]]>
View all Norfolk events on Eventful]]>
I'll be missing you 'til I see you again, Ben.
http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=4459076&at1=News&h1=RAW: Wartburg news conference regarding Ben Larson's death&flvUri=&partnerclipid=]]>
Bishop Dave deFreese challenges his fellow Lutherans to “do mission” in 2010. He also says Lutherans should “look forward, not back,” and addresses the actions of some in response to Churchwide Assembly’s decisions regarding human sexuality and ordination.
Check out Bishop Dave's message via video at:
http://site.nebraskasynod.org/2010/01/top-stories/we-do-mission-video]]>
Check it out here.]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
http://tinyurl.com/mqodx6
The one question is: In your opinion, what's the MAIN reason why only six in ten ELCA-primary health plan members are taking the Mayo Clinic Health Assessment — despite a $100 incentive?
The ELCA Board of Pensions is trying to figure out why this is, and they need your help, so please share your insights with them and click the Done button when you are....done, I guess.
And then send this link on to all of your friends, enemies, and frenemies.
Thank you!]]>
is running what I consider to be some pretty good DVD specials right now. While you think times may be tough, you know you want to own the latest season of Heroes and Lost. Order or pre-order now, and you'll be all set, especially when there is free super-saver shipping to be had on orders over $25.]]>
(or watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjxCSIphoeo)
It's good to see some Churchwide communications and web people dancing it up! Rizzo in the hizz-ouse!
Sadly, this video reinforces just how "white" the ELCA is. :-)
Also, I appreciate a Lutheran pastor who can disco dance with one hand while a coffee mug is in the other hand. At least it better be a Lutheran pastor....if that guy's Methodist...oh wait, Methodists don't dance, do they? :-)]]>
Since I couldn't find a summary like what I was looking for on elca.org, I thought I'd give the ELCA Churchwide Organization a phone call and see what I could find out.
In a brief phone conversation with ELCA News Director John Brooks, I was informed that the news staff hopes to have summaries available by the end of the week for sure, and if things go well, by the end of the day on Wednesday, August 26.
These summaries will be made available online only, and can be found at:
http://www.elca.org/assembly/summary
The Nebraska Synod Communications Staff produced a one-page review that was available early morning on Saturday, August 22, which doesn't touch on everything, but hits most of the highlights through Friday. This can be found online at:
http://fillspillthrill.org/2009/08/churchwide-assembly-2009-review/
and as a PDF at
http://fillspillthrill.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/churchwideassembly_review1.pdf
]]>
]]>
I need a new car. Thanks for your help!]]>
]]>
Greetings communicator friends,
Last week (Thursday, June 25), a well-meaning ELCA member circulated an e-mail with the title "WARNING: ELCA National Website Infected by Malicious Code" The ELCA.org Web site was being blocked by his employer and he assumed the worst. When notified by the member, our IT department examined our servers and found them to be clean. They then worked with his employer to undo the blocking.
The moral of the story: let us know immediately if you get suspicious warnings or have problems with ELCA.org For minor problems use the www.elca.org/contactus page to send a note or submit a comment. For what looks like a serious problem please call the 800/638-3522 and a Resource Information Staff person will connect you to the right person.
On this topic, please DON'T send alarming e-mails to others or forward said e-mails. Apparently the note from last Thursday is still circulating. If you get a copy, don't forward it further, instead, reply with a copy of this note. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks, Paul Edison-Swift
ELCA Communication Services, 800/638-3522 x2946]]>
Below are the questions that voting members were asked to consider. Before each response, which the voting members could have chosen, is the number of votes that each response received.
Sense of the Assembly Survey
Question 1: As to the question of same gender relationships, I believe that:
213 votes--the church should definitely not approve of same gender relationships.
89 votes--while I personally disapprove of same gender relationships, I could accept the church recognizing such relationships
39 votes--I don't have a sense of God's will on this.
130 votes--while I accept same gender relationships, I can see how the church would not approve of such relationships.
163 votes--the church should definitely approve of same gender relationships.
Question 2: As to the question of rostering persons in a same gender* relationship, I believe that:
259 votes--the church should definitely not roster persons involved in same gender relationships.
61 votes--while I personally disapprove of same gender relationships, I could accept the church's rostering persons involved in such relationships.
37 votes--I don't have a sense of God's will on this.
128 votes--while I accept same gender relationships, I can see how the church would not roster persons involved in such relationships.
150 votes--the church should definitely roster persons involved in same gender relationships.
*when used refers to "publicly accountable life-long, monogamous same gender relationships."]]>
I need you to vote every hour for the picture of my mom & dad on their bright yellow 2001 Honda Gold Wing Trike.
If this picture wins, the prize awarded is $50. Not a lot of money, but remember, our news media outlets tell us that times are tough, so help me out and vote early and often! Thank you!]]>
•Friday night Bible dates (Argentina)
•Gifts of hospitality, harvest, and thanksgiving (Tanzania)
•Why do we have missionaries in Germany? (Germany)
•Influenza epidemic doesn't stop ordination celebration (Mexico)
•Amazing grace (Hong Kong)
•The power of the spoon (U.S., Cameroon)
•Stories from Nepal
]]>
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The summit is a partnership between the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This is the second summit of its kind, the previous peace summit was held in Rwanda in 2008 hosted by the Lutheran Church of Rwanda.
Check out this web site, see this linked brochure, and tell the stories of how the ELCA is reaching across continents.
]]>
The intent of the guide is to aid Lutheran congregations as they discuss difficult issues related to the war in Iraq. The resource guide is divided into five sections: moral deliberation, role in nations, current situation in Iraq and U.S. policy, challenges of global terrorism and group reflection. Each section includes discussion questions and allows for further insight.
"Peace, Conflict and Public Church: A Case Study on the Future of Iraq" is available through Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
Questions? Contact Jodi Deike, ELCA Director for Grassroots Advocacy and Communication, jodi.deike@elca.org or 202-626-7947.
Helpful Web Links
Peace, Conflict and Public Church: A Case Study on the Future of Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/cz4hpj
ELCA News Blog on release of Iraq Study Guide
http://tinyurl.com/cjvnnj
ELCA Washington Office
http://www.elca.org/advocacy
Augsburg Fortress
http://www.augsburgfortress.org]]>
Are you in need of financial assistance to attend this gathering?
The ELCA Washington Office is offering a limited number of scholarships for this event. Applications are being accepted now until May 29, 2009. Go to www.elca.org/advocacy to download the application.
Scholarships will be awarded immediately until June 8, funds permitting, and be processed as a reimbursement. The amount reimbursed will be for both the "2009 Gathering that includes 35th Anniversary Dinner and Lobby Day" option and three nights housing on the American University campus.
Questions? Contact Jodi Deike, ELCA Director for Grassroots Advocacy and Communication, at jodi.deike@elca.org or 202-626-7947.]]>
]]>
 |
The Rev. Deena Lohmeyer Laird |
Clergy are invited to vest and process. The color for the day is white.
Rev. Deena Lohmeyer Laird, 53, of Arenzville, died Tuesday, April 22, 2009, at Passavant Area hospital in Jacksonville. She was born August 9, 1956, in Washington, Missouri, the daughter of Dean and Gladys Steinberg Lohmeyer. She married David Laird on May 20, 1983, at the Church By The Side of the Road in Rockton, Illinois, and he survives.
She is also survived by one son, Nathan (fiancé, Sheena Bredeson) Laird of Rockford, Illinois; two step-children, Chris Krause of South Beloit, Wisconsin and Matthew (wife, Staci) Laird of Portland, Oregon; her mother, Gladys Lohmeyer of Washington, Missouri; three step-grandchildren, Tucker Krause, Gavin Laird, and Trevin Laird; and two brothers, Jim Lohmeyer of Rockton, Illinois and Marty (wife, Chris) Lohmeyer of Washington, Missouri. She was preceded in death by her father.
Deena was born and raised in Washington, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and later graduated cum laude from Upper Iowa University. She was employed as advertising manager for Taylor Freezer Company in Rockton, Illinois where she met and married her husband. In 2003 Deena enrolled in Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa and in 2007 received her Masters of Divinity. She was ordained at Atonement Lutheran Church in Beloit, Wisconsin, and became pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Arenzville and St. John’s Lutheran Church, Bluffs in August of 2007.
Deena was a kind and loving person whose life revolved around her family and church. Prior to entering the ministry, Deena was actively involved in her church as a youth group and Vacation Bible School leader. Her home was always open to anyone. She treasured her time spent with family, and enjoyed her role as spectator at her family’s golf outings.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Arenzville. Condolences may be left online at www.airsman-hires.com]]>
“I Love to Tell the Story: My ELCA” will allow 15-minute time slots to sit down and share your memories, thoughts, frustrations, and joys of the first 20 years of the ELCA. As part of the larger Voices of Vision oral history project, the archives is looking for congregational members to talk about their congregations, their synods, their social ministry organizations, their colleges, their seminaries, and their work in the ELCA and in God’s world.
Go to our website for more information about how to participate (http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/History/ELCA-Archives/I-Love-To-Tell-The-Story.aspx) or contact the archives (archives@elca.org or 1-800-638-3522, x2818). We hope to hear your story!]]>
Today, I had the time to look it up on YouTube. I found find it, along with the original video.
Here it is:
]]>
From WJAG.com...
NORFOLK - Although attendance was down about 10 percent from 2007, organizers of a household hazardous waste collection over the weekend in Norfolk are pleased. City Solid Waste Director Gary Lund says about 340 vehicles brought the products to the collection on Saturday at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park. He tells WJAG NEWS they filled 33, 55-gallon drums full of paint and toxic chemicals, collected 40 pounds of prescriptions drugs, took in 12,000 pounds of television and computer equipment. Lund says in all 15.5 tons of waste was collected and won't be going to the landfill.]]>
View all four of the new ads here.]]>
Dave Winslow measures the snow..or lack thereof
Oh Dave...how very different my morning routine would be without your whimsical nature to brighten my day!
Hopefully Dave & his bride Tia had a lovely wedding day today! Congratulations!
I'm such a fan...or is that pronounced stalker? It's hard to tell...]]>
It is very appropriate to review this, pending what we will hear in our gospel reading tomorrow morning:
---------
BEN: [Blows out a candle] Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably be murdered there, Thomas said to the others, "Let us also go, that we might die with him." But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later... when he refused to acknowledge the resurrection. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. The story goes... that he needed to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced.
JACK: So was he?
BEN: Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack.
---------]]>
Please help Annie out and vote for her so she can win!
