Reflections on the Cross

The Cross

Lord, I thank you for the cross.

While it was a symbol of a cruel death, You gave it a different purpose.

To be broken, rejected, dying, but bringing hope and healing to souls

everywhere who long for fellowship with You.

Thank You for loving me so much to spread your arms in death,

yet spreading them to give me life and love.

Lori K. Lower, 9/21/13

A few years ago for Easter, I was part of a ladies' trio which sang a very meaningful song by Lana Gibbons, entitled Fear Not (I Love You This Much).

The chorus goes like this:

For I love you this much, my arms are opened wide,

for I love you this much, I bled for you and died.

For I love you this much, there's nothing you can do,

to take away the love that I have for every one of you.

I wanted to share these insights with you as we are in Holy Week and coming up on Good Friday. What are your thoughts as you reflect on the cross of Jesus?

"God bless _____________"

I'm writing to you from my home, in my own corner of the United States, in the midst of a viral pandemic that has swept the globe. In years to come, this paragraph will bring clarification to readers of this blog. At this present moment, this isn't news to anyone. Instead, it is our shared reality.

Like most of you, I have been glued to my TV, listening to the newscasters report and predict numbers that are beyond our comprehension. But there is something else that has caught my attention, and I'd like to focus there today. That "something" is the prayer: "God bless America." Each time I hear these words I have an increasing sense of uneasiness, and I want to cry out in response saying, "No! Don't stop there! That payer is far too small for our Almighty God!"

Of course I want God to bless the United States of America, but my Christian brothers and sisters, if there is anything this global crisis should be doing to us by now, it is expanding our worldview to include just that....the world!

Our God is omnipotent (all-powerful!), omniscient (all-knowing!), omnipresent (no place exists that he is not!). He is concerned with every tribe, every nation, every race, every creed, every gender, everyone - equally! He is concerned with every elderly soul, every disabled soul, every soul on their homeland, every soul on foreign land, and every soul still being incubated in a womb - equally! So it seems that the words, "God bless America" are a well intended request for a blessing that is far too narrow a scope for the God of All Creation.

I urge you to allow this global pandemic to blow the boarders off your prayer-map. In the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, everyone!"

After this I looked, and behold,a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

Welcome!

Welcome to the inaugural Greenhouse blog post for The Seed! We’re glad that you decided to check us out. We are hoping that the Greenhouse will be a place for the “germination” of ideas and meaningful discussions.

When I was invited to be a blog writer for The Seed, I asked Pastor Vicki if there was a theme verse (or verses) for this brand-new, online church. She went on to paraphrase I Corinthians 3:5-9, as “Some plant the seeds, some water them but it is God who makes them grow.” What is exciting for me is that we all are seeds, wherever we are in our lives. Whether you are a new seed - just planted and seeking to see if this “God-Church-Follower of Jesus” thing is for you, or a newly-sprouted “seedling” looking for encouragement, or even if you’re a seed that has grown deep roots into the soil and sprouted into a strong tree, we are all in this growing journey of life together.  

We can carry the analogy of seeds over into what has sprouted - a new creation! II Corinthians 5:17 says that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new creation, a new person - “the old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

I love how God is always doing a new thing (see Isaiah 43:19). And that’s exactly what is happening with The Seed. This is a new venture for our denomination, although if you do a search, you can find other online churches.  And with the current pandemic situation, your own church might be streaming live on FaceBook or Zoom or meeting in some other online/internet format. 

We view the Church as not just a building or a Sunday morning event, but the church is a living, breathing organism that resides in us - His people. We trust that your experience with The Seed will be just the right thing at the right time for you at this moment in your life.

With God’s abundant blessings!

Lori