From Harold E. Masback, Sermon on 2 Timothy 4" (October 18, 1993) at page 7:
So there is Paul’s outline for his pastoral formation and preaching course: In a nutshell: fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith: be persistent, be patient and be enduring. Character above craft
From Harold E. Masback, Congregational Church of Vergennes" (August 16, 1992) at pages 1-3:
Imagine if we tried to summarize the story of Christopher Columbus with the same type of bumper sticker: “Scholars said the world was round. He believed it. That settled it.” That’s all true, but it misses the most inspiring part of the story: the courageous voyage into the unknown. Columbus thought the world was round and proposed his voyage to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1486, but we don’t celebrate 1486. The dates that live in history are August 3, 1492 when he sailed from Palos, Spain and September 6, 1492 when he sailed from the Canary Islands and two hours past midnight on October 12, 1492, when a lookout first spotted land from the prow of the Pinta. Columbus lives in history because his voyage led him to the Americas, but he lives in legend because he sailed into the unknown, faithfully holding his westward course in the face of storms, contrary winds, and near mutiny among his crew. We identify deeply with that. That courage touches each of us, because every life is a journey into unfamiliar waters; every life is a journey into an unknown future; and every life encounters periods of struggle and doubt. We identify with Columbus because each of us must sail over the horizon to, as Paul put it, “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” With the advantage of hindsight, we can see that any westward voyage from Spain must sooner or later have hit the Americas. As long as Columbus held to a true westward course, he was a mortal lock to hit the continents of this hemisphere: you literally cannot miss them. But this is a really critical “as long as”. He absolutely had to have a reliable navigational system to chart a true westerly course, and the courage to hold that westerly course in the face of doubt and division, or he and his crew would have perished. Many of the navigational techniques developed for the Mediterranean Sea simply wouldn’t work in the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Mediterranean sailors could navigate by the prevailing winds, but the winds in the Atlantic are too changeable, and a sailor running with the wind may find himself sailing in circles as the wind shifts around the points of the compass. Similarly, he couldn’t count on a single current or tide. Columbus did have a magnetic compass, but as he observed, the relationship between true north and magnetic north shifted as he sailed west. Ultimately, his most reliable navigational reference was the pole star, and Columbus was able to fix his latitudinal position daily by using a quadrant to measure the Pole Stars altitude. At least as important as reliable navigation was the courage to hold course. For three weeks good weather alternated with bad weather and the crew grew increasingly restless. On September 25 Columbus confided his own despair to his partner Martin Alonso Pinzon, but Pinzon told him he had seen land to the southwest and they pressed on. When the sighting proved to be an illusion the crew plotted mutiny, but Pinzon put the mutiny down and they pressed on. With the next false sighting, even Pinzon urged a course change, but Columbus refused, held his course, and sailed into history. We have precisely the same need for a reliable navigation system in our own lives and precisely the same difficulty finding steady guidance. How tempting is the illusion that by our reason and our resolve we can grasp the tillers of our own lives and sail a steady course. We think we are holding course, but too often the winds and currents have shifted, and we find we have sailed in circles.
1992
From Harold E. Masback, The Congregational Church of Vergennes" (August 2, 1992) at pages 8-9:
We lived on a little farm outside of Washington and our neighbor, Mr. Zirn ran beef cattle. I noticed that all along the inside of the fence lines the cattle had worn a dirt path, and I asked Mr. Zirn, “What’s going on, are your cattle running laps to get into shape?” And he told me no, the calves have a relentless desire to get to the grass outside the fence line and they constantly walk the fence lines, just waiting to find a weakness or break in the fence. And that is the way our restlessness is: constantly pushing, prodding, nudging up against our resolve, waiting for a moment of weakness.
1996
From Harold Masback, Prayer: A Dance Led by God" (August 11, 1996) at page 1:
Focusing on prayer, I likened prayer to a dance led by God. We don’t need to fret about getting the prayer words right or memorizing the dance steps or picking the right music. God will lead the dance and call the tune.
2001
From Dana Christensen, in a letter to Charles Muir:
I’ve thought long and hard as to how to make you happy, make you smile and burst with joy. The only thing I can think of is the only thing that makes me truly happy: God. Do you know that your life has a purpose? Do you know that when you laugh, you do not laugh alone, nor, when you cry, do you cry alone? When your world seems to collapse, remember that God is there holding you up. I feel sorry for (Insert random female name for privacy) who had God, but let the world interfere. She let the world draw her away and forget that God is with you wherever you go. When Christ died on the cross, He made all suffering holy. Through suffering, we become closer to Him. And God is love and joy and peace and all our hearts could ever long for. All will be made right in the end through Christ our Lord. The Truth shall set you free.
From Charles Muir:
Psychiatrist: God
Prescription: Christ
Diagnosis: Saved
From Luke 24:13-35:
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.17 And he said to them, What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad.18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?”27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!”35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
From Galatians 2:15-21:
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.
17 But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
18 But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
From John 14:8-17:
8 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”
From 1 Samuel 16:1-13:
1 The LORD said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.”
4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is now before the LORD.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.”
11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”
12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.”13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah