Daily Devotions

Daily Devotion. Day 7, Joyful in Hope

Romans is the book of the Bible I probably spend the most time in. It’s filled with memorable gospel proclamations. It speaks eloquently to the wonders of baptism. It encourages us to use our spiritual gifts for the up-building of the church.

One verse that stands out in this time is Romans 12:12. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” This sums up the Christian life in general, but in our current context it hits home with a bit more force. There is too much in this one verse for one devotion, so why don’t we spread this out over the next few days.

Be joyful in hope. If you look for it, you will find there is a lot of hope out there. There are moments of grace that I see every day, even while sheltering in place. People are sacrificing for the benefit of the community by donating masks to hospital personnel, donating blood. I’ve even heard of people foregoing their salaries to ensure those with less financial stability can keep getting paid.

Yesterday I got to help some of our friends baptize their first child from thousands of miles away. Though there are challenges out there, God’s glory is still being revealed every day all over the world.

There is a lot of hope out there. Be joyful in that.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 1, Waiting

I started doing some daily devotions as we began sheltering in place. Here's the first one.

I’ve been thinking about waiting. For the next three weeks we are going to spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting to see our friends. Waiting to go to our favorite restaurant. Waiting to go to church. It’s not going to be easy.

But as I look through the Bible, I find all sorts of people who spent a lot of time waiting in uncomfortable situations. Daniel waited overnight in a lions’ den. Jonah waited three days and three nights in the belly of some massive marine animal. Lazarus waited four days while dead for Jesus to come and speak his name. In Exodus, God’s people spent 40 years waiting while wandering in the wilderness.

And of course, Jesus waited. He waited in the tomb for Easter to arrive, to arise from the grave and destroy death forever.

As we wait, we draw strength from God’s Word. Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

We are waiting, but our God continues His active work. You can too. Take a minute to call a friend, a church member, a family member. Pray. Pray for politicians and healthcare workers and grocery store employees. Pray for those who aren’t sure how they’re going to survive this financially. Pray for the lonely. Pray for each other as you wait.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 10, Can These Bones Live?

The book of Ezekiel is probably the strangest book in the Bible. The prophet Ezekiel sees perplexing visions from the Lord. It is a book filled with symbolism and strangeness. In one scene, the Lord shows Ezekiel a valley filled with dry bones then asks the bizarre question, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel’s answer is spot on, “O Lord God, you know.”

God reveals to Ezekiel that these bones are the people of Israel and indeed these bones will live because God will raise them from the dead.

Truly, our God is a God of resurrection and restoration. No matter how many times God’s people wandered away, He restored them. No matter how badly God’s people disobeyed Him, He always preserved a remnant of people.

You may be looking at the weeks and months ahead and seeing only decline and decay, wondering if things will ever get better. But God’s view is much longer. And God always restores and raises His people. He will do so in ultimate fashion when Jesus returns, raises the dead, and we will be forever with the Lord.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 11, No Condemnation

Have you ever felt guilty? Have you ever felt ashamed? Could you articulate the difference?

There are several different ways to get at the difference, but for me guilt centers around actions and behavior while shame centers around being. Guilt says, “I did a bad thing.” Shame says, “I am bad.”

What’s interesting is that the same actions can lead to guilt in one person but shame in another person. If two people fail an exam, one might feel guilty regarding a behavior, “I didn’t study enough.” The other person might feel the failure in their very being and say, “I am stupid.”

As a pastor, I am sensitive to the difference because the Gospel to guilt is different from the Gospel to shame. The Gospel to guilt is forgiveness for the behavior. The Gospel to shame is persistent proclamation of identity in Christ: You are a child of God and He loves you for who you are.

Romans 8:1 gets at both guilt and shame as succinctly as any verse can, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” You are not condemned for your actions. You are not condemned for who you are. Indeed, your condemnation has been taken away for you are forgiven in Christ and you will always be His beloved child no matter what.

You are in Christ. No one can condemn you. Not even yourself. Jesus loves you and He always will.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 12, Jesus Wept

Tomorrow the Gospel reading from John 11 contains the shortest verse in the Bible, just two words: “Jesus wept.” Confirmation students have joked for decades that they want this as their confirmation verse because, well, it’s short and easy to remember. Despite the brevity of the verse, its theological implications are deep enough to drown in.

Jesus wept. He had emotions. He is truly human. He identifies with us in everything that we are going through. When we weep we are participating in an activity also done by the divine Son of God.

Jesus wept. Since Jesus is sinless and Jesus wept, crying isn’t a sin. It’s not something to feel ashamed of.

Jesus wept. The occasion for Jesus weeping is that His friend Lazarus had died four days earlier. Jesus knows He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead in a minute, yet He still weeps. This tells us that it is abundantly appropriate to weep and grieve when our loved ones die. Even though we know Jesus will raise us from the dead and we will be forever with Jesus, weeping is still the proper response to death even with the hope of the resurrection seconds or years or millennia away.

Jesus wept. And yet, He will also wipe away every tear from our eyes for the time for mourning will not last forever. For Christ will raise us from the dead never to die again. And when death is gone, our tears will be no more. Jesus wept, but He won’t weep forever.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 13, My Times Are in Your Hand

One week from today is Palm Sunday. Our shelter in place order will keep us from gathering next Sunday as we normally would. Sometimes it feels like everything is out of our hands, out of our control. We may begin to wish we had never seen such times.

This is how the character Frodo Baggins feels in The Lord of the Rings series. Frodo and his companions are on a quest that is just beginning. Thus far it has not gone well. They are stuck in a massive, ancient mine that is overrun with enemies when Frodo expresses his dismay saying, “I wish none of this had happened.”

The wizard, Gandalf, replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

In the Psalm for Palm Sunday, Psalm 31, David writes to the Lord, “My times are in your hand.” I’m sure none of us would have chosen a time when we could not meet together in person for worship, but our times are in the hands of God. We don’t get to decide what happens on a worldwide scale. All we have to decide is what we are going to do with this time, in this era that God has given to us.

Let’s trust in the Lord, and point others toward His mercies.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy

One week from today is Palm Sunday. Our shelter in place order will keep us from gathering next Sunday as we normally would. Sometimes it feels like everything is out of our hands, out of our control. We may begin to wish we had never seen such times.

This is how the character Frodo Baggins feels in The Lord of the Rings series. Frodo and his companions are on a quest that is just beginning. Thus far it has not gone well. They are stuck in a massive, ancient mine that is overrun with enemies when Frodo expresses his dismay saying, “I wish none of this had happened.”

The wizard, Gandalf, replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

In the Psalm for Palm Sunday, Psalm 31, David writes to the Lord, “My times are in your hand.” I’m sure none of us would have chosen a time when we could not meet together in person for worship, but our times are in the hands of God. We don’t get to decide what happens on a worldwide scale. All we have to decide is what we are going to do with this time, in this era that God has given to us.

Let’s trust in the Lord, and point others toward His mercies.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 2, Absent but Present

In Colossians 2, the Apostle Paul says this,

“For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Paul wrote Colossians from prison. I’m not in prison. I can go outside for a walk or a run and to the grocery store when need be, but I am absent in body from all of you.

Normally on Wednesdays at 12 noon and 7pm a few dozen of us would gather for Lenten services, but not today. Today we are absent in body from each other.

But we are not absent in spirit. Despite these challenging circumstances, it has been great to hear some of your stories of grace. To hear about a neighbor who gave one of our parishioners a massive amount of toilet paper out of sheer kindness. To hear of our preschool teachers connecting with their students via technology even though they can’t be together in person right now.

I’m not absent in spirit either. You are all in my prayers. And I will continue to work diligently to care for you by writing, recording videos, and doing whatever else needs to be done while I must be absent in body.

God’s blessings. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 3, Lonely

I discovered today that the word “lonely” appears only three times in the Bible (well, at least in the translation known as the English Standard Version). One of those times is in Psalm 25 where David writes:

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.”

The next few weeks will undoubtedly get a bit lonely for all of us. While many of us have families and still have some personal connection, many people in our congregation live alone. I feel for them most of all in this time.

King David writes wise words as he turns to the Lord to help. He turns to the Lord for grace. He turns to the Lord to bring him out of his distress.

I hope you are also able to turn to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to your neighbors, and hopefully we can make it through this time together with the Lord’s help (and an assist from technology).

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the Faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 4, Light

One of the things we are still allowed to do in this time of sheltering in place is to go outside to walk or run. I had been walking and running outside regularly, but it’s different now. I jumped over a few hedges yesterday to make sure I kept appropriate social distance from other people who were out walking or running. Normally this would have been an extremely strange thing for me to do, but now it is an act of love.

In Ephesians 5, Paul talks about how since we have been removed from darkness and are now children of light. He encourages us to walk in the light, not in darkness. To walk in wisdom, not foolishness. To walk with the Lord, not in sin.

The weeks to come are going to be challenging for a lot of people. The lack of community is going to feel like darkness to many of us. When we have opportunity, we are going to need to be light in this dark world. When you are out for a walk, say hello to people, smile, wave. When you are out shopping for essentials, be kind to others. Just because we are keeping our distance doesn’t mean we need to be distant emotionally.

Be warm. Be friendly. Be light. For Christ has shined on you.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 5, Blessed be the name of the Lord

Before the COVID-19 crisis, we had been studying the book of Job in our Sunday adult Bible study. Job’s story is one of tragedy. In the span of a few minutes, he learns that all of his wealth is gone. His thousands of sheep, camels, donkeys, and oxen are all stolen or destroyed. Then, worst of all, he learns his ten children have all been killed in a violent windstorm.

What’s beyond comprehension is Job’s response to this. He tears his robe and shaves his head (typical signs of grief in his culture), then bows down to the ground in worship and says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

These days it feels like a lot has been taken away from us. Our workplaces have been taken away. Our ability to sit and eat breakfast at Diggers or Min’s Kitchen is gone. Our ability to send our kids to school or preschool has been taken away. Tomorrow we will not gather in person for worship. This might be the first Sunday in the 80-year history of First Lutheran that this happens.

Perhaps what Job’s story can teach us is that all these things that have now been taken away were gifts from God, gifts that He gave freely, gifts that we perhaps didn’t recognize as gifts.

It’s appropriate to grieve the loss of these things. But we must also remember Job’s words: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” No matter what is given or taken away, we continue to bless God’s name. Though we can’t meet in person, we will still bless the Lord’s name on Sundays through our live stream worship at flcconcord.org/live.

And we will also remember that Job’s story didn’t end with everything being taken away, but that everything that was taken away was restored to him, doubled even. My prayer is that the Lord would restore our fortunes as we continue to bless His name through this time of things being taken away.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 6, Known

For me, one of the most challenging things about our current situation is trying to discern the massive amounts of communication from never ending sources. It seems like everybody thinks they have knowledge and wants to share it far and wide. Not surprisingly, the Bible has some applicable words on the topic.

The Apostle Paul writes the following in 1 Corinthians 8:

“We know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

Knowledge puffs up. Please understand, I think we need facts and information. Facts and information are essential, especially in a time like this. But once we’ve heard the facts and information (and seven people’s opinions that might not be based on facts), we blend all of that into our own personal mixture of knowledge. We filter out what and who we don’t like. We add extra doses of the information that is most important to us. And we come out with a so-called “knowledge” that doesn’t encourage anyone, but only puffs up our own egos.

But Paul offers another way: the way of love. Love builds up. Love encourages. We can never have enough knowledge. We will always be lacking. But as we love God and love others, we find that far more important than what we know is that we are known. We are known by God. We are known by love.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 8, Patient in Affliction

As I mentioned yesterday, Romans 12:12 is a succinct summation of the Christian life. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Yesterday we talked about being joyful in hope. So today, we talk about being patient in affliction.

Patience is the one thing I definitely need more of in this time. Patience with technology as I keep learning new tools to connect with people, patience with governmental leaders as they make extremely challenging decisions that affect millions of people, patience with medical researchers as they continue to work on ways to fight, cure, and test for COVID-19, truly patience with everything and everyone.

Yet the patience I find most lacking is patience with myself. It has been a challenging month. I’m tired. My to-do list keeps getting longer and longer. There are hundreds of people looking to me to be their pastor and I’ve never been a pastor through a pandemic. None of my pastor friends has either. It’s new territory, and it requires exceptional amounts of patience.

Be patient friends, for God is with us through every trial and affliction, including this one.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy
Daily Devotions. Day 9, Faithful in Prayer

For the past two days, we’ve been looking at Romans 12:12 which says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Being faithful in prayer is one aspect of the Christian life that has not been affected by the shelter-in-place order. Prayer can continue from your home just as easily as anywhere else. God is listening wherever you go.

Continue to pray for those who are sick, those who are lonely, those in essential professions such as healthcare, those who are in danger of losing their jobs. Keep praying.

Continue to pray for churches, schools, your favorite restaurants as these are all facing unprecedented times right now and it is unclear how long this will last. Keep praying.

Continue to pray for researchers and scientists and manufacturers who are all working diligently to develop tests and equipment and medicine to battle this virus.

Keep praying friends. The Lord delights to hear your prayers. He delights to answer them too.

God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

Pastor Andy

First Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a family of congregations focused on bringing Christ to the nations and sharing His unconditional saving Love within our community.

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