Taxes

“...Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  Matt 22:21

 

It is tax season, again! Tax season spans over one third of the year. Then, there are those summer property taxes due as well and can't forget quarterly estimated taxes, either. It does not bother me to pay taxes. I am just not thrilled with the filing of them. I procrastinate. I finally purchased and downloaded one tax program. I am still waiting for the business tax program to come in the mail since there were none available locally and I don't like downloading the program. I like my own copy on a disc. If my computer crashes, which it tends to do during tax season, it is easier if I don't have to remember the passwords.

 

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees if it was lawful to pay taxes to an emperor. This was a trick question. He was being asked if maybe giving tithes to someone other than God could be considered as idolatry. On the other hand if he said no, he would be denying the authority of the emperor to rule in this world. They were confounding the two kingdoms. Jesus responded by asking who's face was on the coin that the they paid this tax with. They brought forth a coin with Caesar's face. Then pay to Caesar what is Caesar's he told them.

 

We may find discomfort in parting with our savings to pay the taxes the government requests. But, do not worry. You are a child of the Kingdom of God. God will provide.

God's Peace - Pr. J 

Retired and Living Life!

Howard and his trike in Beaufort, SC
photo taken by son, John Arthur Mattson

"What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live..." Eccl 3:9-12

Live life!  I can't even begin to count how many times I have told people to live life; enjoy life! I believe some think, "who is she kidding? She's a Christian and a pastor. What can she know about fun?"  My fun may not be like a lot of people's idea of fun; but, I do know about enjoying life; about enjoying the numberless gifts that God has given me.

My husband retired for the second time this past summer. He has not quite reached the normal retirement age. But, he has worked hard for a long time. Most of his years have been "on call" twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week as his first career was as a U.S. Marine and his second career was as owner/administrator of an adult foster care home. So, I finally convinced him that it was time to retire and enjoy life; to take time for himself. He has taken a few vacations since then. He is enjoying life. I know that he also took pleasure in the work that he did; but, now is his time to live life; to take the time to more fully enjoy the gifts that God has given him.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.." Eccl 3:1

It is time to truly live life!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Hibernating Like A Bear?

Like An Old Bear

Tis the season... Tis the season for me to want to sleep a lot. When winter rolls around, I start thinking and acting like a bear. My mind and body keep telling me to "go to sleep." I do not want to go outside when the sun is not shining or when it is cold outside. I just want to hibernate. I need the light.

But, life goes on and there is no sense in sleeping our days away. Our hours are most valuable. We only get so many in this lifetime and then they are gone. They are like the pennies found on the ground. Some would walk by them thinking them worthless. Yet, others might collect them and amass a small fortune. Every minute of our lives is valuable. They add up to hours and days and years. They add up to a life-time. Grasp those minutes and hours and do not fetter them away.

Fortunately, I have enough to do, deadlines to keep, to keep me awake during most of the day. I still get up early; but, I lie down to rest much earlier every evening or I can get a little ornery, just like an old bear.

There is a time and a season for everything under the sun. (Eccl 3:1) We need our rest; but, not so much as a bear. We also have been given life, so let us life it and not squander it away.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Am I my Brother's Children's Keeper?

Zion Youth Choir sing at concert to help children
in Baraga County.

"Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." Matt 7:9-12 NRSV

"Am I my brother's keeper." (Gen 4:9) This was Cain's response when God asked him where his brother was after he had killed Abel. Are you your brother's keeper? Are you your brother's children's keeper? I hope that you are answering in the affirmative.

I have been working on the advertising for Zion's Annual Toys for Tots Concert. The concert kicks off the local Marine campaign for Toys for Tots in Baraga County. We have a very high unemployment rate and the medium income is very low in the county. There is a great need to help our brother and sister's children during the holiday season as well as all year long.

Where ever you are; whether in Baraga County, remember the children in need. Yes, you are your brother's keeper. If you, yourself, are a child of God you would respond in the affirmative when it comes to helping the youngest among us. 

God's Peace - Pr. J 

P.S. Hope to see all of you who are local at the concert!

Flowers or Weeds?

 

"What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."   ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878

My husband does not appreciate my flower gardens. Neither he nor I know exactly what species are growing in them during any given season. He considers them mostly weeds. I consider them all flowers. I have to watch him closely when he's busy with the weed-eater in order to make sure all of the flowers in my gardens survive. He came really close this summer to removing all my wild raspberry bushes. Fortunately, for him, me, and the raspberries, I happened to walk outside before he started. The strawberries are gone though.

And... so, let us a take a look at the children of God. Does He not normally call the least to be greatest; the last to be first? God does not discern things as mankind discerns things. He sees the full potential while we look at the short-comings and failings. "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." Mark 10:30 

Just because we don't have to buy those plants that others often consider weeds; does not mean that they don't have a good and useful purpose in the garden of God. They are indeed very valuable as they are free gifts from God Himself.

Do not consider the children of God to be mere weeds to be cast out of the garden. Only God can know what are true weeds and true flowers.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Seasons Change

      A Time and Season        

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."

                                          Eccl 3:1-8 NRSV

 

There is a time and season for every purpose under the sun. Every spring and fall I look for the trumpeter swans to spend a few days in the river behind the house as they make their seasonal journey either north or south. For the last two years, pelicans have also made this a place to spend a day or two. The sight of them brings me much joy.

Every season brings change. Some of the changes are most pleasing like welcoming back the trumpeter swans. Other changes are not quite so pleasing. Even as the natural world around us changes, so do we. We change with time. We grow older; hopefully, we grow wiser. And, even more hopefully, with each season of life's experiences and challenges, we grow closer to the Lord.

Our journey through the wilderness of this world can be quite a challenge. We have good times and bad. Know that whatever befalls you, the Lord is with you in every time and season.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Romans 15:1-13 Ramblings

Romans 15:1-13
Soon and very soon (like tomorrow night, Christmas Eve) our sanctuaries will be filled with people who have come to praise God. It is a pleasure to see so many "Gentiles" gathered together to glorify His Holy Name.

St. Paul encouraged the followers to lift one another up with endurance; that all would hear what the scriptures would teach us. His hope was that God would give us all "the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice we might glorify God." May it be so, not just on Christmas Eve or Easter morning; but in all times and in all places.

We are given the scriptures so that we might learn who this Jesus is. Hear them. Read them. Study them. We are given the Holy Spirit that we might understand and be empowered to follow this one who came down to earth to save us from ourselves (and each other). Have mercy on one another, as Christ has mercy. Love one another, as Christ loves. Enter this Christmas season with a desire to do go to our neighbors; to live in unity and peace that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in all that we say and think and do.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. Not sure what to title this.... It has been a long night and sadly, I have rambled... Have a peaceful Christmas!

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

Ecclesiastes 3 - Turn! Turn! Turn! to Everything There is a Season

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. (Eccl 3:1-8 NIV)

 

"Turn! Turn! Turn! to Everything There is a Season." Many of you probably recognize Ecclesiastes 3 from actually reading it before. Some of you may have heard parts of it a funeral or maybe on Ash Wednesday when we hear words similar to "from dust you are, to dust you shall return." Some of you may remember these words from the song Pete Seeger wrote in 1959, which was recorded by various artists. Seger basically put the words from Ecclesiastes 3 to music and added 2 things:  the words "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." In 1969 the Byrds' recording of it became a hit, making Ecclesiastes 3 one of the oldest lyrics (written by Solomon) to become a hit on the pop charts.

There is a time for peace, I swear it's not to late. There is a time and season for everything. It is not to turn our hearts away from the injustice of the world and turn toward the path which God intends for us to follow so that we might truly live life. It is not to late to turn our lives around and live in His presence and in His peace.

Let there be peace on earth. Let us treat one another justly, causing no one more anxiety. If there is to be anxiety, it will come in its allotted time and season for God's purpose. We do not have to manufacture it for ourselves or others. Let us take each day as it comes before us and learn to live life as God intended us to live, enjoying the fruits of the garden, enjoying the fruits of the day, even as we labor to eat and drink, to provide for the necessities of our lives. May God grant that we should be happy and find satisfaction in our toil. May God grant us peace with Him and with one another even as we strive to live life in this world accepting every thing that comes to us in whatever time or season.

God's Peace - Pr. J