Loving Christmas

I love Christmas!  The birth of Jesus.  Special worship and music.  Trees and wreaths.  Lights and decorations.  Carols and cookies.  Classic movies.  Excited children. Time with friends and family.  Wonderful memories.  Peace on Earth and goodwill to all.  (Sigh) ….Christmas.

But then there’s the chaotic malls.  Acres of no parking spots.  Traffic jams.  Crowds.  Obligatory gifts.  Big charge card bills.  Depleted savings.  All the rush, rush rush …  spend, spend spend. And then the hassle of returning the gifts we don’t want.  Every year!  Whatever happened to the peaceful, white Christmas I’m dreaming of?  Come to think of it … maybe it is just a dream.

Sadly, in our western culture, Christmas has become ‘The Holidays.’  Another ‘Hallmark’ holiday of consumerism and excess.  And every year those of us who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on this sacred day find ourselves competing with the chaos, and excess caused by consumerism.  It seems as if the message of Christ’s birth has taken a back seat to all the ‘Holiday’ glitz and glitter. 

So how do we, the Christian church, push back against all the spending and rushing around…all the madness that has become so much a part of Christmas?

Well, perhaps it’s time to reclaim the Story of the birth of Jesus Christ for ourselves by focusing on the things that truly matter rather than plunging into the madness of ‘the Holidays’ with everyone else.  I’m not suggesting that we stop enjoying Christmas and having fun…just that we do it differently…and in a way that’s much more meaningful and fulfilling.  We’re starting by joining the Advent Conspiracy.  The Advent Conspiracy is based on four basic principles; ‘Worship Fully,’ ‘Spend Less,’ Give More,’ and ‘Love All.’ 

To ‘Worship Fully’ is to start and end with Jesus, to put down our burdens and lift up a joyous song to God.  It’s about a season where love wins, peace reigns and our Savior is celebrated with every breath.  It means taking time to worship Jesus to the fullest.

To ‘Spend Less’ does NOT mean going all Scrooge!  Everyone likes giving and receiving presents!  What I’m suggesting is choosing not to buy the obligatory (meaningless?) gifts…maybe even buying just one less gift…and spending more time looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ instead.

To ‘Give More’ is not just another pitch for you to give more money to the church!  I’m encouraging you to give more of yourself to others, including the people who really matter to you by giving them the gift of time…time with you!  Time together helping stock shelves at a food pantry, reading a book to children, serving a meal or dropping off old clothing at a shelter…   Spending time in meaningful ways with the people you love can’t be found at the mall...(baking cookies, sledding, ice-skating, chatting) and it’s way better than giving a gift their likely to return anyway.

To ‘Love All,’ is to take some of the money and time we saved by ‘spending less’ and use it to share the love of God with people who are often overlooked or forgotten.  God came down to us in the person of Jesus Christ…and taught us the importance of caring for the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the overlooked and forgotten.  And we can do this through our charitable work and our giving.  God loves all.  And by loving all, we move beyond just having faith to actually living our faith.

This Christmas, let's reclaim the Christmas we truly love by refocusing on God’s gift…the gift of Jesus Christ.  And then let's live as though that still matters to us and to the world.

Loving Christmas,

Pastor Roy+         

WOW! Am I Blessed!

This month, we celebrate Thanksgiving…a time to count our blessings and give thanks to God for all that we have been blessed with.  And as I look at my life, WOW! Am I blessed!

I have survived a heart attack!  Jean is a breast cancer survivor!  We have a nice house and two cars.  Our children have good schools.  When we want to eat something, we just open the fridge or head for the store or a restaurant.  I have a wonderful call, health insurance, and a pension.  I am blessed.  And I am truly thankful.  

But a life is not measured by the amount of stuff we accumulate or by our personal achievements!  It’s not measured by the size of our paychecks, the houses we live in or the cars we drive! 

But this is difficult to see in our American culture where we are constantly told that if we spend more, buy this, get this—then we will be happy.  It can get to a point where it feels like being on a treadmill, making more and spending more, getting more stuff—that we need to work more to pay for.  And it can result in more and more stress—and less and less happiness. 

But Jesus shows us a better way.  He teaches that it’s not about what we can GET that makes us happy.  It’s about what we can GIVE that brings true happiness.  Jesus describes his followers as generous people who clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, and welcome the stranger.  People who give their time, energy and even their money to help make the world a better place. 

True thankfulness then, is realizing how much we have been blessed and asking, “What can I do to be a blessing to someone else? Who can I be a blessing to today?” 

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to remember that all we have is gift from God.  Food—gift.  Roof—gift.  Cloths—gift.  Even life itself is a gift—from God.  And God blesses us with these gifts for a reason---so that we can use our gifts (our lives) to be a blessing to others—sharing generously, working to help make the world a better place—the kind of place God created it to be. 

May you come to see, with a thankful heart, that you are blessed.  May you joyfully do what Jesus teaches, and be a blessing to others. 

Thank you God, for your abundant gifts!

Pastor Roy+

Forgiving Others

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.   Colossians 3:13 

Few sermons have evoked as much response as several I recently preached about forgiveness.    Most of the comments are related to how difficult it can be to really forgive as God has forgiven us  (especially forgiving our enemies).  And that is so true.  But in order for us to be healed from the brokenness of hurts caused by others, it is essential that we forgive.  It’s really for our own good.  Because  until we forgive, unforgiveness acts like an acid that slowly eats away at our soul, and can have a negative effect on our health and our other relationships.    

So how are we to forgive as God, in Christ, has forgiven us?  Well, Christ-like forgiveness is not a feeling, it is an act of will.  So make the decision to forgive, whether the other person deserves it or not.  It doesn’t help you any to harbor ill-will toward someone…it actually causes you emotional pain and physical harm.  And who needs that? 

Like in the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers…make a decision to not let you or your relationship with the other person be defined by what that person has done to harm you.  This doesn’t mean to forget about it, because that doesn’t really happen anyway.  Just promise yourself to stop thinking about it, stop talking about it, and stop letting it define who you are in relation to this person and to others. 

In a way, that’s what forgiveness is all about…the refusal to let past hurts and harms define our future for us.  Note that Joseph never actually says, ‘I forgive you’ to his brothers…but he does make it clear that he is not going to let what occurred in the past define him or their relationship moving forward.   

Accept the gift of God’s grace and forgiveness that is yours in and through Jesus Christ…and allow yourself to be changed by it.  Whatever it is you might hold against others who have wounded you, it’s nothing compared to the sin God has forgiven in you. 

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:31-32 

The peace of the Lord be with you always.

revroy+

Battling Weeds

So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. Matthew 13:26   

I truly enjoy working outside around the house in the summer.  Tending the lawn and flower beds is therapeutic for me.  And this summer, having moved into a ‘new’ home that was suffering from a number of years of neglect, I’m getting a lot of ‘yard-work therapy, ’ much of which seems to involve pulling and spraying weeds.

You see, I’m one of those guys who likes to have a weed-free yard.  I’m so diligent about it that I have gotten into trouble sometimes by pulling ‘weeds’ that were really some of Jean’s flowers.  (Seriously, until they actually flower…they look like weeds to me!) 

So as l engage in battle with my (now partially) weed-infested lawn and flower beds, I am mindful that Jean has already planted some new flowers here and there, which I need to be careful not to uproot in my battle for a weed-free yard.  I guess I feel sort of like the workers in Jesus parable of the weeds among the wheat. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) 

Just like Jean has impressed on me to wait until a plant flowers (or at least ask her what it is) before assuming it’s a weed, the master in the parable tells his workers to let the wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest (when it is obvious which is which) and then they can be pulled and separated.

In the kingdom of God, God is the patient gardener, who does not want to risk losing one good plant in the battle against the evil weeds.  And this is an especially good thing, because there are times in all of our lives where the weeds in our lives (materialism, self-centeredness, busy-ness, jealousy, anger, greed, hard-heartedness—and any thing we might trust in more than we trust in God) have a tendency to crowd out and hinder the growth of the seeds of faith God has planted in our hearts. 

But, through the power of God’s Word and the Sacraments, God tends the garden. Because of what God has done for us (and continues to do for us through the power of the Holy Spirit), weeds do not overtake the wheat, and the sinner within each of us does not overtake the saint.  God wins the battle over the weeds in our lives.  God’s abundant love, made real for us in and through Jesus Christ, makes possible a bountiful harvest of righteousness. 

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matthew 13:41-43  

Blessings, Pastor Roy+

Call Stories

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4: 18-20


These call stories Matthew tells about Peter, his brother Andrew, and James and John remind me of the call stories that people who go to seminary later in life tell. Stories of how Jesus broke in to their lives—invited them to follow—and how their lives were totally changed as they dropped everything to follow him.

But not everyone does what these fishermen did, or what older seminarians do—not everyone just walks away from their work and their everyday lives to follow Jesus. And not everyone can. Not everyone can just pick up, leave everything behind and follow Jesus in such a dramatic fashion. And not everyone has to. Because following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean leaving everything behind and going somewhere new.  Some people are called to fish for people, others are called to fish for fish.

Because Jesus comes to us, just as he came to Peter, Andrew, James and John—in the midst of our ordinary routines of life. And he invites us, just as he invited them, into a new way of being—a new way of seeing the world—a new way of looking at other people. Maybe not necessarily to totally shake things up and turn your life upside down (although it could be…that’s between you and God to sort out). Maybe your call is to be a follower of Jesus right where you are…being his hands, feet and voice to those you come in contact with everyday…as he helps you to see things in a new way…a more kind, compassionate, non-judgmental way…a more loving way. The way Jesus sees things.

Jesus invites us to follow him and be HIS church…a community of people who embody him in the world. And, as the apostle Paul teaches, in order to BE the church that actually DOES embody Christ in the world, we are to be ‘united in the mind and purpose’ of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:10

And that is the mind and purpose that personifies the LOVE of God for us and for the world...that brings salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ... that gives hope to others by placing their needs ahead of our own…that loves God and loves our neighbor…that trusts God above everything else, knowing that God will provide...and that sees the world through Jesus’ eyes.

Jesus invites us to follow him and find our identity in him…not in anyone or anything else. He invites us into a shared identity that unifies us in purpose and mission…the shared identity of ‘followers of Jesus.’

As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Matthew 4: 21-22

Trusting God. Following Jesus.
Pastor Roy+