A Very Good Week With Challenges To Come!

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6 KJV)

Today, I am still in a pretty celebratory mood. My granddaughter, Ash, received her High School Diploma from Flagler Technical Institute yesterday. Sadly, there will probably not be any graduation party as so many other graduates have. Since, relocating to Florida, all of her friends and most of her family are in other states and too far away to come to celebrate with her. 

She passed her driving test with All Florida Safety Institute this week as well and is now a licensed driver. So, she has had a very good week. She has been also working since shortly after moving to Florida and saving for a car and hopefully some more education. There are still many challenges ahead for her, partly due to the fact that she is still a minor.

Being a young person in today's world is not easy. We have worked so hard to protect young people that in many ways we have made it difficult for them to grow up. They cannot see a doctor without a parent accompanying them and signing the appropriate insurance and other forms. Yet, in some states they can get an abortion without the parents even being informed. They are apparently wise enough to make a decision of that magnitude without the advice of an adult who loves them. Yet, they can't get their teeth cleaned without a parents' permission.

They can enlist in the armed forces at seventeen. Yet, in most states you have to be twenty-one to have a concealed carry permit. You also have to be twenty-one to drink alcoholic beverages even though you are more than old enough to die for your country.

I am not sure how anyone under the age of twenty-one would go about renting a place to live or how they would purchase a home. My husband and I purchased our first home when I was nineteen and no we didn't need a co-signer. Is that even possible today? 

I know that many of the laws that we have today are meant to protect children. But, some of these laws also restrict their ability to grow up; to really grow. Many of the laws keep young people reliant on their parents and the governing authorities for way too long.

But, for today, I am celebrating that Ash has met a couple more milestones in her life. She still has a lot of trials and challenges ahead of her. In reality, the trials never end no matter how long we get to live here on earth. Today, I celebrate that she has met many of the challenges set before her to date and she has overcome. 

Thanks be to God for blessing her! May He bless all of our young people as they strive to live abundant lives.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Liturgical Blessing?

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." (2 Cor 13:13 NIV)

What a blessing to receive God's grace, love, and fellowship! This greeting is to be heard at most "traditional" (if I can use that word) Lutheran Worship Services. It is not used at the congregation I am currently serving. I am serving a congregation that has, over the years, removed most of the typical Lutheran liturgy from the worship service. I have been able to bring many parts of it back into the service. It is a slow process; though, as most of you are probably aware that mainline denominations are not too big into change. It took about ten years to get rid of the liturgy and it may take that long to get it back without ruffling too many feathers.

I have heard criticisms against using the various parts of the service that include things like the Kyrie, the hymn of praise, and the greeting. So rote, I am told. I have listened to the accusations that the liturgy is man-made. Yes, the order of service is man-made; but, so are the services without a liturgy. There is an order to even those services that claim they have no liturgy or order of service. Those services also follow a pattern at every worship service.

I have also heard that these formal liturgies make us sound pretentious. What I find pretentious is deciding that our words are more edifying than the word of God. Personally, I find ridding the service of things like the Lord's prayer to replace it with long winded prayers of our own to be very pretentious.

What many, including many Lutherans, fail to understand is that faith comes by hearing God's word (Rom 10:17) and the liturgical service; although it has been ordered by human beings is full of God breathed words. These liturgies that we use are not things people made up. They come from the Holy Scriptures. The Lutheran Worship Service is ordered (or has been in the past) in such a way that you will hear the word in the liturgies, in the prayers, in the readings, in the sermon, and in the hymns or songs that we sing. I thank God for this. According to Scripture "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Rom 10:17) Everything in worship is or should be focused on the word and the Word is Christ. It is not about us. It is about what God the Father has done for us through Jesus Christ, his dear Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 

God's Peace - Pr. J

For The Sake Of Others

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." John 15:12-13 NRSV

Jesus lay down his life not just for his friends. He did not have to sacrifice his life for us. He chose to. He chose to lay down his life for those who loved him as well as those rejected him and refused to live in the truth.

Today is Armistice Day. Armistice with Germany went into effect on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Today, we remember all Veterans of the many wars that this country has been involved in since our inception. It is for freedom's sake that our armed services generally find themselves in armed conflicts or war. It is not for their own sakes that they fight; but, for the sake of loved ones; friends; even enemies; for the sake of the whole they are willing to lay down their lives.

Today we give thanks for all who are willing to lay down their lives that others might live and lively freely.

God's Peace - Pr. J