Author: pastor.gerooney@gmail.com

The Story of Us, According to Me

In the fall of 1974 the Joneses moved to central Arkansas and became the pastoral family for Greenbrier Church of the Nazarene. I was in the sixth grade and very sophisticated, so I thought. Our first service was Wednesday night prayer meeting. After the concluding prayer I stood in the church yard with my parents and siblings while lovely folks came by and introduced themselves. I felt something pelting me from behind, turned and found the meanest boy I ever met throwing rock at me. His scolding name is Michael Keith Rooney. We were twelve and he was outrageous!

The years that followed found Keith and I side by side at church youth activities and other normal things young people do. We had a shared friend group but we were total opposites. Keith loved athletics, loud music and even louder exhaust systems on his vehicles. I loved the city, elegance, fashion and classical music. One evening while at church camp, my friends and I were sitting quietly in the open air worship area. Keith and his friends, followed by a covey of giggly girls joined us. Moments later I once again felt a flying object hit me. This time it was an arachnid, of the granddaddy variety. The ensuing vocal vibration was not elegant or sophisticated.

It is still very unclear to me how Keith and I ended up dating my junior year of college. Keith transferred from a local state school to the private college I was attending and became an immediate campus hit. He had a vivacious personality and the knack for being very comfortable in his own skin. He accessorized his life with the world’s coolest truck, a 1971 GMC short-bed, butterscotch and white pick-up and Big Smith overalls. My plans included a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, so Keith didn’t fit the profile of my perfect fellow, but at every turn, he was there. One weekend we decided we were in love and married the next winter.The rest is history, but not the happily ever after kind.

Life became all-american normal, except it wasn’t. We were horrible at marriage! Keith and I knew nothing of building each other up and making each other strong, much less loving as Christ loved the church. We were raised right, but we committed wrong after wrong. So two children and fifteen years in, we found ourselves unable to stomach the idea of another minute in each other’s presence and we, together, broke our home in two, and yes, we broke our daughter’s hearts.

Complete and total failure is what I found in the mirror each day. The reality; I was now a sad statistic, would never celebrate marital milestones and might very likely walk the rest of my life alone.

And then……..Jesus showed up! Days short of our first court date Keith and I realized that together we had everything and apart we had very little of value. There is no great theology to our reconciliation except, Love One Another because Jesus first loved us! We learned to apply this first and foremost to family, the very place it is often the hardest.

How did we forgive and move forward? It isn’t easy and it remains something Mr. and Mrs. Rooney must do often, but we deliberately and intensionally lay our burdens of heartbreak and disappointment at the foot of the cross. Then…..we face the Son and we walk straight toward the Throne of God.

Today, Keith and I climb mountains, chase sunsets, bask in the warmth of our children’s happiness, dig our fingers into the coats of our fur babies and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Love you all and thank you for the blessings you bring to us!

Gretchen

 

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

Moses has died. He led the children of Israel 40 years in the desert but was denied entrance into the promised land as the consequence of an angry outburst of disobedience to God. Joshua was Moses’ attendant throughout these years. He was with him on the Mount of God and was one of the twelve spies. He was faithful and obedient and now he was charged with the gigantic task of leading the covenant nation into the Promised Land and governing them as they began to take their permanent place in the world.

In the passage prior to verse nine God says many times, “Be strong and courageous.” This is the final time and God adds “Do not be terrified or discouraged.”

Blessings were about to multiply, but God’s people couldn’t see the future, only the immediate and in living color things looked grim. They acted accordingly. We have hind-sight to their story so we shake our heads at their resistance because we see that God did exactly as He said He would do. We do NOT have hind-sight to our own story so we are vulnerable to terror and discouragement too. But just as God commanded Joshua on His journey, He commands us. Faithfulness demands courage and strength.

The exact same God that created and stood by these great men of faith, is the same God that created and stands next to you.  That’s pretty awesome so stand tall, be brave, change the world!

Feeling Big on the Inside,

Gretchen

Suddenly a great company of the Heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”  Luke 2:13-14

An angel appeared to shepherds who were tending flocks on the plains and hillsides surrounding Bethlehem. It was night time, but God’s glory lit the sky. The news was good. In a world full of dysfunction, oppression and corruption, God sent a means of peace. The sign of this event, a baby, Jesus. Following the angel’s announcement, a choir appeared and began singing the world’s most amazing birthday song.

This host of angels sang praise to the source of our hope and connected Heaven to earth by echoing God’s purpose, a peace that passes all understanding. God, worthy of our praise, has sent His beloved Son from the security of Heaven on a mission, to bring peace to the heart of man.

In a world where religion has become a source of division and all the diversity of God’s creation has become man’s war, remember……that baby is called THE PRINCE OF PEACE. God’s favor is good, it is love and it is something to sing about all year round.

Love,

Gretchen

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

The important part of this verse is NOT ‘ask whatever you wish’ but ‘remain in Me.’

In the Old Testament, Israel is referred to as the vine, brought out of Egypt. Jesus is the True Vine, fulfilling God’s purpose. These words spoken by Jesus to His closet friends on the night of His arrest are part of a much bigger picture. He draws a parallel between spiritual victory and a productive vineyard, something these men understand. The vines that produce no fruit are cut off, soon to wither and die. The only hope for continued life and growth is to be connected in a healthy way to the branch being tended by the gardener. Fruit production is key! This bounty is defined in Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

There are many things in this world I have asked for, and much more yet to be voiced, but at the heart of all my wants and needs is this fruit. How much money will give me self-control? How much education will grant me gentleness. Will great friends miraculously make me good and give me peace? NO, ONLY Jesus will. All that I need is found in Him and I must abide/remain or all is lost.

This fall, as you light a fire and roast a marshmallow, remember no one cut down the good and useful tree or pruned the perfect vine. You are heated by the warmth of something that was dead to begin with and is now being completely erased from what it was created to be. Don’t be that. Connect to Jesus and be all you can be.

Love,

Gretchen

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:12

Man’s failure does not alter God’s covenant promises.

Jacob had to flee his ancestral home, never to see his mother Rebecca again, as a consequence for manipulating his father Isaac and brother Esau and tricking them out of Esau’s birthright. He was headed to Paddan Aram to live with his mother’s brother Laban. In a moment of total loneliness, God comes and stands beside Jacob and affirms the covenant made to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. I will bring you back, and give you this land for your descendants, who will be like the dust of the earth. (28:13-14)

This dream introduces Jacob to a new way of life…….. trusting a future that was hidden in the promise of God. The stairway represents a bridge between Heaven and earth, set by God and kept by Him. Jacob will continue the family line from which Jesus will come.

God cannot be taken for granted and being part of God’s plan does not guarantee that man will be saved. Man’s lack of faith and character will never amend or obstruct God’s plan of salvation for you.

Happy Wednesday,

Gretchen

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  John 6:37

It was the season of Passover, the year before Jesus was crucified. The roads were full with multitudes of travelers on their way to Jerusalem for the holiday. Jesus would not be joining them because there was already a plot to kill Him. Instead, He would celebrate this Holy time by feeding 5000+ people.

Jesus spent a great deal of time ministering to men’s physical needs. He still does, but His mission is to save men’s souls. After seeing Jesus’ miracles, many men followed Him, but wanted Him to be their earthly king and bring about a social order in which they could get their bread without working. When they realized that wasn’t what Jesus was about, they chose to go another way and stopped following Jesus.

Jesus offers a bread that will that will give life beyond the physical need. How does one access this gift? You come…. as you are….. today…..broken, tired, anxious, alone, bitter…..and you accept Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, as your Savior.

Love,

Gretchen

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 3:11

The Epistle books of the Bible are personal letters written to specific groups of people addressing their exact needs as it pertains to discipleship and the social issues they face in their maturing salvation relationships with God and each other. Corinth, due to its place on both land and sea trade routes, was a very diverse city. The church had no building so they met in homes. This lent itself to factions in the community of believers because they naturally segregated themselves according to language, cultural preference and natural friendships, creating a breeding ground for fracturing relationships among young Christians. Pretty soon the focus of worship and spiritual growth was on man rather than The Savior, Jesus Christ. The church sent a delegation to visit Paul while he was in Ephesus. These are words he wrote back to the church he had established and the people he loved.

Christianity is based on one thing only! God gave His Son out of unconditional love for you. That Son gave His life out of unconditional love for you, so that you may have life ever lasting, beginning today! This alone is the firm foundation on which the church is built!

Man did not create the church, God did. It is a place of worship, a time to set aside the world and focus on the One who loves us perfectly in all our imperfections.

