Mother's Day 2010      John 14: 23-29              
God's Great Gift

        "Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit will guide his disciples to understand, remember, and live out his teaching in all truth."  So sorry that I cannot tell you who said that first - however, I believe it to be a great statement toward Christian Discipleship. At this point we must acknowledge the influence that the Holy Spirit of God has upon us and through us. We are merely vessels or instruments of God's peace. You should know by now that I claim "We are the hands and feet of God." Point blank, boiled down, basic truth is that God works through us to affirm, assist, and encourage others. That sounds like the characteristics of a great Mom. Yes, Mothering is a divine act of nurturing, caring, training, and comforting. At our very cores we are who we are because of the mothering we have received throughout our life. I am not sure if it ever ends, nor do I care for the mothering to ever stop. Although I receive some stern advice at times in motherly fashion, it is so clear that God is affirming me through God's servants.

        I praise God for all those who have constantly mothered me and continue to do so. It is so obvious that one of God's Great Gifts is the encouragement we receive from all our Mothers. Driven by the motivation of the Holy Spirit we are assured the truth and guided by examples of those who have chosen to follow God and share their lives as servants in the Kingdom. God has blessed most of us with numerous Moms’ who are always in the right place at the right time.

         God made promises with all the major players of the Old Testament, such as Abraham, Sarah, Joshua, Moses, and so on that they will never be alone, that God's presence will always be with them. Likewise Jesus in John 14: 18 promises that we will "never be orphans." He prepares his disciples with the assurance that the Holy Spirit will come and always be present with them. As followers of Christ we have become those disciples and that promise of the Holy Spirit always being with us lives on. We need to understand, remember, and live out Christ's teaching in all truth. There are children today who are not assured, nurtured, and comforted through the encouraging truth of God's presence with us. It is up to us to go out and find these Children of God and share the Good News with them. Let the Holy Spirit of God encourage you to look around and find those who need this understanding of the blessed assurance of God's presence in our lives.

                                                 Go now and love as God loves -- Rev. Tac Coley             

Luke 13:6-9
      Jesus  uses parables to teach lessons about everyday life through common stories. The gardener takes responsibility to cultivate and make sure the Owner of the Garden gives the fig tree a sporting chance. In the parable we hear the plea from the gardener who tells the owner to give it a year. With a little stirring or proper cultivateing and nurishment the gardener believes the fig tree will finally produce fruit. There is actually some bardering that if it does well and good and if not then it can be cut down. 
      The parable is Jesus' way of teaching us that the Owner is God and willing to givie us another chance. Perhaps the fact is that God will never give up on us. Now that is grace. Unfortunately we have to accept the fact that it is well and good, since we believe that God is a God of many chances. We might still wish to know what the outcomce was. Oh ye of little faith, certainly we know that the fig tree when properly stirred and nurtured would produce figs. No you don't get bannans from fig trees, so here we go again understanding that we are what God has created us and nutures us to be. Only when we allow God to work within our lives do we produce the fruit that is worthy for the Owner. Amen? 
     Comments are welcome: revtac@aol.com