Maintenance: How to Keep What You Have

Today I had to spend a little over 400 dollars for the 90k mile major service that my Honda mechanic recommended for my 2007 Accord.  To be quite honest I have driven two different Honda Civics for 545,000 miles and 447,000 miles respectively so you may say I know a little about keeping a car running!  That is partly true and the other truth is the fact I have excellent mechanics and excellent car shop (Barnhill Automotive, Tommy and Ryan).  Each one of my Civics had about 50k on it when I bought them but either way that is some serious mileage given my commute from Columbia to Charleston five days a week.  I am writing on the topic of “maintenance” because we have to maintain what we have in order to keep what we have.  That is true for cars, heating and A/C units, plumbing, hearts, and overall health.  What we don’t maintain is subject to even greater deterioration without routine and many times expensive care.  I also want to say that we have to maintain our soul and spiritual life.  Taking care of our souls is hard work.  It requires reading, prayer, meditations, charity and gift giving, unconditional love, and extending hospitality to name a few.  We need spiritual practices to keep our spiritual hearts and souls maintained.  When we do we will generally have more peace, fewer “roadside breakdowns,” and a greater sense of purpose and mission each day.  In the routines of maintenance we make friends, strengthen relationships and grow spiritually stronger.  Maintenance makes our bodies, souls and even cars ready for the challenges of everyday life.  Thank God for good car mechanics and thank God that we have life to do “routine maintenance” so that we can faithfully run the race of life.

Dear God:  Help me to maintain all that I have that is good and thank you for all of the good gifts of life! Amen.

Easter Week Meditation

Living and Dying:  Both Are All Too Real Sometimes
Rev. George M. Rossi
March 31, 2015

Galatians 1:18b-26:  Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

The Apostle Paul declares in verse 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  I am not ready to die.  Most if not all are not ready.  Yet, we live in that very lightly veiled world between life and death.  Today I am choosing life.  I choose life because I have a purpose, a mission of service to God and humanity and the will to see what the good future holds.  Easter week is about death and then life.  Jesus dies on the cross—literally.  I had a seminary professor who used to say that physical, real death must happen before resurrection can occur.  I know that there are things in life that are better left undone or omitted.  Even better yet some things need to be expelled and expunged from the soul and the heart and the mind.  That is God’s work.  So, this week, I propose that life and death are very present and real.  There are values and beliefs and actions that need a permanent death.  Yet, there are goals and visions and dreams that need life and energy.  We are living in the middle of God’s will.  Paul said, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Both are true but until God calls us home let’s seek life and God while we have breath.

The Nest: One Spring Later

Above is a picture of a bird’s nest that sits in one of our crepe myrtle trees in the backyard.  I have been noticing the nest for months even after last spring when the eggs were laid and I presume that the chicks grew and gave flight for the first time.  The “empty nest” can be a sad sight but that is not the direction I want to go.  I want to talk about the warmth, protection, homeliness, and the usefulness of nests.  Many times things like this nest serve their purpose and that is their final destiny.  It is a joyful surrender to a hopeful and good future.  Animals and people evolve, grow, change, and fulfill their potential.  So, may this nest be a reminder that the chicks have reached maturity and the parents have done their work so that the younger ones can flap their wings, reach their purpose, and make a difference in a world that needs them.  It won’t be long before they build a nest and their offspring are born, nurtured and working to fulfill their destinies too. 

A Holy Conversation with God

A Holy Conversation with God

Our Father who art in heaven, (Lord, are you really there?)

Hallowed be thy name.  (I know it is YHWH and Jesus, but that is confusing sometimes.)

Thy Kingdom come, (Is it real or just imaginary?)

Thy will be done, (God’s will and my will, now that is one complicated mess.)

On earth as it is in heaven.  (Lord you know we need more of heaven to come to earth.)

Give us this day, (Lord, I hope to make it to age 88 but not sure I will.)

Our daily bread. (It is so not right that kids are starving around the world.)

And forgive us our trespasses, (It is amazing how easy feelings and attitudes get hurt).

As we forgive those who trespass against us.  (Forgiveness is easier said than done.)

And lead us not into temptation, (It seems that temptation is everywhere.)

But deliver us from evil.  (Why does evil trump goodness sometimes?)

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and glory, forever.  (Yes, I believe.  Forever.)

Frozen

Frozen

It's not Disney.
No--It's the shock of sudden death.
So unbelievable that I can't feel it.
It sucks.
I hope the thaw never happens.
That way it would stay pixel animation.
I prefer Frozen.

Projecting a Bright and Hopeful Future for Others

                Last month I joined Facebook.  Some days I wonder why I made that decision, especially when scrolling through some of the partisan, conflicted, political and religious views from The Right, The Left, The Middle, and Those Who Act Smarter Than Everyone Else!  It can be a bit wearisome and I am sure my Gamecock posts have wearied more than a few too.  So, some justified self-criticism is only fair game sometimes!  Other days I get to wish “Happy Birthday” to a friend or to catch up with old friends by seeing the family, pictures and posts about what they like in life.  One of the neatest things that happened is connecting with my 6^th grade teacher Ms. Bruch from the best elementary school in the USA (Gulph Road Elementary in King of Prussia, PA).  Ms. Bruch (pronounced Brook) and I are now “Friends” on Facebook and she even follows me which is quite an honor for this once, wayward, smarter-than-the-teacher 6^th grader.  If I do the math correct, most 6^th graders are about 12 years old.  That was about 39 years ago for me.  It has been a delight to just know that Ms. Bruch wanted to be a friend on Facebook. I was emotionally moved and appreciated the act of her reaching out to me. Besides becoming Friends I really think she gave and received the greater gifts.  First, she gave the gift of “believing in me” even as a student who loved athletics way more than the subjects Math and English.  Back in 1974-75 she had enough hope, enough patience and enough faith (my words) to believe I would maybe become and do what God wanted me to do on this earth.  Secondly, she now has the gift of seeing how her work and patience paid off.  That says more about her steadfastness, courage, and patience to teach than it does anything about me.

                So, in life, we have the task of encouraging, challenging and believing in others before they believe in themselves.  Just recently I visited a person who was in physical pain from an incident that happened to him.  I could tell he was in deep pain.  He wanted me to pray for him and I did. I prayed that his pain would be less and that he would be able to move and live again in the future where he was not a patient and would be healed enough to get back to his baseline functioning.  I wanted him to know that I believed for him that better days were ahead.    As a chaplain and minister and I want to be a hope-bearer to those who need and want to see a bright future even though some days are hard and difficult and even hope-less.  All of us can be hope-bearers.  We can believe in others before they believe in themselves.  We can believe for them before they believe it for themselves.  Thank goodness Ms. Bruch did that for me.  My vocation continues to call me to give that same hope to others.   Thank goodness for healthcare workers who believe that others will heal, even before the person sometimes believes it.  It sure would help if God could infuse me with the patience, courage and faith of 6^th grade teachers like Ms. Bruch too.  That surely wouldn’t hurt!  Amen.

Dear God: Help me to be bearer of hope when others can’t find hope or have lost hope.  Amen.

               

Christmas Eve Devotional: The Gift

“The Gift Has Already Been Given:  Have You Received It?”
By
Rev. Chaplain George M. Rossi
December 24, 2014
Christmas Eve

Titus 2:11-14
2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,
2:12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,
2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
2:14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Christmas Eve surely speaks to the preparation “to give” and “to receive” good gifts tomorrow.  Yet, the Gift (Jesus Christ-fully God, fully Human) has already been given.  In Titus 2:11 the writer declares that the “charis” (grace) of God has appeared (root word for epiphany).  I don’t know about you but God in the flesh certainly still challenges me.  How can that be?  Is it true?  Did the fullness of God come in human form and in the body and bones of Jesus Christ?   It is true.  Jesus has come in the flesh.  Initially, he came as a baby in the manger.  That’s the essence of the Christmas story.  Salvation has appeared and we can either see it or look away.  We can receive the gift humbly or we avoid it.  The God of the Bible became incarnate (pitched a tent with us) and dwelled among the people of Palestine so that He would bring salvation.  That’s not the end of the story though.  The other half of the story is the fact that the grace of God has been brought to ALL people.  The entire world is being called to call on the LORD to receive salvation.  When salvation is received one is given the Gift of God.  It is spiritual wholeness, spiritual safety, spiritual healing from the Savior, Jesus Christ, himself. 

 The name Christian means and assumes that Christ has indwelled the hearts and soul and minds of God’s people.  It is the LORD who has come to live on this earth, but more importantly, it is the LORD who has come to help us to live.  The Christian is called to move away from impurity and worldly passions.  I think the easiest way to understand this calling is in terms of putting God first and following God according to the law of the Spirit and law of Love.   As followers of Jesus the Christ (anointed one of God) we are called to live lives that are self-controlled, upright and godly.  Those are challenging words:  self-controlled, upright and godly (followers of what God endorses).  In the last two verses (vv. 13-14) the writer says that the second appearing of Jesus will eventually happen.  It’s amazing how the writer talks of the advent and coming of Christ, describes the goals of Christian living and then says that Jesus will bring the final redemption and cleansing when he appears the Second Time.  We don’t know the time of that reappearing and until then we are called to live a life of good deeds. 

So, living for God means being an energized and zealous worker that shows and brings God’s love through actions, helping, caring, confronting, challenging, and forgiving others.  We live amidst our own and others imperfections yet others know when the Gift has been received in our lives.  Others can tell when Christians want the best for others and give their best to others.  So, have you received the Gift from the Gift Giver?  If so, let us press on to living a life that shines brightly amidst a sometimes dark world. 

Dear God:  Thank you for the Gift of salvation, wholeness and peace during Christmas.  They are truly priceless.    Amen.