The Message of Jesus Christ Blog

A Holy Day Trumps a Holiday

Recently, I have had a few people ask me if we were having church on the 4th of July because the 4th of July actually falls on a Sunday this year.  We even had the same question a few years back when December 25th fell on a Sunday and some churches canceled services because Christmas Day was on a Sunday.  I am totally and completely perplexed by this notion that we should cancel worship because of holidays.  Some of the holidays wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the fact that of the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Why would we cancel worship on the one day set aside to observe the birth of Jesus?  Crazy.

Let’s just really think about this.  I can’t think of one Christian, national, or secular holiday that came before the birth of Christ.  The only exception would be Jewish holidays and feasts.  Early Christians celebrated the Sabbath on Sundays because of the resurrection of Christ on a Sunday.  Every Sunday is considered a little Easter.  So technically, the Sabbath is a holy day that trumps every other holiday.  The 4th Commandment tells us in Exodus 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  It doesn’t say remember the Sabbath day, except for holidays.  John Wesley tells us in his commentary on Exodus 20:

The fourth Commandment concerns the time of worship; God is to be served and honored daily; but one day in seven is to be particularly dedicated to His honor and glory and dedicated to His service.  God sanctified and blessed a seventh day from the beginning of time.  God has given us the example of rest after six days of work; God rested and took complacency in Himself, and rejoiced in the work of His hand.  Through God’s example, God teaches us on this day to rest and take complacency in Him, and to give God the glory of His works in creation.

So, YES, we will have worship on Sunday, July 4th to honor God, to take part in the beauty of creation, and to celebrate the liberty and freedom we enjoy in this great land.  We're having one service, at 9:45 a.m., casual dress with special music and holy communion. My message will be “The Predicament of Freedom.”  The service will be followed by an Ice Cream Social and Meet and Greet for our new Associate Pastor, Rev. Andrea Allen

I encourage all of you to take time for Sabbath this Summer.  I’m pretty sure that God will meet you wherever you are!  

                                    (Off my soap box now!!)  Rev. Cindy H. Russell

Fear is a Difficult Thing

“Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to the mountain to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves was far off from the land for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, there were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water. He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.’”  (Matthew 14:22-33)

      Fear is one of the most difficult things to face.

      For the ancient Israelite the sea was a fearful place. That was the place that demons lived. It was a fearful place. And, here are the disciples, not only away from land but in a horrible storm. It is night. They are frightened out of their heads.

      And, Jesus comes walking on the water. Fred Craddock suggests in a sermon called, “Faith and Fear,” that the point of this story is this: Only God can walk on the waves. “In other words,” Craddock writes, “there is no power, no storm, no wind, no force in the world that God cannot conquer, no evil over which God is not superior, nothing that can destroy your life because God loves and cares for you.”

      But, knowing that and believing that are two different things. Peter finds out. Testing the truth of the God-who-walks-on-the-water, he steps out of the boat, is seized by fear and sinks.

      We are swimming in an ocean of fear. We fear terrorists. We fear the downturn in the market. We fear for our health. We fear for our loved ones. There must be a thousand fears that we live with every day. Real threats create waves of anxiety.

      If there is no greater force in the universe than the forces that create fear, we shall surely drown. Is there nothing to combat the sea of fear?

      Craddock closes his sermon with this paragraph:

      “In the boat – and we are all in the boat – we can give pep talks to each other. ‘We’ll make it. Some of you bail, we’re going to make it,’ We can start whistling and singing. But the plain fact is that without trust in God, we are not going to make the shore. But if we trust in God, ‘we are more than conquerors through him who loves us…, and neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’”

      Fear is a difficult thing. We can never overcome fear by ourselves. Faith is the only cure.

      Jesus reaches down to Peter and lifts him into the boat. “You of little faith,” he said. “Why did you doubt?” 

      I don’t think he addressed only Peter. Those words are meant for all of us who are afraid.

                                         -- Rev. Richard Lancaster