Unfinished

So here it is, my final devotion as one of the pastors at Trinity. I am reminded of the moment when Jesus breathed his last upon the cross and said, “It is finished.” Except my work doesn’t feel finished.  Not really. There is so much left to do.  For me this is a real struggle as by nature I don’t like to leave things undone. When I start a project, I don’t stop until I have all the details worked out.  When I start a good book, I read it until the last page. Last year, I decided to run a half marathon and so I trained for months and kept at it…

READ MORE

A Church United

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that…

READ MORE

The Need for Community

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her…

READ MORE

Use it Well

I have heard stories through the years of people who actually wake up early in the morning and sit in their comfy chair, while drinking their cup of coffee, and reading. I have pictured it so many times in my minds eye that I can see it quite clearly. What a beautiful thought.  In my house though, when all her people are present and accounted for, this never happens. Ever. In fact, I am not sure I have sat down for over five years within the walls of my house without someone asking me a question, or requesting something that requires me to get up, or crawling not just in my lap…

READ MORE

Freedom Isn’t Free

“My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.” Galatians 5:13 Today, I hear a lot of people using the word “freedom” when it comes to their individual rights and choices. Many use this word to imply that there should be no limits, no restraints, no cost for freedom and liberty. We use the word “freedom” quite a bit in this country, but little understand its implications. What is freedom? What does this concept imply? Before we attempt to describe what freedom is perhaps it might be helpful to…

READ MORE

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

… as Christians, followers of Jesus we go beyond what the civil law stipulates. We live under the law of love expressed by Jesus’ Great Commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your heart and all your strength.” And the second Great Commandment is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We are obligated by Jesus’s second Great Commandment to use our freedom for the benefit of others.

READ MORE

A Prayer…

Some days it is hard to find the words. Thankfully my friend Nancy shared a beautiful prayer by Karen Ebert which now I submit for your care and consideration. It goes like this; God of colorful palette,God of broken chains, As we sit in the kaleidoscopic glow of the stained-glass, we are aware of the sameness of most of the faces which surround us.We note this as a confession, not that we have consciously turned away from those who are different from us. But it is evidence that we have not made strong enough our efforts to turn towards those, whose skin, and accent, and income, do not…

READ MORE

Improving With Age

“So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an…

READ MORE

Finding Your Wings

Yesterday while getting ready in my room, I heard a loud crashing sound near my bedroom window. I quickly investigated only to discover my very determined cat trying to get to something he saw behind the blinds. Raising them up I discovered the source of my cat’s attention. A young bird had hopped up on the windowsill and was sitting there petrified of the gray mass of fur desperately trying to catch him. Thankfully for the bird a pane of glass separated them.  Curious I watched the bird for a while. It wasn’t long before he hopped down and wandered around in the grass. I wondered where he…

READ MORE

“Where is God?”

“I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!”  Romans 8:38-39 (CEV). At this writing, our nation has just surpassed 100,000 deaths from the Covid-19 virus. One hundred thousand Americans have lost their lives to this virus and the total number of deaths slowly increases with each passing day. That’s more than 40 times the number of people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Someone observed that…

READ MORE