In the hurry and scurry of the holiday season we sometimes tend to forget why we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I am in a unique situation. I have no reason to dash about as others do. That gives me the opportunity to observe what others are doing.

What I observe tends to make me feel sad. I think Jesus would be distressed at the way we celebrate His birth. People do wonderful things such as give to food banks, the Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, and other organizations which help people in need.

My observation is that most people need peace and sanity at Christmas. I think we honor Christ most when we stay within our budgets and exhibit balanced behavior. Can you imagine what Jesus would have thought about people’s behavior in getting the Michael Jordon basketball shoes for their kids. This, my friends, is not Christmas.

Christmas lives with us all year long. It is a mind set in which we honor the Christ-child all year long by behaving as he would have us behave. He is our model…not just on Christmas but throughout the years. Christmas is a commitment to Jesus for life. He was born to bring us salvation. Accepting Him means we are committed to Him our entire lives.

That is who the child is. The person who was born that we might live. If we honor Him only at Christmas, what does that say about us?

I wish you all a Merry Christmas all year long.

Bible breath: Bowing low/Jesus is Lord.

Carol

What Child Is This

1. What child is this who, laid to rest,
on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
while shepherds watch are keeping?
Refrain:
This, this is Christ the King,
whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
haste, haste to bring him laud,
the babe, the son of Mary.

2. Why lies he in such mean estate
where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
the silent Word is pleading.
(Refrain)

3. So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh,
come, peasant, king, to own him;
the King of kings salvation brings,
let loving hearts enthrone him.
(Refrain)

Text: William C. Dix, 1837-1898
Music: 16th cent. English melody
Tune: GREENSLEEVES, Meter: 87.87 with Refrain

It seems to me, and I might be very wrong about this, that Advent was not emphasized in church in the past. At least that is my experience…and my grandfather was a Methodist pastor. However, in recent years Advent has been celebrated as an important season in the church…a joyous season, an expectant season, a prayerful season.

If you are wondering what Advent is all about, listen to this short video (two minutes) and enjoy!

The link to the Advent Calendar which is mentioned in the video is below.

Advent Calendar 2011

Have a wonderful Advent season. I pray that this season will be full of blessings, joy, and hopeful expectations for the New Year…and a renewed appreciation of Advent and its place in our lives and the life of the church.

Breath Prayer: Expecting God/Breathe His name

On Thanksgiving many people will be gathering with friends and family to celebrate the bounties we have…even the least of us…and hopefully, we will thank God for our blessings.

Following the meal…and the nap, of course…many people will settle down to watch the Green Bay Packers play the Detroit Lions. If it is later in the afternoon, they will be watching the Miami Dolphins at the Dallas Cowboys. My guess is that if there are two or more people watching, there will be considerable shouting, urging, groaning, and cheering…and it will be loud. It will also be done with enthusiasm and with a great sense of joy and camaraderie. We give ourselves permission to shout, cheer, jump up and down at these events. Maybe that is one reason we enjoy them so much. We let loose with how we feel in a “safe” place where nobody will criticize us for our behavior.

When was the last time you spoke to God in such a fashion? Have you ever spoken to him with the kind of enthusiasm we witness and experience at ballgames, other sports, theater performances. I know I have shouted BRAVO any number of times and yelled like crazy at ball games, but to shout THANK YOU LORD never happened until I came home from church last Sunday. I said, “THANK YOU LORD!” in an empty apartment…except for God and me. I felt stupid…and delighted all at the same time…and I smiled from ear to ear.

We have ample Biblical reference to expressing Thanksgiving. Think of David. He praised the Lord with dancing, singing, trumpets, harps, lutes, castanets, cymbals, tambourines. His wife, Michal, didn’t appreciate his demonstration of thanksgiving one little bit.
2 Samuel 6.

I hope the day will come when we can express our delight, praise, and thanks to God in the same way we express our enthusiasm in other circumstances. Yes, I was taught to be quiet in church, but I like hearing our pastor’s booming voice say, “THANK YOU LORD!” In fact, I love hearing him thank God with such vigor and exuberance and sincerity. THANK YOU, PASTOR KURT!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE. THANK YOU LORD for one and all.

One thing a good case of the stupids does not encompass, though, is being overly thankful. Oh, Lord, let us be guilty of a gluttony of thanksgiving. What would occur in our worlds if we were overly thankful? If we had thankfulitis?

When we thank God, we bless God. The Psalmist said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.” Psalm 103:1 KJV What happens when we thank God is that we create a space within us for God to work. We make a way for God’s best to be made known in us and through us to others. The kingdom of God grows and overflows like leaven in a loaf… like a mustard seed….

Lord, let us be found thankful and, so, bless you.

If there are any people who can appreciate peace, it must be front line soldiers who know that war truly is hell. We and “the enemy” shoot one another, shoot ourselves in “friendly fire,” and shoot and kill civilians who are considered “collateral” damage. If I were one of the civilians who was shot, I would not like being considered collateral to anything.

Why do we not choose peace instead? If the people around the globe chose peace, there would be peace. If we shared with more equality the bounties of this earth, we would be more likely to be able to establish peace on earth. What we have instead are the “haves” and the “have nots.” Until this is resolved, peace is not possible. Can you imagine the good that could be done if the money we spend on fighting could be used for alleviating the health of the world…all kinds of health; economic, physical, spiritual, emotional. I cannot imagine what a just world we would live in. There would be problems and conflicts, of course, but the resolution of the problems would be peaceful.

In the United States we base our actions both individually and communally on what is best for us…not what is good for all of us. We are living in a globally community. We are arrogant in using so many resources which we do not need and depriving people world-wide of the same resources. I love this country, but we are a greedy group. Acquisition is the name of the game. We give money to other countries, but there are always strings attached.

To me it would be a wondrous occasion if we were all one world economically instead of first, second, third, and fourth world countries. Maybe peace would have a chance.

Let peace begin with me. You are welcome to join me in giving peace a try. We might be surprised at the results.

Carol

Recently, however, I discovered a king who was described in this manner: “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” (2 Kings 18:5 NIV) In view of David’s and Solomon’s reputations that is quite a statement. I hope by now some of you are wondering who this king is.

He is King Hezekiah. Recently, I have become more aware of the kings of Judah and Israel. It seems when we think of the various kings, we think of good kings or bad kings if we think about these kings at all. But Hezekiah was at the top of the list of the kings of Judah as far as the writer of 2 Kings was concerned.

Hezekiah was a good king because he obeyed God. He was a praying king, an asking king. Hezekiah was a man of great faith. His father had done away with the worship of God and allowed people to worship whatever gods and idols they wanted to worship. We see this conflict frequently in the Hebrew Bible…gods vs God. I don’t know if you have wondered why that is, but I have. I would think, “Why don’t they just believe in God? They know what will happen if they disobey.”

I have begun to understand, however, that it wasn’t that easy. We are talking about a time when people lived in tribes. Each tribe had gods and idols for rain, fertility, animals, etc. They had been worshiping gods for many years. It is not easy for people to change. Anybody who has tried to lose weight knows the difficulty of changing h/her lifestyle. It is extremely difficult to do. When the people of Judah and Israel were asked to worship one God, it was a major lifestyle change for them, and it was difficult. Not only was it a change in lifestyle, it was a change in the way they viewed life completely. Can you imagine yourself in their shoes? Would you believe what your parents taught you, or would you learn about this “new” idea of God? They took two steps forward and one step backward just as we do today when trying to change.

Hezekiah, however, had faith in GOD. He tore down all of the idols and wanted people to believe in and pray to the one true God. He centralized worship somewhat by insisting that people celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. He was a king for 29 years. Was he successful? According to scripture, it seems that Hezekiah was successful in reintroducing one God to Judah.

By the way, Hezekiah also saved the people of Jerusalem from the Assyrians. Check out Hezekiah’s tunnel.

I have barely begun to explore the good king Hezekiah. By the way, he had some excellent prophets prophesying at the time. They were Isaiah and Micah. If you want to read more about Hezekiah, check out the following:

2 Kings 16:20; 17; 18
2 Chronicles 28:27-33:3
Isaiah 36:1-39:8
Jeremiah 26:18-19

Bible breath: Obey the Lord/Join in praise

Carol

And that, of course, is the problem…just to begin. It is that difficult first step we must take if we are to do anything…not only to read the Bible.

People tend to want to read the Bible in a year. They begin, it seems as if it is just “too much,” and they stop. I started many times before I read the entire Bible.

There are, however, many ways to go about this endeavor, and I would like to share the one I have used for the last four or five years. Instead of reading the Bible in a year, I follow a program which covers the Bible in three years…and with help.

Pastor Nick Connolly of Kearny, NJ has written an excellent book to follow. It is titled The Bible Through the Seasons. He divides the readings like this:

Monday – Prophets
Tuesday – Old Testament
Wednesday – Psalms
Thursday – New Testament
Friday – Gospel
Saturday – Torah (the first five books)
Sunday – Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary.

The Revised Common Lectionary is used by many churches of all denominations world-wide so that people around the globe are reading the sames scriptures on Sunday if the lectionary is used in your church.

In addition to the book, Nick has a website,The Bible Through the Seasons, which gives the daily reading as well as the Firestarters which he writes for each reading…something to get our brains going. And they do.

I hope that some of you take a look at this approach to reading the Bible.

God bless you. Reading the Bible is a true joy.

Bible Breath: Breath the Word/Speak the Word

Carol

It has been an interesting month; however, one thing I saw today sorta captured my initial view of Wabash and crystallized it in a moment of beauty and wonder.

As I headed north on SR 13/15 toward church I was waiting at the stoplight at Canal St. There was a woman in a minivan facing me who had her right turn signal on. For those of you who know Wabash, Canal St is one way and that woman was about to be going the not One-Way which it is. The woman in the car behind her was flashing her lights and waving and then finally risked herself by getting out of her car and telling the first vehicle of the danger she was about to get into.

The banner on the front of “The Paper”, a political ad by an unnamed mayoral candidate, noted that Washington could learn a lot from Wabash. I am picturing some of our national leaders getting out of their cars to let someone know they are at risk. I am sure there are some who would, but for the most part, it seems a bit of a stretch.

In the long run, though, it is the Wabash’s that transform the world more than the Washington’s. That small act of kindness, or the woman who helped my wife at the laundromat when our well decided water was not a housing necessity, or the people who welcomed our youth minister into their homes, or the thousands of other Wabashian acts that rehumanized people and gave us all faces rather than the Washingtonian ethos of interest groups and partisan politics.

Jesus gave us all faces once upon a time when God enobled humanity by becoming one of us… when God re-imagined us and restored to us the image of God…. Because of this life in Christ, we all have faces again and are enabled to do the great work of God restoring the faces of those around us to the image of God in the–, the hope of glory, the evidence of beauty.

Where have you seen that restoration at work? Where have the echoes of God’s great work been alive in your life? Tell your story below….

Shalom,
Rev. Kurt Freeman
Senior Pastor, 1st United Methodist Church
110 N Cass St.
Wabash, IN 46992
Email: pastor.wabfirstumc@cinergymetro.net

Thanks to: Pastoral Care Department, K-Love Radio Network and Air1 Radio Network for the use of this information.

How to Study the Bible

The Psalmist declared, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.”(Psalms 119:105 NLT) His word lights the way, giving direction for each step (“for my feet”) and giving wisdom for long-range plans (“for my path”). Let God’s word guide, correct, instruct, lead, teach, and confirm, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.”
(2 Tim 3:16-17 NLT)

Practical:

* Start with prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of the truths you’re reading and for a greater hunger for God’s word. See Psalms 5:3

* Make a commitment to regularly spend time in God’s word. God commanded Joshua to “meditate on it day and night”. See Joshua 1:8

* Have a plan, a systematic approach to your study. It’s a lifetime endeavor so approach it with purpose. Our random, “God give me something today” approach while flipping open the Bible is not the best consistent plan. See Psalms 119:15

* Make it a priority by scheduling it into your day. The “if I have time today” approach doesn’t seem to work. Something always seems to squeeze it out.
See Psalms 90:12

* Have a notebook close at hand to write insights gleaned from your study.
See Proverbs 2:3

* Meditate on a text, read and reread. Meditate on it throughout the day, memorize key verses. See Psalms 119:48

* Conclude in prayer. Ask the question, “How will I be different today because of what I have just read?” Then ask God help you to live it out. See Ephesians 4:16

Principles:

These are some principles of interpretation to keep in mind as we are admonished, “Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 NLT

* Start with your favorite translation of the bible when studying and not a paraphrase.

NOTE: A “translation” attempts to communicate word-for-word from the original language. A “paraphrase” takes the meaning of a verse or passage of scripture and attempts to express the meaning in the “plain language” of today.

* Let scripture interpret scripture: Consider all of God’s word in regards to any topic. Refrain from isolating one verse and building a doctrine or position.

* Context is important – interpret a passage in the light of its context. Context is the portions of scripture surrounding the passage being studied, both before and after it.

* Language can be tricky. Interpret according the correct meaning of the words.
Some words change their meaning over a period of time. Use a bible dictionary to understand the original meaning and the grammar of a sentence.

* What’s the intention? Ask yourself “Why did the author write the text?” Knowing the purpose of the writing can help in interpreting texts.

* Interpret the scripture in the light of the historical, geographical and cultural background as far as can be known. There are many reference books that will help you in this process.

* With the help of reference books search out the literary form of a passage. Is it a narrative, poetry, teaching, prophecy, etc?

* While studying look for repeated words and phrases. These can have great significance in a passage.

Personal:

There are many tools and techniques available at your local Christian bookstores to aid and enhance personal Bible study. One such tool is called “journaling” and consists of systematic daily bible reading, along with writing a journal following the acronym S.O.A.P.

S for Scripture

Take time reading and allow God to speak to you. Highlight, underline or place a mark in the margin of your bible next to the scriptures that stand out. When you are done, reread the verses you marked, look for one that particularly spoke to you that day, and write it in your journal.

O for Observation

What do you think God is saying to you in this scripture? Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and reveal Jesus to you. Paraphrase and write this scripture down in your own words in your journal.

A for Application

Personalize what you have read by asking yourself how it applies to your life right now. Perhaps it is instruction, encouragement, revelation of a new promise or corrections for a particular area of your life. Write how this scripture can apply to you today.

P for Prayer

This can be as simple as asking God to help you use this scripture, or it may be a greater insight on what He may be revealing to you. Remember, prayer is a two-way conversation, so be sure to listen to what God has to say! Then, write it down.

Resources:

Many of these resources can be bought at your local Christian Book store or even checked out at your local library.

* A bible dictionary will define the meaning of a word in the original language.
* A concordance will help you locate other passages that contain the same word.
* Commentaries illustrate how other men of God have interpreted a specific text.
* Other bible translations or paraphrases: reading text stated in a different way may allow for a greater understanding of the passage.
* There are many online resources to enhance your study and provide tools to dig deeper into God’s word and enrich your study. Here is one to get you started:

http://www.biblegateway.com

May God’s blessing be upon you as you endeavor to be a faithful follower of Jesus, living out the command, “Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.”(Joshua 1:8b NLT) And may the promised blessing be yours; “…be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NLT

Bible Breath: WORD is Light/Guide our path

I know I am not the only person to whom this has happened, but it seems to me that it happens too frequently.

We make appointments for everything in our lives: the doctor, dentist, committee meetings, soccer, hair cuts, etc. We take these appointments and our commitments to attend them seriously. We need to make our daily appointment with God our highest priority and commitment. Can anything be more important than God? Why are we able to “put Him off” so easily? Let’s face it. If I have time to get my hair cut, I certainly can find time to read God’s Word and worship Him on week days as well as on Sunday.

Despite my age, 70, I am just beginning to learn to read the Bible and to understand it somewhat. I frequently make the error of thinking that reading the Bible is sufficient, but it is not at all. I find that even when I am paying attention, I tend not to understand what I am reading. I give too much emphasis to the words and not to the meaning or context of the words. I lack understanding.

I have learned this: the Bible cannot be understood without understanding the context in which it was written. In my opinion context is absolutely essential. If we do not understand the culture, history, social values, mores, of the various periods in the Bible, we can hardly expect ourselves to be knowledgeable about the meaning of the text.

What, then, is a person to do? I don’t know what other people do, but this some of what I have done. Now, I understand that this information can be acquired on a computer, but since I am a book lover, I submit the following books as a beginning:

1. The New Interpreter’s Study Bible. It has a wealth of information.

2. All the People in the Bible by Richard R. Losch

3. The Bible Reader’s Companion by Lawrence O. Richards

It seems to me that reading and understanding the Bible are just beginnings. We need to learn to pray the Bible so that it permeates our entire beings as well as enrich and enliven our relationship with God so He can work through our lives. Remember, we must invite God. He does not invite Himself into our lives.

Bible Breath: God in us/God through us