Category: News

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  John 1:1-14

A little light makes all the difference in the world.  Every young boy wants to be a helper to his dad.  I was no different, and my job as my dad’s helper was to hold the flashlight on what he was working on.  Whether the job was repairing the car or the furnace, I was responsible for holding the flashlight on what he was doing.  Sometimes, I would get distracted and the light would wander away from the project unto the wall and he was unable to turn the wrench or the screwdriver simply because he couldn’t see it.  So, a little light on the project makes all the difference in the world.

So too is it with us; a little light makes all the difference in the world.  Just as a little light makes all the difference when one is attempting to turn a bolt or screw in the dark; a little light makes all the difference in the world when one is coping with all the difficult burdens of life.  Light brings clarity in a time of confusion or uncertainty.  Light brings hope in a time of sadness or despair.  Light brings truth in a time of error or ignorance.  Light brings compassion in a time of need or want.  Having to live in a world of darkness, a little light makes all the difference in the world.

The good news for us is that as the man Jesus of Nazareth, the light of God has come into the world to enlighten the dark times and places.  In the prologue to John’s Gospel, the author speaks of how the very Word of God which created and sustains all of creation was coming into the world to bring life and light to the world full of death and darkness.  As the man Jesus of Nazareth, the Word was made flesh and lived among us full of Grace and Truth.  As Jesus Christ, the Light of God shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  The good news for us is that God gives of himself to make all the difference in the world.  

Which of us during the course of our lives doesn’t find ourselves in dark times and in dark places?   Most certainly, we all have been and will be in times of confusion and uncertainty needing clarity.  We all have been and will be in times of sadness and despair needing hope.  We all have been and will be in times of error or ignorance needing truth.  We all have been and will be in times of need and want needing compassion.  We all have been and will be in times and places of great darkness.  The good news for us is that God does not leave us there.  As the man Jesus of Nazareth, the light of God enters into our dark times and places, to bring clarity, hope, truth, and compassion to us.  The good news for us is that as Jesus Christ, God finds us wherever we are and in whatever condition we are in to bring light and love to our darkness.  Such is the love and care of God for us.

If this be the love and care of God for us, then perhaps now is the time and here is the place for us to admit to ourselves that we are in darkness needing light?  If this be the love and care of God for us, then perhaps now is the time and here is the place for us to acknowledge to ourselves that we are creatures living in darkness needing the Creator’s light?  If this be the love and care of God for us, then perhaps now is the time and here is the place for us to recognize our deficiencies needing the Maker’s filling?  If this be the work and will of God the Father for us that the Word would become flesh to enlighten the ones living in darkness; then maybe now is the time and here is the place for us to tell ourselves we need to be found by this God, in faith?

Since a little light makes all the difference in the world, let us remember the good news whenever we find ourselves in those dark times and dark places, as we surely will and maybe are right now.  As the man Jesus Christ, the Light of God came into the world to enlighten the ones living in that darkness.  Since this is the love and care of God for us, let us put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be found by the Light and Life of God.  On behalf of everyone associated with Trinity and Eastside Presbyterian Churches in Ashtabula, Ohio, I pray the Light of God finds you and your family this Christmas season and every time you find yourselves in those dark times and dark places of life.

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.