In the Princess Bride, as Inigo Montoya is about to avenge his father’s death by killing Count Rugen in a dual, he first says, “Offer me anything, all that I ask for.”  The Count agrees to this and even more.  Then Montoya delivers this line, “I want my father back.”  Most of us have not lost our fathers to an evil Count, but if we have lost a father we understand the hurt and loss.  If the loss happened when we were young we may imagine the activities and talks that we missed out on.  As our memories become more faded we hang onto them more tightly.  Even later in life we feel the loss of someone who was so instrumental in shaping who we are today.
Father’s Day allows us a time to remember and reflect.  We remember the times with our fathers and if you still have your father look forward to building even more times together.  We reflect on the lessons we were taught, some to hang onto, some to learn from and move on.  As I sit here at my desk I have two pictures of my dad near me.  One is at his high school graduation.  He is dressed in a suit, his dark hair combed just so and a handkerchief in his coat pocket.  We don’t always think that at one time our parents were also young, full of dreams and hopes for the future.  In the second picture he is standing with my mother.  It was taken not long before he was diagnosed with cancer.  The face is more wrinkled and weathered, but the look in the eyes and the set of the chin are still the same.  I learned so much about life from him in too brief a time.  I was just short of my 23rd birthday and less than two months away from the birth of our first daughter when he passed away Thanksgiving Day, 1979.
Holding someone in our heart of course means that we think about them, we recall times together, the conversations shared.  We smile, we laugh, we sigh and we cry.  And just like Montoya we want our fathers back.   Jesus reminds us that we have a father in heaven who also wants to share our lives, to shape us and guide us.  He has so many life lessons to share with us, so much wisdom on how to live to bring to us.  This Father’s Day make room in your heart to spend some time not only with your earthly father but with your heavenly father as well.
Don
 

   ​I’m not much of a camera guy.  Who knew I’d raise a daughter who has a great eye for photography (people are even willing to pay her money for it).  You see to really get the proper focus for a picture it’s more than just adjusting the lens on your camera.  Any more the camera will do that for you (which only proves that my camera is smarter than I am).  But what that auto focus can’t do is to compose the picture  It can’t decide which is the most important thing to focus on.  One of the big differences between a pro and an amateur is knowing how to compose the frame of the picture.  I’m always amazed when a professional photographer takes a picture of something that is common, an everyday event or activity, and by the way they see it and frame the shot, it looks like something new.  The people who take pictures for National Geographic are known for this.
      How have you framed your life?  If I were to look at the world around us through your eyes what would I see?  That’s actually a very important question for understanding others.  I know how I see the world and by default I assume everyone sees the world the same.  That’s one reason why when people present a very different picture of the world then what I have, I’m shocked or angered.  I think “Your picture is wrong, that’s not how the world looks!”  Well, you are partially right, the world doesn’t look that way to you.  But someone else can look at the same situation and frame it completely differently.  Does that make them “wrong” or maybe even evil?
       When God looked at us he could have framed us as total losers, sinners not worth the effort.  But Paul tells us in Romans 5 that’s not what God saw.   While we were sinners, useless and even enemies to him, he saw a reason to love and forgive us through his son.  What it means to have the eyes of faith is to see things from God’s viewpoint.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could look through the lens of a great photographer and look at a common scene and see the beauty and the uniqueness of the frame.   You see as Christians that is our call.  We need to see the world with the opportunities that God sees.   Jesus told his disciples that the fields were white for harvest.  In other words, there are so many opportunities out there and so many people that need us.  The disciples may have looked around and thought Lord, there’s only the same old people, the same old problems that have always been here.  What do you mean?
       You look around and see people who don’t agree with your politics.  You see situations and ideas you don’t agree with, and situations that you think people just need to grow up and get over.  What does God see through his lens?  Opportunities!  Maybe we need to check our focus!
Don
 

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What gets your motor running?  What flips your switch?  What motivates you?  As we have been studying Paul’s letter to the Romans on Sunday mornings he is clear that the message of Christ, the gospel, is his motivation.  As he prepares for his hoped for trip to Rome he writes to them sharing his message that he longs to give to them in person, that there is a new way to be righteous through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

What if we all shared that same passion for the gospel?  What if the first thing we thought about posting on Facebook wasn’t the latest political comment or pictures of puppies but the gospel?  What if we shared that passion for Christ?  One thing for sure, the world would be made better, which is more than most of us can say for the things we post on Facebook or spend our time talking or texting about.  That sounds like an idea whose time has come.  Let’s make a point to post a scripture, a testimony, or a quote on the gospel.  What other ways can we use to share the gospel?  In conversation how do we bring Christ into the conversation?  I remember when I was younger the answer to that was usually to have a tract handy to pass out.  Or sometimes you would have a stock question to ask, usually “If you were to die tonight how do you know you would be in heaven?”  The problem with those answers is that they feel artificial, like I’m an overbearing salesman breathing down the neck of my next victim.  And usually with the same results, the person bolts and runs at the first opportunity.

So how are we to share the gospel, after all I’m motivated I want to.  I really care about people’s relationship with Christ.  The first thing is to care about the people.  Paul wanted to get to Rome so that he could hang out with them, spend time talking with them and getting to know them.  I believe Paul spent as much time just talking with people as he did preaching to them.  I know Jesus himself made connections with folks.  He went to their homes, he went out to where they were, and he had them get in close and personal with him.  You see instead of worrying over when is the right time to jump in and ambush someone for Jesus, we need to make connections and in those connections we will find that we don’t have to  force the conversation.  But we need to be willing to walk into the conversations that God opens for us.  These will happen as we really care about others and get to know them.
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Be motivated for Christ, but then live your motivation.  It will make a difference.
Don
 

​           We’ve all heard the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” made famous in the book, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon.  And in the story a pastor challenges his congregation for one year, that before they do anything to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?”  I think to really answer that question we have to first ask ourselves, “What did Jesus do?”  Rev. Steve Miller, who has been meeting with the Ministerial Fellowship to help us with the ministry of reconciliation, said that one of the greatest challenges he received was to look in the scriptures and really think about that question and the answer.
I started reading the other evening in the gospel of Luke (Matthew already gets lots of attention being first but Luke is an excellent read too).  After his baptism and temptation, as he is beginning his ministry the first thing he does is to go home.  On the Sabbath in Nazareth Jesus reads the scripture from Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18,19) We don’t have to wonder very long what Jesus would do, he tells us himself.  He preached good news, he proclaimed freedom, he gave sight to the blind, he released the oppressed and proclaimed the year of God’s favor.  Time and time again we see Jesus reaching out to the common man, the poor, the outcast and making a connection with them.  Yes, he taught, but not from haughty pride, but from love.  He healed the sick and cast out demons, not to impress people with himself, but to impress on them that his message was from the Father.  As someone has said he comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.
If I am to live out this idea of living as Jesus would have, I have to not worry about what society says, at both the local level (my neighbors) and the national level (media).  Now realize this, as Jesus lived out the Father’s will that put him at odds not only with secular society but with the religious leaders of his day.  Jesus’ sharpest words and disputes weren’t with the heathen, they were with the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.  Courage to live as Jesus did is courage to stand your ground even with those you love.  So ask yourself when you post something on Facebook is this something Jesus would do (if he had had Facebook, of course he didn’t).  When you take a stand are you standing with society or are you standing with Jesus?  And here’s one more thing I can’t answer that for you.  You need to be in the word, in prayer and seeking God’s will for your life to know the answer, “Is this what Jesus would do?” 
   Don
 
 
 

As I’m getting ready to type up the newsletter I title my page Newsletter January 2018, and it hits me – 2018.  What happened to 2000, that was eighteen years ago.  Now the younger ones reading this will just think the pastor has lost his marbles (not so we gave them to the grandkids for Christmas) or that he’s dipped a little too deep into the eggnog (yes, but it was non-alcoholic).  It’s just that time keeps on ticking into the future (no I’m not about to fly like an eagle – the older ones will get it, the younger ones can Google the phrase).  The real question isn’t how did time get to going so fast and how is it already 2018 (only two years away from 2020) but what am I doing with all this time?
Paul, some 1950 years ago, wrote in the Ephesian letter “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as the unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”  Eph. 5:15-17
Nearly 2,000 years ago, or two years ago Paul’s statement rings true.  The days are evil; there is much hatred and discontent in the world.  Peace is a hard commodity to come by.  We have voices and influences calling from every side.  What are we to believe?  What are we to do?  Well, the answer to that has not changed in all these years and won’t no matter how many more years I see.  Understand and do the Lord’s will.  Some will say, “OK, but what is his will?”  Study to show thyself approved.  In other words, get into His Word, study and discuss with others.  Coming up in 2018 I will be preaching over Paul’s letter to the Romans.  I’ve always considered this to really be Paul’s statement of faith, what as Christians we really need to believe.  Much like our study of Revelation it won’t be quick and to get the most out of it you’ll need to read over Romans, many times.  But this reveals to us so much of what we need to believe and how we need to redeem our time that God has given us.
Don
 

    It’s scary to turn on the news these days, scary and depressing.  It seems no place is safe and no place is sacred anymore.  With the shootings we see from sin city to the church sanctuary it is easy to feel that the world has simply gone crazy.  Churches now along with schools, hospitals, and courthouses are looking more like military installations with armed guards patrolling the grounds.  So what is our response to all this?
   Some of you may be thinking by now, “Pastor, this doesn’t seem like much of a Christmas message.”  Yet this is why we have Christmas, man’s sin and God’s plan.  The child laid in a manger represents the greatest answer to the troubles we see around us.  Our security shouldn’t be in a gun, it didn’t really help the ol’ West that much anyway.  Our security isn’t in a man in the White House; they come and go on a regular basis. 
    Security is our sense of peace, of hope, the feeling that it will all work out.  We don’t find that kind assurance in the world.  We do find in Christ the plan for our needs and as Paul tells us the peace that passes all understanding.  In Christ all the promises of God are yes.  We find what we need.  So where are you looking for your security?  Any other place then Christ is a false hope, a shifting answer for an eternal problem.  Christ is the answer for your security.
 

So many of the food items we think are indispensable for a proper Thanksgiving table probably were absent from the first table.  Yes there was probably a turkey, a wild one or two, there but it wouldn’t have been the center piece.  There would have been meat, actually a lot of it, from deer and waterfowl to possibly oysters and eels (contributions of the local Indians).  Corn would have also been present in various forms, but no mashed potatoes (which weren’t present yet in those days) or dressing.  Also notably absent would have been pie, wheat and butter were in short supply.
What items are missing from your table at Thanksgiving?  Is there a dish of rejoicing to go along with your thanksgiving meal (Phil. 4:4-7)?  Is there a basket full of friends that you are thankful for (Rom. 1:8)?  How about a plate full of just all kinds of everything, the good and the bad stuff (Col. 3:16,17)?  Thanksgiving is to be a part of our lives not just one day a year, but as Christians our life in Christ is to be characterized by a spirit of thanksgiving, in all situations, for all things, every day.  So look around the table of your life.  I know we wish there was more of somethings and less of others (like bills and doctors’ appointments), but there is a blessing in all things if we are willing to find it.
So as you set the table for Spiritual Thanksgiving, make sure to really be mindful of all the dishes we need to be thankful for.  The apostle Paul was quick to point out that we need to be thankful not just for the resurrection of Christ in our lives, but that we needed to also share in his suffering.  Sometimes the foods that at first seem less than tasty become our favorites.

Don
 
 

We hear a lot today about refugees, people fleeing from one troubled area, often to find themselves in as much or even more trouble.  The family leaving a war zone finding themselves in a camp where survival is still a fight.  The person leaving their home because there is no way to earn enough just to feed their family, only to find there is no opportunity to run to.   How difficult it must be to live longing for a past that won’t return and looking to a future that is still more hope than reality.   You find yourself at odds with the culture you are living in, not really understanding it and not fitting in.  You know you want something better, but you really can’t say exactly how that will look.  You feel out of place.  Well if you believe Peter that is how we are to feel.
In I Peter, Peter describes us as aliens, refugees, here.  Now on one hand we may reply, “Wait, this is my home, these are my people.”  But the values that we grew up with and people we live with may not always share the ideals and principles of Christ.  We don’t see in scripture a view that says my rights are more important than yours.  We see that we are to love others as ourselves, where compassion and grace are bigger motivators of behavior than being right.  Jesus lived a life of meekness and service more than a life of pride and selfishness.
The answer for this is also found in I Peter, to not be drawn into the ideas of society that will perish with that society.  We are to put aside our culture and to put on Christ.  We are to desire, like newborn babies desire milk, the Word, and then grow into our salvation.  We are to live to the standards of the person of Christ in our lives.  Now one problem with that, like for the refugee, is that I may not know exactly what that new culture will be like.  As Christians we need to be in the Word of God, honestly reflecting and praying about who we are to become.  Going back to Charles Sheldon’s book, “In His Steps”, we need to ask ourselves this question, “What would Jesus do?”  That may seem simplistic, and lately has become a punch line in jokes (such as what would Chuck Norris do).  But when you think about it, it is a great way to think about how we should live and act in our culture.
As we studied in the book of Revelation ultimately our choices become clearer and clearer, evil is evil and righteousness is righteousness.  We don’t have to be perfect, because we can’t be.  We live by the grace of God, but we are also called to live the grace of God to others, even as we journey through this life.
Don
 

An eclipse is an amazing event.  The ancient societies would mark it with ceremonies and wonder.  Across America for a few hours people came together not in anger or protest but to witness together an event that still amazes us today.  Any event these days that can do that is truly a miracle.  Few events can eclipse an eclipse.  An event in the first century though eclipsed all of this.  The life, death and resurrection of Christ is the greatest event of all.  Across time and societies Christians have gathered to celebrate this amazing event.  Books have been written, songs sung and countless sermons spoken to remember and praise this event.
 
Another important reaction to this event, just like with the eclipse, is that it brought people from different cultures, economic situations, and beliefs together.  The church was the common ground that people could stand together on.  They came together in love for Christ and that love for him then brought them together with each other.  A great tragedy is that too often over the centuries the name of Christ has been associated more with hate and tearing down people than with love.  We see the effects of this on the church in America.  We are splintered and our voice is no longer respected and listened to as it was.
 
So what are we to do?  How can we bring back the wonder of the cross, to find in it something that causes us to drop petty differences and stand together in awe of him?  Once again we need to allow our love for Christ to eclipse everything else.  We need to come together around the cross with a Savior who loved each one of us enough to die for us.  I may not agree with every belief another Christian has, but if I can come together with them as one who has surrendered to our Lord, we have reason to stand together and let the world know.    And maybe if that is more important to us than picking each other apart America may once again be in awe of Christ as we are of a total eclipse.
 
Don