Well, my friends, we are at the end of this decade. That sounds more impressive than saying that it is the end of the year. When we talk with one another, to say, "I can't believe the decade is coming to an end," sounds deeper than saying, "I can't believe the year is coming to an end."
Often at this time of the year, one takes time to reflect back upon what has taken place. As you look back upon 2019, what stands out for you? What is the one thing that really made an impact upon your life? What thing did you do that changed the direction of your life, either for better or for worse? After all, not everything that we do is positive for our lives. Sometimes we make a decision, do some action, or say some thing that impacts our lives in a negative rather than a positive manner. Other times, that decision, action or word makes positive impact upon our lives. So what impacted your life the most?
For me, I would say that it was accepting the call to serve as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA. I began the year serving at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Troy, IL and ended here in Iowa. I had received the call in the middle of December and accepted the call in February. We moved in the month of March and I was installed here on March 31. That was a big move. It made an impact upon my life.
What type of impact? It is multifaceted, like a prism that shines off in a myriad of directions. Was it a positive move? Yes. I can say that without pausing. It was a very positive move. This gave me a chance to move to a congregation in which I can lead to grow in sharing the grace of God with the world. There were some events that as the pastor, I was not going to be able to help overcome. I realize that now as I have stepped away. I am not going to say what those things might have been. I still love many of the people at St. Paul's. They are blessed children of God who need to have a pastor who is able to help them work their way through these issues. There were many people who shared their love with Penny and me, lifting us up when we were overwhelmed and beaten down. I thank them and continue to share my love with them. They know who they are. God bless you!
It is challenging to be here in Iowa. I haven't lived outside of Illinois since 1988. We lived and served in Illinois all those years. Now we find ourselves in SW Iowa, serving the saints of God here. On a personal level, I am getting adjusted. We moved away from our daughter and her husband, and also Penny's mom. We moved away from many of our friends that live in southern Illinois. I know that many of you have had to do that same thing, especially those of you who are in the military. It is a challenge. Yes, we are closer to our son and his wife who live in Lincoln, NE, but that is still a ways away. It is nice to see them a little more often than we did but does challenge us.
I am very happy, very content at St. John, Clarinda. The Lord has brought me to a place that can use my gifts and talents to help folks grow in faith and learn how to share the love of Christ in this community. I feel blessed to be here. Penny and I both were happy to make the move and pleased with living in Clarinda. Penny is finding fulfillment in serving as director of Noah's Ark Preschool and Daycare. It is good to see her happy and free from the fears of what was going to happen next. We are both more at peace than we have been for several years.
I think that I am going to stop at this point. Should I have the opportunity, I will write some more year end thoughts. I pray that you will be blessed as your year ends.
May you be filled with the love of Christ. Penny and I share our love with you.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
King Solomon and remaining faithful to God
I was reading about King Solomon this morning. What an amazing time it was for the nation of Israel. They had just finished the extraordinary time of King David, the anointed one of God. Solomon was his son that was given the throne of his father. The Lord granted him amazing wisdom. The section I was reading was from 1 Kings 10 when the Queen of Sheba came to see and hear if King Solomon was truly as wise as she had heard. She found out he was. Then it talked about the wealth of Solomon. The Lord was truly blessing Israel and their king.
Then came the part that showed the clay feet of such a great king. King Solomon married various women from all sorts of nations. This was against the command of that said, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you..." (1 Kings 11:2) Why was this command given? Was it to keep the people exclusive? Was it to say that others were not as good of people as those of Israel? No, there was a deeper reason for this. It goes on, "...for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." (1 Kings 11:2b) It was because they worshiped false gods, terrible gods and if the Israelites married them, they would be tempted to go after those gods. This is because of the 1st commandment "You shall have no other gods." Period. No other gods. Worship the Lord your God with all your heart, life, mind and soul.
But that won't happen. There is no way that Solomon would turn away from worshiping God, would he? "So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done." (1 Kings 11:6) Again, "And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods." (1 Kings 11:8) Yes, Solomon turned away from God. He worshiped false gods. He gave up that life in God for the life of the false gods.
My point? That it is so easy to turn from worshiping the Lord to worshiping the false gods of this age. Yes, it can happen when you join your life to an unbeliever. It can happen when you let your days be surrounded by those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Won't happen to you? Why won't it? If you are surrounded by people who are not following the Lord in their life, why would you think that you won't start to leaving the Lord in your life? Solomon, the wisest man on earth, had this happen to him.
How can you stand firm? First, you need to be in the Word regularly. You need to study it. You need to read it. You need be involved in Bible study. You need to attend worship regularly so you can hear the Word of God. That Word of God needs to be what feeds your soul daily.
Second, you need the strength that the Sacraments give to you. Living daily in your Baptism is important. Receiving the body and blood of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine is also important.
Too often folks think that they do not need to attend worship because they can remain a Christian without attending worship. Really? If you are not being fed from Word and Sacrament, what are you being fed? The ways of the world? How will that help you to remain a Christian? While the world does it's best to tear down Christianity, why would you think you could listen to that and still be built up in your faith?
Yes, you do need to attend worship in a Christian church that teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. You also need to receive the Lord's Supper regularly and frequently. You also need to begin each day in your Baptism and remain in that Baptism throughout the day.
May the Lord guide you with the Holy Spirit to remain in Christ each day.
Then came the part that showed the clay feet of such a great king. King Solomon married various women from all sorts of nations. This was against the command of that said, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you..." (1 Kings 11:2) Why was this command given? Was it to keep the people exclusive? Was it to say that others were not as good of people as those of Israel? No, there was a deeper reason for this. It goes on, "...for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." (1 Kings 11:2b) It was because they worshiped false gods, terrible gods and if the Israelites married them, they would be tempted to go after those gods. This is because of the 1st commandment "You shall have no other gods." Period. No other gods. Worship the Lord your God with all your heart, life, mind and soul.
But that won't happen. There is no way that Solomon would turn away from worshiping God, would he? "So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done." (1 Kings 11:6) Again, "And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods." (1 Kings 11:8) Yes, Solomon turned away from God. He worshiped false gods. He gave up that life in God for the life of the false gods.
My point? That it is so easy to turn from worshiping the Lord to worshiping the false gods of this age. Yes, it can happen when you join your life to an unbeliever. It can happen when you let your days be surrounded by those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Won't happen to you? Why won't it? If you are surrounded by people who are not following the Lord in their life, why would you think that you won't start to leaving the Lord in your life? Solomon, the wisest man on earth, had this happen to him.
How can you stand firm? First, you need to be in the Word regularly. You need to study it. You need to read it. You need be involved in Bible study. You need to attend worship regularly so you can hear the Word of God. That Word of God needs to be what feeds your soul daily.
Second, you need the strength that the Sacraments give to you. Living daily in your Baptism is important. Receiving the body and blood of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine is also important.
Too often folks think that they do not need to attend worship because they can remain a Christian without attending worship. Really? If you are not being fed from Word and Sacrament, what are you being fed? The ways of the world? How will that help you to remain a Christian? While the world does it's best to tear down Christianity, why would you think you could listen to that and still be built up in your faith?
Yes, you do need to attend worship in a Christian church that teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. You also need to receive the Lord's Supper regularly and frequently. You also need to begin each day in your Baptism and remain in that Baptism throughout the day.
May the Lord guide you with the Holy Spirit to remain in Christ each day.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Reflecting upon pressure by society
I am amazed. Or maybe I am not amazed. It is for sure that I am not surprised. Society today is filled with cyber and Internet bullies. Really? What makes me say this?
The Peloton Christmas commercial. You might have seen it. Perhaps you have heard the backlash for that commercial. A man gives a woman a Peloton bike for Christmas in this commercial. And the company is slammed for being sexist, misogynist and terrible. Yes, terrible! How dare a man give a woman a bike. What is he thinking? Obviously he hates women, especially the woman who is supposed to be his wife.
I just heard this morning (Wednesday), that Peloton stock is down over 12% because of...wait for it...that ad! Social media had a huge backlash against the company AND against the actors of the commercial. The actors have received threats because they "starred" in that terrible ad.
Talk about bullying. This is bullying at its worst. I don't like the ad, I am offended, so let's all get together and attack the company and the actors in order to drive them out of business because I feel offended. The idea is that if you don't agree with me, I will destroy you. I will beat you up until you finally give in to my way of thinking.
Now you might say that it is a way to get your opinion across. There is the idea that boycotting is something that you can do. Yes, you can boycott. But this goes beyond boycotting. This is actual attacking of a company because you don't like an ad. This was tried with Chick-fil-A. But the people pushed back and the company survived.
I am all for exercising your rights to support or not support a company. If you like what they say or sell, go for it. If you don't, don't. That is the way it is meant to be.
But you do not have the right to bully. And that is what happens in our society today. We bully someone until they either give in an agree with us or we will destroy them. I don't get it. Or perhaps I do. Bullying is something that is done each day and it is getting worse. Social media makes it possible to destroy someone quickly. And they will not have the chance to respond. Because if they respond, they will be attacked even more.
So what does this mean? It means that people are not willing to stand up for what they believe or voice what they think. Social media bullying has made it that folks do not speak up because they are afraid of the backlash.
Why am I writing? Because I was disgusted with the backlash against Peloton and the actors for what was a good commercial (if there is such a thing as a good commercial). It disgusts me to see such bullying taking place. And there is so much more that can be said about this topic. But that is enough for today.
The Peloton Christmas commercial. You might have seen it. Perhaps you have heard the backlash for that commercial. A man gives a woman a Peloton bike for Christmas in this commercial. And the company is slammed for being sexist, misogynist and terrible. Yes, terrible! How dare a man give a woman a bike. What is he thinking? Obviously he hates women, especially the woman who is supposed to be his wife.
I just heard this morning (Wednesday), that Peloton stock is down over 12% because of...wait for it...that ad! Social media had a huge backlash against the company AND against the actors of the commercial. The actors have received threats because they "starred" in that terrible ad.
Talk about bullying. This is bullying at its worst. I don't like the ad, I am offended, so let's all get together and attack the company and the actors in order to drive them out of business because I feel offended. The idea is that if you don't agree with me, I will destroy you. I will beat you up until you finally give in to my way of thinking.
Now you might say that it is a way to get your opinion across. There is the idea that boycotting is something that you can do. Yes, you can boycott. But this goes beyond boycotting. This is actual attacking of a company because you don't like an ad. This was tried with Chick-fil-A. But the people pushed back and the company survived.
I am all for exercising your rights to support or not support a company. If you like what they say or sell, go for it. If you don't, don't. That is the way it is meant to be.
But you do not have the right to bully. And that is what happens in our society today. We bully someone until they either give in an agree with us or we will destroy them. I don't get it. Or perhaps I do. Bullying is something that is done each day and it is getting worse. Social media makes it possible to destroy someone quickly. And they will not have the chance to respond. Because if they respond, they will be attacked even more.
So what does this mean? It means that people are not willing to stand up for what they believe or voice what they think. Social media bullying has made it that folks do not speak up because they are afraid of the backlash.
Why am I writing? Because I was disgusted with the backlash against Peloton and the actors for what was a good commercial (if there is such a thing as a good commercial). It disgusts me to see such bullying taking place. And there is so much more that can be said about this topic. But that is enough for today.
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