Tag: Kingdom of God

STEWARDSHIP & THE MIRACLE MAKER

In chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus addressed the subject of temple offerings. The following is from Mark 12:41-43…

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.”

Of course, Jesus is not saying that we should give to the work of God’s Kingdom to the point of financial hardship. Rather, he is saying that those who give out of their abundant wealth are not giving as much as those with far less wealth who give a lesser amount. In other words, Jesus is simply praising the generous spirit of the poor widow over and against the less generous spirit of the rich elite of Jerusalem.

While Jesus is not advocating for our impoverishment in Mark 12, he is certainly advocating for us to be as generous as possible (without material injury to ourselves) for the work of the ministry of God’s Kingdom for all people. Because of God’s unlimited grace for us in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are free to joyfully and cheerfully give whatever it is that we have pledged to the mission and ministry of our “temple” congregation, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. For that’s what it says in Second Corinthians 9:7, where it says, “Each of you must give as you have made up your own mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

ALL that we have and ALL that we are (absolutely everything) comes from God and belongs to God. From the Christian perspective, we are not owners but only stewards of all that the Creator gives to us — our lives, families, possessions, labor, income and talents. Therefore, everything that we have and everything that we are is to serve the glory of God for the sake of the world.

So, it’s not that we give a certain percentage to the work of God, and the rest is ours. No, it’s that 100% belongs to God, and we are to be good stewards of his 100%, including our offerings to our congregation. It is all from God anyway, and so it’s all in service of God’s Kingdom here in our earthly lives as a sweet foretaste of our heavenly lives to come. In other words, stewardship is everything we do after we say we believe. And stewardship is also the first things that we do. It’s the first fruits of our lives; the first fruits of everything.

“First fruits” means that we dedicate a certain amount of our time, talents and income to the work of God first thing — right off the top. For example, our Sunday worship service is the first fruits of our time each week, which is the morning of the very first day of the week. For another example, the Lord’s Prayer prayed each morning as we’re still sitting on the side of our bed (first thing) is a powerful first fruits practice. And of course, cheerfully giving a pledged amount of our income every pay period (first thing, right off the top) is a fundamental first fruits spiritual discipline.

Giving a set pledged amount to the work of God within our community of faith first thing off the top — rather than the last thing from the bottom dregs — is an act of worship that is multiplied by the offerings of others. As our Lord Jesus miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes, we need to remember that it’s not for us to perform the miracle but it’s only for us to offer the five loaves and two fish. From everlasting to everlasting, the Lord God Almighty is the Miracle Maker and the Source of all that is, both seen and unseen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, eternal world without end! Amen!

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

PLANTING TREES

There is no doubt that we live in a time of colossal and world-shattering change: socially, religiously, culturally, nationally, globally, etcetera. It is indeed the end of the world as we know it.

Historians have recognized that approximately every five hundred years human civilization goes through some kind of major transition from an older structure of things to a new one, and it sure feels like that’s exactly what’s happening in our time. In fact, the last major civilizational shift was the Protestant Reformation, five hundred years ago, when Martin Luther and the other Protestant Reformers sparked this world-changing transfiguration through their reforms of the Medieval Roman Church.

Today, the world as we have known it is rapidly being replace by an emerging reality that is not yet fully clear. Consequently, speculations of the various end times theologies and ideologies abound. And due to the influential pre-millennial theology of the Left Behind novels, some Christians have started to regard any global peacemaking initiative as automatically some kind of great antichrist deception.

Consequently, such Christians (in the name of Jesus) often orient themselves against work for international peace and reconciliation because their Left Behind theology says that such work is always secretly on the side of the evil one. However, our Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). And when Martin Luther was asked what he would do today if he knew the world would end tomorrow, Luther said, “I would plant a tree.”

In other words, even if we knew that tomorrow the world was going to end and the Kingdom of God was going to come in its fullness, we are called to never stop planting “trees” today (both literally and metaphorically). That is, we are to especially plant the metaphorical trees of peace and truth and grace today, no matter what God has in store tomorrow.

God’s people are to always and continually take part in the creative and redeeming work of God today and every day! By the grace and power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are to plant trees of faith in the midst of fear, trees of hope against all hope, and trees of righteousness and peace. And of course, we are to not forget to plant real trees that give us oxygen and help regulate the balance of life on God’s green Earth. Therefore, to prescribe and do anything other than this is to be “anti” (against) Christ.

As our Lord Jesus declares in Matthew 25:31-46, we are called to continue to labor to make the world a better place right up to the great Day of the Lord, the great Second Advent of Jesus Christ. By God’s grace, we are to continue to work (right up to the very moment of Christ’s return) to ease human suffering, to promote equal treatment under law, and, of course, to be peacemakers in the name of Yeshua (Jesus) our Eternal Savior.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

JESUS & MATZAH BREAD

During the festival of Pesach (Passover), our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world connect themselves to one of the greatest stories ever told by celebrating the Seder, which is an interactive dinner where the events of the Exodus from Egypt are retold. And for Christians, this annual liturgical meal also points to Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus), and this is perhaps in no place more clearly illustrated than in the tradition of hiding the broken afikoman matzah bread (also spelled afikomen).

For the uninitiated, one of the traditions of the Passover Seder Meal is a special bag called a matzah tash that has three compartments, each containing a whole matzah (unleavened bread). The tradition is to take the middle matzah out and break it in half. Half of the matzah is placed back in the matzah tash, but the other half is wrapped in a linen napkin. This piece is called the afikoman (from the Greek epikomon), meaning “that which comes after,” and it’s considered a substitute for the ancient Passover sacrifice which was the last thing eaten at the Passover Seder during the historical eras of the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The afikoman is then hidden by an adult for the duration of the first part of the Seder, and after dinner the children search for it and bring it back to their parents to be redeemed for a prize. Traditionally, the Seder cannot end until the afikoman is found.

The searching and finding of the afikoman is a beloved Passover tradition, but Judaism has no authoritative explanation as to the origin or the meaning of the afikoman. A number of diverse and often conflicting theories have emerged over the centuries. One tradition holds that the three pieces of matzah represent the three casts of Judaism: the Israelites, the Levites, and the Kohanim (the Priests). Another theory is that the three matzah breads represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But these are later innovations; they are not mentioned in either the Mishnah or the Talmud (the authoritative writings of Rabbinic Judaism).

Moreover, why is the middle matzah broken? What would breaking the Priests or Isaac accomplish? Some rabbis believe that breaking the matzah represents the splitting of the Red Sea, but if that’s the case why is a half piece of the ocean hidden away? Lastly, one tradition even says that the afikoman is hidden so that it doesn’t get eaten by accident before the meal is over.

Of course, none of these theories are truly authoritative or satisfying. However, there is one other explanation that makes perfect sense, and it ties all of the symbolism together and tells a cohesive story.

First presented by Austrian-Jewish scholar Robert Eisler in 1925, the most coherent explanation of the tradition of the afikoman was likely conceived by the First Century Jewish followers of Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus) and that the afikoman is a symbol of Jesus himself. In fact, the very texture of the matzah bread and the way it’s prepared is indicative of Jesus. Matzah has stripes burned into it from the oven rack and it must be pierced with holes to prevent it from rising. In the same way, our Lord Yeshua was literally striped by the lashes of a whip, and he was pierced by nails and a spear.

In addition, the three compartments of the one matzah bag represent the three ways we experience the One Almighty God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. And the middle matzah (representing the Son of God) is broken, just as Yeshua our Savior was broken for us (see Isaiah 53). And after his death on the cross, Yeshua’s body was wrapped in a linen shroud and buried away for three days until his resurrection. So too, the afikoman is wrapped in a linen cloth and hidden until the end of the Passover Seder Meal.

When the meal ends, the children search for the afikoman to gain the prize that comes from finding it. In this act, the salvation and redemption that comes through the sacrificial offering of the Divine Messiah is illustrated. And how fitting it is that it’s the children who seek the afikoman, for Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these (Matt 19:14) and that we all must become like little children to enter the Kingdom (Matt 18:3). And just as the Seder cannot end until the afikoman is found, the Kingdom of God will not be established in its fullness until the great return of The Universal Afikoman (Jesus the Messiah).

Now it’s true that the word “afikoman” is often translated as “that which comes after,” but according to Prof. David Daube (a preeminent Twentieth Century scholar of Biblical law) a better origin and definition of afikoman is the Greek word aphikomenos which means “the one who has arrived.” And of course, if nothing else, we know that our risen Lord Yeshua is with us always, and that he has identified the matzah bread of the Passover with his very own body and mystical presence. For at his Last Supper (his Passover Seder that he ate before he suffered) Jesus took the matzah, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to all of them, saying, “This is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me” (First Corinthians 11:24).

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

THE EASTER EGG & THE EMPTY TOMB

Although Christianity is essentially a form of Judaism, over the centuries the Christian Faith has incorporated and inculcated itself into the various cultures of Pagan societies. So Christianity’s spiritual inheritance is a blend of ancient Hebrew faith mixed with some Christianized archaic Pagan practices. And while this fact is often greatly overstated these days by those who wish to discredit and malign Christianity, the reality is that Christian observances (such as the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ) include some formerly Pagan elements as well. Consequently, things like colored eggs, bunny rabbits, and so on, have been given new and eternal significance by the grace and truth of God revealed in Christ our Savior. For “God has placed all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church…” (Ephesians 1:22).  

Moreover, while the name of the annual celebration of the resurrection of Jesus maintains its Hebrew roots in many non-English languages (Pascha in Greek, Pascua in Spanish, etc.), in English the name of this most holy of all Christian holy days is taken from an Anglo-Saxon spring festival centered on the goddess Eostre, a Germanic goddess of the sunrise whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. So this is only the case in English (Easter) and German (Ostern), not in other languages. In most languages, the paschal connection between the celebrations of Passover and Holy Week is maintained, stemming from the Hebrew root word of Pesach.

Now that all this has been said, how are we Christians to regard symbols like colored Easter eggs?

The egg is an obvious candidate for a resurrection symbol of renewal and regeneration. The egg has been honored during many spring rites throughout the ages: Egyptians, Jews, Persians, Romans, Celts, and even the Chinese, have all understood the egg as representing new beginnings. Whether it was the commencement of building a bridge across a river, sowing a field of wheat, or launching a new fishing boat, the egg was used as an emblem of renewal. So Christians naturally adopted the egg symbol to specifically and preeminently represent the new life received through the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. For, again, “God has placed all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church…”

The good news is that God enacts, establishes and extends his absolute love for all nations and peoples through the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ the Son of God, offering the free gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life to everyone by God’s grace through faith. Therefore, according to the biblical gospel, Christianity ascribes the ancient Hebrew symbolism of the Passover lamb and the archaic Pagan symbolism of the decorated egg to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Universal Messiah.

So for us Christians, a colored Easter egg (and its emptied shell after eating it) represents the empty tomb, and it calls us to be empty tombs as well. For the truth is that we can sometimes be overwhelmed by our unrealized expectations, disappointments, losses and grief; we can sometimes be overcome by despair, frustration and an apocalyptic mood. We can become so spiritually and emotionally severe that we become tombs filled with the deadly stench of judgment and condemnation, directed at ourselves and others. However, we must realize that we cannot force the Kingdom of God to be perfectly manifest in others any more than we can force God’s Kingdom to be perfectly manifest in ourselves. So we must love and forgive ourselves and others, just as God loves us and forgives us in Christ.

In other words, by the grace of God, let us become empty tombs in our lives — empty of our desire to control and our attachment to specific outcomes. By God’s grace, we must LET GO and LET GOD! By God’s sovereign grace and will, let us TRUST IN THE LORD and be at peace. God is the Lord of human history (including you and me) and God’s steadfast love endures forever.

“O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:2)

Blessed & Happy Eastertime!!! Pastor Tim

THE FEAR & GRACE OF THE LORD

It is an absolute understatement to say that we are living through a time of information overload and rampant fear-mongering. Due to the digital media revolution of the past several decades, we are now enduring a time in which every molehill is a 10-mile-high mountain and every single challenge is an existential crisis for humanity. From the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to bed, we essentially hear daily cries of “the sky is falling” or “wolf! wolf!” flooding into our minds and hearts, seeking to stir people up into a fear-soaked frenzy for the purpose of serving this or that agenda.

However, if everything is a mountain then nothing is; if everything is a crisis then nothing is. Consequently, we are so overwhelmed and burned out by the constant parade of media-ratings-driven crises that we struggle to pay attention anymore. So of course, we would be well-advised to remember the moral of the old folktales of The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Chicken Little.  In particular, if we remember the ending of the Chicken Little story then we could recall that Chicken Little got other small animal friends whipped up into his hysteria while they completely missed the real threat of the fox in their midst (who eats them all in the end).

As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One who is the Living Revelation of Almighty God’s mercy and forgiveness, we are partakers of his reconciling heart and compassionate mind for the sake of the world. Therefore, the divisiveness and manipulation that saturates our culture these days, seeking to divide and control at every level of society, is contrary to the grace and truth of Christ our Savior. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – (Second Timothy 1:7)

Of course, there is a good kind of biblical fear, a kind of fear that empowers our love and soundness of mind: it’s “the fear of the Lord” as the Holy Scriptures declare. That is, it’s the “fear” of awe-struck wonder at the deep mystery of God. It’s the “fearful” awe and reverence for the Eternal God that leads to insight, understanding and wisdom. As it says in the Book of Proverbs, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10).

This biblical “fear of the Lord” is what leads us to be free peacemakers and free bridge-builders in our lives and world. Freeing us from all forms of human tribalism, the fear and love and faith of Christ our Lord can lead us to transcend earthly divisions for the glory of God and the benefit of all. So as we await the fullness of God’s Kingdom to come when our resurrected Lord Jesus returns to us in person someday, we can be those peacemaking “children of God” that Jesus talks about in chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew.

Moreover, as citizens of the United States of America, we are especially blessed to live in the most universally diverse of all the countries on Earth. It’s not perfect (no country has a perfect history), but we are nonetheless the most diverse country in the world, and I believe God has blessed us Americans with the task of modeling and defending the idea of e pluribus unum (unity from diversity). But more importantly, as Christians, in the name of Jesus Christ, we can be respectful and merciful in this disrespectful and wrathful time, and we can always seek to understand those who differ with us even though we might firmly disagree.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

THE POWER OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST

As winter approaches, there’s deep concern about a looming energy crisis in Europe, caused in no small part by the war in Ukraine. And our country is also experiencing its own problems regarding energy. Debates rage about how to transition to non-fossil fuel sources as energy prices go up and our power grids in some places are strained almost to the brink of collapse. And very moderate estimates say that we would need to double the size of our power grid just to begin to meet the energy requirements for a future in which the electric vehicle (or EV) is the dominant form of automotive transportation.

As brownouts roll across high population centers, people are increasingly asking: Where are we going to get the power? Is it going to come from low-carbon natural gas? From solar, wind, geothermal, or nuclear? Or is it simply a robust combination of all of these sources?

This question, in a spiritual sense, is also a question that Christianity is asking these days within our American society. Of course, I’m not talking about how we’re going to power the lights and air conditioning. What I’m saying is, spiritually speaking, where are we going to get the energy for these times of colossal societal shifts that are so much bigger than us? Where are we going to get the power?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we face a different kind of energy crisis as Christians within our secularizing American culture. Our declining denominations of every branch of the Church, dwindling Christian institutions, and struggling congregations, are causing us to wonder (and even worry) where we’re going to get the power to move into the future. Yes, COVID took its toll on the Church, no doubt about it. However, this spiritual energy crisis for the Church in the United States was already in place, and growing, long before any of us ever heard about the coronavirus. The pandemic was merely a kind of accelerant which exacerbated trends within American Christianity that were already well established.

Seminary enrollments have seen a marked drop in recent decades. Worship attendance has been trending downward for years in every single county of the United States. The fastest growing religious affiliation in our country is “none” — no affiliation whatsoever. Volunteerism is way down across the board in our American society, which has a huge impact on service clubs, fraternal organizations, youth organizations, and, of course, on congregational life. And Church bodies and institutions have been made to reorganize, then reorganize again, and then reorganize yet again, in response to dwindling resources. So, essentially, we have an energy crisis in the Church throughout our nation, even within the mega-church congregations now.

Nonetheless, at the risk of sounding overly simplistic, I would like to suggest that we have a power source which can fuel the future of the Christian Church in America (whatever form that future might take), and this power source is right under our noses. It’s a renewable resource of inexhaustible supply, and this power is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message we have been given to proclaim to the world that [1] there really is such a thing as sin, [2] our sin separates us from God and one another, and [3] we sinners are reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s the message that we are forgiven and freed by the sacrificial blood of the cross of Christ our Lord, so that we might live a new life with God which begins now and continues forever.

In fact, the New Testament refers to the gospel as “the power of God” for our salvation in the Book of Romans. And the actual Greek word translated into English as the word “power” is the word dynamis. So if this word sounds to you like the word “dynamite” then you are correct. That is, according to the New Testament, the full gospel concerning the reality of sin, the spiritual consequences of sin, and then the forgiveness of sin granted to us by the infinite atonement of the sacrificial offering of Christ on our behalf, is an explosively saving and redeeming message. It’s a message that detonates within the receptive ear and open heart, igniting the living fire of faith and salvation. The gospel is the very power that drives faith and fuels the Church.

I believe a major factor in the energy crisis of the Church in America is that we’ve lost our focus on the power of the gospel. Far too many think it’s insufficient as an energy source — that it must be combined with something else, such as the latest fashions in entertainment and media. Or, too many people these days seek to dilute the significance of the cross of Christ, making Jesus into merely a grand religious example, a great spiritual ethicist, or the ideal leader of a liberation army. Therefore, as long as the cross is treated as an afterthought — or worse, as an embarrassment — you can expect the energy crisis in the American Church to continue.

But I’m optimistic. As other power sources we run after prove to be insufficient, the Church will continue to grow dim for a time, BUT within the growing darkness of our culture we will more and more come to see the True Light who was hanged on a central cross between two criminals. For as we see in Luke chapter 23, amid sarcasm and scoffing from those who mockingly call Jesus messiah and king, our Lord Jesus Christ reveals that he, as the Universal Messiah and Everlasting King, gives his life in love for the sake of the world. Enthroned on his sacrificial cross, Jesus uses his divine authority to welcome a penitent sinner into God’s heavenly paradise. And Jesus does the same thing for us! Thanks be to God!

In other words, if we were to die tonight, and we were to enter God’s paradise, what would we say about our entry into glory? Would we say, It’s because I…? It’s because I made a covenant with God, or it’s because I am faithful, or it’s because I am this or that… No! Rather, it is because HE (Jesus). It’s because HE died for me. It’s because HE made a baptismal covenant with me. It’s because HE is faithful and true. Like the thief on a cross next to Jesus, it is entirely because HE granted us access to God’s paradise. The thief in paradise can only and ever say, It’s because the man on the middle cross said I could come. Likewise, when we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, it can only and ever be said by us that it’s entirely because the man who was hanged on the middle cross said that you and I could come to be there.

The gospel of the cross of Christ is the saving dynamite that, when harnessed through his Word and Sacraments, fuels the Church. So as we try in vain to plug into other energy sources, we will come to see once again that the good news of the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ provides us with all the power we will ever need.

Good Advent & Merry Christmas!!! Pastor Tim

RISE UP, O SAINTS OF GOD!

November 1st each year is All Saints’ Day, and the word “saint” in the New Testament of the Bible refers to all those who have been forgiven, justified and sanctified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, saints are those who are reconciled to God by the infinite atonement granted to all who believe and trust in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Universal Messiah, Christ our King. And this biblical definition of what it means to be a “saint” (i.e. a baptized, saved and redeemed disciple of Christ) is a very important and essential concept to guide us as we journey through this confused and conflicted world in which we live.

While we recognize that we all possess various earthly identities, we also recognize that much of our society today has embraced a kind of extreme identitarianism. But as people of God, we know that our lesser earthly identities fall far below our primary identities according to the Word of God. That is, we are faithful to God’s Word to believe and understand that we have a divine identity hierarchy, with the following three identities at the very top of our identity hierarchy: as Christians, each of us are [1] a child of God Almighty, [2] a child of God’s baptismal covenant, and [3] a disciple of Jesus Christ. Therefore, all other identities on our identity hierarchy are lesser than these top three identities (our primary identity trinity, so to speak).

The problem is that our modern secularizing society wants to reverse this sacred identity hierarchy by flipping it over in order to elevate our lesser identities above our highest identities. So this extreme identitarianism of our time seeks to completely overturn and usurp our God-given identity hierarchy, as well as flip over our God-given values and virtues. For example, the Critical Race Theory (CRT) that’s based in Marxian critical theory has become an issue these days in education programs, business HR departments, religious institutions, and so on. And this CRT, as it has been manifesting itself within our present society, is merely another form of the extreme identitarianism of our modern timeframe.

However, instead of Critical Race Theory and other such things, I want to propose that we as saints of God embrace a Kingdom Race Theology (KRT). As an alternative framework to the identitarianism of CRT, Kingdom Race Theology says that God’s rule is over every single sphere of life, including racial and ethnic issues. And KRT also means that we can fully teach an honest history of our nation and world that includes both the bad and the good, that addresses both painful and commendable aspects of the past, but the gospel of the Kingdom of God always keeps our divine identity hierarchy intact and in the correct order of significance.

The Holy Bible declares in the Book of Acts, chapter 17, “Of one blood God made humankind to dwell upon all the face of the Earth” (Acts 17:26). So when Christians lead the way with this biblical KRT (Kingdom Race Theology), then it opens the door to true racial and ethnic reconciliation, and to true God-given unity under our divine identity hierarchy. Consequently, we must resist false sociological fashions in society, and stand firmly and unashamedly upon the foundation of the tried and true biblical principles that have guided God’s people since time immemorial.

Let us not be ashamed of the principles of the gospel; let us rely on them, and let us use and apply them to these big issues within society. Basically, let us have a Kingdom agenda above all other agendas. Thereby, with KRT and other gospel insights like this, we can help the world do what it simply cannot do in and of its own limited frame of reference. For as the wonderful and powerful Christian hymn Rise Up, O Saints of God states in verse two: “Speak out, O saints of God! Despair engulfs Earth’s frame; as heirs of God’s baptismal grace, the Word of hope proclaim.”

This November 2022, may all of you have a blessed All Saints’ Sunday on the 6th, a rejoiceful Christ the King Sunday on the 20th (when we’ll worship with our Korean Presbyterian brothers and sisters), as well as a very happy Thanksgiving Day on the 24th…

Grace & Peace, 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

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

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