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Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His Holy arm have worked salvation for Him. Psalm 98:1

Two things about this Psalm: I do not like change and most of what I learned as a child I learned from songs.

If I can quote scripture from memory, it’s because I learned it with a tune. I love those old songs and think everyone else should too.  When some young whipper-snapper comes along and messes with the cadence of my familiar syllables I don’t like it!!! UNTIL……..I take a short walk through the youth department, or a drive a bus full of students on a trip, or over hear some children singing on the playground and their voices are bellowing out praise! It is their song, in their moment and it is embedding the character and word of God on their hearts. These new songs are the most beautiful sounds on earth! And I should at least hum along.

We are diverse.  God saved me from my sins and He saved you from yours, but our journeys were different. So also will be our gratitude, testimony and praise.You sing your song, I’ll sing mine and together we’ll make a symphony of praise!

Love,

Gretchen

Easter of 1969 was epic in the lives of Greg, Gretchen and Gayle Jones. We made our mother cry.

Rural southeast Iowa was our home. Father pastored two small churches but life was humble. So that my sister and I could have new outfits for Easter, my mom took old prom gowns and repurposed the taffeta and lace to make two frilly little dresses.  My brother Greg sported a suit of brown trousers, white shirt, bowtie and plaid jacket. My parents didn’t have much but they made the respectful behavior and tidy appearance of their children a priority.

At the crack of dawn Easter morning, mother roused all of us from our beds. We were to attend a community sunrise service, followed by the regular worship service where my father pastored and then off to my grandparents home in the next town over, to enjoy lunch and an egg hunt with all the cousins. Of course the Kodaks would come out to capture the moment.

Following the early service my sister, brother and I wandered off into the cemetery next to the little white country church, while my parents greeted and visited with neighbors. We were six, five and three years of age. When you are unaware of death and burial, but have an active imagination, fences and tombstones imitate rock climbing walls and obstacles courses. I’m not really sure what unfolded in a few short minutes, but somehow a dapper ensemble was torn and dirtied with grass stains, stitches holding a blue ruffle in place got ripped and a nose bleed dripped onto a yellow collar. That’s when my mother cried. 

She did not rant, rave and scream. She sat stoically in the front seat of our 68 Ford and quietly wept, her bouffant trembling a little with each silent sob. Dad put us in the back seat and three big eyed little children wondered how the world had gotten so topsy turvy. We had no idea our mother could cry. Dad was quiet, not really knowing where to start correcting all that had gone wrong.

The Jones children had no comprehension of the sacrifice made by our parents. We got up each day and did what kids do. Understanding that food, water, clothing, all we had that kept us alive and content, was provided at a cost, paid by someone else. Awareness and gratitude were not natural instincts, but a lesson we needed to learn. Mother wasn’t angry that we acted as children act, she was hurt because her labor of love was ruined and the image she worked hard to create was marred.

Mom and dad took us home, removed our torn and stained clothing. They cleaned, restitched and ironed out the wrinkles. Soon things were put right again and we set off for service number two a little more aware that our actions had the power to hurt others, even if a gift was given without obligation.

Salvation is offered without cost to any of us. But there was a price and it was paid. Our sin causes pain to the One that loves us most. However, that labor is irrelevant when we are restored to the perfect image of our Creator, just as He designed us to be.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him and by His wounds we are healed.  Isaiah 53: 5

Have a Blessed Resurrection Sunday,

Gretchen

How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. For with you is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7 and 9

God is in complete contrast to fallen man. Man’s first instinct to hate, God’s is to love. Man keeps tallies of wrongs, God extends mercy.  Man holds hurt in his heart, God choses to forget. Man seeks self preservation to extend his own life, God’s Son died to give everyone eternal life.  Man is fallible, sometimes unreliable, God is perfect and faithful. 

I have one flashlight within reaching distance of my bed, not a nightstand full.  I carry only one small LED light in my purse.  A single light gives enough illumination to find my way to greater light.

In a world of “Go Big or Go Home,” the power of ‘a little’ is underestimated.  A little light, a little faith, a little love, will make a tremendous difference when added to the vast supply God, through His Son Jesus, already provides. We can be reconciled to God’s likeness through the light of a Savior that took the power of darkness away from the king of death.

Happy Easter Weekend,

Gretchen

  

When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30

A statement of triumph! The long reign of sin and threat of death has ended. It is over and there is a victor. 

There are three verbs in this verse.  Jesus said, “It is finished.” The ending came because He allowed it. He bowed His head in one last act of acceptance, submission and worship and then He GAVE up His spirit, His life!  All acts of Jesus’ own will. He alone fought this battle and won!

The crucifixion is horrendous from our perspective, but from the cross there is a vista with all eternity in view. The only way for man to have the hope and joy of what Jesus saw and knew to be fact, was through the cross.  It was love’s gift!

Have a Good Friday!

Gretchen

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:56-57

Shortly after the birth of the church, Pentecost, there were those who replaced faith and the purity of a Risen Savior with a blend of Christianity and pagan traditions and thoughts.  Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, a city of cultural and geographical crossroads, to leave a blueprint of the true Nature of the Gospel of Christ. 

Part of logical thinking is that somehow, someway, man can create a lawful, utopian world, cloistered and controlled so closely that temptation never becomes an issue and even if it did, the environment would be so perfect, man could not possibly sin or do wrong toward their neighbor or God. If man is able to do this, then there is no need for a resurrected savior who gave us mercy and grace. The Resurrection gives life true meaning and hope for the lost and broken.

Jesus defied the laws of the grave, death and separation from God/life.  He overcame, He lives forever. Because of this fact, we too can have an existence will never end.

Have a Wonderful Holy (Maundy) Thursday,

Gretchen

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

The Philippian Church was known as one of the purest churches of the New Testament.  Luke was its pastor for six years and Paul accepted financial support from them during his vast missionary journeys, something he rarely allowed. (He supported himself as a tent maker so he could stand above reproach.)

Imprisoned in Rome but still evangelizing people in Nero’s court while captive, (how convenient) Paul had his moments of loneliness and felt his isolation profoundly. A messenger from this church brought good news and comfort, a balm to Paul’s soul.  God was doing great things. This congregation is rooted in correct theology and missional at heart. The Body of Christ is alive and well. Paul responds with the beautiful prayer and letter we read as Philippians.

The spiritual needs of Christians, old or new, pastors or lay persons, do not change through time or geography. Paul is relentless in his passion to keep the church pointed to the Throne of God while living in a world that has become a foreign land. Our strongest connection to them is that we too are living as immigrants in a world that is not our home. Our confidence in what God is doing in our lives and those around us, until His Day, is an important act of worship. Find someone that made a difference in your life and let them know. They need to hear and you need to remember.

Love,

Gretchen

This is the bread that came down from Heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. John 6:58

The miracle of feeding 5,000 people with five small barley loaves and two fish, is the only miracle told in all four Gospels. Multitudes were traveling toward Jerusalem, Passover bound. This crowd of Jews understood the story of manna from Heaven. After the Exodus of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, they feared they would starve in the desert. God fed the young nation with manna from Heaven.

Jesus, the Man of Miracles, that ministered to the physical needs of so many, begins His final year on earth. Yes, He healed and fed bodies many times, but He came to heal souls and rescue lives from the bondage of sin and shame. 

Some of those who heard Jesus’ words lost interest when they realized He wasn’t going to set up an eternal food program on earth.  They wanted an earthly king that gave them a quality of life based on their familial connection to Abraham. They were entitled and offended when Jesus didn’t come through to their expectation.

Man cannot live without bread. He also cannot not ‘Live’ without Jesus, The Bread of Life.

Love,

Gretchen

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” I Corinthians 15:54

Paul, the author of this letter, was a Jewish scholar, a Pharisee, obsessed with interpreting and obeying the laws of Moses to the extreme. He joined those who hated and crucified Jesus, then promptly began persecuting Christians. That is, until he had an up close and personal encounter with The Risen Savior. (Acts 22:7-10)

Part of Paul’s education and practice would have been debate and reason.  In this passage Paul speaks like a litigator. If you believe this, then you must also believe this.  Not a bad pastoral strategy as he was addressing issues of false teaching, sexual immorality, social discord, you name it, they struggled with it.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the single most important event in history.  If you do not believe this one fact, then everything else is in vain, futile, hopeless. BUT!!!! If you believe nothing else but this, THEN everything changes and life is transformed into eternal living hope.

Death is no threat to those who will not die. We win, the end!

Life is Beautiful,

Gretchen

Samuel the prophet erected an alter, Ebenezer or Stone of Help, to memorialize the Philistine’s defeat by the Israelites. This became a place to look back, remember God’s mighty work, and find strength for the future. God was, is and always will be faithful. I Samuel 7:12

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Keith and I didn’t actually raise our second child, we just rode the wave hoping to manage speed and direction as best we could. Melissa exited the womb with a solid sense of her own autonomy. We informed her we had to provide life sustaining necessities, but food and air quality were at our discretion, so proceed with caution.  As she ended her junior year of high school and her senior year began, she made it clear there were no plans to attend an in-state university.  I should insert here, when she was twelve she grew angry with me and applied to a boarding school in Boston. Sometimes the wave is a tsunami!  Anyway, she submitted applications, made college visits, and prayed for God’s direction. Unbeknownst to us, her wonderful high school counselor (Mr. Lannie McConnell) encouraged her to apply to an Arkansas college in order to secure various scholarships she would forfeit if deadlines passed. Miss Moxie pretended to ignore solid advice, but secretly contacted one of the most academically elite and financially demanding schools in Arkansas.

First semester, senior year ended and the second began. Friends were making acceptance announcements, but Melissa did not feel a clear call. March arrived with Keith and I growing impatient. Right before spring break, Melissa took off to Bethany, Oklahoma for a recruitment weekend at Southern Nazarene University.  She felt her answer would come. On Sunday evening car tires crunched in the drive and I waited at the door for a big announcement.  Instead, a teary eyed girl walked into my kitchen and laid her head on my shoulder. “Mom, I just don’t know what to do.”  Holding her, I inhaled the scent of my precious child and reminded myself that she was God’s before she was mine.  Then, I told her she had some junk mail. She loved keeping the college brochures that came, so I saved them all.  She reached for a big manilla envelope, opened it and black and orange confetti rained down. Melissa looked up with a countenance of peace I will never forget. She grinned and said, “I think I’m going to Hendrix. I hear my answer!”   Dad came in about that time and we all began flipping through the pages of scholarship offers, financial obligations, mission opportunities and black and orange confetti…….. In the presence of the Holy Spirit.

With confirmation and great excitement, Melissa embarked on four rigorous years of challenges, triumphs and a failure or two. Hendrix was her glass slipper, designed perfectly by her Creator.  Soon she was off to graduate school.  She studies theatrical costume design, the call she feels, but hears regularly her fate will be a position at Olive Garden. Sometimes, the load of a waiting future is heavy and she asks me, “Mom, did I do the right thing, did I make the right choice?” So, we return to that alter in the kitchen, our Ebenezer, and remember, God was faithful then, He is now and He will be tomorrow, just obey.

Build an Ebenezer or two (or a million).  Return often and take someone with you. Tell them of your miracle and a faith that knows another and another is on the way.

Love,

Gretchen

Christ redeemed us from the use of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:13-14

The early Judaic Christians wanted to make the gentile believers heirs of Abraham by following Mosaic Law, strict adherence to a kosher diet, celebration of festivals and circumcision.  The problem with this connection to Abraham and Moses is that they were generations apart. God entered into a covenant with Abraham so that all nations (men) will be blessed. Moses delivered the descendants of Abraham out of slavery. In freedom they became the Jewish nation with laws to set them apart and guide them.  Throughout all this time, God still planned for a Savior, from the nation, to come and rescue all men from the finality of death and separation from God.

Laws are a tricky thing.  We understand them to be defined boundaries designed to keep us safe and working together for the greater good.  However, in the hands of men, laws become something entirely different.  Laws evolved into restrictions that totally suffocated the freedoms they were intended to protect. Paul is wading through this quagmire of traditional legalism and leading the way to complete and total freedom in salvation.

Christ took on our sin, the curse that doomed us all to eternal death. By dying and living once again, He paid the price so that Abraham’s blessing is available to each of us. The blessing? We are family and we get everything the Father has to give, specifically complete freedom from sin, sorrow and death.

Love,

Gretchen