Disaster Relief for the Midwest

As you know, significant disasters have ravaged Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and the Mississippi River region this past week. 

For example, news from Joplin indicates that Immanuel Lutheran School is structurally unsafe to enter, four teachers lost their homes, the parsonage lost its roof and has structural damage, and a few members lost their homes.  

A couple views their home after the Joplin tornado.
 Image courtesy of Time magazine.

The church through the ages has given generously to assist brothers and sisters in need. If the Spirit moves you, please click on this link to donate. One hundred percent (100%) of the moneys donated will be forwarded to the LC-MS Lutheran Churches in the area to use where most needed.  

            http://www.regonline.com/relief

Interestingly enough, God through His Word seems to intentionally bless those who give in wise, intentional ways to the needy.

Proverbs 11:24-25 
One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Shooting Our Wounded

Some have said that "only Christians shoot their wounded.”   Having wounded and been wounded by my brothers and sisters in the faith, I admit that this is true too often. 


This video reveals a large and growing segment of America today... those who have been wounded by the Church, and who have not returned.  

Interestingly enough, St. John devotes some of the last two chapters of his Gospel to accounts of our Risen Lord Jesus going out of His way to restore and reclaim the wounded and wandering of His Church.  


First, Jesus takes time to encourage Thomas, reclaiming Him from doubt and isolation to belief and bold service.  After seeing His Risen Lord, Thomas traveled perhaps farther than any other disciple to share the Good News; the many Indian Christians now in south and central India trace their origins to the faithful work of "doubting" Thomas.


Next, Jesus sought out Peter again by the Sea of Galilee.  Though this was at least the fourth time Peter has seen His Risen Lord, this time Jesus takes special effort to undo Peter's triple denial.  Not only does Jesus reinstate and restore Peter, but Jesus again invites Peter to life in Him with the words Jesus used the first time they met... "follow me!"  

If Thomas and Peter had been in the Church today, they would have likely been shunned by modern-day believers for their denials, betrayals, and failures.  But they are not abandoned by Jesus.


Perhaps God is inviting us all back to the time of the early church, to leave behind our judgments and follow boldly where Jesus leads. He did not abandon us.  Now it is time for us to seek out and "restore gently" those who have fallen, instead of abandoning them.   


As the Army Rangers say, "I will never leave a fallen comrade behind to fall into the hands of the enemy."  


Amen.  Yes, yes... let this be so.  

Hiding in Plain Sight

Have you ever "googled" yourself?  It's amazing what you can discover about a person just by typing their name into a search engine and making a few clicks.  The amount of personal information now instantly available  has dramatically changed how managers hire new employees, how singles find a compatible mate, and how we define what it means to be "friends."  

But along with the dramatic increase in personal info out there, we've become even more secretive about our true, inner selves.  We might have 1000 Facebook friends but rarely sit down with any of them for a cup of coffee.  Young Americans now "hook up" for sex without ever having gone on a date with their partner... and with no intention to do so!  More and more we seem content to remain anonymous.  It's safer, better that way, we've convinced ourselves.  We've become experts at hiding in plain sight.

What does it mean, then, to have a Savior who claims to know every part of us, both our public and our private selves?  "I know my sheep," Jesus declares boldly, this coming Good Shepherd Sunday.  "Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely... You are familiar with all my ways", the Psalmist declares.  

Few can bear worshiping a God who claims to truly and deeply know us, down to the number of hairs on our heads.  Our secret selves, known?  Our private shame, revealed?  What a terrifying thought!

Yet, even knowing His sheep perfectly, the Shepherd relentlessly, lovingly searches for us, no matter how we try to conceal our inner selves.  

Until the day we cease from all our hiding... forever secure, forever known, in His embrace.  

~Brady

Impostor Phenomenon

They warned us about it my first week of graduate school.  Young, with full scholarship rides and recognized as potentially strong writers, we could easily assume the university had made a mistake.  The professor called it the “impostor phenomenon” and said it was particularly common in young top flight surgeons.  It’s this deep conviction that you haven’t arrived yet.  That somehow you are not qualified to have the position you are given.  They’ve made a mistake.  You’re not ready to be this successful, and you will be found out.
 

Nearly fifteen years later, I find myself wrestling with this again.  On the cusp of some wonderful spiritual and material blessings, I once again feel there’s been a mistake.  This loving family was supposed to go to someone else, someone who came from a loving, stable home.  And bible teachers, at least the best ones, are supposed to have studied the Bible since they could read.  Pastor’s wives are supposed to be the daughters of pastors and the very epitome of serene grace.  My life should belong to someone more qualified, someone who could take these blessings and change the world with them, someone who could make an everlasting, huge impact for Christ. 

King David must have had the same problem.  When God promised to build an everlasting house and lineage for him, David responds, “Who am I and what is my household, that You would bring us thus far?”  (2 Samuel 7:8) In his mind, he was still a shepherd boy, the littlest of his family, and some part of his brain still thought of himself that way.  Yet God called him to be king of a great nation, and in the end he had to accept God’s identity for himself above his own, no matter how strange this new identity felt.  He was a ruler, and whether he felt qualified or not, God had chosen him for the task. 

God has called me to be a wife and mother, and (so far as I can tell) a teacher.  Some days I feel like I’m playing dress up, like I’m pretending to be someone who has a loving husband and sons growing by leaps and bounds in the faith and a talent for leading other women closer in study to God.  Yet this is where I find myself in life.  It’s intimidating and there’s nothing in my background to suggest I’m up for the jobs, or even deserve a chance to work my way up into these blessings.  But God has given me some wonderful things in life and I have to choose this new identity and lead a life full of gratitude in reply.  I won’t let the fear drown out any good I can offer.  After all, if God has choose me to be this leader, who am I to say I’m not?

What part of your life do you know you don’t deserve?  A great family, financial stability, wonderful job, an extreme talent or ability?  How do you keep the fear of not being worthy of this blessing in check so that you can honor God with this blessing?

--Denyse Blasdel

From Emptiness to Fullness - The Book of Ruth

This coming Mother's Day we will be using the book of Ruth as we explore what it means for a woman to fearlessly follow the leading of God in her life.  This fascinating book is a superb true story, skillfully crafted to show how God brings us from emptiness to fullness in Him.


Surprisingly enough, the focal character in the book is NOT Ruth, but Naomi.  We know this because Naomi is mentioned in the opening (exactly 71 words in Hebrew) and closing (exactly 71 words in Hebrew).  Naomi also speaks the climatic phrase in the book, the point where her hopes begin to turn.  Not surprisingly, it is also the exact center of the book... Ruth 2:20.  

Understood this way, the book of Ruth beautifully chronicles our journey as men & women from death & hopelessness to life & fullness. Some of the key ways God provides for Naomi (and, by extension, us) include:

• A daughter-in-law, Ruth, who is willing to endure hardship, poverty, & possibly even death in order to care for the mother of her late husband  
• Boaz, a kinsman-redeemer, who is willing to provide for her physical needs generously and in abundance
• A new family who even places in her lap (possibly referencing adoption) a child that Noami herself can care for and nurture

All of these Gospel-handles have great applications, especially for Mother's Day and the season of Easter, when God brings us - and our families, in all their variety -  from emptiness to fullness and death to life through a relationship with our Redeemer Jesus Christ.


Which of these points "sings" to your heart the most?  And are there other key points from the book of Ruth that you would like to see shared in the sermon on Sunday?