Calvary

Sown in Weakness

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It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 1 Corinthians 15:43 KJV

The year was 33 AD and the place; a barren hilltop outside of Jerusalem. Some of the crowd pressed in to watch the terrible details while Mary, John and Mary Magdalene stood further back shuddering to think of His suffering. Hands that once held bread to bless were now helplessly nailed to a wood beam. Feet that had walked on waves now painfully pressed down against the cross to lift Him just enough to take His next breath.

Even those who had sung His praises were now silent for fear of the Roman soldiers and  their spears. Others who had privately hated him now cursed Jesus openly as they watched His weak body writhing in pain on the cross. Finally at His very lowest moment He cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?”

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Often we think of our own weakness and struggle as if at that moment we are also farthest from God. But when Jesus was being sown in dishonor and darkness, there was being accomplished in Heaven the glory of our salvation. As in weakness He tasted the vinegar and took His last breath the power of sin was broken for anyone who came to Him. We must never accept that there is no purpose to our weakness; only that God’s purpose has not been yet seen. No matter that our friends fall silent or that our worst enemies seem to have the upper hand. At our weakest we are joined with our Lord and one day at the time of His choosing we will understand when we see His face in glory.

The World Stood Still

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The World Stood Still

He had walked on water

Given life to the dead

He had fed five thousand

With five loaves of bread

But on that day

When the world stood still

Jesus gave His life

At His Father’s will

Then while soldiers gambled

For the clothes He wore

His disciples hid

Behind locked doors

But by His cross

One thief believed

And Mary wept

As He struggled to breath

And the thunder roared

And as darkness fell

He cried out “Forgive!”

And the world stood still

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 Biographical Sketch

Previously I served as a volunteer chaplain for more than twenty years at Allied Skilled Nursing in Scranton Pennsylvania. Last year my wife Nancy and I have retired and moved to Florida and are members of Generations Christian Church.  Together we have two sons, six grand-sons and one grand-daughter. Today I continue volunteering in three nursing homes in our new community.

In the Garden With Jesus

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And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.   Genesis 2:8 KJV

Without a doubt one of the most loved hymns that we sing at our local nursing home is; In the Garden. This week voices that have sung those words for nearly a century joined in on the chorus; And He walks with me and He talks with me.” Then we talked about gardens. A garden was the first place that God made for man. The garden was the place where Adam and Eve could walk with God. In chapter three it says that, God came and walked through the garden in the cool of the day. He called their name and yet because they had sinned they hid.

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Then for thousands of years man could no longer walk innocently with God until something happened in another garden: the garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus went to pray and He asked His Father to spare Him from the agony of the cross and yet if there was no other way; Jesus would still drink the cup so that we could be restored.

Just three days later in a third garden Mary came to His tomb. The Bible tells us that it was so early that it was still dark. Like the words from the hymn, “The dew was still on the roses.” Jesus came as the gardener and called Mary by name. There God again came in the cool of the day. There He began to call your name and mine to come and walk with Him and talk with Him because at Calvary He made us His own!

In the Garden  

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing

I’d stay in the garden with Him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling

Charles Miles  1913