The Bloom of the Irises

Above this blog you will find a picture of Irises in my front yard.   I display the picture not as a subtle pat on the back about my gardening skills or simply because Spring is here.  I share this picture because there is a story behind the Irises.   I planted these Irises last Spring, our first Spring in our home.  Our yard was bare of any perennials.   Since the Iris is one of my favorite perennials,  I wanted to have some Irises in our yard. 

One day, I visited with Carol, a member of our church congregation.  Since Carol was experiencing declining health and had become homebound,  I visited her regularly last Spring.  As I was going into her home,  I noticed that she had a yard full of Irises.    When I asked Carol about her Irises,  she generously offered to share them with me for our yard.    One day last Spring,  I made a trip to her home not to sit in her den but to dig in her yard.  With shovel and bucket in hand,  I journeyed to her back yard to dig up some of her Irises.   Carol stood on her back porch and watched my work with a look of approval.    A day or so later,  I planted the Irises in our front yard.      I am watching and waiting excitedly for the Irises Carol shared with me to be in full bloom.

A few weeks after I planted those Irises last Spring, Carol’s health took a turn for the worse.  She died last May at our local hospital.    I had the priviledge to be a part of her funeral in late May.   In this season when we celebrate the resurrection and Easter, I find myself thinking of Carol and that verse in John 12:24  that says:   

²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Thanks be to God for the wonder of  His handiwork and for the new life that is found in Christ for Carol and all who are in Christ Jesus.  Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, we give you thanks for the wonder of your handiwork as Spring unfolds around us.   Give us eyes of faith to see the new life that is found for all who trust in you through your resurrection promises;  through Christ our Lord. Amen.  

Paying Taxes

⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.-   Romans 13:6-7

²⁰ Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹ So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²² Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”   ²³ He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”   “Caesar’s,” they replied.   ²⁵ He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”   ²⁶ They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.-   Luke 20: 20-26

The  deadline to file and pay your 2016 taxes happened this week.  I look at tax filing and collection in a little different way than most people because of family connections to the tax business.   First, my Dad served as tax collector for my hometown of Burlington, NC for 7 years back in the mid to late 1960’s.    Even though I was a child and a teenager in those days, I saw the stress in my Dad and heard  negative comments from friends about paying taxes.   Secondly, my wife, Ann, is a professional tax preparer and has been the same for many years.   Sometimes, she is the messenger of good news for a client and other times she shares bad news.   She does not make the laws that affect people’s tax burden, but only is the messenger for how the tax laws impact hard-working people in our state and nation.

Everyone pays taxes whether they like it or not whatever their  age.  In the place I reside, you pay taxes when you purchase such items as a snack at the store, a new or used car, or the clothes you will wear on your back.  Most everyone wants some of the things that our tax dollars provide such as good schools, good roads, care for our elders, and a strong national defense.  However, it is safe to say that none of us completely agree with how our tax dollars are used on the local, state, or national level and we voice our complaints about the same from time to time.  Yet, let us never forget that decisions about how our tax dollars are used are made by persons elected by the people and that we have a say about  who are elected when we go to the polls and vote for the candidates of our choice.     

Paying our taxes is our civic duty and obligation as much as voting, serving on jury duty, or serving in military service.   When I was younger,  I saw my payment of federal taxes as a way to help provide social security income for my grandparents.   In more recent years, I have seen my payment of taxes as a way to provide the equipment that my son in law needs as he serves in our nation’s military or providing social security income for my parents. 

While people are taxed in the United States whether they have faith or no faith, it is very fair to say that the Lord Jesus and early Christian leaders like Paul had no problem with paying taxes.  Paul clearly affirms the payment of taxes in the passage printed above.   While there are some subjects that Jesus does not speak about, he does speak about paying taxes and certainly is not contrary to  the same.  So, let us pay our taxes.  There was a price that was paid for followers of Christ Jesus to know salvation, and so there is price that must be paid through our taxes  for us to live in this land where we call home.  Have a joy-filled week.  -   Pastor Randy Wall 

 Prayer:   O God, give us eyes to see beyond the dollar signs to what our taxes provide in this land.  We pray for wisdom for our leaders who make decisions about how our tax dollars are used;  through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.  

Bare Feet in a Maundy Thursday Snow

It was an unusual night.  In the first place, it was not often that we had worship at that Piedmont NC church on a weekday night much less a Thursday night.  In the second place, it was a snowy night.  It would not have seen unusual if the month had been January or February, but it was April and farmers were planting corn just across from the church. 

It was a special night and not just any old night.  It was the Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, and the family of faith was coming together to worship.  The gospels tell us about two things that happened on that Thursday of Holy Week.  First, they tell us that Jesus gathered together with his disciples for the Passover meal.  As they were eating, he took a piece of bread saying “this is my body” and he took a cup and said “this is my blood”.   It was a fortaste to what would behold in the life of Jesus less than 24 hours away when he died on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem.  Secondly, the gospel of John alone tells us that Jesus also did something else on that special night: he washed the naked, dirty feet of the disciples like a servant would.   

The night became ever more unusual during the worship service when the front door of the church opened and  in walked  a man, woman, and children  that were unknown to this pastor.  After the service, I became aware that no one else knew the folks either.  While it might be normal for some churches to have guests regularly, guests that no one knew were the exception rather than the rule at that rural church. After the service ended, I discovered that the family was there not just for worship but for another reason.  That reason was that they needed help. 

They told me and a layman of the church  their story:  The man had been promised a job in New York, and so the family had driven from Texas to New York.  Unfortunately, the job did not work out and they were on their way back home.  They were out of money, and could our church provide some food, lodging, and some gas to get them closer to home in Texas.  While I still remember their story over 30 years later, what I remember the most of that Maundy Thursday encounter was the bare feet of their son walking through the snow of that April evening.

 Christians will gather in many places and many lands this Maundy Thursday to  eat the bread and partake of the cup.  They will remember the gift of Christ Jesus for them and for all.   We do well also  on Maundy Thursday to remember  the act of Jesus to wash the feet of his disciples.  As Jesus served as he washed the feet of his disciples long ago, let us remember the opportunity to serve that sometimes is right there at our doorstep on snowy April evenings and other times.  Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, move us with compassion to serve others even as Christ served. Amen.  

Look at the Palms

Look at the palms.   I have found myself  making that statement as I gazed at the Palm trees along the road from an airport in Central America and along the water is the island paradise of the Florida Keys or on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.     Just the phrase brings memories of beautiful sunsets, tropical breezes, and easy life.

Look at the palms.   That phrase will also come to mind next Sunday when the family of faith gathers to worship in churches large and small.   In rural places and urban centers,  children and adults will wave their palm branches and perhaps place them at a cross.    The church militant will remember Palm Sunday, the day that Christ Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time with the sound of loud ”Hosannas” in his ears and the sight of palm branches at his feet.    We will remember the One who for a moment was treated like a King knowing that in a matter of days those chants of his kingship would turn to shouts to “crucify him.”  

Let me look at your palms.    I think back to that request of a friend years ago who believed they could look at someone’s palm and tell what the future holds.   Long life or short life?   Trials or triumphs?   I cannot recall the message they saw as they looked at my palms.  But I know this?    You can tell a lot when you look at someone’s palms.  What story could your palms tell?     When was the last time the palm of your hand held the hand of someone you love?     When if ever have your two palms been clasped together in prayers of thanksgiving for the goodness God gives you or in prayers of petition for yourself or someone else?      When was the last time the palms of your hands held a hammer or other tool to make repairs for a home far away or a home nearby?    When did your palms hold a cloth to cool the forehead of a child with a fever or of a friend who was in their final days of life?    When did your palm clasp the arm of a friend or acquaintance as you prayed for them?    Look at the palms, even the palms of your hands.   What story do they tell about the service you have and are rendering in the name of the Lord? The palms of Christ were nail-scarred as he served others.  Who do palms serve?   Have a joy-filled week.-    Pastor Randy Wall 

Prayer:    Loving and living God, we give you thanks for the gift of Christ Jesus.   Help us to open our hands and hearts to new ways to serve the world around us;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.