At the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, I recorded a one-minute pitch for this Pepsi contest, where they're going to give the winner $4,500. We had to pitch what we would do with the money to advance social good.My pitch was to develop an iPhone app for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder, which would increase the number of entries we receive and make the resource even more valuable for everybody. And as it turns out, I am one of the 20 finalists!
Help us get some seed money for new features for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder by voting for my pitch! You can vote as many times as you want between now and next Monday (April 20).
VOTE HERE! A lot!
And feel free to pass this on! Tell your friends!
Thank you!]]>
April 2009Dear Friend:
Ever since the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced the closing of the Grace Matters radio and web ministry, I have been deluged with mail. The massive outpouring of love and appreciation has been extraordinary—grace upon grace, really. It is more than my little inbox can handle.
If you are unaware of this recent news regarding Grace Matters’ final broadcast on Easter Sunday, the April issue of the Lutheran magazine includes the story, whose more expanded web version is included at the bottom of this letter.
Unfortunately, I was never consulted—let alone visited with—about a decision that affects the hundreds of thousands of listeners whom I asked to personally support this ministry. It was a decision made very suddenly, effectively eliminating any opportunity to retain precious radio station airtime slots and permanently dispersing vast networks of supportive listeners. The decision was made by a couple of ELCA executives.
Many of you have asked what you can do, given this news. If you want to express what this program has meant to you, you may wish to share your comments with ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson and copy them to Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA Director for Administration, and Kristi Bangert, ELCA Director for Communication Services, at the same address. While your expression will not change a decision that is final, it may encourage more thoughtful and more broad-based decision-making in the church’s future.
Rev. Mark Hanson
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 W. Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60631
bishop@elca.org | Kristi.Bangert@elca.org | Wyvetta.Bullock@elca.org
Thank you for your marvelous support of Grace Matters. Some of you have asked about my own life after Grace Matters. It is full of edifying work. I continue to serve as senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, IA, and I write and publish whenever I find the time. I do hope that our lives can cross again in the future, if not over radio or web, then in person or in print. Please understand if I cannot respond to most correspondence. There is no lack of desire or affection on my part; it is simply a matter of available time.
Keep cherishing the important things in life. Chances are good that those very things have some link to the grace of God we know best in Jesus Christ.
Peter W. Marty
'Grace Matters' canceled
Part of $1.5 million churchwide cuts
In early Februrary, ELCA Communication Services canceled Grace Matters, the ELCA radio ministry that has existed since 1947. Host Peter W. Marty called it "a sad day for hundreds of thousands of listeners."
The last program will air on Easter Sunday, April 12, on roughly 185 stations.
Kristi Bangert, CO executive director, said the cut was part of a process shared by every ELCA unit in exploring churchwide priorities. Asked if the decision was a reaction to a current budget concern or a contingency plan for further economic troubles, she said, "Yes and yes."
"All executive directors were asked to look at every major budget line item and identify mission critical work. ... Every executive was told we've got to look at this and make changes strategically," Bangert said. "We can't do everything. We've been riding a high tide for a long time and just can't keep doing it all."
The decision is part of nearly $1.5 million in reductions from the 2009 churchwide budget. That includes "reducing program budgets in most units and eliminating a total of 11 full-time staff equivalent positions-of which 2.5 were vacant," said Wyvetta Bullock, executive for administration. In an e-mail to churchwide staff, Bullock called these "difficult decisions" and cited "the current economic volatility." She warned that further 2009 budget adjustments may be necessary.
Grace Matters relied on gifts to sustain its ministry, which covered more than half the expenses related to production, distribution and broadcast, Bangert said. CO covered the remaining costs, including staff salaries. In each of the last three years, the unit invested $160,000 to buy regular broadcast slots on 12 stations where ELCA congregations are being developed and in the Pacific Northwest.
Marty said he wasn't consulted before the decision was announced, and was told of the cancellation over the phone. "An internal churchwide memo indicated that Grace Matters was not a ‘strategic priority of the churchwide organization ...,' " he said. "It will be linked by some officials as a consequence of the economic downturn. But that's the excuse, not the cause. This decision to eliminate the radio ministry did not have to happen."
He said he would have suggested other ways of trimming the money CO spends on Grace Matters, even if it had meant letting some markets go.
"We brought in a heck of a lot of income to the ELCA to help fund this ministry¬-hundreds of thousands of dollars each year," he said. "Most ministries of the ELCA don't generate anything close to that kind of support. Precisely at a time when we need less denominational clubbiness, the ELCA has just lost a big piece of its public voice. Whole communities of interesting people across America who knew nothing about the ELCA came to know and discover the church through this program."
At presstime, Bangert said annual distributions of 4.5 percent from the radio ministry's $1.3 million permanently restricted endowment could be reassigned to another, similar ELCA ministry.
Cynthia Halverson, president of the ELCA Foundation, said a stipulation within endowment agreements reads that "in the event that this ministry (any of these ministries) shall cease to function over the years or become inoperative ... the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of the ELCA shall recommend a similar or complementary ministry to be the beneficiary of the Agreement."
Bullock said it was premature to discuss or announce any such ministry prior to this matter coming before the ELCA Church Council in late March.
Marty follows only a handful of others who have been the voice of the program, previously called Lutheran Vespers: Harry Gregorson (founder and host from 1947 to 1970), Conrad Thompson (1970 to 1982) and Richard Jensen (speaker and director from 1982 to 1993). Larry Gedde briefly hosted the program after Jensen. Walt Wangerin Jr. took over in 1994 and served for 10 years. When Marty started in 2005 the program's name and format changed.
"It was an extraordinary run," Marty said. "People of both stature and ordinariness, who might otherwise have had no contact with the ELCA or Lutheranism, have been program guests. U.S. senators and big city mayors, athletic superstars and big stage musicians, African-American heroes and poets, pastors to U.S. presidents and network news correspondents, Fortune 500 CEO's and genocide survivors, and great theological minds from across the spectrum all shared the grace of their lives with listeners in America and around the world."
Grace Matters has also aired in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and Puerto Rico and is available on the Web.
"It's as if scores of people throughout our church have had one of the great rugs of meaning suddenly yanked right out from beneath their faith lives," Marty added.
The cancellation affects the jobs of two part-time contract staff and three full-time employees, including Susan Greeley, producer.
"The loss of jobs and the budget savings are miniscule compared to the loss our listeners will suffer. For many people, including the missionaries, this is their worship," Greeley said. "We've been a unique voice in a world that has way too much vitriol on the air. It was one of the few ways that people in the pew knew they were part of the larger church."]]>
The following message has been sent to synodical bishops and all rostered leaders. We are sending this to you as a point of information. You may share it with your networks as is appropriate.
Thank you.
Kristi Bangert
___________________
Grace to you and peace in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The purpose of this e-mail is to provide information for you, as leaders in the ELCA, as you prepare for the Churchwide Assembly in August. Specifically, it informs you of the actions taken by the Church Council at its meeting on March 27-30, 2009, in relation to the work of the Task Force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality. A full report on actions of the Church Council will be made available by the Office of the Secretary by April 1. The documents referenced here and further information will be available as of April 2 at the Faithful Journey Web site: www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.
Action on the work of the task force
On Saturday, March 28, the Church Council voted to transmit to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust" for consideration as a social statement of the ELCA. The approved text included a few amendments that were considered minor or editorial. The council also voted to transmit the implementing resolutions, one of which was amended, for the proposed social statement.
On Sunday, March 29, the council voted to transmit to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly the task force’s four resolutions of the recommendation relating to ministry policies. Again, the only amendments made were considered editorial or in keeping with the intent of the task force. All four of the suggested resolutions were considered individually by the council, as the task force recommended.
A full text of the amended documents will be available as of April 2 on the Faithful Journey Web site: www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.
Action regarding the voting rules of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly
Prior to every Churchwide Assembly, the Church Council recommends to the assembly proposed Rules of Organization and Procedure that, in addition to Robert’s Rules of Order, govern the ways that the assembly conducts its legislative business. The Churchwide Assembly at its first plenary session votes on its own rules.
Bylaw 12.12.01. of the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America specifies that a proposed social statement requires for adoption a two-thirds vote of those voting members present and voting at an assembly. At its November 2008 meeting, the Church Council did not recommend any rules that would affect the necessary margin of votes for other documents originating from a social statement task force.
In response to synodical resolutions, at its March 2009 meeting the Church Council considered whether to amend the rules that had been adopted previously. After extensive discussion, the Church Council voted against doing so. The vote was 10–21 with two abstentions, Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and Secretary David D. Swartling.
Therefore, unless the Churchwide Assembly amends the proposed Rules of Organization and Procedure at its first plenary session, any implementing resolutions for the social statement or ministry policy actions will require a majority vote for passage, as specified in Robert’s Rules of Order.
A fuller explanation of the parliamentary process concerning the rules at the Churchwide Assembly will be posted on April 2 on the task force’s Web site.
What’s next?
The task force has finished its work, and any further comments on the documents should be directed to synods. Synods can speak to the Churchwide Assembly regarding the recommended proposed social statement, the implementing resolutions, or the ministry policy resolutions through memorials approved at synod assemblies.
Understanding and interpreting the work of the task force
The Faithful Journey Web site at www.elca.org/faithfuljourney provides a number of resources, including frequently asked questions and executive summaries, to aid in understanding the proposed social statement, implementing resolutions, and the ministry policy recommendation. Additional material will be published there in mid to late April. If you as a leader find there are questions that have not been addressed in the additional resources, please email the Church in Society studies staff at faithfuljourney@elca.org.
A note of appreciation for the task force
The Church Council also expressed profound appreciation to the members of the task force for their work and for modeling what it means to journey together faithfully.
May we, too, journey together faithfully.
David D. Swartling, secretary
March 30, 2009]]>
It's back, baby! The Lutheran Pool sponsored by FrontRowLutheran.com! Pick your brackets and see if you can win two fabulous prizes: one whole year of exclusive bragging rights AND a shout-out post right here on FrontRowLutheran.com.
While this contest is open to all, in order for you to play, you've got to be a member of Facebook.com (it's free, and seriously, if you're not on Facebook yet, then there probably is no hope that you ever will be).
If you're already on facebook, you should be able to join The Lutheran Pool Sponsored by FrontRowLutheran.com at this link.
Sign-up NOW! Your picks must be submitted by 11:00 AM ET on March 19, 2009.
Good luck!]]>
Since Concordia's new study bible is coming out after Augsburg Fortress' study bible, I'm going to have to say that Concordia appears to be copying somebody, but I just can't quite seem to put my finger on it...hmm.....]]>
Created by Train Horns
]]>
]]>-----------
In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.
Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.
Then God made the world.
He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.
Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.
Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.
One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.
After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.
Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.
God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.
Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.
One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.
After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.
After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.
There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.
After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')
During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.
Jesus also had twelve opossums.
The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.
Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.
But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.
Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.
-------------
Do you think this student should be confirmed? Umm...probably not....
Note: I did not actually receive this from a confirmation student as a final faith paper. I got it as a forewarded joke email, and after reading it, I sadly thought to myself, "Hmm...hopefully my confirmation students won't be handing in something like this...if so, I'm the worst teacher of confirmation students ever..."]]>
]]>
This would be really fun to do, but I bet it is a lot harder to do than it looks.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.]]>
If Apple did make this thing, I would so NOT buy it...
Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard]]>
I encourage everyone who has health insurance through the ELCA Board of Pensions to do this ASAP, so we all can save and earn some money. Thank you!
First Call Theological Education Nebraska Synod Folk:
Remember how Bishop deFreese told us that anyone on the ELCA Board of Pensions Health Plan who didn't take the 2008 Mayo Clinic Health Risk Assessment was a giant loser and should move to Central States Synod? Well, maybe he didn't say it exactly like that, but still....(Disclaimer: The addition of the move to the Central States Synod was a joke...learn to laugh, or bottle up all the anger and stress like I do...either way...) :-)
Now that 2009 is here, all of us first call pastors and our spouses (if they have health insurance through ELCA BOP) can take the 2009 Health Assessment online. This will earn you $100 personal wellness dollars for your personal wellness account (PWA).
There's also a big savings available to more than just you. The whole Synod can receive a discount as well.
Receiving the discount works the same as last year — each congregation and organization in our synod will receive a 2% discount on contributions once 75% of our eligible ELCA-primary plan members and spouses completes the health assessment.
If we achieve 75 percent health assessment participation by March 29 we’ll each receive a 2% discount for all of 2009; if we achieve it after March 29, we’ll earn the discount starting the month after we reach 75%. Needless to say, reaching the goal by March 29 will benefit us all the most.
The 2009 health assessment opens Jan. 1. If you have ELCA-primary health benefits, please plan to take 30 minutes Jan. 1 – March 29 to complete the assessment. If your spouse has ELCA-primary benefits, she or he should make plans too. It’s an act of stewardship for you and this church.
Want health assessment basics? Visit https://www.elcabop.org/UnderstandMyBenefits/Health/ELCAPrimary/HealthAssessment/Overview.aspx
You can log in to take the assessment at http://www.elcaforwellness.org
Please take the assessment now, or start packing your bags to move south. Thank you!
If you need help with the assessment, message me. If you need help moving, check and see if Travis Panning is available, since he is the chief defender of the Nebraska Synod southern border.
:-)]]>
I don't seem to really like those commercials.
]]>
Created by The Car Connection]]>
This week's teaser is so much fun that I thought I'd post it on FrontRowLutheran.com, and from now on, every week, I'll try and post each week's sermon teaser so that I have some fresh content on my blog on a weekly basis.
For Sunday, December 7, 2008: What does a panda have to do with the prophet Isaiah and John the baptizer? Come and join us for worship this Second Sunday of Advent, hear the prophets' call to "Prepare the way of the Lord," and discover a punctuative way to think about how you might welcome Jesus' arrival in your life this December.]]>
If you attend worship at an ELCA congregation that uses bulletin covers from Augsburg Fortress, you will notice that Immanuel was able to acquire advertising space for our soup dinner on your church bulletin this weekend. You will notice that Jesus is enjoying a tasty bowl of soup from Immanuel's soup dinner.
In case you do NOT use Augsburg's bulletin covers, here's what it looks like this weekend.
Jesus enjoying a bowl of soup from Immanuel's Soup Dinner
:-)]]>
Download/Print Off/Hang Up This Poster, and help Immanuel with its advertising campaign.
Learn more about Immanuel Lutheran Church in Madison, Nebraska.]]>
]]>
Dear FrontRowLutheran.com readers,
Did you know that premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death in the first month of life? It affects half a million babies a year in the United States. Those who survive may have lifelong health problems. And premature births are on the rise - up 30% since 1981.
That is why I am asking you to support my friend Rev. Alena Lamirato in the March of Dimes Jail & Bail. She is participating in their Jail & Bail fundraiser. If she doesn't raise $1000 before next week, she's going to have to go and sit in "jail" until she can make "bail." America's prison population is growing fast enough the way it is. We don't need to make it worse by having Alena sit in jail forever. :-) Besides, the people of Alma Lutheran Church in Mead, NE, just might need their pastor that day...ya never know.
Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman. In nearly half the cases, the causes are unknown. The March of Dimes is leading the way to find answers by supporting research into the causes of premature birth. Join in on the fight!
Your support helps fund:
-Research into stress and other factors that may trigger preterm labor.
-Programs to educate pregnant women to recognize the warning signs of preterm labor.
-Tools to help health care providers find better ways to detect women who may be at risk for preterm labor.
Please join in and help fight prematurity. Visit Alena's fundraising webpage and sign up as a sponsor in the Jail & Bail that saves babies!
Thank You!
You can donate to Alena's bail at http://jailandbail.marchofdimes.com/lamirato
March of Dimes Logo]]>
Unbeknown to be, (probably back when I was having feed problems several months ago) my trackable feedburner feed changed to a new URL. The old URL is still working, but I can't track subscribers and the like.
I would like to be able to track who's all subscribed to my blog if I could, so, if you wouldn't mind, do you think you could change the URL in your RSS feed reader for me?
If you would, please change your subscription to this feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/frontrowlutherancom
This is an addition of com at the end of the other feed.
For the rest of you who enjoy FrontRowLutheran.com in other ways, you shouldn't need to make any changes.
Thanks!]]>
From WJAG.com's news page....
DENVER (AP) - At least one official in Colorado is trying to lower expectations, saying don't expect final election results from the state today. A spokesman for the Denver Election Commission says processing paper and mail-in ballots takes time. He says the days of having "close to final results by 10 p.m. are over."]]>
The lady on the phone said, "Hold on. Let me check."
She then put me on hold for a moment, and then came back on the line and said, I kid you not,
"Is this a fiction book?"
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION!?!?!
AND THIS IS A CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE!!! ACK!
They have two in stock.
I'm going to go down and pick one up.]]>
Taco Bell Promotion]]>
Picture of November 2008 The Lutheran Cover
And then, in the midst of this 2008 election season, with political TV ads rotting my brain and the like, I couldn't help but think that this cover kinda looks like this...
Paradoxical Obama on Cover of The Lutheran
The ELCA Churchwide offices are in Chicago, Illinois....and Barack Obama is the junior Senator of that fine state. Conspiracy? Coincidence? Who knows?
:-)
Just stick with the plan. If you vote Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, we can have professional comedians running the White House, instead of Washington jokers.]]>
Immanuel Lutheran Church: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Back in January or February, one of the council members who had wanted to make it to the class that night but didn't had asked if what we had talked about would be made available somewhere else some other time. I said that I'd try and get it put up on YouTube as soon as I could.
Well, I guess October 3, 2008, was as soon as I could.
Here's the slides, but please note: what was true about "Today" in January 2008 is not necessarily the same in October 2008. Worship times, council members, and some other things may not be the same now as they were in January. So if you're wanting the most up-to-date information about Immanuel in the "Today" section, give me a holler, and I'll fill you in on what's the latest info.
Otherwise, enjoy the show!
]]>
During Apple's special event from a few weeks ago, when Steve Jobs unveiled new iPods and iTunes 8, there was a picture that he had up on the screen during his keynote that described how the new Genuis feature works.
While looking at the above picture, and realizing how the Genius feature actually works, I immediately thought to myself, "Isn't this how SkyNet gets developed in the Terminator storyline?"
I suppose it's just a matter of time before the millions of iPods around the world turn people into a bunch of metal skeletons who walk around, killing humans so that SkyNet a.k.a. the iTunes Music Store can rule the world.
Speaking of the Terminator storyline, I am not enthused that Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles are both on at the same time tonight. Oh well. Guess I'm going to have to fire up the DVR AND the VCR. The joys of fall television programming....]]>
Check out the full story over on AppleInsider.com
That's ironic and sad at the same time.]]>
from the Amazon Video-on-Demand Store to not only take your mind off the market's woes, but to also discover a potential profit-making scheme for you and your friends.**Note: FrontRowLutheran.com does not guarantee or recommend any sort of success in the potential profit-making scheme which the movie 21 details.
]]>
This workshop is designed for people of European American descent who wish to stand as allies with communities of color as they take a stand against racism. More detailed information including the conference letter, registration form, and the draft by-laws are attached.]]>
1-2-3 Contact! Three ways to receive ELCA World Hunger Resources
You are welcome to receive personal copies of the semi-annual ELCA World Hunger Resource Packets and/or the quarterly issues of LifeLines, the ELCA World Hunger newsletter. There are three ways to request your free copies:
1. Visit www.elca.org/hunger/contact and fill out the online form.
2. Fax or mail a 1-2-3 Contact! form (the fax number and address are on the form). Find a 1-2-3 Contact! form on the back of the cover sheet of World Hunger Resource Packets; a downloadable form is online at www.elca.org/hunger/contact; you can request copies to distribute by calling 800/328-4648 (AF order number 978-6-0002-2044-0; 1 pkg = 25 forms); or visit http://tinyurl.com/123ContactForm
3. Call 800/638-3522, ext. 2764, for personal assistance.
To receive a sample copy of the current World Hunger Resource Packet and issue of LifeLines, send an e-mail with your postal address to hunger@elca.org or call 800/638-3522, ext. 2764.]]>
OWH Headline
Upon reading the sentence next to the image, I immediately thought, "Some people also have concerns that Council Bluffs doesn't sufficiently reflect Iowans. So what?"
:-)
And then I realized it is a good thing that Jesus died for me and all of my sins.....and Council-tucky's, too.
:-)
ACK! I can't stop!]]>
Creepy Baby Jacob]]>
September 2, 2008
Lutheran Disaster Response in the Eye of 2008 Hurricane Season
08-151-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are responding in the aftermath of tropical storms and hurricanes, waiting to assess the damage of Hurricane Gustav and preparing for the remainder of the 2008 hurricane season. "We are in difficult days," said the Rev. Kevin A. Massey, director, Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR).
"It is important for us all to stay in close communication with each other, to remain deeply in prayer for the needs of people both already affected and potentially affected, and especially to consider giving to the work of Lutheran Disaster Response," he said. LDR is a collaborative ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Hurricane Gustav made landfall Sept. 1 on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. "We appreciate Bishop Michael Rinehart and the leadership of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod and Bishop Julian Gordy and the ELCA Southeastern Synod for the excellent job they are doing in responding to this disaster," Massey said. The synods have maintained communication with pastors and other church leaders who evacuated their homes, he said.
"The good thing about many people getting out and being evacuated is that they were safe. It will take some time, as they return slowly to their homes, for us to learn more and more about the needs of the people in the Gulf area," Massey said. "It may take many weeks before we are able to identify the ways that volunteers will be able to help."
"Whether tropical storms or hurricanes, we're seeing an incredible impact across the country," Massey said. "It is a reminder that we are all in this together. The whole country is
being affected and, as we've done before, we will all work together to respond."
Hurricane Dolly struck Texas on July 23. "We're still working in areas around there," Massey said.
"Tropical Storm Fay had a significant impact on parts of Florida," he said. "Lutheran Disaster Response Team Florida has been doing a great job responding with our partners in Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and the ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod. We've been helping coordinate production of flood buckets that people are able to use to help clean out their own homes."
"Areas of Florida are very wet, and there is standing water in many places," Massey said. "With the threat of additional storms, it is a very scary time."
Lutherans across the church are "very aware that many storms can affect us in the days and weeks to come," he said. "Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to be a hurricane when it will reach the eastern seaboard of the United States somewhere between Georgia and the Carolinas, possibly as early as this Friday. Tropical Storms Ike and Josephine are forming in the Atlantic."
"There is great leadership in all of our synods, and we appreciate the work they have already done in preparing," Massey said. LDR staff will continue to be in conversation with them this week, he said.
"We will seek to provide help and healing to people affected by these storms, and we ask for people to consider giving. Please visit ELCA.org/disaster for information about giving to
help people affected by these storms," Massey said.
-- -- --
Audio of comments by the Rev. Kevin A. Massey is at http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/080902a.mp3 and http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/080902b.mp3 on the ELCA Web site.
DOMESTIC DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds to aid survivors of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
P.O. Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via Internet: http://www.ELCA.org/disaster
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog]]>
And then realize that of course John McCain isn't going to remember how many houses he owns currently. That's because he's probably lived in tons of homes during the 200+ years he's been alive.
Don't bother grandpa while he's watching his stories. He gets confused easily. Remember? See the SNL digital short to refresh your own aging memory.
]]>
The audio of the video comes from a sermon by Dr. Shadrach Meshach (S.M.) Lockridge (March 7, 1913 – April 4, 2000), who was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, a prominent African-American congregation located in San Diego, California, from 1953 to 1993. He was known for his preaching across the United States and around the world. I had heard part of this audio before, but not in this remix video version.
]]>
Learn more at http://www.tourderevs.org]]>
I'm in search of the letter Y off of the Subway game pieces for the 2008 Summer/Fall Sweepstakes.
If you find a Y game piece and you don't have a use for it, take the Y, put it in a safe place, contact me, and then we'll go from there. If you have a legit Y game piece, and the code hasn't been punched into the website yet, I'll take your game piece and become your new best friend.
Good luck, and I look forward to hearing from you soon! :-)
Play Subway Scrabble]]>
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
]]>Study confirms 'Kevin Bacon' theory
Six Degress of separation is true! Well....Seven...
And for your Tremors/Kevin Bacon viewing enjoyment, check out this video:
]]>
Whereas McCain and Obama are just a couple of jokers.
]]>
]]>
He called the local extension office, which gave him a list of honey bee keepers, and he called down the list, and someone showed up with a box and got a bunch of free bees. Lucky keeper.
]]>
Those poor boys...they didn't even see it coming...]]>
The info on this video from YouTube says: They say it's from 1993 Miss Douglas County Arizona, for the Arizona State Beauty Pageant.]]>
Priest Floating Away
Both probably ended up in heaven. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Read the news story here.]]>
I'm thinking about changing to WordPress (a different kind of blogging software), but sadly, from what I can tell, there's no easy migration plan between Nucleus and WordPress (that means I wouldn't be able to easily put all of my old posts into the "new" blog).
I've liked Nucleus for the most part, but lately, I've heard that other people are getting the following error:
------
Connect Error
Could not connect to MySQL database.
------
I get the error, too, and it's no fun.
Hmmm....looks like I'm going to have to work on this another day.
]]>
So if, for some reason, FrontRowLutheran.com goes down, well....now you know why. It'll be because I unintentionally messed something up.
:-)
]]>
The winner is Benjamin J. Ahles-Iverson, who is a senior at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.
Above: Ben's Facebook Picture
As the winner, Ben has earned exclusive bragging rights for winning The 2008 Lutheran Pool sponsored by FrontRowLutheran.com, and he also earned this shout-out post here on FrontRowLutheran.com.
And here is what Ben would like to shout-out to everyone. Ben writes:
First, I would like to shout out a big ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!!!!!!
Every time I watch the Chalmers shot, I'm amazed that it still goes in. I probably could watch the game again and still be as excited as the first time I watched it.
I was sure I was going to be heart broken yet again this year. Davidson looked like they might do it. North Carolina looked like they might do it. And Memphis should have done it. BUT!!!! Kansas had to beat two No. 1 seeds in the tournament - a tournament for the ages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again, congratulations to Ben, and thank you to everyone who played!]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
You can also download the bulletin from Maxine's Memorial Service here.
The Scripture readings for the day were: Psalm 73:26 Psalm 91; Mark 8:34-37. It would be best if you'd read them first.
The sermon starts below.
Today we have gathered here in Immanuel’s sanctuary in the presence of God to continue to grief the loss, yet also to give thanks to God for the life of Maxine Bals. Each one of us has come here today with a variety of memories and stories about Maxine. We bring memories and stories which we’ve shared with one another the past several days, stories which help all of us remember those things which were unique to Maxine and made her who she was.
As Maxine’s pastor, I have only a glimpse into her life, as I only knew her over the past few years. What I knew about her, as we would visit about different things, were some generalities, and also some specifics. I knew that she loved country music, but I couldn’t tell you what her favorite song was. I knew that she had a fairly big family, with lots of grandkids and great-grandchildren, and that she did her best to keep track of all of them, because she loved them dearly. I knew she went down to Columbus to the horse track to try her luck a few times, and that she enjoyed being able to get out and be active when her health and energy allowed her to do so. I knew that, while we were visiting, there would be at least a few times over the course of a visit when she’d change a story she was telling ever so slightly in order to turn what she was talking about into something funny, and then she’d get this sly smile across her face as I’d be laughing at what she just said. I remember that happening a lot over the past few years, but for some reason, I can only remember one specific example of that today. And that example comes from when she was in the hospital a little over a week ago, on Palm Sunday, and I was called to come over and visit with her and the family gathered around. She was talking about what had happened to her, and she said something like, “The nurse couldn’t find a vein to get the IV started, so they had to call in the Air Force.” I had to ask her, “What? The Air Force?” “Yes,” she replied. “They had to call in the helicopter crew to put in the IV.” You know, it was just subtle changes like that, that she would make in her conversations with me, that would bring a smile to my face, and it’d bring a smile to hers, too.
There were also several things that she said or did that made me know that her faith in the Triune God was important to her. When she had some more energy, and was able to get out of the house more frequently, she’d be here on Sunday mornings for worship, and she was so glad that she was able to come and hear God’s Word and to know God’s love and forgiveness for her and for everyone. And whenever she had a new great-grand-baby, she’d tell me, “I’ve got another new great-grandbaby that we need to get baptized. Will you be able to do that?” Her faith was important to her, and she wanted it to be important to everyone in her family, from the oldest, to the youngest. Maxine prayed for her family and for other things in her life every night. She told me that she had to pray every night, otherwise she couldn’t fall asleep. She admitted that, on some nights, she fell asleep while she was praying, and she said that she felt kinda bad for not holding up her side of the conversation with God on those nights, but I told her that that was okay, and that was just God giving her the rest that she needed, and that God was glad to hear what she did pray for, and that God knew the rest of the details, even if she didn’t get them prayed. Prayer was important to Maxine, and so was Holy Communion. When she was at home and didn’t quite have the energy to make it over to church the past few months, she gave me a call to have me come and visit her, and she also made a point to say, “I’d be nice if you would bring communion, too.” In the bread and wine of our Lord’s Supper, Maxine knew that her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loves her and loves the entire world so much that Jesus gave up his body and his blood on the cross so that all of our sins would be forgiven, and so that we might live in the presence of the Triune God forever, both in this life, and in the life to come.
These are some of the memories of Maxine that I bring today. You all bring many stories about Maxine with you today, and you also bring memories and emotions that you will never really be able to truly share, because you hold them from the unique position of the relationship you had with Maxine. You hold memories of her as wife, mom, grandma, great-grandma, sister, aunt, neighbor, friend, or fellow follower of Christ. The feelings that you have for Maxine in those relationships are feelings that are unique to you, feelings that might never be fully expressed in words. Today, we all come with a variety of feelings. Some of these feelings we are able to talk about, and some are so overwhelming that we are at a complete loss for words and have only sighs and tears left to express how we truly feel at the loss of Maxine.
The strongest feelings from this past week that still are with us today have been sadness, loss, and sorrow. None of us were wanting Maxine to die any time soon. There were still so many things for her to live for. She had wanted to live to the nice round age of 80. Bob and her were going to be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next Thursday, on April 3. Her family is still growing, as more great-grandbabies are on the way. Her chemo treatments had seemed to be treating her cancer as well as expected. (Sigh)...Why, why, why? Why did she have to die now, Lord? Why did she die now, when it just doesn’t seem like the right time to us? Maxine’s son Bobbie said it like it was Wednesday night at the hospital, when we had a feeling things were turning for the worse. He said, “This sucks.” He hit the nail right on the head. It is one of the worst feelings, if not the worst feeling in the world, to watch someone you love die.
