What's YOUR story?

I love a great story! Last night on CBS news they reported on a single man in Melrose, MA who runs a small vacuum cleaner repair business. Not wanting to be alone for Thanksgiving,  Scott McCauley put an ad in the local paper inviting up to 12 people to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. 33 years later, he prepares a meal at a local church, at his own expense, served to those who call him to reserve a place. 

This year he will serve about 50 people.  Why does he do it? "I think each of us are called to brighten a corner where we are and if everybody took care of their neighbor in their own neighborhood we'd have a much better world," he said. "Someday, maybe nobody will call me up and say they're coming for Thanksgiving dinner, and I'll be really happy that everybody's got a place to go."  (CBS News, 11/20/2018)

I hope you have someone to tell your stories tomorrow.  At many tables the conversation will start about the weather, football teams, and move on to personal tales. There will be heroic achievements and embarrassing remembrances of accidents, spills, and scrapes with the law. Most of them will have been told before and will be told again. It’s what we humans do. Our stories will make us laugh and cry, but they are more than entertaining. Stories define and explain us.  The more of your story I know, the better I understand who you are.

Authentic stories, told without embellishment or editing, will reveal the triumphs and failures, the hits and misses, of life.  Being able to talk about who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become is part of growing emotionally and spiritually.  When a person is loved enough to know they can tell their whole story, they can find redemption, forgiveness, hope, and change that flows from the inside out. That is why 12 step recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous create safe places for people to tell their real story, not the “fake news” that perpetuates a lie about life.  The truth is liberating, but leaves us vulnerable, so we need a loving place to tell it.

How I pray that the church which I am privileged to pastor will be a loving place full of authentic stories!  The love of Jesus, that story about His birth, His death, His Resurrection – all so that we could be reconciled to our Father, allows us to tell ourselves the truth and to find in Him that love that heals us and saves us.  Our natural impulse is to change our story, to conceal the ugly parts, to magnify the moments of success. Pride makes hypocrites of us. Jesus warns us about  “the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!" (Luke 12:1-3, NLT)

So, what’s your story?

Have you written a fiction about yourself that has enslaved you?

Have you believed a lie that somebody told you, a falsehood that controls you to this day?

The God Who knows you best, loves you most! His love makes the truth safe to tell. John reminds that "If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. … if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s." (1 John 1:8-2:2, The Message)

I’m looking forward to some stories on Thanksgiving. And, I’ll tell a few myself. I hope that in them all there is a thread of faith, an echo of the love of Christ.

You are invited to a Service of Reflection, Thanksgiving, and Communion at
Faith Discovery Church, Wednesday, 11/21/2018, at 7 PM.

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Blessings

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace comfort for family

Protection while we sleep

We pray for healing for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand

To ease our suffering

And all the while You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness

We doubt Your love

As if ev'ry promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desp'rate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is a revealing of a greater thirst

This world can't satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain the storms the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Laura Story

© 2011 Laura Stories (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

New Spring (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

You Owe Me!

Want to kill any hope of feeling thankful this week? Convince yourself that you are being short-changed by life, that the world owes you something.  It’s called – entitlement. The thing is that it creeps up on us stealthily, starting with grievance, fed by disappointment. It grows like a weed and turns into a black hole of misery, in us, and for those around us.  What am I talking about?  

Saying or thinking things like - 

“God, why can’t I have the life my brother enjoys?”

“Why don’t my parents give me more like my friends get?”

"I deserve to be paid better than I am by that stingy boss."

"My kids owe me some gratitude after all I give up for them." And on the list goes....

One day Jesus was traveling and came upon ten men who were together in their awful misery. They were lepers. When leprosy (a broad term used to describe many skin conditions in that time) became evident that person was immediately separated from the community, as a means of keeping the spread of the disease to a minimum.  He could no longer live in his home, work in the community, or enjoy his family. Lepers lived a wretched life, beggars and scavengers to survive. Added to the social separation and physical pain, the leper dealt with the judgment of the community. It was generally assumed that it was the leper’s fault, the result of some sin in his life.  That day, those ten men somehow realized who was approaching.  Having heard about Jesus’ healing power, they started to yell- "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.” Luke 17:14 (NLT) Imagine their joy when they saw their skin clearing, all evidence of their leprous condition gone, given their desperate situation!

Now, here's the part of the story that I want to emphasize today. "One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:15-17, NLT)

9 of those men did not even think about being thankful. Who knows? Was it just the excitement of being healed, or did they somehow feel they deserved their miracle?

