"ON LOVING OUR LIFE AND LOSING…."
Lent is here again. The word Lent means Spring. I sit
writing this to you with four feet of snow still on the ground,
but I also know that Spring will come again.
Lent is a time of penitence - a word derived from
repentance. We go about our daily business, doing our
job, making a living, always busy, always in high gear.
Lent reminds us that much of our "busy-ness" is of our
own making. Jesus says to us, "Consider the birds of the
air, they neither sow nor reap and yet our heavenly
Father feeds them. Are not you of much greater value
than these...O you of little faith?"
The recent recession has reminded all of us that bad
things happen when we worship money rather than God.
All reasonable economist agree that the recession was
brought on our unbridled greed that got out of control.
Federal regulators who should have known better, turned
a blind eye to the dubious lending practices which got us
here in 1929. When will we ever learn? Will we ever
learn? The earth produces abundantly but we haven‘t yet
figured out that the distribution of the earth‘s goodies are
the central issue.
Yet, there are sign of hope.
The world's response to the crises in Haiti has been
nothing short of a miracle. The poorest nation in the
Western hemisphere, a nation of black people who are
easiest in the world to write off because of the legacy of
race and slavery, have been the object of the world's true
compassion. We talked at council about a mission trip to
build houses there. It is in the pipeline. Would you care to
help? Talk to Bob Hood, Carl Henderson, Barbara
Barbour or me, if you feel so inclined. (My five years in
Africa changed me irrevocably and freed me from the
false gods of this world which say success is measured in
dollars. I am forever grateful for my liberation. Please
consider giving of your self in this way - the blessings will
re-bound for you.
Closer to home, Lent is a time of self-offering as well. I am
including a list of 10 suggestions I recently got on email
from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Is there anything
there for you? To me, the Bay is Maryland‘s treasure. I
feel certain God is going to ask me on judgment day―What did you do to preserve my beautiful Chesapeake?‖
I don‘t want to be embarrassed. Are there resolutions you
should make too?
10 Resolutions You Can Make to Help Save the Bay
1. Write to your Congressional representatives to urge
them to support the most important clean water legislation
in a generation, the Chesapeake Clean Water and
Ecosystem Restoration Act.
2. Help the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) raise
money for The Biggest Fight for Clean Water This Nation
Has Ever Seen. Find out how you can create a "Bay
Raiser" web site on which you can challenge your friends
to support CBF's efforts.
3. Use CBF's Nitrogen Calculator to find out how much
nitrogen pollution your household contributes to the Bay,
and the discover ways you can cut back.
4. Use less fertilizer on your lawn and garden and learn
about CBF‘s eight steps to ensuring a healthy, beautiful,
Bay-friendly yard. Take the Gardeners for the Bay
pledge.
5. Walk more, bike more, drive less. Take the Cyclist for
the Bay pledge.
6. Invite a speaker on environmental issues to your
neighborhood association meetings, church or school.
Become a speaker – join CBF's Speakers Bureau.
7. Take an adult education course on Bay ecology and
join the Volunteers as Chesapeake Stewards (VoiCeS)
program.
8. If you have a septic system, upgrade your system to
reduce the leakage of nitrogen pollution. Check the
EPA's website for information on funding that may be
available for upgrades.
9. Figure out ways to reduce your carbon footprint to slow
the harm of global warming. For tips, visit The Nature
Conservancy‘s Carbon Footprint Calculator.
10. Paddle the Capt, John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Water Trail. Visit to the Blackwater Wildlife
Refuge or any of the other parks, wilderness areas or
trials surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. Use the
opportunity to inspire yourself to live frugally and be
politically active to protect this fragile but spectacular
landscape.
This thing about being a Christian that is so wonderful
and amazing is that you get so many blessings when you
give stuff up. Jesus said it this way "Those who love their
lives will lose them, yet those who lose them for my sake
will win them for eternal life." It sounds crazy, like a
contradiction, but….the longer I live the more profound
those words become to me.
Lose yourself somehow this Lent; let God's joy abound in
you!
- Grace & Love - Pastor John
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Pastor John