In my daily
devotions right now part of the readings are from the book of Revelation. On Tuesday, November 16, after reading from
Revelation 11, the closing prayer was an ancient Celtic prayer. The prayer read this way:
“The
seed is Christ’s,
The
harvest is Christ’s,
In
the granary of God
May
we all be gathered.
The
sea is Christ’s,
The
fishes are Christ’s,
In
the nets of God
May
we all meet.”
The main request which
I read in this poem and prayer is for all God’s Children and all believers in
Jesus to be gathered together before the throne of our Lord. Actually, that is God’s promise. So, the wonderful truth is we will all be gathered, we will all meet, we will all be together in heaven!
I don’t know
about your family, but in my family I remember my mother being happiest when
ALL her children, and ALL her grandchildren were gathered together for a family
event such as Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or a birthday or an anniversary celebration. And, the tradition continues today. In my own family I believe that my wife,
Kathy, is happiest when all her family gathers together. Perhaps, when all the children and
grandchildren attend worship with Kathy, this makes her the most happy.
One of the
sources of grief and sadness in our world is when we miss out on the presence,
and miss out on the love, of family and friends. For example, Kathy and I are visiting family
in Florida at this time. We are working
to gather with my brothers and sister and their families to celebrate the
holiday. But, our mom and our dad are
both in heaven. My mom died in January of
2011, and my dad passed away in August of 2018.
So, we gather as a family, but our parents are missing, and in all
honesty we miss them. Actually, if we take
this missing of family even further, none of Kathy’s and my children will be at
our Florida gathering, they are in Alaska.
We will have a great celebration and we will enjoy each other’s company,
we will share our faith in Jesus, but there are others who will also be missing
this Thanksgiving for various reasons. We’ll
miss them.
In addition, our
Christian family also includes other believers in Jesus. People of faith whom we have grown to know
and to love through our congregations and through Christian gatherings are
brothers and sisters in Christ. We are
all part of the Christian family. For
example, I recently posted on Facebook about a fishing trip with friend, Rev.
Dr. Paul Mueller. Then I saw responses
from 2 close friends in Memphis, and from another close friend in California. These were people who knew both Paul and me,
but didn’t realize that we knew one another.
Yet, Paul and I, along with our friends in Memphis and in California are
all part of the Christian family. And,
though we have enjoyed Christian faith and fellowship in the past, we are not
physically together at the current time.
The
Celtic prayer asks God that we may all be gathered, that we will all meet in
heaven. Actually, chapter 7 in Revelation
describes such a gathering. 9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the
throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding
palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb."
Then
in verse 14 we are told about these people, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In other word, those who believe in Jesus are washed and
forgiven of their sins. Guess what, that includes all members of our families
throughout all time who believe in Jesus as the Lamb of God, our Savior. And, according to Revelation 7, all Christian
believers are joined together before the throne of God praising Him.
My family rejoices in the opportunity to gather together
in faith and love this Thanksgiving. And,
even though my children won’t be at our Florida gathering, they will all be
together in Alaska. Some day, however,
before the throne of God we will all gather in praise of our Lord and
Savior. We will indeed all be together! Praise be to our Lord Jesus!
A Child of God, Looking
Forward to the Gathering in Heaven Where we Will ALL be Together,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. I fished a number of times in Florida this
week. Here are some pictures.
·
On Wednesday, November 10, I fished in a
favorite lake. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4msoSiWcRLFeM8Eu8
·
On Saturday, November 13, I fished at Rodman
Reservoir. Unfortunately the parking lot
was full of boat trailers because of a professional fishing contest. https://photos.app.goo.gl/DCWdoSCSvWM6hVVZ9
·
I fished in the Wacassassa River on Sunday,
November 14. I only caught a mud fish,
and didn’t take any pictures.
·
On Tuesday, November 16, I went fishing with
friend, Rev. Paul Mueller. Here are a
couple of pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/uzjRpxfBNv6oUv938
P.P.S. I will share one more time the video for the
“Choose to be Different Banquet” on October 24.
The video looked at St. John’s past, present, and future. Those interviewed for the video were Arlene
Fox concerning the past at St. John, August and Sarah Manelick and 2 of their
children for the present, and Adam Christiansen for the future. Adam taped and edited the video. I think I can send a link to the video. Here it is.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jn2ydyJTz2dixBUOcNwAbCqz9aptfiIy/view?usp=sharing
*****
ABOUT THIS DEVOTION - I retired at
the end of August 2019 from serving as senior pastor of St. John Lutheran
Church in Palmer, AK. I was writing a weekly devotion previously
entitled, "Thoughts from the Pastor." When I retired
many asked me to continue writing these devotions. So I have continued
writing. However, with life's changes I now call this weekly devotion "Journeys
Through Life as a Child of God." Since I am no longer senior
pastor at St. John, I felt it right to only send this message to those who
asked to receive it. (Though I am now serving again part-time at St. John
as assistant to the pastor.)
So, if you stopped receiving these devotions and wondered why, now you
understand. And, if you are now receiving these devotions and do not wish
to receive them, please let me know, and I’ll gladly remove your name from my
distribution list. My e-mail address is jonrock53@mtaonline.net.
My prayer is that these devotions help each of you in your daily walk with our
Lord, Jesus.
*******
Jonathan Rockey
Child of God
Husband, Father,
Son, Grandfather
Pastor Emeritus,
St. John Lutheran Church
E-Mail: jonrock53@mtaonline.net
cell phone - 907-841-4066
Home phone -
907-746-5131
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