Hebrews 6 - Move Past Elementary Teachings

Hebrews 6 NIV
We have just passed through the season of Lent and those last days that we call Holy Week. Each day we follow the path that led Jesus to the cross and then we watch him die. Each year, during this season I find myself grieving. I am grieved that there seem to be so few who observe this season and learn from it a more complete picture of what Jesus did for us and for our salvation. Each and every year, I grieve for those who have turned away because as the writer to the Hebrews tells us: "To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Note that he writes, "to their loss." And... so I grieve over their loss. I grieve that the one who gave his life for us is loved so little and taken so for granted.

We cannot go from Christmas to Easter without something happening in between. Although both great and glorious events, Jesus did much more than be born to a virgin mother and then be born again from the grave. Jesus had a life between birth and resurrection. Let us move beyond these very elementary teaching so that we might understand all that Jesus did for us and why he did it.

May God help us to move beyond just a knowledge and acknowledgement of the glory events and realize the life he lived as true man included a life of loving and humble service. The temptations; the sufferings, the persecution, the execution, he endured were quite inglorious and there was so much more. Let us not subject him to further public disgrace by not moving past the elementary teachings that even the secular world knows.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Isaiah 58 - Fasting Is About Giving and Living

I don't know too many Lutherans who actually fast, today, except for many during Lent. We give up chocolate or soda pop or some other consumable. Some give up other bad habits, at least for the season. But, what is fasting?

Isaiah suggests fasting is not so much what we don't do (eat), but about what we do and ultimately how or why we do it. Fasting is not so much about what does or doesn't go into our bodies, but what comes out of them. Fasting is not so much about starving ourselves, as it is about giving of ourselves. It is about giving our lives in service to God and to others - dedicating our lives to helping other - to feeding others - rather than feeding our own egos.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,    and your night will become like the noonday." (Isa 58:6-10 NIV)

Fasting is about using our time and our resources to help our neighbor, rather than our own selfish desires, so that God might be glorified. It really would not hurt many of us to do with a little less so that others might have enough. It really would not hurt to give more of our time to help a neighbor in need... to visit the sick, those in prison, those who are alone and lonely, those in need. It would not hurt and we might even find joy in these relationships.

Fasting is not so much about what you don't do, but about what you do. It's not about living in the dark as you walk about "bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes" (vs 5), acting as though you are humble, starving yourself. Fasting is about living - living in the light of the LORD, rather than the darkness of world. It is about living, even in the darkness, as you "let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."  (Matt 5:16)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Isaiah 53 - Jesus Died For The Sheep Who Had Gone Astray

We typically hear the reading of Isaiah 53 every year during Lent, on Good Friday, along with verses beginning at verse 13 of the 52nd chapter of Isaiah.

It is a reminder of why Jesus had to die. That is, for us, because of our own sinful ways... "We all, like sheep, have Gone astray, each of us has turn to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa 53:6 NIV)

Jesus took upon himself our pain and he bore our sufferings. He was crucified for our transgression and for our iniquities. It is by his wounds that we are healed. It is by his sacrifice for us that we are made whole!

We may hear this lesson on Good Friday, but I am reminded of it often. For, I, like all of you, often act like a sheep that has gone astray. Whenever I mess up big time (that is sin), God's gentle Spirit reminds me why Jesus had to suffer persecution and such a cruel death. He died bearing our sins, those sins we commit today and will commit tomorrow. Through faith in him, our sins (of even today and tomorrow) were crucified with him.

May God help us to more faithful to the one who was and is faithful to us.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. Don't forget to read Isaiah 53 - you will recognize it immediately if you've ever attended at Good Friday Service at Zion or most congregations anywhere.

Psalm 96 - Praising God For Completed Annual Reports

"Sing to the LORD, praise his name!" (vs 2 NIV) 

Today is a marvelous day.  January tends to be one of the most tiring months for me. There is so little sunlight up here and it is usually really cold.  But, so far we haven't had any frozen water pipes.  Thanks be to God! 

