Enjoy Halloween, But...

 

Halloween is only a few days away.  Though some pastor types look at Halloween with scorn, I see it as a fun time.   It was fun when I was a child to try figure out what homemade costume we could come up with around our house that would fit my parent’s tight budget and to go house to house to gather candies from the neighbors.   When I was a parent with young children, the girls would get all excited trying to figure out what story book character or movie character they would become for a few hours on October 31.  With 7 grandchildren now from a young teenager to an infant, I am excited to see what disguise they will don on the day.  

The essence of what Halloween is about is for a few hours  children (or adults) becoming something or someone they are not with the help of costumes, makeup, and the like.      While in the spirit of Halloween and fun, I believe that it is okay for children to dress up in costume at Halloween I also struggle with people who falsely claim they are something or someone they are not.     When my children were young, they would like to play “pretend”.  For example, there were many times they had teas with their dolls.    They were just pretending and using their imagination.   While I think that creativity is a wonderful attribute, I believe that it repulsive to God when a person pretends they are pious when their heart is far from that.     Don’t take my word for it.   Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 6:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I believe that God is real, and he wants us to be real in who we are and in WHOSE we are.  I don’t know about you, but I believe that I have more in common with the tax collector we read about in Luke 18 who prays “God, be merciful to me a sinner” than I do with the self righteous Pharisees.   Come on, folks.   Enjoy the fun of Halloween, but never forget that there is no pretending to be someone we are not with God.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

  

PRAYER

            Lord God,  You see us as we really are and love us anyway.  Cleanse us of all our uncleanness, and make us more completely into the image of Christ; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

Telling the Story Again

 

A  few months ago, my wife Ann and I travelled  a few days away from our home  to visit the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.   Our eyes soaked up the beautiful vistas along the Blue Ridge Parkway… our bodies enjoyed the tranquil thrill of  biking along the Virginia Creeper Trail… and we enjoyed eating on roadside tables and uncrowded restaurants.   One day, we stopped at a restaurant we had visited on several occasions in the past.   Though it was lunch time, the restaurant was quite uncrowded.   A nice server took our order and brought it to us promptly and with a smile.   As is often the case, I struck up a conversation with our server who asked where we were from and a little about ourselves.   When I told the server I was a pastor, her eyes lit up and a big smile came across her face.   Shen then proceeded to share with Ann and I  how she had had a terrible auto accident many years ago and how God had saved her from the clutches of death.    She ended her story with telling us that her restaurant manager had given her blessing for her to share her  testimony and that her pastor encouraged her to do the same.

I left the restaurant that day with my belly filled with a great meal and my heart full of her testimony.   I kept turning over in my mind this question:   When was the last time that you shared your testimony with anyone?     50 years ago this month in the city of Burlington at a lay witness mission at a local church, I gave my life to Jesus Christ and asked him to be the Lord and Savior of my life.   That October weekend began a journey that led to ordained ministry and to the privilege to serve as a pastor to numerous churches across North Carolina.  

In the book of Acts, we read the story of the Damascus Road experience of the apostle Paul.  In Acts 9, we read about how Paul, a persecutor of Christian, met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road and was transformed into one who was zealous for sharing the good news of the grace that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.     Though we hear the Damascus Road experience in Acts 9, Paul shares his testimony again Acts 22 and Acts 26.   When was the last time you told someone the story of what God has done and is doing in your life?     The story of how Christ Jesus could love a wretch like me is one that is worth telling over and over again?   Thanks be to God.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

 

PRAYER

O God,  I give you thanks for your saving grace that transformed my life long ago and is still at work in me.   Help me to tell that story through word and deed again and again; through Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

The Mystery of the Destination

 

            Every year, Ann and I take a few days of vacation that are cloaked in mystery.  We go on a trip, and Ann does not know  until we leave where we are going.  Ann tries to pry information about our destination out of friends or family , but they do not tell her (because they often do not know the destination either).           

            There are times and experiences in life  that we know we are going somewhere , but we don’t where to.  There have been a few times my son in law has gone on missions with the U.S. Army that he did not know his destination.  There have been times as a Methodist pastor that I knew that I was going to be serving a church, but I did not know the name of the church or its location. 

            Life in general and the Christian life in particular is sometimes cloaked in mystery.    Though we have our plans for the day and goals for our life, we never know for certain what each day holds for us or what will unfold in our life.  In Hebrews 11:8, we read these words about Abraham,  “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”   None of us knows for sure who will cross our path today, what will happen this evening,  or what tomorrow will bring.  So, we live by faith trusting in the God we know amid the many, many things we do not know.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall    

PRAYER

O God,  we are grateful that even though we do not know the twists and turns of our future, we know you.  Give us faith and trust in you as we face days ahead.    Amen. 

I Am Voting For...

 

As I  would suspect most of you know, we have an election in a few weeks here in North Carolina and the USA.    It is hard to miss that fact if you read the newspaper… go on a social media site… ride in your car down a major highway… or open your mail.     Candidates at the local, county, state, and national level are selling themselves and their plans in hopes of  getting our vote. 

From a biblical perspective, we find little help in choosing who to vote for.   When we open the Old Testament, we see that God chose the  leadership for Israel (e.g. Samuel, Saul).   In the New Testament, we see that Jesus chose the disciples after deep prayer and that the “replacement disciple” for Judas was chosen by the casting of lots.   We do find  in I Timothy 3: 1-7  this guidance for the choosing of overseers (or bishops):

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. ² Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full^[a] respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

There have been times through the years when people have sought my counsel as a pastor about who to vote for.   Though I have my opinions and do vote and will note,  I always choose not to come down on the side of any particular party.     I  remind you that while much attention may focus on candidates for national office or state office, choose carefully those who you elect on the local level.   They serve in important positions also.  For example, it is the county commissioners in NC that determine your property tax each year.  I will encourage you to do what I do as you prepare to vote by doing the following:

PRAY-    In the gospel of Luke, we see that Jesus spent the night in prayer before he chose his disciples.   Spend time in prayer asking God to  guide you as you vote.  

STUDY-  Study the stances of the candidates on the issues that are close to your heart.   Be careful about just voting for a candidate because of their stance on one issue.   Try to discover their stances and plans beyond what you might see on a 60 second television ad or on social media.    Try to discover not just what the candidates are against, but also what they are.   Be an informed voter. 

ASK YOURSELF-  Ask yourself some questions after you study such as the following:   Does this candidate have a servants  heart?    Are they eager to serve all the people or more interested in what their election might mean for themselves  and their donors?   Does this candidate have a character that your children or grandchildren can look up to?

PRAY SOME MORE-  Once the election is over, pray some more.   Pray for those who are elected as they face the tasks before them.   It is huge task being an elected official these days and they will need God’s help to do it well.   Pray also  for yourself and for  our country that we might be united as citizens behind these newly elected or re-elected officials. 

Have a joy-filled week and best wishes to all the candidates.-  Pastor Randy Wall 

 

PRAYER

Lord, I offer prayers for our community, state, and nation during this election season.    Give us eyes and a heart to see who the candidates really are and to vote accordingly.   God bless us in these days;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.