Our Lord and our God. We joy in thee. Without thy help we
could not face unafraid the year before us.
Monday, December 26 I was exhausted, so I stayed in bed a bit late for
me. It was 6 a.m. and I feared I would be seen as lazy to the dogs if I
stayed in bed until 7 a.m. What did it matter if the dogs were still asleep,
I thought? As I laid there I tried to think of a name of a peculiar
Christian sect that had been living at Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey nearby my
home in the Landing area of Lake Hopatcong. After a while the name came to
my mind. Their name was the Rogerenes. The lake, above Lake Hopatcong, was
their home place and was called Lake Rogerene. The group, begun in the
1600’s, was a blend of Seventh Day Baptists and Quakers, a self-defined
group.
Their worship practices were seen as odd to the more mainline churches so
they were persecuted in the 1700s. Having their beginning in Connecticut,
they moved into Landing, New Jersey (Roxbury Township) and Schooleys
Mountain (near Hackettstown, New Jersey). They felt themselves and their
worship style above all others. They would not join any other group in
worship. Nor would they fellowship with others. They eventually decreased in
numbers. In other words they thought they were 'holier than thou'. Now they
are part of history with no spiritual descendants. (You can read more of
them online.)
So what did this early morning exercise produce? My conclusion, a lesson
for us all. How wonderfully intelligent we all think we are. How right! How
correct! How invincible we all think we have been! But we are really only an
aberration in time and history. The only constant is the Word of God, the
very God Himself and unless we put God and His Word first in our lives and
bring to him living spiritual descendants, we will leave nothing of
ourselves on the page of history. Nothing in essence, but the past with no
present and no future.
One day Dr. Maloney, District Superintendent, asked me who I had brought
to Christ in the past year. When I finally answered, I said my children, my
husband and others. He pronounced me a faithful servant. How will each of us
be judged in the future, as being and giving a living legacy of disciples of
Jesus the Christ, or a speck in history? God bless you this coming year and
may you be found worthy to bring forth disciples and live forever in His
kingdom.
Have a blessed New Year!
Pastor Bk