January is that full month after the Advent and celebration of Christmas and before we begin Lent.  One would think we would slow down and take a break at the church.  One would think that I might get to hibernate - like an old bear - crawl into a hole and hibernate for a couple of weeks.  But, no.  January is tends to be even busier and more hectic than either Advent or Lent.  It is the month that all the annual reports have to be done.  They are due to the congregation this Sunday.  And... here's the good news!  I am down to filling out the total expenses for the year 2012 in the Budget Report.  Then that's it.  The office secretary will finish it up on Friday and everyone will have them on Sunday morning when the come to Worship.  Thanks be to God!  I sing to the LORD and praise His name for it is almost finished for another year!

It is not the annual meeting that is difficult. We always have an awesome turn-out for the meeting and for the pot-luck fellowship following.  It is the preparation for the meeting that is so very time consuming. I am a very poor proof-reader so I am constantly wondering what it is that I am missing.  Thanks be to God for a council secretary who is a great proof-reader and has a better memory than mine!  She is able to catch my and everyone else's mistakes and omissions before they go to print.

Today, I give thanks to God and praise His name, for my part of these reports will be done before noon. No matter what the season, there is always something to be thankful for.  God has given us many precious gifts to enjoy even in this world.  So sing always to the LORD, praising His Holy Name. "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the peoples." (vs 3)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Holy Days for Reviewing and Remembering

Deuteronomy 16

Moses reviews the various celebrations and festivals that are to be kept in chapter 16.  Everyone was required to attend these festivals and some of them lasted for many days. 

Yesterday, I reviewed with some of our members the ritual that we have been keeping of "chalking the door" at the beginning of the New Year.  It will not be taking place on Epiphany simply because that festival is largely ignored in the church.  Epiphany lands on a Friday this year.  Now how many Lutherans do you think are going to show up for worship on a Friday?  So, we "chalk the door" and ask God to bless the sanctuary on the Sunday prior to Ephiphany, which just happens to be New Years Day this year.  I've also never quite understood how it has happened that in so many places we give gifts on Christmas day rather than on Epiphany in remembrance of the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus.  Now, of course, none of these things have been required of us, by God, to be observed.   However; that being said, all these festival and holy days in the church year are reminders, opportunities to review, and to celebrate and give thanks for all that God has done for us. 

The church (at least in the U.S.) over the years has largely forgotten the church year and what each holy day is all about.  During Advent, we sing Christmas carols, forgetting that Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for the Lord's coming.  Our attendance at Worship on Christmas Eve, sky rockets as people make what they consider one of the 2 annual obligations to worship.  But, for the last couple of years, the council voted to not have a Worship Service on Christmas Day because other than me, only those who are serving during worship were attending.  This year we will have one service (rather than 2) on Christmas day because it lands on a Sunday. Christmas, I am told, is for families.   In speaking with our Sunday School children a couple of weeks ago, it was decided that we should celebrate Jesus' birthday with a birthday cake after Worship on Christmas Day this year to celebrate our brother, Jesus', birthday.  Children know how to have parties and so we will celebrate "family style" with a birthday cake. 

Easter is the other big holy day, which people tend not to neglect.  But, again, the season preceding Easter is often neglected.  During Lent, as well as Advent, we have Worship also on Wednesdays.  Attendance on Wednesdays is usually the same faithful people who gather to remember and thank God for all that He has done for us on Sundays.  I thank God for these faithful children of God.  But, during Holy Week, very few come to hear the story of Christ's passion.  It always causes me to wonder how small the remnant might actually be.  I wonder what people are really celebrating on Easter morning if they haven't been with us to review the events of at least Good Friday. 

So, I find myself often reminding people what these various holy days are all about.  I particularly love Trinity Sunday when I pull out the Athanasian Creed.  I think it is important for people to remember what it is that we, as Lutheran Christians, believe.  We need to remember who God is.  As it seems, it is not only I who has the short memory. 

May God bring to your remembrance where you have been.  May He help you to always remember that He is the one that has brought you out of bondage and given you new life through Jesus Christ, our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit.