God’s Love

Before my father passed away, I had spent some time talking with him about what it means to be a pastor or minister. Something I took away from our conversations, and conversations with other church leaders as well, is that one of the most important things a minister must do is to love their people. Well, as Martin Luther did, I believe in the priesthood of all believers, that all Christians are called to care for and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all people. Each one of us is called to be a minister in the world. This being said, I refer back to my father’s words and give thanks for this congregation, Lord of Life Lutheran, and your love for one another and for those to whom you serve in the world. The Spirit is so evident in the life and ministry of this congregation. I give thanks for your partnership in the Lord’s work and feel blessed to be a part of this community of faith.

I want to share with you words from Paul’s letter to the people of Ephesus, Ephesians 3:14-21, a prayer that I pray for you, the people of Lord of Life, fellow members in the Body of Christ, and all people everywhere: “I bow in prayer before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. I ask the Father in His great glory to give you the power to be strong, inwardly through His Spirit. I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love–how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Chris’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then, you can be filled with the fullness of God. With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more that anything we can ask or imagine. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.”

I am grateful to God for all of God’s blessings including the opportunity to serve in ministry at Lord of Life. I live grateful to you all as well, for your hospitality, care and for your ministry to me and my family. I look forward to continuing to partner with you in the Gospel and journeying together. I know God continues to have great things in store for Lord of Life and indeed will continue to guide and bless us.

God’s Peace!

Pastor Percy

Instruments of History

Somewhere in the middle of Edward Rutherford’s novel Sarnum, the religious experience of his fifteenth century characters is described with the gloom as having “conscience but no cause.” We can be sensitive to what ought to be, aware of how life might be lived, and able to discern with real precision the very best way to navigate through the ambiguities of human experience, but for all of our enlightenment, we may be led to little more than disillusionment, frustration, guilt and self-condemnation.

Having all the earth-moving equipment parked at the site does not mean that the road has been built. Having a clear understanding of all the options does not alone mean that we are any closer to exercising any of them. Knowing right from wrong does not mean that we are thereby on the road to the rewards of virtue. One of our pastors used to say we can get bogged down in “the paralysis of analysis.” There are many people who have a near-perfect capacity for accurate analysis, but cannot go beyond the process of conscience and enter the universe of “cause.”

I grew up with a neighborhood bully who used to say, “I don’t care whether I’m right or wrong, I’m right, see?” His “cause” was to get his way, and he succeeded often enough. As he grew to maturity life was not kind to him, and self-determination soon yielded to futility and grief. We need to see that having a “cause” is not simply trying to get our way, even as having a conscience is not limited to merely understanding our circumstances. It is rather that we understand, as Oswald Chambers repeatedly wrote, “We cannot do what God can do, and He will not do what we can do.”We need to take the steps that allow our conscience to shape our “cause.”

The Holy Spirit can hone our conscience to the finest edge, but only we can wield it into an instrument of history. So let us realize that as individuals and as a congregation we can be such instruments of history. To realize that every moment that we claim for the cause of Christ will engrave a message in the corporate memory of what happens because the people of God engaged their time of ministry. In three hundred and some days from now our record will have become history. Let us together in Christ thank God for this time before us, and for the marvelous joy of the comradeship and spirit that abounds in the glorious cause of Christ.

In Christ,

Pastor Jansen  

To Have a Well Lived Life: Keep a Tenacious Grip on Faith, Cultivate Contentment & Be Defined by Generosity.

When it comes to the end of your life, what would you want to be remembered for? One of the defining characteristics I hope you and I will be remembered for is generosity. My hope is that people would say of us, “He was defined by generosity,” or “She lived what Jesus taught: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts. 20:35) My hope is that we would learn the truth of Winston Churchill’s famous words: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

When God created humankind, God designed us to be generous. But there is another voice that is at war against God. It is the voice of fear, which tells us, “If you give there may not be enough left over for you.” We are afraid to be generous because we are afraid of what might happen to us.  What if we don’t have enough to fill the gas tank or buy groceries or pay the bills? Fear, along with a misplaced idea about the true source of our security, keeps us from being generous and leads us to hoard what we have. There is a second voice of self-gratification, which tells us, “If you give, you won’t have enough money to buy the stuff you need to make you happy.” Our culture tells us that our lives consist in the abundance of our possessions and pleasurable experiences. So we find ourselves thinking, “If I give, there won’t be enough left for me.” So how do we defeat the voices of fear and self-gratification? They are defeated the moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ. As the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives, we begin to think less about ourselves and more about others. We begin to see the needs of others and wonder, “If I don’t do something, who will?” We discover that we find more joy in doing things for other people and for God than we ever did in doing things for ourselves. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts. 20:35)

Lord of Life Vacation Bible School

The central theological foundation for generosity is this: “Life is a gift, and everything belongs to God.”  Even your capacity to acquire wealth is a gift from God. You didn’t bring any of it with you when you came into this world, and you won’t take any of it with you when you leave. From the early days of the Old Testament, God’s people observed the practice of giving some portion of the best of what they had to God. A gift offered to God was called the first fruits or the tithe, and it equaled one-tenth of one’s flocks or crops or income. That practice continues for people of God to this day. Most Christians agree that the tithe is still a good guideline for our lives and one that is pleasing to God. Tithing is a challenging idea for many. It can be a stretch, especially for those who are wrestling with the voices of fear and self-gratification. Sandi and I have been tithers for most of our marriage and are blessed to move beyond that in our giving. It simply might not be possible for you to begin giving 10% to God, but I encourage you to take a step in that direction. Perhaps you can give 2% or 5% or 7%. 

Lord of Life Stephen Ministers

Here is an interesting fact: Our generosity to God and others not only touches God and other people, it also changes us. Malachi is right when he says, “Bring your full tithes. Put me to the test, and see if I won’t throw upon the gates of heaven and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (Malachi 3:10) Sometimes you hear people say that the church is always asking for money. That statement is untrue. It is the world that is always asking for money. When did you last go to the grocery store and have a checkout clerk not ask for money? Your mortgage company/bank regularly asks you for money. Most of us see a collection of bills coming through the mail or online every month. Are any of them from the church? Who withholds a percentage of every dollar you earn? Uncle Sam does, your Heavenly Father does not. There is no free lunch except at the church. You can attend and worship every week with no admission charge. If you are sick or in the hospital, our pastors come to pray with you. Where else can you get free counseling when you need it? Where will your children be married? Our building is well maintained so that whenever we are here it is comfortable, clean, cool and inviting. No one knows whether you contribute money or not. You have to pay taxes to provide your children “free public education.” Our church operates a Sunday school for no cost to you. The church requires no membership fee, no annual dues, and it never sends you a bill. Is there any other organization in the world that functions this way? So you can see the church asks for money far less that some say. Yet the church needs money to conduct the ministry. Christ calls us to provide. Our money goes to share Christ’s love. Isn’t that something you want to be part of? So pray and consider what you share now and see if you could increase that amount. But we will serve folks whether they contribute or not.

A man was on vacation with his family at a rented cottage on the New England seashore. On the first day of his vacation, he was out in the yard digging a hole. He was putting out a small plant. As his son observed this strenuous work, he asked his Dad why he was going to such effort to put out a plant when this was not even their cottage. They would not even be returning the next year. The father replied, “Somebody will be here.” “What kind of plant is it?” the son asked. “A century plant” his father replied. “A century plant, you mean it won’t bloom for a hundred years? The son asked. “Not that long,” the father explained, “Maybe twenty or thirty years.” The boy was astonished. “Why in the world would you come out on this hot morning on your vacation in a rented cottage to put out a plant that won’t even bloom for twenty years?” The father paused and looked up at his son. “I saw one the other day, and realized that someone twenty or thirty years ago wanted to share it with me. And so he planted it for my enjoyment. Some day, I said to myself, I’m going to plant one so that people will enjoy it after I’m gone. And that’s what I’m doing this morning.”

What will you do to have a lasting significance? May you have a tenacious grip on faith, cultivated contentment, and be defined by your generosity.

May you live a life well lived,

Pastor Qualley

To Have a Life Well Lived, We Need to Cultivate Contentment

Jesus put it this way, “And Jesus said to them, ‘take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15) Stress, anxiety and fear capture the mind of many Americans today. We have witnessed dramatic market losses, the collapse of the world’s largest insurance company, the largest Savings and Loan failure in banking history, numerous bankruptcies, mergers and fraud. The causes of our national economic woes are many. We could point to deregulations of financial industries, subprime mortgages, and the housing bubble. But beneath all of these direct causes are the deeper, indirect problems of the current crisis. These ultimate causes are not financial but spiritual. We also need to think about gluttony, greed, envy, and ultimately pride. Unwilling to delay gratification, we used tomorrow’s money to finance today’s lifestyle.

We focused our energy on acquiring more and newer, bigger and better. The funny thing was all of our consuming did not increase our joy in life, if anything it tended to rob us of the joy and increase our stress. The American dream became the American nightmare due to two things: affluenza and credit. Affluenza is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff. Shopping is one of American’s favorite pastimes. Advertisers are good at finding something we need: new clothes, a new computer, new furniture, a new car, a new kitchen, a new house. Credit creates the opportunity to buy now and pay later. It’s an illness that is brought on by promises of “six months same as cash,” or a 20% discount if you use your store credit card. It’s basically the idea that you can enjoy something today and pay for it tomorrow. Do some of you remember a different way to operate? It was called Layaway—what an odd idea—to save up the money and make payments and be able to take the items home only after paying for them in full. Interesting point from the research of our spending patterns is this. The average sale is around 125% higher if we use a credit card than if we pay cash, because we are not thinking about the money when we use credit.  It doesn’t feel real when we use plastic instead of cash.

Paul writes this, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” (Philippians 4:11) One of the most important keys to contentment and happiness is to develop a grateful heart. Gratitude is essential if we are to be content. The Apostle Paul said that we are to “give thanks in all circumstances.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) A grateful heart recognizes that all of life is a gift. Contentment comes when we spend more time giving thanks for what we have than thinking about what’s missing or wrong in our lives. In any situation, we either can complain or be grateful. We can focus on all the things we don’t like, or we can begin to search for the things we do like and be grateful for them. We can focus on the disappointments, or we can give thanks for the blessings.

May you live a life well lived,

Pastor Qualley

To Have a Life Well Lived, Have a Tenacious Grip on Faith

Paul says, “I have fought the good fight.” Why would he say that? Why didn’t he say, for example, “Life has been a breeze? I have had my share of the good times.” Instead, Paul implies that life has been a struggle. It is no different today. Take government for example. Whether it’s municipal, county, state, or national—government is always involved in a struggle. There are financial, social, and moral problems. Government is always in turmoil. Look at the church. There has been a struggle all through the ages. Today it struggles for leadership, for attendance, for volunteers, for money. The church has always to struggle just to maintain and even more if it is to be bold in its vision and ministry.

Life’s battles are not confined to institutions; they also occur in our personal lives. From the beginning to the end, we are all involved in struggle. A newborn struggles to be born. A child struggles to learn. The teenager struggles under peer pressure. Young adults struggle to find their niche, keep marriages together, and raise children. Older adults struggle with health problems and financial problems. The truth is that from the beginning of life to the end, we are all in a battle. Paul was right on target when he described life a as a fight.

But of all the battles that we must fight, Jesus taught that the most difficult one is the inner battle. It is the fight within us. It is the fight for self-control and against self-seeking. Advertisements bombard you with all kinds of products and gadgets that play on your emotions imploring you to take care of yourself. Give yourself a break. You deserve whatever your heart desires. You have worked hard and whether you can afford it or not, you should have it.

When we come to the end of our struggle, all of us can say that we have fought the fight, but can we echo the words of Paul that we have fought the good fight. Can we affirm in good faith that we have given the last ounce of energy? Can we look back upon life with a sense of satisfaction, rather than regrets? It was a fight, says Paul, but it was a good fight.

May you live a life well lived,

Pastor Qualley

A Life Well Lived

Mike Krzyzewski is coach of the national champion Duke Blue Devils basketball team. He is known as being meticulous in his pursuit of basketball success. In his book titled, Leading with the Heart, he attributes much of his success to his mother. He writes, “You want to know who my hero is? My hero is my mother. Everything she did was something that she put her own trademark on. Whatever it was, something as simple as making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. When we were a little poorer, she put three chips in every cookie. When we got a little more money, it’s four chips. But if you got a chocolate chip cookie that had only two chocolate chips in you, you knew it wasn’t my mother’s. From that simple lesson I’ve taken the principle that everything we do has our own personal signature on it, so we want to do it the best we possibly can.” That’s a pretty good philosophy. Put your personal stamp on everything you do.  In every worthwhile thing you do, give your very best.

St. Paul put his personal signature on the New Testament and upon the burgeoning young church of his day. Like the coach’s mother, he gave his very best. He held nothing back. St. Paul was under house arrest in Rome when he wrote the words we read today from the epistle to Timothy. He knew that he was soon going to die a martyr’s death. He wanted his young colleague Timothy to know he had no regrets, that he would do it all again. He wanted to let it be known quite clearly that the emperor Nero could not take his life from him; he was willing to give his life up freely for the glory of Christ. So he writes these memorable words: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

All of us are inspired by people who give their all. We call them saints, heroes, legends. It’s not that they are more intelligent or more talented than we are. They simply gave more than the average person is willing to give. In light of Paul’s writing, it is good to ponder these questions:  How will we be remembered? Whose life will be better because we have been here? When the race is over, what will the Master say about our life?

May you live a life well lived,

Pastor Qualley

What Is Truly New

 Attached to the rear panel of some metro buses a few years ago was a poster that might still strike deep into the soul of a sensitive person. It portrayed an astronaut standing on the surface of the moon, reaching out to an American flag that had apparently just been placed there. Just beyond the immediate lunar scenery could be seen the earth 280,000 miles away. It was a breathtaking picture. The caption read, “Been there, done that, what’s new?” In six words, a major cosmic achievement of modern technology was made trivial by words that reflected a shallow callous and exasperating indifference to greatness, having acknowledged that the achievement had, and for a while might have been, of some note, the captions turns with implied boredom to the relentless need to find something “new.” Enter the television channel, who having paid the price of this startling advertisement, considered itself the reliable source of what could be counted on to provide the viewer with what was “new.”

It seems likely that our generation will continue to be robbed of realizing when something of genuinely vast importance has happened. Simply because it is true, insignificance may not have been ballyhooed with enough “hype” to rouse our over-taxed senses. News of world changing events may get little attention if they report matters that do not qualify as “breakthrough” or “breaking news” or some window dressing that makes us stop and listen.

If even reports of exploits in space have a short shelf life as news, it may be small wonder that when we celebrate a resurrection or birth  that happened almost two thousand year ago we may see only a perfunctory nod in our public media. The bunny, eggs, Santa, presents and the sales will likely get much more press than the birth and resurrection that ushered in a very new chapter of human existence on this planet. Even so, the Christian message has survived rejection, persecution, ridicule, indifference, attacks of reason as well as ignorance, threats of the powerful, imprisonments, hatred, hunger economic deprivation, exile, the worst and the most foul treatment… history is full of relentless and aggressive pressures to give up the message. Yet, here we are, in the year of our Lord 2012, celebrating our Christian heritage. By any standard, the good news that our “last enemy, “has been overthrown could not possibly be anything but the best news that this world has ever had to take seriously.

“Because he lives, we shall live also,” has been the word that has turned around the life of our planet so that it has become possible to look ahead with hope and assurance rather than apprehension and dread, God’s down payment on a “future and a hope,” the likes of which the ancients could only dream. Power to you…and joy, may your life ring with the energy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And may you, who bear the weight of carrying the witness to Christ’s gospel into the world of our day, find refreshment and renewal. Our lives are the media, the message is Christ…offering to our world a gracious God whose love and mercy are truly new every morning.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Jansen