FEBRUARY, 2011                                                                   NUMBER 54

From the Pastor’s Pen……    

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  

  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life. Romans 8:6 

  It's late. I'm tired. It's been a full foggy cold January day and I'm eager to wrap it up and go to bed. One more item to locate and send off as an e-mail. It's a fairly simple procedure, but has not gone well.

Fatigue makes everything even more difficult. I'm concentrating very hard, fighting drowsiness accompanied by the grumpies. Just then, my dear husband enters my study with a request. “Do you have the tax documents for the cabin properties.” They are somewhere piled in my filing box, or on top of it, or buried on my hard drive, but an archeological dig for them was not an welcome item on my immediate agenda. Barely containing my irritability, I offer one warning, then another. Finally, the flesh set in and latent grumpies lashed out in agitation and rebuke. What ensued was not a warm cozy conversation between life long Valentines and best friends.

  The apostle Paul warns us about the flesh: that raw irrational part of us that insists on its own way, lashes out to protect itself, seeks only for it's own interests, and is everything 1 Corinthians 13 is not.

(Love is patient, love is kind...It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. vs. 4,5). In the wake of it's forceful expression, we can see the destructive power of the flesh. Unattended, without repentance, without reconciliation, the flesh will murder: it will kill communication, destroy relationships, and suffocate character. The mindset of the flesh is self at all costs. But the mindset of the Spirit is life that gives glory to God.

  God understands us. He created us. He knows first hand that we are soulish, weak flesh. He has given to us a way out of sin born of the flesh and a way back to Him reborn in the Spirit: forgiveness and peace through Jesus Christ. Turning to Jesus, we find His love to restore the love we need to give. In His mercy toward us, we find forgiveness to offer one another. In Him the temporary untamed tempest is stilled, and peace in our soul is reigns again. For this reason Christ must be at the center of all our relationships: be that of marriage, friendship, that of teacher/student, employer/worker, neighbor or stranger. Under all conditions, in all circumstances, He is our Peace.

  The observance of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, February 22. Lent is a season of self-examination, facing the flesh, and in seeking Christ, renewing our love for Him, and receiving fresh power in the Spirit. God's blessing to be and remain spiritually minded.