The Travesty of the cross;  at least this is what Lee Strobel calls it is the main focus of all Christians.  Why did Jesus die on the cross?  Why do 2 billion Christians celebrate it as a symbol of God’s love and people even beyond the Christian sphere often mark it as a special symbol of hope and blessings.  I think the cross tells us two things.  First it reminds us of God’s love,  For God so loved the world.  This is the easy one, it is not hard to understand that God loves us enough to die for us.  But the real travesty is it proclaims that  God is a “Holy” God, a God who is so righteous, perfect, awesome, and without sin, that the demands of  his Holiness and Grace called for the death of His only sinless son to provide atonement,  the forgiveness of sins.  The cross tells me how Holy God is and that the greatest travesty is not that piece of wood, but my own sin.  It tells me who I am and calls me to my knees to ask and receive this Amazing grace God offers in such a complete, unquestionable, and unarguable way,  “while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly” the Bible states.

Sin

I am fascinated by people they call hoarders.  They often have homes full of junk, paper, trash, and even rotting food and are unwilling to get rid of it.  It becomes especially perplexing when folks come into to help, point out the problem, give them some wise counseling, and even volunteer to clean up their home throwing away the often stinking refuse, and they still resist the help.  Jesus gave His life on the cross certainly to show us how much he loved us, but even more he did it to forgive us our sins, enter our world where we hoard sin and its guilt and its effects,we are way too often defined by these piles of what we have done to ourselves, to others, and what has been done to us.  The standard of the clean up, the forgiveness of sin, is the cross.  We can be set free for the asking.  “Grace greater than all our sin”, and the standard of God on a cross is sufficient to clean up the little messes our lives can easily become.  Matthew 26:28″ This is the blood of the covenant, which is to be shed on the behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins!”

24 Hours that Changed the World

This Wednesday, February 17th, is Ash Wednesday, the first Day of Lent, the season that leads up to Easter.  For the next 6 weeks we will be looking at the last 24 hours of Jesus life, the few hours that led to and included the crucifixion.  What about those hours, something as egregious as a crucified Jesus, changed the world, led to 2 billion people claiming the Christian faith.  He was betrayed, doubted, and denied.  Yet somehow, those moments on the cross draw us to Him.  Can someone love us this much?  Is there more to this than just a cruel death?  If I have rejected these claims, should I reconsider them?  If I have embraced the claims of the cross, how should I respond?  Why, and how did a piece of wood stuck in the ground on an insignificant hill outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago change the world, and can it still change me?

Mission Trip to Rwanda Africa

I will be heading out on a Mission Trip to Rwanda this year, July 7th 10 17th.  We will be going with ZOE ministries, a group led by Greg Jinks, we have had a long term relationship with.  A few years ago I went to Zimbabwe with this exciting United Methodist Mission Organization.  While there we will connect with the Giving Hope Empowerment program which we support as well as be a part of the dedication of an entire Secondary School a family in our Church helped make happen.  The core focus of the Giving Hope program is to empower orphans and child led families to become self sufficient and the purpose of the school is to create teachers who can educate the people of Rwanda, both nation changing ministries.  Prayer, faith, and walking with Christ will undergird the whole trip as we connect our very real faith with very real needs as Jesus has taught us.  Pray for us as we get ready and pray and see if God is leading you into something as wonderful as this.  Teresa Sherwood, our mission director is also going, as will many others including a United Methodist Church in Florida that has partnered with us and ZOE ministries to “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ who will love God, love others, and serve the World!”  If you are thinking about going or would like more information then email Teresa at teresas@firstmethodistmansfield, or email me at miker@firstmethodistmansfield.org.  For me my trip to Africa 3 years ago was life changing, and I pray that journey impacted the lives of others as well.

Monday is a holiday celebrating the life, work, and mission of Martin Luther King Jr.  I worry sometimes that this celebration is considered a time only for African Americans.  And yet Reverend King is a most American of Heroes who simply fought for justice, equality, and the rights of those who had few rights, very much the same thing that was fought for in the American Revolution and America has fought for around the world.  Within the culture he stood for those who could not stand for themselves and died for that stance.  America would not be what it is without George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Martin Luther King.  When America moved toward the rights of the individual in 1776  a race of people was left behind, one of the travesties in American history set in a history of so many other great and wonderful ideas and ideals.  Reverend King stood not only for those people who were in bondage, but for those who did not realize that they too were outside the sphere of what American stands for.  When we find ourselves realizing that Martin Luther King Jr is a hero for all Americans, then the dream of this Baptist Preacher will have been realized.  I hope you find time ,whatever your own personal story, to celebrate this most American of Holidays.

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