tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post7556145056322044659..comments2024-02-28T07:57:08.325-07:00Comments on Faith, Grace, and Hope: Strange and newPastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-7892113961378373682008-12-03T19:56:00.000-07:002008-12-03T19:56:00.000-07:00Someone once wrote: There is nothing new under the...Someone once wrote: There is nothing new under the Sun. When the Preacher wrote that, was it new? Really? Was he talking about last year's sermon that was written centuries ago? Was he making fun of tomorrow's dawn in Barrow? <BR/><BR/>In a so-called modern world that seems to dote on fads and bizarre new thoughts and ideas; how is it possible? How is it possible to create anew? If the Church could create anew then surely the world would come racing to our doors.<BR/><BR/>Maybe. When Christ delivered the radical Gospel teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, how many clung to the words? And when Jesus told Peter he would have to die horribly, Peter said: NO WAY! <BR/><BR/>Must we always go around with blinders on to the greatest and most amazing miracles? Particularly when they are happening in our own church?<BR/><BR/>Where is the Hope? When we consider that God has created a world where there are new opportunities each and every day and that God broadcasts his seeds of Love continously AND that he has created us to be so desperately needy of His Gifts of Faith and Grace and Hope.....then in that maybe there is an answer.<BR/><BR/>Maybe in our weakness and God's Power and Love we can see with fresh amazement the birth of the baby Jesus. And if we can not, maybe we should ask ourselves why we want to camp in the muck when God is raising us to be children of God, through the absurd wonder of God made flesh. In a manger.<BR/><BR/>All things are possible with God. God is creating afresh everyday, even in Barrow. If there is something for the Church to do it is simply to participate with what God is already doing. <BR/><BR/>If we feel like we are in turmoil as a Church, if we feel stuck in the muck, maybe we should stop stomping around in despair and look up to God's Grace and Hope. With God All Things are Possible. If we look to God, His Faith that He gives to each of us will show us miracles each and every day.<BR/><BR/>Is there a difference between Hope and being positive? :-) The Power of Positive Thinking was not added to the Holy Scriptures for a good reason, I think. But,I would hope the writer of Ecclesiastes could see what God was creating anew in a Manger in Bethlehem. In that stillness, in a twinkling light of a miraculous star, there is a time for wonder, a time for new things, a time even in this Christmas Season to break out afresh with Song. We have been given a great gift. Hark the Heralds! <BR/><BR/>As with all truly great and eternal gifts the only way we can accept it, is to share God's Gift with the all who will receive Him! Thanks be to God. <BR/><BR/>As God did not want us to possess the Gospel to hold it unto the grave, so also Christ did not want the Church to mess around with the Gospel in despair in the muck.<BR/><BR/>Christ is born today! Not just on December 25!<BR/><BR/>He has risen today! Not just on Easter morn! <BR/><BR/>With God all things are possible. Even for me to shut up. :-)walla2https://www.blogger.com/profile/06754559225356758750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-30103308135289502602008-12-03T12:53:00.000-07:002008-12-03T12:53:00.000-07:00Thank you, Julia. It is always amazing to me how t...Thank you, Julia. It is always amazing to me how theologians and writers of generations past can be so "spot on" about our situation today (which is whole other layer of the new/change and the old/familiar. The tension shows how both must be there in conversation)<BR/><BR/>Christmas is THE time that we pastors seem to struggle to infuse new life in older forms. Sometimes, in spite of my herculean efforts, God breathes new life into the people from the new, the familiar and the mundane. I love God for that.Martin Eldredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01984555821434529167noreply@blogger.com