Join us sundays at 8:00 & 10:30 AM

From The Pastor

September 20, 2019 by Rev. John Hartman

“Someone once asked Yogi Berra, “Who was the greatest baseball player who ever lived?” Yogi Berra said, “Well, there was Babe Ruth, then nobody, and then a lot of guys tied for third.” A lot of people characterize Jesus that way – “the greatest, the best, far and away head and shoulders above all other religious figures. Now the last thing that Israel expected was some messiah who wanted to hang around ordinary people like you and me. Even Jesus’ own disciples were confused. They kept coming up with the descriptions their Judaic tradition provided them, that Jesus would be the prophet, the messiah, John the Baptist, Elijah, and yet, none of those words really worked. The disciples could not grasp with their minds the reality of the wonder of Jesus Christ, any more than you could grasp the universe in a thimble.

The Apostles’ Creed consists of 110 ancient words strung together around 1,500 years ago. And in the Apostles’ Creed, we say that we believe in “Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord.” What does it mean when we say these words? Sometimes you will talk with “nominal Christians.” In other words, these are people who really don’t have much faith, but who will write “Christian” on hospital admission papers when prompted for a religious affiliation. If you ask these people, “What do you believe?” they will say “I subscribe to The Apostles’ Creed.” That’s like saying, “Well, I subscribe to ‘Sports Illustrated!’” Big deal. It doesn’t change my life all that much.

Can you imagine the world we live in today without the influence of Jesus of Nazareth? For example, we have hospitals today because one day Jesus made the comment, “I was sick and you visited me.” Jesus’ followers went out into the street and brought the sick and the diseased into their homes. They built hospitals to care for those who were ill. Today, we have universal literacy movements throughout the world. Why? Because Jesus said, “Go make disciples of all nations,” and his missionaries would not rest until all people could read the words of their Lord. Do you know how colleges and universities began? They began as little schools built onto the sides of cathedrals in the Middle Ages. In fact, virtually every historical movement for the dignity of humankind, for the liberation of the oppressed, for the abolition of slavery, for the ending of child labor, for human rights, for civil rights, for the elevation of women began with Jesus’ words to his disciples. The masterpieces of art and literature were all inspired by Jesus’ words, — from Bach’s B-Minor Mass, to Mozart’s Requiem, to a simple song called, “Amazing Grace,” — have changed countless lives. Certainly it can be said, without exaggeration, that “all the armies that have ever marched, and all the navies that have ever sailed, and all the parliaments that have ever sat, and all the books that have ever been written, together have not affected life on this planet as much as that one solitary life.”

And yet, our faith does not just hinge on the past accomplishments of Jesus Christ. Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church exists because Jesus is alive and in us today, and he waits to be claimed as Lord by every person who comes through the doors of our church. Please come through the doors of Chestnut Level this Sunday at either 8:00 am or 10:30 am, as we talk about Jesus Christ, God’s only Son our Lord.

Pastor John

Quote of the Week

“Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all.” Augustine

Augustine of Hippo was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of the Western Church and Western philosophy, and indirectly all of Western Christianity.