8-16-2022

Good Morning All,

                    2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

    My wife and I received an outdoor propane fire pit for Christmas from our children a few years ago.  A couple of weeks later, my oldest son offered to put it together for his mother.  I would have gotten to it eventually but, you know.  I didn’t get to watch the construction; I wasn’t back from the church at the time.  Yet my wife could hardly contain her laughter when she told the tale.

    It seems that our, then, 2, almost 3, year old grandson offered to “help” his dad “fix it”.  Soon the little screws and nuts and bolts were spread around the patio.  Every so often he would stand in front of dad to get a better look or have the screwdriver that dad needed.  All in all, it added some time to the construction, but we both told my son; it was only beginning.

    When my sons were about that age and then older, they liked to “help” as well.  I remember telling my wife that I could get our livestock chores done in about an hour; it took an hour and a half when I was “helped.”  I remember looking for wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, saws nails, boards, screws, bolts and just about anything that wasn’t tied down that one, two or three little boys could carry.  They would always want to help, and we usually let them unless it was unsafe for them.  They were allowed and encouraged to help because it formed a bond of love between them and the parents and grandparents that they were spending time with and now, the next generation is bonding as well.

    This is part of why our verse plays out the way it does.  We have the treasure (God’s saving Gospel message), but we have it in our frail human nature and condition.  This is one of the mysteries of faith; why does God let us humans mess it up so often?  We humans tend to squabble, waste time, lack total compassion and often just really mess it up.  It would go smoother if God just “zapped” the ones who would believe and then be done with it but that is not how he does it.  God uses created things to bring about healing in this broken world.  He uses water and bread and wine for our sacramental nourishment, and he uses other humans to provide the physical warmth and touch.  He uses human voices to speak to us at times; he uses human arms to comfort us when we are hurting; he uses humans to reach humans.

    He uses you and me to be his witnesses, to be the agents of change for him.  He does this to draw you and me closer to him and closer to each other.  He uses us, the imperfect creatures that we are, to spread the kingdom of God throughout the broken world.  He uses us, encourages us, and brings us to love him through our service to him.  It is all part of the plan.

Father, in your hands we rest safely.  Move us by your mighty Spirit to spread your message of salvation and hope.  Move us to have compassion on our brothers and sisters who are in need of your mercy.  Guide us to be your hands and voices in this world of pain and silence.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

8-15-2022

Good Morning!    

        Luke 23: 42-43; “And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

     How do we view these verses?  This is part of the exchange between Jesus and one of the men who were crucified with Jesus.  We have both men, suffering incredibly, and yet there is dialogue, there is interaction.  It begins with those who are watching the crucifixion hurling taunts and insults at Jesus.  Soon one of those who were also being crucified joined in.  The other man rebuked the first and then said to Jesus “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered with the familiar, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  How do you view these verses?

    For some, these are troubling verses.  We know little of this man other than “the thief on the cross”’ we don’t know his name or anything about him.  He doesn’t seem to be a follower of Jesus or that he even particularly believed in Jesus.  Je made a request for Jesus to ‘remember me.’  There was no apparent confession of sins; there was no apparent repentance; there was no apparent confession of faith in Jesus as Lord over all; there certainly appears that there is no baptism, at least at this time.  Some have suggested that the thief had experienced the baptism by John the Baptist.  It is possible but nothing in Scriptures suggests this.  We only have this short exchange and in it, we hear Jesus making the statement that today you will be with me in paradise.

    Many struggle because the thief didn’t ‘do anything.’  He should have had to do something to show that he had received Jesus.  He should have had to do something.  Many think that they give up something to be a Christian.  I remember one young man saying he was going to wait to be a Christian because he wanted to have ‘fun first.’  It is strange what we think is fun.  We abuse our bodies, we abuse other people with shallow or non-existent relationships; we scheme, connive, contrive, and make all sorts of foolish ventures.  Through it all, we try to avoid God, his grace and peace, and think we are having fun.  So, if I have to give up my ‘fun’ why didn’t he?  It is as if he got in for nothing and that is exactly the point.

   The man was given paradise by a merciful Jesus; that is the same way we get paradise.  It is given to us by a merciful Jesus.  These verses should give us a lot of comfort and hope.  It wasn’t what the man did or didn’t do; it was that Jesus showed him mercy; the same mercy that he has promised to show you.  The only possible way for the thief to enter Paradise was for Jesus to allow him to enter, for Jesus to have mercy on this thief and to bring him into paradise solely and completely out of love; the same way you and I get in.  “Jesus, remember me in your kingdom.”

Lord Jesus, remember me in your kingdom.  I only have your grace to save me.  I am only a worthless beggar before you and so I beg for your mercy and you give it to me without reservation, without demands, without restrictions but with total love.  Keep me safe in your arms.  In your precious and loving name, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

8-14-2022

Good Morning!    

       1 Peter 2:24; “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

    It all started at a tree.  Trees on the high plains of South Dakota are rare.  If they are here, someone put them here.  Away from the creeks, streams and rivers, there are very few indigenous trees; the probability is that someone planted the tree.  Sort of like how God planted the trees in the Garden of Eden.  “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9).  So, the trees began to produce food and beauty and shelter and a peacefulness that only exists in a garden.

   Yet we know the rest.  A serpent, the devil actually, whispered, and deceived Adam and Eve and soon death, sorrow, pain, sadness and all the troubles of the world showed up and the trees that once gave only food, shelter and beauty now gave spears, arrows and ways to provide death.  Wars are fought over the territory that trees now occupy, and trees are often used as shields or walls to protect or hide behind to fight.  The value of trees has shifted.

    Soon empires and rulers began to use trees in despicable ways by using them as instruments of hideous deaths.  Some would impale their victims running a spike through the lower bowel region and exiting through the collarbone region.  The goal was to miss all vital internal organs so death would be slow and painful.  Some empires and rulers preferred to hang their victims from a cross shaped tree and let them slowly die of asphyxiation.  The crueler ones would use nails to add to the pain and the suffering.  Trees had come from things of beauty and of nurturing to things of death and terror.

    It was this kind of tree that Jesus used to win the victory.  On the cross, he crushed the head of the serpent that poisoned the first tree of life.  Now Jesus has made this second tree the new tree of life for us.  With his blood we are cleansed.  With his blood we are redeemed.  So, as we look at this tree we should not be consumed by guilt.  We should not respond out of guilt thinking that we somehow owe God and can repay him.  Rather, we should look at the cross and see God’s unimaginable love and his unfathomable mercy.  Rather than guilt we should feel thankful, joyfully, exuberantly thankful.  We should experience a rebirth of desire, desire to serve God.

    For God invites us by his love to come into his kingdom and to serve him with love.  He calls upon us to see the beauty of this once hideous tree.  He calls us to cling to this cross so that we might always know of his mercy.

Father, we give you thanks for the redemption which you have so freely given to us because of what Jesus has done for us upon the cross.  Lead us to see the cross with hearts filled with thanksgiving and joy.  Let us see the cross as your great gift to us.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

8-13-2022

Good Morning!    

    John 3:17; “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”

    In an earlier phase of my life, I raised pigs and like many pig farmers, we experienced a fire that destroyed our barns. It was a traumatic event. But we had good neighbors who came and helped us clean up and they all offered encouraging words. “You have insurance, that will help.” So, we turned in the claim on a Monday and the next morning our insurance agent told us that the insurance company wanted the fire marshal to check it out. I was terrified!! The fire marshal was going to come, find something I did wrong and poof! There goes the insurance money. He was scheduled to come on Friday, and I did not sleep a wink, in total fear.

    He showed up on time, bright red car with the flashing light bar on top, full uniform with everything looking and being official. I was terrified. He asked me how I was, was anyone hurt, did we need anything, how was my family doing? I answered in short one-word responses worried about what I said. We walked to what was left of the barn and he asked about where did it start. I showed him the general area and the waited as he looked. Suddenly, he pointed, said, “AH HA!” and bent down to pick something up. I thought my heart would stop, I thought, “this is it.” He reached down and picked up a piece of metal with another piece stuck in it. It was what was left of an electrical outlet with something plugged into it.  He said, “this is what we want, if we are going to say it was an electrical fire, we needed to find something plugged in, the insurance company has to pay you now, if they don’t, call me and I will deal with them.” With that, He shook my hand, wished me well and left. It was as he left, I realized, he was there to help me, he was on my side the whole time!

    For many of us as Christians, we look to God in complete fear, fear that he will find out who I am and what I did when in truth, He comes to forgive and to restore, to heal and to give hope. He comes to comfort and give to me safety. He comes to forgive and not condemn. We should be joyous that we can come to him, yet the devil leads us to believe we should hide, fear, lose sleep and live in anxiety. God invites us to be healed and know His peace.

    So, we can come to God and confess all our sins. He already knows our sins; keeping us from he already knows what we fear and lose sleep over. Bring them to him and leave them with Him, at the cross where God wants them left. He does not want us carrying the burden of sin which separates us from Him. He comes to save, not condemn. Find your comfort in that blessing.

Heavenly Father, your mercies are new to us every morning. Guard us and draw us to you that we may know of your peace. Keep us safe in your arms that we may know of the wonder of your love. Defend us from the devil’s lies and distortions. Keep us in your peace. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen!

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-12-2022

Good Morning!    

                  John 20:19; “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

     The hardest part is the waiting.  I have sat with families while they wait for a loved one who is surgery.  Even the most routine, commonplace surgery is still surgery.  It is the intrusion into the human body with foreign objects and chemicals.  It is controlled, planned, and in a clean environment but it is still placing the human body in an undesired condition.  Even with the most common, it seems that all anyone remembers is those words from the surgeon, “there is always a chance that something can go wrong.” 

   When our youngest son was only about six months old, he had a same day surgery procedure.  It was routine surgery; yet, as we handed our new son to the sweet and kind nurse; she morphed into Nurse Ratched (in my mind) and the wait was on and it was one of the longest waits that I have ever experienced. 

    One of the more difficult events during the wait is the telephone call.  Often, during the procedure, a nurse from the operating room will call to the waiting room to inform the family what is going on during the procedure.  Many families struggle with “the phone call;” it is not uncommon for the family to ask me to do the phone call; they are not comfortable with it.  When there is more than one family waiting, you can see a fidgety jump when the phone rings and the nurse at the station calls out a name to be spoken to.  Cognitively, you know they would never call and tell you something went horribly wrong yet emotionally; it is hard to suppress that thought.

    If you have ever experienced that kind of wait; a wait that involved a period of uncertainty about a loved one; you have had a taste of what the disciples went through on Saturday.  The one whom they loved with all they had, their teacher, spiritual leader, friend, confidante, the one whom they thought was the Messiah, was lying in a tomb, killed in the most horrific and humiliating fashion.  Everything had gone completely wrong, and they knew not what to do.  They were lost, like those sheep that Jesus often spoke of.  You can imagine that, if they would have had clocks, each second would have ticked off slowly and loudly.

    So, when Jesus appeared to them, the first thing he offered them was peace.  He was offering a quiet and confident heart and a content spirit.  His appearance, though not fully grasped yet, meant that everything, from that point forward, was going to be different.  It was different for them, for the people they taught, and it is different for you and me as well.  It was certainly worth the wait!

Lord Jesus, your rest in the tomb has sanctified the tombs of those faithfully departed.  As we wait for your promised return, we celebrate the newness of life that you give us.  We celebrate the peace that we have and the certainty of life everlasting with you.  In your blessed name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

8-11-2022

Good Morning!    

     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 boxers, 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 on TV.  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 crosscut to the jaw and the fight was over.  The whole fight took less than two minutes.  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     

 

8-10-2022

Good Morning!    
          Luke 24: 45; “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”

     There are many verses in the Bible that, though not hugely significant in terms of our theology, really intrigue my mind.  This is one of those verses of Scriptures.  It occurs after Jesus’ resurrection and has Jesus teaching the disciples.  He starts by telling them “these are the words that I spoke, and this is what the Psalms and the Prophets and the books of Moses say about me” and then he begins to teach them in a way that “opens their minds.”

    Have you ever listened to someone who has such a clear understanding of the subject matter at hand that listening and talking with them really opens your eyes and your mind to looking at the subject in a new way?  I have had this wondrous experience a few times.  I always marvel when I experience it or later on when I think about it.  These people have a knack or a method about them that seems almost “folksy;” they rarely seem or act in some sort of professorial manner.  They never seem to act in a demeaning or condescending manner.  They never seem to be exasperated when they talk about the subject that they love and know so much about.  The amazing thing is how they simply lay the facts out and weave them into an intricate story that seems to complete itself.  As they discuss, any question doesn’t throw them off their speech as it does to someone who is giving a canned presentation.  You can almost hear the love and the reverence they feel for the subject at hand.

    What would that have been like, to be one of the disciples, as Jesus “opened their minds to understand Scriptures?”  Remember that often times during the three-year ministry of Jesus; they were confused and didn’t really understand what was going on.  They knew it was big and life changing but not to the degree that Jesus really changed everyone’s life.  Before they pretty much just muddled through but now, now their minds were being opened and the clarity would set in.  The deeper meanings of the messianic prophecies would make sense now.  David’s psalms would have new and renewed meaning.  All the Old Testament was designed to point to Jesus as the Son of God who would redeem mankind through his death on a cross.  The coming of Jesus began the kingdom of God reclaiming creation from the devil.  The empty tomb meant that death was no longer the great enemy which always won; it was now just a door to heaven until Christ returns and completes what he began at Calvary. 

   “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”  He did it for the disciples and his Spirit offers to us the same benefit.  He opens up his loving forgiveness and his eternal grace and mercy.  He opens up life everlasting and he opens our hearts to trusting his loving promise and offer of peace.  He opened the minds of the disciples; let him open yours as well.

Father in heaven, open our minds to the certainty of the knowledge of your wonderful forgiveness.  Open our minds to seeing the truth in your love.  Open our spirits to cling only to your mercy. Open our hearts that we might go forth sharing that same love with those we meet.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret