Heart Talk

Jesus rarely talked about peoples' status. He never talked about the way they looked. He didn't even seem very impressed by how much money they had. But when it came to the heart, then Jesus Christ was into the conversation.

One day Christ told a story about a man planting seed. He described the different kinds of soil on which the seed fell and pointed out it was only the seed which fell on the good soil that grew. He went on to explain the story wasn't about agriculture but peoples' hearts. The different types of soil represented the different priorities in peoples' lives--that which they held to be most important. The seed symbolized Christ's message: that he is the Son of God who came to this earth on the greatest Rescue Mission of all time. What is noteworthy, Jesus said, is the capability of bad heart priorities to nullify the effects of that Rescue Mission. The end of the story leaves its hearers with the unspoken question resounding in their ears, "What kind of heart do I have?" This Sunday (February 12) at 10:00 am we're going to look at the different ways people answer that question and then compare them with Jesus' answer. Where are you in this matter of the heart? Is it time for some heart talk?

The Cemetery Visit

As a little boy I dreaded those words which I only heard on beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoons, "Get in the car, we're going to the cemetery." Grudgingly I would climb into the blue 1966 Chevy Impala and sit back for what seemed to be an extremely long drive. "Why do we have to go to the cemetery," I thought? "It's a beautiful day. We don't get many beautiful days in Wisconsin, so why are we wasting something so precious to go to the cemetery?" My dislike for the cemetery didn't come from a cold heart, it was just that I had never met any of the people whose graves we visited, and so it was hard to make sense of what was going on. It seemed like we all stood over each grave, being very somber and silent, and then, after a certain amount of time, suddenly, somehow everyone would mysteriously know that it was time to move on to the next grave.

It wasn't until I experienced the reality of death in a personal way, when a high school friend died in a tragic accident, that I began to appreciate cemetery visits. The first time I went to his grave, I began to understand not only the finality of his death, but the inevitability of my own death.

An occasional walk through a cemetery is an important spiritual experience for it is a powerful reminder that each one of us is broken and we can't heal ourselves. The cemetery reminds us that death destroys everything we are and have in life. Everything...everything ends with the last breath. As we gaze upon the graves, we are forced to ask life's most important question, "Is death the end?" If the answer is "yes", then the rest of our lives will be spent avoiding the cemetery and any thought of dying? It's a futile way to live, but if death is the end, what else is there to do?

Jesus Christ answered the question over whether death is the end or not in a very different way. He boldly said that any human being who puts their trust in him as Lord and Savior will pass through death and live eternally. If what he says is true, is there anything more urgent or necessary in life than to answer his invitation to follow him?

Join us this Sunday at 10:00 am. It's time to stop dreading the cemetery!