Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida

The following blog was originally posted in February 2019. I wanted to write about the blessings of music for this week’s blog when I remembered that I had written this one about our wonderful experience with meeting Taize music in Ireland. The wonder of this event has stayed with me through the years and continues to remind me of how music puts me in touch with the awesomeness of God.
I sing in a chorus which sometimes performs with a full symphonic orchestra. We had that opportunity at the end of January this year. The chorus performed three works by French composers: Ravel, Debussy and Berlioz. We were seated on the stage floor in and among the 50+ musicians. My heart and soul were engaged from the first chord. This blessing of music leaves me wordless for explanation. I simply feel the joy and thank the Lord. Please leave for soul open for the joy of Taize.

It was the Fall of 1991, on one of our trips to Ireland in the Donegal town of Dungloe that we first experienced a Taize Worship Service, by accident actually. But are there really accidents?

We thought that we were going to a Sunday service in the local church. When we arrived, we were overwhelmed with the number of people attending what turned out to be a mission with a Taize prayer service and veneration of the cross. People of all ages were crowded into the church, sitting wherever there was free space. And singing! Singing these beautiful simple chants that are the hallmark of Taize music and worship.

Taize is the name given to the spiritual movement founded by Brother Roger Schűtz in France 1940. From the beginning, Taize’s community has been committed to helping people in need and worshipping God in a simple monastic way. It is an ecumenical Christian group of men from various religions who live and worship together three times a day.

Their worship service includes Bible readings, meditation and simple, repetitive chants, many of which we use in our own Sunday services. The spiritual practice of simple chants allows the soul to reach a different level of relation with God. The outer world falls away for a time and there is just you and God.

Taize’s Church of Reconciliation is aptly named as it has become and important site for Catholic-Lutheran ecumenism involving an ongoing dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and various synods of the Lutheran denomination, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Thousands of Christian pilgrims make the journey to Burgundy France to experience the spiritual refreshment offered there.

How can I relay to you the wonder of this movement and the gifts that it bestows on its followers? Is it another demonstration of the unconditional love which God has for us? In my opinion, yes, it is. God loves you unconditionally and wants you to avail yourself of all the methods available to be in a right relationship with Him. Prayer, meditation and chants are some of the ways to fulfill this relationship.

“Bless the Lord, my soul. And bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul. Who leads me into life.”

Terri

We were visiting my great-aunt and uncle in Wisconsin one weekend. Since we were there on a Sunday, we went to the tiny Newville Sunday School. At one point the Superintendent (an elderly man who looked around 90) asked a question of the everyone. “Why do you think we don’t see miracles today.” Dead silence. Finally a teacher ventured, “Because we don’t have enough faith?” “Yes,” he replied, “We don’t have enough faith today.” He went on to talk about faith, but I was stuck on miracles and have been ever since.

Are there still miracles? My problem is I’m not sure what a miracle is. I think a common understanding is that a miracle is an intervention by God into the world. The problem with that understanding is that everything that happens is a result of God’s action. Without God’s action, there wouldn’t be a world in the first place. Often I find that what people call miracles are simply things that can’t be explained by the laws of science. That assumes, of course, that we know all the laws of science and know exactly how they function in any situation.

My own opinion is that since God is in charge all the time, everything is miraculous. As Mei Li sings in “Flower Drum Song,” “A hundred million miracles are happening every day.” Why don’t we see miracles today? Maybe because we have our eyes closed and don’t look. Plant a seed and watch it grow. If that isn’t miraculous, I don’t know what is.

Read Psalm 77:14 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

When I was a junior in college I took a Mathematical Physics course. It was not my favorite class, because it involved lots of complicated extensive calculations with infinite series. I even bought shelf paper for my homework, since some of the expressions were too long to fit on a normal sheet of paper. The problems were ugly. The professor was OK, but on the Wednesday of the last week of class, the professor said let’s have our final exam this afternoon at 3:00, instead of during finals week. I don’t think a professor could get by with that today, but in those days they didn’t take prisoners.

Later, years later, I realized that the professor probably did us a favor; studying for the final in that course would not have been fun. Sometimes studying for a final exam can lead to synthesizing the material, but many times cramming for a final only leads to short-term memorization; I had a colleague who used to call this “legal cheating.” In our case, I don’t think that studying for the final exam would have led to much more understanding.

I spent 44 years teaching math, and students always asked me about the final exam – what it would cover, how long it would take, what was the nature of the questions, etc. Before giving any kind of direct answer, I would say that it was a learning opportunity and the questions were designed to reinforce what was learned, in class. I also said that I hoped that the exam tested long term retention and permanent understanding. I would then add, probably subconsciously motivated by my pop-final experience, that the ideal final would occur at some random time a year or so from now. The students would roll their eyes.

Many Christians seem very interested in the end times, and over the years lots of energy has been spent on trying to predict when this will happen. To me this is like the legal cheating of cramming for a final. It even ignores scripture, for in Matthew 24:36 Jesus says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” I have even more trouble understanding those who support actions, many political, that they feel will hasten the last day; somehow, that seems like playing God. I feel that the best way to prepare for this ultimate final lies in the way we live our lives. We should follow the commandments to love our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves, both of which reflect God’s unconditional love for you and me.

Jim Previously posted 2019

…how phenomenal worship is. We get to do this! We are free to worship. Consider certain parts of the world where worshiping God might literally get you killed. Horrifically. It is sad that people in our country couldn’t care less. Take it or leave it. “When I get my act together, maybe I’ll come back to church.” That one punches me in the gut. How absolutely  backwards that is! You come to the house of the Lord precisely because you’re a hot mess! A sinner in need of saving grace. Where else can we go? To whom else can we go?

We are not always in the right frame of mind in church; we know this first-hand. We might think we’re over the fact that our spouse made us later than usual and we can’t have our usual seats. We might tell ourselves that we’re fine with the fact that our friends are having a ball doing whatever they invited us to do instead of worship. Maybe we take a look at the hymns to be sung and say to ourselves, “I should have skipped. I don’t know any of these.” An endless list of detractors that keep our souls from being fed. But when we focus even on one verse, one hymn stanza, one take-away from the sermon, our souls express a sated sigh. We don’t get how phenomenal it is!

I encourage you all, if you can remember this in five days, to really savor and ponder even a verse, a hymn stanza, when you worship this Sunday. Don’t go through the motions, hoping that the service will let out in time for you to not have to wait too long at your favorite restaurant. Try not to let your mind wander too much. Don’t speak the words you know by heart by rote. Ponder nothing earthly minded. One hour of the week. And that’s not even the minimum membership requirement for a church such as ours. What a gift coming to God’s house is! We don’t have a clue, because a part of God will always be shrouded in mystery, beyond our understanding – for now. The love that is unconditional understands, even when we fail to grasp how phenomenal He is.

Pastor Art

Did you ever go home with a black eye?   What was the reaction?  Why were you fighting?  Or how does the other guy look (ha ha)?

There’s something about a black eye that elicits different reactions than other scrapes, bruises and infirmities.  I’ve come to church in recent months with a bevy of incapacities: wheelchair, walker, arm in sling, and now cane.  But the Sunday I had two prominent black eyes, I stayed home.  I was too self-conscious.  And no, I was not in a fight, it was the result of some minor surgery.

Are there other situations which make us too self-conscious to be in church?  Perhaps we’re grieving and self-conscious about crying through the service.  Perhaps our color doesn’t match the majority of those in attendance, are we uncomfortable about standing out?  Or do we not dress in clothing similar to our idea of “churchgoers.”  Any of these could be our “black eye” for the day.

Our Lord Jesus had a different idea about who was welcome. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus extends a universal invitation: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This call is not limited by ethnicity, social status, or past sins, but is open to all who seek Him. This call is not limited to physical infirmities, race, or outward appearance.  Jesus said “ALL.”   No “black eye” precludes coming to him.

What does this mean?   Yes, come no matter what.  But also, welcome all who come.  That means a warm welcome that is oblivious to differences.  How do we measure up?  Do we let our “black eyes” cause us embarrassment?  Do we let other’s differences get in the way of a sincere welcome?  Think about it, I know I will.

May the Lord who offers unconditional love to all, bless you with perfect peace.

Judy

I’m just getting home from out of town. I was at a speaking engagement regarding my book. What I realized when I finished my “talk” was even though the events of my book took place many years ago, repeating the story of how God showed His love to us through the kindness and giving of so many folks; His love just does not get old. God loves us unconditionally and that never wavers. Some folks in attendance knew us personally and remembered the incidences I talked about.  Others attending were hearing this good news for the first time. I’m not comparing us to the disciples, but I think there is a slight similarity.  They lived, walked, studied and preached with Jesus. They experienced His love first hand. Fast forward to us, thousands of years later, learning, studying, sharing those gospel readings and stories. They just don’t get old. God’s love is so great, so amazing, and never loses its power!

The children’s song, Jesus Loves Me, says it so succinctly.  “Jesus Loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” His love is real, fresh and new each morning you open your eyes for another day. How blessed are we, as Christians to know Him, to love Him, and to share His good news!

