November 1999 Sermons
Dr. Henry E. Roberts

The End of Life -- The Culminating Gift
Good Stewards Are Responsible and Creative
The "Judgement"
Advent: A Time for Getting Ready-Preparation

The End of Life — The Culminating Gift
I John 3: 1-3

   The writer of this wonderful statement, John, perhaps the writer of the book of Revelation, lived in such a time not unlike ours. A time of transition, the best of times and the worst of times. The end of one age and the launching of another. He saw the goal of life as to be like Jesus, regardless of one's circumstances. Thus, he was true to the Biblical tradition that he had received, for Jesus had said that, "We are to be perfect as God is perfect." And the Apostle had written: "Have the mind of Christ", or "Live in Christ". 

   Loving, and serving, and giving becomes important if not determinative factors in your everyday life, when you seek to be like Jesus. Children are made in the image of their parents and as God is loving, serving and giving, so are we. 

   Our life as Children of God is a precious gift, and I know that I continue to emphasize this, for I am frankly obsessed with it since the days of realizing that you can lose your life. Human life doesn't go on forever, and when I survey the names lifted up on this All Saint's Sunday, once again I am reminded of this truth. It is in my face when something happens, and I want to call my brother or father to share with them about something. 

   You are aware of this keen sensitivity or appreciation of life as a gift. So we keep returning to this theme like it is a beautiful diamond, or ruby, or sapphire and cannot get enough of looking at it and appreciating it. It is like the Old Testament writers who kept looking back on the Exodus, the flight for freedom from Egypt, for it reminded them of what God had done for them. "We are the children of God" - appreciate this, relish in it, believe it, be proud of it. 

   A reporter once said to Theodore Roosevelt, who was the President when we began this 20th century, that he must be proud of his sons Quentin and Teddy, Jr. as they served the nation in the army during World War I. "Sure I am proud of them as I am proud of each of my six children." The reporter pressed him saying: "Well these two are serving in such a fine way in the war effort." To which Roosevelt responded: "Well they had better, they are Roosevelt's you know." 

   You are children of God, you know! By your giving, and your loving, and your serving, you represent the family. 

1. As Children we have the privilege of knowing and loving the Heavenly Father. We can talk with him anytime. And we can be like him for we know him and he is in us. We are made in his image. Like father, like son. Remember that John wrote: "What we shall be is yet to be disclosed, but here and now, we are God's children."

2. As Children we have the privilege of representing him through our lives. When the Apostle encouraged the early disciples in Philippi to, "Have the mind of Christ", he went on to explain: "He was equal with God, but did not count such a privileged position to be held on to, but emptied himself and became a servant, and emptied himself." 

3. As children we have the privilege of being joint airs of Christ so that all that is his is ours. No longer are we fearful of life or death for we know that "Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 

   Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, reminded those in the 16th Century of the benefits of being God's children through his teaching of the "Priesthood of all Believers." This means that we have the privilege of speaking directly to God, or that we are our own priest, and also that we are a priest to our neighbor. 

   One of the great privileges of serving as a pastor in a wonderful church like ours, is the opportunity to stand beside Christlike individuals like those who have died in the faith during this past year, as they transition from this life to the next. So many of our people have demonstrated their Godlike nature in living and in dying: This is usually seen by the way they love and give and serve…

   Three things I would like to affirm about these holy moments of transition from life to life:

   One, we never die alone. Jesus promised that he would never leave us alone and my experience has taught me that he fulfills that promise time and time again.

   Elizabeth Kublar-Ross, who has documented studies of individuals who have had near death experiences, and has affirmed that there is a common testimony that there was no fear, for someone was always with them even when they were slipping from life. So, Kublar-Ross affirms that we never die alone even when we are by ourselves.

   Secondly, We are never left behind as punishment, but as assignment. Many are reading the "Left Behind Series," which is on the open market just now. Let me remind you that these books are found in the fiction department of the bookstores, and that is where they should remain. God is not in the business of "leaving anybody behind," but lifting up all as His children.

   Thirdly, death is never an ending, but the great beginning. The Beginning of the Age to Come occurs for us when we close our eyes in death. Jesus affirmed this truth when he said to the thief dying on the cross: "Today you will be with me in Paradise." When we go to sleep in Jesus, we awake to the presence of God. When we die, we go off the calendar or off the clock. We go off the map of what is known into what is to come. When darkness comes, the new age dawns. No longer are we waiting for things to be made right or good, or for Jesus to Come, He is right there when you wake.

   So, let us let us live lives as Children of God-loving, caring, giving, serving. Thomas Merton, in his book, "Love and Living" writes: "It is important that the end of life itself should finally set the seal upon the giving and the sacrifice which has marked mature and productive living. Thus man physically and mentally declines, having given everything that he had to life, to others, to his love, to this family, to this world. He is spent or exhausted, not in the sense that he is merely burned out and gutted by the accumulation of money and power, but because he has given himself totally in love. There is nothing left now for him to give. It is now that in a final act he surrenders his life itself. This is the end of life, not in the sense of a termination, but in the sense of a culminating gift, the last free perfect act of love, which is at once surrender and acceptance".

Good Stewards Are Responsible and Creative
Matthew 25:14-30
Stewardship Sunday

   Today as we make our financial commitments, which will carry the church into the first year of the next thousand years of Christian History, we want to be very careful to hear God's word from the scripture, which comes from Matthew's Gospel. It comes from a section of Scripture in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew, which involved the apocalyptic teachings of the end time. Jesus tells in this section of a coming great tribulation, of the importance of being faithful servants and of not being like the five foolish virgins who were not prepared whose lamps went out. And then this parable:

   A landowner went on an extended trip, but before he left he called his three servants before him and gave one 5 talents, one 2 talents, and one 1 talent. Two of them used and multiplied the gifts so that by the time the master returned, were greatly rewarded - "Well done, good and faithful servants, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much, enter into the joy of your master." One, out of fear buried his gift and protected it, but did not use it. He was judged harshly on the Master's return and in the story - punished - (26-30 verses), "what he has will be taken away and he is cast into outer darkness, where men will weep and gnash their teeth." Use it or lose it! 

   It might be helpful to understand that a talent was a unit of monetary measure as is the American Dollar or the Japanese Yen. Elsewhere in the gospels there is a reference to another unit called a denarius, which is an average daily wage for a day laborer. A denarius - about $41.00 according to today's minimal wage. The talent, in Jesus' day would have been the largest unit of money and would have been worth about 6000 denarii. Clearly to a day laborer, a talent would be a king's ransom. It would have equaled approximately 20 years of salary. And to give a person 5 talents or 2 talents would have been remarkable, astounding, amazing, excessive, extravagant. Such is the likeness of our life as children of God as citizens of the Kingdom. We are a people who have been given many talents. And every servant is given talents. 

   However, Jesus says: "one does nothing but protect his." Operating out of an ethos or life attitude of scarcity or fear, the one talent individual loses even what he has. This story of Jesus is clear and decisive as to the expectations of God the Father of His children. We are given talents, blessings, abundant gifts of opportunity in varying amounts, but blessed is each and every person. We are not to be foolish nor fearful as to how we use these abundant gifts of God, who is to the owner of all things, but rather we are to be responsible and creative in how we use what is given to us. Responsibility and Creativity are the key lessons that leap out at us as God's word to us today.

   Responsibility is the first of God's Words for today, and Creativity is the Second. 

   I know a lot more about responsibility. for that is where I have spent most of my life. But, I must confess to you that I believe with all my heart that the new millennium will open before us more possibilities for creativity than we can image. A spirit of openness and obedience to the best that one knows will lead to great things in the year ahead. But first, we have a responsibility to use what has been given to us. 

   We have been given our body for a season, and Americans are prone to abuse their bodies. We tend to be overweight and live a sedentary lifestyle, still too many smoke or drink to excess. We are killing ourselves. We have started this diet program called PRISM to help deal with this problem.

   I had a friend come to me some years ago and wanted help in going to seminary to become a minister, and I told him no, I would not help him go. The reason: he weighted in at about 400 pounds. He was literally eating himself to death. No, I said, I can't and will not help you until you take responsibility for your own life.

   It was my same answer this past week to an alcoholic who wanted help with his breaking down family. No, I'll not help until you take responsibility for your own behavior.

• We have a responsibility to ourselves.

• We have a responsibility to our family.

   Most of us have always felt that we have a responsibility to not embarrass the family and to represent the best of our tradition. My father used to say to me, "Remember who you are." We have a responsibility to our family. If we give birth to a child then it becomes our responsibility to provide clothes, education, and values and faith. We have an increasing number of grandparents who have to extend themselves to help cover the responsibility of their children's children's faith development. You give birth to a child, it is your responsibility to raise the child to the best that you know. When a child is baptized, the church assumes some responsibility, but without both parents being responsible, we are fighting a losing cause.

• We have a responsibility to the Church.

   We have too many individuals in the church who do not make a pledge, nor give one red cent to the church. Yet they expect the church to provide a place for the marriage of their children, to bury their dead, to teach values to their children, to be cool in the summer, to have Easter lilies or Christmas Poinsettias when they come to church. They want the church to be a pretty place to come on special occasions, and responsible for ministering to the poor, but they are not being responsible members of the church by their tithe, and some are not even giving a token of their finances.

   If you are not contributing to the financial life of the church, then you are not being responsible. Don't kid yourself about this. If you are a member of a Methodist Church in another city and you have never transferred your membership, or you don't give financially to your home church, then someone else is paying your connectional missional apportionment. If you are a member of the church and you don't give, then you are riding while someone else pays your taxi fair.

• We have a responsibility to the nation and the world in which we live.

Road Rage on our highways is an irresponsibility that we must control. If you take control of a car, then you must control your anger. Obscene gestures or ugly, impatient looks or acts are childlike, immature and are unbecoming for the driver of a vehicle. You have a responsibility to everybody if you are going to drive on our roads to control your anger.

We have this week just celebrated Veterans Day, which is a time that as a nation we set aside to remember and give thanks for individuals who have in times past given their lives for the causes of this nation. Individuals have died on foreign soil to protect the freedoms of persons whom they never knew by name. They took responsibility for the nation. It is important that we all stand for what is right and good in life, and that our nation would in our time be known for such integrity.

   After World War II, Winston Churchill, having lost his bid for re-election came to America and for a year taught at Fulton College in Missouri. After a year in America, he held a news conference before returning to England and was asked his observation of Americans after having lived here for a while. His comment: "I can count on you Americans to do the right thing, after you have exhausted all other possibilities." I'm not sure this was a compliment. Let us do the right thing the first time around. That's what integrity and responsibility means.

   Franklin D. Roosevelt was President of the United States from 1933 until his death in l945. He held office longer than any other person in our history. When he was first sworn in as President, he visited with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when the Justice was an old man. Now Roosevelt was confined to a wheelchair and his Presidential limousine pulled up to Justice Holme's house. It had high steps at the entrance and he was carried up the steps and placed in his wheelchair. He rolled into the living room and said to Justice Holmes: "I am a young man and I have just been installed as the President of these United States and I need your counsel as I begin my time of service." Justice Holmes, aware of the severity of the Depression, and the threat of a World War, said: "When you are in a war with evil, you fight like hell."

   We are in a war with evil right now and every hand needs to be on deck. Every person invested and serving. Some days I fear that we are losing, but then I read my Bible and realize that, "No we are not going to lose, but only those who participate will be among the winners in the coming new age. And depending on our participation, we might or might not be among the winners." Life will judge you harshly when you are not responsible.

   Let us live responsible lives because we are the ones with many talents. We have it to give. Let us live responsible lives so that there will come a generation after us, who won't live in our debt. Let us take responsibility for our own lives and the management of the multiple opportunities that have been given to us. The concept of the tithe was given to God's people early on as a way of enabling individuals to take responsibility for their lives and the management of their talents.

   You have heard me say before: Give 10%, save 10% and spend the rest with joy and thanksgiving. Start this practice early and stick to it, for it is a way that God's people take responsibility for their blessings and pass them on to succeeding generations. Start this practice today and see what God will do with your life in the new millennium.

   The Apostle Paul had this interesting way of affirming the gifts of God and you see this clearest in I Corinthians 15:51-16:1. Here he has this powerful, poetic moment of ecstasy and revelation, and immediately, in the same breath, without stopping to dip his ink pen, writes, "Now concerning the offering." Having received these gifts, we are to give. One minute Paul has his mind in the heavens and the next he is thinking about the offering. He is thinking about heaven one minute and then he is thinking about the importance of sending an offering back to Jerusalem to help provide for the widows and the orphans. He transitions from talk about eternal life through Jesus Christ to an offering without batting an eye.

   I am reminded that Jesus did much the same thing when he said: "Do not be anxious about your life, seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be yours as well." (Luke 12) and immediately followed it in verse 34: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

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The "Judgement"
 Matthew 25:31-46

   Jesus teaches of a coming day of final Judgment. In Matthew 25, the parables of the bridesmaids, the individuals receiving the talents, and now in the reading today of a final courtroom scene of final judgment, we are reminded to prepare for the coming culmination of our lives. This dimension of Jesus' teaching moves most of us right out of our comfort zone.

   I am privileged to serve on various community boards and agencies with individuals whom I am not usually around. They are community leaders and they make very important decisions every day in their lives that effect others. These individuals have very important jobs. They are very personable, friendly, and enjoyable to be around. I was thinking about some of them the other day and realized that a number of them are judges.

   Although they are good friends and I enjoy being around and lunching with them, talking on the phone with them, and visiting with them, I do not want to be in the chamber or stand before them. When then they put on their Judge's Robe, they become very stern and somewhat unapproachable, except with fear and respect.

   In the Scripture for today, Matthew recalls the teaching of Jesus, who usually is portrayed in the light of being friendly, approachable, kind and caring, as one who puts on the robe of the Judge and makes decisions like a shepherd - dividing the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad.

  And like my friends, these Judges, although friendly and helpful in community activities, when they become the Judge, their decisions are shaped by the laws of Justice, and Constitutional Law, which go beyond the implications of personal friendships. These Judges apply in their courtrooms, an obedience to an authority beyond their personal relationships. Call it Law, Justice, Righteousness, call it whatever you want, but these men and women, these Judges, are under the rule of an external authority which is beyond them.

  So, also is with Jesus as our Judge. The friendly teacher, who forgives sins and feeds the hungry and tells us to turn the other cheek, is also the one who becomes in the final Judgment, Judge and Jury over the results of how we have managed our resources and opportunities. Jesus becomes in this scripture heard this morning, the one who is to apply certain principals that come through him, but not from him. Although he is our friend and really cares about us and is great to be around, when he puts on the Judge's Gown, he is charged with the responsibility to apply the principals of God's Law to our lives, and to make a decision as to the success or failure of our actions.

   I probably fail you as pastor, when I neglect to remind you that Jesus is Judge as well as Friend. He judges our lives as well as forgives our sins. By neglecting the implications of the judgment and the importance of getting ready for it, we are in danger of losing sight of the great principals that govern the universe and called our people into being. We were called to be a light to the nations, a holy priesthood, God's own people to minister to the needs of the poor. If we fail to deal with the last Judgment then we are apt to lose sight of the Great Imperatives against which our ultimate success or failure will be measured.

   The Greeks said: To Thine own self be true, which is retrospect was a rather silly statement. That's what we are doing. Whatever makes you happy, makes you more wealthy, makes you content, it's okay! Situations determine our ethics! There are dimensions of life, which lie far beyond us, which will be the measurements against which we will be judged. To these principals we must be true, not to ourselves!

   The eulogy delivered at our funeral will be based on the Great Principals, the universal Imperatives, not on some silly passing whim or current passionate desire.

   The great Principals which will determine the Judge's verdict are to be found in Holy Scripture and what are they?

• Love and obedience to God and love of neighbor as seen through our compassion and acts of kindness to the poor.

   We love God by our devotions and worship and prayers. We love our neighbors when we respect all persons we meet and feed the hungry, visit the sick, and clothe the naked.

   Be very proud of yourself when you show respect to a child or an older person or a person who is below your socio-economic standing. We live in a society where people fail to respect others. An 11-year old kills another child. A daughter kills her mother. An enraged young woman in a moment of road rage pulls a gun out of the pocket of her car and shoots another young woman in another car. We live in a very disrespectful society, and we stand out like lights in the darkness when we are respectable persons.

   Be very proud of your pledge and gifts to the church for through them you help others and minister to the poor. Your help the Earthquake victims in Turkey. You provide educational materials for the children of Peru and Pensacola. You touch families who are tying to rebuild their lives in Kosovo and Escambia County. You enable welfare mothers who are being downsized through new federal programs in Detroit and on Scott Street. You feed the hungry in Mobile and dig wells for the thirsty in the Sahara.

   Through our offering in the church we demonstrate our obedience to our calling as a unique people. It is a challenge to offer direct help to the needy for you are so often dealing with irresponsible persons who have no clue as to how to manage their lives. A few bucks to a drunk is not a help. A blank check to someone who needs a job puts off the inevitable. A handful of dollar bills to a panhandler doesn't get someone off the street. Paying off overdrawn check charges encourages irresponsible behavior. So what I have found we have to do is work through servant institutions like those our church offerings support like: Manna Food Bank, United Ministries, Milk and Honey, Suit Your Self, students in our public schools, and UMCOR, and the Boy Scouts.

   As we begin the Thanksgiving Season, I want to voice for us all our gratitude for these servant agencies, which enable us to be faithful to the biblical imperative to help the poor and the needy.

   We will be judged, against the imperative to love God and love as Jesus defines it in the scripture in Matthew 25. Love is an action word. Love is something you do.

   Petrim Sorokin, a Harvard Sociologist, in his book Crisis and Calamity, suggests that people react to life in one of the following three ways:

• Some do the best of things in the worst of times.
• Some do the worst of things in the worst of times.
• And some do nothing and become merely spectators.

   He goes on to say that few do the worst of things, and few do the best of things, but the vast majority simply do nothing. The Scripture on the Final Judgment is a clear and clarion call for disciples of Jesus to act, to minister, to give, to love, to get moving.

   Summary: My life task, our life task, is the internalization's of the principals of Love of God and love of Neighbor through compassion for the poor and the needy. This internalization process is what the church has historically referred to by the term Sanctification.

   This happens as we steadily expose ourselves to Jesus and offer ourselves in generous ways to others, until we find ourselves shaped by Jesus' love, energized by his spirit, and having the discernment to know what to do and when to do it. This is a lifelong, subtle, gradual process, which prepares us for the final judgment.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity through the Church to fulfill the great imperatives to love you and help our neighbor. For these all your many blessings, we give you thanks through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Advent: A Time for Getting Ready-Preparation
Mark 13:32-37

   The Scripture tells us today that it is of utmost importance that we be prepared for the Coming of the Lord. The Day of his Return is imminent and it is of utmost importance that we prepare.

   Life in varying ways encourages us to stay alert, that we keep awake, that we prepare for some coming event, lest me miss out, lest we are left behind, lest we get hurt, lest we are not included.

   Christmas is coming - prepare! Purchase this or that for that special person in your life. We spend a lot of our time getting ready for something: Get Y2K prepared!

   Are you prepared for the semester tests, which are coming?

   The inspectors are coming next week, we have got to get ready. Is your department ready? Are you ready for your retirement? Are you ready to start your new job? Jesus is coming, Are you ready?

   Our children are already watching and waiting for Christmas. A little boy said to his mother "How many more be good days do we have till Christmas?" Interesting way to mark the December calendar! You name it and we have to get ready for it.

   Not that I want to increase your anxiety, but there are only 27 more shopping days till Christmas. There are only 34 more days till Y2K. Keep awake, stay alert, are you ready? Here we are almost on the eve of the new millennium and the Scripture message for today is most appropriate.

    Mark has this vision of the end time, the final coming of the Lord when the world as we know it will become compose, and the world God is trying to give us will be established. It has been a long time since he first came, and we have been waiting a long time for his coming again.

   But how long is not really the issue for us, how we live today is!

   The Bible says we are to grow in grace and knowledge of God by living lives of righteousness and godliness. Our job is to be faithful, stay alert, stay conscious, and to stay at our post.

   Mark's gospel doesn't contain any birth narratives, which are indeed the least threatening form of God's incarnation. Frankly, I like Matthew and Luke's version of Jesus' coming, for they are less threatening. Mark reminds us that his coming among us is not always so docile or peaceful, or like a silent night of angelic voices singing lullabies. Through the eyes of Mark, we forget the stable, the star, the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, and instead when Mark looks into the sky, what he sees are cosmic fireworks, a darkened sun, a dim moon, stars falling from the sky like sparks from a sparkler. Then there in the center of the smoke, the Son of God coming in clouds with great power and glory. "You will not want to miss this, so stay awake," Mark recalls Jesus saying.

   Peter envisioned the Coming of Jesus in much this same way: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed."

   Many of the people just after the time of Jesus, fully expected the Second Coming of Jesus to happen in their lifetime. Jesus did in fact return, but only to the believers. Resurrection appearances occurred for Thomas struggling with his doubt and for Peter struggling with his guilt, and for Mary of Magdalene struggling with her great loss.

   The misconception in the early church about the imminent, glorious return of Jesus caused many problems. In fact, there are still problems where people expect a destructive, judgmental return of Jesus rather than a time of great fulfillment. If you are doing wrong and are not living in the Will of God, then I guess you should fear his coming.

   Our lesson from Mark's Gospel says, "Keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" (NIV)

   Advent is a season for watching, being alert, of preparation, of keeping awake less we miss out.

   Let me suggest the following two things:

1. Stay awake and alert lest you miss the opportunities given to us during these unusual days.

   Christmas is 27 days away and it will be just another day on the calendar unless we make it really something special. And I don't reference the gifts we give or receive, although that is certainly one way to touch a person's life in a special way. But there is a spirit of the season of Christmas, which I want bad, I need desperately. A spirit of joy and peace, of generosity and hope and love. That which we are alert to find, I believe we shall surely find.

   The new millennium will began 34 days from now but it will just be another holiday of football games and the beginning of just another year, unless we see it as the beginning of the first day of the rest of our lives. It will be for me the beginning of the last Century of my life, and I am going to squeeze the juice out of the 21st. What about you? Are you alert, awake, looking for the opening for life? Some things in the year ahead, I'm not going to be doing anymore. Some things I'm not going to put up with in myself and in others, at least as it impacts me or my world. Life seems more and more to give us what we expect from it.

   Every time we meet together in worship, there is the potential for something of significant value and meaning to happen. And for those who come from dark, foreboding days and longing for comfort, they find it. For those who come confused looking for guidance, longing and hoping for God to direct their lives, they are apt to find it. But those who come looking for nothing and expecting less, they probably won't experience anything. When you don't put anything into something, you probably won't get anything out of it. When you don't put your money, your prayers, your time searching, you will probably miss out on the new discoveries, which bring meaning.

2. Look forward not out of fear, but out of positive expectation toward the coming future.

   The motivation for most of our preparation is fear of being hurt or embarrassed. Fear or negative expectation is self-fulfilling. The "left behind series" of novels is being read by many, but I find that for the most part its those who have almost everything else who are reading them, and they fear they are missing out on something. Well, if you are not in a power relationship with God, if Jesus is not the center of your life, if you are not finding some creative way to tithe your income, and your time, if you are not intentionally finding ways to help someone else, if you are not centering your life through prayer and worship, then YES YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING VERY important for the full realization of your potential as a human being. In you are investing much of your life in negative emotions like fear or wasting your time in anger or looking for revenge opportunities, then you are going to be ultimately hurt.

   When I was a child, we would spend Thanksgiving visiting with our grandparents and all of our cousins. A favorite aunt, Aunt Bernice, would always play with us kids. But after the big Thanksgiving Feast, she would divide the boys from the girls and make us go in and lie down for a nap. One Thanksgiving, we were cutting up during this nap time and I remember her coming in and taking her teeth out and placing them on the bed and told my brother and me that if we moved a mussel, that her teeth would bite us. I didn't move nor even breathe out of fear until Aunt Bernice came back and retrieved her teeth.

   The motivation for most of our preparation for the future is fear of being hurt if we are not prepared. Thus a lot of energy in expended to protect ourselves rather than finding that which fulfills.

   There are many things that can happen in our personal lives, which when related to our increasing knowledge of tragedies around the world, may tend to make us feel that the end is near. The end of many things is probably near, but if you are asking if the end is near for our planet, which is 3 or 4 billion years old, my answer would be "No"! It is possible that we are near the end, as it has been possible in this last Century, but it is not likely. It is far more likely that the inhabitants of the earth will have to continue to deal with the messes we have made on this good earth for millions of years to come. The end is near for the earth? I doubt it! I don't think so. I will resist the temptation to speak definitively about that lest I be wrong and you be caught unprepared. But the word of Jesus is clear: Stay alert! Be Awake! Do not sleep!

By being confident, believing, positive, and by maintaining a healthy body and an open mind to what God is doing, we long for, yearn for, pray for, work for the coming Kingdom of God in this world. Before we know it, the day of the Lord will dawn.

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