From The Pastor's Desk
The Big Sleep
-John 11
In 1946, the movie The Big Sleep was released starring legendary actor Humphrey Bogart. It is a confusing mystery movie in which I still don't know for sure who killed who and why.
In real life, I am sometimes called to a bedside of someone facing imminent death. It is an experience not soon forgotten, to say the least. A couple of years ago, one such incident of like manner took place which still lingers in my heart and mind.
I was teaching Sunday School when I received a call to go to the hospital in KC; that my longtime friend and church member, Bob Whitington, 93, was drawing his last breath. I had been up there just a few days prior. Bob was unconscious and apparently near death's door. Well, while they said he wouldn't be alive by the time we drove the 100 miles, they were wrong. He lasted two days. While waiting in his room, an ice storm hit and it was a very scary trip home.
Bob and I had joked that whoever went first would come back and tell the other one what Heaven was like. He has never been back. So the mystery of the next life, "the big sleep", which meant death in the movie, is still intact.
I preached his funeral and talked of his faith in God.
I miss old Bob. I sat in my car in his driveway soon after and wept.
As the new year is upon us, I am aware many will not see 2026, but will experience this certain and sometimes untimely event called death.
Jesus told His disciples that Lazarus was asleep. Lazarus was dead and was called back to life to live and die again. One day, we will all sleep "the big sleep".
I am Pastor Johnie J. Logue and you can contact me at (660) 281-4775.
Unity Of The Lakes
Reverend Jen Dickey will be speaking on “Investing in Joy” this Sunday!
JOY - three little letters of profound influence. We’ve all experienced memorable moments that bring a smile to our face and warmth in our heart. But where does joy live outside those moments? A bigger question: does it live outside us at all? Take a joy ride this Sunday as we explore a deeper connection of this divine quality inherent within.
Please join us on Sunday, January 19, at 11:00 AM. Unity of the Lakes is located about 8 miles south of Warsaw at 34948 Hwy 65 S.
We are affiliated with Unity Worldwide Headquarters in Unity Village, Kansas City, MO.
Warsaw First Church Of The Nazarene
Good morning from Warsaw Church of the Nazarene. Do you know that God is trying to communicate with you? God has been communicating with His creation since man was created for it was the spiritual death of man that broke the most effective means of communication ever developed. We think the internet is the best means of sending and receiving information. It pales in comparison to the spiritual connection man shared with God, the Father, before the fall. I am so glad the Father loves so much they He has continued to reach out to mankind expressing who He is so we would seek Him. As author of Communication Theory for Christian Witness, Charles Kraft, stated so clearly, “God wants a relationship with the human beings he created. Again, we don't know why. Why would he want to relate to the likes of us after all we've done to deserve his rejection? But the Scriptures picture God as having a compelling drive to relate to his creatures. This, apparently, constitutes his communicational agenda. Effective communicators need to have a clear agenda, a clear understanding of what they intend to get across. The establishing and maintaining of a relationship with his creatures seem to be paramount among God's goals.” So, what is the problem today? Man is the issue—not God. We struggled to stay in tuned to the Holy Spirit so God over time has used various modes of communicating with us, but always in love.
How often do we share with others that communication is the key to a strong relationship? Are we not made in God’s image, one that desires relationships? Then why are we surprised that our Heavenly Father is seeking us. Kraft adds, “God reaches out to us to elicit a response to which the whole relationship is keyed. People whose response is passive don't please him, nor do they relate to him very well. God wants us to relate to God and elicits our response to maintain or correct the relationship.” This statement does often sets idle believers back a few steps because they have yet to develop sound Christian disciplines which many have found effectively establish a life in constant commune or communication with God. Are we not to pray without ceasing? One issue that seems to block the growth to the church body is the breakdown of the individuals that do not respond to God because they do not relate to His will. Consider what Paul shared in 1 Corinthians 12 “And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it.” How strong would the body be if the entire body maintained the correct relationship? So, enters grace, and I am so overjoyed to know that He is seeking me daily. Kraft challenges us with a few other points on this topic.
“God expects our relationship with him to include a three-way commitment. The first element is our response to his commitment to us. As the Head of the church, Christ commits himself to us, his body (Eph. 5:24-25). We, in turn, are to respond by committing ourselves to him, our head. The second is that as members of a body, God desires that we commit ourselves to each other (1 Cor. 12:12ff.; Eph. 5:21). And last, God intends that we share his commitment with the world at large (John 20:21).” Wow! Kraft took the liberty to paraphrase Matthew 22:26-40. See for yourself, ‘And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”’ In a nutshell, he is breaking down the relationship we have been created to be part of as believers from both God’s desire and the expected response for us. Is this important? It is the essence of living in faith to understanding God properly so we can share how much He loves us with the entire world. He desired it so much that the Father sent his only son to be a teach us how to communicate by embodying the message of love with grace and mercy. Jesus was the word in action right before the eyes of the Father’s creation, yet we needed more.
Was Jesus the bridge? While scripture service us well in closing the communication gap, Christ sending the Holy Spirit makes possible the unity for believers that surpasses cultural, gender, socioeconomic, and racial barriers in our journey to be one with the Father as Jesus prayed, we would be.
Andy Lavender, Pastor
First Church of the
Nazarene
(660) 641-2957
