Tag: Heavenly Father

DIVINE GRACE & PRESENCE

There are two ways of living… One is the way of resisting Almighty God, and the other is the way of surrender to God’s eternal grace and steadfast love. Resistance to God brings anxiety and distress, restlessness and hopelessness. Surrender to God, however, brings inner peace and joy, true happiness and hope. It really is that simple.

The worldly person is always in a state of resistance and inner conflict. The spiritual person, on the other hand, has given up the struggle through their sweet surrender to God. For as St. Augustine famously stated in his autobiographical Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

True religion, therefore, is about surrender, and a wonderful symbolic representation of this is the California condor. When it steps out off the cliff, it simply stretches wide its wings and floats in the rising air thermals. Likewise, as we yield to God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we are freed to no longer flap our spiritual wings to exhaustion. Rather, by the uplifting power of God’s Holy Spirit, we are free to float weightless on God’s limitless atmosphere.

“Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles [and condors], they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” – (Isaiah 40:30-31)

So, truly, all the weight in our hearts and minds can be tied in some way to our willful and sinful resistance to the Way and Truth and Life of God in our lives. The more you fight God, the lower you fall. The more you yield and surrender to him, the lighter you become and the higher you soar spiritually.

The Season of Lent is all about dying to our sinful rebellion, and rising up unto the abundant Life and Light and Love of our Heavenly Father. This is what our Lord Jesus meant when he declared in Luke 17:33, “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.”

Consequently, as we move into Lent (meaning “length”) when the days lengthen toward springtime, may we ever seek to give up the fight, surrendering to the forgiveness and renewal of the Lord our God given freely to us in Christ. Moreover, may we also be ever mindful of God’s Holy Presence with us and for us in the here and now, realizing that we stand before the amazing Throne of the Eternal God each and every moment of our daily lives.

As the days lengthen and become warmer, may we come to understand more fully that the grass and flowers of the field, the trees and mountains, the rocks and rivers, Christ’s Word and Sacraments, as well as our hearts and souls, are all together the amazing Throne of God’s Presence. In reality, we stand before the Throne of God Most High now… Forever right now… So, for this Lenten Season, and for the rest of our God-given life, let us remember our most Wonder-Full Lord God every single day, the ever-present Source of all creation and salvation, in whom “we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a).

Blessed Lent to All of You! Pastor Tim

A NEW YEAR’S DEVOTION FOR 2023

At our Community Luncheon in December, I gave a brief devotion for the coming New Year centered on the theme of getting out into life and living in the courage of Christ our Lord.

Because we can become so risk-averse in our lives, we can sometimes fall into not truly living life to the fullest. Days, weeks and years can slip away wasted on distancing from life, cutting off from life, and shutting in from life. All those wonderful (but risky) life opportunities can be utterly wasted and lost in time.

While it’s true that we all wish to add years to our life, it’s also much more important to add life to our years. So for my January 2023 article, I offer for your spiritual empowerment and encouragement the following Bible reading, poem and prayer that I shared at our final 2022 Community Luncheon…

A BIBLE READING FOR THE NEW YEAR:

“Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind.” – [Second Timothy 1:4-7]

A POEM FOR THE NEW YEAR:

[Every Minute Someone Leaves this World by Marianne Baum]

Every minute someone leaves this world behind.

Age has nothing to do with it.

We are all in “the line” without knowing it.

We never know how many people are before us.

We cannot move to the back of the line.

We cannot step out of the line.

We cannot avoid the line.

So while we wait in line:

Make moments count.

Make priorities.

Make the time.

Make your gifts known.

Make a nobody feel like a somebody.

Make your voice heard.

Make the small things big.

Make someone smile.

Make the change.

Make love.

Make up.

Make peace.

Make sure to tell your people they are loved.

Make sure to have no regrets. Make sure you are ready.  

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR:  

Heavenly Father, you make all things new. By your Holy Spirit, remind and encourage us this year (and always) to live our life to the fullest in the faith and joy of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. For you did not give us a spirit of cowardice, O God, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Happy New Year!!! Pastor Tim

NOW THAT IT’S IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

I’m sharing a picture of me with my quarantine lockdown beard that I grew back in 2020. This was taken at the height of the lockdown when I was doing video announcements, devotions and messages from my office. And growing this wizard beard was fun for me to do during an otherwise very difficult time for our nation and world.

Since the time of this photograph two years ago, the pandemic has moved into our rearview mirror. As in the rearview mirror of an automobile, we can still see the effects of the virus but the pandemic is now behind us. It’s essentially over since it has moved into an “endemic” reality. We have moved from the pandemic into an endemic phase, which means this virus is always going to be with us as a part of the overall ecosystem of annual illnesses. Consequently, there will always be new variants just as there are with influenza each year.

We have also learned that the expectation of never getting this virus is simply an unrealistic one. The truth is that, if we haven’t had it already, we are all going to get it at some point. But thankfully, due to the artificially activated immunity from the vaccines and boosters, and due to the naturally occurring immunity that comes from getting this illness, we now have widespread “herd immunity” moving forward. In addition to all of this, the various excellent therapeutics that have been developed also give us further confidence that we are free to embrace life and ministry to the fullest once again.

As a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ, we certainly should never again take for granted the opportunity for connection with God and each other that is provided to us through regular participation in Bible study, choir, ministry committees, worship, and Holy Communion with the Lord at his Holy Table each week. Therefore, “not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25), let us recommit ourselves to the blessed habit and weekly rhythm of congregational life — especially to in-person Sunday morning worship, face to face. Let us resist turning Christianity into something to be consumed electronically, understanding that Christian fellowship, discipleship and spiritual growth happen best in the week-to-week interaction of in-person community, which is beautiful (but sometimes difficult) and always truly necessary for us.

So now, let’s sing loudly together from our pew seats at church. Let’s boldly praise the Lord without inhibition. Let’s resoundingly speak our liturgies and sing our hymns by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s walk away from the Lord’s Table each week with a lingering foretaste of the Kingdom of God in our mouths and hearts and souls. And let’s reach out to our unchurched neighbors with the good news and lovingkindness of Jesus Christ, inviting them to the variety of outreach activities and events we are now offering, which include the following:

+ MOLC Summer Day Camp

+ MOLC Trunk or Treat

+ MOLC Holiday Artisan Festival

+ MOLC Community Luncheon

+ And more to come…

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be changed by what we’ve experienced over the past several years to live more fully, to love more joyfully, to worship more faithfully, and to share the gospel more urgently. And may we always remember that God is with us to guide us, empower us, and embolden us forward in mission and ministry. God is here in our midst, giving us new life and hope and courage.

A very happy and blessed Fall be with all of you!

Together in Christ Our Lord, Pastor Tim

THREE-PART INFORMATIONAL SERIES

We are a nation of immigrants, and this means that we’re a nation of individuals who are woven together from virtually all tribes, languages and creeds of Planet Earth. Particularly, in our La Crescenta area we have a strong representation of American citizens who are from Armenia and Korea. And coming along with these two demographic cohorts, there’s a strong tradition of Christian faith and life. However, many other immigrants to our nation profess one of the following three biggest non-Christian faiths: Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.

So as Christians, how are we to be true to our own spiritual inheritance while we seek greater understanding with other religious groups? How are we to understand our own religious faith and spirituality in relation to non-Christian groups? How can we witness to the grace, truth and hope of Christ in an open and respectful way? Is there a positive and constructive perspective on this issue that glorifies God and faithfully uplifts the gospel of Jesus Christ?

For me, the term “non-Christian” does not mean “un-Christian” or “anti-Christian.” Therefore, we can learn about these non-Christian faiths, grow in our understanding of them, highlight our commonalities while acknowledging our differences, look for any and all areas in which the Spirit of Christ is genuinely present within their beliefs and practices, and then faithfully, lovingly and respectfully share the gospel.

Toward this goal, we are having a three-part informational series about the three largest non-Christian faiths over three consecutive Thursdays in June. These three gatherings will take place in our church sanctuary, and each gathering will include a printed summary sheet for each of these three largest non-Christian faiths. In addition, there will be visual aids projected up on the church sanctuary screen, and there will be discussion time as well.

The three-Thursday schedule for this three-part June series is the following…

JUNE 16 ~ 7-8 PM ~ HINDUISM ~ (the 2nd largest non-Christian faith)

JUNE 23 ~ 7-8 PM ~ BUDDHISM ~ (the 3rd largest non-Christian faith)

JUNE 30 ~ 7-8 PM ~ ISLAM ~ (the largest non-Christian faith)

My prayer for this series is that Almighty God, the Father of Glory and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, may give us a spirit of wisdom and guidance as we come to understand these three largest non-Christian faiths, so that we may know more deeply the grace, truth and hope to which we have been called in Christ our Savior — whom God raised from the dead and seated at his right hand in the heavenly places “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” (Ephesians 1:21).

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

OUR BLESSED ASSURANCE

Our human sinfulness alienates us from God our Creator, but the wonderful and amazing good news is that Jesus Christ gives us everlasting salvation from this self-imposed alienation, granting us reconciliation with God and eternal heavenly life. This is our blessed assurance in Christ! Thanks be to God!

This blessed assurance of God’s grace through Jesus Christ is not merely some broad, uncertain appeal to the generic mercy of God. Rather, through the compassionate life, sacrificial death and redemptive resurrection of Jesus our Lord, we have absolute assurance of our atonement and salvation with God. What good news indeed! What amazing grace this is!

Fully acknowledging and confessing that we are sinners who have alienated ourselves from God, we believe and trust that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised for our redemption. Therefore, by the power of his Holy Spirit, we profess him as our Savior who gives us renewal of life here and heavenly life hereafter. So now, in thanksgiving and praise for Christ’s gospel of salvation and eternal life, I would like to simply bless you with the following Bible quotations:

ROMANS 10:9-13

For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:16-17

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure…

Brothers and sisters, this life is so brief, and, compared to a heavenly eternity with God, this life is really a fleeting bubble in a stream or flash of lightning in a cloud. And in response to the faith and hope and eternal salvation we have received through Jesus Christ our Lord, we seek to live this present mortal life in light of these great gifts, looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Kingdom at the great Second Advent of Christ. With that in mind, I conclude this brief article with the words of the timeless hymn, Blessed Assurance:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Happy & Blessed Eastertide!!!  Pastor Tim

ROW YOUR BOAT GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM

My dad died in 2003, then later my mom died in 2014, and so, at these very difficult times of great loss and grief, I found myself spending a lot of time and energy looking back. Naturally, this is a normal response when we experience the greatest losses in life, such as the death of a parent or a longtime spouse. Indeed, dwelling on the past with enormous amounts of mental and emotional energy like this is very much a part of the grieving process for up to a couple of years afterward.

Sadly, we can sometimes become stuck in the past — year after year, and even decade after decade — and this imprisonment in the past drains and robs us of being fully present right here and now. However, thanks be to God we can become unstuck by the good news of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord! By God’s great mercy, we have been reborn into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And this great hope lifts us up and rescues us from being hopelessly and endlessly stuck in the past and in our grief. As St. Paul the Apostle of Christ writes in his second letter to the Christians of the City of Corinth:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is achieving for us an eternal glory beyond all measure. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

(Second Corinthians 4: 16-18)

Similarly, we can be tempted into the trap of being overly focused (to the point of obsession) on the future. We can exhaust ourselves with worrying about what the future might hold for us. Yet again, we can find ourselves drained and robbed of being fully present right here and now, except this time the culprit is our anxiety about the future. However, the cure for this is the same cure that saves us from being stuck in the past. The cure is the good news and eternal hope of Christ! For our Lord Jesus teaches us with his immortal words in chapter 6 of the Gospel of Matthew and in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John:

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for today is its own trouble.”

(from Matthew 6: 25-34)

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also… I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

(from John 14: 2-7)

In other words, we should not obsess about what the future might hold for us, because we know The One who holds our future in his hands — our Heavenly Father. And because our Heavenly Father has provided his only begotten Son to bring us atonement, forgiveness and renewal of life, we have an all-surpassing future hope. Christ has died, yes, but Christ is now risen and we shall arise too. He is the Lord of all life and light and love, and this wonderful Lord is also the Lord of our everlasting future together.

Therefore, we need not fret over the impermanent nature of this temporary earthly existence that we all must journey through. It is a temporary condition during which we experience all sorts of tests and trials, but it is only momentary compared to the eternal glory that awaits us through Christ. For again as the Apostle Paul writes, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The gospel of Christ empowers us to more gently row our boats through this life. Not futilely rowing backward against the flow of time, stuck in the past. Not frantically and exhaustingly rowing forward with great anxiety about the future. Rather, we are enabled to row gently down the stream — mentally and emotionally present in the here and now — by the power of the faith, hope and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

During our Lenten Season and on into Eastertime, and indeed for the rest of our lives, may we continually learn to row our boats more gently down the stream of this life — “merrily, merrily,” as the old song goes — for we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Blessed Season of Lent! Pastor Tim

BUILDING BRIDGES IN JESUS’ NAME

In the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:1-12, our Lord Jesus very plainly states that his believers and followers will be persecuted because of our faith in him.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

Matthew 5:11

And after Jesus states this, he goes on in Matthew 5 to specify the particular aspects of following him that will get us into trouble within our world. He specifies things like being salt and light, which means being active witnesses to his gospel within our world. And he highlights that his followers will be observant of the Ten Commandments, listing the following: that his followers will value human life within a world that devalues it, that we will honor and uphold the covenant of marriage within an adulterous world, that we will be keepers of our word within a deceitful world, and he adds that we will be merciful within an unforgiving world, that we will love all people as children of our Heavenly Father, and that we will prayerfully seek to build bridges even with our enemies.

Many despised Jesus for his ethics of inclusivity and bridge-building. He was absolutely despised for his insistence that all people are to be treated as children of God and they must be regarded equally as such: Hebrew and Pagan, Jew and Roman, male and female, countryman and foreigner, so on and so forth. However, when building bridges between very different people according to his grace and truth, Jesus essentially warns us in Matthew 5:11 that IF YOU BUILD BRIDGES THEN YOU WILL OFTEN BE MISUNDERSTOOD FROM BOTH SIDES.

When we follow Jesus by building bridges between different people, especially people of different points of view, the simple truth is that we should expect to be persecuted, reviled, and have all kinds of evil uttered against us. And this is especially true when we follow Jesus by building bridges of understanding, coexistence and cooperation in all areas of human life (ethnicity, religion, politics, sexuality, culture, etc.). So, we ought to be prepared for this rejection and condemnation.

In particular, within today’s religiously diverse society, how are we as Christians to be reconcilers and bridge builders? How are we to be true to our own spiritual inheritance while we seek greater understanding with other religious groups? How are we to understand our own religious faith and spirituality in relation to non-Christian groups? Is there a positive and constructive perspective on this issue that glorifies God and benefits everyone?

For me, “non-Christian” does not mean “un-Christian” or “anti-Christian.” And for me, God is like a great body of water connecting all the various ports and harbors that occupy God’s shoreline. These various harbors are the various religions, and the various piers (on which we dock our individual boats) are the various traditions within each religion. Consequently, there’s a Judeo-Christian harbor that Jews and Christians share (although we have different piers in this shared harbor). There’s also a Muslim harbor, a Hindu harbor, a Buddhist harbor, a Sikh harbor, and so on. So, in this metaphor we are all connected by the Great Water (God), but we each occupy a unique and special place on it.

Therefore, we can explore God’s diverse Oneness from our own safe harbor (“Judeo-Christian Harbor”) and from our own particular dock in this harbor (“Christianity Pier”). So, as with all the various peoples of faith, we can sail out on the great water of God to explore, discover and grow in understanding and wisdom. We can visit other harbors, and we can fish the Great Water (as fishers of people for Christ), but we come home to our own safe harbor when we are tired from our journeys and are in need of our spiritual home port.

Our Christianity Pier and Judeo-Christian Harbor are our secure jumping-off point into the Great Ocean of God. The doctrines of our Christian Faith are wonderfully and gloriously true — especially the tri-unity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus the Son of God. So yes, God is truly revealed in these wonderful doctrines of Christianity, but God is also much more than is revealed in these doctrines.

Therefore, we travel out to sea for religious exploration and discovery, and for fishing for people out at sea, but NOT for religious conquest of other ports. For me, I enjoy going out into the beautiful Ocean of God and exploring, and I seek to fish for people in Jesus’ name, but I don’t raid the other harbors and ports like some kind of spiritual pirate. Simply put, we witness to Christ Jesus best in this bridge-building way, and it will bring upon us misunderstanding, condemnation, and even persecution, but Jesus gives to his persecuted believers the following promise:

“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:12

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

AN ALL-INCLUSIVE PRAYER FOR 2021

Almighty and wonder-full God, we are thankful for your all-encompassing, all-pervading and eternal Presence.

Our thanks and praise belong to you alone, O God of all, because you are the One Source of all being and goodness. In you we live, move and have our being, and by your sovereign grace we receive salvation, wholeness and renewal.

We thank you for the birth, life, teachings, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you for the redemptive suffering of Jesus, endured by him from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross of Golgotha (a suffering which exposed the total depravity of our sinful human condition every step of the way), and we thank you for Jesus’ sacrificial offering of himself for our everlasting atonement and reconciliation. Moreover, we thank and praise you for the empty tomb and ascension of Jesus which declare your Final Word of life, light and love eternal.

Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — you are in charge and you lead the way. You never leave us nor forsake us, and your steadfast love endures forever. Whether we live or die, we are yours. In this life and the next, we are secure in your hands.

By your sovereign grace and divine will, you call us, claim us and draw us to yourself. You lead us on paths we do not yet know. There is a tomorrow we cannot see, and there are bends in the road we cannot know. But we know you will faithfully lead us according to your plan and purpose, because you are the Faithful One.

By your amazing grace, we travel the journey of this life. By your grace, we keep our minds focused on you. By your grace, we live God-conscious lives, a daily relationship of moment-by-moment dialogue with you. By your grace, we trust in you, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen. And by your grace, we follow you and abide in you.

By your grace, what joy and peace you give to us!!!

And in response to your infinite grace and absolute love, we live lives of worship, prayer, Holy Scripture study, tenderheartedness, lovingkindness, faithfulness, justice, hospitality and charity.

O Lord God, we pray for the world, this diverse arena you have created to work out your infinite grace and purposes for us and all things. We know that destruction and rebirth are a part of your creative will for the natural world. We know that you are in all creation and all creation is in you. Help us to use times of crisis as opportunities for serving those in need and sharing your truth.

O God, we know that you establish, disestablish and reestablish your earthly community throughout the ages. Beginnings, endings and new beginnings all flow from your creative and redemptive activity. We pray that in times of adversity you will draw us closer to you all the more.

Help us to see your Unity in the diversity of our world, O God, and help us to see that we are all united in you through your Holy Spirit. Help us to see we are of One Love and One Heart in you.

O God, for your universal glory and for our eternal benefit, help us to see and understand all of this according to the faith, hope and love of your Living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.

You are Love… You are Sovereign… You are True…

Wonder-full God, the great “I Am” of the Scriptures, we pray all these things in the saving name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The grace and peace of Christ be with you all in 2021! Pastor Tim

GOD’S LIVING TEMPLE

Recently during our online Bible study of the Book of Ephesians, hosted on the Zoom video conferencing platform, we discussed the “holy temple” of Ephesians chapter 2…

So Christ came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Ephesians 2:17-22

As I shared with the other Bible study participants on Zoom, this image of the Church of Jesus Christ as one living temple is a favorite biblical image for me. Of course the Bible uses several other images to describe the Church, such as one living body with many different members, or as one living tree into which we (many different branches) are grafted by God’s grace. However, the image of a living temple speaks to my heart a little bit more than these others.

As a lover of architecture, the living temple image of the Church in Ephesians allows me to imagine the various interrelated structural parts — including how we might imagine our relationship with the Holy Trinity of God. Therefore, with the apostles and prophets of the New and Old Testaments as the foundation of this great spiritual temple, and with ourselves as its living interconnected stone blocks, let’s focus on the three most notable pieces of stonemasonry: the Cornerstone, the Keystone, and the Capstone.

The cornerstone (or setting stone) is the first stone placed in a masonry construction, and all the other building stones will be set in reference to this first stone — thereby determining the overall position of the entire structure. Likewise, Jesus Christ is our divine Cornerstone, the chief stone set in place for us to base our individual orientation within the overall temple structure. In other words, our Lord Jesus’ life, teachings, death and resurrection give us the exact spiritual dimensions that we use to set and position our faith and spirituality.

The keystone (sometimes doubling as a capstone) is the central wedge stone at the apex of a masonry arch, or it’s the circular wedge stone at the apex of a vaulted structure. In both cases it’s the final stone that locks all the stones of an arch or vault into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear the weight of the surrounding structure. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is our divine Keystone, the central wedge stone that unites and binds all the other stones into one load-bearing temple structure. Consequently, due to the open but solid archway of the Holy Spirit (or Holy Keystone) we are strengthened and kept in true faith by the Holy Spirit’s power and spiritual gifts, bestowed upon us through the Word and Sacraments of God.

The capstone (sometimes doubling as a keystone) is a stone placed at the pinnacle of a masonry construction, typically on top of a wall or a monument. In addition, the capstone is an architectural feature that is often found at the very top of religious, memorial and governmental structures. As a result, capstones on such structures as these are often detailed artistic features placed at the highest point in order to indicate the purpose or meaning of the entire building. Furthermore, the capstone can be circular or conical or pyramidal in shape.

On both governmental and religious buildings, the capstone can often have some kind of decorative orb centered on top — and this orb can also have a symbol or statue on top of it.  For example, there is an ornate capstone at the pinnacle of the dome of our United States Capitol Building, and it’s a conical-shaped capstone supporting an orb (etched with the words “E Pluribus Unum”) that also has the Statue of Freedom standing upon the orb. Or for another example, centered on the capstones of many Church cathedrals there are orbs with either cross symbols or angelic figures (or both). Likewise, just as it is with these beautiful capstone structures on top of large governmental and religious buildings, our Heavenly Father is our divine Capstone, the pinnacle stone that indicates our highest purpose and meaning, and our highest exultation and destiny.

As we are physically isolated during this global Coronavirus pandemic and national quarantine, it is deeply important that we remember our spiritual togetherness as stones in God’s living temple — securely interconnected with God and each other forever by God’s amazing grace. With the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (our divine Capstone, Cornerstone and Keystone), and with the apostles and prophets as our foundation, we shall stand firm throughout it all. 

Lastly, with all of this in mind, I’m reminded of the first part of the third verse of the great Christian hymn “Built on a Rock the Church Shall Stand”…

Christ builds a house of living stones:

we are his own habitation;

he fills our hearts, his humble thrones,

granting us life and salvation.

Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW), Hymn #652, Verse 3

A blessed Pentecost Sunday to all of you in May and a wonder-full Holy Trinity Sunday in June!

Together in God’s Living Temple, Pastor Tim

HOLY COMMUNION: OUR WEEKLY PENTECOST

On Pentecost Sunday for 2019, I shared in my sermon about Martin Luther’s “Seven Marks of the Church” (a.k.a. “Seven Principle Signs of the Church” or “Seven Pillars of the Church”)…

  • 1) Proclamation of the Gospel – (the good news of Jesus Christ)
  • 2) Holy Baptism – (in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
  • 3) Holy Communion – (the Lord’s Supper)
  • 4) Absolution of Sins – (declaring forgiveness with Christ’s authority)
  • 5) Ordination of Leadership – (deacons, pastors, bishops)
  • 6) Praise of God – (public worship through word, prayer and song)
  • 7) The Way of the Cross – (charitable service and sacrificial love)

For this article, I will focus on the Third Mark of the Church (Holy Communion).

In ancient times, when a relationship had been broken, the offering of a meal was given in order to bring about reconciliation and restored fellowship. In fact, this was the whole basis for the sacrifices and sin-offerings of the ancient Hebrew Tabernacle and the ancient Hebrew Temple. These sacrifices were simply offerings of food (in a spirit of confession, repentance and forgiveness) in order to restore full fellowship with God.

Quite literally, the ancient offerings of food (especially some kind of meat) were offered to restore full Table Fellowship with God, bringing reconciliation and “atonement” (at-one-ment) in relationship to God. However, the problem was that there was no perfect offering that mere human beings could have given in order to permanently and everlastingly (once and for all time) restore full fellowship with a perfect, holy and pure Almighty God.

Then two thousand years ago, a perfect offering (that God himself provided to us) was given on behalf of all us imperfect sinful human beings — a supreme offering to perfectly restore our full table fellowship with God and with one another.  And as you already know of course, this perfect offering was and is the very life (body, blood, soul and divinity) of our Lord Jesus Christ, freely given and poured out for you and me and all people. Being fully God and fully human at the same time, Jesus was the perfect offering for the sins of the world. He’s the perfect “Lamb of God” (John 1:29) offered as the once-and-for-all-time sacred meal of reconciliation, atonement and renewal.

Being fully God, Jesus’ offering to restore us to fellowship with God was the most perfect of offerings. And being fully human, Jesus’ offering to restore us to communion with God was truly a real sacrifice on his part. Consequently, on the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus connected the bread and wine of his Holy Supper to the offering of his life for us. So Jesus tells us that, as we partake of this bread and wine in remembrance of him, we are literally sharing in a meal of reconciliation and holy table fellowship with God according to his sacrificial offering of his body and blood for this purpose.

Therefore, although the Lord is omnipresent (everywhere present), we believe that Christ our Lord is uniquely and especially present with us and for us in the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion to continually restore us to fellowship with God and strengthen us in faith, hope and love. In other words, we come to this sacramental meal (over and over again) to keep us in an abiding relationship with God, and to empower us to love one another and all people just as our Lord Jesus loves us.

When we receive the body and blood of Christ in the form of the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, we receive the grace and power of the Holy Spirit of God, which makes this sacred meal our weekly Pentecost. But Holy Communion is not only for our own spiritual wellbeing. In fact, the purpose of Holy Communion also has to do with the great Love Commandment of our Lord Jesus.

This is why the Apostle Paul got so upset at the Corinthian Christians who were sharing in the Lord’s Supper while simultaneously setting up distinctions and discriminations between one another. Basically, the wealthy congregants were being shown special favor within the Corinthian congregation, while the poor congregants were being marginalized. This outraged Paul, so he writes that we must not receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion while practicing discrimination and partiality within the Body of Christ (the Church). “For those who eat and drink without discerning the Body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves” (First Corinthians 11:29).

Through the Apostle Paul’s very strong words in First Corinthians 11, we can see the intimate connection between the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ command to love one another and all people as he loves us. Therefore, the good gifts of God’s Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of the Altar (the Lord’s Supper) are for an inclusive purpose according to God’s all-encompassing love. In other words, Holy Communion is focused outwards as well as inwards.

From Holy Communion we are sent by the power of the Holy Spirit to bear the grace and love of God to all the world around us! Empowered by Christ’s sacramental offering and presence at the altar, we are to go out from this meal to serve and love (according to his Way of the Cross) for the sake of the world.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim