Happy Church New Year!

This Sunday is the first Sunday of the new church year which marks the beginning of Advent.  "Advent" means "coming."  The color for this season in many churches is blue.  I have a blue stole that I wear over my alb that shows the three "comings" of Jesus.  The stole shows Christ's first coming as a tiny babe whose first bed was a manger...He comes to us today as He is truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar...He will come again on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead and to gather those who are His to bring us into His heavenly kingdom.  Our worship will prepare us to celebrate the Lord's birth at Christmas but also remind us again to be watchful and ready for His coming.

Today, worship takes place at 5 pm.  Deacon Danny Baker will lead worship and music will be offered by Pat Herman and her group.  On Sunday, we worship at our usual times, 8 and 10:45 am.  The sermon theme is "Walking in the Light."  The Worship Ensemble has an original arrangement, written by Jon and Tim Gray, of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," which they will offer, an appropriate selection for the beginning of this new church year.  And Bible study classes for all age groups will be held at 9:20 pm.  Many are finding Pastor John Pope's study of the book of James to be very informative and helpful.

God be with you this weekend! Hope to see you at LICL!

White Friday?

No Black Friday around here.  Staying away from all the shopping establishments, the mad crowds, the crazy drivers, the picked over merchandise, the disgruntled cashiers, all of it!

It's White Friday at our house.  My dear, sweet wife has "White Christmas" and other classics playing on the stereo and four 500 pound boxes of Christmas decorations sit in the middle of the living room floor (OK, the boxes didn't weigh 500 pound each - but when you accumulate Christmas "stuff" for 41 years, those boxes are heavy!).  By the time I get home from work today, it will look a lot like Christmas.

Ah yes, work.  Yesterday, following Thanksgiving worship (has anyone yet found that loose turkey?), we traveled to Moon Valley to meet up with Sherri's extended family.  It's the one time of the year when most of the clan is able to gather and we have such a wonderful time catching up with each other, eating way too much good food, holding the annual touch football game (almost an exciting as any pro game on TV) and finishing up the day with the best pie this side of Camelback Mountain.  It seems that Thanksgiving Day ends much too quickly.

Thursday is the day that I get most of my Sunday stuff done - write my sermon, prepare prayers, get my Confirmation lesson ready.  So I'll do that today on White Friday.

But it's not such a happy, White Friday for some folks.  Yesterday, a family gathered around a loved one as he breathed his last and went to rest in the arms of Jesus.  They recognize that it was a blessing that their husband, father and grandfather fell asleep in Jesus.  They are comforted by the words they confess in the Creed: "...the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." 

If there is anything that can turn a dark day into a White Friday, it surely is God's Holy Word.  I am the resurrection and the life.  He that believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.  (John 11:25-26)  Because I live, you also will live.  (John 14:19)  Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Holding onto God's promises helps us through all our dark days.  If your White Friday is not so white or happy, turn to God's Word for the comfort and help you can use when your days are filled with darkness.  Let the "Light of the World" shine His light of love on you. 

What I am thankful for

Jesus showed that He would rather go to Hell for you than to go to Heaven without you.

John Jeske, "From Sinai to Calvary," page 164.

Have a blessed thanksgiving!

What happens when you hear God's Word?

If you take two C tuning forks, tap on and simply hold it next to the other, the one that wasn't tapped will begin to resonate.  It's like that with our hearts as well.  Sometimes when we hear God's Word, something inside our hearts starts to resonate.  That's because we were created to hear His word.

Dr. William Lane, quoted in "The Walk," by Michael Card, page 22

Good and Wet for Worship

They call it "rain."  We don't see much of it here in the Valley of the Sun so when it comes we rejoice.  But the rain won't keep us from God's House to worship this weekend.  Pastor John Pope leads the Saturday service at 5 pm.  The last Sunday of the church year reminds us that as we continue on our pilgrim way, we know how the story will end on the Last Day.  The living and victorious Jesus will gather up those who are His and take the faithful to paradise.  Come and hear more! Worship takes place at 8 and 10:45 am and classes for all ages meet at 9:20 am.  Hope to see you this weekend at LICL.  We promise you warm and dry conditions inside!

Where were you on Nov. 22, 1963

I was on the playground of Redeemer Lutheran School in Tucson, Arizona.  Our class had finished eating lunch and some of us were out shooting baskets on a sunny afternoon.

One of our fellow students shouted out from a classroom door, "The President has been shot!"  We rushed back to class where each room had a small black and white television.  Our teacher led us in a prayer.  I remember praying real hard that President Kennedy would be OK.  Then we heard the announcement from broadcaster Walter Cronkite that the President was dead.

My 11 year old mind couldn't believe it.  Who would want to kill the President? He was young and good looking.  He had a pretty wife.  I'd heard that he was athletic.  I figured he'd make a great dad.  Why would anyone want to hurt him?

Like most Americans, my family and I spent that weekend glued to the television.  We watched the events as they played out in Washington.  I remember seeing a Mass for Kennedy and wondering why it was so different from our church service at Redeemer on Sunday morning.  I wished I could have been in that line that slowly walked through the Capitol rotunda so I could pay my respects.  And I watched Kennedy's funeral.  I'll never forget the look of profound sadness on Mrs. Kennedy's face and I felt sad for Caroline and John who had lost their father.

I also remember being afraid.  If something like this could happen to the President, then what about me or my family?

When my dear, sweet wife and I lived in South Carolina, our next door neighbor had been a long time friend of the Kennedy family and served the President during his 1000 days in the White House.  My friend was absolutely convinced that had the Kennedy presidency continued, there would have been no Vietnam War.  "My lives would have been saved," he said, "had Kennedy lived."

I guess now we'll never know.

The Ocean of Forgetfulness

I've been spending too much time this week on something that is doing me no good.  I been reflecting on several situations from the past where my words and actions helped to ruin some relationships and friendships.  Now I find myself fill with regret.  I'm frustrated with myself and have used myself as a punching bag.  It's a terrible way to live.

That's why I want to share these words with you from Bo Giertz' devotional, "To Live With Christ."  Here are words of hope that have lifted my spirits.  Maybe they'll do something for yours too.

Still, we're struggling to reach the goal.  We have to forget what lies behind us, all our failures, all the things we shamefully admit in our confessions.  We have to throw it off and leave it by the wayside.  We don't have to drag it with us.  We can forget it because God Himself forgets it and lowers it into the ocean of forgetfulness where everything is swallowed up by His inexhaustible forgiveness.  (page 617)