Tag: Peace

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF OUR NATIONAL “JERUSALEM”

Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim (“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”) is a Hebrew exhortation and blessing from Psalm 122 of the Holy Bible. In this Psalm, God both exhorts us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and promises us a blessing, saying, “May they prosper who love you.”

However, the question on my heart right now is what about the peace of our American homeland? What about the peace of our “one nation under God”? What about the peace of our national “Jerusalem” here and now?

Well, the Bible gives us guidance about our calling to pray for the peace of our nation and for the peaceable life of all its citizens. Of course, the Bible was inspired and written down at a time long before the inspiration and establishment of our liberal republican democracy (a.k.a. libertarian democratic republic). Nevertheless, the Word of God within the Bible firmly speaks to our Christian vocation to pray for and seek a peaceable society for all people.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, including kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

FIRST TIMOTHY 2:1-4

“It is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

FIRST PETER 2:15-17

In addition, there is clearly a God given and honorable role for our duly appointed governing authorities, law enforcement and armed services to act as peace-keepers (see Romans 13:1-7). However, our Lord Jesus highlights the role of peace-makers, calling them “children of God” in Matthew 5:9. After all, he is the Great “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9, that wonderful title that we celebrate every Christmas.

In fact, with everything that’s going on right now, I say (in the words of Auntie Mame) “We need a little Christmas right this very minute!” So, here’s a little Christmas in June from Luke chapter 2:

“Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Savior, who is the Messiah,the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

LUKE 2:10-14

This is good news indeed! It fuels our inner joy and peace, just like Simeon of Jerusalem, who was devout and looked forward to the consolation and restoration of Israel. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. So, guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the Jerusalem Temple, and when Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the Torah, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying the following:

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

LUKE 2:29-32

Like Simeon, may we also be filled with this inner peace at this very difficult time. Furthermore, even in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, even as our society wrestles with the grave injustice of the murder of George Floyd, and even as we deal with the terror of the violent demonstrations, let us pray for peace and for equal treatment under the law — and let us pray for the Spirit to fill our hearts and minds with Christ’s grace, peace and love as we seek together to form a more righteous, equitable and peaceable society for our exceptional nation.

Love & Grace & Peace! Pastor Tim

RE-JUBILATION

“Re-jubilation” is a word that I made up to describe what Advent Season and Christmastime are all about.  The four weeks of Advent before Christmas and the twelve days of Christmastime are all about rejuvenating our Christian joy each year.  So, we can use the word “re-jubilation” to best describe the annual rejuvenation of the Joy of Christ within us.

Around the advent wreath, we light the four candles to mark the weeks before Christmas.  Remembering the great gift of the First Advent of Christ and looking forward to Christ’s return at his Second Advent to come, we light the candles on the wreath that each symbolize a specific grace of God.  And the four graces symbolized by the candles of this special holiday wreath are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

While most Roman Catholics use purple candles for the Advent wreath, most Protestants use royal blue, representing the hope of our Messiah King, Jesus Christ.  Traditionally, the third Sunday in Advent was a pink candle to represent the joy of the season.  In fact, among traditional Catholics, the third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” and Gaudete is Latin for “Rejoice.”  And this refers to the biblical exhortation to always “Rejoice in the Lord” because “The Lord is near” and is offering us “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” through daily prayer to “guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (See Philippians 4:4-7).

So we rejoice always because of the nearness of our Lord to us through prayer by the power of the Holy Spirit.  However, we also need to be reminded each year of the Heart and Center of our rejoicing.  We need to be reminded and re-jubilated by the grace and truth of the Incarnation of God the Son for the sake of the world. 

“Do not be afraid, for I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,the Lord.”

Luke 2:10

So let us not be afraid, and let us rejoice always, because we have good news of great joy for all people:  Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior, was born to us, lived and ministered among us, was crucified and raised for us, and will return for us to establish God’s kingdom in its fullness.  Thanks be to God!  Hallelujah!

May we be RE-JUBILATED during this Advent Season and Christmastime!  May we be re-jubilated in the gospel, and may we be filled with the four graces of hope, peace, joy, and love. 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and rightspirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willingspirit.

Psalm 51:10-12

All of this re-jubilation in Christ is indeed the greatest gift any of us could ever receive during this special time of year.  And, through an attitude of gratitude and deeds of charitable service, we are called to let this wonderful gift overflow through us to others.

Good Advent & Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!! Pastor Tim

SO MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP

We should not feel bad about feeling bad.  Within our society that idealizes feeling “happy, happy, happy” all the time, we can sometimes be shamed into feeling bad about feeling bad.  However, this is not right, because it is an unrealistic societal pressure placed upon us that only makes us feel worse.

Of course, there are those who suffer from chronic neuro-chemical imbalances that cause prolonged mental illnesses (bipolar disorder, etc.), and our culture is slowly coming to a better place where mental illness is not stigmatized as much as it once was.  But aside from this, everyone can understand feeling mentally and emotionally down from time to time, especially if they have experienced a great loss of some kind.  So we are all in need of healing and wholeness in life, and I would especially say this regarding spiritual concerns.

At the time of the Prophet Mosheh (Moses), the ancient Israelites were being attacked and killed by poisonous serpents, so Moses prayed for them and God gave them something as a means through which they would receive grace for their healing:

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonousserpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’  So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”

NUMBERS 21: 8-9

And later, at the time our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) walked on earth, he declared the following before his crucifixion and resurrection:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

JOHN 3: 14-16

Therefore, when we are being vexed by the poisonous spiritual bites of sin, death and the devil, we can look to the One who was “lifted up” for our spiritual healing.  The good news is that Jesus (the Son of Man and Son of God) was lifted up on a cross for our atonement, was lifted up from death for our redemption, and was lifted up into the higher dimensions of reality (what we call “heaven”) for our everlasting salvation.  Even in the midst of the poisonous serpents of loss, grief, failure, guilt and regret, we can look to the Savior who was lifted up, and we can find in him forgiveness, renewal and wholeness.

For many people Easter is over, with all the Easter eggs and bunnies now in the rearview mirror.  However, for us Christians, Eastertime is a season of seven Sundays during which we celebrate the Lifted Up One, our risen Lord and Savior.  For he alone has fully shown, affirmed, confirmed and proved to us the love and grace of God through his life, teachings, sufferings, death, resurrection and ascension.  Through Jesus Christ, we have seen and now know that God indeed loves us and the entire world so very much, because he laid down his life for us and is now raised forever.

Christ Is Risen!!!

Grace & Peace,  Pastor Tim