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- Maintenance Position Description [7/29/2008]
- Office Administrator Position Description [7/29/2008]
- March 2006 Calendar [3/1/2006]
- Prayer's Divine Persona [1/1/2006]
- Merry Christmas - in July? [7/24/2005]
- Help for the needy [6/5/2005]
- Commencement in the School of Discipleship [5/22/2005]
- Wind - Fire - Word [5/15/2005]
- Glory [5/8/2005]
- Breakthrough Trust [5/1/2005]
Recent Blogging
1/25/2008 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Please Be Mine
For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3:16).
As we all head out in the next couple of weeks to buy our valentines something special - chocolate, flowers, diamonds - we all look for that one special gift that truly says, "I love you."
When God was looking for just the right gift for us, He gave us His most precious and special possession - He gave us Himself.
How will you say "I love you" to God this year? You can give Him your offerings and that is very important. You can give Him your time and volunteer to help with something at church. You can give Him your talents and do something for a neighbor in need.
But what God really wants is you - your heart, your love, your life. Say "I love you" this year by giving Him your self.
You really are the greatest gift, because when you give your whole self, you are giving Him everything else too.
1/9/2008 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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How are your New Year's Resolutions coming?
January is a month of new beginnings as we set off on a New Year. It's a good time to review the past and set a new direction or renew an old commitment too.
As you think about 2008 and what you want to accomplish, please consider the following intentions too:
Will you be in worship with your brothers and sisters every week that you can?
Will you take time with God every day, reading the Bible and talking with Him?
Will you use the gifts and time that God has given you to do something for Him and other people this year?
Will you give as God enables you to His work at Trinity and in the world?
The new year is an exciting time. It is a new beginning. By God's grace we can leave the past behind and try again with His help to live the kind of life that will glorify Him. As we work on these spiritual intentions, we will find our lives growing in ways that no diet or exercise resolution would ever make happen.
May God bless you as you start afresh in 2008. May He give you peace and joy and happy times. And may He help us all to set Him as a priority in our lives.
12/13/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Is Jesus the one we have been waiting for?
John the Baptist sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."
Is Jesus the one we have been waiting for?
It depends on what we have been waiting for.
In John's day some people were waiting for a Messiah who would make Israel great again. Other people were waiting for a Messiah to make them rich or to at least make their lives comfortable.
John asks the question not because he is unsure but because he wants the answer to be absolutely clear to his disciples.
Jesus replies with God's Word from Isaiah and with the evidence of His life. He is the one who has come to bring healing to people, to help people see, to raise the dead and give life to the spiritually deceased. He is the one who has come to raise up the poor and bring God's kingdom of love, justice and peace to the world.
He is the one that John was waiting for. The next time we see the Baptist he is laying down his head for the sake of Jesus the Christ.
Is Jesus the one you have been waiting for?
If you have been waiting for Him to make America great, He is not the one.
If you have been waiting for Him to make you comfortable, He is not the one.
However, if you have been waiting for someone to stand up to the devil, to sin and death and corruption, if you have been waiting for someone to care for others rather than Himself, if you have been waiting for someone to challenge the powers of this world, to stand up for the poor and the abused and the overlooked, if you have been waiting for someone who could inspire you to get over your own selfish self-concern and give you a cause and a King and a Kingdom worth giving your life for, then Jesus is the one.
Pastor Tim Booth
12/6/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Watch Out For This Guy in the Dark Alleys
He was a rather scary looking guy. You wouldn't have wanted to meet him in a dark alley. He was dressed in camel's hair; his hair was wild and unkempt; he was always preaching and wagging his finger menacingly at people. "Repent!" he shouted. "Repent! The end is coming! The Kingdom of God is at hand!"
You probably would not have wanted to meet him in a brightly lit church either. He made you take a good hard look at yourself and the direction your life is going. "You're going the wrong way," he'd yell at you. "Turn it around. Come back to God."
Advent gives us all an opportunity to examine ourselves and the direction of our lives. Are we living just for ourselves or is God at the center of our love and our lives?
As you are buying presents and singing those warm and wonderful Christmas carols, take some time to do the hard work of preparing for the King. Take some time to examine your life and to straighten out your course again with the Holy Spirit's help.
Pastor Tim Booth
11/29/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Advent: Wake Up! Get Ready!
You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew 24:44).
Today's Gospel sounds the clarion call of Advent: Wake up! Get ready! The Light is coming into the world!
All around us darkness has fallen and the twin dangers of the night threaten, urging us either to party like there is no tomorrow or to drift off and fall asleep.
Jesus is coming. The signs in Matthew 24:3-28 have all been fulfilled. Soon He will appear and one will be ready and taken to meet Him, and another will be partying or sleeping and will be left.
How awake are we? How awake is our faith?
Advent is a time of preparation. That preparation begins with recognizing what time it is and setting our hearts to be ready.
Pastor Tim Booth
11/21/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Christmas Caring
Christmas Caring is a year end tradition that started at Trinity in 2002 when a generous member offered to donate $50,000 if the congregation would match that amount. That year members gave $60,000 and a total of $110,000 was raised. Over the past 5 years Christmas Caring has continued to be a year end celebration of giving even though we have not received matching funds.
The Christmas Caring offering has been used for missions, paying off a furniture and equipment loan for the Family Center, to pay off our line of credit at the Bank, and for electronic equipment upgrades at our facilities.
God has richly blessed our ministry at Trinity as we continue to extend our outreach in the community. This past year we have been blessed with the arrival of Pastor Mark, our two new youth directors, Drew and Cathi, and a full staff of teachers at Trinity Academy. The six ministries at Trinity are fully staffed and growing. However, we continue to need special gifts beyond what we normally receive each week to keep the ministry of Christ moving forward here.
If you would like to give a year-end gift to celebrate a blessed 2007, or just celebrate the gift of the Baby Jesus, please put it in a green envelope available at the ushers' tables at each location or in a plain envelope clearly marked "Christmas Caring" and drop it in the offering between now and December 31. Gifts of stock are also welcome; please contact our Parish Administrator, Katherine Fossler, for more information.
May God bless you and keep you throughout this blessed Holiday Season.
Merry Christmas
11/21/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Pledging Allegiance
Everyday when I was growing up we stood up in the morning and pledged allegiance to the flag. Such an activity is certainly a good thing and important for our formation as citizens of the United States of America.
All of us know, though, that talk is cheap. The real measure of patriotism is the willingness to give one's life for one's country. Allegiance is measured in action. Even paying taxes is a measure of our commitment to our country, its ideals, and our fellow citizens.
The same is true when it comes to pledging allegiance to our King - Jesus. This weekend is celebrated as Christ the King Sunday in the church year. We stop to acknowledge Jesus as the supreme ruler of all things and to pledge our allegiance to Him.
As good a thing as it is to come to church for this weekly "rally" and to stand up and pledge our allegiance in saying the Apostles' Creed, it is even more important in this Kingdom to put our allegiance into action. To give our life for our King in loving others, forgiving others. Even pledging and giving our money and time are acts that speak louder than words ever could about our commitment to God's Kingdom and our love for the King.
May the Lord help us to be good patriots of His Kingdom.
Pastor Tim Booth
11/14/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Short and Simple Prayer
Matthew 6:19 - 20 (NIV) Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Father of us all, Creator of the vast universe, all things are in your hand. We often struggle with contentment, pondering the things that we don't have. Give us an appreciation for the daily bread you give us, for the warmth of our homes, for friends and family. Help us see that having Jesus is having everything that we need. Help us to clearly see that every good and perfect gift comes from you. And make us wise in how we use those gifts. Teach us to return a fitting offering to one who has given so much, in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, ...Amen.
Pastor Mark Neumann
11/8/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Harvest of the Heart
I have noticed that most of the crops are out of the fields. I saw one monster-eyed combine gobbling up the last of the field near our house on Monday morning before dawn.
How is the harvest of your heart going? Have you expressed your love and gratitude to God or is there still some thanksgiving to be harvested?
Next week we are going to bring our pledges forward to the Lord. They arrived in your mailbox a couple of weeks ago. Please take them out this week and pray over how you are going to respond to all of God's blessings in your life. Fill out the cards, put them in the envelope and bring them with you to worship next week - or if you won't be in worship, please mail them or drop them off on Thanksgiving or the last Sunday in November.
Please do join us in making a plan and filling out a pledge. God's mercy and grace deserves a considered response and not just our end-of-the-week leftovers.
Pastor Tim Booth
11/1/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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God Will Supply...
C. H. Spurgeon once said, "God is satisfied with Himself, and sufficient to His own happiness. Therefore, surely, there is enough in Him to fill the creature. That which fills an ocean will fill a bucket; that which will fill a gallon will fill a pint; those revenues which will defray an emperor's expenses are enough for a beggar or poor man." Didn't Paul say, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus?" And He sees fit to bestow these riches on us as an inherent gift. Thus all believers possess Christ, but not everyone has all His gifts, for He gives them as it pleases Him. His pleasure is according to His knowledge. At Trinity we will count on God to supply us with more than enough to accomplish His mission. He'll enable so much through the people, their talents, their treasures. It will be an adventure to watch Him work!
Pastor Mark Neumann
11/1/2007 | By: Mark | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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A Drop in the Bucket
Let's not refuse to give the little we have; God will multiply it. There was an elderly man who was giving very little, but it was truly sacrificial. He had a younger friend who was always making fun of him. "Such need in the world, and yet you think that with your few dollars you will make a difference! Old friend, what you give is only a drop in the bucket." But the old man with rejoicing in his face turned to his friend and said, "Yes, all that God expects of me is my drop and He will see to the filling of the bucket."
10/25/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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The Bible Changes Hearts...
Many years ago in a Moscow theater, matinee idol Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled Christ in a Tuxedo. He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon on the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, "Give me my tuxedo and top hat!" But as he read the words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," he began to tremble. Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot-stamping of his fellow actors. Finally, recalling a verse he had learned in his childhood in a Russian Orthodox church, he cried, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!" (Luke 23:42). Before the curtain could be lowered, Rostovzev had trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
What a great example of the Bible's awesome power. It changes hearts, and that's why it is a passion of a Christian's heart to read, hear, study, and meditate on the Word of God. At Trinity we want to keep the Bible in very high and holy regard, pursuing a deeper understanding of it at all times.
Pastor Mark Neumann
10/19/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Passion of the Heart: Prayer
Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn't make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Say a prayer for us, John. We're in for it!" John answered, "I can't. I've never said a prayer out loud in my life." "But you must!" implored his companion. "The bull is catching up to us." "All right," panted John, "I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: 'O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"
If the only time that we pray is when the bull is bearing down on us, it's going to be hard to find the words to say. But if prayer is the conversation of our souls, we are always going to be in touch with God.
Maybe these farmers were northern Europeans. Probably. They didn't want to bore God or wear Him out with their constant conversation. Men of few words.
But in Luke 18, Jesus encourages us to just keep talking. He told a parable about a persistent widow "to the effect that we ought always to pray and never lose heart" (18:1). God loves to hear His children pray. He never gets tired of our talking to Him about the littlest or the biggest things. And, of course, He likes it when we listen to Him. That is prayer too.
Prayer is conversation. It is talking with God. Every relationship does it. Talks. Listens.
Remember when you were falling in love with the love of your life - how you could talk and talk and the hours slipped away making you late for your curfew? "We were just talking, Dad."
Such is prayer. It's talking and being with the one that we love and the one who loves us. God is waiting for you today. He is listening. He loves you.
Tim
10/19/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Love
Why is it that our televisions are so full of commercials about diamonds? Why is it that spouses complain because their loved ones never bring them flowers?
Why is a sink full of dishes always the test of our love?
Why do we get harangued at home because we're always working and never around?
It's because love is about giving... giving time, giving gifts, giving our special talents at dishwashing or foot massaging to each other.
God loves us and so He gives... His Son, His life, our lives, everything we have.
Our love for Him is about giving too.
Talk is cheap, as I have been reminded from time to time. How are you showing God that you love Him too? Don't let it be just all talk. Love never is.
10/11/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Passions of the Heart: Thanksgiving
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 106:1)
Our parents all taught us to say "thank you" when someone does something nice for us. No one has done more for us or deserves more of our thanks than God. And yet, like in the rest of our relationships, no one probably gets more taken for granted than He does.
In your ś Minutes with God" or your daily time with Him, or just before you drop off to sleep, take 30 seconds to review your day and say "thanks, Father, for all that you have done."
+ Tim
10/3/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Tending Leading Gathering
The gospels in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) show that the disciples were also often confused about faith. However they were wise enough to ask Jesus about it. In Luke, chapter 17, you see the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith. And here was Jesus' response to them:
"If you had faith like a mustad seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." Jesus' response is interesting. Notice He doesn't say some of the things that we've become accustomed to hearing Christians say. Jesus didn't say, "You just need to try harder." Nor did Jesus say, "You just gotta believe." Jesus' response reveals an important truth about the nature of faith. The mustard seed is the smallest of seed. Jesus used that fact to illustrate that it isn't the size of your faith that's important. Rather...the power of faith rests in the reliability of its object, not in how confident you may be. We desire the faith that is needed to grow as God's people. It will transform our life.
10/3/2007 | By: Mark | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Today, I was thinking about stewardship-not just in terms of Trinity, but holistically: in terms of everything in my life. A steward is defined as "One who manages another's property, finances, or other affairs." For each of us, what we are managing is not ours; what we manage has been given and entrusted to us by God. We are here on earth "managing" that which He has given us.
This is important to remember because it means that nothing is ours. Nothing. You've heard the old saying, "You can't take it with you." Well, you can't take it with you because it's not yours to take.
This creates an interesting situation. I don't think we are asked to give up everything, but we are certainly asked to take stock of our situation and give...and to likely give a little more than we first think we ought. For many of us, the first thought at giving isn't much; I'm not advocating painful levels of giving, but it is typical that our first thought is probably some amount that is little when compared to our bountiful blessings. If we are given "much" to manage let's manage to give much. It's an adventure to give as God supplies!
9/27/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Voting vs. Vision
The pastor of a church decided that God was calling the church to a new vision. So at the deacons' meeting, he presented the new vision with as much conviction and passion as he could muster. When he finished, the deacon chairman called for a vote. All 12 deacons voted against the new vision, with only the pastor voting for it.
"Well, pastor, it looks like you'll have to rethink your vision," the deacon chairman said. "Would you like to close the meeting in prayer?"
The pastor raised his hands to heaven and prayed, "Lord! Please show these people that it's not MY vision but it's YOUR vision!"
At that very moment, the clouds darkened and a bolt of lightning shot through the window, splitting the table in two. The deacons were all knocked out of their chairs as the pastor remained standing untouched.
As the deacons dusted themselves off, the chairman said, "Well, that's twelve votes to two now."
Today, Pastor Mark shares a developing vision with the downtown church. We pray God's blessings as we contemplate together the wonderful future ministry he has for us.
Pastor Mark
9/20/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The TLC Cross
After Peter confessed his faith in Jesus, the Lord said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). What was that cross that Peter was to take up every day? What is that cross that we at Trinity are called to pick up every day in following Jesus?
During the next two weeks, Pastor Mark and I are going to address that question and share a Model of Ministry for Trinity that is formed by that cross.
It centers in the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ and grows outward to love God and care for family, community, and world. The TLC Cross expresses the mission of Trinity: "Reaching out from a growing Heart to Heaven, Home, and Humanity Near and Far."
It's not a cross that is easy to carry. It requires that we deny ourselves sometimes. And we don't get to put it down when we leave here and pick it up again next Sunday when we return to church.
But it is a cross that Jesus Himself helps us to carry as His love grows in our hearts and flows over into our relationships with God, family, friends, and the world.
Pastor Tim
9/14/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Beginning a Labor of Love
I've been looking forward to this weekend with you. Being installed as your pastor brings me great personal joy. Trinity is a strong and vibrant congregation in a special community. I know that we have what this community needs to be even better. We've got the good news of Jesus Christ and his gracious redeeming work to save the world from sin and death. We've got a hopeful word for families and for a new generation of young people who are hungry to know Jesus. I'm looking forward to the following weeks as Pastor Tim and I outline our vision and mission, along with prioritized ministries that are beginning to take shape. An installation is time for both pastor and congregation to make a collective agreement to work together in the Gospel mission. Pastor Tim and I are ready for you to join us for what will be a labor of love for the Hudson community and the world, in Jesus' name.
Pastor Mark
9/14/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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A Reason to celebrate-a reason to give
If there was ever a reason to give - beyond the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ - we have that reason in these weeks of September. God has been so good to us here at Trinity. For months we have been praying for a pastor and youth director and in these few short weeks God has given us both.
God wants our giving and serving to flow out of a grateful heart. As we install our new Lead Pastor, Pastor Mark, and welcome his family, let's say thank you to the Lord by redoubling our efforts to support the work of Christ through Trinity with our offerings of money, talents, and time.
+ Stewardship Team
9/7/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Wahhoowah
That would be Norwegian for "Praise the Lord!"
We have started out the new school year with a big bang. Everybody is back, school is in session.
We have a new pastor, Pastor Mark, and we are going to celebrate his installation next week with two great worship services and lots of good food and fun.
And, Wahhoowah! we have two new Youth Directors and we're working on a third.
Our new Youth Directors are Cathi Smits and Drew Mulder. They are each working half-time, sharing the responsibility for middle school and high school youth ministry at Trinity.
Cathi is a mom of youth, with a young heart, gifts in relating with kids, organizing, teaching, and music, who has also been a youth director. Drew is in his mid-20's with a fire for Jesus in his soul. He has a passion for kids to know the Lord and he has had youth ministry experience too.
As we prayed and searched for our youth ministers, we came to recognize that we needed even more help in youth ministry. We felt led to a third youth minister as well, a full-time Director of Christian Education. However, we recognized that Trinity wasn't in a position right now to be able to afford an additional full-time position. So we are looking for additional funding and working on and praying for all of us to catch the vision of what God could do here among our youth and give a little more to help make it happen.
God has been so good to us. When I think about where we were even just this time last year, it's amazing. No youth director. No pastor. A Trinity School teacher less. But God has blessed us as we have pulled together to follow Him and to pursue His dreams.
The dreaming goes on even though the future is here. Believe with us. Celebrate with us. Work with us. Wahhoowah!
Pastor Tim
8/31/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Labor for the Lord
This weekend we pause to reflect on the laborers who collectively make our nation great. We take the weekend off and get a little reprieve from the normal routine, the Labor Day holiday. Reflecting on this annual celebration makes me want to highlight a few things about our labor for the Lord. Our labor for the Lord is: 1) a labor of love (I Thes 1:3). 2) a labor not in vain (I Cor 15:58). 3) a labor known by Christ (Rev 2:2). 4) a labor God does not forget (Heb 6:10). 5) a labor which is to be done together (I Cor 3:9). 6) a labor for eternal things (Col 1:28-9). 7) a labor which is to reward (I Cor 3:8). 8) a labor done to be accepted by Him (II Cor 5:9). 9) a labor which doesn't have an end (Luke 10:2).
Have a terrific Labor Day!
Pastor Mark
8/31/2007 | By: Mark | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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THE POWER OF 57¢
What seems like a very small gift may be very powerful. Back in the 1880's in the city of Philadelphia, there lived a little girl named Hattie May Wiatt. Hattie was a member of the Baptist Temple, which was growing very quickly at that time. One morning when she arrived at Sunday school she found the school so crowded that she could not get in the door. She stood outside, confused and afraid to push through the crowds of children to find a place in the Sunday school. The kindly pastor, Reverend Russell Conwell, came by and saw the scared little girl standing outside with her Sunday school book and he picked her up, carried her on his shoulders and found a place for her in the crowded Sunday school classroom.
The next day Reverend Conwell saw Hattie again and he told her that he was hoping to soon have enough money to build a bigger church so that there would be lots of room for all of the children.
Some time later Hattie May became very sick. She died in 1886. After the funeral the family came to the pastor with a worn and crumpled little purse containing 57¢. They told Reverend Conwell that Hattie May had been saving the money to help build a new church and Sunday school that would have enough room for all the children. The pastor could not believe it. He had not even begun to save or raise any money for the new building. The pastor told his parishioners about Hattie's small gift and very quickly more and more people were making donations for the new church. They all knew that if a little girl could give 57¢ surely they could give something.
Today this simple little Temple Baptist Church is one of the largest in Philadelphia with seating for 3,300 and Temple University where hundreds of students study the Christian faith every year. And they credit it all to Hattie May's 57¢!
Note: For more information on Hattie May you can go to the Baptist Temple web site - www.baptisttemple.com. They have there the full story of what happened with the 57¢ Hattie May gave.
8/24/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Build Yourself Up
In our postcard for today from Jude, the brother of Jesus encourages Christians to "build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."
The Christians of Jude's day were living in a very difficult world with a huge task - to make disciples of all nations. One would expect him to say, "get going...get busy." Instead he says: "build yourselves up."
It reminds me a lot of the Green Bay Packers. An enormous task. A huge challenge. Overwhelming odds. But they start by building themselves up. Eating well. Working out. (The Vikings do too, of course). After all, you can't share what you don't have and none of us would be able to survive very long against the behemoths of this age without the strength which only God can give us.
