Author Archives: Max Brennan

Friday’s Word – “Life-Changing”

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I am working again on my book Discovering God, a project of many years.
Subtitle: What We Know through Religious and Near-Death Experiences.

I am “teaching through it” every Sunday morning at 9:45.
We are learning in the class that there is no good reason not to believe in God.
God is accessible.
God communicates.
God reveals God—to any who will listen.

I have been interested in religious (or transcendent) experiences since I was 14. God gave an audible reply to a prayer.
I was in a bit of a bad mood. I said, after I prayed, “Nobody heard me.”
A voice clearly replied, “I heard you.”

At age 19, I stepped into my front yard on the farm to look up at the sky and pray.
I did look up.
But before I could say a word of my prayer, I was hit with a joy so strong I thought it would kill me.
Literally! I asked God to stop. I could take no more joy.
I had no idea what had happened to me.

I found William James’ masterpiece, The Varieties of Religious Experience, in my college library.
I realized I had had a mystical experience.
I cover a wide range of spiritual experiences in my book, including NDEs.

Everyone!
I say everyone should have a chance to discuss the profound experiences we cover in the class.
I would offer this class on a Thursday evening, from 6:30 to 7:30, if twelve people sign up for it.
If interested, drop me an e-mail. (Or come on Sunday morning.)
It is life-changing.

saintmatthewumc.com
revmaxb@tx.rr.com

Max’s Corner

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Note: I know some in the church have signed up for a Thursday evening edition of the Discovering God class, but we would need others from beyond the church to sign up to have enough for a class. We will see what response I get.

Discovering God Class

What a good discussion we had last week!
This week, we meet Mrs. Schwartz. This will challenge us.
Class at 9:45. Breakfast after.

Breakfast this Sunday

This is a “Winston Sunday.” Feel free to help!
Breakfast is at 10:30. (Great breakfast last week!)

Last Sunday and This

I loved the music we sang last Sunday. And Julian’s solo was phenomenal.
(Shannon has also sung a moving version of Above All for us.)
Mary may preach this Sunday.
And three of our children will be baptized.

Monday Was Recovery

My sister and I went with a friend to see The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their final tour last Friday.
Why final tour? They—and their fans like me—are old.
They were great, and the concert venue in Grand Prairie is a fine place for music, but it is not user-friendly for anyone with bad knees. Painful! Getting in and out.
I was still getting around more poorly than usual last Sunday.
Doing better by late Monday.

In spite of my wobble, Sunday was a wonderful day.
I am only saddened for our folks who are ill.

Please pray for Dewayne and Sheila Taylor’s daughter-in-law, who is facing cancer.
May God’s love surround and uphold this family.

John Reynolds, long-time member—elderly and infirm—is in recovery. He is a little improved.
Carol Bennett’s brother remains in our prayers.

Love to all of you.
See you Sunday.
God bless — MB

Friday’s Word – “A Rotten Apple”

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As our democracy slips away, we continue to wonder how this could happen. A new study sheds light.

Poland also is tending to elect authoritarian leaders. A new study there of 2,000 voters revealed people do not all agree on what democracy is.

The word “democracy” is popular, but many people have no interest in the elements of democracy, like protecting the rights of minorities and freedom of the press.

Turns out Jesus was right again. He divided the world into two groups: those who love humanity as God does, and those who love only their own group.

“If you love those who love you, what reward do you get?” he asks.

He tells us anyone can do that. It comes naturally.

Jesus says we must love beyond the bounds of our own friends and family.

Jesus ministered to the outcast, the marginalized.

We know some who put us in our present danger were simply uninformed. All they knew was the price of eggs.

But many, as the study shows, simply do not love or even care about the neighbor who is different.

They have no interest in the rights and needs of those Jesus called “the least among us,” those who are vulnerable, powerless.

They don’t care who gets hurt if it’s not them.

But there may be a change coming. It looks like everyone will get hurt except the billionaires.
The evil now loosed seems all-consuming.

Again, Jesus warned us, “Do not expect good fruit from a bad tree.”

Most people may come to see it: This rotten apple will hurt all of us.

Yes, worship is at 11:00.

Max’s Corner

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I thought we had a very good class last week. And this week we move on to a tantalizing subject—After-Death Communications—loved ones who speak to us after they are gone.
Class at 9:45. Breakfast after.

Breakfast this Sunday

This is a “We Bring Sunday.” Don’t forget that. Feel free to help. Breakfast is at 10:30.

Last Sunday and This

Mary will be out this Sunday visiting her grandmother in (I believe) New Mexico. And Kristi will be gone (along with Steven). So, Blake will do the piano thing. And Julian will sing the beautiful Above All. (The choral anthem last Sunday was very powerful.)

And—OK—since I talked last week about the younger brother in Jesus’s great Prodigal Son parable, I’ll talk about the older brother this Sunday.
My sermon title is: God Is Not Just.
And let me add—you don’t want him to be.

We Will Not Ask

Two dear friends of mine—former members of this church—died last year in Oklahoma. They have left some money to St. Matthew, and it will cover the very expensive work we are about to do on our sound and light system. We could not, in fact, do this work without the loving gift of Fred Stearns and Eileen Engleson Stearns.

When they moved to Oklahoma, they never found a church like St. Matthew. Their membership remained here, and they continued to watch our services online.

So, my request is that we continue to be faithful in our regular giving. Help us pay our bills from week to week. Let us keep the work of St. Matthew going. God knows that we are here.
I believe God wants this church living and serving.
I believe God will help us meet our needs.
Thanks be to God.

See you Sunday.
God bless—MB

Friday’s Word – “Get the Wrath Out”

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This Sunday, I will talk about something much of the church has failed to get right— salvation.

And much of the church fails to get salvation right because they fail to get God right. Many ministers are very confused about God.

They will say that “God is love,” for John clearly tells us that. But they also preach that God is vengeful and full of wrath.

Even some parts of the Bible get God wrong. Revelation tells us God will pour out “bowls of wrath” on humankind.

God will not do that.

There is no wrath in God. And how do I know this? In two ways.

First, Jesus tells us.

He says that God loves even His enemies. He says that God is “kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked.”

Dumping bowls of wrath is not kind.

Second, our experience of God tells us that God is love—always love.

I know thousands of accounts of religious and near-death experiences in which people meet God. No one has ever met a God of anger. No one has ever met a God who would want to hurt us.

Millions of people have gone to heaven briefly in near-death experiences. They have not seen one bowl of wrath there.

Yes, I know. Even the blessed Paul mentions “the wrath of God.”

That’s why it is essential that we put Jesus first in reading the Bible.

That is the only way for us to get God right.

Now, how does salvation look without the wrath? Who is saved?

My sermon Sunday: How Did She Get In?

It’s about a Jewish woman who receives a welcome from Jesus during an NDE.

Sunday at 11:00. Join us, in person or online.