Blessings: The Strength for the Fight

We often misunderstand what blessings are.   Most people focus on blessings as a result of some action on our part.   We think we are blessed because we did… (insert a random pious action here).  But Jesus turns this all on its head in the Sermon on the Mount.  Mathew Chapters 5-7 are Jesus’ most important teaching about how people should live out a life that is faithful to God, world, and neighbor.   Jesus’ manifesto in Matthew 5 not only focuses on blessings as a result of following God, but also more importantly, as gifts from God to follow God.   Blessings are grace.  Blessings are also the fuel that helps us in the daily fight of living in a broken and sinful word.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus directly contradicts the pagan messages of the so called “prosperity gospel” or the American cultural idea of “the power of positive thinking.”   We are given encouragement to be honest with ourselves and our real situation in life.   The times when things are not going right, and we are losing heart, are precisely the times when God promises to come.  Jesus reminds us elsewhere that he came not for the righteous but the sinners.  To paraphrase, not for those who stuff is together, but those whose lives are falling apart.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Grief and loss are part of living in a world in bondage to death, blessings are that which God gives us so that we do not give into despair.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is for those times when we experience the most profound losses.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” 

We are culturally conditioned to honor the assertive, aggressive, and narcissistic.  Celebrities, athletes and CEO’s have replaced Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and Apollo in our modern pagan pantheon.  We would rather choose a celebrity to lord it over us than a committed public servant. In contrast, God honors the humble, empowers the kind, and inspires those who consider the lives of others as well as themselves.  Because we can’t love our neighbors if no one even bother to think about them.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Those who want things to improve are working for the healing of our world, therefore why wouldn’t God bless them to continue their important work?  These are the people we don’t like while they are alive and lionize when they are dead.  In order to fix things, we must do things, and our laziness demands we put targets on these people’s backs. Those who work for justice are God’s allies in the healing of our world.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

Mercy is how God chooses to engage us.  When we show mercy, we conform our lives to Christ.  We often don’t like mercy because it is inherently unfair, we are letting someone off the hook.  Yet as the incarnation reminds us, God choose maintaining a relationship over abstract fairness.   Without mercy we remain in a prison of our own making.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

If we can’t see the good in our world, our fellow human beings. and life itself, it will be hard to see God because God is good.   When we give into cynicism, we build a wall around ourselves neighbors and world.  The pure heart keeps the door open to the good and therefore God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Jesus was sent by God to put a fractured world, broken communities and divided hearts back together.   The Hebrew/Aramaic word for peace that Jesus used meant to be whole.   Those who do and make peace help make people, families, communities and nations whole.  They are blessed because they are part of the healing.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Our society and often even our churches will not honor those who are the most faithful; we will judge others using our own fallible criteria.   So, we need a Godly vision, lest we perish, and that vision is the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Apostle Paul writes: And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NRSV) The Kingdom of God is predicated on a single common humanity.  This core idea of our faith is under direct assault.  Those who work for it are persecuted and abused, yet they keep up the fight.  They are able to because they are blessed.  Blessing is the fuel for our Spiritual warfare, so be blessed and keep the faith.

Pastor Knecht

Have You Suffered Yet?

Perhaps if I told you of the things that cause me to suffer you would dismiss me, saying by what right do you have to bother us with this?  Perhaps you would point out my race, my class, my gender, my education level, my citizenship and marital status and label me as someone just trying to justify a sense of entitlement.  Indeed, you could point out that I have a variety of privileges, and you would be right.  I am privileged in many ways.  I am able to live with things and do things that others are not able to do.  However, just because I am privileged doesn't mean that I do not suffer, I do.   You can minimize my suffering all you want and I can minimize yours, but it will not change the fact the suffering exists in all of our lives to one degree or another.  For to suffer is to be human.

One of the signposts to Jesus being fully human in traditional Christian thought is the simple fact that Jesus suffered.  One hundred and one years ago the world suffered the Spanish Flu pandemic, it respected no boundaries of gender, race, class, or ethnic affiliation.  If you were infected you suffered or maybe even died.  The existence of suffering in our lives is evidence of our belonging to a single common humanity. The spiritual question of suffering is not so much about whether one suffers or not, but rather what does someone do when they suffer.  In our church we read the following verses from Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians at funerals:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NRSV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.

There are two things going on in this short passage, which will cause problems for those with simplistic world views.  The first is that suffering represents a spiritual opportunity.   The God of all consolation named by St. Paul consoles us in our suffering.   Suffering is an opportunity to rely on  God.  Many people will stop me here and complain, so what?  The answer to this is that until one suffers, the person doesn't really know who his or her friends are.  Those who stick by you in suffering show their love for you.   If they walk away, they don't love you.   Paul tells the community in Corinth that because of the cross and resurrection we have proof that God sticks with us.  We know that we are loved by God, and that can change things.

The second point that Paul makes is particularly relevant for today.  Paul sees the purpose of one's suffering as opening the heart to the other.  The spiritually mature person is called to use their suffering to direct her or himself toward empathy, compassion and acts of consolation.   Our suffering should be directed to find common ground with others who suffer.  It is a call to transform the bad that happens in our lives to good by connecting with someone who has something bad going on in their life.

This Christ-like attitude of using one's suffering to connect to another person has been used by countless of the faithful to promote the healing and well-being of others.  For example, during his imprisonment by the Gestapo, Dietrich Bonhoeffer befriended, prayed for, and offered spiritual care to his guards.   Additionally, one of the most meaningful books written by acclaimed author Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love was gleaned from his journals while he was hospitalized for depression.   The book had a profound impact on me, and helped me find some healing while going through a difficult time in my own life.  This is exactly the type of thing that Paul was alluding to when he wrote the Corinthians so long ago.

As you are probably aware, this is not always how people respond to suffering.  Some of those suffering may act out of their pain and condemn others because they are envious of people they perceive as having an easier life.  Others may fall into despair and give up life all together.   Some may lash out at those whom they blame rightly or wrongly for their afflictions.   These negative responses to suffering are indeed understandable in some cases, but are never very healthy in the end.   Those who respond with envy end up in prison of bitterness.  Those who respond in despair end up in a prison of meaninglessness.  Those who respond with revenge end up in a prison of violence.

The only way out of these traps is to choose life over death. This is done through the twin spiritual gifts of compassion and forgiveness.   This is the core message contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Forgiveness given in love transforms the suffering afflicted upon God's son into love for our world.  God's response to Christ's suffering was resurrection and reconciliation. To forgive frees the sufferer from control of the perpetrator of the suffering.   Compassion transforms what was once a detriment into an asset bring hope and healing to others.

Please understand I am not wishing suffering upon anyone.   Any person who has suffered and has compassion for others could never do that.   What I am saying,
is that if suffering comes your way, we have a God who is more powerful than anything that causes us to suffer.   This God is able to take the evil of our suffering and transform it for good.  This essay is to written to give you strength and encouragement today and in the future.   It is a call to rely on the one who has suffered for us, Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

Encouragement for Anxious Times

If you find that times seem anxious for you lately, know that you are not alone.  The pace of change in our world has left many people behind, as the world they once knew seems to be relegated to distant memory.  In our own area of the county we have seen profound changes economically, technologically, socially, politically, demographically, culturally, and morally.   There appears to be people who are comfortable with and excited by these changes, as well as those who are threatened by them.  If you are like me, perhaps you are a bit of both. There are some things you think are wonderful and there are some changes that are keeping you up at night.   If you find yourself dealing with the anxiety of the times then I recommend reading 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy is one of the Pastoral Letters of the Apostle Paul.   Some of Paul's personal letters made it into the Bible and Christians have found them inspirational ever since. He wrote these letters for several reasons. 1 Timothy and Titus were written to lay out some ground rules for the early Christian communities.  Philemon was sent to deal with a critical issue.  2 Timothy was written to help him and the members of his community get through some anxious times.   This is why when the world seems crazy, 2 Timothy is one of my go to pieces of scripture.  Paul writes:

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 self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NRSV)

I love that Paul brings Timothy back to an intimate and physical moment of prayer, or perhaps even his baptism.  The memory of the word of God connected with the touch of Paul's hands upon the head are the fuel to rekindle the faith of one who may be in doubt because the times are uncertain.  This faith leads to empowerment, or what social scientists are calling "agency" these days.   Paul is reminding Timothy that he is not helpless.   He can show love to others and discipline himself.  Just because the times are hard does not mean one need to give into despair.   Paul does not sugar coat the problems that are going on his world or ours. He writes:

For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NRSV)

When I read these words I feel that the more things change, the more they stay the same.   The self centered nature of our sin is something that every generation must deal with on its own terms as it becomes uniquely manifest in every age.  Paul is writing to Timothy to remind him to place his trust in Christ who is more powerful than the forces of the world that beat the faithful down.  He continues:

The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him; 2 Timothy 2:11-12 (NRSV)

The heart of the matter for Paul is to encourage Timothy to hold on the the most precious thing we have, the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   Our life is secure in Christ, so why would one want to throw it away?  At times anxiety can cause us to make silly decisions, and we might hold onto the wrong things while throwing away that which actually will help us thrive.   That is why the Holy Spirit sends people into our lives to remind us what is truly important and what will really help us navigate living in a broken world.   He encourages Timothy and his sisters and brothers with these words.

Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. 2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NRSV) 

Guarding the good treasure given us can be a way to explain what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  The word translated "guard" (φυλάσσω) is also commonly translated as "watch", "keep", or "obey".   Living a life of discipleship in Jesus Christ involves all of these things.   We guard or protect the heart of our proclamation that Christ died for all no matter how the world classifies a person.   We watch the Gospel work in the lives of the faithful and witness what we see.   The stories of God at work that result can open the hearts of those in need.    We keep a commitment to prayer and reading God's Word to help keep us centered and to ask God to help others.   We listen to the voice of God through worship, prayer, and witness so that our relationship with Christ may stay strong.   When facing a challenge it is good to know one is not facing it alone.   2 Timothy reminds us that Christ is with us, even in anxious times.

Be blessed,
Pastor Knecht

Annual Message to Holy Cross

God is good all the time and the movement of the Holy Spirit has been manifest among us as our congregation has experienced a year of both fruitfulness and transition toward new missions and ministry.  God has been at work with, among and on us.   

God's Work With Us 

Acts 2:39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (NRSV)

We have been faithful in mission to those in need in Springfield.   Our food ministry continues to serve over 30 clients in the immediate area.   We have searched out how God brings healing and renewal to those in crisis by contributing to the work of the Market Street Mission by providing worship monthly on the fourth Sunday of the month.  We have been able to raise awareness for those without homes in our area through the interfaith vigil, housing summit, and candidates night.  Our nursery school has experienced a substantial increase in enrollment for next year which is a wonderful blessing to us and those in the area it serves. 

We are also blessed to have the opportunity to work with Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey (LSM) as they plan to use Holy Cross for its Lutheran Senior Life ministry to Union County.   This will relieve us from many of the burdens of maintaining a large facility while providing a way for us to minister and bless a wider circle of people in our community. God sent Jesus into the world to walk with those in the world.  As as an expression of Body of Christ in this place we are called to do the same thing.   The Holy Spirit is clearly calling us to continue this work as it is how we represent Christ to our community.  

God's Work Among Us 

(They) soon understood that “they were not simply there to learn new techniques of preaching and instruction” but (were) initiates into a new manner of being a Christian (which)… required spiritual nourishment: prayer, Bible study, and meditation on the essential matters to expand the moral imagination. (Marsh; Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer P. 231) 

God has been at work among us to build our community. We have baptized, communed, confirmed, and led people to renewed lives of faith.   We have welcomed new people into our congregation from diverse backgrounds, and walked with those who have been with us for a long time through life's changes.  One of our elders, Eric Kussman has been approved as a candidate for ministry in the ELCA and is currently serving an internship at Zion Lutheran Rahway. 

We pray for the coming year for God to lead us to build up our worship opportunities so that more of us can experience a new life in Christ through Word, Sacrament and Community.  Our worship attendance has been down due to a variety of factors and we will need to find ways to keep our life together vibrant and growing.  We also pray God will call a few people to step up and help with our our Sunday School and Youth ministries.   As secularization takes root in our society we need to be there for the next generation so that they may have an abundant life in Christ and not just an ordinary life according to the worst of the world.  We are hopeful that the restructuring of our ministry through the partnership with LSM will afford us more resources to help bring new people to Christ and revitalize the lives of the faithful. 

God's Work On Us 

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NRSV)

One of the things that has grieved me during my tenure at Holy Cross is that our facility has drained so much of our resources in the effort to keep up with its requirements.  This has had a corrosive effect on our mission.  It can at times lead us into the thought we need to reach more people so that they can come and help us pay for this wonderful facility and by counting the numbers we can trumpet ourselves as a success.  In the end the congregation like so many in our world today wakes up and finds that they have stored treasures on earth rather than in heaven with God.   

The Holy Spirit has been leading us address this for many years.   With the initial approval by the state of New Jersey for the Lutheran Social Ministries project, it is looking like we will find a way to repurpose our facility to be a blessing to others and ourselves.   It is my prayer that then we can build a ministry that leverages our resources for the benefit giving people a new life in the Spirit.  In a sense I am asking that we leverage the temporary for the eternal. It is my hope that freed of the burdens of facility care we can move on to a more intentional and vibrant care of souls, outreach, and discipleship.   There will still be sacrifices, but they will be more clearly seen as happening for God's purposes rather than our own. It is clear that God has a plan for Holy Cross, it is not the plan many of us expected to have happen but perhaps that makes it more exciting!  God is indeed at work with, among and on us, so we can be both hopeful for a blessed future and joyful for a meaningful present.  In summary we are blessed each and everyday to have the privilege of following Christ and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for the coming year. 

Respectfully submitted in Christ, 

Pastor Knecht 

Better than Fairness: Mercy

That's not Fair! 

For all kinds of reasons, when you have children in your house you will undoubtedly hear the phrase "It's not fair!"  Some of the time this phrase is directed at you as the parent, sometimes at teachers, fellow students, and yes like their parents they will take umbrage at some story going on in the wider world. Generally somewhere in the exchange between the parties in the debate a second phrase will follow "life is not fair!"

This is indeed true; human history has a catalogue of unfair events that will never, and can never be righted.  However, the reason for pointing this out is usually not to inform people of some wider existential truth, it is to cut off debate so that the complaining party will get back to doing what they are supposed to do in your eyes.  This common pattern happens in families, churches, towns, schools and yes even nations. Human beings seem to come prepackaged with an innate sense fairness for things we care about, while at the same time an unflappable ability to dismiss the complaints of our neighbors and even loved ones about things if it in any way inconvenience us.

Is God Fair? 

The Bible is quite ambiguous about the concept of fairness. In the Torah fairness for all in the community is repeatedly affirmed.  God will even appeal to Israel's sense of fairness when asking them to do good things.  We read in Leviticus 19:33-34 "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." (NRSV)   Paul will also appeal to a sense of fairness when asking the churches he supervises to change their ways perhaps most infamously in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. "(NRSV).

However the Bible will often teach that some things are more important than fairness.   When Paul talks about his own story, he tells of the wrong he did in Galatians 1:13 "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. (NRSV) Yet he will say with confidence in Galatians 1:15-16 "But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me," (NRSV) Paul was not treated fairly; he was given grace.  He was treated better than he deserved and given the gift of being accepted by a forgiving and loving God. 

That fairness is not always the most important thing in life, may be best demonstrated how Jesus responds to the foreign widow who comes to him to have her daughter healed in Mark 7:27-29 (Jesus) said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter (NRSV)   The woman's trust in the goodness of God makes all claims of fairness irrelevant.   As James the Brother of our Lord would later write in James 2:13 "mercy triumphs over judgment". (NRSV)

Better than Fairness: Mercy 

When Christ calls us to love others he is not calling us to treat people fairly;  he is asking us to be better than fair.   He is calling us to show mercy love and grace, just as he has done for us.  Jesus says in Matthew 5:46-48  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (NRSV)

Over my 20+ years of ministry I have advocated that we as the church help those excluded by society for example, the homeless, immigrants and refugees.  Sometimes people have pushed back and told me it was not fair.   That may or may not be the case, but my point is that fairness is not the point.  We show mercy to others because God has showed mercy to us through his son Jesus.  I can only say that if I got what I deserved, I would not be blessed, but cursed.   I have been saved by grace, so I hope to be a person of grace.   My confession to you it that my results are mixed,  I have not achieved the perfection Jesus has called me to and that is why I will still need God's mercy each and every day.  If God was just fair, than I would have no hope.  I have hope because God is better than fair, he is merciful. 

Be blessed 

Pastor Knecht 

Holy Cross is Building Up and Growing Out

Building Up

God is Good!  It is my good pleasure to share how we have seen the Spirit working in our church this Easter season.   After the long cold winter we have been blessed with not only the coming of Spring, but of new life to our church.   There is so much to celebrate that I probably will forget to mention something.  Please see this as a Good thing!  Some of the highlights are:

1. Worship! It was amazing to see so many people in church this Easter!  The growth of our Worship Team was on display as they led us in songs that were passionately and excellently offered up to God.  We are blessed have Jon Torgrimsen lead us and the team and we are seeing the fruit of the good work he is faithfully doing for us day after day.  More people need to worship with us, because they can come to Jesus through the good work of all who work to build up our worship.   Faith can be awakened and strengthened.

2. Mission! Our food ministry to Springfield had totally turned around the reputation in our community.   I had a man stop me on the street last Sunday as I rode my bike with my son and tell me about how he had heard that we in Holy Cross are doing great things.  Now this is not why we serve, we serve because Jesus served, and we are called to be a blessing to our neighbors.  Otherwise we are just another club and not the church.   We can create space in our church and activities for more people to help out serving Springfield.   One of the blessings of serving is it can heal those who do the serving.  Having purpose can help make people more appreciative of the good gifts God has given them.  We can be a bridge between those in the community who want to help and those who need it.

3. Kids!  Notice all the new kids lately.  Holy Cross has always had a heart for children and we are seeing lots of new faces in our Sunday School, we've got 5 high schoolers playing in our worship team or helping out with media and sound upstairs, ten middle schoolers in confirmation.  Our Christian Nursery School is having an amazing year!  With new programs to serve the parents and children of our community (this should be seen as mission too!)  More kids need to come along with us because in a world without purpose,  those who mentor our children can share with them how God in Jesus Christ has a purpose for their lives.

4. Outreach! Our upcoming Rock Cafe, our movie nights, our tables at town events to collect food and share the Good News of our congregation to this community. More ideas will be on the way.   Our hope is that these events can help us find ways to engage our community and make it easier for you to invite people to our church.  Many of these people who come will find God's grace through our congregation!

5. Community! Thanks to the diligence of our community action team people our fellowship/coffee hour after church had taken place Sunday after Sunday.  If you remember how it was a few years back when we would not always have it, this is an amazing blessing.   I have noticed people are staying a long time after worship to savor the relationships the Spirit is building. Our Mardi Gras/ Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner and upcoming picnic will provide more opportunities to build relationships.   We need to expand the circle, because hey! there are a lot of lonely people out there and God says it is not good for anyone to be alone.

6. Spiritual Growth! We had 19 people participate in the first Discipleship Academy course!  14 of them completed it and attended every session!   We will have our second course "Bonhoeffer's Thought"  Wednesdays at 1 & 7:30 PM in May.   We will continue to find ways to grow disciples through our ministries, because it is the outcome that God expects and it leads people to a blessed life in communion with Jesus Christ and their fellow disciples.

7. Prayer! Holy Cross has always been a place of deep prayer and it continues to be so.  Open your eyes on Sunday and witness people praying for each other all over our church!  We are not church who leaves the prayer up to the pastor alone, but engages the entire community.   While we continue to pray deeply for Gianna Torgrimsen and Tom Nolz for their healing, please know that one of the joys of serving Holy Cross is all the stories of answered prayer I hear.  This past month three stories of God providing deep healing have been shared with me.   Prayer gives, healing, hope, peace, direction and inspiration to our lives.   It helps God change things in us.   More people need the gift of prayer,  more people need to learn how to pray, we can do our part to fill this need.

Reaching Out   

As I described these seven signs of how the Holy Spirit is working to build up our congregation, please notice that I tried to make the case in each instance of how these things that God is doing for us can be a blessing not just for us, but for our neighbors as well.  To me the most amazing part of our redevelopment has been Holy Cross's restructuring of things so I can can concentrate more intently on the things that God has called me to: preaching, teaching, equipping, modeling discipleship and providing Spiritual direction.  Each passing month I am able to spend more and more time meeting with people in town, community leaders, families who send their kids to our school, people I meet in Dunkin Donuts, to bring Christ to them in my humble way.   I am grateful for this opportunity,  I need to thank Jim Donaldson, Steve Bertschy especially, for their daily contributions to help get things off my plate so I can do what God called me to do.   Lots of others have helped and we have really had a culture change in our congregation where we are working together more effectively as a church.  I praise God for this.

But now I need to ask for your help and support in these areas.

1.  Talk about Holy Cross and share this message with every person you can.  We have Good News to share!  I am out in the community for our church and I need you with me as well.   I can only do so much, and people will often respond better to your impressions than mine.   I am the pastor I am supposed to think my church is great.  No one thinks that about you.

2. Support our church by carving out some time to show up and help out.   Start with coming to church more often.  Our church life is better when you are here,  and I am betting your life will be better too.   Move up to helping out the ministry and mission of our church by plugging into an area of service.  Pray for me and the mission of Holy Cross every day.

3. Give a financial offering to God through Holy Cross.  Your contributions will help us do God's work.  My thoughts on stewardship are simple, God has blessed you and you can use your blessings to bless others.   We are blessing people with the work we are doing as a church following Christ.   We will be pledging later on this Spring to our annual fund.  If you have never pledged before I ask that you prayerfully commit to trying. We bring Jesus Christ to people in your neighborhood,  we shepherd your neighbor's children,  we pray for and feed your neighbors in their time of need.  We show love to the people you love.  Yu-Mei and I tithe 10 percent of our income and God not only provides, but blesses us through this.  The real upside is that this money we give does God's good work in Springfield and beyond.

Please pray on these points and act on them.  Please also give thanks to God for the incredible work he has done in us and will do in the future.   See you in Worship and at the Rock Cafe next Saturday May you be blessed this day.

In Christ,
Pastor Knecht

Go to Church, What's the point?

The question of the world to our church 

Gone are the days when church attendance helped you look good to your neighbors.   In the world of my
parents and grandparents people felt guilty if they were seen outside of church on Sundays.   Today people feel guilty if they don't workout.  They are more likely to say on a Sunday "Darn! I missed my bike ride ! (Or yoga class, golf, or whatever) than they would lament at not being able to worship.    There is no societal pressure in New Jersey to be a person of faith,  in fact it may be seen as a liability to some because it makes you less available to do the things that convey status these days.  I do think those who argue that we are persecuted today are grossly exaggerating.   I have personal friends who lived under dictatorships who were persecuted for their faith, and that is not what is going on in Union County New Jersey.   People are not presenting to me that they are hostile to those of us who practice our Christian faith, they are just... neutral.

Searching for the Answer

I personally think this is a great time to be the church, because in this atmosphere where people in the culture are neutral towards us, we have the blessing of being able to see the real answer to the question of what's the point without the blinders of popularity.  We can use the tools of our faith, scripture, prayer, conversation to uncover the Holy Spirit's true purpose of a life of faith and then spend some time talking about the question with those in our neighborhood an communities.   They answer that we will come up with will certainly be better than "everybody else is going."  It will be a real answer, that reveals a real purpose.

The Wrong Answer 

"I go to church to get fed!"  Well good for you.  So what? I can get fed at lots of places in the culture.   The person who stays in and gets up late to read on Sundays can honestly tell you the same thing.  So can the guys I see on the way to church on their road bikes, or running along the paths. (three things that I actually get fed by).   If this is our only answer to the question of what's the point?  Than I am sorry to say, that there would be no point.   Being fed is not enough of a reason to make the sacrifices we make to be the church. No neutral person in our culture would see the purpose of showing up at our door if that is our only answer. Now don't get me wrong, lots of churches do a lousy job of feeding people spiritually and physically. The decline of Christianity in our culture was aided by churches that just asked people to give without feeding and building them up in the first place.   Feeding people spiritually and physically is a good start,  but it is the start, not the goal, and certainly not the point.

The Bible's Answer 

"I will bless you.. so that you will be a blessing"  (Genesis 12:2) says God to Abram.  In this simple phrase we begin to see the answer that will not only give us something to say to the culture but to sustain ourselves as we journey in a life discipleship of Jesus Christ.  We are called by Christ to help, to serve, to proclaim, to build up, and to bless.   Yes this means to make a difference, but it is more than this.   Yes, this means to proclaim our faith, but it is more than this too.  Indeed it is to speak up for those who have no voice, but it will be more than this as well.  "Peace (shalom or wholeness) I leave with you, As the Father sent me, I send you" (John 20:21) says Jesus, when the disciples see him resurrected.   The Bible's answer is clear.  God calls us to go to be part of a church (or any Christian community) for the exact same reason that Jesus was sent to the world!   When we witness and experience the resurrected Jesus we are sent to bring peace (wholeness) to our neighbors.   That may mean food, or prayer support, or baby siting, or spiritual direction or any host of other things as long they do the work of Jesus to include, reconcile, feed, heal , cast out demons, and yes, even save.

Your Answer 

As the culture is neutral about the church, it is neutral about the Bible,  so just giving the above answer may not at first resonate or seem relevant to those we see on a daily basis.   The way they will see our purpose is by seeing it work out in our lives as we try to do the things Jesus showed us how to do.  This means finding a beautiful and creative way to make Jesus' story part of your story,  not in artificial or boilerplate way, but in a way that is real to you and evident to those around you.   We have word for this in Christian circles,  it is discipleship.   Disciples reflect their master,  they do the same work and have the same agenda.   They go about the work in their own way that reflects who they really are, but the purpose is the same. Disciples of Jesus
 confess that we do the work that Jesus was sent to do.  It is why Paul calls this gathering that meets somewhere near you on Sunday "the body of Christ". Jesus would also command his disciples to make more (Matthew 28:20),  not to build up some movement, or create an organization, or institution, but to carry on what He started at the Cross.

My Answer 

To become a disciple of Jesus Christ,  because like him, we do good for the world.


Keep the Faith,
Pastor Knecht

Christmas Letter 2012

I wish you a Merry Christmas, as well as a happy and blessed New Year.  May the message of the coming Jesus Christ set your hearts at peace.  

 
Before she was in labor she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.

Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?  (Isaiah 66:7-8 NRSV)

There is the world that we wish for,  and there is the world that is.   The events of these past few months have shocked us into recognizing that the world in which we dwell is not how we would really like it to be.   The storm earlier this fall reminded us that even with all our advances that comfort and protect us, raw nature can wipe away what took years to build up in a few short minutes. The shock of children being killed in their school rooms reminds us that the world contains great evil that can erupt any moment.   Yet, in this mess of a world we live, we read:  “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;” (Ecclesiastes 3:12 NRSV)  For these events remind us that every moment is precious and comes by only once.  This Bible reminds us that this point is reason enough to savor the times and the seasons this Christmas, and yet if this is all there is, things may still seem bittersweet.  

But there is always more with God.   There is the true miracle of Christmas: the incarnation. God becoming one of us.   God out of love does not leave the world to its own devices, he enters into the mess, becoming as we are,  to tell us we are not alone in our suffering.  For Christ suffered as we suffer.  “Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you,”  writes William Dix in the hymn “What Child is This?”  Through the resurrection of Jesus suffering is always transformed into hope. Nikolaus Herman wrote:

He undertakes a great exchange,

puts on our human frame,

And in return gives us his realm,

his glory and his name.  

At both the manger and the cross, God transforms the mess of our world; at both, the Spirit comes to call people together into a community to support and be there for one another.   Likewise if the suffering we have witnessed these past few months is to have any meaning we must answer the Spirit’s call to come together, listen to each other, offer our tangible and emotional support in order to be with our neighbors in their suffering as God has shown to be with us in ours.  We have the power to give suffering meaning by demonstrating love in all its tangible forms.  One of the best ways to demonstrate our love and to start this process is simply just to celebrate with others so that we all get the message that we are not alone.  Yes this world is a mess, but we are in this mess together, I would rather be in the mess with you than be in the most perfect of worlds alone.   That is what Christmas means to me, that is what I have seen in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  So Merry Christmas and as always....

Keep the Faith,

Pastor Knecht 


PS: If you are around the Springfield NJ area come and celebrate with us this weekend.    

Saturday December 22,  5:30PM Worship & Christmas Carol Sing along (with cookies!!) 
Sunday December 23, 10 AM Worship featuring special guest artists.  

Monday December 24, 3PM Live Nativity,  
4 PM Family Christmas Worship, 
7 PM Candlelight Worship. 

How Do We Respond?

Words can not express how I sad, outraged, and fearful I feel in the wake of yesterdays' shooting.  As a father of two children of the ages of those killed this really hit home,  but I would like to think about how do we minister to our neighbors in times such as these.  Lots of people will have lots of questions.   Lots of us will be providing answers that may make ourselves feel good, but may or may not be helpful to others.   I would like to just quickly go through some of the questions I have seen in media, social networking and conversations with friends.

Where was God?

The question that always comes from these events.   How can a good God let this happen?  Some will answer that God is not really there, others (even people of faith sometimes) will say that God was powerless and could not be there.  Others will answer that God was in the midst of the suffering (my default response as a Christian) and still others will say God was in the actions of those who executed the countless acts of self sacrificing love to protect and comfort those involved.   As our society has fragmented, how people answer these questions may depend as much on what group they are in as it does on personal reflection.   Those in the secular media will err on the "God was not there" side,  those of  us in the Church will find stories of God's presence in many of the details as they come out over the next few days.   The real point for those of us who want to be there for others is, what are the real ideas and emotions behind these responses?  Those who speak of God not there, may have something deeper that they are trying to grasp.  Those of us who affirm God's presence may be wanting to make sure that our friends and neighbors have hope to meet uncertainty of living in this mixed up world.  So my prayer will be for the Spirit to lead me and all those who care the wisdom to listen through the conversation to the deeper realities.

Do we do politics?

This seems to be the most divisive question.  The default answer that many people come up first is no.   It is not the time.  President Obama said as much in his response yesterday.   Lots of posts on my Facebook news-feed said something similar.  The emotions are too raw,  people need time to grieve,  it will upset those who are have been victimized by this shooting are some of the default answers.   There is some truth in this but not the whole truth.   I would encourage those of us who minister to listen to those on the other side.   There will be a significant portion people who hear behind this response a lack of resolve to make the necessary changes to help avoid these types of events in the future.   People who want to make sure that we don't change the wrong things, or change too much, will also fear that emotions will lead people to make choices that will have unintended consequences down the road.   There will be people on all sides of the spectrum who will say now is precisely the time to use political processes to either make changes or guard cherished values.   Please understand these people care just as much about those who suffer tragedy as those who need time to mourn or process do.  It is just another way that people cope with the horror.   So my prayer will be for the Spirit to lead me to listen to those who have a different response than I do, take it in, and think about it seriously.

How do we tell our children? 

I am an advocate of limiting children's access to the media.   We do not leave the cable news on in our home.   Images have power, and have been shown in neurological studies to rewire the brain.   So we need to be careful.   I  am also an advocate of telling the truth to our children in ways that they can handle.   This means being upfront that people, and yes children died.   I am not a big believer in using euphemisms to talk about death to children.  I think that talking around death only confuses children and merely communicates our our anxieties.   Young children can basically only think concretely, but are masters at reading emotions.   This does not mean you need to tell them every detail,  but you should find a way to communicate the essentials.  It is also important to communicate your love and your willingness to be there for them.  Kids need stability especially when they hear about tragedy.  When they go to school on Monday the other children will be talking about this.  So my prayer is for the Spirit to help me communicate to my children the tragedy in the most healthy way and to let them know how much I love them. 

I know there may be other things on people's minds, but these were the three that stood out to me.  I am sure there is much more to say and to listen to.

Keep the Faith,

Pastor Knecht