2011.12.12 Monday Morning

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma, at America's crossroads, on historic Route 66.

 

My Christmas message is simple and direct:  your life in Christ, and Christ's life in you, will change your very being for the better!

 

It is this affirmation that Dickens, in A Christmas Carol, wrote a classic story that is a favorite around the world.  It is beloved because it is a story of hope.

 

You may remember that Ebenezer Scrooge is pictured as a wealthy man who employs his nephew, Fred, at pitiful poor wages, supported a joyful, closely bonded family, including a handicapped son.

 

By every reasonable standard Scrooge should have been on top of the world.  He wasn't!  And, the clerk's family should have been miserable.  They were not!

 

Dickens implied that faith makes the difference.  Faith has its own ability to change a person for the better.  In this dramatic story, Scrooge was confronted with two facts:

1. The fact of Christmas - the fact that God has come to dwell with us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth;
   
2. and the fact of his own selfishness. 

Scrooge had to choose which of those two facts he was going to embrace.  After intense struggle, Ebenezer scrooge consciously chose to embrace the fact of Christmas - God with us.  The result of that choice was a remarkable, dramatic change in his life.

 

Jesus - God with us - does change lives.  What are some of the enduring changes we cherish as Christians?

The power of compassion, the healing of forgiveness, the transforming power of love, the energizing power of prayer and the sustaining power of faith.

 

With fond regards and all good wishes for a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Richard

2011.10.17 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma. 

If you are in the area any Sunday morning at 10:00, come worship with us. If that's not possible, please say a prayer for us wherever you are. Thank you.

I want to tell you today about a good friend who was a professor of New Testament studies. He had escaped from his beloved Hungary during the uprising in the mid-1950's. More than a quarter million Hungarians left their homes at a time when Communists were oppressing dissidents, including Christians.

My friend, and a group of anti-Communists, captured the Communist headquarters in his home town. They held it for only a short time before being crushed. In that brief time he and his friends discovered a list of 'informers'. On the list was the name of my friend's best buddy.

When my friend confronted him, the man broke down and through his sobs asked, "What would you have done when the Communists threatened your wife and children?" The next day the informant committed suicide.

Life is complex. Evil is powerful. It is not easy to be a Christian in all circumstances.

When we become too smug in our faith and are tempted to find fault in how others respond to horrific situations, we will do well to hear the haunting question of that Hungarian informer: "What would you have done in my situation?"

With blessings and fond regards,

Richard

www.pilgrimpresbyterian.blogspot.com

2011.2.07 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in snowbound Vinita, Oklahoma.

 

When I was a kid, growing up in Racine, Wisconsin, it was fun building a snowman, a snow fort, and having snow ball 'fights' with friends.  I loved sledding, tobagganing and ice skating.

 

At the first snow fall, signs  advising motorists to "Check Your Chains" popped up in front of service stations all over town.  I thought of those signs last week, when Oklahoma had a record breaking snow fall.  Today, no one clasps chains around their tires to drive through snow.  After all, we've got front wheel drive or 4-wheel drive.  People under 60 probably don't have a clue as to the meaning of those long gone signs, "Check Your Chains", which still have a valid message.

 

There are chains of prejudice, of an unforgiving spirit, chains of greed and phony values, chains that bind and enslave us.  Maybe it takes a massive snow storm to remind us of our need to "Check Our Chains".

 

Keep safe,

 

Richard                    

2009.12.07 Monday Morning!

Top of the morning from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.

When those of us remember the attack on Pearl Harbor on this day, December 7, 1941, we will never forget where we were when we heard the breaking news on radio. My question, after all these years, is what have we learned?

I write only for myself, of course, but I've learned to believe more strongly than ever in Christ's reassuring message that people need not be eternally chained to the transgressions of the past. Repentance and reconciliation are God's way of providing new beginnings. Enemies in World War II are now friends, united to defeat a new enemy, world-wide terrorism.

At a personal level, with a consciousness of God's abiding presence with us, we can conquer selfish mistakes, repent and be free from the shackles of yesterday.

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; though the cause of evil prosper, yet 'tis truth alone is strong; though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong, yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own."

Blessed are the peacemakers...a pearl of value for everyday!

Richard

2008.11.10 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma. If you have relatives or friends who may like to get our Monday Morning email, please send addresses to Donna in the Church Office.

Moving from one residence to another is a test of patience, strength and endurance. Last week my wife and I moved from an apartment to a house. Humdrum as moving may appear, I assure you it is a test. But isn't all life a series of tests? I found a scribbled note among papers I've been sorting, and it's worth sharing with you today.

"When a neighbor has been bruised, our kindness is tested. When he or she has been blessed, our generosity is tested. When we have been hurt, our forgiveness is tested. Trouble tests our courage. Temptation tests our strength. Friendship tests our loyalty. Failure tests our perseverance."

We are all tested. How do you fare in life's constant quizzes?

Cheers,
Richard

2008.05.27 Monday Morning!

Greetings and best wishes from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, located in the heart of Vinita, Oklahoma.

Occasionally a small, innovative act can grip the imagination and become something far greater than anything originally planned. Memorial Day is an example of that.

After the Civil War, women in a Sunday School Class in a southern town adopted a spring project. They decided to decorate the graves of their sons, husbands and sweethearts who had died in battle and who were buried in the local cemetery.!

Upon arriving at the cemetery, they expanded their plans and decorated the graves of soldiers from the north, as well.

It was a step toward reconciliation.

When the project was reported in newspapers, the Class began getting letters from people in the north, thanking them for decorating the graves of their loved ones.

Soon the practice spread. The name has changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day, but it is still an important time when we stop to honor all who have died in war.

When the women looked into the darkness, into the pain, of their souls they overcame reasons which might have made them bitter. Instead they found forgiveness which made them strong.

Have all your experiences been in vain?

"Where there is hatred, let us sow love, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light."

And make us instruments of peace!


Richard