Love one another…that never grows old.  Love your neighbor as yourself…that never grows old. Love the Lord, your God above all others….that never grows old.

Jesus loves YOU, this I know.

Jill

I’m just getting home from out of town. I was at a speaking engagement regarding my book. What I realized when I finished my “talk” was even though the events of my book took place many years ago, repeating the story of how God showed His love to us through the kindness and giving of so many folks; His love just does not get old. God loves us unconditionally and that never wavers. Some folks in attendance knew us personally and remembered the incidences I talked about.  Others attending were hearing this good news for the first time. I’m not comparing us to the disciples, but I think there is a slight similarity.  They lived, walked, studied and preached with Jesus. They experienced His love first hand. Fast forward to us, thousands of years later, learning, studying, sharing those gospel readings and stories. They just don’t get old. God’s love is so great, so amazing, and never loses its power!

The children’s song, Jesus Loves Me, says it so succinctly.  “Jesus Loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” His love is real, fresh and new each morning you open your eyes for another day. How blessed are we, as Christians to know Him, to love Him, and to share His good news!

Love one another…that never grows old.  Love your neighbor as yourself…that never grows old. Love the Lord, your God above all others….that never grows old.

Jesus loves YOU, this I know.

Jill

These days most technology is complex and changes quickly, but technological change also comes at a lower level. Do you remember baling wire? I do. Bales of hay used to be held together with wire. The resulting bales were heavy and hard to handle. Even wearing thick gloves the wire hurt your hands. The real genius of baling wire, however, was in the other ways it could be used. If you’re old enough, you may remember someone saying something like, “His car was held together with baling wire.” Baling wire was replaced with twine, which still had other uses, but not as many as baling wire. Today duct tape has replaced baling wire and twine as auxiliary technology. You can fix almost anything with duct tape, and astronauts even repaired a hole in the outer skin of the space station using duct tape.

Three-in-One oil is another example of low level technology changes. When I was young, every family had a can of it. Even though it had many uses a can lasted a long time, almost as long as the bottle of hot sauce in the refrigerator. It has been supplanted by WD-40, which has a myriad of uses, but even it has been partially replaced with silicone spray. Since the movie My Big, Fat Greek Wedding came out, Windex has also been giving WD-40 a run for its money.

We can even trace technological change with respect to the Bible. In the Old Testament God’s word was recorded on parchment scrolls. The early New Testament Church instead used book-like codices; this was a fairly major technological change, for it enabled the reader to directly access a specific passage. Probably the biggest technological effect on the Bible was the invention of the printing press. Before, Bibles were few in number and expensive. Afterwards they were relatively inexpensive and widely available. Coming just before the Reformation, it enabled its ideas to be quickly and widely spread. Literacy rates quickly increased, resulting in broader personal knowledge of the Bible.

The motivation for the title of this blog occurred one Sunday evening, when I said to Paulette, “I have Bible Study tomorrow afternoon. I need to go charge my Bible.” I read my Bible on my iPad, and I love it. I can change type size and font, toggle between the NIV translation and The Message, quickly search for related passages, and read study guide commentaries from a sidebar. Supposedly you can even highlight passages and make personal notes, but that seems to be beyond me.

All of these technological changes have helped spread God’s word and made it easier to understand, but it does not replace something critical – the role of individual Christians and the Church. Reading the Bible and believing are different things, and Christians reflecting God’s unconditional love through their love for Him and others cannot be replaced by technology.

Jim previously posted March 2019

I wrote last week about the question, “How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit?” One day as I thought about this question, I re-read the Confirmation service. After all, confirmation is supposed to have something to do with the Holy Spirit.

The pastor laid his hand on my head and said, “The Father in Heaven, for Jesus’ sake, renew and increase in thee the gift of the Holy Ghost, to thy strengthening in faith, to thy growth in grace, to thy patience in suffering, and to the blessed hope of everlasting life.”

The blessing identifies four works of the Spirit the first of which is the strengthening of faith. That reminds me of Luther’s teaching: “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ . . . but the Holy Spirit . . . kept me in the true faith.”  To be able to believe in Jesus Christ is a gift of the Spirit. That reflects Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:3: “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

To be able to believe in Jesus Christ is a gift of the Spirit so, if you have faith in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. Period. That’s a pretty simple answer to the question. And it also means that the Spirit is at work in us with additional gifts, like growing in grace, being patient in suffering, and having hope in eternal life.

That’s great news and not complicated at all. I wonder why we don’t make that clear to people?

Wayne

Read Corinthians 12:4-11