Sunday, December 30, 2012

Oh, It's A Necktie





Matthew 11:2-5

When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"


 




        Today is the First Sunday in the Season of Christmas.  Christmas is, after all, a season of 12 days, beginning with December 25. 

Of course, if it was not for the song, “On the 12th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me….” we not know anything about the 12 day season of Christmastide.  For us, December 25th is the first and last day of Christmas.

        So for the most part, our Christmas is done.  Some of us have even taken down our trees and decorations.

        We have opened our gifts and thrown away the wrapping paper. 

I suppose we all open gifts differently.  Some of you may open a gift delicately and gently.  Me, I like to rip it open.  Save the bows!  Bah!  Toss the bows and ribbons away!  Who needs to save the bows and ribbons!  Just let me see what’s inside.

        Oh.

        It’s a neck tie!

        Just what I wanted.  Thanks.

        Have you ever noticed that when someone opens a present – there are two ways they can respond.  One is to say “Wow!  This is great.” 

        The other is to look at the gift, and then say what the gift is.

        Ah - It’s a mop.

        It’s underwear.

        It’s a tie.  What in the world would I do with a necktie?


        Once in a while, you give a gift and you get the feeling that the person receiving the gift is not that happy with what was received. 

        Now if you think this is new, think again.  Go back to two thousand years and you will find that people were disappointed with the very first Christmas gift.

        The first Christmas gift was, of course, Jesus Christ.  Given by God to the world.

        Now there are some people who will tell you that no one has ever been disappointed in Jesus Christ, but take a look at the reaction to John the Baptist.

        John the Baptist was at best “concerned” about Jesus being the Christ.  And at worst, he was “disappointed” that Jesus was the Christ.

        John the Baptist had a vested interest in Jesus being a successful Messiah.

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for Christ.

        John the Baptist was in the dessert and at the Jordan River, preaching and baptizing, and telling people to be ready for Christ.

        John the Baptist was the one who baptized Christ in the Jordan.

        John the Baptist watched Jesus begin his career.

        He listened to others report on what Jesus was doing, and what he was saying.

        And now, John is in prison!  John has put his career, his reputation and his very life into Jesus, and Jesus is not what he expected.

       

        And John was disappointed in how Jesus was turning out to be the Messiah.

        For John the Baptist, the Messiah was going to judge the good and the evil and throw the evil into an unquenchable fire.  Instead, Jesus came and said things like, “Blessed are the merciful.”[i]

        John the Baptist liked to point fingers at people and say things like, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to run from the escaping wrath?”[ii]  And in contrast, Jesus warned people, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”[iii]

        You see, when John the Baptist was called by God to prepare the way for Jesus to be the Messiah, he probably got real excited, thinking that God was finally going to “fix” the world – and “fixing” the world meant bringing judgment against “those” people.

        And as the popularity of Jesus grew, John the Baptist began to get nervous.

        And maybe disappointed in Jesus.

        And eventually John sent some of his followers to Jesus to ask the bold question, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

        In other words, John doesn’t look at Jesus and say, “Wow, this is great!”  Instead John the Baptist looks at Jesus and says,

        “Oh, he’s a peacemaker.”

        “Oh, it’s someone who will show mercy instead of casting someone in the fires of hell.”

        “Oh, it’s not someone who will “fix” my enemies by destroying them.  It’s someone who tells me to love my enemies, and to pray for them.”

For John the Baptist, it is as if it is Christmas Day, and he opens the box and says, “Oh, it’s a necktie.”

It may well be that John had just a moment of hope, a moment of temptation, when he sent the question to Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

Maybe John was hoping that Jesus would say, “Yes, expect someone else.”

But instead, Jesus gives proof that he is the Messiah, by saying, “The blind receive sight” -- well, John the Baptist never expected the Messiah to do that!

And Jesus says, “The lame walk.”  -- well, John the Baptist never expected the Messiah to do that!

And Jesus says, “those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor!” -- John the Baptist never expected the Messiah to do that!

What about throwing all the evil people into that fire?

Not a word.


The greatest gift of Christmas is Jesus Christ, and there is a danger that we might be disappointed in that gift.

Disappointed in Jesus Christ?  Us?

Maybe.

When you picked up the newspapers last week and learned that a gunman had gone into an elementary school with multiple weapons shooting and killing the children and teachers, were you disappointed that God and Christ would allow that to happen?

In Syria, the fighting goes on and on.  There is no end in sight.  Are you disappointed that God and Christ allow war and violence to continue?

The doctor tells you that you have cancer.  Are you disappointed that God and Christ would let that happen to you?

Someone you love dies.

You lose your job.

Your kids fail in school.

Your parents are mean.

Your spouse cheats on you.

Are you disappointed in Christ?

If you have ever been disappointed in Christ, I can tell you right now what the problem is.

How many of you here, when you get a new toy for Christmas – maybe a cell phone, or an IPod, or a PDA, or GPS system, or something…  How many of you – before you turn on the new device and try to operate it -- read the instructions FIRST. Raise your hands.

How many of you read the instructions only AFTER you turn on the new device and can’t get it to work?

If we have ever been disappointed in Christ, it is because we need to go back and read the instruction book – the Bible.

Have you ever been disappointed that God in Christ did not do what YOU wanted him to do?

The Bible never says that Christ is here to serve you, but rather, we are here to serve Christ.

Time and again, we see the phrase in Scripture, “Serve the Lord.” 

In Psalm 100, we read, “Serve the Lord with gladness.”

In I Samuel, we read, “Do not turn away from God, but serve the Lord.”[iv]

In Colossians, we read, “It is the Lord you are serving.”[v]

You see, in our contemporary, self-centered, self-seeking culture, we expect to be served.  We expect God Almighty to wait on us.  We fall into thinking that God’s purpose is to serve us and to make us happy.

We forget that it is the other way around.

We are here to serve God.

We are here to serve Christ.

We are here to serve, not to be served.



We expect Jesus to listen to our prayers and do exactly as we say.  And he doesn’t.  And we might become disappointed.  But what He does for us, is what is best for us, but not necessarily what we WANT.

We want Jesus to wipe out the evil people around us.  But Jesus does one better - Jesus calls us to love those people and to be at peace with them. 

We want Jesus to change the world for our liking.

But instead, Jesus changes US to be at peace with this world.

If we have ever been disappointed in God or Jesus, it is not because they have failed us.  It is because we not understand.

And if we remain faithful, we will find that Christ is so much better than we ever expected.


[i] Matthew 5:7
[ii] Matthew 3:7
[iii] Matthew 7:1
[iv] I Samuel 12:20
[v] Colossians 3:24

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Bread






Matthew 2:1-12
1        After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
2        and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3        When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
4        When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5        "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6        "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
7        Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
8        He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9        After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10      When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
11      On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
12      And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
(NIV)






It is hard for some of our younger people to believe, but hotels and restaurants used to discriminate against customers on the basis of race or religion, and they did so openly for many, many years.

The story is told that during those unfortunate years, a Jewish lady named Mrs. Rosenberg tried to get into a hotel that did not admit Jews. The desk clerk looked down at his book and said, "Sorry, no room. The hotel is full."

The Jewish lady said, "But your sign says that you have vacancies."

The desk clerk stammered and then said curtly, "We do not admit Jews. Now if you will try the other side of town..."

Mrs. Rosenberg stiffened noticeable and said, "I’ll have you know I converted to your religion."

The desk clerk said, "Oh, yeah, let me give you a little test. How was Jesus born?"

Mrs. Rosenberg replied, "He was born to a virgin named Mary in a little town called Bethlehem."

"Very good," replied the hotel clerk. "Tell me more."

Mrs. Rosenberg replied, "He was born in a manger."

"That’s right," said the hotel clerk. "And why was he born in a manger?" Mrs. Rosenberg said loudly, "Because an idiot like you in the hotel wouldn’t give a Jewish lady a room for the night!"

We know the story of Bethlehem, and what happened there.

Joseph and Mary are from Nazareth, but there was a census being taken.

They couldn’t register online.  Nor could they register in their current hometown.  They had to travel to Bethlehem to register because that was the home of Joseph’s family.

They arrived and the little town was so full of travelers that there was no room for them in the Inn.


But, of all the cities, towns and villages in Palestine why did the Lord God choose such an unheard-of hamlet as Bethlehem for the birth of the greatest figure ever to enter into human history? If a site selection committee had been appointed, the name of Bethlehem probably would have never made the list. There are all kinds of important reasons to favor another location.

The city of Hebron, for example, played an important role in the beginning of Hebrew history. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and later David were associated with Hebron.

On the other hand, Jerusalem is an even more logical choice. Six hundred eleven times the city is mentioned in the Old Testament. For centuries, from the day David captured it from the Jebusites to make it his city, Jerusalem was the center of religious and civil life in Israel. The magnificent temple of Solomon was there. The royal palace too. Our site selection committee would be hard pressed to find reasons to deny Jerusalem the privilege of welcoming the new king. But Jerusalem fails to make the cut.

There was always Nazareth, too. This is a logical favorite because it was the home of Mary and Joseph. It offered the most in convenience. Life could go on as usual for Joseph, Mary and Jesus surrounded by relatives and good neighbors. No interruption in the daily flow of activity.

So why Bethlehem? By the ancient Prophet’s own words Bethlehem "was small among the clans of Judah" (Micah 5:2 NIV). For whatever the reasons, Bethlehem never rose to a position of prominence in its entire history. Two events stand out in its history, though. It was here that Israel’s great and ideal king, poet, and hero, King David, was born and grew up. Before that, a most beautiful love story, the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz in the Book of Ruth, took place.

But for the most part, people came and went in Bethlehem with no sense of destiny for many years. This notion of obscurity is captured by a verse from one of the favorite songs sung during the Christmas season…

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above the deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;

Bethlehem’s beginning dates back into the dim past of history. It had lain still in a "deep and dreamless sleep" for nearly two thousand years before shepherds came to seek a babe lying in a manger or Magi from the east were led by a star and bowed to the new king. Why wake it now? Well, let’s look at the name itself. Bethlehem is a Hebrew word. The name literally means, “house of bread.” And I think this is significant in 3 ways.

1) Christ was born in Bethlehem, "the house of bread", to identify with the common man. Jesus was not born in the house of royalty, nor the house of riches, nor the house of celebrity. Jesus was not born in Jerusalem, or in Rome, or in Athens, or in Alexandria.

Jesus was not born in any political, commercial, cultural, educational, or socially significant city of the day. When Micah, the Old Testament prophet, foretold the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, he emphasized its lack of significance to the world. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. " (Micah 5:2)

Bethlehem - "The House of Bread". Bread is one of life’s most common things. God wanted His Son available to all. His birth was announced to shepherds, the common man, but not to King Herod. His cradle was a manger, an animal’s feeding trough in a lowly stable. You don’t have to be rich to know Him. You don’t have to be well-known or popular to know Him. Just be you. Jesus came not for the religious, for the ones who thought they were alright, but for the ones who were aware of their needs.

2) Christ was born in Bethlehem to satisfy our spiritual hunger. Jesus said, " I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)

Bread is a good comparison to our Lord because He satisfies, gratifies and strengthens us spiritually just as bread does physically. Many are eating at the wrong table. Isaiah 55:2 says, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

It is easy to get caught up in searching for meaning in life from the wrong things because there are a lot of things that bring temporary happiness. But only Christ satisfies the eternal dimension of the human spirit.

Christ is all the soul of man needs for spiritual satisfaction. That fact that Jesus was born in "The House of Bread" gives us confidence that God does indeed want to choose us to be His children, no matter how insignificant we may seem to ourselves or to the world around us.

And lastly, 3) Christ was born in Bethlehem to show us that each of us must choose him as Savior for ourselves. If one person eats a meal, it doesn’t satisfy any other person’s hunger.

The Bible says that "we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Cor. 1:17) That "one bread" is Christ. He is the only bread that offers life and the decision to receive Him is an individual one. And He invites each of us to partake of His presence today.







Copyright 2012, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved. 
For copies of other sermons, visit www.Pittendreigh.com



Sunday, December 16, 2012

No Wake Zone???




Exodus 14:10-15

As Pharaoh approached,
the Israelites looked up,
and there were the Egyptians,
marching after them.

They were terrified
and cried out to the
Lord.
They said to Moses,
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt
that you brought us to the desert to die?

What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Didn’t we say to you in Egypt,
‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?
It would have been better
for us to serve the Egyptians
than to die in the desert!”

Moses answered the people,
“Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see
the deliverance the Lord
will bring you today.
The Egyptians you see today
you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you;
you need only to be still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to move on.


Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us,

 fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
 
As you know, I’m moving to a church in Orlando soon.  Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church is a wonderful church – it has to be to pull me out of Chapel by the Sea!

I really appreciate how supportive all of you have been in wishing me and my wife well in our new venture.  You have all been very gracious.  I know, a few of you are upset that I’m leaving, but I know you’ll get over it and you will love the next pastor who stands in this boat.

So here I am packing my office, cleaning computer files, and pondering the things that have happened the past few years. 

There are things I will never forget about Chapel by the Sea.

God’s Table has been a great experience.  Throughout the week days we serve breakfast here at the church for the needy and the homeless.  Every morning when I walk up to Chapel I look at what you are doing here and think about Matthew 25:
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Among the first members who joined Chapel after I came here were my wife and a woman who was a participant at God’s Table.  She had lived a hard life.  She had worked as a stripper in a night club.  She was an alcoholic.  But she joined our church and shortly after, as often happens with the folks at God’s Table, got a job and moved to another community.  I lost track of her until about a year ago.  She emailed me and said she had been sober for 3 years.  She was employed and living in a nice apartment.  She had just been elected an elder in her church. She said she found God at God’s Table.

Great memory.

Of course, not every memory about God’s Table is good.

Kickstand!

Yep, those of you who know Kickstand can tell where I’m going with this.

A lot of the participants at God’s Table have these wonderful beach names – Cowboy, Tin Can, Taco Man --- Kickstand.

I guess Kickstand got that name because he had a metal artificial leg.  He came into church one Sunday morning carrying a big, big cup of vodka – from which he had already been drinking.  He sat on the front row.  He began to get comfortable and took off his leg, began to wave it around and started talking to himself.  He did a few other things and I was just about to stop the service.  But then Chuck came up and handled him ever so gracefully.  Chuck is a great sexton and this church is blessed to have him.  Chuck helped Kickstand pull himself together - put his leg back on and with the help of an elder, escorted him out of the sanctuary and into the office.

Yep, things like that are hard to forget!

            There are other things I’ll find more pleasant to remember.  When I arrived here at Chapel I found an engineer’s report on my desk about the crumbling foundation under this sanctuary.  Everyone told me we had years to deal with this, but not so.  Hurricane Charley may have hastened the deterioration of the columns under this building.  Things were so bad that one engineer said we were within six months of seeing this beautiful sanctuary collapse. 

            Talk about a challenge – how do you raise $300,000 in the depth of the worst recession in a lifetime, to fix something no one can see, and that no one will be able to tell was repaired after the project was done.  But we had a great team of elders and members who made that happen. 

            Good memory.

Last year, on Christmas Day we walked out of the Chapel and walked across the street where we had a baptism on the Gulf of Mexico.  Not every Presbyterian minister gets to do something like that.

And last summer, at the end of our Vacation Bible School we again walked out of the Chapel and crossed the street – this time to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion on the Beach.  What a great day.

And what other church would celebrate with such gusto my favorite holiday of the entire year?  Only Chapel by the Sea could hold those great parties on International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Vacation Bible School – whose idea was it that I had to become Pastor Pandamania?

A trip to Guatemala to visit our sister church.
All of the parades, the ways we’ve observed Veterans Days, all of the Chapel Chats, I could go on and on. 

But ---

I have a confession to make.

It has not always been a great day to be at Chapel by the Sea.

My most difficult conflicts came out of one of those decisions I didn’t think much of at the time.  We had an opening on our church staff, Personnel Committee interviewed some individuals, we made a recommendation to the Session.  That was a good decision, but giving that job to one person meant others did not get a job, and one of the people who did not get a job was an atheist.  A wonderful person, but one who did not believe in Christ, or God, or many of the things we hold dear in our faith. 

I thought that was a no-brainer in not hiring that person.  How could you hire an atheist to direct a Christian program?  And yet, I’ve never had people angrier at me.  It led to some serious conflicts.  Conflicts happen in the best of families, including the church, but I never saw that one coming.

We had a baptism this morning – what a great day!  I have loved every baptism I’ve done – whether it is in the Gulf of Mexico, or at the clam shell.  But I also remember the baptisms we did NOT do.  A year or so ago, I had a request to do a baptism.  The request came from a woman who wanted her grandchild baptized.  She was not a member of Chapel and had never attended here.  I asked her why she wanted the baptism here and not in her own church.  “I don’t go to church,” she said.  “I don’t believe in any of that God or Jesus stuff.” 

Then why have your child baptized?

Well, it’s a nice tradition.  You get the family together and Chapel by the Sea is such a lovely church and we’ve hired a professional photographer for this wonderful Kodak moment.  Besides, we have my great grandmother’s baptism gown and if we don’t do the service soon, my grandbaby won’t fit into it.”

I looked at her and said, “You know, when I baptize a baby I baptize in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It sounds like you’d be just as happy if I baptize your child in the name of ‘baseball, hot dogs and apple pie.’”

Without any hesitation she said, “Whatever.  One is as good as the other.”

We did not do that baptism.  It saddens me.  Not that we didn’t do it – that was a good decision.  But it saddens me that people would so misunderstand the Sacrament of Baptism.  It’s more than a simple little nice tradition.  It means something.

Now in case you haven’t noticed, there is a thread that weaves its way through all those memories.

The good memories are Jesus-centered.

The not-so-good memories are of those times when Jesus was left out.

The good memories have a focus on Jesus.  A baptism in the Gulf of Mexico was a neat and fun thing to do, but to see an 11 year old in tears and to listen to him thank me for that moment, moved me to tears.  That meant something to him.

To repair the foundation of this church was important.  After all, I’m standing in the place where the worst of the damaged columns was located and I would have been the first to go had this building collapsed.  Yes, that was important work, but to see the Capital Campaign Committee come together as a church, to see people in the community give donations because they believed in what we do here. 

We can look back at Kickstand and laugh and smile.  It’s not every day that someone comes into your church and begins to dismantle himself limb by limb.  But that is a good memory because a member of the church staff and an elder of the church not only escorted him out, but treated him with grace and dignity and love and spent time with him afterward.  It was a Jesus centered moment.

Even something silly like celebrating International Talk Like A Pirate Day was not just an opportunity to dress like a pirate and talk funny.  You can do that down at Time Square around the pier.  When we did it here we were the church getting together and enjoying a spiritual fellowship.  It was a Jesus centered moment, and that’s what made those parties so wonderful.

Pretty soon, I’m going to leave Chapel by the Sea.  When I pronounce the Benediction at the end of the 10:00 worship service on Sunday, January 20th, that’s it.  I will no longer be your pastor.  But I will be your friend and as your friend I hope I will hear that you continue to live the faith – that you will be Christ-centered.

I have three words to share to you as I prepare to leave.

First – be Christ-centered so that all of your future memories will be good ones.  Keep your focus on Christ.


Our New Testament lesson gives us good instruction:

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us,

 fixing our eyes on Jesus,

It is easy to take your eyes off Jesus.

It would have been easy to hire an atheist to direct a Christian program.  It would have been easy to baptize someone who did not believe in God – it was hard to say no to any baptism.

And it was hard to treat a drunk with grace and love.  It was hard to save this sanctuary from collapsing.

But keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

My second word to you for your future is keep moving!

Forward!

That is what we find in both the Old and New Testament lesson.  People of God have to keep moving.  You here at Chapel have to keep moving.

In the Old Testament, Moses has led the Hebrews out of Egypt.  They have gotten as far as the Red Sea.  That’s when the Egyptians come riding over the horizon.  It is a frightening moment. 

The Hebrews turn to Moses and begin to complain.  They tell Moses, “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians.’”  Now of course, they did not really say that, but they are rewriting their own history to suit them in that moment. 

Moses speaks like a man of faith – “Don’t be afraid.  Stand firm.  The Lord will fight for you.”

Now that sounds like a great thing for a man of faith to say.  “Don’t be afraid.  Stand firm.  The Lord will fight for you.”

Sounds good – but that is NOT what God wants.

God tells Moses “Stop praying and get moving!”

With great faith, the people of the Old Testament had to move toward the Red Sea BEFORE the waters had parted.

To be a people of faith, you have to be moving.  Or in Hebrews, you have to be RUNNING.

As it says in the New Testament lesson, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…”



I have to tell you a story. 

I was visiting the Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church to meet their search committee.  They showed me around their church and they took me into their Sanctuary.  They invited me to try out the pulpit.

I have to tell you, it’s not a boat.

And I shared with them that having preached in a boat for a few years, I’ve developed a bad habit – a mannerism.  I have tended to rock back and forth – almost like I’m at sea.  I’ve been trying to break myself of that for a few months, but I still catch myself doing that from time to time.

One of the members said that I should put a sign in the pulpit that said, “No Wake Zone.”  You’ve seen those signs – they are there to protect the manatees and to force the boating traffic in a congested area to move at a slow, safe speed. 

“No wake zone?”  I don’t think so – that’s NOT the kind of sign you want in a church where people might need a jab in the rib cage to wake them up!

I was thinking about that this week and I’ve decided I don’t want Chapel to be a No Wake Zone.  I want you to be on the move.  I want you to be running the race.

You’ve got momentum going here – keep it going.  Don’t stand still.

Keep yourselves alive and fit. 

To reflect from those words from the New Testament lesson, “Run the race, fixing your eyes on Jesus.”







Copyright 2012, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com