1-31-2020

      Good Morning All, 

    1 Corinthians 13: 4-5; “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”

          It is always interesting when I get to engage in premarital counseling.  You get to learn a lot about a young couple that you never knew.  You also get to watch as two people are excited to get their life going together.  They have great plans and dreams.  I always hope that half of their dreams come true because they usually have enough for two lifetimes.  They talk so “now”.  It is as if they only look at the next few days.  So, I try to get them thinking longer term.

    I ask them what they think the most important part of a successful marriage is.  They almost always answer “love”.  So, then I ask how does this work in your eyes; how do you see love as the answer?  They will usually stumble a little bit and soon they kind of come up with the idea that love is kind of like cream cheese frosting.  If you have ever made a cake and had it fall or have an imperfection in the cake; with enough cream cheese frosting it will look perfectly level.  So, in other words, love covers the imperfections and hides the cracks.

    Now to many this may sound like a good idea, but I am not sure that it is.  Hiding problems, either from your spouse or yourself, is rarely a good idea.  Problems have a nasty way of popping up at the most inopportune times.  They usually pile on top of one another and soon a lot of pain will follow.  Love doesn’t hide problems; love lets us work through problems.  That is why Paul described love as he does.  At different times of our life, love serves a different function. 

    For example, say a couple is deciding about moving to a new community or buying a new house; they need to be patient with each other as they weigh carefully the options before them.  Or perhaps one of them has received a couple of awards and raises at work while the other hasn’t; love does not envy or boast.  Love takes many different forms in order to face the different challenges of life, especially married life.  God gives to us the all-availing self-sacrificing love.  This then becomes our model and our goal.  We are to love our spouse as Christ loves us.  A pretty large order but it is our hope.

    So, as we go through life, God encourages us to deal with each other in a loving fashion.  This is not just a rose-colored glasses approach, but it is one that allows us to honestly talk and share with each other our dreams and fears, our hopes and aspirations.  Love doesn’t hide things, but it gives us the strength to deal with them in love which we have for each other because of Jesus.

    Father of all love, in you do we have our hope and dreams.  You give to us the gift of marriage, the gift of family and the gift of your holy church for fellowship.  Guard us by your grace and lead us to your eternal kingdom.  Be with those who are struggling to show love within their marriage and family.  Lead them by your Spirit to know your true love.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-30-2020

      Good Morning All, 

     Psalm 17:8; “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings”

    I had the best of intentions.  I really did.  We were scheduled to have supper with some wonderful friends at 5:30. It was about 12:30 so I had 4 or 5 hours to get something done.  I had most everything done that needed to be done.  I was now approaching that very rare area in space and time for me; I was going to catch up on some long overdue reading.  I settled into my office in the parsonage and was looking forward to delving into some articles and a new book that sat on my desk.  My office is on the north side of the house and I have windows in the corner with windows on the north and west sides.  This is nice to see out with but in the winter, when the northwest winds blow; it gets a little chilly.

    So, I took my blanket and wrapped up in it and sat in my reading chair and began to get some reading done.  I don’t remember falling asleep but suddenly it was 2 hours later.  I remember being wrapped in my blanket and feeling the warmth and the comfort of my favorite blanket.  I felt so comfortable, content; like there were no cares or problems in the world.  I had peace; I had a calm and serene afternoon.

    In a lot of ways, this is how we can view God’s grace.  It is a warm comfortable blanket.  It wraps you in a safe cocoon.  It hides you in the shadow of God’s wings.  This has many connotations.  It can be as when a mother hen defends her chicks from danger.  God shields us from the arrows and attacks of the devil and the world.  This is one way to read this verse and it is a correct way to read it.  But there is another way to read it as well.

    We can take great comfort in God’s grace.  Because of his grace, we really have no great cares in this world.  As we luxuriate in his loving arms, enjoying his grace, we can find peace.  We can find a greater peace there than we have wrapped up in our favorite blanket on a cold winter’s day.  God’s grace gives us the peace to face the struggles of life, the battles of the day and nothing we can ever face can ever take us from God’s grace.  His promise of life, love, hope and safety envelops us in its warmth and in its safety.  In God’s grace we can sleep the peaceful sleep, the rest that only he can give to us.  It is the peace that world cannot give and does not know.  We only receive this peace because of God’s wonderful grace.

    So, take every opportunity to wrap yourself in God’s incredible grace.  Find your comfort, your solace, your peace there, in his arms.  Hide in the shadow of his wings and feel the warmth of his ever-present grace overflow you.  Trust in his mercy, live in his love and enjoy the blessings of his grace and rest knowing that he is always there to protect you.

Gracious Father, your mercies are new to us every day and they roll over us like a river.  Your grace envelops us and gives to us the wonderful restful peace that only you can give.  Be with those who are restless and find no peace.  Bring them back into the shadow of your wings and give to them the hope and certainty of your love.  Bring them your peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

1-29-2020

Good Morning All, 

    Deuteronomy 30: 17; “But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,”

      There is a song we like to sing in church called “Focus Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.  It was written by Marie Biesenthal.  It tells us to always keep our eyes and our thoughts focused on Jesus and that we look to see God’s hand in our life and then seek to serve him whenever we can.  It has a key thought of being focused on Jesus; that is crucial in our lives.  For when we lose focus we can be in trouble.

    We have words and phrases to describe what happens when we lose focus.  Sometimes it is called wanderlust; sometimes we call it a mid-life crisis.  Sometimes we call it the seven-year itch.  Call it what you like, it can occur at various times in our lives when we seem to lose focus on what is important.  Sometimes we can lose focus in our job and begin to dream about fanciful quests that can never happen.  Sometimes we wake up one day and just feel old and then try some crazy stunt to prove we are still young.  Sometimes after we have been married for a few years, we lose focus on the one whom we love and married, and we soon start looking elsewhere.  We lose focus.

    In our verse, it uses the phrase “your heart turns away” or we could think of it as our heart wandering, as if it has lost its focus and is now looking for something else to replace what it had.  Out heart may think it wants something new or different.  It may think that the new will be better, but it often isn’t.  In fact, it can be, and often is, much worse.  We lose focus on what is true in our life and when our hearts begin to wander, they can wander after what is false and misleading.  They can wander off and follow false gods and evil idols.

    We may think that those little idols are harmless enough, but they can, and do, lead us to wander.  So, God gives us this warning and this advice.  We need to focus.  We need to focus our eyes upon Jesus as the writer of Hebrews writes and Mrs. Biesenthal sings for us.  That is truly what we need to do is to focus upon Jesus; upon what he has done and what he continues to do for us.

    We have salvation because of his work, and we have the blessings of this life because of his mercy.  So, we focus on what his love does for us.  We focus on the goodness that he gives us.  We focus on the love of our family and friends and we focus on building that love through the use of God’s mercy and grace by sharing it with those around us.  God gives us the faith to hope, to live, to focus upon his grace to see us through.  Trust in God’s promise and focus on those promises to have life.

Gracious Father, in you we have hope and life and we have it abundantly.  Give us the courage and wisdom to focus upon you so that our hearts do not wander.  Guard us by your Spirit and bring those who are wandering now back into your precious home.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

1-28-2020

Good Morning All, 

         John 18: 38a; “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

    Scriptures are filled with many characters that appear and disappear quickly.  They have but a small part in the story of Jesus.  Pilate is one of those characters.  Pilate is a fascinating because he really slices to the heart of the matter.  This question really is the heart of the matter.

    I have always felt that Pilate was probably on older fellow who was on the downward arch of his career.  I always thought that Pilate was something of a political man who came up short.  Any politician wanted to be in Rome and if not in Rome then as close to Rome as possible.  A place like Palestine, a hotbed of insurgency, and far from Rome was not a plum job.  It would be alright to start there and move toward Rome, but Pilate was headed the other way.

    I would guess that somehow, one of Pilate’s competitors had edged him out.  Perhaps strategic lies had been told about Pilate and by the time Pilate had figured out what had happened, it was too late for any damage control.  A convenient truth, a possible lie, a contrived situation and Pilate was on the way out.  His superiors would have told Pilate that they had “the truth” of the events and that his version just wasn’t it.

    So, Pilate, sitting in the hell hole of Jerusalem, hears another itinerant preacher who tells him that “everyone who is of the truth listens to me.”  When Pilate asks his question, I can hear the exasperation in his voice.  I can hear the pain.  “What is truth?” 

    We have all had days or times in our lives when that question is raised.  ‘God I went to church every Sunday and put money in the plate, why did my spouse have an affair, why did my daughter move in with her boyfriend, why did my son stop coming to church, why did I get cancer?  What is truth?

    We may very well ask this question and we may never get an answer.  For while the Bible reveals all we know about God, it does not reveal every truth about God.  The Bible only reveals God’s plan of salvation for us.  God reveals to us what we need to know, perhaps not what we want to know.  What we need to know is that through Christ’s death we have salvation and eternal life with Christ.  That is our hope. 

    We may face trials and struggles, the world is still broken by sin, but it does not and will not defeat us.  Our victory is assured because of God’s grace and favor.  We have the victory and we have it today.  We live in God’s favor and we await the final perfection of that favor.  We wait for eternal life with the certainty that God’s love will prevail.

Father of all truth, in you do we find our salvation and our hope.  In you we know all truth; that your love for us is without bounds.  Guard us with your Spirit.  Be with those who are lost and do not know the truth.  Defend them with your mercy and bring them home to you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-27-2020

Good Morning All, 

    John 14: 27; “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly.”

     I bumped into a friend that I hadn’t talk to for quite a while.  We went through the usual “how are the kids and the grandkids?” questions.  Then I remembered that he had a brother-in-law who was having a re-occurrence of cancer and the prognosis wasn’t good.  I remember the guy was married to my friend’s sister.  They had lived a tough life.  They lost a child in a case of SIDS and really struggled for a while.  Then they caught a break and he got a real good job and things seem to get better; then he was diagnosed with cancer.  This was the third relapse and it was probably the final one.  It had spread to his liver and kidneys.

    I asked how his sister was holding up.  He thought she was doing remarkably well.  She had her friends who were around her, she had her friends that she prayed with and the rest of their family was helping as best they could.  Then he sighed and said, “I don’t know what to say or what to pray for?”  “I don’t want him to suffer but I can’t pray that he dies, what do I pray for?”  I told him to pray for peace.  Pray that your brother-in-law has peace with God and his family.  Pray that your sister has peace and enough faith to battle this.  When in doubt always pray for peace.

    Of all the things we pray for, whether it is more success or more money or more friends or better health; our number one prayer should be for peace.  Peace from and with God that lets us weather the storms that life throws at us.  Peace to enable us to hold onto God’s mercy always.  Peace is the one gift that we all have and can always use.  God gives it freely to us, as much and as often as we need.  It is the one thing that we can ask for and God will always give it to us.  Peace is what we really need in this life.

    When we ask for peace, God shows us the futility of the sinful life.  He shows us that the rat race is just that- a race for rats.  We find our happiness, contentment, our blessed existence when we are in peace with God.  This was one of the first blessings offered at Jesus’ birth; peace on earth.  It was peace that Jesus offered his frightened disciples both before and after his crucifixion.  It is what gave Peter and the others the comfort that they needed when they faced the deadly challenges of the Jews and then the Romans.  Peace is what gets us through.

    So next time you pray, pray for peace.  Pray that you will have peace, that your friends and family will have peace, pray that peace will be to all in need.  Ask God to send you his peace which passes all understanding. 

Father of all grace and peace, we only have peace in you.  Without your mercy our world knows no peace.  As we struggle with the battles of this life, Father we ask for peace, peace from you.  Be with those who know no peace.  Gracious Lord, you know their pain.  If it is your will release them from this pain and give them peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-26-2020

Good Morning All, 

               1 Peter 2: 2-3; “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

     So, what do you usually eat for a meal?  Are you one of those who eat a meal where one half of the plate is “green” while the rest of the plate has a small potato and a small portion of meat?  Or do you follow the “Paleo” diet?  Or are you like most Americans, a Big Mac, fries and a Coke?  Do you know where you keep the “Ho-Hos” and the “Twinkies” and make sure to sample them regularly?  We tend to like “junk food”; almost more than at any time ever.  We are a nation that often eats fast.  Something quick and easy seems to be the rage.  We are a nation of junk food junkies; we long for the easy to make and eat but lacking in nutrition.  We want all the fluff but none of the “meat”.

    Our spiritual life can be the same way.  It seems like there is junk food everywhere.  It is on the television; it is on your computer, your smartphone.  You can find it on Twitter and Instagram; you can even find it in a real, old-fashioned, ink and paper book.  You know it is fluff with nothing but worthless calories and a lot of sodium.  It tells you things like “choose to make God important” or “work hard to find God” or “you can read the Bible and have it say what you need it to say today” or “my God isn’t like that”.  This is a lot of fluff; all of which will give you nothing of substance, nothing of value.  When you need it the most, it will fail you every time.

