Pastor Charles

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 43:19, James 1:2-4,12, Romans 8:18-30, John 16:33

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

The Cambridge Dictionary says the wilderness is an area of land that has not been used to grow crops or had towns and roads built on it, especially because it is difficult to live in as result of its extremely cold or hot weather or bad earth:

The word wilderness comes from a Hebrew word Midhbar (מִדְבָּר), which often refers to a wild field where domestic animals may be grazed, and wild animals live, in contrast to cultivated land, hence, sometimes “the pastures of the wilderness” (Joel 1:19–20).

It is, in other words, a locale for intense experiences, of stark need for food and water (Exo 16:1-36), of isolation such as the story of Elijah and the still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-13), of danger and divine deliverance in the story of Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-16), of renewal, of encounters with God in the story of Moses and the burning bush (Exo 3:1-21). The Jews wandered in the wilderness for forty years from Egypt to Canaan. Regardless of the difficulty associated with life in the wilderness of their own time, the Jews persevered until they reached the promised land.

In the New Testament, the Greek word for wilderness is eremos (ἔρημος) which means, an isolated place. The wilderness figures at critical junctures in the life of Jesus. Jesus is baptized by John and then is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. The devil is there, but so is the Spirit. “A great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). This records a search for solitude, for self-discovery, for divine presence, but this process, crucially, seems to require the ambiance of the natural environment.

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God works in mysterious ways.  I truly believe that.  I have witnessed it many times in my life.  Just this Tuesday morning I was on call for the over night hospital chaplain, which is something new I’m doing for the church and community. At 5am I received a call from ICU to visit someone was dying.  They don’t give you a name or anything when they call. When I arrived, I walked into the room nervous, but then I saw a familiar face.  The patient was Tom Walker and his wife Lorene was sitting beside the bed in shock.  She recognized me and that brought her a lot of comfort because I was not just some chaplain but I am her pastor.  That was the first time I have been called in.  What are the chances that it happened to be family associated with our church? 

God works in mysterious ways.  We don’t always understand His ways, but the last thing we ever want to do is stand in the way of His plans. In our lesson for today we have a continuation from last week’s text.  Peter and John had just healed a man who had been born lame. 

You try to do something nice for a guy. Try to proclaim the gospel and pronounce healing and forgiveness over him and what do they do? They bring you to court. 

Being only weeks removed from the death of their beloved Jesus, the experience must have been somewhat overwhelming for Peter and John.  After all, this was the very place where the rulers, elders, and chief priests brought Jesus to stand trial.  In fact, some of the very same people who tried Jesus then were now presiding over their examination.  They must have wondered if their fate would be the same for them as it was for Christ. Read more…

3^rd Sunday of Easter

Today’s message is from the Book of Acts. This book is the second volume of Luke’s two-volume work, popularly known as Luke-Acts. After writing the Gospel of Luke, the writer later wrote Acts of the Apostles. The writer was a travel companion of Paul who recorded all his activities during his missionary journeys.    Like Luke, Acts is addressed to the unknown reader Theophilus, (1:1–2). The author most likely wrote between the years 80 and 90 AD.

Today’s message is a clarion call for us to look up to Jesus, whose hand is outstretched for us to rise and walk again from issues that make us dysfunctional. In today’s passage, we learn of a man who had grown accustomed to a particular way of life.  He was lame from birth. As we think about our infants who are beginning to walk and what joy it is as parents to see their children take their first steps, this man never did that.  His parents had to do things for him because he never learned to walk because his legs were deformed.

¹ Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ² And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. ³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

What do you find unbelievable?  If you are like me, you find yourself saying from time to time, “I don’t believe it!” Something really amazing happens, but we act like we disbelieve.

Just think of the technological changes that have happened over the past years.  In 1943 Thomas Watson CEO of IBM made the bold prediction “There’s a world market for maybe five computers” (Worst Predictions of All Time, Telegraph, 29 June, 2016).

Every once in a while, though, we hear a story, and it is too out of this world, and we don’t believe it at all.  It reminds me of a pastor’s small son that was told by his mother that he should wash his hands because there were germs living in all that dirt.

He refused and complained, by saying: “Germs and Jesus! Germs and Jesus! That’s all I ever hear around this house, and I’ve never seen either one!”

Last week we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus.  Without a doubt the most significant event in all of human history.  It is the lynch pin upon which Christianity hinges.  In other words, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, Christianity has absolutely no power.  The Bible even admits this. The Bible is brutally honest in admitting this.  In I Corinthians 15:17 the Apostle Paul writes this, “If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile and you are still in your sin.” 

Another word for futile is pointless.  What’s the point?  If Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead then we should be just patted on the head and sent on our merry ways.  You know those gullible Christians.  Here’s the real problem, you are still in your sins. Read more…

Friends, I invite you to revisit the story in today’s scripture reading and see if you can find yourself in the scene that unfolds on that first Easter morning.  Particularly in the conversation between Jesus and Mary in the garden just outside the tomb – the rolled-away stone sitting off to one side, the linen cloths lying there, Mary so blinded by her grief that she’s completely nonplussed by the appearance of angels – something that usually sends folks in both testaments shaking’ in their shoes.

Put yourself in Mary’s shoes and listen again to Jesus’ words. First, “why are you weeping?”  Before Mary even knows who it is that speaks to her, Jesus meets her in her darkest hour.  “Why are you weeping?” says the One who heals to the one in pain.  Says the One who comforts to the one who grieves. Says Immanuel, God with us, to the one who is lonely and afraid.  “Why are you weeping?”  It’s a question for each of us.   For some the pain may be raw and open. Loss of a loved one.  Loss of a job, or a home.  Physical illness.  Other wounds are more hidden.  Anxiety.  Depression.  Addiction.  Strained relationships. We all have burdens to bear, for ourselves, for others.  “Why are you weeping?”  Do you see yourself in Mary?

And then, “who are you looking for?”  Does Mary even know?  It sounds more like she is looking for a ‘what’— a corpse, so she can get on with the business of preparing a body for burial.  She is not even really looking for a ‘who’ – her own dear friend Jesus, alive and well.  Or is she?  The touching irony of this Read more…

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke’s account of the last supper that Jesus ate with his disciples. It is a reenactment ceremony specifically designed to evoke spiritual connection to God’s liberation from bondage and Yahweh’s deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt.

The night of the last supper, all was not well among Jesus’ disciples. Everyone was on edge. They all saw the handwriting on the wall—soldiers and swords, crosses, and nails. One of them had already sold Jesus to the authorities. Peter was boasting he would be brave and follow Jesus, even if it meant certain death.

The Bible says Jesus was aware of their fear and confusion. He loved them. He knew their hearts were in the right place, but he also knew he would end up alone. They were so frail. On the night Jesus was betrayed, they shared a meal. They gathered at a table. That is what they had always done. A large part of their three years together was spent at tables.

In Jesus’ ministry, the table was where things got real. When eating together they began to understand that God’s love for them was full of mercy, no matter who they were or what they had done. There they were, saint and sinner, rich and poor, all welcome to eat. The table was where truth got told. Jesus would tell them stories about invited guests who were too important and preoccupied to come Read more…

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:1-11

Today, Christians around the world are celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is called “Palm Sunday,” because the crowd welcomed Him by spreading palm branches in His path. Our scripture today is all about a parade.  A big, huge parade, complete with a guest of honor, a dozen grand marshals, and an adoring crowd waving greenery and shouting acclamation and praise.  They line the streets with their cloaks and cause such an applause that the powers-that-be take notice. 

All four gospels cover this story but in their own unique way, as the gospels do.  The way that Mark tells things is notable, and perhaps even providential. Important things happen as Jesus journeys into the City of Jerusalem to his persecution.

Jesus, in the gospel of John, says that is why I came.  He says that I have come so that they may have life, abundant life.  Friends, today our gospel reading is in John chapter 3, which is one of the great life chapters of the Bible.  We are reading the story of Nicodemus who was a Pharisee. 

Pharisees prided in themselves religiosity. They followed the letter of the law to its purity.  They were conscience of their relationship with God and the way that they had it all together.  This one, Nicodemus, was very wealthy and seemed to have it all together, but truth be told, Nicodemus did not have it all together.  He realized that there was something wrong in his life, and so, he secretively in the middle of the night went to see Jesus, a rabbi that he had heard about. Jesus says something very strange to Nicodemus. It was that he was born once but needed to be reborn.  He needed to come to life a second time, and not by what he could do, but only by what the Holy Spirit could do. 

Nicodemus was confused and he asked how he could go into his mother’s womb and be reborn a second time.  Are you kidding? 

Then Jesus starts to explain.  He uses the example of the Israelites who had disobeyed God in the book of Numbers.  They had complained against God so much that God had enough and sent poisonous snakes to Read more…