From our Pastor, Rev. Dr. Steve Craver:
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn
and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into
dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:8-10
I read once that in the Middle Ages a person got a bath when they were
born, when they got married, and when they died. My mother, who would
be 100 if she were still alive, spoke of the Saturday night bath. There
were 5 children in the family and her mother was widowed. The rule was
that whoever went to the spring and carried the water to the galvanized
tub in the kitchen got the first bath because they all used the same
water. This doesn’t sound very appealing to those who live in
houses with multiple bathrooms. The morning shower is one of the pleasures
of life and I would surely miss it. Back in those days probably no one
noticed the dirt because everyone was in the same situation.
Cleansing our souls follows the same principle. God would have us take
a hot confession shower every day. We would be clean of heart and ready
to follow Christ. We neglect this and get dirtier in spirit to the point
that we fail to notice any more. We watch murder and deceit, adultery
and a host of other things daily on TV to the point that we don’t
notice anymore and these things become “normal”. We are
told this reflects life as it is and it does! But it does not reflect
life as it should be!
Lent is a time for us to do the hard work of looking at who we are in
light of who God would have us to be, not as who we have been. We throw
open the windows and doors of our heart for the light of Christ to shine
in and the wind of the Spirit to blow fresh. God will clean the corners
of our sin so our inner lives will be at our Easter finest when we proclaim
that the Lord is Risen!
Pastor Steve
RHMC Sermon
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In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.
