Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
February 29, 2024
1 Kings 19:9-13 – Psalm 43

As I move through these 40 days of Lent, I am reminded daily of God’s desire to communicate with his children. The devotions I read and the scriptures I study all seem to say to me; “Listen up Edith, God is speaking a word for you that will make all the difference in the way you handle this day”. With that said, one of the readings comes from a mini devotional entitled Grace For Today; Psalm 43:3; “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell”. The writer closes the devotional this way; “Be sensitive to the whisperings and stirrings of the Holy Spirit in your life, and face the future with faith and hope”.

True to form for me, this led me to “chase rabbits” concerning the idea of “the whisperings of the Holy Spirit from God’s mountain”, and I landed on a pretty familiar passage from 1 Kings concerning the prophet Elijah, who was running and hiding from the wicked Jezebel. After doing amazing things through Elijah, the wicked queen frightens him so much that he tries to hide, even from God, but God says to him; “What are you doing here, Elijah?” to which the prophet replies with a litany of all the good things he has been doing for the Lord and yet he is being pursued by Jezebel (after, humiliating her and her priests-never underestimate a woman humiliated ). Here we come to the passage that ties into the theme for today, 1 Kings 19:11-13; “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the Presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” It is here that God speaks with Elijah and reveals to him that the plan is for him to return from the direction he came (as scary as that might be) and find his successor, Elisha.

Is life throwing some heavy challenges your way? Are you fearful that you are alone to face the obstacles and decisions you must make? I can tell you that today I am being challenged. I need to make some decisions that are not comfortable for me. I’d rather have someone else take this responsibility, but the reality is, it is my responsibility and God will guide me in the light of his word, where He dwells and He will speak to me IF I will be still enough to hear the “whisperings and stirrings of the Holy Spirit”.

Take some time today, and the remainder of this week to just stop and listen. You might be surprised at what you hear.

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
February 21, 2024
Ephesians 3:16-19

From where I am sitting today, it is a glorious day. The weather is amazing, the birds are singing, my home is quiet and peaceful, I have visited with a dear friend and more visits to follow this week. I don’t know why I am so blessed, but I am so thankful and pray forgiveness for not remaining thankful no matter what comes my way. Some of you who are reading this probably want to stop reading because you are not having the same kind of day I am currently experiencing, but don’t leave this page just yet, I have a word of encouragement for you and a reminder for all of us.

Our passage for today reads: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (NIV).

I woke up this morning to an alarm from our security system. It took me a while to discover what set it off, it was a power failure due to fallen trees in our neighborhood. I noticed that even though the power was out, I still had electricity. The reason is that our new home came equipped with a generator that kicks on when the power goes out. Sweet! Then it came to me, God was giving me an illustration for today’s meditation. I felt the Spirit asking me; “How’s your spiritual generator working?” I thought to myself that the bible is full of references to power, Holy Spirit power, and perhaps I need to stay more in tune with that power and not depend so much on what I think I can do myself. The scripture for today is obviously a prayer. The Apostle Paul was praying this for the church in Ephesus, and not only this one group of believers for all believers everywhere, hence, it is a prayer for you and me. Notice how he references “power”; “…he may strengthen you with power through the Spirit…And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints…” Isn’t it interesting to see that this Holy Spirit Power is rooted in love. Love for God and love for others. That kind of love, Agape/God’s love demonstrated by Christ, is the spiritual generator that kicks in when we don’t have the strength to take the next step.

You may not have an alarm going off to check your spiritual generator, but don’t wait for an alarm, check it now. I realize I need a regular check-up, how about you? “and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
February 14, 2024
Bible Matthew 6:5-15

Happy first day of the Lenten Season and Happy Valentines Day! What a wonderful day to remember and even celebrate Ash Wednesday, on a day where nearly everyone around me is sharing heart shaped candy, cards with hearts on them, heart shaped boxes containing wonderful chocolates and even amazingly creative heart shaped balloons. So many ways to say “I Love You”.

How appropriate then, to have on the Christian church calendar this day to remember that life is short, and that we are to take some extra time loving God more and loving others more as a result of our love for God. Many have the tradition of giving up something for Lent, I have done that off and on over the years. I remember Ash Wednesday 2020 and we were at the beginning of the COVID pandemic where so many were constrained to stay at home, or wherever they found themselves. I was meeting, via Zoom, with fellow clergy to help support one another as we were entering a time that was threatening the very life of the church. We were discussing how we would be celebrating Lent with our church families even if we couldn’t meet in person. I suggested that we had already given up so much, that perhaps it was time to do something more; a new way to study scripture, a more concerted effort to communicate God’s love and presence, and even a new way to pray.

Our scripture for today gives us a glimpse of Jesus doing just that with his followers; we call it “The Lord’s Prayer”. Now this may not be a new way for you to pray. You may be in a congregation, like mine, who recites together this prayer during worship, and particularly at Holy Communion time. So, what’s new? Well, for me, I had grown up praying “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, recently I was challenged by one of my children to consider praying “and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”.

Funny, how changing one word makes this prayer all the more honest and personal. When you read our passage for today notice how Jesus says in verse 14 of Matthew chapter 6; “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Ouch! Can we just go back to Debts or Trespasses? Suddenly a scripture comes to mind from a previous midweek posting; “Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Okay, then, love is the key and it is often expressed in forgiveness, which is so much easier to say than to do. It’s sort of like when I was a little kid and we had a valentine exchange at school. My teacher said we were to have a valentine for every student in the class. What? I was supposed to write out on a valentine card the names of the people I did not like, and would not forgive them for making fun of me? Fine, I did, and even if they tore my card up, which happened, I was to be kind.

Yep, tis the season to love; love God and love others. Just like a song I learned as a youth and to sing as a round; Love, love, love, love, the gospel in a word is love. Love your neighbor as your brother, love, love, love.

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
February 7, 2024
Matthew 6:6:19-21

This afternoon I am blessed to be sitting in my office at home with the window open. I can’t believe it is this warm on the 7th of February. I hear birds chirping as if Spring has come already. Hold on everybody, I’m not sure the early Spring that the groundhog predicted is here just yet, but I will rejoice and be glad anyway. It feels like I should be doing some Spring Cleaning, I have “stuff” stuffed in places I need to clean out, but, since it isn’t really Spring just yet, I think I will wait .

Our scripture passage for today speaks about “stuff” as “treasures”. I’ve heard it said that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, either way, junk or treasure, I fear I have too much. Here’s what Jesus taught; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I believe the main thrust of this teaching is to be careful what motivates us. First, to be motivated to spend our time and resources on what brings God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. For my day to day life here, I believe Jesus wants me to be cautious in my consumer driven, materialistic culture, to ask if what I am collecting is a treasure that will bless, or junk we don’t need. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a dear friend when I was packing up to move. I asked in frustration’ “How did I get all this stuff?”

She responded quickly; “One Walmart bag at a time”.

My desk calendar puts it well; “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
January 31, 2024
Isaiah 40:21-23, 25-31

Serenity – “A state of being tranquil, peaceful, unclouded and clear” (Webster’s II University Dictionary). Ah, that sounds wonderful. Have you ever been in that state? I have visited many states in my time; the state of confusion, the state of anxiety, the state of fear, I’ve been in a fitful state, an angry state, and even a hopeful state, which has led me, many times to Serenity, that clear, unclouded, peaceful and tranquil place where I simply trust God and rest in Him. How about you? What state do you visit most?

I would love to say that I spend more time in Serenity than any of the other states, but that would not be truthful. Still, this meditation is to encourage all of you who might be traveling between states, just now, to find comfort in the above listed scripture passage in which God speaks to a people venturing into many of the tear-filled states like those I have listed. The original audience is the people of Judah who are living a slave like existence under Babylonian rule in the nation of Babylon, so far from home. They are becoming hopeless that brighter days will ever come, and even less hopeful that they will ever see the home they remember ever again. A portion of our passage today reads; “To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal? Says the Holy One…Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

I have a little card with The Serenity prayer by Reinhnold Niebuhr that helps summarize what I hope to do, to encourage you to pray as you travel between states; “God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to Your will so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.”

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
January 17, 2024
1 Peter 1:3-5

Happy Birthday! Happy 71st birthday to my big brother!

I remember another day some thirty years ago that I celebrated another kind of birthday with my brother – his baptism. What an evening that was! We started attending a little church his family attended, though he was not a believer at the time of his invitation to come to the church. Through some severe trials and troubles, the day came when my brother called me and said “sis, I have made my stand”, translation; “I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior”. Wow!

A little background; my brother is 7 years older than I am and we both had an older brother who passed away several years ago. When the two boys were very young, our parents immigrated to the United States from The Netherlands. They were sponsored by Trinity United Methodist Church in New Albany Indiana, and as such, became members of this church. Both of my brothers tolerated going to church with our parents and didn’t really subscribe to this whole salvation in Christ deal. When I came along I was well versed in the scriptures and loved just about anything the church had going on. Needless to say, my brother thought I was pretty weird. When I married and had children, I remember my brothers coming to visit us and both noticed how we had bible songs, and videos often playing for our kids. My brother, whose birthday it is today, thought that very odd, but again, tolerated it.

Fast forward to some 30 years ago after the birth of our fourth child and a traumatic exit from the military and illness that my husband was dealing with, BOOM! God intervenes and the Holy Spirit draws my brother to his wife’s pastor and well, the rest is history.

I am inspired by our reading for today; “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” I pray you too, will have experienced this “new Birth”, and if not, perhaps today is the day you will experience the love and provision of God in such a way that you too can have a new birth. Just in case I don’t hear from you if you do;

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
January 10, 2024
Psalm 90:12

Taking down the Christmas tree has never been one of my favorite activities and yet, a necessary one. However, I have some friends who live in a Senior Apartment building who had an 18 foot Christmas tree in the middle of their gathering place, which used to be a gymnasium and they would decorate it according to the different holidays throughout the year. It was an amazing sight. Not sure who the brave one was that climbed an 18 foot ladder to decorate all the way to the top, but I suspect it was not one of the Senior residents .

Something sad happened this year for my friends. After Christmas, when some of the residents popped into the gym for a time of fellowship, the tree was gone. Gone! All the wonderful decorations and all the anticipation of decorating for Valentines day, Easter, Independence Day…gone. Now I’m told it was put into storage for Christmas next year, but still, the gym looks and feels so empty without it, and my friends are very sad. What a way to start a new year.

Some of the folks told me they just cried and cried when they realized the tree was gone. They even apologized and asked me if it was wrong mourning a tree. I suggested that it wasn’t the tree, it was what it represented. For some, it was a symbol of life and hope, for some it had decorations that came with memories of folks that had lived there, but were there no longer. All I could say was that change is never easy, and forgiveness isn’t easy either, but like the necessity for me to take down my tree and, seemingly, the necessity for the apartment manager to take down the 18 foot tree, it had to be done. Don’t know the reasoning behind it all, I just know what’s done is done, and we have to find a way to move on.

I thought about my attitude about taking down my tree; Chore? Frustration with lights getting tangled? Hassel doing up and down the stairs? Or, opportunity to reflect and give thanks for another Christmas celebrated with my family, and yes, being thankful I live in a warm home where I can have a Christmas tree. Psalm 90:12; “Teach us [O Lord] to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Today, I’m seriously thinking about postponing taking down the Christmas tree, though the ornaments have all been boxed up. I think I just need one more day to pray for my friends who know their days are numbered and who need encouragement to walk through these precious days with wisdom-God’s wisdom. I need that encouragement too, how about you?

Amen!

Midweek Study with Pastor Edith
January 3, 2024
2 Corinthians 5:11-17

As I write this, I am sitting at my desk near a window and I see a bright blue sky with sunshine all around, my phone says it is a cool 41 degrees. Why is weather so important to me today? Well, I am reflecting on years past as I began a new year and as I was reading the above scripture I remembered just such a day in Idaho back in the mid 1980’s.

I was stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base, and relatively new to the military scene. Fortunately several of the other female Airmen befriended me and I felt more at home in this high-plains desert where, as my future husband would say, are as many women as you see trees. The point being there was lots of sage brush, lots of sand, and very few trees – get the point?

It was around Christmas week that all us girls gathered to help a friend of ours who was lucky enough to get leave to go back home for Christmas, pack for her trip. The rest of us had to stay on base.

We always made a big party out of anyone’s good fortune, and that day it was a riot of clothes flying everywhere, decisions about what to pack and what to leave behind as only one suitcase was allowed on the transport. What a time we had! When Christmas leave was over, our friend did not return to us. It seems there was black ice on a road she was travelling and she was killed in her car heading back to her parent’s house after visiting her fiancé. Needless to say, we were all devastated. In my grieving, I posted on her white board a portion of our scripture for today; “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

I realize that the context of this scripture is the Apostle Paul telling the First Century believers in Corinth that if they profess Christ, the old life they had of worshipping idols, taking advantage of people, being selfish etc. had to stop, because that is not the way of Christ. When a person comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that old life passes away and a new life begins.

I was in my early 20’s when I experienced this sudden loss of a friend, I realized how important it was to make the most of the time we have. I am so thankful we celebrated and shared our love for her before she went home (literally).

Here’s a New Year’s thought; spend some time intentionally loving the people around you. Celebrate the life God has given you, show and tell people that you care. Just as the previous verse in our scripture today reads; “we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view…” How about we begin this year asking the Holy Spirit to help us see people the way God sees them; all created in His image, all loved unconditionally, all needing the hope of salvation that comes through Christ Jesus, God’s only begotten son.

Happy New Year! Happy New You!