Caring for the Poor Little Ones

 Augustin of Hippo (354 - 430 AD) is recorded as saying God will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would have reached their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to
bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence.

Imagine all the things you have done, or tried to do, to impress your Creator. You went to worship, served on charitable foundations, gave hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars to "worthy causes." Imagine doing all these things, and so many others to impressed those around you. Now you have your chance to plead your case before your Creator. You quote your resume line-for-line. It is QUITE impressive. There's  just one problem. It's all about you. Everything you did, even when you gave money to other causes, it was all about you. Maybe you didn't get a

building with your name on it, maybe it was just a fancy certificate, or a plaque, or a photo-op in the paper, but it was still about you. 

The dear ones never saw you, never met you, didn't know you, so they had nothing to brag to their Father about. You put nothing in their hands, so you had nothing in the Father's presence. 

What if you knew ahead of time that your eternal destiny might rest in a story a "dear one" would joyously tell their Father in Heaven about you. How much effort would that have taken on your part? How much time? How much money? Just to show the love your Heavenly Father tried to show you, what if you had passed that love on to one of those "little ones." 

It may be much closer to the truth than most of us would like to believe!

Pastor Craig

Dare to Trust

 

What does it take to face the unknown? Have you ever been presented with such a chance? Have you ever been presented with a dare? My actual "Call" to ministry was more of a dare than a traditional call. 

It happened like this.  .  .  I could talk to anyone, but I was terribly anxious to speak before a group, actually, literally speak to a group on any topic. I could participate in a discussion, I could put my own two cents worth in, I could make a comment, but to put something together that was my own, and to get up and present it to a group was terrifying. So, when I began to feel something I would later identify as "a call" to ministry, it was naturally something with which I was already comfortable, and to a group with which I was comfortable. I was called to be a Youth Pastor. It felt like I would be having a conversation with my peers. I would get to keep going to the Youth Conferences and retreats. I would get paid to play volleyball on Sunday night with the youth, to go to 6 Flags, to cheer on the Atlanta Braves. What a sweet deal!

I was on my journey to this career. I had just graduated from Belhaven College with a major in Bible and Christian Education. I was home for the summer, and I was already working as the Summer Youth Director at my home church. My pastor asked me what my plans were, and my reply was that I wanted to work with youth. 

Without any hesitation, he asked why I was scared of adults, reminding me that any decent youth pastor had to be involved with the parents of the youth in the group. I replied with a defensive comment. Ultimately, this led to the "I DARE YOU TO TRUST GOD AND APPLY TO SEMINARY TO SEE WHERE GOD TAKES YOU!" It's 43 years later. I have preached more than 1500 sermons, taught seminars, led retreats, and addressed a group of more than 5,000 at one time. My mother is the only one who can still tell that I am scared to speak in public!

All of this brings us to Peter, Jesus, a boat, and a storm. Matthew 14 tells the story of the disciples on the lake and Jesus walking to them out on the water. The storm is growing, increasing in power, and

Jesus decides to go for a stroll out in the middle of the lake. If the storm itself did not scare the disciples, the sight of a man walking on a body of water that reaches 141 feet in depth. Peter, in a bold move, calls out "Lord, if it really is you, tell me to come to you on the water." I would be surprised if there were no comments in later years about Peter's failed attempt to walk on water that night. However, I have got to hand it to Peter. He is the only one swing a leg over the side to get out of the boat in the midst of that storm and take one step. 

Now, I do not intend to compare my faith to the Apostle Peter's, and I am sure my risk was less than his as well. The one thing we share is that we actually took the step to start. The act of faith was not in walking on the water. No, the act of faith was Peter's willingness to get out of the boat. Your faith is not measured by your success, but by your willingness to trust, even if it starts with a dare. 

Pastor Craig

What Changed Your World

 

I am writing this on Monday, April 17, 2023. Today is the 10th Anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. By the time I finish this article, the race will be over, and the winner will be decided. I am sure there will be events to memorialize the people who died that day and the hundreds of others who were injured. 

There are dates we memorialize. They are significant enough to stop our busyness and remember what happened and how it touched us that day. 

Some of those memories are happy: weddings, graduations, work and vocational milestones, etc. Others are very solemn occasions. These are the days you remember where you were and exactly what you were doing when you heard the news. These are events from the assassination of JFK to the murder of John Lennon, to the death of Elvis, 9-11, the first Moon Walk, the Challenger Disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Woodstock, and others. 

Some of these events are times when the whole planet stopped in shock and was still. We take a moment and think about the unfairness of some things in life. We think of lives cut short. We wonder where our loved ones are and if they are safe. We may not know anyone directly involved with the event, but, somehow, the scope of the tragedy makes us a victim anyway.

I did not know a single person who was killed or injured on 9-11. Still, my family was forever changed because of the events of that day. My oldest son spent 12 years in the Marine Corps based on the events of that day. His younger brother originally considered that a dumb decision, but ended up pleading and fighting to enlist because he was blackballed. He ended up spending 4 years serving his country in the Marine Corps as well.

It is important to celebrate the joyous events of life. It is equally important to take a moment on those solemn occasions and remember, to be quiet in respect, to say a prayer, to recognize how a few seconds of our life changed the rest of our life. Maybe the day that impacts you the most is not on the list above. Maybe it is something much closer to home, something more personal. It did not make the national news, but it still changed your life. It is worth a moment, so stop, shed a tear if you need, say a prayer, give thanks for the days that were shared, even if they seem to have been cut short, recognize how a person, gone so long, still impacts your life. Then, when you start back with the rest of your day, be that kind of person that will leave footprints behind so people will see the trail you took when you walked through their life.

Craig C. Krueger

A Promise to Keep

 

I tried to find some statistics on what percentage of married people wear wedding bands. It turns out, nobody really knows. I received my ring June 14, 1997, and, and it has never been off. There are many other people can say the same.

The traditional vows, with regards to the exchange of wedding rings, have changed a little over the years in the Book of Common Worship of the PCUSA:

From 1928: With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I endow, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,

From 1946: I do promise and covenant; Before God and these witnesses; to be thy loving and faithful (wife or husband); In plenty and want; In joy and in sorrow; In sickness and health as long as we both shall live.

From 2018: By your blessing, O God, may these rings be symbols of unending love and faithfulness and signs of the covenant they have made this day, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There have been some changes in the last one hundred years. The commitments are more nebulous, the promises leave room for interpretation, and the vows are more hopeful than restrictive. However, we still make promises to one another. We still exchange some symbol of our commitment, but what I want to call to your attention most is the ring on your hand, if you wear one, is not a reminder of your commitment. It is a reminder that there is someone who committed to you! It is a symbol that someone has a claim in you, and that they are counting on you.

Earthly marriages can fail. At times people lose sight of the promises they made. Something, or someone, is more interesting. At times we find we just do not know how to live out those lofty ideals we had on that special day. The commitment can be challenging work.

Despite our failures in our relationships, the favorite Biblical illustration of our relationship with God is still that of a marriage. The Church is often called the Bride of Christ, and Baptism is that “ring” that reminds us that someone now has a claim on us. God is the perfect spouse. He is forgiving. He is steadfast. He will stand by you through all things, for better or worse, in sickness and health, through this life and beyond. When things are difficult, remember your Baptism. Yes, it can be a sign of your promises to God, but beyond that, it is your reminder that God has a claim on you that will not fade.

Craig C. Krueger

 

What is Tenebrae

 The purpose of the Tenebrae service is to connect with those people who experienced the loss of Jesus Christ firsthand. As the sanctuary darkens, we experience some of the darkness that has overtaken our world and our life. When we see the Christ candle leave the sanctuary, we may feel a moment of hopelessness and helplessness. There is nothing to celebrate in this service. Our one hope that we might indeed be reunited to our Creator is dead and buried.

 

I have pastoral colleagues who will not observe a Tenebrae service because they say we live in a post – Easter church. We cannot be without hope because hope has already been raised. Yes, fortunately, that is partly true. However, the disciples lived, for a few days, knowing that Christ would never again walk with them, teach them, and show them the power of God in their midst. We live knowing that the power of God is always with us, alive in us through the person of the Holy Spirit.  

 

Yet we live in a society that, even as it is able to allow us to connect in more ways than any other society in the history of the world, is more fractured than any society prior to it. We can call, text, E-mail, FaceBook, tweet, chat, etc, but we still know less and less about one another. We lose compassion, never really gaining understanding of our brother or sister in Christ.

 

Tenebrae reminds us of that brokenness. It tells us that we need restoration.

 

When the disciples had community, what was its center, its focal point? The community of faith centered itself around the person of Jesus Christ. It did not divide up over mode of baptism or style of music. It cared nothing about pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, or amillenialism. It was immediate because the need for restoration was immediate. We were broken and there was no better time to fix our brokenness than right now. We were too busy evangelizing the world to worry that one of our group should be hated as a tax collector, another was a blue collar fisherman, another was an anarchist, and another, even though he stole from the group, was allowed to stay a part of the community as long as he was willing.

 

Today we divide over politics, race, worship styles, marriage issues, nationality, and many other things. In so many ways we seem more lost than they ever were. Yes, indeed, the darkness of the Tenebrae seems overwhelming at this point. We would indeed despair if we did not already know how the story ends!

 

Craig C. Krueger

 

The Dog I Didn't Want. . .

During the first 25 years of my life I had a single dog. Her name was Taffy. She was a Beagle, and she died from Cancer on the night I graduated high school. I didn’t own another dog for seven years.

However, since that time I have owned close to 100 different dogs, the vast majority of them rescues. There is a family picture of my wife and I, our blended family of 5 children, and, at that time, 2 spouses. The special thing about this picture is the dogs in the picture outnumber the humans. All of the dogs are Boxers!

Over the years, we have rescued Boxers, Greyhounds, Great Pyrenes, Boston Terriers, Akbash, Anatolians, German Shorthaired Pointers, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Staffordshire Terriers, what I call “Dust Mop Dogs, but mostly mixed breed.

They have been adopted from shelter, off the track, picked up from the ditch, rescued from the median of I-45, the shoulder of I-35, and from the exit ramp to Perkins Rd. in Memphis, TN. Yes, her name became Perkins!

Currently, we have thirteen, but today I want to tell you about the one I didn’t want. His name was Ozzie, and he was a Boxer. I first saw Ozzie running loose through Ennis, Texas. He had jumped the fence at his owner’s house and creating a traffic jam from motorists trying not to run him over.

Over the next few day, I would discover that his owner was my secretary at First Presbyterian Church in Ennis. She was looking for a farm on which Ozzie could run free. I did not know at the time, but there was a conspiracy between my secretary and my wife to relocate Ozzie to my house. My response to the request for rehoming was a solid, “No.” That settled the matter until the day I came home and found Ozzie sunning himself on my deck.

Not only was he there to stay, but he decided I was going to be his human. I didn’t own him; he owned me. He didn’t stay in my fence either. He ran across 35+ acres. He enjoyed life. Since nobody seemed to know his birthday, he decided we would share mine. Yearly, we would go through a Whataburger and sit by a lake to share lunch. He became the guardian of our house, the most loyal creature I have ever known. He would go to the office with me. If you wanted to wrestle with him, he would take you down and stand over you until I told him to let you go.  And, best of all, the dog I did not want and tried to ignore, shared 17 birthdays with me before he passed, making him, at the time of his passing, the World’s Oldest Living Boxer. Though he has been gone for several years, I miss him still. 

Blessings,

Pastor Craig

The Pastor's Page

We are less than 40 hours away from a whole new year. While our starting and ending dates for the year are quite arbitrary, they have a tremendous symbolism! We do much more than simply turn the page on the calendar, or start a new tax season. We make promises and set resolutions. We decide to lose weight. I have a friend striving for sobriety in the coming year. Their start date, January 2^nd. Honestly, they wanted to get the holiday season and all its temptations behind them before, feeling they would pretty much guarantee failure if the began in the middle of a season with so many temptations.

First Presbyterian Church is facing an exciting year. The challenges and adventures, the rewards and the struggles are, at this point, all hypothetical. They are signposts on the horizon, mile markers along the road, things we use to judge our progress on our journey, to help us keep direction as we travel.

Where will you go in 2019? Where will you start, and where is it you would like to find yourself at the end of the year? I know that my calendar changed dramatically 6 weeks ago. I find myself altering long kept schedules and making plans for destinations and tasks I never thought would be mine.

Going through that process of redirection does involve some excitement, but it also involves a sense of loss. The regularity of one schedule is replaced by the real possibility of one that is much more organic, always changing, moving, and reforming. One of the “exciting” things would involve the need to learn a new language in less than six months. Considering how little I learned in 2 years of high school Spanish and my poor grades in that class, it is a daunting task as well.

All of this simply leads us to the fact that our God is a lover of surprises. God loves to challenge us. The Holy Spirit throws things in our path that constantly drive us toward our that same Spirit. We are faced with opportunities that will be totally impossible without complete reliance on the power of that Spirit.

This could be an extremely frustrating existence if it were not for the face that we know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. We can embrace the reality of these future events as being placed along our journey for the express purpose of leading us into an ever deepening relationship with the Triune God. These are not events to overwhelm us. No, they are opportunities to marvel at the God who makes us conquerors in all things!

Pastor Craig