Pastor's Message
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)
The two Biblical passages above may seem to be totally unrelated, with the exception that they have both been attributed to the apostle, Paul. They are not as unconnected as they might first seem to be. Both of these biblical passages are ones that we have looked at in our most recent Bible/book study. Love, pain, and suffering are things that the majority of us will encounter in our lives at some point. Life is not limited to one point of view or emotion. Life is complex and sometimes we have a lot to cope with.
In our most recent Bible/book study group we have been reading Mitch Albom’s book, One More Day. This book is about a man, named Charlie Benetto, whose life goes steadily downhill after the death of his mother. For a variety of reasons, Charlie is feeling an enormous amount of guilt. He has spent his lifetime in emotional pain and confusion. He is at the end of his rope. When Charlie is seriously injured in an accident, his mother comes back to spend one more day with him. During the time that she is with him, Charlie begins to understand himself, his parents and his relationship with them.
This could have been a depressing book to read if it were not for the fact that it is such a wonderful love story. It is filled with love and hope in the midst of pain and suffering. The overwhelming unconditional love that Charlie’s mother had for him is what finally enables him to heal. He is able to face his own unresolved pain, accept responsibility for the pain he has caused to others, and change his life. The story of the "Prodigal Son," from the 15th chapter of the book of Luke, is one that fit in well at this point in our study.
Someone asked one of our study participants how we could possibly have a Bible study using a secular book. My question is, "How could we not?" We know people like the ones we have encountered in our book studies. Sometimes they are us. The books that we have used in our studies have brought us people who face some of the situations that many of us face each day. They have dealt with them in a variety of ways, some good, some not so good. That is pretty much the same way that we all deal with our day to day problems. We make some good choices and some not so good choices.
We live in the real world and we have to deal with worldly problems every day. We can see that there are correlations between what modern day people and people of Biblical times encountered. They also were much like us, making good and bad decisions. The Bible is our sacred book but it is also a practical guide for living. The Bible speaks to us about the very real problems that people through the ages have come up against and how they have responded to them. There is so much pain and suffering in the world, perhaps even in our own lives. The Bible can bring us comfort, reassurance and hope.
But more than that the Bible can help us to understand what we need to do to help not only ourselves but all of the creation that God created and dearly loves. The Bible helps us to be God’s servants in the service of God and others. It shows us how to live in God’s love and to bring God’s love to others. Its words are timeless.
Many blessings, Pastor Barb