August 23, 2010

8-23-10 Monday, 70 degrees, clear and calm in Springfield at 6:00 am.

I was buzzed by two humming birds as I refilled their feeder in the semi darkness. They are such incredible animals, hovering as they do with wings invisible beating 30-60 times per second. I enjoy stepping outside onto the deck or out front onto the driveway early in the morning to experience the outside environment. It would be so easy to lose touch with the natural world, living as most of us do in the comfortable confines of manufactured atmosphere.

Yesterday was a blessing. The four worship services seemed to go well, there was good attendance, and I had several good conversations before and after. At 4:00 we hosted a “meet the pastors” coffee, and we (pastor Jerry) helped a Springfield woman buy a bus ticket to St. Louis for a surgery this morning (she called me at 5:17 am to let me know she had arrived safely.) I was again extremely tired in the evening, having invested my energy in fruitful endeavors throughout the day. This morning I will go flying, taking a friend and his son on this last day before the Springfield public schools open tomorrow.

I Cor 15:1-28 (reading from my Greek Interlinear and my Wesley Study Bible)

In these verses Paul teaches about the resurrection – of Christ, and of believers. He begins by stating that the risen Christ appeared to 500 people, to the apostles, and lastly to Paul, as one untimely born. In verse 12 he addresses a false teaching which emerged that there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul uses his great logic and persuasive arguments to reason that “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain.”(13-14) Paul continues, stating that if there is not resurrection of the dead, then he and the apostles are false witnesses, who have testified that they have seen the resurrected Christ..

In verse 20 Paul makes the clear and bold statement, which I often include during a funeral “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” Last week the Wesley faith community experienced the funerals of three of its members, each life uniquely hidden in Christ. It is my privilege to share in the leadership of a funeral, even as hard and difficult a time it is for family and friends. I think it is part of the calling of pastoral ministry, to comfort the grieving and affirm the reality of the resurrection. May my life today be an affirmation of the blessed assurance of life beyond death, the power of the resurrection. Amen.