Trying Week...

Published in the Brechin Advertiser on 25 April 2013

Sorry to have missed last week and had thought to fit a nice sweet thought about how good it was to hold grand-babies and such then it turned into an insane week with all the goings on in our world. There have been bombings, explosions, earthquakes and other natural and not so natural disasters affecting people around our world. I, along with many, keep asking why these things happen and how a loving God can allow such insanity? I know the theological answer, but have to admit along with many others that that answer is not very emotionally satisfying in the face of these events.

Evil things happen and evil people commit these acts that baffle the best of us. Yet the scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” So in reality rather than ask how someone can do these kinds of things, the real question is; what keeps everyone from losing the plot and doing worse than we do? So I have to thank God for his grace that makes it so all the world is not completely wicked all the time.

The other question that gets asked often is; where was God in all of this. Well, there are days I almost laugh at that one. We, our overall society, are trying to do everything we can to get God out of every public place, out of the public square, out of schools, hospitals, work places and from what I hear in some places, even out of the Church. I hear and read of Christians more concerned with being ‘PC’ than sensitive truth tellers. So we kick Him out then wonder where He is...? Really-- OK How is that working in our world, how has that worked in the past? The question to ask really is: How dare we question where God is when we have pushed Him out? Morality and standards on the decline the further we get from God and then we are shocked at wicked acts by wicked people. Well at least I am, even if I do know the answer—sort of.

But, I say there is still hope, there is still a future that can be greater and better then we can imagine in Christ. Titus 2 has a verse that I love to quote, that I’m sure I have shared even here before, that says: “Looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” But the text doesn't end there because it finishes with the solution to the problem. Verse 14 says (Jesus Christ) “who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

The solution to evil is not to get rid of religion and God but rather to get Jesus Christ principles into lives of people so they can be redeemed from iniquity, evil and wickedness and instead be zealous of good works or excited to do good things in place of evil.

Shocked, hurt but not surprised at evil, mourning with those that mourn. Weeping with those that weep in times of trouble and great loss. But still wanting to share the answer to the problem and to even those that say they don’t want the ‘Jesus answer’ He is still there. And until those without a Jesus answer can come up with a better one, I’m sticking to this one.

Sad, but hopeful,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Family and Children

Published in the Brechin Advertiser on 11 April 2013

We talk a lot about children and how they are our future. They are to be protected and on and on. Then we turn around and slam everything they do. OK a big paint roller kind of characterization perhaps. But it is a start to this train of thought.

I have the blessing of having all my children and grand-kids at home for the first time in 5 years. (Yeah I know, Ruth and I don’t look near old enough to have grand-kids... That is where you are supposed to laugh with me not at me.) It has been nice and I am enjoying the time, so if you don’t see me out and about much that is why—family time.

Anyway it reminds me of the verses that say “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them…” [Psalm 127:3-5] I am blessed in many ways, I have good children, not perfect or always act like I want them to, but basically good. Granted they are not all raised yet but we are well on the journey.

Sadly too often it seems we don’t appreciate the gift from God that our children are. There is that wee bit that compares our children to arrows. Arrows are useless if they are not pointed to a target. Yet we are to do our part to do the aiming, the directing and raising of these gifts from God.

I watch and see so many abused kids it scares me at times. I read the papers and news reports and see two extremes of abuse. There are those that act in neglect, as if their children have no value and therefore can be treated with contempt and distain or worse. We treat them like evolution is true and they are little apes. The other abuse I see is those that give in to every whim and desire of the children. Neither approach can be good for aiming as both allow the children to aim themselves with no wisdom.

My hope is that we have not gone too far as a society and wake very soon to realize that the process is just repeating itself over and over. Just a bit of a thought that perhaps we can interact about in the coming weeks. Family is in meltdown and the basic bedrock of society is crumbling and yet we are not talking about how we are to raise children or the basis of marriage in our world and how this holds it all together. We talk about education and that is good but raising good kids is more than mere head knowledge and goes to learning how to use that knowledge properly.

Just thankful for my family,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Easter Monday Rumbling in the Brain

Published in the Brechin Advertiser on 04 April 2013

So Easter is past and we move through the year. Where have these first 3 months flown to. The daylight is staying in the sky longer now and it might actually get spring like now that the weatherman predicted more snow and ice through the end of April. I’m hoping he says we will have snow and ice all summer, it might get nice since every summer they say BBQ summer is wet and cold...

Well the Lord is risen, he is out and about interacting with His disciples and others. So a last thought for this year on Easter: Not sure who did this originally so if it was you and you happen to be reading this let me know--I'll be sure to give credit where credit is due. Just the thought adapted below made me think on an Easter Monday, hope it does for you too:

‘What if you had to describe Easter using only punctuation marks?

Maybe this Easter was a comma for you. It made you stop, pause, think and maybe even listen; but that's about it. Perhaps the day was a downer—a big bold full stop. You thought you'd feel excited, but instead it seemed to be more of an empty ritual. You felt as if you were not on the inside, but on the outside… just an onlooker. It was this day that life became a full stop for Jesus' disciples. He was dead. He was buried. The end to any and all expectations of hope and kingdom.

But wait—news of an empty tomb…the full stop is no longer a full stop, it became a question mark. That was worse than a full stop. Now there is doubt. Where was He? They were perplexed. The guards were gone; the stone was rolled away. He was not there. If not there, where had He gone? An angel spoke, 'Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was in Galilee, saying the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and how He must be crucified, and the third day He must rise again?’

Of course they remembered! The full stop is gone. The question mark is removed. There is only room for one massive exclamation point! That's what Easter is all about…an exclamation of gratitude and of praise for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the salvation His victory over death brought to us.’

So what do we do with this risen Jesus?

Will be an interesting journey this year,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Holy Week to Easter

Published in the Brechin Advertiser 28 March 2013

So we are, well into Holy Week things are moving fast now. We have enjoyed the thought of the triumphal entry and heard, I hope, the voices crying Hosanna to Jesus riding into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday so long ago. Now moving through the week we look ahead to the Last Supper and then the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed asking if perhaps the ‘Cup’ could be passed over, yet with the resounding “not my will but thine”. Then the betrayal of Judas to the rulers and then we can hear the cries of the people as they shout out “Crucify Him”... It is perhaps Friday and the sound of the hammer striking the nails as they pierce the flesh of Jesus to nail Him to the cross that is then hoisted up to leave Christ hanging between Heaven and earth as an atonement for the sin of mankind.

Oh the darkness, the agony, the suffering, the heartbreak of the followers and disciples, how Mary the Mother of Jesus must have hurt and wept as she remembered the days from his birth a mere 33 years before to the tragic day before her... Oh, but as the old black preacher shouted out in his sermon:  “IT’S FRIDAY BUT SUNDAY IS COMING!”

So there it is, the disciples hidden away for fear, the body of Jesus, the one they thought was the Saviour, the Messiah buried in the tomb, wrapped up like a mummy and not a chance there was a future... The ladies headed to the tomb wondering how they were going to get in the tomb with the stone and the guards in the way, yet prepared to finish the job of embalming the body that had been so hastily and improperly buried on that Friday before the Sabbath.

So the big questions unanswered, the grave sealed, the doubt in the way—yet arriving at the tomb it is not at all what they expected. The grave was open, the stone rolled away. The guards gone and instead angels asking: Why are you seeking the living among the dead? He is NOT HERE HE IS RISEN AS HE SAID.

Doom turned to Joy. Sadness turned to Happiness. Despair turned to Hope. As the Apostle Paul said: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…”

Glory in Hope of the resurrection and have a very Happy Easter,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Catching up from Easter to May...Well that is the plan anyway...

I'm going to be catching up several 'Thought for the Week' thoughts in the next couple of days so start with the one before this and you can catch up.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

Getting ready for Easter

Lead in to Thought for the Week for Easter 2013

Living a faith based life makes one want to be better in this life. But it is not always easy. The only way I can be better is by learning more of what the Bible teaches. I had an interesting conversation this week as I was reminded that there are many that do not live faith based lives. They are relying on the Bible not being true or that they can perhaps pick and choose which parts they like. I was asked point blank if I really believed the Bible is true. My answer is an emphatic ‘YES’, just in case you are wondering. I went on to explain to the one asking the question that the challenge is that too often while I believe it to be true, I still struggle at times to understand some of the things it says.

But one part is clear to me , it is that Jesus lived, God loves me enough for Jesus to come to earth to die and offer salvation to whoever calls on the name of the Lord and believes in the resurrection. (Romans 10:9) Which brings me to this next week as Christians prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on the day we call Easter.  Don’t get me wrong Christmas is precious and brings out warm fuzzy feelings in all of us. I confess Easter is a bit harder to digest in that we have to come to grips with the idea that that babe in the manger becomes the man on the cross. That the creator God knew from the beginning that Jesus would come to earth to suffer and die for us. But God also knew that there would be victory over that same death. 

The question has also been asked of me: If Jesus resurrection wasn’t real would you still be a Christian? My answer to that is an emphatic - NO!! Paul the Apostle also assures us that he wouldn’t have been a follower of Jesus either if he had not been convinced of that resurrection. In fact he said if there was no resurrection we would be most miserable of all men. Our misery would be more profound than the suffering characters in the story Les Mise̕rables. 

Thankfully there is a resurrection to look back on and forward to and so I hope that in the coming week you will find a place to worship and hear the story of the Jesus who changed the world. That in the next week you will hear of the power of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and then hear the stories of the Passion Week that then lead us to the morning of Easter... (there will be services throughout Holy Week.)

This past Sunday I was preaching from John 8 and the verse I focused on was quoting Jesus as He said “I am the Light of the World.” Such a profound thought to bring me to Holy Week. It was spiritually dark in His day and I am learning that we face the same sense of spiritually dark thought today as well. People that have never read the Bible reject it. And even worse are those that have read it and reject the parts they don’t like. But I will still believe and teach it and celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It is the power of the One who is Light who gives us hope!

Join me and other Christians in this journey of belief and understanding,

Rev. Jon Bergen