LET THEM HAVE THIS MOMENT

 Genesis 21:1-7

And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. ² For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.  ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”

⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

We’re going to let Sarah have this moment. 

Paul counseled early Roman Christians, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). But some of us have a terrible habit of contaminating moments of legitimate rejoicing with our pessimism.

“Brother, the Lord blessed me with that promotion I’ve been praying for.”

“Praise the Lord, man.  But you know that the enemy’s gonna try to set you up, now.”

“Hey, girl.  I just got engaged!”

“Ooh, I’m so happy for you.  Make sure ya’ll get counseling because more Christians get divorced that atheists.”

The responses above are wise and correct, solidly grounded in Biblical principles and academic research.  But the responders miss what the Scripture has preached since ancient Rome.  Don’t poop on good parties.  Don’t rain on righteous parades.  Don’t weep with people who were rejoicing before you got there.   

So, as we visualize Sarah in Genesis 21:1-7, we are going to let her have this moment.

Cause she’s 90, dude.  For 25 years she’d listened to a promise that was impossible when God first spoke it(Genesis 12:5), and she’d given up on her miracle.  But here it was.    Post-menopausal conception.  Pregnancy carried to term.  Natural child birth.  No epidural.  A baby.  Her healthy baby boy. 

Some moments are so infused with ridiculous levels of pure joy that your body doesn’t know what to do so it just defaults to it nervous response to awkwardness: laughter.

Genesis 21:1 - 7 was that kind of moment.

And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6)

Let her have that.

I know you’ve read ahead.  You know the drama and pettiness coming next.  We’ll get there.  But right now Sarah is rejoicing.  Rejoice with her. 

Practice with Sarah what you’ll do next time a friend shares their testimony of a blessing.  Rehearse not pointing out how the whole thing could go sideways.  With Sarah as your case study, model rejoicing with those who rejoice.

Don’t endorse foolishness.  Don’t be silent to so-called blessings that are actually opportunities to sin dressed up in church jargon.  But when the blessing is a blessing, hold on before you share your gift of prophetic pessimism.   

Let them have that moment.  Rejoice with them.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

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Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 18

Proverbs 29: 18     Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.

I want my children to worship because they grasp something of the greatness of God and they feel honored by ever chance to praise His name.  Still, it’s good for them to go to church just because I say so.

I want my children to be generous and charitable because they realize the depths of Jesus’ love and sacrifice on their behalf.  In the meantime, they can put money in the offering and participate in community service because I told them to, and that’s O.K.

A deep, personal revelation provides the most real reason for living a holy life.  Without that revelation within you, there’s no reason to resist the urges and impulses of your flesh.  There’s no reason, unless you know that the Bible says so.

If you don’t get understand the theology behind the 10 Commandments, it’s O.K. to just take them at face value and be obedient.

It’s good to do what God says just because God said so.

There are times and places in which the revelation of God is scarce in a society (1 Samuel 3: 1; Psalm 74: 9).  Today, some churches reject out of hand the possibility that God still speaks in visions, performs miracles, or calls men & women to prophesy.  In other churches, what are called prophetic utterances are little more than educated guesses and empty promises based on the demographics and body language of the crowd. 

In these settings of prophetic and revelatory void, the people act a fool.  They perform any and every sin they can conceive of because God doesn’t visibly shock them into compliance.

…Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they werefrom the beginning of creation.”  (2 Peter 2: 3, 4)

They’ll tell you to question EVERY thing about your faith and reject EVERY rule and restriction  that you don’t feel is properly proven and justified.    (Interestingly “they” never tell you to question “them” about “their” authority to tell you how to live.”)

If you’re serious about the questions and attentive to the Source of answers, God does show how His way is right and best.   So, it’s O.K. to question your assumptions (and not just your religious assumptions).

But, it’s also O.K., to do what God says just because He said so.

I’ve asked God the hardest questions I had, the ones that stood between me and real faith.  I’ve studied and studied, and I’ve fasted and prayed, and I’ve struggled in my spirit and wrestled with the Holy Spirit; and God has proven Himself right and true and smarter than every alternative we’ve come up with.    He hasn’t answered all of my questions, but He’s answered more than enough for me to trust that He’s right about the other stuff, too.

I’ve come to the point that I’m happy just to obey His Word ------just  because it says so.

In that uncertain time between your question and God’s answer, you have to choose between acting a fool while you figure it out and obeying God even though it doesn’t all make sense. 

Choose to obey God.  Choose to follow the Bible in the meantime.

You’ll be happier for it.

--Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

HAPPY NEW YEAR ------- RIGHT NOW!

It won’t be 2012 much longer.  In a couple of days 2012 will end and the year 2013 will begin.  In every time zone  people will gather in homes, and clubs, and churches, and public spaces to countdown to midnight.  And then they will shout and sing and celebrate the moment of transition out of one year and into another.

Why is that?

Our modern Western calendar marks 365 days in a year.  This is about how long it takes planet Earth to complete a single orbit around the sun, but even the 365 isn’t exactly right. So, we have leap year to try to make up the miscalculation. 

The billions of people who follow the Chinese, Hindu, Muslim, or Eastern Orthodox calendars mark New Year at an entirely different time. 

To us it’ll be a new month and a new year.  But to a whole lot of people,  it’ll just be Tuesday. 

Even the Bible makes it clear that the date we choose for New Year’s Day has no real significance in itself.  In fact the Bible has 2 different dates for New Years’ Day.

The ancient Hebrews counted years by the  movement of the moon, not by the movements of the Earth and sun.  So the Biblical calendar was not 365 days.

But even then, New Year’s Day was marked and remembered.

We know that because Noah marked the New Year.

Genesis 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

But that was New Year’s Day on the old Hebrew calendar.

In Exodus chapter 12, when God sent the 10^th plague on Egypt, killing the firstborn and freeing the Jews from slavery, the Lord also changed the calendar.

The 1^st Passover took place in the Hebrew month of Nisan (Abib in Caananite), the  8^th month of the Hebrew year.  On the day of the 1^st Passover, God said in   Exodus 12:2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 

So, from then what had been the 8^th month became the 1^st month. The freed Jews had a new New Year’s Day.  

Like the Christian church today, the Jews have 2 calendars, a religious or “liturgical” calendar and the original secular calendar. 

I have a friend in Camden, Alabama who greets everyone with “Happy New Year.” Doesn’t matter what day or what time.  Whether you see him in a store, or call him on the phone, he says, “Well, Happy New Year.”

Why is that?

“Because,” he says, “Every day, every moment is a chance to start fresh.  Every moment is the beginning of the rest of your life.  Everyday is the start of the next year of your life.  So---- Happy New Year.”

Nothing is wrong with joining with friends and family in the celebration of the coming New Year, but you have to understand that there is nothing magical about this date. That 10 second countdown between what we call December 31^st and what we refer to as January 1^st is not in and of itself anything special.

What makes the New Year new and hopeful is you. 

You determine that this moment is the moment at which you begin to do the things you have not done. 

You determine that this is the date from which you will calculate the deadlines for completing the projects that will change the trajectory of your life.

You determine that this is where you start counting down through the milestones and obstacles you must pass to fulfill your purpose.

The newness of the New Year is not a function of our shifting and arbitrary calendar markings. 

The newness of the New Year comes from you.

Therefore, you don’t have to wait for the December 31^st countdown to reach your local time zone.  You can begin your New Year right now.

In fact, what you really should be asking yourself is: Why you are waiting for Monday night to become Tuesday morning? 

Are you going to be any different Tuesday at 12: 01 A.M. than you are right now?

Is the champagne and music of that New Year’s party going to give you any power that you don’t now possess to choose the path you have been called to?

Are you holding out for a Word in “Watch Night” worship to confirm the calling and anointing that the Holy Spirit has already confirmed a thousand times?

No, you’re not.  Not really.

You know that the real change from old to new year doesn’t come from flipping a page on a calendar; it comes from shifting the mentality  that has held back your spirit.

Right now is the first moment of the next year of your life.

Resolve to be different from this moment forward.

Resolve to be better starting now.

Resolve to do what you should have been doing and seal your resolve by doing, not by drinking. 

Do some push-ups---- now.

Read your Bible ---- now.

Pray---- now.

Call, text, email, write, get up and go into the next room and tell the people you love how much you love them------ right now.

Throughout history and across cultures we’ve made New Year’s Day to be whatever day we wanted it to be.

Make NOW your New Year.

Happy New Year.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 10

Proverbs 29: 10     The bloodthirsty hate the blameless,but the upright seek his well-being.

Why did Cain get mad at Abel (Genesis 4) ?  Because Abel pleased God.

Why did King Saul hate David so much that he murdered a city full of priests (1 Samuel 22)?  Because David had pleased God.

Why did King Ahab call the prophet Elijah his enemy (1 Kings 21)?  Because Elijah spoke the truth of God.

Why did the false prophet Zedekiah slap the true prophet Micaiah (2 Chronicles 18)?

Why did the rulers of Jerusalem call Jesus a devil worshipper (Matthew 12: 22-30; Mark 7: 37)?  Because He was righteous, and He did all things well.

Now stop right there.  Before you insert your name in place of Jesus, Micaiah, Elijah, and the other righteous men who were persecuted by haters;  take a deeeeep breath----- and get over yourself.

Who are you mad at because their work was praised while yours was ignored?

Did you talk bad about ole boy’s/ ole girl’s friends, children, spouse, mama, or dog----- because you can’t stand ole boy/ ole girl so you don’t like whomever’s with them either?

Are you still mad at that old lady from 2 months who pointed out that your underwear was showing from over your pants (or from under your skirt) when in fact, your underwear was showing?  (How else did she know what brand you were wearing?)

Whom did you accuse of cheating, or sleeping with the boss, or getting somebody else to do their work, because “there’s no way that anybody is really that good at their job”?

Remember when you were so hurt that people can’t stop judging you for old stuff and recognize that you’re not that person anymore.  Well, why do you keep looking sideways at so-and-so and telling everybody about what he/she did back in 1998?

Instead of asking why other people can’t just be happy for you when good happens; ask yourself why you aren’t happy when there’s so much good happening to others around you.

You can’t fix them, but if you fix that about you---- you’ll feel much, much better.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.(Romans 12:15).

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116