Suffering For Jesus? Not Really what you think...

Well another week has flown by. I am not so sure that I like that what ‘old’ people used to tell me is coming true - that the older I get the faster the days fly by.

With that in mind I was reminded last week that we have now been in Brechin for 9 and almost a half years and that September 4 we will celebrate 9 years of the Brechin Baptist Fellowship being around here in Brechin. Someone who shall remain nameless, but he knows who he is, said something about nine and a half years of suffering in Brechin. My reply was along the lines of 'suffering for Jesus' and that eventually lead to a rather joking conversation about Jesus saying “suffer the little children” to come to Jesus. Suffering has for sure changed meaning over the past 400 years since the AV/KJV Bible was printed. 

We should know that what Jesus was saying was ‘allow the children’ to come see him and be blessed by him. Sadly we now say that like children coming to church to hear about Jesus suffer in misery. I can’t imagine not making learning about Jesus an awesome thing. My problem is, like I said last week, I still have a lot to learn even in the art of preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus. I wish in the last 9 years I had become the most engaging in this endeavour but though I know the truth of the gospel my stammering tongue still doesn't always get it as interesting as I would like. As ministers and Sunday school teachers we have a passion for Jesus and the gospel of redemption he taught but we have to keep working so our listeners don’t ‘suffer.’ 

I just know that in the past 9 years that sometimes seem like only 9 months and sometimes seem like 90 years that the call of Jesus is still the same: you who are weary, heavy hearted and run down—or maybe over- come to me and I will give you rest. 

So suffer yourself , err, allow yourself to encounter Jesus and get blessed. Though this earthly life flies by, I rejoice in that there is an eternity to live...

Oh yeah and to be clear for the record: I love Brechin and you can’t get rid of me that easily... 

Looking forward always,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Summer is Done--Time to Study

Well that is for sure summer holidays done and dusted. The Brechin young people are back in school and studying hard... or is that hardly studying. Well if you see a young person on the streets in the next couple of days encourage them to get after their studies so they can excel in their futures. If you see a teacher encourage them even more to invest their lives into the lives of our youth.

But the reality is that all of us need to learn more. I have often heard the lines that reflect the thought that the day we stop learning is the day we might as well die and get dirt thrown in our faces... I have said it as well and mostly hope that is true. I want to keep learning all the time. There are not too many topics I can’t talk about, some I only prove how little I know but even my little is more than some folks. And some days as I chat and prove how little I know someone feels sorry for me and gives me a wee bit of education. 

I just know I don’t want to be like the guy from Iowa I knew that at the end of his high school days looked at his head teacher as he walked out the door and said: “I’ve had twelve years of book learning and fetching up and I aint learned nothing yet.”

2 Timothy 2:15 says ‘Study to show yourself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth’. This really is a thought we can all grab onto and try to live. Learn, study, like it matters, like it can change our lives and the world around us. I think knowing scripture helps in a lot of ways. If you read it, it forces you to think about what you read and if you digest the thoughts it gives guidance for how we live our lives.

I probably should leave the rant alone but I confess I am really bothered by the rioting in England last week. I keep thinking 'if those folk had studied the Bible and took to heart the thoughts of not killing, not stealing, even not coveting, would they have been able to do that junk and done so much damage?' I think not.

My brother-in-law sent me the following: “So sad... Please put this on your status if you know or are related to someone who suffers from stupidity. People need to understand that stupidity is REAL and should be taken seriously. You could be sitting next to a stupid person right now. There is still NO KNOWN CURE for stupidity and sympathy does not help. But we can raise awareness!”

But ignorance can be changed—STUDY does it. And for life the best study I can think of is  foundational book—the Bible.

Always more ignorance to grow past,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Moving on...

It has been a long hot summer with too much sun and not enough sarcasm. Actually it is more like where was the summer? I fear I spent too much of mine being sick so I am a bit tired and worn out. And sadly I am talking to too many others that kind of feel like me. The energy to be creative is many days just not where I want it to be and someone else has it. And yet the days flit by at an ever faster pace. So summer holiday is about finishes so back to work. Somehow the thought that I had figured I had worried to death like a dog with his rawhide chew bone will just not leave me alone as I preach my way through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. “Let brotherly love continue...” 

I see the news and the hearts of people from around the world comes glaring through, thankfully not the majority, but enough to make me realize this ‘brotherly love’ thing is not the world we live in. Oslo Norway comes to mind, the events of last weekend in London jumps out at me as an unavoidable problem. Again the financial crisis of the world economy is heart breaking in many ways, wars and rumours of more war, the political system being questioned in countries around the world including our own... and I think to myself if only...

Then I get to chapter 13 verse five where it says and I paraphrase: ‘let your life be free of coveting because of the love of money and the stuff it buys, instead be content with what you have.’ And I think, wow if we add that to living a life of love that would just about get rid of 90% of the people problems we have. Violence would almost go away, theft disappears, abuse in families and homes—gone, corruption in all areas of life—yes you guessed it: gone. Charities thrive to help the poor and needy in ways we cannot imagine, employers have money to hire folk to work and can even pay decent wages, the burden of taxes goes way down because no one is trying to scam the system and only taking what is fair. And the list goes on and on of how life improves with love and a lack of greed.

Now comes the hard part for me again, this challenge of wanting more than I have, more than God gives into my life. I too desire the nice things in life, stuff that too often I don’t need anyway, I just want it. We all seem to and we don’t know how to get past it. So we have to take on board the promise of God to provide our needs as we trust him and then we work on changing our hearts to meet what godly principles we are to live by. I just know for me it is not always as easy as it sounds.

On a life long journey,

Rev. Jon Bergen