Church of Jesus Christ – Mt. Olive Lutheran Church

THE EASTER EGG & THE EMPTY TOMB

Although Christianity is essentially a form of Judaism, over the centuries the Christian Faith has incorporated and inculcated itself into the various cultures of Pagan societies. So Christianity’s spiritual inheritance is a blend of ancient Hebrew faith mixed with some Christianized archaic Pagan practices. And while this fact is often greatly overstated these days by those who wish to discredit and malign Christianity, the reality is that Christian observances (such as the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ) include some formerly Pagan elements as well. Consequently, things like colored eggs, bunny rabbits, and so on, have been given new and eternal significance by the grace and truth of God revealed in Christ our Savior. For “God has placed all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church…” (Ephesians 1:22).

Moreover, while the name of the annual celebration of the resurrection of Jesus maintains its Hebrew roots in many non-English languages (Pascha in Greek, Pascua in Spanish, etc.), in English the name of this most holy of all Christian holy days is taken from an Anglo-Saxon spring festival centered on the goddess Eostre, a Germanic goddess of the sunrise whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. So this is only the case in English (Easter) and German (Ostern), not in other languages. In most languages, the paschal connection between the celebrations of Passover and Holy Week is maintained, stemming from the Hebrew root word of Pesach.

Now that all this has been said, how are we Christians to regard symbols like colored Easter eggs?

The egg is an obvious candidate for a resurrection symbol of renewal and regeneration. The egg has been honored during many spring rites throughout the ages: Egyptians, Jews, Persians, Romans, Celts, and even the Chinese, have all understood the egg as representing new beginnings. Whether it was the commencement of building a bridge across a river, sowing a field of wheat, or launching a new fishing boat, the egg was used as an emblem of renewal. So Christians naturally adopted the egg symbol to specifically and preeminently represent the new life received through the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. For, again, “God has placed all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church…”

The good news is that God enacts, establishes and extends his absolute love for all nations and peoples through the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ the Son of God, offering the free gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life to everyone by God’s grace through faith. Therefore, according to the biblical gospel, Christianity ascribes the ancient Hebrew symbolism of the Passover lamb and the archaic Pagan symbolism of the decorated egg to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Universal Messiah.

So for us Christians, a colored Easter egg (and its emptied shell after eating it) represents the empty tomb, and it calls us to be empty tombs as well. For the truth is that we can sometimes be overwhelmed by our unrealized expectations, disappointments, losses and grief; we can sometimes be overcome by despair, frustration and an apocalyptic mood. We can become so spiritually and emotionally severe that we become tombs filled with the deadly stench of judgment and condemnation, directed at ourselves and others. However, we must realize that we cannot force the Kingdom of God to be perfectly manifest in others any more than we can force God’s Kingdom to be perfectly manifest in ourselves. So we must love and forgive ourselves and others, just as God loves us and forgives us in Christ.

In other words, by the grace of God, let us become empty tombs in our lives — empty of our desire to control and our attachment to specific outcomes. By God’s grace, we must LET GO and LET GOD! By God’s sovereign grace and will, let us TRUST IN THE LORD and be at peace. God is the Lord of human history (including you and me) and God’s steadfast love endures forever.

“O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:2)

Blessed & Happy Eastertime!!! Pastor Tim

THE ASSEMBLY OF WORSHIP

United by their distaste and suspicion of Jesus, the Pharisees and Herodians approached him with some false flattery: “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.” Then they asked him a cynical trick question that was meant to trap him: “Now, tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?” And by “lawful” they of course were referring to the biblical Torah.

If Jesus had said to his fellow Jews that they should pay the imperial tax and support the Roman world order, then he would have allied himself with a totalitarian power that was robbing Israel of its sovereignty and was killing Jews. However, if Jesus had said that Jews should not pay taxes to the international imperial world order, then it would have been seen as sedition against the Roman Empire. This gotcha question was a perfect trap: “Is it Torah to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?” So in response, Jesus answered them by calling attention to the image of the Emperor on a coin, and he famously declared, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).

You see, Jesus very cleverly threw the question back at the Pharisees and Herodians, and his shrewd answer raises a very important issue for his followers throughout the centuries unto today’s day and age. It reminds us that we cannot worship both the Lord our God and “Caesar” as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. That is, we cannot simultaneously follow the ways of the Spirit and the ways of the flesh (as the Bible puts it). In other words, we cannot put our trust in the Lord and in the world at the same time. It’s a transgression of the First Commandment.

For example, even the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ has fallen into this trap within its worship life for almost a half century. For decades now, large swaths of the Church have drifted afield from the liturgical worship of Jesus and his Apostles that’s rooted in the worship of the ancient biblical Temple. For at least 40+ years, congregations of the Church have served a worldly concept of worship, calling it “Entertainment Evangelism.” Diminishing the importance of the Sacraments of Christ, Church congregations have even put sanctuary altars on wheels so they can be easily moved, or they have gotten rid of their altars altogether, turning the chancel of the congregational sanctuary into a performance stage. Indeed, for far too many years, we’ve seen concert hall worship spaces and personality cult preachers, which turns divine worship into a theater and the congregation into a mere audience. And what has the Church gotten from selling-out its great and holy birthright for a bowl of entertainment culture porridge?

So, what is worship all about? Is it entertainment or is it something much higher?

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the The Chronicles of Narnia saga, the central character of Aslan tells the four Pevensie children and their cousin the reason why they were brought to Narnia. As he is sending them back to our realm, Aslan says to them, “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” And this beautiful dialogue powerfully illustrates why we assemble for worship in the holy sanctuary of our congregation. That is, we assemble for worship and fellowship so that by knowing Christ in the worshipping assembly for a little bit each week at Mt. Olive, we thereby may know him better out in the world.

This is why I dislike the phrase “I’m going to Church.” This is because we do not “go” to Church; rather, we ARE the Church. We may “go” to worship for our weekly Sunday assembly, and then “go” from our weekly gathering to serve, but we don’t “go” to Church because we ARE the Church. In other words, we go to worship in order to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed and receive the Living Christ in bread and wine. Yes, as we assemble each week in person-to-person living community and access the powerful means of God’s grace (the Word and Sacrament), we are strengthened to go live daily God-conscious lives and to do the work of ministry in the world around us. For it says the following in Ephesians 4…

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints [that’s all of us] for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”
(Ephesians 4: 11-13)

Therefore, in-person assembly for worship and fellowship on Sunday is our weekly Narnia. God’s love and grace communicated through Word and Sacrament and fellowship is that which calls us, gathers us, strengthens us, equips us and sends us “for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12a) out in the everyday world of our daily lives. Therefore, as we read further in Ephesians 4…

“We must no longer be children… we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
(Ephesians 4:14-16)

Together in Christ’s Body, Pastor Tim

MIRACLE OF ALL MIRACLES

As Christians we are supernaturalists. We acknowledge that there are dimensions of reality that transcend the material universe. In fact, it may perhaps be that the “dark matter” and “dark energy” of modern quantum physics and cosmology are indications of what ancient people simply referred to as the “spirit domain” or the “heavenly realm.” In any case, Christians hold to the reality of the Spirit of the Eternal and Almighty God who transcends and infuses all that is, both seen and unseen. Therefore, we profess and assert that our existence is simultaneously natural and supernatural, material and ethereal, physical and metaphysical.

In his book Miracles, C.S. Lewis wrote the following: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.” In other words, the Eternal became temporal; the Heavenly became earthly; the Immortal became mortal; the Imperishable One became perishable for a time for our sake. That is, God the Son became a man so that we might become sons and daughters of God. Such a mystery of mysteries! A wonder of wonders! The miracle of all miracles!

Thanks be to God we are heading into the time of year when we commemorate the birth of the One: the Messiah of God who is our peace, and who inspires and empowers our ‘grace-fullness’ and ‘peace-fullness’ in the world. It is the commemoration of the First Advent of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Christ) over two thousand years ago; the One who is Yeshua Ben David (Jesus the Son of David), Yeshua Ben Miriam (Jesus the Son of Mary), and Yeshua Ben Elohim (Jesus the Son of God)…

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:10-14)

This is GOOD NEWS indeed! It fuels true joy and peace, just like Simeon of Jerusalem, who was devout and looked forward to the consolation and restoration of Israel. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that “he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” So, guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the Jerusalem Temple, and when Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the biblical law of the Torah, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God…

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
(Luke 2:29-32)

Like Simeon, may we also be filled with this inner peace and joy as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the perfect Almighty God redeems an imperfect humanity. For we have forgiveness of sins and life everlasting in, with and through Jesus our Savior! He is our salvation, the Light of the World (John 8:12), so let us pray and seek and work for a more peaceable world in the name of our Lord Yeshua.

Good Advent & Merry Christmas!!! Pastor Tim

GOD’S TWO KINGDOMS

With all the “wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6) these days, many Christians are wondering what God’s Word within the Holy Bible says to us about such things. In particular, with regard to Russia/Ukraine, Azerbaijan/Armenia, Iran/Israel, and China/Taiwan, is there a general guiding principle of Christian doctrine that we can draw upon in order to help us process all that’s going on in our world right now? For although Ukraine, Armenia, Israel and Taiwan are not perfect nations (no nation is), and they do not have completely innocent histories (no nation does), the Western democratic world is nevertheless rallying in support and defense of these countries who are fighting an existential struggle against adversaries who are seeking their utter destruction as free independent nations.

Lutheran Christians have traditionally followed the Two Kingdoms Doctrine in our understanding of the relationship of Church and State. Rooted in the Holy Scriptures, this doctrine affirms that God established two primary realms of societal order: 1) the kingdom of God’s right hand, and 2) the kingdom of God’s left hand. Simply put, the so-called kingdom of God’s right hand is the Church and the kingdom of God’s left hand is the State. Specifically, the kingdom of God’s left hand refers to the State’s God-given responsibility for law enforcement and military service for the sake of an orderly and peaceable society. As it says in Romans chapter 13, God has instituted the governing authorities “to bear the sword” (13:4) to exact justice upon the wrongdoer. As a result, Lutheran Christians have always honored the vocations of law enforcement and military service as God-ordained functions within society for the sake of good order. Therefore, the kingdom of God’s left hand (the State) is the realm of law, justice and peacekeeping; however, the kingdom of God’s right hand (the Church) is the realm of forgiveness, mercy and peacemaking. So ideally, with both peacekeeping on one hand and peacemaking on the other, the whole structure of human society functions and thrives.

Now, as we apply this Two Kingdoms Doctrine to what’s going on in our globalized world today, we can acknowledge the important role of our armed forces in defending democracy, liberty and commerce. For example, if there was no United States Navy defending freedom of navigation then the seaways would be strangled by authoritarian autocrats and pirate warlords. Consequently, since the end of WWII our governing authorities have worked to cooperate with other democratic nations of the world to maintain the most peaceful and prosperous era in human history (broadly speaking, of course).

On the other hand, the Church (the kingdom of God’s right hand) worships the Prince of Peace, so we always seek to faithfully exercise our role as peacemakers within our world according to the eternal principles of the gospel…

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45).

We recognize that the kingdom of God’s left hand (the State) in its peacekeeping role and the kingdom of God’s right hand (the Church) in its peacemaking role are both essential. And we also recognize that people of faith who have been called into law enforcement or military service are uniquely positioned by God to operate within both realms, and they offer us a great bridge of understanding. For example, I proudly served in our armed forces in the USAF as a young man; however, as a Christian, I’m also called to be a builder of bridges for understanding and peace.

In the face of wars and rumors of wars in these times, we acknowledge the important role of our peacekeeping forces, but we Christians also continually seek peacemaking solutions and peaceful resolutions within our world — always looking toward the great and glorious Day of the Lord when “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

And so, with one voice in universal chorus, we exclaim, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:21).

In Christ’s Peace, Pastor Tim

REFORMATION HOPE IN CHRIST

Martin Luther, the great evangelical catholic theologian and Sixteenth Century reformer of the Church, lived in a time of colossal challenges and hardships. In addition to the many troubles Martin Luther experienced due to his efforts to increase Biblical literacy, promote Christian revival, and reform the entrenched corruption of the Church of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire, Martin and Katie his wife also lost two of their six children (probably due to the plague) during their life together: first their infant daughter (Elizabeth Luther) died at only 7 months old, and then years later their teenage daughter (Magdalena Luther) died at 13 years old. Moreover, Europe was under constant attack by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and there was populist unrest and revolt all over the place.

Martin Luther lived in extremely uncertain times, and it’s very unlikely in the year 1523 that Luther could have foreseen with any amount of certainty how all of his work would ultimately turn out. In that early Sixteenth Century timeframe (a pivotal time of immense transition from the Late Medieval era to the Renaissance era), Martin Luther’s evangelical catholic reformation of the Church was not a steady and glorious march of gospel revival and spiritual restoration. Indeed, it was never smooth going. Rather, it was messy, and it had its share of radicalism and extremism. However, one thing was for sure, it was quite clear that something a lot bigger than one person, a lot bigger than even the great Martin Luther, was taking place.

Furthermore, all of this socio-political and religious turmoil wasn’t happening in a technological vacuum. For it was a time of new technologies such as the printing press. It was a time in which an innovator who was a mathematician, astronomer and Church canon lawyer, named Nicolaus Copernicus, published his great scientific work that kicked Planet Earth out of the center of the Solar System. It was also a time in which the map of the globe was growing increasingly extensive and detailed, being charted by the expanding empires of Portugal and Spain.

What new kind of world was emerging out of all this? Which aspects of all this great change were good and righteous and constructive? Which aspects of all this change were destructive, unrighteous and demonic? How was God’s Holy Spirit calling, gathering and enlightening his Church for such times as this?

Today, 500 years on from Martin Luther in 1523, in this Year of our Lord 2023, we the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ find ourselves living through a similarly pivotal time of colossal challenges. We are still trying to help our youth climb out of the developmental stagnation they endured resulting from the unprecedented “stay at home” directives, requiring them to do school and learn, to build relationships and develop life skills, all from their bedroom desks on laptops and tablets. And sadly, we are still contending with old radical ideologies that have been repackaged for our digital era, causing great harm in their wake.

Additionally, the tried and true principles of life and liberty, of family and faith, and so on, are all under tremendous pressure. New technologies and discoveries are wiring us up and plugging us in (whether we like it or not) for both good and ill. Our technology can be used to keep us informed and connected, but this technology is also used to keep us propagandized and contained.

So yes, something new is emerging, and the world is changing at a lightning pace. But the question always remains: Which changes are good and Godly, healthy and constructive, and which changes are not?

I believe God is still calling and shaping us, his Holy Church, to be faithful witnesses within the world that is presently emerging, no matter what the cost to us might be. We just need to be enlightened and shaped by God’s grace and truth, first and foremost, and to be ready and willing to answer God’s call.

Forever secure in God who is “our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1) we can be bold in our witness of the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. For as Jesus declares to his disciples of all times and places, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

LIVING WATER

As Springtime has sprung and as we’ve continued to receive over-abundant precipitation this year, my April church article is focused on the subject of the “Living Water” of God. So I’m orienting my reflections on the Gospel of John reading that we had a few Sundays ago (John 4:5-42), which is concerning God’s Living Water. I’m doing this especially because this Living Water passage of Holy Scripture contains some of the most central, essential and vital themes of the good news of Jesus Christ…

Chapter 4 of John describes a time when Jesus visited the region of Samaria, which was a despised place to the Jewish People of that time, because the Samaritans were considered by the Jews as ritually unacceptable and impure. Basically, Samaria was a place that all Jews (including Jesus and his disciples) were expected to steer well clear of. Samaria was designated as a “bad place” populated by those spiritually defiled and despised Samaritans, because the Samaritans did not worship God at the Temple of Zion in the City of Jerusalem but rather at their own Temple of Gerizim near the City of Shechem. Consequently, with the Jews centering their worship on the Temple of Zion in Jerusalem and the Samaritans centering their worship on the Temple of Gerizim near Shechem, both Jews and Samaritans condemned each other as being unfaithful expressions of the ancient Israelite religious faith and spiritual life. Despite the fact that they both worshiped the same Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they condemned one another over these differences.

Nevertheless, even though Jesus could have avoided Samaria, our Lord Jesus intentionally traveled through it. And that’s just how our Lord and Savior was when he walked this Earth during his mortal ministry among us. He often took a sledgehammer to the various ethnic, religious and cultural barriers and taboos, in order to seek and save the lost as the Great Physician of all humanity. So this is the reason the Samaritan woman in John 4 says to Jesus, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” For as it also says, “Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.” In fact, for a proper First Century Jew to share a drink from a common cup with a Samaritan would have been viewed as cavorting with the enemy!

In addition to this, it was also expected that men and women were forbidden to converse with one another outside of their family clan — let alone a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman. However, our Lord Jesus, in stark contrast to both Hebrew and Pagan societies of the time, modeled for us a harmonious balance between the two halves of humanity (between both male and female). Just as Jesus treated both non-Jews and his fellow Jews alike, he also treated both women and men as equal in value and dignity as children of God even though we’re different sides of the same human coin.

Furthermore, at high noon when the heat of the Middle Eastern day was beginning to peak, Jesus meets this Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well to ask her if he could have some water to drink. And if you recall from the Old Testament, Jacob met his wife Rachel at the well, and Moses met his wife Zipporah at a well too. So Jesus meeting this woman at the well should spark us to think about marriage, especially in the context of Jesus inviting this woman to become a part of his Holy Church. In other words, this is a kind of spiritual romance playing out in John 4, because Jesus invited this woman to faith! He invited her to become a part of the New Covenant “Bride of Christ” (that is, his community of believers and followers, called the Church of Jesus Christ).

Therefore, Jesus asks her about her husband, and he reveals that he knows everything about her five marriages and how she was currently with someone who wasn’t her husband. Of course, he knew everything about her past, just as he knows everything about my past and your past. He knows our whole history, including the skeletons in our closets. And by revealing his miraculous foreknowledge to the Samaritan woman, Jesus revealed that he’s more than merely a pious Jewish man, and even much more than a Prophet of God. Jesus was revealing to her that he is the Divine Universal Messiah, God’s Living Water flowing from the Heavenly Fountain of Almighty God.

Like a stream or river, Christ our Lord is the pure, fresh, ever-flowing Living Water that eternally quenches our deepest spiritual thirst. For we are all thirsty for that which our soul cannot find anywhere else! So how thirsty are you? How thirsty are you for the deep, permanent satisfaction that simply cannot be found from anything else in this impermanent and ultimately unsatisfactory world?

The Only One to satisfy this thirst is the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), who leads us to “worship in spirit and truth” (as it says in John 4), so that wherever we find ourselves, and everywhere we gather together in his name, becomes for us a Holy Gerizim and a Holy Zion. For Jesus is the One and Only answer to our hunger and thirst for fulfillment and peace. He is our infinite grace within this fallen and sinful world, and he is our more-than-enough within this not-enough mortal existence — he’s our “spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (as it says). And every Sunday, at our weekly spiritual watering-hole that we call worship, our Lord Jesus is with us in spirit and truth, in Word and Sacrament, offering to us Living Water for our spiritually parched hearts, minds and souls.

Almighty and Eternal God, on our own, apart from you, we have no true hope, no permanent refreshment, no everlasting fulfillment. Bring us to drink from your wellspring fountain of spirit and grace and truth which ever-flows to us through Christ Jesus our Savior, by the power of your Holy Spirit. O Holy Trinity, we pray in your triune name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Blessed Holy Week & Happy Easter!!! Pastor Tim

A NEW YEAR’S DEVOTION FOR 2023

At our Community Luncheon in December, I gave a brief devotion for the coming New Year centered on the theme of getting out into life and living in the courage of Christ our Lord.

Because we can become so risk-averse in our lives, we can sometimes fall into not truly living life to the fullest. Days, weeks and years can slip away wasted on distancing from life, cutting off from life, and shutting in from life. All those wonderful (but risky) life opportunities can be utterly wasted and lost in time.

While it’s true that we all wish to add years to our life, it’s also much more important to add life to our years. So for my January 2023 article, I offer for your spiritual empowerment and encouragement the following Bible reading, poem and prayer that I shared at our final 2022 Community Luncheon…

A BIBLE READING FOR THE NEW YEAR:

“Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind.” – [Second Timothy 1:4-7]

A POEM FOR THE NEW YEAR:

[Every Minute Someone Leaves this World by Marianne Baum]

Every minute someone leaves this world behind.

Age has nothing to do with it.

We are all in “the line” without knowing it.

We never know how many people are before us.

We cannot move to the back of the line.

We cannot step out of the line.

We cannot avoid the line.

So while we wait in line:

Make moments count.

Make priorities.

Make the time.

Make your gifts known.

Make a nobody feel like a somebody.

Make your voice heard.

Make the small things big.

Make someone smile.

Make the change.

Make love.

Make up.

Make peace.

Make sure to tell your people they are loved.

Make sure to have no regrets. Make sure you are ready.

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR:

Heavenly Father, you make all things new. By your Holy Spirit, remind and encourage us this year (and always) to live our life to the fullest in the faith and joy of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. For you did not give us a spirit of cowardice, O God, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Happy New Year!!! Pastor Tim

THE POWER OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST

As winter approaches, there’s deep concern about a looming energy crisis in Europe, caused in no small part by the war in Ukraine. And our country is also experiencing its own problems regarding energy. Debates rage about how to transition to non-fossil fuel sources as energy prices go up and our power grids in some places are strained almost to the brink of collapse. And very moderate estimates say that we would need to double the size of our power grid just to begin to meet the energy requirements for a future in which the electric vehicle (or EV) is the dominant form of automotive transportation.

As brownouts roll across high population centers, people are increasingly asking: Where are we going to get the power? Is it going to come from low-carbon natural gas? From solar, wind, geothermal, or nuclear? Or is it simply a robust combination of all of these sources?

This question, in a spiritual sense, is also a question that Christianity is asking these days within our American society. Of course, I’m not talking about how we’re going to power the lights and air conditioning. What I’m saying is, spiritually speaking, where are we going to get the energy for these times of colossal societal shifts that are so much bigger than us? Where are we going to get the power?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we face a different kind of energy crisis as Christians within our secularizing American culture. Our declining denominations of every branch of the Church, dwindling Christian institutions, and struggling congregations, are causing us to wonder (and even worry) where we’re going to get the power to move into the future. Yes, COVID took its toll on the Church, no doubt about it. However, this spiritual energy crisis for the Church in the United States was already in place, and growing, long before any of us ever heard about the coronavirus. The pandemic was merely a kind of accelerant which exacerbated trends within American Christianity that were already well established.

Seminary enrollments have seen a marked drop in recent decades. Worship attendance has been trending downward for years in every single county of the United States. The fastest growing religious affiliation in our country is “none” — no affiliation whatsoever. Volunteerism is way down across the board in our American society, which has a huge impact on service clubs, fraternal organizations, youth organizations, and, of course, on congregational life. And Church bodies and institutions have been made to reorganize, then reorganize again, and then reorganize yet again, in response to dwindling resources. So, essentially, we have an energy crisis in the Church throughout our nation, even within the mega-church congregations now.

Nonetheless, at the risk of sounding overly simplistic, I would like to suggest that we have a power source which can fuel the future of the Christian Church in America (whatever form that future might take), and this power source is right under our noses. It’s a renewable resource of inexhaustible supply, and this power is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message we have been given to proclaim to the world that [1] there really is such a thing as sin, [2] our sin separates us from God and one another, and [3] we sinners are reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s the message that we are forgiven and freed by the sacrificial blood of the cross of Christ our Lord, so that we might live a new life with God which begins now and continues forever.

In fact, the New Testament refers to the gospel as “the power of God” for our salvation in the Book of Romans. And the actual Greek word translated into English as the word “power” is the word dynamis. So if this word sounds to you like the word “dynamite” then you are correct. That is, according to the New Testament, the full gospel concerning the reality of sin, the spiritual consequences of sin, and then the forgiveness of sin granted to us by the infinite atonement of the sacrificial offering of Christ on our behalf, is an explosively saving and redeeming message. It’s a message that detonates within the receptive ear and open heart, igniting the living fire of faith and salvation. The gospel is the very power that drives faith and fuels the Church.

I believe a major factor in the energy crisis of the Church in America is that we’ve lost our focus on the power of the gospel. Far too many think it’s insufficient as an energy source — that it must be combined with something else, such as the latest fashions in entertainment and media. Or, too many people these days seek to dilute the significance of the cross of Christ, making Jesus into merely a grand religious example, a great spiritual ethicist, or the ideal leader of a liberation army. Therefore, as long as the cross is treated as an afterthought — or worse, as an embarrassment — you can expect the energy crisis in the American Church to continue.

But I’m optimistic. As other power sources we run after prove to be insufficient, the Church will continue to grow dim for a time, BUT within the growing darkness of our culture we will more and more come to see the True Light who was hanged on a central cross between two criminals. For as we see in Luke chapter 23, amid sarcasm and scoffing from those who mockingly call Jesus messiah and king, our Lord Jesus Christ reveals that he, as the Universal Messiah and Everlasting King, gives his life in love for the sake of the world. Enthroned on his sacrificial cross, Jesus uses his divine authority to welcome a penitent sinner into God’s heavenly paradise. And Jesus does the same thing for us! Thanks be to God!

In other words, if we were to die tonight, and we were to enter God’s paradise, what would we say about our entry into glory? Would we say, It’s because I…? It’s because I made a covenant with God, or it’s because I am faithful, or it’s because I am this or that… No! Rather, it is because HE (Jesus). It’s because HE died for me. It’s because HE made a baptismal covenant with me. It’s because HE is faithful and true. Like the thief on a cross next to Jesus, it is entirely because HE granted us access to God’s paradise. The thief in paradise can only and ever say, It’s because the man on the middle cross said I could come. Likewise, when we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, it can only and ever be said by us that it’s entirely because the man who was hanged on the middle cross said that you and I could come to be there.

The gospel of the cross of Christ is the saving dynamite that, when harnessed through his Word and Sacraments, fuels the Church. So as we try in vain to plug into other energy sources, we will come to see once again that the good news of the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ provides us with all the power we will ever need.

Good Advent & Merry Christmas!!! Pastor Tim

NOW THAT IT’S IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

I’m sharing a picture of me with my quarantine lockdown beard that I grew back in 2020. This was taken at the height of the lockdown when I was doing video announcements, devotions and messages from my office. And growing this wizard beard was fun for me to do during an otherwise very difficult time for our nation and world.

Since the time of this photograph two years ago, the pandemic has moved into our rearview mirror. As in the rearview mirror of an automobile, we can still see the effects of the virus but the pandemic is now behind us. It’s essentially over since it has moved into an “endemic” reality. We have moved from the pandemic into an endemic phase, which means this virus is always going to be with us as a part of the overall ecosystem of annual illnesses. Consequently, there will always be new variants just as there are with influenza each year.

We have also learned that the expectation of never getting this virus is simply an unrealistic one. The truth is that, if we haven’t had it already, we are all going to get it at some point. But thankfully, due to the artificially activated immunity from the vaccines and boosters, and due to the naturally occurring immunity that comes from getting this illness, we now have widespread “herd immunity” moving forward. In addition to all of this, the various excellent therapeutics that have been developed also give us further confidence that we are free to embrace life and ministry to the fullest once again.

As a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ, we certainly should never again take for granted the opportunity for connection with God and each other that is provided to us through regular participation in Bible study, choir, ministry committees, worship, and Holy Communion with the Lord at his Holy Table each week. Therefore, “not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25), let us recommit ourselves to the blessed habit and weekly rhythm of congregational life — especially to in-person Sunday morning worship, face to face. Let us resist turning Christianity into something to be consumed electronically, understanding that Christian fellowship, discipleship and spiritual growth happen best in the week-to-week interaction of in-person community, which is beautiful (but sometimes difficult) and always truly necessary for us.

So now, let’s sing loudly together from our pew seats at church. Let’s boldly praise the Lord without inhibition. Let’s resoundingly speak our liturgies and sing our hymns by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s walk away from the Lord’s Table each week with a lingering foretaste of the Kingdom of God in our mouths and hearts and souls. And let’s reach out to our unchurched neighbors with the good news and lovingkindness of Jesus Christ, inviting them to the variety of outreach activities and events we are now offering, which include the following:

+ MOLC Summer Day Camp

+ MOLC Trunk or Treat

+ MOLC Holiday Artisan Festival

+ MOLC Community Luncheon

+ And more to come…

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be changed by what we’ve experienced over the past several years to live more fully, to love more joyfully, to worship more faithfully, and to share the gospel more urgently. And may we always remember that God is with us to guide us, empower us, and embolden us forward in mission and ministry. God is here in our midst, giving us new life and hope and courage.

A very happy and blessed Fall be with all of you!

Together in Christ Our Lord, Pastor Tim

AN ECUMENICAL PEOPLE OF GOD

While staying with our son, daughter-in-law and grandkids this past August, we were able to see many of our national shrines and memorials in Washington DC and the surrounding area. We were blessed to be able to visit the giant obelisk monument to the Father of our Country, George Washington, at the National Mall area. We also visited Mount Vernon, George Washington’s beloved home in Alexandria VA, of which he famously said, “I’d rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and the Representatives of every Power in Europe.” We were also able to see the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian Museum of American History (which displays the actual Star-Spangled Banner of our national anthem), and the Smithsonian Museum of Air & Space. In addition, we visited the US Naval Academy and harbor area of Annapolis MD, and we saw Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled banner fame) in Baltimore.

As we traveled around these amazing historical sites, one thing I took note of was the fact that our national founding (although imperfect) was deeply rooted in biblical faith. However, our Founders made sure that our establishment was nonsectarian. While they repeatedly appealed to God in our founding documents (speaking of our “Creator” and our “Lord”), and while they regularly addressed God in our founding traditions (Congressional prayer, oaths of office, and so on), they also made sure that there would be no establishment of a state-run religious denomination. Therefore, I observed during our trip a clear Judeo-Christian rootedness on display at all of our national shrines and memorials, but this was accompanied by a clear interdenominational, nonsectarian and ecumenical emphasis according to the clear direction of our Founders.

By the way, the word “ecumenical” (oikoumene in Greek) literally means “the whole inhabitable earth” — but it refers to the concept that the entire Christian Church of all its various denominations should work together to develop closer relationships and to promote Christian unity according to the biblical High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in John, chapter 17, verses 20-26.

So all of this stuff got me thinking about our ecumenical relations right here where we live as Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. I think of Via De Cristo (VDC), the spiritual retreat ministry our congregation participates in. While it’s mostly a retreat ministry involving Lutherans, rooted in the covenantal and sacramental theology of the Lutheran branch of Christianity, VDC also draws in people from many different denominations of our Lord’s Holy Church. I also think about the Lift Up Crescenta Valley ecumenical association we are a part of, as well as all the various ecumenical partnerships we support like the Bailey Human Care Center.

Like the ark of the Prophet Noah and the fishing boat of the Apostle Peter, all the denominations of the Christian Faith constitute the holy life raft for all believers and followers of Jesus Christ in a world deluged with the floodwaters of hopelessness and spiritual death. In fact, the Christian ecumenical movement is often symbolized by a boat, representing that all the people of all the denominations of the Church of Jesus Christ are in the same spiritual boat together.

So essentially, the various branches of the Christian Church are UNITED IN THE ESSENTIALS of our Christian Faith: 1) Jesus of Nazareth was and is more than a man, even much more than a prophet or priest or king, 2) Jesus is the only-begotten divine Son of God, 3) Jesus freely gave of himself in sacrificial love to be the once-and-for-all-time offering of atonement for our sins, 4) Jesus was crucified, was dead, was buried, then he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven, 5) Jesus is our Lord and Savior, 6) We proclaim the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life by the blood of Jesus, and 7) We do good works of lovingkindness and service in the name of Jesus. However, we also have DIVERSITY IN THE NON-ESSENTIALS of our Christian Life: that is, diversity of denominational practices related to sacraments, ordination, worship, piety, organizational structures, etc.

Therefore, as the various branches of the Christian Church have diversity in the non-essentials but unity in the essentials, we should also have CHARITY IN ALL THINGS. We can have a joyful and charitable spirit with one another as we agree to disagree regarding the non-essentials, because we share together in the all-surpassing seven Christian essentials I listed above.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23)

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim