This and That

My wife's Aunt "Punk" (Mary) makes the best fruit cake in the universe. Saturday she blessed us with one of them. Approximately 6'' in diameter by 3" high, this is a fruity, nutty, dense, al dente delight. Eat your heart out Collins Street bakery! Along with the cake Aunt Punk gave us 2 jars of pepper jelly. The jelly on cream cheese on a cracker: Magnifico!

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Sunday, as on every first Sunday, LaNell and I were privileged to serve communion to residents of The Meadows retirement home. (For new reader's info, the elements are blessed by our clergy.) It was also my turn, in the teacher rotation, to teach. Some of the women and men residents have been Sunday school teachers, most are long-time Christians and all are survivors; an audience I can relate to and identify with. And, in regard to spiritual matters, we agree that we don't know much and are all still learning. As I wrote to a friend recently, the scope of God's word is so vast that I feel after 40 years of study and instruction that I'm still only nibbling around the edges.

At the end of the lesson Sunday I visited the subject of spiritual gifts. We agreed that Jesus is still alive and that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." And God has said,"For I am the Lord, I do not change:" Further, we agreed with 1 Corinthians, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:"1 Corinthians 12:7. The sum is that God does not change and his word does not change. Jesus, the Giver of Gifts, does not change. The Holy Spirit, also changeless, dispenses those gifts as he sees fit to each believer for the benefit of the Church, the body of believers. That's as far as we got with the time available.

Although Paul writes in Corinthians 12:1 "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:" it seems that is how we remain. The subject is avoided, passed over lightly, denied, misused, delicately touched on, or seen as a jumping off place for "fanaticism." Certainly there is the possibility of error by emphasising one area of the scriptures over all else and to neglect Micah 6:8 "What does the Lord require of you but to love mercy, to do justly and to walk humbly with your God?"

I was a substitute teacher for one Sunday for a class of adults. A friend in the class told me later that one member said that my lesson "was over the top." Translation: He was annoyed that I (a perceived "fanatic") had pierced his comfort bubble. Everything in the lesson was scripturaly based and I thought it was quite mild so it was the Spirit and not me that had stirred him. Nevertheless, I was not invited back. Let's talk some more next week about Corinthians chapter 12. I invite you to read chapters 12, 13 and 14 of Corinthians and chapter 4 of Ephesians.
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Vincent Van Gogh, one of my favorite artists, produced about 1600 paintings and drawings before he died. He sold just one painting. He gave many away and bartered with others. He traded one painting for rent payment but the landlady thought so little of it she used it to patch a hole in the wall of her chicken coop. Early in his life as a lay preacher, he ministered to and lived among the poorest peasants. He suffered with severe depression most of his adult life and finally, at age 37, decided he could stand it no longer. In a cornfield , he shot himself in the side but managed to stagger back to his room in the home of one of his benefactors. "I missed myself," he murmured.
He died the next day whispering his last words," There is no end to sorrow."