Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida

Gee whiz…in just one week, I was asked to pray for a friend who had discovered a lump and was waiting for her results. Another request was for patience because this man’s timing did not match God’s timing. A third request was for a parent of a friend being taken to the hospital and subsequent rehab. The parent’s disposition was frustration, anger and grumpy responses to his circumstances. Someone else was struggling with the death of their spouse. A couple was headed out on a lengthy trip and requested prayers for their safe travels.

Picture this, my personal concerns added to the above requests I was given and I was now making a list so I would remember each request and include those in my prayers. Our Heavenly Father knows us completely from our formation in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139) and knows the numbers of hairs on our head. Luke 12:7,” But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  

Our dear Father, Abba, God, Lord above All, cares for each and every concern, request, loving us so unconditionally that He listens with a heart of love. Now please: Stop.  Breathe.  PRAY.  Trust.  He hears YOU.

Jill

When I was young, my mom’s best friend Pearl and her family were a big part of our lives. We celebrated birthdays, holidays, and picnics together and whatever came up, we were there for each other.  Great people, great friends!

Pearl was such a fun, loving and wonderful Christian woman.  She always had a smile on her face, a joke on her lips and a hug in her heart and arms. As the years went by and one misfortune after another befell her, I could not figure out how she was able to have such a sunny disposition. 

She had lost a brother in a horrible car accident when they were in high school.  Both of her parents had died by the time she was 14, and her first husband died of a heart attack on a hunting trip with my dad and their friends. He left her with three young children. Another brother was killed in a trucking accident. A few years later her fiancé was killed in a car accident and five years after that, her second husband died from cancer.  One of those tragedies would have been bad enough in anyone’s life, but all of that heartache would be too hard for anyone to bare, yet Pearl did. But how?

It was her never wavering faith in the Lord.  She told my parents that several times and shared the same message with me when I became an adult.

This is what God did for Pearl. God turned her messes into a message. He opened doors no one could shut. God made a way when there seemed to be no way. He helped to heal what was broken in her heart. God gave Pearl the strength for the journey ahead and he brought her peace in the midst of the storms in her life.  God showed Pearl His unconditional love for her as he does for all of us and gave her everything she needed when she needed it. 

I still marvel at her strength in and conviction to the Lord. In the middle of all of these heartbreaks, Pearl raised three wonderful children. God can do more for us than we can ever imagine and certainly more than we can do for ourselves. We need to believe and trust in Him and ask him to carry us on our journey.  Thanks be to God.

Patty

Saul Drier is a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor. He lives in Coconut Beach, Florida. In 2014, Saul organized a band of Holocaust survivors to honor the memory of Alice Hertz-Sommer, the oldest living survivor of that awful time in our history, who had died that year.  

Mrs. Hertz-Sommer and her son were liberated from the Terezin concentration camp. She was a concert pianist and music teacher. During her internment in the camp, she performed as often as she could for the other prisoners. Here is a beautiful quote from her:  

“… life is beautiful, love is beautiful, nature and music are beautiful. Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love.” 

That is what she did until she died at the age of 110 in February 2014. Our man Saul thought to keep her memory alive with the organization of a band with members who had experienced similar horrors at the camps and came back to live and love life. The Holocaust Survivor Band consists of 6 musicians and a woman singer. They opened in Saul’s temple in 2014 where his rabbi had told him he was nuts to attempt this feat. Everyone told him he was nuts to start this type of band at the tender age of 89. But he did it! 

This band has played all over the USA from Washington DC to Las Vegas and other parts of the world like Israel.  They bring hope and joy to everyone. Examples of people who didn’t give up in the face of overwhelming adversity; people who clawed their way back to live productive lives after incredible sadness and often despair – with the help of music and God. 

When asked why he founded the band, he said, “I will play for as long as I can, because music is hope. I am not interested in politics or taking sides. My purpose in life is to get people to see that we are all one, we all sing the same song.” (emphasis added) 

I know that God loves Saul Drier just as much as he loves you-unconditionally. Amen! 

Terri 

There is something about this time of year when the daylight hours are noticeably shorter that moves me to sing evening hymns. One of my favorites is “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended.”
It’s much more commonly sung in England than the US. Here it is sung at a VJ day service at St. Martin in the Fields, London.  

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended
The darkness falls at Thy behest
To thee our morning hymns ascended
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

I don’t know why, but this beautiful hymn brings tears to my eyes. Maybe it’s because I have it listed as the last hymn for my funeral service. This is a hymn of hope in times of darkness. I’m thinking of the last verse in particular.

So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never
Like earth’s proud empires, pass away
Thy kingdom stands, and grows forever
’Til all thy creatures own thy sway.

Each of us and everything we have known and treasured in this earthly life will pass away, but the Kingdom of God remains forever. We can look forward to eternity with God.

People have asked me what heaven will be like. Will my little dog be there? I don’t know any of the details, just that we will be with God and that will be the only thing that is of importance to us. That will be bliss.

Until then, may the praise of God sanctify our rest.

Read Psalm 4:1 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

It starts with a simple, basic disagreement. Next, add a half a tablespoon of stubbornness. Pour in a quarter cup of self-righteousness. A half-cup of ego. Aggressive words, accusations, stereotypes – all of these, you add to taste. Before you know it, voila! A crabby brew becomes a cesspool of bitterness, negativity and unforgiveness. The casualties are those who feast on this, causing severe heartburn and agony of soul. Friendships, distrust, damaged faith are the lingering after-effects or, to put it in a most unhelpful way, collateral damage.

In these dark, uncivil times, the way of us who claim the name Christian is treacherous, to say the least. We feel like Miss Gale, the cowardly lion, the tin man and scarecrow trying to navigate their way to Oz. The journey to be a person of faith trying to embody forgiveness is laden with conflict and difference of opinion. All our personal tenets, ditches to die in and core values are added to the pot. The wooden handle stirring it all creaks and cracks under the strain. We despair because we feel helpless or worse, unwilling to accept that we might be wrong, that we need to change our outlook. Even to just listen to the opposing outlook. Forgiveness costs us something, and yet it is free. We cannot fully grasp that paradox. How can we let peace permeate us enough to rise above the fray and live sacramentally – and sacrificially? Such a challenge, it is. How can we be reconciled and then healing in our relationships?

It was eighty years ago this week that Kristallnacht, the tragedy that began the Holocaust happened. It was one hundred years ago that WWI was concluded. Our sins of hatred, violent aggression and intolerance continue unabated throughout God’s created earth. But you know what else continues unabated? God’s unconditional love for us which extends even, yes even, to our enemies and those we vehemently are at odds with. We need not be casualties, victims. May we “stir the pot,” adding in the sweet spices of forgiveness, love and mercy.

Bon appetit.

Originally posted by Pastor Art in November 2018

It’s been a week – since the election, since I had to try to come up with words for a blog post.  A week is but a time blip for God. We study history, and still come up with mystery. I’m talking about the mystery of faith. It, along with hope, believes all things and endures all things. In a modern era of striving for certainty in all things, we come up spiritually empty. When we worship, the mysterious happens. Substance meets spirit. The Lord’s table embodies this. We are what we eat: the body of Christ. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for the living God makes us one. It is the self-giving, the consummation of our Lord’s passion. Searching for God, we find His truth. There is no rock more solid. It is in worship that we find our deepest identity.

The nation’s silence is also the weariness of eighteen months of bitter campaigning, incessant ads, and name-calling from both sides. We now wait (hopefully!) in silence during this in-between time. We all feel the historical significance, mainly because we honestly have no earthly idea what’s going to happen, when, and how. Those who know only earthly kingdoms come to a full, hopeless stop in this regard. Us who know the kingdom of God can trust in God’s silent mystery as we wait with certain hope.

We are happiest, most restful, when we abide in Christ. The world’s turmoil, the news of the day, can never be fully ignored, but it only deserves measured attention, for our soul’s sake. Watching people, observing them, it is fairly easy to tell which world captures them. Don’t just tell yourself you don’t need the negativity; live in the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Believe in the very depth of your being the words and actions that comprise our worship life together! This undefined, immeasurable “in-between” time can conjure either cacophonous noise or reverent silence. Untrustworthy misguidedness or unconditional love.

Pastor Art

‘Tis the month of Thanksgiving.   It’s time that we’re all reminded of the gratitude we owe to our Lord.  Yes, not just at Thanksgiving, but all year long.  But it doesn’t hurt to have an extra reminder.

Maybe you will feast on turkey, dressing and pie, or maybe not.  Perhaps you’ll gather with family and friends, or perhaps not.  You may be focused on football or have no interest.   However you spend the day, we can all give thanks to God for his goodness to us.

There’s a song called “The Goodness of God.”  One stanza was especially meaningful to me: “I love you Lord for your mercy never fails me.”   Oh yes, so very true.

We witness his mercy on the cross, a life given for us.  Yes, given for us mere mortals.  Now that’s goodness that is beyond our comprehension.  We know his mercy as he listens.  We send our simple prayers to him, sometimes we can’t even find the words.  But he listens and he answers.   We plead for relief from pain and trouble.  He takes our hand and gives us the strength and peace to get through. Yes the unconditional love of our Lord, his mercy never fails us.

I hope this simple song is meaningful to you.

Judy

The disciples were told to go and teach others what they had seen, heard and learned from Jesus.  James 1:19-21 “Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So, throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.” From The Message

Reading this sparks so many visuals for me. How many of us are good listeners? Fortunately, I have several among my friends.  They definitely listen, ponder and then speak.  The Message phrasing of the 21^st verse…”God will landscape you with the Word, making a salvation garden of your life.”  What a great visual! By reading God’s Holy Word, and learning His Ways, He is pruning and trimming us to thrive in His salvation garden. Be a good listener.  Think and pray before you speak. This is a perfect time for that quick prayer,“Holy Spirit, help me.” 

Your reply or advice to what you have just heard will be spirit-led. Anger perhaps will not even evolve. Sometimes I just whisper “Jesus.” We are all human and conversations between spouses, family, good friends, and acquaintances does require us to listen attentively, then with a quick prayer, respond.  Just visualize God weeding in your salvation garden for life. Beautiful thought! God loves us unconditionally. Grow strong in Him.

Jill

I remember seeing these words in an edition of The Lutheran a few years ago and I have thought about them many times since then. They embody what God wants of us and how He leads us to do His work with our hands (and heart).

For we are what he has made us, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:10

Paul writes these words to the church of Ephesus, possibly during his imprisonment in Rome. Because we are God’s holy creations, all our energies are designed for godly purposes in service to our neighbor. 

God can transform us through the Holy Spirit to have the potential to work with our hands and heart to improve our communities. He leads us to use our God given talents to enhance the lives of others with outreach both inside and outside the church.

In every community there is work to be done. In every nation there are wounds to be healed. In every heart there is the power to do it.    M. Williamson

All of us have the ability to use our hands and hearts to be of service to our neighbors.  God’s unconditional love for us is a guiding light to lead us down this righteous path. Doing God’s work is more than a simple act of kindness. It is, in some small way a sign of Christ’s real presence in our world.  Thanks be to God!

Patty

This week’s reading from Revelation gave me a fresh look into this last book of the Bible. Maybe it is because of the political unrest that we are experiencing in our wonderful country or the tragic conflicts that are happening all over the world, but I have been feeling pretty glum about what is to come. 

It must have been the Holy Spirit on duty on Sunday who opened my heart to the words that were read in Revelation 21 v.5 “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”  Now, understand this is also the chapter that describes the burning lake that will be the punishment for all evil doers. However, the “all things new” promise comes before that warning. 

I know that this Book is not the easiest to understand or warm up to. It presents a confusing prophecy with strange images and scenes that may make your skin crawl, and your mind question the sanity of the writer.  

But these words and this promise, Wow! Here is something to look forward to and await with gladness of heart, despite all that may happen in the universe before this event. All things new! All tears and sadness washed away! A new heaven and a new earth! And God will dwell among us!  

It won’t matter where you were or are on the social letter; how much material wealth you have accumulated; how educated you are or where you worship. We will all be united in God-even those who don’t believe in God. 

I will never tell you that I understand all the aspects of why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing with our lives. The promise of Revelation reveals that at some time in the future, all conflict will cease, and we will get along with each other as God has always desired. More evidence of His unconditional love.  

Place your hope and trust in this promise and grab God’s hand for comfort. God loves you unconditionally!  

Terri