Reply to a so-called church in Westboro

Last night a friend pointed out some nastiness that is coming out of "hate group" that the Apologetics Index people say is "masquerading as a Christian church."  I'm not going to even mention what that so called "church" is saying through their leaders, but suffice it to say that is such a terrible thing when any church or Christian forgets the character of Jesus, who, as I read scripture, was extremely loving toward those we might think of as the worst people while condemning those who thought of themselves as so righteous.  It's a crying shame when any church forgets that.

Those who know the leaders of the so called "Westboro Baptist Church" should remind them of Jesus' immense love for all and call them to account for their hate filled words and deeds.  All of us need to be vigilant against any tendency toward such hate.  Jesus took the penalty for the sins of the whole world, and, we all need to echo Paul as he says "I am the worst, the foremost of sinners" (First Timothy 1:15).  Pointing at the sins of others is not what Jesus calls us to do (Luke 6:42). It's not other people standing in the need of prayer, it's me.  And, praise God, he comes to save me, not condemn me.  Jesus came to save the world--not to condemn it.  That's the great Lord we serve.

Let's pray that the Lord would intervene with power to shine His great love and light in that darkness.

Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (First John 2:2).

God did not send his Son into the World to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:7).

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The Reason for Repentance

I found the following comments on Matthew 3:1 in a 50 year old work by R. C. H. Lenski entitled The Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel.  I found it as I was studying in preparation to preach this Sunday, and I found it extremely inspirational.  Imagine--every believer a king or queen alongside Jesus, the King of All.

The reason for repentance is: “for the kingdom of the heavens has come near”... it has been drawing near and is thus now at hand. Matthew alone writes ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν [the kingdom of the heavens], and he does so at least 32 times; the others write ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ [the kingdom of God], which is found only a few times in Matthew’s Gospel. The distinction is merely formal; one and the same kingdom is referred to.

[Both "the Kingdom of the heavens" and 'the Kingdom of God" have the idea of belonging:] the kingdom which belongs to the heavens, belongs to God. But it is difficult to keep the qualitative idea out of the former: the kingdom whose very nature is that of heaven; and the subjective idea out of the latter: the kingdom that God rules... We may very well think of Daniel 2:44, and 7:14, to gain a proper conception of what the Baptist had in mind.

This grand Biblical concept cannot be defined by generalizing from conditions obtaining in the kingdoms of the earth. These are only imperfect shadows of God’s kingdom. God makes his own kingdom, and only where he is with his power and his grace his kingdom is found; earthly kingdoms, which are many and various, make their kings, often also unmake them, and their kings are nothing apart from what their kingdoms may make them.

So also we are not really subjects in God’s kingdom but partakers of it, i.e., of God’s rule and kingship; earthly kingdoms have only subjects. In God’s kingdom we already now bear the title “kings unto God,” [as both men and women who believe in Jesus] and eventually the kingdom, raised to the nth degree, shall consist of nothing but kings in glorious array, each with his crown, and Christ thus “the King of kings,” a kingdom made up entirely of kings with no subjects at all.

This divine kingdom goes back to the beginning and rules the world and shall so rule until the consummation at the end of time. All that is in the world, even every hostile force, is subservient to the plans of God. The children and sons of God, as heirs of the kingdom, in whom God’s grace is displayed, constitute the kingdom in its specific sense. The kingdom is in them...

This kingdom is [especially marked] by the coming of Christ, the King, in the flesh to effect the redemption of grace by which this specific kingdom is really established among men. Hence we have the kingdom before Christ, looking toward his coming, and the kingdom after Christ, looking back to his coming—the promise and the fulfillment to be followed by the consummation [Christ's coming again]—the kingdom as it was in Israel, as it now is in the Christian Church, the Una Sancta in all the world, and as it will be at the end forever.

With this understanding of the kingdom, that where the King is and rules with his power and his grace there the kingdom is to be found, we see what the John the Baptist means when he says, “the kingdom has come near.” Jesus was approaching, and by the revelation of himself with power and grace as the Messiah and by the completion of his redemptive work he would stand forth as the King of salvation from heaven and would by faith enter into the hearts of men [and women], making them partakers of his kingdom. ...

Since the kingdom is so near in Christ, the King, all men [and women] should long to receive this kingdom. The one and only way to do this is to repent, to turn from sin, self-righteousness, and worldly security by the power of grace ... to the King and his kingdom with its pardon, peace, and joy.

