12-20-2024

Good Morning All,

     Genesis 25:21; “And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” 

    Do you consider yourself to be patient?  How long can you wait for something?  If you go to a restaurant and there is a waiting time, how long will you wait?  10 minutes?  15 minutes?  30 minutes?  If you call a business, how long will you stay on hold before you hang up?  How many times will you press the numbers on your phone when dealing with an automated answering system before you just give up?  I must confess that I am on the low end of all these questions.  The restaurant has to be very good for me to wait even 15 minutes.  The automated phone systems have, for the most part, defeated me.  I confess that I am not very patient.

    Our verse is part of a larger passage that plays into patience.  In our verse, Isaac prayed for his wife because she was unable to have a child.  Remember that children at this time represent your social security, your heritage, your trusted labor force, and many other social structure buttresses.  A man with no children has to hope that a nephew somewhere might consider him worthwhile to take care of for the land and the livestock; the less land and fewer livestock you had the less likely this would occur.  This was also the primary task for the wife; to provide children, especially sons, so that the family would continue to thrive and survive.

    So, Isaac prayed for his wife because she wasn’t getting pregnant.  So how long did this go on?  If you read the larger passage of Genesis 25: 19-28, we read where Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.  Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born.  Isaac prayed for 20 years for his barren wife.  For those 20 years he patiently prayed for God to hear him.  He had learned from his father Abraham that it was foolish to try and take things into your own hands and “fix” God’s plan.  God had promised him descendants, so he waited for God to keep that promise.

     That is the real lesson for us in this portion of Scripture, trusting in God and his promises leads to our being patient.  We wait for God.  Remember that when Scripture tells us to wait it means to have a joyful expectation that God will keep his promise.  The best example of this is when we wait for the birth of a child; it is with joyful anticipation that we wait. 

     But do we wait so patiently when we pray?  Can you imagine praying for the same thing for 20 years?  Yet Isaac had faith and so he waited patiently for God to hear his prayer and to keep his promise.  Isaac knew that his hope was in the Lord and ours is too.  God hears our prayers and has promised to answer them according to his will; sometimes that will is “not now but later.”  So, we continue to pray, and we wait in joyful expectation that God, who is faithful, will keep his promise.  So, keep praying and be patient and wait for God to keep his promise.

Dear Father in heaven, too often we refuse to wait; we refuse to trust in your will.  Give us patience to continue to call upon you and to trust you to answer our prayers and that we may wait with the joyful expectation of your will.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,      

Pastor Bret

12-19-2024

Good Morning All,

     Matthew 9:36; “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” 

    Have you ever felt like sheep without a shepherd?  The imagery that Matthew is using here is very powerful.  This isn’t just a few sheep wandering around aimlessly; this is a whole flock which has been battered and bruised.  They are bloodied and beat up from the attack of wolves and thieves.  They are bloodied by a shearer who doesn’t know how to properly shear the sheep, and he doesn’t care.  They have been chased from one valley to another by other shepherds protecting their own grazing land and by the dogs that harassed them night and day.  They have no one to turn to and no one to protect them; they are lost and scattered; beaten and bloodied.  Have you ever felt like that?

    When we feel like that, when our life is in complete turmoil; we have a place to go, we have a place of refuge.  Jesus is our good shepherd to lead us, protect us, guard us, and heal us.  We can take great comfort in this verse.  Yet it has a much larger meaning to us as well.

     This verse occurs right before Jesus sends the 12 disciples out on their first missionary trip.  He tells them to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers in the harvest.  So, in this verse, Jesus is beginning the work of the church, to minister to the lost, the bloodied, the beaten up and the beaten down.  This is part of the reconciliation which the church (that’s us) is to be engaged in.  Every other false hope has led to disaster and the only hope is found in the true Shepherd, in the saving redemptive act of Christ’s death and resurrection. 

    Now that you and I find our comfort and hope in Jesus, we have the certainty of our salvation.  Jesus tells us to pray for workers.  Then he empowers us to be those workers, going about with the same compassion which He had for the people.  We are to pray for the workers of the harvest, and we are to trust in his divine authority to act on his command.

     We as Christians, as the Church, are to have compassion on the people, on the harassed and helpless sheep.  Matthew makes it clear that the mission of the Church is the extension of Jesus’ own ministry here on earth.  We are to continue this ministry until Christ returns.  This is part of our life here on earth with our fellow man.  We share what Christ has given to us with those around us.  God uses us to minister to the people of this world and he uses the people of his church to minster to each other.  When we are the harassed, Jesus comes to us through the hands of his church.  When we see others who are harassed, we are those hands.  God empowers us, as his church, to shepherd the lost and to bring them to redemption.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks for the ministry of your holy church to bring comfort and compassion into the world.  Give us that comfort when we need it Lord and use us to bring comfort to those around us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

12-18-2024

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 139:14; “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

   So, what are you made of?  If the old nursery rhyme is to be trusted.

                                 Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails;
                                 That's what little boys are made of.

                                 Sugar and spice and everything nice;
                                 That's what little girls are made of.

 

Yet how do you view you?  Many people see themselves in terms of their usefulness, reputation, or intellect.  All too often we allow the world to continually trivialize people to the menial status of producers, consumers, performers, and “experiencers.”  When you lose these statuses; the world can push us down and see us as worthless.  It can cause us to look at ourselves as weak, worthless, with no value at all.  What are we worth if we do not produce or perform or consume or experience? 

    This is what happens when we look through the eyes of the world and not through the eyes of faith which God gives to us.  We need to remember what the Psalmist says.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  We are an eternal, irreproducible, eternal child of God.  Created by Him, redeemed by Him, kept safe by Him; valued and treasured by Him.  We have tremendous value that the world will never see but God does.  The world judges us in many fashions.  It sees us as lazy or greedy; selfish or foolish; fat or narcissistic; self-absorbed or clueless; it doesn’t matter how the world sees us for we do not belong to the world.  We belong to God.

     So don’t look at yourself through the narrow prism of the world; see yourself as God does; his loved child.  For since we are redeemed by God, we are his; claimed through Baptism.  We are more than our goals or dreams and aspirations.  We are more than our foibles and failures.  We are the redeemed children of God; blessed by Him, cared for by Him, sustained and preserved by Him, brought to eternal life by Him.  When we look at our self we should see the Spirit of God within us.  The most important part of us is often overlooked by us and always overlooked by the world; God’s Spirit living in us giving us hope as we face each challenge of each day.  Whether it is a crisis of health, wealth, relational or just of or own personal confidence God is there to see us through.  He sees us through all we will ever deal with or experience.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God and redeemed by his grace.

Dear Father in heaven, too often we look at ourselves and see nothing of value, but you chose us, you saved us and now you hold us as your own.  Give to us the strength to hold to you with all boldness and confidence.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

12-17-2024

Good Morning All,

     Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”   

    How do you read the Bible?  It is one of the most printed books ever.  It has had thousands of books written about it.  Some try to explain it; some try to interpret it.  Some read it for advice about how to live or how to eat.  Some use it as a historical reference book.  Some read it for poetry; some read it for the majesty prose, some for the bits of wisdom and proverbs.  Some read it to know what it says about God.  How do you read the Bible?

    There is nothing wrong with reading the Bible for these reasons.  We all can use good advice on how to act or read beautiful poetry.  We all need some words of wisdom when it comes to our actions to others or comfort or common sense.  We can read it this way but when we do, we are missing the main reason for Scripture.

     The Bible isn’t just about God; it is God speaking to you.  It is God drawing you into His story.  It is active in your salvation.  God’s Word is creative; it was through His spoken word that everything came into existence, and it is through this Word that it is sustained.  God’s Word is redemptive; it is what brings you the forgiveness of sins.  It is how God brings you into his family.  It is how God brings you into Christ drowning the old Adam through the gift of Baptism and bringing you to live eternal through being joined to his resurrection.  It is how God works to keep you in the family by constantly bringing you back to the family through its message of absolution.  It is how we are nourished by its speaking to us the power of God’s sacraments.  Even though they start as ordinary items; God’s Word gives them the power forgive sins and to bless us with the benefits we receive.

    The Bible is what draws us into the community of believers.  It is what leads us, moves us to be children of God.  The Word of God leads you into being a son or a daughter of God, one that lives through the Spirit within the community of the faithful.  This is our community.  It is how God moves in our lives.  It is how God chooses to comfort us, console us or to cajole us into action.  He uses his Word, alive and active, through the community of the faithful to touch our lives; to really change our lives.  The Word of God, alive and active, changes our lives when we grasp hold of it with the faith that God gives to us.  We have the desire because of His grace.  So, when you read the Bible, listen to how God brings you into the story of his love, his grace, and the promise of the gift of hope which we have.

Dear Lord, your Word is alive in our lives, changing us forever with its power and grace.  Give us the certainty of its majesty as it moves us to you.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

12-16-2024

Good Morning All,

     Ecclesiastes 3:1; “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (KJV)

    We all have ways in which we try to relax or wind down.  One of the things I like to do is to cook.  Some stuff I am pretty good at and some stuff I am not.  Yet with the advent of the internet and the Food Network, I am pretty much game for about anything.  One thing that I do when I cook is that I use almost every measuring device which we own: every cup and every quarter cup every tablespoon and teaspoon and most of the bowls as well.  Sometimes I don’t sequence my measuring very well.  I will use the tablespoon for a liquid measure before all of the dry measures are done.  I do the same with the half cup measurer as well. 

    It would be easy to wash the half cup or the tablespoon but that would slow down the process.  So, I will use the half tablespoon for the tablespoon measure.  If you do it just right, you can almost get a whole tablespoon on the half tablespoon measurer.  You have to dig deep and be careful not to twist or bump the sides, but you can do it.  Now you may ask, “Why don’t you just use the half tablespoon twice?”  Well, I am too busy.  I have places to go and people to see.  I only have so much time for this relaxing stuff.

    You may think that is a little crazy but if you look closely at your life there is a good possibility that somewhere in your life it is the same.  We try to fit a tablespoon in a half tablespoon because of the other commitments that we make.  Our schedules, our children’s schedules, our lives in general seem to be full beyond capacity.  We try to fit it all in and usually don’t.  About the time I get that over full half tablespoon out of the box but not yet in the bowl; I’ll spill it.  In doing this, I waste more time than I would of if I had done it twice.  We do the same in our lives.  We take on more than we can handle and end up doing many things poorly rather than a few things well.

    God gives us the time, the skills, the capacity to do for him what he wants of us when he wants it.  To every thing there is a season and there is a time for every purpose.  There is a time and a place to do as God will have us to do.  Trying to do it all; only results in doing it all poorly.  We need to look carefully at our “to do” list and see where we place time for our relationships.  Where do we place our family, our friends, or our time with God?

    Remember what is truly important in our lives.  It is never things; it is always our relationships.  Our relationship with God, our family and our neighbors should never be pushed aside because of other stuff.  We should never try to fill more into our measurer than will fit.  Take time during your walk in this life to enjoy what God has given you.  Experience his grace and mercy to their fullest measure by keeping your measure in proper balance.  

Dear Father in heaven, too often we try to do it all and we end up with nothing.  Forgive us when we miss your gifts and wound the relationships which you give to us.  Lead us back to you; draw us close to you so that we may see the truth of your love and the depth of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

12-15-2024

Good Morning All,

     Genesis 22:14; “So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide;” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

   “I don’t know.” Those are three small words that, when we hear them, can cause us some much pain and so much uncertainty.  If you go to the doctor with a pain that won’t go away and after as many tests as he has, he looks at you and says, “I don’t know why you hurt.”  Maybe you finally worked up the courage to talk to that special someone and after you ask them out, they say, “I don’t know.”  A loved one is in an accident and when you ask how he is; the response is,” I don’t know.”

     Three little words which sum up all of our human frailty and also all of our human wisdom.  “I don’t know” covers so much of our life that we often just stand there and slowly turn in a circle looking for direction, a hint, any shred of anything that will give us the slightest chance at an answer.  We are even quick to grab the wrong answer over “I don’t know.”  We will even grab hold of man-made answers that fail to answer because believing something, even something wrong, is better than “I don’t know”.

     So, we stumble around, lost and confused.  It is like we are walking down a path, in the dark, in a fog, with no light or direction.  After a while, we just sit down in total despair and give up because, I don’t know, we have no clue where we are or where we are going.  We are a lost people and a lost person, and we have no hope or chance. 

     Into this land of no hope of “I don’t know’ God comes to rescue us.  Jesus came to redeem us.  He came to answer our “I don’t know.”  Jesus came to show us that when we don’t know; he tells us,” I am with you always” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  When we are lost, we know that “The Lord will provide.”  Just like Abraham, when he felt he had no options left, he saw the ram in the bush and sacrificed it instead of his son, Isaac. God provided for Abraham.  We are like this in many ways.  When we look anywhere else for help, for guidance, for our security; we are lost but God provides for us.  He gives us all that we need to live this life.  He gives us life through the redemptive work of Jesus. 

     Through all our struggles in life, no matter what those struggles are, God provides for us.  He uses the created world to assist us, to protect us, to provide for our needs.  He uses the doctors, the family, the friends, the members of your church; all of these God uses to provide for us.  When we experience support, it is God coming to you.  When you are lost God comes to you and picks you up and puts you back where He wants you to be.  We can feel safe in his arms.  We experience his grace and love even when we feel lost.  God is always there for us, late at night when our fears are great, when we wait for the doctor’s report, when we see no hope or future, God calls us back to himself where we can experience the safety of his grace where he provides everything we need.

Dear Father, we give you thanks for all that you provide.  Too often we fail to trust you to provide for us.  When we do this, we find ourselves lost, and without the comfort of your arms.  Bring us home to the safety of your arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

12-14-2024

Good Morning All,

       Isaiah 45:3; “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.”

    A few years ago, I was watching a movie called “Sea Biscuit.”  It was about a racehorse as a huge underdog in a race.  I don’t remember a lot of the movie but for some reason a line from that movie has always stuck with me.  “You don’t throw away a whole life just because it is a little banged up.”

    That line is one of those lines that we should always remember.  As we go through life, we all get a “little banged up.”  Sin and the devil and the world do a great job of banging us up.  We all live with a few nicks and a few scars.  Some of it is things which we have done in our life, those sins which we committed against someone, and we never confessed them, never really repented them; we just sort of held on to them and kept them in our heart, in our conscience, on our back weighing us down.

     Maybe that nick was caused by what someone did to you.  We have a little scar tissue as we nurse and hold onto the hurt.  We might not remember exactly what happened, or when or where; but we remember it was him and that he hurt me, and I won’t forget it.  It doesn’t really matter which way causes the nicks and the scars.  The cruel comment that really hurt; the rejection; the forgotten promise; the broken relationships; there are a lot of things which give us nicks and dings and scars.  Most of us are a little banged up. The devil loves this world and this kind of life.  He can toy with us and use us for amusement with each little nick and each little ding.  The pain we feel is nothing which he cares about as long as he is amused.  Once he has beaten you up enough, he will throw you away and find a new one.

      Yet God never throws you away.  He sent Jesus into this world of nicks and scars to be nicked and scarred.  By his wounding we are healed.  The world doesn’t understand this.  It is hidden in secret places; it is a treasure of darkness.  It is that treasure that is hidden from sinful man, yet God reveals to us as his children.  That treasure is that God doesn’t throw you away even if you are a little banged up.  He picks us up, cleans us off and loves us with the love of the Father which we cannot even measure.  Then he lets us in on this secret treasure.  When the time is right, you will be restored to the pristine condition which God created us to live.  We will live with no nicks and no scars.  Together we will share with him the life in glory with all the believers who have gone before us in faith. God’s treasure for us is eternal life.  It is hidden from those who reject it.  By this great gift, God shows us his love for us.  There are no nicks which will cause him to reject us.  There are no scars which will drive him from us.  He keeps coming and coming to us with the love that only the Father will have.  

Gracious Father, we come to you with our nicks and our scars, and you heal us and make us whole.  You open the treasures to us giving us the promise of eternal life.  Keep us in your arms and guard us from the devil and all his ways.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret