Are you OK? No, but you will be....

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way:^[b] He gave His One and Only Son,so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

    I'm a huge fan of sitcoms, specifically old outdated sitcoms.  For almost 40 years I have ended my day watching some mindless sitcom or other rather than the news.  That way I don't go to bed mad or depressed.  And weirdly enough these are shows that I didn't watch when they were on new.  Some years it's been Mash, other years Seinfeld, but my favorite of all time is Frazier.  
     I really can't say I have a favorite episode (unless it's the one where they thought they were Russian royalty) but there are several where, at some point one on the characters asks the other, "Are you all right?"  and the other responds, "No, but I will be."  This usually occurs after some unpleasant event has occurred where feelings are hurt and emotions are raw and damaged.
       It sounds almost like a sermon doesn't it?  Or a Pastoral counseling session.  Something happens in our lives, something bad - illness, death of a loved one, broken relationships - pick your sorrow, and we're hurting.  We're hurting badly.  Then through Jesus we learn that no matter what it is, it's temporary - because of our belief in Him.  And because of what's to come.

So, if you're hurting, If you're not all right, I'm sorry.  But as hard as this is to believe some days - if you're not OK today, you will be.

The Lord's Supper, in a slightly different way

Luke 22: 19- 20 - 19 And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

20 In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you.

Back in the 90's, in one of my prior lives, I was a Youth Leader.  At that time, at that church, the Youth Leader was whatever parent dared to say yes.  Like most Youth (Student) programs it was a matter of weekly meetings, pizza, not losing any of the kids and "events" - we were hungry for events.  

I had heard through the church-world grapevine of "Ichthus", a Youth four day weekend at a seminary in Kentucky with Christian rock bands, seminars, t-shirts, and camping.  Attendance ran into the thousands.  Thousands of wild, weird, energetic, teenagers along with a few brave "volunteers".  There were limited "facilities", you ate what you packed or paid exorbitant prices at the food vendors - and it rained ALL WEEKEND LONG. The kids loved it - the volunteers were miserable.  Or at least I was - ALL WEEKEND LONG.

On the last morning the 22 thousand teenagers and adult volunteers gathered for worship.  After a short sermon we had the Lord's Supper.  Unlike all other Lord's Supper services I had attended this one was different.  As we sat in the mud covering this natural amphitheater huge baskets of the elements were passed.  I still describe them as "Pop-a-top Lord's Supper Kits, or MRE -Supper, Lord's for the military among you.  You peeled off the first layer for the wafer and peeled the next layer for the"wine".  There, in total silence with the sun just beginning to peak though, the ancient Scripture was read to a new generation. And the body and blood consumed.  Afterwards the Worship Leaders had an altar call and hundreds of students went forward, some from my group - one was my son.

I don't care if you call it the Lord's Supper, Communion, the Eucharist or whatever.  I don't care if it's served by men in robes with real wine or the more traditional Welch's - or if it's in the mud or a beautiful cathedral.  I do care that we do what the Man said when he said, "Do this in Remembrance of Me".

Amen.

I Am Who I Am

Exodus 3:14: God replied to Moses, I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.

We had a recent situation in my family that was, and is, unsettling.  One of our Niece's in West Tennessee has been suffering from an unidentified health condition.  It's been going on for over a month and has been VERY debilitating.  Throughout this she's gone to a variety of doctors and had a variety of tests to no result.  No answers, no relief, and very scary for the whole family.  Finally, last Wednesday her mom packed her up and drove her to Vanderbilt ER. More doctors, more tests but THIS time a diagnosis was made - a NAME was given to the malady and treatment prescribed.  Huzzah!  It was amazing how, after we had a NAME  we all felt better, we had hope, we could move forward.  Funny how a name effects our outlook, our attitude.  Names are important in everything we do - place names,  proper names, nicknames, names of family members, friends....

Subtlety, changing the conversation - there is an excellent book called, "Praising the Names of God", by Ann Spangler.  In her book she "names" God in 26 different chapters - each Biblical name describing a specific purpose/role of God.

My favorite: Abba - Father