As the waves crash in all around you, know that Christ is with you always! Join us this Sunday for the message of faith, perseverance, and joy. "Tough times don't last; tough people do!"-Robert Schuller 

The Spirit Helps Us In Our Weakness-Based on Romans 8:26-39

Several years ago, I went out on a little exploration of truth. I went to the bank and asked to withdraw a $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bill. The reason I did this was to see if the phrase “In God We Trust” appeared on every single bill. Seems like an odd request for sure, as my teller was hardly amused by this request. The teller laughed at me more when asked if I could acquire the $500, $1,000, and very rare $100,000 bills for further examination. Upon receipt, I looked over the bills intently and noticed the great men who appeared on the bills and sure enough, every single one of them was emblazoned with the phrase “In God We Trust.” Later in my exploration, I found out that it was an act of Congress in 1955 that allowed our currency to be labeled with this simple and very poignant message. However, I ask this of you, have you even thought about the significance of that statement? More importantly, how many of you believe it with your whole heart?

The spirit of God is with us in our times of weakness, and that is even more apparent in the world we live in today. A couple weeks ago, Julie and I were in the midst of traveling to Northern California for a long overdue vacation and visit with her family. Within 24 hours of our arrival in San Jose, word came across the news that four intense bombings had taken place in the metropolitan London area. A scary event in and of itself, except one of Julie’s cousins, and her husband were in London that same morning. They were in route to a local hotel on the famed London Underground when it suddenly stopped without warning. They smelled smoke and took it upon themselves and with the advice of the locals to walk along the rails until they reached the next station. As they departed from the station, they entered a cab and finished their trek to their hotel. Then the bombing of the double-decker bus occurred within earshot. As news spread to the states about what had happened in London, Julie’s aunt and uncle were worried as to whether or not their child was safe. After calling the hotel, the calm voice of Christina reassured her father that they were alright and out of harms way.

As believers of Christ, we know that there are tests awaiting us, not by Christ, but by the world surrounding us that is unaware of Christ. One of our natural inclinations in times of despair is to resort to some of the same tactics that “evildoers” impose upon us. We have a tendency to stare at evil in the face and lash out in anger, which is the opposite of what Christ calls us to do. Violence has a way of conquering evil, but loving the sinner until it hurts is the greatest response we can uphold. We can only pray that the people who committed this awful crime will be placed on trial and held accountable for their actions. In return, we as Christians need to reach out even more to those perpetrated these actions and enter into dialogue with them.

One of the problems we face in entering dialogue with other groups is that we don’t have the capable leadership to guide these discussions. One side of our leadership says that war is the answer, while the other advocates negotiation and international response. Confidence in leadership is another trial that we have to consider in our times of weakness. Every president has had to earn the confidence in the people, just as much as every minister of the church has had to do the same thing. As a body of believers and as a “:body politik,” we have to be prayerful when it comes to making the decisions that hurt the most. We have to be willing to deal with the difficult decisions ahead of us in an open and honest manner. At the same time, we must be willing to trust one another and work in good faith to make sure the work of God is being done right.

One of the reasons I have never entered the field of politics is that it is so easy to get caught up in the games and special interests of the day. One of my favorite politicians of old was Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neil from Massachusetts. Tip was raised Irish-Catholic in a rather working class section of Massachusetts during the Great Depression. A man of independent means, O’Neil was raised to be an independent thinker and one that looked out for the best interests of the people around him. Even when times were thin during the 30s and early 40s, Tip O’Neil did whatever it took to make sure his family had food on the table and a roof over their head. He was a hard working man whose faith guided him in every direction of life. When he stepped out against the Vietnam War and joined the protesters, he was chastised for being the flip-flopper of his day. He was unsure that he would be re-elected to the US House of Representatives, but won the race in landslide, because he told the truth when telling the truth wasn’t popular. His whole career was in jeopardy, but it was his faith in this time of weakness that carried him through.

We are being called upon by God to great things within this community and the world around us. Sometimes we have the tendency to worry whether or not we will live up to God’s will for our lives. We worry about getting into heaven. Regardless of these worries, God has a place for us. All you have to do is remember that Christ died for us, rose again from the dead and is now sitting at the right hand of God. It is Christ who intercedes upon our behalf when we are in moments of weakness. It is Christ we call upon in times of need and Christ responds in one way or another. What greater promise of love can there be for our lives? God loves us so much, that he sacrificed his own son to protect us from the things ready to sacrifice us here on earth! Does that mean that Christ will step in to protect you from getting fired? Not likely. Does that mean Christ will get involved in a divorce? No. But Christ will give you guidance through these life changing measures. It was Christ who fell upon the heart of this neighborhood and leaders in the community to address the issue of neighborhood crime. We now are seeing the fruits of this movement coming forward with intensity and achievement.

My friends, as we struggle with doubt and with despair, with personal and family problems, with neighborhood problems and the paralyzing fear of failure, as we acknowledge as Christians, Jews, Muslims, and members of every faith tradition that we have sometimes lost our way and fallen short of the original vision which laid the foundations of this country. We have the opportunity today to renew and to reclaim our trust in one another and in our leaders and in God to be and to become the people whom God has called us to be.

Maya Angelou, the great and African-American poet, went back to her hometown with the television commentator Bill Moyers to meet with a group of children in the elementary school that Angelou had once attended. Maya Angelou looked into the eyes of those young children, and she said to them with honesty and with humility, "When I look at you, I see who I used to be. When you look at me, I hope you see the person that you can become."

Friends, if we believe, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, that God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose, then we can know, we can trust beyond a shadow of a doubt that God's promise is being fulfilled in this nation and community today. It is a grand and glorious promise, a promise God intends to keep, the promise of his kingdom on earth and the hope of the American dream.

In closing, I want to share a prayer with you. It was written by the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, who spent more than 25 years of his life in a Kentucky monastery and who became well known for his popular books on theology and spirituality. But Merton also struggled like all of us to discern God's will and to trust in God's way.

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me, and I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire, and I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust in you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Segments were based off of “In God We Trust” by Rev. George Wirth, First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA.

Stairway to a New Life-Based Upon Genesis 28:10-19

In doing readings and research for this message, I began looking at the story of Jacob, not from the perspective of the ladder and the dream, but from the perspective of a person leaving home for the very first time. That is not to say that the dream and ladder aren’t important, because they are important to the larger message. However, if you look at the story at the very beginning and at the end, they are very different settings. As Pastor Bill discussed on Sunday, Jacob has one of the more colorful pasts of anyone in the Bible through the first 28 verses of Genesis. Here is the grandson of Abraham, and the son of Isaac, already a deceiver of his brother, accomplice to his mother’s conniving and future leader of Israel…leaving home for the very first time out of fear for his life. He is in the desert with the purpose of seeking out family for comfort when he comes to rest for the evening.

I don’t know about you, but most of the trouble I committed was when I was away from home for the very first time, and not while I was living with my parents. Many of you may remember your first taste of independence and freedom. It may have come after high school, by going away to college, or even some of you knew what independence was after a spouse passed away. Either way, that is when we have a tendency to lose our inhibitions a little and explore things that are good and some that are bad. For all intents and purposes, Jacob was not seeking anything related to God, but he was seeking out a sense of peace for his life. He knew that he needed to cut the umbilical cord and find a new way through life without the drama of the home front in his face on a consistent basis. He did like every good youth did and much like his grandfather Abraham, he went on a little road trip.

Jacob can be considered the black sheep of this family, for all of his actions. He would not be the one granted a blessing, but he would be the one who could lead people better than his brother. He had many talents and strengths that God must have noticed, because God came down to visit him in his sleep and show him that even though he was wrong in many aspects of his life, that he was still chosen by God to lead his people. What is amazing is that many of us have experienced God in some of the same ways. We have been in the midst of trouble within our lives and have found God waiting for us to respond. Jacob’s life is now determined and guided by the will of God and not the bad influences around him, namely his own mother. Instead of a guided and planned journey with his family, he embarks on a journey without any kind of direction, except the direction of God.

