Camp Idlewild Chili Supper & Auction
March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
| March 8, 2008 | ||
| 6:00 pm | to | 9:00 pm |
You are invited to a chili supper and auction that will benefit Camp Idlewild. It will be held at the Indian River Recreation Center in Chesapeake. There is a need for auctionable items and desserts. For more information, see one of our Camp Idlewild board members, Keith Cuthrell, Mike Roman and Anna Roman.
Nun on the Run
March 6, 2008 | 3 Comments
No really this is it. I’m GOING to blog regularly. It’s just that, in spite of the fact that I have a computer, I’m still something of a luddite (word of the day) when it comes to this web publishing. So I haven’t been getting on here regularly. But Ray’s been doing way too much good work on the design of our website for me to ignore it. Sorry, brother.
Even though I don’t look like the poster-child for Runner’s World magazine, I do actually enjoy running. I like the solitude. I do some great thinking while I’m running. I like lacing up the shoes, putting on the headphones, and “clomp, clomp, clomping” on down the road. And boy do I clomp. A while back I ran in a 5K race. The official registration form actually had a “Clydesdale” category. That’s me.
Imagine my admiration, then, to see a recent feature story on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” about Sister Madonna Buder—the triathlon nun. There are many things that make Buder remarkable. She has run over 300 triathlons. Over 30 of them have been the notorious “Ironman” in Hawaii. She has endured numerous injuries, including a triple fracture of the arm.
I wonder what parts of your life you could start viewing as an extension of your faith. What hobbies do you have? How can they be an opportunity to draw near to God? How can they be a chance to serve others? What about at work or school? How is your job as a parent a spiritual exercise?
The psalmist says “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). May we see today the sacred nature of everything we set out to do.
New DUIC Location
March 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The Youth Group will be meeting as a LIFE Group at the building on Sunday evenings from 6-8 p.m. It’s the same format and the same great people, just a new place to provide extra room and parking. Come join us for great fellowship and worship.
One Long Year
March 2, 2008 | 1 Comment
You’ve probably heard the following joke, but it helps me make my point, so I’ll tell it again:
A young man named Johnny was lying on a hillside one day and watching the clouds roll by. Feeling inspired, he decided to talk to God—
Johnny: God?
God: Yes, Johnny?
Johnny: How big are you exactly?
God: Bigger than you can possibly imagine.
Johnny: Help me understand.
God: Ok. To me a million years is like a minute.
Johnny: So what’s a million dollars like to you?
God: Well, it’s like one penny.
(Long pause)
Johnny: God? Can I have a penny?
God: Sure, Johnny. Just a minute.
In Peter’s second letter, he’s dealing with the apparent delay in Jesus’ return and the response of certain critics who wonder out loud, “Just where is this coming that you speak of?” And Peter responds with a reminder that God’s sense of time is not like ours. He says: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness (2 Peter 3:8-9).
Over and over again we get the idea that our concept of time and God’s concept of time are not the same. Sometimes that’s bad. We want God to deliver on a promise or answer a prayer or take care of a need or rescue us from something. And what must be a brief time to him feels like an eternity to us. Sometimes it appears to work in our favor. God exerts little or not effort to show the small amount of patience with us. That patience translates into an entire lifetime for us.
When it comes to today’s passage I’ll gladly take God’s understanding of time over ours. Jesus says that he has come “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19). Now that could mean one of our years. In which case, God’s favor lasted 365 days and was exhausted around the year 32 A.D. Or a year in this context could mean one of God’s years which, to us, is ongoing and almost limitless. Fortunately, I believe Jesus is talking about one of God’s years.
And that’s the good news for this morning. You and I are so lucky, so very blessed, to be living in the year of the Lord’s favor. Let’s not let it (or our whole lives) pass us by. Let’s enjoy it today as we worship together.