Suprise!

By: Joseph Murdy
“God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.” Max Lucado

I can still remember the most magical Christmas I ever had. I was around five years old. We were driving home from visiting old family friends. I couldn’t wait to get home and go to bed. Do you remember trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve? Tough huh? On the way home I remember seeing a bright red light in the sky (now, I know it was an air plane tower). Driving in the car gave it the illusion that it was moving. It was Rudolph! Santa was on his way and I had to be in bed. I was afraid my parents had kept me out to long and we missed Santa. I raced to my room, put on my Steelers footie pajamas. I fell asleep as fast as I could. I don’t remember what I got for Christmas that year (sorry mom and dad) but I do remember the thrill of being surprised by Rudolph’s bright red nose.

Christmas is about being surprised. We’re surprised that we got the tree up on time. We’re surprised by what we got for Christmas. We’re surprised that uncle so-n-so showed up for the party. We’re surprised that we were able to cook that much and feed that many people. Are we surprised that God came into the world in the form of a baby? God was born through a teenage girl, placed in a feeding trough and held by human hands. “The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.” Does it still surprise you?

I am still mystified by God’s love and willingness to break into our world and save us. God came into our midst in human form, to laugh with us, cry with us, eat with us and to die for us. Keep Christ in Christmas; after all he’s still the biggest surprise the world’s ever seen.

Light

The famous painter Thomas Kinkade is known for painting light. He is able to capture the light in the sky or light radiating from a house. Kinkade captures how it reflects on everything that surrounds. Light doesn’t stay trapped. Light travels and even if we try to keep it confined if there is a crack in the wall the light won’t miss it.

Unlike light I am sure we’ve been in many rooms with cracks in the wall that we didn’t notice. Actually, there are lots of things that we miss. It may be opportunities, a little nuance from a friend or family member, the joy in a busy day, or something to give thanks for in the midst of a personal crisis.

During this holiday season we tend to become more aware of our emotions. We become more aware of the joy or sorrow in our heart. We reflect on the year and what we did or didn’t accomplish. As this is going on every Sunday a new light shines from the Advent wreath. As the light becomes more abundant and more radiant we tend to notice and reflect more on our own life and the people we love for whom we buy gifts.

Most people who notice a crack in the wall would likely think that it needed to be patched up and fixed. I am sure the light that shines through the crack doesn’t see it the same way. So it is with our life. The cracks that we have we may want to fix but God still shines. We each have a crack in us called Sin. That is why we celebrate this Christmas season with joy even if we are in the midst of pain. The light of the world, Jesus, takes our Sin and shines through it so we may be made whole.

Feeling stressed? Read this…

By: Joseph Murdy

Did you know:

• Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
• Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
• Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
• The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

Stress and worry when unchecked and out of control can consume our lives, our families, our relationships and even our very own health. The Bible gives a great deal of attention to worrying. Basically, to sum it up in a few words, “God’s got it under control!” Now, this is not to say that there are moments in our life where worry and stress are a normal and healthy response. In fact, “The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger.” Stress and worry is a normal part of life. The truth still remains, God has it under control!

The feelings of stress and worry are healthy reminders for us to pray and hand it over to God. God is in the moments of stress and anxiety, despite our reluctance to give up our right to worry. When we surrender our anxiety, God is able to free us and release us.

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more valuable then they?” (Matt. 6:25-26)
Some of the things we worry about can distract us from our daily lives. The point, which the Bible makes throughout, is that God will take care of us. We don’t have to worry about everything. If you were to make a list of things you worry about, put it away for a few weeks and come back to it later you would discover that most of the items on your lsit would no longer seem important. We waist precious time worrying about the things which God already has under control. Worrying can turn into a bad habit. We hold on to our worry thinking that we can fix it all. Give it to God, who already has it under control!

Here is an open invitation (no r.s.v.p. required) from Jesus, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Longing for the good old days...

How much of our time do we spend living in the past? Remember when our relationship was fun and full of life? Remember when the church was packed with people and our mission was moving forward? Remember when gas was only 86 cents. Remember when I knew my neighbors and could ask for a cup of sugar? Remember when we used to play in the dirt of the earth – use our imaginations to play instead of being plugged in a computer or video game? Remember before the twin towers were hit? Or Hurricane Katrina? Or the earthquake in Haiti?

Remember those days?

I mean what’s the future going to bring? This new generation doesn’t seem to honor God. They spend more time online than in real relationship. They don’t seem to walk through the doors of the church to worship. Violence seems to be on the rise and our morals seem to be changing…

When we speak this way, are we forgetting something?

I AM. No , not me – not you. God. I AM. Emmanuel is still working today, in this time, for the kingdom of God. As life changes do we testify with the words given to us through God? Do we make the world what it has always been? Was the past – the Kingdom of God? Are we testifying to where God isn’t or to where God is? Do we see the rubble of the Temple and continue to try to pick up the pieces and put it back the way it used to be?

Believe it or not the past wasn’t perfect either. The rubble of the Temple is a reminder that we need to rebuild. We don’t need to rebuild the Temple as we knew it. We need to build the Kingdom of God as reveled through Jesus Christ.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together (Isaiah 65: 25).

Now that is what the Church with a capital C is testifying. Let’s not get caught up in the rubble of the church. Let’s work for the kingdom today and God will not let a hair on our head parish – even if it doesn’t quite happen in the way we all imagine it will.

So together we pray, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." 7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" 8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. 9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Children of God

By: Joseph Murdy
This past weekend my wife and I watched a movie called, The Last Mimzy. The movie was great, but what struck me the most came at the end. A teacher was telling her students the story of what happened (throughout the movie) and how the human race had been saved. The students were from every corner of the world. It was not an all white cast, or Latino, or so on. It made me think about the world we live in and how segregated we still are. Not just in our society, but in our thinking. We live in a society where just about everything can be categorized or described by race. How we dress, what we eat, what we watch, where we spend Saturday night, even where we live. We look at people in terms of what group they belong to, not who they belong to. We are all children of God, made in God’s image and likeness.

Henri Nouwen once said, “To become neighbors is to bridge people. As long as there is distance between us and we cannot look into one another’s eyes, all sorts of false ideas and images arise. We give them names, make jokes about them, cover them with our prejudices, and avoid direct contact…we forget that they love as we love, care for their children as we care for ours, become sick and die as we do.”

As Christians, stereotypes are unacceptable. If we are made in the image and likeness of God, then there can be in reality no divisions among us. For in God there is no division. We are all the same in God’s eyes, and at the same time God made each of us unique.

Other than the guy down the street from you, have you given much thought to who you consider your neighbor to be? Henri Nouwen concludes his writing by saying, “Only when we have the courage to cross the road and look in one another’s eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family.”
In the movie we watched I was not blown away by the plot or story line, it was a simple image of the global community at peace with one another. It seems to me that the ideal Kingdom is not based on social status or racial distinction, but rather by what we all share in common together. All people have this one thing in common; we are all children of God.

Expectations

Have you ever had a day that unexpectedly turned out to be one of the best days of your life?

OR

Have you ever had a day when you expected it to be the best and it only turned out so, so?

Expectations rule our experience of the world and our relationships. Often when we get angry at someone or something it is because we have a broken expectation. The day that surprised you with joy most likely happened because you hadn’t expected it. The day you had high expectations they were most likely not met.

Throughout scripture the word expectation is only found 6 times, but the word hope occurs just shy of two hundred times. Hope is the belief in a positive outcome not an expectation of it. Expectation can lead to greed. Hope can lead to recognizing we are not the ones in control. Maybe it’s time to put down our expectations and rely on hope.

A Walking Bible

By: Joseph Murdy
Saint Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel always, use words when necessary.” I hope that it goes without saying, words are important. What we say can really raise people up, or bring people down. Throughout history words have been described as sharp, much like a sword. Words can be weapons or they can influence they way we preserve the world and those around us and bring about peace.

More important than words, is our actions. Our actions; pardon the pun, speak louder than words. For blessed Francis the Gospel was being preached in words only. The majority of leaders in his day (11th Century) were preaching one thing and doing another. Their message of the Gospel was falling on deaf ears. For Saint Francis preaching the Gospel was essential. However, he encourages us to act it out more often.

Do your words reflect your actions? Think about it. Does what you say mirror how you act around other people? We have a great BIG problem in the church today. Often people speak and act one way in church and act completely different in their lives at home, the grocery store, or at wal-mart. We are all guilty of bad tempers, prejudices, and materialistic. Thankfully, that is all behind us. My friends, we are CHRISTIANS. Baptized Disciples of Christ, whose very name we call our own. We must begin to speak AND act like Christians.

There are those who say, “We are often the only Bible some people will ever read.” If this is true, let us begin to show them what our pages really say.