7-28-2018

Good Morning All,

        John 20: 24-25; “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

    Many years ago, I had a great uncle who loved the sport of boxing.  Of course, he grew up in the era of great boxer, Jack Dempsey, Max Schmeling, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and the like.  So one evening my mom invited him and my great aunt out for supper and then we were going to sit down and watch a fight night.  I was watching the start and hollered out to him that it was starting.  The fight had started as he came in and got settled in.  He looked at me and asked, “what did I miss?”  I had to tell him, “the whole fight.”  One of the boxers got punched in the throat; it stunned him for a moment and, in professional boxing, a moment is the whole fight.  The stunned boxer was met with a cross cut to the jaw and the fight was over.  The whole fight took less than one minute.  By the time my great uncle got sat down; he missed it all and he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

    It is like that often; isn’t it?  You have important news; you announce it but someone who is not there to hear it simply cannot believe what you announced.  “I just can’t believe it!”  “I just can’t believe he would retire.”  “I just can’t believe they would leave.”  “I just can’t believe this store is closing.”  And these people don’t believe; they won’t believe until they see the empty store; they won’t believe unless they hear it from the person himself.  It might be a question of trusting the person delivering the message; it might be that the news is so out of context of the person involved; it just can’t be.

    This is where Thomas found himself.  We are often tough on Thomas but wouldn’t we be the same?   The idea that someone, who was dead, was suddenly seen again, alive; would make us wonder, to question the news as well; wouldn’t it?  Thomas takes a normal human view; I don’t believe what I can’t see.

    This attitude is very human and it is designed to limit a limitless God.  It is designed to make God’s way to conform to what man’s limited thought process can manage to conceive.  Yet God goes so far beyond our limited means.  God, who created the universe and all that is in it with a mere spoken word, is never limited in what He can or will do.  A limitless God has limitless power, limitless, knowledge, but above all, limitless love which moved him to die for you and for me.

    It was the plan from the beginning, for Jesus to die to pay for your sins.  This act of limitless love, beyond our understanding, shows us God’s very nature, even his very heart and it shows the incredible love for us. 

Gracious Lord, through your death and resurrection you show us the greatest love ever displayed.  Help us to trust in this love and help us to share this love to all those whom we meet.  Lead us to celebrate your wonderful mercy and love.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

7-27-2018

Good Morning All,

    1 Corinthians 13:5; “It (love) isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs.”

   Do you know any “score keepers”?  You know, the kind of person who keeps “score” with others in life.  They keep track of how often they invited you over for coffee versus how many times you invited them.  They know how many cards or notes they mailed you versus how many they have received.  I had a friend who was a high school basketball coach.  He was dealing with a couple of parents who were keeping track of how much playing time all the players on the team were getting.  They tracked them down to the seconds played.  He was trying to win a game and they were wondering why little Johnny played 25 seconds more than little Billy.  He had a headache a lot that year.

    One thing about a “score keeper” is that they are never happy.  Sometimes you wonder if they keep enough scores so that they can be unhappy.  Sometimes you wonder if they have a special room in their house to keep all the scorebooks in.  They keep track of each and every perceived wrong.  They know very little happiness and there are times when I am them.  There are times when I keep score.

    I don’t set out to do this but somehow it happens.  I do exactly what this verse speaks of.  I get rude; I think only of myself.  I get irritable and then I start taking names and start keeping score and the great thing about being the scorekeeper is that you always win, at least in your own mind.  Yet here we see one of God’s truth; love conquers all.

   When we keep score, we do so in a selfish, self-centered, egotistical existence.  It is I, I, I and no one else.  We think we are the center of the universe and with this attitude we exclude all love.  This exclusion of love also excludes our own contentment.  It can take us a lifetime to realize that selfishness never leads to contentment.  Selfishness takes us away from God.  Love is God bringing us back to him.

    Love does not keep score; it simply gives of itself.  It can show itself in many small ways.  Yet one of the best ways is to stop keeping score.  All that keeping score accomplishes is to hurt everyone involved, especially the scorekeeper.  By keeping score, you never let go of the hurt that we feel.  There will never be contentment or happiness in any relationship where someone is a “scorekeeper”; there will only be sadness.

    So we need to see and follow Jesus’ example and God’s directive to us: forgive as I (God) has forgiven you.  It is only through forgiveness that we will have contentment in this life.

Dearest Father, help me to not be a scorekeeper.  Give me the strength to forgive those small slights that occur to me.  Help me to see that what you forgive is greater than what I can forgive.  Lead me to be your light in my community and show that forgiving one another is a greater good than keeping score.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

7-26-2018

Good Morning All,

    Matthew 28:20; ^“Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. “And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.”

    “All by myself, Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore, All by myself, Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.”  That is the chorus to an old pop song by Eric Carmen.  He sang about having no one to turn to no one to talk to.  He was living his life all alone.  He felt empty, lost and isolated.  This is a common expression of many people.

    While in a bookstore a few years ago, I saw an anthology of some love poems.  One was very bittersweet.  The author (a male) was writing to his wife or girlfriend.  The title was “When you don’t say ‘I love you’”.  He lamented the apparent indifference of his partner.  He felt empty, lost and isolated.  He wrote of being “afloat in a sea of indifference” and “living in darkness with no light of her love”.  At times it was corny but you almost got the impression that the writer just sat down and wrote the poem as the emotions poured out.  He was at an emotional loss.

     This can be a fear for many people.  Loneliness is one of man’s greatest fears.  We are by God’s design social creatures.  We long for and seek out companionship.  We long for and seek out love.  This is why ambivalence can cause so much pain.  We know love; we know hate but we struggle with indifference.  It is that indifference that that can cause loneliness.  Yet even when we feel all alone we never are.

    Jesus is always with us.  It is the devil and the sinful world that wants you to feel all alone.  Yet, just as God gave us these relationships to help us live the life that he gives us; he also wants us to nurture those relationships.  By doing this, we encourage each other.  We strengthen them according to God’s plan.  Jesus is with us and he uses His Word, His Sacraments and His redeemed children to be with us.  He uses others to comfort and console us; he uses others to bring us his love.

    But sometimes, Jesus uses US to bring this comfort to someone else.  Sometimes you are the helped and sometimes you are the helper.  We need to see this clearly.  God entrusts to us His Spirit and thus entrusts us to do his work here on earth.  So God desires that you and I give comfort to our brothers and sisters in Christ but especially to our blood family and to our spouses.  Our blood family and spouses are the truly special gifts that God gives to us.  So we need to be especially sure to show them the love that we have for them.  So be sure this day and each day to express your love for your family; by doing so you express Jesus love to them.

Dear Father, too often we fail to express our love for our family.  We fail to bring Christ to each other and in doing so some feel lost and alone.  Give us the strength to fulfill your desire that all know your love.  Be with those who are especially troubled at this time and send your Spirit to those around them to bring your love to them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret