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Pastor Tim’s Thoughts

February 1, 2012

Why not take a minute and read the Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday? It is from Mark 1:29-39. It describes a scene in Jesus' ministry when people just kept coming and coming.   Their needs were so great.   You just have to imagine our Lord at the end of that day with his head in his hands, emptied and tired after ministering to so many with so many needs.   The Bible never tells us, but did the One who "bore our infirmities" (Is. 53:4) ever feel done, spent, despairing or depressed?   I wonder.

What we don't have to wonder about is what Jesus did in times of burden bearing.   "Very early in the morning... Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" (Mark 1:35).   Our Lord, like us in all things, yet without sin, knew where to find strength for troubled days. He found his way to some solitary place and there he prayed.

To be sure, prayer is not just some 911 number. Praise, adoration, thanksgivings for ourselves and others are all part of it.   But that strength needed for troubled times is one of God's great gifts to us in prayer.  

Come deepen that part of your life in Christ as we worship and pray together.   I look forward to seeing you.  

Pastor Tim

January 4, 2012

This past Sunday, Jan. 1, was not only New Year's, but an interesting day on the Christian calendar - The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus.   Mary and Joseph, following their simple faithfulness and devotion to Jewish law, would have their child circumcised and named 8 days after his birth (Luke 2:21).  The name "Jesus" means "savior, deliverer."   It can also mean, "the Lord makes room."   Ever since I learned that, I have always liked the irony of that meaning.   The One for whom there was "no room in the inn,"  grows to be the One who would "make room" in God's heart for the likes of you and me.  It would take a cross and empty tomb to give us that Gospel Good News.

This new year also gives us the opportunity for fresh beginnings of "making room" for Christ in our hearts and lives.    Here are some helpful ways for you and me to do that:

*   Worship weekly

*   Pray daily

*   Read Scripture faithfully

*   Serve willingly

*   Give of our possessions joyfully and generously

Christ has made room for you!    "Make room" for him in your time, abilities, and possessions.  Our ministry will be taking some significant and exciting steps forward this year.   Let's all do our part to make room for growth.

Joy and blessings throughout 2012, 

Pastor Tim

December 14, 2011

Did you know in the entire New Testament, not one word is ever recorded from Joseph, Jesus' earthly father.   We know next to nothing of that man.  Yet, I am among those who suspect the influence of Joseph on the life of Jesus had to be profound.    That conclusion comes from the fact that when Jesus looked for a metaphor to describe his relationship, and ours, to God, he used the Aramaic word "Abba," which means "Daddy, Papa."    Certainly Jesus must have seen in Joseph a picture of the love and character of God.

When Jesus wanted to teach the character of God in one of his parables, He used the image of a Waiting Father, who ran to his wayward son to show mercy and love.  Here again, perhaps Jesus saw in his earthly father, the heart of one whose love was filled with mercy and grace.

Dads, these words are aimed at you.   What a great time these Advent/Christmas days are for you to model and mentor your family in the importance of living the faith.   It is easy for fathers to sometimes slip into the background of the spiritual life of the home, thinking "Let mom do it".   Don't fall for that deception!    If they are to learn the faith, your children need to see your life as a believing Christian matters to you.

This is a great time for you to take the lead, provide the example, and live the faith for those around you to see.   Be an encourager these next weeks,  and always. See that your family comes together for worship and service to our Savior.   When Jesus, the son of God came into our world and grew up in a home, you have to believe Joseph provided that kind of leadership and example.   His saying "Yes" to God's using him blessed his son, even as it has been blessing generations ever since.

Thanks be to God for Joseph and the difference he made to Jesus... and us! 

  

Pastor Tim

November 30, 2011

"It is our duty and delight that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you, O Lord, holy  Father, almighty and ever living God."   So begins one version of our communion liturgy.   I find those words "duty and delight" to be important, especially as we gather this Sunday, Dec. 4, and offer the commitment of our money to our church and its mission.

"Duty" is a good word.   It is our duty to financially support St. Paul's work in the world.    Money is never the goal of ministry, but it is the means we use to carry on that ministry.  Money maintains and insures our property that enables us to do things we could never do without our facilities.   We hire people with specific skills to do specific tasks that others cannot or will not do.  Money purchases resources we use in children's and youth ministry.   Money blesses others through our mission and benevolent giving.  There is no Lutheran benefactor to cover all that.   It is our duty as the people of St. Paul... yet "duty" is not a very joyful word.   

That belongs to our second word.   It is our "delight" to offer thanks and praise to you O Lord.    It is our delight to give because when we do, we reflect God's own delight in giving to us first.    He has done that and continues to do so.    Ultimately, God's giving revolves the giving of his one and only Son for life and salvation.   God loves a cheerful giver. (II Cor. 9:7)   Actually, the word for "cheerful" is "hilarious."    How's that for the delight and joy of giving?    We delight in his will and walk in his way when our giving to Him reflects his own joy and delight in giving to us.  

I look forward to doing that with you this Sunday.   Bring your commitments with you to worship and if you cannot be present, please send them in.    After all, "It is our duty and delight that we should at all times and all places offer thanks and praise to you, O Lord."

Pastor Tim

November 2, 2011

This coming Sunday is All Saints Sunday.   It is a special day at St. Paul as we follow the practice of many churches in naming the "faithful departed," those who have died in Christ since we last gathered for All Saints Sunday.   If you have names of loved ones you would want included, be sure to e-mail jean@stpaulweston.org .  Yet remember, "saints" are not only the departed.   They are alive and wiggling people - like you.   Saints are forgiven sinners through whom God's love and light shine forth.

One of my favorite stories underscores that truth.   It is the story of the little boy who was admiring the stain glass windows in his church's sanctuary.   The shining sunlight brought those works of art to life.   He asked his father who those people were in the windows.   "Those are the saints," his father informed him.    Weeks later in Sunday School class, the teacher asked who a saint was.     "Someone the light shines through," came the little boy's reply.

Saints are forgiven sinners through whom God's love and light shine forth... people like you!

A blessed All Saints celebration to you,

  

Pastor Tim

Reformation Sunday

Oct. 30, 2011

                                INI

I shared with our Bible class a couple weeks ago a conversation that has stayed with me over the years.   I had received a request from a funeral home to do the funeral for a person I did not know.  I try to say “Yes” to those requests whenever I can. It is a chance to share the Gospel. In speaking to the family about the deceased person, you could tell they were trying to help me know something of their loved one…that she was a good person… and trying to be sure I knew she was a religious individual, even though there was no church affiliation.

“She sent Christmas cards every year.”  They said.“They were even religious ones.”

I share that part of the conversation because it relates to this Reformation Sunday and to you.  That family was reflecting back on a life that had been lived.  

What did it all now mean?  Now what?  What access is there to anything beyond this world?  How is a person acceptable to God?  What qualifies one for life beyond the grave?   On what basis are we right with God?  Those were all the unspoken questions there that day before the funeral.

Like that family in my office, the deepest instincts in all of us are to answer those life and death questions on the basis of what we have done… what we have performed… from the sending of Christmas cards, even religious ones to 1000’s of other more impressive acts.

But it all has one origin.   We are anxious about our destiny and we try, by nature, to convince God – others – ourselves, that we are good enough, have done enough, have earned the right to be right before God on the basis of what we have done: our works, our deeds, our devotion, decision and goodness. 

But we all know, because Luther taught us, that we are not right with God by what we have done, but by what He has done.   We are saved by God’s GRACE. 

We know that answer up here, in our heads.  We learned it in confirmation class!   But why is it so hard to trust it in here, in our hearts?

The world of Martin Luther and other reformers 500 years ago was so different from ours.  There was no electricity, no Advil, no cars, no concrete. Yet in some ways Luther’s world was much the same as ours.  The church was a mess.  Politics were a jungle.  Muslim armies from Turkey had made their way into Europe all the way to Vienna.  500,000 of them were about as close to Luther as from here to Orlando.

Church mess…Political mess….Economic mess….World -wide mess.  Sound familiar?  That is why Luther, in the midst of life’s mess and death’s questions, kept pointing back to God’s grace.  All of life and death is utterly dependent on his grace.

God’s Law shows us why we need grace for it dispels that notion that we make ourselves worthy and right by what we do - our deeds, our devotion… by our sending  Christmas cards, even religious ones. Romans says, “By works of law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20).

Do it right God’s Law says.  Get it right.  Shape up. Obey God’s rules.  All of them, the whole shebang, because only when you do the right thing can you become a right gal… right guy.   Right?

The only problem is it never works.  St. Paul said it this morning.  “All fall short.”   Just check yourself by the first commandment.  “Have no other gods.”  Which means: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind, all the time.  Who in this gathering – yours truly included – has done that all the time this past week?  Who has done that today since breakfast?

We are far from God in thought word and deed. Our anxious hearts want to fix that and make it right ourselves.  But we cannot. We sin. We fall short of the glory of God. We need God’s grace.

And… we have it.  Listen to the Gospel’s good news.   You have that grace for Christ’s sake, through faith.  You have that grace.  Trust it is true for you.  Hang your heart on that Gospel promise. All have sinned.  You bet.  But the sinless One has become the sinner’s friend.  That is why we call it grace. The cross is the center of that grace, that very costly grace. 

The empty tomb is the exclamation point on that grace and the certainty it is an eternal promise. You are right with God, by grace.  You need not fear if you have done enough because Christ has done it for you, by grace.

That is the heritage of the Lutheran church for which we give thanks today.  That heritage is not because of our Lutheran wonderfulness.   It is by grace too. And when we come to St. Paul Lutheran Church, this Grace Place, and receive that grace… talk and sing about that grace … eat and drink that grace… Grace starts being the lens through which we look at all of life. We are able to start seeing it everywhere, happening everywhere.

When the Lord is with you on Sunday, you realize he is also with you right in the middle of the Monday through Friday’s messes.  That is grace. And when you start looking at church mess – political mess – economic mess through the eyes of grace… you can be a bit more gracious with other people.  In church lingo we call them EGR’s = Extra Grace Required people. Also, realize we are all EGR’s along the way.

And when you go in peace and serve the Lord, you do so in the confidence God is using you to be his grace because you serve the Lord by serving others, not because you are anxious if you have done enough, but because you are excited you can do something. 

Each of you do something! And I am seeing that. I sense a shift because you are taking ownership of your ministries, not because you are anxious about doing enough, but because you are excited, thankful, and blessed to be doing something. Find your ministry “niche.” Then do it and keep at it, all the while trusting we saved by grace, forgiven by grace, living, serving, and rejoicing every day, by grace!

October 26, 2011

With Reformation Sunday this weekend - remember to wear red! - it is good to revisit the distinction between the gospels(plural) and The Gospel (singular). Every Reformation our 2nd graders join me in reading for one of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.  Every Sunday as we listen to a reading from one of the gospels, we are standing, turning toward that text, aware of the awesome blessing of hearing the words, from Scripture alone, of our Lord Jesus himself.

500 years ago,  when Martin Luther led what came to be called The Reformation, he was leading the church back to the sole trust and reliance on "The Gospel," which means Good News.  The term "gospel" refers to the books of the Bible.  The Gospel is always the Good News of what God has done, is doing, and will do in Jesus, his Son, our Savior. 

  •When life comes at you, beating you up and beating you down, it is Good News that you can sing "A mighty fortress

           is  our God...the Kingdom ours forever."

  •When you feel - "I cannot measure up - I don't get it right - how could God love the likes of me?" 

          - it is Good News that God promises you are loved, forgiven and free, by grace alone.

  •When death seems victorious everywhere you turn, it is Good News that you can hang your heart (faith)

          on the promise "Christ is risen, indeed, and because he lives you shall live also."

The Holy Spirit working through The Gospel "calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith" (Luther's Words).  That is something worth celebrating this Sunday...every Sunday...every day!

Joy and blessings in the Gospel,

Pastor Tim

October 16, 2011

18th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

INI

This past Thursday, sermon writing day, I was looking around for an introduction to these words. I buzzed Jean Gillis on the intercom to ask “if elementary schools still have recess.” What I got from her in her thorough fashion was the print out of Public Law 108-265, section 204, “Broward County Wellness Policy.”

Recess under a wellness policy? Wellness –Schmelness! Why I still carry deep emotional scars from years of Hickory Grove Elementary recess when the two mega-jocks, Ron Kettner and Mike Holzmann would always be the first ones chosen no matter what the recess game. Choosing is fun for the chosen, but the rest of us…well, all these years later, we just have to keep working it out with our therapists!

Don’t let your own recess scars get in the way of God’s word this day, because it is a great word from 1 Thessalonians. “For we know, brothers and sister, beloved of God, that he has chosen you.” He has chosen you. He has chosen you for a purpose. He has chosen you for a mission. I remember reading a long time ago: “Jesus chose the twelve disciples so that all of North America could hear the Gospel.

So let those words from our epistle sink in this Lord’s day. “Beloved of God, he has chosen you.” He has chosen you for a mission and a purpose. And today we would add to that, he has chosen you for this place, this congregation, and this community of believers.

When you hear those words from 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, remember you are hearing the very first written words of the New Testament. The epistles/letters of Paul were the first writing of what came to be the New Testament (while the events of the gospels obviously happened, the actual pen to papyrus happened later.) 1 Thessalonians is generally considered by New Testament scholars as the first of Paul’s letters.

We know from the 17th chapter of Acts that Paul and Silvanus came to that rough and tumble Greek seaport town, Thessalonica, on his second missionary journey. He preached the Gospel of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit worked faith in the hearts of some.

Not all believed though and when an ugly reaction to Paul formed and got dangerous, a tiny group of Christians got him out of town by night, sending him south to Berea. But those Thessalonians stayed put. They did not head south. They stayed where they were. They joined together, as a congregation, to begin that high and holy calling of living the faith. They were gathered by the Holy Spirit for that exciting and challenging task of living the message of God’s grace and forgiveness in a sometimes hostile, sometimes apathetic setting.

You see, when Paul writes those Thessalonians, “Beloved of God, He has chosen you,” he is writing a compliment, he is telling them an essential truth. Nowhere in the book of Acts do we read of people shopping around, surveying all the religious options in metropolitan Thessalonica, choosing Christ and forming a church. It is always God at work, choosing, calling, setting people apart for faith and gathering them into a congregation. “Beloved of God, he has chosen you.” His son’s life blood is in that choice. Know those words now also speak to you and describe you.

“Beloved of God, He has chosen you.” We call that choice the Gospel, the Good News. It came to you in the waters of Holy Baptism where God’s choice got planted on your forehead and you were marked with the cross of Christ forever. Jesus clears up any confusion about who does the choosing. John 15, as he told his disciples on the night he was betrayed: “You did not choose me; I chose you and sent you forth to bear fruit. Without that sending forth, we miss the point of our being chosen, and for the sake of that sending forth, you are chosen to be here, in this congregation, to do things together we could never do alone.

Look around. Look at who we mean when we say, “He has chosen you.” There is something in all of us that likes the idea of banding together with people who think and look like we do. There’s nothing wrong with that. It is just an activity that aligns better with the local club than it does with what Christ has in mind for his church.

Eugene Peterson says, “A Christian congregation is the least specialized gathering of human beings on the planet. Where else can you find yourself bracketed by nursing infants on one side, nodding octogenarians on the other, and rubbing shoulders with so many people whom you acknowledge, however grudgingly, as brothers and sisters and with whom you seldom have anything in common except your humanity and faith in Christ.”

I had a conversation with a wayward St. Paul person not long ago. The gist of what he said went something like this: “I don’t go to church because, frankly, it bores me and fails to provide me any compelling reason to get out of my pajamas.” I hate it when people beat around the bush like that!

But it also made me think. There are compelling reasons for you and the 1,000 people who call St. Paul, my church, to get out of your pajamas and be here. There is something compelling about what happens here on a Sunday morning. In our iPod, iPod, i-Everything world, we are gathered to do, say, and sing things we Christians have been doing for 2,000 years. There is something compelling about habits of giving, compassion, generosity, forgiveness and grace being valued and formed in people because of Christ’s generous giving and compassion with us.

Yesterday, my wife Laurie was thinking about the last 30 hours here at St. Paul. On Friday morning, the bulletin crew was here folding and stapling and enjoying each other’s company. Fifty pre-school moms gathered to get to know each other better. Jo Brindle was up here decorating tables for the OWL’s evening of fellowship. Yesterday’s fall fest had the biggest turn out ever. People connecting and working together.

“Beloved of God, he has chosen you…” because there are some things you can do together that you cannot do alone.

There was a northerner who came down south for a business conference. On his first morning in town, he went to eat breakfast at a mom and pop diner close to the hotel. He ordered eggs, sausage and toast, but when the waitress brought the order, he noticed a little pile of white stuff on his plate.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Grits,” she said.

“What’s a grit?” he asked.

“Honey,” she drawled in her southern accent, “There’s no such thing as a grit. They don’t come by themselves.”

Neither do Christians. We are always “they,” plural, connected, together in a congregation for a purpose, with a mission. “Beloved of God, he has chosen you…and you….and you!

Pastor Tim

580 Indian Trace - Weston, FL  33326

(954) 384-9096   office@stpaulweston.org

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