12-14-2022

Good Morning All,

Joshua 24:15; “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”                        

   “Choose this day whom you will serve.”  That is pretty harsh, after all we like to check things out; take it for a test drive, look at Carfax, check the soil maps, check prices at other stores; we need time to make big decisions.  While that may seem like a reasonable approach, it can also be foolish.

    These past few days, we have read with sadness about a man who lost his wife and daughter in a train accident in the southern part of the state. He was driving and will have to deal with that and the community deals with the loss of a friend, classmate, relative fellow citizen. Now there is a family with a huge whole to fill.  While we look on with sadness for this family, we really need to see the incredible fragility of the human body.  We need to see how easily this body can stop functioning.

    Along with all the usual comments like “be sure your family knows you love them;” “Don’t leave on an angry word;” “don’t put off calling a friend or a loved one that is far away” comes one more word of wise counsel from our verse today, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”  The importance of your faith, right now, is more critical than we ever know.

        Many people have the mistaken idea that they have time on their side.  They believe that they can wait to hear God’s call.   “I’ll worry about that when I’m older.”  “There is plenty of time for that church stuff later.”  We all like to believe that we are all going to live to a ripe old age and have time to know that our death is coming.  The truth is we never know what day death will come to us.  We need to choose today because we may not have tomorrow.

    Yet there is another reason we need to hear the call of the Holy Spirit.  In this chapter of Joshua, the Israelites are having a covenant ceremony.  In this ceremony, Joshua recalled all that the Lord God had done for the Israelites and how He had blessed them.  God gives those same blessings to His people today.  We are showered with His love; receive His comfort, a share in His eternal reward.  All this gives us hope, a hope for life everlasting.  We receive this today when we listen to the Spirit call us to faith today.  We might have 20, 30 or even 80 more years of life but why live them outside of God’s umbrella of love?  Why take on the devil all by our self when Jesus has promised to do this battle for us? 

     We run the risk of dying outside of faith and we live a life of difficulty, struggling with all the battle of this world, holding all the challenges we will face by our own hands and backs rather than turning all these over to God.  Choose today whom you will serve, trust God’s promise to give you hope today and eternal life tomorrow or maybe later today.

Father, we are slow to see your grace in our life.  We like to see our life through our eyes and on our terms rather than trusting you.  Bring us closer to you that we may proclaim you as our God this day and forevermore.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

12-13-2022

Good Morning All,

       Luke 11:2; “And He said to them, “When you pray, say:”

   This is the start to Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.  The disciples had watched John the Baptist teach his disciples to pray.  They had watched Jesus pray.  They wanted to learn how to pray with the same efficacy as Jesus did.  They wanted that same closeness to the Father.  So, they asked Jesus to teach them, and he taught them the Lord’s Prayer.

   We often view this as a simple prayer, one which is a good start but one which we feel we can improve on.  The truth is this is how we should pray.  We should pray this simple prayer just as if we are little children because that is what we are, God’s little children.

     Think of how little children talk.  They are just getting some command of the language.  They ask and ask questions.  They talk almost incessantly.  They are never afraid to ask for what they need and want.  Sometimes they hear,” no” but that doesn’t stop them from asking next time.  This is how we should be constantly, confidently talking to God.

    Prayer is nothing else than the lifting up of heart or mind to God.  Just like that little child runs to his or her parents or grandparents, lifting up their arms, saying pick me up and listen to me; we can come to our heavenly Father in the same fashion.  God promises to hear our prayers, bending his ear toward us to listen.  God listens closely to our weeping and pleading but also to our laughter and joy all of which we should share with our Father who art in heaven.

    Perhaps the greatest wonder is that none of this listening by God to us is dependent upon us.  Think of your child or grandchild when they were very young.  As they were learning to walk; if they fell and bumped their head; you didn’t wait until they properly articulated what happened and what they needed.  Chances are you were there comforting them before the first tear fell.  How much more so does our heavenly father respond to our cries and our pains.

   We do not disdain a child whose cry of pain or fear may be incoherent or broken or hysterical and neither does God.  God hears us not because of who we are but because of who he is.  God is our loving father who hears our prayers even before we pray them yet encourages us to pray so that we may be drawn closer to him. 

    Just as that small child is confident that their parent will hear them so too our confidence grows for as we pray in Jesus’ name, we can be sure that the Father listens to and hears our prayers just as surely as when Jesus himself prays.  This is where our helpless soul looks to our gracious friend and brother, Jesus.  So, when you pray; pray like this with all the boldness and confidence of a child, with childlike faith trusting in the promise of God to hear and to answer our prayers.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks for the gift of prayer.  Forgive us when we are slow to rely on you and fail to use this great gift too infrequently.  Lead us to have faith like a child trusting in the certainty of you good grace and blessings upon us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

12-12-2022

Good Morning All,

           1 John 2:9; “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”

    Imagine for a moment that you are taking a friend to a sporting contest.  It can be between two local high schools or two colleges or your favorite pro sport teams.  You cheer for team “A.”  The friend that you brought along, and paid for the ticket in, gave a ride to and bought dinner for, agrees to cheer for your team as well.  The only thing is that he is wearing a team jersey from the opposing team “B.”  Every time team “B” does something good he stands up and cheers for them.  Every time team “A” does something good, he just sits there.  When you ask him, “Whose side are you on?” and he replies with, “yours;” do you believe him?

    Most people would agree that you cannot tell me you are for team “A” if you cheer for team “B.”  You have to cheer for one team or another.  You cannot have it two different ways.  You are either cheering for team “A” or team “B.”  You cannot claim to be in the light (a follower of Jesus) and then hate your brother and keep living in the dark (sinful nature).

     In this, his first epistle, the Apostle John makes it clear that when it comes to faith, you are either in or out.  You are either in the light or in the darkness.  You either confess that Jesus is your Lord, or you confess that he isn’t and something or someone (Usually our self) is lord of our life.  For many that is difficult.  Many want to have it two or more ways at the same time.  Some want a spouse but do not want to remain faithful to that spouse.  Some want their employer to always have a job and good pay and benefits for them but do not want to work hard to make the business profitable to allow this to happen.  Many want to live their life in total freedom with no sense of responsibility for their actions.

     Jesus loves us with a special self-sacrificial love.  It is a love which only gives and never expects something back in some form of a trade.  We all know people like that.  “I’ll love you if you love me first.”  “As long as you are nice to me; I’ll be nice to you.”  These are not examples of self-sacrificial love but of self-serving selfish love.  Selfish love is the kind of love the world knows.  Your concern is for, “what is in it for me?”  Jesus calls us to the light of his grace, to the light of reconciliation, in order that we might love others as Christ loves us.  Remember what Jesus endured for you on Mt. Calvary, remember what he gave up (heavenly glory) for you, remember what he does now for you (intercedes with the Father for you).  All this and more he does for you even, actually especially, when you do not show God’s love to others, and you deserve punishment.  Jesus takes that punishment for you.

    The beauty of living in the light is that you can see where you are going.  We know where we are going; we are going to heaven to live with our heavenly Father, with our brother Jesus, with our comforter the Holy Spirit and all the saints who died in faith and went before us.  The gift of the light to see the truth, to live in harmony with each other, to comfort and console, to protect and help defend each other from the attacks of the devil.  Live in the light of Christ’s righteousness and the hope of our salvation.

Dear Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world.  Shine into our hearts with your truth and the saving warmth of your grace.  Guard us this day from our foe the devil and keep us from the darkness.  Give us the strength and courage to share your amazing gift of salvation with those whom we meet.  In Your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret

12-11-2022

Good Morning All,

           John 16:13; “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” 

   This is a small section of what Jesus is telling his disciples right before he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He was giving the disciples comfort by telling them that He would not leave them alone.  The Holy Spirit was going to come and take care of them.  In this section of John (chapters 14-16), Jesus explains a lot about what the Spirit will do for us.  One of those jobs is to” guide us into all the truth.”

    In the explanation to the Third article, we speak of the Holy Spirit calling us by the Gospel; that he leads us into faith in Jesus and keeps us there. That is how we look at it in the Small Catechism.  But in the Large Catechism, Luther uses far more colorful and descriptive language to explain it.  Here he writes “he (The Holy Spirit) first leads us into his holy community, placing us in the church’s lap, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.  We are placed in the church’s lap; that is the lap of the Body of Christ.

    Isn’t that a wonderful image!!  We are God’s adopted children; he chose us to be in his family.  Just like small children are placed into the lap of their parents or grandparents to listen and to learn so do we.  I always enjoy watching small children when you talk to them.  They listen with their eyes.  Our little grandson Blake is beginning to do that.  When you talk to him, his eyes get big and sparkly.  As these little ones get older and they begin to understand the words; they listen intently with their wide eyes and hushed tones.  They listen this way because they feel safe in the arms of someone who loves them and protects them and gives them words of peace and comfort and truth.

    We should be that same way.  We can listen to God by reading His Word and seeing what it says to us.  The Bible is God revealing himself to us, showing us who He is.  What we find is a God of love who loves you and protects you and keeps you safe from all the harm the devil will send.  We can trust God’s words of peace, hope and comfort.

    The sad thing is that too often we are like the child who wants to “do it myself.”  We leave that lap and go our own way only to find that the path we chose causes us pain and suffering.  Yet the Spirit gently brings us back to the lap where we can sit and speak to God and have the Sprit teach us the truth of our loving Savior.  We can rest safely and securely in that lap.  The troubles of this world will still come, the bills will still pile up, the rain will be spotty, family and friends will cause us pain, but we can count on God to keep us in His lap of grace and to keep us safe until we enter into his heavenly kingdom.

Gracious Lord, your mercies are new every day.  You guard us and guide us in this world’s path leading us home to you.  Forgive us when we leave your lap to go our own direction.  Bring us back with your loving kindness and defend us from all that the devil throws.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

12-10-2022

Good Morning All,

      Micah 7:18; “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?  He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”

    I remember when I was growing up.   I used to watch old movies after the 10:00 news.  There was a length of time when they used to show the old Charlie Chan movies.  He was a detective with the Honolulu Police Department.  He used to always get involved in murder mysteries while traveling with his “number one son.”  The son was usually mucking stuff up while Charlie Chan was solving the murder.  The interesting thing about those movies was you always knew when Charlie found a clue by the way he would raise his eyebrow when he saw or heard something.  Then at the end of the movie, he would explain each clue and how it pointed to the murderer.

    The Bible gives us many clues about God.  As we read it, God uses the Bible to reveal himself to us.  This is one of the purposes of the Bible.  It reveals to us who God is.  The Bible isn’t necessarily a history book, although it contains some history; it only contains the stories by which God chooses to reveal himself.  As we read the Scriptures the very nature of God is revealed to us. 

    Many believe that in the Old Testament, we have an angry God.  What is really revealed is a just God who punishes wickedness and sin.  Yet to a much greater degree we see a patient God; one that waits hundreds of years for the people to repent and when they don’t; even through the punishment, God shows mercy and saves a remnant of people to continue on.  When God flooded the earth, he kept Noah and his family.  When the Israelites were taken into captivity, God saved a remnant of the people. 

    God continually was remaking the covenant with his people and each time the people failed to keep their part of the deal.  This occurs over and over.  God keeps coming to his people and they keep turning away.  Until finally, God the Father provides for us the ultimate payment for our sins.  Jesus came and took our place so that we could be saved from eternal damnation.  Through this God reveals his nature; he reveals his steadfast love.  He reveals the merciful love of God.  We don’t earn it or deserve it.  God gives it to us freely.

     This is the message throughout all of Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation; we see God’s love coming through.  We see wherever man becomes involved, pain and suffering abound but then God reveals his nature, and we receive the blessings of God, his peace, his forgiveness, his tender love, and mercy.  The Psalmists write about it; the Prophets write about it, the Gospel writers write about it, the authors of the Epistles write about it.  The single clue throughout the whole Bible is that God loves you.  He calls you by name, he sealed you as his chosen child in baptism, he nourishes you through his Word and sacrament, he listens to your cries of joy or sorrow and through it all he pours out his Spirit upon you to guide you and keep you safe.

     All this we receive because God loves us even when the world tries to make us feel lonely and forgotten; God is always with us.  We can trust in God’s mercy, in his steadfast love, forever.

Dear Father in heaven, your love and grace abound in our lives.  You daily and richly bless us in all that we do and have.  Keep us safe in your loving arms and draw to you those who are lost in this world’s snares.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

12-09-2022

Good Morning All,

      Proverbs 10:30; “The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.”

    Just a little east of where I grew up are some monstrous cottonwood trees.  I have no idea of how old they are or how tall they are.  One has a trunk of about 5 to 6 feet across.  As I look at them, I can’t help but think of all the times nature has tried to bring them down.  We have had enough windstorms and tornadoes through the years to destroy barns and houses, to crumble steel buildings and huge grain bins.  We’ve seen these winds pick up stuff and send it sailing to places we can’t find them and yet these trees keep standing.  I keep thinking that just once, I would like to be able to watch these magnificent species as the wind howls at its strongest.  How much do they sway in the wind and how much do they just stand tall?   

    I remember reading or hearing one time from a “tree guy” that the root mass of these old trees is often twice the mass of the tree we see above ground.  The roots on these trees must be incredible; to think there is twice as much tree underground as above.  Yet that is what provides the stability that the tree needs.  That is what provides the nutrients and the water that the tree needs to survive all the droughts which that tree has experienced. 

    The proverb tells us to be like that tree.  The righteous, those whom God has given the faith to survive and have received this faith and trusted in God’s promises, will never be uprooted.  Just like that tree, we are nourished by that faith with the nutrients that we need through Holy Communion.  We are watered by the daily renewal of our Baptism through faith.  All of which serves to anchor us more securely into Christ’s Word.  Just like those cottonwood trees, we are able to stand all the devil throws at us because we are anchored in the faith which God gives us through the Spirit to be tall and strong.

     The irony of these trees is that a short distance away are some smaller elm trees which didn’t root as well.  They have since died out and now you can almost push them over by hand.  Every little wind that blows causes a few to topple.  These trees do not remain in the land.  That is how the wicked are.  They have no roots; they have no faith and receive no nourishment.  They do not remain in the land of God’s grace because they trust in themselves and not in God.

     God calls us every day to be rooted deep into His Word and connected to Him through prayer.  This is what keeps us strong and no amount of wind in our lives; jobs that just disappear, crops that withered away, relationships that crumble can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Trust in God’s promise and you can be rooted as well.

Dear Father, through your Son we are righteous and rooted in you.  Keep us strong during the windstorms of our life that we may never be uprooted.  Nourish us with your Word and your precious sacraments.  Use us to show others where to find this great gift of peace, comfort, and hope.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret

12-08-2022

Good Morning All,

    John 11:39; “Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 

    Most of us know the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  The story contains this curious verse.  In part, this appears so that the reader can count on one thing for sure; Lazarus was dead.  He had been in the grave 4 days.  Given the climate and the nature of the human body, the decomposing would have begun.  Most of us have been around a dead animal after it had been in the sun a couple of days.  It is tough.

     The unique and very pungent odor is enough to make us gag.  From a very young age, usually without being told, we know enough to avoid whatever smells like that.  It is difficult to bear.  So, when the tomb was opened, there would have been this pungent smell.  All the people there would have smelled it and knew that Lazarus was dead.  There was no mistaking that point.  You can’t replicate or fake that smell; it is real, and it can make you stand back.  It can make your eyes water.  Yet Jesus called to Lazarus and Lazarus came out of the tomb for all to see; what an amazing miracle.  Finally, the Scribes and the Pharisees were impressed by Jesus.  They were envious and jealous and plotted to kill Jesus, but they were impressed.

    There is a second truth in this story that we often miss.  When we read these stories in the Bible, we often like to place our self in the story.  We like to think that we would be the Good Samaritan or the one leper who came back to say thank you.  We want to be the wise or the kind or generous one in the story.  When Jesus says,” Be like this guy; we want to be this guy.”  So, as we look at the story of Lazarus, who are you?  Are you Mary or Martha, the grieving sisters?  Are you part of the crowd that is amazed?  Are you the Pharisees who see this event as a threat to your power base?  Who are you?

     Actually, we are all Lazarus.  We are dead, dead in our sin.  Our sin stinks so bad; that we smell as a dead, rotting skunk before God.  The stench of our sin is an abomination before God.  We are so dead in our sin the stone is rolled in front and it is all over. 

      Yet Jesus comes to our grave; our hollow, self-centered life that smells of death and reeks to God and his holy sense of smell.  Jesus throws back the stone and says to us,” Come on out!!”  “Leave this sinful place, leave this place where your soul rots and festers in sin and come out!”  “Come out to the land of the living!”  What a wonderful gift!  What a truly loving gift!  The height and depth of God’s love is shown to you and to me every day.  Everyday Jesus calls us to come out, come out of the tomb of despair and pain, come out of the tomb where there is no light, where there is no fresh air; come out and live!!  Jesus came to rescue us from that tomb and to give us life, abundant life, eternal life.  This is what God gives to you every day; the gift of life through Him.

    Sometimes, we think we should stay in that tomb; the devil wants you to, but God sent Jesus that you could live in the fresh air, unbound from sin, safe in His grace.

Dear Father in heaven, your tender mercies are new to us every day.  We thank you that you have called us from our tomb into the light.  Keep us safe and guard us from all evil.  All this we ask in the precious name of Jesus, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret