7-31-2021

 Good Morning All!

      1 Peter 2:5; “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 

    I enjoyed playing with LEGO blocks when I was a kid.  I enjoyed playing with LEGO blocks when my sons were little.  I enjoy playing LEGO blocks with my grandkids.  I pretty much like playing with LEGO blocks.  They are really a fascinating toy.  They started out as wood and then in 1947 they went to plastic.  They snap securely together but not so much that they can’t be pulled apart.  They have different colors and different sizes and they all snapped together.

    Eventually, they came out as small packages of specific types of toys, ships or airplanes or spacecraft.  Yet they still snap together and are still interchangeable.  You can build a wall or a house out of a couple of ships, a car, and a spacecraft or two.  You can take packages that started out as one thing and make them another. 

    Our verse tells a similar story.  We start out as a divergent group of sinners, but the Spirit pulls us together and unites us and builds us.  The Spirit builds us into a spiritual house; living stones that build comprise a living building, a live, breathing church.  God took us, odd pieces from other packages, and made us into his church. 

   We are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.  We are the holy priesthood for God.  All believers are to serve as priests.  As these priests we serve a very special purpose.  We are to dwell in the presence of God and the work that we do is not for our self, but it is for God.  We are his representatives here on earth and we serve in a unique capacity.  We are set apart from the rest of the world living in conformity to God’s will.  Yet we live in the midst of the world bringing hope to the world, bringing comfort to the world, bringing healing to the world in conformity to Christ’s work. 

    The priests ministered to the needs of the people before God.  The priests are the intercessors for the people.  This is what we are to do as well.  We are to minister to the needs of the people.  We minister to those who feel the pain of loss; we minister to those who struggle.  Most of us, at some point in time, struggle with life.  We look at the events of the day or week and just wonder what on earth is going on.  That is the beauty of being like a LEGO block.  We are interconnected with each other, and we are interlocked with each other to offer God’s love to each other and to offer to each other support.  This is what Paul meant in Galatians when he wrote we are “to bear one another’s burdens”.  There will be times when we need to lean on each other; so lean.  There will be times when we just can’t bear it alone; so, don’t try.  We are built together as a church and just like those LEGOs support each other; so, God wants us to support each other.

     We are the living church built to be a priesthood to be the intercessors for a people that hurts and struggles; even if it is you or me who hurts or struggles.  Use all the gifts that God gives you to live this life and trust in his mercy to survive.

God of grace, you have made us a living church to serve you in this hurting world.  Give us the strength to meet the needs of your people, especially those who struggle with the challenges of life.  Send your Spirit of comfort to those in pain both body and soul.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret           

7-30-2021

 Good Morning All!

      Philippians 4:6; “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

   Do you remember the song by Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t worry, Be happy”?  It was a clever little ditty that most of us hummed along with whether we want to admit it or not.  It gave you events in life, but he told us to not worry about it; just be happy. 

                            

                             In every life we have some trouble
                             When you worry you make it double
                                   Don't worry, be happy......

 

It was a ridiculous little song, but it carried a word if truth; worry makes your trouble worse.  It is always funny when a pop song offers us some sound theological truth. 

    The Apostle Paul tells us that we should not be anxious about anything; in other words, don’t worry, be happy.  The difference is that our confidence is not based on some pie-in-the-sky fantasy; ours is based on the certainty of God’s promise.  God speaks to us through his Word and listens to us when we pray.  We are his children and God promises to lean in and listen closely when call on his name.  He invites us to climb into his lap and to be secure, safe in his arms.

    We live our lives with way too much worry.  Even when we think it is valid; much of what we worry about never occurs.  Often our life goes the way Mark Twain described it, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”  We can smile at this knowing that God’s grace makes it true.  Most of the things that we worry about, that keep us up at night, rarely happen.  Even if they do, God has promised to be there for us and to keep our faith safe.

    We will face trials and tribulations; a man’s life (and a woman’s) is full of sorrow.  We will see pain and sorrow; that is the sad consequence of sin.  Yet God gives us the strength to find our way through it and when we live in his lap, trusting in his mercy and the promise of the forgiveness of sins.  It is when we spend all our time being anxious about life that we don’t really live the life that God gives to us.  God gives us each day and the chance to live that life in service to him, in making our requests to Him with our prayers of supplication.  God gives to us the gift of prayer to strengthen us and to weaken the devil.  Use this gift often.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks for all your precious gifts.  We ask that you be with those who are suffering from pain and are anxious about the day.  Bring your comfort and your peace.  Use us to be that comfort and to offer your consolation.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

7-29-2021

 Good Morning All!

      Romans 5:8; “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

    Have you ever heard or used the phrase “true colors”?  It usually gets used when someone, presumably a friend, turns out to not be a friend.  Kind of like the time in high school when your “best friend” stole your girlfriend (boyfriend) right before the prom.  Maybe it was the fellow worker who “suddenly” got the job you applied for.  There are times when the true nature, the true attitude shows itself.  It is usually when we trust someone to do one thing and the turn around and do something else.

     Of course, those “true colors” can sometimes show themselves as good colors as well.  Maybe the neighbor who really helped you out when no one else would.  After that, you look at your neighbor differently.  His true colors were far more positive than you thought.  Either way, good or bad, at critical times of our life, we find out who our friends really are.  In our verse, we read just one of the many verses in the Bible that reveal God’s true colors his true nature.

    “God himself has revealed and opened to us the most profound depths of his fatherly heart and his pure, unutterable love.  For this very purpose he created us, so that he might redeem us and make us holy, and, moreover, having granted and bestowed upon us everything in heaven and on earth, he has also given us his Son and his Holy Spirit, through whom he brings us to himself.  We could never come to recognize the Father’s favor and grace were it not for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mirror of the Father’s heart.” (Large Catechism) 

    It is through Christ, the mirror of the Father’s heart, that we know God’s true nature.  God is love.  His very nature, his very essence, is to love us.  The wonderful thing is that he loves us just as we are.  With all our faults, with all our shortcomings, with all our blemishes, God loves us.  He treasured you so much that he sent Jesus to die for you so that you might have eternal life. 

    This should give us great comfort.  We know God’s attitude toward us; he loves us.  We can be confident of this; we can be confident of his blessing and therefore can go about our life certain of our eternal grace and salvation, illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

    God true nature is to love you, to claim you as his own.  He has made you heirs of his eternal kingdom.  God is by nature, your loving Father.  His true colors are revealed by the fact that while we were yet sinners, the very enemies of God, Christ died for us.  His love for you began before you were and will continue after you are gone.  His love for you precedes our love for him.  God has embraced you with loving hug of the Father, embrace him back and hold onto his love.  Let God love you as he wants.

Dear Father, we give you thanks for your unutterable love.  It goes deeper and wider than we can ever fathom.  Keep us in your loving arms and guard us from the ways of the devil who seeks to harm us.  We pray for those who do not know your great love and we ask that you would move their heart to have faith in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

7-28-2021

 Good Morning All!

         1 Samuel 7:12; “Thus far has the Lord helped us.”

    It has worked so far.  It worked in the past.  It is the way we have always done it.  These are phrases that we often use.  We usually use them when some introduces that ugly word “CHANGE.”  Why would we want to change; it has worked so far.  Some people despise change; it introduces a whole new set of chaos in their lives.  Some people thrive on change; if it is new, they want it.  If something is innovative; they cannot survive without it.  So, some folk never want change and some folk always want change; how do we find the right path?

     I remember being at a convention several years ago and listening to a conversation that an older gentleman and a young man was having.  The two were neighbors and their community was looking to change the form of the government from a council to a city-manager type.  The young man was all for it and the older man wasn’t too sure.  The older man said something that has stuck with me ever since he said it.  He said, “There is nothing wrong with change, but before you change something you should find out why it is the way it is.”  It may not be eloquent, but it is pretty profound.

    Events or traditions or practices don’t just happen.  They occur and evolve for a reason.  It may not be a valid reason but there was a reason.  The practice of shaking hands with the right hand began as a sign that “I am unarmed and come in peace.” The dagger that I carried was not out and ready to be used.  This is also why left-handed people were viewed as sinister; they could shake hands with their right while holding a dagger in the left hand.  So, while the need for this practice is probably gone; it continues.  It also used to be the custom for the rite of Baptism having the new convert immersed in the baptismal font naked.  This tradition ended with the wintry blast of northern Europe.  Some things stay the same and some things change.

    In our verse, we see a reason for us to not change.  The prophet Samuel was telling the people why they should stay with the true God of Israel.  He was telling them that God has been faithful to them.  God had kept all his promises that he had made.  Right up until this moment God was faithful to his word.  Thus far, God has delivered what he has promised.  God is faithful; there is no need to look for a different God; the one true God, which we have, has never broken a promise made so why would we switch?

    Samuel would say the same thing to you and me.  God has been faithful to us and continues to be faithful to us to this very day.  There has been nothing that changes that, and we can take comfort in that.  In a world where everything seems to be changing and not always for the good or for any reason at all, God is faithful.  In a world that looks to change on you before you get the old ideas and thoughts paid for; it is changed God never changes.  His nature never changes, and his nature is to love you.  God loves you and that will never change.  Thus far he has loved you and from now on He will continue to love you.

Dear Father, we give you thanks for the wellbeing which we enjoy.  Keep us mindful of how great your love is and how weak we truly are.  Heal those who are in most need of your grace.     In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-27-2021

 Good Morning All!

       1 Thessalonians 5: 17-18; “pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

    Give thanks in all circumstances; that might seem like a very challenging task!  How do we give thanks at the death of a child or the suffering of an older person?  How do we give thanks when the clouds hold promise but do not deliver the much-needed rain?  How do we give thanks when our knees no longer can do the steps in our house?  Give thanks in all circumstances; it seems that we chronically complain about chronic problems but give thanks, that is a struggle.

    So, how does this work?  Can God really want me to be thankful for the pain I experience or the suffering I see around me?  I know the Facebook post about “when you go to bed stiff and sore be thankful for a job and a bed” and there is some truth in that but what about watching a loved one dying a slow painful death, how do we give thanks for that?

    First and foremost, we don’t give thanks that our loved one is suffering.  We need to see and then separate our situation from our relationship, especially our relationship with God.  We do not necessarily give thanks for the situation we are in, but we should always give thanks for the relationship we are in.  No matter the situation, our loving heavenly Father will not abandon us.  This is what Isaiah meant when he wrote in chapter 43, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; and when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”  The situation we are in is the result of living in a broken and chaotic creation, but God, through Jesus, has healed our relationship with Him so that we might have comfort and hope.

    Through Jesus, God has made us His children.  We do not have to see God as an avenging judge but rather we can see Him as a loving and comforting Father who desires to hold us, sustain us, and keep us safe and for this, we give thanks!  We give thanks that we have a loving Father to comfort us and to encourage us to look up and forward, through prayer, to a better day.

    So, we give thanks, sometimes because of the happy times, like weddings and births and enjoyable times with family and friends; but we always can give thanks that God has redeemed us through Jesus, giving us the certainty of eternal life, the promise of His grace and mercy, and the hope of comfort knowing that while situations in life constantly change, God’s love for us never does.  So, we can give thanks in all circumstances because our loving God will see us through and bring us to eternal joy with Him and in Him.

Father of all mercies, keep us in Your loving arms.  Help us by Your Spirit to look to You and to see that with You we have hope and with You we have comfort and peace.  Be with those who are especially challenged by the days’ events.  Lead them to look to You knowing that in You there is forgiveness, salvation, and life eternal.  Defend us from the devil’s attacks, calm our hearts and uplift our spirit.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

7-26-2021

 Good Morning All!

           John 10:10b, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

    What are some things that are abundant in your life?  What do we have that is lavished on us?  Those can be tough questions.  Most of us would be slow to answer these questions.  What do we have abundantly?  Maybe it is the beauty of nature around us.  Maybe we would say it is in the peace and quiet that we live in.  But would we say that we live life abundantly?  We tend to think in small terms.  We tend to see things in small increments.  We tend to think that God gives us what we need and only what we need.  But Scriptures tell us something entirely different.  We are told that we receive the gifts lavishly and abundantly.

     In this verse Jesus is telling his disciples that we may have life and have it abundantly.  That is quite a statement but what does it mean?  What does it mean to have it abundantly?  It is interesting how throughout Scriptures we read different phrases that describe the life that God wants for us.  It is called abundant; we are lavished by God’s gift; it is poured out on us; we receive it generously; among others but we can see what we have.  But what does that mean to us?

    I write these the night before, so I don’t know how any of the elections will end.  By the time you read this, hopefully; the dust will have settled.  No matter who wins or loses; we are God’s redeemed children, and we will always have abundant life.  Yet it always seems as though we live as though we don’t.  Too often, we live as a morose group of people.  No one should ever be happier than we are.  We have the certainty of salvation given to us.  We don’t have to go work for it; it is given to us.  We have been given life and we have it abundantly.

    God blesses us as his children at every turn.  Even when we think we are missing it; it is all around us.  God gives to us the love of family, of Christian brothers and sisters, the love of the church, the comfort of the Gospel in all its forms, the written, the spoken and the Gospel which we take in through the sacraments.  We have abundant life, so let’s live like it.

    God gives us life and he gives us the gifts of this life abundantly.  We have more than we can ever measure.  The devil will always try to convince you that you don’t have that much, and you don’t have near as much as your neighbor.  Then the devil will try to convict you with the fear that God doesn’t love you.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  God shows his love for us through the cross and the empty tomb.  God continues to show us that love through the Holy Spirit building the church and keeping it safe.  We live in the lap of God the Father.  We have the gift of abundant life so go out and enjoy it.  Live a life of happiness and contentment in God’s lap.  Receive his gifts and enjoy.

Dear Father in heaven, you lavishly pour out your Spirit on us.  You give us life and give it abundantly.  Help us to see it, to live it and to enjoy it as a gift from you.  We ask you to continue to shower us with your gifts and guide us to share those gifts with those around us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-25-2021

 Good Morning All!

           1 Peter 5:8; “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 

   I remember watching a show on one of those nature channels about lions hunting.  They are kind of lazy and “cheap shot” hunters.  A group of three or four would hunt down so wounded, sickly, little wildebeest and have it for dinner.  The lions chased this poor critter until it stopped.  It was all played out.  When the camera zoomed in on the little wildebeest, you could see it panting with the saliva dripping off its mouth.  You could see it pant so hard that you watched the chest as it breathed as it pumped in and out. The thing about this that I found intriguing was that the lions did not go in for the kill right away.  They slowly circled the wildebeest.  Each pass around the wildebeest was closer than the last.  They did this until one of the lions attacked and killed the wildebeest. 

    The devil is that way to us.  The devil looks for our weaknesses and then tries to attack and exploit them.  It will run us until we are about to drop and then he slowly moves in for the kill.  The devil seeks someone to devour.  For many people, even many Christians, there is very little fear of the devil.  Many people back away from the idea of a devil.  This is in part doing to our unwillingness to call “sin” a “sin”.  If we don’t call it “sin” but we call them “errors” or “lapses” then it is just a “character flaw” and not the devil at work.  Always remember that the devil is very real.

    The devil is defeated but he is still out there.  It is like the football team that is behind by 40 points with 2 minutes in the game.  The game is lost by the devil, but he keeps playing the game.  The devil keeps coming after us.  His weapons are limited but his ability to seduce, to beguile, to deceive, and to turn us from God’s grace at every opportunity is still great.     

      Unfortunately, you dear Christian, are the ones in his sights.  The lost and the unbeliever, the devil already has.  The glorified saints in heaven are beyond his reach.  That leaves us.  The devil favorite tools are doubt, worry and guilt.  Any of these tools is effective, but together they are almost unbearable.  At least for us.

      This is where you must rely on Jesus as the answer to your problems, as the Redeemer that we need.  Just like those lions didn’t attack stronger wildebeest or ones that were part of the herd so to the devil wouldn’t attack as well when we are close to Jesus.  God, in his mercy, guards us from the devil.  Especially when we are tempted to our limit.  God defends us from the attacks of the devil.  He loves us with a father’s heart and will clutch you safely in his arms.  Stay close to the Lord for he will protect you.

Dearest Father, your mercies continue to flood over us and overwhelm us, we pray for the families of those in the vehicle accident and for the survivor who is in the hospital that you comfort the families and bring peace to their hearts.  We also pray for our elected and re-elected officials that they may seek to govern through you looking to you for their wisdom.  Move among us with your Spirit that we too, may be safe from the devil.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen          

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret

7-24-2021

 Good Morning All!

      2 Chronicles 20:15; “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s”. 

    Don’t you just dread some of those days.  You know “those days”.  You get up and the alarm went off at the wrong time, you go outside and there is a flat tire on the car, or you go out the door and a cow is staring back at you (and not supposed to).  Your kids tell you that the car they drive makes a funny sound and you see there is no oil in the engine.  You know “those types of days”.  Sometimes it just can get almost comical; you almost wonder what can go wrong next.

     Sometimes those days are not funny; they are downright painful.  We look out and see a great horde of pain coming our way.  Think of the folks where the hurricane struck this past week and now, they get snow and wind; no electricity or water or a warm place to stay.  I would call that a horde of trouble.  Sometimes the troubles build but strike all at once.  Maybe you are caught between two feuding relatives, and you are expected to pick sides.

    Maybe your spouse is less attentive, maybe your job is less secure, maybe your health is not as good as it used to be.  One at a time, we could deal with them but when they come as a great horde, all at once, it is overwhelming.  We can be swept away easily when the great horde strikes.

    The devil loves to use great hordes.  He loves it when we feel weak and deflated.  Our resistance is down, and we are very susceptible to doubt.  We are very susceptible to hearing the question, “did God really say?”  That question that the devil asked Eve to create doubt instead of faith to create questioning instead of trusting God.  The devil always wants you to look out and see that great horde on the horizon.  The devil will always tell you look at all the things that could go wrong, look at all the trouble that could happen to you.

    But God quietly tells us to relax.  Don’t let the worries about tomorrow get you down.  I’ll take care of tomorrow just as I’ll take care of today.  The fight with the devil and his horde belongs to God and not to you.  You can look out and worry but you don’t need to.  God’s grace will keep us safe.  The ill winds of this world will still blow but we need not fear or worry.  God has promised to be with us and to lead us through it.  We will face the great horde, but we don’t face it alone and we don’t face it on its terms.  We face it in God’s care and in his comfort and support.  The battle is his and he won it on Calvary.  He declared it with the open tomb, and he delivers it to you and me through Baptisms. 

     We receive God’s blessing for this life according to his mercy.  The battle he fought for us is won.  We need not fear the great horde; God has destroyed it.  We live by his grace.

Gracious Lord, you have defeated the horde which comes to destroy us.  Yet we still look on it with fear.  Give us the strength to face our fears and realize that they are not the victors but are the vanquished.  They exist so that our faith may grow, and your light may shine.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.      

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-23-2021

 Good Morning All!

     Lamentations 3:24; “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”   

    We have become a society that wants everything in a “one stop has it all” lifestyle.  We want to get our car serviced while we get our teeth checked and our kids get their eyes tested.  When we get done, we’ll get groceries and take supper home; all under one roof.  We have come to demand this type of service.  We expect our every want to be satisfied and quickly.

     We do the same with God.  Oh, we may pray to God, we may bring our petitions to him but is it prayer or a shopping list.  You know the prayer.  “Dear God, fix my kids, straighten out my spouse, do something about my boss and that co-worker, give me a pay raise, give me patience and give it to me now.”  Too often, we think this is a prayer.  We view God as our celestial Wal-Mart ready to deliver all our wants and now. 

    The thing we miss is that this type of prayer; actually, this type of life; misses God’s promised blessings in our life.  This type of “demand prayer” leaves us empty, wallowing in a muddy shallow of selfishness and hollow discontentment.  When we take this attitude; we rob our lives of some of God’s greatest blessings.  We blur the line between God’s plan for our life and our desire for our life.  We tell God want we demand and how we demand it and then expect Him to intervene on our behalf on our timeline.  All the while we are stressed and distressed because things aren’t going to our plan.

    We fail to see that it is not God’s presents that matter it is his presence.  God lives actively in our lives offering to us a true hope.  Too often we get caught up in our consumer society and miss God’s love. 

    Our verse tells us that the Lord is my portion.  It doesn’t say part of my portion but the whole portion.  We are distracted cravers when we expect our people, places, and things to fill our hearts as only God can. God loves us so much. Why do we forget this all the time? His plan is perfect, and we can trust Him. He knows our needs and desires. When we seek Him as the answer instead of for the answer, God enables us to rest in confidence that He's working on our behalf and in our best interest, to bring glory to Himself through our lives.

     Let us remember that God is our portion.  He is the only one who can fill our heart with true hope, true comfort, and true peace.  So, let’s set our lists, our demands aside and seek God, seek his love, seek his peace.  When we finally let go of our goals and cling to his promise by faith will we have true happiness.  Remember his mercies.  Relish in his love and receive his portion as your fullness.

Dearest Father, your mercy is new to us every day.  Too often we seek our own goals and desires and place our wants ahead of your grace.  Forgive us when we do so.  Give us strength to live our lives with you as our portion, with you as our wholeness.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-22-2021

 Good Morning All!

     Mark 6:34; “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

   This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  A little strange I’ll grant you that, but it really catches Jesus’ response to the people who had contact with him during his ministry here on earth.

   This verse occurs shortly before the feeding of the 5000.  Jesus and his disciples were taking a break from their ministry work.  The people around saw Jesus and began to gather on shore where his boat was going to land.  There were thousands and thousands of people.  The feeding of the 5000 only counted men who were fed.  It doesn’t count women, children, those who went home early; it does not count the people who “don’t count”.  Jesus looked out on the people as if they were sheep without a shepherd.  Sheep without a shepherd do not know where to go and not to go.  A flock with no shepherd would have been battered, bruised, bleeding, hungry, thirsty, and completely lost.  The sheep would have been cut up from the attacks of wild animals, emaciated from a lack of food and water.  These people were not just gathering for a picnic; they were a beaten down and beaten-up group of souls.

    One of the reasons that I like this verse is the part where it says “and he had compassion on them”; I think that line sums up Jesus both in his earthly ministry and his eternal ministry.  The word for compassion in Greek is splagchnizomai and it means to literally have your innards turn and twist and come out.  When you say the word properly, it feels like that is what is happening.  It means more than pity or sympathy.  It is that “kicked in the stomach” feeling you get when you see or hear or experience something painful.  It is what most of us felt when we saw a 10-month-old was killed in an accident with her grandfather driving.  It is that feeling that makes your knees weak and your eyes blurry.  It is, for a moment, living it out in our own life.

   Jesus looked out on all those people and that is what he felt, a pain that not only hurt but a pain that leads to action.  In Matthew’s version of this passage, Jesus heals many of their illnesses.  Jesus not only saw the pain, experienced the pain but then did something to alleviate the pain.  This is where, too often, Christians in the US, miss what faith is.  In our antiseptic PC world, Christianity is a messy, dirty business.  You must get your hands dirty.  You must see things that are not always pleasant.  You must experience things that are messy.  Sometimes life is just plain ugly.  The death of someone way to early; the living of someone who no longer knows who they are or anyone else; sicknesses, diseases, broken and destroyed relationships; Jesus calls us to get in there and get dirty.

    The truly wondrous part of this is that Jesus wants you and me to do it because he did it and does it and will do it forever.  Jesus came to this earth and got right down in the messiest parts to reach and to save.  He does the same in our lives, usually with family and friends, and he wants us to do the same.  So go out and get dirty and sweaty; have compassion, have splagchnizomai, for those in need of God’s mercy the most.

Father of mercy, you shower us with your grace beyond our comprehension and you have compassion on us.  Break our hearts when we see, hear or experience others in pain.  Lead us to be your arms of comfort, of healing, and of consolation.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

7-21-2021

 Good Morning All!

        Mark 16:15; “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” 

     This is the Mark’s version of the “Great Commission”.  It is part of the direction and encouragement that Jesus gave to his disciples.  But did you ever think about what this means?  What does it mean to proclaim the Gospel?

     To many of us it is when the preacher stands up in front of the church and delivers the sermon.  This is, hopefully, an accurate event.  We certainly hope that the gospel is preached in the sermon.  But this is just a small portion of the Gospel.  We also include the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as ways that the Gospel is preached.  We also see the Gospel preached when we receive the forgiveness of sins in the absolution. 

     These are accurate examples of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, the good news about the promise of God to forgive our sins.  We receive the comfort and everything that provides comfort- everything that offers the favor and grace of God to those who have transgressed the law- is the Gospel.  Yet there is one thing about this that is missing.  For most of us, we see this “mission of the church” as the other guy’s job.  We usually hire a pastor to do this work.  We give money to missions so that someone else can go “do missions”.  We like to think that we are being supportive and doing our part by being the people behind the people preaching the Gospel.  We like to think that we do everything we can to support those on the front lines as it were.  The problem with this is there are only front lines!!