As humans, we have the ability to make things happen, for good and bad. However, it is the hand of God that ultimately allows us to shape humanity for good or for bad. God is the subtle power from behind the scenes that makes things go a certain way. God allows Jacob to make a journey through life, so he can be shaped and molded into a man of God, before he can become the owner of the promised land. In the same way, God acts through our lives. We are able to grow up in a loving home and taught the basic necessities of life, but it is through our experiences that we are truly connected to Christ. We come to know about life, not only through our book smarts, but also through our street smarts. Life and seeing life in a different perspective, is what allows us to grow and mature in our relationship with God.

How many of you have some kind of sacred space, or a reminder of some sacred area? Just as Pastor Bill keeps reminders of things that are sacred to him, for Jacob, his discovery of God is marked with the blessing of the stone at Bethel. For him, he was finally awakened to the awesome power and purpose for God in his life. Where is the spot where you were find by God? For me, there are several places. Dover Place Christian Church is one of those spots, a river bed in Christian County is another place for me, and also the many beaches of California are where I feel like Christ found me again after wandering around trying to find my purpose in life. What is amazing about Jacob’s dream, is that we need to look beyond the dream, but also look at this as a rebirth.

Jacob fell asleep as a person filled with a history of drama and controversy, but awakes as a new person. He has been baptized with a new vision of God and an anointing by God. Only God knows why he chooses some of us to continue on his will. It is amazing to me that he selected the least likely figure to do so. A figure who was very much human and sinful, but it sets an amazing precedent throughout the Bible of ordinary men who in turn lead millions to know God and then Christ. David the Shepherd, becomes King David. Saul of Tarsus the leader of killing Christians, comes to know Christ in a vision and becomes Paul, the greatest evangelist of the Christian world. God has a way of using ordinary people such as you and me to do great things in this world.

Even within our own society, you can look at the achievements of Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. All of these men came from pretty basic backgrounds and emerged as leaders of the free world. Each man comes with his own faults and successes, but they are men of faith who have worked diligently to bring peace, prosperity, and hope for millions of people who suffer on a daily basis. The life of a former president used to spent in isolation and quiet, but these men have shifted the paradigm of former president being an elderly statesman, to a statesman who continues to bring change in the world. Despite their age and infirmities, these are men, who were anointed with power and prestige. They use this gift not so much for the betterment of their own personal lives, but for those who don’t know the amazing power of God.

You are being searched for by God to continue his promises and his will. The average person who has a pretty checkered past, may be the one called to lead others to know Christ better. There is no better time to know Christ than on your knees. However, whatever blessings Christ bestows upon you, remember the time, place, and event where you were brought to know Christ better. Revisit the areas where Christ found you. Take a reminder with you, such as a stone, a grain of sand, or even a flower. Jewish tradition allows for stone pillars to be built as a sign of remembrance and honor for a blessing. Placing a stone on a Jewish tombstone is a symbol of remembrance for those who have passed on. We need to leave our mark, our anointing on those who are seeking Christ.

Just as God has reached out to us, we need to reach others. Some of the greatest leaders of the church are those who are students of life and continuing students of life. They are the ones who have lived life as it was given to them, but are no longer satisfied looking for that next quick fix. They are the ones ready to establish roots and make a full time commitment to Christ. Let us be the ones to reach out to the and give them peace.

Sorry for not updating the blog for almost a month, however we have had some interesting worship take place that was prayer oriented and experiential. There was a watermelon social one Wednesday as we look forward to National Night Out in August. More importantly for me, I was able to take my first vacation in 2 years to Northern California, where I met Julie's family. Really neat experience and lots of fun to boot. The next update will occur within a week.