When trials turn to hope...

How much has your life changed in the last few months?

Do you trust that God is with you?

This week in worship we are taking a look at the story of two disciples who wound up in prison.  Jesus had just commissioned them to go out and share the Good News, and they wanted to preach, heal, and love. However, everything flips upside down when they are thrown into a jail cell.

What do you do when life turns against you?

What do you want
to eat today buddy?

Personally, I don’t feel like I have any right to complain about difficulties.  I am blessed with my place at the church, and I am blessed with my family and friends.  However, I can still become overwhelmed.  Recently my kids have thrown all-out tantrums because I won’t let them crawl into the dishwasher or eat the mud on their shoes. It’s hard! However, an interesting thing will happen when I take time to reflect on these moments a few days later.  If I have the opportunity, I will look back at a picture or think of a crazy time, and I can’t help but to smile. If I stop to take a breath and experience the love, I am able to experience the joy.  In the Bible there are numerous stories of people who realized God was always with them, but they never realized it until long after the trial passed.

 

Today I hope you can take a bit of time and look backward.  Take time to forgive yourself if you lost your temper… We all get lost in the moment!  However, I hope we can open our hearts.  May we all believe that God is always with us!

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Do you believe in the promise of Easter?

Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen!

Easter is a time of celebration.  However, we are also trying to get used to this new season of quarantine.  I know I am having some difficulty finding a bit of hope in the midst of all this. 

As a family, my household has been trying to find activities that we all like to do together.  It’s hard!  One person wants to climb a mountain, another wants to go for a walk, and then the kids want to either roll around in the mud or scream as loud as they can.  We just can’t agree on one thing!

However, every once in a while we can all agree on watching nature programming on TV.  (I guess that tells you we are all a bunch of nerds!) We get drawn into these wild places, and we love to watch the unfolding stories of snow leopards, grizzly bears, or elephants.

Who wouldn't love this little
monkey?

I saw a bit of an episode recently showed a clip of a Rhesus macaque.  (It’s basically just a little monkey.) The narrator stated these animals are aggressive and xenophobic primates.  Their social status is determined by who they were born to.  Then they are either treated as royalty, or they are isolated, rejected, and preyed upon.  All of this was known at birth.  Honestly, my whole family was a little upset watching a few of these poor little guys getting picked on.  They were just born to a mother of low social standing.  It also made me think that people are not always that different.  Sadly human beings can be just as brutal to one another, and if we don’t take time to open our hearts a little bit, I think we can revert back to this awful behavior. 

All creation longs for grace!

I believe the Earth longs for grace.  There are moments when grace creeps into our world and offers an explosion of hope.  There are little moments when people choose to work together.  There are moments of love in spite of desperate circumstances.  The animal kingdom will do this too.  One animal can choose to love another.  The Bible says all creation is longing for redemption.  The whole world is searching for grace.

Today we are living in uncertain times.  Are we going to give in to evil and self-serving behaviors?  Is it possible to allow grace to move us forward?  When life is flipped upside down, do you still believe in love’s power?  Do you believe in Easter?

I hope and pray that all of you will open your hearts to find a bit of grace today.  I hope you all know that you are loved, and I pray that you will find love.

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Making space to worship

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

-Matthew 21:9

This week we are celebrating Palm Sunday in the church.  Traditionally this is a joyful time.  We remember the day Jesus triumphantly rode into Jerusalem, and the people stopped everything to worship Him.  Now, we have to remember the people would soon turn on Jesus, but for at least a moment, their hearts were filled with praise.

It was a confusing time in ancient Israel, and there is still an abundance of fear, uncertainly, and chaos in our world today.  However, I think it is important to pause and think about ways to continue to worship wherever we are…

I had a wonderful experience in with my family recently.  My wife was outside in the yard with our boys, and she started talking with one of our neighbors.  (FYI:  they were able to speak while also observing safe social distancing. :)

Anyway, the neighbor was apologizing, because she was not able to get out into her yard to remove the weeds that were growing there.  She was older, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain her yard.  When our older son heard this he immediately wanted to help, and he started picking the weeds.  It turned out to be a great activity that got the kids out of the house, and it also helped someone else.  Even our one year old got the hang of taking the weeds and putting them in the bucket.  It may not be much, but it opened our eyes to little ways that we can still reach out to our neighbors while still being socially distant. 

Our world today is confusing.  I wish I could be doing more for people in this time of great need.  However, I believe our scripture reminds us that there are still ways to praise God.  We may not feel like we are making a difference, but simple acts of love are still changing the world!

God Bless you all!!

Pastor Brian

Seeking love in a world of change

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind…

Ephesians 4:23

The Bible tells us that we need to be renewed in the Spirit.  Indeed, the Christian faith is all about renewal, rebirth, and new life.  However, there are times I lose sight of this perspective.  Life becomes ordinary, and I stop looking for the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom. 

Today the Corona Virus is bringing about a new reality.  It is causing a lot of troubles and real tragedy, but the virus is also forcing us to have a new perspective.  I know I am seeing everything a little bit differently.  First of all, I am reminded of how little control I really have.  Just a couple weeks ago, I was certain about almost everything in my life.  Now I am surrounded by uncertainty.  There are people being furloughed or laid off.  I know people who are sick, and there are others who are feeling the real danger of this virus.  It’s like everything changed in an instant. 

As difficult as this entire situation is, the virus has also shown me the importance of love.  I am so grateful for the blessings I have in my family, and I really value the time I have been able to spend reaching out to the people I care about.  It is certainly not a time that I would ever wish for, but it has caused me to take a deeper look at everything.

Today I hope you all can take a bit of time to take a fresh look at your life.  Our world may be flipped upside down, but God is present… I hope you can all open your hearts to the new work that God is doing!

Blessings,

Pastor Brian

Faith and Love

Where is God leading you?

Our church is in the midst of a sermon series taking a look at the story of Abraham and Sarah.  The Bible speaks of these two individuals as heroes of faith.  When God asked them to leave their homeland, they left.  When God asked them to follow an unpredictable path, they listened.  They lived by faith, but they also had times of doubt.  They questioned God, and they laughed at God.  However, day by day they opened their hearts to God’s unending love. 

Their story reminds me that we all live by faith.  We do not always have the power to control others or even ourselves.  Sometimes things fall apart.  Other times, things come together.  However, these Bible stories teach us that we are loved regardless of our circumstances. 

As I look at my life, it is pretty easy to see that I am not in control. :) My one year old is always at the urgent care, and my 4 year old turns 5 on Friday!  It just reminds me how fast time is flying.  We start kindergarten next year, and before I know it, both kids will be graduating...  Now I still have a significant amount of influence and power over their lives, but I recognize there will be a time when I can’t just force them to do whatever I want.  I have to trust in love.  I have to trust that God is with them.  Today, I hope and pray that we all open our hearts to this kind of love!

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Transfiguration!

Do you believe in Transfiguration?

Transfiguration is a pretty big word…  I saw it defined recently as:  a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.  I bring this up, because we are celebrating Transfiguration Sunday this week in church.  This day acknowledges an ancient story from the Bible where Jesus was transfigured before three of his disciples on a mountaintop. 

When Jesus was transfigured, the Bible says his face shone like the sun and his clothes became a dazzling white.  This is the moment when Jesus became determined to go to Jerusalem and confront the cross as well.  Personally, I find the transfiguration to be very mysterious, but I also find a lot of meaning in it.  I find meaning in the mountains.  I find meaning in opening my heart to the mysteries of God in the world around me.

Last week, my wife and I took our kids exploring in the Pittman wash.  The boys loved scrambling over the rocks, watching the minnows in the stream, and crawling under thorn covered bushes.  Overall the wash is fairly tame, but it offers something wonderful.  I believe nature has an ability to change hearts in a way that would not be possible if we never challenged ourselves.

Perhaps the reason Jesus brought his disciples up that mountain so long ago was to experience the world in a new way.  Their faith was given a new perspective, and their lives were all affected.  Today, I hope we can all find time to see God in a new light.  I hope we can all acknowledge that God is bigger than our understanding, but God’s grace is always working to lead us into the wonder of these mysteries!

Blessings!

Brian  

Love and Sacrifice

Where do you find love?

Last week I had a chance to go on a trip with my family to Florida.  We didn’t get to see Mickey Mouse or do any of the other touristy stuff.  Instead, this was a trip to see my grandfather and a few other family members who my kids haven’t met.  We also got to stomp around in a Florida swamp, ride a golf cart through a retirement community, and feed the cattle on a ranch.  What more could little boys ask for? :)  

Of course there were difficulties… Both kids had ear problems on the plane, and we wound up going to the urgent care one day to try and deal with an infection, but in spite of all the chaos, it was fun to see so much growth.

One highlight was getting a tour of a ranch where my uncle has done some work.  We got to see newborn calves, and the boys had a chance to feed the cattle as well.  My 1 year old learned that if he was quiet these nearly 1000 pound animals would walk right up to him and eat the food right out of his hand!  It was so much fun to watch the delight on his face while feeding the animals!  In fact, the entire trip was a delight.  Yes there were difficult moments, but we all experienced love, and we all had opportunities to love others.  The joys of the trip vastly outweighed the trials!

Helping little brother feed the cattle

This week at Community Lutheran we are learning about what we have to do for love, and we are considering the sacrifices we may have to make.  Today I hope we can open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.  May we always step out boldly for love!

Blessings!

Pastor Brian