6-30-2024

Good Morning All,

        Genesis 1:28; “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

    It is a comment that gets made at many weddings, especially the reception.  It is usually an uncle or great-uncle or a taunting brother-in-law.  One of them takes the bride aside and tells her, “Remember, be fruitful and multiply!”  The usual arching of the eyebrows a couple of times occurs.  Often times, the poor bride simply blushes as everyone around her giggles and laughs.  One time, the bride told the teasing brother-in-law to, “Keep up!”  That really caused a fit of laughter as the brother-in-law was embarrassed.

    Most of us know this verse, at least the “be fruitful and multiply part.”  We recognize this for what it is.  Marriage is about having babies.  It is about the continuation of the human race.  Now there may be some who choose not to have children or who may be unable to have children but by and large we see this to be about procreation.  We see this as the biological and physical portion of a marriage.  In this fashion it is true, but it is also incomplete.  There is another part of marriage that is often overlooked, even by Christians, and that is the spiritual part.

    As we look at marriage, we can see that it is the fundamental building block of human society.  A man and a woman marry and form a new being, one flesh.  They then join in fellowship with others to form communities then nations.  Yet God used this basic building block to start the formation of people living in a community together.  In many ways, it is also the basic building block of the church.

    It is no small event that Jesus said, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you.”  Two, a husband and a wife, are the basic building blocks of the church.  Those two are to go forth and spread the Gospel of Jesus; to multiply.  This is the spiritual part of the marriage.  From here, the married couple are to be a witness to their faith for the glory of God.  “Go and make disciples;” “Preach the Gospel to all creatures”.  This is the directive to the Church, but it applies to the most basic unit.  It applies to you and to me; it applies to us.

    Through the gift of marriage, we have another way of God’s glory being revealed in this world.  We see his grace in action in our lives.  The gift of marriage is a blessing to all even those who are not married now.  It forms the unit through which society and the Church are built. 

Father of all grace, your mercies are new to us each day.  We thank you for the gift of marriage and the blessing that it gives to us.  Even though it is often hurt in this world of sin, it remains one of your great blessings.  Use those who are married to be your voice of grace as your Church grows.  Bless them with your Spirit and guard all marriages against the attacks of the devil.  Protect them in your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-29-2024

Good Morning All,

   Psalm 51:10; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

      It is the little things in life; how often do we say this or think this?  Oh, the little things that mean so much.  I think for most of us this is very true.  A hot cup of coffee on a cold day can go a long way to a content heart.  The gentle voice of your spouse as you sit and listen to some music.  Listening to your children or grandchildren as they are sleeping.  Watching them read a book or playing a game.  The quiet times with friends can make life enjoyable and truly fun.  The little things in life are wonderful.

     Yet sometimes, it is the little things in life that cause us the most pain and problems.  The problem is that we all have those little sins in our life.  They are just little ones, nothing major.  Just small, nagging little sins.  Most of us have not really committed what we would consider “big sins.”  We have never murdered someone; we have never actually committed adultery.  We have never stolen anything of any real value, but we have those nagging little sins.

     Sometimes, we don’t even think of them as sins.  We call them “peccadilloes;” or “character flaws; or “idiosyncrasies” but we never call them sins.  We have never committed murder but there are some people who we would like to move away, or some such problems beset them.  We make cruel and snide remarks, but it is “just what I was told.”  We love the “good and juicy” gossip.  We still claim that we have no other gods before God but sometimes God just doesn’t fit into our busy schedule.  We have never committed adultery but a little looking and fantasizing is “natural” isn’t it?  And so, we let off a little steam when we are with our friends and complain about our spouse to them, we all need a release don’t we?

     Those little sins are so hard to let go of, aren’t they?  We like to hold them because we think they give us power and we think they don’t really matter in the greater scheme of things.  We may rationalize all of our actions, all of our little ways but the bottom line is that they are still sins.  They are sins and sins are what separate us from God.  Sin is what breaks our relationship with God.  Sin is what pollutes us and makes us unworthy of being in God’s presence.

    That is why David wrote this verse so many years ago.  As he looked at his life, he saw where he was at.  God had revealed to him the pain he was causing, to himself, to others and to how his relationship with God was broken.  David had lied, committed adultery and murder.  The pain and the agony of it came home to roost for him and he suffered for it.  Just like we suffer when we hold onto sin, whether it is sin that we are afraid to admit to or sin that we think is minor and harmless; sin destroys our relationship with God.

    Only God can restore and renew us.  He does this through the saving atonement of Jesus.  He does this through his love.  He uses the baptismal grace that he gives us for the daily washing of our sins away.  A clean heart, every day.  A right spirit, every day.  God’s gift to us because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.

Father, in you we have forgiveness because of Jesus.  Make us clean and right.  Give us your Spirit to guard us and protect us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

6-28-2024

Good Morning All,

           Psalm 35:22; “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent!  O Lord, be not far from me!”

     I had run into an old friend that I hadn’t seen in years.  We were only able to chat for a minute or two.  It was fun to see him again after all these years.  We had the quick, “where are you?” “How is your family?”  “Have you seen…?” and then we were done.  It was that quick.  I told him to call next time he was in town and maybe we could get together again.  I felt really good after the encounter.  I remembered some of the fun we used to have back when we were younger.  I looked forward to his call.  Two years later, he still hasn’t called.

    After a while, I began to wonder.  Why hasn’t he called?  Did he lose my number?  It is in the phone book.  Has he not been back again?  He said he was back about every 6-8 months or so.  Did something happen to him?  I probably would have heard something.  Then that deep insecurity sinks in, and I wonder, maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to me.  Perhaps he was just being polite and trying to get out of a conversation that he didn’t want to have.  Maybe he was just letting me down easy thinking that “go away” was a little too harsh.  I don’t know, one way or another.  He has been silent, and I just wait for him to call me.

    This is one of those times when silence is a disappointment.  I survive; I hadn’t seen him for over 25 years.  There are times when silence can be painful.  When we wait for the lab results to a medical test, silence can be painful as we wonder what was going on.  Waiting for the doctor to come out and tell you how the surgery for your loved one went as we wait in silence in a painful loneliness.  Probably the toughest silence is when we think God is silent.

    I remember listening to a young couple who were struggling with trying to start a family.  It wasn’t working the natural way.  It was sad because they would have been great parents.  There had just been a story about an abandoned child that had died from neglect and the pain in their face was obvious.  Why was God silent?

    Sadly, we can never answer “why?” for God.  We can never explain God and his ways.  All we truly have is the blood-soaked empty cross and the open tomb.  Those speak volumes to us.  They speak of God’s immeasurable love for us and our eternal life with him.  They speak of his love for us.  They speak of his compassion and mercy for us.  Some things we do not hear because we are not listening to what God is saying, we are listening for what we want to hear but sometimes that is not what God has to say.  So, we need to look past our wants and look to God’s promise and hear his mercy for us.  It can be very difficult but here we see that in our weakness God’s strength, his wonderful words of forgiveness and reconciliation, carry us through.

Father of wonder, often we feel you are silent when we are not listening to your words of grace.  Give us the strength to listen closely to your word.  Be with those who feel you are silent today.  Let them hear your words of mercy and your words of grace.  Be with them and strengthen them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret    

6-27-2024

Good Morning All,

        Isaiah 9:2; “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

    I think that one of the most beautiful times of the day is right before sunrise.  At least in our corner of paradise, it is the calmest and most peaceful time of the day.  The quiet, the lightening of the sky, the stroke of colors across the sky can be breathtaking.  The other thing about daybreak is that the sun always promises a new day.  It promises new opportunity and new life.

                                   O Morning Star,

splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:

Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

A more literal translation would be “rising sun” rather than “morning star”.  Morning Star may be more poetic, but Rising Sun fits the meaning a little better.  The rising sun brings light.  It is greater than a star.  It is the light that fills the sky completely with the light of day.  Its radiance is seen and felt by everyone and cannot be avoided.  Even if you try to hide in the shade, the sun impacts you.  That is what the coming of Jesus will be like.  It will be felt by everyone.  No one will be able to hide from Him.  To those who do not believe, it will be a terrible event.  It will be the most fearful day of their existence.  All their denial and hatred will be shown to be the evil that it truly is.

    But for us, for those who believe, it will be the glorious start to a new day, to a new life.  We no longer dwell in the darkness of sin and pain and sorrow.  We will no longer have death as the final enemy.  All will be defeated, and all will be completely placed under the foot of Jesus and will be finally and ultimately and utterly destroyed.  With that, there will usher in a new life, a new creation, the recreated creation.  It will no longer be marred by the pain of sin.  This dawning of the new light will be the end of pain and sorrow and suffering.  This new light will be the descending of the heavenly kingdom to us.  We will be living with all the saints together in glory with Christ as our King and as our Light.

    This is what we wait for, this is what we long for, the return of Jesus as King victorious.  The beginning of the returned Christ will be the end of darkness and the end of the shadow of death.  Death will be no more.  Only joy, peace will exist.  We will once again walk with God in the cool of the morning.  The new dawn will emerge, and gladness will fill our hearts and lives.

O Morning Star, you bring the gladness of your light to us.  You bring us new life.  Now we have hope; yet soon, very soon we will have fulfilment.  Guide us and protect us until that day when we will live with you.  Keep us in your arms and keep us safe with you.  Be with those who still fear the shadow of death and live in the darkness of sin.  Give them your Spirit that they may be free from the devil’s attacks.  In Your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-26-2024

Good Morning All,

         Romans 5:2; “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

    One of my past times is to watch movies.  I like most kinds, but I really enjoy comedies, westerns, pirate movies, movies about knights, action movies and space movies.  If you can combine two or three of these, I really like them.  One of my favorites is a movie called “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail.”  It is a very absurd comedy that makes fun of the knights of the Roundtable who are searching for the Holy Grail.  It spoofs the entire genre of knight movies.  One part that always made me chuckle was when the knights come to a bridge that they need to cross, and a troll stops them and demands that they answer three questions, or they can’t pass.  The scene ends with the troll being asked to clarify a question, he can’t, so the troupe passes on by.

    There is always a scene in movies like this where in order to have access to a bridge or a room our hero needs to know the access code.  It might be a test of courage or bravery.  It might take skill and cunning.  It might take possessing a key or some other device but there is usually a major part of the movie that turns on having a way to access an important place.  Without this access our hero will fail and either the pretty girl will die, or the kingdom will fail; one of those dramatic events will occur.  So having access is crucial.

    Our faith life is just like that.  Sin caused us to have an “access denied” sign flash in front of us.  We could no longer have access to God because we lacked the access code or the key for entrance.  We were no longer perfect; we were sinful being whose sin had cause us to lose the key to God.  We lost it to the point that we could never get access again.

    So, God showed his grace to us by having Jesus pay the price for our sin.  By doing so and by giving us the desire (faith) to trust that promise we now have access to God’s grace.  It is here that we rejoice in hope (certainty) of the glory of God.  God sent Jesus to give you back the access that our sinned took away.  God did this out of love for you.  God continues to do this for us every minute of every day.

    So now we have total access to God.  We can come to him at any time and in any state of trouble or fear.  We can come in any time of joy or celebration.  God invites us to use this free access at all times.  God invites us to use prayer to access him.  He invites us to worship him to hear his Words of forgiveness and acceptance.  God has given you access; use it continually.

Father of all mercy, through your grace we are given access to your love continually.  Give us the wisdom to use this gift often.  Give us the strength to trust in your free access to guide us through life’s struggles.  Be with those who seem to have lost their access to you.  Give them the faith to again access you and your grace.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

 

6-25-2024

Good Morning All,

    1 Peter 3:18; “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”

    It is a very simple phrase; yet it can strike fear in the hearts of parents everywhere, especially at Christmas time or birthdays.  We try and watch for it but sometimes it just slips by us.  When the little ones open the package, that phrase is there as big as life; some assembly required!  That is a phrase to make most shudder.  First, the instructions are always in six different languages; none are English.  I am never sure if it is a flap or a slot.  Sometimes I don’t have enough parts; usually I have parts left over.  In fact, I have a whole drawer full of “essential” parts some are almost forty years old.

    It is when you try to “quick fix” it.  This is where you “sort of” put it together so the kids can play with it.  The problem is that once assembled; slot “A” doesn’t always pull back from flap “B.”  Sometimes it sticks together even if it is wrong.

    Because of sin we are in the situation of “some assembly required.”  Because of sin, we are broken, and we need to be re-assembled.  If we try it on our own, we will either come up short pieces or have pieces left that we don’t know what to do with them.  Either way, we still don’t “work” right.  We are still broken and non-operational.  We are still dead before God.

    That is why God sent Jesus to die for us.  He makes us right.  He assembles us properly and puts our brokenness aright.  Jesus picks up the broken pieces and heals us.  He does this out of love.  We can go forward as a new piece, a new creation.  All the assembly is complete. 

    The devil will try to disassemble us.  He will try and take us apart and pull us from God and his grace.  The devil will try to make you feel empty, like you are missing some pieces of your life.  He will want you to feel separated from God and his family.  At other times, the devil will want you to feel like there are pieces left over, that your life is so complicated and overwhelming.  He wants you to drown in the mess of confusion and pain.

    Yet we don’t have to struggle with these fears.  God has made us whole and complete.  He has taken the brokenness that our sinful life was and recreated it to the newness of life that He desires for us.  It is this newness, the required assembly that gives us hope.  We are saved through His grace.  We are put together by his mercy.  We may face some battles, but we don’t have to fall apart; we don’t have to let the devil disassemble us.  God and his mercy will hold us together.

Father of all goodness, we give you thanks that you have made us new and made us whole. Give us the certainty of the knowledge of your love.  Give us the strength to withstand the devil’s assaults.  We especially pray for those who are being attacked at this time.  Give them the constancy of your Spirit that they may withstand and prevail.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-24-2024

 Good Morning All,

        Psalm 18:6; “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”

      When I was in college, I had a couple of classes with an instructor whose methods and manners were very different from my thoughts of what they should be.  He could have just walked off the local commune.  He had hair that looked like it hadn’t (or couldn’t) been combed in a few weeks.  He shaved once a week whether he wanted to or not.  We had an 8:00 am class; it wasn’t unusual for him to be 10-15 minutes late; most of the students didn’t wait.  A few of us did because we had the next class across the hall.  He would come in late, make excuses and then begin his lecture.  I really struggled with the way he presented himself.  The man he replaced was a clean-shaven suit and tie kind of guy.

    For about three weeks, I told anyone who listened what I thought about this guy.  I told how poor an instructor he was.  I told how his preparation was weak, and his classroom etiquette was a little under par.  While griping to a classmate, he asked me if I ever listened to the guy teach?  Why? I asked.  Because the guy is a genius, and he was.  He was one of the top men in his field in the upper Midwest.  So, the problem that I had with him were the results of my assumptions and presumptions.  When I let the man teach, he was amazing.

    How often do we do that?  How often do we place so many structures and restrictions on our relationships that they often go bad before we even try?  Sometimes we go to great lengths to complain about them to others.  Sometimes when we have stress in any of our relationships, we complain to anyone who will listen except to the one who can matter the most.  We need to take our distress to God.

    We often don’t think of going to God with our disappointments or our anger.  We think that this is a form of sin, so we won’t do it.  We go to God with platitudes and half-baked verbiage that we hear in church.  But God doesn’t want flowery language or “church words;” God wants us to have an honest and open, prayerful conversation with him.  God already knows our thoughts, fears, desires, and worries.  Even if we don’t express it, God knows our heart.  The thing is that by expressing it, we will know our heart.  Had I really listened to my comments about my instructor, I would have heard the distance in the relationship was mine. 

    God will hear your cries, even your cries of distress and anger.  He will use his Spirit to help you if you are faithful in your prayers.  A huge part of faithfulness is total honesty on your part when praying to God.  Anything less will void your cry.  It will come off as sinful selfishness.  Yet God does desire to have a relationship with you and for you to have relationships with your fellow man.  Trust God to help you build them.

Gracious Father, too often we hold our distress out of fear and sadness.  In doing so we hold onto the pain of our sin.  Give us the strength to bring our cries to you.  Be with those who are in deep pain and distress.  Lead them by your Spirit to call upon your Name.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

6-23-2024

Good Morning All,

    Psalm 68:35; “God, the God of Israel, is awe-inspiring in his holy place.  He gives strength and power to his people.  Thanks be to God!"

    I had a neighbor who has an automotive/fix-it shop.  His wife was our mail carrier.  She drove a little pickup that had over 300,000 miles on it.  I think it helped that he was a mechanic.  It seemed about every other week or so, he would have this little pickup up on the hoist and he was changing oil or replacing u-joints, or bushing, or brakes.  He was always fixing or replacing something.  Maintenance is always important to keep the vehicle running right.

    We used to notice this when we would go to farm sales where the sales were somewhat distressed.  That is the farmer didn’t want to sell but couldn’t afford to keep farming.  You could see that often the maintenance of the equipment was not what it should have been.  You knew how it worked.  Maintenance takes money and when money is tight often maintenance is pushed down the list.  Yet it never takes long for this lack of maintenance costs more in the long run.  It often shortens the lifespan of the equipment plus you end up spending more on repairs as well.

    Our faith life is a lot like taking care of a car or other equipment.  You need to do the maintenance in order for it to work properly.  You need to do the maintenance so that the equipment works when you need it the most.  This is true of our faith life as well.  Now this doesn’t mean that we have to work on our salvation; that is already settled by God’s mercy.  Because of this mercy, God gives us the grace to face our daily struggles.  He gives us His Spirit to help us as we deal with our daily struggles.  He gives us the gift of His Words of forgiveness, his sacraments, and the gift of prayer and of His written Word.  We also have the gift of His Church, the body of believers, who are there to comfort and console us.  These gifts are all there for us to face the daily grind of our life here on earth.

    But we must use them and often.  This is how we maintain our faith.  We need to regularly attend worship services.  This is where we hear God’s Words of forgiveness and grace spoken to us.  We can hear the precious joy of God’s pronouncement of his unwavering love for us.  We need to share in Holy Communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  This nourishing of the spirit and soul will strengthen the bond of fellowship with our fellow believers.  We need to spend time in the study of God’s Word and in prayer.  This is the rhythm of our devotional life that can serve as a major part of our maintenance program.  God gives us the tools and the desire to follow through with them.  So do your maintenance every day!

   Gracious Father, you give strength and power to us as we face the daily struggles of this life.  Guard us by your Spirit and move us to maintain our faith in you.  Move us to search your Word, to partake in your sacrament, and to trust wholly in you.  Be with those who have let their maintenance lag.  Help them to return to the safety of your loving arms.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-22-2024

Good Morning All,

       1 Corinthians 13:12; “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

    Have you ever gone through a funhouse with the mirrors?  The ones that have curved mirrors that distort the way things look.  They are also usually smeared, and the lighting is bad so it can be hard to see clearly in them.  We can usually only get vague or hazy images.  We can never really tell exactly what we are looking at.  It is a dim reflection of what we see.

    Thousands of years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato, once described our life as one where we never really saw the true image.  We only saw a shadow of the image on the wall ahead of us.  It was as if life was occurring behind us, and a strong light was casting shadows on the wall ahead of us.  We saw the movement and the shapes, but we didn’t see the true form.  In some ways this is what Paul is telling us in this verse.  In this verse, and this chapter, he is explaining what true love is like.

    In this chapter of Corinthians, often called the love chapter, Paul is describing true and complete love.  In Greek it is agape.  This is the type of sacrificial love which God displays for us in Jesus.  God loves us so completely that He sent Jesus to die in our place and he did this before we loved him.  God did this for the portion of his creation that he loved so much he wouldn’t destroy them and start over.  He redeemed us, he bought us back from our own sin in order to make us his own again. 

    It is the kind of love which we can never fully grasp or understand in our current form.  We may speak of this kind of love, but no human truly has it.  We all have limits to our love.  We may claim to love unconditionally but, in our hearts, we have a limit.  It might be different for different people, but it exists.  So, when we talk of this kind of love; this never ending, sacrificial, all-encompassing love; we really cannot understand it.

    Paul is telling us that what we see, that is what we perceive, is just a dimmed reflection in a mirror compared to God’s love for us.  It is so far beyond our comprehension.  We have nothing to compare it to.  We only have God’s mercy showered upon us; declared to us in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.  There is no other kind of love that comes even close to this kind of love.  That is why Paul describes it as he does.  Love is patient, kind, never ends are just a few of the descriptions. 

    We will never fully understand it until we get to heaven.  It will always be upon us, but we will only be able to grasp it like a dull mirrored image.  So, we can take heart in a love so great, we cannot even imagine it.  With a love that great, we can know that our salvation is certain and our hope secure.

Gracious God, you are love.  Through you we see true love and yet we cannot comprehend.  As you send your love to us, help us to share some of that love with others.  Direct us to those who are in most desperate need of your love.  Guide us with your Spirit.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-21-2024

Good Morning All,

          Luke 7:15; “And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

    This verse is from one of the more touching stories in the Bible.  It is from the story of the widow from the town of Nain.  She was a widow, and she was in the process of burying her only son.  This was not only an emotionally destructive event; it was also an economically destructive event.  It was most likely that any property that her husband had left to her son would now go to the brother of her dead husband.  So, unless he was willing to share, she was out of luck and out in the cold.  So, with the death of her son, she was completely destroyed.  She had no future; she was isolated from everything she had that would support her.  Everything that she counted on was gone.

    As the funeral procession was going out of town, Jesus and his disciples were coming into town.  The two groups met, and Jesus had compassion on the widow.  He restored the young man to life and gave him back to the widow.  He gave the man life, and he gave the widow hope.  He had compassion and gave life and hope.  There is a lot to draw from this story but for today let’s look at it this way.

    As most of us read the stories of the Bible, we like to figure out who we would be in the story.  I’d like you to be the dead man for a moment.  That is what we are.  We are dead in sin.  We suffer from the torment of sin, and we have no future for we are truly dead.  Yet Jesus, through his death and resurrection gives us life.  He gives us salvation.  We now have eternal life and the grace that He gives us to live.

   Yet too often we stop there.  Too often, we think, “I’m saved” and then we turn and walk away.  Yet we should remember that as Jesus gave the man his life back, Jesus also gave him back to his mother.  We should see this as part of our calling as Christians.  Jesus gave the man life and then gave him back to his mother; presumably for him to continue to care for her.  Jesus didn’t just free the man from death; he freed the man from death and then gave him a purpose.  Jesus gives us life, but he also gives us a purpose.

   He leaves us in this world for a while, for a purpose.  We are to show, share, and be his love in this world.  He empowers us to be his hands, his arms, his voice in this broken and sin filled world.  He wants us to be active in this world.  We know all the phrases; “Be witnesses;” “love one another;” “the least of these my brethren” We know that Jesus has given us life, but do we remember that he gives us back to the world for a while?  Do we remember we are to be the light in this world?  So, as you begin this New Year, remember that you were given back to make a difference as well.

Father of grace, lead us to be your light in this world.  Keep us mindful that we are to be about your business as we wait for our eternal glory.  Use us to reach out to those who are suffering the most.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

6-20-2024

Good Morning All,

      Mark 6:48; “And he (Jesus) saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.”

    I’ll keep my eye on you.  That is a phrase that parents will often tell their children.  The funny thing is that when the child is 5 or 6; they see it as a security blanket as they begin to venture out.  When they are 15 or 16, well it is seen as more of a hindrance or embarrassment.  They want their parents to see them as capable of dealing with whatever comes along.

    Knowing that someone is keeping an eye on you can mean one of two things.  We can be like the 5- or 6-year-old and see it as comfort and as a security.  Knowing that someone is watching out for you can be a comfort as you attempt something new.  Knowing that someone who has done the job or has already had the experience.  It can be comforting knowing that someone with experience can step in and take over or at least offer some sage advice.

    Of course, knowing that someone is watching can be disconcerting as well.  There are times when we don’t want someone else to see what we are doing, hear what we are saying, or know what we are thinking.  There are times when we would like to think that no one is keeping an eye on us.  If no one is watching, stealing that piece of candy, or saying that unkind thing or know the thoughts that our sinful heart is forming.  It is at these times that we don’t want someone to keep an eye on us.

    As the sinful being that we are, we don’t want God keeping an eye on us.  We want to have some hidden time to let our hidden sins fester and grow.  The problem with that is that we do not have any hidden sins; all of our sins are seen by God.  We only fool ourselves if we think that some of our sins are hidden.  God sees all.

