Bread of Life

 Bread has become a delicacy.  When my wife sends me to the store for a loaf of bread I stand dumbfounded in front of the shelves.  Which bread to buy?  There’s white bread, whole wheat bread, gluten free 7 grain bread, garlic bread, rye bread, and a dozen others.  Then there are bagels: plain bagels, blueberry bagels and everything bagels.  And what about donuts?  I think donuts are included in the bread family.  Okay, I choose donuts.

 From ancient times “bread” has represented the staple of life.  Even today, in all its various forms, bread is still the most widely consumed food in the world.

 Scholars have found evidence that people started baking bread 30,000 year ago. But the first breads were “flat.”  They lacked leaven. It is the leaven that makes it rise, light and fluffy and sweet. Historians believe that the Egyptians were the first to develop leavened bread, somewhere around 1000 years before the great pyramids were built.  The most famous “unleavened” bread was the Passover bread, cooked up in a hurry by the Israelites to escape Egypt. 

 In 1917 Otto Rohwedder invented the first bread-slicing machine. He set the standard for all other inventors who searched for an idea that would be“better than sliced bread.”  In spite of Rohwedder’s invention, there is nothing quite like pulling apart a fresh steaming loaf of bread and adding butter.  

 Jesus referred to bread to help us understand who He was.  “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.” John 6:35).  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word ...”  Through Jesus Christ, God nourishes our soul and satisfies our innermost emotional, personal and spiritual needs, a nourishment more important than the nourishment of our bodies.

 Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” He reminded us that we need nourishment each and every day.  Just as God provides for us daily the nourishment that is necessary for our bodies, He will provide for us each and every day the nourishment that is necessary to replenish our soul. 

 When Moses led Israel in the wilderness, God provided bread every morning so that “he who gathered much had no excess and he who gathered little had no lack.”(Exodus 16:18).  They could not store and keep the bread. It had to be eaten when God gave it.

 Like the Israelites in the wilderness, our relationship with God is daily and constant.  We cannot put our faith in a religious box to be taken out occasionally.  Just as our bodies need bread in order to live, our souls need a daily and constant conversation with God, the bread and substance of life.

Reboot

 I bought my first computer in 1982, a Commodore 64.  It used a 340k floppy disc and operated with machine language.  After typing in the machine code, the little floppy started to whirr ... and whirr ... and whirr a little more.  It whirred so long that I could get a cup of coffee or make a sandwich.  When it finally loaded the program it worked great.  With each program, I started the process all over again, something they called “booting up.”

 I think the term came from the farm.  You didn’t want to track that barnyard stuff into the house, so when you went inside, you took your boots off.  And, when you wanted to go to work, you put your boots back on.  So, for the little PC, we put our boots on, or “booted up” the program if we wanted to go to work or play.

 Today I use a laptop. I usually leave it in sleep mode so it wakes right up and we get going whenever I want. I get my cup of coffee before I turn it on.  I like leaving my “boots” on with my laptop. But sooner or later, it begins to creep along. It has too much going on in its PC memory, too many programs trying to run at once. Too much “barnyard stuff” tracked in and making it stink. There is nothing to do but “reboot” it.  So, I turn it off and let it reload the operating system.  After the “reboot,” we are good to go and back up to speed.

 We are a lot like my computer.  We fly from one task to another, filling our lives with frenzied activity, trying to constantly multi-task between family, business, community and personal obligations. We are no longer efficient. We do nothing well.  Sometimes we need to “reboot.” 

 This is why God gave us the Sabbath.  It is the fourth of the ten “Big Ones.”  And, as Jesus pointed out, it was given to us by God because we need it.  “Man was not made for the Sabbath,” Jesus said. “The Sabbath was made for man.” 

 If we want to live full, meaningful, productive and effective lives, we need time for worship and rest.  We need to “reboot” physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We are made in such a way that we have to power down if we want to power up.  This means turning off the TV, disconnecting from social media and taking a deep breath. We need to listen to the laughter of children, to birds singing, the wind in the trees, waves lapping on the shore. We need to listen to God.  Meditations in the Bible and fellowship with other believers help me most.

 We need to take the Apostle Paul’s advice: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things,” (Philippians 4:8).

When God Seems Far Away

 There are times when God seems very near.  We feel his forgiveness, acceptance, comfort and peace.  Our hearts are filled with joy and songs of praise for His goodness and beauty. But what about the times when God seems far away?

 King David sometimes felt this way.  Repeatedly he asked, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me?” (Ps 42:5, 11; 42:5).  “O Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?” (Ps 88:14).  After confronting the prophets of Baal, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life … he went a day’s journey into the wilderness … and prayed that he might die.  ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors.’” (1 Kings 19:3).

 Going through times when we feel God is far away is a normal human experience. The prophets felt it.  God even allowed his own Son to experience it. At the moment He paid the penalty for our sins,  He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). So, when those times come, what are we to do?

 When we feel God is far away, we are often filled with worry, uncertainty, doubt and despair.  But this will not last.  We will yet feel His presence again and praise Him. Our feeling that God is distant is temporary. This is what sustained King David in his dark times. In every case, he declared, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.”  

 We must rely on God’s promises and not on our feelings. Even when we don’t feel His presence, He is near. Repeatedly God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).  Jesus said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).  David wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day.”  (Ps. 139:7-12).                                                                                                                

We must continue to do everything that is right and good in His sight.  One of Jesus’ favorite parables was the story of a wealthy landowner who left for a long trip.  In his absence, some of his servants decided he wasn’t coming back and began to abuse his property, doing things they knew the landowner would never condone.  But the landowner returned, and when he did, there was a reckoning.  The real evidence of our faith is not what we do when we feel His presence and know He is near. The real evidence of our faith is what we do when we feel God is far away. He will return.

Valentines

 Next Sunday is February 14, Valentine’s Day, a traditional day when we express our love to those who mean the most to us: heart-shaped boxes of candy, cards, flowers, a candlelight dinner.  

 While Valentine’s Day is not found in the Bible, love is.  And the Bible has some incredible things to say about love.  To husbands, the Bible says, “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives” (Ephesians 5:25-28). 

 To wives, the Bible says, “Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands. … each wife is to honor her husband” (Ephesians 5:22-24, 33 The Message.)

 My wife and I have celebrated 52 anniversaries. I still remember how she looked on our wedding day, a 19-year-old bride in a beautiful lace wedding dress.  I can still see the tear in her eye when her wedding veil was removed.  For more than half a century we have learned to love each other.

 Of course, love is far greater than romance. According to recent studies only 52% of the US population over 18 are married.  Almost half of the US adult population are single, including widows, widowers, those never married and those who are divorced.  Regardless of our marital status, everyone needs to love and be loved. 

 The Apostle Paul gave us the best definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13. He wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails,” (I Corinthians 13:4-8).

 When God sent his valentine, it came in the shape of a cross and cost him the life of his Son.  “By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” (1 John 4:9-11).

Pandemic Heroes: Teachers

 I like teachers. They are among my favorite people.  They work long hours, up early preparing for classes, on their feet most of the day, grading papers and writing lesson plans late into the night, often spending their own money to help their students. Add to this the extracurricular activities: sports events, performances, contests, parties and dances.  They are almost always underpaid and too often underappreciated.

 My wife is a retired public-school teacher who poured her life into kindergarten, elementary and high school students.  Her last assignment was a drop out prevention program for pregnant and parenting teens.  Her goals were to help them have a healthy birth, learn to be good parents, stay in school, earn a degree and have a future. She loved her students and helped them achieve a 98% graduation rate.

 Teachers are our pandemic heroes.  Many have made the drastic adjustments to teach remotely using zoom, facetime and social media.  Others have borne the risk of exposure in order to teach classes in person.  According to a CBS news report last September, a 34-year-old special ed teacher, AshLee de Marinis died in Missouri after contracting Covid-19 and spending 3 weeks in the hospital. A 28-year-old teacher in South Carolina, Demi Bannister, was diagnosed on Friday and died on Monday. 

 No one knows how many teachers have lost their lives to Covid, though the American Federation of Teachers reports at least 530.  According to a January 29 NY Times report, “Educators lost to the coronavirus in recent weeks include a married couple who taught at public schools in Grand Prairie, Texas, and died within hours of each other; an art teacher in Fayetteville, N.C., whose students left her personal messages on a memorial outside the school; and Bobby Hulse, a 76-year-old principal in Arkansas, who died on Wednesday after contracting the virus. “Hulse was known for his love of basketball, his bright shirts and ties and for affectionately calling everyone ‘chief.’”J

 All of us can remember one or more teachers who made a difference in our lives, someone who took the time to encourage us, tutor us, help us get past the hurdles and find the open doors to our future.   

 Jesus was the master teacher.  Matthew says that “He went throughout Galilee teaching in they synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.  …  the crowds were amazed at his teaching,” (Matthew 4:23, 7:28). His stories, like the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan have inspired, instructed and shaped generations. He taught by example. He demonstrated love, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance never seen before or since.  And, at the fulness of time, he gave his own life a ransom for many.

 I look forward to the day when we are able to look at the pandemic in our rearview mirror.  But for now, we need to encourage one another, especially our teachers. We need to cheer them on and pray for them as they pour their lives into the hearts and minds of our children and youth. I am hoping that our educators will be moved to the front of the line to receive the Covid vaccine soon. 

Comfort For Those Who Grieve

Most of us first experience grief as a child with the death of a pet who shared our childhood.  Many dogs, cats and birds have been buried beneath carefully turned soil moistened with childhood tears. 

 Grief eventually comes more forcefully with the death of a parent, a brother, sister, or friend. If we live long enough, it will come to each of us when we part with those we love most.

 David, who wrote the Psalms, was famous for his grief over the death of his son Absalom.   Even though Absalom led a rebellion against him seeking to unseat him from the throne of Israel, when David heard that Absalom was dead, he was inconsolable. He wept and cried, ““O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33). On another occasion, when David grieved over the death of another child, he said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Sam. 12:23).

 Confidence in Heaven and the resurrection does not eliminate grief, but it takes away the sting.  That is why the Apostle Paul writes,  “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

 My father died when I was 29. My mother when I was 64. I preached my grandfather’s funeral, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends.  Last week my family buried my mother’s sister in Texas. Next week our daughter and grandchildren will bury our son-in-law’s mother in Georgia. We must all face the loss of loved ones.

 A few years ago, I visited a cemetery in old Boston where the tombstones date back to some of the earliest residents of the Colonies.  I discovered an interesting pattern. Those grave makers erected before 1730 bore skulls and cross bones.  They were the picture of death and despair. The markers erected after 1740 bore the images of angels and cherubim and were often inscribed with verses about heaven.  The only event that could have made such a difference in the Boston markers is the Great Awakening that swept the Colonies in the 1730s and 1740s.  Benjamin Franklin wrote of the Awakening that there was a “wonderful...change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. … so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

 Grief as a believer in Jesus Christ is deep and real, but it is not a grief without hope. Even Jesus grieved when he stood outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus. Although he knew he would call Lazarus from the grave and raise him from the dead, the Bible says, “Jesus wept.” When Jesus wept, he demonstrated to us that God not only knows our grief, he feels it. We do not grieve alone or in isolation nor do we grieve without hope.

The Young Generation

 I came across comments from a prominent preacher regarding the deplorable condition of young people.  He complained that they were characterized by “inexperience, indiscretion, immature judgment, uncurbed curiosity, undisciplined appetites and misunderstood passion.”  He went on to say that they despised revered traditions and engaged in “vulgar dances, shameful parties, suggestive songs and obsession with sex.”  Their motto is “try anything once.” 

 I found these statements in a book of sermons my wife brought home from one of her excursions to garage sales. The book was published in 1923.  The youth about whom he spoke later survived the Great Depression and led our nation through World War II. The youth of his day are gone, buried in the graves that populate our cemeteries. A 16-year-old in 1923 would be 114 today. They lived out their life-span, as we all shall do, and generations of youth have come and gone since.

Sociologists have tried to categorize generations by their common historical context. Most start with the “Lost Generation,” those born between 1890 and 1915.  They were born as the industrial revolution revved up. They drove the first automobiles and flew the first airplanes. “The Greatest Generation” (1910 – 1925) stormed Normandy, launched the space race and landed a man on the moon.  “The Silent Generation” (1925-1945) left their mark with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Clint Eastwood and Bernie Sanders.

“Baby Boomers” (1946-1964) got their name from the “boom” that followed WW II.  They were the Hippy generation who later developed PCs that connected the world.  Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump were all born in 1946.  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are also members of this generation.

 “Generation X” (1965-1980), often dismissed in their youth, earned a reputation for entrepreneurship. In 2002 three out of four companies were started by Gen Xers.  Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the founders of Google are Gen Xers.

 “Millennials” (1981-1996) are the first to grow up with computers and cell phones.  Mark Zuckerberg is a Millennial.  “Generation Z” (1997-2012) is the first generation to have no experience of life before the internet. They are the youngest, largest and most ethnically diverse population in history.  It is too early to characterize the “Alpha Generation, (2013-2021), the first to be born entirely in the 21^st century.

 In the next few years, we will witness a generational transfer of power.  Joe Biden is 78. Mitch McConnel is 79. Nancy Pelosi is 80.  Every generation must pass the baton.  Every new generation must run their race.

 Years ago, I adopted a life goal: “to encourage the younger generation to do greater things than I ever dreamed or imagined.” Many are already doing that.  One of the most important things we can do is encourage those who are younger. 

 When Moses knew he was dying and would never enter the promised land, the Lord said to him, “Charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people” (Deuteronomy 3:28).  The Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:12).