Good day dear friends.
My apologies for not sharing with you the past two days of ConCafe. It's only Wednesday, but already I've had one of those weeks. I had a full worship schedule on Sunday, complete with three sermons to preach, and three Communion celebrations. My associate pastor, Leslie Tomlinson and husband, Kit, expect the arrival of their first child, Luci True Tomlinson, at any moment! At our eleven o'clock while serving Communion I glanced over and saw she had sat down and that scared I think everyone in church! But she was just tired. At 2 p.m. I had a meeting in church. At 4 p.m. I had a district conference in north Austin. We left that meeting early to return home for our youth meeting, which was a very moving ceremony in which parents were asked to bless their graduating seniors, and there was not a dry eye in the house. Our youngest, Caitlin, is graduating from San Marcos High School on the 27th of this month! Late to bed on Sunday, up at 3:25 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Lexington, Kentucky for my Asbury Seminary board meeting. I arrived late for my meeting and we worked well into the night (9:30 or so) and as tired as this old man I was, I hit the sack. Let me just say that I arrived at Austin with enough time to have written Monday's ConCafe. Austin for its claims of being a "silicon capital" of the nation, etc., and the home of "free wireless," blah blah, has NO FREE wireless at the airport. You must pay, and pay dearly, for accessing the internet. I don't travel enough to justify those charges. I might mention, little Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, a horse farming capital, has FREE WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS in all areas of the airport. Of course, I just landed at BGA and had no time to sit down and take advantage fo their FREE internet access. I first landed in DFW with a little time between flights and again, Texas' big banking center airport has NO FREE internet center, again with the "hot zone" and their "hot zone prices." Lexington has FREE internet access.
When I finally got to the dorm/motel that I stayed in, my room was sufficiently removed from the wireless signal that I had no internet access. Wilmore is not known for its strong signal of any nature, other than spiritual ones. There is barely, and you have to stand I think right under the John Wesley statue, holding his right hand with your left, and you get a faint cellular signal. Wilmore is not, as the locals (and these are usually the students and staff of the seminary) "the end of the world, but you can see it from here." San Marcoans would feel at home with the number of trains that rumble through it daily! Monday night in a strange bed does not help one sleep, tossed and turned, our meeting Tuesday started at 7:30 a.m.
So here it is Wednesday, I left the board meeting early to get home last night in time for our church council, which went well and is always delightful (compared to others). I thank the Lord for safe travel and for being home again.
I'll try to share just a capsule of each day's study guides. Sunday I preached "The Truth About the Da Vinci Code" given the movie starts in about 9 days. The sermon can be heard in its entirety on our church's webpage, fumcsm.org. Give it a moment or two to download. Let me say that I did read and enjoy the book very much. I didn't like the biblical and church commentaries that start on about page 230. Some of that stuff just made me laugh. I do want to stress again that the movie is going to give us Christians a wonderful opportunity to respond to our faith and help answer questions some who have no or little faith. Even Dan Brown wrote in the book that the things being discussed would not affect those Christians of strong faith. Yes, I'm going to see the movie.
Here are our study guides:
Monday: Please read Matthew 22:41-46. In this passage, Jesus is asks a question of the Pharisee as to how the Christ could be the son of David if he is called “Lord?” This passage helps us understand the divinity of Jesus. Jesus was fully man and fully God. Read Matt 22:28-34 and see what the demoniacs call Jesus. How did they know? What is your view of Jesus? Is Jesus God?
One of the claims the characters in Brown's book and movie will claim is that Jesus was not considered or made divine until the fourth century. It was at the Nicean Council (see the Nicean Creed in our hymnal to read the best result of that meeting), ordered by the emperor, to decide on matters of faith and the vote there declared Jesus to be divine. I call us back to the reading of the four gospels where people around Jesus during Jesus' day made the same claim. And Jesus was regarded and known to be God way before the idea of a council even entered anyone's head. Even the demons knew Jesus to be God (read the passage in Matthew 22!). It begs the question, how do evil spirits know and recognize the power of Jesus and we claim not to? And the one vote that will count in your life, is yours. Do you know Jesus to be YOUR God and Lord and Savior of your life?
Tuesday: Please read Matthew 27:50-56. In this passage there is a declaration made about Jesus by an interesting person. If this passage in this Gospel makes this declaration (among many), why do you suppose others think that Jesus was not divine? Have you had experiences with Jesus that have helped you understand the divinity of Jesus?
In this passage, it is the Roman centurion, on duty and "working" Jesus' execution, that makes the claim that Jesus is the Son of God. My favorite memory if that in one of the old Jesus movies, it was Ernest Borgnine, (Skipper of the PT 72 in McHale's Navy to me) who played the character, and says the words we read in Matthew. Being a boy I laughed at this radical change in characters. But the fact remains, it is our personal experiences with Jesus that help determine whether Jesus is God or not. No one can force you to believe Jesus is God. But if you're open and wanting to know Jesus and Jesus' love for you, you will. And the best way is to come to Jesus through your prayers.
Here is our prayer guide for today:
Wednesday: For our day of prayer and purpose, read a commentary or a book about the Bible that explores further evidence of Jesus’ divinity. As you pray, ask God to make Jesus more real for your life and the needs you may be having. Take home the prayer list on our bulletin and pray for each name out loud. Ask God to make Jesus real to those listed there. May God’s will be done for them and may Jesus’ love and grace be real too.
PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for all You provide. I thank You for the greatest gift shared with humanity, the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. I pray that in all ways today I would know more the divinity of Your Son. I confess that Jesus is alive and is Your Son. I pray in His name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
Please don't forget tomorrow's Feast of Easter at 12 noon.
e.v.