    Yet as God’s redeemed children, we can take great comfort I the fact that God keeps an eye on us.  Living in a broken and sinful world, we are often making headway painfully.  We are making headway but there is a lot of pain and sorrow along the way.  Our headway is moving forward with our life; each moment we are closer to heaven.  But that journey is an arduous one.  We come upon times and events which are new to us.  The death of our parents, the time of learning who were are in this world, the time of marriage, the time of child rearing, the time of aging and the time of death are all new experiences.  We can take comfort that God keeps an eye on us.  He looks out for us, and he prepares the way for us.  He gives us comfort and consolation along the way.  He goes ahead of us in order to prepare for us.  He goes ahead of us because he has already gone ahead and paid the price of our debt.  He has already experienced the pains of this life for us.  So, he has compassion for us.  His mercy is ever upon us.  The psalmist says that we are “the apple of your eye” and we are. God keeps his eye on us with his grace and mercy.

Father of all goodness, you guard and protect us and keep your eye upon us.  Keep s mindful of this truth so that we may have comfort and peace in the knowledge of your mercy.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-19-2024

Good Morning All,

              Genesis 3:12; “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

     There is a comic called “The Family Circus” by Bill Keane.  It is about a family with small children.  Whenever something gets broke or spilled and the mother asks, “Who did this?”  There are at least two “ghost-like” figures running away from the mess.  One is named “Not me” and the other is named “I don’t know.”  It portrays the children avoiding responsibility and denying any actions which might get them punished.

    In a movie that I watched a few nights back, a soldier with the rank of corporal arrived at a new base to serve as an aide to a major where something had gone wrong.  As the corporal and the major were going into a meeting to discuss the problem, the major turned to the corporal and said, “I am going to blame the problem on you.”  The corporal, somewhat shocked, surprised, and even a little outraged, told the major, “I wasn’t even here!”  The major responded, “I didn’t say you did it; I said I was going to blame you.”  Isn’t that how life works sometimes?  One article about being a smart middle manager in a large corporation wrote that the most important thing is to know who to blame when something went wrong.

    We love to blame others for our problems.  We blame the government, our spouse or family, we blame “bad luck,” we blame anything or anyone for our struggles and, eventually, we join Adam and blame God.  We blame God because our selfish sinful nature wants us blind to the truth.  The fact that we are under-educated, or that we are lazy or that we do not eat healthy foods or that we engage in unhealthy activities or that we simply make very poor choices has nothing to do with the situation that we find ourselves in; ultimately it is God’s fault; at least that is what the devil and our sinful nature wants us to believe.

    By believing or accepting that God is to blame places a wall between us and God.  It slips into our mind and into the back of our conscience and it causes us to not trust God and when we do not trust God, then we do not seek his mercy.  We look to other people or things for that support we so desperately need and seek out.

    It is important for us to recognize this as the devil’s attacks.  When we come to God and acknowledge, admit, and confess our sinful condition; we are also seeking God’s deliverance from the struggle that we are in.  We seek his grace and guidance in order to move past the pain of guilt that is often associated with placing blame.  When we turn to God, we see a God that has already dealt with the guilt and the sorrow by having Jesus pay the price for our sin.  He thus gives us the blessing of that event.  We do not have to seek who we will blame; rather we can prayerfully seek to live better from now on.

Father of all mercy; lead me to see that placing blame only serves to break relationships.  Help me to see that this action leads only into pain.  Guide us by your Spirit to cling to the cross of Jesus and to see you as our only hope.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-18-2024

Good Morning All,

           Isaiah 43:4a; “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.”

     Do you remember the story of Snow White?  It had the wicked queen who possessed a magical mirror.  She would look into it and ask, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”  The mirror would always answer, “You are my queen.”  That was until one day when the mirror decided that Snow White was even fairer than the queen. 

    “Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I look to you today?”  We use the mirror for many purposes.  We use it to see when we shave or put on makeup.  We use a mirror to be sure that our clothes are straight and neat; that our hair is combed and that nothing is still stuck in our teeth.  Most of us sigh and figure it looks good for what there is to work with.

    Now if that mirror could look into our hearts, it would find all sorts of ugly stuff.  It would find jealousy, anger, greed, and the like; it would find sin.  As we look at that mirror, we would see ugliness.  If we asked this mirror, “who is the fairest of them all?”  It would not be you or me, that is for sure.  Unfortunately, because of this sin, this is how God saw us too.  He saw us as ugly, vermin filled creatures.  He could have destroyed us and started over.  He could have just turned his back and walked away.  However, what he did actually do, was to send Jesus to correct this ugly mess.

    What did Jesus do?  He let a man named Judas betray him, a man named Peter to deny him, all his followers abandoned him, the priests mocked him, the soldiers cursed him, spit on him, and finally nailed him to a cross to die for you and me.  When the world’s mirror looked at him; he was far from the fairest in the land but when God’s mirror looked upon him; God saw the price paid and the beauty of us being restored by the sacrifice of his Son on the cross.

    So now, when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we want to make sure we look in the proper mirror.  If we look in the mirror of the world, it will remind us that we are ugly and worthless.  But we get a different mirror, because we are God’s redeemed children, we get the mirror that God looks into.  We get to look into this mirror because God has forgiven us, has claimed us through Baptism and we see looking in with faith to see a whole new us, no longer ugly but beautiful because of God’s mercy.

    So, God looks at us we are precious in his eyes.  We are his dear children because of the sacrifice that Jesus made upon that cross.  It was a bloody and ugly event, but it gave to us the greatest gift ever and that is life eternal.  This is why we sing “Beautiful Savior.”  The beauty that we receive because of his sacrifice gives us hope for eternal life and lets us look into God’s mirror which sees us as his forgiven, redeemed children.

Heavenly Father, you give us a new mirror to see our life through.  It is not the broken mirror of the world, but it is the recreated mirror of your mercy.  Guide us down the path of the wonderful and loving life that you give us.  Your mercy pours over us like a river and our future in your loving arms waits for us.  Keep us safe and strong in your grace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-17-2024

Good Morning All,

              Galatians 5:25; “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

        A little boy was sound asleep in his bed when his mother came up to wake him.  “Get up Timmy; it is time to go to school.”  The little boy woke up and looked at his mother in total amazement; “you mean I got to keep going, I thought I learned it all yesterday!”  There are many times in our lives when we may feel the same way; I thought I did that yesterday.  You mean I have to do it again tomorrow and the next day as well?  Sometimes we feel like little Timmy; we just want to roll over and go back to sleep.

    Sometimes we may even feel that way in our faith life.  Yet Scriptures tells us something a little different.  Our faith life is a process not an event.  It is not even a series of events.  It is a lifetime journey that never stops or takes a break or time off.  God calls us, as his children, to a lifetime of faith.  He doesn’t want us to schedule our faith.  On Fridays I will have compassion, on Mondays I will have joy, on Tuesday I will love but I get Wednesdays and every other weekend off; that is not what a life of faith means.  A life of faith is a continual process of God’s mercy alive and active in our heart and in our life.

    This helps us when we don’t “feel” like we are loved or that we are close to God.  Faith is not dependent upon your feelings.  God’s mercy is not dependent upon your feeling.  God’s mercy is dependent on God.  God’s grace is dependent on God; neither depends upon us.  We have God’s promise to never abandon us or stray from us or to leave us alone.  We can always trust and know that this is true even if we don’t “feel” like it.  We have God’s sacred oath on this.

    So, God encourages us and desires for us that we live each day in total communion with Him and that we live each day in faith with Him.  Will we always succeed?  No, we will slip and fall once in a while, but we are to struggle onward, seeking his grace and knowing that His mercy is always there for us.  Yet God encourages us to live each day in faith for Him and in service to Him.  It is not to be a once in a while event but a continual process of living in prayerful conversation with Him.  We are to continually live out our life in the compassionate and loving service that God desires us to live.  It is through the Holy Spirit that God gives us the strength to live this faith filled process.

     There will be slips and falls along the way, but the journey goes on and God grace is continually poured out upon your whole body and soul.  He daily restores us by his forgiveness so that we may continue our journey, freed from the slavery of sin and the devil; to live a new life in Him.

Gracious Lord, you are the shepherd who leads me down the path of righteousness.  Keep me in your flock that I may all the day long serve you.  Guide me by your grace and favor to be the child that you desire me to be.  Show me your ways and pour out your Spirit in my life that I may boldly walk the path that you have laid out for me.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret