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Since I’ve been at St. Paul’s, I have been hearing stories like this:  “I strained my back the other day and when my daughter saw my pain, she asked, ‘Mommy, can I pray for you?’  And without hesitation she put her hand on my back, prayed for me, and I was fine!”  Now I don’t know about you, but for me this wasn’t a normal experience of my childhood.  However this ought to be a normal experience for all our children.  Healing, prophecy, miracles – few people have the faith for these like children.  So, we’re creating a safe and structured space where it can happen.

Today, St. Paul’s is launching a new Sunday School called the Children’s Supernatural Curriculum and the name says it all.  We will start with the basics – the Gospel, communion, baptism, covenant, etc.  By January the children launch into a full month (not just one Sunday, but four weeks apiece) in prayer, worship, healing and prophecy.  They will learn what the Bible teaches in these areas and, more importantly, they will have the opportunity to practice it!

Will you commit to pray for our children as they begin this exciting journey.  This is my prayer:  that the Holy Spirit of God will so empower our children that they never doubt His love and presence for the rest of their lives, that our children – emboldened by the power of God – will lead the way in revival, and that their boldness of faith will draw us adults into fresh encounters with Jesus.

Your brother,

Jordan

The Rev. Jordan Easley

Assistant

On the Mark September 25th

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since 9/11.  The image of fire and smoke billowing from the World Trade Center will be forever seared in my mind.  The terrorist attack left more than wreckage on ground zero, it left wreckage in our souls.  I’ve heard the stories from folks at St. Paul’s who lost friends, family, and loved ones on that day.  Even though the rubble is long cleared away, and we are rebuilding, I know that, for some of us, the pain at this anniversary is still very real.

In the painful wake of such radical hate stands an even more radical answer: the cross of Christ.  If anyone has the right to linger over violent injustice that was dealt him, it is our Lord.  From the moment he was born, we attacked him, yet Jesus came and lived among us.  Though he could strike back with legions of angels, he allowed us to mock him.  Even today, as people around the world – many calling themselves Christians – defame his name, Jesus stands at the throne of God and holds out nail-scarred hands.  He too has been wounded.

What would compel him to do this?  Love!  A more radical and amazing love than we could ever understand.  It is humanly impossible to extend real forgiveness and love those who hurt you.  Just try it if you don’t believe me!  Yet Jesus who was both human AND God, did that exact miracle on the cross.  Because of his divine death, what was naturally impossible for us is now supernaturally possible.

So give it a try!  Are you tired of pain?  Are you weary with old wounds?  Are you beyond your own power to forgive?  Then, I implore you, go to the cross of Christ today!  Ask Jesus for the divine ability to forgive those who have hurt you, be they Arab terrorists or next door neighbors.  Better yet, ask him to give you love for your enemies.  This is not normal.  It is radical.  But I promise you, in him it is possible.

Your brother,

Jordan

The Rev. Jordan Easley

Assistant

On the Mark September 11th

Has anyone ever told you that your faith was a fairy tale?  Most who would say this mean it as an insult, but there is at least one Christian writer who doesn’t.  His name is Frederick Buechner.  Recently I have been reading an excellent book that he wrote called Telling the Truth:  The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale, and it seems like each line has fresh insight into the reality of our faith in Jesus.  This bit sticks out to me in particular:

“The Gospel is bad news before it is good news.  It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, and slob.  That is the tragedy.  But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven.  That is comedy.  And yet, so what?

“So what if even in his sin, the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mar and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t’ want them or just doesn’t care? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen…Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint.  Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ.  It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible.  That is fairy tale.  All together they are the truth.”

May the God of fairy tales meet you wherever you sit today, in tragedy, in comedy, or somewhere in between.  May you trust him to work the impossible in your life.  May his grace and peace and love wash over you like you’ve never felt before.

Your brother,

Jordan

The Rev. Jordan Easley

Assistant

On the Mark September 4th