January 29, 2017 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew  5:2-12  (The Promise)

2-12 Then (Jesus) began his teaching by saying to them, “How happy are the humble-minded, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs! “How happy are those who know what sorrow means for they will be given courage and comfort! “Happy are those who claim nothing, for the whole earth will belong to them! “Happy are those who are hungry and thirsty for goodness, for they will be fully satisfied! “Happy are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to them! “Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God! “Happy are those who make peace, for they will be sons (and daughters) of God! “Happy are those who have suffered persecution for the cause of goodness, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs! “

The Beatitudes describe how it is with happy people, not how to become happy.
How it is with those who have discovered the gift of happiness in the process of living.

Happiness is something we all desire, live for, seek out and desperately want.
Yet happiness is not something we can possess, take, create.

Happiness is a serendipity -”the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.”  It is a gift, a byproduct, a consequence of our living.  To pursue it is to miss it.

Happiness comes by losing oneself in usefulness. It is found outside ourselves.
It is living for more then my own happiness.  It is being caught up in that which makes others happy.

Happy people are good people to be around.  Their happiness is contagious and it creates more happiness, for them as well as for others.

“Happy people are good people to be around.
Their happiness is contagious
and it creates more happiness.”

Picture:  Sarah Pearson






Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to discover how happiness happens when
I am lost in usefulness.”

January 22, 2017 Third Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 4:12-17  (The Promise)

12 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. 13 He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. 14 This move completed Isaiah's sermon: 15 Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, road to the sea, over Jordan, Galilee, crossroads for the nations. 16 People sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light; Sitting in that dark, dark country of death, they watched the sun come up. 17 This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “(Repent) Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

 Repentance is a positive not a negative word.  It means ‘change from within’.  It has to do with opening life up, changing ones mind, being open to new possibilities; being open to live from the heart.  It is a180 degree turn.

“Repentance is a180 degree turn.”

Picture:  Lyle Feisel



Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me open to repentance: changing my mind and discovering new possibilities, even where I least expect them to be.”

January 15, 2017 Second Sunday after Epiphany

John 1:35-39, 41-42  (The Promise)

    35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

   37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

   They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

   39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

  41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Faith in Jesus as the Son of God is not something which happens in isolation.

It is not something we do by ourselves; it is something which happens in the human encounters of life.

It is something we walk into more than create by ourselves.

And we help each other believe what is otherwise too incredible to believe.

"He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those men who knew Him not.  He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!"  and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time.  He commands.  And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is."  

Albert Schweitzer-"The Quest for the Historical Jesus”

“He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" 

 and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill 

or our time.” Albert Schweitzer


Picture:  Sarah Pearson

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to walk with you this week, daring to believe that I can be you to someone somewhere.”

January 8, 2017 Baptism of Our Lord

Matt.  3:13-17  (The Promise)

13 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. 14 John objected, "I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you!" 15 But Jesus insisted. "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." So John did it. 16 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit - it looked like a dove - descending and landing on him. 17 And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."

Jesus baptism was uniquely different from all other baptisms.  For Jesus knew no sin.
It identified who he was and what he was all about.

A suffering servant who “ will bring forth justice to the nations.”
A humble servant who “will not cry or lift up his voice...”
A gentle servant, “going about doing good and healing all who were oppressed...”

Baptism is not so much about what we get as it is a sign of who we are to become.
It is a sign that we are to be something more then we dare to think we can be.










“Baptism is not so much about what we get
as it is a sign of who we are to become.”

Picture:  Carolyn Pearson








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me become what you created me to be, - a humble servant.”


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January 1, 2017 Christmas 1

Matt 2:13-23  (The Promise)

13 After the scholars were gone, God's angel showed up again in Joseph's dream and commanded, "Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him." 14 Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. 15 They lived in Egypt until Herod's death. 19 Later, when Herod died, God's angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt: 20 "Up, take the child and his mother and return to Israel. All those out to murder the child are dead." 21 Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother, and reentered Israel. fulfillment of the prophetic words, "He shall be called a Nazarene.”

This story is “a turn toward lowliness and humility rather than grandeur and greatness....Jesus is to be identified, not with the powerful, but with the helpless, vulnerable people of this world.” 

As the writer of Hebrews says he was “one of the dispossessed”.

This is the greatness of Christianity - it’s lowliness.  There is no place too unimportant, no event too insignificant that God has not been there and will not be there again.  God has become penetratingly human - nothing is beyond his reach.  This is what Christmas is all about!“

Jesus is to be identified, not with the powerful,

but with the helpless, vulnerable people of this world.”   

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to remember that you became vulnerable so no one will be missed in your love.”

Dec. 25, 2016 Christmas Day

 John 1:1-18 (NRSV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Where in the world is God?  The day we stop asking this question is the day we are in trouble.  For we are  always discovering God; we never have God all figured out.  Faith is an adventure of discovery, with God revealed in the process.

The answer to our question is:  God is hidden in the most unexpected places, just as He was unexpectedly hidden in a Baby born in a manger.
God is hidden in the bread and wine of communion, and in the unexpected experiences of grace, love, forgiveness, hope which happen to us, through us, for us, with us.

For a Pastor from New Orleans taking a special intercity training in which he had to spend three days on the streets with only pennies in his pockets, cold, hungry, alone, God came in the form of a bartender offering a drink to warm his insides.

For a black man from Chicago with a cripple son God came in a gift of money given by strangers who were on the same flight with him.

For a man standing by the grave of his infant son, God came not so much in the words spoken by the Pastor as in the hand shake which they exchanged.

On and on and on it goes.  God comes in a Baby born in a manger, a man dying on a cross, a resurrection which goes beyond human imagination, and God comes in human acts of love, mercy, kindness, generosity which give hope to the hopeless and brings peace and joy to our lives.

"It is Christmas every time you
let God love others through you...
yes, it is Christmas every time
you smile at your brother and offer
him your hand."    Mother Teresa








Prayer though for the week:  “Lord, come as you came and let your love shine through my life in ways I never dreamed possible.”

Dec. 24,2016 Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve is a time for a story.  A story which captures something of the Christmas story and helps us feel and see how great it is!  The mystery and miracle of Christmas is not only that it happened. but that it happens still in moments and experiences we can not fully understand yet which warm our hearts and challenge us to see something of the presence of God in our lives.

Here is a story which does just that.