    That is what Peter is speaking of here, pure spiritual milk; the kind of nourishment that is perfect for us.  Paul tells us that we start with this spiritual milk and then grow into the more substantial food like real meat and real potatoes.  We get this by truly studying God’s Word.  Not with some fanciful and weak review but with honest and in-depth study.  We get it by attending worship services and in participating in the sacraments. 

    We need to use prayer and we need to trust in God’s promise to give us salvation.  We need to listen to God and his true Word and leave the junk food behind.  It is through his Word, not the word of misinformed, mindless man, that we are fed the true spiritual milk.   It is God’s gift to us so that we may be fed and nourished, ready to do battle with the struggles of this life and the assaults of the devil.  Savor the true, pure spiritual milk.  It satisfies beyond our imagination.

    Gracious Father feed us your spiritual milk.  Give us the nourishment that will strengthen our faith and bring us closer to you.  Give us the certainty of your grace and mercy.  Be with those who only have junk food teachings.  Draw them to you that they may know your truth.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

1-25-2020

Good Morning All, 

          Psalm 47:7; “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!”

     We have a hymn in our hymnal entitled “Come, Thou Almighty King”. It was written in the 1760’s in England.  The author is unknown but is widely believed to be either Charles or John Wesley.  It was written for a purpose.  The newly written song “God Save Our Gracious King” was making the rounds in England and was very popular.  It was very popular with everyone except the Methodists at the time because it paid way more homage to the king of England than to God.

    During the Revolutionary War, a company of British soldiers went to a church on Long Island and there demanded that “God Save Our Gracious King” be sung.  The tune was the same, but the words sung were “Come, Thou Almighty King.”  So, a great hymn is little more than a protest song.  Yet maybe that is what we need to do; protest a little about phony kings and false gods.

    Now this isn’t a political rallying cry or a statement about our current government.  That is the easy way to look at it but sometimes that leaves us feeling a little too good about ourselves thinking “that sinner over there really needs to hear about it”; in reality we need to look at our own lives first and then see how we fit in.

    This hymn was written to state, in a not so subtle fashion, that indeed it was God and not the king of England who was the one, true almighty ruler of earth.  While we may all agree with that, do we truly live like that?  Maybe not the king of England but what about our job or the money that we make from that job?  Maybe we like the attention and will do what we must do to be popular.  Maybe we put things and stuff ahead of God in our life; not the king of England but something else may be king in our lives.

    It can be any one of a hundred things.  It might be money or fame or popularity.  It might be places on the internet that we should really avoid.  It might be someone else’s spouse that makes us wonder.  It might be one or more of many, but they all take us from God.  They all pull us from his grace because we walk away.  We turn to our phony king and begin to trust it for our joy and security.  Yet when we need it the most, it laughs at us and crumbles into dust before us.  Then we are left to twist in the wind and suffer the pains of guilt and fear and loneliness as we suffer a little bit more.

    However, the true King calls us back with those tender words of forgiveness and redemption.   His grace gives us the boldness to ask that the Almighty King come and be our Lord and reign over us.  Keeping us in the benevolent kingdom of his grace until the time is perfected and we are in his kingdom of glory.

Father, you are the King of the world.  Lead us to have you as King in our lives and heart.  Guide us by your Holy Spirit to trust in your promise of love and mercy, salvation and eternal life.  Through you we have life.  Be with those who seek a different king.  Help them to see the error of this path and bring them safely home we ask.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-24-2020

Good Morning All, 

     John 11:50; “Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

       It is always interesting when we look at history and see how someone’s comment or thought can be strangely accurate or incredibly off target.  For example, take Charles H. Duell.  In 1899 he was the Commissioner of the U. S. Patent Office.  He recommended that the Patent Office be closed because “everything that can be invented has been invented.”  Given what the next few years brought in terms of new patents, well he might have missed it by a tad.  Our verse for today goes to the other extreme; it is very accurate.

    Our verse is part of a discussion that the Pharisees had in the Jewish Council that ruled the Jews at the time of Jesus.  These Jews, rich, powerful men, were worried about Jesus.  More to the point, they were worried that Rome was going to start paying attention to Jesus and see him as a potential troublemaker.  If Rome got involved that would mean soldiers, lots of Roman soldiers who would come to Judea, specifically Jerusalem, and simply destroy the place.  The Temple would be destroyed and everything that these men held near and dear would be gone.  They would go from a life of luxury, with money and power, to nothing overnight.  They did not want this.

    So, the plan was easy, kill Jesus and the threat would go away.  The problems of a Judean revolt would go away, at least to the point that it would not be a threat to Rome and thus not a threat to these rich men’s lifestyle.  All they have to do is kill Jesus, one man, and the destruction of the nation, and their way of life, would be saved.

    Of course, we know that this is not the way it worked.  Jesus’ death didn’t stop the Romans from coming to destroy Jerusalem.  This happened in 70 AD.  But that was never God’s reason for Jesus ministering here on earth.  Jesus came for one very specific reason and that was to die, one man, so that all could live.  His death covered the sins of the whole world.  So, it appears that Caiaphas, the high priest, was far more correct than he could have ever imagined. 

    Because of Jesus, we, the whole nation, do not have to perish but rather we will have eternal life.  We have it because one man, Jesus, died for us.  We have it because God has given it to us.  We have it because God, with more love than we can ever imagine, chose to redeem us and bring us back into the family.  One man’s actions, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, saved us from certain eternal death and gives to us certain eternal life.  All because one man, Jesus the Son of God, died for you.

Father of grace and mercy, by sending Jesus into this world to die for us you have given us life.  By giving your only Son we have life.  Give us the courage to trust in this truth.  Be with those who are still struggling with the wonder and simplicity of this truth.  Give them the faith to trust in your promises.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

1-23-2020

Good Morning All, 

            Psalm 37:7; “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”

      Everyone who has ever played sports in some form of organized fashion, whether high school or college or city league or even church league remembers that one player.  That one player who was always on the “cheaper” or “dirty” side of the game.  He would cheat at the game and get away with it.  He was always pulling something that was shady or outside of the rules.  He would push you in the back in a basketball game or punch you in a football game.  He made the game a lot less fun than normal.  He made the game a task or a chore rather than a challenge.

    The one universal truth about this type of player is that he rarely, if ever, gets caught.  He will push the other player and then that second adage about sports comes into play, “the second guy gets caught.”  It is as frustrating thing to experience when the bad guy seems to win, and the good guy seems to come up short. 

    There are times when we think this is true in our faith life as well.  Why does it seem that some of the unbelievers have all the success while believers seem to struggle to have anything at all?  It seems somewhat unfair; it should be the other way; at least we think.

    First and foremost, we need to remember that as Christians we measure success differently than the world does.  The world measures by “stuff”, possessions and other tangible things.  We see success as faith, loving relationships, reconciled families, people coming to faith, suffering healed; in other words, we see success in terms of human condition.  We see success in terms of relationships that get healed, both between man and God and man to man.  These are successes.

    So, we look at the world and we wait, we wait for God.  We wait for God to do the wonderful thing that he has promised.  We wait for God to put an end to pain, to suffering, to injustice, to death.  This will occur when Christ returns, and creation is restored, and we are made perfect at his arrival.  We wait, in joyful anticipation of God intervening and ending death.  We wait with the total assurance that God will do as he has promised to do.  God has promised us salvation, hope for life eternal with him in everlasting glory.  We look forward to this coming but until it does, we wait for God.

    So, as we wait, we take the opportunity to serve God and give him praise and thanks by serving others, by bringing God’s grace to them.  We measure our success, not by gold or silver, but by the love of God shared throughout our midst.

Gracious and loving Father, through you we have salvation and we have hope.  So, we wait for you to finish our redemption and bring it to completion.  We wait for your glorious return.  Be with those who are tempted by the world’s measure of success and are missing out on your great love and peace.  Guard and protect them from the devil’s arrows.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-22-2020

 Good Morning All, 

       Ephesians 6:16; “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one”

     As we look at Ephesians 6 and the armor of God; it can be an image that some of us cannot quite grasp but Paul and the first readers of this letter would have understood it right away.  Paul describes a Roman soldier like one that the citizens would have seen every day.  They would have been in full uniform with the breastplate, the helmet, the sword and shield.  Paul took this visual and applied it to the life of faith that he wanted the readers of this letter to be aware of. 

     We sometimes struggle with these images because we don’t see that we are in a war.  Yet the truth is that we, as believers, are on the front line.  If we think about it, the unbeliever is already caught by the devil, those who have died are no longer in the battle so the only ones whom the devil will attack are believers, you and me.  It is only the believer who has attacks of guilt and conscience.  We are the ones whom the devil targets to shoot those flaming arrows of temptation.  So, we need to be ready for the attack that comes at us every day.

    Paul uses faith as our shield.  Faith is the desire to trust in God’s promise.  Faith clings to the hope that God gives to us.  By having faith, we can resist the devil and his temptations.  Faith helps us to resist the devil’s whispers which cause us to have doubts.  The shield is a very apt description.  In Paul’s time, the shield would have been covered in leather.  Just before the battle the shield would have been soaked in water in order to extinguish the flaming arrows shot at them.  That is how Paul wants us to see our faith, as a shield that takes the hits of the arrows fired at us.

    But there is one major thing we need to remember; we need to hold the shield up and in place to protect us from the arrows.  Having the shield at our side or, even worse, having it in the closet by the door.  A soldier that doesn’t have his shield up and in the ready position is very vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.  So too we must always have our faith ready to absorb the attacks of the devil.  It is faith that allows us to stand up to the arrows that the devil fires at us so we must keep our faith up and in the ready position. 

    In order to do this, we need to keep our faith strong.  We do this through prayer, devotional time, proper use of the sacraments and in praise and worship of God.  These are the tools that God gives to us to keep us strong and ready to do battle.  The devil will attack; he will fire at us every chance he gets but God’s grace will defend us and through the faith that God gives us we will prevail.

Father as we do battle with the devil, we need you to guard and defend us.  Give us the strength to trust in you.  Give us the faith to extinguish the arrows of the devil.  Be with those who are being fired upon at this time.  Protect them with your Holy Spirit.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

1-21-2020

        Good Morning All, 

Joel 2:13; “and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”

     I was reading an article the other day about the cost of forgiveness.  The author was telling how people would go about buying their forgiveness, from husbands that brought home flowers to wives that baked pies or favorite meals; the author made a claim that forgiveness was earned or at least paid for.

    We often hear that.  A person wrongs another and then must pay, sometimes for a long time, for their forgiveness.  We often call this the price of forgiveness.  It is a common thought, totally wrong, but common.  Buying forgiveness is not possible because forgiveness is given and not bought.  If you buy something, you have earned it because you have enough to pay for it. 

    There are many people who believe that they can buy forgiveness, so they have no need to change their ways.  As long as they can pay someone enough to continue what they are doing, they feel no need to change.  Sort of like the little boy who told his mother he was going to hit his sister.  His mother told him he would lose his allowance if he did.  The little boy looked his mother and said, “It’s worth it!”

    In many ways, the Israelites thought along this path.  A few more offerings, a few more sacrifices, a few more hollow prayers offered, and they were “forgiven”.  It seemed simple enough except that it is not accurate.  Forgiveness from God is given to us, freely but with the desire by God that we change our ways.  God wants us to change from the sinful actions because sinful actions still cause pain, suffering and harm.  Think of a person who pollutes the environment, pays a fine for doing so and then continues to pollute.  The damage remains and continues to grow.

    The person who attacks another, whether physical or emotional, inflicts pain both on the victim and upon himself.  God has repeatedly told this to us.  The pain is shared by both, so the healing requires both to work.  So, the offending party needs to repent to “rend his heart” as our verse says.  We need to tear our heart, remove the desire to sin and to repent of our sins; that is to turn away from sin and turn to God.

    God calls to us with his words of forgiveness and his words of love.  He calls to us to come to him and to live in his kingdom.  He calls to us to reconcile with our brothers and sisters as one family unto him.  God is calling, are you listening?

Father of grace, you forgive us so that we may be empowered to forgive others.  We see and experience your mercy and you lead us to show mercy to those around us.  Give us the strength to rend our hearts and turn to you in true faith.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

1-20-2020

        Good Morning All, 

      Philippians 4:13; “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

    Do you remember the story of the little train that could?  This was the little train that made it over the mountain by saying, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”  Then when it made it over the mountain it said, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”  This is one of the first stories that children read, and it is designed to encourage children to try new things and to have confidence in their ability to succeed.

    I used to use the contrarian version of this when I coached baseball.  I would tell my players that if they thought that they would fail then they would fail.  If a batter thought, he would strike out then he would more than likely strike out.  It is similar in the idea that you must have confidence in your ability to succeed.  If you lack confidence, then you can almost guarantee that you will fail.

    Paul is telling us something similar.  When we read “I can do all things” it might be better to read it as “I can endure all things”.  Paul isn’t telling us that we are the little engine that could.  There are things we cannot do.  I cannot swim or run a mile in 5 minutes.  This is not what Paul is telling us.  He doesn’t mean that with enough determination we will be successful; he means that by clinging to our faith, we can endure everything that the devil and this world can throw at us.  We will endure until the end when we receive our crown of righteousness.

    God gives us the power to endure.  It might not be the power to avoid.  We may experience some of the worst things that the world will throw at us.  It might be health problems or relationship problems or any one of a myriad of other events and tragedies.  The world is still a broken place and still suffers from the ravages of sin.  Pain still occurs but we know that through it all, we will endure.  Our eternal hope is secure because of Jesus and his sacrifice.  Because of that we can endure everything for it is through Christ’s atoning work that we have salvation. 

    No matter what the devil throws at us, no matter how much he may try and torment you with his whispers of doubt and lies of despair. We can endure it through the strength of Christ.  We can do all things through him who strengthens us.  We can endure, persevere and then prevail.  God has promised us the eternal success of our salvation.  We will be restored, body and soul, when Christ returns.  But until we meet him in glory, we will wait, and we will endure for God’s grace goes with us.

Father of all grace and mercy, because of your undying love we will endure.  You have promised to restore us to perfection with you.  We wait in your loving arms.  Be with those who feel that they are at the end of their strength.  Be with those who are wavering under the weight of the devil’s attacks.  Give them the certainty of your eternal love and grace.  Strengthen and preserve them Father.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-19-2020

Good Morning All, 

           Mark 1:15; “and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

       The kingdom of God; what do we mean by that?  Some will tell you that it refers to heaven; it refers to the place where God will perfectly rule.  Some see it as a future place and a future event.  Some read this and think that this phrase refers to Jesus himself.  Hence the reference to being “at hand” as in “I’m standing right here!”  These are a couple of ways to look at it but there is another way to view it.

    The kingdom of God really can be viewed as God, through Jesus, actively restoring all of creation to its perfect state.  Think of it as a wave moving through a pond or a lake.  It begins and moves through the whole pond.  The kingdom of God begins with Jesus entering into the world and going about village to village, person to person, bringing healing to those with whom he has contact with.  We see it in each event of Jesus’ life here on earth.  He brings healing, he brings compassion, he brings about the cares for the physical as well as spiritual needs of the person.  In short, we see God in Christ has come to reestablish his rule over creation, and his desire to restore everything that is broken or twisted or amiss or dying.  All of the different manifestations of creation’s brokenness give rise to the Savior’s compassion.

    This occurs now, not just at some future event.  Jesus comes to give us healing now.  He comes to free you from the past.  He comes to heal your brokenness.  So whether you are a young person that society has declared unworthy and unfit because of past events and choices; Jesus will pull you from this brokenness and give you hope for a better today.  If you are a not so young person who has a lifetime of struggles and failures; Jesus wants to heal you and for you to change for today.  We are not defined by the past; God defines us with a future and there is no amount of the past that cannot be overcome.

    Never underestimate how much God wants to begin your healing right now.  You are his beloved child.  Just as an earthly father would want his child to be healed today from any illness or affliction so our heavenly Father seeks the same truth.  God, through Jesus, comes to you seeking to bring you healing.  He seeks to help you address all of your needs.  He does this through the use of created things around you to bring you hope.  He has given this task to his church.  This is the task of the church; to bring about healing and hope to the world that is lost and broken and it does it one person at a time; attempting to heal one wound at a time.  The kingdom of God is at hand; grab hold and let it begin the healing.

Father, your love moves you to give us healing.  Be with those who are suffering at the hands of the world and are left to feel rejected and reviled.  Use us to be your hands and voice to bring about the wonderful message of hope that is your holy Gospel.  Direct us by your Spirit to those in need and help us to draw them to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-18-2020

Good Morning All, 

             Galatians 6:2; “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

    “Can I help you?”  That is a question that gets asked in many different settings.  We hear it when we walk into a retail store and we start to look at a piece of merchandise.  We might hear it if we walk into a room or an area of a building where we are not supposed to be.  Usually, the person asking will direct you to the appropriate area.  I hear it a lot when I am in a hospital or in a nursing home and trying to find a specific room number for a patient.  The nurses and the nurses’ aides are really very helpful.  Eventually, I find everyone I am looking for.  “Can I help you?” is also the question which Paul tells us as Christians to ask, especially of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are to make ourselves available and useful to one another.

    As we look at this, the “law of Christ” is that we love one another (John 13:34).  Paul is telling us that when we bear each other’s burdens, when we come to the aid and comfort of a brother or sister in Christ, we are showing that we love one another.  Yet we often struggle with this task.  We find it difficult, “I don’t know what to do!” is the phrase that is most often muttered; sometimes as an excuse but often times as an honest plea for direction because at some point in time, our theology has to be our biography.  We must live the faith we profess.  One way to think of this is in the poem entitled “Sharing” by an author unknown.



    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can share my bread with you, and sometimes share a sorrow, too—as on our way we go.

    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can sit an hour with you, and I can share a joke with you and sometimes share reverses, too—as on our way we go.

    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can share my flowers with you, and I can share my books with you and sometimes share your burdens, too—as on our way we go.

    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can share my songs with you, and I can share my mirth with you, and sometimes come and laugh with you—as on our way we go.

    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can share my hopes with you, and I can share my fears with you, and sometimes shed a tear with you—as on our way we go.

    There isn’t much that I can do, but I can share my friends with you, and I can share my life with you, and oftentimes share a prayer with you—as on our way we go.



Father in heaven, help me to see that sharing burdens with my brothers and sisters brings about healing and hope.  Guide me when I feel weak or afraid to offer a simple glass of water or a simple piece of bread.  Help me to see that the greatest gift I give is my time and my heart.  Lead me to bear my brother and my sister up that they may know your holy peace.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-17-2020

Good Morning All, 

         Ephesians 4:32; “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

     It is the call throughout the Bible; we are to forgive.  We are to forgive one another even as God has forgiven us.  This is our goal; we aim for it, we desire it, we seek it and yet we struggle with it more than almost anything else.  It is the sinful nature in us that we battle every day.  It is that sinful nature that we need to drown every day through repentance and absolution.

    Forgiveness must take place every day.  First, we need to come before God asking for the forgiveness of the sins we commit.  We need to do this in order to see our need for this forgiveness and for the fact that we are freely forgiven by God.  We are then to see that there are others who seek and need our forgiveness, and this includes forgiving ourselves.  This forgiveness needs to occur each time the thought to “un-forgive” in our life.  Every time we recall the hurt and we think that forgiveness may not be what we want to give.  We may want to hold onto the anger and the pain.  Yet we need to struggle with this and ask God to continue to turn our heart so that we can forgive and release the pain and sin.

    In order to do this, we may have to leave a toxic or poisonous relationship.  If we find ourselves being dragged back down by the attitudes or actions of others, we may have to walk away, at least until we have healed some.  We may have to avoid those who want to keep us living in the pain and the sorrow.  We need to forgive but we may need to walk away, at least until we can leave the toxic portion behind us.

    We also need to remember that forgiveness can be more of a process than an event.  We may have to revisit it more than once.  We may even find that it occurs in increments.  For us, forgiveness may be a long and slow process, but it is a process that we must choose if we are to be healed and healing is the goal.

    The thing we need to always remember is that forgiveness is about healing.  It is about healing the pain that we either experience or cause.  Forgiveness is not about giving or taking but it is about being healed.  It is about healing the brokenness in the relationships that we have.  Forgiveness from God heals our relationship with God.  Forgiveness heals the rupture inside of us.  Forgiveness heals the rupture in our relationships with others.  Forgiveness brings about the healing that can restore us to the life which God created us to live.  Forgiveness provides the balm for our wounded souls.

Father of mercy, lead us to forgive.  Lead us to follow the path of healing and restoration.  Lead us by your Spirit to seek out the love that you give to us.  Lead us to live in peace.  Lead us to live in the joy of your mercy.  Heal us that we may be yours.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret