Author: nfuller

The Reign of God is Here!

Posted on by nfuller

Following his baptism in the Jordan River, when he took our place as sinners, following the temptation in the wilderness at the hand of Satan for 40 days, following the arrest of John- Jesus withdrew into Galilee.  From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Galilee is referenced in our Old Testament reading as the land of the gentiles. It is a land of darkness with respect to the misfortunes of the area of repeated conquests, a people in anguish: But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali

This is where Jesus went after his baptism. He did not return to Nazareth, his hometown since childhood, but instead closer to the sea in Capernaum.  He did not remain near Jerusalem where he was baptized. He did not travel to Rome where the center of world power was.  He went to a land that was both of Israel and of the nations.  Galilee was where Jesus put roots down in public ministry. Galilee is where Jesus first preached. 

Sure Jesus taught in the synagogue once when he was young, amazing the scribes.  Telling his parents that they should have known he would be in His Father’s house. Sure Jesus told Satan during the 40 days of temptation “you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only You shall serve.”  However, these were just moments of foretaste of what was to come to very small audiences. Only at this time did Jesus begin to publicly preach. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

One man in everyday clothes of the time, one man with no appearance in him that he should stand out as Isaiah chapter 53 describes: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” One man, proclaiming a simple message. I who stand before you have brought the kingdom of heaven at hand.  ‘In me the reign of God has begun. Repent, Your salvation is here, your God comes to you this day!’

When Jesus says the kingdom of God is near, it implies that in order to have a kingdom, a king is there in order to reign. The kingdom of Heaven or kingdom of God as they are referred to interchangeably in the gospels is not a place, but a divine action.  The kingdom is where God is present, where the king comes to us and rules.

Jesus is not just one of many prophets who bring the kingdom of God to the world, He is himself the embodiment of the kingdom.  When we proclaim the good news of the kingdom, teach and baptize, we are only bringing the kingdom because we are first connected with Jesus. 

Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs in his commentary on Matthew describes what Jesus means when he starts parables with the phrase ‘the kingdom of God is like’…when a sower went out to sow, when a king holds a feast, when a master settles accounts with a slave. 

What Jesus means by saying the kingdom of God is like can be paraphrased in terms of what God’s kingdom among us looks like: “When God is active redemptively in order to reestablish His rule over and among men this work is like.”

We heard in the Introit words about the reign of God in the world: : All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

As Jesus announced this reign of God was beginning in him, it was not what people pictured.  His rule over the nations would not be in terms of an army and overreaching empire, but through the truth of God’s Word. The kingdom of heaven is at hand because Jesus is bringing the truth.  His ministry itself brings froth the reign of God on earth.

The kingdom is just as much at hand to us today.  The reign of God’s kingdom is here among us.  His reign appears to us in the form of the preaching of the gospel and the ministry and service of the body of Christ.

We see his reign in the ordinary conversation a believer has with someone in our community when a sin that weighs on someone is forgiven, when the love of Jesus is shared with a stranger. 

We see the kingdom of God among us when believers gather around his table and feel the weight of the world lifted off of them as they receive by their mouths the evidence that God is for them in the Lord’s Supper.  God’s kingdom is at hand today just as much as in the days of the 1st century, and God’s Word calls our world to repentance.

The purpose of the reign of God is to bring us back from God, to turn us away from our rebellion. One day this reign will be complete and there will be no more rebellion. We are through Jesus persevering toward an end goal, when Jesus will return and the reign of God will be complete and all encompassing.

In the meantime, it is easy to become discouraged by how slowly things appear to come together for God’s kingdom and our church.  As a pastor who is familiar with what it takes to keep church buildings, sanctuary spaces, organs in good operating order, I have learned to notice how different building maintenance is with the private sector. 

Studies claim that on average every 5 to 7 years Restaurants make some kind of renovation. In the case of large fast food chains the renovation may become a complete makeover.  Updated décor and style helps restaurants appeal to millennial populations. 

In contrast when it comes to appealing to and attracting our culture, the church is an unlikely candidate to attract people.  We are not able to remodel every 7 years. We are of course still paying for the last renovation.

We present to the world no eloquent language, no message and presentation that fits in with the values and preferences of our culture.  Yet as we heard in our reading from 1Corinthians: For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The preaching of the gospel, to the world sounds as a nonsensical message that ultimate good has come out of a death on a cross.  Yet this is the way Jesus is revealed, preaching by imperfect people, pastors with no eloquent language- not professional orators, but followers of Jesus.  

Just as the prophet Isaiah predicted that the people in Capernaum would see a great light, Jesus came and fulfilled the Old Testament Prophecy.  Now he comes among us today to bring light to a people in darkness. 

The people in darkness have seen a great light.  The darkness of this world, the darkness of our community is all about rebellion against God.  Our message to the world is that Jesus has come to bring God’s order back to a world in chaos.  Light into our darkness. 

Jesus bridges the separation we have from God.  Like a lantern that is turned on deep inside of a dark cave, Jesus casts out the darkness of our own sin so that we can see the path to daylight.  Jesus tells us, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Just as clearly as Jesus fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah, so we also can be certain that Jesus who is present through His church will bring light to our world’s darkness today.  In our very community here in Irvington Jesus sheds light on the darkness of people’s lives.

I attended last week the Irvington Community Council.   My purpose in doing so is to learn more about what things are important to our community here and what needs people have that our church might pray for or help with. 

One uncertainty described by the council was the closing of Howe High School next year.  600 students will need to find a different high school next year. That is certainly a life change for many families in our community and something worth our remembering as a church. As in would it be possible to send cards to these households this summer, offering comfort and support in a time of change, reminding teenagers that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

A second uncertainty described in the council meeting was the cost of the old fashioned lantern style street lights in some parts of historic Irvington. About 10,000 dollars a year is the cost for electricity for street lights. Previously this cost was covered by an initial grant which has now run out.  The Marion County government does not cover this cost because they are custom lights designed to make the community appear as a desirable historical neighborhood. 

How interesting that the most identifiable need described at the council meeting was for light and the possibility of losing the lights and being much darker on those particular streets.  Of course our church does not have $10,000 a year to pay for street lights.  But we can care about the issue, we could join with other churches or other groups in the area in raising awareness of what could possibly be done to keep the lights in place and lit. 

Whatever the specific application, in our care for the well being of the community we may discover that people are more open to hear from us about the God who cares for them. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can show that Christ is the one true light for people in Irvington.  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Amen.     

Jesus bring light to our darkness

Posted on by nfuller

“Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the lord has risen upon you.” “But darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.”   So which is it? Epiphany is the season of light. The wise men follow the star until it casts its beams directly upon the house where the young Christ lives. The lights of the Christmas tree still brighten the sanctuary.  We just sang about Christ our ‘Morning Star so fair and bright.’  The light of Christ is here in this place.

Tragically there is also a world out there that is still covered by thick darkness. Generations of families live in cycles of addiction and abusive patterns, with an everyman for himself mindset.  In America death is seen as a good thing, as something that can make the burdens of life easier.  The elderly and infirm are inconveniences who hold us back from moving on with our lives. And of course nothing says darkness more than cheering for the right to kill the unborn child as a hallmark of living the good American life of freedom. 

Many who were to a certain extent, raised in the church, live their lives as if Jesus has no significance to them.  They may not oppose Christianity, but their lives look and feel no different than the rest of the culture.  People seek to live how they want to live and would prefer to stay in the darkness rather than hear from the church about God’s will for their lives.

The world needs light.  The darkness of the world is sin.  Under the fear of death sin reigns.  The darkness is so vast, yet Epiphany brings to our attention Christ’s appearing to bring the world to that place of light.

The church also needs light.  In the reading from Isaiah, the sins of Zion have covered them in darkness.  Through seeking safety with alliances of this world Israel plunged itself into darkness.  Israel was given safety and security in the form of the covenant and sacrifices.  Likewise the church can often look outside of the promises of the sacraments for its well being. 

As individuals we need light. Each of us are in the darkness of our own sinful flesh. We make our own alliances with the world around us, things we tend to trust in or rely on to make ourselves feel more secure about ourselves materially or emotionally.  But whatever alliances we make are hollow and unreliable, we need the light.

What is the light?  The light is the enlightening of the Holy Spirit.  In the Large Catechism Luther puts it like this “The Holy Spirit leads us first into His holy congregation and places us in the bosom of the Church. Through the Church he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.”

When we think of the world through the perspective of science, most light comes from starts, our own sun and the stars of the night sky.  One of the verses our hymn of the day is based on is Revelation 22:16 

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The light is the gospel: justification, all sins forgiven in Christ Jesus. From the Small Catechism: “where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”

The light is for us in the church. We would have no light unless the Holy Spirit worked repentance in our hearts and proclaimed the gospel to our hearts.  And the light is also for our world.  We see in verses 3-6 of our reading from Isaiah that the Word does go out to all.  It goes out because outside of the gospel there is no salvation.  Without the gospel without forgiveness there can be no light. 

“Lift up your eyes all around, and see they all gather together, they come to you”  Have you ever seen how people can come to us, to our church?  Maybe it is the occasional visitor who comes through our doors seeking some meaning or purpose in life. Or maybe at a funeral we have held here in recent years, a neighbor from the old house off 10th st. has come into our sanctuary, or a close work friend who has not been in a church since teen years.

Maybe it is some of our own family members coming for a Christmas Eve service or a wedding who have been summoned by the Lord through such circumstances to be here.  People come to us because no matter how much darkness there is in the world, the church appears to offer something that cannot be found anywhere else.

Listen to these words from Isaiah 49:6: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”   It is too light of a thing that we should see to only that those who are already here know the gospel.  We have a purpose alongside this, to see God’s salvation come to others through us. 

Certainly in learning how to serve a need or two in our community on an ongoing basis we will, Lord willing provide more numerous occasions where people are drawn to be here.  

Also from the Small Catechism: “The Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” We have been by reason of our faith in Jesus, called by the gospel. We have been set apart for a holy calling.  We are those who have been called into the light! 

The world may despise you more and more each year for your faith, yet- you are the light to the world!  Galatians 4:26: describes the church as our mother, whether we realize it or not, it is only through the church that we know Jesus, that we know God’s love and forgiveness and mercy to us.  SO it is also only through the church that the nations will come to know Jesus.

Last Sunday after worship I changed the church sign letters from advertising Christmas  Eve service to a message reminding us that January is right to life month.  I wrote out the message on paper and organized the letters, asking people to pray for the unborn, and for an end to abortion.  Part of me felt a sense of caution- what will happen if I put this message up. Will it upset someone in the community, could it spark a demonstration from some political interest of the abortion industry? My better judgement told me that it will not get that much attention, its nothing to worry about. 

And my faith reminded me that it is best to communicate whatever I intend to communicate that is in accordance with God’s will- and not to be afraid to speak issues of truth. The key on the North side of the sign is not easy to turn, it seemed like harder than usual.  It was windy enough where some of the letters which hang on a metal lip on the top were falling off. A gust of wind took down half the message. I thought, maybe this message is important, that it is hard to get all up.

I ran into pastor Roger in the hallway that morning and told him I wondered if the sign would upset anyone in the community.  I believe he said, ‘hopefully it does upset some people’, – we support the message all the way.   One step at a time we are called to let the light of Christ shine through us into the darkness in the world.

Later last week I received the Lutheran Reporter in the mail.  The front headline contained a story that truly made me smile: Faith in the public Square: LCMS Youth starts ‘students for life’ group at her public high school. Anna Young, of Nashville, Tennessee a neighbor congregation to the South of us. 

She is quoted in the article:  “A lot of people keep their pro life views to themselves , but I found myself questioning that, I always think of the Elie Wiesel quote: ‘Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.’ I had to do something. People ask, why don’t I keep this issue in the faith realm, why did I have to extend it to the public arena of my High School?  My answer is simple, it is too important.

Life is too precious, all life, at all stages, from all backgrounds, and all parts of the world.  Life is not just a political or a religious issue, but a human rights issue. Once I truly understood the magnitude and reality of the injustice at hand, I couldn’t sit and watch my fellow peers not know the truth.”  

Anna described how her own character has been questioned, she has been gossiped about, and lost friends.  But the result is that abortion is being talked about in a public school, where normally it is not.

Arise shine, you are the light of the world.  As you have been given new birth in Holy Baptism, as you are sustained by the body and blood of the Lord, you are honored with a holy calling.  The Lord uses you to stand in the darkness of the world and shine His light.   “Arise shine, for your light has come… and nations shall come to your light.” In Jesus your light has come.

Epiphany, a day for the church to celebrate the light come to the world. The Wisemen were drawn to the star to see the Christ child. And so are people brought to repentance by the Holy Spirit to see the light of Christ in us. To see through the imperfections in our own lives,-and instead to see our repentance, our humble receiving of God’s gifts in worship, and our joyful expression of faith and hope that God’s Word works in us.

The Christmas story continues

Posted on by nfuller

Christmas is more than a one day celebration, it is a 12 day season, there is more to cover than the event of the birth of Jesus to complete the Christmas story.  We often think of the coming of the wiseman as the icing on the cake to complete the Christmas story. 

But our worship service this morning, readings and propers, work together to paint a broader picture of Christmas. This morning as we have gathered here for worship we see that we are given a part to play in the Christmas story.  The full story of Christmas describes us.  Specifically, how the birth of Jesus changes us and restores us to our previous position as God’s children.

In the Introit we heard: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”  Israel was protected as a child, nurtured and cared for.  Israel was treasured as God’s own child. Out of Egypt God called Israel and led them to the promised land. 

Jesus fulfilled this identity of Israel, as he was himself called out of Egypt, as Joseph and Mary took him there to protect him from the violence of King Herod. As Jesus returned to Israel and settled with his family in Nazareth, Jesus embodied Israel’s history to make clear that He was God’s Son, and that we are loved because we are joined to Him. 

We heard in the prayer of the day how Jesus restored our human nature.  We prayed to be alive in Him, who made himself to be like us.   These verses of scripture this morning help us see how an important part of the Christmas story is that we are restored as God’s children, that we have become son’s of God because God’s Son joined our world in his birth.

Part of the story of our sonship in Christ is that we fail, we grieve the Holy Spirit.   As we heard in our reading from Isaiah. “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit, therefore he turned to be their enemy.”   But God does not stay angry at His people’s sins: “”Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people.”  While we turned away and grieved the Holy Spirit, Christ was born for us.  “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

As third stanza of the Hymn ‘Hark! the Herald Angels Sing’ celebrates.  “Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.”  Precisely because we kept rebelling against God Our Savior was sent to us.  

In our gospel lesson, part of the Christmas story is Jesus’ deliverance from danger.  The new born Jesus was protected. Even as he was born in particularly difficult circumstances, those circumstances themselves shaped the fulfillment of prophecy including that Jesus should grow up in Nazareth.

Perhaps the most significant contribution to the Christmas story is our Epistle reading from Galatians.  When the fullness of time had come.  Paul, himself so late on the scene, Paul who as Saul had persecuted Jesus through persecution of early Christians.  How qualified could he be to tell the Christmas story? 

What would he know about the arduous journey to Bethlehem and a scramble for a place to stay leading up to a birth in a manger well into the night. He was not on the scene when the Heavenly host and Angels sang or when the star appeared over Bethlehem. 

But Paul is quite qualified precisely because he was faced with the bitterness of regret and pain for his past sins against the church.  He had failed his Lord in the worst way imaginable- and yet Jesus has redeemed him as one born under the law.

So Paul tells the Christmas story from the perspective of what it means for us sinners who have turned away from God as a wild vine time after time- that Jesus is born for us.

In Verses 4 and 5, in this one sentence Paul summarizes the purposes of God since the beginning for to our salvation.

This Christmas story in a sentence contains 5 major topics of thought.  The first topic: the fullness of time.  After all of the prophets had come preparing the world to know what the Savior was going to be like the fullness of time had come. After Israel had failed God time after time- only to be redeemed and saved by God’s visitation to His people in acts of mercy- the fullness of time had come.

After the temple had been destroyed 2 times and now was rebuilt by Herod- only to be used for all of the wrong reasons- was the fullness of time at hand for Jesus to come.

After Alexander of Macedonia- known in History as Alexander the Great had conquered much of the ancient world including Israel and spread Greek culture and language for spans of thousands of miles- was there a fullness of time for the New Testament to be written in Koine Greek, the dialect spoken throughout the lands Alexander had conquered.  Thus rapidly spreading the communication of the gospel in those first generations of the church. 

Likewise the influence of Rome was used by God in the fullness of time as the Roman roads carried messengers of the gospel in those first centuries- allowing early Christians such as Paul to boldly confess the name of Jesus in an empire that called Caesar a god.

And finally we see the fullness of time in the specific historical circumstance described in Luke chapter 2: In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus… and while they were there the time came for her to give birth.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son.  Topic 2 God sent forth His Son.  God did not stop at creating the world and calling his creation his children. God sent his own Son to save his wayward children. As the Hymn “O Love How Deep How Broad” puts it: ‘He sent no angel to our place of higher or of lower place, but wore the robe of human frame, and to this world himself he came.’ 

Again Galatians is saying exactly what Luke chapter 2 says in greater detail about how God sent forth His Son:   “The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, and he came to her and said ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the most high.”    

Topic 3, Born of woman, born under the law.  Jesus was born through the specific means of the virgin birth. He could have been born of clay like when Adam was created.  Yet Jesus was born under the same difficult circumstances of all people. 

The same difficult circumstances with the one exception of Mary’s Virginity. Not to imply that married life is more sinful than virginal life but instead to create the unique circumstances where the sin inherited from Adam would not be passed down to Jesus. 

Jesus was born under the law in that there were no shortcuts to his life, no escape from hardships and the need to follow a close order of worship and devotion under the law as the way to have right relationship with the Father.  He was born under the law so that he might redeem those under the law.

Topic 4, Redeem those under the law.  By living the law perfectly were all had failed since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, Jesus redeemed us through his keeping of the law. He became for us the obedient child that Adam failed to be. 

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  The final topic of our Christmas story in a sentence, number 5: our adoption as sons.  

Listen to the heavenly Host at the birth of Jesus: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased!”  Peace among the earth because of the unity we once again have with God. Jesus is our peace. Jesus has brought us our adoption as Son’s of our living God.

In the Old Testament there are two major themes of how God delivers his people: from above and from below.  From above God saves his people through acts of deliverance such as freeing Israel from Pharaoh, as we heard reference to in our Old Testament Reading from Isaiah:  “who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for them an everlasting name, who led them through the depths. 

From below God saves his people through prophets and mediators like Moses and the priests with their appointed sacrifices.  Jesus has come in the fullness of time to save us both from above in coming down from heaven as the Son of God, born to us in the fullness of time; and from below in taking on our human form and living out the law, following the Father’s will in everything- even to the point of death on the cross.

We see the full Christmas story in that Christ died for us. In that we have become his children because of the Baby born in Bethlehem.  Now we live as sons of God.  We live in faith in God’s purposes for us, we trust in the Father’s unconditional love for us- even to the point of sharing this love with others.

The Christmas story is completed as we live in response to His Word as “little Christ’s” to others, loving others unconditionally, serving others, forgiving others.  The Christmas story is complete as the reign of God’s kingdom continues through us.   

His birth has changed us, his presence to us in worship has changed us. We celebrate today that we are people created through his birth, our God has given us the inheritance of the nations.  We are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters- heirs through God!  Amen.

Jesus is King of all Creation

Posted on by nfuller

We know God’s Word does not return without result.  Here in the last Sunday of the Church year we take time to consider the results of God’s Word here in our midst in this congregation over the last year. Over the course of the year the church in worship follows the ministry of Jesus, Christmas we celebrate his coming, Easter we celebrate His resurrection, and Pentecost we celebrate his sending of the Holy Spirit to the church.

And in the many Sundays after Pentecost we have focused on Christian growth.  Now today at the end of the church year we pause and consider what all these events and themes accumulate to and point us to. 

The appropriate response to all those events in the church year is to celebrate and let it sink in that Jesus is king over all of creation.  Our hymns this weekend give us this opportunity to celebrate that Jesus is king over all. Particularly our gospel reading highlights that Jesus reign among us comes from the statement of love that is the cross. 

Listen to these words from the gospel of Luke sharing his passion on the cross.  The cross is the event that shapes and defines the last day.  From the cross Jesus instituted the absolution of all people.  “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Not just those who tortured Jesus and betrayed Jesus, but all those who have sinned against God, including you and I.

It’s almost like we save the best for last when it comes to lectionary readings. In our Epistle reading, we hear this exquisite and majestic description of Jesus from Colossians chapter 1:

 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven, and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. And he is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

All things created, all things hold together.  From the beginning at creation and now, Jesus reigns!  Without his creating hand there would be no world. Without his reign over the universe nothing would hold together.  The world itself would become unglued. 

With all this power and glory Jesus has a specific focus, he is the beginning of the church, it’s head.  From his resurrection there is a birth after death for all of us.  He who created all things and upholds all things and holds all things together desired to reconcile to himself all things.  That which is fallen and broken by sin Jesus reconciled through the cross.  Through his blood Jesus brought peace to all who had been separated from God.  

This is his chief focus of his reign over creation, he shows what kind of king he is on the cross- laying down his life, pouring out his lifeblood, gasping for every last breath so that we, the subjects of his reign might be saved. How amazing to consider the Son of God who reigns over all creation has come here for us.       

In light of the reign of Jesus, it is hard to accept the various reasons why people might stay away from church.   How trivial our thoughts and feelings, to think hurt feelings are more significant factors than The very image of the invisible God, sacrificing himself for us, so that we would be His own people, so that we can know and hear from Jesus right in this place- ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’

I wonder if we have lost our sense of urgency as a church in telling people about Jesus, knowing that Jesus is coming soon.  Maybe you noticed the church sign. Depending on what direction you came in from, “Never been to church before?  you are welcome here.” 

It is amazing to think that the Son of God comes down to earth, lives among us, and dies for us, rises from the dead, and many people in our community have never been to church, never been to the place where Jesus has invited us to come and worship him. 

I want to keep on putting messages to our neighborhood. For those who consider themselves Christians, but do not ever attend church I want the sign to say something like: “Christians desire to meet Jesus in worship. Let’s be honest, staying home means Jesus is not really that important to you”

We know from demographic studies that the millennial generation those who are ages 22-38 are going to church far less than our previous two generations. They are participating in organized activities and social organizations far less, including churches. 

Many people in our lifetimes have fallen away from attending church as young adults and then returned once they are married and have children or are settled in careers.

Countless Millennials have not returned as they are older because they rarely if ever went to church when they were younger. They have no foundation of faith that they would return to. 

Maybe someone says they are a Christian, but what that means to them is not much at all.  And if they do happen to attend a church they are far more likely to be isolated, and make few connections within the church.  

In this context of loneliness and isolation and lost shared tradition we are challenged to see what our own tradition is, and be able to passionately speak about it and help those who are so emotionally isolated to see what a relationship can truly mean. 

The hymn of the day appointed for this weekend, Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor provides a beautiful summary of why it is important we gather as the body of Christ, why it is important that we worship Him together with the church of all times and places, and why his offering of his life for us is the central focus of our worship.

“Lord enthroned in heavenly splendor, First begotten from the dead, You alone our strong defender, lifting up Your people’s head Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus true and living bread! Jesus true and living bread!”

Though the lowliest form now veil You, as of old in Bethlehem, here as there Your angels hail You, Branch and flower of Jesse’s stem, Alleluia, Alleluia, We in worship join with them; we in worship join with them.

Paschal lamb your offerings finished, Once for all when You were slain, In its fullness undiminished, Shall forevermore remain Alleluia, Alleluia! cleansing souls from every stain, cleansing souls from every stain.

Life imparting heavenly  manna, stricken rock with streaming side Heaven and earth with loud hosanna, Worship You the lamb who died. Alleluia, Alleluia! Risen ascended, glorified, Risen ascended glorified!

Alongside the theme of Jesus as King of all, the Last Sunday of the church year points us to another essential part of the theme for the last Sunday of the church year is that of the return of Jesus.  What better way to end the church year- because the return of Jesus is the finish line event that the church places her hopes and longings in. 

The expectation of the last day is the finish line we envision that means everything to how we run the race.  Knowing Jesus is returning, our task is clearly set before us to spread the gospel.  To live our lives celebrating that in Jesus all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell.     

The fullness of God in Jesus means the fullness of God’s purpose and love for us who follow Jesus. Jesus promises us exactly this “I have come that they might have life, and life to the full.” 

He promises us a life in following Him that is the farthest thing from drowsy indifference or boredom. Life in Christ is full because it connects us with all truth and connects us with a purpose for living, glorifying God, serving God.

We wait for Jesus to return, knowing that even as we live in the joy of his kingdom now, an even greater joy awaits us; the perfection of our bodies and eternal life in God’s presence.     

Mental Health and the Holiday Season

Posted on by nfuller

We have begun Advent as a church. However more pressing to most Americans is that we have begun the “holiday season” As it is many of us already feel too busy with daily life even before December arrives. How quickly the calendar fills up with Christmas cookie exchange gatherings, office Christmas parties, trips to see family members who are out of town, and if that is not busy enough someone you know is bound to have a birthday in December.  We shop, we decorate, we plan, we prepare, we feel stress, but we do not often stop and rest.  

The season of Advent helps us to see and ponder how Jesus comes to us as our King, in Old Testament Prophesy, in his birth in Bethlehem, and in the promise of his return on the last day. On Christmas we will celebrate the birth of the long awaited Savior.  For centuries and centuries God’s people waited for the promised of Eve’s offspring who would come to crush Satan’s head.  During the few weeks of December leading up to the Eve of the 24th we also can wait.  We can apply to our lives stillness and silence, clearing our thoughts and resting our bodies in preparation for our celebration of Christmas and the joy of the Word of God made flesh.    

On a holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas we also notice who is not with us. We think of and miss those who we have lost in our life or who we might be estranged from by the circumstances of our fallen world.  We may feel emotions of grief and loss mixed with cherished memories of times past.  For some it all adds up to a time of feeling like it is all too much.  Instead of a gift and thing to look forward to a holiday can become a bittersweet occasion. Some Christmas songs pick up on this such as “White Christmas,” which retells memories of those Christmas days past so fondly remembered- and now can only be dreamed of. The celebration of the birth of Jesus transcends who is and who is not with us, and can never be reduced to only a dream or memory of past joy. 

So what can we do to recover the joy of the holidays?  I have already hinted that the design of the church year is that Advent is meant to be a time of quiet and reflection. A time to repent and prepare our hearts for the love of Jesus.  It may serve you well to schedule time off work early in December to sort through feelings of loss that you encounter in the holiday. Likewise you might consider unplugging electronics from your daily routine and setting aside time on a daily basis to read the scripture during this time of Advent. 

You might also focus your thoughts on what the celebration of the birth of Jesus means for you in your life today. Instead of focusing on what you need to do to get through the Christmas Holiday, think instead of how the church’s celebration of the Word made flesh can bring renewed purpose and joy in your heart. Think of the how the coming of Jesus changes your life and changes our world. Read through the Beatitudes and give thanks for how blessed we are that God comes to us in love through Jesus, as he first did on Christmas.  If you struggle with loneliness during this time of the year you might find one friend who you can write a letter to or go out of your way to bless in some way.  

When it comes to mental health acceptance goes a very long way. As God’s own children, let us accept and cherish the time and season we have before us. Let us embrace the meaning of Christmas of 2019. Your brother in Christ, Pastor Fuller

Jesus hears, sees, remembers and acts.

Posted on by nfuller

The last few Sundays of the church year always focus on those gospel readings in which Jesus talks about the warning signs of the last days.  Within this context of looking toward the end, we want to see God’s mercy to us. 

Exodus chapter 3 in particular helps us to see that God remembers the promises he makes to his people. This is a majestic excerpt of the scripture, Exodus chapter 3, where the Angel of the LORD appears to Moses and calls him to lead the people of Israel out of bondage to pharaoh.

We often summarize this reading in our minds through Moses’ discovery of the burning bush- as we appropriately consider it a turning point in the history of the Bible.  Yet just a few verses before Exodus chapter 3 the reader has a clear picture already of what God intends to do for his people who cry to Him.

Chapter 2:23-24 reads as follows: “During those days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, God saw the people of Israel- and God knew.”  

Four verbs describing God’s actions, God’s mercy: 

heard – remembered – saw – knew   This is more than a reading about change of purpose for Moses, the deliverance of the people of Israel from bondage points us to Jesus.

Theologians have long held that the messenger of God appearing in the bush was none other than the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Son of God.  The Son of God, who was there at creation was also of course present in the flames of the bush that burned but was not consumed.  Jesus was born so that God could take on our flesh and hear us, remember us, see us, and know us.  Out of mercy and love Jesus came to our world.   

The appointed Introit reading helps illustrate this important distinction about our God who acts in mercy to us:  “You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”  3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them”

The nations, as in the unbelieving world, will indeed as in times of hardship, ‘where is your God?’  The nations want us to rely on idols of silver and gold and the work of human hands. In other words we are mocked because we do not save ourselves. 

But we do not need to save ourselves because we have a real present God who is there for us. When people taunt ‘where is your God?’, we remember that He is in the heavens ruling overall creation, and near to us as well.   

God remembers the covenant He made with us through Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, the covenant he made through our Savior Jesus as we were united to Him in the waters of Holy Baptism.  This is the most important thing I would like you to take away today- God remembers the covenant he made with you. God remembers that you are His own, in life and in death.

There was a news story last year in Japan about a man who married a virtual reality female anime singer hologram dressed up in a tuxedo with a full wedding reception in front of 39 people. The hologram is equipped with basic artificial intelligence with basic greetings and the ability to turn lights on and off.  

His cell phone tells the hologram to turn its light on when he comes home from work, and at night “she” tells him it is time for bed.    Hard to believe someone would publicly profess love for a robot instead of a real person for a spouse.

As we live in a time where people become more and more engrossed in electronic technology to bring fulfillment, it is important to keep our focus on how technology provides a very shallow imitation to our God who is present with us and active in mercy toward us.

Society invites us to find fulfillment through technology as if there is no God who is present with you, as if there is no God who reaches out to us.  Just like God reached out to Moses through the burning bush- just as God spoke to Moses, so does He speak to us through His Word.   

 God speaks to us a message of mercy because God has the power to help us no matter the situation.  Too often on account of our sin we struggle to see how Jesus remembers us through our needs of body and soul.  It is so easy to sit in worship and hear about how God appeared to Moses and the people of Israel, and think, well of course God helped them, it’s part of the Bible, they were his chosen people in bondage to Pharaoh.

Me I’m just an average American struggling about paying the next bill or the working through a frustration with a family member or friend.  Why should God hear my cries for help?   Jesus hears us as we struggle with the anxieties and worries of our daily life. Jesus remembers His promise to us to be our Savior and deliver us from the struggles of this fallen world. 

Jesus sees us as we struggle with all of the threats of the world, the devil and our sinful nature. And Jesus knows us as we walk with him as part of the body of Christ, as we strive together with our brothers and sister in Christ to repent of our sins and turn in love toward God and toward those who are in need.  

Even in the most trying circumstances as we heard in our gospel lesson: when nations will rise against nation, earthquakes, famines- terrors and great signs from heaven. When people lay their hands on us and persecute us for our faith- delivering us to prisons and persecutions, even at this time God will remember us. 

Jesus says we do not need to prepare what we are to say: “Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of you adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

Do you see what Jesus is saying? When you are persecuted the Holy Spirit will give you what to say, God will see your suffering, remember his promise to you and know exactly what you are going through. 

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

When God came to Moses in the burning bush, Moses’ life was forever changed.  We are changed by God’s coming to us in His Word, changed through the work of the Holy Spirit creating a living faith in us, changed each time we encounter Him in His very body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. 

His love changes us, his mercy changes us.  We are changed from positions of fear about daily life worries to states of hope and love.  Jesus gives life to our congregation. He remembers us in exactly the challenge we face as a congregation and through the Holy Spirit He is always working in us, always coming down to deliver us. Amen.     

The joy of finding what is lost

Posted on by nfuller

Brothers and sisters in Christ it is easy to resent those who don’t play by the rules.  We have all seen those who drive up in lane closures to merge at  the very front of the line instead of waiting with everyone else.  It is easy to mistrust those who have such different values in life that little things you value seem to mean nothing to them.

In our gospel reading from Luke, the Pharisees and Scribes are struggling to see Jesus befriending those who don’t [play by the rules or value what they value.  Jesus is eating with tax collectors, and sinners!

They begin to criticize the choice Jesus makes to eat with sinners and tax collectors. To their reasoning, why should Jesus eat with these sinners when there are plenty of righteous people to dine with? They don’t understand the choice Jesus made, and they assume it was a poor choice. They have made their choice long ago to only spend time with those who appear to be flawless like them.

 Jesus answers with three parables that illustrate how what looks to be an undesirable  choice from the self righteous is actually a clear the choice.  The clear choice is for God to seek after and rescue those who are lost.

Jesus shames their hasty choice to cast off any consideration for the outcasts of their day.  He states in his parable of the lost sheep that it is self evident that any of them would seek after one of their 100 lost sheep and bring it safely back in the fold. The value of the 1 sheep is significant, and the 99 are not necessarily in greater danger in seeking after the one.   

A shepherd will without hesitation seek after the 1 lost sheep out of 100. Likewise Jesus describes the woman seeking after the lost coin, and states that it is a given that anyone in the same position as the woman will look for the lost coin.

The Pharisees likely did not have seen things that way.  They might count their losses and conclude that having 99 sheep that are safe is good enough.  Their perspective on the scenario is about self interest or business management. 

Jesus is providing a divine perspective that is grounded not in self interest but in God’s steadfast love.  Finding the lost one out of 99 is a cause for celebration not because it represents a recovery of 1% of the owners assets, but because it means everything to that particular sheep which is lost. 

To any one person who is lost and without a right relationship with Jesus, being found and rescued by Jesus brings a complete change of fortune.  For this reason when a person who has been lost, is found by Jesus, it is cause for great rejoicing.  The choice for God is clear cut, spare no expense to save the lost. There is no comparison or cost benefit analysis about how the person who is lost is worth less than all those who are safely in the fold.

The lost are not simply those outside of the church, but can also include us.  Recall St. Paul’s confession of faith from our Epistle lesson: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

Every Christian must like St. Paul be able to recognize the ways in which you can see yourself as chief of sinners in need of God’s mercy.  Satan wants us to think of ourselves in the church as firmly entrenched in the ranks of the righteous 99, in no danger of falling away.

But the reality is that we are safe only in our faith in Christ.  It is a mistake to assume that simply belonging to a church and having an identity as a Christian is what makes us  among the 99 described in the parable.  If we are secure in our own righteousness and have no need of Jesus, then we are no different than the lost.  Without the mercy of Christ, we are in a manner of speaking right at the edge of a cliff, susceptible to falling off and becoming one who is lost and separated from the fold. 

When we recognize that we also can be among those who are lost, we appreciate even more the mercy of God that saves us.  When we appreciate how Jesus has given everything to go after us and find us in our state of lostness, we desire to show the same to others.

Our gospel reading implies a few application takeaways for us the church. First of all, don’t take for granted the joy Jesus has in us, as he rescues us from our state of lostness and celebrates that we have been found.  It would be a mistake to think that God does not take joy in us because of our failures to live our lives in unwavering faith.  When we repent of the mistakes we make Jesus welcomes us back with great joy.  The joy is not confused with emotions, of, “well I’m glad you are found again, but you never should have ran off in the first place.” 

When my wife and I only had our oldest son, he was at the age where he liked to hold onto a car or two on a shopping trip or whatever errand we went on.  Since I remembered these cars from when I was young, I was sad when it seemed like they were gradually disappearing one by one.  I checked under couches, in our cars and in his room and only found one or two more-but probably at least 7 unaccounted for.  Son, did you ever put any of your cars in the garbage? Have you been leaving them at stores? Do you remember where you put them?  Week and weeks passed by and I concluded that one way or another I would not see them again.

Until one day my wife began a yoga or pilates video in our family room.  While laying on her mat she was face to face with a hot wheel car- inside our bass speaker. The bottom of the speaker was just wide enough for a 2 year old arm to fit in. A few shakes of the speaker and everything lost and then some was found.      

How much greater is the joy when a person who was lost is found!  There is joy in telling the lost about Jesus.  The joy of sharing the good news of the gospel with the lost is that some people do respond in faith through the power of the Holy Spirit.  And even if we do not see people repenting in response to God’s Word, as we share God’s Word we are giving ourselves the chance to internalize in our lives the good news of the kingdom.  Nothing helps us to know and understand Jesus love for us more than learning how to describe to others what we believe Jesus does for us.  

Who in our surrounding community do we tend to write off as lost causes in our world today? Those who say they don’t believe in God? Those who simply give no thought to spiritual matters in their life?  Those who are bitter over life circumstances and feel they would not trust others in the church- they will hurt me like everyone else has hurt me in my life.

Do we consider any of these people lost causes? Jesus does not.  Lost causes are His specialty. Lost causes are the ones who really give great reason for celebrating and rejoicing when they are found through repentance and new life in Christ.

Prior to the gift of saving faith in our baptism, we were enemies of God on account of our sin. Jesus sought us out and called us through His Word and through the gift of new life in Holy Baptism.  We were sought after as hopelessly lost causes- and great was the rejoicing in heaven when we were found.  Remember the words from our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel: “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.”

God sent his own Son to us to search for us and rescue us. Just like in the parable of the lost sheep and coin, Jesus considered us so important that he rejoiced over finding us.  This unsurpassed worth in which God places the lost is described well in the short parable of the merchant in search of the pearl of great worth in the gospel of Matthew chapter 13: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

We often read this parable as a lesson about valuing our relationship with God above all else, as in we should be like that merchant and recognize that our relationship with God is more valuable than any other pearls out there in the world.  However in the context of all of the scripture and the rest of the gospel of Matthew it is clear that the most accurate meaning of this parable Jesus told is that Jesus himself is the merchant in search of us.  The church is that pearl of great price that Jesus gave all he had to posses.   

This is a wonderful perspective on how God sees us.  An invaluable perspective in our proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to the lost.  We can let those who seem like lost causes know that in God’s eyes they are of unsurpassed worth. They are to Jesus a pearl of great worth for whom Jesus gave up everything without a moment’s hesitation. Not just a lost coin but a lost jewel in the radiant setting of the church’s crown.   May God grant us faith that helps us to speak about this love of Jesus and show this love in our lives.

Take A long Look at Discipleship

Posted on by nfuller

Thanks and recognition are due to Dr. Carl Fickenscher II for the excellent and versatile thematic idea of “Take a long look at discipleship” as featured on the Issues Etc. radio, internet, and podcast ongoing series “Looking Forward to Sunday Morning” This is the text of the message preached at Christ Lutheran Church last Sunday September 8th.

Grace Mercy and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A father gives advice to his daughter before she goes to buy her first used car:  Don’t just go with the first car that catches your eye.  Watch for pitfalls and red flags that say this car is not all that it is cracked up to be. Look past the surface. Take a long look.  

A mother gives advice to her daughter about beginning to date.  Don’t get swept off your feet by the first young man who gives you any attention without paying attention as to what his character is truly like. Take a long look.

A realtor speaks to a first home buyer: Picture what it would be like with your own furniture and family here, picture spending years and years within these walls of the house and looking out into this yard. Take a long look.

If I were to talk to one of my children about his or her wedding day, I can picture myself saying: Take a long look- see how beautiful it is that God has provided you with someone to love and cherish and journey with you in this life of following Jesus. Cherish the moment and take it in: take a long, transcendentally beautiful look. 

God’s Word for us this morning invites us to take a long look at what it means to follow Jesus.  In Deuteronomy chapter 30 Moses is speaking to the people of Israel as he approaches the end of his life.  “See I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.”  The people of Israel are about to enter the promise land.  They are at a turning point in their lives that deserves some careful consideration.

He does not want the people of Israel to treat entering the Promise Land lightly without any consideration for what is at stake to their lives.  He speaks to them of what is at stake in the positive and what is at stake in the negative. The positive: If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord God will bless you in the land you are entering to take possession of. 

The negative: If your heart turns away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, “I declare to you today that you shall truly perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and posses.” After all the acts of deliverance from Pharaoh, all the giving of the law through the wilderness- you would enter into the promise land only perish.

Can you picture the age lines around his eyes and the weariness Moses must have carried with him as he spoke those words?   Moses witnessed firsthand how ugly it can get when people disobey God’s Commands- especially when he is not directly watching over them.  He saw how easily the people cooked up the golden calf, or how easily they grumbled and wished they had never left slavery in Egypt.   

Moses saw what is in the heart of man, and how hard it is for the people to remain faithful- despite all that the Lord does for them. Take a long look at Moses, near the end of his life, and see how difficult is the road of discipleship.  

Today is September 8th.  You have a congregational Call Meeting scheduled shortly after the service. Take a long look at the costs of discipleship- the work that is ahead, the hard painstaking work ahead of us in a hard time in history to be the church where many in our generation simply prefer to stay home than come to a church and have people know who they are and perhaps at times disappoint them.

Look at our culture today where more people than ever have convinced themselves that they can be Christians without attending or being part of a church because we as a society in so many ways like to fool ourselves into thinking we know better than God in how to live our lives, and that what we choose, whether it agrees with His clear Word or not, God must be proud of because he loves us and just wants us to be happy.  Take a look at how difficult it is to minister to our culture today that wants a generalized spiritual God who provides no direction or limits in life.  Of course such a god so many people would choose is no god at all.  A god that is not somewhere for you is nowhere.  Take a look at our culture in dire need of a specific Savior named Jesus, the God who is there and present for us, who is the Way the Truth and the Life.    

See for yourselves how hard the walk of discipleship is.  You have to count the cost and be ready, like building a tower, you want to make sure you are able to complete it.  .  Jesus has spoken clearly how difficult it is: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” The cross brings division at the level of our very families. “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”  Take a long look and consider whether you are ready for the challenge.

As a church we want to be ready for the challenge.  If we decide we have nothing left to give, not enough faith in Jesus to commit to the work of the kingdom we are like salt that has lost its taste. We are of no use to anyone if as a church we just want to be safe and secure and are not ready to follow Jesus. 

Take a long look at the cost of discipleship, but see also how beautiful it is that Jesus walks with us.  Take a long look at our Savior, see his nail scars and the hole in his side. As one of our hymn describes it, see how glorious those scars are, those dear token of his passion.  

See how beautiful is God’s kingdom before us, like the view from Mount Nebo as the Lord showed Moses all of the promise land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western See , Negev and the Plain that is the valley of Jericho , the city of palm trees as far as Zoar.  It was just as God promises to His people “A land flowing with milk and Honey”   

Take along look at how beautiful the sight of the righteous who put their trust in Jesus, like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its due season, and its leaf does not wither, in all that he does, he prospers.

How beautiful the sight of God’s people in this place together worshiping our Savior, now and forever living by the Word of God. See the beauty of how members of Christ Lutheran Church care for one another and lift up one another in times of need:  ‘Bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ.’

Take a long look at how our Lord has provided for our congregation’s needs in this last year! An AC/ heater unit goes out and within days our church receives a completely unexpected sizable donation enough to cover the cost. 

Look back in awe of the Lord’s work that a church can go from trying to survive for just one more week or month to instead planning for the future-  holding youth Sunday school for the first time in perhaps two years. Look carefully at what prayers are being answered among us.  

In our closing hymn today: Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer we will sing about the moment in our life that will parallel the people of Israel’s entrance into the promised land- when we face our last hour, knowing that Jesus has conquered the lasting sting of death and Hell’s destruction for us on the cross: 

“When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside, Death of death and hell’s destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side. Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to Thee.”

Our disappearing community

Posted on by nfuller

An article by Tane Bellomo on the thefederalist.com provides a nice summary of the decline of community in American culture and the spiritual implications. The reference to C.S Lewis’ work “The Great Divorce” is a particularly moving illustration of how important the need for community is for Christ Lutheran Church as we has begun to communicate the message “We are Neighbors Together” Here is the text of the article:

How Economic Riches Have Destroyed The Wealth Of Relationships

Millions of people are just like me, isolated in the midst of a crowd, lacking a true community, and wondering, ‘Who are these people?’

By Thane Bellomo

August 27, 2019

I don’t know these people anymore. I peruse my Facebook feed and smile at pictures of children I have never met and look closely at the faces of those I once knew. Sometimes I post things. And sometimes I get a “like.” This is what constitutes much of my community nowadays.

I don’t know my neighbors, and while I see people at work each day from my cubicle, I can’t say I am “friends” with most of them. We talk about our weekends and sometimes about the things that delight or trouble us, but I can’t say we are connected to one another in the deep way true friends are.

In spite of the fact that I work in buildings filled with people and live in a teeming city, I am often lonely. And many millions of people are just like me, lonely in the midst of a crowd and lacking a true community.

Neglecting Our Neighbors

If healthy communities are the organs of a healthy society, the statistics about the decline of American community are terrible and forecast an ominous future. Right now, a whopping 46 percent of adults report feeling somewhat or mostly lonely. Only 20 percent of people regularly spend time with their neighbors, down from a third of Americans who visited with neighbors at least twice a week four decades ago. Incredibly, now only 31 percent of people even know most of their neighbors.

We are also experiencing an epidemic of communal disconnection, with church membership and attendance declining from 70 percent in 1998 to less than 50 percent today. Fraternal organizations, once a central and connective feature of almost all communities, such as the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus, Scouting, and parent-teacher associations, have experienced incredible declines in membership over the last 20 years. And when was the last time you attended a community parade?

It very well may be that the cadence of modern life does not give way to building the deep connections that only meaningful time shared together can create. It does not provide for the mutual experiences that build shared understanding, empathy, and a temperance born of perspectives we cannot see — except through the lens of people whose motivations we deeply know to be benevolent.

Such things we may lose when we discard our sense of community or misplace it through lack of attention and care. Once upon a time, your community was important; necessary, even. In a very real sense, a community is a team. It is a group of people navigating the uncertainties and vagaries of the world together, lest nature’s blind happenstance overtake them. A community guards each other, cares for one another, is concerned for each other, and protects one another.

In the past, the community was necessary for the very survival of its people and families. And survival was the difficult task the community undertook together, with the skills and perseverance of each necessary for its success. What we fail to see is that perhaps the real fruit of that great endeavor, beyond survival, was generating the connection, fealty, love, and trust that nourish human happiness in ways that food, water, and shelter cannot.

Forgoing Our Duty to Community

Today, we are freed from the burden of community. Our fealty and our attendant duty to others is no longer required. We no longer need to struggle together to survive. Scientific and economic advancement allows us to live without caring for others, and without receiving care ourselves. We don’t need anyone. Because we don’t need anyone, we can live without the duties community once required.

At first blush, it seems a liberation. One can now do whatever one wants, whenever one wants. But like the newly minted lottery winner, we are not naturally very good at tempering our selfish desires. In the face of such freedom, we often eagerly discard the tempering force that duty provides, and in so doing, we forego the benefits of connection and belonging that fulfilling our duty to the community provides.

Like exercise, the personal benefit of fulfilling our duty to the community does not manifest itself immediately. It is only though the consistent fulfillment of those duties, in concert with others, that the fruits of belonging come to us — in the relationships forged, in the intimate knowledge of those with whom we live and die, in the sense of purpose we feel when our lives are connected to others about whom we cannot help but deeply care.

Indeed, it is duty that forces us to invest our time and energy in those around us. And it is in that investment of time and energy that we can harvest its benefit. But in a country where only 24 percent of people in urban areas know most of their neighbors, what social structure will replace the function of the community in fulfilling its traditional role in human flourishing?

In its absence, we find isolation, loneliness, depression, and even suicide. For all the material wealth we have, we are becoming a most unhappy and lonely people.

Losing Our Principles and Purpose

In addition to the loss of our sense of belonging and purpose, the decline of the community has led to a decline in our collective sense of principle and purpose. In a community, the deeply shared and intertwined histories of its people provide a presupposition of benevolence among its constituents. In other words, in a community, we know that those who differ from us are fundamentally good and decent people.

We approach disagreement with a sense of equanimity because we believe their motivations are good. We believe they offer their opinions with the community’s benefit in mind. In the absence of community, it is easy to see those with whom we disagree as not only wrong, but evil. Without intimately knowing them, we can easily fill in the blanks of their character with a narrative that paints them in the worst light.

As we atomize into individuals and away from community, our shared perspective is shaped not by the communal effort of, for example, caring for a widow and her children, but rather by what groups we resonate with on Facebook. That is a powerful difference. In such an environment, is it any wonder that we tribalize into ideological enemy camps and cast the worst possible aspersions upon each other in the echo chambers of our personal internet?

Creating a Lonely Living Hell

In “The Great Divorce,” C.S. Lewis described hell as a city where people begin to live further and further apart. They simply cannot stand each other and prefer instead to live as far away as possible from the annoying obligations they have to others. In the end, they live in a lonely hell.

While we may not live further apart, still we move away from one another. In the process, we create a freer but lonelier existence than the one we had. We may not describe this as hell, but I am struck by the fact that, given the choice, so many of us would choose not to develop deep and meaningful connections with those around us.

The community as a central force for human flourishing has been self-evident for thousands of years. In fact, it may be that we are biologically wired to function best in the environment that community provides. In its absence, we lose a sense of purpose, connection, and belonging, and we lose common values and principles that community requires and allows. In its absence, we are more lonely, more isolated, and more suspicious of one another.

In my travels across an internet that is fast becoming my faux community, I often am left asking, who the hell are these people? Who the hell, indeed.

The cross brings division

Posted on by nfuller

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

Our gospel lesson at first appearance seems to go against the picture we have in the scripture of how Jesus brings peace to the earth.  What do we make of this reading? “I came to cast fire on the earth.”  Was Jesus having a bad day? Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did he encounter earlier in the day the 1st century version of summer construction season on the road to Jerusalem?  Should we just disregard this portion of scripture and move onto a more uplifting focus? 

How do we explain the passion in which Jesus insists he has come for division, not unity? The answer is really quite simple- it all depends on what is meant by unity and division.  There are two types of unity.  There is the unity between God and man, the common ground we have with our God because he loves us and has brought us into right relationship with Him.  From this union with God, we can have unity with one another through our common position of those who have received undeserved mercy and grace.

The other type of unity is the unity that people form for themselves out of their own self interests.  Unity comes from whatever commonalities we have with others, same country, same career, same family, same favorite color, same favorite football team.  In many cases man made unity has been formed despite differences out of necessity, need for survival, or convenience.  The greatest common denominator of all efforts of unity is our sinful human nature to want our own self interests to be filled. If we get along with others and don’t disagree too much than we can all get what we want- or so we believe.

Jesus did not come to facilitate the growth of man made unity.   We do just fine on our own finding causes for unity.  Going back to the tower of Babel, we see that humans have no trouble coming together to make a name for themselves.   

Jesus came in fact to break this type of unity, this false sense of security in our coming together as humans, thinking we do not need God. Jesus came to bring division to this type of unity out of love for us. On the cross Jesus took our foolish efforts at unity and turned them to shame. 

If you read through the passion accounts, you see plenty of instances of human unity going on in the process of the betrayal of Jesus, the trial, and the sentence of crucifixion. Judas made an alliance of unity with people he would not other wise associate with. The scribes and Pharisees paid 30 coins to Judas to put into effect their plan to silence Jesus and resume the status quo of the alliance between the money changers, the Pharisees, the Romans and everyone else who stood to gain from a corrupt practice of religion.  Pontius Pilot chose unity with the angry mob over his initial conviction that Jesus had done nothing wrong. “If you let this man go you are no friend of Caesar.”  The people chose Barabbas, a leader of revolt against the Romans, a robber and murdered, a hero at forging human unity through force of will  

Yet Jesus turned this all upside down because he willingly gave his life, because his death on the cross was not just as a sacrificial lamb for political advantage and convenience- but a the true lamb of God who was taking on all of the sin of the world on the cross onto himself so that we could once again have Unity- Unity with God.

Jesus came to the earth to bring division against human attempts at saving themselves.     Jesus spoke of the baptism of fire that he has to undergo- And how great is my distress until this is accomplished.  His distress was great not because of fear and tembling for how hard it will be, but out of eagerness to fulfill the task for which he came.  The cross brings division. Those who accept it as life and salvation and those who do not.

The division is not simply between believers and unbelievers- but between the parts of us that want things our own way and the parts of us that submit to Christ. We heard in the Introit: “But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. 14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.”    

 Even within the body of Christ we can find enemies, through the division of the cross, the division that God’s Word brings. Law and gospel, those who need the law and wont hear it.  Those who need the gospel and can’t believe it is for them. Both alike reject Jesus in favor of trusting in themselves.

What about our world today and our church.  We see division. The division is not simply about political battle lines drawn in the sand- but more precisely between those who are obedient to speaking God’s Word of truth and those false prophets who speak their own message: We heard in Jeremiah-  “They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”  

“No disaster shall come upon you.” Is exactly what people taunted and jeered Noah about before the flood.  It is a fearful thing to believe false messages of security when God’s Word gives the opposite.

In the name of Christian love our own brothers and sisters in Christ in other denominations- particularly mainline protestant churches like the ELCA have made a central focus on telling people “it shall be well with you,”  in a way that by some coincidence resembles everything our culture says in the way of socially progressive positions. 

A recent book By an ELCA pastor named Nadia Volzt Webber called “Shameless” tries to make the case that through the gospel there is conveniently no such thing as sexual immorality. Sadly as a church they are no longer teaching ideals of chastity and the clear teaching of scripture about the sanctity of marriage as the setting in which God intends for the one flesh union of man and woman.   

Indeed it is painful to see a family member so to speak, a church with the name Lutheran to elevate the fulfillment of human lust as more important to the church than fulfillment of God’s Word. With a sly deception this largest of Lutheran churches in America has pastors talking about how they are faithful to the gospel- but they do not say they are faithful to the scripture. They do not believe God’s Word cuts to the core between what is right and what is wrong, who is a false prophet and who is speaking God’s Truth.      

Psalm 55 addresses the question of division close to home so to speak: For it is not an enemy who taunts me—   then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—  then I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion

An enemy we can at least expect to harm us. An adversary we can avoid and write off- but how much harder it is when a close friend or a family member puts us at a cross roads by their beliefs. 

When someone close to you makes choices in life that you see are apart from God’s Word it brings a number of mixed feelings.  One the one hand you want to be loving and kind and think the best of someone who is close to you.   

You might feel the only way to make sense out of the situation is to convince yourself that this particular choice is not that big of a deal to God. You tell yourself that this choice someone made is because they have been through hard circumstances or so many other people in the neighborhood also used drugs for example.

If it is a gray enough area then you can’t hold someone to blame can you? Sometimes we just agree to disagree and then we can all live happily ever after.  But agreeing to disagree is the agenda of the world, not God’s agenda. Agreeing in a small thing one instance can lead to agreeing in larger things. One generation to another the slippery slope cascades its way toward the path of unbelief.   

God’s Word is like a hammer that breaks rocks to pieces- it is not neutral leaning or gray in its message, but swift and precise with results in our lives that are unmistakable.  God’s Word is precise in calling sin for what it is: sin.  No gray areas, no exclusions or exceptions based on circumstances.

When we follow God’s Word it will bring us division with those who do not follow God’s Word- even those who are close to us!  We would like to pretend that we can all get along, but this is the world’s definition of peace. Jesus has not come for this type of peace- but instead for true peace that comes through fire- the fire of the cross.   

There is great value in the words of Jesus for us this morning, so that we see this world’s idea of peace and unity is not what we need. Jesus calls us to something more lasting and perfect- the peace we can have with him, that transforms our hearts and transforms our minds.   

We need not fear the division proclaiming the cross may bring to our lives. We do not need the world’s unity, and we can endure whatever persecutions come our way because of the unity we have with Jesus.