"To Him be glory forever": 2021

Thursday, July 1, 2021

A Most Pleasant Surprise

As part of my usual practice on a Sunday morning I go to our church building and go through the worship service. I speak the entire liturgy out loud. I hook up my computer and projector and sing through each song. I preach the sermon aloud to an empty sanctuary. I do this to make sure I am ready for leading God’s people in worship later in the morning. Going through the entire service early prevents a wide variety of surprises during our actual time of worship, like stumbling over a phrase that I didn’t expect. Going over the service early can also be surprising in ways that are good. It was one of these that happened last Sunday.

Our closing song last Sunday was “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder.” The words were written by John Newton, many years ago, and more recently they were set to music by Laura Taylor. As I was watching the video and singing along these particular words really struck me:

“When through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles and asks no more”

After finishing the song I went back and pondered those words, and the powerful way they show the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. When our trust is in Jesus, the demands of God’s justice regarding our sin have been satisfied, completely. Paul says it this way in Romans 8:1:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

God’s justice towards human sin is a very real thing, but our faith, our trust in what Jesus gave on our behalf satisfies it completely. End of story. In God’s providence our congregation was also sharing the Lord’s Supper as part of our worship and so then, in the seemingly inconsequential elements of a wafer and bit of juice, we were reminded that the sacrifice of our Lord’s life was a very real thing, and that we don’t have to live with any doubts about the effectiveness of what He did or the promises that come to us by faith in Him.

The routine task of walking through a worship service led me to a most pleasant surprise in the way it highlighted God’s grace. It was my joy to share that insight as we worshipped, and with you today.

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

I'm moving

Just my blog, that is.

So I'm in the process of moving my blog from this page to a Wordpress page. I got the new page "up-and-running" this afternoon, but it will take me a bit to learn and get things up to snuff there. Here is a link to that page.

https://bradkautz.wordpress.com/

You can signup to get updates by email through a link at the bottom of the page. I may have a new post, of my more regular content, up tomorrow, which I'll likely post to both pages, because the learning curve looks to be a bit steeper than I originally anticipated.

Thanks for your patience, and for reading my posts over the years.

Photo credit: easywayapartments.wordpress.com

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Lesser Things?

It’s been pretty quiet on the blog for the past six weeks. We took a week-long family vacation, were home for a few weeks and then left again for two-plus weeks to visit our families in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We’ve been home now for a week and I’m feeling caught up.

The quiet on the blog has had two causes. One is the busyness I mentioned above and the other has been the lack of inspiration when it seemed as if there was some time to write. This morning I thought that I might write something, if I had a topic to write on. But now, late in the afternoon, I spent an hour-plus on a Zoom meeting that wasn’t on my calendar, and I still haven’t had any thoughts to write on. Well, not until 15 minutes or so ago.

What happened was this: I told Robin that I was heading to my office, to work on some lesser things. Friday is my usual day off. As Thursday winds down the major tasks of the week are done but there are some minor things I could take care of yet before dinner. So I went into my office, closed the door, sat in my chair. Then I folded my hands and bowed my head to pray.

Right before I came into my office Robin had been telling me about a phone conversation she had, noting that two very ill people we’ve been praying for seem to be taking a turn for the worse. As I sat down whatever I had intended to do got pushed aside as I felt drawn to pray for these two people. And praying for them reminded me of a number of other people to pray for. A person who was ill. A person whose spouse just passed away. Another person on hospice care. A person with a very troubled life situation. A person dear to my heart who has no desire for the Lord.

It is said that God works in mysterious ways. That was certainly true for me today, in the simple act of being drawn to prayer rather than following the intended plan of the tasks at hand.

Considering the kinds of things that the people I prayed for are facing, prayer doesn’t really seem to be much. But they are prayers lifted to the Lord God Almighty, who always works according to His purposes, and for His glory. Prayer may often seem like a little thing, but it is never a lesser thing.

Monday, May 3, 2021

Reading or Understanding?

This morning I preached Psalm 39 and in the introduction I pointed out that there was a difference between reading and understanding the Bible. In order to read the Bible we need just two things. We need the ability to read, and we need the Bible to be printed in the language that we read.

Many people can read the Bible, but, unfortunately, many people read without understanding what it is that they are reading. They may read and get the idea of this part or that part. They may be able to learn the story of this person or that person. They may be able to see that this person and event connect later on with that person and that event. But they won’t get a greater sense of what was intended by the One who gives us the whole book. They will read the Bible as a book, but not see what it is that makes it the Good Book.

In order to read the Bible with a sense of understanding what it might mean through what it says the first thing needed is a basic sense of faith. When I say basic here I mean very basic. We need to believe that there is a God and that this God has chosen to communicate to the world through the words that He inspired the Bible’s writers to put down on paper. There is a God who speaks and He speaks through His word.

Secondly, we need humility. This God is God, and we are not. He is speaking, as He has every right to. He is not our conversation partner, nor someone we negotiate with. He speaks, and we listen. Our baseline should be that in all things He speaks as the expert and that we listen as people who are on the first day of a new job.

Third, we need wisdom. In some areas He tells us more than we need to know, while in others there is a level of understanding we piece together as we read what He has to say and figure out what to do with what we are learning. If He says clearly ‘A’ and we pretend to think He meant ‘B’ we are not acting with wisdom. We are also not acting with wisdom when we read something clearly and come to the conclusion that we can improve on His ideas. Wisdom here is not so much what we do, but what we restrain ourselves from doing.

The fourth basic thing I mentioned this morning that we need to understand the Bible is submission. Submitting to authority is not a very popular idea in our day and age, but if we read the Bible we can see that its basic unpopularity goes all the way back to Genesis, chapter 3. But, again, it is God who is God, and we who are not god, ever. He sets the boundaries, He determines the terms, and because His knowledge and wisdom are perfect, what ever boundaries He gives to us, whatever tasks He calls us to, will always be for our good. That just goes hand-in-hand with the way God works, all of the time.

The Bible is a beautiful book with a very beautiful story. The more I read it the more fascinated I seem to be by it, as I understand parts that I didn’t quite get the first time, or the second time, or maybe the umpteenth time that I read them. I have a friend who mentioned once in conversation that he had read the Gospel of John 60 to 80 times in his life, and yet that there was always something fresh and new about it.

So to borrow from Augustine, “Take up and read,” asking God to give you understanding. I took a peak at my Bible reading plan for tomorrow and I’ll be in the Psalms again, and I’m excited!

Saturday, April 24, 2021

We'll Meet Again

The picture is the view from my study yesterday morning. We had a late season snowfall that I wasn't expecting. It began shorty after I left the house to run but had all melted by mid-afternoon. I was originally supposed to preach a funeral yesterday morning but several things had come up and when I woke up in the morning I learned the funeral was being moved to Saturday morning. I told the family that I would not be able to join them, because I was already committed to preaching another person's funeral on Saturday. Both of the people who had died were long-time members of our congregation, and both of them were the source of very dear memories to our family. The family of the person whose funeral was moved from yesterday to today asked if I could write something for them that a family member could read as they laid the body of someone who was dearly loved to rest. Below are the words I wrote for them.

It has been my pleasure to have known Camelia for the entire time our family has lived in Dulce, nearly eight years. I have many memories of her. Memories from church, from visiting her in her home, and from visiting her in Pagosa. Last week Tuesday I was at the nursing home in Pagosa. I had an opportunity to visit with all the people from Dulce, except for Camelia. They told me that she was not feeling well. Like everyone else gathered today, I had no idea that I would not see her again.

L. told me that Camelia had a Bible in her room and she asked me to look at it and to prepare something to say this morning. Camelia’s Bible was arranged to be read over the course of one year. For each day of the year there were things written and if a person stuck to the plan they would begin on January 1st and finish the entire Bible on December 31st. That is an ambitious plan, and I had no idea Camelia was working on reading through the Bible.

On the page for today, April 24th, the reading includes Psalm 91, and I think several verses from that psalm are appropriate for us this morning.

Psalm 91, verses 1 and 2 say “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.””

The writer of the psalm knows something about God, and he believes what he knows. He knows that God can be trusted to protect those people who seek him. God will hold them and give them comfort. God will protect them. He knows that God does not play games with those who seek him. God makes promises, and God keeps his promises, all the time.

Psalm 91 ends with these words from verses 14 through 16, “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him salvation.”

In the closing verses the writer does not use his own words but writes the words that God himself speaks. And the words God speaks are very, very good. They are promises to rescue and protect those people who turn to him, people who love him. God promises to be with them, to show them salvation.

The words of the psalm find their full meaning in the person of the Lord Jesus. The writer of the psalm sought God as he understood him through the words of the Old Testament, the older part of the Bible. They are words that are intended to be fully understood as the end of the story was written in the New Testament, the part of the Bible that tells us about Jesus.

The writer of the psalm mentions the need to be rescued from danger. The greatest danger facing every one of us is that of our life ending and our never having turned to Jesus, trusting in him to be our savior. The danger is very real, but the hope that is found in the promises of God that are filled in Jesus overcomes every last bit of that danger.

At some point in her life Camelia turned towards Jesus and trusted in him. He became her refuge and fortress. He promised her salvation and I am certain that he kept that promise. We can gather today knowing that she is in the presence of her savior, and she’ll be there forever.

None of us have perfect faith but people who turn and trust in Jesus have a perfect savior. He, and not anyone else, did everything needed to save us from eternal danger

I didn’t get to see my friend Camelia last week, but I know that because I have faith in Jesus that a day is coming when I will see her again, and we will joyfully worship him together. Our hearts may be heavy this morning but by faith in Jesus we can live each day with hope that will never fail. Amen.

Thursday, April 15, 2021

God Always Provides

How has your week been going? As I write this on Thursday afternoon things for this week are winding down. I keep a schedule where Sunday through Thursday are full work days. To the best of my ability I try to take Friday off. Most Saturdays I do some work for church but I try to keep that to relatively minor things.

Earlier today I picked up the mail, which included a hand-written note that said:

“Today’s thought, Exodus 16:35, God always provides.” I looked that verse up and read this:

The people of Israel ate the manna for forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

In Exodus 16 we see how God provided food for His people as they traveled from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. God provided for His people then. Perhaps not what they wanted, but certainly He gave them what He needed.

As I think back on the things that I, as a pastor, have had to deal with this week, I see that God has continued to be a God who provides. In the things that need to be done each week, but are far from rote tasks, God has provided. And in the unexpected things that come up each week, God has provided.

As my work week winds down perhaps the best way that I know that God has provided is when I think about what He has provided for me, and perhaps for you, in His Son, the Lord Jesus, as Savior and Lord. A number of things this week, and in particular today, have brought to my mind the very real need for my salvation, and the truth that that need was met by Jesus. And I am even more thankful for the unexpected but most welcome reminder in the mail that God, through the Lord Jesus, always provides.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Be Still

It is a Wednesday afternoon as I write this, and it is a little windy as I look out the window. Wind is a marker of spring on the reservation, at least in my observation over the years that we have been here. For most of the year the weather will be calm overnight and wind, if it appears, often waits until the afternoon to arrive.

But spring? Spring days are often breezy early and downright windy in the afternoon and evening. We had one of those days yesterday, where for several hours the wind just howled.

This past Sunday was Easter and I preached from Psalm 46. The title given to this psalm in my Bible is God Is Our Fortress. It is the same psalm that inspired Martin Luther’s great hymn, A Mighty Fortress. Working from the psalm I brought out the ideas of God as refuge, defender and hope for His children, ideas that I think are crystal clear on Easter. The resurrected Jesus is the refuge, the defender, and the hope for all who turn to Him in faith. Nothing else compares. Ever.

You may have noticed that I emphasized that Jesus is these things for those who turn to him. It is exclusive. If you don’t have time for Jesus then you won’t find refuge, defense or hope from Him. Ever.

But as I studied the psalm I was surprised to see within it an invitation for those who reject God to turn from what is folly, and turn towards Him. It is in verse 10, which begins:

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

I used to think that this was a call for believers to rest in the midst of trouble and remember that God remains on His throne. Our world may swirl but He is not moved, and all of His promises remain true.

But the thing I learned as I studied this psalm in order to preach it is that the object of God’s words here are the enemies of God. They are to be still and stop fighting Him. They are to know that He is God. And I think there is the implication that if they thought about it a bit they would see that He is God, He has always been God, and He will always be God.

It is an act of mercy by God to invite His enemies to lay down their weapons and turn to Him. It is a sign of the depth of His goodness to invite those who fight Him to change their allegiance and join the other side, the side of the one who will indeed prevail over all of His enemies.

As a pastor I believe what the Bible teaches regarding the outcome of all fighting against God. The question is, which side you will you be found to be on when that day arrives?

Be still, and know that He invites you to bow down and worship Him, alone, as God.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Strong and Safe

In 2012 our family went on a vacation to England, Scotland and Iceland. We spent six days of our two-week trip in Newtonmore, a small town in northern Scotland. We wanted to spend some time in quiet place and just explore and experience what was in the area. We had no particular interest in Newtonmore over anywhere else. When we were planning our trip it just happened to be a place where it was easy to make reservations.

One of the places we visited was a local ruin, the Ruthven Barracks. The first castle was built there in the 13^th century. The remains there now are of buildings went up in the 18^th century, although they didn’t last long, being destroyed in a rebellion that ended in 1746.

My mind went back to the Ruthven Barracks today as I was reading from Proverbs, where Proverbs 18:10 says,

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

The “name of the LORD” is to be understood as the divine name of God, the name God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, saying,

I AM WHO I AM

Two things we can see in that name are God’s self-sufficiency and His timelessness.

First, God does not depend on anyone or anything, ever. All that He needs He has within Himself, all the time.

Second, God is who He is in the present tense, always. It is never “God was.” It is never “God will be.” God is, and as He is, He has always been, and always will be.

When we who are His children feel troubled or in danger, the self-sufficiency and timeless nature of God is a great comfort. We can go to Him for safety and protection, knowing that He will always be there, ready and willing to keep His children safe. He is not under construction, offering partial protection. He is not rundown, an image of His former strength.

His name is a strong tower, and may you find your refuge there every time you need it.

Photo credit: http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk

Friday, March 12, 2021

“…the excellencies of Him…”

Last Sunday I preached Psalm 1. Verse 2 of that psalm teaches that the blessed man and woman find that their delight is in the law of the Lord and that they meditate on God’s law day and night. This meditation is an active process. It is a taking in of God’s teaching in the Bible and soaking in it, absorbing it, allowing it to permeate every cell of your being.

Because I just preached it that idea of meditating on God’s word has been a frequent inhabitant of my thought life over the past week. I have been both thinking about the idea of meditating on God’s word, and I have been meditating on God’s word, reading something in my morning devotional time and then coming back to a phrase or a verse or an idea several times during the day or in wakeful times at night. I want to share one of those mediations with you in this post.

Robin and I are presently reading through 1 Peter in our evening prayer time together. We were reading 1 Peter 2:6-12, where in verse 9 Peter writes:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

There is a whole lot of really powerful theology packed into that verse but the thing that jumped out to me on this occasion were those four simple words, “the excellencies of Him,” with Him being a reference to Jesus.

There is an idea floating around in my mind that I believe came from John Piper, where he said that a central task of the preacher was to magnify the person and work of Jesus through the proclamation of the word. Piper said it was like holding Jesus up to the light like a precious gem, which radiated beauty at every point you looked at it. “…the excellencies of Him…”

And so I am meditating on the excellencies of my Savior and Lord, which include, in no particular order, His mercy, kindness, faithfulness, holiness, love, righteousness, justice, power, wisdom, eternity, omnipresence, goodness, hatred of sin, patience, empathy and compassion. Surely there are more excellencies within Him. And being excellencies they are all both perfect and for good.

Those last two thoughts I tacked on, that everything within Jesus is both perfect and good, are speed bumps for some people coming to see who He truly is, what He has done, and what His work makes possible for all who come to Him in faith. He could not possibly be anyone’s Savior and Lord if He were not perfect and always working for good, from God’s point-of-view. His excellencies are perfect and they are always used in just the right way.

Consider His excellencies and then, as appropriate, thank Him, or, in faith turn to Him and trust in Him. Amen

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com, via Entrepreneur.com

Saturday, March 6, 2021

The Psalms

This Sunday I am starting something new, bringing my congregation God’s word from the Psalms. In my Bible the introduction to the Psalms says, “The book of Psalms is filled with the songs and prayers offered to God by the nation of Israel. Their expressions of praise, faith, sorrow and frustration cover the range of human emotions. This diversity is unified by one element: they are centered upon the one and only living God.”

For most of the time that I have been their pastor it has been my practice to preach through whole books of the Bible. From beginning to end we have gone through 1 Peter, Colossians, Ruth, Mark, Philippians, Amos, John, Zechariah, James and Galatians. One advantage to this method of choosing texts is that we hear what God as to say His children from the entire book. Sometime this means that the Bible addresses something we would rather not hear about. But if we believe what Paul wrote to Timothy,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

then we dig in to the word and seek to know and live by the truth God teaches through it, Psalms included.

Psalms is a long book, 150 chapters, and I will be making one change in my practice, in that I will not preach the whole book. I expect that we will hear from 25-30 of the Psalms. There are also many kinds of psalms, where the main idea of the particular psalm will be praise, or thanksgiving, or lament/complaint, and even calling for God’s justice on God’s enemies. As we go through the Psalms we will touch on all the different types. Like other parts of the Bible, we may be confronted with things we would rather avoid but I will approach them with the idea that in those challenging things God has something for our good.

When I preach through a book I try to find a verse or two that captures the particular theme of that book. Psalms, being a long book and dealing with many things in many ways, presents a challenge to that task. I’ve settled on Psalm 68:19,

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.

God is our salvation. Precisely how this was to happen was not clear to the writers of the psalms or the ancient nation to Israel. It is clear to us, as God’s plan of salvation has been worked out through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Ultimately the Psalms point to Him and their promises are fulfilled in Him. May the glory of our Savior be magnified and may our faith in Him grow as we hear from the Psalms.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Step-By-Step

Yesterday I made my first hospital visit in just over a year. Just last week the hospital began to allow visitors, one visitor per patient per day, and on Tuesday someone here asked me to visit a relative of theirs who is very ill and going onto hospice care. I know the ill person just a little bit and he had asked, specifically, for me. The family member who relayed the request is someone I know fairly well, and he had one overriding concern, which was that I would share the gospel with his relative, whose time among us looks to be short. I was only too glad to do so. Nothing would be more important.

I read a really good book last year on the topic of evangelism, and this definition of that task has stayed with me. Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade. It is a good, clear definition, but how, precisely, does one teach the gospel?

There are ways that I would, and do, teach the gospel as I preach. The average congregation has unconverted people in the pews, people who need to be called to faith in Jesus. I also believe that for converted people to hear the gospel again and again is good, as they are reminded of the truth of God’s love for them in Jesus. But how would I teach the gospel to this person I barely knew, and whose understanding of Christian faith was unknown to me? I decided to go step-by-step.

I began by talking about God, as creator and as holy. He has determined how people should live in ways that are pleasing to Him, and that our disobedience is sin, which He will deal with. I then used seven passages of the Bible to lay out the promise of the gospel. Here they are, in the order that I used them.

First, Genesis 3:3.

God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’

This highlights the serious nature of sin, from God’s point-of-view. What we think of our sin matters little to God. It is a violation of His law, and through the words Eve repeated here, He promises to punish sin with death.

Second, Romans 3:23.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Here, in a few words, Paul makes it clear that all humans are sinners against God. There are no exceptions. None. Not Paul, not me, not anyone ever.

Third, Romans 6:23.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This points to a choice. Live with our sin and its consequences or receive the free gift of God, which only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus.

Fourth, John 3:16-17.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Here we more clearly see the purpose for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. By faith in Him we will not perish in our sin but receive eternal life with God. Jesus, the Son of God, sent by the Father, that we would be saved by Him.

Fifth, Romans 10:9.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This is a favorite verse of mine, for it very simply states the truth of salvation. I don’t need to earn it, and in fact I can’t earn it. There is nothing I can do with my sin to get rid of it or decrease it. All I can do is to trust in what Jesus did, for me and for everyone else who has faith in Him.

Sixth, John 10:27-28.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Here Jesus teaches that our place with Him, the place that we have by having faith in who He is and what He has done, will never be lost. We will still struggle with sin but, concerning our final state, Jesus has the last word.

And seventh, Romans 8:31-39.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Using very emphatic language Paul makes it crystal clear that there is absolutely nothing on earth, nor any spiritual force, that will separate believers in the Lord Jesus from their Savior. Not now. Not ever.

After sharing all of this we talked a bit more, where this man told me that he trusted in Jesus as his Savior. It was joy to close my visit in prayer and head back home knowing that I had a new brother in Christ.

I don’t know when the next time will be that I will have to share the gospel with someone one-on-one. It will be a different dynamic, given that the people and the situation will be different. But I pray that the Lord will lead me, step-by-step, to the same wonderful outcome, which is to bring another sister or brother into the Kingdom of God, forever.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

YouTube Activism

Yesterday I started taking a free course on how to use YouTube for churches. The man teaching the course already has worship music ministry that our church has benefited from and so when I saw he created a course to help people who the pandemic has thrust into YouTube I thought “I’m in!” To this point our congregations YouTube channel has been pretty low-key and is only as sophisticated as I can figure out on my own. Learning how to do it a bit better, and for free, appeals to me.

So I took the first lesson, Upload Details. For the most part it dealt with things that I figured out when we got started with this last March, but there was something that caught my eye in a way it hadn’t before.

When uploading a video a category can be designated for it, things like Sports, Music, Comedy, Entertainment, News & Politics and so forth. There are about twenty categories to choose from. The instructor suggested that church’s use the category of Nonprofits & Activism.

Activism…hmmm. I don’t know that I’ve ever consciously thought about being a pastor as being an activist. But…

The apostle Paul said:

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

He also wrote:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And Jesus said:

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

John Knox, writing to the people of England said:

For no crime is so heinous which God will not cast in the bottom of the sea, and bury in perpetual oblivion, if you with unfeigned hearts turn to the Lord your God, whom so grievously you have offended. (Knox, Works, vol. 5, p. 514)

Since these are the kinds of thoughts that frequently run through my mind and color my sermon preparation, and my blog posts, Activism is probably a good fit.

Activism for the Kingdom of God. I kind of like it!

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Everything Hasn’t Changed

This morning our congregation was able to gather for worship for the first time in eleven months. I’m starting to write this post on my break between services. Yup. First time back and two services instead of the one we had before. Because of limits as to how many people we can allow in the building, not having any way of predicting how many people would come, and not wanting to create any kind of sign-up list we are beginning by offering two services. Everyone isn’t ready yet to gather in a group and given the restrictions as to how many people we can have in the building two services seems to be our best option.

Twenty-one people came for the first service. I knew them all and some I have seen a few times over this long break. Because of the need for facemasks there were a few that I could only recognize because of whom they were with. And there was one person I did not recognize at all, because she came in separately from her family. Twenty-one people, all the same, in that I knew them before all this started, and yet also all changed in some ways over the past eleven months.

Worship was changed as well. No standing. No singing out loud. A few things taken out of our usual service, so as to reduce contact between people. Other things, such as the Lord’s Supper and collecting the offering, done differently, also to reduce direct contact. And even though I kept to my practice of going through the service by myself beforehand I messed up more than one thing once we got started.

Even with all the changes it was good to get together with God’s people at the first service, and it will be good when the next group begins to arrive in about half an hour. And that is because the God to whom we bow down in praise and worship does not change. Not ever. And not only is that for good, it is the very best good.

God tells us this himself in Malachi 3:6, which begins with the phrase:

“For I the Lord do not change.”

There are a number of ways we could dig in and understand that truth about God, the truth that He doesn’t change. The way that grabs me right now, as a preacher, preaching to a changed people in a changed time, is that I lift up to them the One who never changes. The One who has made a promise to gather a people to Himself and hold them through all things. Good times. Bad times. Times of plenty. Times of scarcity. In soft breezes and warm sunshine. Through raging thunderstorms. Whether those times happen to us literally, or metaphorically, God doesn’t change, and He never lets go of His children.

For me, this morning, it is a joy to gather with a changed people in a changed world, and to preach the good news of an unchanging God. Amen.

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Unexpected Blessing

This morning was Sunday morning, a time when I am usually at church and leading worship. Because of the pandemic and the ways that things have played out here on the reservation our congregation has not been able to gather for worship since March of last year. We are hopeful that will change soon, and it is possible that we could gather again as soon as next Sunday.

Right now we can’t gather as a large group but since last fall I have been at church during the time when we would ordinarily worship, available to individuals and small family groups for prayer and the Lord’s Supper. Some Sundays a few people may stop by. Other Sundays I spend the time reading and praying.

This morning it was a bit after noon and I was beginning to think that no one would be coming when I got a text asking if I was still there, as two sisters wanted to come by. I told them I’d be glad to see them and about 10 minutes later I was with a family group totaling six people.

They came in several vehicles and we got caught up while were waiting for everyone to arrive. To begin I led a prayer and then preached a short message from Psalm 46:1. Then we shared the Lord’s Supper and I led another prayer to close our worship. We talked a bit more as we all worked our way to the church entrance. From my point of view as a pastor it had already been a very good time to connect with this family, but it was just about to get better. One of the older adults told me that I needed to pray with her son. I spoke to him briefly and then he and I went to the front of the church, where we keep a bottle of oil on the table.

On an ordinary Sunday morning we have a part of worship devoted to prayer. We have a prayer of confession, a prayer for healing, and a congregational prayer, which is made of a number of things I work out ahead of time and where I also incorporate whatever prayer requests are made that morning.

The prayer for healing was something that was already in place before we arrived here in 2013. Theologically it is grounded in James 5:14, where James writes:

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him in the name of the Lord.

Each Sunday I make an invitation. In the 6 ½ years we were here before the pandemic I think there were only 2-3 Sundays where no one came forward. There is a lot going on in people’s lives here that hurts and needs the healing touch of the Lord. Illness. Grief. Familial trauma. All sorts of things that hurt, adn often hurt very deeply. I never ask what may be the reason any one comes forward. My role is to make an invitation on behalf of the Lord and to lift His people up to Him. The answers to the prayers, and the timing of those answers, is all in His hands. I make the invitation, people come forward, we gather in a circle, I bless everyone by name, using the oil on the table, and then pray for them.

And so this morning the young man and I went up to the table and I got the oil to bless him and as I did so everyone else came up to join us. It occurs to me as I write this post that our action this morning was a putting into practice of the main point of my sermon this morning. I won’t add and explanation of that, for fear of making this post any longer than it needs to be. Here is the link to the sermon, Galatians 5:26-6:5, Sharing The Load.

The events of this morning were an unexpected, and delightful, blessing for me as a pastor, and also, I pray, for the family the Lord brought together for worship. This morning wasn’t quite what we would call normal, but it was the closest I’ve been in almost a year, and I praise God for that too.

Monday, February 8, 2021

Even Now

It’s been a long haul. As I write this it has been eleven months since the pandemic and all of its effects came to us on the reservation. When we gathered that Sunday in March we already knew that changes were coming and that we wouldn’t have worship the next few weeks. But we had no idea exactly what those changes would be, what effects would come with them, and how long it would all last.

Lock down. Quarantine. Social distancing. Face mask. Hand sanitizer. Zoom. Temperature checks. YouTube worship. Curfew. Online schooling. Food distribution. FaceTime. Events postponed, and then cancelled.

These are among the things that have been a part of our everyday life for nearly a year. We long to go back to normal, although by now we know that whatever the new normal is that it won’t quite be the way things were before.

As Christians what we do know is that what we see is only part of the story. Unseen and unchanging is the truth that the Lord sits on His throne and will not be moved. The truth that He holds all things in His hands and will never let a single one of His children go. The truth that He works all things according to His purposes. The truth that for His children all things work for good.

That last one is often a real challenge as we live day-by-day. How can this much disruption to our lives be for good? Friends and family have become ill and died through the pandemic. How can that be for good?

We want answers, but all we seem to get are more questions. Hard questions.

My current Bible reading has included both Genesis and Job. In each of those books there are complicated stories around hardship and suffering. There are people, Joseph and Job, who love God deeply and that love doesn’t change even when it seems as if their lives are falling apart. Both men come to see that the work of God in their struggles and suffering was for a purpose that was beyond their ability to understand at the time it was happening.

I don’t know for certain but I think that that we will find our experience to be similar. The pandemic is not what we want and as we have lived through it to this point things have rarely gone as we would have arranged them. A vaccine has been developed and is becoming more available and yet we still have restrictions on our lives, and we don’t know how or when they will be removed.

In the presence of all the changes the pandemic has brought, difficulties that we just as easily could have done without, God has been working in us, as His children, shaping us for His purposes. This is what happens in the stories of Joseph and Job. God does powerful work in and through them, but in both cases it does not become clear to them until they are on the other side of their hardships.

In a similar way it may be a long time until we see or understand the good things of God that have been going on in the pandemic. I suspect that some of those things won’t become clear to us until after our days here on earth are over and we are with the Lord Jesus in heaven.

God is good. God is faithful. His love never changes and there is never a moment when He is not with His children. Even now.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Approaching The Lord

This morning on the reservation there was an invitation for members of our community to join together in prayer over the COVID-19 pandemic. The invitation said, “All denominations of faith are welcome to join whether it be traditional Jicarilla, Christian or other faiths.”

In response to the invitation here is what I shared on our congregation’s Facebook page:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been going on for nearly one year. Edward Velarde, President of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the JAN Legislative Council have asked members of the community to join in a time of prayer today, from 9-10 AM and again at 7 PM. They ask for prayer for the safety of the community, our state, our country, and the world, particularly as the vaccine for the virus is now being made available.

The call for prayer is made as an open invitation to people of all faiths. What I want to say here, as a Christian pastor of a Christian church, is that there is just one God, who reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This God shows Himself, to us and the world, most clearly and powerfully as the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only God who hears and answers prayer. The idea that the people of our community would seek God is a good one. Let us pray being mindful not so much of what we are praying for but Whom we are praying to.”

I believe that the sentiment for members of our community to join together in prayer is a good thing, but that what we believe about the nature of God makes a very significant difference in how our prayers are received by Him, and if we might expect any kind of particular response from Him.

Psalm 145:18 says:

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

Our congregation is a part of the Reformed Church in America, and one of our denomination’s statements of belief is the Nicene Creed, which is used by many Christian denominations and churches. The Creed says this:

We believe in one God,
      the Father almighty,
      maker of heaven and earth,
      of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
      the only Son of God,
      begotten from the Father before all ages,
           God from God,
           Light from Light,
           true God from true God,
      begotten, not made;
      of the same essence as the Father.
      Through him all things were made.
      For us and for our salvation
           he came down from heaven;
           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
           and was made human.
           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
           he suffered and was buried.
           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
           He ascended to heaven
           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
           He will come again with glory
           to judge the living and the dead.
           His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the Lord, the giver of life.
      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
      He spoke through the prophets.
      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
      and to life in the world to come. Amen.

To “call on God in truth,” in this time after the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, means to move beyond understanding God as being merely a Creator but knowing and loving Him as Father, Son and Spirit. People may find it easy to believe in the existence of God but falter at what to do about the person of Jesus. If we say that there is a God, and we pray to this God, but have no time or place in our belief system for the person of Jesus, then we are simply praying to a god, and not the Real and True God.

Take a look back at the middle section of the creed and see what it says about Jesus. Who He is. What He has done. What He is doing. What He will do. God, without Jesus, is nothing. God, with Jesus, is the pathway to everything.

Approaching the Lord is always a good thing. So lift your prayers, to the Lord, in truth, through faith in the person and work of His Son Jesus.

Photo credit: EmmausBibleChurch.org

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Approaching The Lord's Supper

This morning I read an essay on the purpose of the Lord’s Supper[1]. The part of the essay that really struck me had to do with this question: How should Christians approach the Supper? Stephen Charnock provided five basic attitudes of heart and mind we might consider as we come to the Supper, with a few subpoints to further understand each one.

Reverentially

With a reverence of the holiness of God.
With a reverence of the justice of God.

Holily

With mourning hearts for sin.
With deep considerations of the cursed nature and demerit of sin.
With strong resolutions against sin.

Believingly

We should profess our adherence to him.
Look up to Christ in His death as a conqueror.
Plead this death with God.
Plead this death against sin and Satan.

Humbly

Consider in this representation what we should have suffered.
Consider the deplorable misery wherein we were.

Thankfully

Blessing God for His love in offering up His Son to death.
Blessing Christ for His love in dying.
The costliness of this redemption by the death of Christ should excite us to show it forth with thankfulness.
The gain we have by it should excite us to it.

I share this as food for thought. Charnock’s outline gives me a lot to think and pray about, not only in my role as pastor in providing the Supper on behalf of the Lord as His people gather for worship, but also as a sinner saved by the grace of God, a sinner who needs to receive this sacrament as a sign and seal of God’s grace as much as anyone else.

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”[2]

[1] Stephen Charnock, “A Discourse of the End of the Lord’s Supper” in The Works of Stephen Charnock, 4:392-426.

[2] This text, 1 Corinthians 11:26, was the basis for Charnock’s essay.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Unlimited Access

Yesterday we had a transition in the leadership of the government of the United States. In the morning the term of Donald Trump came to an end and in the afternoon the term Joe Biden began. We all might have words that we would like to share with either of these men while they hold office but the truth is that being able to do so directly, such as by a phone call, or perhaps dropping over at the White House, would be virtually impossible. Some people, such as their spouse, or the holder of a high government office, would likely be able to do that but the average person? Not so much. Go through the appropriate channels and, perhaps, you can relay your thoughts to them, but it is more likely that the closest you'll get will be to speak with someone working in their office.

In my devotional reading of the Bible this morning I read from the book of Esther. Esther is the queen to King Ahasuerus, a man whom the Bible tells us rules a kingdom that goes from India to Ethiopia. That is a lot of territory and it gives us a glimpse as to how much power Ahasuerus holds. And if you read the first few chapters of Esther you can learn how she wasn’t the queen at the start of the story. When Esther became queen the Bible tells us it happened like this,

“The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”

Esther is the queen, and it would appear to the highly favored, but she has some well-founded reluctance in approaching the king on her own initiative. She explains to her relative,

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law – to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live.”

Esther is the queen, and highly favored, and yet wary of even the thought of approaching the king, her husband, directly.

These two thoughts on access today are in marked contrast to an email I received this morning, titled “Acknowledge the Privilege of Drawing Near to God in Prayer.

In that email Matthew Henry writes “We must acknowledge it an unspeakable favor and an inestimable privilege that we are not only admitted, but invited and encouraged, to draw near to God in prayer.” He then gives seven different thoughts, all directly derived from the Bible, of how that access to God works. Here is one example,

You say, “Seek my face,” and our hearts say to you, “Your face, LORD, do we seek.” (Psalm 27:8 ESV) For, should not a people inquire of their God? (Isaiah 8:19 ESV) To whom shall we go but to you? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:68 ESV)

President…kings…have restricted access, but in marked contrast, in terms of power, authority, and access, the Lord God Almighty says, “Seek my face”…anytime, anywhere.

Unlimited access to God. A privilege that we are not merely allowed, but invited and encouraged to use.

Photo credit: Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Some Days Are Just Like That

Yesterday I was running east of town, on the shoulder of US highway 64. It is the main road in and out of town, a two-lane highway with a wide paved shoulder and for the most part having a speed limit of 55, although in some sections it is lower. I run along this highway a lot, mostly because it is the closet thing around here to a road that is paved, fairly flat and with a decent shoulder.

When running on the highway I have a number of rules that I follow, for my own safety and also the safety of the drivers. I run facing traffic. If there is an oncoming car I move to the shoulder. If there is an oncoming semi-truck I move farther over, off the edge of the shoulder. It there is ice on the shoulder and a car or truck is coming by I make a complete stop, as I also do for trucks if I am in an area where a guardrail is, or if a truck will be passing me while we are both on the inside of a curve. If I hear a vehicle coming up behind me I move to the shoulder. Even though that vehicle should be a full lane away from me the truth is that if one vehicle is passing another I won’t hear the second vehicle, the one near to me, until virtually the moment it goes by. If there is a snow plow I come to a full stop and go to the opposite side of the highway as the plow. Plow drivers have enough on their minds without worrying about pedestrians.

Those are the basic rules I follow, not just on the highway, but on any road I run on here in Dulce. If it is dark I may use a headlamp and in darkness or bad weather I also wear a neon reflective vest or jacket.

In November, 2019, I was running in town near the elementary school about the time kids were being dropped off. Because of the traffic volume I tend to avoid that place and time of day but for whatever reason on this particular day, there I was. I was being particularly careful at the curve of the road and where the drivers were turning in/out of the school. After going past the school, which is basically at the edge of town, I went about another four miles and then turned to come back home. That day I was about three miles into my return when an outbound pickup stopped and a man gave me a neon vest to wear. As best I could guess, someone among the school traffic was concerned for my safety and had sent him out with the vest. He said something about appreciating what I did in the community and no one wanting to see me get hurt while running. Since then I have worn a reflective vest nearly every time I’ve gone to run.

All of which brings us up to yesterday’s run. I was east of town, heading home, when I heard a vehicle behind me. It was slowing down, way down. I was just passing a business and presumed the driver was going there, but as it turned out she was coming to a stop to talk with me, and to give me something. She handed me a pair of neon reflective pants, the kind worn by people working on highway construction crews. I tried to decline her offer but she was concerned for my safety out along the highway, saying something like “We don’t want you to get hurt, Pastor.” So I thanked her as I took the pants, and she drove off, into town.

For the rest of the run, and sporadically since then, I have mulled one question over and over, without finding a good answer. What on earth am I to do with those pants?

They are good pants for a construction crew, or perhaps being in the woods during hunting season, but they are not really good for running in. Too baggy. And I am a runner who really would prefer fewer and/or lighter clothes to run in.

The woman meant well, and I appreciate her concern for my safety, along with her implicit regard for the way my ministry is present in the community. I’ve learned, here, the hard way, about declining a gift merely because I knew I didn’t really need it at the time. But given that I run outside every day this woman, whom I do not know and very likely would not recognize, will see me, without the pants she gave so that I could be safer, at least from her point-of view. And so I also have the problem of how not to offend this person through not using the gift she gave to me?

And now I am over 800 words into this blog post, with no theological insights, no sense of how to conclude my thoughts, and no acceptable answer to the question of what to do with those pants. I guess some days are just like that.

Monday, January 11, 2021

How Will You Plead?

Late Sunday afternoon I accepted a friend request on Facebook. It came from the husband of someone I went to seminary with. Shortly after accepting the request I got a private message that said, “Hi. How are you doing?”

Hmmm, thought I. This has the sound of a hacked account. For whatever reason I’ve received and accepted a number of these kinds of requests in the past two months. They come from people I know, they seem to be legit, and I can’t recall if I am already Facebook friends with the person sending the request.

Since I had exchanged email with my “new friend’s” wife this morning I replied with a follow-up question to clarify things. “Fine. How much longer until the baby comes?” “Soon,” says my new “friend.” I then say, “You sound like a fake account. Here is another chance to prove you are who you say you are. What is your PhD in?”

No reply. And so I sent one more note, saying something along the lines of, “Instead of pretending to be someone you are not why don't you turn to something that is the God’s-honest truth, which is that your sin can be forgiven through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?” I included a link to last week’s sermon, Don’t Be Foolish, from Galatians 4:8-20. When I checked Facebook before I began to type this blog post I found that my new “friend” had disappeared.

This exchange brought two things to mind. First is that there will be a day when all people will appear before God for judgment. Second, on that day, what will our plea be and on what basis will we make it?

The Bible makes it crystal clear that all people will appear before God, as their judge. If you are not a Christian than you likely don’t believe this. It is not the most important detail found in the Bible, but it is there and it is an unavoidable truth. As a Christian pastor, one whose faith is grounded in the confessions of the Reformed tradition, I don’t have any doubts that this day of judgement will occur, and that all people, no matter what they believed in life, will be judged.

Which leads to the second point, which is what will our plea be, and on what basis will we make it?

Standing before God, and perhaps shaking in our boots as we are directly confronted with the Lord God Almighty, will we plead a different identity, something similar to my Facebook “friend,” pretending to be someone who will perhaps be more favorably received?

Or maybe we will plead our case based on the worship of something or someone else? Maybe God will cut us some slack because we followed a god, even if it was the god of Mohammed, or Buddha, or Confucius, or Grandfather, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

The world would offer us a million excuses, or ways to rationalize our case, as we stand before God, but on that day none of them will fly. None of them will give us the slightest bit of favor from God.

In Romans 3:22-23 Paul writes,

“For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

There is only one viable option at the moment of judgment. It is a good and beautiful path, provided by God Himself, and it is to have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:12, speaking of Jesus, Peter says,

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

And going back to Paul, this time from Romans 10:9, we are taught that the salvation that may be ours in the Lord Jesus Christ is something that is very freely available to all people, as long as they place their faith in Him while they are in this life.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Turn to the Lord Jesus, now, and stand before God then, with humility and confidence, not to receive judgment, but mercy. Know that your sin and its judgment will have been completely removed, by your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Photo credit: Jupiterimages