Clever Free Methodist

  Santa Claus has to be, without a doubt, one of the most recognizable icons of the Christmas season. But with this status of “icon” comes the annual and seasonable tradition of thinking that this holiday symbol “overshadows” Jesus Christ who is the true meaning being Christmas. Instead of thinking of Santa Claus as some blasphemous replacement for the baby Jesus, I honestly feel we can use the characteristics of Santa to teach those who don’t know Jesus Christ is a wonderful lesson about the Divine Majesty of God. It is God’s Divine Majesty that has perplexed the world for centuries. It is hard for our human minds to fathom that a Holy God would take on human flesh. As Martin Luther was noted as saying, “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.” That is why we turn to jolly old Saint Nicholas. The one true God who gave us Jesus (John 3:16-17) can be discovered and the concept of Him becoming flesh, can be bet

Once again, we find ourselves in the joy of singing the beloved Christmas and Advent hymns during worship. I also find myself grinning in child-like humor as I chuckle as we sometimes struggle to properly pronounce some of the words in those hymns. We struggle because some of those words are either in French or Latin. One hymn is obvious as the French word is in the title of “The First Noel.” The second hymn, the Latin words are not so obvious in the hymn as they are reserved for the “refrain.” Let’s take a look at the “easy” one entitled “The First Noel” as the song tells the story of the announcement of the birth of Jesus through the Angelic announcement and the prominence of the brilliance of the Bethlehem star. The word “Noel” is French and translates into the English word “Christmas.” The word can also mean “good news” or used as our word “birthday.” The beloved hymn’s “refrain” could literally be saying “Good news! It’s Christmas! Good news! It’s the birthday of a King! Bor

  Waiting can be challenging when it involves other people, events, or programs. Does it sometimes seem like an eternity when we must patiently wait for something to arrive, start or end? We wait for someone to return from an errand, for the service to start, for the class to end, and perhaps for your pizza to arrive hot and on time. Waiting can be tolerable if we know, from experience, that everything normally works out in the end. The UPS truck eventually brings the delivery, the curtain opens and the movie starts, the class lecture finally ends, and our pizza arrives before we starve to death. However, there is a waiting process that really doesn’t involve literal waiting around. It involves us living our lives actively engaged, hopeful and watchful that what we are waiting for is already underway and could come at any moment. We are talking about the second advent of Jesus Christ. Many of us are familiar with the first advent when Jesus entered the world in the flesh as a n

  We have heard it said many times that there are two sides to every issue. That is true for the most part. I think that despite a sizeable amount of those whose stance is more towards the middle, we are seeing a wider gap forming between those “on the left” and those “on the right.” Are we slowly beginning to see the “middle” eroding away? The pandemic, presidential election, and the various aspects of the “shutdowns” such as mask-mandates, staying home, and vaccines, have created a wealth of hostility, opinions, anxiety and arguments….to say the least. I believe we have come to the point where it is “one side or the other” with no middle ground. Yet, there is still a place in which to stand that encompasses it all. In times of polarized responses around the world today, there is still a way to navigate the uncharted waters to be a holy people that love, serve, and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Despite the sides we choose to stand and the beliefs we have regarding sen

  We love waiting, don’t we? Probably not. Well, now that we have the world at our fingertips within the confines of our phones to talk, chat, search, browse and play games, we admit waiting isn’t as bad as it use to be. There are times when stopping to sit for a while is somewhat nice. But, that’s if we have our phones with us at the time. There are many times of waiting that test our patience such as running late and having to stop for a red traffic light. Waiting for FedEx to get that package to your door. Waiting for the commercials to be over so you can get back to enjoying your program. The passing of time has its lessons as well as its seasons and journeys. In regards to time, I can’t help but think of the One who is the Master of all time. I am speaking of our Heavenly Father. As many of us know, 2 Peter 3:8 , “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” The Lord God is not only the Ma

  The world seems to be in panic, anxiety and chaos due to the Coronavirus “pandemic” and efforts to control it…or us. It could be both. But that is not the reason for this article. Yes, the world could be labeled as a “disorganized circus” right now, but there is more going on than a presidential election and a bunch of conspiracy theories, riots, protests, viruses and control-freaks trying to rule the world. The bottom line for me to ponder is this: “why is God allowing all this to happen? What is His Divine Purpose for letting so many wild and vicious cycles of human sinfulness play out across the globe?” It is outside the realm of human logic and mortal reasoning. However, we can still ponder the “why” of it all. First, we start with Isaiah 55:8-9 , “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” We must realize tha

It is inevitable….that “life happens.” We all have experienced many different challenges, trials, and hardships in life due to lost opportunities, decisions we made, bad advice received, no formal training or education in the matter, or just simply, we had nobody to mentor and guide us towards safety. Sometimes, life is messy. That includes marriage. Many struggle and end in divorce. For some, the divorce is traumatic enough that it leads one spouse (possibly both) to turn towards faith and eventually salvation in Jesus Christ. Now, they are not only a “new believer,” but a divorced believer. Well, like I said before, “life happens.” These new believers find another love and marry again. But, as they continue to grow in their faith it seems inevitable that they eventually discover the Bible’s stance on marriage after divorce. What do I do now? I wasn’t a Christian when I divorced but became a Christian after my second marriage! Now what do I do? I’m stuck! Help!! The confusion us

This year, according to the lunar (moon) calendar, there is a full moon on October 1, 2020. So, what’s the big deal? Well, God operates on a lunar calendar! The Jewish people follow this same moon cycle. Here’s my point : following this full moon, the Jewish people will be celebrating Sukkot or “The Festival of Booths” or the "Festival of Tabernacles." Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that begins this Friday after sundown. Sukkot celebrates the gathering of the harvest and commemorates the miraculous protection God provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. Sukkot is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice. God commanded them to celebrate this festival and gave the instructions to Moses on how it is to be observed. In Leviticus 23:33-34 and 42-43 , it says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days…Live i

It has been several months and many of us may still not be any closer to getting comfortable with wearing face masks. They are mandated and become a fixture of our culture in fighting against COVID-19. However, there seems to be another “mask” that we could be wearing in addition to the physical ones over our nose and mouth. I am talking about a face covering that many put on in an attempt to cover their true spiritual condition. Whether motivated by fear, embarrassment or a general feeling of inadequacy, the temptation to put on a spiritual “face mask” can be very enticing. The reason is because hiding the ugly truth of our spiritual state makes us instantly feel better. Perhaps, if we have it on long enough, go through the motions convincing enough, and say all the right things, others “won’t notice” and think “all is well.” Hiding behind theses “masks,” we feel better now that others cannot see the truth we are trying to keep locked up inside. We begin to believe that we are m

  The world has drastically changed as we knew it. Our way of life has been altered due to the many guidelines, emergency orders and precautions of COVID-19. These rulings and recommendations have been challenging to us, as a church, and will continue for some time to come. We all have an opinion on the matter. Not all are happy about it. I have even come across a few ministries and churches during the COVID-19 “shutdowns” that have made declarations using the Scripture passage of Acts 5:29 , as their defense in resisting State and Federal guidelines. They made their stance and moved forward with “business as usual.” However, for most situations, many took the precautions and tailored their ministries in a safe and effective manner. I am not saying that any one particular decision or situation is “right” or “wrong.” The point of this presentation is to simply examine this passage, Acts 5:29, that says “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings