Give Joyful Thanks!

Psalm 100; KJV; So much good around us - let us make a joyful noise in thanksgiving!

Sing To The Lord

Christ Lutheran Cantata 2017

O sing to the Lord a new song;
   sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
   tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
   his marvelous works among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be revered above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
   but the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before him;
   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
   bring an offering, and come into his courts.

                                                    Psalm 88:1-6 NRSV

This afternoon, Christ Lutheran, will hold their Christmas Cantata. It will be an hour of Advent and Christmas music.  "Music," it is said, "soothes the savage beast." Indeed, it can calm a uneasy spirit if the right music is being listened to. It can also stir up in our inmost being anxiety, anger, fear.  Good or bad, music helps to embed ideas and ideals into our minds. It often glorifies the escapades of humankind. 

Christian music can be a teaching tool, as well. It tells the story of what God has done for us. Christian music glorifies God. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Thankful That I Get To Stay Home On Black Friday!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5 NRSV)

Today, I am very thankful for a couple of things.

1. I am thankful for the internet. I did my Black Friday Christmas shopping online early yesterday morning so I do not feel compelled to go out shopping today! I do not feel compelled to get run over in any store today just to get a deal on something no one I know actually needs. I am thankful that I will not be in any store today feeling frustrated because it is so crowded that I cannot push a cart down the aisle.

2. I am very thankful that I am a pastor and not a clerk in a store today. I would probably have a very difficult time being nice for an eight hour shift. So, I am thankful that I will not be tempted to lose my temper with complete strangers today. My husband works in a home improvement store. He works eight hours today. I am very thankful that I am not him today.

We each have our limitations and our gifts. I have a pretty good idea of what both of mine are. Therefore; I can use my gifts for the good; and avoid the problems that would come with me overstepping the bounds of my limitations.

Let us give thanks and praise to God for giving to each of us specific gifts to serve others. Let us pray for all of those clerks who have to deal with people who are pushing their limits.

May your Black Friday be stress free.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Public Trial and Execution?

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

                                                                                John 8:2-11 NKJV

I did not sleep well last night. In fact, I have been up since 3 a.m.. There were a few reasons. But, mostly it was because I grieve what I perceive to be the hard-heartedness of humankind. It is so easy for us to see the sins of others and so difficult to recognize the sin within ourselves.

In the story of the woman caught in adultery; the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman into the temple courts to be publicly judged and executed for the crime of adultery. It appears that the custom, at the time, was to depend heavily on the law and very little on grace. 

And, in comes Jesus; full of grace; full of mercy, reminding us that there is not one of us without sin (except for Jesus, himself). Because he was without sin, he was able to be the sacrificial lamb that took away our sin. Through him our sins have been washed away. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16)

As the woman stands ready to die, in comes Jesus, empathizing. As he listens to the accusations being hurled at her, he silently writes on the ground and then looks at her accusers, "“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  No one comes forth. The public humiliation is over. She has been forgiven her sins and told to go on her way leaving behind her life of sin.

The point of my not being able to sleep last night was not so much that she was confronted about her sin. Sin is sin and it should be confronted. But, to publicly accuse someone with the presupposed notion that the person is guilty is just a little outside of Christian authority. The story about this woman is pretty short. I'd like to see a few more details included. I'd be curious to know if any of her family and friends were there to see her abused in such a manner by the church of the day. If so, what were they thinking? How did the impending execution of their loved one make them feel? What about the man or men that she was accused of having adultery with? Were they there? Were they some of her judges or witnesses against her?

There is a lot going on in this story; enough so that it was difficult to sleep as I considered that even the church today can cast stones pretty quickly and will cast them not just in secret but publicly whether the accused is innocent or guilty.

Sin is sin and it does need to be called out so that we might have an opportunity to repent; turning back to the Lord. But, let us make sure that we're not calling it out simply in an attempt to cover our own sinful natures.

May God help us to discern whether we should call out sin so loudly and publicly rather than attempt to reconcile us to one another and to God in a more private way; one that will not bring shame to others who may very well be innocent.  

There is a procedure that Jesus outlined for us to deal with sin and perceived sin. It does not begin with public humiliation. It begins with a conversation between two people. One of those two people usually (not always) ends up being the pastor. There will be times when that conversation may lead to more action by the church. But, there will also be times during this conversation that we may find the accused not the guilty party. Conversation is important and we should all remember that something said in the pulpit is not a two-way conversation. If we condemn someone from the pulpit, we may never again have the opportunity to have that conversation with the one who has been humiliated and condemned without the conversations required by scripture in regards to church discipline.

I cannot fathom how publicly humiliating someone along with their family will ever reconcile anyone to the Body of Christ. In fact, public humiliation will only send them further away from the church. There is a process to resolve disputes, disagreements, and outright sins within the church. Many of those disputes and disagreements are sins in themselves. That process is found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, the 18th chapter, verses 15 thru 17. According to Jesus:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

May God help us to treat others with the same respect and dignity that we would have others treat us. 

God's Peace - Pr. J