A Tribute to Mothers
A Tribute to Mothers
How often did your mother soothe you to sleep?
How often did she pray, “The Lord your soul to keep”?
How many times did she lay awake,
listening for any sound you might make?
How many times did she rock you in her arms
vowing to protect you from all harm?
How many ways did she show you her love
which was a reflection of God above?
How many ways did she guide you through life
and teach you to bear up under the strife?
Was she mentor, coach, teacher and guide,
protector, defender, walked with you side by side?
It matters not if your mother gave birth to you
or she chose you and then stayed your whole life through.
It matters not if she was your grandmother, your aunt or a friend,
what matters is her faithfulness to the end.
A mother may be known by many names
but when she hears your voice her heart inflames.
For there is nothing sweeter to a mother’s ear
than to hear the words, “I love you, Mother dear.”
The Last Note
The Last Note
In memory of Vance Burton (Burt) Finch
When the last note on the piano
has played and faded away,
when the last song has been sung
and the last “Amen” prayed
I will still be in your memories, in
your hearts and in your lives,
for the bond we share between us
will most certainly survive.
You will see me in the flowers,
the first bloom of the Spring,
and you will hear me in the gospel songs
I taught you how to sing.
And if you feel that you must cry for me,
let the tears be sparse and few,
for I have bowed before the throne, my dears,
and reunited with my own, my dears,
and now I am finally home, my dears
and I’ll be waiting here for you.
Today we said goodbye to Burt Finch. It is such an honor for me to do one final act of love and kindness as I preach the sermon honoring a life that mattered. May we each walk alongside Burt as he walks with Jesus.
God is light
1 John 1:1-10 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
God is light, yet even Christians sometimes try to walk with one foot in the light and one in the dark. Commitment seems to be a word we don’t quite understand in the 21st Century.
May we accept the free grace of God, and come into the understanding that while grace covers a multitude of sins, we must appropriate such grace and then live in it.
Amen.
Humility leads to godly wisdom
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
When looking for a verse of instruction on how to live a godly life, one need look no further than this one simple verse. I am convinced the original sin was pride, the pride that caused Eve to believe she could be god if only she ate of a piece of fruit.
Pride had already raised its ugly head when Lucifer waged a war against the angels to overthrow God. One of the synonyms for pride is “self-importance.” When we begin to think we are more important that we really are, or to use a modern phrase, “when we begin to believe our own press,” disaster follows. Better to live our lives in humility and service to others than to end our days in disgrace.
Why does wisdom follow humility? I see these two characteristics as fraternal twins—on first inspection their appearance is not the same, but look closer. When we learn the meekness of God, power under control, then we begin to attain a godly wisdom that directs our paths.
God is so good to give us what we need to accomplish His work here on earth. Let us begin each day praying, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” and allow God to work through us rather than having to work around us.
PRAYER: Our holy God, cultivate within us a humility that comes only through knowing who you are, and enable us to live with wisdom that comes from on high Amen
Wisdom and Prudence
Proverbs 8:12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. 13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. 14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power. 15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just;
16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
Did you ever have a roommate? I had one and we did not exactly mesh. She had rented a townhouse and although we divided everything in half she felt she had dominion over EVERYTHING. She even had a list of rules.
Our scripture today says that wisdom is a roommate with prudence. Now these are compatible tenants. You have wisdom and cautiousness in the same dwelling, and along with this the scripture says there is knowledge and discretion.
Can you imagine how much trouble we would avoid if we lived with wisdom, prudence, knowledge and discretion? Can you think of how your choices would be reflected by the company you keep? Instead of being friends with impetuousness and carelessness, friends who are flighty and lead you into poor decisions, your support group would be stable and thoughtful.
The scripture end by saying that wisdom loves those who love her and those who seek her find her. Have you sought out wisdom? Do you love wisdom and understanding? Or do you pride yourself on throwing caution to the wind? An occasional impulsive moment is not necessarily a bad thing, but a lifetime of impetuous decisions can bring about a lifetime of hurt.
PRAYER: Father, guard our hearts and our minds from things that would rob us from making good decisions. Help us to seek you out, love you with our whole hearts, and value wisdom over any other characteristic. Amen
