Bittersweet Farm

Living Under the Mercy

Luke 1:57-80

Bethel Church | Jackson, Michigan

December 17, 2023 AM

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Last night I had a dream that a dangerous criminal organization was moving into town and they were quietly recruiting people, especially young people. At first, they were subtle. They were gaining power and influence by giving favors to leaders. Later they were bribing people. Eventually, they used blackmail, force, and even kidnapping and trafficking. It was a terrifying dream.

It seemed to me the Lord was warning me that we who are loyal to King Jesus and his Kingdom must not let down our guard. We know the enemy is infiltrating every place and would like to influence every young mind.

This is not a time to flee those who do not know and love God. God wants us to be salt and light in the world. He wants us to live among those who are not yet his friends. He wants us to be “…in the world, but not of the world…”

There is a balance to this truth, as in all truth. We are to “…keep ourselves unspotted from the world…” We are not to “…walk in the counsel of the ungodly…”

Because we have the indwelling Spirit, because we have the church of Christ, and because we have the Word of God, we have the means to live lives that are distinct and holy. We can honor God with our lives. A really Christian home can be a very powerful thing.

If we do not pursue holiness, train our children, and influence our grandchildren to know and love God and pursue holy lives, they will be devoured by the evil system that is the world.

Even if they are genuine believers, they can still be harmed in deep and lasting ways if they are not trained and influenced to have a completely different way of seeing life. What Satan cannot have and drag into hell, he and his team will still labor to destroy. His hatred is deep and his power is great.

We must know God deeply. We must learn to love and worship God. We must learn to serve God and to love the service of God. We cannot be mere church attenders and assume our families are safe from the devastating dangers that surround us now.

There are serious dangers all around us and yet God is powerfully at work in beautiful ways and he wants us and our loved ones to be agents in his powerful and eternal work.

Will the little ones you love grow up to know and love God and live for God? Will they live to overcome the spiritual dangers around them?

If we don’t faithfully, diligently disciple and train our children they are already being influenced, trained, and even brain-washed by those who serve a different lord.

But if we will cultivate a deep and sincere affection for Christ, if we will pursue holiness, if we will hate evil and train our children in these things, we will for all eternity enjoy the reward of living for God.

We must have serious godly mothers and dads. We must have prayerful and creative grandparents. We must have churches that are consistent and intentional about teaching and warning and giving unmistakable direction. We live in dangerous times in a spiritual war zone.

God help us.

I love the feeling of Christmas, don’t you? I never want my soul to get so calloused and shriveled up that I don’t feel tender love and hopeful wonder at Christmas time. That Christmassy feeling has been very slow coming this year. There are some reasons. Four in particular.

One, we started the month in Oregon and we were concentrating on the birth of our 20th grandchild and the health and well-being of our daughter, Holly who lives on the West Coast.

Second, when we returned we were immediately busy preparing for the funeral of a young mother in our church who died suddenly. It did not feel like a time of celebration.

Third, the weather has been unseasonably beautiful and warm. It’s been delightful and it can stay this way until May as far as I’m concerned, but it does not make you feel like taking a drive in the country with a mug of cocoa and shouting a Christmas greeting to everyone you see.

Finally, Lois and I live in an empty nest. It is a wonderful old empty nest but it is empty of children. The eight little reasons to make a big deal about Christmas have grown up and moved away. Hope and Chuk and their families are 40 minutes away. Kyle and his family, are an hour away. Hannah and her family live an hour and a half away. Heidi and hers are six hours away. Dan and Wes and their families are in Texas, which is another COUNTRY… and Holly and hers live on the West Coast, so we don’t tuck the children in and read A Visit from Saint’ Nicholas at night like we used to. We don’t make Christmas cookies. We don’t have Wee Sing for Christmas playing on a stereo in their room like we did those years ago.

So for those reasons and who knows what others, that Christmassy feeling eluded me.

So last night I was driving home. I can go the country way or I can drive through town. The country way is longer but quicker. The town way is shorter but takes more time. Last night I went home through town.

On the south end of town, the street and a bike trail intersect. Whenever I pass a bike trail I pine for a warm summer evening and a trial ride. I imagine the wind in my face and the playful freedom of riding a human-powered vehicle.

I had carols playing in my car, a favorite old Christmas album by James Taylor… Who Comes This Night… this wintry night…. I took the town way to enjoy the Christmas lights for a bit.

Approaching the bike tail on West Ave. just north of Ella Sharp Park I noticed someone crossing the street on the trail. It looked almost like a group. I slowed out of respect for common humanity and fellow bikers.

I came to a full stop when I realized what was happening in front of me. A man and a woman about the age of Lois and I were helping a young woman on an adult trike cross the road. She was either physically impaired or developmentally disabled and she was concentrating all her effort on the simple act of pedaling a her trike. It was all she could do with the help of others to keep the bike moving forward. She had a determined look on her face.

The man and woman smiled, waved their thanks, and returned to getting the young lady across the street. In that moment Christmas came again, like it always does. Christmas came to my heart and tears to my eyes.

Jesus has come and one day, maybe soon he will ban all sin, disease, sickness, sadness, sorrow, disability, and death. The lame will leap and the blind will see and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Merry Christmas from out on Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm | December 16, 2023

The view north from the little farmhouse we call Bittersweet

I slept well last night. Our little farmhouse was warm but not too warm. A good night’s sleep is a gift God gives to those he loves, I remember the Psalmist writing. Last night I needed and wanted an uninterrupted night of good sleep and got it.

For, lo, he giveth his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127 KJV)

A mid-December day begins. It’s already the thirteenth. That is only ten days until Christmas Eve, Eve. (I know, you like to call it Christmas Adam, don’t you?) It’s just a Dozen Days until Christmas and only eleven until Christmas Eve, which is on the Lord’s Day this year so we will have a beautiful Sunday Evening Service and it will be well-attended.

This morning I’ll meet a pastor friend for coffee and fellowship. We will exchange encouragement and ideas. We will bounce our plans off each other, but mostly we are just friends and neighbors who like coffee.

So at this festive and holy time of the year, with the great season of peace, goodwill, generosity, and gospel singing and telling upon us, it should be a good day.

And they say the sun will shine all day and I have not had to get out the snow plow yet this season. If I do need to plow around Christmas I won’t be sad. If I don’t need to plow until April I won’t be sad. Either way, I won’t be sad. If I have to plow once or twice a month until spring I’m not going to complain, because (please don’t tell anyone), I have as much fun with my little all-wheel-drive John Deer and plow set up as a seven-year-old with a new remote-control race car on Christmas morning.

It’s good to be able to draw fresh cold air into your lungs, enjoy yellow sunshine on a winter day, or watch the snow cover the land with a vast layer of billowy white.

Winter discourages undesirables and undesirable things from populating the region, but a wise man leans into it for what it’s worth and takes what it gives from the good hand of Providence.

They ask me what I want for Christmas. I do have things I like, I sincerely want peace on earth, I’d love to help others see what I see about Jesus and his love, and if the Lord would send another Barred Owl into the woods across the road to hoot while the Coyotes howl on winter nights, I would be a happy man. But I do plan to be a happy man no matter what falls or doesn’t, no matter what hoots or howls, no matter what the good hand of God provides.

I have a friend who, when someone says, “How are you doing?” always answers, “I’m rejoicing…” I don’t always say that, but it is usually true.

On this good winter day I’m rejoicing.

Bittersweet Farm | Mid-December 2023