Christmas Greetings, One Day at a Time

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“Pray about everything. You will experience Christ’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.” Philippians 4:6-7 (The Living Bible)

O how I love Christmas mail! Familiar names, often with updated photos. Many dear familiar faces come to mind, coming from faraway places, each stirring up memories stretched over a lifetime.

Each year it’s so nice to respond to friends who remembered me and then to put their cards on my mantle. It’s a pleasant surprise to realize how many places I’ve been and the friends I have made. I must admit, however, that the annual effort of mailing Christmas cards becomes more of a burden as the US postage rates continue to rise. I guess that such an effort serves to remind me of the tracks my life has taken over the years. The cards also remind me of the blessings I have exchanged with family and friends as time has passed. It’s not for me to know what the recipients of my cards think of me, only that “the tie that binds” still exists between the two of us.

Everybody knows that the Advent season has two parts: the spiritual and the secular. Ever since we observe the events of the secular side of Christmas, it’s hard to realize that the reason for the season is really the birth of Christ and not the merriment we try to squeeze into the holiday.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know, where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow. . . . “ Irving Berlin

Memory: The Tie that Binds

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace. “ Psalm 29:11

It’s logical to think of memories during the month of November. Memory is what ties our generations together, like photographs in an old album. Of course, cemeteries are such a place, but even smaller communities have such sacred places. Pardon me, but it seems that our National Mall is nearly overcrowded with such commemorations.

Here in Waynesburg, the veterans organizations are in the process of completing a new memorial. I was surprised to learn that there is a national memorial in Washington for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. The common thread for many of these stone markers is that those who gave their lives helped us maintain our peace, and that is certainly something to be thankful for. The promise we make is never to forget such sacrifice.

“Lord, thank you for the blessings you sneak into my life. May I always recognize and be thankful for them.” Ashley Kappel

Hitting the Right Notes

by Rev Robert A Wendel

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. Ephesians 5:19-20

I love the old hymns, and I look forward to singing them in a church on Sunday morning—usually the first, third, and last verses. At one point, I got a new song leader. When we sang a hymn, for him, we belted out all the verses. Over the years, as a church pastor I found a wealth of sound theology in lyrical language.

My church congregations all enjoyed holding evening “ hymn sings.” Most of those services were scheduled to last about an hour, but they almost always exceeded the time set for the occasion.

In other circumstances, you wouldn’t skip necessary ingredients. I can still hear my grandmother’s reminder to use all of the ingredients in the recipe for her apple pie. She would say, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well,” often with flour on her hands.

So many people today try to take shortcuts. Many older folks stick to the notion that what is worth doing, is worth doing completely.

Examine any Protestant hymnal and you will discover that all of the hymns were written before World War I.

Father, help us sing with enthusiasm all the verses of this life that you’ve chosen for us.
Mary Lou Carney

Late Summer Reflections

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3)

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Now remain in my love. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12-14)

Recently, I sat in my living room while my house grew quiet. I sat alone, just thinking about a new school year beginning soon. My thoughts floated back to 1958, when I started public school. As it is for everyone, school would be a new adventure with new classmates. Suddenly, I recalled more than a handful of school experiences which didn’t end until 2005. The result of all that was that I learned how to pastor five different churches and work in a half a dozen hospitals as a hospital chaplain.

What struck me about all that was that my life experience has been enriched by every one of these experiences. All of our lives are different as we move in and out of group experiences.

As I reflected, I realized that I do not know where any of my old classmates live now. Scattered over the world as they must be, there is no way to track them down, telephone them, or even send an email. Sixty-three years ago seems locked in the past and secluded in a “different world.”

So, for the next twenty minutes, I “called the roll, saw their young faces in my memory’s reflection, and uttered a prayer for each of my long-lost friends. Somehow, I sensed a spiritual reconnection. And I intuited that all of life is moving toward “sweet reunion” in a dimension that our physical eyes cannot see and our minds cannot comprehend. More than ever, it is true that the people in the Beckley church will always hold a special place in my memory.

“I believe that some obstacles . . . work out for the better because God knows that without those, you wouldn’t be as strong as you are.”
Simone Biles
Olympic Champion Gymnast

The Hardest Lesson – Love

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“This is my commandment, that you love one another.” John 15:12

It sounds so simple; it turns out to be so hard! To love some others, sure: Some people are easy to love. But if you knew a certain individual in my family. . . my office. . . my neighborhood! To treat all people decently, to be civil, to accord them their rights—that, with great self-control, I may manage. But to love them? The selfish, the arrogant? God alone could love some of the people I have to deal with!

It’s God’s attitude that allows me to love more than I would. Looking at Scripture, we get a sense that first century Christians were drawn to each other by this attitude of love. During Jesus’ lifetime, they understood that their path to the Kingdom stayed true when they put the interests of others ahead of their own. (Acts 4:34) Onlookers reported that there didn’t seem to be a needy person among them. Wherever these first Christians went, healing and prayer followed them.

What happened to this little group that followed the Rabbi from Nazareth? Pentecost happened, so they were blessed by the Holy Spirit, which made them more loving because they had made room in their lives for Jesus.

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Done,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.
Isaac Watts

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr
(1892-1971)

Living So Others See Christ in Me

by Rev Robert A Wendel

The Lord make His face shine upon the, and be gracious unto thee. Numbers 6:25

A six-ton block of Carrara marble, from Mount Altissimo in Italy, stands in Christus Gardens in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Carved within the flecked marble is a concave sculpture of the face of Christ. (A concave sculpture looks as though the image has been pressed into the marble, like a handprint pressed into wet cement.) Beneath the face, these words have been carved: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch upon the evil and the good.”

As you move to the left of the sculpture, and then to the right, you can understand why the artist had chosen those words. Christ’s whole face seems to move with you. Not just His eyes, but His entire face seems to move with you, wherever you go. Even though it is an optical illusion, it seems to fitting that a sculpture of Christ should possess such a mystical quality.

As I look at my own life, I wonder if I have done as good a job as the Italian artist. I have attempted to carve the face of God’s Son into my humanity, but what kind of face have I carved? How do others see Christ in me? The sculpture has given me something to strive for. I pray that Christ’s image is pressed deeply into me, in a concave fashion, so that when others move to the left of me or to the right, they will see Christ turn and gaze out upon them. . . . . from all angles of my life.

Dear Father, help us to carve the face of Your Son within our hearts. And may His face have the freedom to turn loving toward others—no matter where they walk. Amen.

“The Resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over, no matter what my circumstances.” –Robert Flatt

Remembering Unsung Heroes

by Rev Robert A Wendel

In everything, do to others, as you would have them do to you. Matthew 7:12

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely. Hebrews 12:1

In the town where I grew up, Robert and Charles Livingston were a pair of brothers who delivered the daily newspaper to our town of six hundred. They did this for more than a decade and a half. Most of us took them for granted. The paper was always there, come rain or shine.

Recently I began to think about so many other service workers we hardly notice: garbage workers, mail carriers, garage mechanics, and even policemen and emergency workers. Through the years there have always been those workers in discount stores, restaurants, hospitals, swimming pools, and school classrooms. All of them serve the public well. As I moved into apartments, there were plumbers, electricians, painters, and electronic repair people.

One important lesson we all can learn is not to take such ordinary people for granted. A “Thank you” and an occasional cash tip might be appreciated.

One special person I remember meeting is Phil Coyne, who had been an usher for the Pittsburgh Pirates for eighty-one years, doing nothing more than showing people to their seats. Before his retirement, he became a legend among Pittsburgh sports fans, dying in April at age 102. His biggest achievement was the thousands of friends he made over the years. People can easily remember those around us who live out the Golden Rule.

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

Music: The Rhythm of Our Lives

by Rev Robert A Wendel

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and the harp.”
“With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

Psalm 150:3 (KJV); Colossians 3:17 (NRSV)

I used to wonder why my parents and their friends went into moments of joy whenever they heard big-band tunes like “String of Pearls” or “Sing, Sing, Sing”. I like them too. Music in my generation included rock-n-roll, the British invasion, folk music and protest songs. The point here is that each generation has its own favorite music.

Church worship hymns span the decades. When I hear “The Church’s One Foundation”, I am reminded of the small churches where I grew up. Hymns like “Holy, Holy, Holy” take me back to any of the four congregations I was privileged to pastor. When it comes to the holidays, the seven days of Easter Week have their own handful of memory hymns which no yearly commemoration can do without. Hymns like these have connected worshipping congregations for hundreds of years. They are passed down from grandparents to grandchildren. Each hymn tells a part of the story about Jesus Christ. We learn them during our grade school days and carry them along from season to season without ever needing to look at the words in our hymnals.

Hopefully more of us will be able to gather in church during this Easter season. Remember, each spring we are obligated to remember Christ and let the joy of the music touch our hearts.

“According to survey data, there are more than three times the number of self-identifying conservation congregations in the U.S. than liberal churches. Conservatives make up nearly half of the nation’s churches, 15% identify as liberal… and 39% report they stand in the middle of the political spectrum…Black Protestants have taken the lead in reviving the liberal traditions of Christianity.”
Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2021 p. 11

Worry: Thinking About the Future

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“I was glad and rejoiced in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” “Do not be anxious about anything, but with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Psalm 31:7 NIV) (Philippians 4-6 NIV)

I have always been a world class worrier. All ministers worry; that’s their job. Some clergy worry more than others. Parents also worry about where their children are and how things are going for them.

Perhaps things aren’t so nice in the area where children are growing up. Most mothers think they have a life-time privilege to be concerned for their children.

As I grew up, I developed an appreciation for the strength of my mother’s faith. It puzzled me that a woman who believed so much could worry so much. One day I asked her about her habit of worry. She replied “I believe God worries too, about us. Jesus worried. He wept. When I worry, I feel closer to him. It’s like we worry on the same problem together.

Praying goes along with worry. How can you love and not worry? Mom handled her worry by making it a spiritual exercise, a way to grow closer to the God she knew protected her. Worry was not just a form of prayer, but a form of love. If we can’t be spared from a worry or two especially for ourselves of the people whom we love, please, dear Lord, let our worries draw us closer to You.

“America has military and economic strength, Bic Macs and Hollywood movies from a political culture rooted in individual rights, freedom of expression, fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power, as well is rule of law.” Christian Science Monitor Jan, 25, 2021 pg.6.

Facing Problems Head-On

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 “Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” Philippians 4:6.

Looking through my life of sermon illustrations, I read the following story. An old cowboy remembered “Hereford cattle taught me an important lesson. Winter storms took a heavy toll on the herds. Strong winds piled show into huge drifts. Most of the herd would turn their backs into the icy blasts. Herefords, however, would face the winds head-on and survive the season, teaching us humans to have courage to face life’s problems directly.”

Many people think living would be better if they had fewer problems. It’s easy to think of a place where no one has problems – the cemetery. Problems are a sign of life. I would risk saying that the more problems you have, the more alive you are. We might as well face the hard cold fact that you and I will have setbacks until we die. The story of Job says “Men (and women) are born into trouble.” (Job 5:7). The Gospel of John relates “In the world we will have tribulation.” (John 16:33).

The Bible also says “Be of good cheer! I have overcome the world.” This is what you and I can do. I want to assure you that we need fear no problems on earth, but with God’s help we can overcome them, however formidable they may appear to be. So don’t fear a problem – solve it. A psychologist is reported to have said “The chief duty of a human being is to endure life”

My father broke his arm when he was a teenager. To save his arm, doctors inserted a silver plate which pained him the rest of his life. To provide an example for his six children, he lived above his own circumstances, never letting on about his chronic discomfort. No matter the setbacks, he lived a meaningful life, regardless of his boyhood affliction. He mastered his personal problem, until his death at age 53 from cancer.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale advised, “Never give up. Keep at it. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep thinking until the answer comes. “Remember, the darkest hour is often just before the dawn.”