Standing on Solid Ground,

Gretchen

My Place on the Grand Staff

Just over a hundred years ago, when my older brother and I were both aspiring young musicians, we entered into a great debate that was halted by the simple words of our youngest sister. Her words have held me fast through life’s great doubts. Just don’t tell her! She has no idea I thought she was so smart! Here’s the story.

I was an all knowing senior in high school. My brother was a deeply, insightful freshman in college. As older, ambitious, intellectual adolescents tend to do, we were trying to out smart each other by expressing a more profound understanding of any given subject than the other. This day’s topic was the Renaissance contribution to religious music.

The historical period known as the Renaissance (approx. 1400-1600 A.D.) was the age of Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael (AKA, ninjas on the half shell), a rebirth of humanism, artistic perspective, the development of concrete, movable type, educational reform, diplomacy and the Protestant Reformation. Musical instruments were hand made from accessible resources. They were not readily tunable, therefore, musical groups were small and primitive. From this came the polyphonic style in which many separate melodies are woven together intricately to create interesting harmonies. Today we know them as partner songs and rounds. These simple songs became the inspiration for the great fugues and fantasias of the Baroque period. Why is this important to my essay? Because all of this came from plainsong, people raising their voices to sing Psalms or alleluia’s through simple melodic chants.

The great Jones plainsong debate involved major and minor tonality, including half and quarter step progressions, ascending and descending scales and the marriage of musical notation, lyric and pitch as it applied to corporate worship. Supplication was to be humble, sacred and set apart, therefore the worshippers , singing accapella, were very conscious of anything that hinted at the secular world beyond the cathedral. So…..big deal…..except, I argued to big brother that strict constancy between pitch and spiritual correctness was not possible if every person did not have perfect pitch. By this time the ‘discussion’ had become slightly heated and I have failed to mention that we, Greg and I, were in the back seat of our family sedan traveling across the Ozark mountains on a Sunday morning. Our middle sister Gayle sat between us, on the hump, while our little sister Gwen was in the front seat with mom and dad. Interrupting our discourse, the youngest Jones voice chimed, “I think God would know what key He wrote us in.”

And this is how two young scholars learned God, our creator, the One who wrote the melody of our hearts, knows us best. Our own timber, range, key and language….our place on the grand staff….. is a pleasing and joyful noise when given in glory to Him who makes the universe resound in harmony.

Singing in My Own Key,

Gretchen

P.S. Happy Birthday to my father, Bryan Jones. It seems cliche to say he is the best dad any girl could have. Instead, I wish to tell you that he apologizes regularly as he looks back through life and sees the mistakes that wizened age reveals. I hush him because I see a man that did not make parenting choices to validate his DNA. He made choices based on his commitment to honor God and His call. In that capacity his wife and children played a vital role in loving our neighbors and putting others first. My wonderful father has always been the same on both sides of the front door and that is the greatest blessing I take from my childhood. Dad, it’s your day, enjoy…..and THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.

The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; Psalm 37:23

This well loved Psalm is an acrostic poem, with each section beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a collection of proverbial sayings from wisdom writers.

We live in a world where wickedness is prevalent at every turn. It is discouraging and joy draining. This Psalm of David speaks words for victory over our questions of “Why?” and “How long must we?” Throughout its forty verses David advises, trust, take delight, commit, be still and know, wait patiently, refrain from anger. When fretting is the active verb that defines us, evil is nipping at our heals.

From man’s perspective it looks like those that flagrantly disobey God prosper……A LOT!…. but…..The LORD laughs at the wicked because He knows what end is coming for them and their power will be broken.

Never give up on doing good. There is no law against kindness. It is the great antidote for evil. The end result will be firm steps here on earth and life everlasting.

Happy Saturday!

Gretchen

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. Psalm 33:16

I love the Psalms. I encourage you to read the thirty-third. It is a song of praise given in thanks for new joys and assurances found along life’s journey. The Psalmist stands in awe God for who He is, the Almighty, who is never thwarted or intimidated by man’s actions.

God is sovereign, He does not bow to man. The world teaches that hard work will reap great benefit so we labor beyond our resources grasping to acquire peace and security. Where do those most treasured things originate and endure? From the Father who offers unfailing care to all who honor him.

Happy Week’s End,

Gretchen