Witness in Jerusalem: A hand and a name

Witness in Jerusalem

A hand and a name

Posted on January 29, 2015

I first visited Jerusalem in March 1992. I’d just become convener of the Middle East and North Africa committee of the Board of World Mission and Unity, not long before the Kirk divided the board – an irony that seemed lost on most people – and as a reward I had been stiffed with writing a report on Messianic Jews in Israel.

I spent a week visiting Messianic Jewish congregations and, in the capable hands of committee secretary Robin Ross, I also toured our own institutions and met a wide range of Palestinian Christians.

The Palestinians I liked best ran a rapprochement centre in the Christian village of Beit Sahour, to the east of Bethlehem and, like Bethlehem, in the territories occupied by the state of Israel after the six-day war in 1967. They worked closely with similar initiatives in Israel proper. But they had also been active in the leadership of the tax revolt during the first intifada and gone to prison for their pains.

They told me they saw themselves as Christian Muslims. After picking my jaw up from the ground, I saw the sense of this: they were Christians, but living in a predominantly Muslim society and culture.

In an action-packed week, I also took in many of the Christian holy places, bought a Jerusalem stole from Carol Morton at Craftaid that I wear religiously, and visited Yad Vashem.

Tuesday this week was International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces.  I marked the day by looking up a sermon I preached in several pulpits after my return to Scotland.

I’m pleased to find I still agree with what I said almost a quarter of a century ago – although I’m not convinced I have the details of the Shlomo Knobel story exactly right.

To be sure, I now have a slightly deeper understanding of the history and causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I am now less sanguine than the Church of Scotland was then that the solution to the conflict lies in two states – an outcome that seems increasingly unlikely to happen or to resolve the deep injustices in the conflict even if it did.

But it’s reassuring to find I’m less inconsistent than I often fear.

Here’s what I said.

A hand and a name
Sixth Sunday before Christmas
Is 65.17-25; Luke 21.5-19
University of St Andrews, November 15 1992

The date was August 6 1984 and the place was East Jerusalem. It all happened very quickly. In less than half an hour the house on the outskirts of the city in which Salman Salim Arab had lived for half a century was levelled to the ground. Early in the morning a group of men arrived with a bulldozer. They were carrying guns and claimed to be the police. They evicted Salman and his son Muhanna, threw everything out of the two-storey house, and proceeded to destroy their home and uproot the ancient olive trees around it.

They were not the police. They were the agents of an Israeli property developer who claimed the land was really his.

Muhanna Salman Arab was one of the first people I met when I visited Israel and Palestine in March this year. He showed me a letter regarding the incident that Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem, had written to the Rev Donald Nicholl, rector of the Tantur Institute.

“We realize,” said Mayor Kollek, “that the contractor employed by the person who claims to own the property acted without authorization, either from the court or from the municipality… As soon as the matter came to our attention, the municipality took legal action against the contractor for illegal demolition of a house and the illega1 uprooting of the trees. My colleague, Mr Cheshin, is doing his best to provide a housing solution for the family and help them in any way he can.”

The courts found that the contractor had indeed acted illegally, hut Muhanna and his father received no compensation, nor were they allowed to rebuild their house. The old man died some years ago, hut today, eight years after the destruction of their home, Muhanna is still living in an old converted bus parked on their land. Donald Nicholl found him a simple sewing machine, and he ekes out a precarious living as a tailor, supported in part by Craftaid and other charities.

All around him is the thriving Jewish settlement of Gilo, built after East Jerusalem fell into Israeli hands during the six-day war. But Muhanna is not thriving. As his name indicates, Muhanna is not Jewish. He is a Palestinian Arab.

Every sermon, even a University chapel sermon, should have a loose connection with the readings that come before, and I suspect my train of thought for this one was sparked off by the words we heard from Isaiah: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress… They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.”

But alongside those ancient words from the Holy Land, I want to put other more recent words, words that may he familiar to some of you from the ecumenical prayer cycle – the words of a Palestinian Christian today: “Pray not for Arab or Jew, for Palestinian or Israeli, but pray rather for yourselves, that you may not divide them in your prayers, but keep them both together in your hearts.”

A few days after I met Muhanna I went to Yad Vashem, the memorial in Jerusalem to the Jews who died in Hitler’s Holocaust. Yad Vashem means a monument and a name – literally a hand and a name – and the title comes from a verse a little earlier in the book of Isaiah: “[to those] who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name… I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” (Is 56.4-5).

I spent just over an hour at Yad Vashem. Just over an hour was all I could take. Most of the time I spent in a guided tour of the Art Museum – in the company, ironically, of a young German student.

It’s not like other art museums, the Art Museum at Yad Vashem. Art produced after the holocaust, post-war art, is accepted only if it is good; but when it comes to art produced during the holocaust itself, the art of the ghettoes and the camps, the question of artistic merit is not raised. From this period the museum accepts everything, because its purpose, like the purpose of Yad Vashem itself, is to document what was done to the Jews just half a century ago – to document it and to say to the world, “Never again.”

One of the most powerful exhibits at Yad Vashem is a post-war painting by Samuel Bak, who was born in 1933, the year that Hitler came to power. It’s a painting in two parts. The top part shows the two stone tablets of the ten commandments breaking into bits.

The bottom part shows the fragments falling into two ruined walled chambers. In one chamber is all that is left of the opening sentence: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,” All we see is the single word “Adonai”, or “Lord”, because the Lord did not bring them out of Auschwitz.

“Now Bak has only a little faith,’ said our Jewish Israeli guide, ‘but it is there, something is there.”

In the other chamber, we see what is left of the commandment “Thou shaft not kill”. The Hebrew word that means “thou shall not” is in pieces, piled up against the wall, and on the ground in front of it, repeated over and over again, is the word “kill”.

Because that is what they did in Auschwitz and the other death camps and elsewhere, over and over again. They killed and they killed and they killed, until they had killed six million Jews.

One of those who died is commemorated by a miniature Bible hand-bound in leather. This Bible was made by Shlomo Knobel in the ghetto of Lodz as a gift for Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Jewish council, the Judenrat. Every month 10,000 Jews were shipped out of Lodz to die, and Rumkowski had the unenviable task of deciding who should go and who should stay. Knobel made him the Bible as a gift in the hope that it would save his little son.

Later the Bible was found and put in the Art Museum. The newspapers that reported it said that Knobel was dead, but he was not dead. He was living in Jerusalem, and when he saw the reports, he came to the museum and looked at his Bible and wept. He had survived, hut his child had not.

I have only one more story from Yad Vashem, because there is a limit also to how much you can take. There is a picture there produced by a boy in the model camp of Theresienstadt. It is called “The Dream”, and it shows him lying in his bunk at night, and dreaming that his father will come and take him by the hand and lead him to a palm tree.

“Where is that?” our Israeli guide asked us.

My German student companion was intelligent and obviously well read but suffered from an overdose of Lutheran piety. He said, “Paradise”. But the palm tree wasn’t paradise, it was Palestine. The boy in the camp was dreaming of a Jewish home in Palestine where he could be safe and free. For him, so far as we know, the dream was unfulfilled. But for many who survived, it was a dream that came true: “I create Jerusalem rejoicing, and her people a joy.”

But that brings us back to where we started.

For the crowning irony in all of this is that the dream was fulfilled only at the expense of the Arabs who already lived in Palestine, and so long as that fact is not addressed, so long as the conflict between Israeli Jew and Palestinian Arab continues to fester, the Jews of Israel are not safe neither are they truly free. The sins of the fathers are visited on the children, say the scriptures. The evils suffered in one generation create the evils of the next.

All of this may seem a little remote from us, perhaps even a little exotic. What have Palestinians and Israelis to do with us, or we with them? And Hitler is long dead.

But anti-Semitism and a self-regarding nationalism are neither dead nor buried. And the evils and injustices that infect the lives of societies and peoples, the vicious circles that are found at the wider social level, are also found within our own lives.

Where is God in all this? Is God in it? Or are we obliged to believe, with Samuel Bak, that our God is a broken God, or no God at all?

Maybe so. But I am inclined to think not.

William Temple, perhaps the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury this century has known, once put it like this: “People sometimes say, ‘There can’t be a God of love, because if there were, and he looked at this world, his heart would break.’ Christians point to the cross of Jesus Christ and say, ‘His heart does break.’ People sometimes say, ‘God made the world – he’s responsible – he should bear the load.’ Christians point to the cross and say: ‘He does bear it.'”

It is our own inhumanity that makes God unbelievable, and it is from that inhumanity, from our failure to love one another as we love ourselves, that God sends his Son to save us. God gives his Son to die for us so that, like Abraham on Mount Moriah, we may stop sacrificing our own children on altars of our own devising.

Jesus is sent from the Father and anointed by the Spirit to put an end to evil and injustice. He is sent to suffer on our behalf, and, by suffering for us, to put an end to the suffering we endlessly inflict on each other.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not he remembered or come into mind… The wolf and the lamb shall feed together… They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.”

This is the Christian faith, the Christian hope. But a faith and a hope that do not show themselves in works are a dead faith and a bogus hope, a counterfeit of true belief, a pale imitation of the real thing.

The real question before us is not whether, in the face of human inhumanity, we can any longer believe in God. The real question is whether we will show our faith by responding in repentance, by responding in love.

- See more at: http://cos.churchofscotland.org.uk/blogs/witness-in-jerusalem/2015/01/29/a-hand-and-a-name/#sthash.0iumlZz5.dpuf

Sermon: "A Glorified Life"

 "A Glorified Life"

-by Reverend A. LaMar Torrence, Pastor of the Cross of Life Lutheran Church

John 12:20-33

The great statesman, Winston Churchill, once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” That proverbial statement best captures the meaning of this season we call, LENT. Lent is that liturgical season of the church’s calendar year, whereby we focus on the cost of following Christ. Lent is a time of penance, prayer, preparation for or recollection of our baptism in Christ as we prepare for the celebration of Easter.

Observance of Lent is as old as the 4th century. It begins on Ash Wednesday, the 40th weekday before Easter and it ends at midnight Holy Saturday. Lent is that time of year, whereby we turn our attention to the cross. We focus on that which God, the father has given us and we are challenged to go forth and do likewise. LENT is about losing our lives by giving them to Christ and getting eternal life by finding Christ within us. Lent is about loss.

(Tell someone, “this season is about loss.”) It’s about losing ourselves in order to find our lives. Jesus declares that he who loves his life loses it and he who hates his life will keep it for eternal life. Where you and I are now, in our lives, in our struggles, in our cares, and in our issues, it is all about losing. One can say in fact that this is a season for losers.

Now, a loser by our social standards is one who has failed to accomplish any relevant success or significance in his life. But by God’s standards a loser is one who has totally immerse his life in the will and way of Jesus. This is a season for losers. Jesus is looking for losers.

Now many of us are saying to ourselves, I’ve already lost so much. What else is there for me to lose? How much more do I have to endure in order to come out of this experience with some sense of dignity? How much more can I lose?

You lost a husband or wife, a son or daughter. You’ve a lost a job, your health, and even your peace of mind. You’ve lost some friends, your sense of purpose, your direction, and your strength to endure. Some of us have lost so much. We have lost and buried love ones. We have divorced and lost lovers and spouses. We have lost jobs and forgone opportunities.

And now, we are concern about losing more- losing our love ones and friends in Iraq, losing our children to the streets, losing our husbands to the other woman. Losing members to other churches and complacency. Losing our control and voice in the activities of the church. We are concern about losing.

And yet, with all that you have lost, God wants you to know still that there is more of you to lose. The essence of the gospel-the good news of Jesus Christ- is about loss. An authentic gospel begins with loss. It begins with dying. It begins with the cross. And if the gospel that you hear preached on the radio, the television, or wherever, does not begin with a cross, if it does not begin by telling you that something in you has to die, it is not the true gospel. The true gospel is not just about you coming to Jesus as you are, it’s about you being baptized in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s about you losing your former life and gaining a new life in Christ.

This season is about losing. It’s about loss.

Now right there many of us have a problem. We have trouble coming to church and losing something. We came to get something. We came to get a blessing-be it financial, relational, and spiritual. We came to get an encouraging word, some hope for tomorrow, and some assurance that everything is going to be all right. Many of us came to get something or someone. We did not come to lose.

We have been taught to come to church seeking a blessing, praying to get -never to lose. We pray, “Lord, give me a financial breakthrough. Lord, give me some peace of mind. Lord, give me a better husband. Lord, give me a well-behaved child.” We come out to get and not to lose.

After all, who sets out on a journey to lose? That doesn’t make sense. We have been told that in this world, it is best to be a winner. It’s best to get all that you can get and to do all that you can to hold on to what you have gotten. No one wants to lose.

But following Jesus is a mattering of losing. It is a matter of letting go. Our modern philosophy of life is a matter of holding on and hanging in. We’ve been trained to say, “oh I’m just holding on. I’m hanging on in there.” Day in and day out- we struggle to hold on to our job, to hold on to our house, to hold on to our family, and to hold on to our money. Jesus’ words that “we must lose our lives” create for many of us a conflict of interest.

And so, this morning, like Jesus, our souls are troubled. We can’t sleep. We are overworked and underpaid. Our minds are constantly going. We are walking on eggshells, looking over shoulders, and waiting for some disastrous event to occur. We are mentally and physically on heighten alert. Our souls are troubled

And yet, for the sake of the gospel, we, the call, the chosen, the church, the Disciples of Christ, must maintain our faith and assurance. Although we are living in a world of loss, we must still act as if everything is fine because as we go through, many are watching us and seeking the presence of Jesus in our lives.

The world is looking at us. Society is watching us seeking to see Jesus through us and in us. They want to see Jesus. Everyday of our lives, in our sittings and risings, there are those around us who just want to see Jesus. They do not want to get caught up in our church politics. They do not want to see our beautiful building, hear our wonderful music, or taste our good food during fellowship hour. They want to see Jesus.

(Tell someone, ‘They want to see Jesus.’) They don’t want to see you talking gossip about the other church members. They want to see Jesus. They don’t want to hear your personal opinions, and thoughts about the pastor. They want to see Jesus.

Tell someone “show me Jesus.” Show me Jesus. Right now, I need to see Jesus. All week, I’ve seen bombs dropping, people dying, and politicians lying. But right now show me Jesus. All week, I’ve seen my children misbehave, my spouse act funny, and my friends act shady, but right now, show me Jesus. All week, I’ve heard your lip service about you making change in your life and about what you’re going to do-but now show me Jesus. I’ve seen your position. I know your title. I’ve heard your accolades but show me Jesus. I just want to see Jesus. I need to see Jesus right now.

No wonder, Jesus’ soul was so troubled. He spent the majority of his life, showing his disciples and the people signs and wonders, yet they still did not believe. He spent his life preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God, about blessedness, righteousness and truth; yet they still did not believe.

He spent his life healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising the dead; yet, they still did not believe. And at this eleventh hour of his life, people are coming to see him perform, and prove that he is the Christ, so that they may believe. And likewise people are coming to you to see Jesus, so that they may believe. That’s is why it is important for you to watch what you say.

Tell someone, “Watch what you say?” What you are saying now during these troubling times will determine your destiny with Christ. Your response while you are going through this season of trouble will determine your next level of glory. Jesus says, “What shall I say.

They want to see me at my best but I’m about to go through the worst period of my life, the cross. What shall I say? Tell someone, “Watch what you say?”

Watch what you say when confront with questions about the rising gas prices and decrease in jobs. Watch what you say, when people questioned you about supporting the war. As Christians, we don’t support war. We support peace. We pray for those in war. We pray for our solders, generals, and leaders. We pray for the opposition and their families but we support peace. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. So,watch what you say?

Yes, my soul is troubled, so what will I say? Shall I complain, groan, and moan. Shall I cuss, fuss, and fight? Shall I criticize, scrutinize, and scandalize? What will I say? Tell someone “watch what you say?”

And many of us who are going through a dark time in our lives, may be saying the wrong type of prayer. We are praying for deliverance and relief. But, I want you to know right now that if you turn your prayer from want of deliverance to one of acceptance, you will come out with total victory. If you turn your petition of “Lord, please get me out of this” to one of “ Here is my life Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” you shall have victory.

Jesus, declared, “What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. He accepted what God was about to take him through. Likewise, accept the fact that you will just have to go through. For this is the hour- this is the season for which you have come. This is the season that God has prepared just for you.

This is the final test that when it is over, God will be glorified. Everything you have been through. Every disappointment. Every discouragement. Every lie. Every tear you cried. Every pain you felt. Everything you’ve been through was for this hour: every friend that left you, every family member that doubted you, every enemy that laughed at you, everything you’ve been through was for this hour. You are here for such a time as this.

Solomon said that for every matter under heaven there is a time and a season; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.’ This is your season. God has prepared

you for this season so that he may be glorified. You are wondering why? He is telling you, So that he can be

glorified. So that when you come through this, people without question, without a word of doubt, will know that it was nothing but the grace of God that brought you through.

Tell someone “God will be glorified in this.” God has prepared you just for this season. You can do this. He would not have brought you to such as time as this, if he did not know that you were prepared for it. This is your season of glorification. This is your time for a glorified life. Yes, you are scared and feel lonely, but God will be glorified. Yes, you don’t know where your next dollar is coming from- but God will be glorified. Yes, folks are looking at you, talking about you, and criticizing you. But God will be glorified.

Your response and my response, as we go through this season is, “Father, glorify the name.” Be gloried Jesus, in the heavens. Be glorified in the earth. Be glorified in this temple. Jesus, Be thou glorified.

So, how will God be glorified as I go through this season of loss? How is he glorified as I go through losing my health? Tell, me preacher how is he glorified as I try to cope with the idea of losing my love one to heart disease, to cancer, and AIDS. Tell me, preacher, how is God glorified while I see my family struggle and stress?

He is glorified in your willingness to fall before him. God is glorified when we are willing to abase ourselves in his presence. Like the grain, a seed, we must be willing to fall to the ground. Like the seed, in order to grow, you must be willing to fall to the ground. You see a seed is no good and serves no purpose if it is not planted. As long as it remains above ground, where it can be seen, it’s remains sterile.

And the problem with many in the church is that our lives have been sterile. We have no purpose. We are making no difference in our community. We have no growth-there is no fruit of the spirit in our lives- no love, no joy, no peace, no patience, no kindness, no goodness, no faithfulness, no gentleness, no self-control

We are in the same place we where we when first join the church. And that’s the problem we joined the church but we did not join Christ. We are in a bowl of seeds when we should in the ground because as long as we are above ground-we can be seen. We can be heard. We can walk by sight and use common sense and be the voice of reason.

And yet, as long as we remain above ground we are the most vulnerable to our enemy. Here the birds can feed off of us. Here the rodents, and the pestilence can devour our lives. Here, the enemy- the devil can still have access to our lives.

But Jesus says when we come upon holy ground we must be willing to allow some things to fall. We must be willing to lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely.

But falling to the ground in itself is still not enough. Jesus says we must die. God will be glorified in the death of your fleshly desires and concerns. Our flesh must perish so that our spirits may live.

It is interesting that every spring, although we plant, many seeds, only a few sprout and grow. That’s due to the seed’s coat called the testa: the harder the coat of the seed, the longer the germination process. Seeds with harder coatings may take a longer time to germinate simply because that hard coating of the seed may prevent expansion of the embryo inside of it. That hard coating may block the entrance of water. That hard coating may impede gas exchange so that the embryos lack oxygen.

And many of us come of the Lord with hard coatings. Life has made us hard. We have walls around us and in us. We don’t trust any one. We don’t know how care for others; love them as well as ourselves because we don’t even love ourselves. We have surrounded ourselves with people, situations, and things that make it difficult for God to reach inside of us and deal with our hearts.

And so, although we may be planted in the church, our hard hearts have prevented our spiritual growth. Our hard hearts have prevented the entrance of ‘living water’- the Holy Ghost. Our hard hearts impede the exchange God’s spirit and our souls.

And for the world to see the Christ in you, the embryo of the holy ghost, you must not cling to those hard coverings. We have to let them go. We, our selves, our flesh must die: our need to be heard and voice our opinions because we should have some say- that must die. Our fear of losing control and not being involved in how things are ran around us- that must die.

To gain our lives in Christ we must be willing to lose our selves in Christ. We must be willing to lose our identity in order to gain our spirituality. We must let be willing to let self die. In order words, we must become humbled and abased. We must die.

And the problem with many churches today is that many Christians have not yet died. Christ says, if we still get upset because of trifling church mess, we still must die. If we get mad because our name is not on program, Christ says, die. If we lose our joy because no one speaks to us, die. If our nose get bent out of joint because the Pastor said no to our proposal, die. If our emotions are troubled because of power plays in the church, die. You must die. The “I” in you must die. Your pride must die. Your ego must die. Your arrogance must die. Your ambition must die. And when self is dead then our spirit can live.

Is this not what Jesus told brother Nicodemus? “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” We have to allow some things in our life to die. Flesh can’t worship, praise, and serve that which is spirit. Paul said it best, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

And dying is a lonely experience. It is a dark and trying season in your life. When you decide to begin to allow God to kill off those sinful desires in your life, you begin a lonely process wilderness process. The storms will come. The winter will come. Your life will seem extreme and often barren. That’s because your flesh is dying.

And those in the world don’t want to be around dead things. You’ll too religious for them. You are too deep for them. You’ll too high and mighty for them. They will talk about you and make comments, well, everybody can’t be perfect. Well done be so heavenly bound that you are no earthly good. To them you have become a dead thing. And that’s a good thing.

Paul says, but if Christ is in you although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive.” Tell somebody, “My body is a dead thing. But my spirit is coming alive.” And when it comes to the church of Jesus Christ, it should be filled with people who have become dead to the world. In fact, when the world sees you they should say, “dead man walking.” Tell somebody, “He’s talking about me. I’m a dead man walking.”

And the good news of the gospel is this, if you are willing to lose your life, to let those worldly concerns die, then you shall gain it. God will be glorified in the life you receive after this temporary existence. You shall gain your purpose with the prince of peace. You shall can your relevance with the Righteous one of God. Those who seek to save their lives shall lose and those who hate their lives shall gain eternal life.

Jesus uses himself as the quintessential premise that even the best of us, can still get better. As glorious as Jesus was, he was still yet to be glorified. There was still a level of glory for him to ascend. He had yet to be at his best. I would have thought he was glorified when the heavens opened up and the Holy Ghost descended upon him and the father said this is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased- but that was not Jesus at his best. I thought maybe he was at his best when stood on the bow of a boat in the midst of a raging sea, and said, “Peace be still’ and the roaring seas became calm still waters. The winds slowed down to a nice summer breeze. But yet, he was not at his best. Some would have surmised that Jesus was at his best when he raised Lazarus from the dead. But he was still not at his best.

No, Jesus was at his best when he carried an old rugged cross to a hill called Calvary. Jesus was at his best when he allowed his enemies to nail him to that cross; and yet, pray, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus was at his best, when he allow the cross to mock his name, pierce him in his side, and place a crown of thorns on his head when he could have called down the host of heaven to deliver him from that cross.

Jesus was at his best when he exclaimed, “It is finished. Into thy hands, Father, do I commend my spirit.” Jesus was at his best, when he allowed them to bury his body in a borrowed tomb. Jesus was at his best when on the third day, he rose, and stood before his disciples and declared, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Listen to me your best moment is just ahead. You will come out of this dark gruesome test knowing that God has triumph, Jesus has gotten the victory, and he has given you power to be his witness to the

uttermost parts of the world. Somebody say, “Amen and Amen.”

NEW SCHOOL YEAR in T.J. Mexico

From The Panamerican Institute, TJ Mexico

WE WERE HAPPY TO START THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR 2014-2015 WITH 76 STUDENTS!

25 first year students joined with 25 second year students and 26 third year students.

Your generous support makes education possible for our students.

We are excited to have our new school year underway. We start with new personnel: Patricia (Paty) Bautista as our principal, Elena González as Principal’s Assistant, Leticia (Lety) Bautista as secretary, Martha Yañez as guidance counselor and new teachers as well.

First day usually begins with students cleaning the school building, our cook making food for everyone and our staff working happily assuming the challenges of a new school year.

Another exciting activity is giving each student back-packs filled with school supplies, such as colored pencils, markers, pens, letter size paper and notebooks. All those items donated by our sponsors.

Several students need aid to buy their uniforms and to pay for their daily transportation to school; you can help them through the Adopt-A-Student Program! Sponsor a student with $35 per month or $420 per school year, this provides free breakfast, as needed and upon availability of funds, uniforms and bus fares.

Two Free Meals And A Snack

           Since our class schedule is 7:30 A.M. until 3:30 P.M. students need energy to do their best at school, besides breakfast paid by sponsors from the Adopt-A-Student Program, our students also receive lunch by noon and a snack. The cost of the second meal is $15 per student per month. Donations are welcome and appreciated.

Other Opportunities To Help Throughout the Year:

¬ PROVIDE ACCIDENT INSURANCE: $600 FOR ALL OUR STUDENTS FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL YEAR.

¬ HELP STUDENTS PURCHASE THEIR DAILY UNIFORMS AT $75 EACH. OR P.E. UNIFORM AT $30 EACH, OR SCHOOL SHOES OR TENNIS SHOES AT $35 EACH.

¬ HELP PURCHASE CLASS MATERIALS FOR OUR 15 SUBJECTS, OFFICE AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES AT $700 PER MONTH.

¬ PROVIDE INK, PAPER & TONER FOR COMPUTER ROOM AT $75 PER MONTH.

¬ MATERIALS FOR SCIENCE LABORATORY: $75 PER MONTH.

¬ MONTHLY COST FOR UTILITIES: $600.

¬ BUILDING & EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE: $400 PER MONTH.

¬ IN DECEMBER, PROVIDE A FOOD CHRISTMAS BASKETS FOR STUDENTS AT $50 EACH BASKET.

Revised Common Lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary was prepared by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), and consists of a table of readings which gives the liturgical day or date and the Scripture references for the texts to be read. Liturgies are set forms of public worship used in the Christian church.

It is arranged in a three-year cycle:

• year A, the year of Matthew;
• year B, the year of Mark; and
• year C, the year of Luke

John is read each year, especially around Christmas, Lent and Easter, and also in the year of Mark, whose Gospel is shorter than the others. The sequence of Gospel readings is meant to lead God’s people to a deeper knowledge of Christ and a stronger faith in him.

Along with the Gospel, there is a rich provision of Old Testament material, chosen to illuminate the Gospel and to include important narratives of faith. Acts and the Epistles highlight not only apostolic authority, but Christian experience of and reflection on the grace of God in Christ.

Much of the material is offered in semi-continuous form, which allows a larger variety of passages of the Bible to be read. This return to a greater selection of readings of the Bible is not only a means of combating the decline of biblical literacy, among adults as much as among young Christians, but is a recovery of a liturgical way to lead the followers of Christ through his birth, baptism, ministry, death, and resurrection.

The lectionary presented throughout this website is the Revised Common Lectionary with some adjustments. The calendar upon which it is based, and the principles it pursues, are explained in The Revised Common Lectionary (The Canterbury Press, 1992).

A Rough Ride For The Righteous

SERMON:  "A Rough Ride For The Righteous" Advent 4A

Sermon from Ross Bartlett, "A Rough Ride For The Righteous" as shared on Sunday Dec 24,1995 on the TELOS INFORMATION SERVICE with minor editing.

Most gracious God, bless we pray the thoughts of our hearts and the words of lips.  Help us to consider the meaning of this day - and to grow in faith - as we celebrate your many blessings.  We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

I should introduce myself.  My name is Joseph.  Joseph Davidson.  I've been hanging around your celebration of Christmas for quite a while but I suspect you don't know me too well.  I feel sort of like the father of the bride at a wedding.  Nobody pays much attention to him but he gets to pay the bills.  I know how much you enjoy celebrating Christmas but I want to tell you, your Christmas cost me a great deal!

My family is an old and honorable one - probably with more emphasis on the old than the honorable!  My ancestor was King David.  But that isn't much to boast about.  He lived a thousand years before I was born, so by my time there were hundreds and thousands of Davidsons.  But I was proud of it. Some of you trace your heritage back to United Empire Loyalists or back to the old country.  Well, it's like that with me.

Where to start?  I grew up in Bethlehem.  It's only a few miles from Jerusalem and making a living was difficult.  So as a young man I moved to Nazareth.  Nazareth was so small I'm always amazed when I meet people in the 1990s who know about it.  It was a hamlet, the butt of jokes.  "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" people used to joke.  But I didn't go to Nazareth for the night life.  I went there to find work.

I'm a wood worker.  I do things like build furniture, frame houses, make tools and yoke for oxen.  If it's made out of wood, I'm your man.  But wood workers are practical people.  I like things you can handle and see, that you can measure, cut and saw.  I'm not much for ideas.  Oh, I enjoy listening to the teachers when they come to our synagogue, but I prefer more practical things.  Wood is honest.  I understand that some of you have doors that are hollow in the middle - is that true?  Now, I'm a guest and I don't want to insult you, but that sounds dishonest to me.  No, I like things that are wood clear through.  Wood has integrity.  I like that - I like that in people too.

Another thing that you should know about me is that my neighbors call me a "righteous man".  In my day that meant something very specific.  You see, way back when, hundreds and hundreds of years before my birth, God gave Moses the Law for our people.  The Law tells us how we should live for God, the things we should do, the way we should eat, the people we should associate with and so on.  Now, keeping the Law is not always easy.  It makes demands on us.  But if we're going to be God's people we have to do what God tells us.  People in my day called a man who kept the Law a "righteous man".  That's me.  I don't go around preaching to people or looking down my nose at others.  I just think if a person believes something they should live it.

Of course, the other thing that shaped my life was Mary.  Life was good for me in Nazareth.  There was plenty of work and I was able to save some money and just when I was thinking about getting married I met Mary.  She was about 15 years old then, just the right age for becoming engaged.  Wonderful girl, wonderful woman.  We were betrothed.  That's something like your engagement only it's much more permanent.  It lasts a year, sometimes longer.  During that time the families get to know one another.  They work out a dowry.  They search the records in the temple in Jerusalem because in a little country like ours it's really easy for close relative to get married and never know that they're relatives.  Our engagements can only be broken by divorce.  And getting a divorce isn't easy.  You have to show real cause.  It's pretty disgraceful.

That period of our betrothal was a time when I dreamed.  About building a home for Mary and myself and the kids we'd have.  About the wonderful life we'd have.  I dreamt about how wonderful life would be.  It's strange isn't it, how quickly life can go sour.  How quickly dreams can turn into nightmares.  How easily your fondest plans can be shattered.  Perhaps you've had that experience.

I noticed that Mary became quiet, withdrawn.  I wondered if something was wrong, but when I asked her she said she couldn't tell me about it.  I had to go out of town to do some work and all the time I was away I hardly slept for worrying and wondering.  Had I done something to displease her or her family?  Maybe they'd found something in the Temple records to prevent us from being married!  So, by the time I came back to Nazareth I was beside myself.  I begged her not to shut me out of her life, to tell me what was going on, but I was totally unprepared for her answer.  "I'm pregnant".

She began to weep.  I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach.  Of all the things, I'd never dreamt that!  Pregnant!  I knew I wasn't the father, but who?  We had love, we had respect, we had a future.  How could this  happen, without her parents knowing, without my knowing?  What about our dreams?  Why?

That's when she told me her story.  About how an angel had appeared to her - a teenaged girl in a fifth-rate village, and told her she was going to be the mother of Israel's Messiah.  The Spirit of God had come upon her and planted a baby in her womb.  I was furious!  It was one thing for her to betray our love like that and quite another to treat me to a story that bordered on blasphemy.  Do I look like an idiot?  I would not believe it.  You wouldn't believe it. I wanted to lash out, I wanted to hurt her as she had hurt me.

The Law said that a woman found in adultery should be stoned to death.  Now I could understood that law in a way I never had before.  I wanted to get back at her, for ruining our love, my faith and trust, wrecking my reputation.

You see, as a righteous man I tried to live to a certain standard.  People respected me, they counted on me.  This would ruin me.  Everyone would assume that I was the father.  Just think how far a story about being  visited and made pregnant by the Spirit of God was going to go down in the market!  I had to go public.  I had to gather the elders and publicly sever the relationship.  I would tell everyone that I was not responsible.  If I couldn't get anything else out of this mess at least I'd keep my good name intact.

But I couldn't do it.  I loved Mary; even though she'd shattered my faith.  I didn't want to make a public example of her.  Of course, there was no way I could marry her, but the Law left it pretty well up to the man what was to be done. I could get a couple of my friends, give her a private bill of divorce and that would be that.  Of course, the reason would soon be obvious, but without a complaint from me nothing could legally be done to Mary.

Mary had to get away.  The caustic gossip down by the village well would be too much to handle.  So she went south, to Hebron.  She had relatives there, who would give her support and a place to stay.

After she left town things were pretty much a blur.  I walked around and worked at my bench.  I didn't care about eating.  I didn't pay much attention to life.  Then the dreams started.  Always the same.  Walking down a dark corridor and suddenly this blinding light and an angel would be there.  How did I know it was an angel?  Good question.  But there are times when you just know things.  That's the best answer I can give.  The angel told me not to be afraid.  "Joseph Davidson", the angel said, "don't be afraid to take Mary for your wife.  The child she bears is from the Holy Spirit.  You will call his name Jesus and he will save his people from their sins".

That was my dream.  For a carpenter, for someone used to working with tangible things, that was hard to take on board.  I mean, dreams come to prophets not wood workers.  And I couldn't talk about it with anyone without revealing Mary's terrible secret.  Even then I still was thinking about it as her secret.  What was I to do?  But the dreams kept repeating, same dream but each time more forceful.

A wise person has said that we need to recognize what time it is in life.  I knew that it was time for me to make a decision.  Nothing would ever be the same.  It would be life without Mary, always wondering if those dreams were true, if God was somehow doing the most unexpected thing in the most unusual fashion.  Or it could be life with Mary, with all sorts of unexpected troubles and surprises, but following my faith.  I knew right off the bat that my reputation would be ruined.  If I didn't divorce Mary and she had a child everyone would assume that I was the father.  They might not say anything to me but I knew what they'd think.  I'm ashamed to say I've thought that way about others from time to time.

But I decided to do it.  I went down to Hebron.  I told Mary about my dreams and apologized for doubting her.  I took her back to Nazareth and as soon as possible we were married.  I figured, it'll be rough, but if God's in it, it won't be too bad.  I told you, I'm a wood worker, not a theologian.  I had no idea how wrong I could be. 

I know you've heard about Caesar's decree concerning the census.  But I wonder if you've ever really thought about traveling 90 miles, in the winter, on a donkey when you're nine months pregnant.  The crowds in Bethlehem!  Even my relatives had no place for us.  There were people underfoot wherever you turned.  We finally found some shelter in a stable that someone had hollowed out of the rock.  Mary had to be both mother and midwife.  I'm a wood worker.  What do I know about delivering babies?  You'd think if God had been planning this for years some better arrangements might have been in hand.

But still life didn't settle down.  Life with Jesus was always a combination of the strange and the ordinary.  Those astrologers from Iraq, worshipping our toddler.  Having to become refugees so Herod's soldiers wouldn't get him.

There's lots more stories but I've probably overstayed my welcome.  I hope you'll forgive me going on, but not many people seem interested in my perspective on those strange and wonderful months.  I once thought, as a young man, that if I ever saw an angel I'd never have any doubts.  I saw an angel, it was vivid and real to me.  But I always have lots of questions.  Did I make it all up?  To be honest, Jesus didn't seem like the Savior of the world.  You sing "no crying he makes".  You should have been in our house at 3 in the morning when he was cutting teeth!  When he fell on Nazareth's streets and skinned his knee, it bled.  I held him in my lap and told him stories and he fell asleep.

Some of you have a faith like Mary's.  It's rich, devout and strong.  You're God's special people.  Some of you are more like me.  You live in a world of cause and effect.  You believe your doubts, you doubt your beliefs.  I understand.  I've been there.  All I can tell you is that when I faced those questions I came down on the side of faith.  If you like, I faithed it through, even when I didn't feel like believing.  I trusted, even when I didn't feel like trusting.  That's what God used.  I'm not the main character of the story.  But as you celebrate, you might want to remember in a corner of your mind that God chose me to be part of the story.  Joe Davidson, a carpenter who believed as best he could.    Amen

A Hymn for Epiphany Five B

A Hymn for Epiphany Five B

          The following is a paraphrase of the lesson from the Hebrew scriptures for Epiphany five year B. or Isaiah 40:21-31

Why pourest forth thine anxious cry

            Despairing of relief.

As if the Lord o’erlooked thy cause,

            And did not heed thy grief?

Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard

            That firm remains on high

The everlasting throne of him

            That formed the earth and sky?

Art thou afraid his power shall fail

            When comes thy evil day?

And can an all-creating arm

            Grow weary and decay?

Supreme in wisdom as in power

            The Rock of ages stands;

Though him thou canst not see, nor trace

            The working of his hands.

He gives the conquest to the weak,

            Supports the fainting heart;

And courage in the evil hour

            His heavenly aid impart.

Mere human power shall fast decay,

            And youthful vigor cease;

But they who wait upon the Lord

            In strength shall still increase.

They with unwearied feet shall tread

            The path of life divine;

With growing ardor onward move,

            With growing brightness shine.

On eagles’ wings they mount, they soar,

            Their wings are faith and love,

“Til, past the cloudy regions here,

            they rise to heaven above.

The Liturgical Year

The Liturgical Year

Advent – Waiting for the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, the Messiah

Christmas – The birth of our Lord and Savior

Epiphany- the wise-men and the light come 

Baptism of Our Lord

Transfiguration of Our Lord

Ash Wednesday

Lent

Palm Sunday-Jesus’ Triumphal ride into Jerusalem

Maundy Thursday-Jesus washes the feet of his disciples

Good Friday-Jesus dies in agony for our sins

Easter Vigil- Traditional time for Baptisms

Easter Sunday-Christ has died, Christ is risen

Easter Evening

Pentecost – The gift of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church

Trinity

Christ the King

God of Wonder

Sermon: “God of Wonder” Reverend “Edgar” S, Welty

            Today let’s look at the, “God of Wonder”. We will start with a wonderful vision of God, seen during worship in Jerusalem’s temple. We heard about it in our passage from Isaiah. Our Gospel lesson, by contrast, is set outdoors. On the lake shore Jesus inspired a sense of wonder. But we should not been a huge catch of fish to see the wonder of God in creation, Let’s talk about recovering that sense of wonder that children encounter in our “Father’s World”. We will also try to recover a childlike sense of wonder about what happens as we celebrate today’s sacrament of the “Lord Supper”. Finally we’ll find out why it was such a wonder that fishermen became disciples.

            Isaiah looks with wonder at God’s heavenly court. In today’s reading he says, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.”

            This is Jerusalem’s temple. The words of the angels’ song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts”, recall worship. Our “Sanctus” is sung during the Lord’s Supper. Its words are, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

            Both songs have roots in ancient Hebrew. Hebrew has no adjective forms describe degree. In English our adjectives do describe degree. Let’s start with the descriptive word, “Holy”. The Comparative adjective is “Holier”. The superlative term is, “Holiest”.

Hebrew creates the same meaning by repetition. Thus, “Holy. holy, holy means, “Holiest”.

            “The pivots on the thresholds” are the hinges of the doors, which lead to the “Holy of Holies”, or the inner most room in the temple. “The house (Temple) would be “Filled with (the) smoke” of incense during rituals.

            The temple used fire from the altar to purify. So do the angels. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding alive coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips your guilt has departed and your sin id blotted out.”

            But even if we can identify the earthly setting of Isaiah’s vision, it is clear he sees beyond the temple into heaven. He describes angelic beings. “Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces.” This the basis for these lyrics for today opening hymn, “Thy angels adore thee, all veiling their sight.” The basis behind both phases in the concept that god is so holy that to see the divine face is deadly even for angels. Isaiah’s expression of fear, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips”, is based on this idea. The purification by fire permits Isaiah to see God and live.

            Isaiah description continues, “And with two (Wings, the angels) covered their feet” thus the angles covered their nakedness. Judging from the Hebrew root of their names, the angelic bodies may have been snake-like.

Finally we read of the Seraphs”,”And with two (wings) they flew.” Clearly Isaiah had an otherworldly encounter He saw a vision of God of which we sang. “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible his from our eyes.” And, ‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.”

But we find God in this world as well. And the living is founded out side the houses we build for divine worship. The disciples found Jesus, who define as, “ Very God of very God,” “Beside the lake of Gennesarst,”

Today’s Children’s Song speaks of finding the work of God in the outdoors. “This is my Father’s world and to my listening eyes all nature sings and around me rings the music of the spheres, This is my Father’s world; I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas his the wonders wrought.” Children find god in hard stones and soft sponges. If we work at maintaining our sense of wonder we too will find God all around us.

One meaning of the Lord’s Supper is we will find God in things of this world. Two of the ingredients, which make the wine and bread of communion, are wheat and grapes, ordinary produce from the time of Jesus. These form the substance of today’s Lord’s Supper.

But Let’s look at the Lord’s Supper as a sacrament. A sacrament is sign of God’s presence. There is an old Austrian tale about the sacrament. A man in a village found a cave full of treasure, enough to set up his entire fellow villager for life. But a wicked witch, who wanted to keep the villagers’ way the treasure, made the man invisible. It was necessary for the entire village to go the cave to retrieve the treasure before winter covered the cave. But how were they to follow the invisible man? The answer? He wore a hat, which was visible.

Sacraments, like that hat, make God visible. They lead the way to the treasures of heaven. They out-smart the “Evil-one”, who would deny the eternal life God wants us to enjoy.

There are many things to be seen in the Lord’s Supper. But to see them we may have to refresh our vision. First is the idea of finding God in everyday life. We say, “Jesus’ disciples recognized him as he sat at table and broke bread.” In other words the living God is found at each ordinary meal.

But the Lord’s Supper is a special sign. As the words of our, “Hymn of Preparation –before communion”, say “Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face’ Here I would touch and handle things unseen; here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace.” The direct encounter with god is no longer veiled/ God seen in the Lord’s Supper means life ant fear of death.

It is special meal as the hymn says we, “Drink with (God) the royal wine of heaven. The sense of regal wine is why the, “Cup used is often an elaborately crafted chalice

Another idea is of everyone, of al ages. Gathering from all corners of the world. Thus we say, “This is … for men and women, youth and children. Come from the east, the west, the north and the south and gather around Christ’s table.”

Next is the idea of feast of thanksgiving. We say this the joyful feast of the people of God … it is right to give thanks”. And what do we give thanks to God for?

We give thanks for God’s saving acts in history. These we recount starting with the creation and continue the selection of the chosen people and recount the rescue of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The “Word” of God comes to prophets. Israel goes into exile and returns. Jesus came as God incarnate, dies for our sins and returns from the dead. The church is established and sustained through the Holy Spirit.

We then praise God’s name, as did Isaiah’s angels. We sing to God with the ancient Hebrew words Holy, holy, holy”

The core part of the Lord’s Supper are the “Words of Institution”. We give the setting. “On the night of his arrest. We hear Jesus say, “Take eat: this is my body broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. The same way also after supper, Jesus took the cup and after giving thanks to God, gave to them and said, “ Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant, which id poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.

Here is when: We proclaim Jesus’ “Body is broken for (us) He has died that we might have eternal life. We also are bold to say, “Jesus’ ‘blood” the essence of his life. Is poured out for the forgiveness of sin”.  We are thus “Atoned” for or back to be “At One” with God.

Then we uphold a wonderful idea. It is called the “Mystery” of our faith. And is stated, “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!”

We ask for the Holy Spirit’s presence, we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

We finish the Lord’s Supper with three acts: We declare Christ present in the bread and wine. We partake of the bread and wine. We pray to seek God’s purpose for us, for all people and for all of creation.

At the beginning of this sermon we recounted the wonderful vision of God Isaiah saw in the temple.  We then recalled the many wonderful meanings found in the Lord’s Supper.

May God, our Creator, continue to bless us.

May God, made real in our Lord Jesus, save us.

May God, though the Holy Spirit, sustain us/                 Amen.   

Report of Activities with the United States Volunteers

Report of Activities with the United States Volunteers

            The United States Volunteers/America is a nation-wide veterans’ service organization, which traces its lineage back to Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders”. Its primary mission is providing final military honors to deceased veterans. These honors include the folding of the off the casket, its presentation to the family and or friends of the deceased, a firing detail and the playing of “Taps”

            As of January 17, 2015, I am a chaplain with the rank of captain in the USV/A. I have observed one grave-side service for an army vet and served as chaplain in a service for a navy veteran. Soon I will doing a service for a marine colonel. Look across our national cemeteries and you might see me in my dress blues.

Faith under fire:

Faith under fire: A Presbyterian minister told of his days as a Navy submariner in the Pacific during World War II. "We would often come under depth charge attack by Japanese destroyers," he said. "The other sailors would be trembling with fear, while I just leaned back and read a comic book. One of them asked how I could be so calm. I explained to him that in my childhood I had very little supervision from my parents, so I spent many hours each day at the New Jersey beach. Sometimes a huge breaking wave would catch me by surprise and thrust me under the water, rolling me in the sand. But I learned when I would just relax thousands of air bubbles like the fingers of God would catch me up and lift me to the surface. Now, whenever I find myself in trouble, I just relax and wait for the fingers of God to reach under me and lift me up."

Marianne Uhlig of Germany once sailed from America to Japan on a Danish freighter. The voyage was stormy, and some of the passengers were afraid.  The captain, sensitive to their concerns, told a story at dinner about sailing through another storm.

His wife and eight-year-old daughter had accompanied him on one of his voyages, and they ended up sailing through a terrible storm.  Taking every precaution, the captain ordered all hands to their lifeboat stations.  He went to his cabin to awaken his wife and give her the news.  When he had explained the situation to her, she woke the little girl and told her that there was a bad storm and they must get up quickly.

The little girl asked, “Is father at the wheel?”  When the mother said that he was, the little girl said, “Then everything will be all right,” and turned over to go back to sleep.

We all go through bad storms in life.  When that happens, we need to ask, “Is our Father at the wheel?”  If he is—and he is—we have nothing to fear.

Relating to the Sunday’s Hymns to the Sermon

Relating to the Sunday’s Hymns to the Sermon

          When preparing for preaching and leading worship, one can use lyrics from the day’s hymns to relate to the message proclaimed. There are a number of reasons for doing so. First; if you look at pew racks where hymnals and bibles are provided, you will discover that typically there twice as many hymnals as bibles and the hymnals are larger and more up to date. The truth is most protestants know more hymn lyrics than bible verses. The hymnals are key to how congregates think about their faith. Second; if the preachers makes theological points using hymn portions the points are more likely to be remembered. Third; well selected hymns should always reinforce the message of the sermon why take advantage of that relationship?

Hymn for Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Year B

Silence, Frenzied Unclean Spirit UMC #264

1.     “Silence, frenzied unclean spirit!” cried God’s healing Holy One

“Cease your ranting! Flesh can’t bear it flee

as night before the sun.”

          At Christ’s words the demon trembled,

from its victim madly rushed,

          while the crowd that was assembled stood

in wonder, stunned and hushed;

2.     Lord, the demons still are thriving in the gray cells of the mind

Tyrant voices, shrill and driving,

twisted thoughts that grip and bind.

          Doubts that stir the heart to panic, fears distorting reason’s sight

          Guilt that makes our loving frantic,

dreams that cloud the soul with fright

3.     Silence Lord, the unclean spirit in our mind and in our heart:

Speak your word that when we hear it, all demons shall depart.

Clear our thought and calm our feeling;

still the fractured warring soul.

          By the power of your healing make us faith-ful true and whole.

.