Good Morning All,
John 12:46; “I have come into the world as light, so
that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
“Do you believe?” “I can’t believe it!” “Can
you believe she wore that outfit again?” “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t
seen it!” “I believe I will have some more dessert.” We have many uses for the word “believe.” It gets tossed around enough that we may not
really understand what it means. We
start the Apostle’s Creed with “I believe” but what are we really saying. For many, believing is a mental exercise; it
is accepting something as true but that is the end of it. This is not what it means to believe. To believe means that our actions, our decisions,
our future depends on the truth that we believe. To believe means that this truth alters our
life.
These past few days, our part of paradise
has experienced a blizzard. Traffic was
pretty much at a standstill but slowly coming back to normal. It wasn’t a surprise; the forecast was pretty
solid 36 hours before it hit. Most
people believed the forecast but what does that mean? It means that those who were planning on travelling
left early. We made sure we had milk, eggs and bread. I got plenty of gas for the snowblower and we
pulled the generator into the garage, so we had easy access to it. We even started it to make sure it was ready.
Belief leads to a way of living. To say, I believe, means to live in
accordance with your belief. You cannot
live opposite of your belief; you will always live as you believe. This is what you use to serve as the compass
or guiding light in your life. You live
as you believe. If you truly believe
that Jesus came into the world to die and to rise again to give you life, you
will live your life in accordance with that truth. If you don’t believe, then something else
will be the driving force.
This is what Scriptures means when it says,
“a tree is known by its fruit.” What you
produce, how you live, speak, treat others and where your priorities are shows
what you believe. Our life is the product
of our belief. If our belief is in Jesus
as our Savior, we will live in a certain fashion, loving our neighbor, caring
for creation, seeing our hope in God and knowing our eternal future with Jesus
is secure.
So, why do we sin? Why do we fall short? Sometimes, it catches us by surprise and
sometimes it catches us at a weak moment in our life, a time of fear or
pain. Yet sin does not change our
belief. Belief is how I desire to live;
I may fail but the desire remains, and God’s Spirit remains in me encouraging
me to grow and to trust, to live without fear.
Faith grows as trust increases and our belief becomes more secure. Jesus came to shine the light on the truth;
his death and resurrection gives us life, so we can live a life in the light, living
as we were created to; loving one another.
Father of all mercies help our unbelief!
Guide us by your Spirit that we may produce the fruit you desire. Keep us safe in your loving arms and lead us
to be your hands, voice and arms in this world.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Luke 22:41; “And he withdrew
from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed”
How far is that? How far is “a stone’s throw”? Now we would think that there are many things
to consider, like how much does the stone weigh? A baseball weighs not less than 5 ounces and
not more than 5.25 ounces. Many years
ago, I could throw a baseball about 250 feet but that was a baseball not a
rock. Most rocks weigh more than that so
the distance would be less. In fact, if
I went out today and picked up a stone and threw it; I would probably be lucky
to throw it 20 feet; more than likely it would be less than that. How far is a stone’s throw? Not very far.
Even he was approaching the lowest point in
his life; Jesus was still staying close to his disciples. Even as his agony was increasing; his
compassion for his disciples was first and foremost in his mind. Even in his time of despair and suffering; he
tended to the needs of the disciples. He
may have been saddened that they were unable to remain awake with him through
this tough night, but he never abandoned them.
Even when later they all ran away; he was with them, protecting them
from the arrows of the devil.
At no time in your life is Jesus ever more
than a stone’s throw away from you. No
matter how painful or sorrowful we may feel; Jesus is always close by. He is always near us. He is the ever-present presence of God’s love
for us. It is by his love for us that we
are saved; it is by his love for us that we are kept safe. He has claimed us as his own and has promised
to never abandon us.
So, if you are facing a difficult time in
your life, know that you do not have to face it alone. You do not have to fear the future because
the future rests in the loving hands of God.
Your future is secure because of God’s great love for you. As we go through this Lenten season, instead
of focusing on the suffering of Jesus; see it as an example of God’s love for
you. God was willing to have his only
Son become human; to live the life of a man who was under the Law so that his
sacrifice would be all sufficient for all the sins to be paid. By doing so, we are no longer outcasts, we
are his beloved children. He will never
forsake us or leave us. We will never be
separated from his love. He is never
more than a stone’s throw away.
So, we can face today knowing that our
loving God is always right next to us.
We can know that we never need to stand alone and face the fury of the
devil. Jesus has defeated the devil and
has given to us the power to tell the devil to leave us alone. The devil’s attacks are empty; the only way
he wins is if you or I turn away from Jesus and fail to see and to seek God’s
incredible grace. It is less than a
stone’s throw away.
Father of all mercy, you are
always near me. Your Spirit renews me
and secures my future. I no longer have
to fear that which I do not see or understand for you are always with me. Be with those who do not know this comforting
truth or do not trust it. Give them your
peace. In the precious name of Jesus, we
pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning
All,
Psalm 130:1; “Out
of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!”
