September 15, 2009

Number 37

VIEWPOINT

A young boy by the name of James had a desire to be the most famous manufacturer and salesman of cheese in the world.  He planned on becoming rich and famous by making and selling cheese and began with a little buggy pulled by a pony named Paddy.

After making his cheese, he would load his wagon and he and Paddy would drive down the streets of Chicago to sell the cheese.  As the months passed, the young boy began to despair because he was not making any money, in spite of his long hours and hard work. One day he pulled his pony to a stop and began to talk to him. He said, “Paddy, there is something wrong. We are not doing it right.  I am afraid we have things turned around and our priorities are not where they ought to be.  Maybe we ought to serve God and place him first in our lives.”

The boy drove home and made a covenant that for the rest of his life he would first serve God and then would work as God directed.  Many years after this, the young boy, now a man, commented, “I would rather be the most insignificant member in the church than to head the greatest corporation in America.  My first job is serving Jesus.”

So, every time you take a take a bite of Philadelphia Cream cheese, sip a cup of Maxwell House, mix a quart of Kool-Aid, slice up a DiGiorno Pizza, cook a pot of Macaroni & Cheese, spread some Grey Poupon, stir a bowl of Cream of Wheat, slurp down some Jell-O, eat the cream out of the middle of an Oreo cookie, or serve some Stove Top, remember a boy, his pony named Paddy, and the promise little James L. Kraft made to serve God and work as He directed.

The passion that James L. Kraft had in his life for serving God is good an example for everyone to follow.  When we serve God first, He is honored and others are blessed.  That is the measure of true spiritual passion – God is honored and others are blessed.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday with a Bible, a smile and a positive word!  RA

Praying “Thy Kingdom Come”

 “THY WILL BE DONE” — but in fact we are thinking:  “Our will be done,” and thus this third petition of the Lord’s Prayer is first of all a kind of judgment on us, a judgment of our faith. (Alexander Schmemann, Our Father)

LORD, may your grace help me to want what you want, to prefer what you prefer. (Dom Hélder Câmara, Through the Gospel with Dom Hélder Câmara)

I NOW SEE that this prayer is a cry of hope and yearning, a sigh of longing, even a despairing plea . . . all rooted in God’s hope. (Arthur Paul Boers, Lord, Teach Us to Pray)

GOD’S KINGDOM is not a place, but rather a relationship.  It exists wherever people enthrone Jesus as lord of their lives. (J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ)

AS CHRISTIANS, we are not opposed to boundaries.  The gap between the world and the kingdom of God ought to be made clear. . . .  While we are not opposed to boundaries, God’s kingdom enables us to be opposed to the way the world sets up boundaries — on the basis of gender, class, race, economics, or accent. (William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us)

WHEN YOU PRAY that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven, envision conflict being resolved, marriages and families healed, truth told and people faithful to one another, initiatives that break through the vicious cycles of retaliation, and love that creates new community among people through forgiveness, reconciliation, and peacemaking. (Glen H. Stassen, Living the Sermon on the Mount)

GOD GRANT that the kingdom of Jesus Christ may grow in his Church on earth, God hasten the end of the kingdoms of this world, and establish his own kingdom in power and glory! (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship)

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15, NRSV)

– Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman