The Church Blog

Here are updates from First Lutheran Church.

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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

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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

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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

Image may contain: nature and outdoor, text that says 'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer ROMANS 12:12'

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

Image may contain: text that says 'there is now no no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1'

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

Image may contain: nature and outdoor, text that says 'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer ROMANS 12:12'

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

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LCMS logoFirst 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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