Newsletter articles

January 2017

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

The shepherds were local. They found the Holy Family via vague directions from the angels. The magi were foreigners. They followed the star for months as well as stop for directions from Herod when they got close. Yet they all managed to find the Savior and worship Him. They were led toward the light of Christ.

Who has led you toward Christ over the years? Who shined His light into your darkness? Perhaps it was a Sunday School teacher, a grandparent, a neighbor. It is highly likely you weren’t even aware of their guiding until years later. Yet, those people were there. God has given you people throughout your life to shine His light into your life. God blesses us with believers who offer God’s love in word and deed and shine into our lives.

Ministry very rarely manifest in immediate results. And unfortunately, at those rare times we seem to have had a visible, immediate effect, it often is short-lived. In Matthew 13 and Mark 4, the evangelists recount Jesus describing faith as seed planted in various types of soil. Seed does not sprout overnight into strong, vibrant plants. Faith also takes time and nurturing to grow strong and vibrant.

As strong as it is, there is also a fragility to faith that demands care and attention. Constantly under attack, faith is a lot like the wind. We can’t see it, yet we know it is there. At times, the evidence of its power is profound; other times, barely discernible. The energy of faith, while both resilient and fragile, thrives on recharging.

We are called to ‘recharge’ those around us. The closing remarks in the Baptismal service are directly from Matthew 5:16. Immediately after being claimed by God, we are given the command to shine His light in the world. Our words and deeds are meant to shine as light to the world. We function as stars pointing toward the Christ. We may not get to witness their arrival, but God uses our lives to light their way nevertheless.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Let your light shine. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

December 2016

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom;  like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. (Isaiah 35:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

We wait. Most of us are not very adept at waiting. We are out of practice. We live in a world where we have information at our fingertips, fast food, and drive-thru windows. We’ve become accustomed to getting what we want when we want it. It seems that each day the world moves faster and every year, the Christmas displays go up earlier. Waiting with impatient irritation is fairly easy. Waiting with expectancy and joy…not so much.

Yet God calls us to do just that. He expected His people to do just that. It is a step beyond waiting patiently. God calls us to wait expectantly and joyfully. The promises He made through Isaiah point toward this great moment in time when even the wilderness and the desert will sing for joy. A moment is coming when the whole earth will ring out with praise in response witnessing God’s glory. Even that which appears lifeless will blossom.

Mary’s song in Luke is her response to the fulfillment of God’s promise coming closer and her joy at being chosen to participate in that moment. Unlike just about every Old Testament prophet and even her cousins Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary does not baulk at her calling. Although arguably, she probably had more reason to debate her calling than all the prophets put together. She, an unmarried girl in her early teens, was being called to bear and raise the Son of God. She responds with joy and singing…and then she waits…with expectant joy.

We too await with joy and expectancy. Christ has come. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. We wait with joy and expectancy to celebrate His birth and we continue to wait with joy and expectancy for His return. We light candles to mark the weeks and we raise our voices with all the earth, singing praises to the Lord Almighty! God is faithful to His promises. He has come to redeem His people. He has come to redeem you.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, You have come to the aid of your servant Israel, to remember the promise of mercy, the promise made to our forbears, to Abraham and his children forever. (Luke 1:46b-47;54-55)

 

November 2016

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,

to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. (Psalm 92:1-3)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

The Old Testament concept of blessing was much deeper than our own culture’s understanding. Blessing had and bestowed power. Blessings were valuable.

There was a reason Jacob tricked his own father into giving him the blessing intended for Esau and wrestled with the ‘man of God’ and endured a dislocated hip in order to be blessed. Genesis even concludes with ‘blessings’ for each of Jacob’s sons and their descendants. The blessings given in the Old Testament determined the identity of the receiver. Sometime it was such a transformation that it necessitated a name change. Jacob (meaning ‘supplanter’) became Israel (meaning ‘God prevails’).

You have been blessed. God has given you a new identity in Christ. He has made you His child. He has chosen to bless you. He has chosen to make you His child. He has chosen to bring you into His kingdom. He has chosen to love you. That blessing is priceless.

 Oftentimes we get caught up in our problems and worries and take the blessings for granted. Too often it is easier to focus on the trials in life. We can get caught up in negativity and it begins to affect how we interact with the world. We can become bitter and begin to expect trouble rather than joy. We can forget that we too have been blessed. We can momentarily forget that God has already made us his own.

Life is full of blessings for which to be thankful. None are greater than the blessing of being God’s children. The blessing of his promise to hold us in Christ is tenacious and constant. His blessing depends solely upon His own faithfulness and authority. “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,     for his steadfast love endures forever. O give thanks to the God of gods,     for his steadfast love endures forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords,     for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136:1-3)

 

October 2016

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Sola Scriptura…Sola Fide…Sola Gratia…Sola Christus…Sola Dei Gloria.

