Category: News

A voice cries out:
     “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
          make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴   Every valley shall be lifted up,
          and every mountain and hill be made low;
     the uneven ground shall become level,
          and the rough places a plain.
⁵   Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
          and all people shall see it together,
          for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Isaiah 40:3-5

As I sit here at my dining room table looking out my windows to the foot of snow sitting on the ground, I begin to ponder the work needed to shovel my driveway.  With the depth of snow and the possible ice underneath, our cars are going to have great difficulty getting to the road.  I will have to shovel the concrete to make the driveway clear for the tires to grip and I will have to brush and scrape the cars to be able to get in them and to be able to see out of the windshield where we are going.  We are not going to be able to just hop in and drive to work or school, I have work to do before that happens.  I must prepare to drive.

Just as I must prepare the driveway and cars to drive after a blizzard, so too did Israel need to prepare for God’s return to them, in the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD.  I must shovel the snow to make a path for our cars, Israel was called by a voice in the wilderness to make a path for the LORD to return.  Being in Babylon meant that if God was to return to them, the road was through the desert or wilderness.  But the people were called to prepare the road for God’s coming, to shovel the snow so that God has a path.  Just as it is with Israel, so too is it with the church.  Advent is about shoveling the snow, or making a path, or preparing the road for God’s coming to us as Jesus of Nazareth. 

In our text from Isaiah, the two main images of roadwork the people are called to do are leveling and smoothing: every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  What are the hills and valleys in our lives that we might need to correct or to level to prepare for Jesus’ coming?  Have we been praying, studying, worshiping, and serving?  Do we have holes in our discipleship or mountains standing in the way of following Jesus’ commands?  What is rough that needs to be made smooth?  We pray but is it always?  We study but do we know more than we knew a year ago?  We worship but is it every Lord’s Day, in community, and is it every day, in our families?  We serve but is it to the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or imprisoned?  The preparations we need to make for the coming of Christ are to start doing what we have not been doing and to do better what we currently are doing: to level/fill and to sand.

Here we come to our problem surrounding Christmas, we think of cookies, presents, decorations and cards as our preparations for Christmas instead of the work of repentance.  We have forgotten that Christmas is about the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.  Christmas is about the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, the Coming of God to his people.  This is what the Angels announced to shepherds in the desert with the Glory of God in the skies.  God is here among us.  This is what we truly need to prepare for and to take this as seriously if not more seriously than hams, trees, and football games: the revelation of God in glory and everyone will see it.

Are you ready?  What preparations for the coming of Christ do we need to make?  What needs leveled or filled, what needs smoothed, what needs to be prioritized to be ready for the coming of Christ?  More prayer, more study, more worship, more service?  Maybe even to start doing these things that we have never done, or begin doing them again if we stopped?  Now is the time to prepare the road for Christ’s coming, but it isn’t your driveway that needs shoveled, it is your hearts that need shoveled.  Now is the time to prepare, will you be ready?  Amen. 

In Christ, Rev. Mark

¹⁸ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.  Matthew 4:18-22

One of my most treasured memories as a young boy was the yearly trips to Lake Hope State Park in Southern Ohio.  We would spend a week renting a cabin, fishing in the lake and seeing the local sights.  My favorite thing to do would be fishing in the lake for bluegill and trying to catch more than my dad.  Now the difficult part about fishing for bluegill is finding where there are.  Lake Hope was pretty big and we were constantly walking around the Lake trying to find where the fish were.  Once we did we would stay there until the fish stopped biting and then we would move on to the next area.  Part of fishing is going where the fish are.

Is it not the same with us?  Jesus when calling the first disciples from the shore of Lake Gennesaret, says to Simon Peter, Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.  Not only had Jesus “caught” Simon Peter from a boat after the miracle catch of fish, Jesus calls Simon to follow him and to “catch” other people.  But Simon Peter isn’t going to catch people fishing the Lake. In order to catch people, he needs to go where the people are.  So Simon leaves everything behind and follows Jesus.

Much to Simon Peter’s surprise, Jesus once again starts fishing for people.  Jesus “catches” a leper of all people. Jesus “catches” a paralytic confined to a mat.  Jesus still fishing for people even “catches” Levi, a tax-collector, and all of Levi’s friends who Levi invites over to be “caught” by Jesus.  Jesus a “fisher” of people goes where the people are who need to be caught.

What do you think was going through the head and heart of good old Simon Peter sitting in the house of Levi, the tax-collector surrounded by all of Levi’s unsavory friends and accomplices?  His thoughts, while not written in the text, could be possibly something along the lines of this, “Why are you trying to catch these people and why did you lead us of all places here?”  “Of all the people in the countryside to “catch” why did Jesus insist on these people?”  “Why couldn’t he try and “catch” Mike the Mayor and drag us to his house for a party?”  “No, he has to drag us to the house of Levi and his sinful friends.”

Both Simon and we, both disciples of Jesus, need to be reminded of what kind of people need to be “caught” by Jesus.  Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Jesus came to catch sinners and Jesus calls his disciples to help catch sinners.  But how can we disciples catch sinners if we never go fishing for them where they are?  Can we catch people in our living rooms?  Can we catch people in the safety of our tall-steepled church buildings?  Can we catch people if the only people we are around are those previously “caught?”  A fisherman goes where the fish are, Jesus goes where the sinners are, but Today’s disciples stay at home behind the walls of their church buildings and wonder why they have no caught no people!

Rest assured each of our towns have Levi’s in them.  Rest assured each of our towns have both lepers and paralytics.  Rest assured that Jesus Christ in the power of his Spirit is also in our towns already fishing for them.  But, Jesus also wants us to be his body fishing with his Spirit to “catch” those who need him.  But the question then becomes, are we fishing where the fish are?  Are we around and with the people who need Jesus or are we somewhere else doing something else entirely?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are called to fish for people, we are never going to catch anyone unless we go outside the walls and fish for them.  They are not going to jump into the boat on their own, they are not going “catch” themselves; we are the ones who must lower the nets in order to “catch” them.  Therefore let us be truly fishers of people, even if we must go where the Levi’s of the world are and eat with those people, whoever those people might be.  Rest assured, Jesus is already there “fishing,” why aren’t we?

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  ³ Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—

‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    or lose heart when you are punished by him;
⁶ for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
    and chastises every child whom he accepts.’

⁷ Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? ⁸ If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. ⁹ Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  ¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.  Hebrews 12:1-13

Running long distance races is quite popular these days.  Whether a marathon or a 5k (5 Kilometer), crowds of people gather to run the races, not to win, but to finish.  Each race will always have the professional runners out front and in the race to win, but each race also will have folk running for the joy of running.  These people will run together for causes and charities, or for fun, or for each other.  A spectator can see a herd of folk running together at times in the back, and at the same pace to just finish the race, not to win it.

If you can understand a group of runners at the back of the race, then you can understand the Author to the Hebrews describing the church as a group of runners surrounded by other participants, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.  The journey of discipleship is compared to a long-distance race, which God sets before God’s people, and the church as the peloton or bunching together of runners.  No Christian is in a vacuum or alone in their journey, they are surrounded by fellow runners or fellow Christians and the great heroes of the faith.  To be surrounded by fellow runners is to find encouragement in mutual journeys: to run together, to carry each other, to be carried and to share in each other’s triumphs.  No runner runs alone, no Christian follows Jesus alone either.

But if you are going to run a long-distance race, you don’t run in heavy garments or in combat boots.  You take off your warmup clothes and you don running shoes.  So too is it with following Christ, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.  If you are going to run, you take off your warmup clothes, if you are going to follow Jesus you take off every burden and barrier that hampers your discipleship.  If you are going to run, you take off the work boots, if you are going to follow Jesus you take off the sins that snare your feet.  What do you need to lay aside and/or what do you need uncling from your feet to run?  No runner runs in winter coats, no Christian follows Jesus with burdens and snaring sins. 

But no runner just decides one day to enter a marathon without first training the body and mind to run one.  If you want to run a race you must train.  You manage your diet; you start running one mile and then increase to more.  But you must train to be able to run a 5k.  So too is with following Jesus.  If you want to follow Christ, you must train, but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.  God permits trials and tribulations to train and form us to run the race.  Moments of doubt are opportunities for greater faith.  Moments of sadness are possibilities for greater hope.  Moments of tragedy are potentials for greater love.  No runner runs without first training, no Christian follows without being trained by God through our experiences in holiness. 

Having run my fair share of miles in training, I understand that muscles will start to ache, joints will hurt, and you start to limp, lungs will run out of air, and you slow down, and you contemplate quitting.  So too does it happen for Christians in their training.  The sorrow starts to make our souls ache.  The continued struggle against sin makes our bodies and souls hurt and we begin to limp.  The antagonism from an unconverted world weighs heavy on minds and emotions and we run out of passion and commitment.  From all this and more we slow down, and we contemplate quitting.  But the Author says, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.  He doesn’t care if you must limp your way through life with drooping hands and weak knees, and which of us doesn’t have them?  He cares most assuredly that we finish the race, even if we must limp our way through it.  The great problem is not the difficult running, the great problem is choosing to stop running because it is too hard or painful.  No runner runs without sore muscles and tired lungs, no Christian follows Christ without pains and sorrows in body and soul.

My friends, the Author knows all too well, about struggles and difficulties that weigh heavy and snare our souls, but he encourages his congregation and us, to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  Jesus’ journey was filled with struggles and difficulties and yet he ran with perseverance.  Now he lives to help us on our journeys, during our struggles and difficulties.  Since we are surrounded by heroes past and present, let us keep running.  Let us take off the burdens and sins that snare our feet, let us keep running.  Let us be trained by God through our experiences, let us keep running.  Even if we must limp and crawl at times, let us keep running.  Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our journey, let us keep running.  But most importantly friends, even when it’s hard and you want to quit, don’t stop running.  Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.  The finish line is in sight, keep running toward it.  Amen.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵ Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶ She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ ²⁹ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰ Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ³¹ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ ³² He looked all round to see who had done it. ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’  Mark 5:24b-34

My family and I once went to a Pirates game in Pittsburgh.  While that may be not very intriguing, the problem lies in that I was cheering for the visiting team, the Cleveland Indians.  Being a fan for the visiting team amidst a crowd of fans for the home team can be a pretty intimidating prospect.  If you have ever been to any kind of sporting event, baseball or football, being a fan for the “other” team may result in a little or quite a bit of hostility towards you.  So fans for the visiting team sometimes try to stay hidden from the other fans.  Maybe they don’t wear their jerseys or cheer when their team scores and most certainly they do not boast about winning around those who lost.  Or else you may end up getting hit by a beer bottle being thrown at you, or maybe that happens only in Cleveland.

So too, does it happen in our faith.  The many self-proclaimed lords of our communities become greatly hostile towards us when we proclaim to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord and they are not!  When we are forced to choose between loyalty and allegiance to God and loyalty and allegiance to our country, our government, our families, our wealth, our possessions, our ______; we find ourselves in conflicts with those who still follow those things.  Simply put, we are intimidated by being faithful to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a community that is faithful to a whole host of other gods.  So we choose to try and keep our faith a secret; we hide. 

But, we are not the only people of God who have in ages past desired to keep our faith hidden because of fear.  A woman suffering for 12 years from incurable hemorrhages, who knows and believes that Jesus can cure her in the deepest recesses of her spirit, is afraid to speak with Jesus face-to-face.  Afraid of being discovered, she hides amongst the crowd until she can sneak her way close to him, only to touch the fringes of his cloak.  She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped (Luke 8:44).  Her faith has made her well and she can return to her home with the crowd and Jesus none the wiser.

But, Jesus is not going to let her stay hidden.  He knows.  He knows not only of her faith, he also knows his power healed her, but, he also knows that she is trying to stay hidden.  So he calls out to her, “Who touched me?”  She knows that he knows.  She knows he is talking to her.  The very thing she is afraid of is the very thing that transpires around her and fear seized upon her.  When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed (Luke 8:47).  Her faith has made her well, but she cannot return to her home without anyone knowing; He knows.

But is there rebuke?  Is there a finger pointed at her in judgment?  Is there laughter and ridicule?  Is there scorn and hostility?  No, there is “Go, in peace!”  She was afraid of hostility, she received peace instead.  She was afraid of judgment, she received inclusion instead.  She was afraid of wrath, she received love instead.  Such is the character and actions of Jesus Christ, our Lord! 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, which of us is not afraid?  Which of us is not gripped by fear to be bold and confident in the face of a hostile nation and community around us?  We all fall short of the courage necessary to let our lit lamps sit upon the lampstand.  But the good news for us is the same good news for her, if Jesus can give this woman courage to shine before others, then Jesus can and will do the same for us.  If Jesus is able and willing to minister to this woman, then Jesus is able and willing to minister courage to us.  That in it of itself is worthy of an Alleluia.  To God be the glory, honor and blessings of all his people, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to us.  Amen! 

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.  Luke 10:1-12

As a boy, one of my chores this time of year was the harvesting of the garden and the various trees in the back yard.  When my parents felt the produce was ripe, I was sent out with baskets to collect and harvest everything I was told to harvest.  I dug up the potatoes and put them in a crock.  I picked the apples and the tomatoes and put them in bushel baskets.  I broke off the pea pods and placed them in a metal colander.  When the time came to harvest, I was sent out with an empty container and told to get everything I could, while the time was right and the produce ripe.

Just as I was sent out to harvest by my parents, so too are we sent out to harvest by God.  But while I was sent for vegetables and fruit, the Lord of the harvest sends out laborers into all his creation.  Just as I was the only child at home to do the enormous task of harvesting a large garden and orchard, so too is God’s harvest plentiful but the laborers are few.  God sends us out not for the corn, but sends us out for lost children of God.

Are we all to go out or only some whose specific purpose is to do so?  While this may or may not be the question on many Christian’s hearts and minds, I wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go out for us all?  Then why don’t we all go out for Jesus?  Jesus’ obedience was not just to obey the will of his Father to go out, but Jesus’ love was that he went out for everyone.  Instead of some obnoxious rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to mission, let us replace it with a knowledge of God who is mission incarnate in Christ Jesus.  Since he came for us all, then let us all go out for him.

Are we to go out into our community or some other one?  While this may or may not be yet another question on many hearts and minds, I again wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go only to Nazareth?  Then why don’t we go everywhere for Jesus?  Jesus didn’t just stay in his home town, he went to others as well.  Instead of some rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to their mission field, (if we have one at all), let us replace it with a knowledge of God whose field to harvest is all of creation.  Since Jesus went into all creation, let us all go everywhere for him.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, while I share with you all no small amount of trepidation or anxiety when it comes to mission work, we all share the common purpose given to us in Jesus Christ, to be laborers sent out into the harvest field to collect the Lord of the Harvest’s bounty.  While I might want to hide behind the readymade excuse of “I am not called to go out,” in Christ Jesus we see God coming to us all, so that we all might go out.  While I might want to take shelter in the pretext of “I am not called to go there,” in Christ Jesus we see God going every place we are, so that we might go everywhere he is.   Therefore, let us not dwell in our apprehensions and hesitations about being sent out and being sent out where we do not want to go, let us dwell in Christ Jesus through faith and we will find ourselves being Children of God having already gone out.