Singing with the Angels

This past week our church lost someone special to us. She served God in many capacities. Yet, in her current struggles with cancer, she did not lose heart. Life is a temporary journey that we are on.
Yet as one of my friends from church stated to me, she is probably singing with the angels in heaven. That is a forever chorus of praise.
As part of the reward one gets from serving God faithfully through life is a mansion that God has prepared for those in advance. It is ready when one's time on earth has ended.
Sing on Sandy!!!Welcome to the choir.

The Winds of Change

The Winds are blowing across our country with many moral dilemmas on the landscape of the church. It is hard to fully know the mind of Christ even as His follower since the teachings of Christ cover a portion of His life. We do have the insights from the Old Testament which explain the nature of God-being more of a judgmental being and the New Testament version of Jesus as God as more forgiving and loving. I only wish that I could have been there at Creation.

Living Letters

I have been told that we are living letters that are read by others. Inso doing, we have to be careful in how we live our lives because we will be read.
Most days the mail that I receive is of no major importance except to toss it out-usual credit card offerings and the like. Our lives can not be slit open like envelopes can in an instant. It can take much time and thought to present ourselves correctly to others to be read. I can be distant at times which makes it harder for others to get an accurate read on myself.
It can be an exciting time to receive good news of someone's baby that was born or of someone's good fortune in his or her life. That is why our testimony -both spoken and silent-are so important.

Approaching a cemetery by bus.

In the twilight of the day, I looked up and saw passing before me an old cemetery with the trees surrounding the tombstones and angels adorning the grave markers. A quiet place to go by that I never saw in that light before.

A Lasting Impact

Over the past week, the world has paid much attention to the life of Pope John Paul II's life and his impact on the world. He was a man who lived his calling to serve others. He also was sensitized the suffering of others from his experiences during the era of World War II. From that experience, he could identify with the poor just as Mother Theresa did in Calcutta.
From the era of the 1st century when Jesus was born into the world, he had an impact that is felt today. His words echo through our generations to today when we hear of His miracles and teachings during our weekly church services.
The sound of a rushing waterfall going over the rocks as it cascades into the resting pond below is a very refreshing sound. As I have visited nature centers in the past, it is always good to hear that sound. This is a constant cycle that renews itself back to its source. Water is a symbol for life in literature and the christian faith. It is a symbol for many believers in becoming a part of a church family.
Just as water is refreshing-so is rest. When Jesus finished one of his teachings, he went to the mount of olives and rested within the mount. This gives a picture of rest and abandonment to God. This must have been refreshing to Him since he was very busy ministering to the needs of those around Him.
During the next month at our church, we are being challenged to reach out to others and minister to them. It is easy to expect a pastor to do the work of God, but it can be very limiting to its effect. Just as in the corporate world, many employees do the work. And this gets the task done much more effectively. It is easy to sit back and relax at times. Sometimes it is necessary even with the example of Jesus resting. But then to get back up and continue in service can be very rewarding.
The work that Christ did while He was on our earth was through the teachings and performing of miracles. The miracles were temporary and demonstrated His power and authority over nature. But Jesus says that we can do even greater things than He ever did in that we build connections with each other and relationships can have a long lasting impact long after we die. Just as we witnessed in the past week of an impact even a 1 minute encounter can come with a visit from the Pope.

A breath of fresh air.

A breath of fresh air is slowly emerging from the city of Bridgeport. The earth is slowly being moved and rays of opportunity are beginning to emerge. For many years, the Bridgeport earth has remained fallow and barren. But seeds of opportunity are beginning to sprout.
Bridgeport is an old industrial city. I began as a full-time resident fo the city in 1986 when our family moved there from our spacious colonial in Fairfield. I visited the city in prior years for occassional visits to doctors and Scientific Shoe Fitters on Broad Street. And I worked several summers as an employee of People's Bank.
On one of the first trips to the city was when I worked at Connecticut Bank and Trust in Fairfield. It was a late afternoon summer day when there was a raging rainstorm that had hurricane strength winds. Too intimidated to approach the apartment at the age of 21, I called my dad to get me safely home. Change whirled at that time with the new surroundings of home and the eventual settling into a new home.
My side of the city is within a suburban context. The streets have trees and shrubs that line North Avenue. Old colonial homes line the street and a Christian Science church sits on the corner of Clinton and North Avenue. That would be the route that I walked many mornings and evenings from my bus stop. This area has also been home for the Barnum Street Parade.
For the first year of my employment after Fairfield University, I worked at the BankMart in downtown Bridgeport on Main Street. I met Willard Sillers who was a vibrant Black businessman who had a warm smile and enthusiasm for what he did. Here was an opportunity to grow and become accustomed to full-time work within the city. Many an afternoon lunch hour was spent at the next door Wendy's restaurant. I loved their cups of Chili and Frostys.
And on the other side of the bank was the NewsCorner which had many news publications from the area with the Morning Telegram and the Evening Post being sold there. Rows of magazines lined the store and books filled the aisles too.
Around the corner the Hi-Ho mall was there with a fountain in the center of the mall with an elevator that went to the second level. It was a peaceful place with businesses such as a bookshop and several good restaurants to eat at and department stores also. Fromt that first year of work, there were plenty of opportunities to find work to do and ways to spend an afternoon lunch hour.
Currently, the city has added attractions such as the arena at Harbor Yard and the Ballpark at Harbor yard where I have seen our Bluefish play baseball and several concerts. As these seeds have formed, the city has added many special faces with smiles. I can see the enthusiasm an usher at the Arena has when he shares with other bus riders the various concerts that are being worked at and booked. The ushers are dressed in their vests with the Arena logo on them.
Seeds of change are happening. It is important to remember that as these seeds are forming, they must die in the ground and begin to emerge as life. This is now happening through the Loft apartments and several new restaurants and stores emerging throughout the city.

Happy Palm Sunday

Today marks the start of the Holy Week season when Jesus came through the streets of Jerusalem on the back of the donkey. It awaited him to use , a donkey reserved just for his use. The streets were crowded back then as the Jews lined the streets acclaiming Hosanna on the Highest. It was a pep rally atmosphere- almost like that of a sports team having won the national championship. Yet, these people spoke and cried out of the emotion of the moment. Only 6 days later, Jesus walked through those same streets with words in his memory of "Crucify Him."
This does not mark the best week in the life of Jesus in that it must have been very painful and horrific. But when Jesus arose from the tomb on Easter Morning, throngs were not around then. There were only a few faithful. Then the movement of Christianity would begin to flourish as the early believers lived in close proximity to one another and shared all that they had. And at pentecost, The Holy Spirit began to live within the believers and His kingdom began to take shape.
Just remember, even in the times of today, sharp contrasts in our lives exist. One moment people can be celebrating a joyous time and then another season can come of woe and then even another can come of triumph and joy =all in the same week. May these words bless the reader.

The land of the falling snow

Upon waking today, the snow glistened on the trees. It was a freshly fallen snow that makes several mornings of the winter a magical time for me. The snow gently covered the branches and had a serene quality to it. It was mostly fluff and had a very mushy texture to it. The warmth in the air had some of the snow falling from the trees and the water melted and ran alongside the ground.
This makes up for some of the very cold winter mornings that I spent waiting alongside the side of the cemetery for the bus. It is good to know that the end of the winter is near and we will be approaching the time of spring and summer when the days will be filled mostly with warmth. Then the beauty of that time will be the warmth of the air and birds singing and the honeysuckle and roses and forsythia blooming along the streets.
I remember growing up in Fairfield on Margemere during that kind of spring where the lush reds and pinks of the forsythias and the pinks and whites of the dogwoods lined our little dead end street. It was a very special place to be at that time of year.
It would be great to avoid the harshness of the winter season, but there is the balance of the seasons which God created so that anyone can have a vote on their favorite season and be happy about it. He alone created the times of the year. And He is the author of our lives who gives us seasons to live also.
May these words bless the reader.

The Cow jumped over the moon

One summer evening in Maine, I looked forward to a BIG event. It was the eclipse of the moon by the sun. It was late at night when my parents went to bed and I thought I could spy on the activities of the solar system. I sat patiently looking out the tall picture window that led to the porch and meditated on the wonders of nature. I was expecting a huge bang or a big notice of the arrival of this eclipse. The moon slowly was being covered up in shadows and became darker by the minute. Finally the moon was completely covered by the sun.
I waited for a couple of hours -pacing quietly waiting for the moon to be uncovered. Nothing dramatic -just darkness. I went to bed later for a few hours of sleep-a little disappointed but having been given the chance to observe nature in action.
In the christian walk, the sun represents God and the moon represents sin. In God's way, He is very quiet in His cleansing of ourselves. There is no dramatic positioning of Himself in the midst of our lives. He came across as a gentle breeze to Elijah .
But God does come to us and eclipses our own lives to present us as holy to Himself. Not something that comes very easily, but it is something that is essential to the nature of discipleship.
In the end , I hope that when I look back on life, I will be grateful for those times of eclipse for I will know that God stayed up late long after I was asleep to make me more like Him.

Having a grateful heart

It is important for us to be thankful for the little things in life. We need to count our blessings for all that we have been given in this life. This morning I attended a men's breakfast at one of the local churches. The topic for this morning was encouragement, something very special to me.
When I was created by God, He placed within the gift of encouragement that I like to share with others. It is something that is found throughout scripture and needs to be appreciated more. Whether it is curled up for a nap by the warmth of the sun or having your name called at the gym for the arrival of my friend who kindly picked me up after making sure one of his friends made it home. God is that same way in life-putting people and circumstances in our lives to make sure that we make it safely home.
The other day on tv, a team of scientists worked together to help the whooping crane fly from Wisconsin to Florida for their annual migration in an effort to save their dwindling numbers. The pilot in a gliding plane guides the birds by following ahead and acting as the mother. This imprints it upon the cranes so that they take their journey themselves with their future generations.
This is the same way with our God in that He guides us in His invite to us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. It is the role of the church and its believers to help guide others onto that journey also known as discipleship. It takes time and takes a team, but the rewards are great in that it creates a self-sustaining church that reaches out better to others.
May these words bless the reader! Peace.