There is a time for everything

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

Where Do We Go From Here?

Where Do We Go From Here?

When I fly fish, I find that the hardest part of the whole thing is giving myself permission to do so. My family gives me permission; they encourage me to go.     They’re not the problem: it’s me.  I have such a hard time just getting out there.  But, when I do...I’m really there - I’m home.

The drive takes time.  The donning of my waders, the assembling of the rod, even putting on the vest - that takes time.  The walk takes time. Sliding down the hill finding the best way into the river, that takes time.     

But when I enter that water, oh it’s so different.  I’ve finally made it, and sometimes all I want to do is stand there. The feel of that river pushing against me is wonderful.  To hear the birds, smell all the odors, to feel the cold of the water seeping through my waders, it makes me feel as if I’ve finally made it home. I become renewed.

So it is with us Christians. The effort to go to church, to attend various groups and activities are tough to do sometimes.  But, when we get there - we’re home. It’s so important to return to the source.  It’s more than just going to church; it’s more than attending meetings and fulfilling obligations. It’s about touching the hem of Christ’s garment.  It’s receiving what He wants us to have.

What does he have in store for you? Have you received enough?  Is there more?  This is a great time to find out.

Know yourself and your neighbor will know you.

Know yourself and your neighbor will know you. - a Scottish proverb

Around 1981 I attended a Cursillo. A “short course on Christianity” - a short, but very intensive retreat that was held at Stonehill College, Massachusetts.  
                                                  
It was a moving, overwhelming and befuddling experience.  This was largely due to the fact that it was given by Catholics to Catholics.  I was a  new Christian with very little understanding of what others believed or what they were doing when they did it.

One of my friends and mentors, a Catholic priest named Phil Kelly, had come to attend the closing celebration of the retreat. At this service, a priest came in from another room with the Eucharist. He then put the host in a cross and after doing so he turned the cross toward us. As the congregation crossed themselves, Phil leaned slightly forward as if drawn, he held his hands toward the Eucharist and quietly and reverently spoke the name: “Jesus.”  He worshiped Him - right there, right then.

At that very moment, and ever since, it became different for me.  Jesus was present, alive, near me, in me.

By manifesting his faith Phil taught me. By looking inside himself, he saw Christ in the eyes of others.  Indeed, he said he couldn’t pass a hitchhiker, because he felt that if he did this he was leaving Christ on the road.  “What you do to the least of these, you do unto me.”  This is so hard for me to do. I often want to ignore others, to let them be.  

Christ asks me - He asks us to be different.  He asks us to be a contradiction to the world.  He asks us to love, nurture and embrace His creation.  We are to be His lights, His beacons.  As we allow Him to change us, we become living evidence of hope, love and forgiveness. Often without even knowing, we radiate Him.

Great things are happening around us. Christ wants us to be looking deeply within and without - sometimes with fear and trembling, often with joy and wonder.  We are a people of hope, As we seek to grow in Christ, and listen as we pray, we will hear his Word. In doing this our neighbor will know us.

He said, "Peace be with you"

They were alone. Huddled together, they sought strength in each other. Clinging to one another, they traveled at night, in the shadows, quietly. The world seemed to hate them now, and everyone seemed to know who they were; they didn’t know what to do. They had already blown their careers, given up their homes, and lost their old friends. Then he came to them. He looked into each of their eyes and said, “Peace be with you”. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. He said, “As the Father sent me, now I send you”. It hasn’t changed much since then. He’s still at work. So are we.

When Jesus was crucified, his disciple’s thought it was over, when he appeared to them - telling them to go into the world and preach the gospel - they knew it had only begun. They faced a hostile world that showed no love or respect for the truth.  Still, Jesus worked miracles through them. They bore the Light into the world.

It’s no different now. Our world seems more sophisticated - it changes its methods in alienating God’s children, and we still have His work to do. Christians have no less a burden to present Christ to the world now as they did long ago, but He is with us when we do, until the end of the age. All we have to do is ask for Him to enter our lives and personally shape us. As potters go, He’s the gentlest of all.