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| This weekend, the Church of the Nazarene is celebrating it's 100th birthday. I would like to share a quote from Phineas Bresee, founder of the denomination, to think on while we are celebrating.
We were convinced that houses of worship should be plain and cheap, to
save from financial burdens, and that everything should say welcome to
the poor...We went in poverty, to give ourselves - and what God might
give us - determined to forego provision for the future and old age, in
order to see the salvation of God while we were yet here...We would be
glad to do much more, yet hundreds of dollars have gone to the poor,
with loving ministry of every kind, and with it a way has been opened
up to the hearts of men and women, that has been unutterable joy. The
gospel comes to a multitude without money and without price, and the
poorest of the poor are entitled to a front seat at the Church of the
Nazarene...' - Phineas Bresee, October, 1898
I would love to be able to have a conversation with Bresee now- to see what he thinks of the movement he helped birth.
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| I recently received this email (presumably a forward) from someone who I consider a sincere and incredibly sweet person. Read for yourself...
Remember to pray for Sarah Palin
before, during and after the debate Thursday night. Whatever your
political persuasion, you can pray for God's protection on this woman who
has not attempted to hide her dependence on Him. By her
daily life, she represents born-again Christians in this
huge public arena. Some fear that she has taken on more than she
is personally capable of handling.
But if God truly has
a plan for Sarah to be an "Esther" for our nation, whether or not she
reaches the White House, He will use her and will not forsake
her. He will respond to our prayers and do what is right for her and
for His people. Pray for clarity of mind and that God
will guide the words of her mouth and the thoughts that come from
her heart, that they will be acceptable first in His sight--He is
her strength and her Redeemer. All Glory be to His
name!
Share this with anyone you know
who believes in the power of prayer.
There are so many different thoughts overloading my brain right now I can barely figure out where I want to begin....
I will start with the notion that we should pray specifically for Gov. Palin because she claims to be a Christian. Well, Barack Obama has been very open about being a Christian- where was the email requesting prayer for him? I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for Gov. Palin. We should. But, please don't pretend that you are praying for her because she is a Christian- you are praying for her because she is the Republican candidate.
Second issue- Sarah Palin "represents all Christians in this public arena." Did we get a vote on this? Sarah Palin does not represent me. Neither does Barack Obama. Neither does Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, or James Dobson. The Christ I know and love doesn't look much like any candidate that I see on the ticket this year. The fact of the matter is, Christians don't need these high profile representatives. If you want my personal opinion, our visible Christian spokespeople have done nothing but hurt the Church by selling out to politicians and allowing our religion to be stereotyped as judgmental, hateful, and fundamentalist. Thanks for the offer, but I'll represent myself.
Third issue- God's plan is for Palin to be an "Esther" for our nation. Maybe this isn't so ridiculous- the only reason that Esther was chosen to be queen was because she basically won a beauty contest. It had nothing to do with experience, qualifications, personal beliefs, political clout, or her being a great public speaker- the king just wanted to tap that Jewish booty. That's it. That is about the only similarity I see between Gov. Palin and Esther. Esther was able to save her people from extermination by reminded the king that a Jewish friend of hers once did the king a solid by saving his life. Maybe someone can help me out here- how is Palin like Esther? (besides the whole "I'm in this position because I'm a decent looking chick" thing). As Americans we really need to stop comparing ourselves to the children of Israel from the Old Testament. America is not "God's chosen nation," and he does not favor us any more than he does Pakistan or Iran. Let's not overstate our role here.
This is giving me a headache, so I'm going to stop typing now. Jeez....
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| Dear Lord,
Thank you so much for this article.
Love,
Wes
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| I'm pretty sure it means you're getting old when things like this really, REALLY crack you up as you're driving down the road...
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| 
I truly love the olympics, but for the life of me I can't figure out why the games were granted to China. Oh well.
USA!USA!USA!
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