The Real Lord's Prayer

A couple of weeks ago Jim called and asked if I would give the message tonight so he could go on the men’s retreat. I said I would and I need to begin by telling you about a dream I had shortly after. I dreamed I was supposed to be giving the message tonight and I had not done anything at all about it. It was time to give the message and I grabbed my Bible and turned to Psalm 103. I would think of something or just wing it. But I kept leaving the room for something…I don’t remember what it was. I don’t remember who was all here, but I do remember the Milby’s and Laura and some others. But something kept happening and I kept leaving the room. Finally I remembered I need to go back and give the message. When I returned, only Laura was here. So tonight if you wish to leave OK, but Laura please stay. Then I can say my dreams come true.

Do any of you observe the season of Lent? I hadn’t been observing it, and to be honest I did not know much about it. Then I started going to IBC a few years ago and we do observe it. Rememember this is a Bible church, not an Anglican or Episcopal or Catholic church.

Lent is the 40 days preceding Easter beginning with Ash Wednesday. It will culminate with Easter Sunday. This year Lent began on Wednesday 6 February. I really like the idea of observing Lent for the same reason I like observing Advent. Too often we think of the joy and glory of Jesus’ resurrection. It is right for us to do so. But we also need to think of the time leading up to Jesus resurrection. Because when we see the events of the Passion unfold, it gives us a much greater appreciation for what Jesus did. Today at SEFC the Senenkai showed the movie, The Passion of the Christ. If you’ve seen it, you know it is not an easy movie to watch. But it best shows us how Jesus suffered and what He did to make our salvation possible.

During the season of Lent our pastor at IBC encouraged us to do several things. He encouraged us to do 3 things; prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Now probably the one most people don’t like is fasting. He didn’t encourage us to physically fast during the 40 day period, unless we felt that’s what God would have us to do. But he encouraged us to give up something important to us and use that time to focus on God and what He did for us because of His love for us. Just so you know, last year I gave up movies. I’m not going to tell you what I’m giving up this Lent season, because I won’t be flying any 777’s until after Easter.

There’s a really neat website I’ve included in the outline, www.ibclent.com. Take a look at it.

Last Sunday I gave a message at SEFC that I really considered giving tonight, but I’m not going to. The message I gave was titled “Where’s Rabbi Klein?” And just to satisfy your curiousity, I told our English group about Rabbi Gerald Klein who was a Rabbi for over 50 years. I first met him when he married my father and my stepmother. I never got to know him very well, except on passing occasions. He took the title of Rabbi Emeritus in 1988 and no longer presided over the congregation but continued in life functions like, weddings, Bar Mitzvah’s, baby naming ceremonies, tombstone dedications and funerals. Most of his duties was to conduct funerals because he had been at Temple Emanuel for so long.

In 1994 I attended High Holy Day services at the temple with my mother. After the service, she and I went down to the front of the sanctuary to say hello to the Rabbi’s. One of them, Rabbi Robbins said, “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m glad you’re spending the High Holy Days with us. When we went over to say hello to Rabbi Klein, he would not shake my hand. He looked away. I had never talked with him about my believing in Jesus, but apparently he knew about it. That was the last time I had ever seen him in person, except when I read the obituary column in the Dallas Morning News and saw there was a funeral at Temple Emanuel, it usually said “Rabbi Gerald Klein officiating.”

He was in his 80’s but still very active. I had wondered if he was still around and last November I did a web search, and found an article about him…in the obituary column of the Dallas Morning News. He died last March at 85.