Pastor's thoughts

The Let Down

by DAVID GOODFELLOW on 04/17/17

Happy Easter Monday!

Is it a let down for you?

Don't worry, Pentecost is coming soon (June 4th).

Some have said we are an Easter faith. Perhaps...but think about this. Are we not a Pentecost faith? Without the Holy Spirit coming down and indwelling believers, we would still be in the Upper Room...

I have another thought. Should we be celebrating the Christian holy days? And maybe even Jewish holy days? That said, should not Easter be celebrated "on the third day" after Passover and not on Sunday? (It just happened that Passover was on Thursday the year Jesus died and rose again).

Passover is never on the same day each year. A little history lesson here: the celebration of Easter (whether on Sunday or another day) didn't "start" until after 156. Many Christians continued to celebrate Passover, but they did not celebrate the Passover in memory of deliverance from Egypt. Instead, they fasted to commemorate the sufferings of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb. In 325 the Council of Nicaea officially said Easter was to be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon in Spring.

Sometimes I think we put so much emphasis on the two or three celebrations. It gets all hyped up and then it becomes a let down. Sometimes we forget that we can be celebrating Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension all the time. And include Pentecost in that.

Our faith is a forward looking faith, a living faith, a resurrection faith, a spirit filled faith, a Biblical faith...

I do personally believe though that we should gather for corporate worship on the first day of the week (Sunday) as the body of Christ (as Christ rose on the first day, and the early church in Acts starting worshiping on the first day of the week), although one can (should) worship God every day.

Comments (0)

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

by DAVID GOODFELLOW on 04/05/17

Have you ever sat and watched people trying to figure them out? Or, you are at a function and you see people and "judge" them before knowing anything about them. You judge them by their looks, how they dress, how they speak, etc.

I've done it....prejudged people before getting to know them.

You look at someone and you think, "This lady wears disheveled clothes, looks poor, and speaks like there is something wrong with her." Then you get to know them and find out that they went to a prestigious university, volunteer for many things, and are involved in several organizations.

Oftentimes, we don't know a person's story, and we prejudge them by what we "see" and we miss out in knowing someone. How many times have you done that, and later (months, years) get to know the person and realize what you missed?

Every person is of value to God, from the least to the greatest. Paul writes:

Philippians 2:2-4
² Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person.
³ Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

How do we "treat" (judge) others?

Blessings,

Pastor David

Comments (0)

« Newer Entries | Main