Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

My father-in-law said many times, “The weatherman is always right.” Then he would point out, if he or she says, “There’s a 50% chance of rain” or an “80% chance of snow” or “It’s going to be partly sunny,” whether or not it rained or snowed or was cloudy or sunny, they were right! After all, the weatherman/woman rarely gives a 100% definitive forecast.  And why is that? Is it because they are not good at what they do? Is it because they are trying to dupe their audience? Is it because they are trying to keep themselves in business?   I think we all intuitively know why forecasting the weather is so difficult: its unpredictability and our lack of control. Mother nature seems to have a mind of her own and no weatherman or woman is going to control her! We can watch for patterns and see the movement of air currents and such, but there is very little any person can do to control exactly how it will all shape up in the end. On the other hand, there is One who is able to contro...

Earlier this week when I was in the supermarket, I needed to buy toothpaste. So of course, I located the aisle with dental supplies and found the shelves with toothpaste…and, did I ever find toothpaste!  There were so many options to choose from I was literally standing there for five minutes trying to figure out which toothpaste I should buy. I could choose from “cavity-fighting,” “tarter-removing,” “whitening,” “breath-freshening”, etc., etc.  There was even one that was simply marked, “regular toothpaste.”  I had no idea what that meant. And, all of that was for just one brand!   Of course, that’s the way it is throughout our supermarkets here in America. Whether you’re buying toothpaste, cereal, or yogurt the options seem endless, forcing us into making all kinds of choices. At times it can seem like we have too many choices—so many choices that just going grocery shopping causes decision-fatigue.  We all know that life in general is filled with choices...

As many of you know, last March I came down with COVID-19 and was pretty sick for about three weeks. In fact, at times it felt like I’d never get better. Thankfully, I did. But one of the effects that has lingered with me for months has been the loss of my sense of smell. I remember how, over Easter weekend which was just after having been sick, Kim was baking an Easter bread and said, “Don’t you just love the smell of fresh bread baking?” to which I answered, “I don’t smell anything!” Then I realized that I couldn’t smell just about anything. Worst of all, I couldn’t smell my coffee brewing in the morning. In fact, I couldn’t even smell the coffee when I opened up the bag to make my morning coffee. For me, one of the best parts of my morning was gone!   Well, it’s been that way since last March until…just the other morning, as I came down the steps to go to the kitchen and prepare my breakfast and get the coffee that I had programmed the night before to drip, it struck me: I ...

This week, Kim and I received a picture of our grandson Jesse looking out the sliding glass doors of his home at snow that had fallen overnight where he and his parents live. As I looked at the picture (which some of you may have seen on my Facebook page), I realized that this was really his first time seeing (i.e., being aware of) snow. (He’s now about 17 months old.) In fact, as I looked more closely at the picture it struck me that Jesse was filled with a sense of awe and wonder in a way that only a child can be. After all, he had never seen this white stuff that was covering the ground!   Unfortunately, as we get older we too often lose our sense of awe and wonder. We grow so  accustomed to the world around us that, we no longer look at freshly fallen snow or a flower breaking through the ground or a budding tree as we once did. Things that were once new and awe-inspiring to us become commonplace. The things we may have once celebrated go almost unnoticed. Thus, we wa...

Christians all over the world know and love the Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.” The lyrics, originally written in French by Placide Cappeau in 1843, have been translated into languages from around the globe. The music was written by Adolphe Adam in 1847 and is as powerful as are the lyrics.  It seems to me that this hymn in particular catches the essence of what the Christmas is all about: “our dear Savior’s birth,” the King of kings in a “lowly manger”, a teacher teaching us to “love one another,” a “Gospel (of) peace.”  And, they speak so well to the human condition throughout the ages: a world in “sin and error pining,” weariness, need, weakness, chains, oppression.  Most of all, however, the lyrics to this hymn resound with worship and praise to the One who came bringing hope to a world that was trapped in sin, error, and weariness. It draws for us a picture of light breaking into darkness and those who experience that light bursting into “sweet hymns of praise” and “...

I love listening to Christmas music from Thanksgiving Day all the way to New Year’s. But this year I noticed something about quite a number of our standard Christmas songs, many of which come out of movies. Many of those songs are quite wistful and melancholy; some are outright sad. The lyrics speak of longing for Christmases gone by, wishing to be with friends and family, dreaming of a romantic Christmas surrounded by snow. One song is all about a blue Christmas. Another speaks about being home for Christmas, even it is just in one’s dream.   The famous song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” comes from the movie “Meet Me in Saint Louis.” Judy Garland sings the song looking out over a snow-covered backyard, sad that this is supposed to be her family’s last Christmas in St. Louis. She sings,            “Have yourself a merry little Christmas  Let your heart be light  From now on your troubles will be out of sight Have yoursel...

As many of you know, because of my Jewish heritage (on my mother’s side), we light the Chanukah candles as many nights as we can during the eight days of Chanukah. As we do, we pray not only one of the traditional prayers, but also our own prayers thanking God that the candles of the menorah remind us that we serve a God who intervenes in our lives, who works miracles on behalf of his people, and who shines light into the darkness of our world. And then, probably to the chagrin of most Jewish people, we thank God for sending Jesus, the light of the world! It’s our way of bringing together our Jewish heritage and our faith in Jesus.  Last week, after I had lighted the Chanukah candles, I sat looking at the flames burning and then at the lights of our Christmas tree. I then looked outside at our house and others on our block that were decorated with all kinds of lights.  As I did, it crossed my mind how interesting it is  that we celebrate these holidays that are ...