This year at Bible Released Time we are reading and studying the Gospel of Mark. We have a (mostly) attentive class that runs the gamut in spiritual maturity. There are serious students, sleeping students, and at least one drug dealer.
Our objective with this year’s format is to help the students to understand how to read and study the Bible. We are reading and listening to it through The Bible Experience project. The discussions are always enjoyable and always non-linear… we are constantly expecting the unexpected comment or question. It keeps us sharp.
The basic premise we are teaching them about reading the bible is simple
• Read to understand
• Seek the spiritual teaching
• Apply the word to your life
How do we do this?
1. Pray
Pray that this part of God’s Word would be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path (Ps 119:105). Pray that this Word would dwell in you richly (Col 3:16). Pray that God would give you insight and understanding into the passage (2 Tim 2:7).
2. Read it and ask the basic questions.
Who? What? Where? Why? When?
3. Read it and ask some harder questions.
• What did I learn about God?
• What did I learn about myself?
• What lessons about life have I learned?
• What can I do this week based on what I learned?
4. Read it and live it
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Huckabee in Brownsville
The Brownsville Experience is placing it's endorsement with Mike Huckabee. Who are you endorsing? The following three links are designed to help you understand how your views are algined with those running for office. They are listed in order of increasing complexity and time. The first one takes about 1 minute, the second one less than 5 minutes and the third one... I'm still working on.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460
http://selectsmart.com/president/
http://myelectionchoices.com/
Also! I'm asking for your help. Regardless of who you are supporting, would you help get Brownsville's good name out to the Huckabee campaign? If everyone who reads The Brownsville Experience would click through the link on the right of the page, I'm sure we would raise to the top of the Demand List. Your support is appreciated.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460
http://selectsmart.com/president/
http://myelectionchoices.com/
Also! I'm asking for your help. Regardless of who you are supporting, would you help get Brownsville's good name out to the Huckabee campaign? If everyone who reads The Brownsville Experience would click through the link on the right of the page, I'm sure we would raise to the top of the Demand List. Your support is appreciated.
I Cry at the Ballet
I am shocked that I admit it. The ballet has been a foreign concept to me my entire life. Now, with three daughters in a production of the Nutcracker, I have come to appreciate the ballet. More than appreciate it. I just wept through the entire first act.
There is the grace and elegance of the performance.
There is an admiration for all the hard work and sacrifice… from lessons to try-outs to practice to rehearsal to production.
There is an appreciation for the production crew, the teachers, the parents and everything that must “go right” and often does.
And most of all I realized that this culminates in a performance that, just for a moment, each person on the stage becomes the embodiment of all the hard work, the instruction, the coaching, the sacrifice, and the love they have for their art and the love of those that support them. At that moment, all cares and worries, all sweat and toil, all sacrifice and discipline is forgotten. At that moment, they are perfect in who they are and what they do. Such is the picture of Heaven Eternal. I cry at the ballet.
There is the grace and elegance of the performance.
There is an admiration for all the hard work and sacrifice… from lessons to try-outs to practice to rehearsal to production.
There is an appreciation for the production crew, the teachers, the parents and everything that must “go right” and often does.
And most of all I realized that this culminates in a performance that, just for a moment, each person on the stage becomes the embodiment of all the hard work, the instruction, the coaching, the sacrifice, and the love they have for their art and the love of those that support them. At that moment, all cares and worries, all sweat and toil, all sacrifice and discipline is forgotten. At that moment, they are perfect in who they are and what they do. Such is the picture of Heaven Eternal. I cry at the ballet.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Incendiary, Libelous, and Threatening?
or Freedom of Press and Expression? I'm posting this only because it may be helpful for folks outside of Brownsville to understand some folks in Brownsville and the oppression they live under and create.
I can't escape the idea that we are living somewhere between Animal Farm (G. Orwell) and The Long Walk (S. King). Or maybe we are just swine satisfied with creating and living in our own waste.
The following is a letter to the editor from our local newspaper. (But now I feel like I'm giving them too much credit by using respected terms like "editor" and "newspaper".) The person who is criticized in this letter has done more for Brownsville in the last ten years than anyone else I know.
And for Mr. Flemming: Never, to protect our community and raise interest and funds, because she cares, see previous answer, don't know.
