Where can I find God's Kingdom?

Jesus begins his ministry with the a simple invitation. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  (Mark 1:15 NRSV) 

I want to talk about where to find God's kingdom rather than when. Many people over the centuries have been focused on the timing of God's Kingdom.   They see that when Jesus uses the word near he was talking about time, but what if Jesus was using the word in its other sense in order to talk about space. What if Jesus meant that the Kingdom of God is close?   It's right here, you can find it if you look.

Since the earliest gathering of the church the core Christian confession about Christ is that "Jesus is Lord."  He is the king.   As Jesus debates with Pilate in the Gospel of John, one of the things that Pilate seems to misunderstand is where Jesus is the King of.   For Pilate the Roman politician the only reason anyone could claim to be a king is because they actually have a kingdom.  Jesus replies  “My kingdom is not from this world” (John 18:36 NRSV)  The grammar matters; Jesus speaks about the kingdom in present tense, therefore it already exists.  You may well ask,  if as Jesus says. his kingdom is not from this world, then how can it be close to us spatially? 

When Jesus spoke about God's kingdom being not from this world he appears to be explaining that the nature of it is different than anything else we experience in this life.  We can infer this because Jesus himself asks a rhetorical question about God's kingdom   “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?" (Mark 4:30 NRSV) He then uses a variety of parables from a variety of life experiences to help us grasp the mystery.  It is the fact that God's kingdom is such a singular phenomenon that we might miss where we can actually find it.

One thing we can not do is bring about the kingdom on our terms.  We must find the kingdom on God's terms.   It is God who gives the kingdom.   A parable such as the seed growing secretly points this out.  "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how." (Mark 4:26-27 NRSV)

Some may say that we can not find it in this life, it is in the afterlife.   But when I read a verse such as   “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62 NRSV) this limited view of the kingdom seems to make little sense.   Instead, from my reading of the Gospels I see that kingdom includes both this life and the next.   The next life, like this life is a component of God's kingdom.  So, part of the good news of the kingdom is that we do not have to wait until we die to see it. 

So where can we find the kingdom?  The answer is simple, find the king and you will find the kingdom.  We know that king is found wherever the body of Christ is found.  In other words,  the kingdom is not so much a place as a people.  Jesus explains  Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29 NRSV). 

The two metaphors for the kingdom fully experienced (which is what heaven really is) are the great feast and the great worship.   The feast was Jesus' primary metaphor for the complete kingdom.  John of Patmos gave the church the vision of worship as a metaphor in the final book of the Bible.   The thing that holds these two visions of the kingdom together is the faithful gathered.  A great church service in this life can be a "foretaste of the feast to come."   Now I realize that church services (even at my own church) are not always great, however one can always catch glimpses.  One can grab hold of the reality that the kingdom is close. 

Additionally. worship is only one of many ways that the faithful gather.  We gather for study, fellowship, and service as well, and the kingdom promise works when or wherever the faithful gather to love God and neighbor.  The hope that the kingdom is near to me, you, and anyone in this world is good news in the midst of the strife that we experience in this world.   I invite you to come along with us this November and find how close God's kingdom really is.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

Is Christ an Avenger?

With all the buzz about the latest Marvel Avengers film about, I recently noticed a meme in my social media feed that portrayed Jesus as an avenger.  It even had him dressed in a superhero costume. I'm sure this is all just some good clean fun!   However, until archaeologists dig up said costume, I will assume Jesus didn't really have one.  The verse quoted in the meme is:

 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things,1 Thessalonians 4:6 (NRSV)

This is the only time that Paul or any other New Testament writer calls Christ an avenger.  Jesus never speaks of himself using this term.

An a avenger is one who brings vengeance, and the Bible has much to say on this topic. For example St. Paul writes:

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21 (NRSV)

So vengeance is the province of God and does not belong to us.  So one can speak of God and Jesus as avengers only in the sense that ultimate justice is determined by God.  Looking at some of the other ways we describe Christ might help us see why the term may not really explain who Christ really is. 

The first confession of the early followers of Christ was to call him "Lord". This was the confession that Christ is sovereign and one with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.   Avengers are reactive. They are responding to the actions of others.  When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are confessing that God is in control.   The outcome is assured. God is acting first for the salvation of all and we are the one's responding to events initiated by God.  In superhero movies like the Avengers series, they are never in control of events they are reacting and surviving.

The followers of Christ, shortly after his resurrection began to call Jesus "Savior." Jesus doesn't merely avenge,  Christ saves. Salvation looks very different than vengeance.  Vengeance is temporary and cyclical, it only lasts until the next slight.   Salvation is permanent and eternal; it breaks the cycle of sin and retribution.  Vengeance is about hurting the perpetrator back and causing wounds as payback.  Salvation is healing and making whole.  Vengeance is filled with anxiety while salvation is peace in every sense of the word. Vengeance kills, but salvation gives life.

So the central witness of Scripture shows that Christ is God's Son who is sovereign and wills that all who believe will be saved.   God jealously holds on to vengeance because of its destructiveness, while Christ offers salvation freely because it renews, redeems and restores people and things.  Scripture teaches us that God is Justice and God determines what Justice is.   While vengeance may be a tool in bringing about Justice, it is rough and incomplete one.   It can only get one so far.

This is clearly seen in the only instance I could find where God was called an avenger in the Old Testament.  The verse is in Psalm 99.

O Lord our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Psalms 99:8 (NRSV)

The psalmist is describing God as the King who loves and is committed to Justice.  In this psalm the avenger is also the forgiver.   God drives out the evil but restores the relationship with the evil doer.  The psalmist then advocates that our appropriate response to this is worship.   This theme is picked up in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of St.John.   In your Bible you may notice that Christ is called that "Almighty'.   This is the English translation of the Greek term ὁ παντοκράτωρ which really means ruler of all.  The Bible concludes with a picture of God's promised salvation in the new heaven and earth that requires no sequel.

So, is Christ an avenger? Well, yes he is, but He is so much more. I pray that you may nurture your faith by seeking out God through your interaction with Scripture.   This way your picture of God will be defined by the Word of God Himself and not merely the culture.  For we have a Lord and we have a Savior for whom a costume is not necessary.

Be blessed

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

Easter: the Victory of Faith

For whatever is born of God conquers the world.  And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith! 1 John 5:4 

The Devil the World and Eroded Trust

If I would only look at the news,  I  would conclude simply that we live in a skeptical age. Seeing is believing we say, and even if we do see it, someone will question what it is we actually saw.   In our world today truth is said to be all in the numbers: poll numbers in politics, balance sheets in businesses (and yes sadly churches!) SAT or PARC scores in our schools.  Yet others will heap doubt upon those very numbers challenging that they don't really represent anything at all. 

Different camps will have different truths.  The savvy manipulator can go shopping for facts.  Institutions no longer have the credibility to mediate differing ideas and form consensus. The pressures of our current times have led us to doubt many things, if not most things.  If one goes with the flow of our culture there is little hope left in our world today.  Everything has an explanation, nothing is good or bad.  All is relative. Value neutral judgments rule from classroom to boardroom.  Unlike our ancestors who formed common ideas of virtue and vice, all has become utilitarian.   The left, right and center groups of culture are no different from each other in this regard.   All morality has devolved into self justification.   We are reliving the fall of Adam and Eve over and over again.  The serpents skeptical push rings in our ears, TV sets, and social media feeds.  If all become nihilists, the devil wins. 

The Real Alternative: Faith 

How different this is from what we are called to be by God in the witness of the Bible and through the moving of the Holy Spirit. We are reborn to be set apart from the wider world. It is not only OK to be different it is necessary.

Christians are called to be optimistic and hold certain virtues dearly.  Life matters from womb to tomb.  Each life has dignity,  We pay special attention to the lives of those beaten down by the world, and yes, even our enemies.  We are called to witness our faith in Christ, which as Christ modeled to us himself, means listening as much as speaking.  We hold that all are created good, even in the face of evil.

Our optimism is not the pie in the sky variety held used by marketers and prosperity preachers to get us to open our wallets or click the "buy it now" button.  It is the steadfast variety confirmed by scripture and witness, that the God who rescued Israel sent Jesus to redeem our world.  Our worldview starts with the premise that Christ and the good will ultimately triumph.  Indeed some will call us naive, but better to be pure of heart in the service of virtue and building things that last, than wise or worldly to merely satisfy our transient lusts.  When your life on earth is done, what side do you want to be on?  We indeed like Christ, may be called to pay a price, but that price will always be worth paying. The struggle may be long, arduous, and not all sugar coated, but the outcome is sure. Life will win! 

Easter Victory! 

How can we have the confidence to be optimistic in world so full or strife? Simple, listen to the Word of God that has upheld the faithful since Abraham.  In short, it says that God acts for good in our world at all times.  For us who follow Christ it specifically means that God sent his son born into this world just like we were so that we might be redeemed.  This redemption was done for us by Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  Three days after Jesus was put to death, he rose from the dead, destroying our last enemy and binding Satan underfoot.  This witness has been seen and handed down through the generations of the faithful.  Billions have experienced this truth in their lives and shared it with others. 

For us Christians, the watchword is faith,  the trust that God’s promises are actually for us.  This is grounded in the hope of resurrection. Our trust in Christ leads us to view our world differently than those who are skeptical or nihilistic.  For the faithful, the world is full of hope, as we see God working in all situations.  It is full of wonder, when the unexpected good comes along. It is realistic in the midst of crisis, but active in the midst of need.  It is humble when examining the potential of ourselves, but expectant when seeing God at work in the lives of others.  Our faith values love, justice and the intrinsic value of all life because we know that the only source of good is the God of life.  This we remember every Easter when we contemplate the empty tomb.

No, we have not conquered the old skeptical Adam within ourselves just yet, but by clinging to Christ we will not let the darker side of ourselves have supremacy.  So as Christians, we hold fast to our faith and the promise delivered at Easter.  May God strengthen your faith that you may always believe and have life in Christ's name. For he is risen indeed!

Blessed Easter 

Pastor Knecht 

The Bible Challenge

I challenge you to read the Bible in 2018. Not parts of the Bible, the whole thing. “We must learn to know the Scriptures once again… as our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and work it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

To be a Christian is to be a person of the Word of God. We were called into a relationship with God through the Word. As we say in the Lutheran Church, it is the source and norm of our faith. It is the place we go to find out about how we should deal with the central issues of life. Contemporary culture may not hold the Bible in high esteem, but that is to its detriment; it need not be ours. We have the gifts of God given to us through the Word, we must not throw them away, or relegate them to dust covered bookshelves in the spare bedrooms of our lives. Our life and our salvation is the most precious gift we have, therefore the Word should have pride of place.

Yes, the Whole Enchilada!

While every person of faith has parts of the Bible they like better than others, it is important to read the whole story so that we may know the strengths and weaknesses of our faith. We can at times place ourselves in a spiritual feedback loop, which constantly confirms long held beliefs without question or introspection. This happens often with devotionals that only use individual verses, or churches that only follow a lectionary with narrow range of the wider body of Scripture. Focusing on pieces of Scripture to the exclusion of the whole story of salvation can stunt the growth of a faith life or leave one ill equipped when life brings new challenges. Holy Scripture does not consist of individual passages; it is a unit and it is intended to be used as such (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

Christians are People of the Book

To be a Christian is to be in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We cannot do that without the reading of Scripture. “Consecutive reading of biblical books forces everyone… to put (oneself)… where God has acted once and for all for the salvation of (people).” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together) In other words, God’s story becomes our story, and yes vice versa our lives become part of God’s story too. Regular Bible reading changes who we are and that can be a blessing to others and even the entire world.

As one who reads history often I can tell you that so many of the blessings that we have today were inspired by those who steeped their entire lives in the biblical story. From things such as the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, child labor laws, to the freedom of individual conscience, the story of God’s salvation inspired those who fought for these things. “The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451) I challenge you to be a Bible person (not a thumper) one who lets God’s story breathe through their life. As you will read in the Gospels, Jesus lived in exactly this way; just look at how many times he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures.

How to Start

If you have not read the Bible regularly before, I encourage you to begin by reading 1-2 chapters continuously of the New Testament daily beginning with Mathew’s Gospel and ending with Revelation. By doing this, you will complete the New Testament in well under a year. As Christians, we read the rest of the Bible through the eyes of Christ, so this is the best place to start.

If you have some experience with the Bible, perhaps a chapter of the Old Testament read continuously, with a Psalm, and when you finished them, a chapter from Proverbs, followed by a chapter of the New Testament. You will not finish the Bible in a year, but will have read the majority of it.

To complete the Bible in a year you can google a plan, there are many available, or you might read 5-6 chapters of Scripture a day. It is important not to get bogged down when you get to those sections of Scripture that can seem monotonous, such as descriptions of the temple furnishings, genealogies, or obscure parts of the Torah. It is important therefore to have a mix of Old Testament and New Testament readings. It is also OK to skim these parts, as long as you aware of what you are leaving out. The goal is the familiarity with the big story of the Bible. I hope that this can be blessing for you in 2018 and you too can let the story of God breathe through your life.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

The Rule of Grace

Where Do You See God's Grace? 

This entire year throughout the world people have remembered, celebrated, and discussed the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.   The central tenet of the movement was a renewed understanding of God's saving grace.  Simply put, God acts first to bring us to him.  We don't act first to approach God.   This truth is revealed in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians "he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephesians 1:9-11 NRSV) The reformers asked the tough question; are our church's practices consistent with the person and work of Jesus Christ.   This is the critical question for our time today.   Are our actions reflecting the love shown to us in the life, death, resurrection and love of Jesus Christ.

A couple of key points to remember are:

1. God decided to love us by sending Christ, we had no choice in the matter. 

2.  Christ did the work of cross and resurrection without our help.

3.  God asks us to be gracious to others in the same way God has been gracious to us.

These points are summed up in Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.... For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, (NRSV)  

The Rule of Grace 

Intentional Christian communities often live by a rule.  The most well known being the Rule of St. Benedict.  The monastic rule is less a series of commands than a formula.   It is a way of going through the day in which one encounters God.  Time is measured through prayer and worship.  The time is allotted for meaningful work, meditation, tending relationships and rest.   It is through following this rule that communities hope to walk with God and be a blessing to their neighbors.  Like one would expect living in a mixed up world with mixed up people, sometimes this worked and sometimes it did not.   The times it did work was when the communities were guided by the higher rule (or as Paul would say the more excellent way).  This higher rule is one that binds all Christians.  We are to follow the Rule of Grace; we are to be a gift for the world, giving gifts to the world.

Using the above definition of the Rule of Grace, I would like you to think about applying it in three ways.   First, as challenge or command to be a person who is gracious in his or her dealings.   We are called to be people who understand that God's grace is not limited to spiritual things.  The material blessings we have, home, food, leisure, job, community and the natural beauty of this world are all evidence of a gracious God's provision.

Second, that we use the Rule of Grace as formula to guide how we should look at things, solve problems and contribute to the life of our community, country, and world.  When dealing with an issue we ask how does this stand in the light of God's grace.

Finally, we let the Rule of Grace rule our hearts and minds.  We approach God in prayer and understand that though we may try to earn, build or work grace, that is not what gives us dignity and salvation.  That has been already given by God through the person and work of Jesus Christ.   Being people of grace we humbly understand that it is our Lord who ultimately in control.  We are therefore freed from fear of sin, death, and rejection, because we know that God is good and God loves us. 

The World Needs People of Grace 

One things that seems to unite all sides in the debates raging in society today is a lack of graciousness. Partisans from all political, social and religious groups  have decided that demonization and judgement of their opponents (or convenient targets) is the only way to achieve goals.   Our Lord did not act like this, God gave grace precisely when it was not deserved or earned.  This changed the world.   Being people of grace is good news not just for us alone but for those who interact with us on a daily basis.  This is not just about us.  Grace is God's gift to the world.   So I am asking you to live by the Rule of Grace and let grace rule your life.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

Re-Making God's People: Back to the Sources

When I walk into a library I head straight to the new book section and look for the latest history books.   One of the ways that I can tell if  book is worth my time, is checking to see if there are notes in the back or at the end of the chapters.   Any non-fiction book without recorded sources is worthless.   If you don't know the sources, how can you be sure that the author isn't  just making stuff up?   By examining the sources one can also find clues about the presuppositions and possible agenda of the author.   All of this together can help the reader discern whether or not the history portrayed in the work is a plausible explanation of what happened.

A concern for good sources was at the heart of the Protestant Reformation.   Luther did not come to advocate for change in the church just because he felt like it.  He examined what was going on in the church in his day and then compared it to his study of Scripture and the writings of the church fathers and arrived at an informed conclusion that the church had strayed from God's intention for it   Much of what Luther argued for was simply that people ground their faith life in the good sources that God provides for us to live a full life of faith.   So rather than merely celebrating the past why don't we learn from it?  The Reformation taught us that they only way the church can truly meet the needs of the people today is if it stays grounded in the sources revealed by God throughout the history of God's people. 

Scripture Alone 

We come to know God's Word through the gift of the Scriptures contained in the Bible.  It is the primary source document of the faith.   Luther translated the Bible into German so more people could read it for themselves.   The reformers argued that the Bible should be read so that people can search for Christ.  In the scripture we find both Law and Gospel.   We learn about where we need God in our life and how we might amend our ways.  We then come to know the love and grace of God to help bring us to a place of healing and reconciliation.   Scripture helps us discern between what is God's Word and what is our witness (or opinion).  While our witness is vital and many Christians should give witness to God more than they do, it is of secondary importance to the Word of God which brings life. Scripture is an objective source to gauge our life of faith.  So the lesson of the Reformation is to take Scripture seriously, read it daily, pay attention to the context of section you are reading, and don't use little snippets of it to merely prove your argument.  The Word is not Bible trivia; it is life and death. Read it and live. 

Faith Alone 

Our well being will not be determined by what we do, but by whom we trust.  Disciples of Jesus Christ really don't believe in self-help,  they believe in the God of grace who provides help.  Our customs, practices, responsibilities, and actions find their true value only when they open our eyes to faith.   Our trust that God's promises are truly for us, is the only outcome that Grace requires.  While we may want this thing or that thing to happen in our lives, or we might want to change the world, in the end what will matter will be who we are walking with in trust.  We do not find our center in an identity, organization, religion, country, political party, clique, club, or the achievements we place on our resume, but in the loving arms of God.  Salvation is more than mere self-esteem; it is a trusting relationship with God and neighbor.  Therefore the Reformation teaches us to tend to our faith life, to move forward in trust, and to look for God's work in the world. 

Grace Alone

We have not been given life, hope and salvation because we have earned it in any conceivable way. Jesus did not die for me because I am such a great guy.  We are all good and bad mixed up, simultaneously saint and sinner, virtuous one day and deplorable the next.  God chose to send the Son because God loves the world.   If we deserved it, it would not be Grace.   There is no double entry accounting Excel sheet in the sky with my sins in one column and and brownie points in the other. God knows us way better than that and God has chosen to love us through Jesus Christ.   Our preferences tastes are often confused with the means of Grace; we feel that people need to worship the way we like it, read the things we think are important, act the way we want in church, and increasingly these days hold the political views that make us comfortable.  Grace has little to do with a world's concept of happiness, prosperity, or acceptance.   It is a validation and verification of our God given identity as beloved children of God created in God's image, often in spite of the culture's rejection of us.

Christ Alone

The Gospel of the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is our story.   It is not merely a series of facts; it is the life giving hope that informs every aspect of our life.   We called by the Holy Spirit to live a life "in Christ".  It is in Jesus that we move and have our being. How are our actions, beliefs and emotions seen in the shadow of the cross? Can we look at others the way Christ looks at us?   When we look to Christ we see the fullness of God and the truth about our world both good and bad.  Christ will at times challenge us (Law) and other times  uphold us (Gospel) but as the Resurrection reminds us, Christ will never abandon us.  The actions of our church, Word and Sacrament are given so that we can come and meet (commune with) Christ and our sisters and brothers.   Christ is the mediator and bridge between the divine and human, and often the bridge between divided human beings.

These four, Scripture, Faith, Grace and Christ are the sources of our common Christian life.  The history of the faithful is a story of a dance between wandering away from the sources and through the work of the Spirit, finding our way back to them.  My prayer for you is that your ideas find their true source in the Word of God, that your life is lived while drinking from the source of Faith, that your dignity and worth is watered from the source of Grace, and that you find God through Jesus Christ.

Keep the Faith.
Pastor Knecht 

When God Gets in the Way

The Dream of Babel 

Recently I while in prayer I was thinking about some dreams that I held when I was younger that didn't pan out the way I had hoped.  These were both personal and professional; for some of them, I worked hard and dedicated myself diligently to bring them to fruition.  However, as I reflected on the family, friends, and life situation I actually have today, I thanked God that these dreams were dashed. The implications of their fulfillment would have been disastrous for me and those I love. By standing in the way of my dreams God actually saved me.

Normally, we don't like to think about God this way.   Many times we pray for God to give us the things we ask for.  We hope for the god who will give us what we want and we think it will be for the best, but this god as candyman theology may not work out so well in the end.

Provocatively, the Bible also shows us that this God who stands in the way, deals not only with our individual wants, but also the collective wishes of our culture.   In Genesis 11, creation is just getting back on track after the flood and the people gather in Mesopotamia to say “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4 NRSV)

With all due respect to my Sunday School teacher back in the day, the problem with the dream of Babel really wasn't that the tower would reach heaven.  There are actually two problems revealed in the text.   The first is the self promotion "make a name for ourselves" the second is the fear of being scattered upon the earth.  I know that it might be hard for us to see these as problems at first, one may ask what is wrong with making a name for oneself?   Or, shouldn't we try to keep everyone together?

Perhaps some of the excesses in our culture can help us see the problem with our dreams of Babel.   In our current age, self-promotion is regarded as a crowning virtue, our political leaders,business executives, celebrities and sadly even some church leaders who we look up to embrace these values. However the extreme cost of self promotion lies at the heart of many of our ills.   Our leaders in government, business and society can often put their privilege before their responsibilities of service to others.  There are those who use their positions in government or business to create systems that are self-perpetuating and do nothing for society at large.

The left fears inequality and the right fears moral decline, but both are driven by the engine of self promotion. Consider the teenager trying to be cool and get more likes on whatever social media platform is hip these days.   They may be willing to risk bodily injury, sexual humiliation, or emotional shame to be popular.  Others will indeed look to perpetuate these evils on thier peers to show how worthy they are of clicks, likes, and attention, thus the vulnerable are exploited for the amusement of the cruel.

The second problem of Babel, the fear of being scattered upon the earth, actually contradicts God's command at creation and after the flood, where people are called to fill the earth. It manifests itself today in the suppression of genuine diversity.   By this I do not mean the pop-liberalism of the Pepsi generation but the actual hard work of working toward the dignity of those who are genuinely different than us.  The dream of Babel, of everyone speaking the same language, working on only one goal to say "hey we're great" is actually the nightmare of the monoculture.  Biologists will tell you that the weakest ecosystems are those that are monocultural. They have little resilience and are prey to disease and even slight environmental changes.  

No wonder God looked down at Babel and said  “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. (Genesis 11:6 NRSV) So God confuses the languages thus multiplying them.   This creates a diversity of humanity that is able then to multiply and fill the earth.  God stops the dream of Babel dead in it's tracks for the good of all. Humanity is richer, more resilient, and a heck of a lot more interesting.

The Promise of Abraham 

In the narrative of Genesis, the tower of Babel shows how human sin will continue its destructive path thorugh history unless God intervenes. It is the final universal origin story. It sets up God's salvation plan for all which begins in the very next chapter with God focusing on a particular family, the family of Abraham. We read in Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (NRSV)

The contrasts with the dream of Babel are informative.   Abraham will be made great by God, he will not do it alone.  His greatness will not be an end in itself but given in order that others may be blessed.  God will work his plan through Abraham's and his descendant's failures perhaps even more than their successes.  What God prevents will be as important as what God empowers. Abraham will mess up often but still walk with God.  It communicates this simple truth; who we really are is not defined by ourselves alone, it is also defined by who we are in relationship with.  It is God's work through Abraham that will create the blessing.   Genesis demonstrates futility of self-promotion at Babel with the fruitfulness and blessing of God-promotion through the life of Abraham and his family.  

It is a call for all of us to tend to our relationship with God and resist the temptation of trying to go it alone.  The Apostle Paul would write in Romans 4:16 "For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of all of us, (NRSV) The Bible teaches us that those who we walk with are more important than our dreams and fantasies and that if we walk with God and those God put in our life well, we too will be blessed.

Keep the Faith,
Pastor Knecht

Tragedy and Promise

The Story of Jesus can show us that what may seem chaotic, dangerous and scary to us can actually be a part God’s plan to bring about hope for the world.   This theme is evident in Matthew’s accounts of Jesus’ early years.  We learn that the Magi (or wise men) who scan the stars for signs of divine activity on earth, are in search of a newborn King and are on their way to Bethlehem where Jesus is.  Tragically their journey alerts the paranoid old king Herod, who as he approaches death, sees plots and conspiracies to overthrow him behind every random occurrence.   He used what he gleaned from the wise men to find a focus for his delusional rage. He orders the death of all young boys under two in Bethlehem.   The forces of darkness and sin are trying to derail God’s plan at every opportunity.   Almost completely incomprehensible, is the fact that the collateral damage will be vulnerable and defenseless children.  Mothers and Fathers will suffer the most feared occurrence of parenting, the loss of a child.   The text is clear; this could have been Mary and Joseph.   They and their child Jesus were at risk. 

Yet Matthew’s message is ultimately one of hope.  God is working in the midst of the chaos to bring completion to the story of salvation.    We learn that the Magi when visiting Jesus come with gifts.   Not just any gifts, gifts fit for a king.   Yet these gifts are also portable, and can be taken with them on a journey.   God knows that Jesus may need to be on the move and that the resources will come in handy to provide for his and his family’s survival.    Joseph is warned in a dream to get up and take his family to Egypt and flee Herod.  Egypt would be a relatively safe place as it was outside of Herod’s territory, controlled directly by a Roman governor, had a thriving economy, and there were large communities of Jews already living there for many years.   God’s hand of guidance can be clearly seen protecting and directing the young Jesus.   The gifts from the Magi that fund the trip, the dream to get Joseph moving, a country of sanctuary a reasonable journey away, and a community of fellow countrymen when they arrived, are all just too convenient not to be planned out by God.

We see the hope in the story working on a number of levels.   One is that God is clearly more powerful than all the forces of this world.   God is able to overcome any chaos that world throws at Him.   More importantly for the Christian witness, is that God goes through the chaos of life with us.   The story of the flight to Egypt is sadly not an uncommon one.   People must flee adversity or leave home for opportunity all the time.   There are dangers and tragedies on the way for many migrants and refugees whose stories each and every day are similar to that of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.   What does it mean that we have a Savior who spent time as refugee from violence?  The writer of the book of Hebrews gives us a clue when we read: “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. (Hebrews 2:18 NRSV)”  

Jesus would experience the full range of human experience both good and bad.   We do not have an indifferent Savior, but one who literally and actually knows our pain.  This is what the miracle of the incarnation is all about, that God becomes one of us and accompanies us through the chaos of this world.   This is proven most powerfully at the cross where Jesus suffers the abandonment of all and the painful death on the cross.   Jesus is brought through this death into the resurrection showing us exactly what God will do for those who trust in him, give eternal life.

So the story of Jesus’ escape to Egypt is designed to do two things for us.  The first is to strengthen our faith and build us up so that we can be confident in the loving care of a great and amazing God who is more powerful than anything in all the universe.   The second is to have compassion for our brothers and sisters in the world who suffer today.   Matthew will report towards the end of his Gospel (chapter 25) the teaching of Jesus that says when we serve those in adversity we are helping Jesus himself.  This will be the sole criteria of what a living, active and fruitful faith looks like, or as the apostle John will write in his letter “for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20 NRSV) 

Who Bears My Cross?

Who bears my cross?  How we answer this question will reveal much about what we think about God,  the world and our own selves.  Perhaps you have an obvious answer or you struggle to figure it out. maybe you have never even thought about it.  This Holy Week and Easter I would like to wrestle with this question and see how different answers lead us in different directions.

Answer 1: Jesus Bears My Cross

Perhaps if God has gotten you through a tough time in your life recently this is your answer.   One looks at a situation that seemed impossible to overcome and yet by God's grace that person is still standing.  One realizes his or her limitations and relies on the power of God to make up for one's weakness.  The strength of this answer is that it can lead one to a powerful, daily, and living relationship with God.  

The problem with this answer is that Jesus specifically excludes it. 

Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. Luke 14:27(Message)

The way of Jesus Christ demands that we carry our cross behind him. In fact Jesus never tells us that he will bear our cross, he promises life eternal, forgiveness, healing, and hope, but not an escape.   There is a way that the statement "Jesus bears my cross" can be used to justify not living out one's faith at all.  One simply states "Jesus is my Lord and Savior" and "he took all my sins upon the cross" to justify a lack of transformation in one's life.   Then that one can go on living the way they always have.  

This answer can lead to a narcissistic focus on the self.  Jesus becomes our personal servant to bear any on the hard spiritual work we should actually be doing.  In this picture Jesus becomes "the help" and one barely knows his name and certainly little about what he is actually doing.   

Unfortunately, using the answer that Jesus bears my cross is good business.   It can be used to market a consumer friendly version of the gospel that makes no demands on life of the believer.   Just accept a few words as true and drop a few bucks in the plate is all they will ask.   This is what Diettrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace,  grace bought and sold on a religious marketplace.  Seeing this picture in all its gory detail leads me to ask did Jesus really die for this? 

Answer 2: I Bear it by Myself

This answer seems to correspond to Jesus' call carry one's own cross in discipleship and follows the pattern Jesus himself set.   Jesus carried his own cross after all. 

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. John 19:17-18 (NRSV)

The strength of this answer is that it does place accountability for the spiritual life back onto the shoulders of the believer.   One is taking up the cross head on.  One is making the changes in his or her life that should lead to transformation.  It confirms the truth of the the saying "we all have our cross to bear." It also recognizes the truth that Jesus' cross is different than mine. Jesus bore the sin of the world, I only bear an image of what he did.   

However,  as tempting to see this as the final answer it also has some serious weaknesses. If one focuses too much on our bearing the cross on one's own, one crowds out God.   Bearing the cross on one's own becomes a path to self righteousness.  It is all about what I do and not what God does. It also is over focussed on the self; the struggles of others have little meaning. This leads me to ask along with St. Paul the question "if I bear it myself then why did Jesus have to die?"  (Galatians 2:21) 

Answer 3: I Bear it with Help 

The simple fact of the matter is that when Jesus bore the cross he did not make it all the way on his own.   

As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. Luke 23:26 (NRSV)

Jesus the human couldn't do it all on his own, he needed the power of the Father and the help of others to carry the cross. This was all part of  God's plan to show us the way of salvation and peace.  A clue can be found on the night in which Jesus was betrayed when he gave a new commandment 

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34 (NRSV) 

We are limited sinful human beings we can not always bear our cross on our own.  One centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ realizes that while one is accountable to carry one's cross and follow Jesus, we are not always able to do it, and sometimes we will even rebel from doing so.   I have noticed in the churches I have served over these 20+ years that often when I ask for a deeper commitment to Christ or the congregation someone will not able able to make it. 

Jesus realizes this and that is why he gave us the gift of church.  By this I do not mean the institution but the Christ centered Spirit filled organic community that is the Body of Christ.   We are called to help each other bear our crosses.  Yes we all have our cross to bear, but that does not mean that can't help each other carry them.   An individual can never separate his or her personal discipleship from the rest of the body of Christ.  We are connected to each other. 

When we focus exclusively on Jesus bearing the cross for us, or it's opposite, our carrying exclusively it on our own, we individualize and spiritualize the gospel.   When we realize that we are called to not only carry our own cross but to help each other along the way the gospel becomes more tangible.   My personal cross to bear has spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, and political hang ups.   When we bear each other's cross we get involved in the reality of our world because we get involved in the reality of our fellow children of God's actual lives.  

So this Holy Week and Easter I ask that we follow the advice of St. Paul: 

Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2(NRSV)

Be blessed, 

Pastor Knecht 

The Real Christmas Miracle: Pastor Knecht's Christmas Meditation 2014

Luke 2:1-2 (NRSV) In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

When we read the Christmas story this Christmas Eve, we may skim over these verses listed above. They talk about such mundane things, and we will gather to hear of the miracle of Christmas, yet if you miss the point of this reference you may miss the real Christmas miracle.  Luke wanted to make sure that we had an orderly account of who Jesus was and what he came to do.  So he would like us to know the context of his coming. Why at this particular time and and at this place did Jesus come was a point he wanted the reader to understand.

Luke 2:1-2 set the complex context of Jesus coming beautifully without any superfluous words. The early readers would have understood instantly, modern readers may need a little help.  The Roman Empire had just unified the whole of the known Mediterranean world under Octavian Augustus Ceasar, who ended a period of change and conflict within Rome that had been raging on and off for for about 200 years. A new imperial order had brought stability.  That stability ushered in a period of globalized trade and movement of people and ideas,  Basically silver mined in western Spain could end up in India and spices could end up in the other direction and all points in between.

Like globalization today this beta version came with a steep price. Order was maintained by Roman legions and allied troops raised in the conquered territories.  These troops were paid for in taxes levied on the occupied population.  Those who collected these taxes got their positions by bidding for them.  They made a bid to the state, and would basically get to keep for themselves any funds raised above the bidding price. The collector could raise as much as he liked as long as it did not spark a revolt.   The system is known as tax farming. It went all the way to the top. Quirinius would do the same, his goal was to fill his pockets with as much loot as he could before his term ended.  He could then live the rest of his life in luxury.  For the average person in the ancient Mediterranean world, this system was brutal and degrading.  The Christmas story begins with a family being pushed around because of a corrupt and oppressive system. The head of this system, Augustus, was being hailed as the world's savior.  I often think our manger scenes should include a small desk with tax forms on it to make the point.

This painful and messy point reveals the real Christmas miracle.  God chose to come into this world through a quite ordinary family who had to deal with the problems of living in a complex globalized world.   The idea of the Incarnation is not that we have to keep Christ in some special fantasy land, but that Jesus the Christ comes into our messy, mixed up and broken world, offering salvation, liberation, and life.  Christ enters into the world of Ferguson and Staten Island, Israel and the West Bank, Iraq and Syria, child abuse and divorce,  drug addiction and mental illness, unemployment and cancer, Aids and Ebola.  In Christ's coming, all who endure or fear these manifestations of sin have the hope of the gift of grace and a pathway to a new life.  The way to the Cross and Resurrection leads right through the broken world we actually live in.  God sent Jesus the Son to heal the world by his most merciful coming.  This gift is for us and for all people, and that is indeed a miracle.

Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas,

Pastor Knecht

PS-You are invited to celebrate with us at Holy Cross this Christmas Eve.  Our Living Nativity will start at 3 PM followed with our family worship at 4:30 PM  and conclude our Candlelight Communion at 7 PM.

It's the End of the World as We Know It: And I Feel Fine!

We are a culture that is obsessed with the end times. Being in ministry for almost 20 years now, I have lost count of how many books, articles and emails have come my way dealing the so called end times. Right now, the Left Behind series is coming back to big screen. From the other end of the spectrum, I write this on the day that Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar is to be released in theaters. This film describes a world in danger of ending due to an environmental catastrophe, and a potential attempt to leave earth and settle somewhere else. My daughter has read the Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner and the Selection which all deal with young people dealing with a future broken society on the verge of ending. This brings me back to the days of my own youth, where I watched such films as Soylent Green, Omega Man, Colossus: the Forbin Project, and of course the original Planet of the Apes. Perhaps the appeal of these films is the adrenaline rush of fear one gets as one watches, or thinks about all the bad things that can happen at a potential end of the world. One can then return home to his or her bedroom and be surrounded with the comfort world that is not over quite yet. It was all just a nice thrill ride, or was it?

The Last Days

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, (Hebrews 1:1-2 NRSV) 

These words written by the anonymous author of the New Testament letter of Hebrews almost 2000 years ago, show that the earliest Christians thought that they were living in the last days. They knew that the world that they had known was on the verge of ending. If one looks at this in a simplistic way, one could say they were wrong. We are reading indeed these words 2000 years later. The world did not end, you may say.

Standing at the End of the World 

As someone who reads history voraciously, I can tell you that the simple view is wrong. Countless worlds have come and gone since these words were first penned by an unknown scribe. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 AD. The Roman Empire ended in 476, The black death devastated Europe from 1346 until 1353. Closer to our time the First World War(1914-18) came along and ended the world known as the Gilded Age or Belle Époque (good time). The dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima (1945) could be cited as another (remember those films with the big bugs). Each one of these were world ending events for countless people. In my daily ministry I meet people whose worlds have ended all the time, most often from a death, but sometimes an accident, illness or loss of employment.

Apocalypse as Revelation 

The word apocalypse comes from a greek word meaning to reveal. It is about one having her or his eyes opened to a new way of seeing. This is what happened to the first Christians. The imperial political propaganda of their day regularly told them they were living in the best of all possible worlds (called the Pax Romana) and it would last forever. For a persecuted minority, this was actually bad news. However, these first followers had their way of viewing things changed. What changed it? They saw the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God's only Son. They now knew that things were different. They saw that their world was more fragile than they had thought and was actually a mortal thing. It could die. This would not be a cause for fear, but grounds for hope, because they also saw that God raised Jesus from the dead. This Jesus promised this same blessing for all who follow him (John 3:16).

This did two things for the daily life of the first Christians, and does the same for us who follow in their footsteps as disciples today. First, by not fearing death we are released from our fears for the future. Secondly by coming to a mature understanding that all worlds are mortal we can actually appreciate what a gift it is to have one at this moment. Every moment of your life is a priceless pearl and you can choose to cherish it or take it for granted. To know that there might be a deadline might just help you appreciate the life you have been given just a bit more. This appreciation will motivate you to use your gifts better, find more joy in daily things and be more at peace. This can actually help you make better and fruitful decisions about the future, lift them up in prayer and leave the results to God.

How can I say all this? Because the witness of disciples who lived each day as if it could be their last one have reported these things. Martin Luther is supposed to have said "If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today!". He could say this because he knew what God has done in Jesus guaranteed that if his world ended there would indeed be another and we get to be part of it.

Be blessed

Pastor Knecht

Prayer Applications 

1. In the morning make a list and write down your fears for the future-ask God to help you trust that they can be taken care of. Read Isaiah 25:6-10, Revelation 21:1-7

2. Take a legal pad and write down every good thing you see during your day. Start your day by asking the Holy Spirit  to help you see the good in your world. Give a prayer of appreciation for each as you go to bed. Read Psalm 100.

Merry Christmas 2013

(Luke 2:10-11) But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid! for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. (NRSV)

As we prepare for our Christmas concert "Adoration" this evening at 7:30PM I would like to extend my wishes that you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy new year. I pray I can get to see you this season and give you this message in person.

The words of the angel "Do not be afraid", was the first step in the shepherds realizing the wonder of the good news proclaimed to them. It works the same for us in our own life today. The word of God still opens our hearts by first proclaiming the message that we need not be afraid. Once we can move beyond fear we can understand the true nature of things. Mary needed to hear these words before the angel announced her calling to bear the Messiah and Jesus often preceded his own messages of hope by first announcing that we need be afraid. Fear can often keep us from realizing the truth of things. Before God can restore, heal, and validate the human heart, God must remove the veil of fear. The story of Jesus the Christ that begins at Christmas reminds us of the ultimate hope we have in his resurrection so that we need not fear any situation but can be bold to deal with both our blessings and curses because the ultimate outcome is certain. The good news of Jesus means that we can always be courageous and embrace the truth. So I wish you all blessings and hope the Good News that we never need to be afraid will sink home into your heart this Christmas.

Would love to see you at our 10 AM worship this Sunday and the following events this Advent/Christmas season at Holy Cross:

 Tonight 7:30 PM Adoration Christmas Concert

December 24  Christmas Eve Schedule 
3:00 PM  Living Nativity
4:00 PM Family Christmas Service
7:00 PM Candlelight Communion Service

 Merry Christmas and keep the Faith,
 Pastor Knecht

Humility is for Losers!

Unappreciated Humility 

A recent study by the most respected Christian church social science researcher George Barna asked practicing Christians what qualities do they think are essential for Christian leaders to have.(you can find the article here) I was surprised to find out that humility was only mentioned by 7 percent of the respondents.

You would think that the church whose head humiliated himself to the point of going to the cross for our sins would look upon humility more favorably and value it more highly as a quality for Christian leaders than we apparently do. But alas, it seems that no one values humility anymore. We value things like assertiveness, independence, strength, and power. It beguiles me how so many can miss the importance of this central quality of Christian leadership. To be sure integrity scored highly, but I do not know how one can have integrity without being humble. For younger people authenticity seems to be highly valued, but how can one be truly authentic if one is not humble first?

Humility Defined 

According to the survey, the definition of humility is a willingness to give credit to others. This makes its lack of respect by those who attend evangelical and mainline churches even more surprising. How can one be truly Christian leader if one does not give credit to God and others? Humility according to this definition is the central characteristic to help us live out the great commandment to love God with one's heart, soul and mind and to love one's neighbor as oneself.

Perhaps the decline being witnessed in Christian communities across the board has something to do with the lack of appreciation of the concept of humility. If one pays attention to the various contemporary media outlets, one will see whether one is liberal, or conservative, hip or intellectual, that self promotion is the current modus operandi of our culture. There is apparently no such thing as bad publicity. To give credit to others according to a common worldly understanding is to throw away a valuable resource. Why do it if I do not get the credit? Asks the world.

Biblical Humility

However by living this way and ignoring the contributions of God and others in our relentless search for credit, we damage the relationships necessary for us to live a life of peace and wholeness as God intended. The Biblical definition of humility has a different nuance than that we have seen so far. We can see the Biblical view of humility in Peter's words "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time." 1 Peter 5:6 (NRSV) To humble oneself is to allow God to work within you. If one does not live humbly one therefore does not live for or with God.

Perhaps when Christians ignore humility we are really just revealing our attitude of wanting to go it alone. In the end, if we go it alone all the time our lives will be less full than they could be. We see this wisdom written in Ecclesiastes " Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NRSV) Humility is essential to facilitate community and build relationships.

The Humble One 

This is the exact reason why God sent his Son Jesus in humble fashion; he wanted to create a community of people in relationship to him. God does not want us to go it alone. Paul wrote the Christians in Philippi "he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross." Philippians 2:8 (NRSV) I gave this posting a provocative title because this is how the world views the humble these days. However there is often truth in satire, Jesus himself reminded us that world will always view the humble as those who lose, but that when one loses that which is temporary one gains the eternal. "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." Matthew 16:25 (NRSV)

In the Bible sometimes losing is winning, especially when one is giving up that which keeps him or her removed from The Lord of Heaven and Earth. In the eyes of his Roman executioners the humble Jesus was a loser because he did not challenge their political dominance. Yet this same empire would itself be conquered by the followers of Jesus who used humility to defeat injustice and evil. To be humble is to appreciate life as it actually is. So consider the humble, you may just see the stuff of life in them.

Keep the Faith,

Pastor Knecht