Sunday, May 18, 2014

What is Heaven Like?




John 14:1-4



14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”








When I was a young teenager, I got my driver’s license.  I would get in the car and drive all over the countryside.  One day, I came across a place along US 25, somewhere in either Greenville or Greenwood County, SC.  There was a beautiful oak tree, perfectly shaped.  The power lines were on that side of the road, but when they came to that tree, the power lines crossed the road, continued for a few poles, and then the lines crossed again.  I told my Dad about it and he remembered when the power lines first went up on that road.  The owner of that property sat in a chair, shot gun in hand, and dared anyone to trim that tree – so the local utilities felt it was in everyone’s best interest, to spend a little extra money on a few extra poles and avoid damaging that beautiful tree.

It was going to be there forever. 

When the road was turned into a 4 lane road, there was a slight curve in that road.

That tree was going to be there forever.

Several days ago I posted on Facebook something about that tree and asked if there was anyone in that part of the country who remembered that tree.  A couple of my high school buddies who are now married drove by it on Friday and took a couple of pictures that they sent to me.

That wonderful, beautiful tree is now nothing more than an ugly stump.

A few years ago it was struck by lightning.

It’s dead – dead as can be!


Even trees die.

Everything dies.



For several weeks I was able to look through my telescope and see a galaxy, far, far away.  It is the galaxy M 82.  It is 11.5 million light years away.  One of the stars in that galaxy blew up. It became a supernova.  For several weeks, months even, there was one very, very bright star in that galaxy.  Now, it is fading away.  You can barely see it.

The star died!

Our own star will someday die.  It won’t blow up into a supernova, because it is not massive enough to generate that sort of instability.  After all, our sun is just a tiny little thing.  But someday it will use up all of its hydrogen and will burn helium for fuel, thus becoming a red giant star, and the Earth will be sucked into the sun.  We only have 5.4 billion years left!

But – everything dies!  Even Earth!

But don’t worry about that!  After all, in a mere 4 billion years, our galaxy will collide with the Andromeda galaxy, and there is a 12% chance that our solar system will be torn apart by other gravitational influences.

But that is the way it is – everything dies.  Even stars and galaxies.  Oak trees don’t have a chance. 

Hmmm, mmm!  Don’t you love these uplifting sermons!

In the Old Testament, Isaiah 51:6, it says, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.”


         Well, at least there is some good news.
        
One day, I will be dead and gone.  And so will you.

But my soul – and I trust yours as well - the essence of what and who we are – will be in heaven.



Now let’s be honest, it’s one thing to talk about the eventual death of our sun in a few billion years, but to talk about our death, which could come at any moment, makes us uncomfortable.

Comedian Woody Allen said it best when he said, “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens to me.”

But beyond our moment of death – have you ever given any thought toward that?  What happens when we die and go to heaven?  What is heaven like?

First, Heaven is a place beyond our ability to comprehend.  What we would like is a travel brochure or a map or some photographs to show us exactly what heaven is like.  Jesus said in today’s reading, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you.”  Great.  Can have a floor plan of that?  No – we don’t have that.  We cannot conceive of heaven. 

I can conceive of the distance of 2 or 3 miles, but I when I think of a million miles?  That’s beyond my ability to comprehend.

I can understand having a credit card debt of $100.  But a national debt of trillions of dollars?  Between a trillion and a billion I can’t conceive.

To imagine heaven?  That is impossible.  And the reason it is impossible to comprehend is because it is so much better than anything we have experienced.

I’ve had a good life – I can even imagine it getting a little bit better -- but Heaven is so far, far better than any of my experiences that I simply cannot conceive with my limited imagination what it is like.

         In recent years, with all of the progress we’ve witnessed in technological advances in medicine, people have been brought back from the brink of death.  It is not unusual for us to us to hear that someone on the operating table was dead for a short time, and then revived.  Occasionally such people recover with extra-ordinary memories about their experiences.  There is even a movie currently in the theaters about one young boy’s supposed experiences.  Perhaps some of you have had such experiences.  Those who have, often say that it is difficult to describe such events – we do not have the vocabulary with which to describe the incomprehensible. 

         Of course, others question such experiences and suggest that such experiences are due to nothing more than oxygen deprivation. 
         To which I would reply, so what?  We base our faith on one thing – the Word of God.

         Near Death Experiences may give us inspiration for our faith, but we do not base our faith on such stories alone – we base our faith on the Word of God.  And the Bible tells us what Heaven is like in I Corinthians 2:9, which says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

2.
Second, having said that Heaven is beyond comprehension, we can say that it is a place of joy.  We might not be able to fully comprehend how much joy there is, but we can say that heaven is a place of joy. 

In heaven there will be no disappointment or pain. Death will be no more. Sorrow and sighing will flee away.  We are told this in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. (Isaiah 51:11).  

The Bible teaches us time and again about the joy of heaven, and no where is this more clearly stated than in Revelation, when it is said that God will “wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

3
But this is not to say that heaven will be a dull place.  Heaven will be interesting and exciting because we will never stop growing spiritually and intellectually. We will understand things in new ways, for Paul in I Corinthians says this:  “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

4
What is heaven like? Heaven is a place of fellowship. Many people have expressed concern to me about whether they will know their loved ones in heaven. Everything in Scripture points to the reality that we will know each other, and even know each other better than we do now.

         In the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapter 25, verse 8, it says, “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

Now, you might say that “gathered to his people” meant that his corpse was put in the family cemetery, but take a look later in the Old Testament.   King David is facing the illness of his son.  He prays for God to heal his son, but when the son dies, David gets up and goes about his business, accepting the child’s death with uncommon strength. (In 2 Samuel 12:23), the people worry about David.  Perhaps he is in denial.  But no.  David says confidently that the child will never return to David, but he goes onto say, “Someday I shall go to be with him.”  David expected to see the child again. 

I know that when I die I will see my sisters, my parents, my grandparents, my friends who died before me. 

5
The final point about Heaven is that we should not be anxious about it.  We should have faith and trust in God.  Death is a difficult process, filled with fear of pain and the unknown, but for the faithful, these fears should not be related to whether or not there is a heaven or about what heaven is like.

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. . . . I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:1-6).






Copyright 2014, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

The Abundant Life



John 10:1-10

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.



         Are you happy with your life? 

         I’m not asking if the things in your life are good.  I’m not asking if your situation is great.  I’m asking about your state of mind about your life.

James Thurber, in his delightful story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,   tells about a man who is constantly day dreaming about a better life.

         One moment he is, in reality, driving down the highway, listening to his nagging wife, and the next he is in a fantasy world, commanding a ship at sea.
        
One moment, he is standing in front of a store window smoking a cigarette, the next he is again in his fantasy world, a hero smoking his last cigarette as he prepares to face an enemy firing squad.

         There is a real contrast between Walter Mitty of the real world and Walter Mitty of the fantasy world.  In his fantasies, Walter is heroic, brave, decisive, intelligent -- while in reality, he is meek mild person who is constantly hen pecked by a nagging wife.

Poor Walter Mitty -- anyone who reads the story can't help but feel sorry for him -- he wants so much to be something he's not.  He wants so much to have something MORE out of life.
        
But Walter Mitty is not alone.

         Paul Simon, in one of his songs, wrote,

         I know a woman, became a wife,
         These are the very words she uses to describe her life.
         She said a good day ain't got no rain.
         She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
         and think of things that might have been.

         Many of us are so dissatisfied with life that we often find ourselves like Walter Mitty, dreaming of lives that are not our own, or like the woman of Paul Simon's song, who sits in bed and thinks of things that might have been.

The tragedy of this is the universality of the problem.

So many people are so discouraged about their lives.

In another of his songs, Paul Simon wrote



I don't know a soul who's not been battered,
I don't have a friend who feels at ease.
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees...
When I think of the road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong.
I can't help it,
I wonder what's gone wrong.

         For some many people, life isn't what they would like for it to be.  Jesus understands that feeling very well.  In our New Testament lesson, he made the bold declaration that he had come to change all of that.  He declared that he had come to give ABUNDANT LIFE!

         Abundant Life!
        
I doubt seriously that Jesus was talking about abundance of possessions, abundance of savings, abundance of money, abundance of clothing, abundance of cars – or in his time, chariots. 

He was talking about the real things of life - a life that is filled with peace, love, joy, patience, and  all of the other good qualities of life to such a degree that he never runs out.  One never runs out of peace, because he has more than enough within his heart.   One never runs out of patience, There is always enough love and joy.  One is living the Abundant Life.

         What an idealistic and unrealistic concept. When one first considers it, such a perfect life as this seems totally far fetched and completely out of reach.  Few people would dare say that they are living the Abundant Life.  The sad fact is that many people, if they are truly honest, would admit to living just the opposite of an Abundant Life.   They would admit to living an empty, unsatisfying, inadequate life.
    
Years ago there was a movie with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.  The name of the movie was   PAPILLION, and it was about a man named Pappillion who had been sentenced to spend the rest of his life on the prison on Devil's Island.  During his time there, Papillion got into enough trouble to be thrown into solitary confinement for one year. There being so alone for so long, Papillion's mind began to play tricks on him.    He began to fantasize.
      
Before long he could not tell fantasy from reality.  
      
One night Papillion saw himself walking through the desert.  There he came upon 12 men seated around a 13th man, who was sitting a little higher than the rest.  This represented the Judge and Jury who had tried Papillion found him guilty of a murder, and sent him to Devil's Island.  Papillion became very upset and went to the Judge and yelled out at him, "I'm innocent!  I'm innocent of the charge that you convicted me of."  The Judge looked down rather apathetically and said, "Yes we know.  We knew       all along.  But you were guilty of something far worse than murder.  You were guilty of living a wasted life."
        
Papillion barely hesitated before responding, "Yes, I'm guilty, I'm guilty of wasting my life. There is nothing more tragic than a person who wastes his life, who lives an empty unsatisfying, inadequate life.  Such people go through life wondering if it is worth it to go on.  They continually seek for the answer to the meaning of life.  They search for purpose and goals, but never find them.  Such people rarely experience joy.  Instead of peace, they are constantly at war within themselves.  Instead of love, they have a terrible feeling of loneliness.
        
But what were those words from the Scripture reading this morning?   Jesus came that we might have life, but only inadequately
   
No.... that is not what....the Word of God says.   It says that Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly.
   
The Abundant Life and the Inadequate Life.  Two very different life styles1 one very opposite for the other.
   
And yet, many do not experience either of these two life styles.  They do not experience the totally empty wasted life--Nor do they live the idealistic perfect, ABUNDANT LIFE.
   
They find themselves somewhere between the two, somewhere between the totally empty and the totally full life.  Perhaps this is where most people are, living a life that is JUST adequate.

   
In the life that is adequate, there are many happy times.   There are times of love. There are times of peace.  But there are also times of depression, fear, loneliness, and confusion.  This is perhaps the most dangerous type of life style, because it is possible to grow content---hoping that in the final analysis, the good times would outweigh the bad.  And being content, a person night fail to reach out for something better, for something more than just adequate.

   
But what were those words again that I read from the Scriptures?  "Jesus came that we might have life, so that at least we could have it adequately"?  No it says that He came to give us Abundant Life.

   
The abundant life.   The life in which one has all of the fruits of the Spirit;  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-discipline, and has them to such a degree that he or she never runs out.  There is always more that what is needed.
   
Idealistic?   Perhaps.  Out of reach?   No -- not for the Christian.
        
Jesus himself promised us this type of life to us, so we can all be sure and know that we can indeed live life in an abundant way.
   
And so the question is --  How can we begin to live life abundantly?
   
It is good at this point to take another look at the Scripture. Jesus was telling a parable of sheep being cared for and led by the shepherd.  It is clear to us that Jesus was speaking of his followers as the sheep and of himself as the shepherd.

         In order for us to receive the abundant life, we must become sheep of the shepherd, who is Jesus Christ.

         This, of course means that we must first of all be Christians.   In order for us to be Sheep of Christ, we must enter the way of life that we call Christianity.  We must receive Christ as our Savior.
    
By receiving Christ as our Savior, we have eternal life, but not necessarily abundant life, especially if, after having received Christ, we continue to live, unproductive, undisciplined lives.  If we are to receive the full blessings of our Christian lives, then we should let Christ be, in addition to our Savior our Shepherd:  Answering his voice as he calls us and entering the gates of life which he opens. We need to become obedient sheep, committed sheep, trusting in our Shepherd, Christ. The abundant life CAN be ours, and it IS God's will for us to live it.
    
Now mind you, the abundant life is not the idealistic life that it may sound like.  Friends and relatives will still become sick and even die.  It will still be possible for tragedy to enter our lives.  Financial problems will not stop....even though we live the abundant life.

         So what then is the difference between living life abundantly and living life adequately?

            It is a matter of a way a person is able to approach life.  It has to do with a state of mind.
           
God does not always change the situation in which we live life. Very often, however, God changes us and the way we approach the situation.


            The Abundant Life does not always make everything that is around us peaceful, but it does give us the ability to be at peace even during times of hardship and tragedy.
           
Our living the Abundant Life will not change the way OTHER PEOPLE live.
       
Our enemy will still be our enemy, mistreating us, and giving us a hard time. But it will help us to love then and to be at peace with them.
        
As Christians, we have eternal life.   We have a quantity of life that continues into infinity. Let us also live an abundant life, a quality of life that God would have us to live.
  




Copyright 2014, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved. 

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Open Eyes





13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been

A few days ago I thought about my baseball glove.  I hadn’t seen it in a while.  Not since moving here!

I asked my wife about it.  She suggested I probably threw it away or gave it to Goodwill.

No – that would not be possible.

I started looking for it in the garage.  It wasn’t there.

My wife said, “why would you keep it?”

Are you kidding – a man doesn’t throw away his baseball glove.

Thursday, 2 am, I sent my son a text message. 

“Do you know where my baseball glove is?”

He texted back – “Yes, I took it.  I have it.  Go to sleep.”

I can’t tell you what a relief it was to know that my glove was safe.    

I think I have had this same glove since 1964 – what was that?  Ten years ago?  Wait.  That was 50 years ago!!!! 

I remember playing baseball in the neighborhood where I grew up.  One of my buddies hit the ball and I reached out with my glove and missed it!  That ball went right toward a car that happened to be at the intersection nearby.  Thankfully, this was in the day before all cars were air conditioned and that ball went sailing right through the open windows.  It’s a good thing it went through the back windows and not the front! 

I remember that like it was yesterday.

I remember on another occasion playing baseball at the YMCA.  I loved that place as a kid.  I was in the outfield and the other team hit a homerun – or it looked like a home run.  I ran all the way to the fence and caught that ball – barely had a hold of it.  But we won that game that day.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Mostly I remember after supper my Dad would sometimes ask if I wanted to go outside and toss the ball for a while, and we would.  We would just stand there and throw it back and forth and have the most marvelous conversations.  Sometimes he would use those times to quiz me on my multiplication table, or my spelling words.  And sometimes we would talk about space travel, which was new back then.  Or we would talk about what I wanted to be when I grew up. 

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Years later, I would often ask my son if he wanted to go outside and toss the ball around for a while.  And we would have the best conversations – or we would be silent, but we’d be together.

When my Dad died, I found that tossing the ball with my son caused all these wonderful memories about my Dad to flood into my mind, almost to the point of bringing tears to my eyes.

When I tossed that ball with my son, it was a way of remembering the way I had tossed another ball with my Dad.

In a little while we will participate in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  Holy Communion.  The Eucharist.
       
 But --- why?
       
 Why is this such an important part of who we are as Christians?
        
What is this meal all about?  
        
We do it, in part, to remember.

Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, in a section that comes just before this morning’s reading from Luke, there is a familiar story.  Luke talks about how on the night in which Christ was betrayed, he met with his disciples for a meal.  After the meal, he took the bread and broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:9)

Remember.

How do we remember people and events in our lives?

If you want to remember something or someone, what do you do?

You might take photographs and put them in an album.  From time to time, you take the photo album out of the cabinet and open it and look at the photographs – and you remember.

Or you might keep a lock of hair from your child’s first haircut.

Or you might buy a souvenir and whenever you see it you remember that wonderful day you had in Paris.

Or you might do it through a tradition of some sort.  A simple activity.

Tossing the ball with my son helps me to remember my Dad.

Jesus didn’t have baseball back then, but what he did was take a ceremony that was already an important part of Jewish culture.

He and his disciples were not just having a meal on the night in which he was betrayed.  They were having the Passover meal.  That’s a big deal.

In our culture, we have our Thanksgiving dinner – or Christmas dinner.  But in Jewish culture it was the Passover meal that was so important.  It was a great feast.  It was a time to be with family and friends.  And it was a time to remember.  For Jews, they were remembering how they had been in Egypt.  The Lord passed over the homes of the Israelites and struck down the Egyptians, allowing the Israelite slaves to escape their slavery (Exod 12:24-27)

But on the night Jesus was betrayed, while he was still with his disciples, he gave this meal a new meaning for Christians.  He called on us to celebrate this meal and to remember how we were able to escape the spiritual slavery of sin, and how the bread is for us the body of Christ broken for us and for our salvation, and how the wine is to be for us the blood of Christ poured out for our redemption.

But the problem with memories is that you get stuck in the past.

A wife grieves over the death of her husband, and day after day she sits in her chair remembering.  

Just remembering.

A high school graduate goes off to college and finds it to be a lonely place.  He sits in the dining hall day after day, alone, not making new friends, but remembering the buddies who are at other colleges far away.

Just remembering.

On the other hand, some memories motivate.

“Remember the Alamo!”  It was the motivational cry to Texas patriots over a century ago.

A couple of weeks ago, the Boston Marathon was held.  One of our own members, Scott Porter was there as a participant.  Watching the marathon from afar it was clear that many were remembering the tragic marathon of last year.  Remembering helped their grieving process, but it also became a rallying motivator that the criminal acts of a few would not destroy the tremendous goodness of a whole city.

We are not made to live in the past, and when Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance,” he is not saying, sit there and just remember, just vegetate and live in the past.

In the reading from Luke, Jesus has communion with the disciples he meets on the road to Emmaus.  And then, reflecting on this after Jesus leaves them, the disciples say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  And what happens then?  Luke says, “They got up and returned to Jerusalem at once!”


They didn’t sit there and say, “Ah memories, wonderful memories.”  They got and got moving and they went out and changed the world.

This Sacrament is not just a way of living in the past and remembering what happened long ago.  It is also a means of being nurtured by the past for the present and the future.

Our reading from Luke’s Gospel is an interesting scene.  It is, on the surface, a story of two disciples walking along the way.  They encounter the risen Lord, but they do not recognize him until, in the words of the Gospel “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”
       
        There is something about this meal that has the power to open the eyes and to give passion to the hearts of those who receive it.  I can’t explain it.  I simply know that it is true.
       
        Years ago, I was in a nursing home to give the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to one of the shut-ins of the church.  The poor woman had no grasp of reality at all.  She thought I was her son.  She thought the elder with me was her husband. 

        I took the bread and the wine out of the small kit that I carried and began to prepare the nightstand next to her bed as a sort of Lord’s Table.  As I began the service, we had prayer.  When I began to recite the familiar words of institution, her eyes became very sharp. 

        The elder read a portion of Scripture and when he finished, said, “This is the word of the Lord.”

        Without hesitation, the old woman replied, “Thanks be to God.”

        When we prayed the Lord’s Prayer, her voice was clear and every word rolled off her tongue with ease.

        I took the bread and gave it to her, and then the wine.
       
 For one brief moment, her eyes were opened.  Her heart was on fire for the Lord.  The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper served in a small nursing home had the power to break through.

        When the service was over, her mind was once again gone to whatever place it had been.  I was no longer her minister, but her son, and the elder was her husband, and she had no clue where she was or even what her name was.

        But every time we went to the Nursing Home, until she died, the serving of the Sacrament had the power to open her mind to the clear presence of Christ.

        It doesn’t always happen that way, but at every Communion, SOMETHING powerful happens.  It happened on the road to Emmaus, and it can happen today. 


Copyright 2014, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.