Little Flatrock Christian Church

You may recall that many followers of Jesus called him “Rabbi.” In essence, the word means teacher. Clearly the word describes the brilliant Nazarene who was constantly teaching his listeners about God and God’s expectations of humans.

In a secular society, it is of paramount importance that the teachings of Christ be proclaimed and affirmed wherever possible. In the early days of our country, it was customary for public schools to teach reading, writing and arithmetic as well as Christian principles. Subjects being taught were presented in a setting of morality, religion and character development.

The reading book compiled by William H. McGuffey in 1836 focused on such themes as self-denial, temperance, obedience, and warned against laziness, profanity, stealing and vanity.

In our time, however, when it is difficult to focus on God and spiritual matters in public schools, our churches and families have a great responsibility. Sunday school attendance, not only for children but for adults as well, must be of primary importance. Prayer, as well as discussion of social issues from a Christian point of view, must be practiced in the home and church. We must learn and teach about Christ.

“Learn from me,” Jesus said. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29 NRSV). Where shall we learn of him or from him if not in our churches and homes?

It’s the best week of summer, and we welcome your kiddos!

Gethsemane, the name of the place where Jesus prayed before his betrayal, is an Aramaic word for “olive press.” During Bible times, olives were pressed three times to remove all the valuable oil. Before being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus felt the full pressing weight of our sins on his shoulders. Surrounded by olive trees, praying fervently while sweating drops of blood, the perfect Son of God asked his heavenly Father three times to remove the cup of suffering.

Instead of removing that trial, God used it to redeem and save humankind. Likewise, God uses our hardships to refine and strengthen our faith.

In The Rock, the Road and the Rabbi, TV host Kathie Lee Gifford and Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel speculate that if Peter, along with James and John, hadn’t fallen asleep in Gethsemane, he may have had the strength to not deny Jesus later that night.

“All of us must be vigilant to watch and pray so that we don’t succumb to the temptation to deny the Lord when we go through the olive presses of life and feel like we are being crushed by our situation and circumstances,” the authors write. “We must remember that it is the crushing that brings out the true inner value and worth of the olive.”

During the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday (March 5 this year), Christians figuratively follow Jesus into the desert. Just as our Savior spent 40 days fasting and facing temptation, we focus on self-reflection and contrition.

In an 1873 hymn, Claudia Hernaman wrote, “O Lord, throughout these forty days, you prayed and kept the fast. Inspire repentance for our sin, and free us from our past.”

The desert experience of Lent serves a clear purpose, filling us up rather than depleting us. “This is what Lent is meant to be,” writes theologian Ron Rolheiser. “Time in the desert to courageously face the chaos and the demons within us and to let God do battle with them through us. The result is that we are purified, made ready, so the intoxicating joy of Easter might then bind us more closely to God and each other.”

Lenten Resources:

In a video on his publisher’s website, Eugene Peterson tells of watching a kingfisher repeatedly dive for fish in a lake. Peterson counted 37 dives before the kingfisher caught its supper! “And he’s the king fisher!” Peterson chuckles. From that bird-watching episode, he gleaned a ministry lesson: It may take a long time and many attempts — maybe dozens! — before something works out.

God calls us to live out his love faithfully, even when we don’t seem to be accomplishing anything. Maybe we extend 36 invitations to worship, work 36 monthly shifts at a food bank or utter 36 prayers without seeing results. “What’s the point?” we wonder. But the kingfisher urges us on: “Maybe number 37 is the charm!”

In the words of St. Paul (and mixing fishing and farming metaphors): “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9, NIV).

“How beautifully leaves grow old,” wrote 19th-century essayist John Burroughs. “How full of light and color are their last days.”

Society doesn’t think highly of old age. Beauty products tout the supposed virtues of maintaining a youthful appearance. Older adults’ wisdom, born of much life experience, is often disparaged, ignored or not sought. But God says this about the righteous, whose lives are rooted in him: “In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the LORD is upright” (Psalm 92:14-15, NRSV).

The aging leaves of autumn can prompt us to look for beauty in the seniors among us, to notice the light and color that still abound. From all the fruit they still produce — service, prayer, love — may we learn about living faithfully until our own last days.

—Heidi Mann

Rusty Stevens, a ministry leader in Virginia, described trying to finish mowing the lawn before dinnertime. His 6-year-old son darted in front of him and grabbed the mower handle. But when Stevens stopped pushing, the mower soon stopped.

The busy dad fought the urge to tell his son to get out of his way and instead offered to help. Stevens began pushing again, leaning over and walking awkwardly to accommodate his eager assistant. Although the mowing commenced, it was slow-going and not as efficient as the solo effort.

That’s when Stevens realized a ministry parallel: “This is the way my heavenly Father allows me to ‘help’ him build his kingdom!” The church leader pictured God busy “seeking, saving and transforming the lost, and there I was, with my weak hands ‘helping.’”

Although God surely can tackle all the work of ministry and evangelism alone, he “chooses to stoop gracefully to allow me to co-labor with him,” said Stevens. What a blessing and privilege that God lets us work alongside him!

As a young boy, J. Ellsworth Kalas had to visit the Mayo Clinic for tests. His parents, knowing their son was safe in the hospital overnight, slept at a nearby hotel. But Kalas was so lonely and scared that a nurse called his folks. Kalas, who later became a pastor, recalled what it was like to have his father arrive.

“I remember his dressing me there in the darkness,” he said. “Then I remember getting on a streetcar, sitting way at the back as we rode to the hotel. He held me very close to him, his long, ungainly arm wrapped around me. And the little boy who had been so frightened was now at peace.”

We all face trials that can seem overwhelming. “How good, then, to draw deeply on the resources of God!” Kalas said. “In him there is a peace which is greater than the trouble. How good, indeed, to burrow into a place of security, and to feel an arm wrapping strong about us and to know that it is the arm of our heavenly Father.”