Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
You have three ways to hear his weekly message:
- Read Pastor Jack's GODblog.
- Listen now to an audio of the scripture reading and Pastor Jack's sermon.
- Listen anytime. You choose the time and place. Download Pastor Jack's GODcast to your MP3 player.
Monday, November 28, 2005
We Light the Candle...
Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37
The season of Advent gives us a month of grace to help our hearts get ready for a Christmas shot through with spiritual meaning. As winter's long, dark, cold nights inch up on us, we re-live the world's long wait for Christ's arrival -- God's Light of the World to push back the darkness! This week's message picks up on a couple of key prophecies by Isaiah and Jesus about all that.
Listen to the GODcast!
_______________
Frank Love was a spiritual accident waiting to happen.
His Anglo father deserted him and his Native American mother early on. Living on the Omaha reservation, she couldn't support him, so he bounced around among relatives, friends, and boarding schools. At age 14 he lied about his age and got into the army, serving in Korea until he was discharged at 18.
With no real sense of direction he ended up in Phoenix with two of his uncles. One was a new Christian, studying the Bible at Cook Christian Training School, a Presbyterian ministry to Native Americans. Young Frank discovered things were different there. His people, he saw with glad surprise, were preaching and teaching and holding positions of influence. "People treated me with respect, like there was a place for me. This was an awakening, a personal renaissance."
The school helped him get a GED and he was on his way. Within a few years he had degrees from Cook and a theological seminary, and was ordained into the ministry. Decades later, he is famous among members of the Omaha Indian community, the Navaho Academy, and Boys' Town, as a dedicated educator and pastor.
The Rev. Dr. Frank Love is tireless in reminding Native American youth that they can escape the downward spiral of purposeless life that constantly tempts them to give up. "As Indians, you should not feel that you are guests in your own home," he urges. "You are not second-class citizens -- you were created in God's own image."
His motivational words are matched by his motivated life. From his own hands, a candle of hope is passed. The expanding circles of light, as one after another young man or woman believes his promise, help push back the darkness of despair.
This is what the Bible means when it speaks of God's Light entering the world at Christmas. In the bleak midwinter night, cold and dark and all too long, shines a light of hope: Immanuel -- God is with us! Each of us who trusts that word of promise carries its light away to brighten, lighten, and warm the waiting world.
_______________
*Special thanks to the Presbyterian Church (USA) "Christmas Joy Offering" folks for this story. Money they receive goes to support Cook College and other racial-ethnic ministries all across America.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:22 PM
<< Home
|
|
 |
|
|
