SKY, SEA, & LAND: DAYS TWO & THREE

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (Genesis 1: 6-8) 

Asteroid impacts churned the surface of the Earth, and volcanoes spewed out the insides of the world.  Gas, dust, and star-stuff blew into the sky, scorching, trying to burn air away, but the sky was so heavy.  The dense atmosphere weighted down the boiling seas of poisoned water and liquid rock, imprisoning oxygen in the toxic earth.  The world was suffocating, so God spoke.

Sky and sea ceased their battle.  They exchanged elements.  Methane above for oxygen below.  O₂ for CO₂.  The atmosphere slackened, and the liquid surfaces of the Earth calmed.

The lighter sky gave the earth some space, room to breathe, time to cool off.  The waters above met the waters below in peace and marked out an expansive, demilitarized zone on the surface of the earth.

But the author of Genesis noted in verses 6-8, on the 2^nd day of the vision, God didn’t declare His work to be good.  (Yes, I’ll wait while you read it again.)

On the 2^nd day, the world was all sky and sea, but the life God planned needed more.  

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.

God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1: 9-10)

Sky, sea, AND land.  Now, that was good.

It took two days for the author of Genesis to visualize how God had prepared the world to support the full complexity of life. 

Or to think of it another way, God showed the author (and us) that some good works require more time.  To do THIS thing right, to do it good, you may have to work twice as hard, twice as long as you did the previous time.

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”

One land?

In 1912, Alfred Wegner proposed the ridiculous idea that the continents were floating away from one another, AND in the distant past, all land had been connected in a single supercontinent. The consensus of the world’s scientists was that Wegner was an idiot. 

The consensus of the world’s scientists was wrong. 

In the 1960’s the new science of plate tectonics “discovered” that long ago,  the waters below the heavens were  gathered into one place so that the dry land, earth, appeared as a single mass.

Light, heavens, sea, and now, land.  Sunlight, air, water, and soil: all the things plants need to grow.   Microbes were fruitful and they multiplied.  One cell became many until there were enough cells together for Moses to see them sprouting with his naked eye.  Since the invention of the microscope 400 years ago, we have known by science, what 2,000 years ago, the church already understood by faith: that the worlds were framed by the word of God in such a way that the things which are seen are made of things which the naked eye cannot see (Hebrews 11:3).

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.  The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

There was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Genesis 1: 11-13)

On the 3^rd day, God showed the author of Genesis how life sprouted from primordial soil and sea beds.  The microscopic seeds of life God had planted blossomed into visible fruit. 

It took a while, but it was worth it. 

---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 .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

METHODISTS AND MONEY. #24, Blogging through the Articles of Religion

Article XXIV - Of Christian Men's Goods

The riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right, title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.

In the early days of the Christian movement in Jerusalem, believers “had all things in common, sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2: 44, 45)

By the end of Acts 4, donating 100% had become the norm in church culture.  Lay people did it.  Even up and coming preachers like Barnabas liquidated their assets and handed the money over to the apostles (Acts 4: 34-37).  Once giving at that level became the tradition, it stopped being about God to some some church-folks.  Giving became about how holy they LOOKED to everybody else.   

In Acts 5, a Christian couple, Ananias and his wife Sapphira, sold some land, and contribute part of the proceeds to the church.  Only, Ananias and Saphhira lied.  They said that they were contributing all of the money---- just like Barnabas ‘n’em*.

*’n’em also ‘nem = unauthorized contraction for “and them”

Long story short, God was pissed.  He struck husband and wife dead.  D-E-A-D.   But not because they gave less than 100%.  God was angry abot the lie, not the amount of the gift.    Peter said, “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:4)

“While it remained, was it not your own?”   

Yes it was.

“And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?”

Also, yes.

Barnabas. Ananaias.  Sapphira. And let’s not forget Lydia. 

In Acts 16, a successful businesswoman named Lydia became a Christian convert.  She gave moral and material support to Paul’s missionary work, but she didn’t sell her business or sign the profits over to the church.

The moral of the stories is: A congregation can pool its financial resources up to and including every dime each person makes, but they don’t have to.  God’s fine with any one in any congregation who opts out of direct deposit.   You don’t forfeit your salvation by declining to forfeit your check. 

(That said, I can’t think of one example since Acts 4 of religious collective economics that’s worked long-term.  It usually ends with an investigation, or gunfire.)

The church doesn’t own your money. 

But then again, if you’re a Chrisitian, neither do you.

Stewardship

The key word for Christians and money is STEWARDSHIP.  Stewards exercise authority over their Master’s goods for purposes defined by their Master.  For followers of Jesus, money is a gift that God gives us to use for godly purposes.   

Based on Jesus’ parables on stewardship, John Wesley preached a sermon called “The Use of Money.” The message presented “three plain rules” for godly stewardship of money.  The three rules are inseparable.  They’re effective only when considered as one comprehensive rule:  Gain all you can; save all you can; give all you can.

Gain all you can gain but not at the expense of life, health, mind, or the good of our neighbors.

Save all you can by avoiding expense that feed gluttony, vanity, pride, the desire to impress others, and sensuality (indulgence of any senses: taste, smell, sight, etc.). 

Giving begins with the tithe.  Begins.  Wesley himself lived off close to 10% of his every increasing income and gave away the rest.    Giving begins with the church.  Begins.  Wesley didn’t give exclusively to his church. He probably gave more to the needy individuals who crossed his path than he formally contributed to Methodist or Anglican activities. 

Now go back to Acts 2.

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. (verses 44, 45)

The first church’s budget was something like 100% charity and benevolence. 

The Biblical background of Article 24 calls on the church to minimize its overhead while maximizing our generosity.   

 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). After the Christian has provided for the family, the creditors, and the business, the next obligation is to use any money that is left to meet the needs of others. (Charles White, “What Wesley Practiced and Preached About Money” )

Wesley preached that every Christian should:

 First, provide things needful for yourself; food to eat, raiment to put on, whatever nature moderately requires for preserving the body in health and strength.

Secondly, provide these for your wife, your children, your servants, or any others who pertain to your household.

If when this is done there be an overplus left, then ‘do good to them that are of the household of faith.’

If there be an overplus still, ‘as you have opportunity, do good unto all men.’ In so doing, you give all you can; nay, in a sound sense, all you have.

All we have.

All I have.

All you have.

Let us pray.

---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 .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

If... Then...

This is what He said:  "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

This is what we hear:  "if people who call on My name will pray then I will hear from heaven, and will forget their sin and heal their land."

Notice the difference?   Read them again.

We expect----heck, some people stand up and DECLARE--- that God will fix what’s wrong for us.   Why? 

Why would He?

Are we called by His name? 

To bear His name is to be a member of His household.  To be a member of His household is to obedient to His authority.  Are we obedient to His authority?  Really?  Even when He authoritatively tells us to do what we don’t wanna and to quit doing what we enjoy?

Are we the people called by His name, or are we just the people who call His name when we want something?  Cause those people are houseguests, not member of the household. 

Do we humble ourselves?  Or do we exalt ourselves as blessed, highly favored, anointed, royal, etc., etc.?

I’m not saying that the saints aren’t all of those wonderful, Biblically rooted things.  I’m simply pointing out that when we focus on the exalted aspects of our Divine identity, we’re not in the place where God said He’d hear, forgive, and heal.

We pray.  Oh, we do pray.  But when we pray, do we seek His face, or do we seek His fortune?  Do we want a deeper experience and understanding of God for God’s sake?  Or, do we want deeper blessings from God for our sake?

Last questions.  Be honest, now. 

Are we turning from our wicked ways? 

Are we, or are we turning around looking for ways to justify our wickedness?  Do we come to Him weeping and confessing, “Lord, we have done wrong.  Lord, I have done wrong”?  Or, do we come to him with 3-ring binders full of reasons why what we’ve done shouldn't be called wrong and shouldn’t be held against us?

(It’s the White man’s fault. 

I was born this way. 

My parents gave me PTSD. 

My student loan is too big. 

My income is too small. 

Other people are worse than me.

Obama.)

How can you or I turn from our wicked ways when we don’t see what’s so wicked about the way we are? 

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Now here’s the hard part.

God will hear our prayers.

God will forgive our sin.

God will heal the brokenness and injustice in our land.

But first…

But first, we have to:

1)      Submit to His authority

2)      Genuinely humble rather than exalt ourselves

3)      Love Him and seek Him alone

4)      Be real about how wicked and stupid WE have been

---then He  will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sin and heal our land.

And if not, then He won’t; and 50 years after this movement we’ll be talking about how sad it is that nothing has really changed.    

---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 .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

HOW TO GET TO WHERE WE’RE GOING or YOU CAN’T LIVE THERE IF YOU CAN’T GET THERE.

Sometimes the problem isn’t the problem.  Sometimes the problem before the problem is the problem.   How do you deal with the obstacles between you and the place where your main battle and blessing lie?

You’ll see the answer for the church, for individuals, and for this moment in our nation’s transition.  The message is called between HOW TO GET TO WHERE WE’RE GOING or YOU CAN’T LIVE THERE IF YOU CAN’T GET THERE. 

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---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 .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

A LAMENT FOR MY GRANDFATHERS' WORLD

Only in the last decade of my life have I begun to fully realize what phenomenal men my grandfathers were.  

They were the sole bread-winners of their families, but both of them lived and died without credit cards, payday loans, or second mortgages. (Grandpa Anderson never even had a 1^st mortgage.)  To their combined 16 children, my grandfathers both left land, not debt. 

They bought property, built homes, raised children, and sent many of those kids off to college.  And they, Black men, accomplished all of this in south Mississippi during the years of overt, violent segregation.

Neither of my grandfathers had any specialized skills, professional certificates, degrees, or even a high school diploma.  They weren’t inventors, investors, financial geniuses, or marketing gurus. 

They were honest, strong men who worked hard and didn’t do a lot of stupid stuff with their money.

That’s it.  They worked----- hard and they didn’t do a lot of stupid stuff with their money. 

I had two epiphanies about my grandpas’ financial lives:

1st. What they did in their time was totally--- ORDINARY.  Most of the men (the Black men) of their generation in my hometown whom I knew had similar educational levels and left similar inheritances to their children.

2^nd. What they did, they could not do today.

Barring an oil strike in one’s backyard, a winning lottery ticket, or a highly successful lawsuit; what are the chances that a 8^th grade dropout with no investment portfolio and no specialized could acquire a 16 lot subdivision and keep it ---debt-free.

Wait.  Don’t just repeat that American dream stuff about hard work and dedication.  Stop and think through the scenario of an uneducated man, a regular guy, starting off right now in this economy.  Run the scenarios in your head and tell me how he ends up.  I’ll wait.

……..Well?

Exactly. 

He’ll end up homeless, addicted, imprisoned, indebted, dependent on charity, and/ or dead at a very young age.

Here’s the reality:  It’s not enough anymore to just be an honest, hard-working man who won’t do stupid stuff with his money.

And that means that most of the approximately 39 million adult American citizens who don’t have a high school diploma ARE SCREWED ---- unless they get some other educational or professional credential.

Yeah, yeah.  They should’ve stayed in school.  Too late.  They didn’t.

Riightt.  They ought to go get their GED’s.    I teach GED classes.  It’s harder than standard high school graduation exams.

And really, the fact that when you think of a “solution” it involves acquiring some new educational credential is pretty much my point.

It’s not enough to be an honest, hard-working citizen who doesn’t do stupid stuff with his/her money.

But that’s what tens of millions of Americans are.  They couldn’t (or didn’t) succeed in our educational institutions but they are decent, honorable people who just want to work. 

40-50% (depending on the study) of college graduates can’t are unemployed.  And as of 2012, 284,000 college graduates were working at or below the minimum wage.

So, who’s going to hire someone with an 8^th grade education when they can hire somebody with a master’s degree for the same pay?

The Bible says that If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.  (2 Thessalonians 3: 10)

But what about those who will work, but can’t?

You can’t just walk off into the woods with an ax and a rifle and start clearing land and hunting game.   All of the land in America is either privately owned, municipally zoned, or protected by the office of something or other.

You can’t just walk into a store with a help wanted sign, give the owner a firm handshake and good eye contact, and start working.    The manager has to do a background check, a drug screen, and e-verify your citizenship; and that's only after you complete the application online and IF you make it through the automated screening process.

And if you have any of the following items on your record, it doesn’t much matter how much you’ve matured, changed, paid your debts, or proven yourself---- you’re screwed and burned.

·         felony conviction

·         revoked/ suspended driver’s license

·         drug use in the last 14-90 days (depending on the sensitivity of the screening instrument)

·         no current permanent address

·         no email address

·         bad credit report

·         no credit report

·         any conviction for “any offense other than a minor traffic violation”

·         less than 3 verifiable references

·         absent or spotty past job history

Doesn’t matter how hard you WILL work.  If you have to check “Yes” to any of the above boxes, you probably CAN’T work.

Contrary to the opinion of many, the chronically unemployed can’t just “get a job.”  And when the economy improves it won’t improve or the people whose resumes look like the resumes my grandfathers never had to write.

My grandfathers were decent, dignified, and dedicated men.  They went to church. They were married to the same woman all of their lives.  They owned guns and they paid their taxes.  They were all that an American is supposed to have to be.

But if they started off today, my grandfathers would be unemployed, or homeless, or criminals.

Now, this is the place where I tell you my solution.

This post is not a solution.  It is a lament.

Woe!  Woe unto the American who is JUST honest, hard-working, and won’t do stupid stuff with his money.

---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 Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, 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).

Email 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.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

FROM POTENTIAL TO POWER

There are so many great things that the church could be, but isn’t.  How do we become all that God has called us to be?  The answers are crucial for all Christians collectively and individually.   The answers can be found in the life of an Old Testament leader named Joshua.

Hear the answers in the life of Joshua in a message delivered at Williamson Chapel in Nashville, TN. The sermon is called: MOVING FROM POTENTIAL TO POWER

Listen well.

Listen well.

---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 Hall Memorial CME Church and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

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

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

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to:
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116