NOW, I REMEMBER

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this IN REMEMBRANCE OF  Me.” (Mark 14: 19)

Polls reveal that many, if not most, Americans don’t know the purpose of Memorial Day.  For most of us who do know, our celebrations make it look like we don’t.

We grill.  We drink.  We hang out.  We play.  We sleep in. And we do it in the name of fallen soldiers.  The one thing most of us don’t do on Memorial Day is anything that actually honors fallen soldiers.   

Like I did this morning, most American wake up on Memorial Day thankful for the day off but not thoughtful of the blood, and death, and sacrifice that purchased the liberty that we enjoy.

With the best of intentions, we set aside a time for celebration and remembrance; but over time we emphasize the memorial less and the celebration more. 

We celebrate, but we don't remember.

What Americans have done with Memorial Day is what New Testament Christians did with Communion.  

Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is a re-enactment, a celebration, and a remembrance of Jesus’ blood, death, and sacrifice by which he purchased our spiritual liberty. 

As citizens of the Kingdom of God it is our duty to remember and, as the consecrating liturgy of my church says, “to continue a perpetual memory of that His precious death until His coming again.”

But over time---

Over a very short time, the the New Testament church focused more on the celebration than the memorial.

So the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:

Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. ( 1 Corinthians  11:20-21)

They used Communion Holiday weekend as an excuse to eat, to drink, to hang out, and to generally, “turn up” ---- in the name of Jesus.  And let’s remember that these communion parties were held at the site, often a private home, that served as their church. 

Paul sarcastically, but seriously, asked:

I can’t believe it! Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church? Why would you actually shame God’s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I’m not going to stand by and say nothing. ( 1 Corinthians  11: 22, The Message)

Paul’s solution was to recount the origin of the Lord’s Supper, to bring to their remembrance what they were supposed to be commemorating.

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26)

History----yes, history---- is the key to regaining the sanctity of our commemorations.

Paul got the Corinthians to  stop chewing and lounging and really think about what Jesus endured for them.  He  made them replay in their minds the Hell that Jesus went through so they wouldn’t have to go to Hell.

And he said, “Now, each of you, examine yourself as you participate in this commemoration.” (verse 28)

“You don’t want others telling you how to honor this day?  Fine.  Judge yourself for yourself.” (verses 31, 32)

The chapter concludes:

Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. (verses 33, 34)

The best way to remember sacrifice is to make sacrifices for others.  To inconvenience yourself so that someone with less can have more.  Everything else we can figure out later.

So, when I come to our next Communion at church, I’m going to remember what we’re remembering, and I’m not going to be satisfied with the ritual and a quick dinner for myself afterwards. 

I don’t know what it’ll be yet, but I realize now that I have to do something, something more, something sacrificial for others.

Now I remember.  I remember what past soldiers, past saints, and my eternal Savior have done for me.

I pray that I will never forget again.

And that neither will you.

---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

YAY, I WIN! YAY, YOU LOSE!

  

When we've been wronged we want justice.  Actually a lot of the time, we don't want justice. We want vengeance. And we want God to give it to us.

And God promises to deliver.  In the New Testament, Paul referenced the Lord’s assurance that:

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;

Their foot shall slip in due time;

For the day of their calamity is at hand,

And the things to come hasten upon them.’ (Deuteronomy 32: 35)

David was so happy about it that he wrote these lyrics: :

 It is God who avenges me,

And subdues the peoples under me;

He delivers me from my enemies.

You also lift me up above those who rise against me;

You have delivered me from the violent man.

Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles,

And sing praises to Your name.  (2 Samuel 22: 48-50/ Psalm 18: 47-49)

Like David, we rejoice when we win.

Or, are we rejoicing that our adversaries have lost?

Does your praise mean, “Thank you, Lord, that I won”?

Or does your praise mean, “Thank you Lord, that they lost”?

Nope.  It’s not the same thing.  Not according to the Bible.

David’s son, Solomon, wrote:

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him,

And He turn away His wrath from him. (Proverbs 24: 17,18)

God very specifically states that He doesn’t like it when we like it when our enemies catch a beat-down.  In fact, it bothers God so much to see us gloating that He might stop in the middle of administering said beat-down and just let your enemy go ---- unpunished.

Jesus said,  “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” --- Jesus (Luke 6: 27-28)

You can’t honestly love, pray for, and bless people while you’re celebrating their destruction.

Of all David’s enemies, the one who caused him the most stress was his predecessor, King Saul.   David was unwaveringly loyal to Saul, but the old king was psychotically jealous of David. (It all started in 1 Samuel 18: 5-9.)  

Saul tried to set him up to be killed in battle.  He tried to have him assassinated.  He threw a spear at David with premeditated intent to drive it through the young man’s chest so hard that David would be left hanging from the far wall.   He tried that twice.

But God was on David’s side.  God put Saul in a completely vulnerable position where David could have easily killed the crazy old king.  The Lord did that twice (1 Samuel 24 & 26),

But David wouldn’t take the shot. 

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath (Romans 12: 19)

Way back in the Old Testament, David understood that vengeance belonged to God.  God would deliver payback--- in God’s own time.    

…for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12: 19b)

David sincerely loved his enemy.  And when bad things happen to someone you love, you don’t rejoice; you mourn.  When David heard that Saul had been killed in battle,

David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.  And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening… (2 Samuel 1: 11, 12)

David became king.  Saul was killed, but not by David or David’s orders.  David totally won because he didn’t try to make his enemy totally lose.

Maybe that’s why we can’t completely win.  Maybe that’s why we have to keep fighting enemies we’d already beaten:  because we’re so happy to see our enemies fall.

And when we celebrate their defeat, God sees and it displeases Him and He stops beating them down, and we have to deal with them all over again.

Kinda explains a lot of American history.  

Kinda explains a lot of personal history, too.

   

Be glad you got the job.  Don't be glad them other fools are still broke.

Be happy that your son's team won.  Don't be happy that the opposing quarterback got hurt.

Thank God for the undeserved redemption and grace He purchased for you by the blood of Jesus Christ.  But don't do the that's-what-you-heathens-get dance when you hear about a Muslim or Hindhu girl disfigured by an acid attack or honor killing.

Cry out for deliverance.  God will answer.  Thank God, and move forward.  But don’t gloat.  Don’t brag.   Don’t forget that your salvation isn't justice.  It's mercy.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.  (Matthew 5:7)

Be merciful to your enemies.  Treat your haters with love.    

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;

And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,

And the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25: 21, 22)

Love those who want you to lose. 

It’s the only sure for you way to win.

---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

WHO'S THAT TEMPLE FOR?

Why do we build churches?  What kind of church does God want us to build?  How can we be sure?  What happens if we’re wrong?

These are the questions that fundraisers in the CME church face.  These are the questions that believers have faced since the days of King David.  The right answers can elevate a ministry.  The wrong ones can tear a church apart.

In a message originally delivered to missionaries in the CME Church, Rev. Anderson Graves takes us back to the original church building project and digs deep for God’s answers.  The message is called: WHO’S  THAT TEMPLE FOR?

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

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

HEROES AS VILLAINS

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. (Ephesians 2: 1-3)

At 43 and and a couple of weeks away from being the father of a high school senior, I see things differently than I used to.  Even the stuff I'd seen before I see differently. 

When I was 18, I watched “Tango and Cash,” a buddy-cop action movie.  I never thought it would win an Oscar, but I remember thinking that it was fun.  I remember being unquestionably sold that the main characters, played by Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, were good guys.  They were good cops.

I watched a rerun of the movie last night, and now I see it differently. 

About  30 minutes into the “Tango and Cash” rerun, I was rooting for the heroic fictional detectives when I realized that the movie police had killed more people and blown up more property than the movie villains.

We know that the movies and other media glorify violence.  Lots of research and not a small amount of common sense (i.e. why do companies pay billions in media advertising if it doesn’t influence behavior) demonstrate that media glorification encourages criminal violence.  You know, the bad stuff that bad guys do.

But what about the bad stuff that good guys do?

If you were a kid who grew up on "Dirty Harry," "Lethal Weapon," Steven Seagal flicks, or "Bad Boys," what did you learn about being a cop?  Hollywood told you that GOOD cops shoot lots of people, and they beat up suspects for information, and sometimes the really heroic cops“go rogue and deliver their own brand of justice.”  (You have to read that last part in a deep, dramatic, movie narrator voice.)

Most real life police officers never shoot anybody, and they don't use the right cross as their primary interrogation technique

But if you believe the screens, they’re supposed to.

Just like the screens tell us that:

Rappers are SUPPOSED TO BE drug dealers, murderers, and misogynists.

Politicians are SUPPOSED TO BE corrupt profiteers covering up their crimes by murdering innocent people.

Preachers are SUPPOSED TO BE con-men and perverts who believe in nothing.

Artists are SUPPOSED TO BE drug-addicts and sex-addicts.

Fathers are SUPPOSED TO BE clueless incompetents.

The media has contaminated our cultural mindsets and EVERYBODY drinks the tainted water, including the people who want to grow up to be heroes.  

Hollywood would turn us all into villains.  And it is a masterfully directed plan.

Consider this: 73% of Americans are Christians, but the majority of mainstream media portrayals of Christians, including Fox News' choices for interviews, are negative.  How can the most populous group in America be the most ridiculed group in America?  Who's running the show(s)? 

Ephesians 2 calls satan “the prince of the power of the air.”  The spiritual prince of the airways is “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”

Evil influence, evil intent has formed a media superculture that promotes, as Ephesians 2: 1-3 says:

-          the lusts of our flesh

-          desires of the flesh

-          desires of the mind

-          WRATH

Hollywood casts us as heroes but directs us to act as only villains do.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5: 20)

The closing verses of Isaiah 5 prophesy the consequences of playing the role that the prince of the airways has written for us:

-          Corruption to the core/ root (v. 24)

-          Rejection of God’s moral authority (v. 24)

-          Death in the streets (v. 25)

-          Invasion and attack from foreign lands (v. 26)

-          Fear of a ruthless and relentless external enemy (v. 27-30)

Does any of that sound familiar, America?  Maybe things aren't getting out of hand.  Maybe things are following a very, very old script.  

There's a scene in the Denzel Washington movie 'The Book of Eli" where the hero is talking to the female protagonist, Solara.

Solara: I want to come with you.

Eli: No, you don't.

Solara: I hate it here.

Eli: Then change it.

If you don't like where our/ your/ the story is going then  it's time change directors.  We can return to the Bible and choose Jesus' directions over the current revision to social acceptability on TV and online.  

Hollywood is what Hollywood is.  They play their role. 

But if those roles are written by a diabolical author, then Christians cannot accept Hollywood's definition of a villain nor its definition of a hero.  Both are written to achieve the same conclusion to the story.

Pull your role from another script.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.  (Psalm 119: 9)

Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You.

Blessed are You, O Lord!

Teach me Your statutes. (Psalm 119: 11, 12)

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6: 68

 

---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

WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW & MAMA CAN’T TELL YOU

Mothers and mother-figures are known as givers of good advice.  Some people come to depend on these women for guidance.  But sometimes even Mama doesn’t have the answer.

When your situation is a crisis, and you don’t have a solution, and the advice of your most trusted advisers has failed; what do you do then.

The sermon was originally preached on Mother’s Day 2015, but the Word is relevant for all of us right now. The message is called: WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW & MAMA CAN’T TELL YOU.

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

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

DEAR GRIEVING MOTHERS

Adam & Eve Mourning Abel painted by Louis-Ernest Barrias

Thus says the Lord:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

Lamentation and bitter weeping,

Rachel weeping for her children,

Refusing to be comforted for her children,

Because they are no more.”

Thus says the Lord:

“Refrain your voice from weeping,

And your eyes from tears;

For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,

And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

There is hope in your future, says the Lord,

That your children shall come back to their own border. (Jeremiah 31: 15-17)

Dear Grieving Mother,

Let me tell you a true story.  It happened a long time ago, but it may sound familiar.

In a close knit community, a young man was killed.

It came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4: 8)

A brother from the community was stopped and questioned.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” (verse 9)

He denied responsibility, but the evidence against him was overwhelming. 

Cain said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

And the Lord replied, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” (verses 9b, 10)

The brother was convicted of murdering one of his own.  His future was ruined.  All of his great potential for success taken away.

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. (v. 11, 12)

The sentence for his crime was life.  He would never see his home or family again.

A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. (v. 12)

He appealed.

And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! …it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (v. 13, 14)

And the judge commuted his sentence, but the leniency of the new punishment didn’t diminish the pain orbiting around his crime.

And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.  (v. 15)

The murderer’s  descendants perpetuated and exasperated the cycle of violence and self-destruction against their young men.

Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.  Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (v. 23, 24)

This is the life and legacy of Cain, the original murderer.  To us Cain was just plain bad.

But not to his mama. 

He was the first child.  More importantly, he was HER first child.  Eve rejoiced when Cain was born.  She gave him a name that means “possession” or “to acquire.”  He was hers.  He was Mama’s precious baby.  Mama’s little man.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” (Genesis 4: 1)

Cain was his mother’s pride and her joy.

Imagine her love for him and the son who followed.  Now, imagine her pain when she had to bury one son and lose another to the justice system. 

Cain’s judge was God Himself.  There was no corruption in the ruling.  Cain’s punishment was both just and merciful. But do you think that made Eve feel any better?  Do you think Adam grieved any less because the results were “just”?

 Was Cain’s mother able to move on?  Yes. 

Was she able to get over it?

Never.

Adam and Eve eventually had another son.  Eve named this one Seth, which means “compensation.”  The new baby was supposed to make up for her loss.   Indeed, God made Seth a special blessing to Father Adam and Mama Eve.  He was a good kid and a great father.  Their grandbabies through Seth “began to call on the name of the Lord.”  (verse 26)

But Eve never got over the babies she’d lost.  Even in the sweet moments after her “compensation” came into the world, the first mother remembered Abel.  She remembered Cain.  (verse 25)

The writer(s) of Genesis weren’t there when all of this happened.  Adam and Eve probably didn’t leave journals behind.  Perhaps their stories were passed down through oral history.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit revealed it all through visions of the past.  (If God can accurately reveal the future through prophecy it’s can’t be MORE difficult for Him to accurately reveal the past.)

Whatever the mechanism, God wanted this tragic narrative preserved and passed to us.  Seth himself is long gone.  Cain’s line was destroyed in the Flood. So what is God’s point for going through the trouble of telling their story?

In part, so grieving mothers and fathers today know that their stories are not theirs alone.  Your pain is personal, but it isn’t original. 

Whether you lost your child to miscarriage, sickness, accident, violence, criminal justice, or however --- you are not the first parent whom God has comforted through such a time.

The fallen-ness of this sinful world makes such tragedy possible.  On the grandest scale it is inevitable.  But God is still present, and active, and able to bring good even after the worst possible bad has happened.

The mother and father in this and many other tragic tales in Scripture were part of the Messianic line.  Thus the Bible proves that God won’t let your great pain be the end of your place in His great plan.  He will give you “compensation.”

Such blessing isn’t always in the body of another child. But your “compensation” is available in your gifts, your example, your enhanced compassion and sensitivity, your deepened surrender to God. 

Remember that the “gift” of another son to Adam and Eve was also the calling to serve as parents.  Don’t miss your “compensation” because it’s packaged as your SERVICE.

Like Eve, you will never forget.  Like Eve, you can forge ahead.  Like the first mother, you may never completely “move on,” but you can still move forward.   God has a plan and you’re part of it. 

Dear weeping mother,

God wants to bring forth joy and greatness from you.  He wants to give you a future and a hope.

He can.  He’s done it before.

---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