Skip to main content

Soap Box

Endings and Beginnings

It is the last day of the month of February and that got me to thinking about endings.   We face endings every day and in a myriad of ways.  Today is the end of month; the end of a winter month that heralds the coming spring. We may celebrate the end of a sporting event if our team is victorious.  We may be illuminated by the end of a phone call with a loved one.  We may drop into bed at the end of a long day.  Yes we do face endings every day.  But then there are the endings that we do not face on a daily basis and we find it harder to deal with.  The end of a long relationship of any kind or the ending of a job that you have become accustomed to and good at are some of the bigger changes that we may face from time to time.  The biggest ending we must face is the ending that involves the death of a loved one. 
In these larger cases of endings, we need more than just ourselves to get through the depression and doubt that most often accompany them.  We need people who will listen to our fears, support us, and encourage us.  Now I know that is going to sound radical, but that is what church is for. 
“Wait just one pea-picking minute!” you say.  “The church I know is filled with hypocrites, self-righteous people who care only about how much is in the offering every week and what sin they can accuse those they deem as ‘outsiders’ to make sure that they stay ‘outsiders’.  And I unfortunately would agree with you on that point.  However, I would also point out we in the church are not perfect, far from it, and we need to be reminded of that every so often.  The church needs to be challenged to move beyond the worship of traditions and of the appearance of righteousness.  We need to move beyond our comfort zone constantly.  When it comes to endings, the church needs to end its pretense and move into caring for all of God’s people.
There are people in every city, town, and village who need love and support.  There are people within shouting distance of all most every church hurting and need to know they are loved no matter what.  And there are even those inside the church, sitting in the pews on Sunday morning, who are broken and searching in silence for fear of being cast out.  As followers of Christ, we need to be helping to end suffering where ever we find it.  We need to be ending the pain of others and working to bring about new beginnings inside and outside the church.
Endings can lead to new beginnings and new beginnings mean hope.  If you are looking for a new beginning, I pray that you may find it in Christ and the disciples who are closer than you think.  Sometimes you may have to look hard, for we can often camouflage ourselves as faithful church goers.  But if you look hard enough and give us a little nudge we might just surprise you and ourselves.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hard Words

The sixth chapter of the Gospel of John spends a lot of time dealing with bread and eating.  But it isn't till the end of this long chapter that Jesus gets to the meat of the lesson.  Everything is going along fairly smoothly, even if not fully understood. Then Jesus announces that his flesh and blood is the main ingredients of the saving meal. Jesus said, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."   John 6:56-59 NRSV This is one of the most difficult text to read.  It is disquieting, even gross.  No wonder many of those who were following Jesus at the time walked away. People walked away because they could not see beyond the hard words.  Up to this point, they enj...
Post a Comment
Read more

Favorite Bible Stories - Jonah

Sermon excerpts from Sunday, January 25, 2015 Last week I told you there were two topics that people don’t want to hear.  One was evangelism.  We discussed that last week.  This week we are going to look at that other subject – Stewardship.  Or for today message, using your talents as God desires. God came to a man named Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh, a wicked city, and “preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me.” In other words, his assigned task was to proclaim God’s judgment on Nineveh’s sins.   But Jonah  didn't  want to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the historic enemy of Israel. In the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., the Assyrians plundered Palestine, looted and burned its cities and deported its inhabitants. In 722-721 B.C., it was Assyria that destroyed the Northern Kingdom.   Just like most of us, Jonah had his reasons for not wanting to use his talents as God wanted. We giv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Foolish Things - Excerpts from February 2, 2014 Sermon

Foolish Things: There are some very strange laws on the books concerning churches and here are just a few: young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi, unless it’s in a church.  In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather duster while she’s in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in jail.  In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except police.  No citizen in Leecreek, Arkansas, is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment.  Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, Virginia. And, finally, turtle races are not permitted within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana. (2) There is a lot of foolishness in the world—and that foolishness includes you and me. That’s right. Paul calls us foolish. He writes in I Corinthians 1: 26-29, “Brothers, think of what you were when yo...
Post a Comment
Read more