COMMENCEMENT TIME

 

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

 

COMMENCEMENT TIME

 

Jer 29:11

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

 

          It’s commencement time! Some have already graduated while others wait to turn their rings and tassels. Both pride and uncertainty excite and energize them. Questions about the future hang heavily in the air like moisture on a humid day.

 

          The march music we hear at every graduation, and known as “Pomp and Circumstance,” is actually “Land of Hope and Glory” composed by Edward Elgar and the words are by A. C. Benson. It was produced on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII. The words are as follows:

 

Land of hope and glory, mother of the free,

How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?

Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;

God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,

God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

 

          In our scripture above, the children of Israel were going into captivity in 597 BC. Jeremiah gave them words of encouragement saying that God had plans for them. Plans of peace and not evil. Those plans would be finished because God is powerful, purposeful and patient. He would not fail them. They could trust Him. They would be returned, in time, to the land of hope and glory!

 

Dear Lord, Thank you for a sure and expected end. Bless all who are about to embark on a marvelous journey called commencement. AMEN

 

JUST A VERY OLD HYMN

 

Monday, May 18, 2026

 

JUST A VERY OLD HYMN

 

Ps 121:5-7

5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord  is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

 

This morning I’d like to offer just a very old hymn for you to devotionally consider. “Immortal, Invisible” was written by Walter C. Smith in 1876. America was 100 years old. The American flag had only 37 stars. Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican from New York was our President. The Civil War was over, and reconstruction was underway. The Presidential election of November 7 ended in dispute with 184 electoral college votes for Samuel Tilden and 165 for Rutherford B. Hayes. 20 votes were in dispute, and the outcome of the election was not determined until 1877. This sounds somewhat familiar.

 

Perhaps that is too much history for so early in the morning, but it points out that our present time – so characterized by controversy, violence and change – is not the first period of instability our nation has endured. While all this was going on, Walter C. Smith wrote about a wonderful, unchanging, and very stable God!

 

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

 

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

 

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

 

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish but naught changeth Thee.

 

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

 

All laud we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

 

Dear God! Thank you for being a great big God. AMEN

 

WORSHIP TAKES TIME!

 

Saturday, May 16, 2026

 

WORSHIP TAKES TIME!

 

Luke 10:41-42

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

 

          We usually join Jesus in condemning Martha’s whiny attitude, but I suspect Martha simply wanted to trade places with her sister. Martha wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus as well – or instead. The harder she worked the more she missed the sweet fellowship her sister enjoyed with the Master.

 

          I also understand that when I use the word “worship” today many people get a vision of five guitars and a set of drums, but the word worship has been hijacked. Worship is adoration of God regardless of its manifestation. Mary simply sat near Jesus and engaged in quiet conversation. While she worshipped, she had stopped working.

 

          Many of you are so busy right now that worship has been crowded out. Like Martha, you miss it but there are things to be done. Graduations, Memorial Day weekend, and the start of Summer has you in a frenzy. But it is worship you long for and worship you need.

 

Ps 27:4

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

 

Dear Lord, give me wisdom enough to differentiate between the urgent things and the good things. Let me make worship a priority. AMEN