Sitting on the deck overlooking Possum Kingdom Lake in the early morning just before sunrise, I closed my eyes to pray. When I opened them there was a glow in the eastern sky, and half of the stars had disappeared. The morning came gently. It was neither hot nor cold with very little wind, as the eastern light grew.

All our language about the sun”rising” and “setting,” poetic and descriptive as it may be, is, of course, inherently mistaken, as the sun doesn’t move around the earth. With all our learning and knowledge, our language about the simple cycle of day and night is opposite to the reality. It has remained unchanged because the appearance is so much more obvious than the reality. It’s impossible to measure the number and kinds of “one off” impressions we have of the whole created world and of our Creator Himself.

There is a book that is multiple thousands of years old that informs and reforms and inspires people today and has inspired people for all those years. The Bible is transformative, and enriches and enables it’s readers to live lives full of grace. All ages of people read it, and some return to regularly. It teaches that selfless love exists and is the very character of the Creator of the universe. The message, so simple, is presented to complicated human beings who sometimes spend lifetimes denying it, or trying to reinterpret it.

Nevertheless, in three words the apostle John wrote the simplest of facts: God is Love. (1 John 5:8) John’s words are not the only ones to reveal the truth. In fact, he is late on the list of those who experienced his truth: “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known.” In regard to David, the psalmist quoted the Lord: “I will maintain my love to him forever.”(Psalm 89:1 &28) Love and timelessness are linked in the Bible. Both the old and the New Testaments extoll the enduring love of God. St. Paul wrote in Romans 5: 8, God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus had previously told his disciples, “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but receive eternal life. (John 3:16) The God of life so loved humanity that He allowed His son to die a human death so that through believing in the son all others could be reunited with his Father, and their Father. God is Love.

Love in Him,

Prue

Already the Christmas catalogs are arriving full of decorations, cards, and gifts. While they remind me of all that has to be done before that one day of the year, I also welcome them for the reminder of that one day, and even for all the days surrounding it in preparation, and for the glow of the aftermath. Christmas fills so many needs. It reunites us with family, friends, and even neighbors, as well as with our own roots from past Christmases. My grandmother could remember actual wax candles on the tree that were lit with live fire. She said it was a common practice. When I was married she gave me a box of Christmas tree ornaments , and when I hung them, her pleasure matched mine.

There have been festivals of many kinds since the beginning of civilization, and perhaps before, but this one is timeless acknowledgment of a past, present, future and even eternal relationship with our God. This is the incarnation, the putting on of human flesh and blood by our divine God. This is the mystery of Emmanuel, God with us, that so inspired believers in Christ to celebrate his birth for more than two thousand years. This is the very essence of Christmas, experienced throughout the year by believers.

One summer, when he was very young, my grandson asked me, “Have you ever had a Christmas feeling when it wasn’t even Christmas?” We were sitting by the pool. “Yes, I said, “I have.” “Because,” he said, “I’m having one now.” There were no presents visible or anticipated, and no great treats foreseen, but I thought that his answer was entirely true, I believed that he did, indeed have an “Emmanuel” feeling, and that it shouldn’t surprise us that the incarnation of God should live and breathe in our generation as He promised: The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God endures forever. ( Isaiah 40:8) This is the “Word” that John wrote about in introducing Jesus to his readers: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. This son, Jesus, told his followers, “I am with you always, even to the very end o f the age.” (Mathew 28:29)

Through the Holy Spirit our Emmanuel has drawn close to believers even throughout all the centuries that separate us from the first Christmas. For those who love Christmas for more than the tinsel and gifts, Emmanuel still accompanies us all year round.

Love in Him,

Prue

We love the Bible stories of the great prophets. It’s thrilling to revisit Elijah ‘s experience on Mt. Carmel when God brought down fire on Elijah’s sacrifice after the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal had spent half the day trying to invoke their god to accept their sacrifice. The victory that Elijah achieved has made history for thousands of years, and it was just one of Elijah’s miracles.(1 Kings 18) Elijah’s apprentice, Elisha, also had great victories. He healed Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, of leprosy, (2 Kings 5), and received divine protection when soldiers were surrounding his home to capture him. (2 Kings 6:16) These are only a few of the many deeds of these two prophets, and these are only two of the many prophets who were the “conscience” of Israel , and the link to their God.

These giants of the faith, who helped shape the nation of Israel, lived colorful and even amazing lives; but the very last great prophet, John the Baptist, was said by Jesus to be the greatest of all: “Truly I tell you, among those born of a woman , there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist.”( Luke 7: 28)

John’s resume does not include even one miracle since his miraculous birth to a mother too old to bear a child. When he grew up, John lived in the wilderness. To the people of Israel he became like the other prophets, as Isaiah had described, “A voice , calling in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:2) John’s “calling” drew crowds of people to hear words that they felt sure were given to John by God. John preached a message of repentance, moving ordinary people to seek the renewal of baptism from him and his disciples. John alone knew that the Messiah was near. Out of that knowledge he drew crowds of people to repentance and to softened hearts toward their God.

Jesus continued: . . . “yet one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28) John recognized his cousin Jesus as the Messiah and the savior of not only Israel, but of mankind. John pronounced the change in the world: “The One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is God’s chosen one.” (John 1:32-34) John also said, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine. . . He must become greater, and I must become less.“

Love in Him,

Prue

When six disciples decided to join Peter after Jesus’ resurrection and go fishing for lack of anything else to do, they were met by Jesus the next morning on the beach. Their boat was empty of fish and they had headed back to shore when Jesus, standing on the beach, asked if they had any fish. When they said “no,” he told them to cast on the right side of the boat, and they made a great haul of a hundred and fifty-three fish. Jesus asked them to bring some to him on the beach where he had a fire and bread, and some fish already. (John 21: 1-14) In this transaction Jesus supplied food for his disciples and asked them to supply food for him that he had given them: Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught. . . Come and have breakfast!” (John 21: 10 & 12). Jesus gave the catch of fish to the disciples, and then asked them to give it to him. Together they ate food he had brought, and food they had caught.

Sometimes it feels as if Jesus might be playing games with the disciples, but he is not. The encounter on the beach was vital to Jesus’ relationship with these seven disciples. And was part of Jesus’ formation of his future church. It was there that Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. Finally, Peter replied, “You know everything, Lord. You know that I love you.” (John 21:15-17) Far from a game, Jesus was planting forgiveness and renewal in the spirit of Peter after Peter had denied he knew Jesus three times.

Today we stand at the altar and eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of wine or grape juice to affirm what Jesus gave to his disciples; but even more to share the intersection of human and divine life with Jesus. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he made the communion a covenant between us and him. (Mark 14:22-24) This is the closeness that he shared with his disciples as he told them that it was his own body and blood that they shared. The communion is more than a memorial to Jesus. For the rest of their lives the disciples could commune with Jesus through the new covenant. The churches of today renew this covenant regularly and experience Christ’s words as spoken to each one. The communion is an enduring link between a holy God and His much loved people. He desires it more even that we do. The communion is more than a memorial to Jesus; it is a reunion of our spirits.

Love in Him,

Prue

When St. Paul was imprisoned in Rome for the last time, and waiting for his execution, he wrote his second letter to his much loved friend and companion Timothy. In the letter Paul explained that he was not ashamed to be in prison, for the simple reason that, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” ( 2 Timothy1:12) It seems like a simple sentence, but for me it contains the heart of the Gospel message. In it is the certainty of a close, real and vital relationship with the living God, as well as an acquaintance with God’s character of faithfulness to Paul. Here is an expression of faith that is born out of experience with the Spirit of God in Christ. Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus had taken root in Paul, and was the beginning of a ministry to Jews and Gentiles alike that has lasted for more than two thousand years.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote of a Christian’s expectations in regard to the second coming of Christ: “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven. . . After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1Thessalonians4:17) I thought that Paul couldn’t be trusted to give a real message about Jesus, since Paul seemed to base his faith on the belief that Jesus’ return to earth was imminent. It’s one thing to believe in someone who will remove death from your future, and another thing altogether to believe in someone who died an excruciating death himself, and will allow you to die as well.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy, though, was written in the full knowledge of Paul’s own mortality. He expresses a fulfillment without the slightest regret: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. . . .”

(2 Timothy 4: 6-7) When I read these words, I knew that Paul was a new creation in himself. It mattered not at all to him that he was about to die. It did not in any way diminish his faith in Christ or his Father God. To me, Paul’s unequivocal embrace of his own death validates and shines on every part of his preaching and teaching. I believe that Paul did indeed know and trust whom he believed, and that his message will in fact endure until the end of time.

Love in Him,

Prue

The first story that Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine was a true story he had copied from a former slave woman who was his sister-in-law’s cook. The woman’s name was Mary Ann Cord; and the Clemens family was sitting on the porch with her when Samuel asked, “Mary Ann, how is it that you’ve lived sixty years and never had any trouble?. . . I’ve never heard you sigh and never seen your eye when there wasn’t a laugh in it.” Samuel wrote, “It was no more trouble for her to laugh than it was for a bird to sing.”

May Ann told Mr. Clemens that she and her husband and seven children had been slaves in Virginia when her mistress told her that they would all be sold at auction. When the time came she clung to Henry, her youngest child, but before he was sold he told her that he would escape and come back for her. He was eight years old.

Several years later, when the Union officers were occupying the house that her owners had deserted, groups of soldiers would sometimes come into her kitchen and disrupt her preparations. At one such time, Mary Ann clenched her fists onto her hips and said, “I wasn’t bown in da mash to be fooled by trash! I is one of the ole Blue Hen’s chickens, I is!” It was an expression that her mother had used when Mary Ann was a child, and one she had used with her own family before the separation. “Den I see dat young man looking up at de ceiling,like he forgot something. .. and as another man was going out, I heard him say, ‘Jim. . .deys something on my mind. . . I don’t sleep no mo this night.’”

The next morning , just as Mary Ann was pulling a tray of biscuits from the oven she looked down and the young man’s face was looking up at her. She stared and stared; then the pan fell to the floor as, “all of a sudden, I knowed!!” She grabbed his hand to find a scar that Henry had had, and pushed back his hair for another scar, and cried out, “De Lord God ob heaven be praised! I got my own back again!”

The poignancy of this story is powerful, and even more powerful is the character of Mary Ann Cord, who displayed the victory of spirit in the laughter and joy that was evident to Samuel Clemens. As Nehemiah said to the people who had returned from exile: Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

After the war Henry took his mother to Elmira, New York, where he was a successful barber, and she became the paid cook of Mark Twain’s sister-in-law.

From “A True Story Repeated Word For Word As I Heard It” by Mark Twain

Love in Him,

Prue

The green anole’s natural color is green, but it is enough related to the chameleon that its color changes with its immediate surroundings. One morning I walked by a rose bush in my back yard and saw a small green anole spread-eagle on a rose leaf in the sunlight. What surprised me was that the very small lizard wasn’t green, like the leaf, but entirely brown. I was puzzled about it until I learned that the anoles sometimes sunbathe, and when they do, they turn brown until they return to a green leaf in a shady place. I felt as if I had discovered a unique phenomenon, and the world of nature glowed in my mind like a gem. I continued to stare at the small creature and marvel at what I was seeing. I felt as I imagined Adam felt at observing for the first time the animals God had created.

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

In the Old Testament God enlists His natural creations in revealing truth to human beings. When Jonah was whining about the worm provided by God, (Jonah4:7) that destroyed the plant that God had provided for Jonah’s comfort, Jonah learned about the character of God.: You pity the plant. . . and should I not pity Nineveh. . . ? (Jonah 4:11)

Most of us love and appreciate at least some of the natural world, and even see it as a gift. It was a gift to Jonah, but God wanted him to see more than his own comfort in God’s creation. When St. Paul wrote that we have no excuse for disbelieving, he saw in nature the outline of God’s own presence. When we watch a spectacular sunset, or a placid lake by moonlight and we never think of the creator of these, we have no excuse, for we share the same creator. Even before He sent the rainbow, God intended us to remember Him in nature, and made it a covenant with all people. The green anole carried a miniature message to me of the wonder of God’s work, and the need to pay closer attention to His presence in our world.

King David wrote: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have put in place. . . “Lord, Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Love in Him,

Prue