7-31-2014

Good Morning All,

         Hosea 14:4; “The Lord says, “I will cure them of their unfaithfulness. I will love them freely.  I will no longer be angry with them”

     As some of you may know, I do some local umpiring in the summer.  It is tournament time so that means 3-4 games a day for 2-3 days add in heat and it gets to be a long stretch.  This year it wasn’t that bad; I only got hit about 4 times but it is time to heal up.  My wife thinks I am crazy but I enjoy it.  I consider myself fortunate and blessed that I can still do it.  I know way too many people who are unable to do anything like this.  They live with chronic pain that can make simple walking difficult.  In a few days, I won’t remember the little bumps; I’ll be all healed up.  It is nice when things heal up and you can get back to a normal routine.

    Many people live with pain, some physical and some emotional, some mental and some spiritual.  In many ways pain is pain regardless of the type.  It can be debilitating and cause us to stop doing certain activities.  People with physical pain may no longer walk like they used to.  People with emotional or mental pain may withdraw from certain types of relationships or even simple interaction with others.  Yet probably the greatest pain is spiritual because it leads us away from God’s grace.  We may feel this when something that we do not want or expect occurs in our life.

    Many times, unfortunately, we blame God and we turn away from God.  We are convinced that God has something against us and we will get even by having something against him.  As we do, we languish in a time and place of great pain.  This pain is definitely spiritual but it may also be emotional and physical in nature.  It is pain, very real pain, but it is not caused by God; it is caused by the fact that there is sin in the world and sin brought with it chaos; a randomness of events which the devil uses to torment us.  It hurts way down deep inside and it is a hurt that won’t go away.  It needs to be taken away and that is what God does.

    God comes to us through Jesus to freely forgive and to love us with an unconditional love that goes far beyond anything we can imagine.  God’s love is beyond any human concept.  He does not want you to hurt or to live without hope; God’s desire is for you to live with him in eternity.  He wants to heal you of your pain.  He wants you to live in the knowledge that life eternal waits for you.  He wants you to live with hope; hope for a better tomorrow.  So if you battle the other pains, you may know that God’s love is always there to build you up and to lift up your hearts and to comfort and to restore your soul.  His love is eternal.  He will not be angry with you; he only seeks to restore you.

Gracious Lord, in your mercy we have peace and hope.  Guard us by your most wondrous Spirit and give to us the freedom from pain that we seek.  Heal our hearts and comfort our souls.  Renew our spirits that we may live in your grace.  Be with those who are tormented the most.  Release them from the bondage of the devil’s chains.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

7-30-2014

 Good Morning All,

         John 11:39; “Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

      This is part of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  It is the final act that Jesus performs that causes the Jewish Council to decide, once and for all, that Jesus must die.  It is significant that Lazarus was dead for four days.  It was a Jewish belief that the spirit hung around the body for three days, after the third day you were completely and officially dead.  The fact that this occurred in a warm climate without embalming techniques explains the odor.  It doesn’t take long for the decaying process to set in and for the stench to become very noticeable.

    The odor that would have come from the tomb would have been pretty powerful.  It would have also reminded Mary and Martha that their brother was really dead and gone.  The people around the tomb would have recoiled and some may have even gagged at the smell.  The smell of death is very overpowering.  It can cause you to be sick at the smell’ sort of like our sin before God.

     The stench of the world to Jesus would have been overpowering in many ways; yet he stayed and ministered to the people.  He did this out of his great love.  His love was so great that it overcame the stench of our sin and make no mistake about it sin stinks.  It stinks even to us.  We see the cruelty of man to his fellow man. We see how cheaply we view life; we see how much we seek our own selfishness over the needs of others.  Our greed and arrogance raises a stink to God. 

    Our sin what separates us from God.  It is the stench that keeps us away.   Our sin also separates us from our neighbors as well.   This is what we must repent of and get rid of in order to have a more pleasant life.  When we fail to repent, we continue to live in the stench of the tomb.  We stay in the arms of death.  Yet Jesus enters our life, our tomb, and calls us out of the arms of death and away from the stench of sin.  He calls us away from the pain of sin and brings us to life and light. 

    We can leave the pain, the sadness, the stench of sin behind.  It does not have to control you.  God gives us the power to walk away from sin; God enables us to leave sin behind.  The stench and the odor can be left in the grave while we walk out in new life.  God’s grace never fails.  It can lift you out of the sadness that sin is.  It can lift you to life.

