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Navigating the Revitalization and Renewal of the Church
The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to His Cross
“With antiphonal response they sang, praising and glorifying the LORD: “For he is good; his loyal love toward Israel is forever.” All the people gave a loud shout as they praised the LORD when the temple of the LORD was established. Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders—older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established—were weeping loudly, and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly that the sound was heard a long way off.” (Ezra 3:11–13, NET)
Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ].
In promoting development, the Christian faith does not rely on privilege or positions of power, nor even on the merits of Christians … but only on Christ, to whom every authentic vocation to integral human development must be directed. The Gospel is fundamental for development, because in the Gospel, Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals humanity to itself.”
I have been thinking about my “career” as a pastor recently. It was 27 years ago this month I went from being a part-time to a full-time pastor. It’s been 23 years in August that I moved from being a non-denom pastor to becoming a Lutheran one, and last week-it was seventeen years since I received the call to become pastor in this place.
In that time I have seen a lot of changes in the world, the church at large and in my Lutheran group. Some of them quite good, some of them heartbreaking. I know the joy of Ezra’s people, as they saw God’s promises re-established for them, and I also understand the heartbreak of those who remember the past and its glories.
I am the one who wails over the losses, and yet I am the one who screams for joy at the renewal I see. A foot in both worlds, a foot which wants to deny the existence of the other….
I have tried to help both sides realize the other exists, not because i want to create a form of toleration, for that is worthless, and to be honest, vain.
In my devotional reading this morning, I came back to the answer–provided by the Lutheran Confessions and Pope Benedict. The answer isn’t to dwell in the past, failing to recognize its failure. It isn’t about just rejoicing in the victories of the moment–ignoring its shortcomings.
The answer is simply this – living in Christ, and revealing Him to those who so desperately need Him. To revoice in the enlightenment the Spirit provides in them–the relationship that is reformed, renewed, reborn! To sound more academic — to rejoice in the delivery and reception of grace, rather than comment on the color, texture and design. To dance with God and the angels over new life.
To be revitalized, not just an interested observer of it.
Then the church weeps and rejoices together, for God is good, and His mercy is forever!
Melancthon, P. (2006). The Augsburg Confession (1530). WORDsearch.
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 197). Emmaus Academic.
The Glory that Empowers Trust: A Sermon on Jeremiah 17:5-8
The Glory that
Empowers Trust
Jeremiah 17:5-8
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ empower and strengthen your dependence on Jesus the Messiah!
Cursed are We?
The Old Testament passage this morning starts with such a encouraging word!
CURSED ARE Those who put their trust in mere humans!
My first reaction to this was to thank God for being, well, more cynical than most – and therefore I don’t trust anyone!
Part of that is growing up in a very cynical part of the country, part of that comes from working in the jails as a chaplain, and part of it comes from being a pastor, and part of it comes, to be honest, from looking in the mirror!
But while I say I don’t trust anyone… that isn’t true!
We trust people every day, from doctors and nurses to tax advisors and mechanics and family members and friends.
Some those things we trust to them are life-affecting decisions ranging from medical advice to whether our cars are safe. And if they are wrong, there is a heavy price to pay!
But this sermon isn’t titled “It pays to be cynical…” It’s about what happens when we trust in the Lord, and let Him care for us…rather than turning to human strength.
Dried out Shrubs
Jeremiah is pretty clear about the effect of relying on mankind for answers about life the universe and everything. Hear His words again,
(Those ) who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
On the fringe of salt flats, barren lands you find these shrubs or trees that look more like weeds. Because the water in the ground, if there is any, has too high of a salt content, the water they have access to is limited and it won’t sustain growth.
They have no hope of becoming like the tree in last week’s sermon, no chances of giving shade and respite, or having branches which would let birds rest and fruit for humans and animas to be nourished by.
The simply dry up and die, to be blown about by the wind, never having a home, never having a future.
Spiritually, that is exactly what happens when we give up on God, when we dismiss Him to trust in some human to provide for us what we need to sustain life and hope, to help us get through the challenges, to deal with guilt and shame.
That is the curse, the inability to deal with the broken relationships, here on earth and with God.
That is a curse to heavy to bear, a pain that echoes through an empty soul.
Replanted!
There is hope for those so “cursed”
“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought!
The picture here for planted is God carefully removing us from the barren, salted soil, to be in a lush valley alongside the river bank, where the ground is full of the nutrients we need to grow.
That is the relationship we have with God, where He cares for us, provides for us and puts in a place where we are hidden in Him.
That’ why we aren’t bothered by the heat or drought- for God draws us deep into His love, deep into this place where He knows our needs, and we can rely on His care.
This idea of being planted and/or replanted in a good place is important. To have the power to trust God includes the trust to know we are where we should be at, among the people we are called to be alongside – and that God provides the trust to dwell with Him there. But He is the one who plants us there, He is the one who removes from us the barrenness, the lack of love and mercy, the absolute dry bones, and gives us life!
And that is why Jeremiah can confidently state, “Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
The more we see God at work here, the more comfort He gives us, the more we realize how He is working through each of our lives. We produce life – in the leaves and in the fruit because His life works its way through us.
That’s Jesus take on this, as those He takes root in produce 30,60 and 90 times their own life as it is invested in others.
This is the effect of trusting in Jesus, of knowing we die with Him and are raised with Him, AMEN!
The Greatest Challenges Revealed, and Crushed: The Nature of the Lord’s Supper.
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to His cross.
“Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident.Now when you come together at the same place, you are not really eating the Lord’s Supper.” (1 Corinthians 11:17–20, NET)
If the Sacrament of the Altar occupies such a central position in the Church, it is easily understood why it has become time and again the object of dissension and controversy. Every disease of the Church becomes manifest at the Lord’s Table….
Just as the Church of Christ becomes conscious of its own nature as it gathers around the Lord’s Table, so its weaknesses, errors, and sins also become manifest on that occasion.
It has been said by scientists that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As a theologian, I know this not to be true. There are cases where the reaction is significantly over the top of the original action.
If it wasn’t this way, being a pastor would be worthless, and ministry would be impossible.
I believe Sasse was right – that at the Lord’s Supper dissension and division become manifest most clearly. It is there that diseased and divided churches find no where to hide their brokenness.
I am not just talking about theological disagreements about the Lord’s Supper, fro even in those churches who do not recognize the miracle and mystery, divisions become so much clearer at the Altar. For the hope of healing isn’t seen, there is just contention, and avoidance. (this is why sharing/passing the peace once came after the words of institution and still does). And the lack of intimacy within the family of God leads to distancing ourselves from God.
Anecdotal stories abound about this – from the situation in Corinth to those who time their approach to the altar so as not to be close to those they are divided from–something that may be evident to others in the church.
If there is room for division- if that is the observed action at the Lord’s Supper, how much greater is the reaction – the invasion of the Lord and His mercy? To look upon and receive the Body sacrificed for us, and the Blood shed for the forgiveness of all our sin. To think and dwell on this mystery brings healing of damaged emotions and damaged relationships – this too is the work of the Holy Spirit–the comforter. It is the power of the gospel which saves and joins us all together, and breaks down the differences.
This isn’t magic, or some medicinal nature. It is because of the promise–the forgiveness of sins, both of me and my adversary. FOr if God is communing with one, He is communing with the other. And what was once coming together for worse (judgment in fact) is now coming together unified in Christ.
For what division, what way of arguing is worth the companionship and communion of God?
These divisions, the broken relationships, even when based on errors need God’s intervention, His love and mercy to flood our hearts (ours – as in everyone together). It is then, based on His word, that we will find things healing, being reconciled and redeemed to Him.
This is our God. Amen
Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (p. 3). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
How Can I Get “Them” to the Altar? A Plea for True Unity among those who trust in Jesus.
Devotional thought and Prayer of the Day;
2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 (NLT2)
It almost goes without saying that if we realize God’s love and live it, we will heal the divisions and brokenness within Christendom. Only if we realize God’s love is this possible, for no merely theological reconciliation is enough. The tragedy of denominationalism arose through a lack of love, not only a lack of knowledge or theological orthodoxy. Indeed, we cannot even understand what orthodoxy is without love, for orthodoxy means right belief about God. And God is love.
We split God’s visible Church (no one can split the invisible Church) because we were selfish. We decided to be our own conductors rather than all following the divine baton. That has to be the root cause of denominationalism, for God is peace and unity, so if we all loved and obeyed and followed His leading, we would necessarily sing in harmony. We are not singing in harmony, therefore we must have disobeyed Him, disobeyed love. The diagnosis is inescapable.
And so is the prescription. Though a thousand further details need to be addressed, here is the most important ingredient of all in the prescription for reunion. Here is the root of all true ecumenism. All churches and denominations must approach dialogue with purity and simplicity of heart. They must seek not triumph or power or self-justification or conversions but simply to follow God’s will. If that were done, a miracle would happen. Impossible healings of our divisions would become possible. Reunion without compromise would happen. And the world would once again sit up and say, astonished, “See how they love one another!”
The sacrament, Luther says, is not and should not be for those who come solely because they are commanded to do so, but for those who recognize their personal need and are inwardly driven to receive it. Recognition of his sinfulness and unworthiness should not prevent a man’s reception of the sacrament. Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ intended his Supper precisely for sinners who trust and believe in the words of institution
In the midst of the present crisis, stress is taking its toll on leadership.
And we begin to see that stress move divide the church even more. Not at the congregational level, I continually hearing of how congregations are doing amazing things. But at denominational levels and in inter-denominational levels.
It is sad and disheartening, and Shakespeare’s words to the Houses of Capulet and Montagu are oddly prophetic, “a pox on both your houses!”
It is in this time that we need to stop the fighting, the backbiting, the games, and strategic sessions. of how we will deal with “them”.
The Apostle Paul is right, the only answer to this is the answer we all need to hear. It is not the best preaching or the best academic theology that will provide unity, that will create the bond we need to heal the brokenness in the Body of Christ. That has not accomplished it in the last 120 years. Kreef is right when he discusses that we cannot truly be orthodox without the experience of love.
I might be naive, but I think that Kreeft is absolutely correct about seeing miracles occur when we seek God together; when we confess our sins and are forgiven; when we share in the feast the is the purest of love, the sharing of the Body and Blood of Jesus.
For that is why the altar is there, why the pastor/priest urges us to remember Jesus, brutally crucified, His Body broken, His blood being poured out. Not for the people who have it all together doctrinally, not for those who are without love claiming some form of Orthodoxy. His Body was broken, His blood poured out, and is there on the altar for those who need healing, who need reconciliation, who need a miracle.
That is where unity and revival find are generated, as we pray together, as we we seek His face together, as we experience His love and mercy. That is where the miracles happen.
As we prepare for Pentecost this year, as we look for the regathering of saints, perhaps it is time to allow God to bring us together, to let His love wash us clean, to invite the Holy Spirit to do the miracles that would truly bring us back together.
Lord, help us to love, as you love us!
Peter Kreeft, The God Who Loves You (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 151–152.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 169.
An Unexpected Call To Cheerfulness (but a needed one)
The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me 3 to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name. 4 Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me. 5 You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over. 6 Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come. Psalm 23:1-6 (NJB)
520 Christian cheerfulness is not something physiological. Its foundation is supernatural, and it goes deeper than illness or difficulties. Cheerfulness does not mean the jingling of bells, or the gaiety of a dance at the local hall. True cheerfulness is something deeper, something within something that keeps us peaceful and brimming over with joy, though at times our face may be stern.
I sit here this morning, having survived ( I think ) another battle with influenza, only to have my soul troubled by what I read, as stories of the Church divided fill my browser. It is depressing more than the flu, which managed to keep me from celebrating the hope I have in Christ Jesus with my friends and family. For to watch people try to destroy what Christ came to save… is devastating. Especially when such rot comes from within, from people who should know we have the ministry of reconciliation.
Yet in my devotions this morning, St. Josemaria reminds me to be cheerful.
Not the cheerfulness that celebrates freedom from illness or difficulty, the kind of cheerfulness that is found at parties and dances.
Something far deeper, something that today I need as I look out on a broken world, on a broken church.
The cheerfulness, the peace that is found in times where brokenness should have dominated. The cheerfulness I have seen wash over a group of people, allowing them to cry and laugh as we remember someone who has passed. Pr when other tragedies occur, leaving us breathless, and for a moment hopeless…..
Then someone starts to read or recite Psalm 23…….
I used the old NJB edition, for that is how I learned it. Yahweh is my Shepherd.
