If you are a balcony sitter and lost your glasses case, I think I know where it is. Check the Lost and Found bin in Heritage Hall.

And to the person who lost their well-worn ESV Bible, it is there, as well.

And to that person who lost their Bible, no scold implied.  In fact, thank you.  Thank you, anonymous Bible reader for the example you have set.

I found the glasses case on one of my rounds of the church and took it to the Lost and Found bin in hopes that it might be reunited with its owner.  That’s when I saw the Bible, alone at the bottom of the bin.  Apparently lost by its owner and found by some Good Samaritan, it, too, had been taken to Heritage Hall in anticipation of a happy ending to its left behind ordeal.

All of us make trips to the Lost and Found from time to time.  We lose jackets and umbrellas, diamond rings and old eye glass cases. And sometimes Bibles are left behind.  That’s just the way things are.

When I found the Bible alone at the bottom of the bin, I checked for a name inside the cover or even printed on a dedication page but found none.  Temporarily lost, this Bible had not been neglected or abandoned.  It had been used.  It had been places.  It had been read.  Nothing better than a Bible a bit frayed at the edges, old sermon notes or Bible study handouts stuffed between pages. Way to go, anonymous Bible user.

I wonder what my Bible left behind some Sunday might say about me.  Would frayed edges and curled pages tell the story of being well-used, or would a stiff spine and crisp pages betray my infrequent reading of the Word?

And device users, if your smart phone is like mine, one of the settings tells me which apps are used most frequently.  Does your Bible app use more battery life than your social media apps?

Since the Word is a lamp unto our feet, then we do well to light the lamp as we travel through our dark world.

If your battered and worn old ESV Bible was recently left behind, check the Lost and Found bin in Heritage Hall.  And, whoever you are, thanks for reminding us how all our Bibles ought to look. Battered and worn is exactly right.

See you Sunday

Happy All Saints Day.  While Protestants tend to be minimalists when it comes to the saints and their days, we do well to remember our bond with Christian brothers and sisters in all times and all places.  For all the saints who from their labors rest…thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.

As minimalists, then, we don’t have to worry much about patron saints, keeping track of their days and their feasts.  But on this All Saints Day, 2019, I think I’ll declare Barnabas my patron saint for at least the day.

When we first meet Barnabas in Acts 4, we learn that his given name is Joseph and that the leaders of the early church give him Barnabas – Son of Encouragement in Aramaic – as a nickname.  Living up to his nickname, we meet Barnabas again in Acts 9 when he encourages the church to welcome their one-time arch enemy Saul of Tarsus into their fellowship as a follower of Jesus now called Paul. Continue reading →

I have already announced to the whole world via my social media accounts and even to my eleven Twitter followers that I consider it the best book I have read in a long time.  Maybe ever.
 
Eric McLaughlin is one of the first members of the Kibuye Hope medical mission team in Burundi, East Africa.  Along with John and Jess Cropsey, well known to LPC, Eric and his wife Rachel, and Jason and Heather Fader are the pioneers in a growing team of physicians and others who, in less than a decade, have built something of eternal consequence. Kibuye Hope Hospital is a place of healing and the gospel proclaimed in Word and Deed. 
 
LPC has had the privilege of contributing a small bit to the Kibuye Hope story.
 
The book, just published, is Promises in the Dark, and through it Eric McLaughlin reflects on the past nine years of his life and ministry as a missionary physician, as he writes, “walking with those in need without losing heart.”  The stories told come from Africa.  The truth conveyed is for Christians in the living of their lives in a real world of need wherever that may be. Tears flow from the stories told; deep thoughts and challenges to the way we live sink into heart and mind as Eric humbly tells us what he has learned. 

It’s really a good book.

Continue reading →

Becky and I are out of town this weekend – a little fall getaway into New England.  In the meantime:
 
One Sunday a long time ago I used the intersection of Bellevue and Richardson Avenues as a sermon illustration.  The point had something to do with obedience with that corner in Langhorne as a good example of not-quite obedience.  The Bellevue and Richardson intersection is one of those places where we tend to roll through rather than come to a complete stop.  I remember at the time of the sermon a number of people shared their own Bellevue and Richardson stories or nominated other intersections as places of even worse offense. The point of the illustration was that a lot of us live roll through Christian lives.
 
Some of you may have seen the new sign that’s been posted just below the stop sign at the southeast corner of the intersection the Bellevue and Richardson.  “Stop Really Means Stop,” it shouts at us as we pass the First National Bank. 
 
The Really Means Stop sign is professionally made and well mounted – by the borough or the police or the vigilantes, I don’t know.  Continue reading →

LPC people know the names of the people and the place. John and Jess Cropsey. Kibuye, Burundi, East Africa.  For eight years we have heard the names and have gotten to know John and Jess just a little bit. They visit with us from time to time.  We have learned about the wonderful work they are doing in that little town we had never heard of before – in a country few of us could have found on a map.

John is an ophthalmologist serving as part of the medical mission team at Kibuye Hope Hospital.  This video was shot five years ago, but still captures the heart of what John is doing.  Indeed, the blind are made to see.

The Kibuye team is building an amazing center of healing in what may be the poorest place on the planet. Continue reading →