Man Arrested for Stealing Communion Wafers

Last night, I saw the most disturbing news story on the news. It was reported that a man in Florida was arrested for stealing communion wafers in a church. He was actually physically held down by parishioners until the authorities came.

I guess I may have a warped view of this, as I have thought it before when I have heard about church robberies, so forgive me for spouting, but I figure that if someone has the gaul to come into a sanctuary and take something that they know is for the worship of God then perhaps they need it more than the church does. Specifically I think to several scriptures:

Matthew 12: 1-8

"1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." (NIV)

1 Samuel 21

1 David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"
2 David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
4 But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women."
5 David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. (NIV)

Matthew 25: 31-46
31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (KJV)

I am sure that I could go on and on, but you get the point. I am also sure that there is more to this story than the briefing in the news, but if a man has to steal wafers, should we not hand him the whole bowl?

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish except with apples and pasta

This morning I was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast. We are out of milk so choices were a little limited. I opted to make Apple Oatmeal Muffins as we have a bag of apples that was given to us after helping out at the crop walk (note: I know it takes milk, fortunately dry milk saves practically forever). As I was cooking away, it dawned on me that in the past two week’s several of our meal had come by the grace of God. I’m sure like many of you out there; we are starting to feel a pinch in this economic time and have been downscaling and being careful. One of the few discretionary expenses is food. The question becomes how far can you stretch a dollar.

Lately, especially after my car died this week, I have been feeling very depressed about the situation. I’ll be honest. I was losing hope. This morning though as I was stirring the muffin mix I realized that I was in the middle of my own loaves and fishes story. In the past week and a half or so, God had truly provided. Whenever we have done something for others or for the church, we have been rewarded. DH helped a friend at a Spaghetti dinner. He came home with extra ziti, sauce, apple cider, bread, and parmesan cheese. DH helped with our church auction, he and the kids were fed and we received a very helpful gift which allowed he and DS to get breakfast and lunch. We all partook in the Church pot luck for which DH made Chili using some of the meat sauce that we got from the spaghetti dinner. Then as I said from the crop walk DD and I received a bag of apples which have now served us apple crisp and now apple oatmeal muffins. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes you just need a reality check. As I worry, in my warm house with tv and internet, there are so many in worse shape. I could be serving my children mud pies like in Haiti to quell their hunger.

God, Thank you for all that you provide for me and my family. I am truly grateful. I am sorry for those times that I seem like an ungrateful, selfish child. Please forgive me. Thank you for reminding me of your presence today when I needed it. Please show my family how we can best use our talents to help in your service.
Amen

Dear God, Please Show Mercy

There is twice in my life that I have prayed to God for death. I know that we are supposed to cherish life and I do, but there is a point that the question becomes what is life. I also however have learned that I don’t have it in me to be God and instead rely on Him to be merciful.

The first time I remember praying for death was when my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 / 4 esophageal cancer. She had contracted pneumonia and had thrown blot clots in her body. She was in surgery and my father and I were sitting on the bench outside the hospital. I sat and began to pray, but I realized that I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Certainly, it would make sense to pray for her recovery. I paused and looked to heaven. Was that indeed the best course? Should she recover to die a painful prolonged death? I prayed to God for Him to do what was best even if that brought sadness to those of us left behind. I asked him to keep her from suffering as much as possible. She did come out of that surgery, and unfortunately went through many more surgeries before dying a few months later.

I am faced with this same thought now, but this time for a dog. Our dear dog, James, is 12 years old and decaying practically before our eyes. We have had him to the vet several times and we are told that it is just age. He has lost much of his fur and his ribs ripple through his skin. When he was laying down the other day, I thought there was a growth coming from his side, but it turned out to be his shoulder blade. He is having accidents around the house and is taking medicine for that. A sweet nurse there keeps telling me that I’ll know when I need to take the next step, but I don’t have it in me. He is having a hard time getting up and often needs help, but he also nuzzles up to those he loves. He is eating and drinking. The term puppy eyes can even apply to geriatric cataract clouded eyes. How can I let go of this dog that has been a part of the family for so long? He would guard the kids and I when my husband traveled and curl up on my feet when I was reading. In the yard, we have never had to leash him as he always stays around. So again I find myself praying to God for mercy. The God of Life and Birth, I am calling to for mercy in death, to assuage suffering, and to call our James home. Amen