New Year’s Eve — Usual Time — 11:00

Well—the odometer of the world is about to click over to a new year.

Some people say they don’t make resolutions. I say we can’t help it. There’s just a feeling of new beginning.

For me, 2024 will be all about the book.

I got a call from Boots Richardson before she died. She and Jack were members of St. Matthew years ago, until they moved to East Texas.

Boots, on hospice care at the time, called to say she had worn out my first book, God, Grace and Gooseberry. She needed a copy of my next one.

I told her, “Boots, I’m not really through with it. Let me work on it a little longer. Then I’ll send it.”

“Max! I don’t have a little longer. I want it now! Immediately!”

I did have copies run off for a study group. I sent her one and she called a few days later.

“Max, I’ve read it three times in two days.”

I was touched. The book is 250 pages long.

A few days later she called again: “Your book has made me feel safe. We all belong to God.”

I told her that is exactly what the accounts in Discovering God tell us.

All 100 accounts of powerful religious/spiritual experiences.

Boots died not long after that last conversation.

The book encouraged her in her last days.

The material in the book encourages me.

Beginning January 1st, I will begin the last revision of the book. My resolution is to get it out into the world in 2024.

I may also start my own weekly YouTube program to take people through the book. Let me know if you would be interested. And!

Happy New Year

The Christmas story is full of angels. But here, in the 21st century, what do we think about them?

Dr. Raymond Elliott was a professor in the music department (after retiring, Professor Emeritus) at Texas Tech.

He saw one—an angel, that is.

His wife had a stroke at age 78. After this, all that she could move was her eyelids. She communicated by blinking her eyes.

Dr. Elliott was her sole caregiver. But after seven long years, he was worn out. He didn’t know how he could go on.

He took this to God: “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

When he lifted his head from prayer, he saw a man in the doorway of their bedroom. He was tall. He had to stoop to come into the room.

The man wore blue jeans and work boots. Young, with intense blue eyes.

The visitor crossed the room and sat in a chair near Dr. Elliott and the bed where his wife lay.

“It will be okay,” the man said. “You will be able to go on. It will be only a little longer.”

Then the stranger arose and left through the door he had entered.

Dr. Elliott felt elated—and filled with new energy.

His wife died a few weeks later.

That’s one story.

But it’s one of many.

Thousands, in fact.

I will tell another one on Christmas Eve–just after we read the scripture about those Christmas angels.

It may be time for all of us to open our minds—and our hearts. Life is deeper than we think.

And more wonderful.

Christmas Eve

Candlelight Service

6:00 p.m.

Share it with us.

Advent Three

I just turned 81.

(Yes! I know! I don’t look a day over 80!)

And on Jan 21, I will celebrate my 42nd year as pastor of St. Matthew.

So—how did that happen?!?

Well, in 1982, I was a 29-yr-old theology student beginning a second career after teaching.

I needed a church to serve while in seminary. And there was this small, dying church nobody wanted to be sent to.

St. Matthew.

A church off the main drag. No prospects.

I was sent there to close it down—pronounce the “last rites,” so to speak.

But it didn’t die. It began to grow.

By 1989 we were out of room. We had a building program to transform the sanctuary into the glory it is now.

Since I presided over an unlikely recovery, the bishop let me stay. Many bishops let me stay. Having this continuity is what has preserved a church that seemed to have no future.

That—and this. This thing you are reading.

In 1987, we began these “little articles” in papers.

Some 90% of our members come through Friday’s Word.

And everyone knows what they are getting before they get here.

We attract loving and accepting people.

And by the way—I ain’t done yet. I am as excited about ministry as the day I first stepped into a pulpit.

And Christmas at St. Matthew will be glorious.

The Christmas Show is this Saturday night—the 16th –at 6:00. It’s kind of like an old Bing Crosby TV special.

Great music.

Christmas supper after.

And Santa for the kids.

And Sunday morning?

I’m still preaching.

Advent Two

John Cleese (yes, the British comedian of Faulty Towers fame) has a great interest in near-death experiences.

He says he finds that people who dismiss them have not read the literature.

This goes for religious experiences in general.

A grieving father shared this with me:

Remember that fire we had over here last year. My little nine-year-old girl died in that blaze.

She was all I had.

I couldn’t eat or sleep. Couldn’t work. I grieved till I thought I would die.

One day I wandered back into the rubble of the place we had lived. I sat down in the midst of the rubble. The sorrow was heavy on me.

But then I felt a presence—a power—like a million volts of electricity. I felt it could blow up the world, but it was full of love.

The love surrounded me, and I heard a voice.

The voice from the power said, ‘Your little girl is safe and well. She is with me.’ And the power began to let me go. My heart was changed. I still hurt, but I do not hurt like I used to.

I know a thousand stories like that. They point to a personal God who cares about our pain.

But how many such stories do you know?

I was guest preacher in a church some years ago. I talked about religious experiences.

A woman said to me as she was leaving, “Pastor, I’ve been in church all my life. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that God does anything.”

A lot of people believe in a God who doesn’t do anything.

If that’s your God, you’ve been running from reality. It’s time to slow down and take notice.

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Christmas Show, Sat. Dec. 16, 6:00 p.m.

Advent One

Does God intervene in the created order?

Put more simply, does God meddle in our lives?

This, from an ABC report many years ago:

An abusive husband killed his wife and tried to kill his eight-year-old son. The child was stabbed six times but was able to phone 911 for help.

ANTHONY: My dad killed me with a knife, and I am gone.

911: OK, how did that happen if you are talking to me?

ANTHONY: My dad was killing my mom and like, you’re next. And he killed me. But I kind of survived. Can you help?

911: Are you bleeding?

ANTHONY: Uh-huh.

911: Where are you bleeding from?

ANTHONY: From my stomach.

911: Are you there by yourself?

ANTHONY: My mom is dead, and I am the only survivor.

The police found the child covered in blood and rushed him to ICU.

He made a full recovery.

He also made a remarkable claim.

As he lay bleeding, he heard a voice telling him to play dead until his father left.

The child said, “God helped me. He sent his angels. The angels told me to call 911.”

The voice said, “I will save you.”

If all of this is true, we live in a world in which all of us are watched over, cared for.

And from time to time. God is willing to intervene in our lives.

But how does this sit with you? Does this fit your understanding of reality?

Let me know. Send me an e-mail. Does God meddle in our lives?

[email protected]

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The Christmas Show

Sat., Dec. 16, 6:00 p.m.