What was the weather like 3 years ago? I can't remember. If the one picture of the church is taken that very day 3 years ago, then it was a nice day. Do any of you that were here 3 years ago at St. John, Clarinda, IA, remember what that day was like?

This is the picture that came up on my memories. If that is the church on that day, it must have been a beautiful day. What a nice blue sky there was. 

What was taking place on that day, March 31, 2019? I was installed as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA. Yep, I had been called to serve the saints here in Clarinda, I had accepted that call and was installed 3 years ago. It was an exciting day. It was thrilling to be installed as the pastor of the congregation. A new direction in ministry - what do I mean? It means that I had new people to minister to, a new congregation to lead, a new community to get to know and a new state to live in. Some things are the same - the proclamation of Law and Gospel, the sharing of the love of Christ, the teaching of God's Word, and the loving of the people. What are the differences? A new community. New people. New state. New opportunities. 

I know that Penny and I were excited to start a new life and ministry here in Clarinda. The look on Penny's face that day said it all.

She was going to take a picture of all of us pastors who were there, and the camera wouldn't work right for her. So she brought it up to me so that we could get a picture. She was happy. I was happy. The family was happy (you can see Shirley Rex, Penny's mom who has moved to Clarinda 6 months ago, Matthew and Chelsey Schuessler in the front pew). And I think that St. John's members were happy. 

I could not have imagined the things that were going to happen. A year later, Covid happened. 15 days to flatten the curve ended up being 2 years of crazy times. I would never have thought that I would have a police officer come into the church and tell me that we could not have a worship service. We started in person services 6 weeks after the shut down. We have continued to record services and put them on YouTube. We have been continuing to reach out with the message of the Gospel. 

What a crazy time. And what a good time. I continue to be thankful to be here. We continue to move forward with trying to figure out how we can share the Gospel. We are learning to live our mission statement: Sent to reveal God's love to the world. 

What will the next years be like? They will be blessings. How do I know that? Because I am serving the Lord with gladness. I am doing the work of the Lord as pastor here in this congregation. And I am living as a child of God.

Let's work together to share Christ. Happy anniversary St. John. 

 

Reflection for this morning

 The slap that is heard around the world. Do you know what I am talking about. I have heard several different people on the news refer to it that way. If you have not heard about it, good for you. Those who have heard about it, probably wish you had not. What am I talking about? Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the Oscar awards. 

I condemn his actions. Will Smith was wrong. That type of action, which is assault, should not take place. You might say he was just protecting the honor of his wife. OK, I get that. But physical violence is not the answer. For if Will Smith can do that, why can't I? If he can act that way when he feels that something inappropriate was said, why can't someone else? It was just a slap. What? So it is OK to slap someone because you do not like what he or she said? Nope, it is wrong. He should not have done it. He was wrong for doing it.

If it was all right, then what is to stop someone that gets upset with what I say in a sermon on Sunday morning from coming up and slapping me? Or what is to stop someone who hears you say that they do not like, from coming up to you and slapping you? Nothing. So it is wrong for him to do such a thing.

But then again, it put the Oscars back into the public view. I did not even know they were going on. Did you? But now many people are back to talking about them. Should they take Will Smith's award from him? Who would even think about that question if it was not for the action he did? Did you know any of the movies that were given awards? I did not. I did not care. I think that many people did not care. But now all of a sudden, we are hearing about it once again. 

More than that, I wish they would just let it go. It was wrong. Will Smith was wrong for what he did. But why keep talking about it? Why keep giving him more air time? Many news networks have spent more time with this slap than they have with other news worthy items. Let it go. Condemn it, and move on. Yet they will not. We hear it again and again. Just stop.

As I think about it, I think that we need to learn two things. 1) Be careful how you talk about someone else. This is an 8th commandment issue. "Speak well of him..." Let your words, the things that you say, be worthy of the child of God. Do not make fun of people. Do not speak poorly of people. Instead, build people up. Speak positively. Let your words build others up and bring glory to the Lord. Ask yourself, is what you are saying something that you would say if you were standing in front of Jesus Himself? Because remember this, He is with you in everything you are doing.

2) Physical violence is wrong. This is a 5th commandment issue. We should protect our fellow humans. We should not physically attack them. Instead, we should protect the physical well being of others. Do not hit others. Do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body. Do not slap someone because you do not like what they said. 

Well, I guess that is enough said about this situation. Now, to go out and live according to what I just said. Lord, help me to live as Your child, in words and in actions. 

Not so serious ramblings

 What in the world is this? I got up to let the dogs out this morning, they like to go out after being in all night. Imagine that. It was 4:45 a.m. Don't judge me. I normally get up at 5 and it was Friday, no alarm was set. That made it a good Friday to sleep in. So why was I getting up at 4:45 a.m.? Because Wrigley, the chocolate lab, was at the side of the bed asking to go outside. I would have told her to wait till the alarm went off, fifteen minutes later, but it was Friday. So I got up. She is the easy one. Zeb, the golden, is a little more difficult. He likes to get his ears scratched when he gets up, so he will sit up, push his head against me, and I have to rub his ears. It takes several minutes for this to take place. He won't lumber down the stairs until he feels like he has had enought scratches. 

So we finally got downstairs. Put my coat on to let them out and BAM! What is this? Snow? I thought it was supposed to rain. OK, in all fairness, they were talking about possible snow with the rain because is was going to be a little colder than they originally thought, but you know, I doubted them. But there it was. The ground was white. Snow flakes size of small hamsters were falling from the sky. It was a wet, slushy snow. And I wasn't really ready to face it. Ugh.

That is how Friday began. And now, looking out, a wintry mix is coming down. I gave the dogs a bit of walk today, hat, gloves and all. Sloppy, messy, and they loved it. It is amazing what we will do for our dogs. They give me such joy. I willingly walk in the snow and rain, just because they are special to me. I give thanks for them.

So what is my point today? I don't have one. These are the ramblings of my mind. And that is how I am rambling. I hope you enjoy this Friday. I know I will. What will we do today? Not sure we will do much. The trip to Mission Central was called off because of folks not wanting to drive in this nasty weather. So we will go another time. We will continue to support the mission of reaching out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even if we did not go to Mission Central. 

Enjoy your day!

Just general rambling

 First world problems. Can you talk about them at this time? What I mean, the moment you say something about how things are here in this community, someone will say, "At least you aren't sitting in a subway with no heat or water like they are in Ukraine." And "bam," suddenly you are not supposed to have any problems in life because you are not living in Ukraine.

Understand, I get that the people in Ukraine are sufferings. It is absolutely ridiculous that Russian invaded Ukraine. It should not have happened. It is wrong. The suffering that the people are going through is terrible. My heart goes out for them. I pray for them. I support the work of various organizations that are helping them out. It hurts to see families separated, people getting killed, towns being devasted. It should not be taking place in this world today. 

Yet it is. It shows the wickedness of people in the world today. It shows how sin destroys lives. Sin shows itself as the Russians turn their guns on the people of Ukraine. It shows itself as people shoot each other. But we also must understand that this is showing itself in our country too. As people shoot each other in the cities, not just Chicago, LA or New York City. I saw that over the weekend it took place in Omaha. But we are not hearing about it now that the war in Ukraine is happening. Yet 2 police officers were shot last night, and the news doesn't report it. We turn on our police officers and then hail as a hero a police officer in Ukraine that was killed. Children are going hungry in our communities, but we only see the children in Ukraine. We need to see that we need to reach out to the people in our own communities to help them. If it breaks our hearts to see children hungry in the Ukraine and the refugee camps, it should also break our hearts that children are hungry in our towns and cities. It should break our hearts so much that, just as we send support to those refugee camps, we should support organizations that help folks in our own town. 

But back to what I started with. When you say that you are upset with paying the high price of gas, do you ever get made to feel guilty about it? It is presented as one or the other. I would postulate (using that just to sound like I know what I am talking about) that you can be upset with the situation in Ukraine and upset with the price of gas in your town. You can be upset over the Russian invasion and you can be upset with the soaring inflation. (And you cannot blame the war in Ukraine for everything that is happening in America, because gas prices were going up before the war, even told that it would reach record levels - before the war happened, inflation was going up prior to the war, it was difficult to get workers before the war, and so on.) 

So when I get upset about having to pay more for the food that we eat, it does not mean i have no empathy for the people of Ukraine. When I get upset that gas prices are through the roof and are at record highs, it does not mean I do not care about people who are displaced from their homes. I can feel both things. I can get upset and even angry over the mistreatment of the Ukrainians, while also being upset and angry that the screws are being put to the people of America with outrageous prices for the basics of life here in America. 

What amazes me is that we will complain about the price of gas at $3.89, while sitting in line at a coffee shop that charges $4.75 for a cup of Cappucinno. I am not saying that you can't have that cup of joe. You can. You can sit in a warm house while feeling upset that the folks are not in warm houses. It is what happens in this world. Remember that challenges that folks had while the world was at war in the 1940s. What am I saying? We can have empathy for the people in Ukraine, while will being upset with the unfairness and ridiculousness of the things going on in our country. 

Bottom line, let's work together to make life better for people here and in Ukraine. Let's find ways to bring inflation down here in America, while also helping to bring relief to people in need here and across the pond. 

All right, just rambling, probably because my alarn clock reset itself to get me up an hour earlier than usual. Oh, you poor baby, getting up an hour early. Just remember that people in the Ukraine were woke up during the night with their town being shelled by the Russians. Ok. I get it. But I did not have to get up early. First world problems.

Thoughts on Monday morning

 Well, that is not what we want. The snow, I mean. Friday was so nice. Sunshine, warm temps. When you get into the 60s, pushing 70s, you think spring. Saturday was a bit rainy. Was nice to have the rain. When it wasn't raining, it was a nice day. Walking around the yard, I saw flowers starting to push through the ground. Tulips and daffodils. 

Then comes the colder wearther. 30s aren't really that bad, but after 60s, they are cold. When it went from 69 to 29, the body shivers. Now there is snow. Really? Snow? March 7th. I know it is still winter. I know folks will say, "That is Iowa." The reality is, that is the midwest, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I don't know about Michigan or Indiana. But the weather in the midwest can go from spring to summer to spring again in a 24 hour period. It can be beautiful in the morning and terrible in the evening. 

But I really was ready for winter to be done. I wanted this weather through December, January and February. Here in March, I am ready for spring. But then again, any moisture that we get is good. I am thankful for the snow, because it is moisture that the ground needs. It sounds like more snow on Thursday. Let it snow. It will be gone soon. Today's snow, about 2 inches, will be gone by tomorrow. It is clearing off, the sun will be shining, so the snow will begin to melt off. Even if we get 4-6 inches on Thursday, it will be gone by the weekend. That is the way snow in March and April is. You can get 12 inches and it will be gone within a day or two. 

So what do I think? I thank God for the moisture. I thank God for caring for the planet. I thank God for another day in which I can live in His grace and mercy. 

As Lent has begun, I continue to work on "The Cry of the Heart" for Wednesday evenings. Sundays help us to see what Jesus does for us in His Passion. Praise be to God for the gift on His Son who is our Savior. I will see you at worship, either Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday. 

Introductory Thoughts for "The Cry of the Heart" Lent 2022

 

As I began working on the 2022 Lenten series, “The Cry of the Heart,” I wrote these thoughts. They are the beginning of the thinking to our Wednesday evening Lenten services. This is the raw writing that presents the basic thoughts of this pastor as he began developing a sermon series.

 

Why? That is the universal question that is asked of God. Why did this happen? Why did You not stop the shooter from going into the school? Why did my child get into drugs? Why does my spouse not love me anymore? Why have bad things happened to me even though I have followed Your will? So many "whys" as asked of God. It is the cry of the heart that is broken, a life that is cracked, or crushed. Again and again the cry goes out.

Within the world, as our lives begin to break down, we hear the voices of those around us, or perhaps even that voice inside us, that sounds like Job's wife after the kids have been killed, the livestock taken, the material wealth has disappeared, followed by the health going downhill until there is nothing to do but to sit in ashes and scrape the sores on the body, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9)

That is often the advice we get from folks around us. Curse God and die. Perhaps it is not a physical death that is spoken of by Job’s wife. To curse God could indeed lead to our spiritual death. So to curse God does lead to our death, spiritually speaking. That is the real goal of Satan as he attacked Job, was to drive a wedge between Job and God. Take all the earthly, material items from Job, take his family, take all he holds dear, and Job will curse God. Job will walk away from God, from trusting Him, from following Him.

That truly is the focus of what Satan tries to do to each of us; to lead us to curse God and die. So the events in our lives are tragic – the loss of a love one; the slow crippling outcome of a disease; the terror of loneliness; the emptiness of standing by a grace; the sour words of a doctor with terrible news after an endless series of tests or an unsuccessful surgery. All of these can be used by Satan to encourage us to curse God and die.

