“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” – Acts 17:24-25 (NIV)

What does this speech of Paul’s say of God? What does it say of people? What does it say of you?

The following is an excerpt from Nelson Mandela’s book “Long Walk to Freedom” where he speaks of a particularly brutish officer in the prison in which he spent 19 years:

“A few days before Badenhorst’s departure, I was called to the main office. General Steyn was visiting the island and wanted to know if we had any complaints. Badenhorst was there as I went through a list of demands. When I had finished, Badenhorst spoke to me directly.
He told me he would be leaving the island and added: ‘I just want to wish you people good luck’. I do not know if I looked dumbfounded, but I was amazed. He spoke these words like a human being and showed a side of himself we had never seen before. I thanked him for his good wishes and wished him luck in his endeavours.

“I thought about this moment for a long time afterwards. Badenhorst had perhaps been the most callous and barbaric commanding officer we had had on Robben Island. But that day in the office, he had revealed that that there was another side to his nature, a side that had been obscured but still existed.

“It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency and that, if their hearts are touched, they are capable of changing. Ultimately, Badenhorst was not evil; his inhumanity had been foisted upon him by an inhuman system. He behaved like a brute because he was rewarded for brutish behaviour.”

Jesus told those who thought themselves as righteous that he did not come for the well but for the sick. Apparently God gives up on no one, and thereby robs no one of life and breath. Even the vilest can be changed by the love of Christ. Mandela saw in Badenhorst a flicker of the divinity with which we are all created. It is that flicker, that light that no darkness can extinguish, which Jesus works to turn into a roaring flame. If God does not give up on people, we must not either.

“Do you really believe in the virgin birth?” I was asked recently.

“Why yes I do,” I stated as matter-of-factly as was asked of me.

Perhaps you believe that the person asking me was not religious, but an unbeliever attempting to unmask my obvious ignorance. However the person asking me this was not a nonreligious person, but a believer. What does it mean to say that Jesus was born of a virgin? It is preposterous! Ludicrous! Ridiculous! It defies everything we can know, and helps to make those who do not believe as we do paint us as fools. I suppose some of us are tired of being foolish.

Some biblical scholars have pointed out that the Hebrew word that was translated as “virgin” in the ancient Greek translation of the prophet Isaiah actually means “young maiden.” Therefore, so the argument progresses, the gospel writers using the Septuagint (the name of the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) took a mistranslation of the Hebrew and used it in the New Testament. Some then say that Jesus was born, just like us with an earthly mother and father, but a mistranslation changed it all up.

If one is in need of looking less foolish in the eyes of the wise then I advise them to consider such an argument. Some, however, believe in the virgin birth and do so unashamedly. Eugene Peterson writing in the Advent devotional book “Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas: God With Us” claims,

The miracle of the virgin birth, maintained from the earliest times in the church and confessed in its creeds, is, in Karl Barth’s straightforward phrase, “a summons to reverence and worship….” Barth maintained that the one- sided views of those who questioned or denied that Jesus was “born of the virgin Mary” are “in the last resort to be understood only as coming from dread of reverence and only as invitation to comfortable encounter with an all too near or all too far-off God.”

I had not read Barth’s description until I read Peterson quote it. I was struck, and still am, by the phrase, “invitation to comfortable encounter.” It might be true that to deny the mystery and miracle of this season is to seek a comfortable encounter with God. We do not have to revere and worship a God we can explain so easily, because in our explanations we cease allowing God to be God, and attempt to hold onto a God who cannot be held. Do we need to be able to explain God to accept God?

By keeping God from being God we seek that comfortable encounter, that one where we dictate the rules and know the outcome in advance. However, Scripture makes a different claim. It speaks of a God that cares little for our rules, who is dangerous at times, and will seek us out in the most uncomfortable of encounters.

We remember the story of Jacob who wrestles all night with God and leaves with a limp he would have until death came for him. It is a story that is easy to recall because of its certain truth. When we find the God who has found us we rarely leave the same as we arrived. Sometimes we are forever altered by our experience. Limping throughout life because God encountered us.

At Christmas we claim that God encountered us as a child. This is no normal child, this is one born without a father, from a virgin, therefore one that is due our reverence and our worship. To revere (which comes from the Latin which meant to stand in awe of and fear) him is to know that when we encounter him he will change us forever. To keep him at a safe distance, to seek an invitation to comfortable encounter, that is not what Christmas is about.

Christ has come into the world, is still coming, and will come again. This year pray that we meet him and are changed forever. In being changed by God perhaps we can be used by God to help change the world into a place where peace and justice flow under the reign of the Prince of peace. A lofty Christmas wish you think? Perhaps, but one that is possible through faith I am sure.

With faith that I am riding the wave of the Holy Spirit.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. – Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)

What does this image of Jesus standing and knocking mean to you? Do you believe Jesus is chasing after you? Have you opened the door to your heart and life? Are you willing to become a temple for the presence of God?

Last week I was attending a Presbytery meeting. After driving an hour and a half to the church where the meeting was being held I was not in much a mood to worship, but the first thing we do at such meetings is worship. My mind was wandering, I was thinking of things I had to do, I wasn’t worshipping God.

Then after the offering I went out to wash my hands and take a breather. Perhaps in the act of washing my hands some of my concerns washed away, or maybe it was that grace poured over me.

Whatever it was when I went back in the Prayers of the People started. People lifted up names that were heavy upon their hearts, and names that gave them reason to rejoice. They shared the reasons for naming each person and we held their names as a group. It felt holy.

The prayer itself wasn’t the normal kind of prayer prayer, as when a person stands before the rest of us and utters a prayer on our behalf. It was responsive where the leader read some and then the congregation read some. It also left time for silence after various groups of people were named. As we prayed for groups of people across the world I could feel them. Those people whose names I will never know and faces I will never see I could feel and I sensed them close in the Spirit. As I prayed for them I realized something else… I loved them.

In that moment I knew something had happened. Right then I was living in the heart of God.

Jesus pursues us hoping that we will open the door of our lives, so that he might enter into them and eat with us. In the Bible eating together is one of the highest forms of fellowship. He wants to fellowship with us so that we might experience life together. In our times of prayer and while we sit at the Communion table we open our hearts to God so that we might find ourselves living in the heart of God. It is there, within God’s heart, that we find out we can love as God loves. So pray on, it does in fact change things, it changes us.
 

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Do you believe God meets your needs? Why or why not? What do you lack? What do you need? What to you give thanks for?

The following story is about the 7th century English saint Cuthbert:
Once upon a time, the good Saint Cuthbert of Lindesfarne, went forth from his monastery to preach to the poor. He took with him a young lad as his only attendant. Together they walked along the dusty way. The heat of the noonday sun beat upon their heads, and fatigue overcame them.
“Son,” said Saint Cuthbert, “do you know anyone on the road, whom we may ask for food and a place in which to rest?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” answered the lad, “but I know nobody on the road who will entertain us. Alas why did we not bring along provisions? How can we proceed on our long journey without them?”

“My son,” answered the saint, “Learn to have trust in God, who never will suffer those to perish of hunger who believes in Him.”
Then looking up and seeing an eagle flying in the air, he added, “Do you see the eagle yonder? It is possible for God to feed us by means of this bird.”

While they were talking thus, they came to a river, and, lo the eagle stood on the bank.

“Son,” said Saint Cuthbert, “run and see what provision God has made for us by his handmaid the bird.”

The lad ran, and found a good-sized fish that the eagle had just caught. This he brought to the saint.

“What have you done?” exclaimed the good man, “why have you not given a part to God’s handmaid? Cut the fish in two pieces, and give her one, as her service well deserves.”

The lad did as he was bidden, and the eagle, taking the half fish in her beak, flew away.

Then entering a neighboring village, Saint Cuthbert gave the other half to a peasant to cook, and while the lad and the villagers feasted, the good saint preached to them the Word of God.

An old story you say? Yes it is, but it still speaks an eternal truth. God will supply our needs! As things are getting harder economically we begin to worry. As our things are going away, and budgets get harder to meet and the needs keep increasing our faith wanes. It is a good time that we pray for faith – not just belief in God’s existence, but faith that God can do what God promises. God can!

During my first year here in Georgia I was a bit surprised to discover that October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I was further surprised when I learned that it is a “national” month. Seems like something I would have heard about before, but alas I had not and I enjoyed receiving gifts and cards.

It is nice to be appreciated and I suppose some pastors long for a month when they may be told nice things, but quite honestly I feel appreciated all of the time. Therefore please allow me the opportunity to use this space as something I will call, “Parishioner Appreciation Month.”

I appreciate the silent workers of our church. Maybe you do not know about them, but they are there. They make sure air conditioners are running, lights are turned off, doors are locked, people are served, vestments are in place, bulletins are in place, forks are in place, and much more that only God knows. These people volunteer their time to ensure that the rest of us can come in to a place of worship and go right into it. I appreciate you all.

I appreciate the not-so-silent workers of our church. These are the people whose names appear as committee heads, elders, deacons, Samaritan Saturday group leaders, Community Resource leaders, Meals-on-Wheels volunteers, people who bring food to After Church Fellowship, ushers, greeters and more. Somewhere they’re names are written down. These people are rarely thanked, but do what they do not for the recognition, but instead because God has laid a burden upon their hearts and they follow their call. I appreciate you all.

I appreciate the people who go all over the church during our Ritual of Friendship to tell visitors “hello.” I have never had a guest of the church tell me they feel unwelcomed… maybe because some have never been given the chance, but more so because we are an incredibly welcoming church. There have been people who walk right by me to say hello to someone they have never seen. I appreciate you all.

I appreciate our staff. I recall one day when Ms Annie was mowing the dirt (this is before we our lawn sorted out). It was hot and dusty and yet there she was. Thankfully we have a landscaping service now, but Ms Annie works harder than ever. She is here until past 11 at night ensuring our sanctuary is perfect for a Sunday service after a wedding on Saturday evening. She works in the heat and in the cold, and does whatever is asked. I appreciate her.

I appreciate Lynn who comes in early and generally stays late. If I need something crazy done for a flyer or bulletin she will spend days getting it just right. People come in and will have long conversations with her, and she won’t complain but do her work later. She’s not a member of the church but cried when times were bad and there was only enough money in the bank to stay open for a couple more months. I appreciate her.

I appreciate Marilyn with her flair for the dramatic and her musical talent. She came in right when we needed her and is great for me to work with as I change things up at the last minute and tell her I am having people sing. Many pastors call their music departments, “war departments.” I have not. I appreciate her.

I appreciate Elaine with her amazing skills in the kitchen that have grown our Wednesday Nights. I recall one time that I was hosting some other clergy of the area and asked if she would prepare a meal. It was excellent, and I have had many of those who were there tell me it was the best meal they’ve had in any church. I am sure it was. I appreciate her.

I appreciate our newest staff member Pat. She is hard at work ensuring that our books are in order. Some ministers are great administrators and know everything about a church’s budget. I am not one of these ministers, and I thank God that we have a person who knows what she is doing and will lead us on a sound path for the future.

I appreciate the people who tell me when I am doing a good job; those that tell me what specific part of a sermon meant a lot to them; those who tell me to my face when I am doing a bad job so I can learn; those who send me cards with words of encouragement that always seem to come at the right time; those who try to invite more and more people to church… I appreciate so much about this church and about you all. Together we are blessed to have each other as we ride the wave of the Holy Spirit into better tomorrows.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV 1984)

Why is the cross foolish? How is it also the power of God? When thinking of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus do you discover hope? Why?

The following is by Timothy George, “Delighted by Doctrine,” Christian History and Biography (Summer 2006):

Judaism has its shema and Islam its shahadah, but Christians, responding to Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” have produced literally thousands of statements of faith across the centuries.
As a capstone to his lifelong interest in the central texts of the Christian faith, Jaroslav Pelikan edited (with Valerie Hotchkiss) Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, a four-volume critical edition with a one-volume historical and theological guide called simply Credo.

This creed was brought to Pelikan’s attention by one of his students, a woman who had been a member of a religious order working in a hospital in East Nigeria. Pelikan wrote, “She brought it to me, and I just got shivers. Just the thought, you know, the hyenas did not touch him, and the act of defiance — God lives even in spite of the hyenas.”

Not only do we believe Jesus died, that God died, but we believe Jesus lives! Yes it is foolish! It is crazy to believe such a thing, but we defiantly proclaim it. Who do we say Jesus is? What parts of our culture does the Christ who changes culture change? Where does God live in spite of death dealers? Now let us proclaim who Jesus is each morning as a confession of faith. Within our confession we say something about the power of God!

This month, like a couple of others when I have had to write this monthly piece, has been trying for me. Sometimes I just do not know what to write. I am preacher, not a writer. However the deadline loomed five days ago, and something must be written.

Let me start with a lyric from the band Mumford and Sons. “But hold on to what you believe in the light. When darkness has robbed you of all your sight.”

I came home from work the other day and said hello to my family in the usual way. Sometimes I feel very much like a stereotypical family man, and while a younger version of me would be nauseated at the idea, today I quite like being a family man. I kissed my wife and the baby she was holding. I had to find my son who was hiding simply by covering his eyes. All was right and I was happy.

Like other families I heard stories of what the children did when I was away. The girl is smiling now. Her mother can play a little game with her and her face will light up with joy that cannot be taught, but simply exists waiting for us to take it … or at least to acknowledge it. Then my wife said, “And Langston did the cutest thing!”

“Oh really?” I asked, “What’s that?”

“I was sitting on the couch feeding the baby when he marches into the room with his flashlight on,” she tells me. “I asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ and he tells me, ‘Looking for the dark, mommy.’” We laughed together as I imagined my son walking around in the fullness of day looking for darkness to illuminate.

Then as I sat with that image I wondered if there was not incredible truth some mixed with a boy’s play. He holds the light, and he knows the purpose of light. Light makes darkness go away. Perhaps my profession insists that I spiritualize his play, or perhaps his play forces me to become more spiritual.

Paul once wrote to a group of people frightened by the darkness that reached for them, “you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.” It was his way of reminding them that even though dark days loom ahead, even though evil would try its hardest, and even though sometimes we feel lost we are not. For we are heirs of salvation, purchased by God and thereby children of light.

In my little boy’s playtime he gave voice to a great truth. It is not darkness that can overtake light; it is light that overtakes darkness. Jesus once preached, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Perhaps he could have added a story about a boy with a flashlight that goes looking to eliminate darkness.

Darkness still saturates our lives, our families, our communities and our world. There are those who believe that it will win. Perhaps during the rough and tough days of life we wonder if the light is gone completely. It is then that we must remember what we believed in the light. If darkness has somehow robbed us of all our sight hold on to the belief that we share of Jesus. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

A friend of mine told me that he was quite afraid of dark as a child, a little more so than even normal. During a prayer meeting at his church his parents informed the people gathered that he was scared of the dark. He was not mocked or told it was silly to be afraid of the dark. Instead those who carried light surrounded him and prayed that he would know himself as a child of the light, as the beloved of God, as someone the darkness cannot touch. It was as though someone with a flashlight went looking for darkness in order that it would disappear.

Oh, that we all would carry such lights … I imagine the world would change.

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Written by Rev. Garrett Andrew, minister of First Presbyterian Church of Albany, Georgia. Read his blog.

A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22 (NRSV)

How do you know this is true? When have you been good medicine for someone who needs it? When have you dried up bones because of a downcast spirit? Can you give life?

The following is a story that came from LiveScience.com on May 26, 2006 and was written by Jim Fitzgerald.

Dr. Samuel Weinstein, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery for Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, went to El Salvador in 2006 with Heart Care International to provide life-saving operations for poor children.

            I am sure the good doctor could have given up hope after 12 hours of operation, but instead somewhere within he found the source of good medicine.

Jesus said that whoever has faith in him will be able to do greater things than he did. I’ve heard that Christians built 90 percent of the schools and hospitals ever built. I’d say that is doing great things. We could look at the world and become downcast, or we could be cheerfully determined to be good medicine.

Good medicine can save a life!

Written by Rev. Garrett Andrew, minister of First Presbyterian Church of Albany, Georgia. Read his blog.

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you see me. Those who believe without seeing me will be truly blessed.” – John 20:29 (NCV)

What do you believe? What is it like to believe in a God you cannot see? Do you wish you could see some proof? What proof would be good enough? How would that change your belief?

This comes from the book, “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom.

On this day, Morrie says that he has an exercise for us to try. We are to stand, facing away from our classmates, and fall backward, relying on another student to catch us. Most of us are uncomfortable with this, and we cannot let go for more than a few inches before stopping ourselves. We laugh in embarrassment.

Finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl whom I notice almost always wears bulky, white fisherman sweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her eyes, leans back, and does not flinch, like one of those Lipton tea commercials where the model splashes into the pool.

For a moment, I am sure she is going to thump on the floor. At the last instant, her assigned partner grabs her head and shoulders and yanks her up harshly.

“Whoa!” several students yell. Some clap. Morrie finally smiles. “You see”, he says to the girl, “you closed your eyes, that was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling”.

Belief and trust go hand in hand. Abraham took God on a promise, and trusted that promise even when all evidence pointed to the contrary. It is true that sometimes faith seems utterly ridiculous, especially when we are looking for something to give us some certainty in the face of uncertain times. Yet all we have is a promise. When life feels like we are falling it is still best to close our eyes and trust in the Promise Maker. Should we do such audacious and ludicrous thing, somehow we will be truly blessed.

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Written by Rev. Garrett Andrew, minister of First Presbyterian Church of Albany, Georgia. Read his blog.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. – Romans 8:5 (NRSV)

What does it mean to set your mind on things of the Spirit? What about setting your mind on things of the flesh? Does it have anything to do with doing good? Does it have anything to do with living well?

The following story was e-mailed to me:

An ancient Indian sage was teaching his disciples the art of archery. He put a wooden bird as the target and asked them to aim at the eye of the bird. The first disciple was asked to describe what he saw. He said, “I see the trees, the branches, the leaves, the sky, the bird and its eye.”

The sage asked this disciple to wait. Then he asked the second disciple the same question and he replied, “I only see the eye of the bird.” The sage said, “Very good, then shoot.” The arrow went straight and hit the eye of the bird.
Unless we focus, we cannot achieve our goal. It is hard to focus and concentrate, but it is a skill that can be learned.
Our goal is to focus on God so we can live according to the Spirit! In life there is so much that goes on that demands our attention, and often God is rarely focused on. So how do we do it? Some say the best way is to give thanks for every little thing that we can think of. That’s probably a good way to start. As we give thanks our attention is always turned again to God. “God thanks for this running water I use to brush my teeth.” “God thank you that I can taste the sweetness of that fruit.” “God thank you for…” There are millions of reasons to give thanks each day. When we do we begin to look at God, until one day, God is all we see.

Written by Rev. Garrett Andrew, minister of First Presbyterian Church of Albany, Georgia. Read his blog.