This promise of God makes me sing!  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!

Repent!, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near! 

This is God's Word for you now! 

Now, at this moment, you may turn from your own ways and join the kingdom of God now!

Don't delay!  This could be the first day, the first moment of your new life! 

O God, I pray this may be so for many who read this, in Jesus' name.

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The 12th Day of Christmas

We had a very good Christmas and New Year's with the family; but now it's over.  Our young adult children are going about their lives.  The house is returning to its quiet empty-nest self.  On Monday we took down our Christmas tree.  The decorations are packed away--this time they're packed away with other things that will be moved to another home.*

I'm not sad to see the end of the Christmas season.  It's not just because, with the rest of the world, I heard Christmas songs for more than a month, and it's not because I was tired of Christmas advertising, though I didn't mind the end of those things...  I'm not a scrooge; I like giving gifts and I enjoy Christmas carols and Christmas family gatherings--but there's a way in which even the Christian focus on Christmas can get us off track spiritually.  Let me explain...

You've noticed, perhaps, how little the Bible tells us about the early life of Jesus.  There are a couple chapters in Matthew and Luke of a prophetic sort.  There are genealogies and few short accounts of Jesus' early life, including a dozen paragraphs about events around the birth, but the Bible quickly moves on to the time when Jesus was about 30 years old.

This coming weekend I'll be preaching on one of the Bible's accounts of Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:13-17).  Jesus baptism is traditionally remembered on this Sunday only two weeks after Christmas.  Maybe you've never known or noticed that, but for those of us who pay attention to such things as the church year or the lectionary readings, or if you've ever read the first chapters of Matthew or Luke, it's noteworthy that the Gospels don't follow a normal biographical format.  In Matthew's gospel there's a leap of almost 30 years from the last verse of chapter two to the first verse of chapter three.

Because the Bible is as God wants it to be, we should be able to learn something from this.  Here's what I've been thinking and praying about during the last few days...  Let me know what you think about this.  Could there be a special reason God wants to move us quickly past "the baby in the manger"?

• Too much attention given to the "Christ Child" can make us think of Jesus as someone who needs our help.  Putting our focus on "the baby in the manger" can make us think that we are somehow the strong and capable ones.  We can become confused and think of Jesus as a like a child who may be good but who certainly has no power or authority.

I think Christmas, over-emphasized, can lead us to put way too much attention on our own good deeds and give them too much importance.  I think, at Christmas time, as we focus on the baby, and as we imagine we might have done for him if we had been there, or what we might do for God now in caring for the "least of these," we can forget about our sinfulness.  We can forget that sin and selfishness and pride infect even the best human good deeds.  We can, in this season especially, put to the side the absolute need for us human beings to be submitted and obedient to Him alone and imagine we can somehow do good on our own.

Perhaps that's why there isn't much about Jesus early life in the Bible.  It's not until he is baptized at age 30 that the mission of God in Christ gets going.  Finally then the real work of God in Christ has its start.  And it's clear that, in the Bible, that everything about Jesus' life leads up to his last week of life.  In the Bible there is so much more, maybe a hundred times more about the last week of Jesus life than about the first thirty years. 

Maybe it's no mistake that the earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas at all.  Christmas only came into being as a Christian holiday two or three hundred years after Jesus completed his work in the cross and resurrection, on his ascension into glory and on his promise to come again.  The early Christians put way more emphasis on the celebration of Jesus saving work on the cross and in the resurrection than they did on his birth.**  They knew Jesus as the one who had defeated sin, death and the power of the devil!  They knew they were weak, in and of themselves, and if they needed strength to do good, that it could come only from Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit.  If they did anything good, it was always done in his power and in his strength alone.

It's okay to celebrate Christmas, but not if we over do it, and certainly not if we think of Jesus as weak or mild or needing our help.  Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  He does not need anything from us.  In our relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, we are always the ones in need, and God is always the one who gives.  We read this very clearly in Acts 17:25 and we can see it over and over again in the rest of God's Word.  God is in charge.  God is strong.  We follow.  We receive.  He is the one who blesses us.

So, let's move on. Yes, Jesus did come into this world as a little baby, and yes he grew and matured and did who knows what in his early life. But God jolts us through his word, yanking us forward to the time when Jesus was ready to begin the work he alone would do for our good--and for the salvation of the world.

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*  We'll most likely be in the Cokato parsonage until about the time we must move (Feb. 22).  We are so thankful that we still have a place to live.  And we are thankful that our Lord and His precious promises are always here to bear us up.
** Christmas as a Christian holiday only came into being only a couple hundred years after Jesus' birth.  It may, in fact, have been connected with old Roman holidays, though that is debated even today.

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Added Jan. 13 - I revised this post and used it as the basis of notes for a sermon that I preached on January 9, 2011 in Wisconsin.  Click here to download a pdf of those notes.

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Better to Receive

If you go to church, why do you do it?  I hope it's because you know you need something that you receive there.

I didn't go this past Sunday.  Instead, we were traveling, returning from our family New Years weekend.  We stopped for gas in Hinckley.  There was quite a mob there.  Evidently many of them didn't go to church either.

That's what made me think about motivation.  I hope we don't go to church to impress anyone, least of all God.  I hope I go, even as a pastor, even when I'll be leading worship or preaching... I hope I go to receive something from the Lord.  In relationship with our God, 'tis more blessed to receive.

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Family Reprise

On Dec. 31, 1999, Toni and I and the kids traveled up to Grand Marais on the north shore of Lake Superior where we met my parents and sisters and brother and their families for a "Millenium" celebration.  This year we decided to redo that, so we spent New Year's weekend together again, this time in northern Wisconsin.  The 18 of us enjoyed the time together at the "Heartwood" retreat center for just over $20 per person per night--and my dad picked up the tab!  We brought food along to prepare meals, we enjoyed dancing and karaoke, played games and went out sliding and cross country skiing.  It was really fun.

Family is important and I'm glad we were able to enjoy that time together.  Even more important, though, is the truth and love of Jesus that our family life has been based on over all these years.  The forgiveness and joy of Jesus is something we want to share every day of this new year.  Let us know how we can help and serve and pray for you.

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Dona Nobis Pacem

I woke up at 2:00 a.m. on Monday morning thinking about members of the call committee that worked and prayed so hard during 2005 in the call process that led to my coming to serve as pastor here.  Some of them are still at ELC/Cokato and others are elsewhere.  I think of them and I pray for them and the peace that passes understanding. 

Today I was over at ELC/Cokato for my wife's great aunt's funeral.  ELC/Cokato is my father-in-law's home church.  The splintering and split of that church, and of so many others in the ELCA -- it hits close to home.

How do we walk through days like this?

A dear friend wrote this to me today:

"I believe that if we truly understood God's character... His immense love and concern for us and His power and sovereignty to act on our behalf, we would never fear anything again. That's probably my most consistent prayer for myself and others... that we would get that kind of revelation about Him."

As we get to know Jesus, that's what we come to know.  We do not need to be afraid.

Father God, I pray, in Jesus' name, that it may be so among and in us.

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The Unfailing Word

Two of the older members of Toni's extended family passed away in recent days.  Ruth Dahlin, who was like a second mother to Toni's dad, and Ellsworth Dahlin, who was as close as an older brother.  Ruth's funeral will be here in Cokato on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.

Toni's dad is from Cokato.  The church he grew up in is the one I resigned from in August.  That church has splintered and split, as have many ELCA congregations.  Many church members are still feeling unsettled and wondering what the future will bring.  It's like the foundations of many lives are being shattered.

Whatever it is that we face, God's Word does not fail.  God's Word created the world and that Word does not change.  Even death itself cannot defeat it.  God's Word itself became human and lived among us.  He was crucified and all was lost.  But then He rose from the dead.  Death and destruction do not have the last word.  The first and last Word belongs to God--and that Word is Life.

John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

No local church and no "denomination" will stand forever.  When those shake and quake, we flee to the unfailing Word of God.  That Word, alone, will stand.  The Word of God will not fail.

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Repentance at Christmas

• On the phone this week I had a great conversation with Walt Sundberg, professor of church history at Luther Seminary.  One of the things we talked about what the importance of repentance, especially in connection with Baptism and Communion.
• That evening our family went to see a movie based on C.S. Lewis' book Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  There's a story of transformation in the book (not depicted so well in the movie)--a boy named Eustance allows "Aslan" (=Jesus) to deal with his sin and he comes out clean and new.  
• Yesterday evening, at Christmas Eve worship, Jerry Seehusen reminded us of the importance of self-examination as we prepared for communion.  
• Then this evening (1) I read an article by Michael Bradley in the Master's Institute newsletter that talked about the cleansing power of God and (2) someone contacted me how to confront someone they were hurt by.  

