With Christmas almost here many parents will be putting together toys for their children in the next few days. This can be a knuckle busting and soul searching experience. That is especially true if you have my mechanical ability. Often I have slipped from the joy of the season to a rather dark and frustrated mood as I struggled to assemble what I was convinced is the impossible.

There once was news of a bicycle that came unassembled but with a most complete set of instructions for putting it together. First on the list were the words: “Before beginning, attain peace of mind.” A loving wife thought this was a good idea, and posted this message on all the toys her husband had to assemble for Christmas. When he turned to his first project, he recognized the message his wife was sending him. “OK, OK, I’ll pray before I tackle this doll house.” Much to his surprise, it seemed to make a difference.

Later in the evening as she set out to do last minute shopping, he reminded her, “Before hitting the mall, attain peace of mind.” That set off a string of possibilities for the family. “Before addressing a Christmas card, pray for the person.” “Before waiting in line, get peace of mind.” “Before the office Christmas party, find peace.”

When we are approaching Christmas in a world that is marked by multiple crises, the instructions for our lives should start with “Before beginning, attain peace of mind.” How else can we have sufficient wisdom to make good choices, adequate resources to move forward, or adequate skills to assemble our lives and the lives of those around us into what they are intended to become? How else to help put together a better world?

And as we approach Christmas, let us be sure to look at God’s set of instructions for life. They tell us how to put our lives together and how to allow the Christ of Christmas become Lord of our lives. That’s where we find peace and every other good gift God has for us. And that’s where we can find the directions for bringing good to the whole world.

By the way, I am not putting toys together for my children this year. (Yes, I know, they are a little old for toys.) No knuckle busting for me! But what is lifting my mood is the decision we’ve made for gift giving. Instead of presents for one another to fill our already full closets, we are giving one another goats and chickens and ducks through a marvelous program World Vision provides. Our Christmas gifts will go to homes of families far from our own homes and provide them with the hope of a better life. They will have eggs, milk, yogurt, meat, clothing and income for years ahead, and they will know the gift is really from the Christ of Christmas.

Blessings,

Pastor Jon

As Thanksgiving approaches this year, I sense that many people in our country are apprehensive. We celebrate this holiday acknowledging the abundance we have, and for which we are thankful. Only right now there is fear that many will not be able to meet their basic needs as our nation’s economic system convulses and hints at the possibility of collapse.

Right now the focus is on the auto industry, crippled by bad decisions and mismanagement, desperately needing a bailout. We are treated to the strange sight of multimillion dollar executives flying to Washington in their private corporate jets to beg from congress, holding out a tin cup in hopes of having it filled. “Brother, can you spare me twenty five billion?”

There is general agreement that the industry needs change. Real change. Forget the cosmetic alterations of tinkering with the models from year to year -- putting newly shaped taillights and a different grill on the same old basic car and peddling it as new. That’s not working anymore.

Perhaps the Pilgrims should be held up as role models of change. Talk about risking something different. They were pros at it. Women and men willing to let go of everything familiar in order to have something new, and hopefully better. Everything they tried didn’t work out, but they were successful enough that we still remember the great gifts they gave us this coming Thursday. At the very heart of their motivation was faith in Jesus Christ.

I believe that change, real change is something that is possible. It happens. It happens every day. God changes people as they believe and yield their hearts and lives to him. The change God makes is not mere cosmetic change, but profound change in a person’s heart and mind and spirit. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ we begin to be new people from the inside out.

We see the world in a fresh, new way. Our homes begin to turn from places of tension to safe harbors of respect and kindness. Our churches change from being institutions on life support to places where people are filled with life and love. We change from being happy with the status quo into Christian disciples who do what we can to see the will of God reflected more clearly in society and who work for justice and peace in the world.

I am thankful that one day all that is broken will be fixed, the incomplete will be fulfilled, and the wrong will be made right. I am thankful that in the meantime, no matter what happens in this world, I can live in hope, knowing that in Christ my fortune is not dependent on life’s abundance or scarcity. As a Pilgrim I can walk in faith knowing that God’s possibilities are endless.
Blessings

Pastor Jon

Growing up in Kansas I spoke English as it should be spoken. Elsewhere people spoke in strange tongues. As a young boy I travelled to visit family in New Orleans and found people saying things that sounded funny. The city was even called by a different name -- “N’awlins”. They called me “honey chile’”. Then in high school I went to New York City. Talk about accents! But Noo Yawkers are nothing compared to the folks who lived a little farther north -- in Boston. I can’t even begin to describe what they sounded like. It would take a degree from Hahvahd to figure them out. Of course even they didn’t have the awful accent English people prided themselves on. When I visited Oxford I quickly realized everyone spoke in that “phony” English accent -- probably just to show they were better than everybody else.

As an adult I find a lot of people remind me of the naivety of my childhood. They go through life thinking they are the only ones who are free of an accent. They have yet to realize there is no such thing as speaking without an accent -- or holding a belief that isn’t colored by one’s personal experiences and is as definite as a southern drawl.

Many of us have been cornered by religious or political fundamentalists who are rabid in their belief that anyone who dares to deviate from what they proclaim as truth is headed straight to hell. What often escapes us, though, are those on the left who often appear open minded and liberal, offering a world free of imposed values. Because our media culture so often reflects this attitude, we -- and those who hold it -- often fail to recognize that neutrality is just as much a value as is certitude. The person who says we are free to choose, believe and live by whatever we desire mistakenly think they alone are speaking an accent free language.

There is no such thing as neutrality. Affirming that “all roads lead to heaven” is just as definite and narrow minded as saying “Jesus is the way”. Tolerance is not the opposite of intolerance, but rather just another rigid place on the spectrum of choice. A free spirit’s advocating the choice to live in whatever manner one chooses is just as imposing of values as is a police officer announcing that unfortunately we were clocked doing 45 mph in a 25 mph zone.

Most of life is lived with built in consequences. I can choose to believe it makes no difference if I change the oil in my car every 5,000 miles or every 50,000 miles. Unfortunately, my Toyota doesn’t understand this, and believing the latter will result in a consequence I do not wish to experience. The whole world works in a definite manner. There is much room for variety, differences, and shades of gray. Yet there is a bottom line to every aspect of life. Cars require oil.

We can not live without holding to a specific set of values and beliefs. The real question is whether the values and beliefs we hold are the right ones? I dare not ignore the claims of one who spoke in the accents of a Jewish rabbi two thousand years ago, and who speaks to the hearts of people today in an accent familiar to New Yorkers, Southerners, Bostonians and Kansans alike. What are the consequences if Jesus Christ is right?

Well, the Big Lug got his shoulder patched up this summer. At least a lot of us are praying Curt Schilling came through with the operation a healthy success. His surgeon says he his quite content with the procedure, although there is no guarantee the shoulder will be good as last time, when Shilling was in his late twenties. Now he’s 41. The doc says there is nothing he can do to fix that.

Life tends to judge us by how we produce. Schill has produced for the Red Sox. And how! It seems he breezed into town just yesterday and announced to the world he was here to break the 86 year old curse. He did it big time! He has produced for us, bloody sock and all.

Curt Schilling seems quite content with the possibilities his future holds. Of course he would like to pitch again. But in a recent WEEI interview he says “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do a case study. I’m 41, I’ve got over 3,000 innings under my belt....” As far as Red Sox Nation goes, he’s also got the curse firmly buried under his feet, deep under the pitcher’s mound at Fenway. He seems to have it all in perspective: “I don’t want it to end this way but if this is the way it has to end, I’m ok with that. If it’s over and my last pitch was in the 2007 World Series, honestly, I’m ok with that....I have not a regret in the world.”

A major part of who Curt Schilling is goes far beyond his pitching arm, and even, believe it or not, beyond his big mouth. The core of Curt Schilling is his faith. He is a Christian, a personal Christian who takes his faith public, and who is not afraid to express his opinions. Oh yes, he opens his mouth at the wrong time, but he also opens it at the right time when a witness to the power of Jesus Christ might make all the difference is someone’s life. Schill draws constantly upon the strength God gives. That is what gives him the perspective to handle his shoulder surgery and his future. He knows what’s important.

My daughter Christine has a friend, Bridget. They attended the same church, until Bridget, her husband and three year old daughter moved to the west coast. Bridget is a radiant Christian, with the healthy glow appropriate for someone 26 weeks pregnant. She also has stage four cancer, and six to nine months to live. Curt Schilling has been talking to Bridget, ministering to Bridget, even while facing his own troubles. He knows it’s all about perspective, and that whatever happens here, from the viewpoint of eternity, everything looks ok. That’s because Jesus Christ stepped up to the mound, and buried the curse -- the real curse -- forever. The curse has caused much grief throughout human history. Worn out shoulders. Cancerous bodies. Even death itself. It took Jesus considerably more than a bloody sock to be successful, for the mound he stepped upon was the mound called Calvary. It was there he spilled his blood, an atonement for sin. Because of what
he accomplished we have the possibility of living lives that are whole, complete and productive.

The Big Lug says “This is all about perspective. Wouldn’t we all like to throw a no-hitter in the World Series at the age of 40 in our last start and walk away? Who wouldn’t? That’s not real life.” Schill knows. He knows real life is found in Jesus Christ. There’s nothing else like Jesus in the whole ballpark.

Jon Dale Hevelone, D.Min.
Pastor