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Midland Loves

October 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people. As the Lord surrounds his people, so his people surround Midland Memorial Hospital. God’s people at GCR and from at least another half dozen Christian churches in Midland spent an hour walking around MMH yesterday, reading Scripture over the hospital, and lifting everyone inside to our Lord in prayer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father, give our doctors and nurses and health care workers your comfort and peace during what has become an incredibly stressful time. Give them your strength. Give them your rest. Assure these good people with your loving presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

God, grant our doctors and nurses safety and good health and financial relief. Give them your knowledge and wisdom. Please give them increased compassion and patience. Give them more faith and trust in you. And, dear Lord, give them peace.

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Father, bless our doctors and nurses and all our health care providers with encouragement and hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Be merciful to us, O Lord, for we are in distress;
our eyes grow weak with sorrow, our souls and our bodies with grief.
Our strength fails because of our affliction, and our bones grow weak.
But we trust in you, O Lord;
We say, ‘You are our God.'”
~ Psalm 31

First and Foremost

October 8, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“First and foremost, I beg you to consider that there is nothing in this life, and especially in our own day, more easy and pleasant and acceptable to men than the office of bishop or priest or deacon, if its duties be discharged in a mechanical or sycophantic way; but nothing more worthless and deplorable and meet for chastisement in the sight of God. And, on the other hand, that there is nothing in this life, and especially in our own day, more difficult, toilsome, and hazardous than the office of bishop or priest or deacon; but nothing more blessed in the sight of God, if our service be in accordance with our Captain’s orders.”

~ Augustine to Valerius on his ordination at Hippo, 391 AD

The Second Incarnation

October 5, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Jesus is the incarnation of God. Incarnation just means flesh and blood. The Gospel of John says the Word of God – the will of God, who God is and what God wants for the world – became flesh and blood in Jesus so we could see it and know it. In his own words, Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” You see it and you know it. You get it because you’ve experienced it in me.

The Church is the second incarnation. And, yes, we are mostly a mess. We’re just like the people Jesus called to follow him, just like the people he surrounded himself with: ordinary fishermen and business people, blind people, loose women, weak men, liars and cheaters and cowards. And people who’ve been hurt. All of us have been injured. We’re all wounded and put back together with duct tape and twistie ties. And grace.

Grace that in Christ we are God’s chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. It’s a great mystery, but for some reason the Church is the way Jesus has chosen to be real and present in the world. He lives in us and through us by his Spirit. His heart beats in our chests, his eyes see through ours; when we speak, his voice is heard; and his welcome is felt in our embrace. We are the flesh and blood Body of Christ.

When people see the Church, they expect to experience God. When Jesus says, “You give them something to eat,” he’s talking to you. He’s talking to us.

Peace,

Allan

Serve Like Jesus

October 4, 2021 / / 1 Comment

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants.” ~1 Corinthians 3:5

Around the table on that last night, our Lord Jesus personally washed the feet of his disciples. Then he told them, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing” (John 14:12). Our model is the Lord. We serve others in the name and manner of our great high priest. We do our best to imitate Jesus, the Christ, who was always with people, always helping people, always serving people. In the crush of the crowd, in the middle of the multitude – healing, feeding, protecting, encouraging. In the quiet of the one-on-one conversations at night. Weeping at a funeral. Eating with a tax collector. Holding the kids. Dying on a cross.

The Church is not an end in itself. The Church does not exist to make rules, to pass laws, to be in charge, or to glorify itself. The Church does not seek its own power or privilege or comfort. And we’re not just a support group for people who have already been saved. Just like our Lord, the Church is sent into the world not to be served, but to serve. And to give itself up for others.

We know the words of our Savior who said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And we experience the truth of that, and the blessings, when we serve others in love.

Peace,

Allan

Christ For the World We Sing

September 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a Kingdom of priests.” ~Exodus 19:5-6

The Lord places our priesthood in the context of the whole world. We are not saved by God to rule the world. We are not saved by God to ignore the world. We are saved and called by God to participate in his plans for the world.

A priest is someone who stands between two parties – a liaison, a go between – usually between the people and God or, in this case, the world and God. Priests represent the people in the presence of God. So as a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Israel was called to represent the whole rest of the world to God. On behalf of all the people on earth, Israel was to offer praise to God. And sacrifices and offerings. Confession and prayers. Worship.

Worship is a priestly duty. Our worship is for the sake of the world. We mostly think of worship as for the sake of the individual, for my personal sake. We act like the purpose of worship is to inspire me, to enrich my own private walk with God. That’s part of it, I think. But we need to remember that we represent all of creation when we come together in the God’s presence to worship.

Christ for the world we sing! The world to Christ we bring!
With loving zeal;
the poor and them that mourn, the faint and overborne,
sinsick and sorrow-worn, whom Christ doth heal.

Christ for the world we sing! The world to Christ we bring!
With fervent prayer;
the wayward and the lost, by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost, from dark despair.

We sing for the whole world. We intercede for the world. We speak to God on behalf of the world. Part of being priests is that we sing and pray for everybody. We ask God to be merciful, we ask God to forgive, we ask God to save – not just people like us and not just people who like us. Everybody.

Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. So we ask God to show that same mercy to all people. We intercede for the world in our worship.

Peace,

Allan

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