OUR YES AND GOD’S YES

      There is a story from the Old Testament that will point to our belief that God is a healer and forgiver who wants his people to be restored in his image. In the book of Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 we find the story of a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah to the exiled Jews in Babylon.

      Jeremiah’s letter reminds them that their captivity would last for seventy years. They were there for the long haul. They were to make the best of it. Yet, God gives them hope, and while they are in exile, they are to pray for the ones who have enslaved them. The exile of the Jewish people will be a test of their faith and an affirmation that even in such unfavorable conditions, God will not forget them. The story can be divided into two parts; the Jewish exile into Babylon, and God’s desire to bring them back to the Promised Land; forgiving and healing, and the promise of restoration.

      Now we can lay the Jeremiah story beside another story found in Luke 17. Jesus physically heals ten lepers. As soon as they were healed, they left Jesus, their leprosy gone. That is the first part of the story. However, we find that one of the lepers, a Gentile outsider, returned to give thanks and worship Jesus. That is the second part of the story. The one who returned received something even more powerful than physical healing. He received a second blessing---the gift of salvation, because of his faith in the one who had healed him and his gratitude for new life. Again, we see God busy healing forgiving, and restoring.

     Maybe the lesson from the two stories is that Jesus is a healer. He healed the Jewish people from their sin and brought them to a safe place, even if it was Babylon. Jesus also healed the lepers from their disease, which is a symbol of their outward sins. But Jesus is more than a healer, he is also Lord of our lives, Master, Teacher, and Sanctifier. So in our first story God says to the Jewish people, “I have forgiven your past sins. I have healed your souls and have given you an opportunity for a new life. The second part is up to you. Even though you are in a dark place in your life, you can be an example even to those who oppose you. You can grow spiritually, you can be a witness for me in your persecution, and you can strengthen your faith and trust in me by praying for those who are in opposition to you. I will bring you back, a changed people.”

      Can you hear God saying the same words to us today? “You are forgiven, healed from your past. Now I have much bigger things for you to do, and I want to turn you into men, women, boys, and girls whom you never thought you could be. I want you to grow spiritually, and in spite of your dark valleys, I will lead you to a holy life, a completely changed person. I will give you boldness and passion to be my witnesses”

           And then, there is the second story—the story about the ten healed lepers. Can we find ourselves somewhere? Jesus is saying to them and to us, “I forgive you and heal you from the things you have done—those selfish things which separated you from me, but I want to do much more. I want you to come back to me and ask for healing and cleansing from inside sin. I want you to worship me and give yourselves to me as the one Gentile did. I do not want you to be satisfied with just part of your salvation. There is more, much more and I want you to have full salvation.”

      Jesus has said a big “yes” to our forgiveness and healing. He has said a big “yes” to his willingness to change us into holy, completely surrendered people. In so many ways, Jesus has said “yes” to us. He is waiting for us to say “yes,” our “yes”to his eternal “yes.”

 Rev. Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, August 11, 2013

THE KEEPER OF THE SPRING

      I recently read a story told by Peter Marshall and adapted by Joanna Weaver in her book, Having a Mary Spirit.

      High in the Austrian Alps, surrounded by beautiful forests and alpine peaks, a quaint little village lay. It was the perfect place for tourists to get away from the city life. In the middle of this town was a crystal-clear pond created by a stream coming down from the mountains, a stream fed by an ever-flowing spring of pure water. The town with its pristine pond seemed to be paradise to those who lived and visited.

      One day the town, while reviewing the budget, decided to cut the position of the Keeper of the Spring. They reasoned that this might be an area where money could be saved. Besides, no one was really sure what the job description of the Keeper of the Spring involved. So the old man, who cleaned the spring, was no longer needed.   

      After a month or so, the pond was not quite as clear as before, but no one really paid attention. But by the following spring, the ducks and geese did not return and some folks began to comment about the yellowish-green tint to the water. Tourists, who had crowded each summer into the town, stayed away.

      Finally, one day a group of curious townsfolk hiked up to the spring high in the mountains. They found the spring clogged with leaves and debris. Rocks and forest litter had fallen into in the once clear water, turning the pure water of the life-giving spring into a dead mud hole. It was at this point that everyone agreed that no one is as important as the Keeper of the Spring.

      We all know how important pure water is to the quality of life and life itself. We have read that thousands of people, especially children, die in places around the world every few months from the lack of good clean water. Our grandson, John Howard, seems to like drinking “wa wa” more than any other liquid. Water is required by every cell in our bodies, making it essential for us to exist. There is no substitute for water.

      Jesus knew this as he taught and demonstrated the thirst-quenching qualities of water. We have the example of water baptism, the outward symbol of the washing of the sin from our lives.

      Jesus also used natural water to symbolize the spiritual water that he could give each of us to satisfy the thirst for wholeness and healing. When the priest poured out the water during the Feast of Tabernacles, John 7:37 tells us that Jesus cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow within him.” Jesus offered himself as the source of life. This is radical even to us today. Then in John 4 Jesus takes a side trip into Samaria to give the woman at the well, “…water so that she would never thirst again…a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

      Jesus wants to be the Keeper of the Spring that is the source of our well being and our faith journey. Perhaps, we have replaced Jesus with other things and people who are incapable of keeping the living water flowing into our lives. It may be time for us to realize that the Keeper of the Spring is the most important person in our lives. Without Jesus, our spring, the source of everlasting life, will become clogged and impure, producing water that is unhealthy and deadly to our walk and growth as disciples.  

      Let us make sure that Jesus is in charge of all that flows into our lives, wellsprings of living water.

Rev. Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, August 4, 2013-07-30

DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THE DRAGONS

      In the story The Voyage of the Dawn Trader, C.S. Lewis creates the character of a boy named Eustace Grubb. Eustace is extremely obnoxious, selfish, and certain that everyone on this voyage is against him. In the story, the ship Dawn Trader stops on an uninhabited island for repairs. It is on this island that Eustace finds real trouble; his greedy, selfish behavior meets serious consequences. As he wanders off alone, Eustace finds a huge pile of treasure in an abandon dragon’s cave. He stuffs his pockets with as much of the treasure as he can carry, then falls asleep in the cave. While Eustace sleeps, dark dragon-like thoughts fill his mind and heart. When he wakes, he finds that he has become a dragon.

      Ashamed, dismayed, and repentant, Eustace tries to be different, to change back into a boy, not the same boy, but the boy he knows he should be. However, trying as hard as he could, Eustace could not change himself from the dragon he had become into the boy he now longed to be.

      Then one day Eustace meets the great lion king Aslan, who offers to help remove the dragon skin that holds Eustace captive. In the story, Eustace describes the pain as Aslan tears off each layer of dragon skin, revealing a new boy, a new life, and a transformed personality.

      I think we all know where we are in this story. You see we all need to be de-dragoned, not just one time, but daily. Our lives have become encrusted with layers of behaviors that are keeping us from being the person God intends for us to be. Those behaviors, attitudes, thoughts need to be peeled away by the action of Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah.

      The psalmist writes about this awesome transformational process in Psalm 51: 2,10. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a right spirit within me.” I pray, along with a repentant King David, for the washing of transformation, a clean heart, and a right spirit, the spirit of Jesus.

      We must lay aside this notion that we have the power to change ourselves, the power to shed the dragon skin that enslaves us to sin. Our efforts at self-improvement will only result in feeble attempts to remove one layer only to discover another underneath.

      Maybe this is why Paul writes in Romans 12 to offer ourselves “as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” When we offer ourselves, Jesus will prepare us for sacrifice.

      Just as Eustace trusted the lion king Aslan to peel away the layers of dragon skin, you and I can trust King Jesus to take away all those layers of sin that keep us from being the person he wants us to be.

Rev Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, July 28, 2013

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

      How often do we sit for an hour or so watching the evening news, wishing for some “good” news? We pick up the newspaper, see the headlines, and wish for news that makes us feel good about the world around us. The reports of murders, abuse, violence, and conflicts are dumped onto our laps while we long to hear the stories of compassion for the poor and outcast, taking care of our neighbors, and showing love for those different from us. However, if we look hard enough and wait long enough the occasional “good” story will surface, renewing if for only a short while, confidence in our society.

      But what do we do with these “bad” news stories? Some of us watch each night, becoming desensitized to the violence and hate around us, shrugging off these immoral, inhumane behaviors, with the attitude “this is just the way things are.” Others want to fight back and do something about the moral decay in our out-of-control society. Still others refuse any contact with news reporting of any kind, totally cutting themselves off from both local and global events.

      While I believe that a steady, daily diet of violence, crimes, and injustices seen and read from various media can be unhealthy in many ways, it is almost an obligation for a Christian to be aware and informed of the events in the secular world. I cannot imagine Jesus walking the roads of Palestine unaware of the social and political climate of the Jewish and Roman world in which he lived. We find that his teachings reflect the social and political injustices and immoral conditions of his day, conditions that can still be seen and felt today.

      In his book “Reaching Out,” Henri Nouwen tells of a priest who cancelled his subscription to the New York Times because he felt that the endless stories about war, crimes, power games and political manipulation disturbed his mind and heart, preventing him from meditation and prayer.

      Nouwen writes, “That is a sad story because it suggests that by only denying the world can you live in it, that only by surrounding yourself by an artificial, self-induced quietude can you live in a spiritual life. A real spiritual life does exactly the opposite; it makes us so alert and aware of the world around us, that all that is and happens becomes part of our contemplation and meditation, inviting us to a free and fearless response.”

      By keeping up with the events and thinking of a secular world, we equip ourselves to better form relationships with others that can, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, lead to Christian discipleship. Jesus’ knowledge about Samaritan traditions played a major part in the transformation of the woman at the well. By knowing about the Greek gods and goddesses, Paul was able to introduce the real God to the Athenians.

      Therefore, only by seeing the hunger and the suffering of our brothers and sisters, are we better able to provide food and comfort. Only by hearing about the injustices and the prejudices in a world of inequality, can we work toward solutions. And only by sensing the spiritual emptiness of those who are lost in a world of darkness and hopelessness, can we offer hope and Jesus who brings transformation.

      May we keep watching and listening to a world that is in pain, no matter how unpleasant to us it may be, so that our response will be “free and fearless.”

Rev Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, July 21, 2013

STAYING PREPARED

      The idea of “being prepared” seems to surface from time to time in our daily lives. When a health or financial crisis comes our way, we wonder if we have enough insurance and resources to carry us. We stop and ask ourselves, “Am I prepared?” We prepare for a vacation, a trip, or a new job. We discover the need to be prepared in so many places in our lives as we make plans for careers, marriage, and retirement.

      Some of us take the idea of preparedness very seriously, while others seem to get along fine with less preparation. You may remember the story of the ant that spent the summer preparing for the winter by storing up food. However, the grasshopper used the summertime to play his fiddle and dance the days away. The grasshopper came to an unhappy end, while the ant enjoyed the winter, happy and warm.

      Of course, there is a spiritual application to this lesson of preparedness. We read from scripture the necessity of allowing the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to prepare our lives for a different kind of living than the world embraces. We see our need to change the way we live, the need for forgiveness, and the need for a relationship with Jesus. After we have accepted this new life, God’s grace begins to prepare us for holy living and the ministry of witnessing to others.

      Once we have a transforming story, we are mandated by Jesus to tell the story. Scripture tells us that we must always be ready to tell others the good news. We must be prepared as Paul writes in 2Timothy 4:2, “Proclaim the message. Be ready, prepared, persistent, whether it is convenient or inconvenient. Correct, confront, and encourage with patience.” Peter tells us in 1Peter3:15,16, “ When anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready…Yet do it with respectful humility…”

      Henri Nouwen, from “Time Enough to Minister,” in Leadership, gives us an excellent example of being and remaining in a state of preparedness. Nouwen had gone to a monastery for solitude and prayer, but while there was asked to give a series of lectures to some students. His answer was, “Why should I spend all my sabbatical time preparing all those lectures?” The answer from the abbot came, “Prepare? You have been a Christian for forty years, and a few high school students want to have a retreat. Why do you have to prepare? All those years of prayers, worship, scripture reading, and communion with God should have given you enough material for ten retreats.” 

      Nouwen continues, “The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help.”

      Are we keeping our spiritual life up-to-date with the continual teaching and preparation of the Holy Spirit? When we meet someone who needs to hear our story and the “Jesus story,” are we prepared to tell it? Or, are we unprepared?

       Let us make sure we are prepared not only to meet Jesus one day face to face, but that we are ready to meet Jesus in the faces of those in our path each day.

Pastor Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, July 14, 2013

STAYING PREPARED

      The idea of “being prepared” seems to surface from time to time in our daily lives. When a health or financial crisis comes our way, we wonder if we have enough insurance and resources to carry us. We stop and ask ourselves, “Am I prepared?” We prepare for a vacation, a trip, or a new job. We discover the need to be prepared in so many places in our lives as we make plans for careers, marriage, and retirement.

      Some of us take the idea of preparedness very seriously, while others seem to get along fine with less preparation. You may remember the story of the ant that spent the summer preparing for the winter by storing up food. However, the grasshopper used the summertime to play his fiddle and dance the days away. The grasshopper came to an unhappy end, while the ant enjoyed the winter, happy and warm.

      Of course, there is a spiritual application to this lesson of preparedness. We read from scripture the necessity of allowing the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to prepare our lives for a different kind of living than the world embraces. We see our need to change the way we live, the need for forgiveness, and the need for a relationship with Jesus. After we have accepted this new life, God’s grace begins to prepare us for holy living and the ministry of witnessing to others.

      Once we have a transforming story, we are mandated by Jesus to tell the story. Scripture tells us that we must always be ready to tell others the good news. We must be prepared as Paul writes in 2Timothy 4:2, “Proclaim the message. Be ready, prepared, persistent, whether it is convenient or inconvenient. Correct, confront, and encourage with patience.” Peter tells us in 1Peter3:15,16, “ When anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready…Yet do it with respectful humility…”

      Henri Nouwen, from “Time Enough to Minister,” in Leadership, gives us an excellent example of being and remaining in a state of preparedness. Nouwen had gone to a monastery for solitude and prayer, but while there was asked to give a series of lectures to some students. His answer was, “Why should I spend all my sabbatical time preparing all those lectures?” The answer from the abbot came, “Prepare? You have been a Christian for forty years, and a few high school students want to have a retreat. Why do you have to prepare? All those years of prayers, worship, scripture reading, and communion with God should have given you enough material for ten retreats.” 

      Nouwen continues, “The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help.”

      Are we keeping our spiritual life up-to-date with the continual teaching and preparation of the Holy Spirit? When we meet someone who needs to hear our story and the “Jesus story,” are we prepared to tell it? Or, are we unprepared?

       Let us make sure we are prepared not only to meet Jesus one day face to face, but that we are ready to meet Jesus in the faces of those in our path each day.

Pastor Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, July 14, 2013

I know, it has been many months since I have placed anything here. I don't even know if anyone is reading what I write. But sometimes other things crowd out what we really want to do. Our little grandson, Huck (John Howard) is growing so fast. I am astonished at what he has learned at almost two years old. I will get some pictures up soon. My mother grows more and more feeble at almost the same rate as Huck develops. What a contrast in the mystery and reality of living and dying!