I bought this piece at an antique store in Galveston while I was shopping with my mom. We were in Galveston with my dad, my brother, and his wife celebrating Mom & Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, back in 2006.

I love the simplicity of this piece. It features just the heads of Joseph, Jesus, and Mary joined in a loving embrace of each other. This will be one of the first works of art you will see when you enter my front door.

I imagine that one of the reasons the Holy Family were so closely united was because of the hardships they had been through together: Joseph and a pregnant Mary traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem; the birth of Jesus in a cattle stall; fleeing the terror of being hunted by Herod the Great; and, being refugees in a foreign land.

Such hardship would necessarily bind you together or drive you apart. With God’s help their hardships bound them together. What are your hardships doing to you?

When I traveled to Israel with my oldest son, we also went to Egypt. We visited Saint Catherine’s Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai and spent a night on the Red Sea coast. Then we traveled on to Cairo. While in Cairo, we visited a Christian enclave in the city, and I was surprised to see the ways in which they celebrated that their Lord had once lived where they lived.

When I write it that way, it does not seem surprising to me. After all, if Jesus had ever lived in our town, county, state, or country you can bet that we would be glad about it and celebrate it! So, I think perhaps I should say that I was not expecting what I experienced.

I have included just one example of how they celebrated Jesus’ presence in Egypt: a map that was outside the door of a church in Cairo. This map shows the traditional route of the Holy Family coming to, traveling in, and leaving Egypt. Imagine having your hometown on that map.

Jesus is alive and living wherever you are!
Brother Mike

This is a Jim Shore creation, “Blessed Are the Faithful” – an angel with a church figurine. This was a Christmas gift from a couple in my church at Naples who are fellow SMU graduates with me.

I keep this figurine in a prominent spot near my front door to help remind me that I am not the only person responsible for the well-being of this church. And it is not just the angel and me, either. You have a responsibility for your church. What are we doing to make our church a better place to meet Jesus and grow in Christlikeness?

Our reading for today is from the Revelation to John. It is the first of seven letters written to the seven angels of seven churches in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, at the behest of Jesus. The seven letters comprise chapters two and three of the book.

This first letter is written to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was, at the time this was written, the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. It was a coastal port city near the mouth of the Kayster river. Ephesus was widely known as the center of worship of the fertility goddess Artemis. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was known a one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Today, you can still see the remains of the monumental Library of Celsus and a Roman theater capable of holding 25,000 spectators.

What does it mean that these seven letters (effectively prophetic messages since they are not separated from the Revelation) are addressed to angels and not to the people of each church?

Knowing that there is an angel (a messenger of God who, like humans, can be more or less faithful to God) responsible for each church is a reminder to us human beings that being a church is not just a human endeavor. Being a church means participating in the realm of heaven, acknowledging God as our king, serving the Risen Christ as our Lord, following the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and living in love with our neighbors. Angels are a part of the hierarchy above us and even though one day we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3) for now they are over us. Here in Revelation 2–3, the angels are addressed, but the congregations are admonished to pay attention.

By reading Revelation 1 we can see that the entire vision, or revelation, is intended to be shared with all seven churches mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea). These may be seven churches with whom John had a special relationship before he was sent into exile on Patmos. They are most likely also representative of all churches in all places and at all times. (In the Bible the number seven represents completeness and/or perfection.)

The last verse of each letter contains this phrase: “If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” This is a clear invitation for each of us to pay attention to what is said to the angels of each church – both the praises and the warnings. And since we are listening to what the Spirit says we are not just listening with our ears (physically) but also with our hearts (spiritually).

​What is the Spirit saying to church of Sealy today?
Brother Mike

From Brother Mike: 

This cross and floral arrangement were given to my youngest son, Sam, by the Pewitt High School Band when his mother died in February 2010. Sam played the clarinet in the band.

It is hard to tell with this photo but the flowers are in a holder that is shaped like two scrolls of parchment. Sam’s friends and teachers were a tremendous source of support for him (and for me) during this time. He and I agreed, the morning after his mom died, that it would be best for him to go to school that day, since he would most likely miss the rest of the week. He went and they cried with him that day and it was the best thing they could have done. Six years later I was finally able to write about my experience of that week:

When we read the later chapters of the book of Job, it is easy for us to forget how his three friends came and cried with Job and sat with him in silence for seven days and seven nights before Job finally spoke. But, I will never forget what five of my friends did for me, when I needed them the most.

My wife, Lisa, died in her sleep on a Sunday morning in February, after an 18-year battle with multiple sclerosis. It was a sudden death; totally unexpected. Over the next few days we planned four types of public worship, celebration, and mourning ... spread over 240 miles of eastern Texas. Social media and the Methodist connection helped spread the news of our plans.

Phylis and Keith sat and talked with me at the visitation the night before the funeral. Glen came to the funeral and stayed with me during the meal afterwards. The next day Bob met us at the cemetery for Lisa’s graveside service. And then on Sunday afternoon, Steve attended the memorial service at our home church.

Words cannot express my gratitude for my friends’ presence with me during the hardest week of my life. I realize now why each of them was willing to drive more than 200 miles to be with me for an hour or two – because words could not express what they wanted me to know.

God loves each of us more than words can say. So God came in person to show us.

Today, I want us to think about all of this in our present context. People are still dying every day. Spouses, children, parents, siblings, and other family and friends are mourning every day. But they do not have the possibility of being physically surrounded by people who love them. They cannot receive a warm embrace of sympathy. They do not get to see their friends and their families gather to remember and show their support. Today – these neighbors of ours – cannot experience the one thing that meant the most to me when my Lisa was gone: the expression of love that cannot be put into words.

Please try. Since we cannot be present for our neighbors. Since we cannot be there for the people we love. Put it into words.

Phone calls are good. Facetime is even better. (If you don’t know what facetime is then ask someone younger to show you.)

Text messages are good. E-mails are good.

Then there is this new thing called a hand-written letter – it’s really neat!

Right now is a good time for us to build a good habit: When I think of doing something nice for someone else I do it!

Take time to be a blessing, Brother Mike

From Brother Mike: 

This piece was a wedding gift from a lady in our church at Orange (where Lani Rousseau is serving now!). She was in Disciple Bible Study with Lisa and I before we were engaged.

I always try to hang this near the front door.

The passage you read today from Luke, shows Jesus giving instructions to 72 of the followers he is sending out in pairs to the villages He's about to visit. We might think of these as 36 advance teams who are going to prepare the way of the Lord. This is not a very long training experience, but I expect that most of these 72 have been traveling with Jesus for an extended period of time. And I would imagine that ten minutes of training with Jesus is equivalent to all day with anybody else ... at the least.

In verses 5–7 Jesus speaks about staying in somebody’s home: “As soon as you enter a home, say, ‘God bless this home with peace.’ If the people living there are peace-loving, your prayer for peace will bless them. But if they are not peace-loving, your prayer will return to you. Stay with the same family, eating and drinking whatever they give you, because workers are worth what they earn. Don’t move around from house to house.”

This fits with what Jesus teaches later in Luke in the Parable of Ten Servants (19:11-27): “Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything.”

This may sound like some cruel punishment that God will inflict upon us, but it is actually a simple statement of how we experience blessings and curses.

If we are attuned to the blessings of life (peace-loving) then we can perceive the blessings in our lives, even when they are ebbing away to almost nothing. Then, as we hang on to our last blessing we receive any new blessing like we would a five-minute rain shower after a two-year drought.

But if we are more attuned to receiving curses, or if we are always alert to notice the slightest insult or injury (not peace-loving), then even if the blessings of our lives never ebb - but always flow - we will feel that they are ebbing away, because we do not pay attention to our blessings. We will feel cursed, because we have trained ourselves to acknowledge only the bad in our lives.

This is also what Jesus is trying to teach Martha in Luke 10:38-42, when he tells her, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her.”

May God bless your home!
Brother Mike
​

FROM BROTHER MIKE:

Our family has had this quilted nativity for more than 20 years. This is another backstory that has gotten lost in the backwaters of my mind. Was it a gift? Or a purchase from a craft fair? If you gave this to our family, please forgive me for not remembering. It hangs in my home year-round.

Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the star are featured in this beautiful quilt. About 15 years ago I put this out for Christmas and never took it down. The birth of Jesus is part of our story all year long and throughout our lives.

This piece is a reminder to those of us who are parents of a very precious time in our lives when our family of two became a family of three. This child changed everything!

This child changed our relationship with each other. This child changed our relationships with our parents and with everybody else we know. Because this child changed us! We became Mom and Dad. We took on an obligation unlike any that we had ever known. This child was totally dependent on us. And somehow, this child enabled us to do things we had never thought of doing:  changing diapers – no problem; cleaning up vomit – its gotta be done; getting up in the middle of the night, once, twice, seven times – it is my turn; and thinking first of someone else – is it too hot, too cold, too bright, or too dark – oh, I’m fine, check on the baby!

This was Mary and Joseph's first child. So, like us, they had no idea what they were getting into. And then, before they could wrap themselves in the support of their families, they had to flee to Egypt. They spent several years as refugees in Egypt before they returned home to Nazareth.

But all of that is still ahead of them. For right now it is just the three of them.  They know that this baby is special. Just how special? Mary and Joseph have to discover that in much the same way that you and I have to figure it out. Who is this baby to me?

During this Easter Season we remember the baby that was born in the manger. Chris Rice wrote and sang, “Fragile finger sent to heal us, tender brow prepared for thorn, tiny heart whose blood will save us, unto us is born, unto us is born.” Far beyond any human expectation, this child is the Savior.

Thanks be to God,
Brother Mike

from Brother Mike: 

This piece was a gift to our family but I have no memory of who or when or where. It hangs in my kitchen near the wall that features photos of my three sons and me.

It reads: “A Family Prayer Lord, bless our family with openness to real communication, with sharing in all our joys and sorrows, with freedom to let each other grow, with understanding for the gifts each of has to give and of course, with love no matter what, no matter when. Author Unknown”

This passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is controversial to many people. In our interpersonal relationships today we do not like to use words like “submit” or “obey.” We want to be free to do whatever we think is best for ourselves. But I think the key to what Paul is trying to say is verse 25 in chapter 5: “A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.”

The love of Christ in a family changes everything. It changes the way each member relates to each of the others and to the whole. The love of Christ changes how a family interacts with people who are not part of the family and people who are part of their extended family. Notice that Paul reminds us that the love of Christ is a self-sacrificing love: agape is the Greek word for this kind of love.

This kind of love enables us to submit and obey appropriately to each other and to God.

Paul uses two examples of how we are to relate to each other with love. The first and dominate example is the relationship between Jesus and his church.  Jesus is the head and Savior of the church but Jesus also sacrificed himself for the sake of the church. The second example is how we relate to our own bodies. If we love ourselves then we take care of our bodies and make sure that our bodies have what they need to be well – just like Jesus takes care of his body, the church.

Pray for your family, it will make a difference.
Brother Mike