As you gear up for the fall, then, take some time each day to "build yourself up." Eat well. Exercise. But also take some time with God to build up your faith too. Set aside fifteen minutes to be with Him, read and reflect on His Word, and pray. You wouldn't leave the house without getting dressed. You shouldn't leave the house in the morning without a good breakfast. Don't venture out into the world without your daily time with God either.
Pastor Tim
8/17/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Stewardship
"Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." (3 John 5-8)
It goes all the way back to the apostle John - this encouragement to give and to support the work of those who take the truth about God out into the world. Ever since the beginning, Christians have been urged by the Holy Spirit to contribute to the work of brothers and sisters who are taking the Gospel of Jesus to people who don't trust him yet, to do this great and loving work for strangers - for people that they don't even know.
And God is not embarrassed to urge us as well. The time is short, the need is great. People are dying without faith and going to hell. He wants us to support with our money, with our time, with our prayers, those who are taking the Good News to people who are dying. Spending money on our own spiritual lives is okay, and taking care of our families spiritually is important, but it makes God and His apostles proud when we become "fellow workers for the truth" by giving to someone and something beyond ourselves, to servants of Jesus who are taking salvation to others.
How are you doing in supporting people like these? You can be a hero, a missionary, a standard-bearer for the truth every week as you give and support God's work with your offerings and tithes.
Pastor Tim
8/17/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The Greatest Joy
It seems kind of crazy but it seems like it's almost universally true. No matter how big your family, how many kids you've got, it's always great fun to have your children's friends hanging out at your house.
We had six kids when I was growing up and it seemed like we always had at least 12 or 15 in the yard, house, basement, kitchen - the kitchen, in the refrigerator, sitting around the table or on the countertop talking with my mom. As my mother reflected with us a couple of years ago, her greatest joy was having her kids around with all of their friends laughing, eating, even weeping sometimes. A house that is full of love is an open and welcoming home.
John reflects on his greatest joys in the postcards that he writes at the end of the New Testament. He is so happy when his spiritual children are walking in the truth, close to their Father and their brothers and sisters. He is proud when they leave home to take that truth out into the world. And he is thrilled when they welcome others into their fellowship, sharing the truth and the love of God's family with them. The more the merrier for Him.
God has blessed us with a wonderful church family here at Trinity. We have a great time together and it is a precious Truth and very warm love that we share here. Let us work to deepen our Father's joy by reaching out to welcome people that He brings into His house here. Don't let somebody you don't know walk past you on Sunday or Saturday or Wednesday without talking to them. The world is full of spiritual "orphans", "displaced people", and "weary travelers" who are looking for somebody to love them. In this family, they will find that love.
+ Pastor Tim
8/9/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Consistent Truth
A small boy was on the witness stand in an important lawsuit. The prosecuting attorney cross-examined him, then delivered, he thought, a crushing blow to the testimony. "Your father has been telling you how to testify, has he not?". "Yes," the boy replied and did not hesitate with the answer. "Now," said the lawyer triumphantly, "just tell us how your father told you to testify". "Well," the boy said modestly, "Father told me the lawyers would try to tangle me in my testimony, but if I would just be careful to tell the truth, I could repeat the same thing every time". God's Word is Truth. If we are consistent in speaking God's Word, we can repeat it every time and not get tangled in the world's way of thinking and speaking. In 2 John we learn that the way of truth and love are inseparable. People who live in God's love live in truth. People who live in His truth live in love.
Pastor Mark
8/2/2007 | By: Mark | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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What Would You Share?
There once was an old farmer who was constantly bragging about how generous he would be if he were only rich. One night God sent an angel to test him. The angel asked, "If you had $1 million dollars, would you share some with God?" "Of course I would," answered the man without hesitation. "If you lived in a mansion, would you let God have a room?" the angel asked. Again the man quickly answered, "Absolutely." Finally, the angel asked, "Would you let God use your old horse out back?" The man thought for a long time and finally answered, "No." "Why not?" asked the angel. The man answered, "Because that horse is the only one I have and I need him." Moral of the Story...
It's harder to be generous with things that we actually have than it is with riches we hope to have someday. But what we do have and use for building God's kingdom are Fruits of Faith. He is glorified in our giving.
Pastor Mark
8/2/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Ants
I was reading a teachers' plan for observing the behavior of ants. The basic point of the lesson was to get the students to watch the ants deal with obstacles, to see how they would react to varying degrees of difficulty in overcoming things that either get in the way or must be moved. Ants are really amazing! They are designed by our creator God to be enormously strong for their size and tenaciously determined to accomplish their work. The Bible tells us that we are also able to "overcome" even the world. Because Jesus laid down His life as a perfect sacrifice for our sin, the most formidable enemies of sin, death, and satan (the spell checker on my computer thinks that imp deserve a capital letter on his name but not me) are already defeated. That leaves just the small stuff, which sometimes feels pretty big to us. Our God is able to take it all on Him as we walk with Him, we can overcome the world.
Pastor Mark
7/26/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Puncture-Proof Heart
Some of these newfangled inventions are great-especially the puncture-proof tire. If you are driving along with ordinary tires and a nail goes through one of them, whis-s-s, you lose all the air. But a puncture-proof tire is different-if a nail goes through, there is some stuff inside that runs around and stops the hole and the air stays in.
The heart of a Christian is like that puncture-proof tire. An ordinary heart may be filled with love, but when someone does something to puncture that heart, all the love runs out and hatred and hard feelings take its place. But a puncture-proof heart is different. It is filled with the Spirit of Christ and when someone, through their words or deeds punctures that heart, immediately the hole is stopped up tight and the love stays in."
Today, we focus on staying in the truth and staying in love. It's a great place to be as a child of God. With his help and perfect strength we are committed to "abide in love" and to live it out daily even amid those hazards which would try to put a leak in the love.
Pastor Mark
7/19/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Children of God
A boy was kept by his mother in an attic in WWII to keep him from being drafted. For years he lived in the little attic. His mother who was well off died, and several days later she was found. They heard a noise and soon found the boy. Half starved scared and afraid, they led him out of the attic. After being fed he was told the war was over, and explained he was financially well off and they asked him what he wanted? His reply? He wanted to retreat back to his grubby little room.
Many Christians are in the same situation. They live miserable lives afraid of everything, trying to save themselves instead of living wonderful wholesome lives, receiving the blessings of God. The Christian has all God's resources to be used, but often because he does not put his trust in the Lord he lives a poor and sad existence. How odd that so many who are children of the King would live like a pauper instead.
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1
Pastor Mark
7/12/2007 | By: Mark | Category: TLG | Comments
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Dangerous
"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11
A pastor and post-modern leader, who I admire, Erwin McManus, relayed the story of his young son who called him into his room at night because he was afraid. He asked his daddy to pray for protection and that God would make him safe. Erwin said to his son, "No, I won't pray that. I'm going to pray that God would make you dangerous. That you would be so dangerous, that demons would be afraid of you."
The son replied, "Then pray that I would be very dangerous."
The point was that believers should be so close to God and so armed with His weapons that they would be able to stand against the world and the evil one and to be bold like Jesus.
Being in the Word makes us so. As we continue our look at New Testament Postcards we ask that God would make us dangerous.
Pastor Mark Neumann
7/11/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Brief Update on Current Expenses
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
I want to give you a brief update on our current expenses. From the first of the year to the present, general offerings are down more than 6 1/2% and Fruits of Faith [capital fund drive to reduce the debt] is down more than 32% which means that, if the current trend continues, by the end of December we will be down $55,000.00 for general offerings and down $50,000.00 for Fruits of Faith.
However, we are very close to hiring a Youth Director, Pastor Mark Neumann is on board and ready to go to work, and with the hard work and dedication of Pastor Tim, Cheri, Katherine, and the rest of our staff, I believe the ministry is ready to explode and go to the next level, which, I believe, will take care of things long term.
But our real pressing need is short term cash flow. It looks like we will have to borrow money to meet expenses for July and August. But there is absolutely no money in the budget to pay back this loan, which will be a very huge setback for Trinity.
PPC and leadership are asking all of us in the congregation to talk with God and prayerfully consider your current giving and see if there is a way you can help us get through this problem.
One way is to sign up for Simply Giving, which will insure that your offering will be at the church each week which will help us with expenses.
Please remember that the Bible states that God our Father commands us to be good stewards of the resources and gifts he has provided for us on earth and here at Trinity. God bless you all!
Jim Miller
Trinity president
7/10/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Walking in the Light
My favorite part of the day is early morning - just as the sun is rising. It seems like all the things that concerned me the previous night, all the things that kept me awake thrashing through the night, just kind of evaporate as the sun comes up. Of course, all those things are still in the light but somehow the light gives me a different perspective on them. I can see hope in the morning. I can see help in the morning. I can see some possibilities.
God sends us a postcard today in 1 John 1. It's a picture postcard. A picture of the sunrise, of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, dawning on us and all who struggle through the night. With the Son of God there is hope and help and possibilities. On the backside of this picture, God says to us: "Walk in the Light." Let Jesus shine on you every day. As you get up in the morning, turn your face to His Word. As you journey through the day, let His light guide you. As you lay yourself down at night, commend yourself into His light and let Him fill your heart through the long, dark night.
Good morning! Good day! God's peace!
Pastor Tim
6/27/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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How do you welcome a new pastor?
Excitement is running high for our new pastor. People are wanting to know how we can welcome him and make him and his family feel at home. Send him a letter? Mail a card? Email him? Make him cookies?
As impressively warm and welcoming as chocolate chip cookies would seem to me, there is one other way to make Pastor Mark feel welcome here. And that's by getting involved in some part of the ministry here, participating every week in worship, and sharing together with him and all of us in prayer.
This weekend we are focusing on the story of Samuel. God had blessed Samuel so much in his life. He had, first of all, given him as a gift to his barren mother. He then blessed Samuel by accepting him into his tabernacle service. Israel's current priest/prophet/judge, Eli, was getting old and so Samuel was a gift to the nation too. Late one night Samuel was awakened by a voice calling, "Samuel." He went in to Eli, thinking that the old priest needed something. But it wasn't Eli. He returned to his bed and heard the voice again. It turns out that God was calling Samuel and he responded: "Here I am, Lord. Speak for your servant is listening."
Pastor Mark has answered the call of God and said, "Here I am, Lord." He is coming here after hearing God's voice calling to serve Him.
The call of a new pastor, though, is also a call for all of us to get involved. The Lord is calling us by our names too as Pastor Mark begins his work here. God is saying to us: "I have made you a gift. I have given you gifts. I want you to serve me too."
In a lot of congregations, when a new pastor comes, the people who have gotten involved in the interim are glad because they think they can back away now and let the pastor do it. That's not God's intent though. He is bringing Pastor Mark here because there is even more work to do and He needs all of us to do it together.
Do you hear the voice of God calling you? Welcome Pastor Mark by answering that call yourself. Worship every week. Pray. Get involved. And he will feel very much at home.
Pastor Tim
6/27/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Missions and Ministry
One of the exciting aspects of our budget for the new fiscal year that starts this month is that we are sending 2% of our offerings (about $12,000) to our national church body for missions and ministry. There are a lot of reasons for celebrating this milestone: 1. This month we are welcoming our new Lead Pastor, Rev. Mark Neumann. Our mission donations support our seminaries where Pastor Neumann studied for our ministry. He also attended one of our LCMS colleges where he received a Master's Degree in Family Life Education. Our offerings help us directly, then, and 6000 other LCMS churches to have trained and caring pastors.
2. During this month we will also be adding a Youth Director to our staff. Our mission tithe helps to prepare Youth Directors and Directors of Christian Education at several LCMS colleges. Most of the candidates that we are considering have benefited directly from our giving.
3. We could not have called such an excellent Lead Pastor and Youth Director without the help of our LCMS District President, circuit counselor and staff. They provided us with names and information about candidates. They gave us Pastor Neumann's name. They helped guide our process. They also have demographic information available about Trinity and the Hudson area to help us in understanding what kind of pastor we needed.
4. The LCMS mission fund gave us $480,000 to help support the Family Center ministry for four years. Trinity had been sending a tithe of our offerings to national and international missions through the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod until we opened the Family Center. Because this was such a huge mission outreach, we were not able to continue that commitment. Now, though, we are able to start helping other congregations expand their outreach in the same way that we were helped.
5. And then there are all of the reasons to celebrate our giving that don't flow directly from what we ourselves get out of it. There are all of the missionaries and ministries that our giving supports around the world and all of the people who will be in heaven because we gave a portion back to God of what He has given to us.
So, you see, the money you give in the offering every week is very important. It benefits you and your children and all of your church family here at Trinity, your neighbors in the Hudson area, and people around the world.
Your giving is a good investment.
But even more, your giving is a wonderful and very effective way of saying thank you to God for all that He has done for you.
Pastor Tim
6/20/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Praise God for our new Pastor
After much prayer and deliberation, Pastor Mark Neumann has accepted God's call to serve as Lead Pastor at Trinity. He and his family will begin their transition to the Hudson area in July.
Pastor Mark writes in his letter of acceptance, "I am now very convinced and filled with deep peace that God Himself, moving with His Holy Spirit, The Counselor, has given me a clear and compelling call to serve Trinity. I joyfully accept that call and look forward to building our lives under the Word of God to extend his kingdom near and far. I look forward to the vision we will see together as He enables us to follow His call as an entire body of faith-filled travelers on the journey of life."
Pastor Neumann has been helping us with preaching at the Family Center from week-to-week and many people have gotten to know him and appreciate his ministry. He is married to Diana and they have seven children. Pastor Mark has a master's degree in family life education and is completing a four-year program in the Pastoral Leadership Institute. He has served in a dual parish in Minnesota, a Missouri Synod mega-church in Texas, and a large congregation in Ham Lake, MN. His strengths are in preaching, leadership, creativity, visioning, and family ministry. He is a people-person who is easy to talk to and somebody who cares about others.
Please pray that God will bless our new pastor and his family as they move to the Hudson area. Pray that their house in Oak Grove, MN will sell quickly and that the transition to Trinity will go smoothly.
Pastor Tim
6/13/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Father's Day
The Sunday School and Xtreme Kids Bible story for today is a great one for Father's Day. It's the story of Ruth and Naomi. Neither one of them is a father, of course, but they teach us about our heavenly Father and about our relationships in our families.
Naomi had two sons. Her husband died and then her sons died. All she had left in the world were her two daughters-in-law. However, she encouraged them to return to their families, find new husbands, go on with life again. One of them did. But Ruth refused. She said: "where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." (Ruth 1:16, 17)
Ruth and Naomi were family. Ruth had taken a vow to Naomi's son and that vow made them family and Ruth was going to honor that commitment no matter what. They probably got along like a lot of mothers- and daughters-in-law. Naomi could be a little bossy; she was not so very happy. But Ruth stuck with her family. Her family commitment was the number one thing in her life.
We see the same kind of commitment in our heavenly Father. He says: "I will not leave you or forsake you" (Joshua 1:5; Deuteronomy 31:6,8). We can be very immature, self-centered, loud, obnoxious, inconvenient, disobedient, disrespectful, but He never leaves us. He continues to do whatever He has to in order to serve us and help us and save us, even to the point of giving His Son to die for us. He is a very patient and dedicated Father.
It's not always easy being a dad - or a son or daughter or daughter-in-law or father-in-law either. But in God's love and in the relationship between Ruth and Naomi we see the blessing that such a commitment lived out makes in the lives of people.
Whether we are dads or moms or kids or nieces, nephews, or cousins, may God keep us close to one another and to Him.
Pastor Tim
6/13/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Stewardship and the Christian Life
Stewardship and the Christian life are not things you can do just half way.
I fertilized my lawn this spring. Unfortunately, I ran out of fertilizer half way through. When I put it down, I couldn't tell where it was and where it wasn't. I thought, "Oh, it will be alright." And I didn't go back to the store and get more.
Well, now you can tell. The part that got the fertilizer is lush and green and there is a plentiful harvest of grass to mow at least once a week.
The rest of the lawn is pale and sickly.
If we go at the Christian life just halfway, at some point in our lives it will show up - in a crisis, in the way our kids grow up, in stressful times and relationships, in the amount of contentment and joy that we experience in life.
Jesus said: "The one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully." If we are being nourished spiritually only on Christmas and Easter, or only during the school year, we are not going to have all the growth and beauty that we could otherwise. And the output and result of our lives - our impact in this life - will not be as great either.
As my lawn pro friend tells me, "It's not too late. But you have to fertilize during the summer too. If you're going to have a beautiful lawn you have to keep at it."
Pastor Tim
6/12/2007 | By: Tim | Category: First Fruits | Comments
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Packing Up For Vacation
Don't forget God. Not that you can squeeze Him into your suitcase. Besides, He's already there where you're going and He will be with you all the way.
Instead, make time for Him. Find a church to worship in while you're gone or on the road. Read the Bible in your spare time - it's a great beach book - lots of mystery, romance, drama.
Stop the mail and the newspaper, kennel the dog, and sign up for Simply Giving so your thankfulness for your vacation can resound in your offerings even if you're not in church. You can get an application from the church office or on the church website or from Thrivent.com. Have a great summer!
6/6/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Hair-the Gift
The older I get (and the balder) the more I understand what a gift Samson was given. The children are studying about Samson in Xtreme Kids and Sunday School today and the Downtown adults are looking at him too.
When Samson was born, God told his mom never to cut his hair. It was to be part of his "nazarite" vow, a vow to live his life for God. As he grew up, that hair became his strength. He was able to do mighty and great things because of it.
Unfortunately, he squandered this gift. He used it for his own purposes and to impress people. And he sold his gift out to Delilah. He committed adultery with her and revealed his secret to her, a Gentile and unbeliever. And she betrayed him to his enemies by cutting off his hair when he was asleep in her lap and inviting them in to capture him. It is such a shame the way his life turned out. He was so gifted. I remember hearing my dad say that and I have heard parents here saying it to their kids: "You are so gifted. Don't waste it."
God has gifted all of us. He has given each of us talents and abilities and spiritual gifts. Are we using those gifts as He intended, to help others, to serve Him and the world? Or are we spending those gifts on ourselves, keeping them to ourselves, squandering them on fame, pleasure, or comfort?
In the end, Samson realized the gift he had been given and he gave his life then in serving God with it. Hopefully, we won't have to go bald, be put in chains, have our eyes put out, and hit rock bottom before we appreciate God's grace and our God-given purpose in life.
We are a gifted people and we have an awesome, gift-giving God. May the Lord help us to treasure those gifts and use them to His glory.
Pastor Tim
5/31/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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One Plus God is a Majority
What kind of a general sends 21,700 of his men home so that he can go into battle against 25,000 enemy soldiers with just 300 men?
His name was Gideon and it wasn't really his fault. He was only doing what God told him to do. "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand," God said to Gideon, "lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'" (Judges 7).
God wanted the Israelites to know who it was that had saved them so that they would depend upon Him alone. We could probably use this lesson too. How often don't we go into battle thinking we are all on our own, depending on our smarts, or charm, or good looks? And when victory comes, we take credit for ourselves. If only we could see the invisible arm of the Lord at work in our lives, striving against the evil that seeks to overwhelm us and the circumstances of life that trouble us.
Trust in God and give glory to Him, my fifth grade teacher used to say. Don't be afraid but don't be conceited either. Everything is possible with God and without Him you could have 50,000 friends (or dollars) and still lose.
Pastor Tim
5/23/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Tapping into the Power
"You will be my witnesses," Jesus said. That must have scared the disciples as much as it sometimes scares us. People were out to kill them. They already had killed Jesus. Of course, He had risen and come back to life. And He promised that all those who trusted in Him would likewise rise and rule with Him. But still, they quivered a bit.
And so He promised them some supernatural help. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." Power to go to their neighbors. Power to share with their friends. Power to stand in front of lions and executioners. Power. Boldness. Love that would light up the world. It's pretty amazing how the Holy Spirit could turn these dim wits into blazing and pulsating beacons of hope and grace.
Power is what Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are about. Power that comes from faith in a risen and reigning Jesus Christ. Power that comes from the gifts that He gives His faithful ones. Power to love Him and our perishing neighbors more than our own comfort and ease.
The Holy Spirit filled the disciples on Pentecost and the Spirit has filled every Christian since in our baptisms and faith. That source of boldness, courage, and love lives in us like a light bulb, no, like a life-saving furnace, just waiting for our faith to flip the switch and tap into the power.
God wants to turn the Light on in the world, friends. He has put the power into our hearts and veins. All it takes to light up our neighborhood is believing Him, trusting the Spirit, flipping the switch and opening our mouths. Even the words, He said, would be given to us. Happy Pentecost - a Power Pentecost - to you. Let's light up the St. Croix Valley with His love and the message of His grace.
Pastor Tim
5/17/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Why are we (still) here?
On Thursday, the church celebrated the ascension of Jesus into heaven. For forty days after His resurrection Christ was with His disciples, reminding them of what He had taught them. Then He took them out to a hillside overlooking Jerusalem and, as they were looking at Him, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight into heaven.
