Tag Archives: perseverence

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 14, 2015
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Yes, The Bible, But Not Just….– Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 14, 2015

“Jesus said to the multitudes, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” Luke 12:54-56

“Why…must the Bible lie alone in your study? Is not the spirit of the saints, the piety of the holy followers of Jesus Christ, as good and necessary a means of entering into the spirit and taste of the Gospel as the reading of the ancients is of entering into the spirit of antiquity? Is not the spirit of poetry to be got only by much reading of poets and orators? And is not the spirit of devotion to be got in the same way, by frequently reading the holy thoughts and fervent expressions of devout persons?” “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life”, 1728 William Law (1686 – 1761) “For All The Saints” volume IV (p. 195-196)

What is Jesus saying to the multitudes? What is he saying except that understanding the ways of G*d requires the same devotion that we put into anything else that truly matters in our lives. The people of the first century were people of the land — thus they knew how to interpret all conditions that might affect their way of life. The same is true, Jesus says, in understanding and interpreting the ways of G*d, if we call ourselves “people of G*d”. Jesus was saying that there is an intuition to understanding how the events of our lives play out. Just as we know there often is a rainbow after a rain shower, if the sun shines in just the right way, so we might have our faith brightened if we read about people who have also experienced their faith in response to life experiences. Strong faith can be a combination of knowing and of intuition — intuition from living and learning.

So, we learn about G*d’s ways through the bible — and we learn about life from living with and experiencing life and faith with those who are also trying to apply G*d’s ways into their everyday lives. There are plenty of books today that can be companion reads to the bible — books about the saints, and books about people and their experiences with faith.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on July 7, 2015
Tags: perseverence,   

The Grand Baker — Rev. David J. Schreffler

July 7, 2015

O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:8-10

Locally we have a growing experience where local restaurants allow people to gather and taste a sample of their cooking. My wife and I attend one of those events at our local high school. It is a way for the school to raise some money for one of their foundations, and the local restaurants get the opportunity to do some advertising – hands on advertising.

Following a recipe and preparing a meal have some similarities to living our lives. Some of the ingredients of a recipe are not very tasty in and of themselves. For example, would you want to take a spoonful of flour and eat it? Or maybe you would like to open a box of baking soda and take a quick taste – a big mouthful of baking soda. Taking most of the ingredients of a recipe, and taking a taste of each one of them on their own can hardly be considered a wonderful taste experience. But when we mix them all together, when we blend them into a single whole, and then subject it to the cooking process, the result is a wonderful gastronomical experience.

Isn’t this the same when we talk about the recipe of the experiences of our lives? Some of them, when considered on their own, were or are “hard to swallow”. Many of them were not pleasant. And yet, when we look at the process of mixing all of the events of our lives together, they form the wonderful experience of what we call the “singular whole of our lives”. Mixed together are the good with the not so good – the joys with the sorrows – the gains with the losses.

We can not live without tasting the good with the bad. But the Lord allows us to experience all of these, and mixes them into the whole that each one of us calls “our life.” Remember, if you are in a bad place right now, you couldn’t have gotten there without the many joys, the many gifts of G*d. All of our experiences, the good with the bad, the joys with the sorrows, the gains with the losses, all mix together to make you – you — and me – me. The grand baker is G*d, who is the epitome of all good. Taste and see that the Lord is good — it is how we can live our lives in totality, appreciating what the Master is mixing in each one of us.

Pastor Dave