"To Him be glory forever": Easter

Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

Monday, April 13, 2020

Perspective

Yesterday was Easter, which in most years is kind of a big deal for our family, our congregation and our community. For me it starts before sunrise, as I unlock the church buildings, turn the heat on in our gym and get the coffee started. At sunrise people from our local churches gather on the hill behind our building for a community worship service. After worship we all come down to our building for breakfast. Lots of people bring food and the men take over the kitchen to make breakfast. After breakfast we clean up the gym and then I work on the ordinary things I do every Sunday before worship. At 11 AM our congregation gathers, and Easter is a Sunday where the building is usually full. It gives me an opportunity to preach the good news of Jesus to people I would otherwise not see. People in our congregation have a preference for Easter as a Sunday for being baptized and every Easter there are at least a few. Then late Sunday afternoon our family would close out the holiday with our family Easter dinner.

Most years that would be the pattern. But not in 2020, with COVID-19 on the loose. Yesterday was pretty much like every Sunday for the past month. Up at my usual time, doing my usual things before worship, except for making coffee at church. We worshiped as a family at 10. We did have an Easter dinner, but it was early in the afternoon and a simpler meal than in most years.

A bit before we sat down for dinner a man stopped over, delivering the cross in the picture, as a gift for our family. I've known him for most of the time we've been in Dulce, and I know a bit of his story. His presence, and the gift, reminded me that even though many things are different this year, in terms of how we might celebrate Easter and the fact that everyone is living now in ways that are markedly different than they were a month ago, that so many things are still the same.

The people I've been praying for, and the reasons I've been praying for them, haven't changed. Family conflicts. Addictions. Personal struggles. Depression. Grief.

Things are different, but things are also the same, and that, for me, is a good perspective to keep in mind. With the quarantine I've been connecting more with people over the phone. I find that as I pray with them a thought that often comes to mind is that as things may be different for us and for a time, the Lord has not changed one bit.

He has not lessened in power. His love has not decreased. His promises have not changed. He is present. He is trustworthy. He is at work.

COVID-19 will pass. Something else may come along. But the Lord will never change, and everything about that is good.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Cut To The Chase

Sometimes the Bible confronts us with a clear piece of truth. God cuts to the chase. As I was reading Ecclesiastes, chapter 7, which seemed to wander as it compared wisdom and folly, tossing in a few other seemingly random thoughts, verse 20 jumped right out at me, saying:

"Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins."

That sentence is a short and direct statement of fact. There is no person, man or woman, who is completely righteous, which we are told means both doing good and never sinning.

Reading that verse this week, the week of Easter, points me straight to the cross and the empty tomb. At the time Ecclesiastes was written there was no one who lived who had met that simple definition of righteousness. And since that time there has only been one, Jesus. No one you know personally, such as a dear and precious grandmother, meets that definition. Neither does anyone you know and admire, such a famous person living now, or one from some other point in history. Neither does the person you see in the mirror. They each may do lots and lots of things that we would see as being good, but it is the "never sins" part that trips them up. Every single one.

Those sins, no matter how minor they may seem from our point-of-view, are a barrier between each person and God. We can't remove them. We can’t pretend they doesn’t exist. All we can do with them is turn towards God and seek for him to forgive the sins we've committed against him. And when we have faith in Jesus, as the one who saves us from our sin, that sin, each and every last bit of it, is forgiven.

At one particular point in time there was one man, who was righteous in doing good and never sinning. The Lord Jesus. For Jesus "doing good" ultimately meant laying down his life so that sin could be removed from all who believe in him as their Savior.

Try as I might I can't live the perfectly righteous life, but this week of Easter reminds me that because Jesus did, my faith in him brings me peace with God. May you find rest and hope by faith in him too.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Our Only Hope

The world is a beautiful place. Here on the reservation natural beauty is all around us, and a short drive in any direction will take us to another place of beauty, one that will be very different from here near town, but glorious in its own way.

And while natural beauty is so abundant we all also know that everyday life can, and often is, quite hard. We have responsibilities and obligations to fulfill. We may be living or working with people that we have a hard time getting along with. We may be struggling with illness, or someone close to our heart may be wrestling with addictions. The stress of life can be hard and there are times when our best day is one in which we somehow make it to bedtime, where we can get a few hours of respite as we sleep before beginning all over again the next day.

The apostle Paul knew quite a bit of hardship in his life. In writing to the church at Corinth he felt that he needed them to understand what he was going through, saying:

"For we do not want you to be ignorant brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death."

Paul and his companions felt that the weight of their hardship was so severe that they were on the verge of death. But he goes on to show us what he learned in that trial, adding these words:

"But that was to make us not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again."

Paul had learned to rely on God, and it was God in whom he placed his hope. And Paul can hope in God because it is God "who raises the dead." More specifically I believe that Paul is referring to the resurrection of Jesus when he writes to Corinth, for it is in Jesus, and Jesus alone, in whom we can truly have hope.

Paul speaks of earthly peril, but he also points towards the eternal pain of separation from God for all who refuse the saving work of Jesus. It is in the Easter moment, the death-and-resurrection of Jesus, where God clearly shows the lengths He will go to in order to give hope to all who come, in faith, to Him.

May you live in the hope of Easter, the hope of eternal life with Jesus, as your faithful Savior and Lord. This is true hope, and it is truly our only hope.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Proverbs, Good Friday and Easter

The book of Proverbs, that nearly never-ending collection of wisdom sayings. It's in the Bible, so my brain tells me I should read it. And it would be hard to say that what is written there is not wise, but frankly sometimes the proverbs seem so isolated. They seem like one wise saying after another, with little connection to either the one before or after, and with little connection to God. But every once in a while God shows Himself clearly, and He knocks my socks off. Such was my reading of Proverbs 16:6 yesterday.

"By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil."

This proverb was written long before the coming of Jesus into the world, but it is a word from God that looks forward and finds it's fulfillment in Jesus.

A number of things are present in the work of Chris on the cross, one of them being the atonement for sin, or what the author of Proverbs calls "iniquity." Any sin, and all sin, the things we would all call serious sins and the things we try to minimize as being "not that bad," are grievous offenses against a holy God. Their presence demands payment, or "atonement," by anyone who would desire to come into the presence of God. Not being holy ourselves there is no way that we can wash the stain of sin away. There are no good deeds that we can do to balance the scales in our favor. We are left in a mess that has no possible solution, except for the one the proverb points to. Iniquity is atoned for "by steadfast love and faithfulness."

Try as we might, we cannot live lives of steadfast love and faithfulness. The only one who did that is Jesus. As God the Son, He lived a life of steadfast love and faithfulness towards God the Father, a life that was free from the stain of sin and filled with love for both His Father and for those He came to save. As we think of Good Friday we think of the atonement He made with His life, a life laid down for the sin of all who would have faith in Him. A life laid down for my sin. Laid down for yours.

He lay his life down, and two days later He took it back up again. This is the Easter moment, and this is where the second half of the proverb speaks just as powerfully as the first. I can live in "the fear of the Lord," understanding "fear" to be "great reverence," because I know that Jesus gave His life for me. For my salvation. I can live a life of great reverence for Him, having an understanding of those things that please God and those that don't, leaning on Him as I turn from evil and towards Him.

Proverbs, Good Friday and Easter come together. Iniquity is atoned for by the steadfast love and faithfulness of Jesus, so that I can live for His glory, today and every day.

God spoke to me through this proverb. As we move through Good Friday and to Easter may He also speak to you. Amen.

Monday, April 21, 2014

"For He has risen…"

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. It was my first Easter as a pastor and it was a wonderfully memorable one.

It began with heading over to the church to get coffee started an hour before the community sunrise service. Then we had worship on the hill behind our church, with folks gathered from the other churches in town. There were about 40 of us on the hill and people said it was the largest turnout they could remember. My only responsibility was to offer the closing prayer, a responsibility I learned of when I was invited forward to give it!

Then we all walked down the hill to the gym attached to our church, where the men got to work in the kitchen. This is a bit of tradition…the men always cook breakfast on Easter. About 50 people were present for breakfast and there were too many men in the kitchen cooking for me to be much direct help, so I helped with miscellaneous tasks…and offered the prayer before we ate.

Everyone was fed and the clean-up was finished at about the time I am usually heading over to church on a Sunday morning. This was good news, because I had been concerned ahead of time about the timing of everything that needed to get done on Easter.

Our Sunday worship service went pretty well. There were more people in church than I've ever seen since we've been here, including a number of people I never met before. I heard that the sermon was good and I wish that I had taped it, because my wife had an adverse response to lilies in church and had to leave during the service.

We baptized three girls and that was exciting, as they were the first baptisms I had done and two of the girls, sisters, were excited to be baptized. One the way out of church the parents of the sisters invited us over for lunch. One thing we have learned about meal invitations on the reservation is that there is always plenty of food! It was a nice time for us to get to know this one family a bit better.

We went home and rested a bit and then I went for a short run. After the run I made a phone call and then decided to go make a hospital visit. The hospital I went to is 90 miles away, so that was a significant activity to tack onto the day, but having a really good lunch changed our dinner plans and we weren't having Bible study on Easter, so there was some flexibility in my schedule that wouldn't be present most Sundays.

It was a good visit, and I had the opportunity to share with the family the same scripture that I preached on in the morning, Matthew28:1-10. It is Matthew's account of the resurrection of Jesus and in my preparation, and preaching a portion of verse 6 was continually calling to me. It says:

"He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."

For He has risen. Matthew doesn't give us any details about Jesus' resurrection except this one. The fact that it has already happened. His report is not like the prophecy of Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones, where he gives the various of facts of the scattered bones coming together and being restored to life.

For Matthew it is simpler than that. We may want to know the "how" but all he gives us is the "what." But what a glorious "what"!

In the Resurrection we know that God's promises to His people are all true. In the Resurrection there is no reason to doubt that God's promise to hold a people as His own, and to hold them forever, will be fulfilled.

As a pastor it was my joy to remind the congregation I serve of that promise during worship (in the sermon, the baptism, the music and every other chance I had!), and it was a privilege to bring that same promise to a family gathered in a hospital room.

"He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."

Saturday, March 30, 2013

What do you see?

This afternoon we took our daughter to see a movie. She has had an exceptionally good week at school and the movie was one way in which we wanted to show her our appreciation. We have shown it all week in other ways, but being 6 years-old the movie is what really stands out in her mind.

It was an animated kid’s movie, one that had a seemingly unending series of previews for other movies. I wasn't

paying much attention to them when I heard this:

“Just because you don’t see something doesn't mean it’s not there.”

That got my attention. I think it was spoken in regard to the characters in a movie, characters that were too small to be seen by the principal characters. Maybe along the line of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!

I have been reading Acts 9:1-6 over the past few days, which is the opening part of Saul’s conversion story. Saul, travelling from Jerusalem to Damascus, is suddenly in the presence of a bright light. Verses 4-6 say:

And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

And that is it. From that point onward Saul is incontrovertibly a believer in Jesus. He doesn't see Jesus. He doesn’t say anything in response to the voice besides his "Who are you" question, not even something as simple as “I believe.” But there is never another moment in the Bible, neither in the book of Acts, nor anywhere else in the New Testament, where Saul (later Paul) is anything but a man whose feet are firmly planted on faith in Jesus.

Tomorrow is Easter, the day when Christians throughout the world remember the resurrection of Jesus from the death he suffered on Good Friday. And He still lives today.

We don’t see Jesus physically, but we know that He lives and reigns eternally. And because He lives we know that He will give us eternal life as well. Skeptics of the Christian Gospel may deny this, because after all, “Seeing is believing.” But Hebrews 11:1 says,

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Like Saul/Paul, I haven’t seen Jesus physically, but I know He lives and that His promises are sure. May He reveal Himself powerfully, and personally, to you too, for your joy and peace, and His glory.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Life is Blooming!

Today is Palm Sunday and I had to work. I’m not complaining, I hope. I’m not crazy about being at the hospital on a Sunday but working weekends are part of the job and this weekend it was my turn.

I did miss going to church and gathering for worship with God’s people as Holy Week begins. For the Christian this is a big week. It starts today with recalling Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, then moves on to Maundy Thursday and remembering the Last Supper, followed by Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In my mind those last two days are two parts of one single event, because neither part has meaning without the other. It isn’t the death and resurrection of Jesus but the death-and-resurrection of Jesus.

When I was on the far side of the hospital I had an opportunity to go across the street to get some coffee and right there, at the cash register, was a pleasant surprise. There was a sign, one that most unexpectedly pointed to the events of this week. It said, “Life is Blooming” in large letters, with smaller print afterwards that read, “Easter is March 31.”

I know full well that the primary intent of the sign was to remind us of spring and the new life that we will be seeing in nature as winter fades from view. But it was the mention of Easter on the sign that brought to mind the passage from Colossians 1 that my wife and I read last night, particularly verses 13-14:

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

These verses are the essence of the meaning of Easter. In the death-and-resurrection, in the movement from Good Friday-through-Easter, in the imagery of the cross-and-empty tomb we remember that Jesus delivers us from all that enslaves us, giving us a freedom that lasts forever. He takes us from a place of total darkness and brings us into His glorious and everlasting light.

It may still look like winter outside but life, the life in Jesus that really matters, is blooming.

Life is blooming indeed!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Drop Cloth Jesus

While skimming the news online today an article caught my eye. It appears that someone was unfolding a drop cloth and saw what they believed to be the image of Jesus on it. I’ll confess that I didn’t read the story or watch the video clip. Just seeing the connection of a drop cloth and Jesus was all that I needed to know. (In case you don’t know what a drop cloth is, it is a large sheet or tarp that you use to cover furniture or the floor when you are painting or making some other kind of big mess.) The picture above is of the Shroud of Turin, which for all practical and theological purposes is about the same as the Drop Cloth Jesus. I recall once hearing that someone saw the image of Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich. Here is a link for the news story on the drop cloth, and also link to the sandwich.

The problem that I have with things like the Shroud and the Drop Cloth are that at the very best they are icons, images that point to the mystery of God and nothing more. In some faith traditions they are prayed to, or perhaps through. I confess, again, that I don’t know much about the theology underlying icons. And at their worst, like all things that we wrongly pursue, they end up drawing us away from God.

Icons may indeed point to the mystery of God, but they are a poor substitute for something of infinitely greater value, something that points not merely to the mystery of God but is the very means by which God fully reveals Himself to us: His word as written in the Bible.

If a real “picture” of Jesus were to be found we could be satisfied in our desire to know what He looked like as He walked through the ancient Middle East. But seeing a picture of Him doesn’t compare in the least to what we already know of Him in the Bible. From reading the Revelation of John I can be certain of two things about Jesus. One is that I will indeed see Him one day, and the other is that His image will be glorious in ways that right now I can barely begin to understand. A glory that is not conveyed well through a drop cloth, a shroud or a sandwich.

So rather than pondering the Drop Cloth Jesus, or any other icons and images, I want to give you something else to read and ponder as Holy Week begins.

Here is a link to a collection of readings for Holy Week from the Desiring God web site, something I also stumbled across this morning. There is a reading for each day, from Palm Sunday through Easter. This is just one of many good resources available to help us to feast on God’s word as we approach and remember the pivotal moment of human history, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” I John 3:2

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

“…to take away sins…”

Last night my wife and I were reading 1 John 3:1-10 and verse 5 just jumped off the page at me. It reads,

“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”

This is Holy Week and Good Friday is the day after tomorrow, with Easter two days later. John, in his way, has captured the essence of Jesus’ earthly life, in one verse.

There are number of reasons that one could list as to why Jesus came to earth but the one that John tells us is the only one that truly matters. Jesus came “to take away sins.” Without this particular reason there is no reason for the Incarnation. No reason for the Crucifixion. No reason for the Resurrection. No reason for the Ascension.

It is the only reason that requires Jesus to be both fully human and fully divine and it is the only reason that has eternal implications for every person who has ever lived.

Because Jesus came, or “appeared,” as John phrases it, the sins of all who call on him in faith are forgiven. Sin creates a barrier between a human and God but in the work of Jesus, the work that finished on the cross and was declared worthy in the empty tomb, that barrier is “taken away,” so that the Christian can live in freedom and peace with God, now and forever.

We are human and will never know perfection in this life. The finished work of Christ covers the sins we have committed in days past, the ones we commit today, and the ones we will commit during each tomorrow. It is a perfect act of forgiveness, completely taking away our sin.

In the perfection of God’s forgiveness we can rest in the assurance of God’s promise to hold us forever. Here is a link to a song by Chris Tomlin that speaks powerfully to the enduring love of God, a love we can only know because Jesus has taken away our sin.

I am thankful that Jesus has taken away my sin. That is an easy thing to say without pondering what it really means. Over the remainder of Holy Week I’m planning to prayerfully consider both what the real cost of that choice to Jesus was in human terms, and also the glory that God receives as a result.

And in the season of Easter may you also know the deep and abiding love of God in the finished work of Christ.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Supreme Sacrifice Day? Really??

At the start of March I received an email that had a calendar attached to it. The email was related to cultural diversity and the calendar had listings of various “holidays,” noting something particular and unique for each day of the month. Some days even had two events for that day.

The calendar had some things that might have been expected, such as the Jewish festival of Purim, on the 8^th, Girl Scout Day, on the 12^th, the date of their 100^th birthday, and of course, St. Patrick’s Day on the 17^th.

There were also much lesser known, to me, days, such as Multiple Personality Day on the 5^th and Something on a Stick day on the 28^th. Minnesotans know that any day commemorating food on a stick should only fall during the state fair.

Now normally I wouldn’t even open something like this cultural holiday calendar but I believe that doing so on this occasion was an example of God’s hand at work in my life, and I pray that what the thoughts I write in the remainder of this blog are pleasing in his sight and bring glory to his name.

As I looked over the calendar March18^th jumped out at me, for it was labeled Supreme Sacrifice Day. A label like that is something that captures this particular Christian’s attention. So I clicked on the link and read these words:

“Supreme Sacrifice Day recognizes the ultimate sacrifice made by some for the good of others. History is filled with examples of people who offered the supreme sacrifice for other people.

We offer these examples:

Jesus Christ gave the supreme sacrifice when he died on the cross for us.
Soldiers in battle gave their lives to protect our freedom, our way of life, and to keep us safe.
Fireman and police officers have given their lives in the line of duty, while saving and/or protecting people.
More often than you think, a young man or a young women caught up in a love triangle, gave up the chase for the sake of their loved one.
The list goes on and on and on.

Today is a day to reflect and offer thanks and appreciation to those who made the supreme sacrifice for us.”

And my response on reading that began, “Supreme Sacrifice Day? Really??”

Prior to opening this calendar I had never heard of Supreme Sacrifice Day, so I did a little bit of looking online. And I didn’t learn much.

Virtually every entry I found for this Day had the exact information I cited in italics above, word-for-word. When I looked more specifically to learn its origins, I came up empty. So we have a specially designated day which “exists,” although with absolutely no information on whom created it or how it came to be. And while it may be a ‘Day’ it is such a minor one in the pantheon of holidays that not even Hallmark has a card for it.

In the description for Supreme Sacrifice Day we are given a general definition followed by several examples, all of which, to my eye, are portrayed as relatively equal.

I will agree that what I would classify as the supreme sacrifice is basically as stated, i.e. “the ultimate sacrifice made by some for the good of others.” To be more specific I believe that the “supreme sacrifice” one can make for another is the giving of one’s life. There is nothing else that a person could possess that would even come close in value to surrender for someone else than their life.

Many of us can think of examples where we might consider such an act. As a parent I would throw myself in front of a car to save my child. As a husband I would donate the last drop of my blood to save my wife.

I agree that the examples above of someone in the military, law enforcement or fire-fighting giving of their life for someone else, someone whom they don’t even know, is an unparalleled sacrifice. While my military service was in peacetime and I did not have to wrestle personally with that possibility, my son served one tour in Iraq with a Marine battalion. As I prayed during the time he was overseas I recalled reading from the Marine magazine, Leatherneck, when my cousin was a Marine, which had an entire section in each issue devoted to telling the stories of Marines in

Viet Nam

making the supreme sacrifice for their fellow Marines.

To give one’s life for another is truly the greatest thing a person can surrender, and I think the examples I’ve outlined above demonstrate that. In John 15:13 Jesus says,

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus speaks these words in his final teaching with his disciples before his arrest. And while he teaches them something important about devotion and self-sacrifice he also points our vision towards himself and the unfolding of the final day of his life.

We can talk about the “supreme sacrifice” but I believe that in all of history there is only one “Supreme Sacrifice,” the act of Jesus giving up his life on the cross, a sacrificial act of love for his people.

In John 10 Jesus uses the metaphor of the Good Shepherd to prepare his disciples for what was to come, saying in verses 11 – 18:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

The sacrifice of Jesus is unique in several respects, particularly in that it is a sacrifice that didn’t save a human life for a period of time, but in that through his sacrifice those human lives that are touched by it are touched eternally. Though their human life will one day end they know in Jesus the promise of resurrection to an eternal life with God.

In a way, the folly of Supreme Sacrifice Day has the ability to open our eyes to something that is perfect and true, the unique and defining moment in history from Good Friday to Easter.

Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, let go of his life so that those who call on his name in faith would know the resurrection with him to eternal life that Easter foreshadows.

Here is a link to a version of the hymn What Wondrous Love is This. I invite you to listen to its testimony of God’s profound love and ponder in your heart how God might be calling you towards him. May you know God’s deep and abiding love in your soul, now and forever.

My friend, Mike Manning, has also written about Supreme Sacrifice Day on his blog, to be posted on Monday, March 19^th. Click this link to read his perspective.