Word alone…Faith alone…Grace alone…Christ alone…to the glory of God alone.

The five ‘solas’ – the pillars of the Reformation – the petals of the Luther Rose – the battle cry of the 16th century. They are more than slogans. They are a synopsis of this amazing life of faith God has given us.

God has blessed you with the Holy Scriptures – the stories of the generations that came before us. We are given His stories of interaction and involvement in the world and in the lives of His (often times flawed) people. He blesses us with their songs, His wisdom, their letters, and the proclamation of His Son.

God has blessed you with the gift of faith. He puts His faith within us through the power of the Holy Spirit, making us able to trust Him with our whole heart. “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1) By this gift of faith, we are made right with God. God turns sinners into saints.

God has blessed you with His amazing grace. “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14) You are forgiven. You are freed from the bounds of sin and let loose into the world as God’s child.

God has blessed you with the gift of His one and only Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God sent His Son into this broken world in order to give it life. God let His Son be killed in order to make this broken world whole. God gave His Son for you.

All this is to the glory of God. We are responsible for none of it, but undeserving recipients of God’s generous blessing and power. God has given and continues to give you blessing upon blessing. To Him be the glory forever and ever.

The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

…they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3::24)

 

September 2016

baptismThere is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Once again, we celebrate as some of our young people affirm their Baptisms. We listen to them profess their faith in Christ Jesus and take ownership of their relationship with the Lord. They will be asked:

Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism:

to live among God’s faithful people,

to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,

to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,

to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,

and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?

These are the same promises made at every Baptism. These are the same promises parents make to their children at their Baptism. These are the same promises made by new members. These are the same promises adults make when they are baptized. These promises are a vow to God and to the whole Body of Christ to continue in the covenant God has made with us.

It is not all about us though. We also hear God’s promise: At the onset of the rite, we begin our prayer: “Merciful God, we thank you that you have made us your own by water and the Word in baptism. You have called us to yourself, enlightened us with the gifts of your Spirit, and nourished us in the community of faith.” We give thanks to the Lord for blessing us and making us His own. At the conclusion of the rite, we pray: “We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give us new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life. Stir up in your people the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence both now and forever.” We recognize again what God does in Holy Baptism and give Him thanks.

Martin Luther found it helpful to remind himself every morning that he was a baptized child of God. Sometimes we can get caught up in the busyness of life and need that same reminder. In a world full of temptation and craziness, we do need to be reminded who we are and whose we are. The Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal includes an option for the entire congregation to reaffirm their Baptisms to give us a way to remember.

You are a child of God. You have been claimed by the Father, forgiven and accepted through Christ, and anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit. The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)

 

August 2016

 The Lord will guide you continually,     and satisfy your needs in parched places,     and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden,     like a spring of water,     whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:11)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Compared to other months of the year, August is often relatively hot and dry. (Of course, this year, the dry at least might be a nice change.) We also all have times in our lives when we can feel ‘dry’ spiritually. Whether it comes from busyness, turmoil, illness, grief, boredom, or exhaustion, there are times when we feel isolated from the Lord and/or the people of God. These episodes are inevitable. Life has ups and downs and a myriad of different cycles and experiences. Our faith also runs the gamut as outside forces work upon us day to day.

It is vital to hear the promise in Christ in those times. In fact, it is precisely in those ‘dry’ periods that we need to hear God’s promise the most. Even when we feel alone, He does not leave us. God made a new covenant in Christ and He is true to His promise. God has shown us that He is willing to go to extremes to stay with us. He is willing to die in order to give us life.

You have been given this promise. The words Paul wrote to the Romans are also a reminder for you. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) During the beginnings of persecution, those words renewed the hope of the Christians in Rome. During your times of doubt, fear, or isolation, they give you hope as well. This promise surpasses not only all understanding, but also time and space. The promise of life in Christ is granted for this life and the next. There are no conditions nor termination dates.

Jesus coupled the commissioning of His disciples with the promise of His abiding presence: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus also sends you out into the world. He sends you with His everlasting promise of abiding love, strength, guidance, and authority. God grants you not only your needs and His kingdom that cannot be shaken. The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus through all the seasons of the year and your life. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; (Hebrews 12:28)

 

July 2016

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

There are countless lost souls in this troubled world. We tend to think of foreign countries as ‘mission fields’ forgetting the vast number of people in our own midst who need to hear the Gospel. In many ways it is easier to reach out to people who are separated by geographical and ethnic distance than it is to reach out to our immediate neighbors – who are not much different than us. It is more palatable to think of lost souls being far away and different from us than to look in the mirror.

Pew Research determined that mainline Christianity declined in the United States (-7.8%) between 2007 and 2014, while those identifying themselves as “atheist, agnostic, or nothing-in-particular” increased (+6.7%). Our mission field is both growing and getting closer.

Different ‘field workers’ work the many varied fields. Just as no farmer would harvest tomatoes with a large combiner designed for soy beans, missionaries also have various gifts for the many varied circumstances of lost souls. God has gifted all His people in ways that He uses to extend His Kingdom. It is not easy work and more often than not the ‘missionaries’ that plant the seed are not privileged to see the harvest.

On the 17th some of our youth will share how God’s Word gets planted (&/or tilled, weeded, fertilized) at camp. Campers hear the Gospel in a slightly different way in a different context from different people. Ideally this helps solidify their faith and encourages them to reach out to others, including their home congregations, in new ways. It also broadens their understanding of the larger church. Like all forms of mission, Bible camp not only evangelizes, but also energizes people for the sake mission.

We have the same mission. We are one in mission – – to work together to gather all of God’s people into Christ. We are all missionaries, working together to plant the seed of God’s Word & harvest  people back into His Kingdom.

The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus through all the seasons of the year and your life. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt.28:19-20)

June 2016

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.

4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.

9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.

(Psalm 96:1-9)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Worship is the epitomized in this and several other Psalms. We gather together to honor God as a community. We serve Him. We pray to Him. We offer mutual consolation to one another. We praise Him. We proclaim Him. We share in His Sacraments. And we listen to His Word.

Worship is when and where we meet God as His people. He comes to us. He forgives us. He loves us. He gathers us together and empowers us to be children of God out in the world.

The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus through all the seasons of the year and your life. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

April 2016

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. (Romans 6:9)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

As we are still in the season of Easter, it is appropriate that we discuss fairly frequent Easter Rites – funerals.

Our culture has unfortunately tried to extricate the Easter element from funeral services. Funerals are at their very heart, celebrations of the resurrection. It is a Baptismal celebration. It is a commemoration to the confidence of that person being baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection – and receiving the promise of eternal life.

Society may think that extolling the virtues of someone’s life and reciting platitudes gives adequate comfort, but it is only God’s promise that offers true hope. The hope found in that promise is what Christians focus upon at funerals. We cling to that hope in Christ in our grief because it is the only hope that truly gives comfort.

The Apostle Paul writes earlier to the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5) He reminds the Romans (and us) in whom our hope truly lies – in whom our lives and deaths remain secure.

As we miss loved ones here on earth, funerals are when we hear the word of hope into the midst of our pain. The primary purpose of funerals is to bestow upon the grieving the hope that only can come from God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is to be proclaimed in truth and purity, because it is the only hope we have of true life and salvation. Nothing compares to the assurance an unbreakable union with Christ and His unshakable conquest over death. They have been claimed by God and have received the promise of eternal life in Christ.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed and so are we! Alleluia! The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus through all the seasons of the year and your life. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

March 2016

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  (Luke 24:5b-7)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The Biblical timeline of Easter is closely linked to the Jewish festival of Passover. All four Gospel writers mention the imminence of the festival in their accounts of the crucifixion.

The timing of Passover (Pesach) is set by God and given to Moses at the time before the final plague and resulting Exodus from Egypt. “You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:17-18) This festival is to occur on the 15th day of the month of Nissan.

For the 1st few hundred years of the Christian church, congregations simply used the calendar of neighboring Jewish congregations to determine the timing of Easter. As Christianity spread, there were more and more Christian communities that had no Jewish neighbors, creating an interesting guessing game regarding festival time.  Added to that challenge was the variety in calendars in use at the time. Each culture had developed its own system of keeping dates.

The gathered bishops at the 1st Council of Nicea in 325 AD tried to standardize the festival date using a lunisolar calendar. Of course, that decree took a few more centuries to catch on and There also was not unanimity in that decision. Following the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western churches, the dispute over the calendar is reflected in the differing dates used by the Roman and Orthodox churches and respective offshoots to this day.

Our current moveable date was not finalized until 664. The Western celebration of Easter is held the first Sunday after the full moon following the Vernal (Spring) equinox. Numerous movements over the years have attempted to move the festival to a fixed date to no avail. Rumor has it that another attempt across denominational lines is underway.

Despite the controversy of the proper date of Easter, its preeminent status across the Christian Church is undisputed. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is at the heart of Christian theology.

God gave His Son to die for our sake and raised Him from the dead. God showed the world that He alone controls life and death. He alone reigns over all things in heaven and on earth. Absolutely nothing can or will stop God’s Will from being done. And… His Will is to give life to His people.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Christ’s resurrection is a vibrant reminder of that promise. Death was not final for Jesus. Sin and evil did not extinguish His light. Death is not final for Christians. Death is not final for you. Sin and evil do attack and they will try to destroy you, but they cannot succeed. Christ has conquered over anything and everything that tries to separate you from His love. His Spirit does dwell in you. His power protects you. His life is given for and to you. You too rise with Christ.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed and so are we! Alleluia! The grace and peace of God which surpass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus through all the seasons of the year and your life. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)