Jordan's Stormy Banks made Calm

The stony path from the parking lot to the banks of the River Jordan is about five feet wide with cut branches tied together for flimsy handrails. It winds through an area of woods and grasses watered by underground springs, but were this year, very brown due to a lack of rain and dried up springs. Only forty years ago, the same area was filled with land mines as Jordan was trying to delineate its own borders with the United Nations newly created state of Israel. Fifteen hundred years ago, it was bustling with churches, monastic communities and vendors of holy relics as pilgrims made their way from Jericho to Bethany on a pilgrimage of the holiest sites in the area. Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, ordered and funded the building of churches at the various sites deemed sacred from their biblical importance. One could look off to the north and see the now vacant caves where for the centuries prior to Helena’s visit, hermits and ascetic Christians lived in devotion to our Lords baptismal site.

The Jordan is a meandering river, which means it changes course over the span of several centuries. It is now about 75 yards from the site where the first chapel was built on the banks of the river. A newly constructed Greek Orthodox Church now provides the shadow over the river where pilgrims and new believers are baptized. The Orthodox Church is the world’s oldest church, pre-dating the Roman Catholic Church (founded in the mid-fifth century by Pope Leo I) by almost four hundred years. Orthodoxy is also the largest Christian community in Jordan. At one point an Orthodox Christian shopkeeper embraced me and thanked us for coming to his country. When I told him we were not Orthodox, he looked at me and said, “But you know Jesus as your Savior.” “Yes,” I responded. “Then we are brothers,” he declared.

When we reached the River, our service began with eight from our group being immersed in the chilly, muddy waters of the Jordan. The narrow river that once was a mile wide now separates Israel and Jordan by about seven feet. On the west side, a vacant visitor’s center still flies the Israeli flag. With the recent archeological find that proves the Baptismal site is in Jordan, Israel has abandoned its claim of ownership. At one point during the baptisms, I looked up to see over fifty people from other tour groups gathered on the banks to witness the baptisms. One couple from another group was actually from Kentucky. How can we explain the power of God’s Spirit that day? Only this: At the end of our service of Baptism and Holy Communion, the Benediction was given and our Muslim Guide joined his voice with ours in the response, “Amen.”

Mary is pregnant...at the beginning of Easter?

Today is April 5, 2008 and there are exactly 264 Days until Christmas. The staff and I won’t be thinking about Christmas plans for another couple of months. However, this past Tuesday, April 1, 2008, many throughout the Church remembered a little known holiday, the Feast Day of the Annunciation. From April 1, 2007 there are exactly 268 days until Christmas or 38 weeks. Of course, that is the general length of the average pregnancy and if we celebrate our Lord’s birth on December 25, then Mary would have been with child on or about April 1.

It seems odd to be thinking about Christmas in the middle of the Easter Season, extending from Resurrection Sunday to the Day of Pentecost, but sometimes that is how God works. In the middle of something, when everyone else is focused on other things, God steps into our lives and says, “Will you do this for me?” “Everyone will think your crazy, you may be criticized for not ‘fitting in’ to what the world expects from you.” Thinking of the angel visiting Mary two weeks after our Easter celebration began seems odd. Yet, in the midst of our spring preparations, expectations of summer vacations and the church’s continued emphasis on the resurrection, God sends an angel to Mary and whispers, “Let’s get ready for Christmas, when I first gave my Son as a gift to the world.”

Always watch and listen for God. He may lead us and work with us in ways that outwardly seem out of step or the seemingly wrong focus at the wrong time. God’s timing is never wrong. God’s gift and God’s call are always, right on time.

The Resurrection: An Essential to Salvation

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NKJV)

There are some passages of Scripture that seem to be so plain I can’t understand the problem. The resurrection of Christ is an essential. It is the essence of what distinguishes a Christian from everyone else who believes in Jesus. The Muslims believe in Jesus. They believe he was a great prophet. They believe he was rescued from the cross and never died. Many Jews believe in Jesus. Some even believe he was a decent teacher, although a bit too radical. They also believe he died and remains dead, just like everyone else, in their opinion. A Christian believes that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.” (The Apostle’s Creed) If you are not a big fan of creeds, please refer back to the first sentence where Scripture is referenced. Not a fan of the literal reading of Scripture, consider for a moment the Apostles who after having denied Jesus, became bold heralds of his resurrection, even to the point of their own martyrdom. Think they are crazy? Consider the Church for over 2,000 years, with other martyrs and the consistent and uncompromising teaching about Christ’s resurrection. Witness the power of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)’s ministry and faith as for 121 years this congregation has invited tens of thousands of people into relationship with God through Jesus Christ and thousands have responded, yes.

This Sunday is Resurrection Sunday, known by the world as Easter. Come and hear again the reasons to believe, experience the power of an empty tomb, join with brothers and sisters in Christ as together we proclaim: “Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!”

God's presence is not dependent on our feelings

Easter is in three weeks. Effectively, this Sunday’s emphasis will be the final emphasis on the themes of Lent. The next Sunday is Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week, and culminates with the Feast Day of the Resurrection. By the way, the forecast for the weekend is possible snow showers. Out in our front yard, in the area where tulips would be starting to push up out of a warming ground during any other Lent/Easter season, still sits lifeless, bare and dark. A friend of mine remarked that it doesn’t really “feel like Easter.” Yet, when Sunday, March 23^rd rolls around, the sanctuary of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will be vested in white, with spring flowers and the trumpet sound of an empty tomb.

“Thanks be to God” that the power of resurrection, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the incarnational ministry of the Church are not dependent on our being ready or feelings of preparation. Actually, the fact that God comes to us, uses us for the advancement of the Gospel, heals, inspires and saves in the midst of our weaknesses is the essence of the Gospel. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger then human strength.” (I Corinthians 1:25)

God’s power and Word, whether it is the celebration of the Resurrection, the assurance of our salvation, the promise of healing or even God’s very existence, is not dependent on our feelings, desires, experiences or preparation. Ready or not, tulips or none, healthy or sick, snow or sun, the power of the resurrection is coming. In two weeks, the celebration of an empty tomb begins.