11-30-2024

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 1:2, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

    We spend a lot of time with rules or laws.  We have traffic rules, school rules, sports rules and maybe some of us still have house rules that we live by.  Most of the time, we aren’t big fans of rules.  We tend to see them as restrictions or limitations on our lives.  Yet rules tell us so much more than what we are limited to; they also give us the understanding of the flow of the situation.  We often view this as the intent of the law and intent is important. God’s Law is designed to create a “safe zone” for us in this broken creation. On the outside of God’s Law is danger and chaos. Inside God’s Law is peace and tranquility.

    Psalm 1 tells us about a righteous man.  His (the righteous man) delight is in the law and he meditates on God’s law day and night.  Now when some people read this, they think of just repeating the Ten Commandments over and over.  This seems rather boring.  Add this to our usual thumbnail definition of the law “showing us our sin;” it really would be.  Yet we can go much farther than this. The law of God really shows us the Will of God or what God desires.

    When we see what God desires or commands, we see that we are indeed sinners.  We see that we do need a Savior to redeem us.  However, we are God’s redeemed children, forgiven of our sins.  So, the law shows us more than what we do wrong it also shows us how to live a God-pleasing life.  So, as we study God’s law, we begin to see what God desires.  The law instructs us as to what our creaturely goodness before God is to be.  The commandments can really be seen as a guide to our relationships with God and with our fellow man.

    Some of the commandments are written in the positive as in “do this” and some are written in the negative as in “don’t do this.”   From these we must study and meditate (read the rest of Scriptures as well) to understand what God’s Will for us is.  This can be a daunting task sometimes.  For example, we are told not to covet, that is to want something that our neighbor has.  Suppose your neighbor is renting some land, the landowner comes to you and asks you what you would pay for rent.  When is it coveting and when isn’t it?  This could apply to a job or a position on the team or many other areas.  Some of us have dealt with mistakes with companies and their computers.  Perhaps you got too many items or too much money back, when are you breaking the 7^th commandment and when aren’t you? 

    These and other questions can get really difficult.  God’s law is perfect, but we aren’t and there are times when we are put into situations which have no obvious answer to us.  This is why we meditate on the law; to help give us guidance and direction in living a God-pleasing life.   

Dear Father in heaven, we are often blind to your holy Will and even look away when we know it.  Forgive us when we sin.  Turn our hearts to love you and your law.  Give us the wisdom to apply your law to those whom we meet and to show them your love and grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-29-2024

Good Morning All,

     Jeremiah 9:24, “but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

     “Tell all books;” the accounts of people who were there or claimed to be there are all the rage.  We like to get the lowdown on some people, especially someone famous.  If we are not particularly fond of the famous person, we like the real lowdown dirt.  Even if we have no strong feelings about someone we like to read or hear the story. We tend to read stories that tell us about people that reveal the real person to us.  There are biographies which humanize the famous, the important or the heroic. 

    The Bible is this type of book.  The Bible is a very revelatory book.  In it, God reveals himself to us.  We learn about God through the Bible.  There are some things that we can learn about God through nature; like He is powerful, orderly, he loves beauty, but this is about all we can learn from nature.  Yet in the Bible, in his book, God reveals to us who He is.  In our verse, God reveals to us that He is just and righteous and that he is merciful (steadfast love). 

    It is interesting to see that God not only has these traits but that He delights in them.  These traits give God joy and happiness; they are the traits which God shows to us in the way that He deals with us.  He is just and merciful toward us and shows us his righteousness.  We celebrate because of God’ goodness to us.  Yet this verse also tells us what God wants from his people.

     In other places in the Bible, God reveals that we are to be imitators of him or that we are to be like him.  God wants us to exhibit the same traits which He has.  We are to love mercy, seek justice and display righteousness.  We aren’t supposed to do this to our fellow man as well and we are to not only act this way but to delight in acting this way.

     God calls us to show this kind of compassion to all we meet, with all that we have contact with.  Throughout the Old Testament, God continually reveals his displeasure with a people that mistreats the poor, the widowed and the orphans. While it is God’s nature to love, we see repeatedly where God is provoked to anger at his children when they do not love others as God loves them.

     God calls his children to live a life of justice and of love. This life is to be a life where we reflect God’s nature to all we meet.  This can be very difficult; the devil likes to whisper to us how we deserve the things we have; about how hard we have worked to earn them; about how we can boast in our accomplishments.  Yet these lies lead us away from God.  All we are to boast in is Christ and his mercy.  The mercy that led him to Calvary is the mercy we are to show to all that we encounter.  It is a difficult task, one we frequently fail at, but it is the task we are called to.  We are to love mercy, do justice and live in the righteousness of Jesus our savior.

Gracious Father, far too often we fail to love as you love, we fail to act as you would have us act; we lack your justice.  Forgive us as we fall; move us to do your will in all that we do.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.             

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-28-2024

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 6:8b-9; “for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.  The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

    Most of us have been there.  We have heard the sound of someone weeping.  Perhaps you are a parent of a young child and heard them weeping in their room as they were afraid of the dark or they didn’t feel well.  Maybe your children are a little older and you have had to deal with the tears of disappointment; the first broken crush, the team not made, the grade not earned, the date not received.  Perhaps you heard your spouse weep at the loss of a parent or the loss of a job or the pain of an argument you just had.  Perhaps you heard your parents weep as they are being told that they really can’t live alone anymore.  Perhaps you were the one doing the weeping.

    So, as you heard the weeping, what did you do?  Did you keep on walking by pretending to have not heard it?  Did you knock and ask if they were alright?  If they answered yes, then what?  Did you go to them and comfort them and console them?  What did you do?   I would venture a guess that as you felt you had an answer; you went right in but if you didn’t know what to say; did you walk on by? 

     This is one of the biggest mistakes we as Christians make; we think we have to be able to offer “the answer” to every problem; when we can’t we often try to avoid the issue.  Remember that you never have to, nor can you, defend God and his actions.  God doesn’t reveal everything to us and there are more questions than answers.  Why did that baby die?  Why do people have to live with pain?  Why are loving people unable to have children and the worst parents around seem to have them at will?  These are a few; I am sure each of us could add dozens.  When you hear someone weeping and these are the questions, what do we say?

     The thing we have to remember is that “WHY?” belongs to God.  Why did that baby die?  I don’t know why; only God knows why.  Why do bad things happen?  I don’t know why, only God knows.  God doesn’t reveal “WHY?” to us all the time; we must rely on what we do know and that is the gracious salvation we receive because of Jesus.  We only know what has been revealed to us and that is what we know.  We can’t answer questions like “WHY?” but we can pray and offer a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen and a hand to hold.

     Sometimes, we feel that prayer is all we have to offer.  That is not a bad thing.  Sometimes that is all there ever is.  We pray for comfort and consolation.  We pray for the Lord to send us the promised “Comforter” and to give us peace.  The great thing is that God hears our prayers our cries and He answers them.   He sends his Spirit, in the form of family and friends, to hold us close, to give us a shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold, the willingness to wipe away the tears.

     God hears our cries; he hears our pain; he desires to give you comfort and peace.  We don’t have to hole up in our room, weeping all alone, bearing the weight of that pain.  Give it to God, trust in his promises of grace.

    Dear Father in heaven, we cry, we lament, and we carry the burden of sin with us.  Remove our pain, our fear, and our loneliness.  Give us strength to call upon your holy name and seek from you peace and comfort.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret            

12-27-2024

Good Morning All,

        Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

   With the forecast for the region, it is the time of year to get out some of the winter clothing and see what fits and what doesn’t.  Some may need to see if it is still in style, some of us have to make sure that the gloves and boots are still in pairs.  It is important that we are clothed right for the upcoming season.

    The clothes we wear can be very important.  Some of our clothing is specialty clothing like a fire fighter’s.  Some clothing is very elegant like the wedding attire that the verse describes.  Yet most clothing we wear is more practical.  It serves the purpose of keeping us warm and protecting us from the elements.

    In our verse we read about being clothed with garments.  At this time, it was a common occurrence at weddings for the host to provide the proper wedding garments for the guests.  This was especially true if the host was a prince, or a king and he wanted a lot of guests to be at the wedding feast.  He would provide the proper clothes for his guests to wear.

    This is a great image of our relationship with God.  God gives us the proper garments to wear.  It is Christ’s righteousness that clothes us that lets us be at the wedding feast.  This clothing protects us from the arrows that the devil slings at us.  This is the clothing which keeps us warm and comforted from the fears and the trials which we face.  It is in this truth that we exult that we glorify God for the wonders of his grace. 

    These are the clothes that are whiter than white, cleaner, and purer than any clothes we could ever imagine.  These are the clothes that let us in the banquet feast that let us stand before God.  These are the clothes we wear when we call upon God as our Father.  We receive his comfort, his safety, his protection from all that the devil throws at us.  Our own clothes, our own righteousness, are unclean and unworthy but God clothes us with his righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.

     So, as we go out into this life, we have God’s promise, his sacred assurance of his grace; we wear his clothes the garments of his salvation which is the hope that we live with and live for.  The certainty of life eternal.  The best thing is that these garments never go out of style, and we never outgrow them, and they never wear out.  We are covered with the robe, the robe fit for a king because it comes from the King of life.

Dear Father in heaven, you cover us with your righteousness and holiness.  You guard us and protect us all our days.  Give us the courage to live out our life in this world as your witnesses, serving our fellow man with the same love which you so richly give to us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-26-2024

 Good Morning All,

        1 Peter 2:10, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

    A couple of nights ago, I was watching an old western.  It had John Wayne and Dean Martin in it.  John Wayne is a sheriff trying to keep a bad guy in jail while the bad guy’s family/gang is trying to free him.  He gives Dean Martin a badge and tells him he is the new deputy.  When Dean Martin balks, John Wayne opens the door of the jail and tells everyone “this is my new deputy.”  When he turns to Dean Martin, he tells him, “Mister, you are now.”  Once he wasn’t the deputy but now, he is.

    We experience change often in our lives.  Once you were single, now you are married.  Once you were a child and now you are an adult.  When these changes occur, we are different.  You act, think, and behave differently when you become married or a parent or a house owner or whatever it is.  Once that change occurs you are different from what you were before to what you are afterwards.  This is what our verse for this morning is about.

    Once you were not people.  At one time we were just a bunch of individuals wandering around lost.  Now we are God’s people.  This is a source of great comfort.  This particular phrase may not mean as much to us as it did in earlier times.  At the time that this was written and for a number of centuries following, most people were viewed as property.  You belonged to the king or the prince of the territory.  So, for a time you might be King Bill’s people and then you are Prince John’s people and then there is a war, and you are King Xavier’s people.  If the war was long enough you were nobody’s people.  This was the worst because you had no one who would protect you.  The roving bands of thieves and thugs could attack you all they wanted, and you had no one to protect you from them.   

    This is how we see unbelievers as ones who have no king; no one who protects them.  They live in a place of lawlessness where everyone is a victim, and everyone is a target.  When we are not a people, we are just left alone with no help and no support.  The devil, the world and our sinful nature can do whatever they want to terrorize us.  We had no hope.

    But now we are God’s people.  Jesus came to reconcile us back to God.  In Baptism, God claims us as his own.  God declares us to his children, his people.  Now we don’t have to face the terrors of this life alone; we have someone we can call upon.  We can call upon the Lord to be our refuge, our security, and our hope.  Now that we are God’s own, we have mercy, his undeserved love.  Now we are different; we are God’s chosen children redeemed by the blood of Jesus and secure in the knowledge of our salvation with him.  We no longer have to fear the devil; we have the triumphant Savior as our king.

Gracious Lord and King, you lovingly make us your people and guard and protect us.  We ask that you send your Spirit of comfort to those who do not know of you great love and that you would bring them to faith.  Be with those who experience the pains of this life and reassure them of your great mercy.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

11-25-2024

 Good Morning All,

       Galatians 2:16,“yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

    I remember watching a movie many years ago about a man who was tried for murdering his wife.  He was found not guilty but the detective investigating the case was convinced that he did it.  So, for the next fifteen years the detective kept harassing the man.  He would leave messages on the man’s phone, he would send him letters, and he would show up wherever the man was.  This detective kept telling the man, “I know you did it” or “You may have fooled the judge but not me.”  Slowly but surely the man began to crack under the pressure of the detective and at a crucial point in the show confessed to the murder and then killed himself.  The detective, smugly sure that “justice” was done went back to his office where his superiors informed him that they had caught the real killer.  The detective had harassed the wrong man and drove him to suicide.  That was how the movie ended.

    The amazing thing about our life is that we live this life every day.  The devil whispers in our ear every day, “You really pulled one over on God; he thinks you are holy, but we know that you are not!”  The devil and our sinful nature want us to believe that we are truly bad people, that we are sinners who have pulled a fast one and now are hiding from the truth.  So, as we listen to this, the devil slowly grinds us down, making us feel guilty and ashamed.  The devil wants us to always feel bad just waiting for God to realize how bad we are and throw us out on our ear.

     The wondrous gift is that we truly are righteous; we truly are holy because God says so!  Because of what Jesus has done for us on Calvary, we are holy before God.  We stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, and we are holy, pure in God’s eyes.  This is why we can come to him in prayer because we are his redeemed children.  The devil will always tell us we are not good enough, but God keeps telling us we are perfect.  The devil will try and tell you that you are really guilty, but God declares you innocent.  The devil attacks but God saves!!

    It is truly one of the great mysteries of our faith, but God says you are righteous in his eyes.  We hold onto that truth for it frees us from the guilt that the devil attempts to lay on our heart.  In Christ, through faith, we have the certainty of salvation and life eternal because we are freely declared holy by God in his loving grace.  The devil will lie to you all he can, but he can never change the truth; you are holy and totally innocent before God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gracious Lord, we give you thanks for the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness which you bestow on us because of Christ.  Give us the strength to reject the devil and his lies and lead us through this life with the true peace and contentment knowing for certain that life eternal awaits us.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

11-24-2024

Good Morning All,

       Malachi 3: 16-17; “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.” 

    We like to remember often.  The Statler Brothers asked, “Do you remember these?” Mary Hopkins sang “remember how we laughed away the hours” Tom T. Hall “remembered the year that Clayton Delaney died.”  Do you remember any of those? 

    Too often we try and remember items or thoughts or ideas that, at the time seem so important that we will never forget them, only to have foggy memory cloud the truth.  “Does anyone remember where we put…?” gets asked a lot.  As faulty as our “remembering” can be, it is somewhat amazing that God places emphasis on remembering in the Bible.

    God told the Israelites to “remember the covenant.”  Later, we are told to “do this in remembrance of me.”  In our verse we read of a book of remembrance.  We are told to do things in remembrance.  So, what does that mean?

   We use the word “remember” as a simple mental exercise.  I remember the mild winter last year.  I remember that real winter of the year before that but some of my “remembering” gets fuzzy. I remember that the Steelers and the Cowboys played a fantastic Super Bowl game but not which one.  A small group of us were looking at a confirmation picture and we couldn’t remember everyone in it.  We may even look at our wedding picture and wonder who the flower girl or ring bearer was.  So why does God tell us to remember.

    Remembrance in the Bible is more than a mental exercise.  It is an emotional, physical, and experiential exercise.  We remember our wedding, the birth of our children or our grandchildren.  We remember the loss of loved ones along the way.  We remember a home that burned down.  We remember and we experience it not only in our head but also in our heart; we feel it all the way down.  The importance of this remembering is that it is personal.  When we remember God and his grace, we should always add the words” for me.”  God did this for me.  Our remembrance is personal and incredibly important. 

    Remember that Jesus died and rose “for you.”  When you celebrate Holy Communion, his blood was shed “for you.”  When we pray, God hears “you.”  So, we want to remember what Jesus said, we want to remember God’s promises; not just as a mental exercise; but as a very personal act of love by God for you and we can always remember that “They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts.”  Do all that you do in remembrance of God’s great love.

Dear Father in heaven, you remember your people and give to them the blessing which they never deserve.  We give you thanks that we are that people.  Move our remembering from our heads to our hearts and through our hands.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

11-23-2024

Good Morning All,

       Judges 6:15; “And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 

    This was Gideon’s response to God when Gideon was called to be a judge (leader) of the people of Israel.  It sort of sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  All we have to do is change three or four parts and it is a very common sentence.  “Please, ______ how can I_______ I am from a small congregation, and I am the least important one there.”  You can fill in the blanks and change the descriptions.  We might be new to the church or just got a new job, or we lack time; then we add the final qualifier besides, I am not that good, there is someone better, I’ve never done that, etc. take your pick.

    This isn’t meant as a criticism, just an observation.  I do the same thing.  Wouldn’t it be nice if Christianity came with a boost in our confidence?  God could zap us with extra confidence, and we would always be able to give that good account, to answer any question at any time.  Yet we often wobble when our shoulder is tapped.  We often demurely beg off when asked to serve.  Some of it is humility, some of it is fear, and some of it is a doubt that exists in us. 

    We all have the “doubt card” and we play it often.  When faced with a new situation, most of us are somewhat hesitant.  This isn’t always a bad thing.  A little doubt can be healthy for us especially when we doubt our ability and skills.  The power of salvation, or of witnessing or of doing good works does not lie within us but rather begins outside of us in the person of Christ.

     When we doubt ourselves, we see that we are unable to accomplish anything.  It is then that we need to rely on God for all our needs; that we live by faith.  Faith is living in a daring, confidence in God’s grace.  It is trusting in His promise to provide for us in all our needs.  We often fear giving a witness to our faith; afraid we’ll say the wrong thing.  Yet God promises to speak for us at that time.  Keep it simple and short.  We don’t need to dazzle anyone just give the witness to what you know.  Jesus died for us so that we could be brought back into God’s design. Jesus died so that I can live in the loving arms of God.

      We may feel little or insignificant in this world and to this world we may be very insignificant.  Yet to God you are very important; we are the ones whom God chose to let his Son die for.  So as the world feeds into our insecurities, God is overcoming them with his grace.  When the world tells us that we can’t do it; God tells us he already has.  We are called to be God’s witnesses, and we can do it because of the love that Christ has for us and because of the Spirit which He fills us with.  No one can ever take us from God’s love, no matter how small you feel; God surrounds you with his loving and gracious arms.  Trust his promises and trust his mercies and you can do whatever He wants you to do.

Dear Father, we are often slow to answer your call to serve.  Forgive us.  Give us the faith to trust in your promises and the confidence to do your will.  Lead us in the path of your righteousness.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

11-22-2024

Good Morning All,

   Mark 8:34-35; “And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” 

    It is always kind of interesting when we watch as the truth of the Scriptures plays out in the lives of even unbelievers.  They never want to admit it, but we know that the Bible applies to everyone, whether they want it to or not.

    Sociologists, Psychologists, and anthropologists all agree that humans are social creatures.  The Bible tells us that when in Genesis we read where “it is not good for man to be alone.”  As we look at this we also see where we truly get our happiness. 

     Most of us would agree that the saddest people in the world are those who are totally self-centered and completely engrossed in themselves.  They look only at their own needs, at only their own wants with no concerns about others.  We often call them a “Prima Dona.”

    It is really sad to watch because being this self-centered is a cancer of the soul.  It eats away at your heart and makes your heart hard as stone.  It tends to isolate the person from family and friends.  Above all, it goes against God’s will and thus separates one from God as well.  Jesus came to reconcile us back to God; God then sends us forth to reconcile with our neighbors.  It is when we serve our neighbors that we find our true earthly contentment.

    Think of a time when you open presents, we are often more excited about giving the gifts than receiving them.  We anticipate the person’s reaction and sometimes we are more excited by this than we are about receiving a gift or even more excited than the person who is getting the gift.  We find joy when our vision is outward (looking to others) rather than inward (self-centered). 

     This is how we are designed.  This is living a life the way God designed for us to live.  We are designed to care for our neighbor.  We are designed to live a life that is outward looking.  We find our contentment and our happiness in helping those around us.  This sharing of God’s love and his grace is what fulfills us and completes us.  It is where our life on earth finds contentment.

Dear Father in heaven, too often we look to our own selfish interests and fail to love those around us.  Lead our hearts to know that our joy is found when we forget ourselves and follow you.  Lead us to know that our purpose is to love those around us and to share the love that is you with them as well.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-21-2024

Good Morning All,

   Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

    There is nothing quite as comforting as having your loved ones around when you face new and important events in your life.  It might be joyous events like the birth of a child, graduating from high school or college, marriage or perhaps a job promotion.  We like to celebrate our successes with those whom we love.  We like that same comfort and support when we experience those events that aren’t so joyous, like when we lose a job or a big game, the end of a relationship or the end of a life; we need comfort and support.  We need to have our loved ones in our midst.

    They don’t have to do much just be there to share in the event, good or bad, happy, or sad; we need people there.  We like them to cheer when things go well and to offer us a shoulder when things go bad.  We need the love and support of our loved ones.

    This is one aspect of our life which God has always wanted to be for us.  He has always been in our midst.  He is always there to save us.  This is one of sin’s most insidious effects; sin makes us feel that God is far away.  Sin makes us feel like we are all alone.  Sin wants all our joyous times to feel hollow because we have no one to share them with.  It makes our sorrow even deeper because we feel all alone.  Loneliness is one of the devil’s best weapons.  He uses it, or the fear of it, to cause us all sorts of pain.  He uses it to separate us from God.  The apostle Peter calls the devil a “roaring lion.”  This is a very accurate description.  While the lion seems very powerful, when it hunts it looks for the weak and the wounded, separates it from the rest of the herd and then it attacks.  I see those attacks when I see relationships go bad, jobs lost, health deteriorating; whenever pain is experienced you can almost sense the devil prowling trying to separate those who have been injured or weakened by life’s battles.

    God is always there, he is always here in our midst, rejoicing in our gladness and quieting us with his love, just like a parent who holds and comforts a crying child.  He is there to comfort us when we need it.  He is there in our midst.

    When you see someone who is in this pain and you think, the church should do something; that is the Spirit telling you to do something.  God is in our midst, and he chooses to use your hands, your shoulders, your voice to hold, console and speak comfort.  When we see someone with something to celebrate, God chooses to use us to celebrate with them as well.  God empowered us with his Spirit to continue Jesus’ ministry here on earth.  He remains in our midst by his Spirit until his visible return.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks that you are in our midst with your joy and with your quieting love.  Give us that comfort and joy when we need it and use us to give that same comfort and joy when our brothers and sisters need it.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

11-20-2024

Good Morning All,

   John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,”

    Jesus as the shepherd and we are the flock; this image has been used so often that it is almost quaint.  Maybe you remember the song “I just want to be a sheep baa baa” or maybe the hymn “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb.”  This happens when we lose touch with the basic story or theme.  Most of us have very little, if any, contact with sheep anymore.  We don’t understand the dynamics or the truths of a flock of sheep.  Mostly, all we have is vague memories at best but what we usually rely on is what a book or a movie told us. 

     The beauty of using the flock for us as the church is that it addresses our most basic needs and wants.  When the flock is gathered together, and the shepherd is intently watching over it; there is safety and serenity.  The flock is calm; quietly eating the grass, drinking the still water, lying down in the green pastures content, resting in the bounty that the shepherd provides.  The sheep listen to the soothing voice of the shepherd, trusting it to guide them and to protect them. 

    The holy Church is the same way.  We, as believers, live within this community.  It is in this community that we are safe; we are nourished by the sacraments, and we hear the soothing and calming voice of the Savior speaking his words of forgiveness and reconciliation.  All this provides us with the comforting Gospel which allows us to rest in the bounty of God’s abundant grace.  This encompasses all our needs; everything we need is found in the flock.

     The wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit continues the unceasing work of calling, guarding, protecting, and feeding the sheep of the flock until Jesus returns.  We are the unique community which is in the world but not of the world.  Our focus is always on the return of Christ; we look forward to it we long for it as in “thy kingdom come.”  While the world worries about today and fears tomorrow, we look with eager anticipation to the promised return of Jesus in triumph when the final enemy, death, is totally consumed.

     We hold onto this promise by faith, a faith that desires forgiveness; that craves the words of hope which our Savior speaks to us.  We long to trust in the promise of salvation and eternal life.  With that faith we can boldly go out and preach this gospel to everyone we meet.  We can bring consolation to the dying, comfort to the hurt, hope to those who have none.  God is our refuge; he is our hope; he is our shepherd protecting us and calling us by name, by our individual name, to hear the good news of our salvation.  In him do we hope, in him we trust.

     This is why we encourage everyone to join together with their local congregation and worship together.  It is in the church that we hear God’s message of forgiveness, and we receive the nourishment of his body and blood.  We don’t gather because we are trying to impress God; we gather for the renewing and rejuvenating of our soul.  Join the flock and celebrate the Lord’s gift to you.

Gracious Lord, you call us by name and gather your children into your protective flock.  Guard us from all harm and lead us down the path of salvation which you have prepared for us.  In your holy precious name we pray, amen.     

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-19-2024

Good Morning All,

       Psalm 69: 1-3; “Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.  I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”

     We have all been there.  We have known people who have been there.  We may even know people who are there now; maybe you are there right now.  That feeling like everything is completely out of control.  A little whole ago, everything made sense but now it doesn’t.  It could be the job that was and now isn’t.  It could be the doctor’s visit where you hear, “we’ve found something.”  It might be a call from the fire department telling you that you have fifteen minutes to get out before your home is destroyed.  It might have been when you found out that your spouse or parent or child just died. 

     At times like that we know what David wrote about in this Psalm.  We are in water up to our neck, with no good foothold, about to go way under and we have cried so long and so loud that our throat hurts and our eyes hurt from crying.  The pain we feel is incredible and our sense of control is completely gone.  At times like that, where do we turn, where do you go?

     Many different people turn in many different directions.  Some turn to drugs or alcohol; some turn to other destructive actions; some just turn inward and age more quickly than before and withdraw from all those around them. But god gives us another choice.  He tells us to call on him.  That is what David does here,” Save me, O God!”  Peter did it when he was sinking when he called, “Lord save me!”  God has promised to rescue us from the pit.  He has promised to pull us up from the mire and out of the depths of our despair.

     The hard part is that when God tells us that he will pull us out of that pit; it means that there will be times when we are in that pit.  When we are there, we need to trust that God will save us.  When we feel the most lost, God is there to comfort us.  When we feel the most hopeless, God is there to offer us hope.  He comes to us with his Spirit of comfort and with his consolation.  We need to have faith.  The kind of faith that truly desires the gift from God.  The kind of faith that embraces God as he embraces us.  The faith that gives us comfort knowing that God is with us, for us, loving us, saving us.  We will face tribulation; that is an unfortunate fact of sin.  But we face it knowing that God’s love is there for us.  We will experience the pain, but God’s promise remains with us.  We may mourn but we mourn as a people with hope.  We hold onto the hope from God.  We embrace God’s promise as he brings us through the storms of life.

Dear Father, when our hearts break, when we sink to the depths, you reach out and save us from our pain and sorrow.  Be with us, especially those of us who are experiencing this sense of drowning and loss of control.  Send your Spirit of comfort.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret