New Year’s Resolution: Trust God

 

Prior to 1582, the New Year began in March. When Pope Gregory XIII developed the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve became a religious feast and a chance to celebrate the old and the new, the close of a year, and the beginning of a new one. It is around now that I like to take some time and think about all that has happened in the past year. What were some of the highlights, the more significant events that occurred? What were some of the harder moments? What joyous times did I celebrate? Who are some people I met? I remember the lives of significant people I lost. What have I learned? What blessings have I experienced? It is good to reflect on life, where we have been, what we’ve done, and to give thanks to God for all things.

However, the event of New Year’s Eve is not just a time to honor the past; it is an opportunity to look toward s the future, the coming year, and all it holds. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” There is a saying, “I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.” What a blessing it is to know that Christ is present guiding us and wanting the best for us! If only we would trust in God more fully, for God offers us great assurance in life, especially when we encounter the unknown and another year with all its ups and downs that we will face.

As you make your New Year’s resolutions, set your goals, as I do, and work at keeping them, I encourage you to add the simple phrase, “Trust God.” I pray that you would come to rest in God’s promises, to live joyfully, and to trust God, for through Jesus Christ, God gives you a future with hope. For this we can be grateful and celebrate each and every day.

Happy New Year!

Pastor Percy

Christmas

 

Some years ago in a book called Future Shock, Alvin Toffler tried to offer a view of human history in terms of how many “lifetimes” we can estimate human beings have been on earth. He proposed a “lifetime” to be sixty years. It was all approximate, of course, but by his calculations, if human beings as we know them have lived on earth for say, fifty thousand years, then we could say that we are living in the 853rd “lifetime.” If that were the way we viewed how remote or how recent big events in history happened, he gave us to imagine we could have a better grasp of our place in it if we used “lifetimes” as our unit of measure rather than years and centuries.

That could be a new way to describe Christmas, only some thirty-three lifetimes ago. “…And when the time came for her (Mary) to be delivered, she gave birth to her firstborn son… And she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger …And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night …And an angel of the lord stood by them, and they were sore afraid …And suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.”

 

 

 

In terms of the long history of humankind, the first Christmas was actually not so very, very, long ago–not as if it were some virtually pre-historic event. In terms of the tenancy on earth of humankind, Christmas was hardly a handful of lifetimes ago, compared to the hundreds of lifetimes that went before. Think of how recently, within the last two lifetimes, humankind learned to fly, produce and make available automobiles and build roads for them, shaped sciences that have transformed life and health, made the world truly into a global village (however quarrelsome) through computers, instant communications, cell phones, reliable transportation, and so on, in only the last two lifetimes. The printing press came only seven lifetimes ago, television within one lifetime, the establishment of our own nation only four lifetimes ago. Columbus arrived in the “New World” only eight lifetimes ago, the Magna Carta barely sixteen lifetimes, and we could go on to countless “modern” comforts and conveniences we take for granted and can’t imagine being without.

We who have been insiders as many of these recent developments emerged could, of course, offer detailed descriptions of cause and effects. However, it is far more than coincidence that once the Gospel of Jesus Christ became part of the human equation the gift of the freedom of the spirit opened a whole new trajectory for the history of humankind. His birth was a Christmas gift for all of history. And while the 833 lifetimes of our tenancy continues to weigh us down with a tragic legacy of selfishness and sin, the bright light of God’s love and salvation in Christ, the Lord of Life, shines more than ever in its transforming power. We sing, “Joy to the World, the Lord is come.” Indeed!

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Pastor Jansen  

Christmas Once Again

 

Christmas decorations have been up long before Thanksgiving. Stores, malls, and some radio stations play nonstop Christmas carols. People spend money they can’t afford on presents that neither are needed nor wanted. Children get all excited about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is coming to Town. Stores sell make-believe crèches and the Hallmark Virgin. Yet, for all our efforts, we’ve never managed to ruin it. That in itself is part of the miracle.

Growing up on the farm, Christmas Eve was just like any other day since the animals still needed to be cared for, cows needed to be milked and chicken eggs needed to be gathered. As one went about cleaning the places where they were sheltered from the cold, the animals eagerly waited for their food. Hay had been gathered during the summer and now was brought to the manager for the cows to eat. In the midst of the puffs of the animal’s breath as they chewed the hay, I could only imagine what that first Christmas was like for Mary and Joseph. In the winter darkness, among the smell of the hay and the sound of the animals eating, they laid Him in the manager. Christmas itself is by grace. It could never have happened otherwise. Perhaps it is the very wildness and strangeness of grace that has led us to try to tame it. We have tried to make it habitable. We have reduced it to an occasion we feel at home with, at best a touching and beautiful occasion.

The Word became flesh. The Ultimate Mystery born as a babe in the manger. In a word it was called the “Incarnation.” Agonized laboring led to it, vast upheavals of intergalactic space was visible to shepherds and Wise Men, and time was split apart. We can only be awed by the thought that this was, “God of God, Light of Light, and very God of very God–who for us and for our salvation,”as the Nicene Creed puts it, “came down from heaven.” Came down: It is the Resurrection and the Life Mary holds in her arms, and because of that our lives are forever changed. This is that Good News that we never grow tired of hearing, “For to you a Savior is born!”

With Christmas Joy,

Pastor Qualley   

Peace Be with You

 

In the midst of the busy seasons of Advent and Christmas, where do we find peace? I would offer that there is more peace in the world than history or headlines lead us to believe. The life-giving energy that causes plants to grow, rain to fall, rivers to run, and makes life possible comes to us quietly every day. God’s peace that “passes all human understanding” is offered to each of us. In magnitude it dwarfs the destructive powers of the occasional violence in the world. We should not belittle the sufferings and causalities caused by war, storms, eruptions, and earthquakes; still we need to put these in perspective with the number of peaceful, quiet, productive days that most people are engaged in day by day.

Historian Will Duran summarized human history this way: “Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shooting, and doing the things historians usually record. While on the banks unnoticed, people build homes, raise children, sing songs, write poetry, and even whittle statues. The story of civilizations is what happens on the banks. Historians ignore the banks for the river.”

 

Even in the midst of violence and suffering, of strife and struggle, we can find peace, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you will have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) This peace is an inner calm that goes below and beyond the effects of our environment. It is the peace we wish for. The more we understand God’s love for us, the more we put our lives in line with His will, the more peace we will have in our lives.

May you be especially blessed this season with the gift of His peace!

Pastor Qualley

 

Are We There Yet?

 

 

“Are we there yet?” It’s not just children of a certain age who ask that question, although they certainly do. I’ve been on a number of trips with delayed flights, missed connections, and lost luggage, where I’ve been the one asking the question. Leading up to Christmas, the question becomes one of time rather than distance: “Is it here yet?” The author to the Hebrews writes with an interesting antithesis–run with patience. Just exactly how do you do that? It uses a figure of speech from the races of the first century world; this verse says that life is like a long distance marathon, calling for good conditioning, proper strategy, and great endurance.

When it comes to trials and tribulations we speak of the patience of Job. Job went through a period of testing: his cattle were stolen, his sons killed, his wife deserted him, and he became victim of a terrible illness. He kept his balance because he held to the conviction that God had a purpose in all this experience for him. He kept running his course with patience. It is said that patience is a wise teacher. Only as one searches and struggles, blindly at times, waiting, wondering, seeking, questioning, patiently moving step by step, does one find that which is hidden for only the enduring eye to see. Sometimes we might even have to wait until we see it from heaven’s side. Patience is the homework of life: preparation for every experience. It is the creative waiting, the sound assurance that “this too shall pass,” and on the other side of the mist the sun still shines and God still cares.

In this Advent/Christmas season we learn to practice patience. Whether children or adults, the question “Are we there yet?” still bubbles up from within. May we rest assured in the unshakable faith in the providence of God. Old doors may close, but new doors have a strange way of swinging silently open. Accepting the gift of the days still to come, “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley  

God is Down to Earth

“And the Word became flesh

 and lived among us.” John 1:14
 

In the beginning it was this directing, controlling Word which put order in the universe and mind in women and men. John states an incredible, startling fact unheard of in his first century world: the Word, the power, the dynamic, the reason that orders and controls the world “has become flesh and dwells among us.” John goes on to say that “we have seen with our eyes… and touched with our hands… the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1-2) John’s message is that this Word has come to the earth in human form. God, who was so distant, is now near. Now that Word has been uttered by a human being, who lived among us like other human beings, now a human being shows us the splendor of divine nature in terms of a personal character and social action, and finds us where we live. In other words, in Jesus Christ, God is down to earth.

The world’s memorable people are not only talented, but down-to-earth and approachable. Abraham Lincoln was known for his leadership in uniting a divided nation. What people loved about Lincoln, was his down-to-earth nature. Desmond Tutu had a willingness to be a down-to-earth bishop who stood with blacks in Soweto until apartheid was finally overcome. Albert Schweitzer was appreciated, not for his intellectual capacity, but for being down-to-earth in his servant hood to the people of Africa. In Christ, God is approachable. It was by the incarnation that God came to the earth, becoming accessible to all. Jesus knew life as we know it. Therefore, in the midst of our anguish, pain, and disappointment, we can cry out and say “Lord, you know how it is!” God does, for God had a son who lived among us full of grace and truth.

This Advent/Christmas season, may you ponder anew the Good News of the season, “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.” God has come down to earth to whisper His love in our ears, comfort us with embracing arms, and lead us with compassion and wisdom. What better gift could we receive this Christmas?

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley  

The Promise of the Manger

It isn’t easy, but I can’t bring myself to join in the annual lament against the commercialism of the Christmas season. Of course it is too much, and too loud, and too repetitious, and too expensive. But in all the hoopla something may be going on that is exactly what Christians hope will be happening. Jesus can still touch the human spirit through a flawed and garish vehicle. What if the mystery of God’s infinite love can be delivered without the pristine forms and careful cadences of good taste? What if the vastness of God’s power and glory can be connected to the human heart in pedestrian ways that do not threaten the frail wires of human consciousness? What if that which is beyond comprehension can still be compressed and squeezed into a simple and understandable holiday experience? Isn’t that exactly what the Christian experience in human history is all about? God is with us. Christ in me, plain as I am. I am an incarnation of the glory of God, an earthen vessel, to be sure, flawed and sometimes garish. But what is in me because of Jesus is nothing less than the glory of the gift of the Son of God.

Christmas brings to the world in which we live an annual glimpse into the merriment and festivity of the presence of a cosmic love that transforms life for keeps. Even if the holiday lasts only for a few days, or weeks or hours, it is something that can evoke “the better angels of our nature.” However, little the world may know of Jesus, though there is no escaping the noises of this holiday, the world looks forward to it and frequently has occasion to ask the question of how this season came to be. The warmth that the world is so stingy with, the loved ones that were so hard to reach, the soft words spoken with forgiving voices that are so seldom heard, are now bold and near. It can be as if celebrating the presence of the birth of Jesus has the power to pry open the human soul, at least for a while.

And so it becomes for Christians to convert this season into a celebration of God’s love for us, his willingness to allow us to be ourselves before him, to be found in our midst totally dependent on the care of two young Jewish travelers, into a situation of great anxiety, violence, and need. Let the straw of the manger, the raw, unsophisticated circumstances of Bethlehem, the rough and cruel times, all speak to us of a savior who risked it all for us. Let us see in that humble and unpromising beginning, the great cosmic gift of eternal life so easily seen only briefly and incompletely at Christmas, but authentic. It is not the manger, but the promise of the manger that we celebrate, when the glory of Christ can shine through the festival, the soul of humankind passes from enjoying the season to the resurrecting excitement of sharing the age of the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jansen

A Christmas Message

A little group of us were sitting on narrow benches in a crowded little chapel at six in the morning. We were visiting the hospital of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Namibia at Onipa, a few miles south of the Angolan border. The hospital staff, as many as could take the time, were crowded together for the daily devotional. Outside, the heat of the Kalahari Desert was beginning to be felt. Across the road lay the ruins of the church’s bombed-out printing press, which had been their great pride and hope. In the distance could be heard the engines of the dreaded South African army “hippos,” huge armored trucks that roamed everywhere, looking for anything “suspicious.”

A single doctor was in charge of the medical care of the hospital’s patient population of over 400. The relatives and friends of the patients, who had sometimes carried them long distances across the sand and wastelands, were camped in improvised huts and tents all around the hospital grounds. Everyone was in a state of exhaustion. Medicine was scarce. Little sicknesses and infections became big troubles. Food was in short supply. Help was willing, but untrained. Terror and death were at one’s elbow at every turn… and there was not relief in sight.

The doctor rose for a word of greeting. I don’t remember all of what he said because his first words were so surprising, “I love this place!” The majesty of his words moves me to this day. It was a Christmas statement, a statement of identity, of live, of attachment, a statement that was exactly appropriate. With those words, he freed those who depended on him from any obligation except that they might welcome his love. It was love that kept him at Onipa and Ondonguea, and all the impoverished children of God. He did not see his work as an arduous duty, but as something that satisfied hi heart. We didn’t need to laud his sense of duty; we could simply celebrate and wonder at his love.

Jesus looked at our sorry world and said in effect, “I love this place… I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you always.” Christmas has many things to say. Few are as rich and clear and unmistakable as what brought Jesus to the manger that midnight clear, his matchless love for this place and all of us in it. When you know that you are loved like that, there can be comfort and joy even in the hardest and most uncertain of times.

Go with God,

Pastor Jansen

Well, Whadya’ Know

 

You remember the boy standing in the alley looking up at his friend in the second story window. She was telling him about the letter her older sister had received in the morning’s mail. It had to be something very important, because she had never seen a letter addressed quite like this. She said it was addressed to her sister, with the house and street numbers, Harpers Corners, Wayne County, New Hampshire, The Unite Sates of America, The Western Hemisphere, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe, The Mind of God. And all the little boy in the alley could say was, “Well, whadya’ know, whadya’ know.”

We have a great many addresses or ways to reference where we live and who and what we are. As a matter of fact, we are probably on the list of many mail order houses, charities, and mass mailing organizations. Sometimes we can even identify the source of the request for gifts by whether or not they spell our names correctly, include members of our family, or give some other hints in the address that helps us know who is writing. What if every reference to our identity would also add, “destined to live forever…” it would no doubt gain many a critical glance, and possibly develop quite an opposition. It would sound very sectarian and strident and announce perhaps more than others really wanted to know about a person.

Remember the early church, whose boldness and passion for the Christian gospel rested not so much on the “teaching” of Jesus as it relied on the Easter reality of his resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead it was not to a world that rejoiced, but that at first was simply surprised, and then offended and ultimately hostile that such an impossible thing could ever truly happen. Yet at great cost the church kept the faith. Easter became the celebration that defined human identity, it has made us feel at home with the reality of life eternal and out of that message the world was not only granted a new lease on life on earth but a new context so we could now experience with holy abandon the fullness of God’s gracious intent for us all.

Pastor Jansen

 

Repentance

In childhood, repentance seemed so easy to understand. One would find out that a certain behavior or attitude was not what it should be, and then one way or another, we would find ourselves in a situation that required us to say, “I’m sorry.” And that was pretty much it.

As life wore on, repentance came at a higher and higher price. Repentance meant more than admitting a mistake. It had more the flavor of changing sides in the struggle over what would dominate my life. Changing my mind was not some easy act of the will, but an increasingly excruciating confrontation with a failed desire, or a squandered enterprise. I had become what I was by deliberate choices, and some very strong desires, some of which were not at all “good.”

Even if I repented I did not get to go back and get a fresh start. I had to deal with the unwanted momentum of a direction that had to be abandoned. I learned that my companions and my investment partners and others who “knew” me expected me to continue to keep going in the old directions. And there were some things that repentance did not reach. I could not have back the days I had wasted. I could not recreate the opportunities I had not engaged. Life turned out to be a once-only trip, and repentance did not mean that if I repented I would have my resources restocked for another try. Repentance is far more serious than that. Repentance is an experience far deeper that some superficial re-assessment of failure. It can be the first harsh, and sometimes desperately traumatic, realization that something in my life is repeatedly drawing me away from what I want myself to be before God, and that my efforts to make the changes needed appear to be futile.

This Advent season, let us celebrate the mighty work of God in Christ, as Jesus Christ exhibits the power of God that now frees us from the traps and entanglements of sins and flaws that we could not shake off, no matter how much we tried to be rid of them. This is not to be simply a “turning from sin,” rather it is a turning to Christ. It can indeed be hard to imagine how change is possible in the deeply ingrained patterns of modern life, but there is a surge of life-changing grace in Christ that waits for all who open their hearts and thoughts to his Holy Spirit. Advent lifts up the opportunity to be joined to the ancient appeal to repent… to change… and in asserting that ancient claim on this generation offer a way in Christ that leads not to futility, but to abundant life.

Pastor Jansen

We Offer with Joy and thanksgiving

The biggest Thanksgiving obstacle is the day after when Christmas shopping begins in earnest and we stop thinking about what we have and start thinking about what we want. Many of us like to peruse the Christmas catalogue looking at all the neat stuff we want. We ought to spend more time looking at the neat stuff we already have. Psalm 103 is God’s catalogue of blessings, not a Christmas catalogue but a Thanksgiving Catalogue.

I have discovered that the amount of joy in my life is directly related to my attitude of thankfulness. Even painful memories are softened by a realization that I have survived and learned, and for that I am grateful. When I think of the present with gratitude, my natural impulse is to live in the moment and enjoy it. When I look toward the future with gratitude, I expect tomorrow to be filled with wonderful discoveries and growth, just as yesterday and today have been.

 

 

Gratitude is not precisely the same thing as optimism. It’s more the attitude that makes optimism possible. It is essentially a habit of thinking, a way of understanding who we are and what happens in our lives. Life is a gift, a wonderful, miraculous gift. It’s not something we deserve or purchase with our efforts. It is simply there for us every morning, waiting for us to unwrap and enjoy.

In his song, My Tribute, Andrae Crouch sings to God: “How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me? Things so undeserved, yet You gave to prove Your love for me; the voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude. All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee.”

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

Grateful to God

 

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for a day of national thanksgiving. After recalling many of the desperate times of the Civil War and the tragic and violent warfare, he addressed the many ways in which the basic needs and necessities of the nation had remained intact, how the harvesting had produced food and, in spite of the war, so many blessings of “normal” life had continued. Then he proclaimed the following:

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.”

Thanksgiving, in our time, raises for us a challenge to look away from the many enhancements to much of our living. Never before has the mind of human beings been more able to describe and research and analyze the dynamics of humankind’s existence than the age in which we live. Never before has knowledge of the physical world been so available to so vast a portion of the human race. Never before has humankind been able to communicate and to travel and to exploit the resources of this planet as is possible in our time. How understandable it might be that we would begin to consider ourselves somehow superior to other populations of the planet who occupied the planet in “primitive” times.

We need to realize how fragile are human achievements, how subject to human passions and how dependent on natural forces far beyond our control. We live by the grace of God whether the year is 1863 or 2012.

President Lincoln’s proclamation sounds remarkably appropriate for our moment of history. It is easy to be so overwhelmed by the issues of our times that we lose our capacity to realize that God the Almighty has declared that his love for us is everlasting and his grace powerful enough to redeem the worst of us.

One man has said that for us. Thanksgiving ought to be more than a big meal and a football game. Hopefully, it will be a time of serious reflection on our many blessings, and a sincere outpouring of gratitude to our generous and loving heavenly Father.

Go with God,

Pastor Jansen  

Thanksgiving Peace

Peace is on our minds as we approach Thanksgiving this year. Some years ago a beloved Lutheran theologian, Joseph Sittler, described the common definition of peace “as if it referred to a disengaged and highly desirable virtue, achievement, or gift, hanging in splendid and beguiling isolation. Suggesting the notion of an exclusively interior and private serenity, a well-insulated tranquility achieved by detachment.” Later, in contrast, he continued with his scriptural characterization of peace “in the scriptures, peace has meanings so many and various that they cannot be condensed into a single statement; all such meanings operate within a context, and that context always involves discipline, choices, denials, sacrifices.”

Thanksgiving is that time in which our difficulties to be at peace with each other seem particularly to be in contrast to our grasp of peace with God. Throughout the scripture, as Sittler tells us, “…in our relationship to God, love, righteousness and justice swirl around and penetrate each other as they interact. The righteousness of God is not compromised by his love for us. God’s sense of justice is not weakened by his merciful love.” Somehow, in Christ these three uncompromised qualities of the Almighty have been joined to bring us life and peace. That may work for God, but out here in the world of history, politics, economics, treachery, brutality, and the rest of our demons, bringing together justice, love, and righteousness is not so readily accomplished. Instead of peace we argue in frustrated anger. Instead of peace we find no alternative but to choose for one side or the other of a conflict. Instead of peace we find ourselves becoming more indifferent to the rights of those who oppose or seem to threaten us.

Perhaps we can think of Thanksgiving as the springtime of God’s Peace, the plowing and planting. At Thanksgiving we attempt to come face to face with the wholeness of life that righteousness makes possible. We ponder anew the life energy of the love of God in Christ. We peek apprehensively, perhaps, at the call of our Lord to justice in our human relationships, knowing the rights that I claim for myself are also due my opponent, before God.

Thanksgiving is the plowing time, when we allow the wounds of Christ to dig deep into us, bringing us face to face with the cost of our peace with God. Peace comes to the human heart when the righteousness, love and justice of God are taken seriously as the seed qualities that Jesus also plants in us, making for our peace with God. Thanksgiving, for us Christians as we live in the shadow of the passion of our Lord can penetrate the hard surface of our defenses. Thanksgiving teaches us how to make peace with ourselves and our fellow human beings. Not by maneuvering for the most advantageous outcome for ourselves, but as those most willing to allow the ways of Jesus to grow and flourish in us, and eventually to make a difference in life.

Peace does not come by some haphazard tinkering with the dials of our life until we finally get a frequency that makes us calm. It comes as we deliberately respond to the call of the gospel, powered by the presence of Christ. Peace wakes in us our relentless need for his righteousness to work within us, to be aroused to the pursuit of a truly Christ-like love, and to make a renewed commitment to the rights and needs of those around us.

The way to peace with ourselves, and with each other, begins with our peace with God. It is in seeing how Jesus has made peace for us that we can find our way in the planting and sustaining of peace with each other. May Thanksgiving this year help us toward a harvest of peace with ourselves, our communities and our world.

In Christ,

Pastor Jansen       

Freedom

“…There lives in every man [person]

an unwritten memorial of deeds

of heroic valor, in his heart

rather than in pillars of stone

–Monuments to their heroism.”

(Thucydides 460-395 BC)

All around the world people dream of freedom. During the Second World War we heard often that we were fighting for the “four” freedoms. In the sixties we heard shouts for freedom, “NOW!” Even the gospel of John records that Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32) Alas, how the quest for freedom has so often done little more than cut the bonds of restraints and bondage of one kind so that new tyrants could re-capture and ensnare people into new and more cumbersome serfdom. Freedom alone can lead to excess and hubris, to unbridled egos, self-deception and greed.

We used to say that the freedom of your fist ended where my nose began, clumsy, but clear enough. Free speech is not without inevitable accountability. The laws of physics do not relax if I feel free to take the curve at 65 rather than 15 mile per hour. It is obvious, but often ignored, that being free to make choices does not also guarantee the desired outcome of those choices. This month our nation voted for our President, celebrating a moment in which a group of human beings in a wild and spectacular way put into action how they understand freedom. Of all the things that happen in the twenty-first century of the Christian era, very few have such a vast effect as the action that gives freedom legs, so to speak, in terms of government and public policy. It is far from perfect, but the spare and uncomplicated action has become, as Thucydides wrote, written more in hearts than any monument.

Martin Luther translated the Psalmists prayer (51:12) as: “…uphold me with a free spirit.” A modern translation reads: “…make me want to obey.” God rejoices in setting people free, with no strings attached. That’s the climate in which the true quality of life has its greatest expression; at the same time, it is also true that the exuberance of real freedom is not just the fireworks of liberation, but also the capacity to take the full measure of what that freedom means for those around us.

Thucydides tells us that while architectural monuments were usually built by tyrants, the glory of freedom had its “monument” in the human heart. So this election year, let us rejoice in the freedoms that are ours and also the blessings those freedoms can work for everyone around us.

Go with God,

Pastor Jansen   

  

Walking with God

A grandfather was discussing with his grandson the implications of Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” The little boy said, “Grandpa, it’s hard to be humble if you’re really walking with God.” It is an interesting thought coming from a seven-year-old. When we begin to get a glimpse of the unlimited resources at our disposal, Christians claiming the power of God, then will we sense the assurance that we are fully equipped to do whatever it is that God calls us to do.

We might feel like the little mouse that was crossing the bridge with an elephant. When they got to the other side, the mouse looked at his huge companion and said, “Boy, we really shook that bridge, didn’t we?” When we walk with God, that’s often how we feel, like a mouse with the strength of an elephant. After crossing life’s troubled waters, we can say with the mouse, “God, we really shook that bridge, didn’t we?”

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China said, “Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attempt very little, and they always fail. All giants have been weak people who did great things for God because they lean on God’s power and God’s presence to be with them.” May we move with courage into each new day, no matter what it may bring.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

   

Disaster Relief

It is when disasters happen like hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornadoes that people often begin to question God and God’s role in the suffering that goes on in the world; people question whether God caused it to happen among other things. My faith tells me that God does not cause bad things to happen. Rather, God hurts when God sees His children experiencing pain and suffering. God weeps when people experience loss and sadness.

We are God’s creation and as such we belong to the natural world. Well-known Lutheran theologian Martin Marty writes, “Since we belong to the created or natural world, we are subject to all that goes with it, including birth and death, springtime and autumn, sunshine and shadow, some lives knowing outrageously more of the latter than of the former. And as we belong to created nature, we also live in a world in which accidents happen, unexplained good and bad things occur.” Unfortunately, pain and death is a part of life. Yet we have hope through Christ’s death and resurrection. God promises ultimate healing and eternal life to all who believe and while we are here on earth, we know that God does wondrous things, including bringing good out of bad.

I will always remember a conversation on a trip I took to Haiti when I was an intern at Lord of Life. One of the Haitian translators said to our group that our presence there gives them hope that God has not forgotten Haiti. Indeed, it is God who gives hope. It is God who gives strength and peace, and God the Spirit who works in all helping people to respond with love for others. We can help by making donations to help the people affected, praying for them, and continuing to lift the needs up in the world of those affected by disaster. God works through each of us to bring healing.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Percy

From Vision to Reality

A family was driving through Kansas on vacation. Five-year-old Tyler was looking out the car window. “Boy,” he said, “it’s so flat out there, you can look farther than you can see.” That’s a great phrase, “You can look farther than you can see.” In the early 1930’s an engineer named Joseph Strauss looked out over San Francisco Bay. In his mind he formed a picture of a beautiful bridge connecting the two sides of the bay. In 1936 the Golden Gate Bridge became a reality. He looked farther than he could see. The world looks to people with vision.

We are engaged in a presidential election process and we hope to elect a president who has vision. People of conscience look at our public healthcare system and cry for a vision of how to care for the uninsured, scientists look at the troubling signs of rising global temperatures and hope for a vision of how to stave off a potential crisis. That’s the power of vision. Nothing happens without vision. Vision helps people to look farther than they can see.

Vision and faith go hand in hand. The Lord said, “All things are possible to the one who believes.” May we continue to move boldly into each new day with the certainty that God will go before us to show us the way, beside us to befriend us, behind us to encourage us, above us to watch over us, and within us to give us peace.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

Reformation

By the end of the seventeenth century, many Lutheran churches celebrated a festival commemorating Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-five Theses, a summary of the abuses in the church of his time. At the heart of the reform movement was the gospel, the good news that it is by the grace through faith that we are justified and set free. In 1999 Lutherans and Roman Catholics signed the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification agreeing on the basic nature of the gospel. As we move into the future, may we be reminded that the church always stands in need of reformation.  

For over 500 years the Lutheran Church has played a significant role in spreading the Good News across the world. The Lutheran Evangelical Church’s strength is in Word and witness, making a difference in the lives of others. Caring for the poor, the forgotten, the homeless, the elderly, the refugee, and the ill, have been a hallmark of its ministry. Martin Luther had no idea what the outcome would be when he made his stand before the powers of that day and said, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”

All Who Call on God

 

All who call on God in true faith, 
earnestly from the heart,

will certainly be heard,
and will receive what they

have asked and desired, although

not in the hour or in the measure,
or the very thing which they ask.
Yet they will obtain something

greater and more glorious
than they had dared to ask.
 Martin Luther
 

Marks of Discipleship

For centuries, we have called it The Great Commission. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts all refer to it. Christians in the first century lived by it. Missionaries in the 20th century devoted their lives to it. Lord of Life in the 21st century embraces it. “Go into all your worlds and be and make disciples intentionally.” That is a paraphrase of The Great Commission and therein lies the mission statement of every church and the marching orders of every Christian.

Disciples are followers: not people who have reached their destination; they are people who are discovering their direction, often one step at a time. Disciples are lifetime learners; the Bible is their basic textbook. Disciples are representatives; they represent the ethics and values of Jesus in the marketplace. They are not political action groups, but prophetic promoters of justice and righteousness which have the power to reform a nation.

Lord of Life challenges every person to consider and commit to a personal spiritual growth plan. Our six Marks of Discipleship are: Pray daily; Worship weekly; Read the Bible; Build caring relationships; Serve at and beyond Lord of Life; and Give of your time, talent, and resources. Each of the Marks of Discipleship helps you to deepen an area in your spiritual life. Some are easy, some moderate, and some challenging.  

What a great time to be alive! What a great purpose we have in living! Paul captures it in these words, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:9-10

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

From the Depths of my Heart

 

 

Grant that I may not pray
 alone with the mouth;
help me that I may pray

 from the depths of my heart.

Martin Luther

Vision

As I was growing up in Minnesota, the members of our rural community shared a gift that made a profound impression on me. No one in our community was wealthy. They were farmers living from crop to crop, adding slightly to that income with dairy cows, chickens, and pigs. They were hard working people, working long days, whether under the hot summer sun or during wintry months when the temperature would never get above zero degrees. Etched on my memory is the fact that these folks decided they needed a new church for generations that would follow. It seemed as if every family was committed to being involved. Everyone gave generously. They insisted on doing all the work themselves so no one would need to be “hired.” The women provided wonderful meals to the workers who diligently worked in spare moments to build Alma Lutheran Church in the country. They completed building it debt free. That church still looks wonderful fifty years later. I rejoiced for the opportunity to speak at their 125th anniversary in 2006, thanking them for my spiritual roots.

 

 

We have done it again, built a church building in Clifton so that Jesus Christ will be more than just a name. Jesus Christ will be a friend who can see us through the best of times and the worst of times. Our multi-campus concept is also becoming a model for churches across the nation where a new style of ministry is emerging, one congregation on multiple sites. When we started this process, there were only a few such congregations. Now there are well over one hundred ELCS congregations either expanding into main-site congregations or planning such an expansion in the near future.

George Barna says, “Vision is the single most important dimension of a successful ministry.” Lord of Life is a congregation of vision and has been from its founding days over 40 years ago. 

There are four levels of vision:

Those who simply never see a vision: the Wanders.

Those who see the vision but never catch it: the Followers.

Those who see the vision and personally own it: the Achievers.

Those who see, own, and help others catch the vision: the Leaders.

 

 

We are blessed with many leaders at Lord of Life! We are limited only by our vision and commitment. God has a plan. All He needs is a people. Not just any people, but those with ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to understand. His message has not changed, but we must. And when we do, we will without a doubt fulfill our greatest destiny as a people called out by God.

Go with God!

Pastor Qualley