LCPC 2017 VBS Prayer Train to Peru

LCPC’s (La Crescenta Presbyterian Church) 2017 VBS is five weeks away and our Children’s Ministries Director Ashley Pollock has put out a call for prayer with a weekly emphasis. As you’ll see over the next several weeks, it’s all about the kids. This year’s theme is ‘Passport to Peru, Discovering God’s Good Gifts’. During the few days before VBS opens up, classrooms will start to look like rain-forests and teachers will be getting amped up after collecting treasures to add to the experience for the kids. (don’t let them fool you though, they love treasure hunting for the kids)

Calvary’s Thread is extending and supporting the call to prayer for VBS – the kids, the teachers, and the behind-the-scenes volunteers. I’ll be working as the third grade storyteller and I’m already getting pumped up. So folks, hop on board the Prayer Train to Peru.

Our emphasis in prayer for this week is that the children will understand that God cares for us like a shepherd and He knows what is best. Pray for the kids to be receptive and open and pray for the teachers to open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, our Helper and Teacher. Pray for Christ’s love to be evident in every interaction.

Our scripture verse for day 1 is 2 Cor. 1: 4 (I’m adding verse 3 for reference): “³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (NIV)

Our story reading for day 1 follows, I'm using the New International Version (NIV):

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

    ²He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

    ³he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

    for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk

    through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

    for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

⁶Surely your goodness and love will follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

    forever.

You are invited to pray over these scriptures and make them your own and to pray that the Passport to Peru leads us to make it our own at VBS.

In His grip,

Jer-Bear

Passion or Obligation? That’s a Question.

photo courtesy of graphicstock.com

Ever done anything, no matter how good and noble, out of a sense of obligation and passion for it was never in the same room with you? Or even the same Zip Code? There is a numbness that comes over me when I let that happen. Joy is not a part of the task and a task is what it becomes. There is no joy in the equation and energy is not a multiplier in the formula for getting it done, I just slog through to the completion. I know I’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s and something is still missing when all is said and done and I know someone can tell. I can tell. And when it’s done there is a sense of relief.

On the other hand, when an obligation, even a disagreeable necessity, is taken on with passion the outcome is different. The t may be barely slashed and dotted i’s off kilter and still somehow the results are more satisfying. People can tell the difference. I can tell. And when it’s done there is a sense of accomplishment.

What is the difference between a task taken on because of obligation and without passion and one with? Love. Love for the task or activity or a love for the beneficiary infuses the outcome with life and even the onus, or the disagreeable necessity, is lite and fulfilling. Jesus, as he so often does, says it very well, ²⁸“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30, NIV)

The Passion of Jesus is generally defined as the short period of time from Jesus's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and culminating with his death on Good Friday. This culmination was the most disagreeable task God has undertaken and it would never have had its intended effect without passion. Jesus was passionate about doing everything the Father showed him and completing every task the Father laid in front of him, no matter how onerous.

Picture Jesus strolling along into Jerusalem, shuffling his feet, head down, and barely avoiding bumping into everyone while his disciples wondered in without anticipation because their Christ had no passion. Every once in a while he’d reach over and touch somebody and mumble, “You’re healed, go your way.” See Jesus ambling up to Caiphas’ place and rapping on the door and saying, “Hey bro, I’m the Christ, Son of God. I hear you want me dead. Let’s get this over with.”

Do you see? Without Jesus’ overwhelming love for everything the Father said and needed done, the sacrifice wouldn’t have worked and maybe would never have taken place. Without Jesus unfailing love for his disciples they never would have gotten it, the Church would never have been born and we wouldn’t be eagerly awaiting his triumphant return and we'd be without salvation.

When it comes to those things we know we need to be doing for God’s Kingdom, all those things we need to do as servants and ambassadors for Christ we need to make sure that our furnace is stoked with passion. Things we need to do for our churches, our families, and our friends need to be backed with a love that allows us a satisfying outcome lest all our accomplishments be in vain. We must love the Christ and do all things as unto him even when we are doing them for the least in our world.

Notice back in the first paragraph where I said, “…when I let that happen”. It is ultimately up to us to stoke the fires and find the passion to drive us to finish well even the little things we need to be about and doing.

Let us not forget the ultimate goal is hear these words from Lord or words of similar sentiment from the beneficiaries of our efforts: “"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' (Matthew 25:21, NIV)

Peace and Passion friends, stoke it up!

jerry

Alee

Lauren and me as bowgirl and bowman, on the windward
side and loving every minute of it. Proof that it's okay to
to be on the weather side of things now and then.

“Helms alee”, shouted Skip Barber. All I knew then was to duck because we were changing tack and the mainsail would be swinging to the other side of the boat. If I didn’t duck I’d be boom-swept into the sea and left behind. Skip was helmsman or skipper, appropriately enough, as we raced the Caboter during his club racing series. I thought of myself as the gorilla turning cranks as directed and getting to the rail where my weight and eyes were best used. Turns out I was something of a hybrid of actual nautical terms; trimmer, bowman, and pitman. Some things you learn looking in the rearview mirror.

My understanding of lee, leeward, alee, and such nautical terms deepened during sailing trips with Byron and Shirley Trist on their Jubalee! and Jubalee!!. I was content as a bowman or pitman with my skipper shouting orders at me to be heard above the wind. I’m more at ease navigating a river in a raft or kayak.

Let’s consider the terms these friends introduced me to and did so in more ways than out on the water. ‘Alee’ is defined as on or toward the lee which is defined as the side of something that is sheltered from the wind. Aweather, yet another nautical term from days of yore, is the antithesis of alee. If you are ‘aweather’, you are facing the wind and the oncoming storm. One of my most cherished moments of being alee was during one of our church hikes in the High Sierras. We’d set up our camp for the night with tube tents and had gathered the wood we needed for our fire when a storm rolled in complete with lightening and hail while thunder rolled through the mountains. I stowed my gear in the tube tent and hunkered down against the trunk of a huge Ponderosa Pine with my legs stretched out in front of me. I was alee and only the gentle drops of rain that had worked their way through the tree’s canopy reached me. At rest and in the lee after a long day on the trail with the stormy spectacle all around was a complete feeling for me.

Weather we’ve been racing on the waves, barefoot sailing on the Caribbean, or hiking mountain trails, once we find ourselves alee, the calmness of the moment washes over us and soothes our soul like an aloe balm on sunburned skin.

When we are alee, peace is pervading and spreads through every part of us and exists in our hearts. If you let it. The key to finding rest is allowing ourselves to be in the lee of whatever storm is raging around us. Jesus Christ invites us into His rest, a Sabbath Rest, where we are refreshed from our struggles and the toils of our day-to-day lives.

Hebrews 4: 9 & 10: “⁹There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his."

It is no coincidence that the first thing I sat down to write after completing the memorial booklet for my cousin is Alee. Lee was a man who could provide shelter from the storm and take a person through the wind and rain of the day to the calmer side of things. I’ve a simple mind and making the connection between my cousin Lee and the concept of alee was easy. Our family recently concluded a weekend at Bass Lake to pass through the winds and waves of grief and loss to celebrate his life. It’s fresh on my mind and I’m thankful to the family for providing shelter during the weekend; it was seen in the hugs, the laughter, and the tears of both joy and grief. My kids, grandkids, and Cindy were particularly effective in this for me. Walks along the lake and up the mountain with Demaris provided periods of quiet recuperation as well. I found shelter in all their laughter and the family’s willingness to be vulnerable and in the moment.

Another person who comes to mind while thinking over this concept of being in the lee couldn’t be more further from the physical description of my cousin, he being 6’8” and she pushing just past the 5-foot mark. She’ll likely be a little embarrassed by me calling her out like this but that is one of the hazards of befriending Jer-bear, as she likes to call me. Again, her name is closely related to the term but Allie herself embodies the concept. She is soothing and brings peace into the struggles of the day. Her abilities to provide a calm place have been most in evidence to me during our trips to Mission Arizona. She is an oasis. Thanks Allie.

The point of this is to encourage us to find a sheltered cove, a big old tree, or a person and get relief from the storm that can be our lives. Take the protection offered, find the peace there, and know that Christ is waiting to sooth our hearts with his love.

Friends, enter the Sabbath rest and find peace today.

Dear Doris

Dear Doris,

I hadn’t thought about sitting down and writing you this letter until our friend Ashley Pollock shared her first ‘Doris’ moment during last night’s Maundy Thursday service. The congregation’s sense of awe and reverent anticipation of our Lord’s pathway to the cross on our behalf was heightened by our losing you just the afternoon before. Ashley spoke of Christ’s loneliness the night he was betrayed and to end her sermon she shared her personal story of the long day she spent coming to LCPC from New York for her interview for the open Children’s Ministry Director position. Ashley told us how after flying into San Diego from NYC for a quick visit with her mother she drove to La Crescenta, a place she’d never of. Feeling lost and alone, she ended up in Santa Monica instead and arrived at the church hours late for the interview.

When Ashley drove up to the church she was greeted with people waving frantically to welcome and guide her to the right place. You might like this – I pictured people on a desert island running and jumping and waving at a passing ship to come and rescue them. It works doesn’t it? After all, we were in deep need of rescue for our children. If memory serves me right here, you were chair of the personnel committee at the time. In any case, Ashley hadn’t quite dropped your name on us during her remembrance as she related how at the end of the interview someone looked at her and said that it was so late that Ashley really should come and stay at her house for the night, an act of gracious kindness to Ashley, a stranger to us all at the time.

I’m sure you heard it when Ashley let us know that it was you who offered her a home to stay in for the night. The congregation let out a deep sigh of recognition because, of course, kindness and generosity are hallmarks of the Doris Keiter we know and love. It seems the Holy Spirit was working overtime on all our behalf and it is no mystery to us why you were chosen to represent our church at this critical juncture in the life of La Crescenta Presbyterian Church. I won’t go into a laundry list of things that were launched as a result of your actions, that’s not the purpose of my open letter to you. Let me just say that the list is impressive.

We will be hearing many stories of you, your kindness, and what I can only put as your spunkiness or your passion for all things related to God’s Kingdom. I hope that my sharing of recollections and thoughts spurs others to share and recollect and take joy in your arrival home with your dear Lord Jesus. Maybe they’ll even use the venues where I release this letter to our friends to share their own thoughts.

I’ve been sharing with folks over the last couple of days how you were among those who were my youth advisors when I was in our MOKEs group, the High School Church group as it was aptly known back then. A whole bunch of my past advisors came and sat at the Lord’s Table with Marcia Randis and me for Communion last night – a generation of servants who’ve left their mark on another generation or two of believers.

One or two stories remain at the surface of my memories and the one I choose to most represent your ministry to us was our Easter Week service trip to Escondito where we stayed at a local church and went out to one of the nearby Indian Reservations to work on a poor family’s home. We painted and cleaned and dug a pit for a future septic tank as well. Our adult leaders where you and Dr. Robert Rumer and I’m sure another adult although I can’t remember who. It’s possible that it was only the two of you because, as a seventeen year old senior in high school, I drove a VW van full of kids down south and from the church to the reservation. Imagine trying to get that through Session these days. I am sure that your daughter Linda was with us as well as Eugene Winfield, the young man who would turn out to be your son-in-law. I have clear memories of my best friend Jim McClelland being there along with Robert Reardon and my then girlfriend Marianne Carrington.

How you put up with us, guided us, laughed at and with us, and loved the dickens out of us is a testament to the power and depth of God’s Spirit in your life. I won’t be going on much longer with this but I’d like to simply thank you for all of that and for hanging around and being there when Cindy and I returned to LCPC. You were a wonderful support for me as I continued in youth ministry here and then as an elder in the church. You are awesome. Thanks.

I know we’ll hear about some of these things during the time our church, along with your family, grieve over our loss, celebrate your life with us, and rejoice as you’ve been greeted by Jesus and given a resurrected body, free of pain and infirmity. Thank God for that. However, I also want to thank you for the children you and Bob have so lovingly raised. They teach and care for children, preach and love God’s sheep, all with the same fervent kindness you demonstrated all their lives. The legacy of your and Bob’s ministry on earth is very nicely represented in your kids and their kids.

