Shepherd-King

I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of  them. (Ezekiel 34:11) 

Monarchies are in the news, even today in the 21st century, whether it be Saudi Arabia,  Thailand or the United Kingdom (UK). How many nations are ruled by royalty in the  modern era? 

In the time of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, the people of Israel are in exile in  Babylonia, but some of the citizens remain in their homeland. The “Sovereign God” (as  spoken of in the book of Ezekiel) chooses the prophet (“mortal man”) to speak  judgement to the people of Israel, especially to their kings, because the people were  not kept safe. The shepherds had not done their sacred duties of protecting the sheep  from neighboring nations and they had committed idolatry. 

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann comments that God says, “My leaders  have fallen away, so I will be the good shepherd of my own people.” God is the  ultimate “do-it-yourself” monarch who seeks and finds the lost, cares for them, binds  up their wounds and feeds the flock. 

Some of the book of Ezekiel focuses on what will happen after the exile of God’s  people: God will restore the covenant with Israel and promises to be with them always.  God will bring them home and restore their temple and worship. 

Just as Israel was following other gods around 500 BC, so also we fall for ideas and  forces—idols!— of our era—self-reliance, wealth, power, influence, recognition and  more. 

But as the lost sheep of Israel could rely on their Shepherd-King, we too follow Jesus  Christ, the Good Shepherd, the perfect sovereign from the family of King David, who  takes our sins upon himself, is sacrificed on the cross, freeing us to “sing for joy to  God, who protects us” (Psalm 95: 1) and to serve the Lord as we visit the sick and  imprisoned, give drink to the thirsty, clothe our neighbors and feed the hungry  (Matthew 25). 

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Learn more: With a word study, follow the thread running through the Old and New  Testaments about God and Jesus as “Shepherd.” 

Explore the African American spirituals “Dry Bones” and “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel,” both  from the book of Ezekiel. Sing the songs and learn about their historical roots. 

Ed Brandt

From the Holy Gospel for November 8th

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this.  Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  Matthew 25:1-4 (NRSV)

At just about every wedding I have ever conducted as a pastor, I have almost always seen a latecomer sneaking into the church in the middle of the wedding service. But I have never seen a bridesmaid come late to a wedding that she is in.  But in this parable Jesus tells a story about five bridesmaids who ended up being so late for the wedding that they missed it completely. 

Unlike our weddings today which are scheduled to start promptly at a certain time, weddings in Jesus’ day didn’t really have a definite starting time.  People back then weren’t bound to the clock as tightly as we are today.  Since their weddings were held at night, one of the duties of the bridesmaids was to carry the lamps that lit the way for the wedding processional at it made its way to the bride’s house.  Then, when the wedding party arrived, the bride’s parents would place her hand into the hand of the groom, and together they would leave hand in hand for the wedding banquet, where feasting and celebrating would last as long as 7 or even 14 days.

I once read that God calls us Christians to live as if Christ is coming back tomorrow.  That is what this parable is all about.  It’s about being ready and prepared to meet Christ whenever that may be.  The earliest Christians (including the people Matthew originally wrote his Gospel to) fully expected that Christ would return very quickly, in just a few years after He ascended into heaven.  As those “few years” turned into decades, and the years continued to pass, already in the first century some believers were starting to question whether Christ ever would return.  The apostle Peter answered that question in his Second Letter as he says,

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  (2 Peter 3:8-9)

 None of us knows when Christ is going to return and meet us...even as none of us knows when we are going to die and meet Christ.  I once had a vicar (a seminary intern) who was a “second career” pastor.  After he retired from over 20 years as a police office, he entered the seminary to study to become a pastor.  In one of his sermons he said that as a police office he had worked many traffic accidents.  And then he said that he had never worked a traffic accident where a man had left for work that morning and said to his wife, “Well, today I’ll be killed in a car crash on my way into work.”  No, he said, traffic accidents happen suddenly and without warning...just as Jesus’ return (His Second Coming) will come upon us sudvery good word for all of us.   Life is limited – whether it’s the day of Christ’s return or the day we return to Christ:  Life is limited.  

The bridesmaids in Jesus’ story all knew that the groom was coming...sometime.  They all met at the designated spot to wait for the groom’s arrival.  They all brought their lamps so they could escort the groom as he processed down the dark streets to the home of his bride. Five of them came prepared with extra oil for their lamps, just in case the groom was delayed, which he was.  As the evening wore on all ten of the bridesmaids fell asleep.   Then at midnight the cry rang out:  The bridegroom is coming!  They all jumped up and added oil to their lamps.  But the five foolish bridesmaids realized they didn’t have any more oil.  When they asked the other five if they could borrow some of theirs, they said, “We’d really like to help you, but if we give you our extra oil then we won’t have any for our lamps; go into town and buy some more oil.”  So they did -- but while they were gone the groom arrived and the five bridesmaids who had brought the extra oil with them led him in the wedding procession to the bride’s home.  And those foolish, unprepared bridesmaids missed the wedding and were locked out. 

The point of this parable is Jesus’ call for us to be prepared to meet Him.  The point of this parable is:  Live as if Christ is coming back tomorrow.  That is what Jesus says to us in the last verse of this parable: Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.  

If I knew the day and the hour of my death, or if I knew the day and the hour that Christ would return again, I could circle that day on my calendar, and between now and then I could live as if God didn’t matter.  I could be as hard-hearted toward people I don’t like as I wanted to be.  I could be as selfish and self-centered as I ever wanted to be…until one day before my death or the day before Christ’s return.  Then, on that day before we died or the day before Christ returned, we could repent of our sins, die the next day and go to heaven.

But, as Jesus says here, we know neither the day nor the hour.  Like the five bridesmaids who were unprepared, we don’t want to be unprepared for the most important day of our lives.  You see, the most important day of our lives is not the day we graduate or the day we get married.  The most important day of a doctor’s life is not the day he receives his medical license.  The most important day of a lawyer’s life is not the day when she passes the bar exam.  The most important day of a political candidate’s life is not the day they win the big election.  But the most important day in each of our lives is that day when we meet Christ, the day when He returns to us or the day when we return to Him.  And since none of us knows when that day will be, Jesus’ call to you and to me is just this:  Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.  Amen.

Rev. Paul D. Doellinger November 9, 2020

Quiet and Effective Piety

The Greek word is “eusebeia”, translated as ‘piety”, “godliness”’ or “reverence”. It is a chosen Christian virtue prominent in the pastoral epistles of Paul where “knowledge of the truth about Christ leads to godliness” ( Titus 1:1). Paul suggests that active piety will result in “living peaceful and quiet lives” (1 Timothy 2:1-2); teaching piety to children begins in the home where we learn to care for one another (1 Timothy 5:4). Piety makes the list of virtues in the 2nd epistle of Peter: “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

Jesus called piety “doing righteousness” and admonished us not to flaunt it in public in an exercise of spiritual boasting (Matthew 6:1-8). For Jesus, necessary pious acts included coming to the aid of the poor. Pious prayer also was to be carried out in private rather than for show out on the street corner. Thus piety is to be quietly and consistently exercised in both charity and intercession for the welfare of others, which means that Christian love requires us to consciously pay attention to needs all around us.

It is no secret that piety has suffered neglect and opposition in our secular society. Jesus’ admonition to practice a secret piety (“don’t announce it with trumpets”) came in an historical context of pharisaic piety that had turned shallow and self-serving, a piety that was manipulative and judgmental. And yet the Christian witness blossoms when “they” see how Christians love one another (1 John 4). This kind of Jesus-piety critiques a life dominated by conspicuous consumption and the fear which weaponizes itself to protect what one owns. Faith invites us to “walk a mile in Jesus’ sandals”, imitating him and looking at the world through his eyes, seeing what he sees. It propels us into “ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.” For this pious journey with Jesus we need the gift of “faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us…” Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) p. 153.*

Insightful hymn texts help us on this journey, perking our spiritual awareness and bolstering faith. I was fortunate to have Dr. Martin Franzmann as a professor when at Concordia Seminary in the early 1960s, studying the Gospel of Matthew. He was a “poet-theologian” who knew how to energize the dialogue of faith with active, powerful verbs. “Thy strong Word did cleave the darkness…bespeaks us righteous…breaketh forth in conqu’ring might…breathed thine own life-giving breath…Alleluias without end!” (LBW #233). Dr. Franzmann is credited with creating the texts of four hymns in the LBW (#233, #372, #396 and #442) plus the translation into English of two others (#140 and #528). His texts can serve as devotional studies in themselves, leading to an authentic piety of the quiet and engaging kind. Pray his scintillating version of the Lord’s Prayer: “O Thou, Who Hast of Thy Pure Grace” (tune: Vater Unser). It reawakens the familiar text with abiding freshness.

Another hymn text poet of note is Thomas Troeger. His New Hymns for the Lectionary (Oxford U Press, 1986) also utilizes strong, active verbs in 52 texts to convey the strength of faith. As an example, consider the hymn text based on Mark 1:21-28 (the evil spirit in the Capernaum synagogue):

“Silence! Frenzied, unclean spirit,” Cried God’s healing, Holy One.

“Cease your ranting! Flesh can’t bear it. Flee as night before the sun.”

At Christ’s voice the demon trembled, from its victim madly rushed,

While the crowd that was assembled stood in wonder, stunned and hushed.

Lord, the demons still are thriving in the grey cells of the mind.

Tyrant voices, shrill and driving, twisted thoughts that grip and bind.

Doubts that stir the heart to panic, Fears distorting reason’s sight,

Guilt that makes our loving frantic, dreams that cloud the soul with fright.

Silence, Lord, the unclean spirit in our mind and in our heart.

Speak your word that when we hear it, all our demons shall depart.

Clear our thought and calm our feeling, still the fractured, warring soul,

By the power of your healing make us faithful, true and whole.

This hymn text is socially relevant for us in the midst of our convoluted and bombastic political divisiveness, a fraught and troublesome time focused on a presidential election. We all are affected by the demons of division of a kind that resemble the confrontation Jesus faced at the beginning of his ministry. The “old saw” is that since politics and religion divide people from each other, in polite company we don’t discuss either one. Yet we pay attention and proclaim our faith, using words only when necessary.

Joel Nickel
October 22, 2020

*For those unfamiliar with the "Lutheran Book of Worship" (aka LBW) or as we may also know it "the green book," it was the last Lutheran hymnal published by the then four Lutheran bodies in North America in 1978, the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America merged to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1989. These "green books" were used at Peace until COVID restrictions necessitated them being removed from the pew racks.

Pastor Joe

Smile Stories

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”  (Philippians 2:1-2, part of a recent epistle lesson from Philippians 2:1-13) 

 In the midst of all the bad news in our world, it’s enjoyable to hear the occasional story that brings a smile to one’s face.  I recalled one recently by accident, and even though it happened over eleven years ago, I was still led to pause and rejoice. 

We were still in Hong Kong, and Donna was teaching one of the first-grade classes at Hong Kong International School.  Spring break 2009 had ended, and classes had now resumed.  Donna celebrated a birthday during that vacation, so she was surprised upon her return to the classroom, that one of her students remembered.  A first grader named Zachary recalled the milestone by happily gifting Donna with the “present” of a blue pouch filled with five different marbles and four toy car tires of varying sizes. 

She quickly realized that these items were some pretty important “treasures” in this boy’s life.  She asked the boy (and later his father) if she should return them at some time in the future because of their obvious importance.  The reply was the same: “They mean a lot to him, but it’s more important that you keep them, because he wants you to have them.” Donna’s received many gifts over the years, but she’ll be the first to tell you, that gifts from the heart are always the best.  You probably knew that too, even though we sometimes need a gentle reminder. 

I wonder if the apostle Paul also knew people sometimes needed a gentle reminder to remember, rejoice and smile.  Paul’s short but powerful letter to the Philippians seems to do just that.  Yes, even Paul, the veteran of shipwreck, snakebite, stoning and thorns in the flesh was one who was currently in prison and could share with all of us about many days that were anything but happy.  And while he could tell us how much he loved the people of the church at Philippi, he was also aware of their disunity and internal dissension, as well as the threat of false teachers and the common belief that the world was coming to an end.  He knew they also were surrounded by a world of bad news. 

So sprinkled through the letter come gentle reminders like “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4) and “complete my joy” (2:2).  How does one do that?  Paul writes: “THINK OF YOURSELVES THE WAY CHRIST THOUGHT OF HIMSELF.”  “Remember the mind of Christ?” asks Paul.  This Jesus enjoyed all the privileges as God’s Son.  But He humbled Himself and became a servant.  He sacrificed His life so we might be forgiven and have eternal life.  And because of that, there could be real joy, complete joy.  One more quick smile story is in order… 

In Discipleship Journal Paul Thigpen once wrote: “I remember coming home one afternoon to discover that the kitchen I had worked so hard to clean only a few hours before was now a terrible wreck.  My young daughter had obviously been busy ‘cooking,’ and the ingredients were scattered, along with dirty bowls and utensils, across the counters and floor.  I was not happy.” 

“Then, as I looked a little more closely at the mess, I spied a tiny note on the table, clumsily written and smeared with chocolatey fingerprints.  The message was short – ‘I’m makin sumthin 4 you, Dad’ – and it was signed, ‘Your Angel.’” 

“In the midst of that disarray, and despite my irritation, joy suddenly sprang up in my heart.  My attention had been redirected from the problem to the little girl I loved.  As I encountered her in that brief note, I delighted in her.  With her simple goodness in focus, I could take pleasure in seeing her hand at work in a situation that seemed otherwise disastrous.” “The same is true of my joy in the Lord.  Many times life looks rather messy; I can’t find much to be happy about in my circumstances.  Nevertheless, if I look hard enough, I can usually see the Lord behind it all, or at least working through it all, ‘makin sumthin’ for me.” (750 Engaging Illustrations, C.B. Larson, p. 362) 

For the believer, regardless of all the messiness in life, complete joy can be found in remembering Christ and living a life that acknowledges Him as Lord and Savior.  Joy is found in receiving God’s forgiveness.  Joy is found in pursuing God’s will for our lives.  Joy is found in giving to others in humility, sensitivity and mercy…in seeking truth and letting God transform our lives.  Joy is found by living in the hope of heaven and the heaven of that hope.  Joy is found in the lifestyle and attitude of the follower of Christ.   

And if we ever forget, all we need do is recall words like those of an apostle who loved his people…or the gift of a first grader who cared about his teacher on her birthday…or an “angel” determined to surprise her dad…and especially a Savior who cared enough about all of us to die on a cross for our sins and rise in victory from the grave.  Remember any or all of those smile stories, and who knows?  Each and all of our days will be filled with the presence of the One who gives us more than enough reasons for rejoicing.   

Pastor Dale Koehneke – October 14, 2020 

PRAY GOD’S ACTS

Friends,

It’s pretty old school. I can’t even remember when I learned it. My best guess is that it was probably when I was in grade school. I went to St. Paul-First English Lutheran School, a K – 9 school that was jointly operated by my church, First English Lutheran Church, and its “mother church,” St. Paul Lutheran Church, one of the oldest existing congregations in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a congregation started in 1839 by German immigrants who arrived in New Orleans before the civil war.  

In the 1880’s the German Lutherans at St. Paul were finding husbands and wives among the diverse populations in their neighborhood. New immigrants were coming all the time. Some from Sicily where there had been a famine, others from Ireland and Britain, and some from Mexico, Spain and Portugal. These new immigrants found it impossible to worship at St. Paul because the services and sermon and Bible classes were all taught in German. Long story short many of them decided it was time to start a new church, a “First English” Lutheran Church where they could worship in the language they knew now – English. 

My father was confirmed at First English in the 1930’s when he was in his teens. His folks couldn’t afford to send him to the Lutheran school, so he attended public school with his brother and sister. That meant to be confirmed he had to attend confirmation classes for two years. He married a Roman Catholic woman who took adult instruction with the pastor of First English and was confirmed there before they were married. When I came along in the early 1950’s my dad made up his mind to send me to the St. Paul First English Lutheran School. Whatever animosities were left in the dispute over the language question were laid aside so that the two churches could do ministry together, including the Lutheran School they now jointly operated. 

I started as a kindergarten (all day) student in 1958 and didn’t go on to public high school until 1968 when I finished 9th grade. Somewhere in those ten years I was taught that one way to pray was to remember the anagram ACTS: which stands for Adoration, Confession of sins, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  

It is so easy for me to pray a list of what my concerns and issues are at the moment, that sometimes I forget a lot that I really should and need to say to God in my prayers. The ACTS anagram helps with this. For example when we were under level two (be ready to go) and fires were raging ten miles or so south and east of us, my prayers were naturally for God to keep us and hour home safe.  But the old school anagram I learned so many years ago reminded me that God deserves better from me when I come to him in prayer. So, as I lay on that cot in the library of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Salem where my wife and I evacuated with our dogs went to be safe, I tried to focus my prayers on ACTS:  

A: ADORATION - there is reason always to adore and praise God for all his mighty deeds of love. “You have filled all creation with light and life, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”  

C: CONFESSION OF SIN - that I daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing good from God, rather that God’s protections and provision for me and my family are undeserved gifts of mercy.

T: THANKSGIVING - that even if the fire would have swept away our home we have much for which to be thankful not the least of which is the Lord Jesus and his gift of himself in his cross and resurrection.

S: SUPPLICATION - and yes, God does invite me to tell him my needs and concerns as a little child would to a loving parent. God welcomes me as a supplicant into his divine and holy presence and rejoices in that I look to him for all that I need in life and in the hour of my death. 

I am so grateful that my parents sacrificed in order to send me to the Lutheran School that was operated by my church and St. Paul’s. The things I learned there, in those one hour religion classes taught every school day, have served to provide me with spiritual resources that I rely on now as a “senior citizen.” 

Yet I meet and hear of many parents that are worried about “forcing religion” upon their children, parents that will not even have them baptized, let alone bring them to worship and find opportunities for them to learn the faith.  Ironically at Peace we have done about as many adult baptisms and child baptisms. I’m grateful for this, but I am worried too.

The comfort and spiritual strength I receive from God in his mercy through prayer is a direct result of the determination of my parents to provide for my education not only in academics but in the Christian faith, and that’s a commitment they made when they brought me for baptism. And they had enough fear of God in them to know it would not be good to renege on that commitment,.  

It strikes me that two things that sadly correlate are the decline of many congregations of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod with the closing of the Lutheran Schools they operated.  I’m not saying that operating a day school is the only way to do it, but my experience with prayer has led me to wonder whether many of us are even asking the question of how to share the faith from generation to generation.  

By the way, St. Paul Lutheran School is still in operation had about 140 students last year, and celebrated the 175thanniversary of the church and school in 2015. Here are some pictures: 

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May God bless you in your prayer life!

Pastor Joe Hughes
October 5, 2020

A Take on Art & Theology: The Rev. Joel Nickel, STS

THE WHITE JESUS WHEN BLACK LIVES MATTER 

I grew up with the most popular portrait of Jesus ever painted: Warner Sallman’s “Head of Jesus” 1940.  Estimates state that it has been reproduced over five hundred million times, enough to make this Jesus image easily recognizable to most people even in our secular culture.  Here is Jesus for all to see: blond, blue-eyed, and glowing as if he’d just been to a beauty parlor or make-up studio to get groomed for a photo-op.

Needless to say, I consider the image sentimental kitsch.  This haloed and idealized Jesus has no physical connection to the “man of sorrows acquainted with grief” who “had no place to lay his head” and on the night he was betrayed, sweat blood.  Christian art needs to follow textual, biblical clues when available.  While there is no physical description of Jesus in the New Testament, a post-WWII religious revival made civil religious use of Sallman’s image in contrast to “cold war godless communism.”  His Jesus image created a visual piety that reflected the culture of white American Christianity.

This obviously Caucasian Jesus may have drawn some inspiration from the 13th century Shroud of Turin, on which the imprint in its fabric depicts a wounded corpse with a bearded face.  The earliest portraits of Jesus from Roman Christian artifacts picture Jesus as a beardless young man.  It is possible that the Shroud’s image dominated artistic portraits of Jesus into and beyond the Renaissance, influencing the Jesus image’s development into the 20th century.  There is an affinity between the Shroud’s image and that of Sallman’s Jesus.

We certainly have the artistic freedom and spiritual license to picture Jesus “for us” in whatever cultural context we choose, and to be sure, Jesus has been pictured in many and diverse racial and even tribal contexts with corresponding facial features.  Back in the late 1960s, when I served an integrated church on the Southside of Chicago, I hung a painting of a black Jesus on the wall of the parish hall…and took a lot of “heat” from white parishioners for whom this was a new, startling visage.  The black members of the parish appreciated the new image, acknowledging the work of a black artist befitting the social conversation that “black is beautiful.”

It was a disappointment when one of our young black teens decided to leave our Lutheran parish and join a black Baptist church in the neighborhood in order to better understand his religious and racial roots expressed in their worship style.  Black history was just beginning to be promoted and the white cultural legacy of Lutheranism was difficult to navigate.  A month later I attended a community meeting at that same Baptist church and was shocked to see the walls of the nave decorated with larger than life fresco paintings of Jesus and his disciples…all of them white.

Confounded, I sought the council of friend and fellow urban Lutheran pastor, Norm Theiss.  Norm had an insight that I’ve been reluctant to share because it is a perception that could easily be misinterpreted.  But the white Jesus on the walls of a black church gives his blessing, approval and encouragement to a congregation that daily encountered negative white authority figures, and they welcomed this white Jesus’ gracious recognition of their existence and struggle.  Finally, they visibly encountered a white authority figure who was kind and compassionate.  In the days of the civil rights marches it was a welcome relief to encounter civil whites…Jesus and his disciples.  

I was recently reminded of this experience while reading Trevor Noah’s autobiography, Born a Crime.  He tells the story of growing up in apartheid South Africa, a “colored” bi-racial child in a country that segregated white and black people.  He struggled to discover just where he fit into this bifurcated society; his devoted Christian mother took him to three churches every Sunday: the black church for its colorful setting and strong emotional preaching, the white church for its restrained liturgy and intellectual preaching; and a colored church for the attempt to negotiate an integrated detente between the other two. Noah describes the artistic effect of a white Jesus portrait in a black church in similar fashion to what I experienced back in the late 1960s.

However, my early visual encounter with a Jesus portrait conveyed a warning not to provoke his disapproval.  It seemed to me that Jesus was always surveying my behavior and could shut heaven’s door if I strayed off the straight and narrow way.  The Jesus image also harbored a hidden appeal to white privilege that mustn’t be disturbed or contravened, an authority (after 2000 years) now vested in a denomination that questioned liberal researchers’ textual search for the historical Jesus.  Just who is it who stands before us and calls, “Follow me”?  Is Jesus a protector or a judge, a prophet or a religious lawyer, a source of consolation or initiator of apocalypse?

John the evangelist claims: “we have seen his glory…full of grace and truth.”  It is grace and truth that constitute his glory, not perfection of form or a glowing face.  There is a radical power in Jesus’ presence, an authority that comes from within his person that marks his integrity which, the gospel texts elaborate, was witnessed by the crowds that came to him for healing and ethical direction.  He ultimately paid his dues—his choices, associations, charisma and teaching all led to the cross, and his cross has led to the redemption, inspiration and hope of those who follow him…black and white and colored.  

My own artistic image-making (below) uses a more expressionistic style in which a split-image has Jesus looking both at the cross and at us.  The colors have emotional content but are not “natural”.  How we visualize this Jesus needs to encompass as much variety as we find in the human race.

Joel Nickel

The Rev. Joel Nickel, STS is a retired pastor and member of Peace Lutheran Church in Salem and serves on the congregation’s Committee for Visual and Liturgical Arts

ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS

Some congregations celebrate the festival of St. Michael and All Angels—September 29—each year to affirm and honor the work of God’s messengers working behind the scenes.  According to Pastor Philip Pfatteicher, a former campus minister in Pennsylvania, the festival celebrates dimensions of the universe beyond human understanding.  While Peace Lutheran Church may not be planning a special St. Michael and All Angels liturgy, let us highlight its festival readings and themes in these challenging days of 2020.  Plus, we can use them as a springboard to coming events:  Christ the King Sunday, and the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.

