Contemplate this

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament." Soren Kierkegaard

We want cheap grace. We want easy faith. I'm sorry, I just returned from visiting my nephew in the hospital. He has holes in his intestine that will not heal. He is 15. I am past 50. In the midst of his weakness he provided joy to me. His model of Christ was amazing, in this young man's weakness I saw tremendous strength. In my sister-in-law's loving care I witnessed hope. They have forgotten everything else except what is necessary in that hospital room at that moment. If I could only live my daily life being Christ to those I meet. Providing what is necessary at that moment.

Tremont

Living in Tremont, IL you can become comfortable in your faith. We don't have homeless people, our poor keep quiet and so don't bother us enough to do anything special. We have good middle class churches who train up good middle class children, provide them with good mission trips led by good middle class people like my wife and I. But I wonder if I could do an inner city mission trip and live with a homeless person for two or three days. Could I eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep, or feel what they feel? Jesus was homeless, he never owned a home, had a yard to mow, a roof to shingle, dusting to do or cat boxes to clean. Am I missing something? With all my daily concerns am I missing a deeper relationship with Christ because I have sold myself to my culture? I am thankful for a community where friends abound. I am thankful for a community where faith abounds. I pray that I would never take advantage of those blessings. The church doors are from TUMC where I was raised, the cross comes from the bridge south of Tremont on old route 121. Memories.
God is good.