Meet Together Often

"And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Heb 10:24-25

With Ash Wednesday behind us, we have begun our journey through the Lenten Season to the cross which will culminate at the empty tomb. Who will make this journey with us? Who will gather with us at worship as we struggle with our own crosses as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary?

St. Paul admonished the Hebrews, even as we are admonished to not neglect coming together as a community of saints. During Lent many congregations gather together more often (here at Zion on Wednesdays as well as Sundays) to hear God's Word and to worship Him.

May God plant in the hearts of all who would bear the name of Christ the desire to gather more often to worship Him and glorify His Holy Name.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Ashes to Ashes and Life!

"By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return." Gen 3:19


To the dust you shall return was the sentence. For eating of the tree of knowledge which God had forbidden, Adam's sentence was death. His sentence (and ultimately ours) was that he would return to the dust from which he was formed.

There in the middle of the garden was also the tree of life. Had he eaten of the free gift of the fruit from the tree of life, he would have lived. But, he did not. Adam and Eve neglected the food that was good for them; that God had desired for them to eat, and chose that thing that they were not to have. How often it is that we, too, neglect the free gift of life given to us through the sacrifice of His Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ! How often we neglect to come to the table that He has prepared for us! There Jesus is! "Come and eat." He says. "This is my body given for you for the forgiveness of sins." Do not neglect this life-giving gift!

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther wrote that the benefit of receiving the Lord's Sacrament of Holy Communion "...is shown us in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins; namely, that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation."

That is the Good News. Today is Ash Wednesday. This evening we will remember with the imposition of ashes that from dust we have come and to dust our bodies shall return. But, we will also eat at the Lord's Table and remember that in Him there is life and salvation.

God's Peace - Pr. J
 

Psalm 22 - Why Have You Forsaken Me?

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (vs 1 NIV)

If you've got plans to skip reading this chapter, please, don't! This Psalm is so filled with passion it is indescribable. At Zion, this Psalm is read every Maundy Thursday during the stripping of the altar.  A haunting echo, the passion of Jesus' resolve to give his life for ours is heard in the lament.  Yes, resolve, but at the same time the sorrowful loneliness, as Jesus prepares, in his final hours, to give his life for the us, to die for the world.

And, if you're one to skip the Maundy Thursday Service simply because you'll be there on Easter Sunday, don't!  There is no Easter without the suffering and sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  So, please don't be skipping the next Maundy Thursday Service, or Ash Wednesday, or Good Friday.  There is no Easter without the suffering and death of Jesus.  There is no life, without his death.

There is no way to fully explain this chapter in a little blog.  Read it and read it aloud. Listen to the words.  Listen to the pain and the suffering.  Listen to the hope.

"May your hearts live forever." (vs 26)

God's Peace - Pr. J