However, just yesterday I got a personal call from someone in Greenville inviting me to a pastor’s brunch for one of the candidates.  He is a Christian and wants the support of the clergy, as if somehow that will ensure the support of the churches.  I was flattered, I guess, to be invited to anybody’s brunch.  My wife says that I have probably already seen him as close as I would get to him at the brunch.

This particular candidate was in SC for the last debate in Spartanburg, and we happened to be out the same night that he and his entourage came to eat.  I got a good look at him, but he spoke to no one and went right to his book where he was pushed to the inside by his people.  We could see him, but we couldn’t get close to him.  So, my wife thought that was as close as we could get, even at a pastor’s brunch.

Politics is an interesting thing in this country.  I am old enough to remember when John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon had the first debates on TV.  My mother certainly had an opinion about which way to vote, but things have changed since then.  We don’t just get debates but we get 24 hour coverage of these people and their families.  Every word that’s spoken by them or anybody connected to them is recorded and played over and over.  And, you ever made a mistake, well, it will be mentioned.

On top of all this is the length of the political presidential campaign.  Not to mention, the money that is spent is incredible.

It’s not that I don’t have an opinion; it’s just that any opinion will upset someone.  People seem to care more about protecting their particular political candidate than almost anything.  And, after all everybody has an opinion about everything these days.

In spite of all this, our system is still the most open system in the world.  I would say that we ought always to be concerned and informed as followers of Jesus Christ, and we ought always to vote.  Voting is a privilege that we should never take for granted.

I would say that there is good in all of them, and that no one of them is all evil.  Sometimes I do think that they have forgotten that they are working for the good of all people and not just for a particular PAC.  That said, followers of Jesus Christ know something about humanity that everyone seems to forget.  We are all sinners.

Leslie Whitehead used to say that we get all worked up to vote in one group and throw another group out of office.  He said we must remember that we are just throwing out one group of sinners and putting in another.

Whoever our President is, whoever our leaders are, we, as followers of Jesus Christ believe that no one is the Messiah except Jesus Christ.  So, we pray for them all- that God will give them the wisdom to make right decisions for the good of all.  We pray that God’s will might be done.

So, think it over, learn as much as you can, pray, and then vote.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

We Protestants have never known quite what to do with Mary.  We are leery about giving attention to anybody but God or Jesus.  We wonder about the adoration of Mary.  Oh, we’ll worship a car, mind you, but we can’t allow ourselves to be drawn into the exaltation of Mary.  We’ll worship political or athletic figures, but Mary?

Mary and I were sitting in a restaurant with friends recently.  It was the night before the big Republican presidential nominee debate in Spartanburg.  We were eating away when all of a sudden in comes a large entourage of people.  They were moving someone along in a hurry.  It was Rick Perry.  They shuffled him over to a booth in the back where no one could get to him.  Mary and I commented how strange it was that he didn’t speak to a person in the restaurant.  It was interesting to note our interest in this public figure.  He’s not even the front-runner and we were looking to see what we could see.  We do that with celebrities all the time.

This led to a conversation about the times when we had seen famous people.  Once, when Mary, my wife, worked in a newspaper office in Moncks Corner, SC, Fritz Hollings, the Senator was up for re-election.  He walked in to their office and shook hands.  Mary was surprised at how big and good looking he was.  She still tells that with her mouth gaping open. 

Back when I was in college, we went to Columbia Airport to see Richard Nixon ride by in a convertible.  He was a small man with a great tan.  This was before Watergate had broken loose.

You see my point.  We Protestants are so scared we will worship the wrong thing when it comes to God, but we readily turn our worship to celebs and others, not thinking that we are elevating them to godlike status.

I wouldn’t say that we should worship Mary but we should honor her.  She is, after all, the “mother of God”.  It’s hard to imagine that she was a virgin.  In our modern culture, we don’t know what that is anymore.  It’s even more difficult to imagine that she was only about fourteen years of age.  You had to grow up fast in those days.

Bright-eyed, fourteen, she is a woman of faith.  The long history and heritage of Jewish hope and expectation are in her body, mind and spirit.  Soon, in her body will be a miracle of miracles.  She will bring forth for the world the one who is Savior.  And, how does she respond to the angel’s message.  She says: “Let it be…”  Let it be to me as you have said.  Let the will of God come to me and through me.  Let my life be a sacrifice to God’s purposes and ways.

This Sunday, in the grand parade of Christmas characters, Mary passes.  Look at how young she looks.  See how beautiful she is.  Notice that, in spite of what is going on in the world, in spite of the Romans, in spite of the fact that she has every reason not to hope, she hopes and is faithful.  Can you hear?  She is telling God: “Let it be…”  Let the great move that you are doing come to me.  Honor her as one of the most faithful people ever to live.  I can understand a bit if you want to talk to her.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

Last Sunday, we started that slow and steady journey toward joy.  The first candle on the Advent Wreath was lighted; the Chrismon tree already shines it light.  A new Church/Christian year begins.  Purple adorns the altar to remind us to get ready.

The First Sunday in Advent, the Gospel is always about what we call the “second coming”.  This year, Mark (in the lectionary) gets to tell the story.  Mark 13 is called by scholars the “little apocalypse”.  That chapter is a mixture of stuff about the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple that everyone said would never happen.  It also has images from Old Testament apocalyptic literature.  When it’s all done here on earth, the sun will grow dark.  The stars will fall from the sky.  The whole universe will celebrate as Jesus Messiah comes on the clouds. 

The Bible teaches us about beginnings and endings.  Everything has a beginning and an ending.  It all gets caught up in God’s great purposes for his world.  There will be an end- to us- to the world.

When?  Now, that’s the question, isn’t it?  Some talk a lot about that.  Announce that you’re doing a study on the Book of Revelation; a crowd will gather.  But, as soon as they see that you aren’t getting caught up in a literal kind of interpretation and predicting the future, they fall away.

Remember poor Harold Camping who predicted the end in the spring of 2011?  Then, when that didn’t happen, he set another date.  Oh well, what are you going to do?

Mr. Camping read every verse of Holy Scripture but the one that says: “No one knows the day or the hour, not the son, not the angels, only God knows.”

No one knows.  And yet, there’s something about the end that captivates us.  The Psalmist says: “Lord, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom…”  As if, knowing that we end, that time runs out sooner or later, makes us wiser.

So, on the first Sunday in Advent, the church has us look at the great backdrop of God’s drama.  One day, sooner or later, the end will come- mine or the world’s.  So, be ready.  Be on your guard.  Watch!

If you need forgiveness, don’t wait; get it now.  If you need to forgive someone, don’t wait; do it now.  If you need to get your life straightened out, do it now.  If you need to get back on track, do it now.  You do not know the day or the hour; so, get ready.  Get prepared.  No one knows what tomorrow holds.

Advent begins with this pause on the journey.  It is a time to reflect on the truth that all our times are in God’s hands.  It’s a time to get our priorities right.  So, we pray, and worship.  We give extra to the church and to the needy.  We open our hearts a little more because we know that one day it will be…over.

One day, God’s kingdom will finally come.  God will overcome evil; love will overcome hatred.  Someday.  In God’s good time.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

I have discovered that there are many temptations for all of us Christians. The usual temptations are easy to define: money, sex, power. These are the temptations that Richard Foster writes about. Many of the things that happen to hurt us in our world have to do with money, sex, or power. But, there is a greater and sometimes overlooked temptation for the Christian. We are tempted to lose heart.

In the midst of the way things are, in an increasingly hostile-to-faith world, in and through all of the changes that this world is going through, we are tempted to lost heart, to give up on our faith, on the God-thing, on our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. It is easy to be lured into a kind of funk about money and about the chaos around us.

But, often our memory of faith is our teacher. When we look back over our lives, we can see the work of God, mostly hidden. I am here where I am today because of the grace of God. You are where you are today because of the grace of God. Remember that.

Thanksgiving is next week. Remember the things and people for which you are grateful. Each person that God has given you is a unique and wonderful gift. Each year, each day, each moment is a gift of God.

The Apostle Paul was tempted to lost heart. Paul, who had been beaten and whipped and spat upon, tried in the courts, locked in prison, Paul could say: “Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lost heart.” He says: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

With the economy as it is, we are tempted to feel it as a huge dark cloud hanging over us. That’s the temptation, isn’t it? The temptation to lose heart, to give up, on our faith in God is real.

We can get by this temptation, the greatest temptation of all, by remembering with Paul: “Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God…” Therefore having this ministry, this day, this life, by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

We do not lose heart, not because of our own power or strength or good works. We do not lost heart not because of our own ingenuity. We do not lose heart because of the mercy of God.

Whatever you’re going through at any given moment cannot compare to the great and wonderful mercy of God. The mercy of God is that love that is as tender as a mother’s love for her children.

So, say it with me, “We do not lost heart because of the mercy of God.”
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

I rushed to the doctor’s where I found my wife who looked pale and scared. Now, my own heart is thumping. I gathered her in my arms and put her in my car and we went to the emergency where they took off her clothes and put her in own of those gowns. They hooked up monitors to keep a check on her heart, blood pressure, etc. We were there about an hour, maybe, when she sat up on the gurney saying that she was going to throw up.

She sat up and passed out cold. She stopped breathing and laid back as if asleep. Her heart had stopped. I stepped out of the room and looked back to see them working on her doing CPR, getting ready to do the paddles on her when she came to.

Everyone in the room applauded. We were then rushed to the heart center nearby where they prepped her for a catherization. When that was over the doctor said that they found nothing wrong, no blockages, or problems that he could see.

I said to him that she had flat-lined in the emergency room. He said that they had overreacted. OK. Her heart stops. How can you overreact to that? They kept her in the hospital for the night and her heart dropped to 30 beats per minute. Again, rushing around, phone calls, then her heart beat returned to normal.

After wearing a heart monitor for three weeks, they put in a pacemaker for arrhythmia problems. After several weeks of that, she is returning to normal. And, I think I am, too.

I am writing about this experience to process it for myself. This is what they usually call journaling. It’s a way of working through the stuff that happens to you or what’s going on inside you.

My wife is only in her mid-fifties, not old by any measure today. But, let us say, we feel blessed that she is still around.

Several things struck me during this. One, it happened so fast. Looking back over the last six months or so, I would say that she has not felt good for a while. They said that her heart was stopping for 10 seconds at a time. 10 seconds is a long time.

It seemed to happen so fast. From my office to the doctor’s and then to the emergency room, and seeing her lying on the table completely out. It reminded me that in a moment, in the “twinkling of an eye” life can be over. I thought it was over for her.

As a pastor, I have seen a lot of people die. And, I have seen many ways to come to the end of life. But, this…was different. I was sort of numb going through it all. Sure, I was there but it didn’t seem real. It seemed like I was watching a movie of something happening to someone else. I remember thinking: “Wow. If Mary’s dead, that’s the easiest death I’ve ever seen.”

Thankfully, she is alive and well.

The other thing that occurred to me was what people my age go through all the time when something like this happens. Mortality looks you square in the face. I go on but it’s too morbid too think about. Ha. Ha.

I am grateful for a faith that gives us strength when we run up against the edge of it all. I am a praying man, but that day I prayed with more intensity. I have prayed that way ever since.

I am so grateful to God for the great gift of life and life eternal. I am grateful for my wife. I am grateful for a faith “that will not shrink”, no matter what.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

After doing this pastoral thing for nearly 40 years, I am still excited by most of what I am called to do. I wish I could do more spiritual direction with people. Call it spiritual counseling or whatever, it’s the wish to help people, guide people, in their efforts to be Christian. It’s being involved intimately with people as they struggle with “real” life and helping to move them to the next level, so to speak. I feel that most people who call themselves Christians live it superficially. Church membership for some is just a name on a roll, but not anything that deeply captivates them. And, I know that the only thing that can deeply captivate them is when they are actually in love with God. Years ago I feel deeply in love with God in Jesus. And, I’m still not over it. I yearn to help others find that love and depth of life that I know. It still excites me.

And, most of the work of spiritual growth is done in small groups and one-on-one. It would take enormous time to do this, but I yearn to be able to do this one person at a time.

I’m not saying that I don’t get to do any spiritual direction. Preaching is a wonderful experience for me. I get to study the scriptures deeply and then stand up in the Holy Spirit’s power and give what I have seen or heard or experienced to others. Worship is a powerful thing.

But, one hour on Sunday morning doesn’t do all that needs to be done. I yearn to do and be more as a pastoral leader.

This time of year we have to delve into the issue of stewardship. And, whether I want to or not, we have to talk about money and giving to the church. Institutionally I am called to lead my congregaton in seeing that giving money, tithing, is part of the whole work of being a Christian.

You see, Christian faith is material. Some religions are about pure spirituality, whatever that is. But, Christian faith is about material, like a cup of wine or a loaf of bread, being the body and blood of Christ. Christian stewardship is about bringing myself and all of my life under the judgement and redemption of God.

I cannot love God (Carlyle Marney) if I love something else more (security, money, things, self).

I yearn to help people see this. We do this kind of stewardship not just to maintain the institution but to give God something to work with in our lives. The greater my investment in God’s work, the greater my love for God. Where my treasure is, there is my heart. The greater my investment- a tithe is 10% for everybody as a start. A person of great wealth has something to give; a person who has little still has much to give.

Being a pastor means that I am involved in peoples lives at every level, as deeply as people want me to be. It means that my main calling and joy is in pointing people to the life that God wishes to give us all- abundant life.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

Nowadays, my frustration
is different.  Bethel is a wonderful
church that is set right in the middle of town and the surrounding area is
becoming more and more urbanized.   The
church is located in a strategic place.
It’s easy to find; it sits on a hill and proclaims the Gospel just by
the presence of its huge buildings.  A friend’s
daughter calls Bethel “church on sterroids”.
My frustration these days comes from the human traffic that comes here
every day looking for help.

We have a Fellowship of
Suffering and every once in a while some persons give us monies to be used to
help people.  So, we do as much as we
can, judging if the need is legitimate.

My friend Michael was by
here again today.  I met Michael several
years ago.  We were working around the
church on Saturday when Michael showed up.
He’s a big ole guy.  He asked to
talk to me.  We sat in my office and I
listened as he cried.  We prayed and I
did a little bit to help.  Michael takes
care of his special needs wife.  So far
as I can tell he works as much as he can find work, but sometimes he gets
behind and he’ll call and come by.  I
helped him a little today and prayed for him.

My frustration is that we
can help everybody.  There’s not enough
money in the world to help everybody.  My
associate and I help people until we’re out of money.  People keep coming by with needs but we have
to tell them that we’re out for now.

I got a call today from a
young woman who lives in Pacolet.  She
has three small children and works at Huddle House for $2.82 an hour.  Her husband left her and won’t pay child
support.  Courts threaten him; he just
goes his way.  My heart breaks for a family
like this.

I know in my head that I
can’t do everything for everybody.  We
can’t even do a little for everybody.  We
do what we can.  We do the best that we
can.

Well,  I’m grateful to people who give to the
Fellowship of Suffering so that we can help some.  It is a real blessing to be able to assist
people in need.

With the economy being so
bad right now, it’s not likely to get better for a while.  God has put us right here, right now, to be a
blessing to the world around us.  My
prayer is that we are doing all we can to do God’s will here.

I am so proud to be a part
of a great church.  I am so glad that
when people can’t find hope anywhere else they can always find hope at church
and in the followers of Jesus Christ. I’ll get over my frustration; I can’t get
over being a follower of Jesus.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

I remember where I was and
what I was doing on September 11.  I was
sitting in front of the television putting on my shoes to go to the office when
the first plane hit.  Cameras showed it
sticking in the side of the World Trade Center, smoke billowing from it.  Mary said: “What an accident…”  I said: “Do you think that’s an accident.”  I just had the feeling that something was not
right about a huge plane like that hitting a building accidentally.

None of us could have
conceived of such an attack before.
Then, to watch over and over on replay the falling of the twin
towers.  For days and weeks, we were
glued to the television as we watched the results of the attack.  Debris, dirt, bodies flying through the air,
and reporters were on screen.  We could
see it with our eyes but we didn’t want to believe it was real.  An Israeli woman was heard to say: “Not in
Disneyland…”  This couldn’t happen in
America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Many stories followed
about the heroic efforts of first responders and others who saved lives and
gave themselves to whatever was needed.
President Bush’s face changed.
Remember he was reading to a kindergarten class of children when an aide
whispered in his ear.  You could see his
face visibly change.  That was ten years
ago.

So much has been said
about what we learned from it and how it changed things for us.  And, it seems that since that day things have
been hurtling out of control.  We have
been involved in a war, several wars, and we have seen the American
economy/world economy tumbling down.

It’s hard to say really
what the impact of September 11 is.  It’s
one of those events that will keep us thinking for a long time.

One of the big changes
that we have seen is in our thinking about security.  We are still living in probably the safest
and most secure country in the world.
But, September 11 made us think.
No place in this world is totally safe and secure.  We are doing, I believe, all that we can to
keep our citizens safe from another such attack.  But, even security people know that nothing
can keep us 100% secure.

So, as people of faith, we
ask: “Where is our security?”
Money?  Towers of pride?  The Past?
We know as people of faith that our only true security is in God.  Everybody dies someday.  And, although we are living longer, one day
we will all lie down in death.  Security
comes to all who have faith in God in Jesus Christ. Ultimately we know that
living or dead we belong to God.
Scripture is forever telling us to be ready.  You do not know the day or the hour; so, be
ready.  Put your faith and trust in the
only One who is truly God.

As Christians, we know
that times change.  We know that
sometimes evil wins; but we know that God rules.  And, in God’s good time, all evil will be
uprooted.  If you’re on the right side,
you don’t have anything to worry about.

Be thankful for each day
that God gives you and do your best to love and live out the faith that God has
given us freely in Jesus Christ.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

Good News for Modern Man is now Today’s English Version.  I still turn to it often.  Around that time the Living Bible was published.  I got a free copy from Christianity Today Magazine.  It was fun to read the freer verse Bible.  But the Living Bible was a paraphrase; so, you knew that it was not as true to the Hebrew and English texts.  But, I still loved it.  I use it now sometimes.  It has been updated and made more of a translation now in the New Living Bible.  It’s pretty good.

While I was in seminary in the late seventies, another translation was published called The New International Version or NIV.  It has proved to be a popular translation.  I use it often.  It was an attempt to translate the original texts but keep close to the King James Bible. It sounded like a Bible that most of us had been reading or hearing all our lives.  This version too has been updated in 2011 and is very good.  I just bought a new copy of it.

In the eighties, the Revised Standard Version was updated and became the New Revised Standard Version.  This is the text that I usually read on Sundays.

2011 was the 400^th birthday of the King James Version of the Bible.  I still like some of the poetic sounding language.  I still like to read at Christmas the Luke 2 KJV:  “It
came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus…Mary
was great with child.”  It has the sound of Shakespearean English.  At the time,
it was a monumental translation of the Bible. But, we have much better access to original manuscripts.

There is value in all of these translations.  Every translation is a study of the original language to be accurate and faithful to the texts as we have them.  It is amazing how much agreement there is on the Bible’s text translation.  All of the above major translations are faithful to the text, and helpful in understanding the meaning.

Just recently, there is another translation called the Common English Bible.  It is a faithful and accurate translation mostly.  I really love the way in which it is translated for the most part.  I got really excited about it at first.  Only one thing bothers me about it.  In all of the other translations Jesus calls himself the Son of Man which is an accurate translation of the Greek.  In this CEB translation Jesus is the Human One.

Ok.  I know that Son of Man means human being.  Yes, that’s true.  Jesus was truly human.  I’m ok with that.  It’s historically and theologically correct to say that.  But, in my study, the term Son of Man has all kinds of meanings other than that.  It’s kind of a title that Jesus used to talk about himself in the third person.  “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”

As I often do in such situations, I looked at the list of those who helped with the translation and found a friend, one whom I trust, a conservative friend, certainly not a
radical.  I emailed him about this “human one” thing.  He said that “human one” was
an accurate translation.  When I asked him about the meaning of “son of man” he said that “human one” conveys the meaning.  He said that most people don’t know what “son of man” means either.

Still, I think we are losing something here.  If “human one” is such an accurate way to translate this, then why have no other translations done it this way?  I wonder if this “human one” isn’t more politically correct than accurate.

That’s my only beef with the CEB.  Otherwise it’s very good.  For me, I will stick with the NRSV and NIV mainly and maybe refer to the CEB on occasion.

As Luke 19:10 says: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
Jesus is human, yes.  But, not just any human one came to seek and save the lost.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

Everybody seems to believe
in eternal life.  Even the most pagan
among us tends to profess some vague feeling that life has an eternal
quality.  Most believe that they are
going to heaven say the statistics.

Some of that comes from
those who look at the church and those of us in it.  They see how human and sinful we are and say:
“If they’re going to heaven, so am I.”
As if somehow we are in church to show how good we are, instead of being
in church to meet the resources that God gives us.

First, we believe in
life.  Christians believe in life.  Every life born into this world is
important.  All life is a gift of
God.  When God made the world and all
that’s in it, he made human beings and then he said: “It is very good.”

Jesus says that he has
come to give us life in all of its abundance.
As Christians with faith, we don’t just survive, we thrive.  Every minute of every hour, every hour of
every day, every day of every year is a good and gracious gift of God.

In an old Charlie Brown
cartoon, Linus says to Charlie Brown: “Do you ever feel that life has passed
you by?”  Charlie says: “Sometimes I feel
that life and I are going in different directions.”  Life is beautiful and wonderful and a free
gift of God.

We also believe in the
resurrection of the body.  In John’s
Gospel when Jesus appears to his disciples he goes through locked doors to get
to them.  But, he is not a ghost, he is
recognizable in his body.  In this body,
they can see and touch his wounds.

Paul says in 1
Thessalonians that when Jesus comes back to earth the dead in Christ will rise
first, then all others.   Some asked what
about those who are still alive when Jesus comes.  Paul says: “We will all be changed, in the
twinkling of an eye…”

You see we are not
disembodied spirits, unlike what we hear about in our culture.  Our bodies are our souls.  We are our bodies and souls.  So, when we die and rise, we will have
spiritual bodies but bodies nonetheless.
We will be recognizable as the persons we are.  Our personhood will remain intact and we will
know each other in heave.  We will know
our mothers and fathers…and…

In Jesus Christ, God came
in flesh to save us.  And, all who
believe in him and accept the way of Jesus to God will be saved.  Heaven means to be in God’s presence.  Hell means to be separated from God and
others forever- eternal separation.

God loves us too much to
force us to accept him or his love.  God
loves us so much that he wants to leave it to us to decide to believe or not.

Karl Barth says that you
can’t believe in the resurrection without going around with a smile of your
face.

Do you believe?  Then, smile.

Blessings!

Dave Nichols