new beginning and reflection

Good evening brothers and sisters,

Today's reading invites us to reflect on our lives in the light of eternity. God is eternal and we are temporary. One good question to start the new year is: how do I want to grow in my faith this year. Thinking about what we want our life to be about is a good way to begin.

God bless,
Sam

Psalm 90:1-12

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

²Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth 

and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

⁴For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past,

or like a watch in the night.

⁵You sweep them away; they are like a dream, 

like grass that is renewed in the morning;

⁶in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.

⁸You have set our iniquities before you, 

our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

⁹For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.

¹⁰The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

¹¹Who considers the power of your anger? 

Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

¹²So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.

teach us to number our days

Good morning friends,
Just a reminder that if there are any particular questions or concerns you'd like me to touch on in the sermon on end of life matters, today or tomorrow would be great times to give me a call or an email. Of course, there will be other opportunities, I'm sure, but this is a good one. Today's passage is a Psalm traditionally credited to Moses. It's a reflection on the fragility of human life. Even though the days sometimes drag, our life passes quickly. In the rush and frustration of that, we put our trust in God, who is eternal. When we remember how short life is, we realize each moment, each opportunity to love and share and savor is precious.

God bless,
Sam

Psalm 90:1-17

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past,

or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;

in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.

The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;

even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants!

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us,

and as many years as we have seen evil.

Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!

ending and beginning

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Our readings for the next couple of days invite us to reflect on the end of one year and the beginning of another. This passage from Ecclesiastes considers the changes and seasons of life. Sometimes we find comfort that there is a time for everything; other times we are frustrated that that the time for things we enjoy doesn't last forever. Human life is always filled with change; some good, some bad. Our lives are full of busyness, but it doesn't always take us anywhere. God gives us a sense of time, a sense of past and future, a sense that there is something beyond our busyness and the cycles of our lives. And our life doesn't last forever; one day we will each die. How is God calling you to use this New Year's time to reflect on the direction your life is moving? How is God calling you to change in the New Year so you can make the most of the time you've been given?

God bless,
Sam

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.


9What gain have the workers from their toil? 10I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

eternity and today

Good morning friends,
Today's reading from Colossians reminds us that belonging to Jesus changes our whole life. When we live in faith we put all the bad things we might have done in the past behind us and embrace a new way of living that is focused on loving others and loving God. There should be no part of our life that our faith doesn't transform. It's easy for that to sound like a demand we can't meet. Really it's an invitation to open our hearts and lives up to God so Christ's light can drive out our darkness. The new life we lead us Christ living in us by the Spirit. We are all one joyful family in Jesus, or at least we are all invited to be one joyful family.

The reading from Luke is a reminder that life is not about things. Even though our culture preaches accumulation non-stop, Christians are called to a different way of life. The questions this passage wants us to ask ourselves is: If your life ended tomorrow, what story would it tell? What priorities are revealed by the way we spend our time and money? Are those the priorities and values we want our life to proclaim? If not, what is God's call for your next day, your next month? May we always live in the light of God's eternal love.

God bless,
Sam

Colossians 3:1-11
1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8But now you must get rid of all such things-anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

*Sunday Luke 12:13-21
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." 20But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."