Monthly Archives: July 2015

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 27, 2015
Tags: , , ,   

Mutual UpBuilding — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 27, 2015

“Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve.” Romans 14:19, 22

“Suppose a man have peace of conscience, what must he do to keep and maintain it. I answer:

First, we must labor to prevent troubles of conscience by taking heed that we do nothing contrary to conscience.
Secondly, if we will maintain our peace, we must labor to have our hearts grounded in the assurance of the love of G*d…
 Thirdly, we must use the assurance of faith in applying the blood of Christ. If we find that we have sinned, we must run presently to the blood of Christ to wash away our sin.” William Fenner (1600 – 1640) A Quest for Godliness – “For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 344)

Peace and mutual upbuilding. These are good attributes to have in our faith lives, and in our personal lives. How do we find peace? Well, peace is the opposite of conflict. How do we avoid conflict? We can’t always avoid conflict, but we can seek to live lives of peace, formed in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors, to forgive unlimited amounts of times, to serve others, and to make sure we put others first, among other lessons he taught. That will go a long way in finding peace and avoiding conflict. Mutual upbuilding, at least in my mind, is closely related to serving others. When we serve the other, we are working to make the lives of others better. In all the ways that we seek peace and mutual upbuilding, we look to the Holy Spirit to be our source of strength and our guide.

How can you be a source of peace and/or a source of upbuilding in someone’s life today?

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 26, 2015
Tags: , , , , , ,   

Where? — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 26, 2015
Sunday

“When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”  John 6:5-10a

“The story of the feeding of the 5000 appears in all four gospels, but only John’s gospel says the loaves and the fishes came from a boy. Like the New Testament widow who put her last two coins in the treasury, like the Old Testament widow who used the last of her meal and oil to make bread for Elijah, this young boy gives all he had. These three people are nameless, yet their acts of faith, trust and generosity are still remembered.” “Thoughts by Pastor Lisa” website March 24, 2011

“Gandhi used the spinning wheel as both physical embodiment and symbol for radical change. Today, the foundation for social justice is healthy food — our “spinning wheel” for the 21st century.” Francisco Ramos Stierle

Jesus said to his disciples “Where…?” Where will the bread come from? Where will the food come from? Where will we find things for all of the needs that we have? Where? Where? Where? The answer for the feeding story comes in the form of the least likely source they could have thought of. Surely an adult, one of the disciples, or even a leader in the Synagogue would have an answer. Why did they not consider someone from the crowd? Because sometimes the most likely answer is right in front of us and we miss it — because it just doesn’t seem possible. But G*d is in the business of doing the impossible — one day’s oil lasting eight days — five loaves and two fish feeding 5000+ people. With all of the things that we do and don’t have, G*d can still work miracles — we just need to be willing to listen, and follow.

Pastor Dave