AtO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 3, 1999 OPINION The Prophet’s Easter Story WHO hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a toot out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither, was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul and offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall sec of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the trans gressors; and he bore the sin of many; and made intercession for the transgressors Isaiah 53, Holy Bible. Ju-Vindale Invitational and Spring Promise Sale, Myerstown. Susquehanna County Holstein bus trip to western Bradford Coun ty, picks up at various locations Daiiylea Regional Tour Meeting, Best Western, Little Falls, N.Y., 1 p.m. Sprayer Clinic, Logan Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Milk Price Strategies Workshop, Clocks Should ‘Spring Forward * Tonight The old saw, “spring forward, fall back" has arrived for your clocks. Time has come to change from Eastern Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time. We “spring forward" one hour at 2 a.m. cm Easter Sun day morning, April 4. So turn your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed Saturday night Some say that springing ahead means you lose that one hour of sleep, though sunlight lasts a lot longer in the day. Ani mal feeding and milking schedules need to be adjusted accordingly. ,, MW# ♦ Farm Calendar ❖ *** * : **'■ Bradford extension ottice, i Solanco Young Farmer Meeting, Farmstead Evaluation, Solanco High School. 7:30 p.m. Pennsylvania Poultry Sales and Service Confereence, Holiday Inn, Grantville, thru April 7. Cedar Crest Young Farmers Awards Banquet, Schaeffer- stown Fire Hall, 7 p.m. Dairylea Regional Tour Meeting, Crossroads Restaurant, Moira, N.Y., 1 p.m. Dairylea Regional Tour Meeting, Ramada Inn, Watertown, N.Y., 7 p.m. Milk Price Strategies Workshop, Troy C & NN Bank, 1 p.m.-3 (Turn to Page A 39) Now Is The Time By John Schwartz Dairy farmers who marketed milk during the fourth quarter of 1998 are eligible to receive a price deficient payment. Eligible dairy producers may receive a direct payment per hundredweight (cwt.) on the first 26,000 cwt. of milk marketed commercially. Each dairy operation has a choice of using 1997 or 1998 calendar year milk marketings for the base period The actual payment rate will be determined after sign-up and will be calculated by dividing the amount available by the total eligible cwt. of milk from all approved dairy operations. To sign-up persons representing dairy operations that were marketing milk during the fourth quarter of 1998 must apply for the Dairy Market Loss Assistance Program (DMLA) at your local Farm Service Agency office. The sign-up period is between April 12, 1999 Mid May 21, 1999 For more information on this program, contact your Farm Service Agency office or your county cooperative extension office Sometime m the past 15 years, American farmers crossed an auspicious environmental boundary They began reducing the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide rather than adding to it Carbon dioxide is one of the green house gases thought to cause global warming. A new USDA Agricultural Research Service study shows that farmers have shifted from being net producers of carbon dioxide to net accumulators of carbon, in the form of valuable soil organic matter The changeover was due largely to farmers' increasing abandonment of the moldboard plow The plow inverts soil to a depth of 8 to 12 inches The inversion buries recent stubble and crop residues where microbes decompose it into carbon forms easily converted to carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide can escape into the atmosphere As farmers put aside the moldboard plow, they leave nearly all the residue on the soil surface Here the residue readily decays into organic matter, a more stable carbon compound. Do not pass up the greatest financial benefit available Dr Robert Thee, Lancaster County Resource Management Agent, reminds us, it you are between 25 and 34 years old, a $l,OOO per Lancaster County Agricultural Agent To Sign-Up For Milk Payment To Recognize Environmental Efforts To Save for Retirement year investment at 8 percent will yield more than $150,000 when you turn 65. Choose a favorable tax fund, such as a tax sheltered IRA, 401 (k) or 403(b) plan. IRAs are available to all working Americans or choose 401 (k), company retirement savings plans for employees or 403(b), retirement plans for employees of public schools and non-profit charitable organizations. See your employer or the personal officer where you work about A PERSONAL EASTER MESSAGE April 4, 1999 Background Scripture: John 18 through 29 Devotional Reading: Acts 2:32-39 I read somewhere that, during the days of the Soviet Union, some Russian Orthodox churches were permitted to have Easter ser vices because Communist offi cials reasoned that something so ancient as the Easter liturgy couldn’t have any effect upon the opinions and actions of a handful or worshippers. A contemporary scholar has commented that the Soviets couldn’t have really un derstood the meaning of Easter or they would have had to ban it completely. The Soviets and probably many others failed to under stand that the Easier gospel is not just about a startling event that took place almost 2,000 years ago. Properly understood and experi enced, Easter is contemporary good news about people and situa tions today. More than just a cor porate liturgy, Easter comes to each of us with revolutionary power for this very year, month and day. Part of Easter’s personal mes sage to me and you is the re levance of what immediately pre ceded the resurrection: the passion and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, too, is not just about a man who suffered unjustly and was put to death in the third de cade of the first century A.D. The crucifixion is about us, too, in 1999. THE STUMBLING-BLOCK The stumbling-block of Christi anity has always been the passion and death of Jesus. Here was a man so spiritually powerful that he could heal disease and cast out demons. Here was also a man so innocent, so loving, yet so despis ed by so many. Christians still want to know: why did such a man go to the cross? (If wc can under stand that, then perhaps we will understand the crosses in our own lives. Some may reason that Jesus had no choice, that fate, divine will, providence decreed his death. It is obvious that Jesus could have avoided both Jerusalem and the cross, staying in Galilee or sojoun ing out in the wilderness of Judea. But, if Jesus had no choice, then he would simply be a victim with no power to bring redemption to anyone. Others, taking an opposite tack would say Jesus sought to be a martyr. But I don’t believe that either. Why would he have prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for contributing to a 401(k) or 403(b), because payments are deducted from your paycheck. You must take the initiative to start an IRA or Individual Retirement Account. Financial advisors (certified public accounts, bankers, certified financial planners, etc.) can help with making choices for retirement income. Feather Prof, 's Footnote "Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it." “this cup" to be taken from him? Still others will bold that Jesus died on Calvary because God will ed it for his own purposes. But that would make the passion and deaht of Jesus nothing more than a cruel charade. God would be the author of the evil that overlook Je sus at Calvary. I believe the reason Jesus died on Calvary was that, while he did not seek death, and while his death was the will of men, not God, Je sus would not betray his mission for the sake of saving his life. What made his crucifixion inevit able was his obedience to God’s call and its collision course with the malevolence of those who crucified him. WHAT’S IT TO US? So what is so personal about all of the above? How dies it apply to us as well as Jesus? The answer we can approach life with the same obedience that we see ex emplified in Jesus Christ. We don’t seek suffering and we don’t believe God wills that we suffer. But there are times when remain ing faithful to the good news in Je sus Christ leads us to a cross. As Jesus did, we can experience our crosses with the same faithfulnqps and compassion with which Jesbs experienced his. Calvary, then. Is a vciy current and personal mas sage about how to live faithfully in our world today. Furthermore, the resurrection of Jesus is a personal and current message about living victoriously in this world of today. The ene mies of our Lord did their veiy worst to him, but the resurrection proved that their worst was not powerful enough. Their worst was not more powerful than his best. That is no less true today! The resurrection appearance of Jesus to Mary also has a contem porary message for us. Notice that when Jesus first appeared to her, “she did not know that it was Je sus” (20:14b). Even after Jesus be gan to talk to her, she didn’t re cognize the Lord, “supposing him to be the gardener.” It was only when, instead of addressing her as “woman,” Jesus said “Mary,” that she realized it was Jesus standing before her. The resurrection faith is always and ever a matter of faith, not scientific logic and testa bility. By that faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ becomes a very per sonal message, showing us how to live victoriously in the very world we live in today. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 -by Lancaster Farming, Inc A Stemman Enteipnse William J. Burgess General Manager Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming
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