I look forward to Thanksgiving every year, for a variety of reasons. It comes up too quickly and goes away in an instant, I would love to find a way to put it into slow motion, so I could enjoy it more.
I enjoy becoming William Bradford, second Governor of Massachusetts in character for worship and for school programs, because it forces me to review and re-read the story of our pilgrims first Thanksgiving. They went through so much to get here and we general don't reflect too much on that story. So allow me to reflect a moment.
William Bradford was born in 1590 in England. As a teenager, he had a serious falling out with his parents, no surprise there, but it was over religious freedom. He was influenced by the Separatists who felt that the way King James was leading the church wasn't good. They read the Bible for themselves and saw a lot of things they didn't like. so William was willing to leave home over the rights of proper worship and faithful life. It made it very difficult for him. Scrooby, love that name, was the town where they had their church. The post master, William Brewster, was like a leader of the community. Bradford was arrested a couple of times in sweeps to get rid of the separatists.
As a result they decided to move to Holland, where religious freedom was available. But Amsterdam, proved to be too sinful and fancy a city to their licking, and ended up in Leiden, a small town with a University where several of them found work. All was well for a few years, until the older members where getting sick and dying. The children lost their English ways trying to become like little dutch boys and girls. And the King of Spain, threatened war for the Netherlands. Thus, the conversation started about going to the new world.
Every new idea comes with some excitement and some or maybe a lot, of fear. The voyage to the new world was treacherous. The natives on the other side might be savages. The weather was going to be hard, the ground hard to plant in, no one to welcome them into a comfortable inn when they got there. There was a lot of discussion, according to William Bradford's journal. But they began to think that if God were with them, some of this wouldn't happen, because they relied on the Lord, just as Moses and the Israelites relied on God to get them to the promised land. Not all of their worst fears could all happen. Some trouble could be covered by good planning and preparation, and so they began to move forward with the idea.
They gathered their money and purchased the Speedwell. A not so sea worthy ship. They connected with merchants in London, who helped arrange for the cost of passage if they paid them back over the next seven years as indentured servants. They began their adventure to cross the Atlantic in Aug of 1620. They had to turn back twice before giving up on the Speedwell. So they put two ships worth of people into the Mayflower. A wine and merchant ship, 102 passengers and a crew of 26. Sailing in September, it took 65 days to get across the Atlantic and the storms had blown them so far off course, they weren't any where near Virginia. Plan B, lets head for the Hudson River and New York. Too far off course for that too.
They spotted Cape Cod Bay, and dropped anchor near what is now Provincetown. Dorothy Bradford fell overboard and drowned. First casualty of the voyage. During the winter as they were trying to build houses on an old abandoned Indian village, one half of them died. By Spring only 8 men, 20 women and 27 kids were still alive. The Mayflower went back to England in April, promising to return with more people.
That should give you some things to think about and find some reasons for thanksgiving for not having to face those issues. I'll write more real soon.
Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving. Tell God how grateful you are for all those who have helped you to be where you are today.
Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Duel in the Sun, or Trial by Fire
Has your spiritual life hit a drought where you don't feel the touch of God on your life at the moment? Do you feel like you have been limping along and bouncing back and forth between a working relationship to God and one that doesn't seem to be going anywhere? This is not the first time nor will it be the last. But there is a great story that relates to this dilemma found in 1 Kings 18 with Elijah the prophet.
The nation of Israel was split in two. The two smaller tribes remained faithful to the King in Jerusalem the 10 northern tribes went off and formed their own nation and appointed their own king. Around 875 BC God warned the ten northern tribes that they were drifting away from the right attitudes and worship and to help them realize they were following the wrong deity, God would keep rain from falling on their land until they saw their mistake.
This was in part to see if they would discover that the Baal they were worshipping, who was a god known for weather and crops and fertility, could over come the God who created the world, and the rain and the crops. They went three years without a drop. the Baal god was not doing so well.
Elijah heard from God and was told he should help fix the problem by getting King Ahab of the northern kingdom to gather all the priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel for a show down, God to god. Ahab managed to get 450 priests to gather with Elijah.
Elijah challenged them to a duel of sorts, a test to see who the real God was. The opportunity to prove once and for all who should be worshipped and followed. Elijah proposed that two bulls be prepared for sacrifice. The 450 could choose their bull and prepare it for the altar. And Elijah would take the other bull and prepare it for sacrifice as well. The first God who responded with fire for the altar would be the one true God. The Baal priests gladly accepted.
All morning long and into the early afternoon they danced and sang and called out to Baal to come and bring fire on the altar. By noon Elijah was beginning to challenge them, maybe even taunt them a little. Where is he? Maybe you should scream a little louder, maybe he is away, maybe he is occupied and needs a reminder? The Baal priests began to dance and shout even louder and some began to cut themselves ceremonially to prove their urgency to Baal. But by 2 there was still no fire.
Elijah saw that the regular hour for the sacrifice, 3 pm, was coming, so he rebuilt the fallen altar. He took 12 large stones, to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, the united kingdom, and built an altar to the God who delivered them from slavery and gave them the land. He put fire wood on the altar, he cut up the bull and placed it on the altar as well. Then he asked for water to douse the wood and the altar. He even dug a channel around the altar to catch the water which they poured on the sacrifice three times in total.
At 3 pm, the official time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah called out to God, and fire descended from heaven, consumed the bull, the wet wood and soaked up all the water, even in the trench around the altar. God was God. The people who witnessed this shouted their allegiance to the one true God.
Then Elijah had the 450 false priests killed for misguiding the people with their false worship. And lo and behold a cloud came up from the west, and eventually it poured, ending the draught, and restoring the land for crops to grow. God is God.
Now we may not get to see such a challenge for ourselves. But we can be blessed that God has done that before and we should stop vacillating from one spiritual idea to another, and put our allegiance in the one true God. We will be so much better for it, and won't find ourselves in a draught of doubt, or unanswered prayers. God is giving us a new chance to see that God is God and can do what needs to be done, when we put our allegiance in the one true God.
Don't limp along between ideas of godliness or qualifications to get God's attention. Come and worship the one who is able to supply your needs, and give thanks.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
The nation of Israel was split in two. The two smaller tribes remained faithful to the King in Jerusalem the 10 northern tribes went off and formed their own nation and appointed their own king. Around 875 BC God warned the ten northern tribes that they were drifting away from the right attitudes and worship and to help them realize they were following the wrong deity, God would keep rain from falling on their land until they saw their mistake.
This was in part to see if they would discover that the Baal they were worshipping, who was a god known for weather and crops and fertility, could over come the God who created the world, and the rain and the crops. They went three years without a drop. the Baal god was not doing so well.
Elijah heard from God and was told he should help fix the problem by getting King Ahab of the northern kingdom to gather all the priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel for a show down, God to god. Ahab managed to get 450 priests to gather with Elijah.
Elijah challenged them to a duel of sorts, a test to see who the real God was. The opportunity to prove once and for all who should be worshipped and followed. Elijah proposed that two bulls be prepared for sacrifice. The 450 could choose their bull and prepare it for the altar. And Elijah would take the other bull and prepare it for sacrifice as well. The first God who responded with fire for the altar would be the one true God. The Baal priests gladly accepted.
All morning long and into the early afternoon they danced and sang and called out to Baal to come and bring fire on the altar. By noon Elijah was beginning to challenge them, maybe even taunt them a little. Where is he? Maybe you should scream a little louder, maybe he is away, maybe he is occupied and needs a reminder? The Baal priests began to dance and shout even louder and some began to cut themselves ceremonially to prove their urgency to Baal. But by 2 there was still no fire.
Elijah saw that the regular hour for the sacrifice, 3 pm, was coming, so he rebuilt the fallen altar. He took 12 large stones, to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, the united kingdom, and built an altar to the God who delivered them from slavery and gave them the land. He put fire wood on the altar, he cut up the bull and placed it on the altar as well. Then he asked for water to douse the wood and the altar. He even dug a channel around the altar to catch the water which they poured on the sacrifice three times in total.
At 3 pm, the official time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah called out to God, and fire descended from heaven, consumed the bull, the wet wood and soaked up all the water, even in the trench around the altar. God was God. The people who witnessed this shouted their allegiance to the one true God.
Then Elijah had the 450 false priests killed for misguiding the people with their false worship. And lo and behold a cloud came up from the west, and eventually it poured, ending the draught, and restoring the land for crops to grow. God is God.
Now we may not get to see such a challenge for ourselves. But we can be blessed that God has done that before and we should stop vacillating from one spiritual idea to another, and put our allegiance in the one true God. We will be so much better for it, and won't find ourselves in a draught of doubt, or unanswered prayers. God is giving us a new chance to see that God is God and can do what needs to be done, when we put our allegiance in the one true God.
Don't limp along between ideas of godliness or qualifications to get God's attention. Come and worship the one who is able to supply your needs, and give thanks.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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