June 14, 2015 3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 4:30-32  (The Message)

30 "How can we picture God's kingdom? What kind of story can we use? 31 It's like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, 32 yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it.”

The Kingdom of God seems terribly insignificant and insufficient in the affairs of the world, yet it has the dynamic that can make the difference even in our world.

That dynamic is the love of God as known in Jesus Christ.  A love which is individual and universal.  “If Christianity doesn’t begin with the individual it doesn’t begin; but if it ends with the individual, it ends.”

The parable of the “pine nut” (mustard) seed reminds us that God often works God’s purposes out through the insignificant.  In the Kingdom of God, it is not bigness which counts, but making a difference in someone’s life.



"All gestures of love,
however small they be,
in favor of the poor and
the unwanted, are
important to Jesus."
     Mother Teresa






Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, it sometimes seems like it is too small to make a difference -my smile, my kind word, my gift.  Help me remember
that no matter how small, it counts in your eyes, and makes a difference.”

June 7, 2015 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 3:24-26  (The Message)

“24-26 A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn't be any Satan left.”

Revised Standard Version
“24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

A divided Kingdom is sure to fail.  A true Kingdom is one where all are brothers and sisters.

Dare we say it?  Jesus words regarding a divided kingdom remind us of what is happening in our country and world right now.  This is no way to live in our earthly kingdom and it no way to live in the Kingdom of God.

We are called to live in harmony, letting the spirit of goodness, mercy and respect lead us to decisions which must be made for the good of all.  For we are family!  And only as we live as family will we be able to stand, and standing,  be a blessing to others.






“Hatred paralyzes life;
love releases it.
Hatred confuses life;
love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life;
love illumines it.”
Martin Luther King










Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, help me to live as part of one family and be a blessing."

May 31, 2015 Trinity Sunday

John 3:1-8  (The Message)

1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." 3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to - to God's kingdom." 4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" 5 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit. 7 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above' - out of this world, so to speak. 8 You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.

"Nicodemus wanted to believe Jesus,
but his head got in the way of his heart.

His heart said, “Go for it!”
“Follow Him!”
“This is the One!”
but his head asked, “How can these things be?”

He tried his best but he couldn't figure Jesus out.
Not yet anyway.  He did become a secret believer and he was with Joseph of Arimathea when Jesus body was buried.  But today he is wondering what it is all about, and asking “How can these things be?”

 How can it be that we have to be born again...and again...and again...and again?
Born from above;  of the Spirit;  of the one God sent?

It can be because we do not make it be.  God does!
And because we never get it all at the first time, or the second, or third.
We have to be born many times, over and over again as it slowly sinks in that God’s “love never ends and dazzling grace always is’.  And it is for all!  All!
In religion, Issues of the heart are deeper and more powerful than of the head.  We don’t think our way into faith;  we are captured by that which penetrates into the depths of our souls and there creates peace, joy, love, and hope, enabling us to say, “Lord I believe;  help mine  unbelief.”

It was with the heart more than the head that the unknown person spoke when it was written on the wall of a cellar in Cologne Germany during World War II -



“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining.
I believe in love,
even when I feel it not.
I believe in God,
even when He is silent.”
                  Unknown











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let my heart take me where my head cannot go.  And believe against all odds!”

May 24, 2015 The Day Of Pentecost

John 15:26-27
26 "When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes - the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father - he will confirm everything about me. 27 You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start.”

The Holy Spirit is about power.  Power to believe; power to show mercy and kindness; power to live in hope.  Power to change and be changed.  It is an energizing power.

God gives us his Spirit to be creatively alive, creatively different (sometimes disturbingly so) and creatively compassionate.

This is what is needed in our world today - revolutionary and redemptive activity!

Forging a new humanity in Jesus name.
A humanity which erases distinctions between people. which regards none from the human point of view, but Jesus’ point of view where forgiveness is paramount.



“To think of changing the world
by changing the people in it
may be an act of great faith;
to talk of changing the world
without changing the people
in it is an act of lunacy.”
Lord Eustace Percy








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, empower me with your Spirit that I might be creatively compassionate in all…yes all…that I do.  And forgive me when I am not, so I can try again.”

May 17, 2015 Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:14-19  (The Message)

14 I (Jesus) gave them(the disciples) your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn't join the world's ways, 15 Just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. 16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. 17 Make them holy - consecrated - with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. 18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 19 I'm consecrating myself for their sakes So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

Prepositions are important little words.  They hold the big words together and give them direction.  i.e. “…that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth.”

We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world.  This does not mean we negate the world, have no fun, know no joy. It means we have a different perspective by which we see the world.  It means we are being consecrated in the truth that God loves us, calls us, challenges us to live so that in all we say and do something of God’s love is present.




"Let us astound them,
before all words,
by our way of life."

John Chrysostom, 4th century







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, make my life astounding…to others.”

May 10, 2015 Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 15:9, 12-15, 17  (The Message)
9 "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love…12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.  13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. 14 You are my friends when you do the things I command you. 15 I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father… 17 "But remember the root command: Love one another.

God is love.  This is the first, the last, and the best we can say about God.  This is the bedrock of our faith.  This is enough to live on and enough to die on.
Alan Jones, in “Soul Making” has a chapter titled “Love: God’s Wild Card.”
Here are a couple of quotes from that chapter.

“All I know is that love of some kind has got hold of me and will not let me go.  That is why I describe myself as a believer and put up with the embarrassment of being seen in some dreadful company.  And I am grateful for the many people (both friends and strangers) who don’t mind being seen with me!”  p. 127

“I began to happen in a new way (my soul comes to life) when someone says, ‘Alan, sometimes you’re a mess, often your infuriating, and I love you!’  The soul cannot breath when a persons says, ‘there are some problems we have to iron out - in fact, you’re the major one - before I can tell whether I love you or not.’”  p. 134

God is love.  And God’s love is unconditional.  It is always waiting for us to open our hearts and let it have at us.  Then we also can love one another in a powerful and life giving way.

“God is love.
This is the first, the last,
and the best we can say
about God.”











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let your love fill my heart and be expressed in my deeds.”

May 3, 2015 Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 15:1-5  (The Message)

1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. 2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. 3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

There is no doubt about it; by our fruits we are known.  Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together.  For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”

Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”.  When we remain in Him good things will come from our living.  For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.

“It is no use walking any where
to preach unless our walking
is our preaching.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, may good things come from my living this week.  Let your energy of love move my heart and hands to do good, something which enables someone else to smile and be glad."