Tag: Church of Jesus Christ

THE SON IS SHINING

As we undergo this extended quarantine due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, we find ourselves with ample opportunity (the rare opportunity) to be alone with our thoughts more and to engage in more intentional reflection and prayerful contemplation. And thankfully, because we live in sunny Southern California, our social distancing is not as claustrophobic as it is in cold grey areas of our country. So, we also have the opportunity to be outside as we use this extraordinary period of quarantine to meditate upon the Word of God in the Holy Bible and to prayerfully wrestle with the deep questions of faith and life. (I recommend any of the following biblical books:  the Book of Genesis, the Book of Psalms, the Gospel of Matthew, the Book of Acts, the Book of Romans, the Book of Hebrews, the Book of First John.)

In a way our whole society is entombed right now, awaiting a return to normalcy. But for people of faith, the eventual reopening of society can be much more than a mere return to what was before. For us it can be a kind of resurrection, a renewal of spiritual life, and a rededication to participating in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the ministry of his amazing gospel. Furthermore, as I am generally a very ecumenical person, I hope and pray that this renewal will be the case within all denominations throughout our nation — for we are a peculiar nation that has always acknowledged God (in a nonsectarian way) as the fundamental basis and very foundation of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As we sing in “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”…

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills.
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

In addition, as we are going through the budding and flowering of Spring, transitioning toward Summer, I’m mindful of the passage of the times and seasons of our lives. Consequently, the beautiful song from the musical Fiddler On The Roof called “Sunrise, Sunset” also comes to my mind. It is a song specifically about the passage of time as it relates to children and family, but it’s also about the passage of all the times and seasons of faith and life. The following is an excerpt of the lyrics of this song…

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as they gaze

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

Truly, so very swiftly flow the days and so very swiftly fly the years of this life, calling us to savor each and every moment, and causing us to reflect on the life to come when we pass on from this world of “happiness and tears.” This is especially true when a loved one is nearing death. At that particular season of life (a season of tears) we contemplate our place in God’s universe and our ultimate heavenly destiny granted to us by the grace of God in, with and through Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord.

Therefore, according to the faith, hope and love of Christ, the Christian believer is able to reverse the song “Sunrise, Sunset” to “Sunset, Sunrise.” This is because of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross for our sins and because of his glorious resurrection from the dead on the third day. In other words, through the Son-set and Son-rise of Christ our Lord, we can live this life with the deep inner joy of the living hope of forgiveness of sins and resurrection life. For as it says in First Peter…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice,even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

First Peter 1:3-7

Thanks be to God for the risen Son of God! Even though we are going through dark times of sunset due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, the grace and truth of the gospel is that the Son is shining upon us now and forever. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ Is Risen! Pastor Tim

IN GOD WE TRUST

When we were little children, we viewed our parents through an almost entirely positive lens.  They could do nothing wrong in our eyes.  When we became adolescents, we viewed our parents through an almost entirely negative lens.  They could do virtually nothing right in our teenage eyes.  And periodically during adolescence, teenagers will slip in and out of a childlike orientation toward their parents as they grow.  However, if we had a loving set of parents, we matured to later realize as adults that our parents are basically good and decent people despite their various imperfections.

In a similar way, our United States of America has arguably been in its adolescent phase of development in recent decades as our national life has been marked by a great deal of adolescent-like negative angst about our national history and heritage.  So while some view our USA as virtually doing no wrong in the world, there are many who now view our USA through an almost entirely negative adolescent lens. 

Of course, the truth is that there is no such thing as a perfect nation.  All nations have negative aspects to their histories and present realities.  Yes our USA is not perfect, but our history and heritage are not a horrible travesty either.  The USA has been, by far, and continues to be, by far, a great blessing to our world.  Therefore, it is indeed right that we should have a healthy sense of patriotism for everything that is good and laudable about our national founding and history and heritage.  While acknowledging the bad historical aspects, and learning from them, we uplift and give thanks every Thanksgiving for the good historical aspects of our nation above all else, and it is these many good aspects of our nation that our national symbols (especially the US Flag) point toward and represent.

As we are on the brink of the yearlong Presidential campaigning season for 2020, I believe it is important to be mindful of the fact that our national inheritance is truly a great good — although we have at times failed to live up to our highest ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Federalist Papers.  I also believe it is important to remember that, as our two national mottos declare, “In God We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum” (meaning “out of many, one”).

In his book Mere Christianity, the great Christian author and lay theologian C.S. Lewis wrote the following… “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”

As the people of the Church of Jesus Christ, we know this wonderful statement by C.S. Lewis to be most certainly true of both individuals and entire nations.  So no matter what, we recognize that it is in God that we place our trust and hope, first and foremost, because our first citizenship is in God’s universal kingdom of grace and truth.  As it says in Philippians 3:18-20… “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And we also ought to recall the following biblical admonition from Psalm 146:3-5… “Do not put your trust in rulers, in mortals, in whom there is no salvation. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. Happy are those whose salvation is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”

The font of life and salvation is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Therefore, no matter the outcome of this next year within our national life together, let us always remember our first citizenship in God and our true salvation in, with and through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In God We Trust!  Thanks and Praise Be to God!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Together in Christ,  Pastor Tim