But we don’t get there immediately, if ever. Instead, as events happen, as the skies darken and the winds pick up, the lightning flashes, and the waves break over the bow of our ship called “life,” we look back on our Lord, asleep in the rear of the boat and ask the question, “Why?” Why does He sleep? Why does He not do something? We rush to our Lord, try to shake Him awake, and cry out to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38) What is going one? Why is He not doing something? The boat of life is being swamped, water pours in with each wave, we are bailing as fast as we can but are falling behind. The boat is sitting lower and lower in the water, and Jesus sleeps. He sleeps. We forget the words of the Psalmist, “At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity.” (Psalm 75:2) Or as Habakkuk writes, “The Lord answered me:…if it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

As we get anxious, as it seems the Lord will not be there or answer the cry of our heart as our boat is sinking, He says to us, “Therefore wait for me.” (Zephaniah 3:8a) Isaiah knew the cry of one who is needing the Lord to act, he was watching Israel self–destruct, the people of God turning away, and he desired for God to act, to wake up, and help the people in this critical time. Isaiah says, “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from Jacob, and I will hope in him.” (Isaiah 8:17)

So, for each of us, crying out to the Lord in the midst of our struggles, even as we cry out “why?”, can echo the words of David as he writes, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14) It is not easy. We hear the words, but we still cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And the Psalmist says to us again, “Our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and our shield.” (Psalm 33:20)

Why? As we wait in faith, we cry “Why?” We do not understand the situation. It is overwhelming. It is difficult. It is more than we can handle. The cry of the heart as the pains build, the frustration overwhelms, the fears rush in like waters before the winds of a hurricane, a tidal surge that threatens everything that we are. Why? Why? Our eyes are filled with tears, our legs are giving out. We can relate to David’s words, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” (Psalm 6:6) Oh, if only the Lord would hear my cry of pain! If only He could give answer to me in my struggles.

This Lenten series will put into words the cry of the heart. It will lay bare the soul of the one who is struggling in life. And then it will bring the healing words of God. Jesus, rising up at the stern of the boat, says to our storms, “Peace! Be Still!” and with the depth of love shown by one who came into our world, because human just as we are, faced the pains, the heartache, and the loss even as we do, only to take all we struggle with upon His shoulders. He carries it to the cross. That is the focus of this Lenten series. The Lord knows. The Lord hears. The Lord is with us. He hears the cry of the heart, and in His time, in His way, in His love, He brings to us what we truly need!

Come, let us climb into the boat together with the Lord. Let us face the storms together as we travel to the cross. Know this, Jesus is with you in all you face. He hears the cry of your heart! And He loves and cares for you.

Here it is! Lent has arrived.

 Lent begins today. Today is called Ash Wednesday. It will be 40 (46) days till Easter at this point. We will spend the next 6 weeks focused on the actions of Jesus Christ. Often the focus of Lent becomes what we do. What will we give up? How will we prepare ourselves? How deeply will we repent of our sins? Looking at ourselves, we feel like we are getting ready for the Passion of our Lord.

But wait a moment, it really isn't about us. Our actions, our piety, our prayers, are not to be the focus of Lent. The focus is upon His Passion. Jesus takes our sins. For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) God sent His Son to be our Savior. The focus of our lives is not to be upon our actions, for that takes us back to the Law, but upon His actions, for He alone is the One who can pay the price of our sins. Yes, I do pray, as I do every day. I do devotions, as I do every day. I do works of piety, as I do every day. But those are not the focus of my life of faith. My focus is my Savior Jesus Christ.

Thank You Jesus for becoming a man for me, for my salvation. Thank You for taking my sins. Thank You for taking upon Yourself my sins. I praise Your name that I have been given new life through the waters of my Baptism, dead to sin and alive to God in You. Living in my Baptism, I see the new life that You have given me. 

These next 40 days will be ones that are filled with the working of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament in my life. I repent of my sins, even as I do every day. Returning to my Baptism, I walk this path to the cross of Jesus Christ, following my Savior, who walks the path in my stead. 

Lent is here. Bring it on! For I look to Jesus Christ alone! Praise be to Him for His life, His death and His resurrection.