It seems as though repentance is a theme that is coming up over and over again.

Here's what Mike Bradley wrote, as he recalled what Lee Grady shared at the Midwest Gathering for the Alliance of Renewal Churches about how our lives can be like the "gunk" that lies hidden behind a refrigerator that's been in its place for many years.

"Have you ever moved after many years and, in the process, pulled your refrigerator out?  When you did, were you shocked when you saw all that gunk back there?  I have, and yes, there was a lot of gunk... Our lives can be like [that]...

"There can be old emotional pus wounds that are influencing our present.  There can be old defense mechanisms that may have helped us survive but now need to be released.  There may be patterns of acting and reacting, strongholds that we run to when life gets stressful.  There may be unhelpful beliefs and lies we have rationalized and justified.  Whatever it is we need God's transforming power to clean it out..."

As we meditate on the newborn Jesus, God who came among us in such a vulnerable way, let us all likewise be willing to let the Lord deal with us as His own child.  Allow self-examination or even the criticisms of others do God's revealing work, humbling you and forcing you to look at some truth about yourself that you don't want to see. 

It will be okay.  Even on Christmas.  When we come to Jesus with our brokenness and sin, there is no harm in repenting.  When we come to a Christian brother or sister and seek reconciliation and forgiveness, it will be good. 

Every time, Jesus will give you new life.

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Merry Christmas

Thank you to my friend Pastor Steve Olson for telling me about this video.

NeedGod.com

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The Wrong Notes

Toni is directing the choir at the little Crossroads church for Christmas Eve and so I'm singing along.  I've sung in choirs for years though not recently, so I'm pretty confident.  There's one particular part of the song, however, that always sounded wrong to me... but tonight, after practicing for three weeks, I found out that I was the one who was wrong, not the other men.  Uff da. 

It's human nature to think "I" am right when I hear someone singing differently.  It's human nature to think I'm right in other situations too, to think I'm doing right nor not doing wrong.  I see or hear others doing differently and I think, they must be wrong.  But sometimes, they're not wrong.  Sometimes I am.  Sometimes I'm the one who needs to change my tune.

Who is to decide?  When we sing, we have notes written by the composer.  If I don't sing those notes, I'm wrong, no matter how good I think I sound.  When we live, we have the Word of God.  If I'm not following the Word of God, I'm wrong, no matter how at peace I may feel.  We do have an objective standard to which we can compare our living, our speaking, our life.

I need to correct those notes I am singing wrong before Christmas Eve.  I hope I will be as humble about all the areas of my life that might need to be corrected according to the composer of God's Word too.

Peace to you tonight in Jesus' name alone.

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What We've Been Doing

"That's what we've been doing all these years."
                                    - Toni Thorson

The Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Connections magazine came to us recently as a gift from WordAlone.  Toni made the above comment while reading what Jaynan Clark wrote based on 2 Timothy 2:8-13 about the "re-evangelization of the church."

"Re-evangelization" is needed whenever we forget the basics of "law and gospel" which convicts us of sin and releases us through faith in Jesus Christ.  (Some have been led astray by a So-Called "Gospel" of Inclusion, where the message ends up being mainly about who the church includes or excludes.)  "Re-evangelization" means to bring people back to the truth of Jesus.  When Toni read the reference to this in Jaynan's article, she said that's what we've been doing for a long time. 

I think she's right.  At least in recent years we have indeed been standing against the dominant culture of our country and many in the church.  I can't say that I've always been effective in "doing" what the Jaynan writes of in her article, but part of what we've experienced has been a rejection of the "law and gospel" message we have been called to proclaim.

Here's part of Jaynan Clark's article from Connections:

...To stand in the midst of the present chaos, confusion, conflict and change and announce that God will not be mocked, that He sent His only Son Jesus to release us from our chains of sin and death--and in exchange we chained and killed Him for it--this is not a "popular" story.  It never has been.

We are living in a time that publicly despises such a proclamation.  We have denied our sinful state to the point of not even wanting to talk about "sin" anymore because it is such a "downer."  Our refusal to acknowledge its dominion over us has resulted in a context that inhales and exhales as hedonistic, narcissistic, defiant spoiled children.  Some of these "children" are in their sixties and seventies, and have never put the lessons of the 1960s into perspective.  The free love, self-gratification, "I'm OK--you're OK", so get out of my face, who are you to tell me how to live, slaves to the self and the pursuit of personal happiness folks are running the show.  They are in positions of leadership in government, business and denominational churches.  The "me" generation has not yet accepted that their "me-ness" is the ultimate First Commandment violation.  Putting oneself in the place of God has dire consequences for all.

This celebration of the self--belief in the divine spark of goodness within, rejection of absolute truth claims, belief in the Gospel without the law, refined freedom that applauds action without consequences, redefined love that is a tepid tolerance, and blind acceptance of everyone and everything--has led to this place and time when reevangelization is our primary calling.  It must begin in the very churches that pass out this other religion of "selfism"...

The greatest story ever told is the story of a God who is our Heavenly Father, who knows and loves His disobedient sinful children who just keep returning to the tree and listening to the whispers of the snake.  The story of our God--who will not disown himself, and so gives us Himself over to save us from ourselves for Himself--is a story at odds with the very fabric of our society.  It defies the cascading, current flow.  That which the world most needs to hear is what is being stifled, rejected, ridiculed, not tolerated or accepted, and even hated by this politically-correct, tolerant, accepting, loving world groaning in travail.  Jesus is the problem everywhere for everyone at all times--especially now, it seems.  He is also the answer--the One nobody wants or is able to "accept" on his or her own terms.

Let me know if you want to read the rest of the article and I'll give or send you a copy.  Or go to the Connections Magazine website.

I believe our call to "re-evangelize" the church continues... as we also turn our attention to the those who have never known Jesus or his amazing love.  As Jaynan says at the conclusion of her article:

We know that it is impossible for us--but nothing is impossible for God when He finds a few fools for Christ's sake.  We are willing to have our faces set forward with our hands on the plow, refusing to shrink back or fear failure.  To not engage in our primary calling to preach, teach and confess our Savior according to God's Word is to renounce our discipleship. 

When all is said and done, whether anyone notices or cares, though we may die despised and hated, He will recognize the good fruit that comes from His own hand.

Please continue to pray that Toni and I will soon know where we are to serve next. We truly want to do God's will and serve God's Word alone.

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Worth Sharing

It's been a great time for the past couple days for the family down here in Northfield.  I thought I'd drive home today after preaching in Wisconsin, but decided to come back and spend some more time here.  I'm glad I did.  As I've said so many times, family is such a blessing.  A blessing that we need to share! And one way we do that, I think, is by reaching out through the internet.  Let's see if we can use this medium in a consistently good way.

On the way down here on Friday my daughter Naomi told me fascinating stories about refugees that she's been interviewing in connection with her AmeriCorps job.  (She's editing a book!)  One woman came to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area after finding someone who would help her via facebook.  She's still partially homeless, but she has a lot more hope than she did in her country of origin, where she was beaten and under threats of beheading.  Now, with the help of women at her church and at her homeless shelter, she's raising money to bring her teenage children and her husband to join her in the United States.

Later on Friday evening I met another young woman, also from Africa, who had been sponsored as a "Compassion" child.  When she was young her family had no mattress.  The parents would make a pillow out of clothing and all the children would lie with their heads on the pillow and their bodies on the hard ground.  She remembers the day she was selected to be sponsored by Compassion.  Because of generous sharing from her sponsors she had food, education and health care--blessings that continue today as she is in an advanced program for Spiritual Formation and Discipleship at Moody Theological Seminary.  She praises God every day for the gifts she's been given -- and she'll never forget how far the Lord has brought her and knows the Lord won't leave her now.  Listen to the song she sang for us - Can't Give Up Now.

I am thankful for my family, for the Lord Jesus who puts love in our hearts, and for my country.  If you are also thankful, how will you share those blessings in the days to come?  A young facebook friend of mine just posted this:

Every Christmas you always hear people saying what they want and bought. Well this is what I want, I want people who are sick with no cure to be able to be cured. I want children with no families, to be adopted, I want people to never have to worry about food and shelter and heat. Now, lets see how many people re-post this who actually care. I have a feeling I am gonna see almost no re-posts... prove me wrong!

Some things are worth sharing.  I hope I will keep sharing too.

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