I’m re-posting this video via YouTube. The Facebook video player was not very reliable.
This video of Heidi was recorded on Tuesday, March 17. The night before, she had taken three steps, but this was her longest walk ever. It’s amazing how much more sure-footed she has become just in the last three weeks!
The first Palm Sunday was a real turning point in history. On that day, at the Triumphal Entry, Jesus publicly presented Himself to the Jewish people as their king.
Here’s an article I recently wrote about the holiday that appeared in our local newspaper, the Hi Desert Star:
A king rides on a donkey. Crowds cheer and wave palm branches. Children shout “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Have you ever wondered what Palm Sunday is all about?
Next Sunday, April 5, churches across the world will celebrate the Christian holiday known as Palm Sunday. It’s the day that commemorates Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago. When Jesus rode a donkey into the capital city, He was presenting Himself as King to the Jewish people. This humble man from the village of Nazareth was showing everyone, “Yes, I am the descendant of King David. I do have royal blood. I am the rightful heir to the throne.” And the people were clearly excited about this.
As Jesus passed by, thousands cheered and waved branches. These palm branches were a Jewish symbol of hope and patriotism, much like we would wave the American flag in a parade today. In fact, this probably felt like Independence Day to the Jews. They thought that with the arrival of King Jesus, they would finally be free from Roman tyranny and heavy taxation without representation.
But then something tragic happened. Just five days later, Jesus was arrested and nailed to a cross to die as a criminal. Though He had done nothing wrong, He was falsely accused, tortured, then killed. Why? Because the human race had a much bigger problem that Jesus came to this earth to deal with.
Jesus did not come just to bring political freedom. He came to bring spiritual freedom. When Jesus died on Good Friday, He willingly set aside His royal glory to pay the heavy price for our sin and take God’s punishment that we each deserved. Three days later, He finished the work, rising from the dead on Easter morning so that all who believe in Him can be saved. All hail King Jesus!
Photo credit: Jonathan & Jill
Last Sunday, our church hosted Dr. Tony Chute, a history professor from Cal Baptist University, to celebrate 400 years of Baptist faith. Did you know the Baptist church turned 400 this year? It was started in 1609 by John Smyth in Holland. Three years later, the first Baptist church in England was planted by Thomas Helwys in 1612. The Southern Baptist Convention, however, did not arrive until two centuries later, in 1845.
David Dockery, in his book Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal
[W]e as Southern Baptists in the early years of the twenty-first century are infected with historical amnesia – we do not know our history, we do not know our theological identity, we basically only understand the programmatic expression of what it means to be a Baptist as we related from local church to local church…Today Southern Baptists need to begin to build a new theologically and historically informed consensus that will help us understand our past, our identity, and our beliefs – so that we can move forward to carry the Gospel around the world and “disciplize” the nations in the twenty-first century.
On Sunday, our church took a tiny step to shake off the historical amnesia and improve our knowledge of church history. Through Tony’s message, we learned that Baptists have accomplished four main things in the last 400 years. Basically, each century brought one major contribution:
I wonder, what will be our greatest contribution in the 21st century? May this be the century we grow in our unity, mature in our doctrine, and increase in our efforts to evangelize every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
Every community has its own personality. Ours is a unique blend of retired seniors, military families, independent artists, low-income families, and rural desert-lovers.
One of the joys and challenges we face in ministering to this area is a lot of senior citizens who are beginning to slow down and become increasingly “homebound.” As I scan through our church directory, I see at least twenty-one members who are currently hospitalized, ill, or significantly disabled, and who rarely, if ever, make it to church.
It can be an overwhelming task to minister to all these people. Especially since they are a group that loves time and attention, but will rarely be able to “give back” to others in the future. I have also noticed that many of them struggle with reading their Bibles or listening to sermons, sometimes because of physical handicaps, and sometimes because they are tired, unmotivated, and untrained in these disciplines.
How then do we care for the homebound and elderly? Well, nothing replaces the value of a face-to-face encounter. These people need to see their pastor, their deacons, and their church family with an occasional home or hospital visit. They need to feel our touch, hear our laugh, and see our smile. They need to hear us read the precious truths of Scripture to them, and to help fix their eyes on Christ and deal biblically with home and health problems. They need to know they are still loved and not forgotten, neither by God nor by their church. When a personal visit is not possible, a phone call or hand-written card may be an acceptable substitute, but they need as much human contact as possible.
I’m also exploring how new technologies can be used to more effectively minister to our elderly. I realize that most seniors are not tech savvy, nor do they have any desire to be. They have seen many things change during their lifetimes and have learned to adapt remarkably, but they simply do not have the interest in the latest gadgets and gizmos like young people do. Many of them will never read this blog post, nor will they ever check out our church website, my twitter feed or facebook account. Most seniors do not have iPods. Many find it unneccesary, too complicated, or too expensive to have internet or an email address. Some don’t even own a DVD player or CD player. If any of these comments shock you, then you are probably too out of touch with the seniors of your church.
How, then, can new technology possibly be used to minister to the elderly? The key word is simplicity. Whatever is done, it must be simple. Incredibly simple. Simple enough for today’s 2- or 3-year old to operate. Because that’s the technological literacy level of most senior adults.
I don’t know for sure how this will work, but I’ve been talking with someone at church about the idea of recording a monthly audio or video address to send to all our homebound. It would include a short greeting from myself, a few updates of recent highlights and happenings around the church, and then I would read through several chapters of the Bible and make a few comments. For some, this may be the only Bible intake they get. I would close with a few prayer requests for current church needs. The whole thing would last maybe 20-25 minutes. We could burn it to a CD and even buy a cheap CD player for them if they don’t have one. Any thoughts??
(Update: my April 21 post shares the final result of this discussion)
Marty responded to last Thursday’s post with this question:
I know that I too often fail to go. Part of my omission is that I feel under prepared. However, that sense of inadequacy should drive me to pursue with violence to be prepared to give an answer of the hope that is within me. Do you think that preparation is the biggest reason that people do not go? What can we do to be prepared?
I can relate to feeling unprepared and inadequate for the task. Which is pretty convicting. Because if I (a pastor who has been saved for over 25 years; has listened to countless sermons; has read books and attended workshops on evangelism; has graduated from a Christian college and seminary; and has shared my faith on many occasions), if I feel unprepared, HOW MUCH MORE unprepared will most laypeople feel!
I think the #1 reason we don’t go is fear. Fear of talking to strangers. Fear of what to say. Fear of how to say it. Fear of when to say it. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of questions we can’t answer. Fear of sounding like a Bible-thumping fundamentalist. Fear of putting ourselves in compromising situations. Fear of rejection. Fear of persecution.
Some of these fears can be remedied through better study, practice, and preparation. Others demand more spiritual courage. All of them require prayer, wisdom, and an utter dependence on the Spirit of God. Some of these fears will only subside as we begin to obey Christ and repeatedly share our faith.
Another reason we don’t “go” as we ought is busyness. We get so caught up with the busyness of jobs, of family, of commuting, of ministry, of studying, of hobbies, of entertainment, that we leave little or no time for purposeful evangelism. We get so busy doing stuff — even good stuff — that we miss the divine appointments all around us. We must be careful. Busyness can actually be a Satanic strategy to sear our consciences and disguise our fear of obeying Christ’s command to Go. If we’re too busy to share our faith, then something else needs to be cut out of our schedules.
Pinch Of Clay 