Thankfulness...

Last week we celebrated Veteran’s Day.  As a church, we took time to honor all those who fought for our freedoms, and I was able to spend some time thanking a few of the veterans in my life.  Several years ago I worked as a Chaplin at a VA hospital in Minnesota.  My job entailed meeting with veterans and their families and offering any services I could.  I will always value my time there.  I learned so much, and some of men and women expressed how important it was for them to be able to share their story with me…

Today, in our scripture passage, the Apostle Paul will write of the importance valuing other people.  Taking time to tell people that they are valued and their gifts are needed is important.  Paul writes that we are to live our lives with a spirit of thanksgiving.  Today we sit right in between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving.  I hope we can spend this time, as well as the rest of our lives, living with this spirit of thankfulness inside of us!

Blessings!

Brian 

αποκαταλλασσο - Reconciling all things!

This week has been difficult.  I don’t want get into all the details here, but there have been a number of things that just didn’t go right.  However, today we are looking at a powerful scripture passage:

Through Christ God, was pleased to reconcile all things to God’s own self, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

-Colossians 1:20

The words “reconcile all things” comes from a very complex Greek word:  αποκαταλλασσο.  In English we pronounce it:  ap-ok-at-al-las'-so.  It looks like a pretty big word, but I think its meaning is even bigger.  It refers to bringing all things, the good and the bad, together in Christ.  God seeks to take what is evil and reconcile it into something new.  This word doesn’t deny that evil exists, because it most certainly does!  However, this verse does say that evil can be changed through Christ.  Two thousand years ago, this would have meant that God was making something new out of the corrupt Roman Empire, oppression within the church, and even death itself.  Those ancient people could have hope that God was working within them… I think we can have the same hope today.

When life is a mess, and we don’t have the answers, God is reconciling all these things to bring wholeness and peace.  There is always a way to move forward.  There is always a way to grow.  Evil does exist, but new life is even more powerful than the chaos that we see!

Blessings!

Brian

All Saints Day

We just finished an amazing week in our congregation.  We had an incredible service celebrating the Lutheran Reformation, and we invited over 1200 people to the church for our Trunk or Treat event.  We are also looking forward to Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas.  It is a wonderful and busy time of year!  However, this week we are taking a step back from our busy schedule to remember all the people who have died.  We take time to grieve their loss, celebrate their lives, and remember how their love changed us.  Taking time to reflect is important, but I know it’s something I can also overlook.  Personally, I get caught up just trying to get the kids to school or pulling bubble gum out of someone’s hair.  Life is crazy, and if we don’t take time laugh, cry, rejoice, and reflect, I believe we will find ourselves in a rat race… and that will always leave us feeling stressed and disappointed. 

This week we celebrate All Saints Day.  Who are the people who have been saints to you?  In our church, being a saint does not mean that you are perfect.  It means that you have in some way shared God’s love with others.  Therefore, we are all simultaneously sinners and saints.  So, who has brought God’s Love into your life?  How has grace been offered to you?  Are you taking time to cherish the love that is near to you?  Today I hope you can find the space to reflect on the people who have brought you hope, and I hope you can take time to embrace the gifts presented before you!

Blessings!

Brian

Reformation and New Life

Earlier this week, I was at Home Depot picking up a few supplies.  While I was there, I wound up discussing an outdoor irrigation project with one of the people on staff.  She helped me find the part I needed, and that could have been the end of our interaction.  However, we got to talking about our families.  My wife and I just started fostering a little girl, and this employee had fostered kids in California for years.  She shared a tragic story of some of the very serious difficulties that her kids faced, but she also spoke of the life changing power of love.  We wound up spending a fair amount of time listening to each other and acknowledging each other’s story.  I realized I had walked into that store a little overwhelmed, but I walked away feeling refreshed and inspired.  I love hearing of the power we all have to change lives. 

This Sunday we will be celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation.  This is a day to remember the people who stood up to corruption and greed within the church.   However, this day should be more than just a history lesson.  Our God is constantly working to bring renewal, hope, and reformation every day.  Whenever a person is freed from abuse, hatred, or violence, I believe God’s Sprit is active.  Whenever someone realizes new life is available, God’s Spirit is there.  I hope we never discount the change that God’s Grace can bring.

Blessings!

PB

What do you want?

“What do you want?”

That is a question we could dwell on our entire lives.  It is also the first question Jesus asks in the Gospel of John.  Jesus wants us to think about our desires.  What’s driving us?  What’s in our hearts?  Personally, I have found that I can be driven by some incredibly petty things.  I want a new phone.  I want to avoid waiting in lines.  I want my two year old child to find his shoes and get out the door… We all have desires, but Jesus wants us to think about our priorities.  When we look at our lives, should we be searching for something greater?

In today’s scripture passage, Jesus essentially asks some of the religious and political leaders of the time what was driving them.  These individuals had traded valuable gifts of leadership for mundane concerns.  Today I hope you can believe your life has value.  God believes you are capable of great things.  Do you believe this?  What would it mean to desire righteousness and justice instead of the latest gossip?  I hope we can believe God, and I hope we can live for something that really matters.

Blessings!

PB

Searching for Joy...

There is going to be joy and there is going to
be stress every day... What do you choose to
see?

When you think of weddings, what comes to mind?  Personally, I have officiated at all kinds of different ceremonies.  Some people spend years preparing for their special day.  Other people are married in the blink of an eye.  Some people crave tradition, and others want to travel to exotic locations or dress up like Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  A few people want nothing more than to get married in their mom’s living room.  In the end, I have discovered that any wedding can be beautiful.  In fact, my wife and I were married outside in the rain, but that turned out to be perfect for us!  However, weddings can also be stressful.  I have seen people turn a joyous day into a day of anger and bitterness.  It can become a day where expectations fall short, and blame gets thrown around.  I think it comes down to a choice.  Do we want to see the joy and excitement, or the stress and anxiety? 

Today in our scripture passage, Jesus tells us a parable of a wedding feast.  In the story, every single person is invited, and God is said to delight in each person there.  However, most of the guests choose to ignore the joy that is right in front of them.  This is our choice every day.  Will we accept the bounty of creation, or will we become fixated on the anxieties of life.  I pray we choose to see the blessings!

Peace!

Brian

Hope...

It has been quite the week in Las Vegas.  Although no one in my family was present at the shooting, I know so many people were affected in different ways.  It is staggering to see those I know dealing with the tragic circumstances of these events. 

In Romans 8 we read:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As tragic as these days have been, it is also amazing to see people coming in from all over the nation to help.  Doctors, nurses, counselors, and so many others are here to offer their services.  There are people waiting all day to give blood, and others are donating their money and other resources. 

It is true that one person has the power to bring so much evil.  However, I believe Christ is still with us.  I believe human beings are coming together to offer a love that even more powerful than the chaos.  Today, we pray for all those affected by the violence and hatred, and we lift up those who are offering love in the face of evil.

Blessings!

Brian