 In the Bible, angels are guardians, representatives of God and unexpected guests.  For example, in the narrative of the birth of Jesus, the angel messenger says a Child will be born….and then, a multitude of angels announce His glorious arrival.  But in the 21st century?  Where and who are these messengers?  In these difficult days, many people question their existence.

The readings appointed for this festival however begin to give some reassuring answers.  Psalm 103 invites angels, along with all of God’s creation, including you and me, to praise the One who is in Heaven.  Angels are our co-worshipers of the mighty God.  So, let’s sing with them, together!

 Daniel (Chapters 10 and 12) paints the vision of Michael and the angels setting free God’s people from conquering political and religious oppressors.  Angels help to bring God’s liberation and we can savor the fruits of Christ’s victories over sin, death and the devil.

 Revelation 12: 7-12 accounts the war between Michael the Angel and Satan.  The victory is final and Satan is defeated.

 When Jesus sends out the apostles (Luke 10) to share the good news of God’s love and forgiveness, he assures them power over every enemy.  That gives the apostles joy, humility and confidence to keep going.  They know the angels are with them—encouraging—and the apostles don’t lose heart.

 Now, how can this festival move us into the coming seasons?  Today, even as we struggle with pandemic, financial and social unrest, we know that God’s messengers will be at our side empowering us to seek joy and peace in the distractions of the holiday season as well as address the loneliness and hopelessness in society.  Some ideas:  Consider art, literature and music as we reflect on the stories of the season.  God sends an angel (Matthew 2: 13-15) to guide the Holy Family to safety.  Organize a simple family art project to celebrate God’s ever present nature.  Also, look for virtual resources and libraries to find art work, icons, choral arrangements, kids’ songs, poetry and stories for all ages.  Enjoy.  Make and give gifts to loved ones and neighbors.  Finally, seek out devotional and prayer books about the work of God’s messengers—the angels—for those who are alone and isolated.

 We pray:

Eternal God, you’ve given ministries of angels and mortals in a marvelous plan.  Grant mercifully that, as the holy angels are always serving and praising in Heaven that obedient to your command, they help and defend us here on earth.  By your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  Amen.

 (English translation of prayer of the day for San Miguel y Todos Los Angeles, p. 44, Libro y Cantico.)

 +++++

Ed Brandt

God is Our Fortress

Dear Members & Friends of Peace Lutheran Church:

 This past Friday, September 11, 2020, was the 19th anniversary of that terrible September 11th of 2001 when terrorists seized control of four passenger jet airplanes and crashed them into the twin towers in New York City and the Pentagon.  And were it not for the selfless courage of passengers on Flight 93 they would have crashed another plane into the Capital Building in Washington D.C.   

I’m sure that all of us over the age of 15 can remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news.  I myself was preparing to teach an 8th grade confirmation class in the Lutheran Day School of St. Mark Lutheran Church in North Tonawanda, New York.  When we heard the news, the principal and I assembled the 7th and 8th graders in a room with a television and spent the next hour watching the horror unfold.  That Tuesday at noon my Rotary Club was scheduled to meet, and so I went to the meeting.  I volunteered to give the “invocation” that day and began it by reading Psalm 46: 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 

    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

            though its waters roar and foam, 

            though the mountains tremble at its swelling.  

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

    the holy habitation of the Most High. 

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 

    God will help her when morning dawns. 

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.   

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;  

            he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 

“Be still, and know that I am God. 

    I will be exalted among the nations, 

    I will be exalted in the earth!” 

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.   

Although we have not been facing terrorist attacks this September, we have been facing major tragedies in our state, our country, and in the world.  Covid-19 has stuck so many lives and killed (as of this writing) nearly 200,000 Americans — more than have died in all the wars our nation has ever fought.  The economic upheaval caused by the virus has left millions unemployed and scores of businesses closing for good.  For us in Oregon this past week has been especially tragic as forest fires, fanned by the high winds of last Monday and Tuesday, have swept across our state.  I read that over the past few years in a “normal” fire season Oregon will have up to 500,000 acres of fires.  In the past week alone this year fires are burning in 1,000,000 acres. 

What can we say in response to such tragedies…human-caused tragedies like 9-11 or natural tragedies like these terrible fires?  On September 11, 2001 I read Psalm 46 as the “invocation” to my Rotary Club meeting.  And I cannot think of a better word from God for us to read and pray during this time of these tragic fires and the other upheavals of this year.   

We don’t know exactly what was going on in Israel when the unnamed Psalm writer penned these words, but from the words in the Psalm there must have been something terrible happening in Israel.  Verse 2 indicates that there might have been a major earthquake:  “Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.”  Verse 3 indicates that may be the earthquake caused a tsunami:  “…though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”  On top of that, verse 6 indicates that perhaps Israel was about to be invaded by a foreign power:  “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter.”   

But then the Psalmist expresses his confidence in God.  Twice in this Psalm, in the middle of it and in the closing verse of the Psalm, he writes: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Are you looking for some comfort, some hope, some spiritual reassurance during these times of pandemic and economic upheaval and raging fires?  Then I would direct you to the same place this Psalmist looked for comfort, hope, and spiritual reassurance:  To our God!  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 When the angel told Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, to take her as his wife, St. Matthew tells us that all this was done in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy that,“The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.”  (Matt 2:23).  “Immanuel” is a Hebrew word that means “God is with us”.  That was at the beginning of the Gospel According to St. Matthew.  And the in closing words of that same Gospel Jesus says to His disciples — and to us! — And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt 28:20). 

Are you frightened…unsure…wondering what will happen next?  Of course, you are!  So am I!  And at such a time, there is no better place to turn than to the reassuring words of Psalm 46…repeated twice so we will note and remember them: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.   

We Pray: O Lord of hosts, remind us and assure us that You are with us; O God of Jacob, remind us and assure us that You are our fortress; O Lord Jesus Christ, remind us and assure us that You are with us always, to the end of the age.  In Your name we pray.  Amen. 

The Rev. Paul Doellinger, Emeritus
9/14/2020

Side By Side

Although Linda and I have not been out among many people, those we have encountered share feelings of detachment. We are apart from family and friends. We are unable to take part in activities that we enjoy and that give our lives meaning. Who would have known, when we turned the calendar in January, that so many of the events we look forward to, would be deferred?  Besides the pandemic, we are experiencing social unrest, over racial injustice, and all this in an election year.

In our church lives, school lives, our work lives, our recreation lives, in nearly every way, things are not as they should be.  For this reason, we are likely to turn on each other under the stress, and be divided rather than united; to look for someone to blame whenever things go wrong, in this extraordinary time. But this does not reflect the grace of the Gospel of Jesus.

Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi can offer encouragement for such a time as this. “Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…stand firm in the Spirit, striving side by side, with one mind, for the faith of the gospel.” Phil 1:27.

The faith that the Spirit had planted in the hearts and minds of the Philippian Christians was a strong trust, in Jesus, as both Lord and Savior. And in difficult times, Paul directs their attention to the words and actions of Jesus.

In the second chapter Paul will describe the life of a servant. And say that Jesus was of the mind of a servant. In challenging times, what can unite us as one, is looking around and asking: “Where is service needed?” Without a doubt, in such times as these there are many people who must rely on others for their basic needs. Maybe a phone call to say that you are thinking of someone, and asking if they need any help, (something that can be done without leaving the house), will strengthen a hurting community. Maybe a card, sent to let someone know you care, is a way you can share the Gospel with a brother or sister.

And, may we always join in praying that the Spirit of Jesus unite our hearts and minds with his. May we follow the Spirit into service, and a life worthy of the Gospel. And may we live in hope of the day that we can once again, literally, “strive side by side” in following our Jesus in the way of a servant.

The Rev. Robert Bjornstad, Emeritus

9/10/2020

OUR FATHER'S HEAVEN

OUR FATHER'S HEAVEN has many rooms which are being prepared for our occupancy.

Jesus spoke these words on the night before his crucifixion: "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  In my Father's house are many rooms; [KJV mansions]  ... I am going there to prepare a place for you." John 14:2. [And for all people  who trust Jesus as their Savior from the consequences of sin.]

OUR FATHER'S HEAVEN has your room reserved. By divine inspiration the Apostle Peter reveals the following.  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ..." I Peter 1:3-4.

OUR FATHER'S HEAVEN has rewards.  Our earthly experience has times of recognition which is scheduled as "awards night."  There  is no night in heaven.  "The city [New Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it , for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ... On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there is no night there." Revelation 21:23 & 25. Rewards are in the Light.  Jesus speaks, “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven...” Luke 6:22-23.  Jesus speaks again, “Behold. I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”  In addition to rewards there is recompensation.  “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:13-14.

OUR FATHER’S HEAVEN has our names written there.  Luke 10:17 & 20, “The seventy-two returned with joy, ‘Lord even the demons submit to us in your name.’ ...  Jesus replied.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The third stanza of the hymn “Is My Name Written There” says

O that beautiful city with its mansions of light,  With its glorified beings in pure garments  of white; Where no evil thing cometh to despoil what is fair, Where the angels are watching—yes, my name’s written there.  

Refrain: Yes, my name’s written there, On the page white and fair; In the book of Thy kingdom, Yes, my name’s written there!     

OUR FATHER’S HEAVEN is where we will be.  Revelation 21:3-5, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new! ...Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”   

OUR FATHER’S HEAVEN is eternal, forever.  We “check in” but we don’t “check out”.  There won’t be any “stay 2 nights and the 3rd night free.”  It will be John 3:16 fulfilled. 
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Let us sing. 

Therefore I murmur not, Heaven is my home;
What-e’er my earthly lot, Heaven is my  home;
And I shall surely stand There at my Lord’s right hand.
Heaven is my father-land, Heaven is my home.      

Thank You God for calling us by Your Grace through the Redeeming work of Jesus to be Your people here and in heaven.  SOLI DEO GLORIA.

Ken Ollek, Chaplain, Retired.                                                              

“Jesus at the Edges”

 I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with the evangelizing instruction: “Ask Jesus to come into your life.”  Why? Because it is Jesus who asks us to come into his life.  “Follow me!” Jesus said, even if it may be outside your comfort zone (Matthew 8:20).  The question isn’t “are you running with me Jesus?” (the title of a Malcolm Boyd prayer book back in the late 1960’s) but rather the first question in my person-inventory: “am I walking with Jesus?”  It is a walk: maybe three miles per hour, slow enough to contemplate where we are, where we’re going, who and what we see, and if we have the faith resources for the days ahead (even though according to Jesus, “tomorrow will worry about itself” Matthew 6:34).  The pandemic allows us to slow down from normal hectic schedules, and in that alone it may be a blessing.

 I find it a bit disconcerting that Jesus travels to locations and encounters people who make me a bit uncomfortable.  Caution is a guide-word that I’ve learned to live by: mind your own business; don’t invade someone’s privacy, let sleeping dogs lay.  But Jesus wanders into strange places and byways: in Gadara near burial tombs he encounters angry demoniacs, he touches a dead girl, an unclean woman, and a leper.  With his touch he takes our illness and uncleanness into himself and gives us his spiritual health in exchange.  He embraces guilt by association with sinners and tax-collectors…and us  He wanders into pagan territory north of Lake Galilee where he asks theological questions and finds “great faith” in unlikely people.  He doesn’t seem to mind that his disciples fail to wash their hands before eating or wander into grain fields on the Sabbath to glean.  He seems to go out of his way to court “good trouble” thus putting Pharisees and Sadducees on his case as constant critics.

 There is a consistency to Jesus that draws my adoration.  He is able to count the cost of the cross and not waver, speak truth to power, embrace non-violence (put away your guns! Matthew 26:52), and reveal the abundant resource of God’s love and grace.  By following Jesus we have an opportunity to experience God’s life-plan for the universe and imagine our part in it…which may take us to the edges of life as well as to heaven.  We walk where he leads the way.

 So we walk in the way of Jesus, baptized into a trinitarian relationship that joins us to Jesus. Political oneness may be elusive, but baptism generates unity for Christians and negates social and racial divisions.  For a ministry that grows out of baptism we no longer ask: “what do I get out of it” but rather “what can I give to Christ-in-the-other person?"  Baptized, we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:26-28), even with those at the edges of society or suffering neglect in the middle of it.  Jesus goes to the edges of safe and familiar territory to gather the nations as the Light of the world.

 In his light we see the light.  Jesus began his ministry in the old northern tribal territories of Zebulun and Naphtali where the people were hurting the most, “living in darkness…in the land of the shadow of death” (Matthew 4:12-17).  The people were far from Jerusalem, far from safety, living along the historic invasion routes of imperial armies through the plain of Megiddo (from which we get the word Armageddon).  It may seem at times that we are living in like circumstances on the edge in the darkness of a pandemic, climate change, and a disintegrating future.  But this is when the Jesus light shines the brightest and the Jesus love warms the heart and the Jesus Spirit links people together…even out on the edges of society and power and privilege.

 We pray:  Precious Lord, you did not neglect those who were hurting and desperate but touched them with your life-saving love.  Touch us as well through faith, and bring your light into our darkness and your peace into our divided land.  Equip us to boldly continue your ministry in word and deed with gratitude, selflessness and generosity.  And bless us with your Spirit of comfort and consolation.  Amen.

 We sing:  LBW #487. “Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus” —verses 1 & 4 

Let us ever walk with Jesus, Follow his example pure, 
Through a world what would deceive us. And to sin our spirits lure.
Onward in his footsteps treading,  Pilgrims here, our home above, 
Full of faith and hope and love,  Let us do our Father’s bidding.
Faithful Lord, with me abide, I shall follow where you guide. 

Let us also live with Jesus.  He has risen from the dead.
That to life we may awaken, Jesus, since you are our head.
We are your own living members; Where you live, there we shall be
In your presence constantly,  Living there with you forever.
Jesus, if I faithful be,  Life eternal grant to me.  

Pastor Joel Nickel
Peace Devotion 8/30/2020

11th Century Prayer for 21st Realities

As we live in this time of unprecedented change in the world and in our country, dealing with justice, environmental, and religious issues, we find ourselves facing an uncertain future.  In addition, our struggle with Covid-19 is bringing unexpected shifts in our daily way of life.

I am reminded of St. Anselm, who lived during the time of the Norman Conquest in Great Britain and in the turbulence of the 11th Century, when previously accepted ways of thinking and doing things were challenged.  How was he able to survive through those times?  What held him together on his walk through life?

In one of his prayers, we see Anselm turning his eyes and his heart to God's love shown in Christ Jesus.  That became his focus, and gave him courage on his walk through life, with and to God.

I commend to you his 11th Century prayer:

“O dearest Friend, who hast so loved and saved us, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing sweeter, come with Christ and dwell in our hearts; then Thou wilt keep a watch over our lips, our steps, our deeds, and we shall not need to be anxious either for our souls or our bodies.  Unite us more perfectly to Christ.  O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom floweth all love, who art Love and Truth, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to Thee and cold to others, be warmed by Thy fire and brightened by Thy light.  

So help and bless us in Thy Son.

Amen.”

May that prayer become our prayer and guide for our own life at this time.  And may we rejoice as we walk together in our procession to God.

Rev. Gary Borges, Emeritus
August 23, 2020

Faithwalk…

 “But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid…Come…” 

(Matthew 14:27, 29, part of last Sunday’s Gospel from Matt. 14:22-33) 

 The young man lay flat on his back in excruciating pain.  The trailer he was just preparing lunch in had violently exploded.  Odor-free gas had silently escaped and collected the night before, so when he lit the stove pilot light that had presumably just gone out, a violent flash explosion of swirling flame enveloped the surroundings, blowing out the wall by the kitchen sink, tearing a hole in the roof and sending the 200-pound 20-year-old straight back through the air and crashing into a table.  At first imagining he was having a nightmare, the feeling of being on fire caused him to “wake up” and stumble out the door that had also exploded open.  Once outside, he instinctively “dropped and rolled” like he had been taught many times when in grade school.  

 In the space of seconds, making lunch had turned into a struggle for survival, as 65% of his body was now covered with second-degree burns.  A neighbor heard the boom, rushed to his aid and covered the man’s now-shivering body with a blanket.  And then this young man quietly prayed: “Father, I’m really hurt, and I need your help.  Please help me, and send healing according to your will, even though I don’t know what the future holds.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.”  I think the petition was something like that, or close to it.  You see, I was the young man in the trailer who now found myself outside, flat on my back.  And probably for the first time in my young life, my walk of faith was just now starting to being put to the test. 

 An ambulance got me to a local hospital ER, where they worked for some time to clean me up and treat my injuries.  I was rushed by ambulance to another hospital in Grand Rapids, where a burn specialist who had treated soldiers in Vietnam now had me for a patient.  The days passed …21 in ICU, in critical condition…and another 14 elsewhere.  I lost 40 pounds and had to learn to walk again.  There were periods of severe pain and depression, but slowly I got stronger, and my body began to heal.  I left the hospital in early September, just before my Junior year of college resumed.  Admittedly, I wasn’t 100% by any means, but a reduced load of classes enabled me to ease into things over the next months.  I was grateful then, as I am grateful even now, as I still count each day of life as a gift of God.  This summer marks the 49th anniversary of that “marker” in my faithwalk…a marker that serves as a reminder and highlight that I do not walk the walk of faith alone. 

 Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew 14 recalls a time the disciples of Jesus had a similar interruption in their journey of faith.  They had just participated in Jesus’ latest miracle, where the multitudes were fed using just five fish and two loaves.  Even though they were only part of the “distribution team” for this miracle, they returned to Jesus with more food than they departed with, some twelve baskets full.  John’s Gospel says that as a result, the people wanted to make Jesus King, so the disciples must have been feeling pretty good about themselves. 

 But Jesus shoos the crowds away and sends the disciples across the Sea of Galilee without Him. Instead of basking in the glory of the moment and giving them time for a few high fives, He sends them all off.  Then Jesus doesn’t return right away!  Meanwhile, a storm comes up on the sea, a storm one writer says was “akin to a sumo wrestler’s belly flop in a kiddy pool.”  One translation says they were “buffeted by waves.”  The literal meaning in Greek implies they were harassed or swamped.  You get the picture.  They were all in deep trouble. So they were justifiably afraid.  No wonder that when Jesus does finally come, they think He’s a ghost.   

 But Jesus simply says, “Take courage.  It is I.  Don’t be afraid…Come…”  And Peter, at least, does!  He steps out of the boat and starts walking towards Jesus.  But suddenly he notices the wind blowing and the waves lapping at his feet.  Peter takes his eyes off Jesus for just an instant and quickly lives up to his name, for he sinks like a ROCK.  But Jesus comes to the rescue, gives him a quick rebuke for his doubt, throws him in the boat and stills the storm. 

 Like I said, an interruption in one’s journey of faith.  I can certainly relate, and I suspect we all can.  For all of us know about sinking feelings.  Many of us have enjoyed a relationship of life, forgiveness and salvation with our Lord for some time.  By faith we have come to know Him as the Lord and Savior of our lives.  He’s been there in the past for us, and we know He’ll be there in the future.  His death and resurrection have guaranteed that.  But it’s still stormy out there.  The waves are crashing at our feet, especially in 2020.  And we get distracted, even lose hope. 

 And that’s what this frightening event seems to suggest.  It’s a story about each and all of us who tend to lose hope and go under whenever we agonize over sin and evil in this world and especially how it affects us.  This storm story is one about you and me yelling for help when the latest crisis reminds us that we can’t always plan our future the way we’d like.  This is a story about the sinking feeling we get when the phone rings and our loved one is crying on the other end, miles and miles away. This is a story about what happens to all of us when we despair of life, lose our focus and take our eyes off Jesus and His cross.  It’s a story about the best of us and the worst of us in the Church, when we try to take even one step in our daily lives with our eyes and hearts focused on anything other than the great Easter victory of Jesus over death in all its tragic forms.  Yes, this is a story about all the stumbling, falling, crashing and sinking that happens to all of us, more often than anyone knows.  

 And yet, in reality, this is not just a story about walking on water or even about sinking...as much as it is a story about rescue.  It’s about Jesus reaching out and pulling from despair and certain death a brother of ours who was going under, but for the grace of God.  Just like the thief on the cross.  Or the man born blind.  Elijah in the wilderness.  Paul in jail. Disciples in a storm-tossed boat.  A leader of the Jews whose 12-year-old daughter lay dying.  Mary Magdalene.  And you and this pastor too. 

 For me, the key passage of the text contains the words of Jesus in verse 27: “TAKE COURAGE!  IT IS I.  DON’T BE AFRAID.”  That’s how the NIV translates it.  But a more literal translation is: “Courage!  I am!  Don’t be afraid!”  Translators are often interested in making sure words sound proper, so they tinker with them.  But what Jesus simply says to the disciples is, “I am.” Have you heard that expression before? 

• Remember the time God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and said, “Moses, I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) 

• Or, daring his enemies to prove otherwise, Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58) 

• And so we wouldn’t forget, John includes all those “I am” quotes of Jesus in his Gospel, quotes like: “I am the bread of life.” (6:48)... “I am the light of the world.” (8:12)... “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” (10:9)... “I am the good shepherd.” (10:11)...“I am the resurrection and the life.” (11:25)…“I am the way, the truth and the life.” (14:6)... “I am the true vine.” (15:1) The present-tense Christ. He never says, “I was.” We do, because “we were.”  We were once younger, prettier or faster, and prone to be people of the past, we reminisce.  But not God.  He never says, “I was,” or “Someday I will be.”  He says “I am,” because God never changes.  “Jesus Christ,” says Hebrews, “is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (13:8, as noted in Next Door Savior, M. Lucado, p. 127) 
  
  This Jesus is still in the search and rescue business.  The one who has endured the storm of suffering, ridicule, pain and death Himself is the same one who is with us to weather storms even now.  That doesn’t mean the storm and sinking feelings will stop if we keep our eyes on Jesus.  They may continue for a long time.  But through the spray and splashing of waves Jesus will be there.  He will be there calling to me and you, “COURAGE!  I AM.  DON’T BE AFRAID.”  His Ascension promise, “I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS”, really will be a clear statement (and promise) of His intention to allow nothing to separate us from His love, as we heard in a recent epistle (Rom. 8:35-39).  He keeps us afloat in the waters of our baptism.  He buoys our spirit, sharpens our focus and inspires our confession through the power of His Spirit coming to us in Word and Sacrament.  He’ll visit us through the gift of caring people to give us the hand of help and love.  And each time He does, He will remind us: “COURAGE!  I AM.  DON’T BE AFRAID.” 
  
  Even when our faithwalk fails...even when our sinking is our own fault...even when we call for help as a last resort...even then He is there to rescue and save.  He is there to give us far more than we could ever ask or think.  He is there to love us and pull us through the most difficult of times.  For you see, Jesus never loses His focus.  He never takes His eyes off us.  In every circumstance of our lives, in every storm, His hand is outstretched to rescue and save. To heal and calm.  To forgive and give new life. 
  
  The next time we find ourselves in a storm (or flat on your back, like me) remember this story about walking on water, sinking and rescue.  Remember that this One named Jesus will be there.  When we can’t see Him, trust Him.  If we do see something, remember, it’s not a ghost. The voice we hear is not the wind.  Jesus is closer than we ever imagined.  Thanks be to God! 
  
  Pastor Dale Koehneke – August 16, 2020 
  
  (With special thanks to Max Lucado, David Peyer and countless others who throughout the years have provided inspiration and encouragement during challenging days of my faithwalk) 

Portals of Peace

Friends,

My sincere thanks to my colleagues at Peace who have been sharing weekly reflections with our congregation. It is a blessing to have these men and their pastoral experience as part of our church family. My thanks to Pastors Dale Koehneke, Gary Boerges, Joel Nickel, Ken Ollek, Paul Doellinger, Rob Bjornstad, and Ed Brandt, all of whom have posted contributions to our "Portals of Peace." Now it's my turn in the rotation. 

But first, I want to confess my sin of "ripping off" the title of our blog from the long running and well-known publication "Portals of Prayer." That publication has been around all my life, and all of yours too. The first edition of "Portals of Prayer" came out in Lent 1937, over 80 years ago! For those not familiar with it, "Portals of Prayer" is published quarterly by Concordia Publishing House (CPH) and has a circulation of over 900,000 each quarter. Each edition contains a collection of one-page devotions based on a Bible passage and concluding with a short prayer. Copies are available for free at Peace. There is a large print edition available and a Spanish language edition called Portales de Oración. Let me know if you would like one of these.

This Sunday, August 9, is the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The first reading is an episode from the life of Elijah the prophet found in 1 Kings 19:9-18. Fearing for his life because of the threat of the heathen Queen Jezebel, Elijah has fled to the mountain of God out in the wilderness and hidden in a cave. There the Word of the Lord comes to him asking, "What are you doing, Elijah?" 

Elijah responds by telling God what a wonderful prophet he has been, and how victimized he feels. He says,  “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”  We almost want to say, "Poor Elijah!" 

But the Lord responds by telling Elijah to come out of his cave and go stand at its mouth. In what follows Elijah only senses the presence of the Lord in still sheer silence.  

Elijah was propelled by fear to run away and hide. Is that happening today? Human beings are by nature fearful because they have a deep inherent desire to be in control. Elijah senses things are out of his control. Fear is the normal response of sinful human beings to the realization that they are not truly in control.  Elijah's fear was overcome not by hiding in the cave, nor by a succession of divine fireworks (a great wind, and earthquake, and a fire) but in the sheer still silence of the presence of the Lord. 

Maybe when we find ourselves facing fear and worry, we should remember that God's presence, bringing courage, calm, and peace, comes in in the sheer stillness of our prayers. Let us pray: God of the still sheer silence, come to us in times of terror, or agonizing worry, and make us sense that you are with us and that we are always in your presence. In Jesus' name. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Joe Hughes 

All Eyes

The eyes of all look expectantly to you, Lord, and you give them their food in due
season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the desires of every living creature.

Psalm 145: 15-16

 How many family dinners, church picnics and monastery meals have been blessed with these words? As people of faith, we tie the food we enjoy and need with the loving hand of our Creator. How appropriate and necessary that we share thanks to God before each meal.

The lessons the week of August 2 speak of food from God. In Isaiah 55, God invites the Jewish captives in
Babylon to eat and drink. The prophet shares words of hope and life—the people of Israel will return home to bless all nations.

“Feeding the 5,000,” the miracle in Matthew 14, parallels Gospels Mark, Luke and John with Jesus looking to heaven, blessing bread and fish to provide for and satisfy the multitude of women, men and children. A banquet divine!*

Our sense of sight helps us enjoy food. Is it appealing to the eye; does it have a reliable source? Your pet watches you— only you—to give it daily food? (Fido can’t fill its own bowl!) Likewise, you and me.

 Though others participate in our food system— planting, harvesting, processing, transporting and preparing for the table—ultimately, God our Creator, giving plants, animals, air, sunshine and water, is the Provider. 

 Isaiah 55, Psalm 145, and Matthew 14 point us to Holy Communion. As we are nourished by the Bread of Life (John 6) each day, we are invited to gather with one another over bread and wine, to “take and eat,” and “take, drink,” in Christ’s new covenant with us for the forgiveness of sins. Here is a “foretaste of the feast to come,” anticipation of the eternal heavenly meal.

We live in challenging times, as local and global hunger increases. Our unity in the Eucharist moves and empowers us to gather food for the West Salem Food Bank, distribute holiday baskets and advocate in the U.S. Congress. Today, each of us is working hard to nourish family members, essential and frontline workers and neighbors near and far. Let’s not give up serving what God provides!

We pray: 
Loving God, faithful in your promises and tender in compassion. Listen to our hymn of joy, and continue to satisfy the needs of all your creatures, that all may bless your name in your eternal rule, where with your Son and the Holy Spirit you live and rule now and forever. Amen.

 (Prayer found on P. 759, of Year 1, Vol. II, For All the Saints, compiled / edited by F. Schumacher & D. Zelenko, published by American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 2005)

Pastor Ed Brandt

Groans Are Good Enough

 In a recent appointed Second Reading we read these words: 

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [Romans 8:26-27]

Early in my ministry, I served a church just outside Atlanta, Georgia where a number of “former Baptists” were members of our congregation. One of those “former Baptists” decided that we Lutherans needed to learn how to pray out loud without any advance notice or any prayer books to help us.  So one Sunday she led our Sunday School opening.  Just before she dismissed everyone for their classes, she said, “Harold – would you lead us in a closing prayer.”  As we all looked toward Harold, we could see the blood draining from his face...and I thought he might pass out.  But he gathered his wits and said, “Let’s all pray the Lord’s Prayer.”   

            Baptists are much better at praying spontaneous prayers in public than we Lutherans are.  Maybe it’s because we are so used to hearing pastors pray skillfully crafted prayers from a prayer book that leads us to think that our words need to be smooth and eloquent.  But in Romans 8, St. Paul tells us that when we pray, groans are good enough. 

            Sometimes we think that pain and suffering shouldn’t happen to good people…like us..  Or if we do have pain, then we should be able to take a pill that will make it go away.  But it doesn’t  work that way, does it?  This year especially we are seeing three kinds of pain all at the same time:  1) Physical pain from Covid-19. 2) Economic pain. 3) The pain of racial conflicts. 

          I read once that a big difference between the army hospitals pictured in the old TV show M.A.S.H. and real army hospitals is that in the TV hospital we never hear the groans or screams of wounded patients.  Pain causes us to groan and even scream.  But groans and screams in the hospital where Hawkeye and the others were always goofing around would have turned M.A.S.H. from a comedy into a tragedy.  And yet we have all had times in our own lives when we have  groaned and even screamed because of the pains that have come into our lives.                                 

            But St. Paul assures us here that when all we can do is groan, that is the very time when the Holy Spirit takes our inarticulate groans and turns them into prayers that God can hear.  I’m sure we have all had times when we didn’t know what words to say in our  prayers.  That is why St. Paul says:  We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.   Those are the times when our prayers become like the prayers Paul has in mind here when he speaks of “groans too deep for words”.  Our limited human minds often don’t know what we should ask for in our prayers.  When the doctor tells you that a loved one has terminal cancer, what do you pray for?  Do you pray for them to have a longer life…even if that means more suffering?  Or do you pray for God to give them a speedy death…but how can you pray for that?  Yes, we often …do not know what to pray for as we ought.  Those are the times when all we can do is let loose with groans too deep for words. 

            But – and here is the Good News! – it is precisely at those times of our deepest needs, those times when all we can do is groan, when the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us what we most desperately need at just that time.  The Holy Spirit takes our unintelligible groans and turns them into prayers that reach directly to the heart of God Himself: 

He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

          That is why Jesus teaches us that when we pray we include the most basic prayer of all:  “Your will be done, on earth as in heaven”.  

            So, when you pray – out loud or silently – don’t worry about making your words sound smooth and eloquent.  God does not accept or reject our prayers on the basis of how eloquent our words are or how smoothly we speak the words of our prayers.  For God, our groans are good enough because the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.  Amen. 

Rev. Paul D. Doellinger               

Week of July 26, 2020 

PORTAL

I am writing this for what is being called “Portals of Peace”. Simply thinking about the idea of a portal of peace drew me to the beginning of the LBW, Holy Communion Liturgy. The KYRIE is the gateway or doorway through which we enter to worship. 

“In peace let us pray to the Lord”.

“Lord have mercy”.

It is no small thing that we call on each other to join in peace, as we enter into worship. As we gather together to seek the presence of God’s grace and mercy. And, as we join around the table of the Lord to receive the forgiveness of our sin, in the very gift of Jesus’ body and blood.

Since we seek a peace that is beyond our reach, we ask God to help us. We ask God’s Spirit to establish the peace that is beyond our abilities and efforts. And, therefore, we together plead: “Lord have mercy”.

During the months of a pandemic, we have been unable to gather as we once took for granted. Each of our congregations have been challenged to bring a Sunday experience to our individual homes. And I, for one, realize how I miss the gathering, in worship, with fellow believers. I miss what can only be found in experiencing the body of Christ. I miss what can only be found in sharing the gracious and loving presence of “God with us”, in Holy Communion.

Peace congregation, because of its chosen name, is always being called forward toward concord and harmony. As a member of Peace, I am mindful of that mission and ministry still today. Because, this time of social unrest and pandemic threaten our peace as individuals, as a community, as a planet; the petitions that follow are powerful indeed.

“For peace from above and for our salvation,

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God and for the unity of all,

For the sanctuary of Peace, and for all who would offer there their worship and praise”,

“Lord have mercy”.

These words are for me a “portal of peace”. Peace in the memory of Sundays past. And peace in the hopeful anticipation of Sundays yet to come.

May the Lord bless us and direct our days and our deeds in his peace!

Pr. Rob Bjornstad

July 2020

ROW ON?

One definition of a "row" is  " a noisy quarrel, dispute, or disturbance; squabble, brawl, or commotion" (Collins on-line dictionary). 

For example: 

Person 1 says: If you went to church more often you would be a better person...not so hard to live with.  
Person 2 responds: Look who's talking. I can see that going to church hasn’t helped you any.  Do we have some seeds for a row?
OR
Person 3 says: You spend a lot of money on yourself, but when I want a little something you act like we’re going to go bankrupt.  
Person 4 responds: Yeah, but I work harder than you do!  I need these things.  The row is on.
OR
Person 5 says: If there wasn’t so much of your clutter around here, I could find what I’m looking for.  
Person 6 responds: My clutter?  What’s this?  YOUR CLUTTER.  Row on.  Row on. 

Maybe you have a few "rows" of your own.

HOW DO WE DEAL WITH DIFFICULT DEEDS LIKELY TO GIVE RISE TO A "ROW?" 

[A Biblical/Pauline Procedure. Three steps: Positive, Negative, Positive]

The Church is Corinth. 

New Christians: many from paganism.

C 1. Positive.

C 2. Negatives. 

C 3. Positive. Sequence is the key.

 1.  COMMENCING: Positive.  I Cor. 1:2-9

V. 2.  "to the Church of God ... sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy”

V. 3. "grace and peace to you from God"

V. 4. "I always thank God for you"

V. 5. "in Him you have been enriched"  check Vs. 7-8

2. CONFRONTING: Negatives. Difficulties. [A few examples]

1:11 "quarrels among you"

3:3 "you are still worldly... jealousy..."

5:1  "sexual immorality among you"

6:7 "law suits among you"

11:21 abuse at the Lord's Supper.

3. CONCLUDING: Positive.

Chap. 12.  your Spiritual gifts. V 8  wisdom, V 9 faith

12:27, "you are the body of Christ"

Ch 13:4, "love is patient... kind... not easily angered..." [love/agape: Biblical term]

Ch 15:3 "Christ died,,,v. 4. "raised on the third day"  v. 51 "He gives us the victory".

The next time you and another person or persons attempt to face a difficulty together, the triple C approach has its benefits and blessings.  How many of us tend to slosh around in 2 C and deprive ourselves of the stabilizers and edifiers of 1 C and 3 C in our DEALING WITH DIFFICULT DEEDS? 

Prayer. 

Our Father in heaven; hallowed be your name; your kingdom come and in the name of Jesus we pray that the fruit of your Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and humility will continue to enmesh our relationships/fellowship with one another as we deal with difficulties.  Strengthen us to resist the devil and his stratagems.  Thank You for Your love in sending Jesus to be our Savior from the consequences of sin and bless us to love one another to their well-being and to your glory.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Ken Ollek, Pastor Emeritus

The Jocular Jesus

Laughing Jesus Artist Richard Caemmerer, Jr.

(from the collection of Joel Nickel)

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident
to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer
and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.” 
Philippians 4:4-7

The imperative “rejoice” doesn’t seem to be an apt word for a viral pandemic, but here
it is anyway: “Rejoice!” The word takes us out of our cocoon existence into the 
broader world of God’s grace, peace and love in Christ. It is the very sort of existential
awareness that can bless us during this strange time of masks and social distancing.

Jesus himself was up against a difficult time in Galilee when poverty was pandemic,
when Roman military occupation left people angry and hopeless, when religious
fanaticism turned zealously violent, and apocalyptic visions were the conspiracy
theories of the day.

What does Jesus do? He invites people to celebrate the Jubilee! This important social
justice equalizer is outlined in Leviticus 25: every 50 years (7x7+1=50) the land would
rest (no tilling or planting), foreclosed property would be returned to the original family
or clan that owned it, all slaves would be set free, and all debts would be forgiven.

With this prescription the Lord prohibited the accumulation of property to the detriment
of the poor. The evidence that Israel ever practiced the Jubilee Year to this extent is
debated. But Jesus thought that this recipe for social healing should be part of the
inaugural onset of the kingdom of heaven.

How do we know this? It is part of the Lord’s prayer: “Forgive us our debts as we
forgive those in debt to us” (Matthew 6:12). Jesus begins his ministry with his first
sermon in his hometown of Nazareth by using as his sermon text Isaiah 61:1-2 (and
applying it to himself): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor…freedom for prisoners…sight for the blind…release
for the oppressed…and proclaim the [Jubilee] year of God’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). His
sermon introduction is: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!” 

At first everyone spoke well of him, but approval quickly turned to rage and Jesus had to leave town. That in itself is cause for pause. Opposition? Sweet Jesus! Yes, in Nazareth and
seemingly in some other towns as well (Matthew 11:20-24). There was a failure among
the people to turn amazement into gratitude, relief into celebration, and release into
reciprocity (see Matthew 18:21-35). 

There were exceptions: a “good” Samaritan, a tree climbing tax collector by the name of
Zacchaeus, a Roman centurion and Syrophoenician woman, to name a few who joined
the “Jesus Jubilee.” 

Practicing the Jubilee is never easy when the survival instinct gets in the way of generosity or a calculation of worthiness blocks charity. There are times when faith has more to do
with our pocketbooks than with our prayer books.

What about us? Can we practice the Jubilee in time of a pandemic? Having tasted
and seen the grace of God, being known by Jesus our companion in breaking bread,
will the kingdom of God be within us (Luke 17:21)?

Jesus knew the liberation of self-giving. He was like the widow who “gave her
all” (Mark 12:41-44; 2 Corinthians 8:9)). There is enormous freedom to be discovered
in such self-giving, a joyous liberation of the spirit especially when the gift isn’t
calculated to bring credit, honor or accolades to oneself. Let us practice random acts
of kindness and anonymous gifts of mercy simply because we belong to Jesus and
God’s kingdom. Now is “kairos”—the time of opportunity. Put joy into the world with
your time, talent and treasure. Jesus and the angels will smile and heaven will have a
rollickingly good time.

We pray: 
Renew us, O Lord God, by your invigorating Spirit to join the Jesus Jubilee
with joyous hearts and minds. Bind us together in the tether your love, that herein we
may find all the strength and courage we need to be servants in the name of Jesus. As
our companion during this time of fear and disease, encourage our trust in your mercy
and let us find comfort in your peace. This we pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

We sing: 
“We give Thee but thine own, whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is Thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee.
The captive to release. The lost to God to bring,
To teach the way of life and peace—it is a Christlike thing.” LBW #410 verses 1 & 5

The Rev. Joel Nickel, STS

Abundantly...

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”   John 10:10

 For many people, religion consists of only duties, of “dos and don’ts”.  In contrast to that, Jesus tells us, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” The life Jesus offers is more than physical existence.  It is life with purpose, with meaning, and for the Christian, it is walking through life with the companionship of Jesus Christ Himself.  

It is life full of all the goodness and mercy that God offers us in Jesus.

It is filled with the faithful love of Jesus! Abundantly! In large amounts! abounding in His tender mercy!  

It is marked by the great plenty of God’s love in Jesus, who comes to give our physical life fullness and direction with Himself as our Companion.  

It is only when we live with Christ, that we begin to really “live” in the full sense of the Word. And that relationship with Christ begins as we are buried with Him in the waters of baptism, and we rise with Christ as a new person bearing His new life within us.  We are a new people continually growing closer to Him as He speaks to us in Scripture, and unites us to Himself in the Eucharist — until, as we are drawn ever closer to Him, we finally leave our physical existence and are united with Him in eternity.  

 “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” 

In these unprecedented times, with the uncertainties surrounding Covid-19, and our deep concerns over racial injustices, these words become even more meaningful.  We look to Jesus Christ not only for guidance and wisdom, but also for the courage and strength to live our days in that abundant life.  

God of Grace and Glory,  
Give us wisdom.  Give us courage….
for the living of our days.
Amen

The Rev. Gary Borges - 6/30/2020