4/7/10- Job 14:25-27 The Redeemer Lives to Give Hope

25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 14:25-27)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtU1c5JZf0k (click here to hear Handel's "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth"- Lynne Dawson)

(Job and wife- Albrecht Durer 1500- 1503)
 
Job had faith in a living redeemer. God is, in the face of suffering our only hope.  Evil (and suffering) is not just a Christian problem it is a human problem.  Some (Hindu) pretend it isn't there (maya- suffering is an illusion or dream); Some teach us to embrace it but not be absorbed in suffering or love (Buddhism); Some teach us a kind of fatalism- that it is God's will to be submitted to (Islam);  Some teach us to have a stiff upper lip (Stoicism); Some tell us to give up- that it is meaningless and chaotic (existentialism); Some say that evil is pain and we should do everything we can to alleviate it here for we don't know that there is any hope beyond death (secular humanism); Some tell us nothing except that God is not there to redeem us (atheism).  These are human attempts at handling a common problem. 

Christ tells us that we are to do all we can to alleviate suffering, and that there is indeed evil in the world.  We are called to resist evil where we can, to pray against it.  But our faith also tells us there is hope in the midst of suffering.  The resurrection is a living symbol that not only does suffering end, but there is completion and joy on the other side of ultimate suffering.  To know that we have a redeemer, that He is alive (not dead), and that we will see this rescuer with our own eyes is a great comfort to the human predicament. For me, this tells me that God is not only love, but is also powerful enough to help us- to ultimately redeem us from our suffering.
 
Prayer: Lord, life is so hard sometimes.  Help me not to be blinded by suffering, but to always have hope that we will indeed see you as our Redeemer with our own eyes.

4/5/10- The Resurrection of the Dead Job 14:12-15

12 so they lie down and do not rise; till the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused from their sleep. 13 "If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. (Job 14:12-15)

Job hints at the resurrection with a bit of uncertainty.  He hopes for eternal life, but has not basis to do so.  The resurrection is not only a doctrine, but a hope.  It is not a hope based on wishes, but based on witnesses- 500+. When people suffer, they want the suffering to end, but they wish their bodies would be renewed too.  Jesus raised several from the dead- but they died again.  But he was raised from the dead into eternal life, and invites those who follow him to have that hope.  This hope does not take away from this life, but adds eternal meaning to what we do, say, and think now.  Without the resurrection, our actions, our best accomplishments are soon forgotten, and we have no hope. 

Prayer: Thank you Lord, that one day you will call- like a trumpet, and I will be raised.  Thank you for this hope that gives me strength in the face of suffering, and meaning in the face of the problems of life.

4/5/10- Easter Egg John 10:10

I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

(Left- picture of dove eggs laid outside my deck on Good Friday).

Eggs have for centuries been seen as a symbol of the resurrection.  The egg is a symbol of potential life and hope.  But it is also a kind of tomb- inside the egg the bird cannot see, cannot fly, cannot move much.  The bird must hatch out of the egg in order to experience life.  Christ was placed in the tomb, but the tomb could not contain him.  He broke out and is alive forever. 
The egg also symbolizes our own lives.  Without Christ we are alive as a baby bird is inside an egg- with potential life.  But when we experience Christ we are able to fully realize what life is about.  Jesus came that we might have meaning, purpose, and hope in life.  Abundant and eternal life, does not begin after we die, but now.
In Greece eggs are colored crimson to remind the people of the blood of Christ that takes away our sins and allows us to live.  In the Ukraine and Poland, eggs are decorated painstakingly (using the pyanski method).  An egg is a beautiful symbol of new life for us. In the Jewish Passover (seder) tradition, an egg is there to symbolize how persevering through suffering.  The words at the seder meal is "all other things when boild become soft,but the egg become hard."  We are to be like the egg, tougher in the tough times. 
But for Christians, the symbol of the egg is not just to persevere, but that there is an ultimate award- life beyond the tomb.

4/4/10- Meaning of the resurrection for us

4/4- Easter I Peter 1:3-9


3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Thoughts: This is a reflection on what the resurrection means. The resurrection means that God is able to change us- to give us new birth. Even now the resurrection changes our life by giving us a different perspective on the pains and problems of life, and by giving us hope that even death and pain will not triumph in the end. Peter also is a realist, and recognizes that for now we have to “suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” These trials test and refine our faith as gold is refined in the fire. Peter speaks of our trials as part of our salvation, for they are purifying us for the presence of Christ.


Prayer: May your resurrection power give me hope and strength this day, Lord.

Sunrise worship on the lake- 931 Sugarmill Rd. (Wessinger-lft on Old Lexington; lft on Jake Meetze; rt on Old Forge; rt on Sugarmill); Boats welcome!
Worship at Lake Murray Presbyterian 8:00 (dialogue sermon) and 10:00 (sermon, communion and full choir).

4/3- Easter Eve- Bury Our Weakness in God's Power

4/3- Great Vigil of Easter I Corinthians 12:7-10

(Rembrandt, descent from the cross- pictured himself in the picture)

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.



Thoughts: It is comforting to know that even the great apostle Paul had difficulties that stuck with him. There are different theories about what this thorn was, but I think it had something to do with his eyes, for he appears to have had vision trouble throughout his life. He prayed for relief- over and over, but did not get it. His thorn in the flesh was not removed, but festered, reminding him that this life is temporary, and giving him more cause to long for heaven and the redemption of his body. But Paul recognized that when he was weakest, he was able to see Christ’s strength more clearly. He delighted that God used him despite his weakness. On this day in which we remember Christ’s burial, let us bury our weakness in the power of God, as a seed is buried in the ground in hopes of the resurrection.



Prayer: Take my thorn, O Lord. But if not, take my weakness and show your great strength. May you be glorified through my pain.

4/2/10- Good Friday

4/2- Good Friday Isaiah 53



1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the laughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Thoughts: Isaiah 53 more than any other passage, gives us an image of the spiritual suffering of Christ on the cross. It describes the suffering servant who was sacrificed for us- a lamb given for us. On him was laid the iniquity of us all. By his wounds we are healed. It is this that we should remember when we suffer. Christ came to heal us. By his wounds we obtain the assurance of ultimate healing, the healing of forgiveness. No pain can wipe that healing out- only we can turn away from that hope. God has not forgotten our suffering, but has provided a means for healing for us.



Prayer: Lord, by your wounds, I am healed. Help me to not forget that. In my daily pain, give me hope from your sacrifice.

4/1- Maundy Thursday John 16:20 Grief turns to joy

John 16:20- Very Truly I tell you- you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grive but your grief will turn to joy.

Jesus said this right before his arrest (on Maundy Thursday). There are times when we are grieving, or sick, and sad and we do not understand the laughter and insensitivity of the world.  When we are bearing our cross, some actually make it heavier to bear.  Yet, even in the midst of persecution and grief, there is still hope.  Our grief (our crosses) will turn to joy (our resurrection).  Put your hope in God.

Today- our web page http://www.lmpchurch.org/ is down.  I suspect some kind of virus attack (on holy week).  Yet the truth of the gospel lives on.  I always say- things must be special if you're having special persecution.

Tonight at our church the Invisible Children of Uganda are coming.  Dinner is at 6:00 with a seder celebration afterwards; then the invisible children will give the program, and we will have a communion and tenebrae service.