The Shepherd's Fields

This week's reading is from Luke 2:15-21,

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

While we were touring the Middle East, we visited one of the possible sites of the shepherd's field. 

I was asked to read Luke 2:8-21 to our group. We read passages from the Bible at different sites. Putting place and scripture together was a special experience one may never forget. 

I bet those ancient shepherds' experience was too.

 

Tears for Bethlehem

 During our recent trip to the holy land we witnessed the marked difference between areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and those governed by Israel. Our first impression was that there was trash in the streets  and buildings were not well kept in the P.A.’s cities as opposed to the Israeli cities. The next impression was the general demeanor of the people was different. There was not much happiness in Bethlehem, and in fact I had a little kid toss a four letter word my way. It appears that Christians are being driven out of Bethlehem. Israel365 News reports that, 

“In 1947, Christians made up 85% of the population but by 2016, the Christian population of Bethlehem had declined to only 16%.”

At this rate, Christians there will be extinct in a few more years.

We visited a small cave that held a chapel near Bethlehem.

 I had a feeling that Christians will go back to worshipping in secret places soon there, and perhaps that will be our future as well.

Merry Christmas

 Pewsterson is home and staying with us during his recuperation from "Evali" and pneumonia. Your prayers have been answered. your precious gift to us. As a result of your prayers we have seen several people throw away vaping pens including a young college coed who we met Friday night at a Christmas party. She tossed hers into the lake and posted it online. On Christmas morning we will pack up the oxygen concentrator and make the perilous trip to the in-laws' cave. 

Give thanks to God for all things! 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Prayer Request

Pewsterspouse and I have been spending the past week at the hospital with adult Pewsterson who has been in the ICU. Pneumonia and vaping induced lung disease got him. Our church prayer group and prayers from friends and family have helped, and he is now off the ventilator and out of ICU but still on 100% oxygen. We must continue to pray that he heals spiritually, and that his eyes are opened to see Jesus at work in all of this trying to reach him. Only Jesus can heal the sick, unstop the ears of the deaf, and the eyes of the blind.

Come Lord Jesus! 

God is with us

 This Sunday's reading is from Matthew 1:18-25,

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Joseph is instructed to name him Jesus, and they (the people) shall name him Emmanuel.

Indeed God is with us still.

Doctors gone bad

 One of the disturbing consequences of the rise in secular humanism is the loss of humanity of medical students and physicians. The new breed of medical professionals is chock full of men, women, and others who have no or a best a faulty moral grounding. So it is no surprise when we see them promoting the legalization of brain damaging substances, physician assisted suicide, puberty blockers, and genital mutilation of adolescents. What ever happened to "Physician do no harm"?

Two stories this week brought this to mind. First was the case of the Canadian man who got one physician to approve the man's request for "Medical Assistance in Dying" (MAID) because the man was poor and did not want to become homeless. The man has reportedly reconsidered after GoFundMe raised $60,000.

The second story was about the "American Girl Doll" booklet for kids that discussed puberty blockers and "transitioning" much of which was written with the advice of a physician.

Physicians, your education is lacking. Please study the Great Physician, Jesus. Confess your sins, and accept Him as your saviour. 

He is our only hope.

"Go and tell John what you hear and see"

 This Sunday's reading is from Matthew 11:2-11,

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way before you.”

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

"Go tell John..." might just as well be rewritten for today's situation and repeated as, "Go tell the world...", and when the world rejects it, should we shake the dust from our feet, or should we shout it from the hill tops? 

Or maybe a bit of both. 

Episcopalians see hope despite their falling numbers

 The Episcopal organization recently released its 2021 numbers which show a continued fall in membership along with a drop in average Sunday attendance (ASA). The fall in ASA may be partially attributed to Covid-19, but the longer impact of the pandemic will not be known until numbers come in for 2022-24. 

Jeff Walton at the Institute on Religion and Democracy reported on this, 

"Data from 2021 parochial reports shows that domestic membership fell 56,314 persons to 1,520,388 (-3.57%) from 1,576,702, while average Sunday attendance fell in an unprecedented rate of decline of 165,328 persons to 292,851 (-36.08%) from 458,179 in 2020. A total of 62 congregations were permanently closed."

"Median Average Sunday Attendance in the denomination dropped from 55 persons in 2017 to 21 persons in 2021. Long-term, 88% of Episcopal parishes saw their attendance decline 10% or greater in the past five years, and 90% of congregations report attendance of less than 100 persons."

The Episcopal News Service (ENS) for some reason remains optimistic,

"Other figures from 2021 leave room for optimism. The number of active baptized members, though down by more than 3% for the second straight year, is nearly in line with recent historical trends, showing a more gradual decline that is mirrored by other mainline Protestant denominations. "

That's like saying, "Don't worry about the icebergs and freezing waters. Our sister ships are sinking just as fast."  

"The pandemic, meanwhile, did not halt the ongoing trend of rising pledges. The average Episcopal pledge increased in 2021 to $3,339, and overall plate and pledge income was up more than 3% for the year."

 Don't be fooled by that statistic Episcopalians. The rate of inflation in 2021 was 7.0%, so a 3% increase in pledges is not going to cut it. In the past I have pointed out that on a parish level, as ASA declines there is often seen a paradoxical rise in plate and pledge. I call this squeezing the last drop of blood out of the turnips.

Advent is supposed to be a season of hope and anticipation, not a time for lies, damn lies, and statistics. I don't think the statistics here lie, but the reporting by the ENS lies by omitting the fact that giving did not keep pace with inflation, and by reporting it as a reason to be optimistic. 

Needless to say, the ENS did not speculate as to the reasons for the sinking numbers of her sister mainstream denominations. It would have been interesting to see the spin on that.

Does anyone really see hope in these statistics? 

 

What bugs me about John the Baptist

The story of John the Baptist always bugged me a little.

 We heard it this Sunday in Matthew 3:1-12,

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the Lord,

   make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

While locusts may be considered tasty (they are said to taste like shrimp), and certainly the addition of wild honey would help, they are forbidden to the Jews. Specifically in Leviticus 11:41, 

“And every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth is a detestable thing; it shall not be eaten.” 

That seems to make the presence of  many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism by this unclean John all the more surprising.

I wonder what John smelled like. 

The Jordan river I guess.

I won't let it bug me.