Gracious God, your mercy roll over us like a river.  Each breath we take is a new experience in your grace.  Guide us by your Spirit that we may remain out of the stench of the grave and live the life that you have called us to.  Direct us with your love.  Be with those who feel they are pulled back to the grave.  Cleanse them of the stench of sin and bring them before your glorious throne of mercy that they may rest in the arms of your love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

7-29-2014

 Good Morning All,

         Luke 9:2; “and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”

     I love to watch old movies about the Medieval Era.  I like the stories about knights and jousting and rescuing ladies in distress.  My favorites are the tales of King Arthur and his court.  The tales of Sir Lancelot, or Sir Galahad or Lady Guinevere; I can watch over and over.  It doesn’t matter if it is the fanciful Errol Flynn ones or the darker newer ones.  I like knights and swords and suits of armor.  They are fascinating to me.

     In our verse, we read where Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God.  While most of us tend to think of the kingdom of God as a place; it is actually an action.  The kingdom of God is the active presence of Jesus in the earth and in our lives.  The kingdom of God is God at work; restoring the creation back to its pristine condition.  It is the steady movement forward to recreate that which is corrupt into what is pure and holy.  It is God saving you and me and fixing what is broken.

    This is good news for us and for all of creation.  It is news that will lift the veil of despair and lift the hearts of the downtrodden.  It is the Word of God changing lives of men and women who hear it and cling to that good news with its promise of hope.  This is a message which needs to be proclaimed throughout the land.  This good news should be taken to all the downcast and the suffering.  God has chosen you and me to fill this role; we are God’s knights.

    God gives to us the armor we need to fight this battle.  He gives us the Spirit to lead us, to encourage us and to sustain us.  God invigorates us with his Word and Sacrament to refresh our soul and to lift up our spirits. Even when the battle is fierce and the warfare long; God is our everlasting and ever present hope and shield.  He equips us to go out and to spread the good news even when the devil tries to block us.  The devil will never win against the kingdom of God; it will always fail.

    Even when we are struck and knocked down, God is there to pick us up and to make us whole with his tender love and mercy.  We may be struck but we will never be mortally wounded by the devil.  He cannot get us.  God has promised to provide for us so no matter how bleak it may seem to us God is for us.  God is always there for us no matter how it looks; he is using us to proclaim his kingdom and it is the force which cannot be stopped.

    So rise, Sir Knight, for you are part of God’s great kingdom, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and crowned as an heir of his kingdom.  Go with speed and strength for it is God’s work which we do.  God is with you every step of the journey.

Father of all grace, we give you thanks for the promise of salvation and the gracious gift of faith.  Enable us to hold fast to your Word.  Be with those who are lost and hurting.  Be with those who suffer the pain of guilt and fear.  Use us as your hands to proclaim you words of hope and salvation.  Use us to proclaim your kingdom.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

7-28-2014

 Good Morning All,

         Mark 5: 2-3; “And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ³ He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,”

     This is another story about Jesus when he heals a man who is possessed by demons.  Jesus drives the demons out of the man and cast them into a herd of pigs which promptly run off a cliff into the sea.  The man who was possessed by the demons was cured.  He no longer lived among the tombs.  When the people from the local village came to see him, he was dressed normal and acted normal and spoke normally.  Everyone was astounded.

    For many of us in this the 21^st century, demon possession seems a little strange, perhaps even bizarre.  I have been asked if I believe in these possessions; yes I do.  Do they happen today? Perhaps.  Just because we have different names for the events, does not change the pain involved.  The people at the time of Jesus may have called them demons while we call them schizophrenia or bi-polar or Asperger’s syndrome or any one of a number of other ailments and problems; they all mean pain to the person who suffers from them. 

    This man may have even been clinically depressed.  I have talked with people who have experienced these conditions and others like it.  They often describe feeling like they are possessed by something or someone as they do not feel they control their own actions or thoughts.  What they describe sounds scary and full of pain much like the life of the people who the Bible describes as being possessed.

    Perhaps there have been times when you felt like you were “living in the tombs” more afraid of life than looking forward to it.  Perhaps there have been dark times for you to overcome.  Those dark times can cause a lot of pain and even feel like someone or something is controlling you.  You may be feeling that right now.  If you are, know that God loves you and wants to help.  First and foremost, call someone.  Call your doctor or a counsellor or your minister but call someone and get professional help.  This is one of God’s tools in caring for you.  Secondly, pray for God’s guidance and assistance.  Third, talk with those close to you; they love you and care for you, let them in.

     There will be dark and painful times in this life because the world is still broken by sin.  Yet we are never alone and we never have to face this world alone.  God is there with us and loves us and will protect us from the devil’s arrows.  We need to use the tools he gives us in this battle.  Trust in God’s mercy to sustain you.  Hold onto his love for you and he will free you from the pain that possesses you.

Father, there are times when the darkness seems too great.  It is at these times when I need your grace to bring me out of the tombs of despair.  Be with those who are still hurting and living among the tombs of despair.  Give to them your healing touch.  Bring them to the light of your love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret