Thursday, November 30, 2006

From the Pastor

This month of December is a season with mixed blessings. We are all about decorating and preparing for one of the biggest holidays of the year while the Bible texts I read are all about the second coming of Christ. The temptation is to forget the latter and stick to the former. But I can't. Why not? Let me tell you.

I dream of a day when there will be no more funeral homes or grief centers. A time when we will drive by hospitals and medical centers and wonder what we will do with all the empty space. It will be a time where laughter and music will come from nursing homes. Churches will be filled with people dancing and shouting. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Read over Revelation, Chapter 21, to see why this is such a great message for us.

Meanwhile, you and I will need to continue to care for this earth and look to help those we can until that day. So instead of being scared by the terror I see on the news or the frustration I feel at the slow progress of humanitarian efforts or wondering why we can not find a cure for cancer, let us keep looking up, waiting for that grand and glorious day. As One writer put it, "For the writer of the Book of Revelation witnessing, not dying was his goal. We are to live as people of hope."

Join me in worship of our kind on Wednesday evenings, December 6 and December 13, join me in our unique Advent worship based on the words : Waiting, Preparing, Reflecting.... We will begin at 7:00pm and be done at 7:30pm.

Pastor Otto

p.s. In case you don't have your Bible handy........

Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." 6 And he also said, "It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 So he took me in the Spirit[b] to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.[c] 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick[d] (according to the human standard used by the angel).
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones:[e] the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil[f] will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Footnotes:
a. Revelation 21:3 Some manuscripts read God himself will be with them, their God.
b. Revelation 21:10 Or in spirit.
c. Revelation 21:16 Greek 12,000 stadia [2,220 kilometers].
d. Revelation 21:17 Greek 144 cubits [65 meters].
e. Revelation 21:19 The identification of some of these gemstones is uncertain.
f. Revelation 21:27 Or ceremonially unclean.

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Hold the Chicken Soup: preaching Advent Hope As I get ready for the December I am always reminding people that the second coming of Christ is will be better than the first. Usually this is interpreted as my attempt at throwing cold water on Christmas. So In that vein I plan on sharing with the congregation during the Sundays of Advent that God offers us hope that is not based on optimism. What do I mean. I can not tell you the number of times I have been offered a copy of Chicken Soup for the soul. Jack Canfield has made lots of money while making people feel good but is this really hope? Whenever I read one of his books the stories may start out bad but always end up in victory. Does suffering always end up in triumph? Theologian Christian Beker says that some suffering test us and challenges us and have no apparent lesson or reason. We realize that our faith is in God even when we can not see any good. "Instead of encouragement,what the Scriptures do give us is the bold, contrary rhetoric of promise laid next to pain and sorrow. God promises to stand with us and in the final battle victory even when we struggle to make sense out of our life. This is real hope." What do you think?

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Bounty Hunt

I discovered this wonderful little passage in exodus chapter 36 where moses is in charge of building the tabernacle and is told to tell the people to stop giving because the workers have enough material. I would love to be able to tell the congregration that we no longer need your donations as we have more than enough to meet the church goals. [[[[[ the rest of the blog was damaged and lost when it was moved over to this new blog system.. sorry ]]]]]]]]

October

In October, we have been exploring some of the wonderful aspects of being Lutheran. Of prime importance is to be "word of God" people. From the epic stories of Genesis and Exodus to the run on sentences of Paul, each Biblical book, letter and poem carries the personal stamp not only of the writer but the Word of God to me. Given the personal nature of all these stories and experiences is like reading a blog. Imagine what it must have been like for those people of the first century to read these handwritten letters. Think of those who struggled with persecution getting a book to read about a savior who was persecuted and died for what he believed. Gutenberg may have done us all a favor by inventing the printing press and by getting the Bible into our hands. But isn't it interesting that even though we have grown up with these texts and know lots of them by heart we take them for granted? The Bible may be a best seller but it is also the least read. Given the apparent literacy among church folk these days, we need a fresh approach to getting people to read these letters from God. What would you suggest we do ?

Pastor's Pulpit

We've moved over to here so that you can "find" my WORDS easier than trying to look through all the events and such on what used to be the one and only church blog. But as you can see, we are ever expanding.

More to come.

God Bless.