“The wages of sin is death,” the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Romans, at the end of the 6th chapter. When humans sin, what we earn is death. What is sin? Sin is actions that lead to brokeness, especially actions that lead to a broken relationship with God, and broken relationships with others. As Maxine’s daughter Gail said a few times this past week, “It’s all Adam and Eve’s fault.” It’s true, the first humans sinned, when they did what God told them not to do, but you know what? You and I, these many thousands of years later, we sin, too. We sin, both knowingly and unknowingly. It’s part of the human condition. Not that we should use that as an excuse to keep on sinning, to keep on breaking relationships with God and with others. We shouldn’t sin, because our Lord Jesus calls us to live a sinless life, but time and time again, no matter how hard we try, we fail to live that sinless life. Once human sin entered into God’s creation, it’s like a drop of food coloring fell into a crystal clear glass of water. When you put a drop of food coloring into a clear glass of water, eventually, the whole glass turns that shade of color. Sin is pervasive in our world, it’s all around us, even if we ourselves try our hardest not to sin. Sin breaks relationships, and that brokeness leads to our death. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul writes.
But Paul doesn’t stop there. The whole sentence reads like this. Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is hope for Maxine, even though she has died. There is hope for us, in our grief now, and for when we will die someday, too. There is hope, because we have been given a promise from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We who follow and trust in Jesus Christ have the promise of the grace of God. God’s grace is a free gift. We can’t buy God’s grace or earn it or do good deeds for it. God’s grace comes to us in Jesus Christ while we are still sinners, and that grace forgives all our sins and grants us eternal life. God acts first, by coming into this world in our human flesh in Jesus Christ, showering us with God’s grace and love, and what we do, is we respond to that love. We believe in God’s love, and trust in it, because time and time again, throughout history, God has revealed Himself as worthy of our trust.
Psalm 91, which you heard me read here today, is a beautiful Psalm which tells us and tells the world why it is good to trust in God. God is our refuge and fortress. God delivers us from snares and deadly pestilence. God covers us with his wings, and under those wings, we find refuge.
Maxine reflected this particular attitude and way of God in her own life. The Psalm talks about God as having wings of protection. Maxine had these kind of wings, too. I know that her daughter Deb, and others of you, too, have described Maxine as a mother hen, who would gather her family close to her and take care of you, to protect you and steer you down paths that she knew were God’s ways. She’d try to gather you to trust in the Lord, because even though life gets rough and bad things may happen to us, the Lord is where we find our refuge and strength. God ensures that, in the end, we will not be left alone. The end of Psalm 91 tells us that the Lord says, “Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.”
We need God’s salvation because we need to be saved from sin, death, and the devil. We need to be saved from brokeness and restored to wholeness. Jesus Christ is the one who does this. Jesus came into the world to teach us how to live, and he came to show us that God loves us so very much. God the Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son into this world, so that we might see how far God will go to save us and get us turned back to him. Jesus came, and died one of the most horrible deaths that a person can die. He came and died on a cross. On the cross, Jesus dies for us and with us so that we might never die alone.
I have preached that sentence many times in my life, that Jesus dies for us and with us so that we might never die alone, but only once in my life, so far, have I actually seen something with my own eyes that reveals the truth of that sentence. And what I saw, happened last Friday. Because last Friday was Good Friday, the day we solemnly celebrate the fact that Jesus died for us and for the sins of the world. “Jesus dies for us and with us so that we might never die alone.” Wouldn’t you know it? Maxine died about 3:20 p.m. on Friday, about 20 minutes after Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels tell us that Jesus died on that Good Friday long ago. Do you see the connection? On the day that Maxine died, the whole church recognizes that Jesus died. Jesus died for Maxine and with Maxine, so that she would never die alone.
The gospel lesson that we heard today isn’t a “normal” gospel lesson you’d hear at a funeral service. Usually, we hear something from the Gospel of John. Sometimes we hear where Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” That’s a good verse to hear Jesus say to us when we’re grieving the loss of a loved one. Another “usual” gospel lesson you might hear at a memorial service is when Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going, because I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” Again, those are good verses to hear when we are mourning the death of a loved one.
But today, with the help of some family members, we’ve chosen to listen to something a little different. We’ve chosen to listen to Jesus tell us a little more clearly about the Way that Jesus walks, and the Way that Jesus calls us to follow. Jesus calls us, together with the crowd and his disciples, and he lays it all out there for us. He says, “If anyone wants to become my follower, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow me. If you want to save your life all by yourself, you are going to lose it. But if you lose your life for me––Jesus, and if you lose your life for the sake of the good news of God, then THAT’S when you are going to save it. What’s it going to profit you to gain the whole world and all the stuff that is in it, if you are going to lose your life? Indeed, what can you give in return for your life?”
In these verses, we hear Jesus telling his disciples and telling us what it means to follow him. It isn't going to be an easy walk in the park. It's going to be tough. From what I've gathered from listening to all of you the past week, things weren't always easy for Maxine or your family. Things got tough, especially as Maxine battled cancer over the years, and when Carol died, and probably a lot of other tough things, too. Maxine took up her cross and she carried these burdens as she followed Jesus and kept her faith in God. And as she did that, often times, Deb said that she gave up things she could have done for herself. She made sacrifices so that her family members could have some good things in life. She gave up things in her life for you all, and in doing so, she shared the good news of the love of God in Jesus Christ with you, even if she didn't ever say it in that kind of way. Did Maxine build up a massive amount of wealth to serve her own needs? No. But she did built up a family full of people for God, and she tried her best to kept them together, and she tried her best to love them, so that they might love one another with Christ's love. What could Maxine give in return for her life? Nothing. Everything we have is given to us from God out of grace, entrusted to us to care for and to love while we are here, and after we leave this earth, it's for someone else to care for. Grace is something God gives freely out of love, and it is never given because we earned it or deserve it. It's given because God loves us so very much. God loves Maxine, and God loves us. In her death, God gives Maxine the grace of eternal life, and we, too, look forward to that gift when we will die and we will see God, and we will see our loved ones face-to-face once again.
We don’t rush to our death in order for these things to happen. We continue to live our lives, trusting in God, because God has given us our lives out of love, and God wants nothing more for us than for us to live an abundant life. God is a lover of life. God does not love death. If God the Father didn’t despise death, he wouldn’t have sent Jesus to battle and defeat death on the cross for us. God defeats death, and God loves us so much that he offers eternal life to Maxine and to all of us who follow and believe in Jesus.
In the midst of our grief, we know the joy of God. We know that God loves us and God loves Maxine. We know that God gives Maxine eternal life, and God will grant us eternal life. As it says in Psalm 73, verse 26, which is on the front of our worship bulletins, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” Although her flesh and her heart may have failed, Maxine trusted in the promise and love of God to the end, and now, she’s as free as the dove on the front of our bulletins. No more cancer, no more pain, no more suffering. She’s free to be with Jesus, in the heavenly courts of God. We’re going to miss her, but we know that she’s safe in the gracious and loving arms of God. For this, we give you thanks, Gracious Father, as we continue to pray to you, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
The texts for this service were: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10. It would be best if you'd read them first.
This sermon relies heavily upon a sermon found at http://www.lectionarysermons.com/march=31_02.htm
The sermon starts below.
There are moments in all of our lives that are frozen in time and frozen in our memories. They can be good moments, and bad moments. Moments of overwhelming joy, and moments of profound grief. These frozen moments are locked in our hearts and our minds because of the impact they’ve made, and that impact holds a kind of power in our lives. It takes just a moment or two to flip of a switch in your brain, and suddenly, you can find yourself reliving one of those moments. Can you remember, and relive it? Let’s find out. Do you remember your first kiss? How about a wedding you went to? Maybe your own wedding? Do you remember that look on the doctor's face, that one time? How about the day a child was born? Or that time when that one really bad storm came sweeping over the plains? How about that time when you had to pack up all your stuff and move? Or that time when you lost a person you loved?
All of these are moments which are locked in place, and in some sense, time stops when these frozen moments are called to mind. The most dramatic of them all, are those moments of life and death that make up the greatest, most wonderful events, and the worst, most devastating events of our living. "Defining moments” some folks might call them. As we gather here at Immanuel on this Easter Sunday, we celebrate the single most important defining moment of our Christian faith - the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without this moment, none of the other defining moments of our lives would ever make sense.
The moment of Christ’s resurrection was one of the frozen moments in the lives of Mary Magdalene and the woman that Matthew’s gospel calls, "the other Mary."
On that Sunday, many years ago, Mary Magdalene woke up for the second time, since that horrible Friday, to the chilling reality of a world without Jesus, the One who had completely changed her life. That moment on Friday, as Matthew’s gospel tells us, when Jesus hung on the cross and called out to a dark sky, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!"... that moment was forever etched in her mind. He had been so full of life, energy and stunning healing power - she herself had experienced all of that the day Jesus had set her free from years of emotional anguish and turmoil - and now suddenly her whole new world and new life was gone.
He had given her a new life and promised those who followed him a new life, but now that terrible image of his lifeless body on a Roman cross is frozen in her mind. Friday night, Sabbath and the evening before the first day of the week dragged on moment by moment, and the grief lingered without relief.
Much of that time was spent at Jesus' graveside. Just a few verses before our gospel reading begins, Matthew writes, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb." We might call it a wake, or a visitation, but with nothing else to do and the light of their lives extinguished, they sat across from the tomb, watching the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea carefully lay Jesus' body in the rock-hewn tomb.
A numb fog-like spirit surrounded these women who were always in the background of Jesus’ public life. This was the only way they knew to stay close to him. Drawn by love, they sat there in that strange silent period that comes to all of us when someone we love so very much is taken from us. We wait, not sure why, but we wait -- unable to go back to what was, and not sure how to move forward into what will be.
Frozen moments. We seen them over and over, just like everyone else throughout history. A crowd gathers on a sidewalk outside of a New York apartment in the days following the murder of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. For countless hours, crowds stood holding candles, weeping and standing in that emotional fog we know so well.
Similar crowds stood all over America in the days following President John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963.
Crowds still gather in that foggy state on the sidewalks of New York City, looking toward that place where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood. The sense of shock and unbelief that filled the hearts and minds of millions all over the world as the Twin Towers came crashing to the ground on September 11, 2001, may qualify as the single most frozen moment in our contemporary world.
Perhaps this comes closest to what Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were feeling as they sat "across from the tomb."
Then there is another moment that changed Mary's Magdalene's life and the lives of countless millions since the day it happened. The scene is riveting! We heard Matthew’s description of it minutes ago. John C. Purdy recaptures the scene in his book of reflections, God With a Human Face. [Westminster/John Knox, 1993]
Purdy writes: Cecil B. DeMille couldn’t have dreamed up anything more stunning. (It was literally stunning for the men who were guarding the tomb.) There was an earthquake, caused by something like a sonic boom. An angel in shining raiment came plunging down out of the sky like a stealth fighter; he rolled back the tombstone and sat on it. The men who were guarding the tomb were scared to death - or at least so frightened that they passed out and lay like dead men. So dazzling was the heavenly messenger that it was reported - presumably by the women - that he flashed like lightning. One can only guess at the timbre and resonance of his voice. Charlton Heston and James Earl Jones, eat your hearts out! That’s what Mr. Purdy writes.
Mary Magdalene and the "other" Mary came back to revisit their grief early on that first Easter Morning, having perhaps slept a few moments here and there between those crashing waves of shock and unbelief. And then, another frozen moment happens, a defining moment when joy cuts through their rock hard grief like a red-hot poker through a block of ice! The words are of the variety that stop you dead in your tracks, and bring your hectic life agenda to a screeching halt. Words like: "You're hired!" "Yes, I’ll marry you!" "Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant!" "You're biopsy came back negative!"
These words that the angel says on this day are forever engraved on the hearts and soul of every person who has ever embraced the name of Jesus Christ since they were first spoken. These words are, “He is not here, for He has been raised...”
This changes everything!
From the hopeless fog that descended upon the earliest followers of Jesus Christ, to the stunned victims of the world’s worst tragedies - these words change everything. "He is not here, for he has been raised!"
No matter how long the road or dark the way, the Easter faith proclaims hope in the face of despair, light in the midst of darkness, joy in the night of sorrow and most of all... life in a glorious victory over death!
It is difficult to wrap our minds around the impact these words must have had on the two Mary's. Into the early dawn, when light was just beginning to disperse the shadows around the tomb, it is as though an explosion went off in front of them!
"Do not be afraid," an angel's voice cries out.
Yeah, right! I get startled when I’m concentrating on something in the quiet, and someone sneaks up on me and says something like, “Hey, what are you doing?” It happened to me twice yesterday. My heart skipped a bit, and maybe the same thing happens to you, too.
But a brilliant angel from heaven bursting into a grief laden, sleepy early morning visit to a graveside - now that's a frightening experience. Then the emotional roller coaster continues to jar them as the words are then spoken, "He is not here, for he has been raised!"
With those words, that first dawning of Easter day brought a hopeful light that dispelled the awful darkness of death for all time and eternity!
***
But on this Easter Sunday, there are three unlikely words that also seek to grab our attention. On the surface, they pale in comparison to the amazing words which announced Jesus' resurrection. The angel’s words certainly are the core of our gospel story this morning, and the core of our faith. But there are some other words that bring hope to you and to me and to every person who has ever felt very small in a universe of famous and important people.
Let these three words sink in for a moment: “The other Mary!”
Easter is filled with all kinds of glorious phrases and songs and prayers. We sing, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today! Alleluia!" Millions of Christians will join in the Easter Acclamation. "Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!" and the response comes back, "He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" And Matthew’s gospel proclaims, "He is not here, for he has been raised!"
But these three other words are the words that speak with a special meaning today. "The other Mary..."
Do you remember hearing them in the gospel reading today? Let’s hear these words once again in their context, "After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb."
At the tomb was, of course, Mary Magdalene, we all know. But who else came to the tomb to hear the earth-shaking, life-changing words of the angel? Was it Peter, Chief of the Apostles? Was it the Roman Emperor, or at least a Centurion? How about the Wise Men from the East? Maybe they would be the proper audience for the first announcement of God's stunning victory over death.
But it wasn’t any of them, was it? No... it wasn’t the rich or the powerful or the famous who were chosen to hear the words. It was two women who had faithfully followed and ministered to Jesus. It was Mary Magdalene, and most amazing of all -- "the other Mary."
Have you ever been the other Mary? There is the second century Christian apologist Justin Martyr and pop singer Justin Timberlake and Gumbo-cooking expert Justin Wilson. All of those Justin’s are pretty famous. And then there’s me, "the other Justin." The absolute majority of us will never even make a footnote in history. Have you ever felt like the "other" Mary or the "other" Justin, or Elizabeth, or William?
And yet, there we are, the others, right at the center of the most incredible moment of all time!
There we are when God shows up and turns the world inside out and upside down in a way that changes everything for everybody. We others are there, and the angel’s message is for us, too. “He is not here, for he has been raised..."
No matter who you are, where you've been, what your station in life is, or how life has been for you, the glorious truth of this Easter celebration of the victory of life over death is for you! It is for "the other Mary," and for you and for me! Thanks be to God! “He is not here, for he has been raised..." The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
In 2008, Immanuel focused on the theme The Body of Christ on evenings during Lent. This morning's sermon is on the risen body of Christ.
The texts for the day were: Jeremiah 31:1-6; Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18. It would be best if you'd read them first.
Please note: the original text of this sermon was written by Harlan Kaden for The Body of Christ, by Creative Communications for the Parish, and the copyright belongs to them. I have edited the original sermon to the context of my local congregation.
The sermon starts below.
Over at Immanuel, during the season of Lent, our Mid-Week evening Lenten Services, along with our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, focused on the theme of the Body of Christ. We have looked at the feet of Christ, the hands of Christ, his mouth, his ears, his eyes, heart, blood–the body of Christ–these parts and the whole body of Christ are a source of blessing for all with whom he came into contact.
With his feet he walked from one village to another, so that his hands could touch and heal. His mouth continually announced the forgiveness of sins, and it preached that the kingdom of God was near, and it proclaimed the love of a gracious parental God. His ears were tuned to hear cries for mercy from others, and his eyes were open to see their misery. His heart, full of compassion and love, again and again prompted him to use the power of God to heal and comfort people with the forgiveness of their sins, even to the point of raising the dead! Christ used the full capacity of his body to bring God’s love and God’s kingdom into the world.
In a simple and basic way to describe and show his love for us, at the last supper, Jesus gave his body for food and his blood for drink as he passed the bread and wine around the table.
Then he gave his body to be broken and crucified, and his blood to be poured out upon the cross.
And when he died, the body of Christ was buried, laid in a stone grave, sealed in a tomb with a great rock.
It was this same lifeless body of Christ which Mary Magdalene was seeking when she went to the tomb early that Sunday morning.
But she didn’t FIND the lifeless body of Christ in the tomb! She was mentally ready to finish preparing the body of her Lord and Master for burial. Where was it? What was she to do? She ran and got Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. Maybe they’d be able to help. They ran and came and looked, but strangely, John’s gospel tells us, that’s about all that happened. After all that, they went home, because they didn’t yet understand the scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead. The two men went home.
But Mary stayed. She stayed, and found out something amazing. She found out that the body of Christ has risen! The body of Christ is resurrected to eternal life.
This resurrected body isn’t a nebulous, hazy, ghost sort of body. It’s real, because Mary was able to grab onto him as she tried to not let him go. And later that day, in John’s gospel, Jesus goes and meets the disciples and greets them. And he offers them his pierced hands and side. Even Thomas, a week later, gets to see and touch Christ’s very real hands with very real nail holes in them. All of the disciples fell at Jesus’ feet in wonder as they met their risen Lord.
Those same feet of Christ, once washed by the tears of a sinful woman, were again embraced by his friends. They heard the gracious words of his mouth, and he even ate in their presence.
It is true that his body may have been changed in some way. Glorified, some might call it. More real, would be another way to describe it.
More solid than our world, maybe, for he walked through the walls behind which the disciples used to hide in fear. He stepped through those solid walls as we might step through a curtain of fog. The risen body of Christ is more permanent than the clouds of atoms and electrons which we call reality.
His body was changed to a glorious, immortal body. And because he lives, we shall live also! We are followers of Christ. Most, if not all of us, have been baptized into Christ. And since we are in Christ, we, too, shall have better, eternal bodies, when we die and are raised.
This is the good news for the day of our own death: that we will live eternally in God’s kingdom because of the gracious, free gift of faith given to each of us.
But there is also good news for today, right here and now.
I think we can get at this good news by asking the question, “Where is the body of Christ now? Where is the body of Christ today?” We know that Jesus is no longer walking the dusty roads of Palestine and preaching and healing, for he was crucified and buried nearly 2000 years ago. We know the body of Christ is no longer in the tomb, either, for Mary Magdalene met the risen Christ in the garden, as this stain glass window will show us when the sun comes up this morning. And Jesus also appeared to many disciples when he was resurrected. So where is the body of Christ now?
One answer to that question would be that it is in the kingdom of God, in heaven. The book of Acts, chapter 1, verse 9, says that Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of the disciples’ sight. So certainly the body of Christ is in heaven, right? But there is another answer, too.
This morning, as we’ve gathered together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ here at the Madison Community Easter Sunrise Service, we’ve come to an empty tomb. This building used to house the group of people that called themselves the United Presbyterian Church in Madison. Today, that church no longer exists. Because remember, a church is what is left after the building burns down. Church is people. Church is never a building. Church is people. Sure, the group of people known as the church can own and maintain a building, but never is a church strictly a building.
So, in my opinion, where we’ve gathered here today, for the most part, is an empty tomb. It sits empty most of the time on most weeks. And in this empty tomb, this morning, we find and proclaim something amazing. We find and proclaim that the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
That’s right. Even though we gather here in an empty tomb, the amazing thing is, he is risen indeed! Alleluia! As I peer through my early morning eyes, wondering if I really am awake, I find an answer to the question, “Where is the body of Christ now?”
The Body of Christ is right here. The Body of Christ is in fact, gathered and seated in these very pews! YOU are the body of Christ!
As the feet of Christ, you walk into hospital rooms to bring the presence of God to people in need. You go to people where they are at, and through befriending them, you share the love of Christ with them. You walk into the homes of the elderly and shut-ins to bring the presence of Jesus Christ to their loneliness. You are the Body of Christ.
You are the hands of Christ, as you lay your hands upon the sick; you touch them with love and pray for them. You shake others’ hands, and pull them into your conversations, as you stick a cup of coffee or something else to drink in their hands. You are the body of Christ!
You are the mouth of Christ, when you speak love, gentleness, and God’s mercy to the brokenhearted and grieving. You announce forgiveness and reconciliation to those who feel the guilt of their sins and their broken ways. You are the body of Christ!
You are the ears of Christ, when you hear the cries of the sad and weary, and you respond to them. You listen patiently, for many need to express their pain, frustrations, and exhaustion. You hear them with the love of Jesus, because you are the body of Christ.
You are the eyes of Christ, when you see the weak and powerless as they suffer injustice and you become their ally and speak up for them and help them, just as Christ has become our advocate before the Father. You are the Body of Christ!
You are the heart of Christ, because the love you have is the very love of God moving inside of you. And that love causes you to contribute generously–you give money, you give hours of labor, you share great talents and abilities for the work of Christ. It is the very heart of Christ which compels you to do such acts of compassion here in Madison and in northeast Nebraska and around the world.
You, truly, are the risen body of Christ!
As members of the Body of Christ, we must take care of one another. That is why we come together here. Only when we are all here, is the body of Christ complete. If any one of you is not here, we are not whole. Then one of the members of Christ is cut off from the body.
When we are all here, we draw strength from one another. We also draw strength from the Word, the good news of forgiveness which gives life to our body in Christ. And although we are not celebrating them here together today, we draw strength from Baptism and from Communion. Baptism gives birth to new members of Christ’s Church, and Communion sustains us with the body and blood of Jesus, who is our Lord and our Head.
We need this sustenance to keep our body united, and to have the strength day after day to be the Body of Christ, bringing God’s love into our world.
That is why we gather week after week in our various buildings around town, so we can keep on being the feet of Christ, the hands of Christ, the mouth, ears, eyes, and heart of Christ. That’s the good news for today! We get to be the flesh-and-blood body of God’s eternal love here in the world! And the good news for eternity is that we shall live with him forever, for in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 15, Paul writes, “Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
Download a PDF version here.
]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
In 2008, Immanuel is focusing on the theme The Body of Christ on evenings during Lent. Tonight's sermon is on the body of Christ.
The texts for the day were: Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Colossians 1:15-20; John 18:1–19:42. It would be best if you'd read them first.
Please note: the original text of this sermon was written by Harlan Kaden for The Body of Christ, by Creative Communications for the Parish, and the copyright belongs to them. I have edited the original sermon to the context of my local congregation.
The sermon starts below.
The body of Christ must have been a remarkably healthy body. It is hard to imagine a person who could heal the sick, give sight to the blind, open the ears of the deaf, make the lame walk and even raise the dead to life, as having anything less than a perfectly healthy body himself. In the gospels, we read about Jesus walking all around the lands of Galilee, the Decapolis, Judea, Samaria. The landscape of that part of the Middle East is quite hilly, so as Jesus walked around and did his ministry, he most certainly got a work-out. Almost everything he did would have required a physically fit body.
Yet, on the night of his betrayal, his health had already been exposed to stress even before the first of several trials.
When Jesus was praying in the garden, some ancient manuscripts of the gospel of Luke include these words: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.”
It seems almost impossible that a person would be able to sweat blood. But an article released 22 years ago today, in the March 21, 1986, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” states that bloody sweat or hematidrosis may occur in highly emotional states.
Jesus was then arrested and brought to trial. Here is when the abuse of the body of Christ began. He was first taken before the Sanhedrin, and was found guilty of blasphemy. Mark’s gospel tells us how the guards blindfolded Jesus, spat on him, and struck him in the face with their fists, mocking him the entire time.
Since the Jewish leaders needed Roman permission for an execution, he was put on trial before Pilate, the Roman authority in the region. Before permission to crucify him was granted, Jesus was first scourged, or flogged.
In considering the suffering of the body of Jesus, it seems to me like it has only been within the past few years that there has been a renewed understanding of the suffering that Jesus went through when he was flogged. The account passes by so quickly when we are reading the gospel story: Tonight, in John chapter 19 verse 1, I read, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.” But the ordeal of flogging wouldn’t have happened as quickly for Jesus.
Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women, Roman senators, and soldiers were exempt. The usual instrument used to flog someone was a short whip called a flagrum or a flagellum with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls and nails or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. The back, buttocks, and legs of a man were normally flogged by two soldiers called lictors. As the condemned was repeatedly struck, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and nails and sheep bones would cut into the skin and underlying tissues. This brutal attack would often leave the back of the accused as a mass of quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. And we think that the violence we see on television or in the movies is a modern-day invention. If only that were true.
Telling you what happens to a man when he is flogged wasn’t told to offend you, but it helps us to meditate on our reading from Isaiah tonight. Isaiah writes, “by his stripes we are healed.” Knowing what happens when Jesus was flogged helps us realizes the severity of his stripes, those stripes on his back which lead to our healing.
Jesus was then mocked by the Roman soldiers. The body of Christ was subjected to further indignities. They placed a robe on his shoulders, and a crown of thorns on his head. My guess would be that they didn’t do that very lovingly. They probably pulled that robe down on his shoulders, and rubbed it into his wounds. And they probably shoved that crown of thorns onto his head, not caring how hard it would dig into his scalp. And they spat on the body of Christ. And they struck him on the head with a reed they had placed in his hand, which was to serve as a mock scepter of a king.
Again, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, with the scourging, the pain, and significant blood loss, the body of Christ was probably already in a pre-shock state. Considering the lack of food, water, and sleep, he would have already been in a weakened state. Even before the crucifixion, the physical condition of Jesus was at the least serious, and quite possibly critical.
Next came the procession to the crucifixion site. He was forced to carry the cross bar of his own cross. Its weight would normally have been 75 to 100 pounds. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus carries his cross by himself. The other gospels tell us that Simon of Cyrene was coerced into helping Jesus carry his cross.
Once they reached Golgotha, the body of Christ was then thrown to the ground, which either reopened the wounds of his flogging, or rubbed dirt into the wounds. His hands were then nailed to the cross beam. Evidence today shows us that most people, when they were crucified, had the nails driven through their forearms or wrists, since this would ensure that the person wouldn’t fall of the cross. But there would be times when those who did the crucifying would take liberties in how they would administer the punishment. Since John’s gospel tells us that Jesus’ hands were pierced, perhaps the executioner that day wanted to inflict even more humiliation on Jesus, so perhaps he put the nails in the palms of his hands instead. Either way, Jesus’ arms were stretched wide open as the cross bar was then hoisted up unto the upright. And then his feet were nailed to the upright.
In this position the length of survival for victims of crucifixion might vary from a few hours up to several days. The process of crucifixion interferes with normal breathing. With the weight of the body hanging on the arms, it is necessary to lift the body with the legs to draw a breath. Each respiration requires an agonizing and tiring effort, which leads eventually to exhaustion and asphyxia. This, coupled with the loss of blood, finally led to death.
Even after his death, the body of Christ was subject to abuse. A spear was thrust into his side, piercing his lung and heart. Blood and water flowed from the wound.
On this Good Friday, we take the time to visualize vividly the things Christ suffering in his body–not to make ourselves feel more guilty, but that we might feel more grateful. He bore our sins in his body on the cross. But there is no need to feel guilty for that. After all, he did it voluntarily, for us. In John’s Gospel, that’s what Jesus comes to do. It’s the plan, the entire time. As they would tell us during our first year of seminary, Jesus was never plan B. Jesus comes and suffers for us because God loves us so much. Jesus’ death on the cross shows us just how far God is willing to go to get us turned back to God. God loves us through sin and death, so much so, that God will take on our sin and die with us and for us so that we never have to die alone. Are we to feel remorse that Jesus died a brutal death for us on the cross? No, rather, we are to feel gratitude and deep devotion.
The body of Christ lifted up on the cross draws all hearts to itself.
Finally, Joseph of Arimathea comes before Pilate, asks, and is given permission to take Jesus’ lifeless body and prepare it for burial. The body of Christ is removed from the cross. Jesus is taken down from his throne, where it was announced to the world that he is “Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.”
As John tells the story, we hear that Jesus’ mother Mary stood by and watched as her son had died on the cross. Parents who have grieved the death of their own children will understand how Mary’s soul was pierced by a spear, too. Try as she might, her love could not make Jesus alive again. No amount of love from all of the people gathered around the body of Christ could reverse the reality of his death. Only the love and power of God could do that.
The body of Christ was carried to a carved rock tomb, wrapped in a linen shroud, laid-out on the cold stone slab, and sealed inside with a large stone.
The body of Christ, with all of its marvelous members and wonderful attributes, lay still! The feet of Christ...the hands of Christ...the mouth, the ears, the eyes of Christ....the heart and blood of Christ....the whole body of Christ....was dead!
The stillness of death, final and complete, was all that now surrounded the sacred body of Christ.
We are left tonight to contemplate the utter desolation of the apostles, the women, and the other followers of Jesus. For our faith to grow, we need to also experience their dejection as we wonder with them:
Why didn’t Jesus save himself? Why should he let the finality of death destroy the love and the joy he so freely gave to all? Why was he always saying, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand”?
And especially after considering the truly awful aspects of the crucifixion of his own body, why would he tell us, “If any would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”?
There are many questions to ask, and many statements of Jesus to ponder. Perhaps, most of all, we should think about what he meant when he said something else about his body. What do you think Jesus meant, when he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up”?
Download a PDF version of this sermon.
]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
In 2008, Immanuel is focusing on the theme The Body of Christ on evenings during Lent. Tonight's sermon is on the blood of Christ.
The texts for the day were: Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-35. It would be best if you'd read them first.
Please note: the original text of this sermon was written by Harlan Kaden for The Body of Christ, by Creative Communications for the Parish, and the copyright belongs to them. I have edited the original sermon to the context of my local congregation.
The sermon starts below.
On Wednesdays throughout the season of Lent this year, we’ve looked at different parts of the Body of Christ. We’ve looked at Christ’s feet, hands, mouth, ears, eyes, and heart. Tonight, as we gather on this Maundy Thursday, we look at an essential part of the human body which is also a part of Christ’s body. Tonight, we look at the Blood of Christ.
Blood is the fluid of life. When Cain killed his brother Abel, the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!”
As early as Genesis chapter 9, verse 4, God had spoken a solemn prohibition to humanity. God said: “You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood.”
This restriction on eating and drinking blood is repeated in Leviticus 7:27 and again many other times. “Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from the people.”
When the children of Israel were being led by Moses out of Egypt, they were protected from the plague of death by the blood of an unblemished lamb, as that lamb’s blood was painted on their doorways. The Lord had told them: “The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Blood was used in all the sacrificial rites in the worship of the tabernacle in the wilderness. The blood of a bull was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and on the horns of the altar, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. The bull’s blood, that is, its life, was a substitution for the lives of the people who had sinned.
The New Testament Letter to the Hebrews summarizes the use of blood for reconciliation. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22 says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
It’s not that much different for us in our attitude towards blood. Blood still carries the essential connection of life. A massive loss of blood almost always leads to the loss of one’s life. Unless the flow of blood from an open wound is quickly stopped, the strength and vitality of a wounded person will pour out of them, eventually leaving behind a body devoid of life. The Red Cross publicizes its appeal for blood donations with this effective and accurate plea: “Give the gift of life–Give blood.” Blood transfusions still save the lives of thousands every year. If and whenever you participate in a Bloodmobile program, that would be a good time to focus your thoughts on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the time when he gave his blood to save our lives.
But it may be harder for us than it was for the ancient Hebrews to identify with the notion that the shedding of blood can remove guilt of sin. What does the blood of a sacrificial animal have to do with our own sinful deeds, sins which use and abuse another child of God? Why slaughter an animal for my sins?
Even in the Old Testament–in the first chapter of Isaiah–this question is raised as God rejects sacrifice which is not accompanied by repentance. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 11 reads: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the LORD; “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.” Just a few verses later in that same chapter, in verses 16 & 17, God says what God would rather have people do. God says, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” What God says here in these verses in Isaiah, sounds a lot like what Jesus tells his disciples in John’s gospel tonight. In Isaiah, God says, ‘Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean.” Jesus says, “Wash one another’s feet.” In Isaiah, God says, “remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Jesus summarizes all of these things when he says, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Yet the letting of blood serves a purpose. The letting of blood serves to dramatize the serious nature of guilt and sin. When we sin, we are breaking a relationship that God has established, whether it be our relationship with God, or our relationship with others. And when we sin and break those God-established relationships, we lose God-given life. It slips away. When we break God-established relationships, it is as though we’ve cut the skin of a living being, and blood is pouring out, and God-given life is slipping away. To sin means that you’ve killed something to which God had given life.
The blood of Christ, the precious life of Christ, is a very special kind of blood. For not only was Christ’s blood sinless and pure, unstained by hate and harm. Christ’s blood was also poured out voluntarily for us and for the sins of the world. Jesus offers his blood for us.
The same can’t be said for the animals that were sacrificed to God by the Israelites and the Jewish people. Animals never volunteered themselves for sacrifice. Never had a bull or a lamb chosen to carry the sins of sinners. Never had pigeons or doves elected to feel the pain and rejection of the sin which they did not deserve.
Judas recognized that the blood of Christ was sinless. In Matthew’s Gospel, after Judas realizes that Jesus is going to be put to death, Judas says, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
Even Pilate, who condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion, admitted that the blood of Christ was pure, when he said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves [that he is crucified].”
And so, Jesus was crucified.
When he had died, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
The sacred blood of Jesus, the life of God, drained to the soil of Golgotha beneath Christ’s cross for the one purpose of displaying God’s love for the world. The blood of Christ gives forgiveness of sins, just as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Again, in Ephesians 2, we are assured that our relationship to God is restored by this bleeding Son of God. Paul writes, “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.”
This blood of Christ, sprinkled not on an altar for sacrificing animals but rather flowing freely from our Lord’s side on a cross, this blood mysteriously gives us serenity in our souls. As we’ll hear in our reading from Colossians tomorrow night, Paul writes: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
Yet it is in the upper room, before his sacrifice on the cross, that the greatest shock and surprise is registered. It was there, that our Lord Jesus took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus turns the ancient law against the eating and drinking of blood upside down. Jesus says to drink this blood, which is his blood, because this blood contains his life and gives us life. At the Last Supper, the first Eucharist, the first Holy Communion, Jesus gives his own flesh as bread and his own blood as wine precisely because it does indeed contain new life.
And tonight, on this Maundy Thursday, we remember and do what Maundy means. Maundy comes from a Latin word that means “command” or “mandate,” and so tonight, we do what Christ commands us to do. We gather together to love one another as Jesus has loved us. And we experience this love of Jesus by being given the very blood of Christ, and we drink it, because it quenches our parched spirits. It gives us life in the midst of the death that we experience as a result of our sins.
In fact, in John chapter 6, Jesus taught that true life cannot be obtained without the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood. Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”
Tonight, we drink the very life of God to revive our shriveled souls. It is this blood of Christ, this life of God which we swallow, that gives us the strength to love one another as Christ has loved us.
Download a PDF version of this sermon.]]>
It's back, baby! The Lutheran Pool sponsored by FrontRowLutheran.com! Pick your brackets and see if you can win two fabulous prizes: exclusive bragging rights and a shout-out post right here on FrontRowLutheran.com. Open to all!
As far as I can tell, if you want to play, you've got to be a member of Facebook.com (it's free, and seriously, if you're not on Facebook, you're not really on the Internet).
The winner out of all the brackets on Facebook's 2008 CBS Sports.com Tournament Brackets will win $10,000 (which is $15,000 less than last year's grand prize of $25,000...cheap skates...we must be in a recession or something).
The official rules say you'll have to go to www.facebook.com/brackets to sign-up.
If you're already signed up, you should be able to join The Lutheran Pool Sponsored by FrontRowLutheran.com at this link.
Sign-up NOW! Your picks must be submitted by 11:00 AM ET on March 20, 2008.
And have fun!
]]>
Or download a PDF version here.
The texts for the day were: Matthew 21:1-11; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66. It would be best if you'd read them first.
This sermon relied heavily upon a sermon written by Dr. Susan Flemin McGurgan, which can be found in the archives over at http://www.mtsm.org/preaching/
The sermon starts below.
Using some thoughts by Dr. Susan Fleming McGurgan1 as a guide today, I’d like for us to reflect on that original Palm Sunday from years ago.
The journey into Jerusalem began with a glorious spectacle of waving palms branches and adoring crowds. As Jesus entered the holy city, some people ran ahead, alerting friends and neighbors, while others threw their cloaks upon the road, crying, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Save us! Save us from Rome! Blessed is the King! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
In that moment of entering Jerusalem, at that triumphant moment, there was nothing the crowd would have denied Jesus. There was nothing they would have refused him. There was nothing they would have withheld. Power… Riches…A throne…They would have jumped at the chance to give it to him. It was all within his grasp.
Or so it seemed.
But this rowdy crowd was just as eager to “get” something as it was to give.
They were hungry—hungry for whatever Jesus could give them that would fulfill their wants. Some were hungry for political status, and they waved their palms for a King who would restore the Jewish state.
Some were starving for power, and so they threw their cloaks before a warrior whom they believed would crush the Roman army.
Some were hungry for comfort, and so they shouted for a hero who could fill their bellies and dry their tears.
Together, these hungry folks waved their palm branches. These palms aren’t just pretty branches. To the crowd, these palms represent a Jewish symbol of freedom from not so long ago. About 200 years prior to this first Palm Sunday, the Maccabees, who were a group of Jews, revolted against the foreign occupying Seleucids, and they defeated them. Winning the revolt, the Maccabees established an independent and free Jewish state. And as they formed this independent and free Jewish state, they used the symbol of the palm branch to show that they were glorious in defeating the foreign powers of the Seleucids. They waved palm branches as they celebrated their victory, and they also minted coins with palm branches on them to remind them that they had won their freedom fighting.
But now, this crowd of Jews gathered around Jesus, they were not free like the Maccabees. They were oppressed and occupied by the Romans, and they were hungry to have what the Jews had once had, only a few hundred years ago. The crowd was hungry for freedom, and it was all within their grasp...or so it seemed.
But God had a different plan. You see, this warrior, this ruler, this king named Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey, not a pure-bred stallion. Riding on a donkey was a sign of peace, not war. He wore a homespun cloak, not polished armor. He spoke about freedom from sin and redemption, not the freedom of national sovereignty or imperial might.
The jubilant crowd that lined the road to Jerusalem knew they were seeing a “winner,” but they completely misunderstood God’s vision of success.
They didn’t realize that Jesus had come to conquer not just Rome, but the world. They didn’t understand that Jesus came to the holy city, not to deal death or to sidestep death, but to meet death head-on.
He would conquer the world and death itself…by dying.2
The crowds that ripped branches from trees and screamed with excitement, didn’t understand that their hunger would be eased and their emptiness filled, not by conquest or power or wealth, but their hunger would be eased by the challenge of the cross.
No bible study or theology class can explain the cross completely.3 No sermon or lecture fully outlines its meaning. Yet, all of us who follow Jesus will eventually find ourselves walking that dusty, lonely path to Golgotha, and standing before the cross.
Jesus had warned his disciples when they had figured that he was the Messiah. Jesus told them, “whoever wishes to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”
From a marketing and advertising standpoint, this message is a disaster. It doesn’t sell well. Just imagine how many followers Jesus might have if he had avoided the cross. What if Jesus said, “Lay down your cross and follow me.” “Ignore your burdens and I will make them disappear.” “I will not suffer, and if you believe in me, you will never suffer, either.” That’s a message designed to keep the palm branches waving and the crowds cheering!
There is a famous American preacher named Barbara Brown Taylor, and she says,4 “Suffering can be the great killer of faith. It can compress the human soul into a knot of bitter pain and explode our lives into a thousand brittle pieces. Or...Suffering can be the way we discover the depth of our humanity and faith--our capacity for love and beauty--our ability to forgive--our kinship with God and each other.”
For the difference between these two options, we have to look at the cross.
The cross teaches us that suffering can be redemptive, that burdens can be shared, that sins can be forgiven, and that darkness can be scattered, transformed by the power of a loving God.
The cross dares us to believe that life is more powerful than death and that love is more enduring than hate. The cross stands as a reminder that our views of “success” and “defeat” might differ from God’s point of view, and that sometimes, God has a different plan.
As we begin this holy week, we too, have come to the city gate, palm branches waving, agendas in hand, our lists of wants ready.5
As we welcome the King into Jerusalem, what are we hungering for? And what is it that Jesus comes to feed us?
----------
1: This sermon relies heavily on thoughts presented in a Palm Sunday (A) Sermon by Dr. Susan Fleming McGurgan, found online at http://www.mtsm.org/preaching/. Any other citations in this sermon are citations that McGurgan makes in the original sermon.
2: Byron L. Rohrig, Christian Century, March 9,1988, p. 236.
3: Barbara Brown Taylor, God in Pain: Teaching Sermons on Suffering, Abingdon Press, 1998.
4: Barbara Brown Taylor, God in Pain: Teaching Sermons on Suffering, Abingdon Press, 1998.
5: Byron L. Rohrig, Christian Century, March 9,1988, p. 236.
Download a PDF version of this sermon.
]]>
Sheriff: Charge Boyfriend in Case of Kansas Woman Pried Off Toilet After 2 Years
I appreciate that the Ness County Sheriff's name is Mr. Whipple.
"Don't squeeze the Charmin!"]]>
]]>]]>
Then it probably isn't as much fun.
]]>