Somebody's Watching

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

The words above are from the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.     As I recall, it was one of my favorite Christmas songs when I was a young boy.   Though the song was written many years ago,  its words about someone always watching us are true in these early days of the 21^st century.   In this world where most everyone has a camera as close as their cell phone and where security cameras are everywhere to watch for potential terrorist,  there seems to always be someone watching and always eager to share that camera footage on a social media site. 

We can bemoan these watchful eyes as an invasion of privacy.  We can also celebrate these lurking cameras as a way to bring peace of mind in a dangerous world.   There is another way to look at it, and it is the truth that someone has always been  watching and that Someone is God.    We find that truth in the words of Psalm 139 where we read:

Lord, you have examined me;
    you have known me.
² You know when I rest^[a]
    and when I am active.^[b]
You understand what I am thinking
    when I am distant from you.^[c]
3 You scrutinize my life and my rest;^[d]
    you are familiar with all of my ways.
⁴ Even before I have formed a word with my tongue,
    you, Lord, know it completely!
⁵ You encircle me from back to front,
    placing your hand upon me.
⁶ Knowledge like this is too amazing for me.
    It is beyond my reach,
        and I cannot fathom it.

What solace we can take in the truth that God is watching us not to catch us in the act of some grievous sin, but because he loves and cares for us like a parent caring for their child.  Have a joy-filled week.-    Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord and God, thank you for watching over us like a Shepherd watching over their sheep.  Thank you for your love and care; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Singing In the Dark

The early morning has always been one of my favorite times of the day.   I am blessed these days to be able to spend time as night gives way to day, darkness to light in extended prayer.    The other morning,  I was moved as I heard the sound of a beautiful bird singing its song.    Even though it was still dark outside, the bird was offering its melodious praises to its creator.

The sound of that bird singing in the dark got me to think about how difficult it is for humans to sing in the dark.     I recall the opening song from the musical “Oklahoma”  where Curley sings “Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day.  I got a wonderful feeling everything is going my way.”    It is easy to sing in the sunshine of the day when everything is going your way, but it is harder to sing when your life is filled with dark and gloomy experiences like death, depression, sickness, or hunger.

I read again today the story of a man named Job.    He certainly knew what travail and trouble were .  In a single day, he experienced the death of his children… the loss of his home and livestock… and sickness for himself.    Some might say about Job that “it were not for bad luck he would have  no luck at all.” Despite it all, Job is a man that sings even in a dark time of his life  praises to God.    Listen to what Job says as the news of his troubles was given to him in Job 1:

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.^[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

I think that the only way that Job could “sing in the dark” was that his life was centered in God.  Oh, to  continue to grow closer to the Lord.   Have a joy-filled week.-    Pastor Randy Wall

 Prayer:  O God, help me to live and believe that you are the greatest treasure in my life.  Thank you for being with me in good times and bad times.  I love you, Lord.  Amen.  

Praying for the Ones that Pray for Us

Delegates from congregations of the people called Methodist will be gathering for a big gathering next month in Portland, Oregon.    That gathering is called General Conference, and people will be there from around the world.      The meeting, which takes place only every 4 years, will be a time of discussion on what we believe and what we do as the people called Methodist.    One of the things that the people called Methodist are asked to do in these days in anticipation of that gathering is to be in prayer.    Yesterday was the date that the people called Methodists in our area were asked to be in prayer for that gathering.    Prayer is one of the things that I believe people of faith do well.    We pray as we begin our worship and we pray when we end our worship.   It is quite common in many churches I have participated in for churches to solicit prayer petitions and prayers of praise.    Many churches have prayer meetings on their weekly list of activities.    Some churches send out prayer requests via phone calls or via e mail.   The  church prays often and prays well.

In these days, the people called Methodist are asked to pray for their beloved church.   It got me to thinking:   Do we regularly pray for the Ones that pray for us?      Most people are quick and quite glad  for the Church to pray for them, but  do we take time to pray for the Church--  for its leadership, its mission, and its ministry?        There are times the church has failed to be the “body of Christ” and was quite deserving of the criticism that came its way.   While the Church serves a Savior who is without sin, its members are simply people saved from sin by grace.  Are we as  quick to offer prayers of thanksgiving to God for the church when it does that which is good, right, and holy as we are to offer criticism?

I know not whether you who are reading this are regularly involved in a church or not.    Whether you are involved in a church and whatever that denomination that church might be , I encourage you to pray for the church.    I believe that prayer works, and that the church that so willingly prays for us needs us to pray for it.     Let me end by sharing part of a  prayer of Jesus for his disciples found in John 17: 17-25:

¹⁷ “Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ It is for their sakes that I sanctify myself, so that they, too, may be sanctified by the truth.²⁰ I ask not only on behalf of these men,^[g] but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ so that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one^[h] in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. ²² “I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are one. ²³ I am in them, and you are in me. May they be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you have loved them as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.   ²⁵ “Righteous Father, the world has never known you. Yet I have known you, and these men have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have for me^[i] may be in them and I myself may be in them.”                                                                           -     Pastor Randy Wall

 Prayer:   Living God, I thank you for your church, the body of Christ.  Bless its leaders and members to be your hands and feet in the world;  through Christ our Lord. Amen.    

My First Easter Sunrise Service

I remember well the  first Easter Sunrise Service I ever attended   I was 17 years old and in my senior year of high school.    I had given my life to  Christ only months earlier.    We did not have an Easter Sunrise Service at my home church, Grace Church in Burlington.  I do not know exactly why.   Some neighbors and fellow church members, Harold and Pat Chrismon, had invited me to attend the Easter Sunrise Service at a church near a small community called Brown Summitt near my hometown of Burlington.   I was up around 5 am and dressed in the dark of the house to not disturb the rest of our family, and made the short walk from our home to the Chrismon home.   The Sunrise Service was more of a “passion play” than a worship service as it told the story of the last days of Jesus’s earthly life through music and actors in the church cemetery.   I still remember standing in that cemetery watching the “Jesus” actor on the cross as the first glimpse of sunlight began to inch above the horizon.    I felt something that day in my heart I had never felt on Easter before.     Before that  Easter Sunday, I had shared in the Easter egg hunts with cousins and in gatherings with extended family.  On that Easter Sunday, I felt  alive, alive in Christ, because Christ Jesus now lived  in my heart.

If you open your Bible and read Galatians 5:20, you will read these words: 

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,who loved me and gave himself for me.

Easter is not just about Easter egg hunts, gathering with family and friends, or dressing up in new spring fashion.   Easter is  more than attending worship services and taking vacation at our favorite destination.    Easter only becomes more than a day on calendar when Christ Jesus lives in your heart.  Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor  Randy L. Wall

 Prayer:   Praise and thanksgiving be to you, O God, for the truth that Christ is risen from the dead.  Through your grace and spirit, help me to die to sin and live in your righteousness;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.     

Tears at the Cross

³² Two others, who were criminals, were also led away to be executed with Jesus.^[q] 33 When they reached the place called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴ Jesus kept saying, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing.”^[r] Then they divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.  Meanwhile, the people stood looking on. The leaders were mocking him by saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Messiah^[s] of God, the chosen one!”  ³⁶ The soldiers also made fun of Jesus^[t] by coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷ saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”³⁸ There was also an inscription over him written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:^[u] “This is the King of the Jews.”   ³⁹ Now one of the criminals hanging there kept insulting^[v] him, “You are the Messiah,^[w] aren’t you? Save yourself…and us!”  ⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him, “Aren’t you afraid of God, since you are suffering the same penalty? ⁴¹ We have been condemned justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he went on to plead, “Jesus, remember me when you come into^[x] your kingdom!” ⁴³ Jesus^[y] told him, “I tell you^[z] with certainty, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  ⁴⁴ It was already about noon,^[aa] and the whole land^[ab] became dark until three in the afternoon^[ac] 45 because the sun had stopped shining, and the curtain^[ad] in the sanctuary was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.”^[ae] After he said this, he breathed his last.-   Luke 23: 32-46

His name was Chuck, and he was one of my professors at Duke.   He was different than most of my professors.  While many of the male faculty came in a class wearing a suit or tie, Chuck came into class wearing blue jeans.  Instead of wearing loafers or dress shoes,  Chuck (a native of the Lone Star state) wore cowboy boots to class in a day and place when they were not as fashionable as they are today.   

It is not those things that stand out most when I think about that former professor in my early days of learning about  ministry.    What I remember the most about Professor Chuck is that everytime he would talk about the crucifixion of Christ on the cross he would start to cry.   That tall, lanky Texan was not one who would cry with frequency in that class of would-be pastors.  However, everytime he would talk about the death of Christ Jesus he would be brought to tears as he remembered again that Christ Jesus died not only for the sins of the whole world, but also for  the sins of Chuck.  

We hear of death too often when we hear the daily news.  We are saddened to hear of the student that is killed in a car wreck or the young person who died too young of a dreaded disease.  We mourn the death of national celebrities and sports figures.    Yet,  let the people who claim faith in Christ never forget that during this week in a place far away and in a time long ago that Christ Jesus died for you.    That is a fact that brought Chuck to tears.  How about you?   Have a blessed holy week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 Prayer:   O God, I give you thanks for your wondrous love that was shown in the life and death of Jesus Christ.  Help me to live more like Christ and allow him to live in me.  Amen. 

 

Junk or Treasure?

A few weeks ago, I attended an auction at one of our local self storage facilities at the invitation of an acquaintance who is the district manager for a nationwide self storage company.    Like perhaps some of you, I had seen some of the shows on television where persons attempt to be the winner bidder of the contents of a self storage unit where the property owners fail to pay their rent in a timely manner.  Even though it was a rainy day,  there were probably 15 or so persons present for the auction that day.    On that day, the winning bids ranged from $1 to almost $900.  I was not the winning bidder on any of the units up for auction.  A matter of fact, I did not bid at all but only observed.   What was fascinating to me was that when I looked at the contents of those self storage units I only saw junk,  but the winning bidders saw items of value.  

There are too many people who treat others like I did those self storage units on the auction block that day.     I saw little value in the contents of those self storage units.    There are too many people who look at others and think they have little value in this world  because of their past… the color of their skin….their economic status…their national origin… or because of their faith or lack there-of of faith.    Our God has a different way of looking at people.    While we might see a person with a problem,  our God sees a person with potential.    While we might see a person as if they are a piece of coal,  God looks at them and sees a diamond in the making.      I am reminded of the words of I Peter 2:9 which says:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

   

While each of us might have junk,  the mighty and glorious God of the universe does not make any junk.  Oh, for eyes to see others the way that God sees us.  Oh, to see others as people of great worth and value simply because we are made in the image of God.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 Prayer:   O God, I am awed by the thought that in your wisdom and grace you made me in the image of God.    Help me to treat others knowing that all of us are created by you;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.    Amen.  

The Face of God

It happened on a Sunday.    After teaching Sunday School and leading worship,  I went home and prepared a quick, light lunch for a house filled with family and guests.   In the middle of the afternoon that day, I stood before the same altar in the same church where I preached earlier  before family and friends and Almighty God and told the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife Ann, that I would “love, honor, and cherish” her.    The ladies of the church did  a fine job as the hostesses for our wedding reception with food that was only exceeded in its goodness  by such a fine assembly of people. 

After the wedding reception, Ann and I  went to the parsonage and opened the many gifts and cards from so many well-wishers.   As Ann and I prepared to leave the parsonage for a wedding night in a Charlotte hotel and a week in the Charleston area, we met with some challenges that were all my fault.  First, I backed our van into the side of the parsonage.  Secondly, I locked the car keys inside the van and had to call a locksmith to retrieve them.    After that, we headed to a Charlotte hotel where we were to spend our wedding night.  After getting checked into our room and dinner at a local restaurant, we returned to our hotel room to settle down for the night.   That is when I need something that perhaps not many grooms do on their wedding night.   I took out my Bible and read the following words to my new bride from Genesis 33:10 which says:   

¹⁰ “Please,” Jacob implored him, “don’t refuse. If I’m to receive favor from you, then receive this gift from me, because seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have favorably accepted me.

After reading that verse, I gave Ann, my new bride, the gift of a gold  chain with a heart on it.  On that heart, I had the jewelry store inscribe these words:    “To see your face is to see the face of God”.    18 years later,  Ann still wears that chain with the heart inscription.  18 years later, I still see the face of God in her each and every day.     18 years later, my daily  hope and prayer is that others might see the face of God in me.  Have a joy filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, thank you for the gift of the wonderful gift of marriage.  Thank you, God, for the people who show us the face of God in their words and deeds.  Help us to strive to do the same;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.