Tag Archives: Matthew

Jesus is the Messiah

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on December 17, 2015
Tags: Matthew, Waiting   

Divine Presence – Divine Absence? —- Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

ready or not

December 17, 2015

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids* got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids* came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1 – 13

“It may be that G-d speaks to us most clearly and is closest to us simply in the awareness of his absence…For isn’t it so? The only time we can know that his “grace” is “sufficient” is precisely when he’s not at our beck and call? I suspect that if we in the church are going to be heard by those outside the church, we’d better make it crystal clear that our faith includes our experiences of G-d absent as well as present; that we know, as they do, what it means to live in a world which gives precious little evidence of the presence or reality of G-d. Maybe then they’ll listen to us for a change.”

…The Advent season…is a season of expectation, full of hints and intimations of “comings”, and we are reminded of the necessity of being “ready” for G-d’s breaking into the world, to “watch” for his visitation. All well and good. I suppose it all adds up to whether in the face of the question, “Are you in heaven, Father?” we can take the reply, “Address not known” and hang in there and wait.” (From Death to Birth, Edmund A. Steimle (1907 – 1988), “For All The Saints”, volume III, p. 88)

Advent is the season of waiting. Many in the secular world might be wondering what we are waiting for other than Christmas Day. But Christmas is more than Christmas Day – yes, it is anticipating the coming of Christ, the birth of Christ, and it is the anticipation of Christ coming again. So the weeks leading up to Christmas are important. We need to reflect how G-d works in our lives when we are most aware, and when we have forgotten to pay attention. There are moments of divine awareness, and moments of divine absence – or so it seems. Is G-d’s absence divine sagacity, or are we being taught something about “waiting”?

We live in this world aware that G-d is present, and G-d is absent, according to the divine mystery of the universe. When we tell the stories about both, we have stories to tell about how we persevere with divine presence and divine promise of presence.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on December 15, 2015
Tags: , Matthew   

The Martyrdom of Polycarp — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

polycarp                                                          December 15, 2015

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:25 – 28

“…there was a great tumult on hearing that Polycarp had been arrested. Therefore, when he was brought before him, the proconsul asked him if he were Polycarp. And when he confessed that he was, he tried to persuade him to deny (the faith), saying, “Have respect for your age” – and other things that customarily follow this, such as “Swear by the fortune of Caesar; change your mind; say ‘Away with the atheists!’” But Polycarp looked with earnest face at the whole crowd of lawless heathen in the arena, and motioned to them with his hand. Then groaning and looking up to heaven he said “Away with the atheists!”

But the Proconsul was insistent and said: “Curse Christ.”

Polycarp said: “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?…If you vainly suppose that I shall swear by the fortune of Caesar, as you say, and pretend that you do not know who I am, listen plainly: I am a Christian. But if you desire to learn the teaching of Christianity, appoint a day and give me a hearing.” The Proconsul said, “Try to persuade the people”. (Martyrdom of Polycarp, Polycarp (69 – 155), “For All The Saints” volume III, p. 60 – 61)

Polycarp’s martyrdom: He died for one reason – his unyielding faith in Jesus Christ. Yet Polycarp’s well-recorded death is only one of many lives that were given to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ. In light of the cruel and torturous deaths of the first and second generation Christians, all theories that Christianity is just a myth need to be examined. Even today, many will die for something or someone they believe, but few will die for a lie. God allows the deaths of His saints not because He is a helpless or indifferent Lord, but because their deaths are powerful declarations of the free gift of life that is offered to us through the Person of Jesus Christ. Polycarp, like many other Christians to this day, was only able to die for Christ because he lived for Christ. His life was radically transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit — the desires, worries, pains and fears of this world no longer bound him. Polycarp’s life and death provides an inspirational example for all Christians. He gave his earthly life for Christ, and in the midst of his sacrifice, he gained eternal life.

Pastor Dave