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!
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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.
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*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
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Forgiveness Is For Giving
Luke 19:1-10
The tax collector Zacchaeus went out on a limb (literally) on the chance that Jesus would notice him and do whatever it took to make his life worth living. Children love this story about a man so small he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. I think you will love it, too.
May you have at least as much as Zacchaeus did to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day!
Listen to the GODcast!
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posted by Jack Buckley at
2:51 PM
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Anchors Aweigh
Denise (married to da nephew -- really!) sent this my way, and now I send it yours...
Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark!
1. Don't miss the boat.
2. Remember that we're all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built his boat.
4. Stay fit. When you're 60 years old someone may ask you to do something really big.
5. Don't listen to critics. Just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build your future on high ground.
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you're stressed, float a while.
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs, and the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you're with God there's always a rainbow waiting.
posted by Jack Buckley at
10:26 AM
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Out in the Cold For No Good Reason
Luke 15:11-32
This is the story of the Prodigal Son, a young man who left home and family behind for the "good life," only to wreck his life and lose everything. Returning home, he's happily surprised with a royal welcome instead of retribution. But that's not the end of the story.
Listen to the GODcast!
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The older brother wouldn't join the party.
Up to that last paragraph, Jesus' story was just about perfect.
Sad strange beginning -- The younger brother breaks Dad's heart by insisting on his share of the inheritance right now and riding off to eat, drink, and make merry.
Dramatic middle -- The playboy's money runs out, and so do his good-time friends. He ends up slopping pigs (a nice Jewish boy!) and starving in the bargain. He "comes to," shakes off his stupidity, and decides to go back home with his tail between his legs. He even makes up a penitent speech, rehearsing it over and over on the road.
Surprise upbeat ending -- Dad spots him on the horizon, runs out to hug and kiss him, and calls for every sign of honor to be lavished on our hero. "He's alive! He's home!! Let's party!!!" And they do, with great gusto.
The end. Not!
Like too many preachers, Jesus rushes right past his great punchline. He brings up the older son -- the guy who refuses to come in and enjoy the party for his rascally kid brother.
When the servants tell Dad the discordant news, he comes out to invite his son personally.
The reply is petulant. "I never left you. In fact, I've slaved away without a single complaint. And you never threw a party for me!"
Ol' Dad says, "You know, everything I have is yours. We could have had parties any time you wanted, but you never asked. It never even crossed your mind."
What's up with that?
Luke 15:1-2 says Jesus told this story to answer complaints by the good, dutiful, religious people who didn't like his public habits. "He spends much too much time with lowlifes and blatant sinners," they said. So what kind of holy man is he?!
Instead of grousing about grace (undeserved, unexpected kindness from God), Jesus seems to be saying, we'd all do well to recognize and celebrate it even when it lands on people we would never think to give it to. Undeserved... unexpected... by definition. Get it?
I don't know about you. But every time I think I've got that one nailed, somebody comes along to play Prodigal Son in my life. And I have to re-learn it all over again.
Truth be told, not one of us comes home to God without somehow walking in the tattered sandals of the younger son to get there. So why even try to wear the self-righteous mantle of his big brother?
It's dark and cold outside of God's Welcome-Home Party. And there's absolutely no reason for anyone to linger there. The doors are always open!
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:10 AM
Thursday, November 03, 2005
A Dangerous Prayer?
Psalm 51:1-12; Matthew 6:7-15
This week's recorded message even has a surprise ending -- at no extra cost!
Listen to the GODcast!
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The traveling salesman stopped at a farm all ready to make his pitch.
On the side wall of the old red barn he noticed a number of bullseye targets, all laid out in random sites and sizes. Upon closer examination he saw that each target was drilled dead center by a bullet hole.
He couldn't resist, after introducing himself, asking the the farmer who the ace shot was. "That'd be me," the old guy said.
"Well, how'd you get so good you could make a perfect bullseye every time?"
"Easy. After I took my shot, I just painted a target around the bullet hole."
I think many, if not most, of us go through life doing the same thing.
I mean, we find ways to make ourselves look better than we know we really are, hoping to impress others with our metaphorical marksmanship. Not necessarily to deceive them for unfair advantage. More to save ourselves from criticism, shunning, or outright abandonment.
Life is much more comfortable when we make every shot look like a bullseye.
I thought about this while preparing this week's message on forgiveness, which focused on Jesus' instruction to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." (See Matthew 6:7-15)
It's an interesting thing to think of sin as a matter of owing God (and people) something we haven't come through with. And it's a scary thing to think of asking God to forgive me what I owe God in the same way I forgive people who've spiritually short-changed me. What a dangerous prayer!
But the most basic Bible word for sin means "to miss the target."
Thus the silly bullseye story.
More often than not, more of us than not would rather redraw the target than admit we've just plain missed the mark. The inevitable result is that we also miss the joy of being forgiven, and being reconciled in the process.
How much better to say out loud, "I'm sorry," taking the chance that the one you've offended will want as much as you do to clear the deck for renewed fellowship.
When that actually happens, you'll find yourself so thankful that when it's your turn to forgive another the job won't be so hard.
Maybe that's what Jesus had in mind all along.
Knowing you're forgiven by God sets you free to be God's own kind of forgiver. With practice, you discover that you and God are closer to forgiving the same way.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:03 PM
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