A Person With Two Tongues

 

            How many tongues do you have?  If you answered one, you are absolutely wrong.  A few years ago, I heard a man named Otis say that every person has two tongues that we can use to share Christ with others.  

The first tongue is the tongue that is in our mouth.   James 3:7-8 says these words about the tongue, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue.  It is a restful evil, full of deadly poison”.  If you have ever said something to someone you wish you had not said or if you still know the hurt of words that were said to you, you know the truth of those words of scripture.   James speaks further about the tongue when he says in James 3:9-10:“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be.

Otis went on to speak about a second tongue that we have-  the tongue in our shoe.  While Jesus and his early followers probably did not wear shoes like we wear, they did not stand still.   Jesus traveled from place to place sharing the message of God’s love in word and deed.   While the apostle Paul was not there when Jesus shared that commission to “Go into all the world and make disciples….”,  Paul let his feet do the walking to places like Galatia, Ephesus, and Rome.     For some of us the calling of Christ may take us to faraway places, but for most of us that calling is not around the world but simply around the block or down the street.    What are you doing with your two tongues in sharing the loving of Christ?   Does the tongue of your mouth bring praise to God, or does it curse men?     And how about the tongue in your shoe?    When was the last time when you went out of your way to share the love of Christ with someone simply through presence?    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall    

PRAYER-        God, help my lips and words to praise you.   Grant that I might let Christ be known in my words and the way I treat others.    Give me ears to hear the places you are calling me to serve in the places of this world and in the places I travel everyday;   through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

At Worship With Curlers in Your Hair

 

Nan was a short, petite woman who was a member of my home church.   Ironically, she lived  with her husband and son in the same house  where our family lived when I was in elementary school.   Though Nan has been dead for years, I think of her when Holy Week rolls around every year  because of an incident that happened at my home church many years ago.    

It was Maundy Thursday, and Nan and her family were there in their usual seats.    As a new Christian, it perhaps was the first Maundy Thursday Service I had ever attended.   In a day and age when there were many women who would not even leave the house without wearing make up and a dress, lo and behold there was Nan in the Maundy Thursday Service  wearing a scarf over a head that was filled with curlers in her hair.   Later after the service, Nan provided the explanation:   "Well, the pastor said to come to the service as you are and so  I came as I was with curlers in my hair."

During this Holy Week, we ponder those who gather around the cross:

-  Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women coming in the throes of their grief 

-  A centurion under orders from his superior officer who declares his alleigance to a higher authority as he exclaims "Surely this was the son of God"

-  Mockers who wag their tongues at Jesus because of either what they felt in their heart or because of what  they felt they must say

-  Criminals guilty of charges that brought them to that time and place, one contrite and another that wanted Jesus free them from it all

-   Disciples of Jesus who are there in their confusion and brokenness representing disciples who cower in some secret place

In this Holy Week, come as you are whether you be a disciple, criminal, mocker, soldier, mother, or the like.   Come to Jesus and His cross.   Come as you are knowing that the love that flows from the cross is sufficient to cover all your sins.     Have a blessed week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    Lord and God, we thank you for the love and grace that is sufficient for us in the cross of Christ whoever we are and wherever we are in our relationship with you.   Thank you, God;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.   

Getting Ready for the "Moving" Experience

 

            He is moving again.   Moving is nothing new for most United Methodist pastors.    I must say that I am very experienced in the moving process since I have done it a few times.    

            He will get the help he needed to move the boxes and furniture.  He will hang the pictures and  unpack the boxes.   There are some other things that he needs in this moving process, and this friend  cannot do it as much as I would like to.  First, my friend  and his family need to meet and make new friends and neighbors.    A  neighbor is more than a person that lives near you.  They are also persons with which you develop friendships.  I hope and pray that happens. 

            We live in a society that has become increasingly mobile.  While you might have lived in the same community all of your life, our community is increasingly being filled with people who have moved from other places. I read a couple of months ago that of the members of our town’s city council, only two are natives.   Like my friend,  they need neighbors and friends, and they need a church home.     In Hebrews 13:2, we hear:  “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”   Bill Hybels says that the first step in evangelism is sometimes simply walking across the room and saying Hi (or walking across the street, down the road, or across the sanctuary).    For Christ’s sake and for the sake of  those who are strangers among us, let us seek to be a neighbor to those new to our area and invite them to visit our church home.   Have a joy-filled week.  He is risen indeed!-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER

            O God, give me eyes to see the strangers among us.  Give me the courage to go beyond my comfort zone and offer hospitality to them;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.