Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
-Matthew 5:4
Jalauddin Rumi, a Persian mystical poet, wrote:
I saw grief drinking a cup of sorrow and called out, 'It tastes sweet, does it not?' 'You've caught me,' grief answered, 'and you've ruined my business, how can I sell sorrow when you know it's a blessing?'
The short answer is you can't. Jesus was driving at a very important lesson about life-grieving is a part of life. Someone said that the falls of our life provide us with the energy to propel ourselves to a higher level. That's what Jesus was saying about grief-don't get lost in it, don't pretend loss does not affect you-grieve so that you can find the comfort needed so that you can move forward.
How many times in your life have dark times of despair, such as some kind of accident, an illness, a financial disaster, a breakup in a relationship, a fire or flood, or a death propelled you into the stages of anguish, anger, denial, and then grief? Like most of us, you sink into sorrow and feel the need to tell everyone about your misfortune. Ultimately, after a long period of time you begin to rise above it and reach the state of acceptance.
There is something to learn right here, right now in the middle of sorrow. You can take this lesson and taste the sweet certainty in the mystery. You don't have to pretend that the tragedy is to be liked or welcomed, only to vow to use it to generate the energy to move to a higher place in your life. Only then will you find in sorrow a blessedness that by the grace of God brings comfort and hope.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to place in your arms the grief of my moment or of my past that I may find in the bitterness of it all the sweet comfort of your grace through Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Greatest of These Is Love
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
-1 Corinthians 13:13
This line from, perhaps, one of the best loved and read passages in scriptures speaks of an incredible force. Though 1 Corinthians 13 is read at many weddings, the love of which it speaks is not romantic love or friendship love but selfless, sacrificial love. It is the kind of love that God has for you and me, and the kind of love we aspire to have for humanity.
About this love the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard De Chardin wrote: Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love.
Imagine, no one has seen wind but we do see its effects. We see how it powers windmills that convert the wind to energy. We don't see gravity, but we see its effects. Though we see the waves of water and the tide as it goes in and out, we don't see all that creates them. In a sense we don't see love in a person's heart, but sure can see its effects.
We are moving toward harnessing more and more of these natural inexhaustible energies for good. Why can we not do the same with this sacrificial love of which Paul wrote and Jesus spoke? We can and we have-though we struggle to sustain it. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and turned loose to heal another person broken by life's tragedies. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and loosed to reconcile people at odds with a wrong decision or misspoken word. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and loosed when a couple whose marriage has been strained by broken faith work to bring it back together.
All it takes is a decision of the mind and hearts to unleash the power of God's Spirit in our souls and make possible meeting the very challenge we face in our life today. The beauty of it is that it can all begin with a simple prayer.
Prayer
God of love, reign in my heart this day. Enable me to face with the power of your sacrificial love the barriers that may separate me from another. Enable me by the power of your sacrificial love to let go of the hurts I have been carrying for too long. Unleash in me that same power to love which was in Christ Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
-1 Corinthians 13:13
This line from, perhaps, one of the best loved and read passages in scriptures speaks of an incredible force. Though 1 Corinthians 13 is read at many weddings, the love of which it speaks is not romantic love or friendship love but selfless, sacrificial love. It is the kind of love that God has for you and me, and the kind of love we aspire to have for humanity.
About this love the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard De Chardin wrote: Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love.
Imagine, no one has seen wind but we do see its effects. We see how it powers windmills that convert the wind to energy. We don't see gravity, but we see its effects. Though we see the waves of water and the tide as it goes in and out, we don't see all that creates them. In a sense we don't see love in a person's heart, but sure can see its effects.
We are moving toward harnessing more and more of these natural inexhaustible energies for good. Why can we not do the same with this sacrificial love of which Paul wrote and Jesus spoke? We can and we have-though we struggle to sustain it. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and turned loose to heal another person broken by life's tragedies. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and loosed to reconcile people at odds with a wrong decision or misspoken word. I've seen the energy of this love harnessed and loosed when a couple whose marriage has been strained by broken faith work to bring it back together.
All it takes is a decision of the mind and hearts to unleash the power of God's Spirit in our souls and make possible meeting the very challenge we face in our life today. The beauty of it is that it can all begin with a simple prayer.
Prayer
God of love, reign in my heart this day. Enable me to face with the power of your sacrificial love the barriers that may separate me from another. Enable me by the power of your sacrificial love to let go of the hurts I have been carrying for too long. Unleash in me that same power to love which was in Christ Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Monday, February 7, 2011
Benefitting from Regrets
Someone has said that a life with no regrets is no life at all. I think what they were saying is that regrets go with a person who seeks to live as much in the moment as possible. I believe that is why Jesus spent so much time with Peter. Peter was a man of the moment. Such was the case when he tried to walk on the water or exclaimed that he was willing to die for Jesus or that he alone would be loyal. We now know that he was able to do none of these—regrets that caused him to weep bitterly (Matthew 26:75).
What kind of servant would Peter have been without those moments of passion? What kind of servant would he have been without his reach being greater than his grasp? The gospel might not have spread as far and wide as it did.
To be sure each of us has made mistakes along the way, and many of them quite regrettable. There are things we wish we would not have said, or hurt people we wish we had not hurt or made bad investments, consumed toxic substances, lost some competitive contests, and even been lost in our own self-importance. But perhaps the greatest of our regrets are those things we didn’t do. I would imagine Peter’s greatest regret was not having acknowledged to the servant-girl around the fire over which he was warming his hands that he knew the man of Nazareth (Matthew 26:26-75).
I look at the people in the Bible with such huge regrets that became the singers of God’s song—Joseph, David, Mary Magdalene, and Paul. They are all proof that regrets don’t have to control your life. Each day offers an opportunity to leave the regrets behind and move on. It is most often our regrets that prove to be the things from which wisdom grows. Life, real life lived earnestly and passionately will involve some regrets, but these regrets need not hold us captive, but brought into the presence of God’s grace can liberate us the more to be God’s servants.
Prayer
Heavenly Father I turn my regrets over to you. Help me to learn from them that I may serve you with humility and wisdom. In Jesus name. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
What kind of servant would Peter have been without those moments of passion? What kind of servant would he have been without his reach being greater than his grasp? The gospel might not have spread as far and wide as it did.
To be sure each of us has made mistakes along the way, and many of them quite regrettable. There are things we wish we would not have said, or hurt people we wish we had not hurt or made bad investments, consumed toxic substances, lost some competitive contests, and even been lost in our own self-importance. But perhaps the greatest of our regrets are those things we didn’t do. I would imagine Peter’s greatest regret was not having acknowledged to the servant-girl around the fire over which he was warming his hands that he knew the man of Nazareth (Matthew 26:26-75).
I look at the people in the Bible with such huge regrets that became the singers of God’s song—Joseph, David, Mary Magdalene, and Paul. They are all proof that regrets don’t have to control your life. Each day offers an opportunity to leave the regrets behind and move on. It is most often our regrets that prove to be the things from which wisdom grows. Life, real life lived earnestly and passionately will involve some regrets, but these regrets need not hold us captive, but brought into the presence of God’s grace can liberate us the more to be God’s servants.
Prayer
Heavenly Father I turn my regrets over to you. Help me to learn from them that I may serve you with humility and wisdom. In Jesus name. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Forge Ahead
Lose this day loitering—‘twill be the same story
To-morrow—and the next more dilatory;
Each indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute—
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated—
Begin it, and then the work will be completed!
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This is the kind of verse that should be read at the beginning of a new year or on a Monday, or upon returning from time away or upon starting some new venture, or at last facing a difficult challenge. We’ve waited long enough. Our talents as God has given them to us now need to be engaged. We can do it!
In the story of the talents we forget that not everyone had the same number of talents. It is natural that we should pass this little bit of trivia by. The point of Jesus’ story is twofold. First, those who had talents used them, and without delay. The second, one did not. He buried them in order to minimize the risk and escape any wrath resulting from failure.
How many people there are with incredible talents to share that refuse to engage them because of a lack of boldness. How many people fail to confront their reality because of the delays buried beneath indecision. How many people never move toward their potential because they are busy lamenting o’er lost days.
God does not need believers, but people of faith—people willing to boldly take the risk and live a life of difference. The challenge/opportunity is before you only engage . . . begin it, and then the work will be completed!
Prayer
God of grace, God of glory you have called us to this moment in our lives. You have given us gifts to be used for your glory. Grant us the wisdom to discern those gifts, and the boldness to use them for your Kingdom’s sake. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
To-morrow—and the next more dilatory;
Each indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute—
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated—
Begin it, and then the work will be completed!
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This is the kind of verse that should be read at the beginning of a new year or on a Monday, or upon returning from time away or upon starting some new venture, or at last facing a difficult challenge. We’ve waited long enough. Our talents as God has given them to us now need to be engaged. We can do it!
In the story of the talents we forget that not everyone had the same number of talents. It is natural that we should pass this little bit of trivia by. The point of Jesus’ story is twofold. First, those who had talents used them, and without delay. The second, one did not. He buried them in order to minimize the risk and escape any wrath resulting from failure.
How many people there are with incredible talents to share that refuse to engage them because of a lack of boldness. How many people fail to confront their reality because of the delays buried beneath indecision. How many people never move toward their potential because they are busy lamenting o’er lost days.
God does not need believers, but people of faith—people willing to boldly take the risk and live a life of difference. The challenge/opportunity is before you only engage . . . begin it, and then the work will be completed!
Prayer
God of grace, God of glory you have called us to this moment in our lives. You have given us gifts to be used for your glory. Grant us the wisdom to discern those gifts, and the boldness to use them for your Kingdom’s sake. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Have Patience
May the God of patience and encouragement grant you to live
in harmony with one another. —Romans 15:5
I love this passage that speaks about God’s patience—God’s steadfast patience. I love it because it makes so much sense about who God is. It is unimaginable that God would create we humans a little lower than the angels, fearfully made, and not seek to work patiently with us as the potter does the lump of clay.
When I reflect over my life it is abundantly clear that God has been steadfastly patient with me. In my slowness to learn the simplest of Jesus teachings and how they might improve my life, God has kept on teaching. In the horrible choices I have made, God has not been there to beat me up, but to apply the balm of grace when I have beaten up on myself.
Patience and encouragement really are the main ingredients of harmony. They certainly pay dividends in our relationships. A marriage is much more harmonious when both spouses are patient and encouraging with each other. A family is much more harmonious when parents are patient and encouraging with their children.
It is never too late for a wandering world to come home to this idea either. Lucille Clifton is one of the great poets of the last century. In one of her poems she writes:
God waits for the wandering world.
he expects us when we enter,
late or soon.
he will not mind my coming after hours.
his patience is his promise.
It is a new day and no matter how it goes, it will not be too late in our wanderings to bring this day to God, even after hours.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, there are challenges ahead for me this day. It may be the challenge of something great or simply the challenge of the routine and the trivial. Whatever they may be let me not forget that as I wander through them I may, whether now or after hours, entrust them to your steadfast care. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
in harmony with one another. —Romans 15:5
I love this passage that speaks about God’s patience—God’s steadfast patience. I love it because it makes so much sense about who God is. It is unimaginable that God would create we humans a little lower than the angels, fearfully made, and not seek to work patiently with us as the potter does the lump of clay.
When I reflect over my life it is abundantly clear that God has been steadfastly patient with me. In my slowness to learn the simplest of Jesus teachings and how they might improve my life, God has kept on teaching. In the horrible choices I have made, God has not been there to beat me up, but to apply the balm of grace when I have beaten up on myself.
Patience and encouragement really are the main ingredients of harmony. They certainly pay dividends in our relationships. A marriage is much more harmonious when both spouses are patient and encouraging with each other. A family is much more harmonious when parents are patient and encouraging with their children.
It is never too late for a wandering world to come home to this idea either. Lucille Clifton is one of the great poets of the last century. In one of her poems she writes:
God waits for the wandering world.
he expects us when we enter,
late or soon.
he will not mind my coming after hours.
his patience is his promise.
It is a new day and no matter how it goes, it will not be too late in our wanderings to bring this day to God, even after hours.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, there are challenges ahead for me this day. It may be the challenge of something great or simply the challenge of the routine and the trivial. Whatever they may be let me not forget that as I wander through them I may, whether now or after hours, entrust them to your steadfast care. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Monday, January 17, 2011
To Be More Childlike
Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child,
he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3-4
It is a statement of Jesus with such clarity that it is difficult to miss his point. Unless we have the simple trust and faith in God that a child has, we’ll never get the central idea of the kingdom of God—unconditional love. Children have been used by other leaders as a means of hearkening us to our more noble selves. In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial in August, 1963 he said,
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
President Barack Obama touched on it in his reference to Christina Green, the nine year old girl killed by the carnage in Tucson, in his speech at the service for those victims:
I want us to live up to [Christina Green’s] expectations. I want her democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us—we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
The same should be said of a church where people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character and that we all want a church that will be as good as our little children imagine it.
Of course none of this is possible unless it begins with you and me. It begins right where Jesus’ words leave off—unless we become as a child. It sounds easy, and perhaps is easier than we imagine, but for an adult it is a challenge. None of us want to be hoodwinked or otherwise taken advantage of, but at some point such risks must be taken. Especially if we believe in what Jesus stood for and the world he, even today, seeks to transform through those of us who seek to be his followers.
Prayer,
Heavenly Father, fill us with the love and light of your kingdom on this new day that we may be those willing to risk lives lived by the simple but profound love and hope of a child in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child,
he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3-4
It is a statement of Jesus with such clarity that it is difficult to miss his point. Unless we have the simple trust and faith in God that a child has, we’ll never get the central idea of the kingdom of God—unconditional love. Children have been used by other leaders as a means of hearkening us to our more noble selves. In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial in August, 1963 he said,
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
President Barack Obama touched on it in his reference to Christina Green, the nine year old girl killed by the carnage in Tucson, in his speech at the service for those victims:
I want us to live up to [Christina Green’s] expectations. I want her democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us—we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
The same should be said of a church where people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character and that we all want a church that will be as good as our little children imagine it.
Of course none of this is possible unless it begins with you and me. It begins right where Jesus’ words leave off—unless we become as a child. It sounds easy, and perhaps is easier than we imagine, but for an adult it is a challenge. None of us want to be hoodwinked or otherwise taken advantage of, but at some point such risks must be taken. Especially if we believe in what Jesus stood for and the world he, even today, seeks to transform through those of us who seek to be his followers.
Prayer,
Heavenly Father, fill us with the love and light of your kingdom on this new day that we may be those willing to risk lives lived by the simple but profound love and hope of a child in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Birth Reinforces Eternity
Where God was revealed to us.
Only the two of us know the magic and awe
of that presence.
Against all odds . . .
Our connection to eternity reinforced,
strengthened.
—Wayne W. Dyer
I hear the word, an overworked word now so devalued it has little emphasis at all—awesome. The word is applied to practically everything anymore—a house, an automobile’s acceleration, a piece of clothing, dessert. Is there any real wonder and awe anymore? Dyer was writing of the awe of his wife conceiving when it was against all odds. The birth of their daughter became for them, as does for so many of us with children, our connection to eternity.
If there is anything in life that is awesome, it is childbirth. It’s a miracle that an infinite number of cells can all come together over a period of time that result in a child with a certain color of hair and eyes along with all of the right number of fingers and toes. It is an awesome privilege to witness it.
In spite of Mary’s song and Joseph’s will, I wonder if either one fully realized their connection to eternity that awesome night with Jesus? Indeed, Jesus became the connection to eternity for us all in a very special way. We no longer have to wonder that it will be—only to know that it will be wonderful! I am in awe when I think about it and infinitely grateful for it, that God chose to be present with us through two very real but human beings that against all odds reinforced and strengthened our connection to eternity.
Prayer
Gracious God, I stand in awe that from the beginning what had only been a word for you became flesh and dwelt among us. I give thanks today that you knitted me together in my mother’s womb, and that I have been fearfully and wonderfully made. If in praying these words I do not yet feel them, then let me sometime during the course of this season feel them once again. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Only the two of us know the magic and awe
of that presence.
Against all odds . . .
Our connection to eternity reinforced,
strengthened.
—Wayne W. Dyer
I hear the word, an overworked word now so devalued it has little emphasis at all—awesome. The word is applied to practically everything anymore—a house, an automobile’s acceleration, a piece of clothing, dessert. Is there any real wonder and awe anymore? Dyer was writing of the awe of his wife conceiving when it was against all odds. The birth of their daughter became for them, as does for so many of us with children, our connection to eternity.
If there is anything in life that is awesome, it is childbirth. It’s a miracle that an infinite number of cells can all come together over a period of time that result in a child with a certain color of hair and eyes along with all of the right number of fingers and toes. It is an awesome privilege to witness it.
In spite of Mary’s song and Joseph’s will, I wonder if either one fully realized their connection to eternity that awesome night with Jesus? Indeed, Jesus became the connection to eternity for us all in a very special way. We no longer have to wonder that it will be—only to know that it will be wonderful! I am in awe when I think about it and infinitely grateful for it, that God chose to be present with us through two very real but human beings that against all odds reinforced and strengthened our connection to eternity.
Prayer
Gracious God, I stand in awe that from the beginning what had only been a word for you became flesh and dwelt among us. I give thanks today that you knitted me together in my mother’s womb, and that I have been fearfully and wonderfully made. If in praying these words I do not yet feel them, then let me sometime during the course of this season feel them once again. Amen.
C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
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