One warm spring morning the homeowner knew
there was a problem when the shower stopped draining. He called the local plumber who called the
local construction company and by noon the yard was dug up as the septic system
had failed. It was old and couldn’t
handle the level of use a family of 5 placed on it. They dug up the old lines and the old
tank. They piled the sludge and mud and
dirt off to the side. The “water” was
pumped off to the edge of the work area as the pile of sludge, mud, dirt sort
of oozed out. Everyone knew enough to
stay away; until 4:00 pm.
The three young boys got off the bus and
immediately headed for the activity. A
backhoe at work, a crane truck at work, drain tile laid out, men with tools
working; it was a boy’s heaven. So, they
decided to “help.” Soon they were
covered in sludge, mud and dirt. They
began to wrestle each other, throwing each other into the oozing pile. They splashed through the “fragrant” water
and threw handfuls of the ooze at each other.
They were having the time of their life until mom saw them. She shook her head; it wasn’t the first time
that the boys had pulled something like this.
So, she headed out and brought them into the garage and there they
waited.
She came out of the house with a basin full
of warm soapy water and started by washing their faces. Now, even the boys realized that their smell
was not the greatest. She washed them,
threw out the water, got fresh water and repeated the process. The clothes ended up out on the lawn by the
garden hose, a later project. Yet mother
continued to scrub and scrub and after a while three clean, cherubic boys
appeared with rosy cheeks from the scrubbing.
Hopefully, they learned their lesson, but mom knew they would find a
different one.
When the psalmist speaks of “the depths” we
can think of a hole where much of the sewage from a village drains to. Prisoners were often tossed in these to keep
them. It was a place of stench and
despair. It is a place that we can find
ourselves from time to time. Perhaps we
have had a fight with a loved one or heard some painful comments made or we
made some painful comments and now regret it.
Perhaps it seems that the world is totally against us and in our sorrow,
we are in the hole, the pit, the depths of despair.
Even through the stench, God reaches down
and gives us comfort and hope. He washes
us off and cleans us up until we are clean, we are new creations. We are clean enough to live in his presence
and rest in his loving arms. Even as we
fall into the pit again, God continues to pull you out of the depths and clean you
up so that you no longer live with the stench of sin. God’s love pulls you up and out. In his grace, he cleanses us from our sin.
Father, I cry out of the
depths and you hear me and rescue me.
You give me hope. You give me
peace. Be with those who are still in
the pit. Hear their cry and lift them up
by your mighty Spirit. Save them, Lord
and give them the certainty of their salvation.
In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Matthew 2:18; “A voice was
heard in Ramah, weeping and
loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be
comforted, because they are no more.”
This is a verse that refers to what the
Church calls “The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
This is where Herod, in a fit of anger and rage, tried to kill the king
that the Magi sought. We observe it on
Dec. 28th; it is called the “The Holy Innocents”. When King Herod realized that the Magi
weren’t going to return to tell him where Jesus was, he thought he would solve
the question by killing all the male children 2 years and younger.
Much lore has been built around this
event. Scholars have no real clue as to
the number of children who were killed, most guess 20 or less not the hundreds
or even thousands that some legends portend.
Many also read this story and assume that Jesus was about 2 years old
when the Magi came to visit. This is
possible but not for sure; the fact that he had the male children who were 2
and under, may have simply showed how cruel King Herod truly was. We don’t know a lot about this event, but it
serves a purpose.
First this story points to the very clear
fact that Jesus laid aside his power and glory to live the humblest of
lives. He was endangered from hatred of
others from his birth on. We also see
God’s protective and loving arm keeping Jesus and his parents safe from
harm. We also see an event that shows
just how painful and evil some events in this sinful and broken world can
be. What can be crueler than to yank a
baby from a mother’s arms and run them through with a sword? Is this right or fair? No, but our life in a
sinful world is rarely fair but often painful.
It becomes very clear here that we cannot
ever understand everything in life. In
fact, we actually understand very little.
Yet God does not call us to know everything; God calls us to have faith,
to live in faith. We can never fully
understand all that occurs or how it interacts; only God can fully comprehend
life. We can only trust that God, who is
by nature loving, to provide for us. God
works to good for all those who love him and whom he has called for his
purpose. This ultimate good is our salvation. Even if the world takes all of our earthly
goods, even if we surrender our life, God has promised to save his children and
then to keep us comforted with this knowledge that nothing will ever separate
us from God’s love. We are always safe
in God’s protective arms.
Father of all mercy, there
are so many things that we do not understand.
Help us to keep them from hurting our faith. Keep us steadfast in our
desire to trust you. Guide us by your
light and strengthen us by your Spirit that we may remain faithful to you. Help us to always trust in your
promises. Be with those who are like
Rachel and weeping without hope. Bring
them the certainty of their salvation which is Jesus. In his precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
1 Kings 8:56; “Blessed be
the Lord who has given
rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has
failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.”
“Being of no power to make his wishes good: his
promises fly so beyond his state that what he speaks is all in debt; he owes
for every word.” ~William Shakespeare or perhaps this is more to your
understanding. “When a man takes an oath...
he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his
fingers then — he needn't hope to find himself again.” ~Robert Bolt. There has been much written about promises;
about how easily we make them; how quickly we offer them and how easily we walk
away from them. Our lives are filled
with promises and many times they go unkept.
Broken promises have become such a common
event in our lives that it is almost expected.
We laugh among ourselves when we think of political speeches and
campaign promises which seem to be given for the express purpose of breaking
them. We deal with promises that
businesses make regarding their products yet it takes reams of paper to read
the fine print about what exactly is promised and how that promise will be
delivered. Sadly, this view of promises
also enters into our personal life and the relationships that we have with one
another.
One of the most important tasks in marriage
counseling is getting the couple to see that the vows that they take during the
ceremony are real. The vows are clear
and are meant to be a lifetime commitment.
Unfortunately, you just have to read the court news in the paper to see
that sacred promises made to and before God have the same value as political
promises; very little. We are surrounded
by broken promises made in a sinful broken world.
This is why we can find so much comfort in
God’s promises. He has kept them all so
far and will continue to keep them in the future. The writer of the Book of Hebrews explains
that God has taken a holy oath against his own name and that by God’s very
nature as holy; he cannot break a promise; it would go against his nature. Every promise God makes, he keeps.
So when God promises to never abandon you;
he never will. When God promises you
eternal life; you have it. When God
promises to provide for you; he will provide.
When God promises that your sins are forgiven, forgotten and left in the
past; you can trust that they are. The
past is over and our future is secure; we can live in the present knowing that
God’s love is abounding and protecting us from harm and danger. God always keeps his promises; he never
fails.
God of all mercy, we give
you thanks for your great promises of salvation. We give you thanks that you sent Jesus to
walk in our stead and that you forgive our sins and free us from the power of
the devil. Guide us to live in bold
confidence of your mercy. Be with those
who are in doubt or are in struggles in their life. Guard them by your Holy Spirit. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Mark 4:41;
“They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the
waves obey him!”
I remember a conversation that I had with
a friend. He was hiking through the
woods in the Black Hills Forest. He was
following a path when he came upon a nest of baby rattlesnakes. He was afraid of what might be. Not knowing if momma rattler was around, he
gave the spot a wide berth. The problem
that occurred was that when he returned to the path; it was the wrong
path. Soon he was very lost, and it was
getting very dark. He was now
terrified. Not sure what to do, he
climbed one more hill and saw a highway.
He went to the highway and waited for a ride back to his car. He was a long way from where he wanted to be
but eventually, he made it home.
Our verse comes from the story of Jesus
calming the storm. As Jesus slept in the
back of the boat, a storm raged. While
it raged, the disciples were afraid.
These were experienced professional fishermen; they knew this lake like
they knew the back of their hand. This
storm frightened them. They may have had
thoughts of going missing until broken parts of the ship washed up and maybe a
couple of the bodies were recovered.
They were so frightened that they finally got brave enough to wake
Jesus. He rose up and rebuked the wind
and the waves the way a mother rebukes her young rambunctious children.
The disciples looked at each other and now
they were terrified! They had never
witnessed anything like this in their life.
They had just watched Jesus still the wind and the wave with just his
spoken word. This was totally beyond
their understanding or even imagination and they were terrified. They were terrified because this was an
entirely new experience.
Does the thought of this unimaginable power
frighten you? The power to create
everything with the spoken word, the power to stop the sun in the sky, the
power to shake mountains, the power to overcome death, all things that might
terrify us. It should terrify you, for
you are a sinner. Yet in what is the
most amazing twist in human history, we can take comfort in this fact.
Jesus showed his love for you by his death
and resurrection and now all that power is directed to giving us life. All the chaos that makes up our lives, all
the havoc-bringing storms in our lives are subject to his power. All the trials in our life are under his
power. We have nothing to fear but God
Himself and he has promised to love you and to never let you out of his loving
embrace. Our Savior, our Redeemer is not
a powerless wimp. He is not helpless, or
absent or uncaring. Regardless of what
we feel; Jesus is in control of our out of control life.
Gracious Lord, you speak,
and the wind and the waves obey you. We
know that you are in control of our life as well. Give us the peace that comes from trusting in
your amazing love. In your precious name
we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Genesis 22:5; “Then Abraham
said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over
there and worship and come again to you.”
This is one of the most amazing verses in
the Bible. On the first pass, we usually
read right through this, but this is an amazing verse. This verse is from the story of Abraham when
God tells him to sacrifice his son Isaac.
While this may seem very strange to us, it was probably common among the
people of Canaan who lived near and around Abraham at this time. Yet Isaac was the promised child. Isaac was the son that Abraham and Sarah had
waited for. He was the only son they had
and now Abraham and Sarah were well over 100 years old so having more children
seemed bleak. Yet God was telling
Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering to God.
Even as God required this, he reminded
Abraham that Isaac was “your son, your only son”; there were no others. When Isaac died so would the line of Abraham;
so, would the promise that God made to Abraham.
So much would go by the wayside that wasn’t supposed to go. Yet as we read this story there are some
things that are curious. At no time do
we read about Abraham questioning God.
Abraham never asks, “Are you sure?”
“Perhaps there is a mistake.” He
never questioned God in any fashion.
Abraham simply gathered Isaac, the wood for the fire, the knife for
killing Isaac and a couple of servants and headed for the appointed place. For two days they journeyed; did Abraham
wonder what was going to happen? At the
start of the third day, Abraham told the two servants to wait here and that he
and Isaac would return later.
Now Abraham knew that God had told him to
sacrifice Isaac; Isaac would not return; unless God did something
miraculous. Abraham had faith,
tremendous faith that God would do something to keep him promise, the promise
that God made to Abraham so many years before.
Scriptures does not tell us what Abraham expected; we only know he
believed that God would keep his promise.
There are many times when we cannot see our
way out. There are many times when what
seems to be happening should not be.
These are the times that require faith.
These are the times when we say, “God, I don’t see it, but I know that
you keep your promises and I will cling to that fact. You keep your promises and you promised me
life, forgiveness and salvation.” That
is all we need to say, “I trust in your promise.” Just like Abraham, we can trust God to keep
his word. God made a promise to you in
your Baptism and he will never go back on it.
You are his redeemed child and his love for you knows no bounds or
ends. Trust him to deliver.
Gracious Father, you sent
the Lamb to redeem me from the devil.
Keep me safe in your loving arms.
Protect me from all harm and danger.
Strengthen my faith by your Spirit as you clothe me in your loving
grace. In the precious name of Jesus, we
pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Matthew 9:39; “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
As World War II came to an
end in Europe and the Allied forces moved into German held territory, the
Allied armies came upon places that would be burned into the world’s psyche;
places like Dachau, Buchenwald, Treblinka and Auschwitz. As the allied soldiers began to try and help
the emaciated and suffering prisoners, many of the soldiers became physically
sick as they looked on at the conditions under which the prisoners existed for
many years. They were so moved by the
total helplessness of the prisoners that these battle-hardened and weary
soldiers, many who had witnessed great horrors, became sick as they tried to
aid the prisoners. The soldiers
experienced compassion for the prisoners.
The word compassion in the Bible literally
means a deep-felt pain or reaction deep in the bowels or in your stomach. It is when you see a person in such pain or
need that you feel the pain in your most inward parts. It is what Jesus felt when he looked at the
crowds of people. He looked at them and
saw a people who were like sheep without a shepherd. He looked at the people as sheep that had
been harassed and helpless. They were
like sheep that had been attacked by wolves. They were cut up, bloodied,
injured and lost. They were beaten and
defeated. Jesus saw their pain and he
was moved, deep down inside, he felt their pain and suffering and he
acted. He healed the blind and the
lame. He drove out demons and brought
comfort to those who knew suffering and pain.
Many people read this and see it as a
blueprint for their own life. We should
have compassion on our brothers. We
should have the compassion of Jesus. We
should not judge how or why the injured person got where he got. We should not focus on bad choices or bad
decisions because when a person needs comfort, we simply must meet the
need. Whether the pain is self-inflicted
from personal failures does not lessen the pain or the sorrow. Many read this and think of how they should
act and that is a good thing. We should
be quick to have compassion on those who are around us. But this is not the crux of the story.
The real crux of the story is that you and
I are still the sheep. You and I still
desperately need Jesus’ compassion. We
sin daily and we put ourselves into situations that cause us nothing but
pain. We are our own worst enemy; we
desperately need compassion and healing and Jesus provides it to us daily and
freely. He looks at you and he sees your
pain and through his forgiving words and his loving kindness he takes the pain
away. Trust in his grace; trust in his
mercy.
Father of mercy, in your
wonderful mercy you gave your Son to have compassion on us. You free us from the tyranny of the
devil. You gather us into your flock,
and you protect us. Lead us by your
gracious Spirit. Lead us in peace and
harmony. In the precious name of Jesus,
we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Matthew 28:20; “Teach them to do
everything I have commanded you. “And remember that I am always with you until
the end of time.”
I had a friend who could not wait for
whatever we were doing to get done. When
we were in high school and playing football; he couldn’t wait for football to
get done. Then he couldn’t wait for
basketball to get done. When we went to
college he couldn’t wait until he would be done with classes. After his children were born, he couldn’t
wait until they were old enough to drive and then he couldn’t wait until they
graduated. His job wasn’t any better; he
couldn’t wait until he could retire. He
would always look forward to what was coming but he never really enjoyed what
he was doing.
This seems like a sad life to me; yet there
are many Christians who live the same way.
It is easy to do and not entirely wrong.
We are eschatological; that is, we look forward to the end of time and
look forward to the return of Jesus as King and Lord. So, for Christians to look forward to the end
times is not all bad. Only when Jesus
returns will all pain, sorrow, suffering, sadness and death finally end. This is why we look forward to Christ’s
return; this is why we pray for Christ to return. For when Christ comes, we will have the
restored and recreated heaven and earth.
Everything will be perfect.
Yet we don’t want to miss today
either. Jesus told us that tomorrow will
have enough worries so live today. Too
often we miss this. We fail to see the
beauty of today because we want the beauty of tomorrow. Just like my friend missed so much because he
wouldn’t see today; he only wanted to get to tomorrow. He missed a lot of his children growing up
because he was trying to hurry them into the next phase. He missed a lot of companionship today
because he was always hurrying to get to tomorrow.
One of the wonderful gifts that God gives
us in our faith is that we have the certainty of tomorrow so we can enjoy
today. We don’t have to wait until we
live with Jesus; he already lives in us right now. He is with us all the time and we can not
only take comfort in this; we can revel in it.
We can thoroughly enjoy his presence in our lives right now. Since we always have his guarantee to live
with us; we can enjoy the fruits of our salvation right now. We can see it in the beauty of a star filled
night even when it is cold. We can see
it in the beauty of the eyes of small children as they gaze with wonder and awe
at the new things they see and learn. We
can see it in the love that an elderly couple still shares even after all these
years. We can see it all around, but we must
stop, look and rejoice in what God gives us today. We have his grace to surround us so that we
may be forever safe and secure in his loving arms. Enjoy today for God has given it to you.
Father lead me to see that
each day is a gift from you for me to enjoy in your presence. Lead me to celebrate my days of faith with
you. Lead me to savor your grace and to
look to share it with those around me.
Help me to slow down and live in your mercy. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning
All,
Acts 2:6; “And at this sound
the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was
hearing them speak in his own language.”
“Undo, Undo!!” That is the cry that occurs when you push the
wrong button on your computer. I
remember being in a seminar class where we were all diligently typing a rather
lengthy paper. Suddenly, one of the guys
sitting behind me let out a shriek and started yelling “Undo, undo,
undo!!” His computer did something, and
his screen went blank. Fortunately, he
was able to recover his work; the undo button worked.
I don’t know about you but there are times
when I wish I had an “undo” button in my life.
There are times when I said or did something I regretted doing or things
I regretted not doing and an “undo” button would have been nice. Maybe you have had that experience as
well. Perhaps a decision or two in your
life could have benefitted from an “undo” button. Perhaps you may even feel that these
decisions have negated any hope in your life.
I recently had a conversation with a man about coming to church and
listening. He looked at me and laughed a
little and said he didn’t think our ceiling would hold up if he came to church;
he had lived a life that he wished he could “undo” a whole lot.
Our verse is about one of God’s
“undos”. As the Holy Spirit filled the
room, people from all over the known world heard the apostles preaching in
their own language. Parthians, Medes,
Cappadocians, people from Asia, Egypt, Crete; all over listened to these
Galileans preach and could hear in their own language. In essence, God was “undoing the Tower of
Babel. God’s Spirit is unifying his
people; the exact opposite of sin dividing man at the time of Babel.
This is only one example of God “undoing”
man’s failures. Jesus came to undo all
that we have done so that we can stand with God and before God in peace. Jesus’ death paid for all our sins to undo
all the damage that we did and do to our relationship with God. Jesus paid for all our sins so that he would
undo the destructive effects of the devil and the world can have on us. Jesus’ death gives us new life; we are a new
creation; our life experiences an “undo” because of God’s incredible love for
us.
So, if you need an “undo”; God offers you one. He gives you the chance to start over. He gives us the chance to change our life
from one of pain and sadness to one of peace, contentment and hope. God “undos” your pain in order to give you
new life in him. Take hold of his
promise to new life and hope for today.
God has displayed the way he “undos” our sins trust him to continue to
do so.
Father, in you we have new
life. You change my life by forgiving
and “undoing” the pain that I cause you.
Lead me by your Spirit to reach out to those around me that I have hurt
or that are in any type of pain. Lead
all those in pain into the wonderful comfort of your merciful arms. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Matthew 1:1;
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham.”
The last one chosen. That was the fear of many children during
playground games. Lined up against the
wall and two people began to choose. One
by one they get picked until the last few get picked. It can be a somewhat humiliating
situation. Yet most of us go through it
at some time in our life and we survive but at the time it is not real
fun. We always place importance on the
right one being chosen. The tall and
lanky ones, who move with the grace of s leopard or a cheetah with all the
strength and speed; they have the eye-hand coordination to accomplish just
about anything. They are the perfect
player, the perfect teammate, the usually victorious one. The last ones picked; they usually lost if
they got to play at all.
When we look at the genealogy of Jesus, we
expect the names of kings, like David and Solomon or the great patriarchs like
Abraham and Isaac. Yet do we expect the
names of Tamar and Rahab? One acted as a
harlot and one was a harlot. What about
names like Abijah? He was a rebellious son who attacked his father. Certainly, these must have been the last ones
chosen. Certainly, there had to be
better choices than these; certainly, there had to be more virtuous
options. Somewhere in the selection had
to be the tall, lanky, svelte warriors.
The truth is that there are no virtuous
people. Abraham and Isaac lied, denied
God and turned their back on God’s covenant.
David and Solomon took a very “liberal” view of what adultery really
was. Now the world may view some of
these people who are listed in this genealogy are great and some are not. Yet before God, they are all the same. They are those whom he has chosen to serve
him in the manner that he has decided.
Their background, their previous life was of no consequence. God had a need and a plan for them; so, he
used them to accomplish his goal.
This is still true today. There is a place that God can and will use
you in service to his kingdom. Your
past, your history is of no matter to God.
God only looks at your future.
You may have always been the last one to be chosen. You may have been viewed as the biggest loser
on the playground but in God’s eye you are someone to be loved, to be wanted,
to be chosen as one to serve him in his kingdom. Your past may be as varied as those in Jesus’
family tree: harlots, cheats, liars, thieves, drunkards and rebels. Their pasts were sinful and wicked, but they
were forgiven by God and claimed as his children. He does the same for you and me. Through our Baptism, we are members of Jesus
family as well. We are inheritors of his
glorious kingdom. We are saved by his
grace alone and in that we can place all our hope.
Father, you don’t let my
past stand in the way of your grace.
Lead me to not let my past stand in the way of my faith. Lead me by your Spirit to trust in your grace
and to live in your wonderful kingdom.
Lead us to be your children. In
the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Exodus 3:1; “Now Moses was
keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he
led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the
mountain of God.”
It is often
called a “mountaintop experience”. It
is usually a spiritual experience where you “feel” closer to God. It can be a very intense experience that can
leave you excited, exhilarated, enthusiastic and full of life and a joy of
knowing God. It probably even draws its
name from the Bible when Peter, James and John were on the mount of
transfiguration with Jesus. The
disciples wanted to stay up on the mountaintop.
It is easy to see why we
think this way. There are many stories
in the Bible where God is on the mountaintop.
Abraham and Isaac had one; Moses had a few; Joshua and some of the
judges had met with God on mountaintops.
Elijah met with God on the mountain of God like Moses. Mountaintop experiences are the types of
experiences that many people love to share; they love to relate the greatness,
the grandeur and the elation that they experience when they have been to the
mountaintop. But what if there hasn’t
been a mountaintop experience for you?
Many don’t have this
experience. Just as many cannot tell you
the precise time and date that faith came into their life, many have not had a
mountaintop experience. We just live
ordinary lives; we never know those real high moments, nor do we know those
really devastating low moments. We don’t
know the mountaintop, but we don’t know the depth of the pit either; we are
just plain people who live their life on the plain.
Yet the joy of the Gospel is
for us as well. We may not ever
experience the rapturous heights, but we can know for certain that God’s
promise of salvation is for us as well.
God gives us the peace and the calm to live the life that he has given
us. We can live with the certainty that
God’s love for us is real. You don’t
have to have fallen into the depths of the pit and you do not have to have been
on the mountaintop. Your salvation, and
the certainty of it, does not depend on how you feel but it depends on God’s
grace and God’s grace alone. There may
be times when you don’t “feel” that god is close to you; but he still is. There may be times when you don’t “feel” his
grace, but it is continually poured out upon you.
It is not your feelings that
determine your salvation or faith. It is
the certainty of the knowledge that Jesus died for you, a fact an event that
occurred in a place called Jerusalem many years ago. It occurred in order that you might have
salvation. Whether you have been to the
mountaintop, been to the depths, lived your entire life on the plain or had all
three, all that matters is that God loves you and has given to you salvation
which we can hold onto by faith.
Father, I don’t always feel
like I think I should. I think that I
should do something to make me be saved.
Give me the comfort in the knowledge that your grace comes from you freely. Help me to know that it does not depend on me
or my feelings. Renew those who feel
lost or adrift. Give them the comfort of
the certainty of your mercy. In the
precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
Good Morning All,
Luke 2:14; “Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth
peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We hear this a lot this time of year. Some say it in the same way they say, “how
are you?” Some use it as a way to show
that they are happy this time of year.
Some use it as some form of political statement and a stand against
“politically correct” speech. There are
many ways to use this phrase but there is a real way to use it and that is the
way it was intended.
The word “merry” is actually intended to
convey a message of peace. So, when one
was wished a “merry day” or to go “on their merry way;” it was meant that they
would have a peaceful day or trip. This
was especially desired by the local sheriff or by the one who watched the seas
for marauders. It was also a
much-desired outcome of those who travelled through the countryside where
highwaymen and other thieves waited to prey on their next victims. Wishing someone a merry time was intended to
offer a hope or even a blessing of a peaceful existence or life.
For many, this time of year can be
anything but joyful or happy. Loved ones
who have left us too soon or are suffering from illness weigh on the joyful
thoughts. Perhaps you have loved ones
far away, maybe in the military or just in regular jobs but far from home and
missing around the Christmas tree.
Perhaps it is you that is missing.
Perhaps you have had a falling out and the relationship is fractured,
and you don’t know how to get it back.
There are lots of reasons that Christmas may not be the most wonderful
time of the year for you; but we always have reason for hope.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus on this
day for this very reason. He brings to
us peace; he brings us peace with God and peace from God. He brings us the power to be forgiven and to
forgive. He gives us the power to have
peace in this life. We can live with the
certainty of the hope of our salvation.
Because of the peace that we have with God, we can begin to have peace
with each other. We can use his grace to
heal our heart, to heal our soul and then to reach out and heal with each other
but especially with ourselves. God
desires that we be whole both in our spirit and in our relationship.
So, no matter where you find yourself
today; God desires to be at peace with you.
He desires that you be healed of your pain and that you release the pain
and the sorrow that you may feel. Know
God’s love for you is real and reaching to you to give you hope. Even if you are troubled, God continues to
reach to you in love to give you hope to give you peace. Merry Christmas!
Gracious Father, in you we
have hope, in you we have peace. Bring
me to the comfort of this peace. Let
your peace rule our lives that we may be healed by your grace. Rule our hearts and our lives with your great
mercy. In the precious name of Jesus, we
pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Psalm 104:34; “May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.”
As an aid to this devotion, I
would encourage you to read all of Psalm 104 when you can. This is an interesting psalm which teaches us
a great truth. It is a psalm of praise
in which praise is given to God for creation.
The whole psalm leads us through creation and in it we see the power and
majesty that is God. It speaks of
creation starting in verse 5 and going through verse 26. We see where God laid the foundation, he
caused the mountains to rise up, he waters the trees and so on. This psalm not only speaks to the actual creation
but to God continuing to work his creative force within creation. We can see that in verses 27-31. We see what a glorious creation that God has
made.
This is the type of psalm to read or
remember when you are experiencing some of God’s exquisite beauty. This past fall my wife and I took a day in
Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It has some of the most beautiful rock
formations, flora around. It has
waterfalls and creek flows which are amazing.
It is the type of psalm that, as you read it, you can close your eyes
and relive all those beautiful places on the earth that you have witnessed
including the sunrises and moonrises, the sunsets and the moonsets, the stars
and comets and all the celestial beauty which can cause us to shrink back from
the incredible majesty that we see. It
continues to verse 34, our verse which seems like a logical end. The logical end would be for me to meditate
on God’s wonderful creation and enjoying it.
For not only does God provide for us but he abundantly provides for us
and we can rejoice in it.
Yet, the psalm ends with verse 35. “Let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the wicked be no
more!” This sounds almost like a cold
slap in the face but it really the call of the Christian with respect to
creation. Our goal, our hope is not that
we leave creation but rather that Christ returns and restores creation. Our hope is for the perfected creation in
which creation is no longer subjected to sin (Romans 8: 18-25). We hope for, we eagerly wait for the freeing
of creation (and that includes us) from the pain and the decay that sin
brings. We eagerly wait for Christ to
return so that death, sin and decay and destruction will end. We look forward to the King of kings
completing the restorative work begun on Calvary.
So, we as Christians do not see this world
as something to be used and tossed aside rather, we see it as God’s precious
possession in need of some fixing. Some
we can do but, ultimately, we can only wait for Jesus to return. So, for you and me to see God in the beauty
of his creation is normal or even expected.
Just as you see the nature of the artist in the beauty of the painting
so we can see the beauty and the wonderment of God in his creation. You and I, as humans, are placed in the midst
to care for and enjoy this as God’s precious gift to us; so, enjoy and take
care of God’s creation.
Father, the beauty of your creation speaks of your
love. Lead me to care for your creation
and to enjoy it and to revel in the sights and sounds, the taste and the
texture of your world. Come Lord Jesus,
complete your work and restore your world.
In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
Good Morning All,
Psalm 63:1; “O God, you are
my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul
thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
In this time of year, we don’t often think of
being thirsty. We may think of being
warm or cold, but we don’t usually worry about being thirsty. Yet in this time of the year, we can
experience great thirst. For one thing,
the air is drier, so we do not take in as much moisture when we breathe. This causes us to experience dry mouth, dry
sinuses, dry and scratchy throat; not to mention getting a shock whenever you
touch the doorknob. So, while we know of
the need for lots of water in the summertime, during the heat of the year, we
sometimes miss the need for it in the wintertime. Yet our body needs water all the time for
proper health and hydration; we need to stay healthy.
Many people see their faith the same
way. They know that when there is a
problem that they would need their faith to rely on. We know that when there is a death or serious
illness; that we need our faith to aid us through the struggle. We know the “biggies” and will respond as we
know we should. When our soul thirsts,
when the struggles of life cause us to sweat out the very essence of our being,
we turn to God and our faith to get us through.
Some call this shallow or selfish but it is more accurate than many of
us want to admit.
The issue we want to address is that, just
as our body needs constant and proper hydration, so our faith needs it as
well. We would do well not to ignore the
need of our faith to be nourished as well.
Just as poor hydration in the wintertime can cause you illness and
discomfort, allowing our faith to weaken lowers our resistance to the lures and
attacks of the devil as well. So if we
want a healthier faith we need to feed it and give it the water that it
needs. We do this through the use of
God’s “means of grace” that is God’s Word and sacraments.
By reading, studying, listening to God’s
Word we can hear God speaking his love to us.
We can hear his words of love; we can hear his words of comfort; we can
taste the waters of rejuvenation. We can
feel the soothing of our soul as our spirit is lifted by the comfort of his
love. We can experience the joy of the
sharing of the holy meal with our fellow believers and with the saints of all
time. We can feel the nourishment of our
soul and the renewal of our faith.
We can rest in the knowledge of our
baptismal grace that, having been claimed by Christ in our baptism, we can know
that we are always in the forgiveness of God’s mercy. Our failures and falls are only setbacks and
not destruction. We know that we are
always loved by God and that he is always calling us back. We can wait until we “need” God but the
sooner we realize that we need him every moment of every day; the sooner we can
experience the truth of his great love.
Father, you nourish us and
give us the love that quenches the thirst of our soul. Help us to always use this great love. Help us to know the certainty of this mercy
in our lives that we may live in union with you. Be with those who thirst at this time. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Matthew 11:28; “Come to me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Are the holiday activities starting to wear
on you? Are you wearing out from chasing
kids or grandkids to ballgames or matches?
Are you rested or are you tired?
It seems that we are usually either tired or rested. It usually seems that we are tired more often
than we are rested but once in a while we are rested. Don’t you wish you could figure out the being
rested part more than being tired part?
One of the greatest dangers we face is that
we take our eyes off of Jesus and we place our eyes, and our trust, somewhere
else. Maybe you experienced a childhood
that left you feeling left out or passed by.
You may have felt tired as you grew up and so you sought out your own
solace. You relied on your skill and
wit. As you grew you maybe came to see
your family, your job, perhaps your marriage as your source of comfort and
hope. Yet trusting these things can
leave you tired. Placing our hope in the
things of this world; like wealth, popularity, personal strength or knowledge
may seem like the right path but in the end; it leaves us tired. It leaves us tired because these things
always fall short. There are always
times when these will fail, and we will have to figure out a way to make up the
shortfall. So, the strength we think is
here comes up short and we are left tired and empty.
This is why Jesus invites us to, “come”; he
invites us to come and rest. He offers
us the rest of a small baby as she lies against her mother’s chest, sleeping
the deep and contented sleep. She rests
in the comfort and safety of her mother’s loving arms, hearing her mother’s
heartbeat, feeling the gentle warmth of her mother’s touch. She sleeps the deep sleep of total rest and
comfort. This is the rest that Jesus
invites us to have.
He invites us to the rest that results from
knowing that all our needs are met. He
invites us to the rest where we trust wholly in his love to bring us that
rest. We do not need to seek anything
else for that comfort and rest; it is all in the hands and the loving arms of
Jesus. So, when other things or other
people fail us and they will sometimes by selfish aim and sometime by no fault
at all; they will fail. The doctors can
only do so much; our spouses and family can only do so much; our wealth can only
go so far; eventually, everything else will fail but we will always have
Jesus. He will never fail us. He never has and he never will.
We can trust and take comfort, find our
peace and our rest in his unfailing love; a love that saved you and me and
gives us that hope that we seek and that rest that we desire. Rest in his loving embrace.
Father of loving mercy, we
come to you for rest. We come because
Jesus invites us to come to him for rest. Bring us by your Spirit to hear his
invitation and to seek his rest. Be with
those who are tired from the cares of this world. Give them your holy rest and peace. In the precious name of Jesus, our risen
Savior, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Galatians 2:20; “I have been
crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me.”
I always remember the line about how
“there is no such thing as bad press.”
This usually pertains to entertainers and to the idea that as long as
your name is in front of the people, as long as they think about you, then you
are still famous. The public may hear
that you were picked up for drunk driving but at least you are still in the
public eye. This is especially true for
the not so famous anymore who grasp for past glory. “No such thing as bad press.”
You and I may scoff and snicker at that
but to a certain extent we are the same way.
We like for people to think that we are important. We like for people to seek us out and “need”
us. We may even harken back to previous
experiences to remind people that we are important. This is partly why people refer back to
“scoring the winning point in a crucial game in high school” when they are 40
or 50 years old. It is why people refer
back to a time when they were on a board or served on some committee a few
years back; we want people to think we are important and that we matter and that
our opinion matters as well.
We may even shape our relationships around
the idea that we are important. We may
attempt to control relationships in this fashion. When someone threatens to “leave” a
friendship or other relationship unless their “needs” are met; they are saying
to the world, “I am the important one here.”
These relationships are often toxic and seldom last very long; for when
we take the attitude that any relationship is about “me first”; that
relationship will suffer greatly.
Here we need to see that a truly successful
relationship has both parties “crucifying” the old selfish self and being
reborn, through Baptism, as the new creation that is in Christ. We see our relationships as Christ does and
that is to look to love, to comfort, to aid others more than self. We live, not to feed the selfish nature, but
to be in Christ holy presence and to be Christ to the world; to be his hands
and arms, to be his voice and his ear, to be his shoulder and arms. We are to be the personification of Christ to
the world. We are to place Jesus first
in all of our doings, in all of our actions, in all of our relationships.
So as we go forward, let us remember that
we have crucified the “old me”; we have drowned the me that demands to be first
and God has given birth to the new me which is filled with the desire to serve
Christ and him alone. It is not “me
first” but “Jesus first”
Father of love and mercy, in
you we have hope. Lead me to see that
the old me is crucified and that the new me is in Christ’s image and in his
Spirit. Lead me to love and not
demand. Lead me to love and not require
others to serve me. Lead me to be your
servant by serving the needs of other.
In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
