Will You Lay Down Your Life For Me?

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.

Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. 

                                                                                  (John 13:26-38 KJV)

How will we answer the question that Jesus asked of Peter. "Will you lay down your life for me?"

We make so many commitments. We plan to do so much including share the love of God in Christ Jesus with all people. Yet, we often fall short. Peter loved Jesus. He fully intended to be a faithful follower. He wanted to. But, he was not ready to follow Jesus to his death. Not yet, anyway. This faithful follower would desert Jesus when Jesus was arrested and taken to his trial and execution. In the end though, Peter did follow Jesus as Peter was crucified on a cross for his faith thirty some years following the crucifixion of Jesus.

Jesus loves you so much that he was willing to lay down his life for you. Will you take up your cross and follow? Will you lay down your life for him?

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's Peace - Pr. J

Free To Serve

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
                             (Gal 5:1, 13 NIV)

When we are children we can barely wait to be free from our parents' watchful eyes and their control. Family can be a burden and so often divorces happen because one or both partners blame the other for the lack of personal freedom that they have. If we find ourselves working in a position that we really do not enjoy; we cannot wait to find another one and be free from the burdens and restrictions of the present one. There are so many things in this world that we would like to be free from. 

Sadly, many times the reason we want to be free from parents or other responsibilities is because we want to indulge our own personal desires; so-called pleasures of the world, and we simply cannot fully indulge them when we have commitments to others.

St. Paul reminds us that we have indeed been set free in Christ. We have been set free to be a child of God. As a child of God, we would truly desire to serve God, our Father, even as Jesus did. We will not use our freedom to indulge our weaknesses; our self-serving desires. We will use our freedom to freely serve one another humbly in love. 

May God help us to use our freedom to more fully love Him and one another.

God's Peace - Pr. Judy

I Cannot Come

Come to the banquet!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come." (Matt 22:2-3 NIV)

Oh, yes, a goodly number of us want to go this banquet after we are dead and buried; but, how about today? Are we willing to sit at that table today? Maybe, there's a more enticing table set someplace for you than at the Lord's Table? Not everyone that's been invited will be at the table eating and drinking; receiving the "foretaste of the feast to come." Some will decline for a "better" offer.

While serving at Zion Lutheran in Skanee, MI, on the occasions that this parable was our Sunday reading, the choir usually sang "I Cannot Come To The Banquet." (I could not find the author's name - possibly The Medical Mission Sisters, 1966?) It is quite the lively song; but, cuts right to the heart of things.

I cannot come.
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now.
I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
That cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused,
I cannot come.

A certain man held a feast on his fine estate in town.
He laid a festive table and wore a wedding gown.
He sent invitations to his neighbors far and wide
But when the meal was ready, each of them replied:

I cannot come.
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now.
I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
That cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused,
I cannot come.

The master rose up in anger, called his servants by name,
"Go into the town, fetch the blind and the lame,
Fetch the peasant and the pauper for this I have willed,
My banquet must be crowded, and my table must be filled."

I cannot come.
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now.
I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
That cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused,
I cannot come.

When all the poor had assembled,
There was still room to spare,
So the master demanded: "Go search ev'rywhere,
To the highways and the byways
And force them to come in.
My table must be filled before the banquet can begin.

I cannot come.
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now.
I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments
That cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused,
I cannot come.

Yes, no? What will it be? All are invited! Will you come to the banquet?

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. Hope to see you at the Lord's Table.

Decisions

Whom or what shall we follow? What do we want out of this life? Where are our priorities?

At the present time, my husband and I are considering whether we should purchase yet another home; this time in Florida. We have looked at one that would suit us. I will need to turn in the paperwork to get approval for it tomorrow.

This morning, as I prepare to be installed as the pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Bunnell, I am thinking that it would be more beneficial to just live in the RV. I am not sure if I want another commitment to more property in this world.

Pastoring a congregation is a huge commitment and worldly attachments tend to distract us from what God calls us to do. Even the simple (or not so simple) act of looking for a new home takes away time that good be better used in service to God.  I am also not sure where God will call me in a year or two or three. I cannot help but wonder this morning if owning a home here in Florida would become a hindrance in my willingness to go wherever and whenever He would call?

When Jesus called those first disciples to follow him, they dropped everything. They left their homes, their families, their vocations to follow. It seems like it was such an easy thing for them. Yet, today, it is not easy. The law will bind us to many of the commitments we might make. It is not so easy to get out of some of them. Too many worldly commitments makes it much more of a challenge to seek first the kingdom of God and follow Jesus in the Kingdom of God.

May God help us to always be ready to follow wherever and whenever He would call.

God's Peace - Pr. J