Like a pendulum swinging back and forth

The last month (like many a month!) has been one like a pendulum swinging back and forth from great enjoyment to deep, dark sadness (despair, tho, has never really found itself at my doorstep).  From family losses to hearing of church members who have lost loved ones or friends, then to gloomy news on TV and in print; but in the next moment, receiving good and fun news and being with great people in laughter and rejoicing. Definitely a mixed bag of life’s offerings.

The scriptures I see before us for Sunday seem to say, “ALL should be a party like atmosphere since WE were intended to be the “crown of creation.” Or something very close to it! We should have had it made…!
But… The wheels came off along the way! Even so, the Bible reminds us in many places we were intended for great and good things. Intended to live out being “made in the image of God!”

Like children always ready to receive the Kingdom of God with joy (Mark 10:13-16) . Somewhere up there with the angels!  Well, that Truth seems often to depend for us on where we are standing at any given moment. But from Gods perspective, we are the “apple of His eye!” We were all meant to be “the life of the party,” so to speak!

This Sunday we will try to remember that a bit better in spite of our circumstances, our attitudes, and  ambiguous “reports from the field!”

Bro Barry

Who Can Help Us?

Driving out of Nashville back toward Murfreesboro and home on Tuesday was awful. Well, awful from the perspective of a driver in traffic who over the years has seen the congestion worsen. Who and when will the help come? The new mayor up there? The Governor? Congress? The Pope? Churches in the area? I also hear that Rutherford County could increase 50% in just a few years! Who will help us? A perennial question when issues and problems arise.
Moses asks a similar question in Numbers as do the disciples in Mark. Then James adds to this question about who is to step up and help those in need. And it’s not always just “who,” but rather “who will we LET help us!”  Who qualifies? Practical questions with practical answers? Let’s hope so!
I will see you “prophets, you disciples, you elders, you little ones” this Sunday  and see “what saith The Lord” about the matter of who should or should not get to help!
Bro Barry

Homecoming

Homecoming time~! In the 21st Century it looks quite a bit different than a generation or two ago. Through smart phones, email, texts, Skype, Facebook, Interstate Highways, and other means of rapid communication and transport people stay “in touch” more than ever. Yet, there is still something about Place. A returning to a place that shapes us, transforms us, loves us, and grows us! Church as home is just that kind of place! Place as experience and memory. And with one another we are one in Christ! We are the Body of Christ. Until He comes again.

Homecoming at Kedron is this Sunday! Join us and be glad!

Bro Barry

I so wanted to preach upon last week’s texts from Psalm 146 and Mark 7, but time and circumstance wait for no one! The “moving finger having writ, moves on.” I did keep Psalm 146 but thought Romans 13 and Revelation 13 have a lot to say about Sept 11, Rowan County, KY, church, and love.

The events around us have moved from immediate painful personal losses to the events of the nation and world. We walk with BOTH our personal concerns as well as those of the world and community. We are both private and public Christians. We are both local and worldwide. We are both “in the world and not of it.”

Go figure…most of us are not hermits nor monks nor Presidents nor Senators. Somewhere in between! Citizens in community and in church. For some things….against some things.
The texts from Psalms and Romans and Revelation are just “packed” and no single sermon nor worship do them justice….. But we will try. We will pray and listen to the Word. May God give the increase.

Bro Barry

“ONE THING?”

Luke 10:42  “One thing is needful…..”

If you are like most of us at Thanksgiving, you make a list of people, places, and things to be thankful for. They will be uttered in prayerful thanks around the dinner  table surrounded by family or friends, co-workers, teammates, or other social groups. You will be “counting your blessings.” All good and well and a right thing to do.

I propose, as a slight variation of giving thanks for many received blessings, that in your private moments of prayer during this Thanksgiving Season you think upon giving thanks for one specific Being. Our God, Creator and Maker, Savior and Lord. Don’t go over what the Giver has given you but rather just pause in devotion to the One who makes all things, all gifts possible. Quietly focus your silent moment on God and God alone. As if you had virtually nothing else at all….but God.

I know we can’t just quietly  stay in that place of “one thing needful” for we are called to enjoy, use, and share what gifts we have received. But……God alone for one lone moment this Season. Find your prayer closet….wherever that might be and take a full 5 minutes.

Think upon “one thing needful”….. and be glad.  The Mary of Luke 10:42 did……….

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive

For as in Adam all die,  so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ~~ I Corinthians 15:22 RSV

Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell are spoken of as  The Four Last Things. They tend to be interpreted chronologically, since life is more easily expressed in notions of time.

Rev. Robert Farrar Capon,  though, imagines these Last Things as being similar to the layers of an onion. There will be tears as we peel away the layers.

The tears that surround Death and Judgment are obvious: The former tells us we are mortal; the latter reminds us that our lives will be seen in all their goodness and badness. And Hell makes us weep as it reminds us of separation and isolation.

But crying over Heaven?! Well, who hasn’t cried for joy? At the center of the onion, and of all our life, is the heart of all Creation, the Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, who makes us weep for joy. Only in Christ will all be made eternally alive, every sin be forgiven, and every tear finally wiped away.

Doesn’t it make your eyes water?!!

PRAYER: O loving and forgiving God, may our tears flow freely in this world, but disappear completely in your New Creation. May we trust that all the Saints are rejoicing and are at perfect peace with eyes clear and full of praise and wonder!

Pastor Barry

Open hearts. Open Minds. Open doors.