Seeing a Masterpiece

Have you ever seen a real masterpiece?   A work that is quite valuable if not priceless?    I think back to my visit to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem when I got the chance to see not only fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls that are priceless but also to see real copies of paintings of Picasso.   I also think of the chance I had a few years ago to visit the Metrolitan Museum of Art in New York City.   There were some masterpieces in those places.

Of course, there was works of nature that are masterpieces in my estimation.   I think of the time that Ann and I visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona after a small snowfall in April and saw that beautiful, massive site.    I also thinking of seeing the beauty of a sun set on the island of Oahu in Hawaii a few years ago. 

Have you ever seen a masterpiece?   Even if you have travelled to New York City, Hawaii, or Jerusalem I believe you have. You have seen a masterpiece even if you  are not an art lover or a world traveller for one reason:  YOU HAVE LOOKED IN THE MIRROR.  Don’t take my word for me.   Take God’s word for it.  Read these words from Ephesians 2 paying special attention to the words I have in capital letters here: 

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For WE ARE GOD’S HANDIWORK , created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.    (Ephenians 2: 4-10)

The New Living Translation used the word “masterpiece” in this passage  for the word “handiwork”.    Despite the television commercials that might belittle you because you having used this or that product, you are a masterpiece for this reason:  YOU ARE MADE BY GOD AND MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.  

Everyone has days or times when they feel bad because of something they have done or  not done or something that someone has done against you.   When you are in that place, go look in the mirror and remember that despite it all you are a masterpiece.  You are priceless because you are made by God and in the image of God.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER --  O God,  thank you  for creating me and redeeming me through the grace found in Christ Jesus.   Praise you for your love and mercy; in Christ’s name I pray.  Amen. 

Memories of March 8, 1998

 

March 8, 1998.   25 years ago today.   I woke up early and prepared for a busy day fixing breakfast for a house full of people before I headed to Roberta United Methodist Church where I taught Sunday School and led Sunday worship.   My sermon must have been rather forgetful because I do not remember the scripture or the title.  I then went to the parsonage where I prepared lunch for a house full of people.   A couple of hours later, I headed back to church for an important event:  I was getting married.   On March 8, 1998, I stood before God, family, friends, and  a beautiful woman named Lora Ann and  vowed that  I  would  “love, honor, and cherish”  her till we are parted by death.  

After the wedding and the reception, we headed to the parsonage and our new home together.   The house was filled with our children and family.   It was a crazy time as we prepared to head out to spend our wedding night at the Hilton in Charlotte before we headed to the Charleston area for our honeymoon.  First,  I backed the van into the side of the  house.   Fortunately, little  damage was done  to the car or house.  After that, in the excitement of the day I locked the car keys in the van and we had to wait on a locksmith before heading on our way.

We finally arrived at the Hilton off of Tyvola Road in Charlotte.    We had a lovely room with a balcony and a platter of fruit and chocolates.     After dinner at a nearby restaurant, we returned to our hotel room.   Shortly thereafter, Ann and I changed into our sleepwear.   As we sat on the couch in the suite,  I did what few men do on their wedding night as they sit near their beloved:   I opened the Bible and began to read.    I read the following passage of scripture from Genesis 33: 1-10:

When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah’s children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.^[a] 2 Then he positioned the women servants and their children first, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph after them. ³ Then he went out to meet Esau,^[b] passing in front of all of them, and bowed low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.  ⁴ Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Then he fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept.  ⁵ When Esau eventually looked around, he saw the women and the children. “Who are these people^[c] with you?” he asked.  “The children, whom God has graciously given^[d] your servant,” he answered. ⁶ Then the women servants approached, accompanied by their children, and bowed low. ⁷ Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low. ⁸ Then Esau asked, “What are all these livestock for?”  “To solicit favor from you,^[e] sir,”^[f] Jacob answered.  ⁹ But Esau replied, “I already have so much, my brother, so keep what belongs to you.”  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 I read the passage,  Ann unwrapped a small gift  I had for her.   When she opened it, she found a necklace with a heart on it.   On the heart, I had a local jeweler inscribe the following words:    “I see the face of God in you.”  

25 years later, those words  still ring true for me.   The grace, goodness, and generosity of Ann toward me and many others continues to show me the face of God.    I am a blessed man and am so grateful to God.    With an open heart, I suspect that there is someone in your life in who you see the face of God.   Give thanks to God for them, and go seek to be the face of God to someone else.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER --  O God,  thank you for persons  around us who give us glimpses of you and your love.    Through your grace and the power of the Spirit, help us to go  and do likewise;  through  Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

A Second Touch

 

²² When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. ²³ Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”  ²⁴ The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” ²⁵ Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”-  Mark 8: 22-26

            We find in Mark 8 an interesting story of a blind man.   We know not whether he was blind since birth or whether he lost his sight through  an accident or a disease.   What we know is that Jesus heals him not once but twice.   First, we see Jesus spit on the man’s eyes and touch them.   When the man tells Jesus that he cannot see clearly, Jesus touches the man’s eyes a second time.   Through this second touch, the man is able to see clearly.   Immediately after this healing, we find the story of Peter exclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God.

            Some can look at this story and focus on the fact that the man was not totally healed of his blind by the first touch of Jesus.   I choose a different focus and it is this:   it is not enough that we be touch by the Lord Jesus only once.   We need the touch of the Great Physician again.  

            Perhaps you can share a date or time or at a particular event  when you knew the touch of Christ to your life.   That surely is something to celebrate.      I don’t know about you, but I need the touch of Christ on my life not just once, but again and again.   If you need the touch of Christ again, I pray that you will receive it.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall  

 

PRAYER --  O God,  thank you for your marvelous, healing grace that touches us again and again.   Touch us, Lord, and transform us more fully into your presence; through   Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

God and Dr. King, Forgive Me!

 

I do not know when my racial bias and bigotry began.   I do not think it was in my DNA or in my blood.   I believe it was learned through the people I was around.    I remember this black woman that cleaned our house and kept my brother and I when we were very young.   Despite the fact that we loved her, I learned to fear and distrust persons because of the color of their skin.

I can remember hearing adults in my family talking about the Woolworth lunch counter sit ins in early 1960 in Greensboro.    Even if the adults thought I was not listening, I was and learned their disapproval of the protests and the people who were making them.   I can remember discovering in the storage room at a neighbor’s house one day a wooden cross that confirmed my suspicion that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  

Even though it has been over 50 years ago, I still remember the racial unrest in my hometown of Burlington in 1969.    Our high school, Williams High School, was at the heart of the unrest as Jordan Sellers High School was closed and black  students came to Williams.   There were walk outs at school and a city-wide  curfew.    A young black man only a few years younger than myself was killed.   Our high school became the first predominately white high school in the south to have a black football coach, Jerome Evans.

In the Fall, 1970, I began to follow Christ Jesus and became a Christian.    I discovered that God so loved me and that God so loved the world.   As the children’s song says,   “Jesus loves the little children… red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.”   And this God who loves me and loves children whatever is the color of their skin loves everyone.   And so, God began to work on me and change my heart including taking away that racial bias and bigotry.   Only by the grace of God go I. 

In these days, we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.   It is a federal holiday.    A few months ago, I visited Memphis and the very place where Dr. King was killed by a bullet.   In many ways, people will observe Dr. King’s birthday.  I observe his birthday this year by saying,   “God, forgive me for my racial bias and bigotry and for my silence in the face of it. ”  I made a choice and I am sorry.   I repent of my sin.   God, have mercy on me a sinner!    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER --   God of many names and many people, thank you for loving each and everyone of us.   Heal our hearts and this land of bias and division.   Forgive us for  the times we do not love one another;   through Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

Follow the Star

 

One of the early explorers in the history of America was a man named Daniel Boone.   In the mountains of NC, you can find a town named after him and you can even find in that area remnants of the Boone Trail that legend says that Daniel Boone took when he headed to explore a region today we call Kentucky.    I recall a story that is told about a time that Daniel Boone was asked “Have you ever gotten lost?”    The story goes that Daniel Boone replied,  “No, but there have been times when I have been a might bewildered.”

Here we are in the early days of 2023.    We know the good and bad, the joys and sorrows that are behind us in 2022.   Though we have plans, goals, and dreams, we don’t know for sure what lies ahead of us in this new year.    Our schedule might say that we have meetings at work or church, or doctors appointments and dental appointments.    We anticipate the birthdays of friends and family.   However, there is something a little bewildering for us as we face this new year.  As Daniel Boone travelled to a new frontier we call Kentucky, we go into a new frontier we have never gone before called 2023. 

One of the things I learned in my boy scouting days was that you could use the North Star as a point of  reference in finding your way in the dark of night.   There were times when I did  just that as a teenage boy.    Friends, we have  a “North Star” to lead us and guide us as we make the bewilderment of a new year called 2023.    It is the God we know in Jesus Christ.   Let His Spirit offer you peace and wisdom in the year ahead;  let His Word in the Scriptures we be a light for your path and a lamp for your feet.  

A few months ago,  I went to the funeral of my friend, Wylene Graybeal.    When I was her pastor and we would gather for a church meal,   Wylene would often say that the meal was the “best one yet.”    With Gods guidance, God’s peace, and God’s Word this year 2023 can be the best one yet.    Have a joy-filled week and a joy-filled 2023.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER --   God,  you are Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end.   Thank you for your presence and your guidance as we face the fresh new path before us called 2023.  We love you, Lord;   through Christ our Lord.   Amen.   

A Christmas Gift Never Given

 

Most all of us have Christmas memories that are unforgettable and continue to linger.   For some of us, those memories are good and for others of us those memories are not so good.   Christmas 2000 was a Christmas that I will never forget.  My late Mom was in the hospital and nursing home that Christmas recovering from back surgery in early December 2000.   I remember making my way from my home to my hometown of Burlington to visit her in the hospital before I  had some “Christmas moments” with Ann and our girls.   It would turn out to be my Mom’s last Christmas before her death in August   

My brother Tony, my step-father Beamon, and I had made the decision that we would not exchange  Christmas gifts until Mom was able to be back home.    Since Mom had been sick, I had bought her a nightgown for her Christmas present.   Though Ann and the girls were much more proficient in wrapping Christmas gifts that I was, I insisted that I would wrap her gift even though the gift wrapping was far from perfect.

Shortly after her death in August 2001, I discovered her Christmas gift in a closet.   It was a Christmas gift that was never given.   Nursing home visits, rehab, physical therapy, and other things seemed to get in the way of giving her that nightgown.   Though my memory is a blur over 20 years later, I seem to recall that I took the nightgown and donated it to the local Goodwill Store.  Perhaps some other person got the benefeit of a gift that was never given. 

In these December days, many will offer gifts to young and old:   children, family, friends, co-workers, community helpers (like the postman and the person who delivers our newspaper).   I wonder if there is a gift that you will not give this year?

·         Will you offer the gift of an “I’m sorry” to a friend or family member with which a dispute still lingers?

·         Will you offer the gift of a visit to a friend or family member you have not seen in the longest time?

·         Will you give the gift of taking time to spend with God in prayer and praise and get re-acquainted on His Son’s birthday?

While Christmas is only days away, there is still time and these are gifts you can afford if you would only invest the time.    Have a joy-filled week and a blessed Christmas. Emmanuel, God is with us.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER --   God, we give you thanks for the unspeakable gift that is ours in Jesus Christ.   Richly we have been given.   Let us richly give.   Amen.

Untied Church, Untied World: A Christmas Hope

 

Two of the things that have not changed through the years of my life about Christmas is there is always a nativity scene somewhere and most church always seem to have a Christmas pageant.   When I was a boy, we had a wooden nativity scene on the front lawn of our church.   Today, I see them not just at churches but sometimes in the yards of homes in neighborhoods.   Regarding Christmas pageants, I was in a few of them as a child starting out as a shepherd and then being promoted to a wise man walking down the aisle of the church.  

I always assumed as a child that the main characters surrounding the birth of Jesus showed up at the same time just like aunts, uncles, and cousins showed up at our grandparent’s house at Christmas for food and gifts. A college degree  in religion from Methodist University and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School taught me a different view of the  birth of Jesus.  Wise men?   Formal education taught me that the wise men got there far later than the shepherds because they came from far away and, on top of that, they were probably of a different religious tradition.   Shepherds?     Even though the sheep  at a petting  zoo look cute, those shepherds were considered to be sinners by the religious leaders of the day.    Mary, the mother of Jesus?    Formal education taught me that even though Mary was seen as “highly favored” by the angels, she was looked at with scorn and shame by her community and religious leaders alike in her day.     The real story about the people in the nativity scene at church or the church Christmas pageant was a little bit different.

I wish this Christmas could be a different story for us.    Our family does not gather together anymore at our grandparent’s house because grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even some  cousins have gone  to their  eternal reward.   However, that is not the only thing that is different.    We do  not seem as a people to COME TOGETHER or BE TOGETHER anymore.     In our country, we seem less like the United States, but more like people who are known to be liberal  or  conservative… republican or democrat or independent… rural , urban, or suburban.    Decades ago when the General Conference of the United Methodist Church  was meeting, one hotel  put on their marquee “Welcome UNTIED Methodist”.     In these days, that spelling error is becoming a reality as United Methodist Churches and people  become untied amid differences of opinion about issues many see as quite important.     

I wish this Christmas could be a different story.     Long ago in Bethlehem, shepherd-sinners… wise men from far away places with different beliefs… Joseph and a formerly pregnant and shunned  Mary came together despite their differences to praise the name of the new born King, Christ Jesus.   Like the different people with their blemishes and differing beliefs around the manger of Bethlehem, I wish we could put down our social media post and our vicious rhetoric in our untied country and untied church to be together at the feet of Jesus and in the name of Jesus.    I may not agree with you and you may not agree with me, but I know that I need you and know that we all  need the peace, presence, and power of the Lord Jesus.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy L. Wall

PRAYER --   God,  forgive us for the times we have focused on what divides us instead of what unites us.   Knit us together, O God, through the bonds of your love that came down full of grace and truth in Bethlehem;  through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.