A Peculiar People

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

                                                                                  (1 Peter 2:9-10 KJV)

I dislike having to check the box for my race as is required on so many forms. I especially dislike having to check a box if it is related to something within the church. That may be partly due to the fact that I am a "mutt." But, more than that is the fact that no matter what blood lines I have inherited through family; I am a child of God; adopted into the holy nation the blood of Jesus. If there is a blank line for other, I usually write in "Holy Nation."

Each race has it's own culture and even within the various races the culture varies depending on the geographical region. That is also true for the people of a "Holy Nation." There may be variances in the way we live and worship; but, together we make up one truly awesome spiritual house. The differences really make no difference. What is important to understand is that we belong to the spiritual house built on the precious cornerstone, who is Jesus the Christ; the one who gave himself for us.

Since, we are members of this spiritual house, this "Holy Nation", we also ought to live as members of the holy priesthood, living in reverence and loving service to the King of all kings. According to St. Peter that means to live in loving service to one another. It's not about us. It's about all of us together living in reverence to God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Are Strangers Really Welcome At Your Table?

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. (Luke 15:2 KJV)

I grew up in an area steeped in the Finnish-American culture. Finns like to feed people. One never went for coffee anywhere without having the table heaped with goodies, if not a full meal. My mother was an awesome hostess. She was a great cook. She often invited friends and strangers into our home. She and my dad would meet strangers as they wandered around the countryside. She would invite them to come and visit. Many did visit and when they came, she would welcome them like they were royalty.

Whenever I travel, I try to find a place to worship; a house of God where my brothers and sisters in Christ will welcome me as well as all strangers. There is usually a multitude of choices. Maybe because of the culture I grew up in, I am acutely aware of whether or not I am really welcome to eat at the Lord's Table or even be there. Many congregations do not provide this meal to nourish the traveler or stranger. Others make it painfully obvious that strangers are not welcome at their table. They appear to be afraid that our sins are too great to allow us to partake of the food which will nourish our souls. They would keep us from the very Body of Christ that was given for our salvation.

May God help us to welcome both neighbor and stranger to receive the good gifts that God has provided us through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J

No Cursing, Please!

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Eph 5:1-2

Children learn by what they see and hear. One teaching method I have noticed is adults trying to teach what not to do even while the adult teacher does it themselves. All too often, I have witnesses, adults correct children for swearing by swearing at them. Sure doesn't sound too loving to me and I'm thinking that particular teaching method  probably does not work all that well.

Some of the nicest people I know throw that f... word along with other off-colored slang randomly into their speech. I don't get it! Doesn't sound very Christ-like to me. Can you imagine Jesus using words like that? I can't.

In the past, when I taught confirmation classes, I tried to explain what curse or swear words are. There are many words that are so commonly used by the culture around us that some of the young people have had no clue that some of the words that they use daily are totally inappropriate. Many of these words actually take God's name in vain. Using vulgarity shows disrespect not only toward others; these words disrespect God and the person using them, as well.

We are sinful human beings and prone to slipping from time to time. But, life here in this would be so much more loving and peaceful if we could all be more Christ-like examples to children or to anyone around us. Maybe we could all work a little harder to erase a few of these curse words from our vocabularies and ultimately our cultures. Let us be imitators of Christ so that as our children learn from what we say and do; they too will learn to live more Christ-like.

May God help us to live in love, without using language to belittle or hurt others; rather, using language that will express our walk of faith in Jesus Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J