Dear Ones,

As we continue through Lent let us ponder on the following:

1                    The things of this world pale in the light of the Gospel.

2                    Each of us as long-time Christians are in danger of complacency.

3                    The call upon each of our lives is to tell the wondrous story.

Please read; John 4:27-39

This story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is a true miracle story.  The transformation of a human life is the most beautiful of God’s miracles.  And the reason we know that depth of this transformation is because most striking feature of this entire chapter,is found in verse 28: “Then, leaving her water jar…”  She leaves behind her life of fear and shame and goes out to those who shunned her to share the good news.  She leaves the mundane and the profane for the holy. 

She runs back to the very community that ostracized her to announce that she has met someone who could be the Messiah.  

“Then, leaving her water jar…” 

It brings us back to the beginning of John; how Jesus used those ceremonial watering jars filled with water to perform his first sign: Water into wine. It was there Jesus’ glory was revealed and his disciples believed him.

It takes us back to last Sunday and Jesus telling Nicodemus that he needed a new birth of water and Spirit because his being an Israelite was not sufficient.

When the woman meets Jesus her first question to Jesus: “Are you greater than our Father Jacob.”

It is as mind bending as Jesus’ statement, “A time is coming, and how now come, when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”

Or, “You will see greater things than this.”

The leaving behind of the water jar by this woman is a powerful parable.  It speaks volumes about the transformation in her life.  She moves from “Are you greater than our Father Jacob” to “He told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Messiah?”

She left behind that which satisfied only physical need returned to the people, the people who evidently shunned her daily, and announced to them:

“Could this be?”

It is a reflection of what Philip said to Nathanael, what Andrew said to Peter, what John the Baptizer said to his disciples: We have found the Messiah!

This woman, this unnamed, Samaritan woman with a jaded, checkered past, of questionable character, involved in a dubious lifestyle is one of the first evangelists to announce the arrival of Messiah.

The way she just left her water jar and hurried back to announce to the people of Sychar that she had found Messiah.  It reflects Jesus refusing food when his disciples return.  The things of this world pale in the light of the Gospel. 

They disciples were very concerned about food. What this tells us is that they are stuck back in verse 15: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  In spite of the fact that had been with Jesus all this time their minds are still on earthy things; they have yet to let go of their water jars: “Could someone have brought him food?” They are stood in stark contrast to this Samaritan woman who left behind her water jar and went back to town to announce the Messiah.

Have you ever known someone who all of the sudden has a revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of Jesus as Christ?  Don’t they seem really different from those insiders who have been walking with him for some time?  It is like the difference between newlyweds and long-time marrieds.  It is not that the love is less but there is a danger of complacency. 

This woman, left her jar for Jesus; the disciples left Jesus for food. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but it is true, isn’t it?  It is something to think about.  Do we as long-time Christians lose our zeal?

When Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  That had to have been so confusing to those disciples who had gone to get food. Remember in the beginning: Andrew went and found Peter, and this is what happened, “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.” We might readily assume that the first thing Philip did was find Nathanael.

In this morning’s passage they arrive in fertile territory, where barely any seeds had been planted, and they are concerned with food, disturbed that Jesus is talking to this woman, and worried because Jesus won’t eat. The woman starts off the same: Concerned about water. But as Jesus is revealed to her, her priorities shifted: Her job was to tell.

She went and proclaimed Christ. There was something in her testimony that provoked more than a passing interest. This crowd of Samaritans was the harvest of which Jesus spoke.  Nevertheless, Jesus says, all have a share in the harvest; all have a share in the joy. All receive the same day’s denarius.

Blessings,

Pastor D

Dear Ones,

John 3:16-17

The good news of the Bible is that today is a day of grace.  Today we too can repent of our sins and turn to Christ for new life.  Let’s consider carefully, what John 3:16 says.

John opens the passage, “For God so loved”.  Let’s stop here.  These very first two words, “For God...” tells us that the gospel begins in the heart of God.  “For God so loved the world.”  God loves the world and the people whom he made in his image.  The word for “love” in this verse refers to “sacrificial love.”  This is the love that gives of itself for another.  And this is exactly what the next part of the verse says: “For God so loved the world that he gave...”  God gives of himself for the world.  God is not an impersonal deity, a theological abstract.  The Sovereign God of heaven and earth is a God who sees and hears and acts.  

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...”  There is only one eternal Son of God.  There is only One who was begotten from the Father.  There is only One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God has given him to the world.

Why would he do that?  Why has God given Jesus?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish...”God loves; God gives; so that we can believe!  And because we believe we will not perish.  Without Christ we are all perishing.  We are objects of God’s wrath because we are sinners.  In our own stead we have nothing to look forward to but condemnation.  However, the gospel, the good news proclaims a different story.  The gospel says you do not have to experience God’s wrath.  We do not have to face condemnation.  God has loved you from eternity; God has given you his only begotten Son; you do not perish if you believe in him.

Who is Jesus?  That’s the ultimate question and John 3:16 tell us the truth: Jesus is the one and only Son of God; the only Begotten of the Father.  It then proclaims God’s grace.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  God loves; God gives; we can believe; we do not perish; we have eternal life.  That which begins in the heart of God overflows into new life for the repentant sinner.  By grace you are invited to believe.  By faith you will.  To be born again by the water and the Spirit is to receive grace and the gift of faith.

It’s a demanding gospel that we hear in John 3:16.  Love so amazing and so divine demands your soul, your life, your all.  John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Verse 16 may demand your soul, your life your all but God sent his Son into the world to pay the ultimate price, to be lifted up, to hang on the cross so that everyone who believes on him may have eternal life.

John tells us his story that we might believe and follow Jesus.  The One who came from the Father full of grace and truth, arms open wide on the cross to receive all who believe. 

Blessings and love,

Pastor D

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11- As Christians who are embarking on our Lenten journey for 2014 there is encouragement and guidance from our three readings.We learn lessons from these readings that can be summed up this way:

Satan; he cannot not create; the best he can hope to do is to sow a seed of disobedience, appeal to our ego or play upon our sense of inadequacy. 

Those are the only weapons he has.  He can’t bully us.  He can only distort the truth. Satan has no real power he cannot force us all he can do is find our point of weakness and build on it.  Don’t you find that encouraging?  Satan is not nearly as powerful as he makes himself out to be.  He is not formidable foe he tells us he is.  He is more like the wizard in Oz, merely a sly and crafty, a little being behind the curtain with a megaphone.

Sin and grace are not alternative choices.  Grace and sin operate in the same environment.  Death comes through sin, “the wages of sin is death” that dominion that had its beginning because of Adam is less powerful than the dominion of grace that comes because of Christ.  The old hymn is right we receive “grace greater than all our sin.”

We have the example of Christ; who is totally dependent upon and obedient to the Father.  Jesus trusts God to the point of not even trying to use his own power against the devil.   He relied on the very Word of God for protection.  We often call on the Lord as a last resort, Christ called on him first. 

And what does Jesus say?  When Satan saw inadequacy, hunger Jesus replied; “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  

When Satan appealed to his ego by reminding him of his importance, Jesus he replied; “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”  And when Satan offered him the world in exchange for his worship, when he tried to lure him into disobedience and Jesus said no, I know who has the power, who is provision and who is majestic above all “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”  If Jesus is obedient and relies on God the Father completely and trusts him with his very life, as his brothers and sisters can we not take guidance from his actions and encouragement from his faith and trust? 

To help us on our Lenten journey 2014 we can be assured that the devil is not as powerful as he thinks he is. 

God’s grace is greater than our sin. 

And we have the example of Christ example being obedient, calling on God first, using the Scriptures as a shield and protection, and trusting God in all things.  Armed with the Scriptures, grace and the knowledge of the devil’s impotence we can walk our Lenten journey filled with confidence and courage.  

Blessings and love,

Pastor Dottie

Many years ago a tourist from the United States visited the famous Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim.

He was astonished to see the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books.  The only furniture was a table and a bench.

“Rabbi, where is your furniture?” asked the tourist.

“Where is yours?” said Hofetz.

“Mine?  But I am passing through.  I am only a visitor here.”

And the rabbi replied, “So am I."

And so are we.  As Christians we are called to be different, to be distinguished from others.  And yet when folks meet us in the marketplace we use the same language they do and our day to day lives are not that different from those around us.

We dwell with non-believers and follow the native customs in dress and food and other arrangements of life. 

Yet we are called to our own citizenship; we are here as sojourners; we bear our share as citizens, and we endure all hardships as strangers.  Every foreign country is a homeland to us and every homeland foreign.

Our existence is on earth, but our citizenship is in heaven. 

We obey the established laws but in our personal lives we are to surpass the human laws, with the commands of God. 

We are to love everyone, even as we are ignored, marginalized and hated.  In some places we are put to death and yet we are endowed with life. 

Even if we are lacking in material things we enrich the lives of those around us.  Even when we are in need we have the joy of the hope within.  

So it makes sense that our motivation is a factor in our piety.  “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” 

If we behave as others do and act out of the same motivation we are no different than they are. 

We mark ourselves tonight, the sign of the cross on our foreheads or on our hands. 

We do this not to tell the world who we are, but to remind us that we are just visiting. 

We are different and we are to be motivated not by worldly recognition, we are not to perform acts of piety to draw attention to ourselves. 

When give alms, or fast or pray we are to do so in such away that it points to our Father in heaven. 

Matthew in the fifth chapter says “Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  That all glory and honor are his. 

The greatest commandment “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…and your neighbor as yourself.”

When we act out of the desire for personal glory and we love ourselves more than our neighbor; we are no longer just passing through but citizens of a world that we are called to be in but not of.

We are no longer sojourners because we love the ways of this world.  We begin to store up earthly treasures and we forget our first love.  Because where your treasure is, there your heart is also.  So this first day of Lent let us re-connect and remember that we are just visiting.

Blessings and love,

Pastor D.