, gives them hope that something better is coming.

Jesus said something about that in terms of the Kingdom of God. It starts out as something as small as a mustard seed and grows bigger and bigger until the birds begin making their nests in it. He said this to encourage His disciples not to give up, because the Kingdom of God was going to take place in their lives, little by little. Jesus came to inaugurate that Kingdom and then He invites us to help enlarge it until many more can make their home in it, so to speak.

Think about your effect on your children or grandchildren, your community, your spouse. You may think it makes no difference, but little by little the nest is being made. So don't give up after 35 trips. It will happen. God will provide. He does so for the birds and he will surely do so for us. And hey, maybe you contribute one twig and someone else comes along and adds a spiderweb and then others bring leaves and grass and at some point a nest is built, a life changed, and God is glorified.

You cannot help but see that so many people are pitching in for the long haul in Haiti to help our friends and neighbors to build their lives back together again, and this time even better. Think of the village where we work in Nan Sema. It started when a motorcyclist arrived in the community asking for directions, and now there is a church, cistern, well, and as of Sunday, the new medical/dental clinic is open full time. It all began back in the 90's and by God's will, the people's vision and hard work it's coming together. The people are now putting their resources together to build a market place so they can get food each day. Our Father wants to care for them.

Please pray for an art vendor we met on the street one day. Her name is Junette Jn Philippe. She asked for nothing except our prayers. She believes they make a difference. Maybe all of us today could help build another life by adding our prayers, one stick at a time.

Thank you for all your prayers for us. Thanks to the church staff and various ministries and boards for their work, to Pat Hanly for preaching and teaching. The nest is getting better and larger. Don't give up. Bring a twig . . . maybe even a donkey. Oh, that's the scripture lesson for Sunday from Luke 19. Hope to see you.

Yours in Christ,
George

Evidence that is Self-Evident?

In George's absence, Elder Pat Hanly has written a Wednesday email:

I was recently taking a mini-survey of my life up to this point and the overwhelming sense that I had was one of deep joy and gratitude. Speaking with a friend of mine, I casually mentioned that I did this and that I came to realize how wonderful it is to be a Christian.

I told him I thought of the many life-changing experiences that I have had. I remembered when I had first been born-again, spending time with other young people who had the same experience and enjoying their company and shared friendships. I thought of the many great books, bible studies and sermons over the years that have shaped my faith. I considered how I came from a love of rock and blues music to an understanding of how music of all styles (including the hardest rock) can find redemption and become thoroughly God honoring. I thought of my embrace of the Reformed Faith and then I thought of our church and the wonderful people I have come to love and what a blessing this all has been to my family and I.

And then I thought of my family. None of which I would have had I not become a Christian (I met my wife in church) and the only thing I could do was bow my head and say a prayer of thankfulness to my Redeemer and Friend who has shown a kindness and mercy to me that could never be repaid.

At this point, my friend snapped me back into our conversation again by mentioning he had been recently reading about the Shroud of Turin and how he believes it is authentic. For anyone who might not be familiar, the Shroud is an ancient relic of the church, the purported burial cloth of Christ that has an impression of a tortured and bleeding man superimposed on it as a negative photographic image. He told me he thinks the carbon dating of the Shroud in the 1980’s was inaccurate and that it is just not conceivable that a medieval artist could make such a rendering, and if they could, why would there not be other obvious examples of this from that period?

This discussion turned my attention to Easter, my favorite Christian holiday, which is soon approaching. Was the Shroud actual physical evidence to the Resurrection? And if so, are there other evidences that should be considered to prove that the tomb was empty on that glorious morning? What of the disciples, all of whom died torturous deaths, all the while maintaining they had seen Jesus alive again? If He was really dead and they were lying, wouldn’t they eventually just say so? What about the other eyewitnesses and the known conversion of so many enemies of the young faith? And if the tomb was guarded, where was the body?

Yes, there are evidences but perhaps neither the Shroud nor the testimonies of the early disciples are alone as strong evidences for the Resurrection. Perhaps there are other evidences that are equally as powerful. Again I thought of the Christian life and wondered if you and I and all believers for all times don’t constitute equally powerful evidences in their changed lives. The lives lived with joy, purpose, self-sacrifice and gratitude in answer to what God has done for them. Wikipedia lists only two propositions as being truly self-evident, and the first is stated as, “A finite whole is greater than any of its parts”. Perhaps this body of Christ - the millions of people who have claimed and continue to claim to know this risen Lord personally today, constitute a finite whole that is truly self-evident.

Prayer for the Day
“What language shall I borrow – to thank Thee dearest Friend,
for this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
Oh make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never, out live my love for Thee.”
From the medieval poem, O Sacred Head Now Wounded
Bernard of Clairvaux 1091-1153

If you would like to do some further reading on the Resurrection of Christ in preparation for Easter, I recommend “The Christ of the Empty Tomb” by James Montgomery Boice. You can get it on Amazon.com or from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals at www.alliancenet.org.

Pat

Casting and Going

I have to confess to a degree of pride when people discover I’m going to Haiti. "You’re going WHERE?!" "Oh yeah," I say, "sure, no problem, been lots of times." Some think I’m pretty courageous. But little do they know that inside my head, buzzing like those infamous mosquitos, are a bunch of anxieties and, once in a while, a bit of fear, especially now after the earthquake. Oh, I can recite with the best of them "Cast all your cares on Him" or "Have no anxiety about anything", but the truth is that the anxiety sometimes doesn’t go away. If I let my mind race ahead too far and think about too many things, my anxiety level really goes up.

Deep inside me though, is a much clearer and distinct voice (sort of like DEET for those mosquitos). That voice is God's and He says, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46). Stop the little battles in your mind and know that I am the God who provides and governs and sustains.

That voice then takes precedence over all other thoughts.

In the midst of the storms comes the voice of the creator – it’s OK, be still, I am with you! Maybe that’s why Jesus said, don’t worry about tomorrow and tomorrow – take it one day at a time.

So at this moment my heart and head are at ease and so fully aware of God’s provision for this trip. Being with friends, going to where it’s warm, being met at the airport by good friends, staying in a secure guest house and much more. It’s gonna be a good trip.

And we will have the blessing of being present as Pastor Agones marries his fiancè Duodeline (pronounced Doodayleen). I will participate in the ceremony and Rory will be the best man. The wedding is March 19th in Port-au-Prince. It’s all good.

Thank you for your prayers and your good works for Haiti. We will bring your greetings.

Yours in Christ,
George

Where Was God?

I read a great op-ed piece by James Carroll in the International Herald Tribune. Concerning the suffering in Haiti (and we might well include all suffering), he asks: What can Almighty God, the Lord of the universe, know about feeling utterly abandoned? Carroll's answer points to Jesus. God in Christ knows what it means to be alone and abandoned. Jesus felt the isolation, the suffering, and the abandonment in a world gone wrong.

There were no easy remedies or trite answers on the cross. That Jesus stayed on the cross – this is the best hope we have that He understands our sufferings; and, even more, that He intervenes for us before the Father, to help us when we feel tempted to give up (see Hebrews 2:17, 4:15-16).

The suffering of God in Christ on the cross was real. His suffering has become our one true source of knowing that God understands our plight. We abandoned Him a long time ago on that cross. Even now, some of us have abandoned Him. But His hand is outstretched to us as it was to that dying thief; the thief who found his only hope in this abandoned God on the cross. Dare we trust Him as much?

And if we have a glimpse through Him, or through our own circumstances, of being abandoned, then are we not called to reach out with our own hands to those in need? To bring hope and help to places like Haiti, and Chile, and to the countless people crying out, “Where is God?”.
In Christ,
George