Ryan Criticized for Crime Watch
11/25/2007, The Herald Standard
Updated 11/26/2007 09:28:44 AM EST
Everyone, what's going to happen next? I have read recent articles in the Herald-Standard and other local papers about elected officers and their employees. When is the attorney general's office going to investigate the former Brownsville Mayor Norma Jean Ryan? Recently on a Sunday afternoon I happened to look outside, there were a bunch of people in jailbird orange shirts, with Crime Watch written on them, selling candy bars. Why?
I ask why is Norma Jean Ryan even on the crime watch? In my opinion she did nothing to curb crime in Brownsville when she was mayor. All she did was cost the Brownsville people money. Maybe being on the crime watch team is to get more state grant money or free luncheons and coffee and tea.
Maybe Norma Jean Ryan will be in front of your house wearing a bright orange shirt saying she is with the crime watch when really she is just drinking coffee and eating at luncheons, at taxpayers' expense. That's my opinion.What is her motive; didn't she get enough money out of us? Norma Ryan, maybe you should join the fashion police. Hello, Norma, do you know you're not the queen bee of Brownsville anymore? OK, Governor Rendell, this letter is for you, too. Please investigate it. What comes around goes around, Norma.
Gaylord Flemming
Brownsville
References. The U.S. Constitution, Animal Farm, The Long Walk
I can't escape the idea that we are living somewhere between Animal Farm (G. Orwell) and The Long Walk (S. King). Or maybe we are just swine satisfied with creating and living in our own waste.
The following is a letter to the editor from our local newspaper. (But now I feel like I'm giving them too much credit by using respected terms like "editor" and "newspaper".) The person who is criticized in this letter has done more for Brownsville in the last ten years than anyone else I know.
And for Mr. Flemming: Never, to protect our community and raise interest and funds, because she cares, see previous answer, don't know.
Ryan Criticized for Crime Watch
11/25/2007, The Herald Standard
Updated 11/26/2007 09:28:44 AM EST
Everyone, what's going to happen next? I have read recent articles in the Herald-Standard and other local papers about elected officers and their employees. When is the attorney general's office going to investigate the former Brownsville Mayor Norma Jean Ryan? Recently on a Sunday afternoon I happened to look outside, there were a bunch of people in jailbird orange shirts, with Crime Watch written on them, selling candy bars. Why?
I ask why is Norma Jean Ryan even on the crime watch? In my opinion she did nothing to curb crime in Brownsville when she was mayor. All she did was cost the Brownsville people money. Maybe being on the crime watch team is to get more state grant money or free luncheons and coffee and tea.
Maybe Norma Jean Ryan will be in front of your house wearing a bright orange shirt saying she is with the crime watch when really she is just drinking coffee and eating at luncheons, at taxpayers' expense. That's my opinion.What is her motive; didn't she get enough money out of us? Norma Ryan, maybe you should join the fashion police. Hello, Norma, do you know you're not the queen bee of Brownsville anymore? OK, Governor Rendell, this letter is for you, too. Please investigate it. What comes around goes around, Norma.
Gaylord Flemming
Brownsville
References. The U.S. Constitution, Animal Farm, The Long Walk
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wheels of Justice, Part II
If you haven't read Wheels of Justice, Part I. Click this link.
Our justice system is truly elegant and something to admire. Our Founding Father’s deserve our gratitude and admiration.
The case of “Holly” versus the Commonwealth of PA was finally called to trial on Tuesday morning. I moved from the hallway to a magnificent and large courtroom. It was quite crowded with every potential juror waiting for their number to be called.
In Court Room One, the judge was navigating through the various trials, jury selections and verdicts for the day. His court room was efficient and impressive with just a hint of late night talk show charisma. I couldn’t help but enjoy the experience.
And then it was Show Time. Show Time has best been described as Law and Order meets Jerry Springer.
The defendant, her attorney, the arresting office and district attorney were all introduced and jury selection began. Seven jurors were replaced in the process by the defense or the DA. It was not announced who and why they were removed. I suspect because some were landlords (with bad tenant experience) and some were tenants (with bad landlord experience). Maybe some had their appliances stolen or a bad experience with an appliance repairman. Who knows what information these guys had on them?
As the victim, I was called to testify first. My role was pretty straight forward: establish that I owned the appliances and that they are no longer in my possession. The defense attorney jumped at me on two issues: (1) the lease doesn’t say I own the appliances and (2) I wasn’t even there when the tenant moved out.
The first point was almost true as the lease did reference the appliances. On the second point, these guys were being evicted by an armed constable… you bet I didn’t want to be there. It turned out they “moved out” in the middle of the night just before the constable showed up. Everyone but one of the ten or so folks that were now living there.
He made the point that I didn’t even know that guy’s name. Of course not! He was living there illegally and one (of the many) reasons why Holly was evicted. He was on house arrest and couldn’t leave the apartment as that is where he was plugged in. But somehow, this was all my fault.
There was also a witness who testified that she saw my appliances on a truck with the tenant’s possessions. Pretty straight forward? Not until the defendant claims that the only reason the witness is testifying against her is that she (the witness) had an affair with the victim’s boyfriend and she (the defendant) ended up with the man so she (the witness) is trying to get back at her. Must have been some boyfriend for the witness to spend two days (of her own time) at the court house, another day for the pre-trial hearing and all the dealings with the subpoenas and the DA’s office. .
The defense attorney provides closing arguments first. There are two things implanted in my memory…(a) he tells the jury that it doesn’t matter what he or the DA says, that they have to way the facts as presented by those on the stand and (b) he tells the jury that I (the victim) cannot recall any of the details of the eviction and when the appliances were missing. Here’s another lesson learned: attorney’s can lie, it’s up to the jury to remember what I said… he doesn’t have to tell them. In fact, he can apparently tell them something entirely different. Which he did in his closing argument.
So the jury heads off to the “room” for deliberation and we wait, once again, in the hallway. We’re called back one hour later. Somehow I wasn’t surprised when the jury acquitted her. The DA told me I could stay and ask the jury questions to gain an understanding of why they rendered the verdict. I didn’t have the patience or will to stay. It sounds like a cliché, and in the scheme of things I am out about $5,000 from this experience (appliances plus damages plus back rent), but you do feel victimized again. Perhaps, even worse, as your faith in a system you respect and in the common sense of your fellow man is called to question.
The judge was about to tell “Holly” she is free to go but the bailiff indicated that she is already in prison. I later learn that earlier this year that she lost her children to foster care and she and her boyfriend were both imprisoned… likely on drug or theft related charges.
Our justice system is truly elegant and something to admire. Our Founding Father’s deserve our gratitude and admiration.
The case of “Holly” versus the Commonwealth of PA was finally called to trial on Tuesday morning. I moved from the hallway to a magnificent and large courtroom. It was quite crowded with every potential juror waiting for their number to be called.
In Court Room One, the judge was navigating through the various trials, jury selections and verdicts for the day. His court room was efficient and impressive with just a hint of late night talk show charisma. I couldn’t help but enjoy the experience.
And then it was Show Time. Show Time has best been described as Law and Order meets Jerry Springer.
The defendant, her attorney, the arresting office and district attorney were all introduced and jury selection began. Seven jurors were replaced in the process by the defense or the DA. It was not announced who and why they were removed. I suspect because some were landlords (with bad tenant experience) and some were tenants (with bad landlord experience). Maybe some had their appliances stolen or a bad experience with an appliance repairman. Who knows what information these guys had on them?
As the victim, I was called to testify first. My role was pretty straight forward: establish that I owned the appliances and that they are no longer in my possession. The defense attorney jumped at me on two issues: (1) the lease doesn’t say I own the appliances and (2) I wasn’t even there when the tenant moved out.
The first point was almost true as the lease did reference the appliances. On the second point, these guys were being evicted by an armed constable… you bet I didn’t want to be there. It turned out they “moved out” in the middle of the night just before the constable showed up. Everyone but one of the ten or so folks that were now living there.
He made the point that I didn’t even know that guy’s name. Of course not! He was living there illegally and one (of the many) reasons why Holly was evicted. He was on house arrest and couldn’t leave the apartment as that is where he was plugged in. But somehow, this was all my fault.
There was also a witness who testified that she saw my appliances on a truck with the tenant’s possessions. Pretty straight forward? Not until the defendant claims that the only reason the witness is testifying against her is that she (the witness) had an affair with the victim’s boyfriend and she (the defendant) ended up with the man so she (the witness) is trying to get back at her. Must have been some boyfriend for the witness to spend two days (of her own time) at the court house, another day for the pre-trial hearing and all the dealings with the subpoenas and the DA’s office. .
The defense attorney provides closing arguments first. There are two things implanted in my memory…(a) he tells the jury that it doesn’t matter what he or the DA says, that they have to way the facts as presented by those on the stand and (b) he tells the jury that I (the victim) cannot recall any of the details of the eviction and when the appliances were missing. Here’s another lesson learned: attorney’s can lie, it’s up to the jury to remember what I said… he doesn’t have to tell them. In fact, he can apparently tell them something entirely different. Which he did in his closing argument.
So the jury heads off to the “room” for deliberation and we wait, once again, in the hallway. We’re called back one hour later. Somehow I wasn’t surprised when the jury acquitted her. The DA told me I could stay and ask the jury questions to gain an understanding of why they rendered the verdict. I didn’t have the patience or will to stay. It sounds like a cliché, and in the scheme of things I am out about $5,000 from this experience (appliances plus damages plus back rent), but you do feel victimized again. Perhaps, even worse, as your faith in a system you respect and in the common sense of your fellow man is called to question.
The judge was about to tell “Holly” she is free to go but the bailiff indicated that she is already in prison. I later learn that earlier this year that she lost her children to foster care and she and her boyfriend were both imprisoned… likely on drug or theft related charges.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Does God Have a Plan for Brownsville?
Yes. God has a great temporal and eternal plan for the people of Brownsville… and he has a very specific plan for Brownsville in this generation. There are four ways that I want to develop the basis for this plan: historical and current events, biblical and personal testimony.
Let’s briefly look into the historical perspective… God has a Great History of establishing covenant with individuals and nations. Noah and all living creatures. Abraham and his descendents. In recent history, the Pilgrim’s and their calling to the New World to establish a New Jerusalem. Our Founding Father’s who were called to found a nation.
Let’s pause there and talk about the idea of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” … our unalienable rights as declared in 1776. Let’s focus on Liberty.
I believe that liberty is critical to unleashing God’s plan for Brownsville. It was notable Revolutionists such as John Adam’s who believed that liberty demanded action. I think that Adam’s would agree that liberty is the freedom to submit to the will of God. In his time, the cause of liberty demanded action against a tyrannical government. A tyrant is an illegitimate ruler.
There are illegitimate rulers in Brownsville today. Not because of some election fraud but because the men, women and even the children have given the prince of this world control and power in their lives. And by this same power, there are earthly religious and government leaders that are destroying the people of our community, culture and nation. Not by direct malicious intent but out of their own selfish and prideful pursuits of power, wealth and prestige... or from laziness, sloth and lack of concern for those they claim to lead.
In pursuing their earthly gains, they oppress or hold down the children of God and the people of our community. This is exactly the situation in the OT lesson today. The prophet Jeremiah cries out to these shepherds and gives them a word of terror for their negligence. The day is at hand when God will reckon with them concerning the trust and charge committed to them. That is God’s business.
In addition! This form of tyranny must be crushed in our own lives. Jeremiah reminded his people that the beginning of error in their lives was their failure to take God seriously. The people of Judah had lost contact with the word of God. They did what was right in their own eyes… not doing what they knew was wrong in the sight of God but becoming like God in judging what is good and evil. A regression all the way back to the fall of man.
But in the midst of the pain and suffering, the looming captivity and, for Jeremiah, a ministry that was marked by 40 years of failure as a prophet to a decaying nation… God gave a word of comfort to the neglected sheep.
The pain and suffering, the neglect as well as the words of comfort and hope ring true today for our time, our church, and our community. There are 4 parts of this word of comfort and hope.
- Judah was a little remnant, that has narrowly escaped destruction. We are a little remnant…
- God, Himself, will gather that remnant. God, Himself, will gather us…
- And there they shall be fruitful, and increase in numbers. We shall be fruitful and increase in numbers
- Formerly they were continually exposed and disturbed with some alarm or other; but now they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. We have been exposed… but now we shall fear no more…
There is a well worn passage in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah that sums this up and reads “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” These plans are for us, for Brownsville and for you… as Deacon Don will bring to us next week.
Jumping back to our reading from the 23rd chapter this morning…
“The days are coming”, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land”. This is, of course, the Messianic Promise fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. The leaders, even in our day, who are more like wolves than shepherds will be replaced by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And, even in this coming advent season, when we are reminded of his first coming, we are even more expectant of his second coming.
Let’s turn to the gospel reading this morning, where we find ourselves taken to the place called the Skull where Jesus was crucified between two criminals. I toiled to understand how and why this scripture was appointed for this morning. And as I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon from over 100 years ago, I realized that this passage, for us, this morning is about the repentant criminal.
This man justly hung on a cross as punishment for his sins while a man with no sin hung on a cross for our sins. We are the criminal who must die justly but by the grace of God we are saved. The way Spurgeon said it is “The cross of Christ is to some a savour of life unto life, to others of death unto death”. There were two criminals -and one had a great faith - as he suffered in intense pain and certain death, also surrounded by scoffers and derision. He heard the priests ridicule the Lord, he heard the same from the soldiers and the people as well as his friend who hung there with him.
How easy for him to join the crowd, to follow these people, to suffer from the tyranny of his time and place. But he did not! His faith, like Jeremiah’s, was not affected by his surroundings.
I mentioned at the onset today that liberty is critical to unleashing God’s plan for Brownsville. This criminal, had one member of his body that was not bound (by nails to a cross), and with his tongue he rebuked his friend and asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom.
What faith – even as he witnessed Jesus dying on a cross!
This criminal experienced the fullness of the grace of God and he submitted to the will of God in his painful and final hours. Liberty demands action. His action was a testimony, in front of his friend, the priestly rulers, the soldiers who nailed him to the cross, the common people, and our Lord Jesus. The testimony and proclamation is “Jesus is Lord”. What is your proclamation? What is your action? How will you participate in God’s plan for Brownsville?
We have heard about historical and current events, the teaching from our scripture readings today… now I would like to close with a testimony (short version) of how God has spoken and worked in my and my family’s like these 10+ years in Brownsville.
We were living in the Washington DC area where we were both starting our professional careers, she as an OT and myself as a consultant with PW. We were newly married, young, showed the signs of successful, building new friendships, involved with our church and active in ministry. God asked us to leave and leave all of that behind to move to Brownsville to minister to the young people here. We were married in this church but that was about the extent of what I knew and have ever seen of Brownsville. (Good thing too).
I couldn’t wait to move. I thought I was going to miss all of the action. I believed and still believe that God will pour out his spirit on this community and change it’s very character. Liberty is critical to unleashing God’s plan for Brownsville. Liberty demands action.
I pray that I live to see this day but if I do not, my children or my children’s children will be here to see it and be worker’s in this harvest field. I have come to see Brownsville as not just a lifelong mission, but a generational mission and an eternal mission… Until then God is calling us all to live like Jeremiah and to die like the criminal on the cross. But liberty demands action.
God, who set all the boundaries of the earth, loves and cares for Brownsville, He has a plan and purpose for Brownsville. And Brownsville will become a community known for its love for God and for each other and we will make disciples whom we will send to the very ends of the earth. God will be glorified… and it all begins with you. Just this morning, I came across an article about David Livingstone, a famous Christian missionary and (interestingly enough) contemporary of Charles Spurgeon. Livingstone, in all his difficult years as a missionary, was directly involved with the conversion of only one African. He wrote “we work for a glorious future which we are not destined to see.”
God is calling us to the hard work of discipleship … of building our families… of reaching the lost… of ministering to the poor, the needy, the addicted… of loving each other
And Brownsville will become a community known for its love for God and for each other and we will make disciples whom we will send to the very ends of the earth. God will be glorified… and it all begins with you.
I remind you, again, that liberty is critical to unleashing God’s plan for Brownville. We are called to a difficult task of building the road that other’s will enjoy. Livingstone’s life motto was “Fear God, work hard.”
Brownsville must be set free from its illegitimate rulers. You must first be set free from the power of sin and death. Liberty demands action and I submit to you that this day, that (like the thief on the cross) action begins with confession. When Brownsville comes to a place of repentance and confession, life and liberty will prevail, and God will unleash his plan on this city of hope.
Fear God, work hard. Amen.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Does God Care About You?
This is a new feature to The Brownsville Experience. You can now download audio files. The link below is today's sermon by Deacon Don from Christ Church, Anglican in Brownsville titled "Does God Care About You?" It is the second in a four part series about Brownsville. Stay tuned towards the end where Deacon Don gives his life story (in 3 minutes) where God rescued him from a living hell.
Here is the entire series...
Does God Care about Brownsville? (below - blog post only)
Does God Care about You? (this post - audio only)
Does God Have a Plan for Brownsville? (November 25)
Does God have a Plan for You? (December 2)
The other posts will come as available.
Please pardon the sound quality. I'll do my best to improve this over time.
To access this sermon, simply click on the link below. You will have the option to "save" or "open" the file (5Mb). If you "open" the file it should load into your preferred audio reader. Let me know if you experience any technical problems.
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