Events

Pastor’s Pen 4.4.2020

Pastor Doug Smith

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Thoughts for Palm Sunday

If you have followed the Bible reading schedule I suggested for the season of Lent, you should be reading John’s rendering of all that transpired prior to and including the Crucifixion of Jesus. As I stated in last month’s newsletter article, the purpose of this slow but deliberate reading of the Gospel of John is to add the spiritual disciplines of scripture reading and meditation to your spiritual discipline of fasting.

I will welcome in Palm Sunday by sitting quietly outside as the sun breaks the horizon. Once the dawn arrives, I will walk slowly as a kind of commemoration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. If you are able to go out into your yard, I encourage you take a similar spiritual walk. If you cannot, I invite you from the comfort of your favorite chair to take this inner spiritual walk. During that walk, I will reflect on how at times I too have made a choice to not see Jesus as the suffering Messiah, but as a military leader as did the crowds on the first Palm Sunday (See Palm Sunday Sermon).

It is very easy, and very seductive to replace the Servant Christ of the Bible with our contemporary Christ, who bears little resemblance to God’s Messiah. I invite you to pray with me that God will draw us along the narrow and difficult path of righteousness and help us avoid the broad road of cultural self-righteousness.  Every day of our life we must make a choice which one we will follow: the one that leads to calling out for the powers of this world, or the one that leads us to align with the Christ.

Actually the readings for the coming week provide us with ample opportunity to place ourselves in the text, to see ourselves more clearly and to grow more deeply in our spiritual walk. Think about it – when have we claimed Christ when it suited us (as did the people on Palm Sunday  who wanted a conquering King)? They sided with those who want the power of the world as did those who wanted Barabbas released instead of Jesus.

Do you truly understand the Christ, who washed the feet of the disciples, as the humble servant of the least and the last, and that as his disciples we are to do the same? How did that work out the last time you were at a church luncheon and you were the last one through the line?

When your Christian walk got a little tough, how did you desert Jesus as did the Disciples in Gethsemane? It is one thing to say “I would die for Christ,” when things are good, it is another thing altogether to stay with Christ when people are swinging swords at you.

What was the setting where, when you had the clear opportunity to say, “Yes, I believe in Jesus the Christ,” but you demurred or said nothing at all?  Peter denied Christ in the courtyard of the High Priest, but he didn’t deny his failure to himself. That fact led him to a dark night of the soul and once he pressed through, he moved on to redemption and a closer walk with Christ.

In some way, we all should intentionally walk this journey if we really want to experience the Easter Resurrection.

Rev. Douglas E. Smith

Pastor’s Pen 3.28.2020

Pastor Doug Smith

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Through the Wilderness to the Light

At 8:00  on Sunday, March 22^nd, I sat in the empty Sanctuary of our church; the lights and heat were off but I was strangely warmed by a sense of the presence of God and the church who were in prayer with me. Shortly after the beginning of the second hour of prayer, I began to think of the darkness Jesus’ followers  must have felt as the religious landscape around him began to shift.

Throughout his ministry there existed a measure of confrontation with the Pharisees.  Jesus walked among them in Galilee and by and large he was able to move and minister freely. Once Jesus turns toward Jerusalem, however, the moderate confrontation with the Pharisees morphed into high level hostility with the religious leaders of Judaism. Nowhere is this shift seen more clearly than in the Gospel of John. Jesus did teach in the Temple, but he was protected by the masses of whom the leaders were afraid.

The first hint of a darkening outlook for the ministry of Jesus actually came when Jesus told the Disciples he was going to Jerusalem.  Peter demurred, suggesting such a move was not advisable. Peter was actually very astute. On some level he knew that nothing but darkness lie in the direction of Jerusalem. Jesus rounded on Peter, because Jesus knew there was no way to the light of salvation without walking into and through the darkness that lay ahead of him.

It is that same terrible darkness that accompanied all the visitors to Jesus’ tomb (but particularly the women) on that first Easter Sunday morning. It was the deepest kind of darkness that completely obscured sight and sucked the air from their lungs. The walk toward the tomb was surreal.  Just weeks before they had been filled with a sense of hope that things were really going to get better. Then a betrayal, an arrest, a trial, a crucifixion and a death. The darkness had closed in and it was tight and complete.

And then, in an instant, the darkness is dispelled by the blinding light of the resurrected Jesus with the calm call, “Mary.” We don’t often think about it but the light of Jesus is made even more brilliant because of the depth of darkness through which Mary and the rest of the Disciples had walked. In part, this is because in the darkness Mary and the rest of the believers saw themselves for the lost souls that they were.

In many ways Lent is designed to make us walk through the darkness of our inner being so that we might more clearly see and more deeply appreciate the light of eternal life. As I sat in the darkened Sanctuary on a Sunday morning it occurred to me that this entire 40 days of Lent has been covered with the darkness of a growing pandemic. We saw the shadow on Ash Wednesday as the coronavirus exploded in China and had already spread to several other countries. And now the darkness of a serious virus has covered all of us, causing panic in some and serious worry in most others.

It occurred to me that perhaps for the first time in our life we may actually have a visceral understanding of the darkness that hung over the followers of Jesus as they approached that first Easter morning. Life right now seems surreal, as if we are walking around in a dream, or rather a nightmare; not sure if we will wake tomorrow to life as normal or to the news that a loved one died from this virus. This is a staggering darkness that causes us to ask the existential question, “Where is God?”

Like the original followers this is the kind of darkness where we truly see ourselves for who we are and know intuitively that we are lost without Jesus. This is the kind of darkness that causes us to know how deeply we need the light of Christ. Most of the time we actually avoid this dark place, but as Noah floated on the deep for 40 days and nights; as Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years; and as Jesus faced the devil in the wilderness for 40 days; we too must walk right through the valley of darkness to see the light of Christ. After all, Noah came to a deeper appreciation of the goodness of God; the children of Israel grew into the people of God; and Jesus defeated evil. If we are serious about our walk, the darkness is to the soul as a wet stone is to the knife; it sharpens the senses, it turns dullness in to a clear focus on our Redeemer.

Perhaps our present darkness will lead us to a much deeper appreciation for the gift that is Easter!

Pastor’s Pen 3.19.2020

Pastor Doug Smith

Thursday, March 19, 2020

What is Really Important

I had a phone conversation with a member of the church this morning who had gotten so busy with work that church and family had been essentially pushed aside. Before long our conversation drifted to the coronavirus and the social distancing necessary to help mitigate the extent of the virus.

After talking about how the virus had brought her working life to a standstill, she reflected on how the forced seclusion had reminded her of what was really important. It was not work, it was not the push to make money, it was not even the hope for a great vacation this summer, it was her family. The full-stop brought on by this dangerous virus caused her to be thankful that her Mother is well and that she is home with her spouse and children. That is what was ultimately important to her.

That is what happens in difficult times. People begin to ask existential questions. People begin to refocus on what is ultimately important to them. When this move to the existential happens, most of the problems, irritations and stupidities of life melt away and the ultimate issues of life loom large.

This period of seclusion and distancing has reminded me of how important the interactions of the community of faith are to me. We have only gone through one reduced worship schedule and have not yet experienced the first of two planned cancelled worship services and I am already missing my faith family! I go into the office every morning and the church is empty. The building itself seems to mirror my melancholy. This period has brought to a deeper focus on my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else falls away from Christ.

Exploring Ways To Engage

Since the Community of Christ is so dear to me, I have been exploring ways to engage one another while maintain the physical distance that is so necessary.

• First, I intend to address, via email, the readings from the Gospel of John that I invited you to read through the season of Lent. They will be short, but they will help keep us in touch. You are invited to email questions or thoughts to my home email address: revdsmith@comcast.net.
• Second, I spent a lot of time today investigating how we can use the business meeting software “ZOOM” as a way to stay in touch by streaming Worship and/or Bible Studies until we can get back together.
• Third, I am seriously considering conducting a Drive Through Communion Service in the church parking lot , if we are not able to conduct Maundy Thursday Services. I am interested in your feedback.

Please be in prayer for each other, for those who are ill due to this virus, for the church of Jesus Christ, and that God will remove this current scourge for our world. To God be the Glory.

Rev. Douglas E. Smith

Pastor’s Pen 3.19.2020 and What Can You Do:

Pray for each other, the ill, the church, and our world.

Look for emails from Rev. Smith and provide feedback for Rev. Smith’s possible action plan.

Worship online this Sunday. Worship will be online for the following weeks (March 22 & 29).

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Want to revisit a message that really spoke to you? Check out our Sunday Sermons.