     We are all on the front lines of preaching the Gospel.  There is still another way which we preach the Gospel and that is through the mutual conversations and consolations that we share with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and with those others we encounter.  Jesus tells us that wherever two or three of you are gathered there he is in the midst of them, not on the edges or the periphery but in the middle.  We all preach the Gospel every time we offer comfort to our friends and neighbors, near and far, and share with them the hope- the hope that the promise of God gives to us.  When we offer the comfort of God’s grace and mercy to others; we are preaching the Gospel.  This is part of the “as you are going about your day, make disciples” approach to witnessing your faith. 

    We do not need to set aside time to share the Gospel with those w meet; we do it every time we talk to them, listen to them, offer them a shoulder, offer them a cold glass of water or something to eat when they are hungry.  We proclaim the Gospel in ways that we often do not even realize showing love and kindness to all around.  So go and live your life proclaiming God’s love and mercy to all you meet.

Dear Father in heaven, your mercies are new to us every day and continue to overwhelm us with the depth of your love.  Give us the courage to preach the Gospel to the whole world that it too may know your love and mercy.  Be with those who have experienced the storms on the east coast. Protect them from all further harm and danger and move us, who are able, to provide aid and comfort in your name.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

7-20-2021

 Good Morning All!

         “Matthew 11:28; “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

     One of the more frequent themes of music is the plight of the working man.  Tennessee Ernie Ford sang of “Sixteen Ton.” John Fogerty sang of the “Fortunate Son.” Merle Haggard had several songs about the working man.  All these, and others, tell of working hard, barely hanging on, other people living off of our work; about a system that is stacked against us so that we cannot get ahead.  The plight of the man who carries a heavy burden in life, who is bone tired every night and often wakes up exhausted the next day still stiff and sore from the day before.  We often see the image of a man carrying a heavy pack on his back, all hunched over, stumbling, from the weight he bears.

    That is the image that Jesus wants us to have when we read this verse.  All those who labor and are heavy laden; all you who work hard every day, all of you who are totally exhausted from the demands of the day; come to me and I will give you rest.  The thing we want to remember is that this is not about physical labor; it is about spiritual labor.  It is about confessing our sins.

     When Jesus first spoke these words to his disciples, they were living under the law as interpreted by the Scribes and the Pharisees.  This led to a very work-oriented path for forgiveness. Under the Pharisees, if you were a sinner, you had to make financial restitution, you had to pay for a “proper” sacrifice at the temple, and then you had to keep the law or repeat this procedure.  Well, as you can envision, the cost of a “proper” sacrifice was high and available only from the Pharisees.  This made them rich and feared for the cost was very arbitrary.  To the right people the cost was low; to the wrong people the cost was extremely high.  Often, the hardworking man barely made enough to live on, the burden of paying for this sacrifice was too much.  So, to the man who tried to be faithful to the teaching of his church, he was left with little hope.  He was trying to keep the law as the Scribes and Pharisees interpreted it.  When it was time to do a sacrifice to atone (or pay) for those sins, he had to buy the “proper” sacrificial animal from the Pharisees.  You can see how this is a losing proposition. 

     The devil tries to convince you of this same tactic.  The guilt that we feel after we sin is the devil trying to goad us into carrying that sin with us all the time.  He is weighing us down with the burden of paying for it.  He is placing the weight of that sin squarely on our back.  He wants you to carry it so he can use that sin to try and separate you from God.  He wants you to struggle and battle all day long, get no rest at night and then tomorrow he will add some more guilt, some more weight to that pack on your back.

    To this Jesus tells us come; come if you are heavy with burden, heavy with the weight of the guilt of sin, and Jesus will give you rest.  That is what confession of sins is about.  We are not telling God anything he does not know when we confess our sins.  The confession of sins is about freeing yourself from the guilt of sin.  We take these sins and say, “Father, these are burdening me down please take them from me.” This is about having the burden taken from us, by Jesus, so that we may have true rest.

Dear Father in heaven, you call us through your Son to unload our burden and to receive from you your holy rest.  We are often too slow to hear these words of comfort and we carry the burdens of guilt that rob us of your grace.  Give us strength to come to you and receive rest.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret