Celebrate!

Such a joyful, hope-filled word! At Celebration United Methodist we find reason to hope and take joy in the gospel of Jesus as it can transform lives and communities. We believe that the depth of God's love is so great that we can only grow in that love. As a church, we seek to nurture each other in our daily  lives of faith through worship and small group studies and intentional prayer. It is through our daily interactions with one another and with Jesus that we are grounded in Jesus all the more and transformed and empowered to change the community in the love of Christ. 

Thoughts from Pastor Holloman

There are days that I wonder how we became so busy.  Do you have those days where you think you real job should be called, “fireman,” because it seems that all you are doing is putting out one fire after another.  And while you are in the midst of doing it all there are people just pushing for your time while others are seeming to laugh at you thinking you are a fool for trying to do what you are doing.

Well, if you have had these kind of days, you are in good company because even Jesus had these kind of days 2000 years ago.  All three Gospels record this wonderful little story some have called, “The miracle on the way to a miracle.”  A man named Jarius had a daughter who was very sick.  She was on the verge of death.  He came and begged Jesus to come heal his daughter.  And so Jesus agreed and with the man headed to his home. 

If the Gospel writers had ended the story with Jesus going and healing the little girl, it would have been one more miracle story about Jesus.  But this story is different.  It is different in that we see the demands put on Jesus.  Mark and Luke both tell us that as Jesus went on his way, large crowds pressed in on him.  So much so that when a woman who had suffered from a bleeding problem for 12 years touched him, his disciples wondered how he knew someone had touched him because the crowd was pressing in on him so.
 
This image of the crowd pressing in is how all to often we feel when demands of home and or work become elevated, or when the bills seem to far exceed the income, or in these days of high unemployment where some don’t even know what tomorrow might bring.  How does one cope when life is demanding, when life presses in, or when all the news is bad news.

 
I think that where we can really look to is “How did Christ handle these situations?”  The first thing we see is that Christ never waivered in who he was.  He would not let the crowds stop him from reaching out to the woman who had suffered for all those years.  Nor would he listen to the jeers and laughter as he entered Jarius’ home after being told that they little girl had died before he got there and he was claiming that she was only asleep.  When life presses in, we must always remain who we are and not try to be someone else to please others.

And we see that Jesus was lifted by a small group of friends who stuck with him, no matter what.  Mark tells us that he entered the room of the little girl with only Peter, James and John as this is all he allowed to go with him.  We need close friends to help us keep life in perspective.  There is great power in the right circle of friends.

But mostly, Jesus stayed connected to God.  He always made sure he had time to be with the Father, whether in prayer or mediation.  He knew that the troubles we often try to kill our selves over will always be there.  Each of us can probably improve in one or all three of these areas.  We need to be honest with ourselves and our limitations.  We need to be with people who love us and care for us.  And we need to take time to be with God – to read Scripture and Pray.  It is these things that will help us find the strength to survive the periods of life where the demands seem to exceed our abilities.

Blessings