5-31-2017

Good Morning All,

             Luke 23:43; “And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 

    Do you remember the song “All My Trials”?  It was recorded by Joan Baez; Peter, Paul and Mary; The Kingston Trio among others.  It is a very plaintive ballad about the struggles of life.  It starts with the haunting line,” Hush little baby don’t you cry; you know your mother was born to die.”  

    This is one of those songs that when you hear it and listen to the word; you either love it or hate it.  There are many people who despise this song because, to them, it is a negative song with a negative attitude toward life.  They see it as fatalistic and dreary and gloomy.  It is based on a Bahamian lullaby where a mother on her deathbed is comforting her children.  The key line in the song is “all my trials soon (will) be over”. 

    While some find this song problematic, it tells of a truth of life.  Our life is one long trial and it will soon be over.  Some see this as fatalistic and depressing.  It is an accurate view of life; we were born to die.

    The story of Christ’s crucifixion really is a microcosm of the life of man.  As Jesus hangs on the cross, there are two thieves, one on each side, being crucified with him.  One is defiant and mocks Jesus; the other repents of his wrong doings and calls Jesus Lord.  Both men are dying but one will live to be in paradise.

    We like to think that our life will last a long time; perhaps in our mind it will last forever.  Yet we are sinners, we are dying.  In essence, we are already hanging on the cross; we are dying.  Our life is slowing draining away.  We will all eventually die; the question is which cross do you hang on?

    Many in this world hang on the cross of the scoffer.  They deny Jesus as Lord; they do not believe that He can or will forgive their sins.  They do not believe that God would do this out of love for them.  They hang on that cross refusing to see their own death coming.  They deny that they are truly helpless and incapable of changing their lot, their future, in any way.  So they join the sinful world in scoffing and denying Jesus and sealing their fate and certain eternal death.

    Then there are those who accept life.  Even though they are hanging on the cross, they look to Jesus for salvation.  Even though they are facing earthly death, they trust in God’s promise of forgiveness and of eternal life.  They have faith in the words, “you will be with me in paradise”.  They have eternal life so they are able to face death knowing that the trials of the cross will give way to life everlasting.

    So the question is which cross do you hang on?  Is it the one which scoffs at Jesus and does not believe in his promise or do you hang on the cross which is forgiven and has received the promise of salvation?

Dear Lord, we hear your promise of forgiveness and salvation.  Give us the faith to trust in your promise; give us faith.  Hold us close to you and when our time on the cross is done, bring us home to you in Paradise.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

5-30-2017

Good Morning All,

              Ephesians 6:23; “Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

    Peace, the ever elusive dream.  Take a second and think of all the songs, poems, novels, etc. that have been written about peace and the desire for peace.  If you were to ask most adults; peace would be one of the top five wishes or dreams that they have.  Yet as we speak of our hope for peace, what is it that we are really wanting?  What is peace and how do we get it?

    Too often, we look for peace in the world or in our nation or community.  As we look for this; we look outward to other people or other situations in order to find peace.  The truth is that we have to find peace in our selves first.  Unless we have inner peace, we’ll never have external peace.

     For most of us, inner peace is hard to find because of stress.  The stress we find in our lives can make peace seem like a distant, foggy dream.  We stress about our jobs, our children and grandchildren, our health, our loved ones health, we stress about the weather, the price of crops, the cost of health care, how things are going in the community or church and the list just keeps growing.  Sometimes we look at it and think that all this must be some sort of sign of the times.

    We often look at the events of the world and see it as a sign of the times; a sign of the coming of the end times.  We look at the Bible and Jesus never spoke of stress so now that we experience stress that must be proof, right?  Jesus may not have spoken of stress but he did speak of trials and tribulation, burdens, pains.  What we call stress, Jesus referred to in other ways.  In other words, stress isn’t a sign of the times; stress is a sign of life. 

    Stress exists because sin exists.  Sin causes the stress and the worry we experience.  Sin causes us to fail to trust in God’s promises of comfort, of sustaining us, of maintaining us, of giving us peace.  Peace will never come from the outside.  Peace will only come when we trust God and have faith in his promise.  True peace comes to us from God and we have it because of faith that God will take care of us.  We will still face the stresses of this world; that is just life.  Yet we can live in peace with God because of Jesus.  Because of the peace with God, we know the stresses of this world will not prevail.  We will still experience them but we can have inner peace from God.  Even as the world seems to spin out of control, we can have peace as a blessing from God.

Gracious Lord, we long for peace but rarely find it.  We often look in the wrong places.  Forgive us when we fail.  Bring us into your wondrous light and peace.  Guard us and protect us from the devil’s aim to disrupt our peace.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret            

5-29-2017

Good Morning All,

           Proverbs 27:23; “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds”

     For many years, I coached baseball.  From little T-ballers through teeners, I coached them.  There are many things which go into coaching kids, patience helps, and a sense of humor helps but probably one of the most important is being able to count.  If you take a team of 12 to a game, you want to bring 12 home.  You might snicker at that but I’ve seen it happen.  We were at a midget tournament.  It was for ages 12 and under.  There was a team from about 75 miles away and about an hour after the rest of the team left; we saw this youngster with that team uniform.  This was before cell phones.  I am not sure how it turned out but the hosts of the tournament were scurrying around trying to figure it out.

     Sometimes, the most important thing a coach can do is make sure everyone is on the bus on the ride home.  Sometimes, you have to bandage up a scraped up knee.  Sometimes, you have to be sure no one is getting too hot.  Sometimes, you have to buy supper for someone who forgot their money.  Sometimes, you just have to have a pair of ears.  The most important quality a coach can ever have is not how many games he wins; it is to know the condition of his flock.

     The same can be said of the Church.  Many people think that the church is worried about buildings.  Many think the church worries about how much money comes in or about how many people are in the church on any given service.  Many think that the church is more concerned with exercising power and influence or how it looks and ranks in the community.  It may be true that some churches are worried about the image it projects, how many games it wins.  Yet the true Church truly pays attention to the condition of the flock.

     This is because this is what Jesus did; he worried about his flock.  He is the Good Shepherd looking after you.  He is the Shepherd who left the 99 to look for the 1 lost sheep.  He is the Shepherd who gave up his life for the sheep.  He is the Shepherd who knows his sheep and his sheep know him and they know him by his voice.  Isn’t that a wonderful image, knowing someone by their voice.  We know our Savior as we hear him speak to us.  We hear his voice whenever we hear the Gospel expressed when we hear the good news of the forgiveness of our sins.  We hear his voice when we share in Holy Communion with our fellow believers.  This care, this concern, this knowledge of the condition of the flock; Jesus has given to the Church to attend to while we wait for Christ to return.

     So if you are a member of Christ’s Church, a true believer, God calls on you to know the condition of the flock.  Know how your fellow believers are feeling and what they are experiencing.  Love your fellow believer as Christ loves you.  This is how we help each other to survive and to thrive in God’s loving grace.

Dearest Lord Jesus, you love your flock and call them your own.  Give us the ability to love as you love and move us to care for your flock.  Guard us from all harm and bring your hope to those who do not know it.  In your precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

5-28-2017

Good Morning All,

               John 8:32; “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

    I used to follow politics a whole lot closer than I do now.  Back then, the players were colorful, interesting and, at least in public, civil towards each other.  They showed respect for the institutions in which they served.  One of my favorite characters was a senator from New York named Daniel Patrick Moynihan.  He was a great mind who always had a way with his words.

    One of his quotes that has been coming back to me these past few months is this one, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”  Every time I watch the news; this phrase comes back almost as a haunt.  As I watch the news, everyone has his own truth.  We used to say “if you don’t like the weather on this station; change the channel and get a different forecast.”  Now we say that about the “facts” of the news.

    This is a problem in our world and our nation.  We have a world in which everyone feels that they are entitled to their own “truth”.  We hold to the “you believe what you want and I’ll believe what I want”.  We no longer acknowledge that there is a truth.  We are becoming a nation where everyone has his or her own truth.  This may sound good but in reality; it represents possibly the greatest threat to us yet.

    Jesus was talking to some of his believers when he told them that if they continued in his word they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.  Later on, Jesus tells his disciples that he is the way, the TRUTH, and the life.  Jesus is the truth, the only truth that exists in our world.  He is the only truth that ever has existed or ever will.  To view the world as a place that allows many truths is the same as having many gods.

    The truth for all to know is that Jesus is the flesh and blood truth that God truly loves us and desires that we are reconciled to him.  Jesus is living proof that God wants to restore us to the perfect existence that was in Eden.  The truth is that only Jesus is the source of salvation for man.  From that truth, we build our society.  God wants us to live reconciled lives together.  We are to live in harmony with God and each other.  Yet we hold to this truth that Jesus is our salvation.  This is the only truth that there is. 

     So as we listen to the rabble that is on the news today remember; God calls us, as his children, to be the light of the world to the truth.  God’s grace shows through us.  He uses his church to show his truth to the world.  He uses his church to tell the world that God wants to reconcile the world back to him.  Know there is only one truth and be ready to speak that truth.  “Let your light so shine before men that they may see the glory of the Father.” The truth will set you free.

      Gracious Father in heaven, you have blessed us with your holy truth.  Give us your strength to guide us that we may see the truth, that we may live the truth and that we may proclaim the truth.  Guard your people and give courage to your Church.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret