Sermon Video: Jesus heals publicly, and prays privately - Mark 1:29-39

 The healing of one man on the Sabbath brings a vast crowd to see Jesus that evening when the Sabbath ended.  Having spent the evening healing many, Jesus gets up early the next morning to go out to a solitary place to pray.  Why?  For the same reasons we need to imitate him: (1) the physical/emotional need of every human being for rest and recuperation, (2) our need for ongoing perspective and balance, and (3) our need for communion with our Heavenly Father.  We, as Christians, need to regularly employ private prayer, hopefully with the bonus of solitude.  While public corporate prayer is a huge part of our worship and the life of the Church, that does not end our obligation.  Each Christian should approach the Father in prayer, unburdening our hearts and minds, seeking guidance and wisdom, and maintaining our sense of a family connection to God.  With the way that 2020 has gone thus far, don't you need some time for solitary prayer?

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Is it time for you to take a Sabbatical?

One of my fellow ministers here in Franklin is leaving today for an extended Sabbatical until after Easter.  The first thought that most of us have on hearing something like that is a bit of jealousy.  Wouldn't we all love to walk away from our job for a while and get a break that last longer than the standard two weeks?  The idea of a Sabbatical, which comes from the Hebrew Shabbat (Sabbath), is actually something that God intended to be an integral part of the way that society functions.  We are all familiar with the weekly Sabbath, for Jews Saturday, for Christians Sunday, that reflects the seventh day of rest at the end of the Genesis account of Creation.  That weekly break from labor is certainly something we can see the value of, and something we ignore at the peril of our own health, but God inteneded it to be part of a greater scheme of rest that went far beyond a weekly break.  In the Law given to Moses, the people were commanded to let the land have a rest, and themselves as well, every seventh year.  In other words, they were to work the land for six years, and then take one year off.  We have much the same concept regarding the land today with crop rotations and allow the land to lie fallow from time to time, but the idea of giving ourselves longer breaks from labor has always failed to gain hold when practical considerations overrule such considerations.  Today, only professionals, especially academics and scientists, consider a sabbatical to be a part of their career path, although most of these use that time away for an intense level of work on a special project such as writing a book or doing field research.
Do any of us ever really take time AWAY from our 24/7 connected and wired-in world anymore?  What would it be like to walk away from e-mail, voice-mail, facebook, and who knows what else, for not just a few days, but for a few months?  The problem with never stepping away from the daily grind is that we don't take the time to step back and look at how we do what we do, or why.  The next day's work is coming too fast, no time to think about priorities, no time to evaluate the quality of life we're living, nor to consider the opportunities that pass us by to help others.  What could you accomplish with a sabbatical?  What would happen if you took the time to look at your life from the outside for a change?  God knew what he was doing when he told his people to include rest in their lives.  I wish my fellow minister well in her time off, and I wonder, who will return to us after it ends?  Hopefully, and I mean this in the right way, not the same person who left.

Taking a break from all your worries...

I just completed a week of vacation during which my wife and I returned to Michigan to spend some time with family and friends and camp up at St. Ignace during Labor Day weekend.  It was a needed respite for me from the daily requirements of the ministry, a chance to set aside for a while the cares and concerns for God's flock that can seem never-ending to those in pastoral ministry.
Of course, there are plenty of people whose jobs and family responsibilities make my work seem like a cake-walk, but we all need to take some time away from our regular routine now and again in order to gain perspective and remain fresh in our pursuits.
One of the things that pastors miss out on is the ability to attend church as a participant and not a leader.  Our Sunday mornings, and other occasions in which we gather to worship, revolve around preparation and delivery of spiritual food and nourishment for others, but this same nourishment can be difficult to partake of when you're busy working to make it happen. 
My pastoral mentor, Pastor James Frank, once told me that in sermon preparation one has to "preach the sermon to yourself first".  The same holds true in preparing a lesson for Sunday school or getting ready to lead a Bible study; those of us in leadership need to teach ourselves the lesson that is to be learned before we try to teach it to others.  There is another point to remember: we also need to be open to the chance to learn a lesson during the delivery of the message itself.  It may take the form of an insight that you never saw until this moment, or perhaps be in the form of a question or comment from someone afterwards, but those who minister God's Word should always be ready for that preaching/teaching to rebound.
In the end, our vacation was a good one, we spent time with loved ones and enjoyed God's wondrous creation.  Now, as I prepare this week's sermon I can do so with a heart that is refreshed and ready to be taught once more.

The Sounds of Silence

As my students read quietly in class, (for that I have Andrew Peterson's Wingfather Saga to thank, they actually want to read it), it occurs to me that our world today rarely has any peace and quiet.  From the moment we wake up, until our day ends, most of us are surrounded by noise.  The proliferation of ipods and mp3 players has only made this trend more complete.  If we want to, we can avoid silence altogether.  This need for noise has advanced enough that some people cannot sleep when it is quiet, nor can they concentrate without background noise.  (Some of my students listen to their ipod while reading, "I can't read, it's too quiet" has been said often enough). 
How does this impact our ability to "listen" to what God has to say in our lives?  If we don't take the time to stop and think, to ponder our lives, won't we miss out on that "still small voice" with which the Holy Spirit prods us?  One of the reasons that I prefer to run in the wood is because the solitude and quiet are invigorating.  In those moments, my mind is open, much more so than it can be when the TV is on, or simply the sounds of an industrialized world surround me. 
Do yourself a favor, make the time in your busy schedule to get outside and enjoy God's Creation, or curl up with a good book and shut out life's distraction.  You'll be amazed at what it does for your mood.  Remeber, even God needed a rest on the 7th day.

Rest for the Weary

Having just spent half of Thanksgiving driving up to Traverse City (to my in-laws) and back, I am reminded that during the Christmas season we often find it very difficult to actually take time to rest from our labors.  Genesis 2:2 tells us, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."  This was the first occassion that illustrates the need to take a break from our labors.  That same principle was enshrined in the Ten Commandments alongside such staples as "do not murder", do not commit adultery", "do not steal", etc. which tend to get all of the attention.  Yet purposefully taking the time to REST was so to God that it was included.
In the modern world, we're connected 24/7 to our jobs and our social networks so much so that many people never really rest at all.  I know that many people may laugh at the notion of disconnecting themselves in order to have some peace and quiet, but that is precisely what God has commanded us to do.  During holidays we become so fixated with all of the things that need to be done (many of them useful or worthy tasks) that we don't allow ourselves to experience the purpose of the holy day that we are commemorating.
Christians have traditionally used Sunday as our day of rest, but I know from experience that many Americans don't even pause from their yardwork, shopping, texting, sports, or anything else in honor of the Sabbath that God took when he finished his labor.  As a pastor, Sunday is actually my busiest day which forces me to find time on another day to obey God's command to rest, but it's a command, not a suggestion.
If you're one of those people who feels the need to fill every waking moment with some task or other, don't.  Take the examle of our God's rest to heart and schedule (if you have to) some time this Christmas to REST.

Entering God's Rest - Hebrews 4

I was asked to conduct a funeral this past week for someone from Palo (years ago) that I had never met.  This sort of thing can be difficult because as a pastor it's hard to know which Scripture passages will be of the most comfort for the family when you don't know much about the person who is being remembered.  In the end, two passages from the Gospels helped me, Jesus and the thief on the Cross (how wide is God's mercy and how easily obtained) and the 99 and 1 Sheep (God cares enough about each of us to not let us wander off) were able to guide me in my remarks.
Thinking back on that funeral, there was a lot of talk from the family and friends about how their loved one was no longer struggling against the troubles that beset her during her life.  That's certainly true, but I think it misses the point a little bit.  We often think of heaven as a place where we no longer have to endure physical troubles (an aching back, poor eyesight, a handicap); while this is certainly true, it doesn't reflect the real reason why standing before Jesus some day will be so amazing.
The burden that we are all carrying, a burden whose weight we are so used to that we don't even notice it, is sin.  We live in a world where sin is everywhere.  A world where our lives are beset by temptations and tragedies that come from sin.  The true peace of God that we will experience when standing face to face with Jesus will be finally knowing what it is like to be holy.  When selfishness is no longer an option, when fear and failure slip away.  On that day, you will find that a tremendous weight has fallen off your shoulders, never to be taken up again.  On that day, you will truly rest.
I'm reminded of the song, "I can only Imagine"  I love that song; the lyrics are amazing.  "Surrounded by your glory, what will my hear feel?  Will I dance for  you Jesus, or in awe of you bill still?  Will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall?   Will I sing Hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?  I can only imagine, I can only imagine."

Taking a Break

I recently enjoyed a three day camping trip with one of my best friends (the army doctor) and a couple of his friends on the shore of Lake Superior (at the Two-Hearted River); it was guys only, (wives and kids left behind in order to make the trip a rest from obligations and duties); fishing, canoeing, swimming in Lake Superior (that's a manly enterprise; believe me, it wasn't very warm at all), and mostly just sitting around the campfire at night talking about nonsense (such as trying to decide which characters in Episode IV each of us were {rule: you can't pick the character for yourself}; I was happy to be nominated as Obi-Wan, although the guy we tagged as C3PO wasn't too thrilled)...It was only a couple of days, but that time away did us all a world of good. There's a reason why the LORD rested on the seventh day; not everything in life can be about work; otherwise, when do you appreciate what you have and what you've accomplished?
Another bonus of our trip: We were entirely unplugged from the modern world; no electricity, no running water, NO cell phones, no 24 hour news cycle; just guys cooking over a fire and not worrying about all of the things that follow us around back in our daily lives.
When is the last time you truly got away from it all; if only for a day or two? Can you let it all go for a bit, or are you too worried that all of the balls you're juggling will come crashing down?
The Christian has access to the ultimate in stress management...Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Make the time to find rest in your life; I'm pretty sure if God took a day off, you can too.

A Moment of Rest

These are pictures of the pond that Nicole and I dug in our front yard about six years ago. The project turned out to be a LOT more work than it seemed when Nicole came up with the idea (not to mention occurring during the hottest and most humid week of the year). I wasn't sure about the idea at first, but since it was put in I've discovered that I really enjoy having this little place of peace right outside my front door. I don't mind the bit of maintenance it takes, it's actually nice to keep something in a "natural state" in good working condition. The real benefit of this pond is the chance it gives both of us to take a few moments when we need them to go and sit by the pond and just listen to the water, watch the fish or the frogs, and let life's troubles and worries be for a while. Perhaps you don't have the chance to get a moment alone in nature, but don't underestimate the healing power of taking a few minutes to just sit and let life go for a while. When you think about it, how worried do those two frogs look anyway?