God gave me not only the right to use His name but the assurance with it that He is guiding, that He is providing and caring for me. I hear the song I grew up singing, based on it, Yahweh is my shepherd now, I shall not want, I shall not want…
And on days like this – when the body and soul are wary when the spirit is weak, and hope for the church is dimmed by the Church itself, there are only the promises of God that sustain…. that bring peace, and eventually the ability to smile.
As St Josemaria notes, there is something within something within us at these moments, where we find peace, and hope, and God’s comforting presence, and His promise of eternity.
From here it is possible to write and speak with hope, to point out the presence of God, and to urge everyone to find comfort and peace and yes cheerfulness there.
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1971-1976). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Just Me and God? Hmmmm….
Devotional Thought for our days….
After the vision of these things I looked, and there was a great number of people, so many that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 10 They were shouting in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9-10 NCV
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:43-47 (NLT)
The goal of the early Augustine, “God and the soul—nothing else”, is not realizable; it is also not Christian. In the last analysis, religion consists, not in the solitary way of the mystic, but in the community of proclaiming and hearing. Our conversation with God and our conversation with one another require and condition one another.
Every once in a while someone will tell me they don’t go to church because they don’t need it. They can worship God in a park, at the beach, in the mountains, by a lake. I almost believe them. After all, they will claim, didn’t Jesus often go away from the disciples to pray?
No, I do believe them. Some of the most intense moments, where I have realized the grace of God, have been those solitary moments when I am still, when I must know that He is God, that He is with me. And it is usually dealing with people that drives me to seek such solitude!
And of course, I am not alone in this. Augustine’s thoughts about this, referenced by Pope Benedict, show a similar desire. Just me and God, just God and my soul, nothing else needed! Benedict XVI sounds similar, if less harsh, to the critiques of Luther in regards to monasticism. Our relationship with God and with each other is the same relationship, it is the same package. Both Paul and Peter describe this in scripture as we are one body, many different parts perhaps, but we are one, and Jesus is our head. The creeds talk about one Church, noted because it is holy ( dedicated and separated to God ) Catholic (universal, across all 4 dimensions), apostolic ( it has a mission, it is sent by God) church ( those drawn together in Christ)
This is the way it was the early church, so in awe of the resurrection of Christ and what it means for us, they couldn’t help but meet together often, to talk about it, to show the love they had for each other. It wasn’t programmed, it wasn’t the result of marketing, it was the joy of being in Christ. Were there problems? Sure, but they worked themselves out as people realized they were reconciled to God.
Ultimately, in heaven, in the presence of God, face to face with Him, we are standing shoulder to shoulder, we are singing loudly together. It is not you, walking in the garden alone with God, We are all His! He walks with all of us, He talked with all of us, and He tells us all, we are His own. That is the way it is.
What does this mean for the church today?
That’s a big question. In a world with tens of thousands of different bodies, each claiming to be the church, yet each a broken fractured part of the one Church. But we can’t ignore the rest! Just as an individual can’t separate themselves from the church, neither should a congregation or even a denomination. There still needs to be a desire, a strong sense of this division is wrong and prayer that God would lead us to wholeness, real wholeness. Found in reconciliation in Christ, not in man made compromise. Still- that we would be one, even as Jesus and the Father are One.
May this be part of what we cry out for, when we cry out, “Lord, Have Mercy!” AMEN!
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
The Hope for the Miracle of Reconciliation
God, who am I?
2 I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God’s secret, that is, Christ himself. 3 In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept. Col. 2:2-3 NCV
- To attribute to God the good one sees in oneself.
- To recognize that the evil in oneself is attributable only to oneself.
- To make peace with an adversary before sundown.
- Never to despair of God’s mercy. (from the rule of St Benedict)
For at first Jerome, when objections were raised against him (e.g. for his statement, “If anyone says that God demands the impossible, let him be anathema”) simply replied in his Dialog. adv. Pel., Bk. 2 [MPL 23.577], “These things are impossible for our nature but possible for grace.” And he understood grace only in the sense of the aid and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Also Augustine in his first argument with the Pelagians said many things like this: “Grace restores the will so that the restored will fulfills the Law.”
The green words above are from the rule of St Benedict. They are critical for us to understand in these days where division is growing, where people are reacting not to what is said, not even to what they think they heard, but how they interpret it.
One friend recently said that he wouldn’t watch football because of the protests of players. He didn’t listen to what they said, he immediately interpreted it through his emotions, and admitted it, bringing into the equation his father, who was buried at Arlington Cemetery.
I wonder if he realized some of those players have relatives buried there as well?
I am not saying the football teams or those who support their actions are any better at listening to people.
In fact, the anger towards each other is simply reactionary. It is done with though, but not thought about the other people involved.
What originally started with one man, concerned with issues far deeper than a meme or slogan, has polarized many in this country, deepening the rifts. Rifts encouraged by some in the media, rifts that are unavoidable according to some.
Rifts that even divide those in the church, those who are united by something more powerful than anything else known, the power that raised Christ from the dead.
A power that we need to see now.
Chemnitz pointed out that what seems impossible for our nature is possible for grace, specifically the aid and renewal tht the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete/Comforter brings into our situation. The Spirit who is responsible for the good we see in ourselves, and overcomes the evil which we must recognize and take responsibility for, only to accept the grace that will redeem it.
It surprised me, as Dr. Webber quoted the Rule of St Benedict, to see #71 – to make peace with an adversary before sundown, But the context is amazing, for in thinking of that task – that discipline, we could easily despair. “I can’t do it”, “it’s impossible” “They will never…” I could easily despair, to which the Rule responds, “Never despair of God’s mercy”
There is our answer, there is our hope for reconciling the unreconcilable, the hope for healing relationships shattered by history, our present, and concern over our future.
It is the hope we see in Paul’s words in red above, the idea that we can be joined together in love, understanding God’s secret – the hope of being in Christ himself.
Heavenly Father, Lord bring peace to our fractured and divided society. Bring the hope and love that comes by Your Holy Spirit. Help those of us who claim to follow you to do so, to hear those who are our adversaries, and to be with them, that we all may be saved. AMEN!
[1] Webber, Robert E. The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006. Print. Ancient-Future Series.
4 Meisel and del Mastro, The Rule of St. Benedict, 52–54.
[3] Chemnitz, Martin, and Jacob A. O. Preus. Loci Theologici. electronic ed. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999. Print.
500 years since Luther, have we forgotten…
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
12 There has been enough time for you to be teachers—yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God’s message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. 13 Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. 14 Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.
Hebrews 5:12-14 (TEV)
11 It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. 12 He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. 13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature. 14 Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. 15 Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. 16 Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (TEV)
3 Although the people are supposed to be Christian, are baptized, and receive the holy sacrament, they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten commandments, 3 they live as if they were pigs and irrational beasts, and now that the Gospel has been restored they have mastered the fine art of abusing liberty.
4 How will you bishops answer for it before Christ that you have so shamefully neglected the people and paid no attention at all to the duties of your office? May you escape punishment for this!
5 You withhold the cup in the Lord’s Supper and insist on the observance of human laws, yet you do not take the slightest interest in teaching the people the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or a single part of the Word of God. Woe to you forever!
Next year is the 500th anniversary of the start fo the reformation, or at least one of the events that gave it some traction, the posting of an invitation to a discussion about practical theology.
What the host had thought to be a discourse that would make grace real, that would help people grow in faith; that would help them live in the peace which God had promised them. What he hoped would unify the church, shattered it.
Luther’s words in blue, from the introduction f the small catechism, a book for dad’s to teach their family about God, show the damage to the church then. Damage we see in the church at large now.
For our people are more focused on things of human invention than in the peace that comes from understanding the way of God, a way detailed in the Ten “Commandments” (the way we are described when we live in fellowship with the God who saved us) , the Creed, (the way God revealed Himself to us, that we may trust and depend upon Him) and the Lord’s prayer (the way we communicate and what we desire to know God is doing, that He promised).
Some of our people may know these from repetition, but how many know them. How many rejoice in this, and it drives them to know more? How many know these things so well that they are internalized, and affect their very lives?
We see the damage in the ways that people are blown about by every change of doctrine; we see it in the fact that they cannot teach why they trust in God to a neighbor over coffee. This problem isn’t new – the apostles dealt with it, (obviously) and so did Luther. They saw the imbalance between what was verbalized and what was confessed. What people said out of habit (or listened to) and what they knew.
In this day where the church, whether contemporary or traditional, missional or confession (terms used to distinguish the extremes in my movement) or however else the church can be divided is battered and broken, we need to return to the joy of our first love, to plunge into exploring the dimensions of God’s love, of how He reveals it, of how we live in it. For that changes everything, including how we look at one another. Including how we find ourselves reconciling rather than being divisive forces.
So let us pause, and think about how great this salvation is, how great it is that Jesus delivers us into the presence of the Father, who fills us with the spirit, and makes us His own. And let us rejoice in how he does that, even as it confronts us in our sin, brings us to faith, and to know He is with us.
AMEN!
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 338). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
How To Find Peace in the Middle of Conflict…. is it possible?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 I am tired of living among people who hate peace. 7 I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war! Psalm 120:6-7 (NLT)
304 Each day try to find a few minutes of that blessed solitude you need so much to keep your interior life going.
I am getting very tired.
Tired of those who yearn to fight, whether trying to tempt others into confrontations or verbal arguments, and especially those over spiritual things. I’m tired of watching those who would try and dominate over others, forcing their opinions, even opinions about inconsequential things, on others.
Tired of seeing people react without thought, assuming the worst, rather than letting things settle down and work out. I can think of international issues, issues in our cities, issues in the Church. People trying to take advantage of those emotions, encouraging division, encouraging the battles that can rob people of any comfort, of any peace.
So do we just walk away, do we fail to minister to those on embroiled in conflict? Do we hole up in a cave, like some in the early church did, creating our own monastic fortress, a place where heaven is on earth, and there is no conflict, no battles, no one trying to take over our world?
Or do we stand and minister to those in the fight? Do we enter the fray, with the intention, not of fighting, but simply giving aid and pointing out to those in turmoil the hope of peace that is always there in Christ?
It is not so much that we find peace; rather we need to know that we have it already. We have it because the Spirit dwells within us, because the Spirit brings that peace into our lives from the beginning. Therefore, our presence in the conflict can bring peace there.We become the point of peace, not only for ourselves, but all of those involved in the conflict – even the aggressors.
For us to have the ability to do so, we must take time to be with Him, in solitude, to pour our heart out, to let Him take our burdens. We need to let Him not only bear the weight fo the sins committed against us, but to deal with our sin as well. That’s what it means to be still, and know that He is God.
For being involved in conflict, even as the peacekeeper wears you down, and it isn’t your strength that will sustain you. Even more so, if you are the one involved in the conflict, if you are the one being engaged,
We need Christ; we need to know Him, depend on Him and trust Him, in every situation, in every moment.
For as we grow in our relationship with Him, even in the middle of a battle, or an argument, or as our frustrations grow, we ill depend on His presence, and that will give us the hope and peace needed to survive. That is the result of spending that time Saint Josemaria talks of, that time in solitude and silence,..with our Lord.
Lord, have mercy!
AMEN
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 789-790). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
We Are Agents of Reconciliation, not Division…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NLT) 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (TEV)
319 My God, how easy it is to persevere when we know that You are the Good Shepherd, and that we—you and I…—are sheep belonging to your flock! For we know full well that the Good Shepherd gives his whole life for each one of his sheep. (1)
Interesting thought, speaking the truth in love requires that you love the one you are speaking to….Which means it costs you as much as it costs them when they don’t hear you. (a thought I etched on Facebook recently)
The church has been appointed to a task, chosen for a specific role and ministry in this world. All of the vocations that exist, exist to see this work of God, accomplished in and through us.
Paul calls it the ministry of reconciliation, and it requires great sacrifice and great love. It is one, when we do not see it fulfilled, should bring us to tears, even as Paul cried for his fellow Jews who turned their back on God, and refused God’s grace, refused God’s actions reconciling them to himself.
It’s odd, if anyone had the right to claim he was persecuted for righteousness sake, it was Paul. Yet he wept over his persecutors. he wept over the division between them and God. He even offered up his life, that God would reconcile them to Himself.
As Paul found out, there were times of division, both with those who abandoned God, and within the household of God. Peter knew this as well, yet he would write
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)
Again, the focus isn’t just about being right – but how that is communicated, how we go to those we consider lacking in that hope, in the trust in that grace, in that knowledge. Realizing that our goal isn’t to win an argument, or create more division, but to see all reconciled to Christ, and therefore to each other.
Such is the nature of our ministry, of our life in Christ.
That is where our joy is found… in seeing all united in Christ Jesus.
Lord have such mercy on us…
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1276-1279). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
