10-01-17

Tim’s Tidings

The feeding of the 5000… was it a miracle of God, a miracle of sharing… or both?

In some ways, the worst of Hurricane Irma brought out the best in us.

At a recent meeting of our spiritual and administrative board, the Session, elders shared some “bright spots” they encountered recently.  Believe me there were many!  The story I shared happened as Julie and I came back from evacuating to her parents’ home and it is a story of kindness that lead to a feast.

 

 As we were coming back, her stepfather gave us a 6-gallon gas can.  It turned out we needed some of that gas to make it because of the shortages and lack of power.  Once home, I started cleaning up and cleaned my neighbor’s yard too (we live in a condo so no big deal).  The neighbor came over and said thanks.  He asked if we would like to plug our refrigerator into his generator.  That meant food!  We were very grateful and gave our neighbor the rest of our gas.  Later, the neighbor came over and said he had some steak and hamburger but no grill and asked if I could cook it.  Soon thereafter, several neighbors came together bringing their “loaves and fishes,” and we had a feast.  Grilled steak, burgers, chicken, and seafood… pasta, sides, and even cheesecake for dessert materialized.  We sat together between homes where there was a cool (for Florida in September), gentle breeze grateful and full.

 

Who could have imagined this? 

 

Likewise, who could have imagined Jesus taking 5 loaves and 2 fish and feeding the multitudes?  Somewhere I suspect, was someone who was generous and offered the Lord what he had.  Scripture hints that it was a small child.  The rest is a multiplication miracle of epic proportions—5,000 men fed, plus women and children!  I believe that God had a big part in this miracle, but I have a hunch people responded to generosity in a way that begat more generosity, just like happened in my neighborhood after Irma.

 

Today is World Communion Sunday.  It is a day that hundreds of millions of Christians will break bread and share it because God gave what God had… God’s Son Jesus Christ.  Just think of the chain reaction of “bright spots” circling the globe that is happening right now.  Bread and cup are shared, and in that sharing, Christians gain strength to let our lights shine with generosity as well.  And the miracle in this is that it is in giving, we receive!

May the Circle be Unbroken,

Pastor Tim

 

09-24-17

Tim’s Tidings

Can Good come from Bad?  That is the hope as we clean up and make sense of the destruction of Harvey and Irma, as we adjust to life changing circumstances such as job loss, changes of location, recovery from illness and even grief.

Can Good come from Bad?

Today we look at the story of Joseph found in Genesis 37-50.  Joseph was one of the sons of Jacob who was specially loved by his father and specially gifted by God.  He had the ability to dream and interpret dreams.  His father made him a special “coat of many colors” which caused the jealousy of his brothers to mount and they plotted to kill him.  Instead they sold him into slavery, drenched his coat in animal blood and told Jacob that he was killed by a wild beast.  Joseph meanwhile rose to a high position in Egypt because of his ability to interpret dreams and his administrative skill.  He prepared the country successfully for a famine.  The famine brought his brother begging for food.  Joseph withheld his identity until he could no longer contain himself.  When the brothers found out that they, who plotted evil against him were at his mercy they were terrified.  But Joseph said, “do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…. So then it was not you who sent me here but God.”

Can Good come from Bad?

Think of a time in which a disappointment or setback in your life lead to something greater in the end? Share your story with a friend or two this week.

How might God be using the events that have happened in your life lately to benefit others?

What might you do to bring God glory this week?

Spend some time in silent prayer listening for God’s voice and direction.  God pieces us together in a puzzle where we are important to others.

Dear God,

Thank you for the grace to go on amid the storms of life.  Grant me to wisdom to discern your hand and to act according to your will in what I do and in what I don’t do this week.  May I have vision to see beyond the present to how “all things work for the glory of God in Christ Jesus.”

Be with those who suffer today from mental, spiritual, emotional or physical distress.  Use me to be an anchor during the storms of others until we experience the fair skies of your divine design.  Make me an instrument of your peace and understanding.  Amen.

May God use, guide and bless you to be a blessing,

 

Tim