The disciples just stood there then, gazing up into heaven. Where did He go? When will He come back? Why can't we go with Him? They were agape with mouths wide open. Two angels appeared next to them and broke their reverie. "Why are you just standing here? This Jesus is going to come back."
They knew that. Jesus had told them. He had also told them that they had work to do before He returned. "You will be my witnesses to the end of the earth.... Go and make disciples."
Jesus had left them behind to finish the work He had begun, to take the message of the Kingdom out into the world to get everyone ready for His return. That's why they couldn't go with Him.
Why are we still here too? We have believed their message. We have trusted in Christ. We are ready to go to heaven. But God has left us here because our neighbors aren't ready yet, because people in other parts of the world haven't heard yet, because even some members of our own family don't believe yet. Jesus has left us here because there is still work to be done.
Are we just standing here too, looking into heaven?
Pastor Tim
5/9/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Pray for Pastor Neumann
On Sunday, May 6, the voters of Trinity prayerfully and unanimously called Pastor Mark Neumann to serve as Lead Pastor of the congregation.
Pastor Neumann has been helping us with preaching at the Family Center from week-to-week and many people have gotten to know him and appreciate his ministry.
He is married to Diana and they have seven children. Pastor Mark has a degree in family life education and is completing a four-year program in the Pastoral Leadership Institute. He has served in a dual parish in Minnesota, a Missouri Synod mega-church in Texas, and a large congregation in Ham Lake, MN.
His strengths are in preaching, leadership, creativity, visioning, and family ministry. He is a people-person who is easy to talk to and somebody who cares about others. During the next several weeks, he and his family will be praying about and considering this call. Please pray for them that God will clearly reveal His will about their life and ministry.
5/2/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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True Love
Jesus Christ stands between the lover and the others he or she loves. I do not know in advance what love of others means on the basis of the general idea of love that grows out of my human desires - all this may rather be hatred and an insidious kind of selfishness in the eyes of Christ. What love is, only Christ tells in His Word. Contrary to all my own opinions and convictions, Jesus Christ will tell me what love toward my brother and sister really is. Therefore, spiritual love is bound solely to the Words of Jesus Christ. Where Christ bids me to maintain fellowship for the sake of love, I will maintain it. Where His truth enjoins me to dissolve a fellowship for my love's sake, there I will dissolve it, despite all the protests of my self-centered love. Because spiritual love does not desire but rather serves, it loves an enemy as a brother or sister. It originates neither in the brother or sister nor in the enemy but in Christ and His Word. Self-centered love can never understand spiritual love, for spiritual love is from above; it is something completely strange, new, and incomprehensible to all earthly love.
+ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from "Life Together"
4/25/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Come to the Voters' Meeting on May 6 and What is a Lead Pastor
Come to the Voters' Call Meeting on May 6
We have been praying and searching for over 15 months for the man that God wants to serve here. The PPC is recommending that we call Rev. Mark Neumann as Lead Pastor at Trinity. I would urge you to come to the meeting on May 6 at noon at the Family Center to hear more about him and to pray with all of us for the Holy Spirit's direction.
What is a Lead Pastor?
When Pastor Mark Tewes was here, he and I served as co-pastors. As time went by, we discovered that we were always waiting for each other, and people often didn't know who to go to. In our estimation, the ministry of the congregation did not move forward as smoothly as it could have and things were not as coordinated and vision-directed as we thought they needed to be. Before Pastor Mark left, we recommended that Trinity move in the direction of a Lead Pastor.
Since then, the staff and PPC have studied this idea and the PPC has established the following as the Ministry Description for the Lead Pastor.
The Lead Pastor:
· Keeps the vision before the congregation and staff, holding the ministry up to the mirror of the vision (example: new ministry ideas need to fit into the framework of TLC vision, or they are not pursued)
· Leads the staff and members in monitoring the progress in pursuing and maintaining that vision in the congregation, community, and world;
· Leads the joint meetings of the site planning teams and the overall coordination of Trinity's program ministries;
· Has the final say in which Pastor should act as the spokesperson for Trinity's ministry in the community and larger church - situational;
· Serves as site pastor at one of Trinity's sites, to lead the ministry, outreach, and worship at that campus. The Lead Pastor is not responsible for day-to-day administrative operations of Trinity in the areas of finance, human relations, property or schools. He leads in the spiritual and programmatic ministry of Trinity and works with the Parish Administrator and PPC in all other administrative functions.
Each site will have a pastor to help coordinate the ministry at that campus (Pastor Mark at the Family Center and me at the Downtown site) but Pastor Mark will serve as the Lead Pastor of the congregation. Each site pastor will implement the vision of the congregation through the work of the respective site but both pastors will also serve the whole congregation and all the members as pastors leading Bible studies for all, visiting the sick at either site, sharing ideas, and preaching at the other site on a scheduled basis.
This is a new concept for Trinity so things will adjust as we go along and learn, but I think that having one Pastor serving as the Lead will be immensely helpful and a blessing for us all.
As we prayerfully searched for the pastor God wanted here, we decided that we would let the gifts, abilities, and experiences of the two pastors determine who would be the Lead Pastor.
I am excited about the possibility of Pastor Neumann being called as Lead Pastor because he definitely has the gifts, training, and experience to be Lead Pastor. I would look forward very much to serving with him using my abilities in the areas where God has gifted me and supporting him as our Lead Pastor.
So please come to the Voters' meeting on May 6 at noon at the Family Center. If you are a member of Trinity, 18 years of age or older, you are eligible to vote. If you are not a member or not over 18, you are still invited to come and pray with us. This decision belongs to you and to all of Trinity. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us.
Pastor Tim
4/18/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Follow Me
Today's Gospel from John 21:1-19 is one of my favorites (I have a lot of favorites). Jesus meets His disciples at the Sea of Galilee after He is risen from the dead. He has a fire going with bread and fish. He says: "Come and have breakfast." (I love breakfast)
After breakfast He takes Simon Peter aside and asks him: "Simon, do you love me more than these?" Three times He asks Peter the same question. Three times Simon says, "Yes!" And three times Jesus re-commissions Him saying, "Feed my sheep." Three times - once for every time Simon denied Jesus at His crucifixion (I have denied Him too and constantly need to be re-commissioned).
Jesus then tells Peter that Peter is going to finally give his life in service to Jesus. He will be killed being faithful to Christ and not give in to pressure or fear (would I be able to die for Jesus?)
This Gospel is Good News about forgiveness and restoration. Even though we deny Him still He loves us and renews us and re-commissions us to His service. He still wants us and can use us in bringing His kingdom into this world.
The paragraph after this, though, is also one of my favorites (I told I you have a lot of favorites). Right after being forgiven and restored three times, Peter still needs a fourth.
He turns and sees John following them. He says, "Well, if I'm going to die for you, what about this guy, John?" (I am always doing that too. What about those people? Why do they get what they get? Why not me?)
It sounds a lot like growing up with brothers: why do they get that and not me? (Or sometimes like churches or sites or men and women or neighbors or nations or sick people and well-people). Parents and grandparents oftentimes go crazy trying to make sure that their kids get everything equal. Jesus is not into equal. He is into justice and doing what is right and treating people fairly because those are the values of His kingdom - the kingdom whose coming is His highest priority - the kingdom of love and service. But His priority is not making sure that everybody gets the same.
And so He says to Peter: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? YOU FOLLOW ME!"
Lord, help me to stop looking around at what other people get and be thankful for the grace and love and resources that you have given to me. Help me to stop spinning my wheels whining about life and get busy living.
Pastor Tim
4/12/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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How can we worship Him?
All during Lent and Holy Week as we remembered the sacrifice of Jesus the question kept coming to me: "How do we worship such a God in a way that even approaches what He deserves?"
It starts by understanding: What is worship? Worship celebrates the Triune God. It focuses on Him, on who He is and on His mighty deeds.
In our individualistic, self-centered, entertainment-oriented culture, worship is in danger of becoming about me - my feelings and my needs - or about the band - or about the peppy worship leader or the dynamic, energetic preacher.
Biblical worship has a different focus. It is focused on the Triune God. It celebrates God by proclaiming the wonderful things He has done in Jesus Christ. We do not come into an auditorium to hear musicians or a choir in concert, or a lecture hall to hear how to parent better, or a coffee house to drink coffee and talk with our friends, or a music room for a sing-a-long or a pep rally to make us feel better and send us out excited. We do not come to be entertained. We come into the heavenly Temple to worship, to serve God, to be so focused on God that we lose ourselves in serving Him, in celebrating Him and His wonderful deeds.
The writer of Hebrews says about worship, "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel...Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:22-24,28-29).
In worship, we come into the heavenly Temple, into the presence of the living God who is a consuming fire, to Jesus Christ and to His blood, surrounded by all the angels and saints, to worship Him, to celebrate His mighty deeds. And the appropriate attitude with which to come? Reverence and awe, says the Bible.
Think about it today as you worship. How focused are you on God in worship? Or is your focus on the band or choir, or the cute children, or the energy of the leaders or how good and up you feel when you leave? How often are the words "I" or "me" or "mine" sung or spoken and how often is the name of Jesus and the work He has done proclaimed? How much do you judge a worship service by what you got out of it rather than what you put into it?
Pastor Tim
4/5/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What Difference Does Easter Make?
So what if the Easter bunny wins the hearts of children everywhere? What if searches for Easter eggs raise more excitement than getting up for the Easter Sunrise service? What difference does Easter make anyway?
It makes a lot of difference to those who are in touch enough with reality to take life and death seriously. It made a lot of difference to a very real woman named Mary. Mary saw her Lord die an excruciating death, his body hanging limp from the nails driven through his hands and feet, suspended from a cross like a common criminal. Was all her hope for nothing? What of all the thousands of diseased bodies he had healed? The broken lives he had restored? The promises of the Kingdom of God?
But early Sunday morning she was back at the tomb to finish anointing his body. When she arrived, the tomb stood open. Was it an Easter bunny that rolled that stone away? No, it was the powerful hand of God as Jesus Christ stepped forth brimming with Life.
Yes, Easter bunnies still capture the hearts of children and children still go hunting through the grass for Easter eggs, but we know what really happened on Easter and it makes all the difference.
It made all the difference for Mary that the one who stood before her in the garden was not some big galoot dressed up in a big bunny costume or even the gardener, but her friend, Jesus, risen from the dead.
It makes all the difference that Easter is about the Christ, God came to be one of us, killed for us, who rose again that Sunday morning.
It makes all the difference for people whose loved ones have died, who need some hope. It makes all the difference for people whose consciences are killing them, who need some forgiveness. It makes all the difference for people who are so sick of the conflict and division in the world who need some peace and a new faith-keeping king to follow. No Easter bunny will ever save our souls. No Buddha can forgive us. No Confucius will lead us to heaven. No Mohammed can bring us into the Kingdom of joy and light that we long for.
Only Jesus the Christ of God risen from the dead. "I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus said. "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
Christ is risen! He is risen INDEED! Alleluia!
Pastor Tim
3/29/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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In It For the Long Haul
This weekend we near the end of the road with Jesus. Up to this point it's been kind of fun. Healing people. Feeding people. Having people praise you. The countryside was electricified and all the people were lining the street to welcome the Messiah to His capital city. There had been nay-sayers along the way. But by and large, everybody was excited to see Him.
This was it, the disciples thought. Now is the time when the glorious Kingdom was going to be declared with Jesus as King and each of them as princes. This is it, the people thought. The Messiah was coming to His throne and there would be bread and privilege for all. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Jesus, however, and maybe a mother and a friend both named Mary, were the only ones among the half a million people in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to know how long and hard the road still was. The next week would seem like an eternity. And the last two miles, up the Golgotha hill to a cross and to hell, would seem like forever.
It would be too far for all of the rest of them. The crowd would turn against Him. The disciples would leave Him. But Jesus was in it for the long haul. He had come from heaven for this very moment and He was not going to stop short because the way got too hard or too long. He was going to go all the way for us.
Kind of makes you cringe, doesn't it? To think of how little we are willing to put up with, how much we like to be spiritually and physically coddled and comforted, how quickly we turn away from Him when His way conflicts with our own desires and schedules.
There is a part in the committal service at the cemetery where we all pray: "Lord, do not let the pains of death turn us away from you in our last hour."
In the pains of death He turned to His Father, and as He did He brought all of us along. "Father, into your hands I commit myself." Now we too can commit ourselves to the long haul because we know that the Father's hands will hold us up as well. One foot after another, His Spirit will bear us along.
Pastor Tim
3/22/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Living a life in balance
With people so busy these days there is a lot of talk about keeping our lives in balance. What usually happens, then, is that we cut up our lives in pieces and dedicate one piece to work, another to family, another to working out, another to sports, another to TV, and so forth, and if there is any piece left - an hour maybe on Sunday - another piece to God.
And so God gets a sliver and we end up feeling guilty or run ragged. We end up dropping all the pieces we're trying to juggle and falling down exhausted ourselves. This compartmentalized life is very different from the well-balanced life that God wishes for us. That life is exemplified by what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:17 - "Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
What would it mean for us to "wake up in Jesus' name?" Or to play softball in Jesus' name? To eat in Jesus' name or to play with our kids in Jesus' name? What would finding our balance in Jesus' name mean for greeting our spouse or our co-workers?
What would doing all things in Jesus' name mean for the decisions about what we do with all of our time? Or shopping in Jesus' name? Or sleeping in Jesus' name? Now we begin to get a sense of the radical nature of what it means to live a well-balanced, well-ordered heart. "Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus."
We sometimes miss the point because we tend to divide up life like a pie and neglect the center. Balance requires a center of gravity. And our lives require a center too.
What is at the center of your life? Or Who? It makes a difference.
Pastor Tim
3/14/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The March Morphing Madness
March Madness is upon us. For those who watch college basketball these are the golden days. The top teams now play for pride and supremacy and thousands of fans are exalted but millions are brought low.
"These are the days that try men's (and women's) souls," when the high and mighty are brought down and the bigger they are the harder they fall.
These are the days to learn from.
Jesus said, "people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."
Jesus turns the tables on us. In His Kingdom it doesn't matter how tall you are or how many points you can score. The basketball player who trusts in his own strength ends up limping off the floor or covering his head with a towel. The only thing that matters is Jesus and our relationship with Him. Jesus comes and takes our place. He plays the game. Beats the demonic opposition. He wins the game that we all inevitably lose ourselves.
And when we are on His team, He shares the trophy and the victory with us.
Good luck with your picks. Remember only one team can win.
Pastor Tim
3/7/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What is forgiveness worth?
This week we are talking about the role that confession and prayer play in experiencing the life that we've always wanted.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor martyred under Adolf Hitler, wrote about confession:
"Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to a Holy God?" Maybe it's because we have to look a brother or sister in the eye when we confess to them, but with God we keep our eyes closed.
Maybe it's because a brother or sister would hold us accountable to working on amending our sinful life, but we expect God to just pat us on the head and say, "Good boy. Now go back out and play."
Maybe it's because confessing to another human being costs us something - somebody else knows us now; we have to reveal our dirt to another; it's so humiliating. And somehow with God it's just a private thing, just between him and us. It doesn't cost us anything. No shame, no humiliation, no tears.
Not like hanging alongside the major road into town, naked, with a public pronouncement of your guilt nailed above your head and all your friends and neighbors passing by looking up at you and clucking their tongues.
Maybe, if we understood how tremendously costly our forgiveness was, our confession on Sundays would be more heartfelt and during the week it would be more real. Then confession could really help transform our lives. Our costly confession coupled with Christ's costly absolution would have the power to transform us and help us to experience more of the life that we've always wanted. Because, you see, he really does love us, but we don't really understand how much, until we are able to confess also what "poor, miserable sinners" we really are.
Pastor Tim
2/28/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Oh boy, more snow!
Do you remember three weeks ago when we were lamenting what a dry winter it's been? Just 12 inches of snow all winter. And now in one week it looks like we will end up with 24 inches more. And we'll almost be back to normal.
I know. I probably shouldn't be rejoicing. Three-quarters of Hudson has to commute on slippery, windswept, treacherous roads and the drive stretches out to twice or three times as long and it's really hard to appreciate the white stuff after that.
One thing it does, though - it forces us to slow down. At least I hope that you are slowing down in the snow. For some of us it takes a good snowstorm to slow us down. No wonder so many people have heart, digestive, and relationship problems. We're always going.
The Israelites were a lot like us and even more so. Their land was not so fertile, their crops not so plentiful, their economy not so vigorous. If they didn't work, they didn't eat.
But God commanded them to take a Sabbath every week - one day off whether they could afford it or not. Actually, they had to work around the Sabbath, plan for it. They had to consider God as they scheduled their week. They had to dial down their life or find a way to work smarter. In any case, they had to take time for rest, for family, for God. Not because God was such a killjoy, but rather because it was good for them.
These snow days can be good for us too. Snowed-in time to spend some time playing with kids and spouse. Slowed-down time on the freeway to spend reflecting about life and talking with God. A gift from God to learn and play and grow.
I know the snow can be inconvenient. But perhaps if we embrace it we will find a treasure hidden beneath it. A Winter Carnival medallion for all of us. And besides, spring is not far away.
Pastor Tim
2/22/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Experience the Life You've Always Wanted
Does life seem dry and brown? Do you find yourself hungry for something more, something deeper? Is life a struggle now and you feel like you are being assaulted by forces of darkness all around?
Good news! Jesus knows exactly what you are feeling. He has been there himself. Out in the desert for 40 days fasting and fighting with the power of evil. Going even beyond that into the darkness of death itself. And he is standing with you.
Today we draw on his power, the power that enabled him to overcome the Evil One and rise from the dead. The power that is in the Word of God is for us too.
When he was being assaulted, he went to the scriptures and drew on the power of God to feed his soul and to strengthen him in his battle with Satan. As he quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3, "man shall not live by bread alone." From him we learn to read the scriptures, to memorize them, to apply them to ourselves, and to draw on the Holy Spirit's help who speaks and works through them.
Life can be better, sweeter, more meaningful if we are drawing from the source of Life itself, if we are drawing on the Word of God. Take 7 ½ minutes each day this Lent to read a couple of verses and let God nourish and strengthen you.
Pastor Tim
2/15/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Transformed
"We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
One of my boys' favorite toys when they were growing up were "Transformers": cars or trucks that you opened up and rearranged into superheroes or giants or fighters.
In the same way, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, God is transforming us. He is opening up our lives, rearranging and renewing us, until we look like Jesus Christ.
This is his goal in his work with us. Not just to save our souls the way they are and bring us to heaven. But to transform us now in this world so that we conform to the image of Christ, the image that we were created in, the image that lies within all of us just waiting to be brought out of us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
That's why they call us "Christians", little Christs. Because God is at work in us to bring out the life and the love of Christ in us.
When people look at you, do they see Christ unfolding in you?
Pastor Tim
2/8/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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I love you, Really!
When I was a kid, we had to give valentines to everybody in the class. It was kind of tough. There was a kid who was always picking on me. Three years I just signed my name to the card and grimaced when I put it into his valentine box. Finally in seventh grade I scratched out, "Please be mine," and wrote over the top of it, "This year your [life] is MINE, Bully Boy." After that I got a lecture from my teacher about how we're supposed to love everybody. "Luv ya." "Luv ya' too." How can you love everybody, really?
We hear that so much about God too. "For God so LOVEd the world..." But how do you know? How do you know it's not just something he says to everybody? How do you know that he means it?
I guess he means it because as ornery as I can be he still "gave his only begotten Son." Gave him, not some frilly valentine. Gave him instead of a hard, stale tootsie roll. Gave him to die for me, for you.
Happy Valentines' Day! God really does love you.
Give a bully a Valentine this year and tell him God loves him too.
Pastor Tim
2/1/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Are You Ready for Spring?
It won't be too long and it will be fishing opener again. Although with Jesus, fishing is not limited to any particular season. In the Gospel appointed for today, he calls four fishermen to follow him and tells them that he is going to send them out to fish for people.
Fishing for people is a lot like fishing for fish. You have to be patient. You put the food out there in front of the fish but then it's up to them whether they are going to bite. You have to pay attention to the tides and currents of life so that the message isn't too deep or too shallow, but meets people where they are at. You have to trust God.
But in some ways it's different too. No person is too small that you have to throw him/her back. Every one is special and precious - there aren't walleyes that are better and carp that are garbage. And once the person is in the boat, they are safe and live forever, not destined for death and the fire.
If you're getting a little eager to throw your line in the water again, you could go ice fishing (brrrrr). Or you could try fishing for people.
Pastor Tim
1/25/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Bearing the image and life of God
Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday in many congregations throughout the United States. Here at Trinity we, too, believe and teach that all human life is sacred. Human beings were created in God's image and bear his likeness.
And humanity was sanctified and made holy, too, as God took on human flesh and blood and joined our humanity to his divinity in the incarnation, "enfleshment", of God in Jesus Christ.
As the God-Man is conceived and grows in the womb of Mary, he makes holy all who are conceived for he shares our flesh and blood in the womb. As he dies on the cross, he makes holy all who die. And with every heartbeat along the way, he makes all life, every life, special, redeemed, precious. It's not an argument that we can make in the halls of congress because not everyone shares our understanding of God and humanity. But it is what we believe. It is who we believe the Triune God has made us all to be, bearing his image, sharing his life.
And because we believe that human life is sacred and holy, we treat every life with compassion, love, and mercy in every circumstance along the way.
We know that life is hard sometimes and that people are faced with difficult decisions.
· So we don't judge or condemn.
· We try to support people who are going through these tough times in every way that they need.
· We care for everyone regardless of what decisions they have made, with the compassion and forgiveness that Jesus has extended to all of us.
Because God has humbled himself to become the most vulnerable of us all and commanded us to care for the least and for the powerless, we also care for those who are the weakest and can't speak for themselves.
· We work to alleviate the conditions that sometimes lead people to consider abortions.
· We seek to protect the lives of unborn children.
· We speak for the frail and vulnerable and help and support their caregivers.
And because God shares not just the beginning and the end of life but every heartbeat in between as well, we seek to improve the conditions of life for everyone.
· We care for poor people with every resource at our disposal.
· We work to end prejudice and discrimination.
· We seek a more equitable distribution of resources and opportunities for all people.
· We support efforts to eliminate AIDS and other diseases.
· We oppose the use of war except as the very last resort against an overwhelming evil.
· We question the taking of a human life through capital punishment.
All human beings from conception to death bear the divine image and life. Either we are all holy and precious or none of us is. It's not a matter of my rights or my life, my comfort, my security, or my revenge. It's the life of God in us - in us, in humanity, in all.
Pastor Tim
1/25/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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How goes the journey?
One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of fourth-century Egypt, Saint Sarapion the Sindonite, traveled once on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a woman who lived in one small room, never going out, always praying. Skeptical about her way of life because he himself was a great wanderer, Sarapion called on her and asked, "Why are you sitting here?" To which she replied, "I am not sitting, I am on a journey."
All of us are on a journey. To be a Christian is to be a traveler. We are like the Israelites in the desert of Sinai on their way to the Promised Land: we live in bodies that are more like tents than houses, for spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey that is not measured by the hours on a clock or the days on a calendar. Our journey is a journey of the heart "out of time into eternity."
How is your journey going?
By faith we come to Christ. Through the Gospel and his sacraments we walk with him daily - hour by hour, moment by moment. And with hope and love we move ahead to that time when we will be eternally in his presence, worshipping with the angels.
May God bless your journey today. They also travel on who sit and pray.
Pastor Tim
1/10/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Heavenly Worship
I'm still stuck in Christmas. Maybe it's the lack of snow or what a wonderful Christmas celebration we had this year. But as I think about the birth of God's Son in Bethlehem, the singing of the angels, the worship of the Magi, the Holy Family brought together in the Child-Christ, I think about our worship here and am amazed.
Every week we enter into heaven right here and share in the worship of our God-made-flesh with angels and saints, with one another and God's people around the world. As we worship here, Christ comes again into our midst in the bread and wine of the Eucharist and the proclamation of his Word. He is present with us here in his Spirit who makes us one through faith in Christ and who helps us to experience that oneness as we share together in the one loaf and cup of communion. He is here among us as we share his peace and love with one another.
As we worship here, the Kingdom of God becomes visible on earth. As we worship here, our prayers and praise are joined with the saints and angels in heaven and with Christians around the world and in heaven too.
What happens here in every service is none other than the breaking in to this world of the Kingdom of heaven, the dimmest glimmer and first appearing of heaven on earth. What is this time about and why is it so special? It is being in the presence of Jesus with one another, with those we love who are in heaven, with all the saints who have gone before us, with angels and archangels, with brothers and sisters who are gathered in other places around the world, all of us gathered together in and around Jesus Christ. He is here in the midst of us to bless and feed us with his grace, to receive the sacrifice of our prayers and praise, and to equip us for the spiritual worship of our lives lived in service to him and the world.
For our worship does not just happen in this building. Our worship continues as we go out into the world to live out our thanksgiving and praise in loving service to Christ and the world. As Saint Paul wrote: "Brothers and sisters, I urge you by the mercies of God to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to him - this is your spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1,2).
Want a taste of heaven? Look around you. It's right here.
Pastor Tim
1/4/2007 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Follow the Star
Saturday, January 6, is the Feast of the Epiphany in the Church. On this day we remember the star that led the Wisemen to the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, and we give thanks to God for the light that he has shined in our lives.
Saint John wrote that "In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4,5). Sin has made our world a place of darkness and deep shadows. Every once in a while a spark has appeared here and there, an event of love, a firing of God's compassion, and hope has appeared, if only for a brief moment. And then the darkness has moved in again and the world has waited still.
But now in Jesus Christ, the Source of Light, Light and Love and Life itself, God himself, has come into the darkness and try as it might the darkness has not been able to overcome him. Even the deep darkness of death could not hold in the light of God that shines in Jesus Christ. The Sun of Righteousness, the Son of God, has come and now there is hope for those who grieve, forgiveness for those who are guilty, eternal life for all who will look to Him and live in the Light.
Two boys were out playing in the spring sunshine. "John, John, I can't see," one of them yelled. "Everything is dark."
John came rushing to his side. "What's the matter?" "My eyes are closed," he laughed. And opening them he could see again (and just in time, because John was just taking a swing to hit him in the arm).
The Light has come and has overcome the darkness of the world. The Holy Spirit is encouraging us in the Epiphany, the "shining forth" of the Light, to open our eyes and see, see the Light, see the Love, see the Hope of God. Have a blessed Epiphany. This season of the Church Year lasts through the next seven weeks, some of the darkest days of the year. But Christ shines in every day. May his Light fill your life with light and confidence and peace.
Pastor Tim
12/28/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What Will the New Year Bring?
This is always an exciting time of year for me as we start a new year. It's amazing to look back at 2006 and remember all of the things that have happened in the past 12 months. And now we look ahead and think of everything that could happen. It's kind of scary in some ways. Maybe even Jesus will return in 2007.
Human life is filled with uncertainty - or rather, humans are filled with uncertainty as we look to the future. The future is certain in God's knowledge and experience. He knows what lies ahead and he says, "Don't be afraid. I am with you."
I think that's why God kicks off the Jewish new year in Exodus 12 with the Passover and the Exodus from Egypt. God wanted them to remember his faithfulness, his presence, and his deliverance every year as they faced the uncertainty of a new 12-month segment of their journey through life. He wanted the memory of the Exodus to encourage them as they set foot into a new year.
We set a tentative foot into 2007 with a memory too. We celebrate Christmas at the doorway to a new year. We remember that God has delivered us too. We recall his love that caused him to come himself into our world in Jesus Christ. We celebrate the victory he won over the Devil and even death. We toast his steadfast love and proclaim our faith in his mighty power.
The God who overcame the powers of hell on Christmas is with us in the new year to walk all the way with us, to protect us and guide us and lead us finally across the river and into the promised land.
Who knows what will happen in 2007? We know something even better though. We know that God goes with us into the new year; indeed, he is already there. May your new year be happy with the Lord in it.
Pastor Tim
12/20/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The Time Cam For The Baby to be Born
The time came for the baby,
The time that all the world awaited.
The time for healing.
The time for forgiveness.
The time for peace.
The time came for the baby,
The time the Father had set.
Jesus told the parable of
A master who sent his servants
Urging his people to come home.
They killed them.
So finally he sent his Son.
This is our last chance.
There won't be another.
The baby is the Way,
No one comes to the Father
But by him.
The time came for the baby.
The time came for the world.
The time has come for us.
Pastor Tim
12/14/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Joseph Was a Manly Man
Where do we look for examples of a manly man these days? The NFL? The WWF? The Simpsons?
The Christmas gospel gives us a picture of such a man - Joseph. Usually he's the one just standing next to Mary, window dressing almost to Mary's more visible role. But think about it.
He is described as righteous - which meant he had a strong faith and desire to please God in his whole life. His passion was for God and his kingdom.
He is compassionate. When he could have demanded that Mary be put to death because she was pregnant, he sought instead to find a way that would spare her life and show her mercy.
He is courageous. "Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife," the angel told him. And so, regardless of the ridicule and hassle he was going to get, he married Mary and took her into his home and his heart.
He is a loving father. Even though Jesus was not his own flesh and blood, Joseph loved him and cared for him. When he thought Jesus was lost at the age of 12, he urgently looked for him.
He is a family man. The Bible tells us that when the crisis of Jesus' birth was past, Joseph stuck by his wife and child and raised still more children, at least four sons and several daughters.
He is a good teacher. He taught Jesus his carpentry trade.
Joseph was not rich, flamboyant, muscular, athletic, smart, or any of the things that characterize our stars today. But he was strong and good - the kind of man that you would want for a father. The kind of father I would like to be.
Pastor Tim
12/7/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Let It Be
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered the angel. "Let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38)
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
Trouble? She was in trouble. Fourteen or fifteen years old, unmarried. Pregnant. Let it be.
Bills? Sin? Unemployed. Let it be. God will take care of me.
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.
Broken hearted? She was broken hearted. Far away from home.
Friends gone. Loved ones dead. Nations at war. Let it be. God, please let it be.
And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
In darkest night, her Child born, a light shines. Let it be, Lord. Shine on until tomorrow.
Words of wisdom: let it be, let him be.
With thanks to the Beatles
11/30/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What Will You Pledge to the King?
Today we are asking all of our members to prayerfully pledge and make a commitment to the Lord's work here at Trinity for the coming year.
The King is coming! That's the Good News that Zechariah heard from the angel Gabriel. "The King is coming and you and your family have an important part in getting the world ready for him."
We have an important part in getting the world ready for the coming of Messiah Jesus too. God wants the whole world to hear about his love and come into his Kingdom. He has blessed us with his love and forgiveness and with so many other resources too. And he asks us to share what we have so that his Kingdom can come to everyone.
Please fill out the pledge card that is included in your bulletin today, or that you brought from home. Put it into the envelope and put the envelope into the offering or leave it at the Welcome Center at either campus.
We ask everyone to pledge because it is helpful for our leaders as they budget and plan for ministry in the new year. But pledging also helps each of us to reflect on God's blessings in our lives and make a plan for how we are going to respond to his love.
If our financial situations change during the year, we can adjust our giving. But at least we very deliberately and thankfully begin to say "thank you" to the Lord for all that he has done for us.
And he has done so much! As we enter the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas and the coming of Jesus, we are reminded of the depth of his love and the awesome nature of his grace. May the Lord help us to open up our hearts to receive and to share the Christchild in the new year.
Pastor Tim
11/22/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Stewardship
Dear friends in Christ:
After I listened to Pastor Jacob give his sermon on stewardship this Sunday, I thought about our family's struggles with trying to tithe. When we first joined Trinity 23 years ago, we started out with about 3% giving. We tried to increase our donation, but Candy was a stay at home mom and there did not seem to be enough money to pay the bills, let alone increase our giving. In 1990, I went into business for myself and then there really did not seem like any money was available to give. During that period, Ralph Munlkelwitz gave a testimonial during the weeks before stewardship pledging. He said that they tithed and the first check they wrote each week was to Trinity and the rest of the bills somehow always got paid. Even when Ralph was laid off from his job for a period of time, he kept giving. And God always gave back. We never forgot Ralph's words and in 1993, we took the leap of faith and began to tithe. Let me tell you, we have never worried about giving since. And I have always seemed to have plenty of jobs to keep us going! It is true that if you give back to God, He will richly reward you. God has offered up the challenge. In Malachi 3:10 the Bible says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do," says the Lord God Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let Me prove it to you!" Take that leap of faith and trust in Him. Give back to Him and He will always be with you and will always provide more than you need!!
Jim Miller
Executive Director
Parish Planning Council
11/16/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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How Blessed Are We?
Pastor Jacob shared the following this week:
In order to make the top 400 richest Americans your net worth needs to be a little over $750 million. That may make most of us feel poor. But wealth is really a matter of perspective.
· There are 6.3 billion people living in the world right now
· 2.5 billion (40%) people live in low-income countries where they earn $745 a year or less
· Those living in places like Pakistan, India, Sudan, Kenya, Haiti, Nepal, and other developing countries earn less than $500 a year
· 2.7 billion (43%) people live in middle-income countries where they earn less than $9200 a year.
· Even the poorest people living in the USA are wealthier than 83% of the world.
· Not only are we rich financially, but we are rich because of what we have in our possessions, things we are able to do, the educational opportunities that exist, the technology within our reach, and other opportunities that are available.
· Most of the world would see every one of us as being very wealthy. Out of the more than 6 billion people that populate this earth, we are better off than at least 5 ½ billion of them.
Add to all of this wealth the freedom that we have in this country to follow Jesus Christ and all of the Bibles, ministries, and opportunities that God gives us to know him here and our net worth goes up even more.
It's interesting that most of us compare ourselves to the people above us who have more and feel that we don't have enough. Maybe what we need to do is look to the people who have less than us and realize how very much we have. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, may the Lord help us to have his heavenly perspective on the true condition of our lives, be content, and give thanks to him by sharing the wealth that he has given us. St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:11 "you will be made rich in every way SO THAT you can be generous on every occasion."
Pastor Tim
11/9/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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40 Days of Community
40 Days of Community
As we wrap up the 40 days of Community this weekend, we give thanks to God for all of the blessings we have experienced here together. Our congregational president, Jim Miller, has expressed it well in the following note:
Friends in Christ,
As we end the Forty Days of Community, I hope all of you that participated were as blessed as Candy and I were. The lessons and topics brought our small group very close and the new relationships that were formed will help strengthen our church community. Let us come away from this study trusting in Christ for everything and knowing that together, we are better at working, praying, playing, and worshipping and the end result is that we will be better at building bridges and connecting more people to Christ! The Savior's peace be with you all!!
Jim Miller
P.P.C.
11/1/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Vote November 7
Jesus said: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot" (Matthew 5:13-16).
Every day we get the chance to be salt in the world. Salt helps to flavor the world, to make it more tasty, a better place. Salt also helps to preserve the world, to keep it from rotting and dying. At work, school, home, in our neighborhoods, in the world, we live out of our faith and exude the love and life of Jesus Christ and make this a better place to live.
On Tuesday we have another important opportunity to make the world a better place, as we go to the polls and vote. There are a lot of important issues on the ballot and our votes will influence the way our government and the world goes in the next years.
It is not my place to tell you WHO to vote for. I do have some ideas about HOW you and I should vote, though. We should consider all of the issues. What have we learned from God about what is important to him and what he wants for the world? He is concerned about more than one issue and about more than just what is going to make our lives as individuals easier. We need to be concerned about everything that he is concerned about. And we need to educate ourselves about God and faith and his will not just in the thirty minutes before we go to vote but throughout the year, and indeed, in non-election years too.
We should listen to - and participate in - all the debate. Debate is good and people don't always agree - not even all Christians. So we talk and candidates state their views, sometimes passionately, and we listen and all of us share respectfully though sometimes strongly because we feel strongly about the issues. Hopefully, the debate can stay focused on the issues and not distort the positions or disparage the reputations of people involved. But regardless, through it all, we need to be sifting and thinking, exercising our brains and our responsibility to be informed by more than just 30-second ads on the television.
We should pray. Voting is an awesome privilege and responsibility. And it's not so easy to sort out the issues and the rhetoric. And no one candidate ever seems to be "right" on all the issues. So we need to be humble and ask God for his wisdom and direction too.
We should vote with our faith. Our faith is what makes us salty. It is a part of who we are. And so faith has a place in the public forum and in our voting. Of course, America has not established a single national religion and we have become a very diverse nation, so other people's faiths also have a place and deserve to be heard and respected, and respectfully debated too. And then each one votes as their consciences move them.
And finally, on November 8, the day after we vote, we should pull together behind those who are elected and work together with all of our fellow citizens for the good of the community, the nation, and the world. We are salt, after all, and God is working through us and our faithful lives and service to bless and preserve the world.
+ Pastor Tim
10/31/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The Meaning of the Reformation for this year's election
Happy Reformation Day! This weekend the church celebrates Reformation Day and it couldn't come at a better time. With all of the mud that is getting slung around in the political process, our society, and even the church, is in danger of splintering apart and losing its soul. Red states, blue states, Democrats, Republicans, for the marriage amendment or against it - some of the things that are being said say more or less baldly that unless you vote one way or the other you are a good Christian or a bad Christian - or not a Christian at all- a good American or a bad American - a family person or a bigoted person. Unless you think or vote or act in a particular way you are not a good [fill in the blank].
It's no different than the situation in the first century. Then it was Jew or Gentile. Were you circumcised or not? Were you eating meat and dairy in the same meal? Did you let your sideburns grow or cut your hair close? In Martin Luther's day (1500's), it was were you going to church every Sunday or contributing to the church, or singing in the right language?
Good and bad, accepted and rejected, saved and condemned has been judged by human beings throughout the ages based on what a person does or thinks. And so too in this election.
Into all of this mud and grimy division comes Jesus Christ and his Gospel. His Good News is that we are accepted by God not on the basis of what we do or think but on the basis of faith in what he has done for us. "The righteous live by faith," Paul wrote in Galatians. "Even Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Galatians 3:6).
It is faith in Jesus Christ that saves us and makes us Christians, not how we vote or anything else. It is important to try and understand the issues in campaigns, to try and discern what God's will might be, to talk together about the issues (WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER). But if we begin to denigrate one another or separate ourselves off from each other or put each other down, we have missed the whole point of Jesus and his crucifixion. We end up denigrating him because it was for love and our salvation that he was killed.
"The only thing that counts," Paul writes, "is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6).
How will we express our faith this election season? Think through the issues. Talk to people. Vote. But we need to be careful that we do not nullify the good we want to do with our voting by our lack of love for one another or anyone else. As Jesus said, "What good is it if we gain the whole world (win the election) and lose our own soul?" (Mark 8:36). America is in danger of losing its soul with all of this division. The church is in danger too. And so are we if we come to base our identity on right votes and right thinking rather than on faith in the love and work of Jesus Christ.
+ Pastor Tim
10/19/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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40 Days of Community Campaign
Today marks the half-way point in the 40 Days of Community Campaign. This week, we continue to learn that we are committed to each other as a church family and that we belong to one another. As family members, part of our commitment is to help one another grow. Our 10th grade confirmands are good examples of that commitment. Many adults have had a hand in helping them to grow to the point where they are now standing up and proclaiming their faith and their undying loyalty to Jesus Christ. They would not have gotten this far without parents, friends, small group leaders, Sunday School teachers and so many others. And now they, too, promise to share in helping all of us grow. Their faith statements are a very powerful part of that promise. Please pray for them and follow their lead in studying, sharing, and growing.
+ Pastor Tim
10/12/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Please pray for a new shepherd
Last Sunday the Voters discussed, prayed, and decided that it was God's will to call Rev. Aaron Asmus to serve as a pastor here at Trinity. Please pray for him and his family as they decide whether they will accept this call and come to serve among us.
Pastor Asmus is 45 years old. He has been a pastor for 20 years, serving currently in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His wife, Lisa, is a teacher. They have three children, ages 16, 17, and 19. He is an excellent preacher and teacher. He has special training and strengths in leadership. Everyone who knows him describes him as a warm, caring pastor, who knows people by name, is outgoing and listens very well.
If he accepts our call, I am excited that he will serve as lead pastor of Trinity because of his gifts and experience in leadership. That will enable me to focus on areas of ministry at Trinity that are my particular strengths.
While we would both be called to serve the whole congregation of Trinity, care for and serve everyone, I will continue to focus on the Downtown campus and Pastor Asmus will usually preach and lead worship and ministry at the Family Center. We will continue to rotate periodically and, otherwise, work together on Bible studies, visits, and everything else together.
Pastor Asmus and his family will be coming to Hudson in the next several weeks to visit and talk to people. Please keep them in your prayers as they make this decision about their future and ours.
+ Pastor Tim
10/3/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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A Prayer for 40 Days and Beyond
Earlier this year, the Trinity staff went on retreat together to pray and share and plan together. We discussed what we believed God wanted to accomplish among us this year and at the end of the day we thought we heard God saying: "Relationships. Learn to love one another, to work together, to support one another." And so we wrote the following prayer that we will be using during the 40 Days of Community and the rest of 2006-07, a prayer for community, for togetherness, for love:
Gracious God, we desire that you lead us into deeper and more intimate relationships with you and with each other. Help us be authentic, accepting and forgiving; reflections of your grace. Unite us. Fill us with gratitude and joy as together we center our lives in you. Amen.
Join us in praying this prayer on a regular basis this year as we trust God to bring us closer together and to use us to bring the world together in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Tim
9/28/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Why We Are Better Together
Well, we're off and running on the 40 Days of Community Campaign! Please read the first seven daily readings in the Better Together: What on Earth Are We Here For? Workbook this week, memorize your verse, and meet with your 40 Days of Community small group. If you haven't signed up for a small group, you can still do that today at the Welcome Table or on the Information Wall at either campus.
As we hear today, there are many wonderful blessings to being together. From the very beginning God intended to make a world where people would love and support one another and work together to make his garden world a lovely place and in Jesus Christ he was working to bring us all back together as one after sin had separated us. Thank you for being here and for being a part of the blessing.
Pastor Tim
9/21/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Better Together-40 Days Begins
Today our 40 Days of Community begins. If you count the number of days until November 12, our Celebration Weekend, you will probably find more than 40 days-which is appropriate because our community is already 721,734 days old, having been established on Pentecost, 30 AD, when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and established the church. And our community will go on until Jesus returns and forever.
What is special about these 40 days is that they are days to experiment with getting more involved in this community of friends and family in Christ. Sign up for a small group and try it out during these next six weeks. See if it isn't true that we are better together and that there is a real blessing from God in our one life together.
Pastor Tim
9/13/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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40 Days of commUNITY kicks off next week
Sign Up for a small group!
Have you longed to belong? The truth is, everybody wants to be loved and wants to belong. That's what 40 Days of Community is all about. Helping us to become a community of people who genuinely love each other and care for each other. Through 40 Days of Community, we are going to deepen our sense of community within our church, then reach out to the community around our church. We'll discover the answer to question, "What on earth are we here for?"
Sign up for a small group today on the sheets in the Gathering places of both sites or by filling out the Small Group Signup insert in the bulletin. The groups last for only six weeks so if you've never been in a small group just try it out. And if you have been in a small group, you know what a great experience it can be.
And, don't forget to invite a friend to join you on this amazing journey. Everyone is welcome to come and discover that we are better together and better with Christ.
Pastor Tim
9/7/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Revving Up and Rallying Together
What an exciting day! Rally Sunday! Things are revving up again. Kids are back in school and we are all getting ready for another year of growing and serving.
In just two short weeks we will begin our 40 Days of Community Campaign. We have been praying for and anticipating this time for several months. If you haven't already done so, sign up to join a 40 Days of Community Small Group which will meet for the six weeks of the Campaign from September 24 through November 12. Complete the sign-up card in your bulletin, and drop it in the offering. Or, you can visit the Information Center at either campus and sign up on a poster for a particular small group.
We ARE better together. God knew that when he created two of us to begin with, when Jesus called 12 of us to follow him, and when he gathered 120 of us together to start the church. Try out a small group this fall and see if God wasn't right. It's only six weeks but you might find it a really good thing. Talk to me or Cheri Buelow for more information.
Pastor Tim
8/30/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Happy Labor (Rest) Day
When I was younger, I used to get really upset with Adam and Eve - for a lot of reasons. But one of my biggest complaints was that if they hadn't messed everything up, we would still be in the Garden of Eve, playing among the trees. We wouldn't have to go to work. I used to grumble about that around 5:30 am when I had to get up and go to my job stocking shelves in the grocery store.
But then my pastor pointed out Genesis 2:5 to me: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." If we were still in paradise, we would still be working; the difference would be that it would be pleasant and fulfilling. And who knows - maybe there will be work to do in heaven too. I kind of hope so - just playing games and sipping lemonade forever sounds a little boring.
God did command us to take a Sabbath and rest once a week, but he also created us to work, to share with him in caring for his world. And caring for his world requires all kinds of work and vocations: ditch digging, teaching, accounting, caring for children, cleaning, managing people and projects, even stocking grocery shelves. Each one is a holy and sacred task.
May God bless you in your labor and help you this Labor Day weekend to see how it all fits together in God's plan. Know that your talents and efforts are important to all of us and to God.
Pastor Tim
8/24/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Long to Belong
Do you long to belong, to have a place, to make some friends?
I remember the first time I played baseball. I think I was in first grade. Everyday the older kids would gather behind the school, pick teams, and then start playing this really great game. And they had such a great time doing it. I wanted to try it. I wanted to swing the bat, chase the ball, exchange high fives.
I think I stood with my head on my hands leaning on the fence for a week until a second grader said, "Hey, Tim, come on out here. We need a right fielder." I hadn't learned my right from my left yet, but I went running out and he showed me where to stand and it was the beginning of a life's love.
Maybe you have been hanging out on the fence here at church watching, and all the time kind of longing to belong too. Hey! Come on out here! We have a place for you!
For 40 days starting in September we are going to be forming up teams and playing a great game and we need you! 40 Days of Community will be a great opportunity to get into the game and make some great friends. Through small groups, Sunday sermons, a joint mission project and several fun celebrations we will experience the blessing that God has given us in the gift of one another, in the gift of the church, in God's team called Trinity.
Sign up today in the Welcome Center of either campus for a small group and get in the game.
Pastor Tim
8/18/2006 | By: Tim | Category: | Comments
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40 Days to learn that We are Better Together!
"But, dad, why do we have to go to church?"
We have probably all heard that question if we have kids and we have probably all asked that question too.
For forty days starting in September, we are going to learn God's answer to that question: BECAUSE WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER.
Along with thousands of congregations around the world we are going to start this Fall with ൰ Days of Community."
Through Sunday sermons, small groups, a joint mission project and several fun celebrations we will experience the blessing that God has given us in the gift of one another, in the gift of the church.
Starting August 27 we will be signing people up for 40 days of small groups and other activities that will help us experience the value of church and our community together in Christ.
Why go to church? Why get involved in this community? Give it 40 Days this Fall and find out.
Pastor Tim
8/11/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Living Life to the Maximum-Growth
At the Family Center this week we are talking about a topic that is important to all of us - Growth. Any living thing that is not growing is dying. The same is true of the Christian.
The committed follower of Christ is a person who pursues spiritual growth and desires to grow up more and more into the image of Christ.
As authentic followers of Christ, we work hard to grow
1) in wisdom (to know);
2) in character (to be); and,
3) in remaining obedient to God's command (to do).
God's desire for us is that we grow to maturity too, yet have the humble attitude of a child that always wants to learn and experience more.
Just like the laws of nature support growth, once we become part of God's family, the Holy Spirit supports us to grow in faith, in love, in service, to be more and more like Jesus.
That's why God gives us opportunities to grow in our relationship with him and each other - daily quiet time, Bible study, worship, radio, fellowship and encouragement of one with one another.
May we take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us at Trinity and every day to help us grow in:
Grace
Responsibility
Obedience
Wisdom
Truth
Humility
Pastor Jacob Oresso
8/3/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Living Life to the Max
How do you live life to the max? Grab all the gusto you can? During the next five weeks at the Family Center, we're going to be talking about that. Gusto.
Gusto starts with a G - 5 G's as a matter of fact.
· Grace · Growth · Group · Gifts · Good Stewardship
Living life to the max starts with Grace - God's grace. Paul says, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" [Ephesians 2:8-10].
God gives us life, he saves our souls and our lives, as a gift. Just this summer several people here at Trinity have experienced God's grace in powerful ways as he has protected and healed them from accidents. After going so long in the heat and drought, the rain God gave us this week is also his grace.
Gusto, though, is not something we grab for ourselves like the beer commercial would have us believe. It is something that God gives us - life, love, forgiveness, purpose, meaning. If we are going to experience life to the max with all the gusto that life has to offer, we have to start by receiving God's grace, accepting his gift, trusting in Jesus Christ, letting him live in our hearts and lives as our Savior and Lord.
If you would like more gusto in your life, talk to me or Pastor Jacob, or stop at the Welcome Center at either campus. We would love to share the gusto - God's grace - with you.
Pastor Tim
7/27/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Sharing and Caring Hands
On Tuesday, several of us on the staff went to Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis to help serve breakfast. It was a great way to spend the morning and we met some really wonderful caring Christian people. After serving, someone took us on a tour of the ministry.
Sharing and Caring Hands serves more than 1000 meals a day. They provide transitional apartments for over 500 people, 400 of whom are children. The ministry also operates a food shelf, clothing distribution, and several medical and dental clinics. They offer hope, healing, and God's grace to thousands of people every year. And it all started with one woman, MaryJo Copeland, her love for Jesus, a vision for helping the poor, and a cup of coffee.
Saint Paul wrote, "I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). It's amazing what one person can do with a love for Christ in their hearts and the needs of people before their eyes.
Here at Trinity God has enabled us to help and serve many people through the years. During the next four weeks, we are praying for God's help as we set some goals for our ministry next year. That planning begins with each of us in an intimate, growing, loving relationship with Jesus ourselves. For without him we can do nothing. And it continues with a vision for helping people in our community.
We talk a lot about vision here. What do we want to look like in the future? The vision that empowers Sharing and Caring Hands, that empowered Jesus for his ministry, that will make a difference for Trinity is not a vision of Trinity but a vision of people around us and how we can help them. Not a vision of bigger buildings or packed worship gatherings or more powerful music. But rather a vision of hurting, dying, hungry people connected and turned on to Jesus, connected and caring for one another, connected to our community and reaching out in love to all the world.
Please pray for us during these next days especially and come to our planning meeting on Thursday, August 24, at the Family Center as we seek a vision of God and our neighbors for the coming year.
Pastor Tim
7/20/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Thanks, Steve and Calie
This weekend we start to say goodbye to our Director of Youth Ministry, Steve Vera, and our Kindergarten Prep teacher, Calie Vera, as they head off to St. Louis so that Steve can begin studying at Concordia Seminary to be a pastor.
We are going to miss both of them. Many children have gotten to know Calie over the last several years and her teaching and care for them has prepared them well for school and for life. She has been a blessing to our school and our kids.
And Scuba will be missed too, very much. God has blessed so many kids and parents in this community through his ministry over these past years. From his pink hair to his caring heart, the Lord has used him to touch and transform many, many people with the Holy Spirit's grace.
As we go forward, a group of caring, committed, and talented people has gathered to continue our youth ministry until we have a new Director of Youth Ministry to help lead us again. Trinity has always had a strong youth ministry and we have plans in place that will help us to continue that tradition of ministry to, with, and by our youth. Please fill out the insert in today's bulletin or contact Pastor Tim if you would like to help.
And join us next Sunday, July 30, at the Family Center, at 11:45 am for a potluck and celebration to thank Steve and Calie for their ministry here.
Pastor Tim
Pastor Tim
7/12/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What's It All About?
The staff had a great retreat on Tuesday. We talked about what God and the church are all about and what we as a staff need to be about during the coming year. The word that kept coming up is "relationship."
God created us for a relationship with him. Jesus saved us for a relationship with him. The Holy Spirit has filled us with God's power and gifts to bring other people into relationship with him. And through our relationship with him, God has made us a part of his family for a deep, intimate relationship with one another.
We talked about our culture and the people that we know, both outside the church and in, and we discovered that it is relationship that many people are craving most of all - relationship with God and authentic, real, deep relationships with other people too.
So, as a staff we decided that during the next year we would work "to grow in intimate relationship with Jesus together." We will meet together every other week for Bible study and to pray for one another. We will have fun together and get to know and support one another better. And we will do everything we can to enhance relationships in every part of our ministry as well.
During the next several weeks, our planning teams will be meeting to sketch out our goals together for ministry in 2006-2007. We will be recommending to them that all of us in the congregation focus on relationships this next year and work to grow in intimate relationship with Jesus together too.
Jesus said these are the Father's greatest commands - his greatest desire for us: that we "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." And that we "love your neighbor as you love yourself." May the Lord help us to grow in a deeper, closer, more loving relationship with him and one another together this year.
Pastor Tim
6/28/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What Does Joseph have to do with the Fourth of July?
The Sunday School/Xtreme Kids are looking at the story of Joseph and his Technicolor dream coat today, and downtown we are looking at the story too. But what does this story have to do with our own national celebration of independence?
It has to do with the coat. Joseph was given a beautiful coat in wonderful colors - red, white, and blue? And his father very evidently loved him. He blessed him with many gifts and favors.
But Joseph flaunted his favor and his brothers got jealous and tried to do away with him. He did not act with humility for the good of his family and it riled up the neighborhood. Our Father has blessed us here in the USA too with many gifts and favors. But with his blessing comes the responsibility to exercise those gifts with humility on behalf of our brothers and sisters on this planet and not just in our own interests.
Pastor Tim
6/15/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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I'll Always Be There For You!
I'll Always Be There For You!
It's a fascinating story that comes out of the 1989 earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. This deadly tremor killed over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the earthquake, a father rushed to his son's school. When he arrived there he discovered the building was flat as a pancake.
Standing there looking at what was left of the school, the father remembered a promise he made to his son, "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation, but he could not take his mind off his promise.
Remembering that his son's classroom was in the back right corner of the building, the father rushed there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: "My son! "My daughter!" They tried to pull him off of what was left of the school saying: "It's too late!" "They're dead!" "You can't help!" "Go home!" Even a police officer and a fire fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who tried to stop him he said, "Are you going to help me now?" They didn't answer him and he continued digging for his son stone by stone.
He needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" This man dug for eight hours and then twelve and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally in the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name, "ARMAND!" and a voice answered him, "Dad?" It's me, Dad!" Then the boy added these priceless words, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told 'em that if you were alive, you'd save me and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised that, Dad. 'No matter what,' you said, 'I'll always be there for you!' And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!"
On this Father's Day we thank God for dads everywhere who try to keep their promises to their children - promises to love them, protect them, care for them, help them to grow to know Jesus. Unfortunately, fathers can't always do what they promise. At those times and always we have another Father who never leaves us, who never lets us down. All of us - dads, moms, kids - look to him for help, direction, and love.
(Story from an article by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen in "Chicken Soup for the Soul.")
Pastor Tim
6/6/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Seen God Lately?
This weekend in the church calendar is designated Trinity Sunday. After spending six months focused on the events in the life of Jesus and last week celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit to the church on Pentecost, we spend this Sunday bringing the picture of God together and talking about the Trinity.
As we study the scriptures, we see that God has revealed himself in history as triune - as three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - in one divine being. To a certain extent, the topic for this week is fairly esoteric and very heady. How can God, who is one God, also be three persons? It is a question that has driven Bible scholars and theology teachers to white hair and long rambling dissertations.
To be sure, the teaching about the Trinity is important even though it is rather philosophical. But like all good teachers, God has not left us to find our way to understanding him through just some extended propositional discourse, but he has provided us with a living illustration of who he is and what he is about in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God." That God who is spirit, who dwells in unattainable light, who is transcendent, far beyond our own knowledge and experience, has become visible and accessible in Jesus Christ. He has drawn near to us so that we can know him. As we get to know Jesus, we get to know God. Jesus is God in the flesh, the "very representation" of the Divine invisible God.
Want to know God? Get to know Jesus. Pastor Tim
5/31/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Compassion
One of the most consistent and powerful traits that we see in Jesus is his compassion. Jesus had compassion on the crowds and so he taught them. He had compassion on them and so he fed them. He had compassion on them and so he raised their dead children. Jesus continues to feel the pain of his children and he reaches out to help them.
Today is Compassion Sunday at Trinity. Today we look with the eyes of Jesus at the plight of children around the world who don't have parents or enough food to eat or an education and we see how Jesus loves them. And as we watch, he reaches out through our hands and prayers and pocket books to bless them.
"As I have loved you", he says, "so love one another". As I have felt your pain, as I have shared your life. As I have fed, and taught and loved you, you have compassion too.
Pastor Tim
5/24/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Memorial Day 2006
Oh, boy, a Monday off, a long weekend, maybe the first one at the cabin. The beginning of summer. A day to look ahead to summer vacation.
A day to look back and remember? How quickly we forget when the sun comes out.
My favorite Memorial Days are the ones we spend at Connie's home in small town Minnesota. Going to the cemetery, listening to the speeches, seeing all the graves with little American flags flying in straight rows. Walking over to her dad's marker, her uncle's, and great-grandparents too. Remembering and telling the stories. Smiling, crying, passing on to our kids and grandkids the memories and the values of God, family, and country. Remembering my dad and grandparents and reliving the things they did and the things they believed in.
They say that the people who forget the past are destined to relive it. So many died in wars that our future might be better. So many lived through hard times that our times might be easier. We need to remember and thank God for them all.
There are cemeteries all around. Drive through one on Monday. Get out and walk around. Remember.
Pastor Tim
5/17/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Seek the Truth
The movie, "DaVinci Code," opens in theaters this weekend. A lot of people are going to be talking about the movie and probably hitting the internet to find out if the story really is true. One of the trailers for the movie ended with the caption, "Seek the truth," which is a really appropriate comment for all of us.
Seek the truth. We should be seeking the truth. And if this movie can stir up people to seek out the truth about Jesus, then that will be a good thing.
As you seek the truth, though, remember that the movie itself and the book behind it are fiction. It's a story, a really thrilling story. But a number of its premises do not match up with history. During the next three or four weeks, we will examine together some of the things that the DaVinci Code portrays as real and historical but which really aren't. Was Jesus married? Did he have a baby? Was he really divine? Did he really die or did he just fake his death? There is good historical data behind the faith as we have come to know it. Take the time and examine the evidence. And maybe through it all, we will find that our understanding of Christ and our faith will grow.
Pastor Tim
5/10/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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A Mother's Love
A Mother's Love Pastor Jacob is telling the story in his sermon this weekend of an angel who was sent from heaven to bring back the three most beautiful things he could find upon the earth. In his search he found:
1. A beautiful rose
2. A baby's smile
3. A mother's love
He proceeded back to heaven only to find that the rose had faded and the baby's smile was gone. The only thing that remained was a mother's love.
A mother's love is a beautiful thing. In many ways, it reminds us of Jesus, of the one who gives his children life, the one who watches over his children and does whatever it takes to help them grow and thrive, the one who put aside claims to his own life and gave himself to save his children. A mother's love can connect a child to Jesus and help them experience his love.
Unfortunately, not all of us have been blessed by such a mother's love. If you have, please make sure that you say thank you to God and to your mom, if she's still near. You have been the beneficiary of a very great gift.
But many people have not had such loving mothers or their mothers have died or left them. And some who yearn to be mothers can't be or haven't been yet. May God bless you this Mother's Day too and in his grace help you to feel loved and mothered too.
And if you are a mom, know that you are someone very special and you are fulfilling the most critical of vocations. Being a mom is not easy and it bears its own heartache for each. But through your love your children become who they will be, and experience the touch of God in their lives. We pray for you today, giving thanks for your love, and asking him to give you strength for your service.
Pastor Tim
5/3/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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A Kingdom of Immigrants
In the Gospel appointed for today Jesus says to the Jews: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." (John 10:16).
The Jews who heard Jesus say this were enraged. "There was a division among them because of these words. Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is insane'" (v. 19-20).
Things haven't changed much. A kingdom that was established to welcome strangers and that had a command from God to care for and include the sojourners among them put up the walls and said "no more foreigners." He wants to welcome Gentile sheep and goats from other countries? He's crazy. This is our Kingdom and our land. Besides, there won't be enough grass for us to eat.
Remember that you were sojourners in Egypt, God said (Exodus 22). "Don't wrong or oppress a sojourner." "Leave some of your crop for the poor and the sojourner" (Leviticus 19:10). "You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and the native" (Leviticus 24:22). There are over 110 passages in the Bible about welcoming and caring for the foreigner and sojourner.
How are we doing? We are all foreigners and strangers - none of us Jews or native blood-born members of God's kingdom. Do we welcome people like us - and even more, people who are not like us - into God's Kingdom gathering? These are sheep that God loves too, that Jesus is seeking even now. Will we join him in going out of our way, even inconveniencing ourselves, laying down our lives, to invite them and make them feel at home - even if we have to learn a few words in a new language or fix some other kind of hotdish?
And since "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" and there is not one set of principles for Sunday morning in church and another for the rest of the week in America, how are we doing in helping immigrants to feel at home in our community and country? Contrary to the folk song, "This land is [not] my land, this land is [not] your land from California..." This land belonged to native Americans before it "belonged" to us and before that and forever it belongs to God. We all are immigrants here. "We all are just beggars" living off from God's goodness in his land. May God help us to throw open the doors of our hearts and welcome people in.
Pastor Tim
4/27/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Open Minds-Open Hearts
He was standing right in front of them. He showed them his hands and his feet. And still they had a hard time believing it was really him. It had to be a ghost.
I guess it shouldn't be too surprising if we have a hard time believing it's really true that Jesus rose from the dead.
The problem for the disciples was that Jesus did not fit their assumptions about life. People don't come back from the grave - not after they have been dead for three days. And he didn't fit their expectations either. They expected him to be the Messiah, the King of the renewed Kingdom of God. But not this kind of King or this kind of kingdom, and so they didn't recognize him.
So Jesus had to open their minds. He had gone over these scripture passages with them at least three times before. It wasn't like they had never heard them. But there was a steel gate over their brains - a worldview - that shaped and filtered what they heard. Jesus had to blow that worldview up so that they would be able to live in the world as he was remaking it.
What worldviews keep us from seeing Jesus? Do we need to open our minds up a little to consider that God may be bigger than the box we sometimes put him in? Do we recognize him today?
Pastor Tim
4/20/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Easter Continues
The Good News was so good-Jesus was alive. The King was back. The new life that they had been longing for was breaking into the world. The resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of a whole new world. And so the believers started meeting on Sundays to celebrate each week, to commune with Jesus who was in their midst and who promised to be with them always. They met together on Sunday rather than Saturdays as the Jews did to renew their faith and walk in the way of Jesus.
Two thousand years later Easter still goes on. Come and join the celebration each week. Share the love. Jesus is still here in his Body, in us as we meet together and love together, as we live peaceably and walk in the way of Jesus.
Pastor Tim
4/13/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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See For Yourself
Your father told you to watch out for things that seem just too good to be true. That's certainly true about Easter. A crucified man risen from the dead? Life after death? Forgiveness for everything you've ever done? A reason for living? You'd better check that one out!
The disciples all did. The women went down into the tomb to see for themselves. The apostles all ran to the cemetery to see for themselves. Thomas, who wasn't with the disciples on Easter, went right up to Jesus the week afterwards and put his hand into the nail marks because he had to see for himself.
God invites us all to see for ourselves. See what the eyewitnesses saw. See the change that seeing him made in their timid lives. See how the risen Christ has transformed the lives of billions of people ever since. See what difference he can make for you and for the world.
See Jesus and believe. It can all be yours.
Pastor Tim
4/7/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Hosanna to the Son of David!
Everybody was so excited! The King was coming, the king that they had longed for was finally here. They filled the streets, laid their coats on the ground so his donkey could ride on a carpeted path. They acclaimed him their Messiah.
So why just five short days later did they put him to death?
To be fair, the trial of Jesus was immensely unfair, illegal even. And Jesus was hanging on the cross before most of the Palm Sunday crowd was out of bed. The people at Jesus' trial calling for his death were friends and supporters of the priests trying to get rid of him.
But there was no rebellion in the streets, nobody rushed the cross to take him down and save him. They just all kind of wagged their heads, and probably thought, "Too bad. He's not the king we thought he was."
If he had been, he would have called down those angels, he would have destroyed the Romans, he would have established them again in their position as chief among the nations. But he just very wimply bows his head and dies. What kind of a king is that?
As we welcome Jesus today with palm branches and joyous hallelujahs, we need to be careful that we are welcoming our King and not just a deluded picture of the triumphal king we desire - a self-portrait of our heroes and successful leaders. Big and fancy and feel-good.
The King who comes rides on a donkey. He gathers prostitutes and tax collectors and smelly fisherfolk around him. He serves and gives and dies for the whole world and he says to his followers: "If any want to be mine, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." The Kingdom of God is not always so happy or so pretty - and it's definitely not easy. But it is good and worth the cost.
Pastor Tim
3/29/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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The One Who Laughs Best
Did anyone pull an April Fool's joke on you this year? Back in 1957 the BBC featured a news report on a bumper spaghetti crop in Switzerland. With a mild winter and the elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss peasants were shown pulling long strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers called in asking for information on how they could grow spaghetti trees in their backyards. To this question, the BBC replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." I don't know but it must take a very long time for spaghetti trees to grow because the one I planted last year hasn't grown more than an inch or two.
People like to laugh at you, of course. They say you're foolish for cultivating a spaghetti tree. Well, someday I'll invite them all to spaghetti supper and we'll see who laughs best.
In Paul's day, people laughed at Christians for believing that Jesus, crucified on a cross as a criminal, could bring hope and healing and life to a cold and cynical world. "The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing," he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18. "But to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
God uses the silly little things, Paul explained, to accomplish greatness. People think they are so smart sometimes. But it's not smartness or good looks or strong muscles that saves the world. It's love, God's love, that makes the difference, God's love in weakness and seeming defeat, God's love in little, ordinary deeds.
So let them laugh at your faith, let them laugh at your willingness to forgive, let them laugh at your naïve acts of kindness. God in his love will use all this foolishness and who knows how it will change even the skeptics? Except that God says it will. We will all laugh in the end.
Pastor Tim
3/23/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Never Too Busy For You
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, climbing the long, steep road from Jericho, and a great mass of excited people followed him. It was quite a parade.
And two blind men buried somewhere deep in the crowd cried out to him, Matthew says (20:29-34). "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"
The crowd shushed them. "Quiet! Can't you see he's on his way to Jerusalem to take up his throne? The King doesn't have time for you!"
Most kings don't - and most of their subjects don't either.
But Jesus does - he has time for these two blind men. He stopped. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
"Let our eyes be opened."
Jesus had pity on them. He touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
Jesus had time for the blind men. He always has time for us. He is never too busy, never too much on his way to something more important that he can't stop and ask: "What do you want me to do for you?"
What do you want Jesus to do for you? He has the time. He has the love. Do you have the time for him?
Pastor Tim
3/16/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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"Tying On" or Binding
Many people "tied one on" on Friday, celebrating Saint Patrick's day. Which is unfortunate because the only "tying on" or binding that Patrick did in his life was to tie on the name of the Trinity and bind himself to Jesus. He wrote the following poem which has been turned into a hymn. It powerfully witnesses to the spirit of Saint Patrick and calls us all to bind ourselves to Christ.
I bind unto myself today The strong name of the Trinity By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever, By power of faith, Christ's incarnation, His baptism in the Jordan River, His cross of death for my salvation, His bursting from the spiced tomb, His riding up the heavenly way, His coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself today The virtues of the starlit heaven, The glorious sun's life giving ray, The whiteness of the moon at even, The flashing of the lightning free, The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks, The stable earth, the deep salt sea, Around the old eternal rocks.
I bind unto myself today The power of God to hold and lead, His eye to watch, his might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need, The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, his shield to ward, The Word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.
I bind unto myself the name, The strong name of the Trinity By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three, Of whom all nature has creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word. Praise to the Lord of my salvation; Salvation is of Christ the Lord!
Pastor Tim
3/9/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What controls us?
Life is full of decisions - big ones and little ones. Decisions about what to wear, what to eat, how to do our jobs, how we will behave in certain situations. How do we make those decisions? What drives us and controls us?
St Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
We could let our own interests, our own drives, our own emotions control us. In which case our whole world can just keep flying apart at the seams, everyone doing their own thing, watching out for their own #1, falling into shattered little pieces.
Or we can live our lives and approach our decisions the way that Martin Luther did when he said, "If anyone would knock at the door of my heart and ask 'Who lives here?' I would answer, 'Martin Luther once lived here, but Martin Luther has moved out and Jesus Christ has moved in.'"
Pastor Tim
3/1/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Experiencing Lent
"What are you giving up for Lent?" It's a pretty common question during this time of year. Some people give up dessert or TV or chocolate or meat, although I was always more in favor of giving up broccoli. The idea of giving something up, though, is not so much to lose weight or escape some detested food. Rather, giving something up for Lent was an ancient practice to help Christians enter into and identify, even in a little way, with the suffering of Jesus.
The season of Lent is observed on 40 days, beginning on Ash Wednesday and extending to midnight on the day before Easter, omitting Sundays. It is modeled after the 40 days of fasting that Jesus endured in the desert. The original meaning of "Lent" is "holy spring." Traditionally, Christians used Lent to prepare themselves for Easter by asking God to show them their failures and by repenting of their sin.
Lent is a time of "spiritual spring-cleaning," an opportunity to purge the junk from our hearts and let God cleanse us. It is also a time to reflect on Christ's journey to the cross. One author summed it up best when he wrote, "The gist of Lent is to pay attention" - to pay attention to Christ on the cross, to recognize our sin and realize anew the life-changing love of God in the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So what are you giving up for Lent this year? How will you pay closer attention to the sacrifice Jesus made for us? Will you fast, pray, take a silent retreat, read the Bible? Whatever you choose to do, don't miss this unique opportunity to pay attention to Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.
Pastor Tim
2/23/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Transfiguration Sunday
"Jesus was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus..." (Mark 9:2-8)
He looked just like anybody else - wrinkled clothes, dusty feet, wind-blown hair. But on the top of the mountain Jesus was transfigured before Peter and James and John and there was no mistaking him anymore. He was the divine Son of God come to transform his disciples and the world, to change them and make them more like him.
How has Jesus transfigured us? How do we look more loving, more kind, more hopeful when people look into our lives? Being in the presence of Jesus made a difference in the disciples' lives. And being in the presence of Jesus can make a difference in our lives too.
Lent begins on Wednesday. During this season, we are going to spend 40 days with Jesus. Join us on Wednesdays and Sundays and let Jesus change your life too.
Pastor Tim
2/16/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What Now?
We live these days in an in-between time... not just between pastors, but even more, between Jesus' first coming and his last.
The disciples started this time on a hilltop outside Jerusalem, looking up, trying to see Jesus through the clouds. And the angels said, "Why are you just standing there?"
So they went back with one heart and one mind, to pray and plan, to wait upon the power, and then to go out to witness to the one who had saved them and saved the world, the one who was coming again.
He is coming again - Jesus that is. But before he does he has filled us with that power and given us his Holy Spirit and he has sent us out to share the news, to minister to the world, to get everyone ready for his return. There's work to be done, brothers and sisters. We can't just stand here looking up waiting for the end to come. There's souls to save and what a joy to be able to do that together with the Spirit of the Lord empowering us and urging us on.
Grab the hand of that Christian kin next to you then and let's do the work that Jesus has left us here to do. He is coming again.
Pastor Tim
2/8/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Have You Seen Your Burning Bush?
God spoke to Moses in a burning bush and sent him to Egypt to set God's people free. Several weeks ago Pastor Mark saw a burning bush too and now God is sending him across the river to bring God's Word to Chanhassen and set still more people free.
We're going to miss Pastor Mark. God used him in powerful ways to grow our ministry and touch individual lives with the love of Christ. But God has another place for him to use his gifts now and he will use him as he knows best to grow the Kingdom.
That same God has another pastor for us as well and even now is preparing the bush and setting the fire to call him here. On Thursday, February 23, at 7:00 pm at the Family Center everyone is invited to a special Voters meeting where Pastor Lane Seitz, president of the Minnesota South District of the LCMS, will explain the call process for us and help us to get started. Everyone's help, input, and prayers will be needed as we seek the Lord for the pastor he wants to serve here.
In the meantime, God has set a fire for you too. I thought I saw a little spark from that bush that God used to call Mark leap into your heart to set you on fire too. Listen real close now. Do you hear God calling you? He is saying that he needs you here - that he has a work for you to do right here. The Lord is still at work here and he has lives to set free here and he wants to use all of us to help do that.
May the events of these last weeks here at Trinity fan into flame that spark of God's Spirit within each of us and help us to go forward in saving the world together.
Pastor Tim
1/19/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Hug A Christian Week
Last Wednesday we entered what is called "A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" in most church bodies. During this week we thank God for our brothers and sisters in other churches in Hudson and around the world and pledge ourselves to loving and caring for these fellow members of the household of God.
This is a most timely time to be praying, especially because of the hurricanes and earthquakes in the south and other parts of the world and the suffering of many members of our Christian family as a result of hunger, war, and persecution. We are reminded in a powerful way of our bond with them and God's call to care for one another. This concern flows over into our intercessions for one another, for those who are sick and mourning among us too.
God created us and saved us for love. As we help and serve and pray, we witness to the love of Jesus Christ. We are his Body in the world, his hands, his arms, his shoulders, his legs, and feet. Hug a Christian today - let people see Jesus' love. Pray today - and let people experience Jesus' love. Share today - and Christ will be working through you.
Pastor Tim
1/4/2006 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Where is God When You Need Him?
Is he up in the sky, up above the clouds, out past the moon and Mars and Pluto too? A Russian cosmonaut looked while he was up in outer space and said he didn't see him any place.
Is he in some other dimension, some place spiritual, somewhere far removed from the nitty-gritty of my time and space? Maybe he sees but he just doesn't care about here and now, about flesh and blood and other gory stuff.
Where is he? I asked a little child. "He's right here. Right here in my heart."
"If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him," Jesus said, "and we will come and make our home in him." We will make our home in his or her heart.
He is here with us all the time. In fact, he came in flesh at Christmastime and no one in the world has been more present in gore, no one has shed his blood or given us more than our God. He loves us.
And he promises that if we love him, well here's his word: "you will be loved by my Father, and I will love you and manifest myself to you." (John 14:21)
When we are lonely, hurting, or looking for God, we don't need to fly a rocket to space or flee to gaze on some guru's face. We can stop and turn in the quiet to the God who loves us, who has come for us, who dwells even now within us. Who is always with us and who loves us more than life itself. Look to him and in faith rest in his grace.
Pastor Tim
12/22/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Wise Men (and Women) Still Seek Him
A long time ago some very wise men in a land far away were watching the sky when they saw a star that they had not been expecting. It rose high in the sky and it seemed to beckon them. It was the star of a King. We don't know what kind of star it was but we do know where it led - to a baby, Jesus, who had been born in Bethlehem to be the King of all.
Different stars have beckoned us today to come to the King - maybe a friend, a family member, a tradition; maybe a feeling deep down inside that something is missing - a friend, a purpose, a King worth following. The wisdom of the wise magi consisted not in recognizing the star but in deciding to follow it - to come to Jesus and give him their hearts.
What will you do today? You've found him who draws us all and now you must decide what to say and what to do. Worship him - surrender your heart. Let Jesus be the King of your life too.
Pray this prayer: "Jesus, you're the one I've been looking for. You're the one I want. Be my Savior. Be my King. Give me a fresh start. Give me eternal life." You have followed the star and come this far. From this Christmas and for the rest of your life, let Jesus, your King, lead you home.
Pastor Tim
11/22/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Advent Hope
"I hope I get a new bike for Christmas." There's a lot of hoping going on in children about this time of year, a lot of hoping that is pretty nervous and insecure. That's the blessing of Christian hope. Our hope is a sure thing. Our Christmas gift is bought and paid for and just waiting for the day that God will put it in our hands. It's like those moms and dads who do their Christmas shopping right after Christmas is over. They go out and buy their kids' presents on December 26 and then lay them up in the closet until the next December 25 when they get them down and put them under the tree. God has bought and paid for our Christmas present with the death and resurrection of his Son. We have "a living hope," Peter writes, "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3,4). God has paid for our salvation and laid up heaven for us with all of its riches and joys. It's ours now, just waiting for the day that he will get it down from the shelf and give it to us. I hope that you get everything you want for Christmas. I know that God's present is already bought and you're going to love it. Blessed Advent! Pastor Tim
11/10/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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In and Through Us
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." [Philippians 1:6] This weekend we bring our pledges forward for our regular, annual Stewardship giving and our 3-year Fruits of Faith pledge. I know that for many people all this talk about money during late October and early November is a bit bothersome, and to be honest, it's not my favorite topic for discussion either. But this year has been kind of a good experience for me. We have spent a lot of time the last three weeks looking at all that God has accomplished here among us. People have shared how Trinity's ministry has touched and transformed their lives. We've celebrated how God's Spirit has been working here during the last 96 years. Now as we bring our pledges forward I'm kind of excited thinking about all that God is going to do here through the next few years too. Paul says, "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." God is not done working among us or working through us here at Trinity. He has a lot more people to reach and help and save and he is going to do it through us. What a privilege to be able to work together with him! What a joy to be able to do that work together with each other! Thanks for being a part of God's family here at Trinity and for sharing your time, your talents, your money - your self - with the Lord and all of us. May God bring you joy as you see God working in and through your life too. Pastor Tim
10/21/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Fruits of Faith-Goodness
Many of us grew up proclaiming the goodness of the Lord as we prayed over our meals:
"God is great, God is good, Let us thank him for our food. Amen."
God is good to us all the time. He provides food for our tables and clothes for our backs and homes to live in. His goodness is the excellence with which he does all that he does for us. I saw an excellent moonrise over Lake Mallalieu on Monday night. Our God does all things well. His greatest excellency, though, is his Son who gave everything for us in giving his life to save us and give us eternal life.
This God deserves our very best. How are we measuring up? Are we giving him the best of our time, the first of the fruits of our work? Are we managing the financial resources that he has entrusted to us to fulfill his purposes?
During the next four weeks we are going to be talking more about the fruits of our faith. Fruits of Faith is an opportunity to think through all that God has done for us and to pledge to him our best in thankfulness and gratitude for all that he has done for us.
God is good - very good. He is excellent. Will we settle for giving him just good enough or will we give him what he deserves - our excellence, our very best?
God's peace, Pastor Tim
10/6/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Patience
As I write this, it's been hot and muggy again. I am so looking forward to the change that they say is coming. Fall should be here tomorrow. I can hardly wait. There are so many "hardly waits" in my life. When I was in grade school, I could hardly wait for high school. When I was in high school, I could hardly wait for college. When I was in college, I could hardly wait to get out and start working. And now I am and there are some days I can hardly wait for retirement. But what then? I could hardly wait for my babies to grow up out of those 3 am feedings (and cryings). Then they were toddlers and I could hardly wait for them to go to school. When they were in school, I could hardly wait for them to be in college. When they were in college, I could hardly wait for the tuition bill to end and they would be on their own. And now they are and I can hardly wait for them to come home. I have missed a lot of life waiting for the next stage of life to come along. Twiddling my thumbs, dreaming of what it would be like, snapping impatiently because they weren't - I wasn't - what we were someday going to be. A lot of happy times were missed because I was too impatient with now, trying so hard to see and reach a new and "better" time. It seems to me that the key to patience as a cure for the "hardly waits" is to embrace the now, to enjoy this present moment and suck out all of the life and blessing that God has put into it for us. It sounds so un-American somehow but the goal of our lives should not be to reach a better tomorrow (for tomorrow never comes) but to live this moment fully with all of its joy and all of its struggle. "This is the day the Lord has made," the Psalmist says. "Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Rejoice in this day. Find the gladness now. It's there, the joy, the blessing, but it can only be experienced along with each stream of sweat in a long, extended summer, every dirty diaper, every night your sleep is interrupted by the cries of a hungry baby. It won't last forever which is good and somehow also too bad. Tomorrow we'll all have our fall jackets on, the sweat will be gone. And so will the warm sun baking our backs on the beach and the lazy days of fishing from the boat. I think I'm going to close up this computer and go for one last long summer walk. Let the sweat roll down. Pastor Tim
9/7/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Fruits of Faith: Love
As we begin to celebrate the Fruits of Faith that God has been growing here in us at Trinity, we get to share some of that fruit with people on the Gulf Coast whose trees have been torn up and whose homes have been demolished. St Paul writes in Galatians 5 that "the fruit of the Spirit is love..." The victims of Hurricane Katrina need that love today.
Love is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling or a misty tear in the corner of the eye. Love is an action as strong and self-giving as the love of Jesus Christ for us who gave himself to be nailed to a cross to raise us up out of death to life safe in heaven. God has loved us and grown us up for a time such as this, that we might share the fruit of his love in loving care for our neighbors in the south.
We share that love as we pray for those who have been hurt by the hurricane. We share that fruit as we give to the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army or Lutheran Disaster Response (www.ldr.org) or LCMS World Relief (www.lcms.org/worldrelief). You can bring cans of fruit or other food, water, diapers or infant formula to the Hudson Area Ministerial Association "Project St Croix Valley Cares" truck in Hudson. There are many ways to care.
When I was a kid, we had an apple tree in the backyard. Every year we would get much more fruit than we could use so my brother and sister and I used to take bags full to our neighbors. And they, in turn, when the strawberries were in season, would share a quart with us. And then there were peaches and raspberries and carrots and pumpkins in different neighbors' yards, too. It seemed like we were never lacking for fruit even though we had only this one apple tree ourselves.
The world will not lack either as we each share from our backyards what is first in our hearts - our love, God's love, the fruit of his blessing. Pastor Tim
8/25/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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What are you going to give back?
I was talking to someone this last week who was really excited about our care-giving ministry. She had been in a car accident a number of years ago and God had pulled her through. People from the church she had been attending rallied around her and her family and God used them to help speed her recovery.
Now she was looking for a way to get involved and use the things she had learned and experienced to help someone else. "I just want to give something back now. In fact, I need to give something back. God saved my life and he has a purpose for me still."
She had received so much. We all have. So much love, so many gifts, so much of God's good attention and good Spirit. Not all of us have been in a car accident, of course, but God has poured so much of himself into our lives through so many other people and he has done it for a purpose - so that we might give back.
Why are you here anyway? Why aren't you in heaven? You're ready, aren't you, so why doesn't God just reach down and pluck you up? You're still here because God has a reason for you to be here. It may be to be a Sunday School teacher this year (we still need at least 4 teachers downtown yet). It may be to be a confirmation small group leader (Scuba Steve says he's got a group with your name on it). It may be to tell your co-worker about Jesus (are you sure that the person at the desk next to you knows Jesus?) This is the time that God has set for you to make a difference, to make your mark and let the world know that you have been here. It's time to give something back.
+ Pastor Tim
8/4/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
The Gospel appointed for this weekend is the story of Jesus walking on the water. The disciples were sailing across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night when they saw Jesus walking towards them on the water. After asking Jesus for his permission, Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus. Everything was going well until Peter took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the waves and, seeing how high they were and how deep the water, he became afraid and started to sink. "Lord, save me!" he yelled.
The waves in our lives get pretty high sometimes too and they can seem pretty overwhelming. The key to maintaining our balance is keeping our eyes on Jesus. The one who made the wind and waves, who silenced the storm, who died and rose again, is there with his hand reaching out to steady us and lift us up. We need to fix our gaze on him.
How steady is your gaze on Jesus? Are you reading his Word and drawing strength from his promises in the Scriptures? Are you looking for him in your day and talking to him at night? Just a Sunday morning religion is not going to get us through the Thursday night tempest. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus always.
Baseball coaches tell their players the same thing: "Keep your eyes on the ball. You can't hit the ball if you take your eyes off it." Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Pastor Tim
7/30/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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What is the message?
From Mark 6:1-13
I am working on sermon themes for the next six months now - or at least I should be. Something always seems to come up to short-circuit my best intentions. But this morning I am working on it. I started with my morning devo here in Mark 6. Here Jesus sends the 12 out to prepare the cities of Galilee for his coming. Jesus is coming to the cities of America too - to Hudson - and he has sent out preachers to prepare his way. So what should we be preaching? What should I preach this year?
I have preached a lot of "Don't worry. God loves you. Be comforted at least, if you can't be happy even." And lots of other preachers, too, preach about how to be happy, how to have a happy family, how to raise happy children, how to balance your finances and tithe as well. So much of what I hear these days, coming from my mouth too, centers on "me" and "mine." My happiness, success and inner peace.
But then I read this passage and I hear Jesus sending us out to preach "Repent! for the kingdom of God is at hand." And I think, "That's not going to work these days." Nobody wants to hear that old fire and brimstone stuff. We have enough trouble getting people to come to church now.
So we preach what will fill the pews today and make people happy and prepare them to go to hell by continuing to let them think that life is all about "me".
Life is not all about me. That's what makes "repent" so important. We prepare for Jesus by "turning away" from our sin - and sin in the Bible is this self-destructive focus on self, self-interest, self-centeredness, self-ishness. Turning away from self to focus on the living God. It's the only way to prepare to see Jesus. It's the only way to live in the Kingdom. Because the kingdom is about love and love is about God and the other, not about me. We may be healed in the process but it's not about me.
What do you think? What should I preach about this year? Leave a comment, an idea, a topic you think somebody (you?) should hear. Thanks.
7/21/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Merry Christmas
I know, it doesn't seem much like Christmas. Not much snow. Temperatures above 90. No carols playing in the malls or people lined up at Fleet Farm buying children's toys. Sheep in the fields, stables empty. But wait. That's what the first Christmas was like. Nobody was expecting it. No sweet music or peaceful family gatherings around brightly lit garlanded evergreen trees. And Christmas was probably in the summer months rather than the winter. "The sheep were in the fields," Luke says. Sheep stayed in the stables and closer to home in December. They didn't go out to the fields until after Passover in mid-April and they stayed there through the summer until September. So it was hot and dusty and closer to July 24 than December. Which makes our celebration this weekend Downtown all the more significant. Can we celebrate Christmas now away from all the hoopla, or do we need the lights, the snow, and the jolly fat man with presents to feel Christmas? Luke is very careful to tell us that Jesus was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus while Quirinius was governor of Syria. It's kind of surprising that he doesn't tell us the exact date. But then maybe that's the way God wanted it. The angels said to the shepherds out in the fields, "to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord." Which day? December 24? July 24? This day - every day. Today. Today is the day that God has come into the world. Today is the day that his love is incarnate in the life and love of Jesus Christ. Today is the day that he is coming to you with forgiveness and grace to save you. Today. Merry Christmas today. May the peace and love of the Christ-child be born within you everyday. Pastor Tim
7/7/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Don't Settle For Anything Less
A lot of people are settling for something less than everything that God wants to give them. In the Old Testament lesson at the Downtown church this weekend, we are looking at the story of Jacob and Esau. It's a story that looks a lot like two brothers in most families - jealousy, competition, wrestling around. Jacob and Esau were twins and they were always competing. But Esau was the oldest and he was in line to inherit the birthright and blessing that God had given to his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. One day he went out hunting and came back famished. "Let me eat some of that red stew," Esau begged his brother, Jacob, "for I am exhausted." "Sell me your birthright," Jacob replied. "I am about to die," Esau said. "Of what use is a birthright to me?" For a bowl of red stew Esau sold the blessing of God with all of its riches. He gave away the honor of being the head of the family that blessed the world through the birth of the Messiah. "Thus Esau despised his birthright," Genesis says. His life was ruled by his stomach. What appetites are running our lives and making our decisions? Stew and steak, money and houses, power, fame, pleasure. It all is so fleeting. Here today and gone tomorrow. God has prepared an eternal banquet for us and has promised to give us the riches of heaven. If only we won't trade it all for a quick meal or a temporary, transitory thrill. "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness," Jesus said, "and all these things will be added to you as well." [Matthew 6:33].
Pastor Tim
6/23/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Jesus Thirsts
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." [John 19:28-30]
Would you have given him a cup of cold water? He thirsts and they give him stale leftovers, some warm, sour, putrid wine. And then he died, thirsty and alone. Jesus is still dying of thirst. He told his disciples that as often as they saw someone thirsty and gave him a drink, "one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
Eight million people around the globe die each year of extreme poverty. People whose bodies are weakened by thirst and hunger - up to 8,000 children dead of malaria each day, 5,000 mothers and fathers dead of tuberculosis, 7,500 young adults dead of AIDS, and thousands more dead of diarrhea, respiratory infection, and other killer diseases before the sun goes down tonight.
What are we going to do about it? We can close our eyes to it or just look away. Hundreds of people probably walked beneath Jesus' cross without looking, in a hurry to get to their jobs or their cottages or their soccer games. We can wring our hands and sigh, and complain there is nothing that we can do because the task is so big. And it is a bigger problem than just one person can fix.
But it is not a problem that cannot be solved. Economists estimate that it would take a $75 billion investment each year to help end extreme poverty by 2025. That's more than I make each year, but it is significantly less than 1% of the US gross national product. It's 16% of what the US spends each year on the military. It is a doable amount if we pull together as a nation and a world and decide that we are going to do it. The problem is not that there isn't enough money to make sure that the hungry have enough food and the thirsty have enough clean water. The problem is: are we willing to do something about it?
I certainly don't have all the answers. I am not an economist or anything like that. But I do know where the answer starts. It starts with Christians looking up from their very busy lives to see Jesus in their thirsty and hungry neighbors and letting our leaders know that we want to do something about it even if it is going to cost us some money.
"And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water," Jesus says, "will by no means lose his reward." [Matthew 10:42]
For more information and some suggestions on some relatively easy, effective things to do, see www.data.org or www.one.org on the internet.
6/16/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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"One Voice"
I used to think that one person trying to accomplish something in the political world could not make much of an impact. In fact, that's why I shifted my focus in college from law/politics to religion/ministry. It seemed that if any change was going to take place in the world it would only happen as people were changed one by one in their spirits and their minds.
The events of the past week have made me stop and rethink my skepticism though. On June 10, the finance ministers of the G7, the wealthiest nations in the world, agreed to a plan that will provide the most heavily indebted poor countries in the world with 100% cancellation of multilateral debt and a shift to grants (rather than loans) for future financing.
Why is this such a big deal? Because more than 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly half the population) live on less than $1 per day. Because every 15 seconds, a child dies in one of these countries from a disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Because if these countries have to repay debts racked up by Cold War motivated spending, natural disasters, and corrupt dictators, they don't have the money to provide basic necessities for their people.
Why is this such a big deal? Because God put us on this earth with the charge to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. Because having dominion doesn't mean grabbing as much as we can for ourselves but taking care of everything and everyone that God has made. Because God put Adam and Eve into the world to till it and care for it. Why is this such a big deal? Because even Adam couldn't do it alone but when he and Eve were working together as one they could take care of the whole garden. Because millions of people spoke with one voice through emails, letters, and personal contacts to influence the people who made this decision. Because God has called us all to speak about what is right and to care for the world.
The one-to-one ministry that so many of us are involved in is very important - mission projects, personal mentoring, Sunday School teaching, neighborhood evangelizing. But there are some things that can't be changed without a change in the system, in the way that things are done and the relationships between rich and poor. You can make a difference in this arena too as you join your voice to the voices who are calling for and praying for a fairer and more compassionate world. It starts with paying attention to what is happening beyond the end of our own block and moves on to learning, reading, understanding, and goes on to getting involved. And the involvement isn't so very great. In this case, just an email, a letter, a voice. Your voice is important. Let it be heard.
Pastor Tim
6/15/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Caring | Comments
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Something amazing is happening - your signature still needed
I used to think that one person trying to accomplish something in the political world could not make much of an impact. In fact, that's why I shifted my focus in college from law/politics to religion/ministry. It seemed that if any change was going to take place in the world it would only happen as people were changed one by one in their spirits and their minds.
The events of the past week have made me stop and rethink my skepticism though. On June 10, the finance ministers of the G7, the wealthiest nations in the world, agreed to a plan that will provide the most heavily indebted poor countries in the world with 100% cancellation of multilateral debt and a shift to grants (rather than loans) for future financing.
Why is this such a big deal? Because more than 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly half the population) live on less than $1 per day. Because every 15 seconds, a child dies in one of these countries from a disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Because if these countries have to repay debts racked up by Cold War motivated spending, natural disasters, and corrupt dictators, they don't have the money to provide basic necessities for their people.
Why is this such a big deal? Because God put us on this earth with the charge to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. Because having dominion doesn't mean grabbing as much as we can for ourselves but taking care of everything and everyone that God has made. Because God put Adam and Eve into the world to till it and care for it.
Why is this such a big deal? Because even Adam couldn't do it alone but when he and Eve were working together as one they could take care of the whole garden. Because millions of people spoke with one voice through emails, letters, and personal contacts to influence the people who made this decision. Because God has called us all to speak about what is right and to care for the world.
The one-to-one ministry that so many of us are involved in is very important - mission projects, personal mentoring, Sunday School teaching, neighborhood evangelizing. But there are some things that can't be changed without a change in the system, in the way that things are done and the relationships between rich and poor. You can make a difference in this arena too as you join your voice to the voices who are calling for and praying for a fairer and more compassionate world. It starts with paying attention to what is happening beyond the end of our own block and moves on to learning, reading, understanding, and goes on to getting involved. And the involvement isn't so very great. In this case, just an email, a letter, a voice. Your voice is important. Let it be heard.
- Learn more about how you can help!
- Sign the petition that millions of ordinary people have signed to help bring this first step to pass
6/9/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Summer Is A Time For Growing
The kids are out of school now but, as every parent knows, that doesn't mean that summer is a time for just laying around. Growing keeps on happening. There's books to read, family time to share, new experiences to explore. And summer is also a good time to keep growing spiritually too.
Worship and Sunday School continue every Sunday at both the Downtown church and the Family Center. Vacation Bible School is coming up August 1-5. And with more time together as a family, it's a good time to have family devotions. All it takes is five or ten minutes with everyone gathered around, reading a Bible story together, talking about what it means, sharing the highs and lows of the day, saying a prayer together. You could also use the packet of family devotions that Julie Kovacic has written and put together or some of the devotions that are available in the church library. These devotions are displayed on a table in the hallway near the church office at the Downtown church.
Summer is a time for growing. May the Lord bless you with growth and joy this summer!
Pastor Tim
6/1/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 09 - Look up! He loves you!
"And God blessed Noah..." God is starting over here, choosing Noah and his family to continue the plan. "Be fruitful and multiply." The same blessing he gave to Adam and Eve. He provides for the protection of human life, remembering the mess that Adam's kids got into when Cain killed Abel.
And then God establishes his covenant with Noah. A covenant is a relationship that is established by promise. God makes the promise here. "Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And as a sign for remembering, for himself and Noah's kin, he puts a rainbow in the sky and says, "when I see it, I will remember this everlasting covenant."
God's promise is forever. The rain may fall and storms may come, but God has promised, he has thrown his lot in with us. The storm will not destroy us.
What kind of a storm is going on in your life now? God says he will not let you drown. And he puts a sign in the sky again, the sign of his Son lifted up on the cross. "If God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not along with him graciously give us all things?" Paul writes in Romans 8:31. "For I am sure 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."
Not rain or cancer either. Look up. He loves you.
5/23/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis - Back soon
Sorry but Tim is out of town and away from the internet until the end of May. The Daily Chapter will return on June 1 and will be DAILY after that. Thank you for your patience. God bless you.
5/19/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Up and Down, Around and Around
Just when the weather looked like spring was here it turned last week and got cold and wet and even a little bit flaky. What will this weekend bring?
The weather is a lot like life. What else should we expect? Life is up and down around and around too. Just when the sun starts to come out, a big black cloud comes up and covers it. The wind starts to howl and the cold bite squeezes tears out of the corners of our eyes.
Why does life have to be this way? It's definitely not perfect and it's not the way God wanted it. We trust that the sun will shine again and that summer will come, but in the dreary drip of the day it can be hard to believe.
If you could only get on an airplane and get above the clouds, you would see that the sun has not deserted us. And when we lift up our eyes a little bit we see that Jesus has not left us either. He is here in the word of his promise. He is here in the body and blood he shed for us. He is here in the warm hug of a sister and brother. He is here in forgiveness, encouragement, and love. And he says, "Hang in there. Trust me. It will get better." Maybe even now the rain clouds are parting and summer is returning. The weather report said on Tuesday that it would. The Bible carried the same forecast. The Son is coming back. Pastor Tim
5/19/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 08 - Remembered
"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark."
They were in that stinky boat for one year and 10 days. They must have wondered if God had forgotten them. He didn't. He remembered.
And when Noah got out of the boat he remembered God. Built an altar and sacrificed to God.
God doesn't forget. He hasn't forgotten you.
FOR REFLECTION
1. Does it seem to be a long time that you have been waiting? The deck floor rolling underneath you? Don't give up. God remembers you.
2. How has God remembered you in the past? How has he helped you? What did you learn from that time?
2. How do you "remember" God?
5/18/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 07 - And God shut him in
How much faith it must have taken Noah to enter that ark and let God shut him in. Verse 1 says that he was righteous. That righteousness begins in faith and results in his obedience.
His world was about to be blotted out. Everything he knows submerged beneath water by 22.5 feet. And then he enters the ark and it's seven days before the rain begins. The neighbors must have had a hoot over that one.
No turning back now though. God shuts the door. It must have been a pretty big door that an elephant could come in. And to make it watertight from the outside, God had to seal it.
Forty days and forty nights it rained. Would it never stop? One hundred fifty days before the waters even start to recede.
Noah was not perfect, but he did trust in God. He put his life in the hands of the Lord and said, "OK. Take me. I shall float here resting upon your love."
I have to have at least a life jacket and a paddle. A motor would be nice. At least then I can maneuver around a bit in the deluge. But to give myself up into the will of God and just bob along on the current of his grace wherever he decides to take me - I think I would at least have hesitated before that ramp up onto the boat.
But that is what trust is, I think. Finding ourselves lost at sea, giving up our lives into the hands of the master of the wind and the waves, trusting the strong current of his will. And true faith being oriented to our surroundings with the means of our propulsion in our hands, turning off the motor and saying to God, "Pilot me, Lord. My life is in your hands."
Of course, any thought that we are in control of our lives, that we can determine our course against the currents of circumstance and effect, must be just illusion. I know too many people who have been driving their lives in a steady self-propelled direction who came up against wind and storm and were blown off-course by stroke or cancer or stock market collapse.
It's either swim or sink for me. And for all of us it's either trust or drown.
FOR REFLECTION
1. Who is in control of your life?
2. Do you feel shut in? How do you deal with that feeling? Are you banging on the door wanting to get out? How do you give up and trust God?
3. What scares you about trusting God in your life?
5/17/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 06 - Starting over
The world was a mess. Sin had gotten out of control. God said, "Let's start over." Praise him, he didn't just end the experiment, cut his losses, and go somewhere else.
But who are these "sons of God" and "daughters of man"? Were the sons of God angels who were marrying people? That would have made a great sci-fi movie.
Given the sharp division in Genesis 4 and 5 between the line of Cain and the line of Seth, the sons of God are probably the children of Seth who continue in the covenantal line that God had chosen to restore his creation through an "offspring" of Eve. And the daughters of man would be the children in the line of Cain.
The chosen people were taking "as their wives any they chose." They were intermarrying with those who had forsaken God and they were producing Nephilim, "the fallen ones," another meaning for the word which also means "giants". The resulting generation was known for its deeds of renown but these children's hearts, their lives, were far from God.
"Great wickedness" resulted from forsaking God, intermarrying with those who had deserted God and were living apart from him. The children of Seth, the chosen, were repeating the sin of their grandparents and their uncle, choosing their own way rather than remaining faithful to the way of God.
This chapter would have given Moses a great text for a sermon as the children of Israel, the chosen, were marching toward the Promised Land, toward Canaan, as he wrote. The sermon would have gone: "God has called us to be his own, to live separate lives, to live differently from the people around us. Don't intermarry with the Canaanites! That way only leads away from God, into wickedness, into judgment and destruction."
I wonder what he would say to the chosen today. How we have given our hearts away to this culture and this culture's values. How we have come to idolize big deeds, big athletes, big music stars, big money, big churches?, big houses, big success stories, our own big dreams.
Enough! God said. And he covered over all of humankind's most prideful plans and accomplishments with an even bigger water that covered it all leaving just a humble little boat with a few surviving faithful chosen ones adrift on a wide, wide sea. From this very small remnant he would continue his plan. He would bring the Savior, the Restoration of all he planned.
But the first would be last and the last first, the proud brought low and the humble lifted up. And he would do it all through a poor, nobody baby dying an ignominious, cursed death.
FOR REFLECTION
1. In what ways have you given your heart to this culture and its values?
2. Why hasn't God just wiped out the world today and started over again? Surely, this age must be as wicked as Noah's.
3. What are the big things in your life? Do you need to humble yourself and repent of them? Is just Jesus big enough for you? If all you had was him, would he be enough? Ask him to fill your heart today and to help you be content with God.
5/16/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 05 - God bless Seth
In this account of Adam's genealogy Moses focuses on the covenant line of Seth. The godly line of Seth, in contrast with that of Cain (4:17-24), is begun by linking it with the original creation. God's plan to restore his fallen creation through an offspring who would crush Satan (Gen 3:15) is going to come about through Seth, not the eldest, Cain.
The genealogy of Cain in chapter 4 and of Seth in chapter 5 both contain 10 names. Both conclude with the naming of three significant sons in the tenth generation.
The height of each genealogy is reached in the seventh name. On Cain's side, Lamech boasts of killing a man like his ancestor, Cain. On Seth's side, Enoch walks with God all his life and finally God takes him, without dying, to heaven.
Cain's genealogy contains no ages. Seth's descendants all live extraordinarily long lives.
Cain's genealogy ends by drowning in the flood. Seth's line continues through his descendant, Noah, as God rescues him through the Flood.
God is going to accomplish his purpose! He is going to redeem and renew his fallen world through the seed of Eve. He chose a man, a boy really, Seth, and worked through generations to fulfill his pledge. His choosing is his grace and the relationship that Seth and his line have with God is the result of that choosing.
But that choosing has an effect on Seth and his family's way of life. In 4:26 we are told that Seth's son, Enosh, and his descendants after him "began to call upon the name of the Lord." Seth's descendant, Enoch, walked with God exhibiting a life of faith. And Noah is described finally as "a righteous man."
God finally chose Jesus, the offspring of Eve, descendant of Seth, his own Son, and Jesus lived righteously in relationship with God. He remained obedient, resisting the temptations of Satan and finally crushing the Tempter in his sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the whole world.
And now by his grace again, God adopts into his righteous family (the line of Jesus, the line of Seth) all those who will trust in Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).
There is a judgment that is coming, not by water or Flood anymore, but by fire. And who we are related to will make a difference. Cain or Seth? Jesus or the world?
FOR REFLECTION
1. Are you related to God by faith in Jesus Christ?
2. What comfort, hope, help does trusting in Jesus bring you? What difference does it make in your life?
3. There was a sharp difference drawn between Cain and Seth. What difference do you see in the world today between those who are trusting in Jesus and those who are not?
5/14/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 04 - Sin, Judgment, Grace
Sin spreads. Like father like son. But what is Cain's sin?
He does not love God above all things, even above himself. We see this because he does not give an offering of his first and his best. He keeps that for himself and gives God the leftovers.
He does not love his neighbor, his brother, like he loves himself. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
We see the same pattern here that we saw in chapter 3, that we see in the rest of the Bible, that we see in our own lives.
1. Sin - Cain kills his brother, which actually is preceded by sin in his mind and heart: self-centeredness, greed.
2. Judgment - God holds Cain accountable. He confronts him. And when Cain tries to weasel out of it with all of his excuses, God says no. He saw, he heard. Cain is judged and the penalty imposed.
3. Grace - But at the same time, God moves to protect Cain from death at the hand of vigilantes.
God holds us accountable too. He sees, he hears. Our sins come before him too and we are forced to acknowledge them and repent. We try to make all kinds of excuses and carry on, sometimes for years, insisting upon our innocence. But God says no. Enough.
But we also see his grace. Because he does not want to see us utterly destroyed. He puts on us a mark too. The mark of the cross.
He hoists his Son upon the cross to pay for our sin and then marks us when we believe with the sign of forgiveness. We still must wander through this life, like Cain, bearing the consequences of our sin. But the Evil One, our Adversary, cannot exact more, cannot utterly destroy us. At the end of our exile and our journey through this life, the doors are opened to us again and God will receive us home.
FOR REFLECTION
1. How do your thoughts, desires, priorities contribute to your sin? In what areas of your life are you giving God something less than your best?
2. What excuses are you making for your sin? Wouldn't it just be easier to confess it and be done with it and let God forgive it?
3. Where/how have you experienced God's grace in your life?
5/12/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 03-This is your life
What a sad, sad tale. Everything was going so well, perfectly in fact. Why would they risk losing it all? If only we could turn back time and do it all over again.
They were, of course, facing the Devil, who "was more crafty than any other beast of the field." Note how he tempts them:
1) He emphasizes God's prohibition rather than all the goodness that God had provided. "That mean God, he won't let you eat that fruit?" Put children in a room full of toys and tell them that they can't have one specific toy and which toy do they inevitably cry for? I have the same problem with ice cream. A refrigerator full of fruit and other good things and I reach for the ice cream, no matter what my doctor says about cholesterol.
2) He raises doubts about the consequences. "You will not surely die." God was exaggerating about the consequences. He wouldn't do that to you, would he? He just spent all that time making you. He wouldn't. He's a nice grandfatherly God. One little bowl of ice cream is not going to hurt you.
3) He questions God's motivation. "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like him, knowing good and evil." God doesn't really love you. He is just jealous and doesn't want you to grow up and be like him. He wants to keep you his slave forever.
It was this last that sold Eve and Adam. They looked and saw that the tree's food was good. There wasn't anything wrong with it - and there wasn't. And it would make them wise. It would help them to grow up and become all that they could be. Oh, there were so many good reasons for eating the fruit. None of them, however, had anything to do with love or God.
And so they took of the tree's fruit and ate. And all of a sudden they died. Not physically. They lived another 900 years. Spiritually they died - to God. They run and hide and then get kicked out of God's presence and can't see him or hear him ever again. They die to each other too. Their relationship dies. They start blaming each other, pointing the finger and hiding their true thoughts and feelings behind fig leaves and anger. The beautiful creation dies and thorns and thistles grow up to entangle their lives in pain and frustration.
But hindsight is 20-20. We wouldn't do that, especially knowing what we do now. But we do. We do it everyday. The temptation and our response never really change.
Thankfully, God's remedy doesn't change either. Right away he promises us a return to the Garden. Verse 15: "I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." One of the offspring of the woman was going to crush the tempter and end temptation forever while at the same time getting bruised in the process.
God was going to bring us back. He wasn't going to turn back the clock because all of us would inevitably end up picking the fruit and chomping on it. He was going to fix it by sending his Son for us to live obediently in our place, to say 'no' to the devil in our place, to pay for our sin, die our spiritual death, in our place so that we could go home and never be tempted again.
Thank God that he doesn't just turn back time. He saves us from it and from ourselves.
FOR REFLECTION
1. What prohibitions do you struggle with?
2. How would you have acted differently than Adam and Eve?
3. What does Jesus mean for you?
4. Visualize the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in front of you and a piece of that fruit in your hand with a big piece bitten out. You hear God walking up behind you and he asks: "What have you done?" Tell him. Then listen to his word of forgiveness as he tells you about his Son and how much he loves you and how you will be back in the Garden again someday.
5/10/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 02: Remember this day
Did you ever have one of those days when you said to yourself: "I will remember this day forever."
Everything was so alive. The trees whispered "hello" to you and the birds sang a song that you knew and left you a part that your soul soared on singing. The sun caressed your shoulders and the blue of the sky was so deep and refreshing that you lost yourself on the wind. You breathed deep and drank in the lilacs and the sweet sweet smell of the world coming to life. You were going to work and you felt like whistling. But before you turned your face to the road you turned back to home and there she was waving goodbye - or was it hello - and everything was so right with the world.
That was the first day when Adam awoke. Life - wild, riotous, joyous, alive - it just all fit and Adam fit. He belonged - to God, to the world, to Eve...Eve. Life was complete and Adam was so glad.
This is the way that it was. The way that God intended it to be. A young day, a day new born with so much potential. A baby day in which you ask: I wonder what will become of it. A day when you feel like anything is possible and it is. Anything. And even as your heart skips and your feet turn to step onto the road out of the corner of your eye you glimpse that tree and again you wonder. Anything.
Remember this day. God is leading us back to it. Lost in the tangled woods, trying to find our way through the thorns and brambles. The road lost, the wild howling around us. The rest of the Book is about this God who loves us so that he would make the world and everything right with it. And when we had gotten lost would come to bring us home again.
Remember today. Breathe deep today. Listen today.
5/9/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Daily Chapter | Comments
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Genesis 01: The Beginning
In every chapter of the Word there is so much to see, more than the eye can take in in one sitting. And besides, you've seen this before. The beginning. Seven days. The first seven days. Ordered. Compunctual. Jumping into being at the mere whisper of God, not like the gradual oozing out of bed that characterizes my response to God's call into a new day.
But have you seen this?
God creates and differentiates. He creates the light and then separates it from the darkness. He creates an expanse and separates the waters. He creates land and separates continents and seas. He makes plants to bear fruit according to each of its own most wonderful and strange kind. Lights separate the day and night, big light, little lights, day's own and night's. Swarms of living water creatures and a host of creeping, crawling, lumbering, jumping, plodding, springing, speeding beasts in a multitudinous variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, each according their kinds.
Two questions:
1. If we all came oozing out of the same primordial mud, where did such a glorious blaze of difference come from and why have we not all settled back into the sameness?
2. Similarly, why do we even want to? Why do we want to paint each other all in the same color and chain each one to the same metronomal drummer's beat?
God made this world exploding with variety and locked it into maintaining that diversity by limiting its reproduction each according to its kind. Interspecies reproduction would only slide into a dull grey sameness.
He ordered it motley and said, "Behold, it's very good."
Look at the riot around you today. Get down into the dirt, look up to the heavens. Maybe hop, and skip, then roll in the grass and spread your arms and let the wind take you soaring up and up, then look down and see the world, your neighbors, the way that God sees you. That's a strange one, that's a good hopper, ho-ho what a delight!
Of course, a riotous diversity is different than anarchic chaos. For as God looks down and smiles, his creation looks up and shouts and whispers, whinnies, and minds. Yes! Lord. Thank you, Lord. Ho-ho, what a delight!
5/4/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Happy Mothers' Day
Somewhere a mother is rocking her child, baby dying sick in her arms. Somewhere a mother is rocking her child, hungry one draining life dry. Somewhere a mother is rocking her child, lonely with no husband or dad. Somewhere a mother is rocking her child, whispering peace in booming storm. Somewhere a mother is just rocking, waiting for her baby to come home. Somewhere a mother is just rocking, aching for a child that never was born. Somewhere a Son is looking at his Mother. "Woman, behold your son." And to the rest of us he says: "Kids, behold your mother." Somewhere there is a Child who cares, who learned about love from his heavenly Dad and the steady rock of his mother's nurturing heart. A God who cares and says "Well done" to every woman who loves and cares and nurtures those he gives her, womb-born or no, A God, a Son, a Savior-Child who cradles and rocks us all in the steady beat of his holy family's love. "Who is my mother?" he asks. "The one who does the will of God." The one who loves, who cares, who aches, who rocks. Who gives, and dies, and lives for someone other than herself. A mother, his mother, ours, each one, all. All who hold the Body and rock the Child, Who give their lives to bless the Family. Thank you to the One and to all.
Pastor Tim
4/25/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Forgiveness | Comments
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Love means saying "I'm sorry" 58,564 times
Peter once asked Jesus, "Master, how many times must I forgive my brother? As many as 7 times?"
Jesus replied, "I do not say to you seven times but 70 times 7."
490 times. I burned up half of those times with some of you this weekend.
Yesterday I had to say "I'm sorry" 58,564 times - that's 242 times 242.
I sent out an email newsletter to the people at Trinity who have given us an email address. That's 242 people. Unfortunately, I programmed in a loop and forgot to take it out, so everybody got 242 copies. That's 58,564 emails.
I'm really, really, really sorry. I tried to send out an apology to everybody on the list - one apology to each. I hope you got yours. If you didn't, please accept this as my apology.
A bunch of the apologies bounced back to me. Spam filters: good things. But now some computers have tagged me as a spammer. And now I feel even worse.
It's amazing how one little line of code can get you into such trouble. How one little sin can cut you off from people.
I thank God that he forgives me. 58,564 is a puny number compared to the number of times I need to say sorry to him. But each time he forgives me and he says, "I forgive your sins and remember them no more (Jeremiah 31:34)."
That's the scariest part about all those emails and all the times I mess up with my wife and kids and so many others -- it's the damage it does to our relationship. Will you ever forgive me? Will you talk to me again? Will you accept my future communications? Will you let me through the spam filter of your life or is the trust gone forever?
Thank you, God, 58,564 times. And thank you to all of you who forgive me so often too.
4/20/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Stephen Stood Up For His Faith
The first lesson appointed for this Sunday in the Church Year is the story of Stephen in Acts 7. Stephen stood up for his faith in Jesus and did not back down from his witness to the Lord even when he was threatened with death. After a long trial, he was finally stoned to death.
What would we do in his case? Are we willing to put our lives where our mouths are? Are we willing to be fanatics or are we just fair-weather fans? Or is that bad-weather fans? With summer coming and fair weather upon us, do we come to church, to worship, to pray, only during bad weather when we have nothing better to do?
The bad times were a good test of Stephen's faith. The good times test our souls.
When Jesus was tested he remained faithful to his Father and loved us to the end. When Stephen was tested, he remained faithful to his Savior even as the rocks rained down. As the sun shines on us may we be found faithful too, basking in the Sonshine of our Lord's deep and eternal love. Pastor Tim
4/20/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Church Leadership | Comments
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Pope Benedict XVI
I know that some of my American Catholic brothers and sisters may be disappointed with the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as the new pope. It sounds like he was the "enforcer" behind Pope John Paul's doctrinal conservatism (although by all accounts, Pope Benedict is a kind and gracious man, intent upon peace).
But, quite frankly, I think he may be a good choice, an inspired choice, if he be given a chance for all to know him.
I heard a quote attributed to him that Pope John Paul faced the totalitarianism of Nazism and Communism, but now we must face the totalitarianism of relativism.
Relativism has taken over the world, or at least the West. Everyone seems to think that his/her opinion is equally valid. That times change truth. That subjective circumstances trump objective truth and a "thus says the Lord".
I am glad for a bishop who takes a stand based on God's Word in the face of the tyranny of whatever goes. I may not agree with him on everything he deduces from the Word, but at least we have something to talk about, at least we have a possibility of agreeing someday, at least we both bow in allegiance to the Absolute, who changes not.
Being progressive and meeting the world where it is cannot mean agreeing with the world about everything and nodding our heads at everything that people think. We must respect everyone and patiently listen and try to understand. But our job as Christians is conversion and salvation, not just being "nice" or even filling churches.
Conversion requires taking a stand and saying, "No, God's Word says you are wrong about your sin."
Saying it with love, to be sure. Saying it with love enough to say it. Being willing to die for the other person even if they don't agree. Not stopping our love after we disagree. Respecting people and their ideas no matter what. But loving also means caring enough that we don't just let someone else go to hell without saying something.
After all, Pope Peter I did preach in his inaugural sermon: "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins." Repentance means "change your mind." Repentance conserves the truth of the Gospel over against the mind of the world which is oftentimes looks for some way to rationalize and excuse away its sin. Talking about repentance can be a loving work.
What good is it if the church gains the whole world but loses its own soul? Just filling pews is not a good enough reason to compromise what God has said. In fact, it is counterproductive to the mission Jesus gave us of proclaiming repentance, forgiveness, and the Kingdom of God. It is contrary to true love.
So I think I will pray for Pope Benedict that he would be able to lovingly communicate the truth of God's Word - and for me too. I smile and nod my head a lot and worry too much about what people think of me and how many people fill the pews downtown each week.
Lord, help me to be more concerned about how many people from here finally fill places in heaven.
4/5/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Hope | Comments
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Twelve Deaths + One Life
Twelve deaths in two weeks - ten in Red Lake, one on national news, one in Vatican City. Twelve who die hanging on to life, life wrenched away by bullets and pain and the decisions of others.
One death different than the others. Thirteenth. Life given up. Walking willingly to his execution, carrying his cross. Not dragged kicking and screaming, putting off his end. Yielding up his spirit, "Father, into your hands."
Loving hands that received his Son receive us now after years or weeks or seconds of suffering. Loving hands that bear the marks of our pain. "Don't be afraid," the angel said. "Come in, come see."
Peter and John duck in to the grave and see. The back of the tomb is blown out, becoming a tunnel opening up to life and joy and peace. And there are the love-scarred Hands that catch us, born again into eternal life.
There is no good death, none but the One that makes the one moment after better than all the moments before. The One that makes death not a dead end but only the next step to healing, and hope, and joy.
Christ is risen and we shall rise too. Alleluia!
4/4/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Life | Comments
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Trying to make sense of three deaths
Last week we saw three very different kind of deaths. I'm still trying to figure out what to make of them.
There was Terry Schaivo's death. Agonizing, conflicted, family fighting, nation divided. Alive but not, some said, for 15 years. Thirteen or fourteen days without food and water, clinging tenaciously to life. It took so long for her to die, which is ironic since some reports said she came into this condition as the result of an eating disorder.
And then there was Pope John Paul II. It took him a long time to die too. Risking his life under the Nazis and Communists. Almost assassinated. Parkinson's disease. Bent over. Unable to talk. His final breath took more than 24 hours while the world held its collective breath in the square below.
Both Terry and John Paul hung on, holding off death as long as they could. Life is like that. Tenacious.
Bowed over, unable to talk, capable of just a tortured half-smile or a clench of the hand, they still hung on.
What does this mean? Why do we cling so to life? It wasn't for fear of dying - surely not for John Paul and not for Terry either. And it wasn't because living was so good - because it was hard for both of them too.
And then there is that third death too - the death of Jesus.
Where Terry and John Paul took longer to die than most thought they would, Jesus died more quickly. The soldiers were surprised, the Bible says, when they came to Jesus on the cross and found him dead. The other two criminals were still alive.
Jesus gave up his life on the cross. Having lived and suffered he gave up his spirit and then he died. Make no mistake - he enjoyed his life here. He prayed the night before, asking his Father to let him stay. But then it seems he rushed forward to embrace his death.
Why? Why do we cling and why did he give it up?
Because life is so precious? Because there is just something about it? Whether you can run a 4-minute mile, or need to walk with a cane, whether you sit strapped into a wheelchair (or mobile throne), or whether you are held prisoner in your bed tied up by nerves and muscles tied in bundles.
The specialness of life doesn't seem to be about accomplishment or physical/mental/spiritual capabilities. It doesn't seem to be measured by how far or fast or how smart.
What do you think? I told you I was still trying to make sense of it.
What is life all about and how is it to be measured?
4/1/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Church Leadership | Comments
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Upon this rock - Pope John Paul II
"You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church."
I've been watching CNN coverage all afternoon of the Vatican and the long slow journey of Pope John Paul II through the gate, the gate which is Jesus, home. And it's strange, but I feel, too, like somebody important, a member of my family is dying. A favorite uncle maybe. Maybe more.
In this age when our church leader-heroes are administrators, CEO's, radio stars, million-copy authors, here was a leader that seemed to me a pastor, a shepherd. A man of faith who loved Jesus and loved his people. What a pastor, bishop, pope should be.
I didn't agree with everything he said, although neither did every one of our Catholic kin, and maybe I agreed with him more than I do with some of my Lutheran kin. But he trusted Jesus and sought Jesus right to the end and that faith blessed the church and blessed me.
The church catholic - the church we confess every week in the Creed - will miss him. I will miss him. A father. A pastor. A rock.
4/1/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Life | Comments
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Terry Schiavo
It's hard to know what to say about Terry Schiavo except to say a prayer for her and her husband and her parents. The last years have been a struggle for them all. It's a struggle that I've seen in others too over the years - the struggle to know when enough is enough, and what is enough too.
You look at her and you say, "she wouldn't want to continue if this is all there is for her; I wouldn't want to continue." But she can't say herself and all the family can do is guess what she would want and what is going on inside her anyway.
They all love Terry, that you can say about her. And they all want what each thinks is best for her.
You can also say about Terry Schiavo that it is very important for all of us to talk about what measures we would want if something like this should happen to us. To write it down as well in some living will or health directive so there's no guessing, and no wrangling, to make the end as peaceful for everyone as possible.
Finally, you have to say about Terry Schiavo that you respect the choices of her family and her choices too. Because maybe the hardest question is not "what would I do if I were in Terry's place?" but "what would I do if I were in the husbands' place or the parents'?" I know the struggle this is for families - the struggle to love to the very end. And there isn't any clear directive in the Bible about all of this, except the directive to love.
And loving is never easy and the most loving thing is quite often not so clear. Loving needs to begin early, then, in listening and talking to each other. In listening and talking to God. In praying for wisdom and direction. In praying for those who are having to make these decisions too. "Carry each other's burdens," Paul writes, "and so fulfill the law of Christ" [Galatians 6:2].
3/24/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Christ is risen! He is risen indeed? Oh, oh? Alleluia
"Christ is risen; he is not here; go, tell his disciples and Peter."
I wonder if Peter and the disciples thought it was such good news that Jesus was risen from the dead. The angel said that he was alive and looking for them.
I'm not sure that I would have been so glad to hear that Jesus was looking for me after I left him to die all by himself, and even worse, if I had denied that I even knew him like Peter did.
But Peter went running to the tomb. He felt guilty. He had wept bitterly because he had betrayed his friend and Master. But he went running because he was hoping for a second chance - for forgiveness. And when Jesus appeared to him that Easter day it was with forgiveness and love.
I hope that is what you looking for today. We are all guilty. We have all deserted Jesus in the things that we have done and that we have not done. Our sin is the reason that he died. But he is risen from the dead and he is here today to forgive us and to offer us a second chance.
Peter took Jesus up on that second chance. Peter stuck with Christ through thick and thin and finally to being crucified himself upside down on a cross in Rome.
Take Jesus up on the second chance that he is offering you today. The angel invites you to come to the empty tomb and look in. See, he is risen from the dead. Your sins are forgiven. And he is looking for you - looking for you to spend the rest of your life and all of eternity with him - looking for you to love him like he has loved you.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. And that is alleluia!
3/19/2005 | By: Tim | Category: Hope | Comments
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Hope in the snow
I must admit I had been looking forward to spring, hoping against hope that by the time our brothers and sisters return from spring break with their little baggies of sunshine that there already would be daffodils here.
Yesterday's snowfall put the kabosh on that.
Now I am trying to find some hope in the snow.
The guy who plowed my driveway last night found hope in the snow, a little green in the white as a matter of fact.
My neighbor was out changing the oil in his snowmobile hours before the snow, hoping for a renewal of the season of thrills and chills.
And, of course, there are the farmers hoping for enough moisture in a snow-starved winter to make their green crops grow.
I wonder how God answers prayers. Does he add up the votes of all of us who have had enough already and weigh them against the supplications of the snow-needy?
Maybe we could start a campaign to hold a referendum and this time win the vote.
But then again, look at what our voting sometimes gets us.
I guess my hope in the snow has to be that God knows what he is doing. Like Job. (Not that this little snowstorm has signalled for me anything like the suffering of Job.)
"For to the snow God says, 'Fall on the earth,' likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour. He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it. Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens. From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen." [Job 37]
Whether for correction or for his land or for love... For some good purpose that from the height of his majesty, from the majesty of his perspective, he can see. While all I can see is the shovel in front of me.
So was the tsunami for some good purpose too? Our little annoyances are so much easier to reconcile with a purposeful God.
But stay tuned. Spring will come. Jesus rides into Jerusalem tomorrow and Friday he dies. And the Palm people asked "what is the good purpose of that? Hope is dead."
Not exactly. Even now the Son shines on the snow and life prepares to spring up from frozen ground.
3/10/2005 | By: Tim | Category: TLG | Comments
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Bring us back some sand!
We had a great Caregiving Class this winter. It just finished up. We talked about listening and caring, about divorce, and dying, depression, suicide. Lots of happy topics. Well, not really. Hopeful though. Because in the midst of all of them there is Christ.
Life is so hard sometimes. Like a Wisconsin winter. It just keeps going on and on from storms and cold through long stretches of heavy gray sky. And so many happy people look like they're going to warm sunny places on spring break. And we have to stay behind. Bring us back some sand, or just a baggy full of sunshine! Please.
If only spring would come and thaw our hearts and raise up some new life in our souls. And then I look at the calendar and it's almost here - Easter. And I'm reminded Jesus is alive. There's hope. There's life outside my cold little bubble. Somewhere there is a beach where the Son shines on upturned souls, where love's rays do not burn or result in cancer. Where pale, downcast countenances are refreshed, remade, renewed. Just a little ways yet, just a little more time. Spring is coming. Life will be better.
If you are going south this month, bring a little baggy along. Fill it with some sand. Open it up and capture some warm temps and tropical sun. And bring it back. You can be a beacon of hope for the rest of us.
And if you have basked in the warm loving rays of the Son open up your heart too and share the warmth with someone stuck in the cold. You may be the closest thing that someone may get to experiencing springtime in a long cold winter of life.
Pastor Tim