email:  whitpresby@mindspring.com

Spiritual readings        "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"

February & March 2000 Emails

Feb. 25, 2000

Greetings to members and Friends of Whittier Presbyterian Church

 Inspiration for the days at hand:

 In acceptance there is peace.

    Lord, I don't pray for tranquility, or that my problems may cease;

    I pray that Your Spirit and love would give me the strength to abide

    in You during these tough times.

                                            Amen

Feb. 29, 2000

Here's something to think about and reflect upon.

 Darrel Fasching, in his book "The Coming of the Millennium" says that there are (at least) two models for telling the Christian story, the model of conquest, represented by John 3:18, and the model of hospitality, represented by I Timothy 4:10. 

 John 3:18 "Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the SAVIOR OF ALL PEOPLE, especially of those who believe.  (Emphasis added)

Fasching goes on to say that the model of conquest (John 3:18) is the model of the last millennium, and its results were "ethically disastrous."    If the church is to survive the next millennium, it must change its thinking.  He suggests a change in the direction of the second, the way of hospitality.

 What do YOU think?  I'd like to know.

March 3, 2000

Henri J. M. Nouwen, in "Here and Now" talks about God having gifts for us that we can hardly comprehend.  The whole of this book is about realizing those gifts.  Imagine "walking through the year hearing a voice say to us 'I have a gift for you and can't wait for you to see it!'"

That is what God holds out for us all.  May we live our days seeking God's presence in our lives, and those gifts that God has for us.

March 7, 2000

Lent begins tomorrow, a traditional time of preparation and prayer, leading up to the Easter celebration.  How should we pray?  What should we say?

C. S. Lewis, in Letters to Malcolm:  Chiefly on Prayer says this:  "For me words are in any case secondary.  They are only an anchor.  Or, shall I say, they are the movements of a conductor's baton:  not the music."

It is the desire of the heart that is the first movement in prayer.  Let your hearts be moved towards Christ this Lenten season.

Mar 10, 2000

We are now in the season of Lent, a time of deeper prayer and reflection, leading towards Jesus' last days in Jerusalem, the cross and the resurrection.  Here's a little thought from the Eighteenth Century spiritual writer William Law.  Think about this as you reflect upon the cross which looms ever larger as we pass through Lent.

            "God has no more wrath in himself now than he had before the creation, when he had only himself to love.  The precious blood of his Son was not poured out to pacify himself (who in himself had no nature towards man but love), but it was poured out to quench the wrath and fire of the fallen soul, and to kindle in it a birth of light and love."

Join us for worship this coming Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, at either our 9:00 or 10:15 service.  We will have the renewal of baptismal vows, as has become a tradition for us on the first Sunday of Lent.  Geoff will preach on "How to Resist Temptation" using Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15.  The choir's anthem will be Franck's "Panis Angelicus."

If you are enjoying these emails and would like to pass them on to friends or family, please feel free to do so.  If there is someone who would like to receive them regularly, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Mar. 14, 2000

Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish religious writer of the century before last wrote a nice little prayer which makes some reference to Matthew 6:25-34 (words of Jesus on worry).  I want to share Kierkegaard's prayer with you as you continue your own Lenten journey.

            Grant that our prayer be not like the flower which today is and

            tomorrow is cast into the over,

not like the flower even though

in magnificence it surpasses the glory of Solomon.

Mar. 17, 2000

A little wisdom for the weekend:

            "The fool in a hurry drinks his tea with chopsticks."

I was reminded of such sayings as found in Proverbs 13:16, that talk of the difference between fools and the wise.  Proverbs is a great book for such social analysis.  May we all seek the wisdom of God in our lives this Lent and always.

March 21, 2000

Here’s a little something from church member Nelson Keifer, which he got from a friend in Vermont, and who knows where she got it.  It is one of the inspirational things that seem to float around the Internet.  You know the Internet, that fount of creativity, anonymity and communication(not to mention plagiarism!).

A Lenten Garden

Plant three rows of peas:

Peace of mind

Peace of heart

Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash:

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash grumbling

Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:

Lettuce be faithful

Lettuce be kind

Lettuce be happy

Lettuce really love one another

No garden should be without turnips:

Turnip for service when needed

Turnip to help one another

Turnip the music and dance

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

 To conclude our garden we must have thyme:

Thyme for fun

Thyme for rest

Thyme for ourselves

March 24, 2000

As we move through Lent, I begin to focus on Good Friday on each Friday leading up to that special Friday in Holy Week.  Here is a brief selection from a book I read during my personal spiritual revival in 1969.  It is from Malcolm Boyd’s “Book of Days” which, as the title suggests, contains a reading for every day in the year.  Alas, It is used without permission.  Here is his selection for March 24 and it is a reminder of a former day and time, but also a reminder of the cross, of that one Good Friday, and their call to each of us.

“We received seventeen hate calls one night, in McComb, Mississippi, between midnight and seven A.M.  Eight of these were death threats.  We were staying in a Freedom House.  Students, white and black, living there were working on voter registration among local Negroes.”

May the power of Jesus’ love fill you with courage and renewed faith.

Mar 28, 2000

Some of you may remember Dag Hammarskjold, the first General Secretary of the United Nations.  He died in a plane crash in 1960 and it wasn‘t until after that that people discovered his deep faith.  His book “Markings” has become a spiritual classic since its publishing in 1964.  Here is an excerpt from it:

“How am I to find the strength to live as a free man, detached from all that was unjust in my past and all that is petty in my present, and so, daily, to forgive myself?  Life will judge me by the measure of the love I myself am capable of, and with patience according to the measure of my honesty in attempting to meet its demands, and with an equity before which the feeble explanations and excuses of self-importance carry no weight whatsoever.”

Mar. 31, 2000

Our Lenten cantata this Sunday is music rooted in the Moravian tradition.  Moravians came to the USA from Bohemia in the mid 18^th Century.  They settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.  I have a piece of cross stitch at home given me by some Moravian friends in my first church in Utah.  It says:

In essentials, unity; 

In non essentials, liberty;

In all things, love.

I have always found it a simple, even beautiful, expression of the core of the Christian life.  May it provide some inspiration to you this Lenten season, as you face the challenges of life and try to discern what is essential and what is non essential and where love fits for you.