You’ve done well little sister. I know that on Wednesday you heard the words, “Welcome, good and faithful servant.”

Good Lord, I’m going to miss you.

In His grip,

   

Jerry White

PS – The background photo on the computer I used to write my letter to you is a photograph that I still can’t believe I took while in Ireland last summer. It’s of a dirt road through the greenest of fields leading to hills gently shadowed by clouds broken by blue sky. I have no trouble picturing your final walk along such a road as you went on to a heaven not so different from what is pictured.

Provide for the Poor and the Foreign Resident

Scripture: Leviticus 19: 9 & 10

“⁹When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident: I am Yahweh your God.” (Holeman Christian Standard Bible)

Wheat field at Sunset from GraphicStock

Leviticus is the third book of our Bible, the third book of the Pentatuch, and the third of the five books of the Torah. The Hebrew name of the book is Vaikra and can be translated “He [God] called.”

We know this book as a book of God’s Law but as Christians we cannot afford to say it belongs to the Hebrews and has no force over us. Jesus told us himself that he came not to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them. For us, Leviticus is less about a bunch of rules that can put us to sleep if read in order to say that we’ve read the Bible from cover to cover – it is more of an invitation to us to live in harmony with God’s purpose for mankind. We are told how to live with each other because he called.

I read several translations, perhaps looking for a loophole. I found none.

It is God’s wish, His Will, for us to make provision for the foreign resident and the poor. We are not farmers in La Crescenta so how do we do this? It was fortuitous that during our recently completed rummage sale we had the opportunity to put aside part of our haul of items for sale to donate to a refugee family, new foreign residents. What if we don’t have an opportunity drop in our lap like this? Then we designate some of our crop, our wages, and we prepare “Welcome Kits” as we are doing as a church, or we search for other ways to support organizations that support dispossessed peoples. We must be intentional in living out God’s will for us and taking care of those be brings to us.

It goes deeper than the act of leaving something behind for the poor and people who have been completely dispossessed. We are seeing strangers who are hungry and feeding them, thirsty and giving them drink, in need of clothes and clothing them and we are doing them for Jesus. (Matt. 25: 31-46) We are fulfilling one of the two great commandments Jesus left us by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

He called us in the book of instructions, Leviticus, to find Jesus in the stranger and do him a kindness.

In His grip, jerry

PS – The various translations I visited refer the poor and then a list of interpretations as follows: foreigner (several), foreign resident (Holeman Christian Standard Bible), sojourner (English Standard Version), the stranger (New American Standard Bible), and the resident alien (International Standard Version).

PPS – Further thoughts upon reflection as I prepared to share this on Calvary’s Thread. We are called to make provision for the foreigner, no merely tolerate them but to be of help during their transition. We must love our neighbor as ourselves and the foreign residents among us have been named by God as those to whom we are to be neighbors.

This post was written and originally posted in the La Crescenta Presbyterian Church Lenten Blog at:

http://lcpc.net/blog_new.aspx?parentnavigationid=40053

Bless the Children

This morning my friend Pastor Andy Wilson preached his sermon, “Born to be Blessed” with a humble urgency that resonated with me. He used the account of Isaac’s blessing his two sons, first Jacob posing as the eldest son Esau, and then Esau begging for a blessing and receiving a lesser one. The power of those blessings helped shape God’s people Israel. (Genesis 27:30-41)

The Synoptic Gospels all give an account of Jesus blessing the little children. Mark gives his account as follows in chapter ten, versus 13-16 (NIV):

“¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”

I can’t think of anything more Christlike than to bless children. Andy spoke of our responsibility as spiritual leaders to bless those whom we have been called to serve; our children, grandchildren, husband and wife, various church groups, friends, family, and our peers and subordinates at work. Bless them out loud and with conviction. For our public school teachers, quiet blessings from the heart and true concern for your charges can be quite effective.

Both of my sons-in-law asked for my blessing before officially asking my daughters to marry them. We gave it (because it is important to me to include Cindy) and meant it and we watch over the blessing like a farmer watches over his flocks. We want them to flourish, pray for them to do so, and are thankful that God watches over them. It is likewise with my son and his wife. They asked me to perform the wedding and we blessed the rings, the couple, and everybody else would could get our hands on. Those we couldn’t, we blessed in absentia.

It seemed the Lord was to leave nothing to chance when it came to having me write about blessings. Even in my short lunchtime reading Charles Dickens spoke to me of the importance and lasting power of the blessing. In this chapter, the young Oliver Twist is in the process of running away from the cruel undertaker’s family when he stops by the workhouse and bids farewell to his little friend Dick. From the chapter entitled ‘Parting From Little Dick” in Oliver Twist:

“’I hope so,’ replied the child. ‘After I am dead, but not before. I know the doctor must be right, Oliver, because I dream so much of Heaven, and Angels, and kind faces that I never see when I am awake. Kiss me,’ said the child, climbing up the low gate, and flinging his little arms round Oliver’s neck. ‘Good-b’ye, dear! God bless you!’

          The blessing was from a young child’s lips, but it was the first that Oliver had ever heard invoked upon his head; and through the struggles and suffering, and troubles and changes, of his after life, he never once forgot it.”

The power of a blessing can stand against any number of nasty things. Give them freely, meaningfully, from the heart and they will be etched within the story of the receiver’s life.

And finally I offer the Priestly Blessing, as Andy shared it today with us, from Numbers 6, 24-26. As I type this I have my children and their children, and my family, especially the Craws as they grieve, firmly in mind. Won’t you, as you read this, put someone firmly in your mind and bless them?

From Numbers 6: 22-26 (NIV) -

“²²The Lord said to Moses, ²³“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁴“ ‘ “The Lord bless you

and keep you;

²⁵the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

²⁶the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace.” ’

To paraphrase Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) in Caddyshack: be the blessing.

In His grip, jerry

God With Us

Emmanuel, in Hebrew: עִמָּנוּאֵל meaning, "God with us".

The season of Advent is upon us and Cindy and I along with my mom and sister Denise, hit the ground running at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Grants Pass, Oregon. It was a wonderful service and the Advent Hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” set the pace early and its refrains tinged the service throughout with a sense of yearning. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” set the tone and underpinned the message that we need to prepare, lest there be no real Christmas.

As I write this I have YouTube running through the hymn with vocal and instrumental artists’ seeming infinite variations; my personal yearning is sustained and the sense of preparation is being heightened.

I could simply pound out the words to the hymn, tell you to read it, ask you to pray it, hope you live it, and let it go at that but it would be the cheap and easy way out for a post, not that I’m above that sort of thing. However, I prefer to ruminate on the hymn and its central theme of advent for the coming of our Lord and have instead placed the words as a post script below.

During the season leading to Christmas Day we are busy with preparations for family gatherings and the exchange of gifts. We need to leave time for advent and the preparation for Emmanuel and give ourselves over to the yearning for Christ’s presence. Imagine if we were to combine our family celebration anticipation and preparation with our desire for Christ’s presence. Would His presence be with us? Yes - yes it would.

Let’s focus on the first verse of the hymn. It tells us that Israel, God’s people, are captive and in exile on earth. We don’t need to look very far to know that this is true. We should be mourning the fact that God’s Kingdom has not yet come on earth as it is in heaven. We mourn until the Son of God appears in His fullness. He will so appear and we see glimpses of Him in the actions of Heaven’s ambassadors, Christians out and about doing the King’s work. We are Him from time to time, even I am Him now and again.

O come Emmanuel, come again in me.

At the end of each verse we are told to rejoice because Emmanuel shall come to us. Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (NIV) Indeed, we must rejoice at each hint and every manifestation of Christ on earth while at the same time letting the yearning for His fullness run deep. We never cease preparing the way.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Rejoice! His Kingdom is near at hand. Revel in advent, strike a match and light the candle.

In His grip, jerry

For our edification:

O come, O come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people same

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come.

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,

In ancient times did’st give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel