First time in Mt. Sterling Legion…across the road, playing in a rock band.
Then every boy from Perry had to date a Mt. Sterling girl and playing rock and roll was a good way to meet girls.
I never thought I’d be standing in the pulpit after Louie Louie.
* Deuteronomy 10:12 . . . what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?
Is that simple or what? …Fear the Lord, walk in His ways, love him and serve him. How did it get so complicated? What kind of weird and tricky God would give us a plan of salvation, and then make it so complicated we couldn’t understand it?
Summer camp at Green Pastures…all denominations…Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, Seventh-Day Adventists. Invariably kids will talk about the differences in their religion and confusion reigns. . .it’s our job to simplify things. . .to get back to the basics of God’s word. . to bring us together as one.
Life used to be simpler…I’d go to the post office and get my mail. Last week my email went down…called Cory in S’field…got inside my computer….
Just because life gets more complicated, don’t let that happen to your relationship to God. Simplicity is good. The plan of salvation is simple.
We have simple roots around here…
Brown County was named after Jacob Brown. . . born 1775… Raised as a Quaker in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Quaker: simplicity…no buttons, no pockets, grave markers flat “Thee” and “Thou” to avoid “Mister” or “Mrs.” or “Doctor” Not that these things were evil…but they took our focus off God. Interesting. . . When the Pope spoke in Washington this week he made the same statement about our witness: “Our witness is not what we say, but what we do.” The goal of a Quaker. . .to make life better for mankind. To them, your witness is what you do. . . . simply.
Jacob Brown graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, taught school. . . bought land in New York, developed it, started a mill and a store. ..always believed in the simplicity of life. Quakers believe in the pure simplicity of God.
Learned to be a soldier by being secretary to Alexander Hamilton, the guy on your ten-dollar bill. Commissioned as a captain then promoted to colonel…
But he was promoted for a very interesting reason. . . He refused conduct expensive military parades in times of peace. Remember: he was a Quaker. . .against all war. . .but he did his duty as an American…wounded twice… President James Monroe made him commanding general of all American forces. . . and he was against war! His first-born son died in an ice-skating accident, his next two sons, Jacob and William died young, and his fourth son became a lieutenant colonel in the Civil War.
His five daughters all married military men. . . but he was against war. When he died in 1828 his body was carried down Pennsylvania Avenue on the shoulders of a detachment of U.S. Marines and the entire government shut down for his funeral.
A simple man doing big things. . . Jacob Brown. Isn’t that all God wants of us?
Stuck in a closet with Mr. Rogers. . .MacMurray
An ordained minister. Tom Brokow of NBC: “Mister Rogers was an ordained minister, but he never talked about God on his program. He didn’t need to.”
When kids came home after school. . . a day that might have been filled with bullying, anxiety, broken friendships.. . Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was a safe place to be. . Like being with God.
Fred Rogers started out as a puppeteer on a children’s show, but wanted a way to teach kids about the Holy Spirit. He enrolled in seminary. The ordination board didn’t know what to do with a man who didn’t want to pastor a church, but instead minister to kids through TV. He convinced them that the simplicity of God could be taught with a TV show and they ordained him into the Presbyterian Church.
He arose at 5 every morning to read the Bible and pray. . wrote all 900 episodes himself, played the music He said, “The space between the television set and the child is holy ground.”
The simplicity of God.
St. Francis.. “Preach the gospel at all times. . .when necessary, use words.”
My brother’s youngest son. . .right on the border of entering school at his age. . . so he held him out of school one more year. He wanted him to have one more year of Mr. Rogers…graduated valedictorian of JHS.
Two years ago one of my former students was ordained as a minister and he asked me to come play the organ for the service… A huge church in Peoria…. Piano, pipe organ, choir… Fourteen ministers in robes…. Two bishops Flowers everywhere
Then the next morning I did the service at the Timewell Baptist… A local farmer called us to order, a Brown Co. teacher read the scripture, another lady had the children’s sermon, then four men who weren’t especially comfortable doing so, formed a choir and sang.
And I sat there thinking. . . where was God most present?
The simplicity of God.
God is one thing… and one thing only. . .not complicated. . The root of all love. Not a Republican nor a Democrat. . . One thing. . .the simplicity of God.
Lots of political candidates will claim that God is on their side in the next year. Some may be telling the truth. . . many won’t know what they’re talking about.
Wasn’t it fascinating what happened when Pope Francis landed in Washington this week? W
Pope Francis has taken the heart of America. When he got off the plane in Washington…met the Pres, his family, VP…seemed polite but rather tired and bored. . . then he saw the people behind the rope line and his eyes lit up.
We were all hungry for a hero. . . a hero who was a man of God.
Simple people. . . a simple Pope. . .an uncomplicated God.
There are many denominations present today. . . each varies from the others in a few details. . But if we could all get to the simplicity of following God, then there would be only one denomination. . . God’s
I am blessed…we are blessed. . . I left Arenzville this morning and the traffic wasn’t bad at all. . .I didn’t have any traffic jams in Meredosia. . .When I climbed out of the Illinois River Bottom and came to Versailles there were no six-lane highways full of traffic. . .I made it all the way through Herseman hitting every stoplight just right, and when I cruised by DOT Foods all the semi traffic was parked in a long row of blue. Even the Tastee Treat had parking space.
But when we leave here today we’ll check our IPhones…we’ll see if we got any text messages, we’ll go home and turn on the ballgames, watch the commercials, and before we know it we’ll be sucked right back into the busy-ness of the world.
Unless . . . unless we keep our focus on God. . .the God of simplicity. . .the simplicity of God.
Heather Baccus…New Salem
To me: the funniest story in the Bible. 9th chapter of John. Jesus healed the blind man. . .then his friends tried to trick him, asking him how it happened. He said, “I don’t know. I was blind and now I can see.”
Simplicity
In First Corinthians 2:2 Paul said, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
PRAY