Life In Greencastle

Love Your Enemies from Kristen Miller on Vimeo .

"Because of [the controversial things Jesus was saying] many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, 'Do you also wish to go away?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." - John 6:66-69 The passage above is a key moment in the ministry of Jesus. It is also a key moment in the life of Peter and the other twelve disciples. The context is that Jesus has already begun his public ministry. He has already called the twelve disciples. Furthermore, hordes of people have also fallen in line with Jesus as he travels about Galilee doing the work God the Father sent him to do. In many instances, Jesus has worked miracles. He has brought healing where there was sickness, sight to eyes that were blind, and hope to hearts that were crushed. It is natural, then, that so many are now falling in behind him...

In recent years, two scenes from the Gospels keep grabbing my attention: Jesus' baptism and Jesus' transfiguration. In both instances God the Father speaks to Jesus or about Jesus (it may be the only time we hear God the Father speaking directly about Jesus). In both cases, God proclaims (and claims) Jesus as God's very own, "Beloved" Son. God the Father further announces that he is "well pleased" with Jesus. On the second occasion - the Transfiguration - God goes on to command us (the disciples) to "Listen to him." Listen to Jesus. It seems like such a fundamental and important part of what it means to be a Christian. The very idea of us being Christians is that we are taking our cues and directions from Jesus - that he is both our Lord and our Teacher. And, yet, I have noticed within myself that I don't really do this that often. Yes, even pastors struggle with this. It is much easier to be swayed by the many other voices that we...

Do I need to know, I wondered - watching the smoke trail away. The more I thought, the more I knew: I did not need to know the news of the day, the uprising and job reports and the progress with the talks with China. Yes, it is a global world, but today I did not care. One of the disciplines I have is to read brief meditations. Yesterday, #2 asked me, Where are you? What time is it? Meditation #2 told me, the answer to the first is "here." the answer to the second is "now." So I let the need to know about the world's struggles and hopes disappear - dissipating like the smoke before my eyes. Later today, I did a chore: cut some wood to keep our home warm. The tracks of deer and rabbit and dogs were all around, but there was no life to speak of, only the calm cool slow motion of winter, the gray sky. Yesterday, I saw three deer up on a ridge. I watched them for awhile, until the trees on the other side moaned their age. I turned away, I looked back, they were gon...

This past Sunday, we talked in worship a good deal about the value of having communal songs. My sermon focus was largely on how one of the ways we pass on our faith to our children is through the music that we sing, and after the sermon I invited the congregation to fill out a little card that had at the top the words "My Favorite Hymns". The response was overwhelming. Not that we needed to verify this, but you all - as most Christians do - care a lot about hymns. Indeed, we all have certain hymns that are meaningful to us. I was speaking with Jean Holley this morning, and she noted how she has a few lines from one of her favorite hymns posted on the inside of one of her kitchen cabinet doors. Every time she opens that door, she is reminded of how much this is God's world and how richly God's glory and goodness shines throughout all creation (can you guess the hymn?). Not surprisingly, the hymns that received the most votes were the ones that have long topped the...

Way back when we were still wishing that the heat of summer would relent for awhile, my wife was planning to create something for these colder days of December. Anna had determined that this would be the year that she would create an Advent calendar and thereby give our kids a way to experience the gift of Jesus' coming in a whole new way. So, little by little, she began to make preparations. She was going to make a quilt, a quilt of several fabrics that would create a tapestry of days. And on each day there would be a tiny pocket that would become a type of daily stocking - delivering to Wyatt and Elise some gift or plan or project. They would have the chance to make treats for the birds one day. On another, they could make a popcorn string. On another still, they would read the second chapter of Luke. All of it was intended to help give life to the days we call Advent - the same Advent that gets dismissed about as easily as those poor misfit toys that Rudolph...

Yesterday if you joined us for worship you had the opportunity to hear and participate in our annual Christmas Cantata. (If you weren't able to join us yesterday, then I invite you to contact Mark McKee or Andy Lorimer to get a copy of the performance). I really enjoyed and appreciated this year's cantata, as I know many of you did as well. Cheryl and Patrick did such a phenomenal job (as always) of readying and preparing the choir and the musicians. As I listened to the songs and the readings yesterday, I thought about something Walter Wangerin Jr. wrote in his great book of meditations for Advent and Christmas, Preparing for Jesus . Wangerin reminds us that God is the music and that we are the instruments that God uses to make music to the world. Wangerin was speaking specifically of the individuals in the Christmas story who find themselves singing (and there is much singing in Luke's story of Jesus' coming and birth): Simeon's song and Mary's solo, the...