WHERE WILL YOU BE IN ONE HUNDRED YEARS?

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  (Mark 8:36)

Where will you be one hundred years from tonight?  Undoubtedly, many reading this will think they will be dead and will just have ceased to exist.  Their body may be l laying buried in a grave someplace, or at a mausoleum, or their body may have been cremated and their ashes scattered to the wind.  In fact, the soul, that part of each of us that lives on past death into an afterlife will be in existence somewhere one hundred years from now.  It may be in a state of eternal bliss or it may be in a state of eternal torment, but it will be in conscious existence in either one of those states.

Yes, I really believe that.  I will admit that after the small church I pastored was closed in early 2010 and after some tremendous losses for our entire family, including the residence where we'd lived for over twenty years, I went through some times of very deep despondency.  There were months of me being numb- just numb.  Life seemed surreal and unfair.  I walked through a very emotionally dark time.  At times, I just sat and stared and asked myself, "Do I really believe all this stuff?"  That was the painful question I grappled with over and over again.  In Philippians chapter four, the Apostle Paul writes of his own life experience,  "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."  (Philippians 4:12).  Honestly, I'd often struggled to understand that verse and now I was faced with it "up close and personal".  Paul indicated that his testimony was if everything in life was just great, he was joyful and praising the Lord, and if things in his life couldn't be worse, well, he was also joyful and praising the Lord.  That was very difficult for me to accept.  I would never have "signed up" for what has happened in my life and in my family members' lives over the past few years.  However, I've come to a genuine answer to my question of, "Do I really believe all this stuff?".  I can say that I really do!   I celebrated my sixty-first birthday just a couple of weeks ago.  The past few decades have just flown by!  My own parents each died in their seventies.  I suppose the actuarial tables would say I've got around eighteen more years to live, and that's it.  This life and all that goes with it is so fleeting.   James 4:14 indicates that life is as a vapor or a mist- it quickly appears and it's quickly gone.  I'm amazed that so many of the people who prepare so thoroughly for retirement, and for the possibility they will be placed in a nursing home and need long term care; so many of those same people make absolutely no preparation for eternity.  They don't even give it a thought.

This past March, I had the difficult experience of being called upon to lead the funeral service of a two-month-old baby.  What a difficult task!  I suddenly remembered the words of my late Uncle Raymond from many years ago.  He told the story of the death of his sister Irene.  She died from diphtheria in 1915 at the age of seven.  Her funeral service was at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Boston's West Roxbury section.  Uncle Raymond remembered a horse-drawn hearse and a white, child-sized casket.  He also remembered my grandfather (who died before I was born) sobbing uncontrollably.  I told the audience of mourners in March of 2015 that despite all of the advances in science and technology over the past hundred years, the feeling and the loss and the grief are no different. 

In a sense, one hundred years is a long time, but most historians will tell you it's really just a turning of a page, and not long at all.  I was a first-grader fifty-five years ago.  The Kennedy-Nixon election happened that autumn.  Today, probably most of the Americans who were alive at that time have passed on.  I'm really not trying to be morbid!  I believe we should truly "live every day", that is make the very most of every day of our lives.  When opportunities come our way, we should take advantage of them.  I had a great time joining my son on a popular national television game show recently.  (It was recorded in July and will air this month.)  Yes, many "fun things" can come our way and we should enjoy them, but we must never completely forget the brevity of life and our responsibility to God. I work two pretty humble jobs at the present time.  It's very different from being the noted and respected, "Pastor Bob Baril"!  One of those jobs is handing out flyers at a "big box store".  As I did that today, I stopped a woman who'd come into the store with a propane tank.  It was a previously used tank that she wanted re-filled.  She was completely unfamiliar with the law that propane tanks are never to be brought inside public buildings like that!  It seemed right to her to bring that tank into the facility.  It was wrong.  Both Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25 speak of a way that seems right to a man but that leads to death.  So many people say, "Well, I believe this or that."  They expect that it really doesn't matter what they believe when it comes to spiritual matters; that God will just say that it's O.K.  It's just not so. 

Sadly, evangelical Christians are often our worst enemies!  So often we embrace extreme right-wing politics and then we try to  jam it down everybody's throats!  That's such a turn-off to people.  And, it's nothing like Jesus Christ!  It's nothing like the Lord Jesus Christ would ask or expect of us!  Sometimes we're unkind, cruel, or insensitive.  I'm glad that 99% of the evangelical Christians I know do not support the tactics of the crowd that holds up those cruel signs indicating God hates homosexuals, etc.  (In fact, God doesn't hate them.  He "so loved the word" -see John 3:16-  and that includes homosexuals.)  Even so, that crowd has pushed a lot of people away from God and too many of us don't agree with them, but we aren't vocal enough about that.

I like the song, "100 Years" by Five For Fighting.  It chronicles a life from age fifteen to age one hundred.  I "received Jesus Christ as my Personal Lord and Savior" and was "born again" at age fifteen.  And, today at sixty-one, I guess I'm closing in on one hundred.  I've seen and experienced miracles.  My sister and I laid hands on our tax accountant over thirteen years ago and prayed for his miraculous healing.  He was seriously ill with cancer.  In fact, he was checking himself back into the hospital as soon as that appointment was done.  We were meeting with him about settling the estates of my parents who'd died within weeks of each other in 2000.  My motives were selfish.  I didn't want this guy to die in the middle of that estate settlement process!  A few months later, Jim the accountant told me over the phone that he'd been miraculously healed!  He credited me with the healing, and I firmly corrected him, telling him Jesus Christ was the healer!  Today, he's living in South Carolina and continues to enjoy good health.  Yet, our brother Eddie collapsed in 1983, 
existed on life supports for just a few days, and died.   Of course, we prayed much for him.  I don't know why I've seen some like Jim healed and some like Eddie not healed, but it doesn't stop me for praying for miracles.

There's a beautiful old hymn, Blessed Assurance which speaks of a Christian's story and song of rejoicing in life in Jesus every day.  That's been my testimony through very good times and very bad times.

In closing, I ask you the very important question I opened with:  Where will you be one hundred years from tonight?

FRESH OIL

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:" (James 5:14)

Many years ago when my father was a drivers' license Examiner for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, the Examiners gave applicants an oral test based on the driver licensing manual. Immediately following that oral test, they administered a road test.  This was circa late fifties and very early sixties.  (This was changed by the late 1960s so that applicants first took a written test to get their Learner's Permit, then at a later date, took their road test.)  On of my father's favorite practices upon administering the oral test was to ask applicants the meaning of various (yellow, diagonal) road signs.  His favorite signs read, "FROST HEAVES" and "FRESH OIL".  In case you don't know the meaning of these signs, FROST HEAVES are common in New England roadways in late winter and early spring.  The freezing and thawing of the ground often causes asphalt roadways to crack, split, and pitch such that there are chunks of roadway at various angles.  This makes for a very bumpy surface to drive upon.  The condition can become very dangerous, causing drives to lose control and have accidents in certain extreme cases.  FRESH OIL refers to the fact that a construction crew has applied a petroleum based asphalt/bituminous sealant to the road.  This is done for various reasons, but usually has to do with preventing water damage to the road.

I suppose most of us would picture "fresh oil" being more like the stuff one pours from a quart container into a funnel, which guides the flowing oil into the car's engine.  I've learned the hard way that not having enough oil (fresh or otherwise) in the engine can lead to all sorts of serious problems.  My 1995 Subaru which "died" last December had numerous problems, but the major reason for its death was that on the morning of December 21, 2014, it was very low on oil.  I've been told that although Toyota Corollas are very good cars, for some reason they tend to burn a lot of oil and it's something the driver has to "stay on top of" lest there be regrettable and needless problems ahead.  In the slightly more than three months that I've had the car, I've had to add oil a few times.  This past Sunday morning on the way church, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but the dashboard's oil warning light flashing a few times.  I was wearing a dress shirt and dress pants, and really didn't want to deal with the oil issue at that point, but I stopped at a gas station, purchased a quart and poured it into the engine.  (For readers who are thinking, "A quart is not enough in that case"; I know that.  I added another quart on the next day, but I was in a hurry.)  A few weeks earlier when I was purchasing oil for the car, I also bought a plastic funnel.  It is honestly not the best funnel.  It's an "all purpose" funnel which is, I think, designed much more to use when pouring gasoline additives into the gas tank or fluids into difficult to reach parts of the engine.  I learned that you can't just "stand" or "position" this funnel into the oil fill area.  You really have to hold the funnel with one hand and pour the oil with the other.  Well, I was in a rush!  I poured the oil too fast and (you guessed it) a glob of the oil backed out of the funnel, spilling into several places.  What a mess!  I grabbed for a roll of paper towels I had in the car.  I was so glad I did not get any oil on my clothes, but I was only able to do a quick and careless cleanup job of the oil and my hands were an oily mess.  I keep the funnel in a plastic bag, inside a plastic storage container in the trunk. Of course, the plastic bag and funnel were all oily.  I like things neat and clean, and this situation was anything but neat and clean!

I guess there has been some spiritual growth in my life!  Twenty years ago, that spill of "fresh oil" and all of its consequences would have absolutely ruined my morning and even my day.  I was not particularly happy about it, but I stopped at a fast food restaurant, went into the bathroom, and gave my hands a good washing.  I met Mary Ann at Marian High School where she had gone earlier, we went to church, went out with our grown kids to celebrate three birthdays, and over all had a good day.

I'm a person who tries to be neat, clean, and orderly (and who often fails miserably in those areas) so it was very much on my heart to try to clean up the mess from Sunday.  I did buy a second quart of oil and put that into the engine- carefully!  I used many paper towels, doing all sorts of wiping and cleaning.  I got out a jug of windshield washer fluid and ran some of that through the funnel.  On my way back from throwing away some of the used paper towels (I was doing all this at a supermarket parking lot) I thought that I'd really like a small bottle of water and considered buying one.  Suddenly I looked on the ground, and just a few feet from my 2001 Toyota was an almost full small bottle of spring water!  My, the Lord provided!  I made good use of that water.  Then, I sort of smuggled the funnel and some paper towels into the bathroom of a fast food restaurant. I ran hot water through the funnel and gave it a thorough cleaning in the sink, and I thoroughly washed my hands.  It felt good to put the funnel away in a clean, new small plastic bag inside the large plastic storage container.  As far as I was concerned, all was right with my world again!

Now, why am I telling you this story?  It's a true story, but as I've thought about it, it's also sort of a parable.   Most conservative New Testament scholars believe that the mention and usage of oil in the Bible is a picture of "type" of the Holy Spirit.  One such passage about this is the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew chapter twenty-five, but there are in fact many passages that apply.  For any church to truly be a "New Testament church", that is a church (frankly) the way God wants it to be, there needs to be a lot of oil;  there needs to be a great openness to the moving of the Holy Spirit.  Why are there so many churches in our day that are essentially dead or nearly dead?  It's because there is very little or no moving of the Holy Spirit in those churches.  Many years ago, people in Assemblies of God churches and other Pentecostal churches could confidently proclaim, "Well, that's not true of our church.  We are open to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our church!"  Sadly, today, there are even Assemblies of God churches and pastors that are not really open to the moving and working of the Holy Spirit.  This is because when the Holy Spirit does move in a mighty way, things can get very unpredictable and uncomfortable.  It can even become "somewhat messy".   Now, please don't misunderstand me!  I'm not advocating that churches turn into three ring circuses with people "swinging from the chandeliers" and "bouncing off the walls" and where all kinds of unbiblical behavior is taking place!  No!  First Corinthians chapter fourteen verse forty tells us that in church everything must be done decently and in order.  Too many of us, however, want to control things.  We want to play church.  We want things to be safe and predictable.  Honestly, sometimes when I was pastoring, I was guilty of that.  I know there were times that I "quenched the Spirit" because I just didn't want to have to deal with all the ramifications which would happen if I really let the Holy Spirit have His way.  There were Sundays that I was anxious to get to a restaurant or watch the Patriots game.  I don't know if I will ever pastor a church again, and I may not, but let me tell you that if I do, things will be different.  How sad when a church is "almost out of oil"!  In the case of an automobile, the engine will become permanently damaged.  That happened with my 1995 Subaru.  Again, sometimes things may get a little messy when the Holy Spirit is allowed to move, but those are the times when the pastor and elders are to set things in order, to "clean things up" as it were, with solid direction and instruction from the Bible, God's Word.

Remember the part of the story where a small bottle of spring water was actually provided for me to help with the oil cleanup?  That's the kind of thing I'm talking about!  A great verse about this subject is:

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,"  (Ephesians 5:26).

Yes, please don't be afraid of "fresh oil"!

PROCESSING THE AFTERMATH OF MISGUIDED CHRISTIAN ZEAL

"Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."  (from I Corinthians 8:1 New King James Version)
 
I heard it once again as I listened to a radio talk show late on Friday night, September 11, 2015.  A zealous Christian phoned in and spoke over the airwaves.  I assume she thought she was being used as an instrument for God and that she'd been a great witness for Christ; and perhaps even that she'd put the host and his listeners in their place.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.    

The radio program was Nightside hosted by veteran broadcaster Dan Rea on Boston's WBZ AM 1030 radio.  (WBZ's nighttime signal gets into thirty-eight states and six Canadian provinces.  Plus, it can be accessed pretty much anywhere on earth over the internet.)   Dan chose an excellent topic for the final two hours of his September 11 program:  He asked listeners to call in and share where they were on September 11, 2001 and what their memories are of that day.  The good news is that Dan did receive several very good calls on Friday evening, but the bad news is that the first three or four calls sounded as if they came in from mentally ill listeners in another dimension!  And, that very first call of the evening was the one by the Christian zealot.

The caller did not have a September 11, 2001 story.  She began by ranting and raving that, "It's all in the Bible!"  She continued on by saying that most of the hijackers on September 11, '01 were Iranians.  Dan quickly interjected that they in fact were not Iranians, and that most of them were Saudi Arabian citizens.  That correction seemed to "go in one ear and out the other" to use the tired old expression.  The woman prattled on and on about the Bible having all the answers to everything and the importance of standing by Israel.  Dan Rea tried to have a conversation with her, but his efforts were hopeless.  Dan referred to the Bible as "a book", and as amazing as this may sound, that phrase affected his caller like spraying gasoline onto a fire!  She immediately protested that the Bible is not a book!  (Boy, the last time I checked, it sure looked like a book to me!  In fact, my understanding is that "Bible" literally means "book" !)  The caller yelled, "The Bible is the Word of God!".   Well, for any seriously committed Christian, including me, The Bible is the Word of God, but it's also definitely a book!   Dan asked the caller what particular denomination she belonged to, and she insisted she is "a Christian".  At one point, she did use the term, "born-again Christian".  (Listen, I call myself a born-again Christian, but by the time the call was over I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable!)

I've been an evangelical Christian (also known as "born-again Christian") for forty-five years.  I hate to admit it, but in my younger days, I did some things which were almost as foolish and inappropriate as that woman's call to WBZ.  I wrote some letters to newspaper's editorial pages which now embarrass me. (One was against Halloween.  I still am not a big advocate of Halloween, but I'd just never write a letter like that to a newspaper today.   I did not hesitate to make simplistic arguments nor did I hesitate to put myself into some very embarrassing positions in the name of "defending the faith" or "being a spokesman for God".)  There are even some pieces from the first three or four years of my blog (circa 2006-2009) that I probably wouldn't write today.

I'd honestly like to teach a class on the dos and don'ts of public discourse for enthusiastic evangelical Christians.  I guess the problem is that the people who really need to attend such a class probably wouldn't!  It's possible that the lead-off caller on Friday night could have done a pretty good job if she'd have truly had a conversation with Dan Rea and treated him with respect, if she'd have contributed a good personal story about September 11, 2001, and if she'd have just admitted that the Bible really is a book!

I wonder how many listeners thought, "There goes another mindless, annoying, Christian zealot!  I want nothing to do with their God!"   And, that's the problem.  Such zealots honestly mean well, but they do a lot of damage.

The bottom line is:   Give it a lot of thought and prayer before you call a radio program, submit a letter to the newspaper, or post something on a blog or social media site.  No matter how well-meaning you are, you may find yourself doing much more harm than good!

"NO EXCUSE SUNDAY"

"And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." (Luke 14:18-20)

Today, in a sense, I received an invitation from the grave.

I generally try to not keep "saved" e-mails for much more than five or six months.  I was going through and deleting some e-mails from January of this year.  There was an e-mail from mid-January entitled, "No Excuse Sunday".  It was actually not only an e-mail but also a Facebook invitation from Michelle Batista.  The invitation was to a special service at Connect Church in Ashland, Massachusetts.  That service's name had to have been chosen by their pastor- it's got a pastor kind of title, "No Excuse Sunday".  The church had a very special service planned for a Sunday in early February.  Generally, a church is going to plan something like a, "No Excuse Sunday" for either a winter Sunday or a summer Sunday.  Winter and summer are always the most difficult seasons for church attendance.  This past winter, a lot of church services were cancelled on a lot of Sundays!  When Connect Church planned that service, they did not know that February of 2015 was going to be probably the snowiest February since the famous blizzard of February 6, 1978!  I'd honestly like to know if Pastor Frye was able to hold services on that particular Sunday!

Now, why do I say the invitation was from the grave?   It's because Michelle Batista was murdered in mid-March of this year.  A number of people that I knew personally have died this year- more than has been the case in a typical year of my adult life.  Michelle's death was possibly the most difficult to have learned about and to have tried to "process".  I had worked with Michelle at the answering service job I have.  Many times, she sat directly to my left at the call center.  Michelle was very extroverted and talkative.  She had all sorts of conversations with me.  In the early days of working with Michelle, circa five years ago, about the last thing I'd have expected from her was an invitation to a church service!  I don't want to "speak ill of the dead" as they say, but that's just a fact.

I think it was about a year or a year and a half ago that there was a major change in Michelle Batista's life.  She not only embarked on a serious path of "recovery" but she received Jesus Christ as her Personal Savior and Lord.  Michelle did not suddenly become a nun or a theologian.  Her extroverted and sometimes quite comical personality continued.  (She once had the entire call center in stitches because she was convinced that the Fiat rental car she was driving was actually a make known as a "FLAT"!)  The conversations Michelle had with me in the year prior to her death were about the Bible, her church, and a discipleship class she was taking.  I remember telling her that was all really good stuff.

I'd forgotten that Michelle invited me to that "No Excuse Sunday" service.  Now, I didn't go, but before you throw your Bibles at me, I want to make it clear that I didn't plan to go only because I am committed to attending Sunday services at Bread of Life Church where I'm a member.  (And, honestly, I think that particularly Sunday in February may have been one of the Sundays in which church services were pretty much snowed out all over Massachusetts!)

It was sobering for me to read that invitation today.  Michelle died way too young.  She was just a tad older than my son Jon.  Her murder was such an evil act!  But, today, she's in Heaven with her Lord. 
The smartest thing Michelle Batista ever did was giving her heart to Jesus.  It made an eternal difference!  She won't be at Connect Church next Sunday nor will she be at Bread of Life Church or any other church on earth next Sunday.  She's singing with the angelic choirs in the Heavenly realms.  I did delete that e-mail of hers- after I read it and got a bit choked up.  I decided the best thing I could do is share that invitation from the grave with you today.  Summer is another difficult season for church attendance.  Every faithful pastor out there knows he or she will hear a myriad of excuses about why people are not in church this month.  I wonder: Will you be at church next Sunday?  And, even more importantly:  Do you know Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior and Lord like Michelle Batista did? 

GREATLY DISPLEASED

"But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.' "  (Mark 10:14  New King James Version)

 "And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John."  (Mark 10:41  New King James Version)

I've read Mark chapter ten countless times over the past four and a half decades.  I know that the tenth chapter of Mark's Gospel contains what many Bible scholars consider to be the "key verse" of the entire Gospel- verse 45, stating that Jesus, "...came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many".  I had, however, never noticed that one particular phrase is used twice in this chapter:  "greatly displeased".  Well, it's written that way in the New King James Version.  In the traditional King James Version, it says, "much displeased".  The New International Version translates that as one word, and the word is, "indignant".

Are there things in life that cause you to become "greatly displeased"?  One of the greatest frustrations of my job as an answering service operator is the high number of people I speak to each day that are "greatly displeased"!  They will become "greatly displeased" because their doctor's office is opening five minutes later than usual, or because their prescription is not at the pharmacy as was promised, or because they forgot that today was their doctor's day off.  Well, to be accurate, I think I'd use the N.I.V. term and say they become "indignant"!

It's interesting that the instances of great displeasure expressed in verse 14 and (just reversing the 1 and the 4)  in verse 41 are so different!  In the first situation, people wanted to bring their little kids to Jesus so He could place His hands upon them and bless them.  Jesus' disciples were unhappy about this and essentially took the position of telling the people to take their little brats and get lost.  Jesus was not happy about that!  Jesus became "greatly displeased" or "much displeased" or "indignant" about it.  He stressed that he wanted the little kids to come to Him because their simplicity and innocence demonstrates the nature of the Kingdom of God.  In the second situation, Apostles James and John came to Jesus asking if they could be big shots when the Messianic Kingdom is established on earth; they requested the number two and three positions, respectfully.  Jesus gave them a brilliant answer (I'll let you look it up and read it) and pretty much put a lid on that issue.   Well, the other ten apostles were unhappy about James and John's request.  They  became "greatly displeased" or "much displeased" or "indignant"!  I don't think they became upset because they were so loyal to Jesus.  I think they became upset because each of them wished they'd thought of asking that request for themselves before James and John did!  All of the rest of them wanted to be second in command to Jesus in His Messianic Kingdom, or at the very least, third in command, but certainly no lower!  

Do you see how different the apostles' thinking and priorities were from the thinking and priorities of Jesus Christ?  

That really stood out to me today as I read Mark chapter 10!

What causes you and me to become "greatly displeased"?  Are we more like Jesus, or are we more like the ten jealous, resentful apostles?

THE $2800 MAN

"For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had."  (Luke 21:4)


Today I overheard a conversation which deeply moved me.


I was at a fast food restaurant grabbing a very quick lunch during a hectic day.  I was not deliberately trying to eavesdrop.  Rather, I heard the conversation at a table directly across from me, clearly.  At that table was a middle-aged woman in a nurse's smock and a guy about my age who was dressed like a typical blue-collar worker.  They were not together; they'd run into each other at the restaurant and were quickly catching up on things.  The nurse shared that her father just died a couple of months ago.  He was seventy-two and had been quite ill. 


She said he'd told his doctor and nurses that he wanted to be made comfortable but realized he was near death.  They honored his wishes.  He'd told everyone, "I just want to go home to be with the Lord."  That caught my attention.  The nurse spoke of her father.  Her parents had been divorced since she was a child, but were on friendly terms.  He'd lived in a simple apartment.  He had very little in this life, but he was very committed to the Lord and to his church.  She said that after his death she discovered that not long before his health situation became life-threatening, he'd written a check for $2800 to his church's missions account.  She was amazed he'd done that, because he had so little in life.  She commented that the donation just expressed the kind of man he was and the values he had.


I was so touched and blessed by that story.  My eyes are watering up as I write this. I don't know that man's name.  I don't know his daughter's name. He was nothing in this world.  But, I know he was known in Heaven!  I'd like to see the reception he received when he passed into the arms of Jesus!


As I walked out the door of that establishment, I so sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I've been going through a lot, lately, and at times I've slipped into a little bit of self-pity.  I sensed the Holy Spirit saying to me, deep in my heart, "I wanted you to hear that conversation.  Don't ever forget the kind of person that I truly value!"


That guy gave $2800 to his church's missions fund.  The world would tell him he's an absolute fool.  God says, he's a true winner!  The Bible verse above speaks of a widow who gave a very small financial gift, but it amounted to all the money she had so it was in fact the greatest gift of all!  That $2800 man was a modern version of that widow!  I had to share that with you today!

ALWAYS THERE

"...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  (from Matthew 16:18)


I had a very interesting and pleasant memory this week that I want to share with you.  This goes back to my days of pastoring the small and struggling church which was known as First Assembly of God of Framingham.  I pastored that church for over twenty years.  During that time, the church owned a couple of different properties and met in several rental facilities, as well.  The bulk of my pastorate, however, was at the former United Auto Workers union hall located at 32 South Street (behind the Chicken Bone Saloon's property).  The church bought that property in 1994.  That would be a story in itself, but I want to stick to the subject at hand:  The "real church" is not a building.  The "real church" is the people; the Body of Christ.  First AG Framingham was little and it struggled, but there were a number of people whose lives were touched and blessed and changed through the ministries of that little church.  My memory was about a woman that I will call, "Julia Carroll", which is not her real name.


Julia Carroll and her young grandson attended our church for a year or two during the early 1990s when our church met at Walsh Middle School.  She'd been a member at a respectable and theologically liberal Protestant church in Framingham for years.  Then she'd "gotten saved" and attended a medium-sized "charismatic" church.  Julia was attracted to our little church because some people she knew were attending and had invited her to visit.  She was a character and her little grandson was a handful.  Julia was someone I'd call "eccentric".  (Some of you know that I've been known to call myself "eccentric", too!)  At times she was loud and opinionated and made some very controversial statements.  Yet, Julia had a great sense of humor and was likable.  After a period at our church, Julia sort of moved on.  She went back to the respectful liberal Protestant church because it had services and programs that were beneficial to both she and her grandson, and because she had a history there.   However, once in a great while when we were having a special speaker or a special service, Julia would surprise me by showing up at our church.


I don't know exactly when Julia's last visit to First Assembly of God of Framingham took place.  I'm guessing it was around 2006 or 2007.  She walked in on a Sunday morning to a very plain and ordinary service.  I hadn't seen her in at least five years, so her visit was a great surprise.  Julia seemed to particularly enjoy everything about the service:  the music, the sermon, the people... really everything!  Several minutes after the service had ended, Julia came right up to me and happily gave me a word from her heart.  This is what she said:


"I know this is a small church, and I think it will always be small.  However, it serves a very important purpose.  Today, I needed to meet with God and be refreshed.  I came here, and that has happened!  I want you to know I think this church will always be there," she said, "it will be a place where people can come to when they are hurting and just need to be in the presence of God and receive from Him."


I don't think I ever saw Julia Carroll after that.  If she's still alive, she's got to be eighty, and maybe older.  I thought a lot about her words.  I didn't like her pronouncement that our church would "always be small", but I felt quite honored that she thought of little First Assembly of God of Framingham as a place where a hungry soul could truly meet God.

Many of you know that I went through several years of great despondency and confusion following the March 2010 closing of that church.  At times, I thought of Julia Carroll's words.  It seemed that they were unfulfilled and even wrong.  But that's not the end of the story.


A couple of years after First Assembly of God of Framingham was closed up, the Assemblies of God opened a new church in Framingham called:  Meeting Place Church.  In one sense, it's new, but in another, it carries on where First Assembly of God of Framingham left off.  It's not usually considered proper for a former pastor to attend the church where he previously pastored.  [An exception would be a retired pastor who becomes "Pastor Emeritus".]  I had wanted to visit Meeting Place Church sometime, but I hadn't wanted to bother the pastor or the church or cause any sort of problem.  On the very first Sunday of 2015, I was staying at my grown children's apartment in Framingham and I decided to walk over to Meeting Place Church for their service.  [Well, I learned they don't call their services "services", they call them "meetings"!]  I was delighted with what I found that day!  It was a small group of maybe thirty people, most of whom were dressed pretty casually.  The meeting room was pleasant, warm, and had a definite "welcoming" feeling to it.  The music was not a "big production" but there was good, sincere worship.  The sermon was practical and "down to earth".  At Meeting Place Church I encountered a place that was small, and where the presence of God was.  I encountered a place where I could meet with God and be refreshed.  Does this sound familiar?


Yes, I thought about this today.  Julia Carroll's words have proven to be absolutely true, accurate, and even prophetic.  The United States Marines have that motto: "Semper Fidelis" or "Always Faithful".  Well, perhaps the motto of Meeting Place Church should be, "Semper Ibi" which is Latin for "Always There"!  I'm pleased to share my pleasant memory with you.  If you live in the Framingham, Massachusetts area, I encourage you to visit Meeting Place Church sometime soon.  Their Sunday worship meeting is at 10:00 a.m.  They're located at 63 Fountain Street which is in a professional and industrial complex on Farm Pond and very close to downtown Framingham and Route 135.  The church's entrance is on the Farm Pond side.  There's plenty of parking.


I am greatful that God is "Always Faithful" and that His Church is "Always There"!