“Cry Out, America”

“He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” -Micah 6:8 (ESV). “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” -James 1:22-25 (ESV).

Today, September 11, 2016, marks the fifteenth anniversary of what we term “9/11,” that infamous date in America’s history when two planes on a terrorist-seized mission crashed into the Twin Towers of the Trade Center in New York City, when another plane crashed into a portion of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth plane, whom authorities later believed was directed on either the White House or the U. S. Capitol, was redirected and crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. It was a dark day for America when about 3,000 were killed and America was put on notice of a way of life that has been different since. Terrorist attacks are real. The threat is astronomical.

These acts have caused people to ask, “Are we in the days before the final judgment?” We know the teachings of Jesus on that subject, that no one, save the Father in Heaven, knows the day or the hour. But such events—and there have been more since that infamous 9/11—have turned our thoughts seriously to the last days, the days of judgment.

Our scripture focus verses for today teach us God’s requirements. From Micah, we learn that believers are to “do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.” From James we learn that we are to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Our actions should be commensurate with what we know of the Word and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the days since 9/11, in these fifteen years, we have had books and sermons, pleas from ministers and leaders to “Return, return to God.” Even during this year 2016, Franklin Graham has launched his effort “Decision America” in which he has scheduled rallies on capitol lawns of all 50 states in our Union with the plea to for the people to turn again to God.

Since 2008, the effort, “Cry Out, America,” has seen rallies held on court house lawns and other public places where the Word of God, the Bible, is read and men and women gather for earnest prayers on the very day commemorating 9/11.

What does this say of us as believing Americans, in a land where the motto since our founding has been “In God we trust”? Many do and are turning to God. Will we, as Sodom and Gomorrah, of old, experience destruction because not enough of a remnant is faithful to warrant God’s saving our nation? We know assuredly that we are living in perilous times. I do not want to be considered an alarmist, one who sounds a trumpet of doom. However, we rest in the assurance that those who know the Lord truly, in spirit and in truth, will be known by Him, both now and in the judgment. “Cry out, America!” God still hears and answers. - Ethelene Dyer Jones -9.11.2016

How to Deal with Trials

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4 (ESV).

Trials, meaning hardships, ordeals, difficulties, tribulations, adversities, have been said to “break or make” us.  James wrote that Christians should count it “all joy” when trials beset them.  Trials are designed to produce Christian maturity and should therefore be accepted with joy  Trials provide a testing ground for our faith,  and how we handle trials and with what perspective we view them makes us more steadfast.  James mentions in these verses that trials help us to grow into perfection and completeness.  We have a theological term for growing toward perfection; it is called sanctification.  We can aspire toward it in this life, living a life of faithful endurance; but the ultimate in sanctification—growing toward perfection—will occur completely only when Jesus returns.

Most of us would like to avoid trials, run from them, seek a means to evade or ignore them.  How can we face them head-on, and grow through them?  James tells us a way in 1:5:and warns us not to doubt or be double-minded in 1:6-8:  “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

In retrospect, looking back upon trials we have endured in life, we can see that they did indeed help us grow in steadfastness.  I can recall many times in my life when I felt that I was, as we say, “at the end of my rope.”  One was when I was fourteen and my mother died.  I was faced with two large challenges (I prefer this word to trials).  One was being the mainstay to manage our farm household, even at that tender age.  The other was to stay in school, because I had a strong desire to be educated.  Was the going easy?  Indeed not.  But with daily prayer, dependence on the promises and Word of the Lord, and exceeding determination, I reached these goals.  I like to think I came through those years stronger and more able to meet life.  But what I found as I progressed through life was that, without fail, trials were a part of almost every phase of life I entered.  Just because I had “grown up” did not make the way difficulty-free.  But the One, if we ask Him, who provides wisdom to overcome trials, was always steadfast. I join in the prayer by Rev. Charles Wesley who wrote:  “Father, let our faithful mind rest on Thee inclined; every anxious thought repress; keep our souls in perfect peace.”  -Ethelene Dyer Jones 02.02.2014.

Thanksgiving…The Day and the Spiritual Exercise

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise:  be thankful unto Him, and bless His name  For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.” –Psalm 100 (KJV)

Thursday, November 28, 2013 is our traditional fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.  Many families will mark it with gatherings for food and fellowship.  In the festivities, Christian families will take time to recall the major blessings of the year just past and give thanks for life, health, work, family togetherness, and a multitude of other significant benefits.  For some maybe the holiday will have an aura of sadness for the faces missing either from the death of a family member during the year or those for some reason who could not gather to celebrate.  It is good to express gratitude, and as Psalm 100 declares, to “be thankful unto Him and bless His name.”  I memorized Psalm 100 when I was a young child, and its precepts have guided me for many years to be filled with gratitude.

Thanksgiving Day goes back in America to that first gathering of Plymouth Colony survivors after the first rigorous year in America and the loss of over half their company of settlers.  Their neighbors, members of the Wampanoag tribe of Indians, who had befriended and helped the colonists also attended the celebration.  We have some extant records of that gathering that give us insights into the observance.  Chief Massasoit and some 90 Indian braves were there as were the 51 survivors of the first year of the Plymouth Colony.  We can imagine the resonant voice of Elder William Brewster as he raised his voice to read from the Psalter and pray.  Maybe he read Psalm 100.  The Indians brought deer and turkey and perhaps maize and other crops they had grown as well as edible berries and fruits from the forest.  The feast must have been a welcome sight to those who had lived in want and hunger.  That celebration began for America a tradition which was finally made a part of our annual celebration.

Thanksgiving Day reminds us to pause and make inventory of our blessings and be thankful.  It is good to have an annual day of praise and thanksgiving.  But as we observe it once a year with special efforts to make the day memorable, we should at the same time remember that gratitude is an ongoing and daily exercise of spiritual depth.  Not only on Thanksgiving Day once a year, not just at mealtime when we offer thanks, not just in church on Sunday, but continually have a heart full of gratitude for all things.  Eugene Peterson in The Message Bible expressed it well from James’s writing that  good and perfect gifts are from God and we should acknowledge them and give thanks gratefully and faithfully:  “So my dear friends, don’t get thrown off course.  Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.  The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.  There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.  He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all His creatures.” (James 1:16-18)  Therefore, be thankful all the time! -Have a Happy Thanksgiving Day and may each day be filled with thanksgiving...and thanksliving! –Ethelene Dyer Jones  11.24.2013