So many Christians have convinced themselves that God owes them more, better, happier, richer, healthier.  They fail to appreciate the best gifts of God -  salvation, peace, joy.  Why?  Because of entitlement!  Misreading the Bible and filled with Self, their prayers are turned into legal briefs that present their demands for action. Faith morphs into a 'gimme' system that says, "God, you promised; now, pay up!" How tragic, how misguided. Our Father in Heaven loves to bless and He does, but He owes you and me NOTHING. His gifts are based in grace, not merit.  What He desires is to walk with us, our lives a conversation full of grace, leading us to deep spiritual intimacy.

Entitled people never even think of thankfulness! Even when they enjoy life’s best, they are just convinced that God paid up, made good on the contract.  There is a terrible downside that goes right along with that idea. When things go badly, when life falls apart, those same people will beat themselves up wondering what they did that brought such grief on their heads. 

Mercy flows from the heart of our Father. Remember, He entered our broken world, in the Person of Jesus, to share our suffering and to give us salvation. The Psalmist reminds us - "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:9-14, NIV)

Are you grateful today?

Does thankfulness overflow from you?

Or is God asking, "where is the gratitude, where is the recognition of My mercy?"

I don’t want to like those 9 healed men that left Jesus without thanksgiving, do you?   

In this season of Thanksgiving, check your heart for areas where entitlement has taken up residence.  Humbly acknowledge the truth, and then, liberally give thanks - to God, to friends, to family.

Here is a word from the Word for meditation today.

"A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout with joy to the Lord, O earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation." (Psalm 100, NLT)

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There will be a Thanksgiving service, celebrated with Communion, at Faith Discovery Church on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve at 7 pm. You're invited.

Thanks To God For My Redeemer

Thanks to God for my Redeemer

Thanks for all Thou dost provide

Thanks for times now but a memory

Thanks for Jesus by my side

Thanks for pleasant balmy springtime

Thanks for dark and dreary fall

Thanks for tears by now forgotten

Thanks for peace within my soul

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered

Thanks for what Thou dost deny

Thanks for storms that I have weathered

Thanks for all Thou dost supply

Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure

Thanks for comfort in despair

Thanks for grace that none can measure

Thanks for love beyond compare

August Ludvig Storm

 Public Domain

Three funerals on Sunday morning

Yesterday, in our worship gathering, I was privileged to baptize 3 individuals. There was a time when I did not value baptism in the same way that I now do.  Back then, I saw baptism as a kind of ‘after thought,’ something that people did just to affirm their faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior.  It is that, and so much more! With the greatest joy and deepest reverence I walk into that baptismal, trusting God, the Spirit, to be present in that moment of death and life.  Do I believe that the Scripture teaches that people are put right with God through baptism?  I do not. Baptism follows saving faith.  I do insist that we must not devalue baptism as an act of obedience that has spiritual consequence.

This amazing words were inspired in Paul and given to us. "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him." (Romans 6:4-9, NIV)

Baptism is a moment of burial, a funeral for the sinner in us; and resurrection, our eternal life evident in the act of coming out of the water. Woven through that text is assurance. “If we are united with Him in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection!”  Baptism should be a kind of ‘I know it’ moment. And, from that realization a new way of living emerges, one that is anchored in eternity, the promise of eternal life with God, our Father.

What does that have to do with everyday life?  The choices we make, the things we pursue, come from what we truly believe. IF you take the truth of the Scripture about baptism’s identification with Christ to heart, life will become different.  The old fear of mortality is eclipsed by the hope of heaven. The preoccupation with the feeding and comfort of the body is broken, replaced with a desire to walk with God from here to eternity.

Have you been baptized? Have you affirmed the faith choice to receive the gift of salvation through Christ and entered joyously into the new life made possible by the Holy Spirit at work in you?

The word from the Word today fills me with hopeful wonder. May the Lord bless it to you. Happy Monday! "By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise." (Galatians 3:25-27, The Message)

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A New Name In Glory

I was once a sinner but I came

Pardon to receive from my Lord

This was freely given and I found

That He always kept His word

There's a new name

Written down in glory

And it's mine, O yes, it's mine

And the white-robed angels sing the story

A sinner has come home

For there's a new name

Written down in glory

And it's mine, O yes, it's mine

With my sins forgiven

I am bound for heaven

Nevermore to roam

I was humbly kneeling at the cross

Fearing naught but God's angry frown

When the heavens opened and I saw

That my name was written down

In the Book 'tis written

Saved by grace

O the joy that came to my soul

Now I am forgiven and I know

By the blood I am made whole

Charles Austin Miles

© Words: Public Domain