Author Archives: Robin

Revelation 3:20 Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you.

While cruising through Virginia, Maryland or Delaware during vacation I heard that old (relatively speaking) Paul McCartney song that goes, over and over, “Someone’s knocking at the door/ somebody’s ringing the bell.” Eventually he says, “Do me a favor, open the door- let’em in.” If you’ve never heard this song reply to this email and let me know. I doubt Paul McCartney was thinking of the above verse when he wrote his song, but maybe he had something similar in mind. We sometimes sense that there is something more out there just beyond our sight or reach that is calling for our attention. It may be the feeling that there is more to life than we are experiencing. It may be the hope that things can make sense. It may be the promise of love. The Christian view is that in any of these, or countless other, forms the real mystery that beckons just beyond our grasp is God. It is God that wishes to open a different way of life to us. Maybe this week you’ll detect a faint knocking. Do me a favor, open the door and let him in.

Don

James 3:10 My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it?

James here is talking about the things people say. He’s been going on about how much good and how much bad we do with our words. Speech is one of the basic attributes that make us human. We can convey ideas and express emotion in wonderful ways. We can also hurt one another deeply with our words. James’ point is that we shouldn’t have both these tendencies. Water, he says, is either good or bad, not sometimes one and sometimes the other. But we are torn people, and our words reflect this. We can be wonderfully kind and nurturing and shortly thereafter selfish and hurtful. Why is this? The biblical answer is that the good comes from being created in the image of God and the bad comes from being sinners, i.e. predisposed to wanting our own way no matter what the cost is to God or others. People may not buy into this explanation, but they seldom come up with a better one. Why are people the way they are? Why are you the way you are? Do we really need to be saved from ourselves? Listen to yourself and those around you this week and draw your own conclusion.

Don

Hebrews 9:27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

It’s just a basic question of our existence–what happens when we die. We all know we are going to die. Everyone does. We may think there is nothing after that. We may think we sit on clouds and have wings. We may think that there is just no way to tell what comes next. Still we are certain that the experience, whatever it is, is part of our future. These verses sum up the Christian position rather succinctly. We are held to account for our lives here on earth but, because Jesus has gone before us in death, the issues that might keep us from receiving what God has in store for us are no longer a problem. There are several ways to think about this resulting salvation. You can think of it in terms of guilt being taken away. You can think of it as that which is broken in us being restored or that which is sick being made healthy. You can think of it as relationships being reconciled, both with God and others. The biblical idea includes all this and more. So, what do you really believe about death? This passage asks us to trust that God has done something through Jesus that will make it ok, even good. Are you buying that?

Don

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
 
 This past Sunday we remembered Joy Hoffman. Joy had been the pastor here at Logan from 1994-1999 when she died at the age of 45. We shared stories of her time with us and I read one of her sermons which focused on the above text from Galatians. As we did so I was struck by the fact that God’s spirit was still producing fruit through Joy even though she has been dead for ten years. Yesterday in the sanctuary the love, joy, and peace of God that people experienced in Joy continued blossom and was very real even to those of us who had never met her. What a grand thing! Wouldn’t you wish that to be your legacy, that after you are gone others continue to experience the love, joy and peace of God because they knew you. In many ways Joy was special. In some ways she was just like you and I. What God did through Joy, God can also do through us. This week open yourself to the fruit of the Spirit that God can cause to bloom through you.

Don