Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 10:44-48 (January 20, 2026)

January 20, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 10:44-48

Good morning, and may your day be filled with the LORD'S richest blessings of Grace and Comfort.

This morning, I would ask you to pray with thanksgiving to God for Roy's and Christina's birthdays this week.  We are also quickly approaching the 76th birthday of our congregation.  Pray for Americans continuing ministry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, remembering that it takes all of us in dedication to the work to which the Church is called to make it happen.  The best way to celebrate our church's birthday is to come to church as often as we possibly can, participating in the fellowship of Christ, and the joy of the saints who gather around us, while doing regular Bible Study so our faith will grow, receiving the Sacrament of the Altar,  and giving the support that we know is right between ourselves and God so that our ministry will continue. 

This all seems like a too obvious a segway from our lives, ministry for the Gospel, and how dedicated we are in our relationship with the Lord.  But here we are in today's reading, like Peter and those who have accompanied him from his stay with Simon, the tanner to go meet the Roman Centurion Cornelius.  In our brief passage for today, we find that the entire household of Cornelius has been moved by Christ's Spirit, and that they are speaking in the heavenly (perhaps angelic) language of tongues.  This seems to be a measuring rod for the Jews who have accompanied Peter, indicating to them the authenticity of these gentile's coming to know Christ as their Lord.  I must admit that I have never had the experience of speaking in tongues, and it is likely you have not either, but in Scripture it is a gift of the Spirit which some people experience.  I think that it is primarily for the edification of the one who speaks in that language and is only appropriate in worship settings if a person who has the gift of translation is present.  I can tell you that I have seen this gift misused, but I have also known it as genuine in one of our triumphant saints at American.  Nearly every Eastern religion has a kind of consuming Spiritual event for some individual members of that faith.  In all of this, our place is to remember that this is a real experience, a genuine gift of the Spirit.  I could get into a prolonged conversation about the 27 -29 gifts of the Spirit which are bestowed upon believers in differing potencies.  Faith is one of these, and we are told clearly that we will be given the measure of faith by the Spirit which is able to carry us through the toughest of times, with it being less potent at other times.  Our Spiritual Gifts are best realized by the acclamation of others around us, helping us to see through their eyes, what we may struggle to see through our own.  I often hear that I am different from other preachers.  No notes to read from!  Words of Christ from my own heart as I have been moved to do for many years now.  In my life, it is my thanksgiving to Christ for His forgiveness and Grace that I speak so freely with the presence of His Spirit in me, and for everyone who will hear.  This preaching is a true Christ Treasure in my life.  I often think as I become the same age as our church in Tucson, that I am unprepared to stop using my gifts for preaching the Love of Christ for all of you, and for the future of the whole Church.  In Christ I have so much more to say!  I feel that this is where Peter was in the home of Cornelius, and Peter's words brought to Cornelius and his entire household the potency and abundance of faith in the Savior.  In this passage it is a bit unclear who is actually performing the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  It may have been Peter, but it may have also been other members of the entourage who had accompanied Peter to the home of Cornelius.  Today in the Church, we have attempted to limit who is to do Baptisms, but an ordained clergy is not always at hand to offer the Sacrament.  Here is the truth.  Any believer in Christ, has the privilege of Baptizing.  What is important in this, is that the Baptism gets recorded at the Church so that it will not be repeated.  Baptism is a once and for all action to bring the Spirit and faith into the life of the one who is Baptized.  That is all I am going to say here, I could continue to write further about this, but it suffices to say that it is the privilege of believers to Baptize.

Thanks for being with me today.  I will write on Thursday about our study on Psalms.

With the Love of Christ for our lives, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday – “Martin Luther King Jr. in my life and ministry for justice” (January 19, 2026)

January 19, 2026:  Monday – “Martin Luther King Jr. in my life and ministry for justice”

Dear Ones in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord.

I want to share some thoughts on this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in our nation.

A few things that you probably already know:

I grew up in a city of 10,000 people on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in a city named Ludington.  My family heritage on my Mom's side was Scandinavian, both Swedish and Danish who settled in Michigan in the 1860s, and a few years later in the 1870s built the Lutheran Church in which my faith formation began.  On my Dad's side things get a little foggier the farther back we go, but we do know that the Hulls and Taylors were in the country prior to 1812, and that in some time period a member of the family married a Native American.  Of course, this was a very common practice in the early days of the colonies and western expansion.  On Dad's' side the family was Methodist, but as so often happens in marriage, the husband follows the Christian Tradition of his wife, as my Dad did.  I grew into my teenage years in the years of extreme upheaval in our nation, with the killing of President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and in the late 60's the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in the same manner.  We were caught in the midst of the Vietnam War, and we lost over 40,000 men and women in the battles fought in that nation that seemed so far away.  Oh yes, we landed men on the moon in the late sixties too.  In my high school there was one black student.  I believe that Joe commuted some 30 miles each way to attend our school.  When I left for college in 1968, it was not long before race riots covered many of the larger cities in our nation, of course, especially after the killing of MLK Jr.  Students at Kent State were murdered by national guards who had been placed there to prevent demonstrations.  That weekend our college closed, and we all tried to find quick rides home to avoid a similar situation in the small town where our college was located.  I was an active member of several youth groups in our community while I was in high school.  President of my own Luther League, and at the Methodist Church, while I attended the Presbyterian youth group, and from time to time the group at a small Episcopal Church too.  During those late 60s years my faith formation continued surrounded by the racism and hatred between people who really had no reason to be the way that they were.  At college, I studied to become a special education teacher, where my compassion for those who appeared to be different mentally, physically, socially, and racially from my life experience grew.  At that time, I was the church choir director for a Swedish Lutheran Church for 9 years.  There, my wife Melody and I met people whose lives were also compassionate and filled with the hope of Christ's passion for all people.  It was from this congregation that I realized Christ's call on my life needed to be met, to serve as a person of faith, compassion, and knowledge in the midst of Christ's people, the church.  From our 10-acre historical farm and house near Lake Michigan, we moved to the south side of Chicago where we lived in a six-flat walk-up apartment with our three-year-old son, and our nine-month-old daughter. This was the less than adequate housing for the Lutheran School of Chicago, and for the very first time we shopped and traveled and did my on-site parish education in south side of Chicago Black communities, one in the Pullman area of East Chicago in an all-black community, and a little later in Harvey, Ill on the farther south side of the city in a salt and pepper congregation that did their ministry in harmony with each other.  After graduation with my Master of Divinity degree, which in the Lutheran Church took 3-4 years to attain, and which meant I could be ordained to serve parish ministry, I was called to serve the Gospel.  At my first call in the mid-1980s I had an opportunity to attend the International Ecumenical Conference in Atlanta, GA.  While there, we were invited to visit the parish where MLK Jr. had served as their pastor.  We were graciously hosted to a congregational prepared meal and invited into the Sanctuary to rest and pray.  During that time, I was able to move to the altar area, and pulpit from which MLK Jr had preached, to place my hands on his large Bible, well-worn from his hands pressing forward on it during his preaching.  I already thought that MLK Jr. was a man of great faith, courage, and love of peace, all the while working hard to help the Black community receive the justice and freedom from racial bias and doing it calling for peaceful actions and demonstrations that met that injustice straight on.   By the time that I once again was in Atlanta for a national youth gathering with youth from our parish in Tucson, the entire area had become a national park.  Now the church I had been in, and where I had stood, were no longer available except for a peek through the nave doors.  But what had been added to other areas of the park, was a life size bronze of the people peacefully walking for justice and peace for themselves and others who were treated as different and undeserving of the justice of their nation.  That bronze of about forty people walking enabled me to stand in their midst with a great sense of humility, knowing that their courage was based in their faith in Jesus Christ, who lived, in His own ministry, to bring justice to all who were living with the injustice of illness, political upheaval in their nation, and the lack of God's truth for His children because manipulators of God's fierce judgement meant outsiders having to pay money to those who only wanted power and wealth in their Temple authority, any who were different, the poor, the sick, the downtrodden, were all considered unclean and unapproachable, deserving only of separation from God's Holy Grace as defined by the power wielders and wealthy. 

My heart for the "others" in our world has too often been broken by the hatred and distancing that Christians do in the name of our Savior.  In Christ there is no pushing away of those who are difference from who is "acceptable" in His Church.  I find it unbearable that today's immigrants in our nation, are suffering once again at the hands of the wealthy and powerful.  These people, whether Christian, Moslem, Jewish, or those who have not yet come to faith, are the Children of our Risen Lord and Savior, just like my family who traveled by steam ship, horseback, and covered wagon to find their new home in the midst of native peoples, today's immigrant peoples are seeking the same loving, warm, and hope-filled reception into their new home.  And it is not just immigrants!  It is citizens of our nation who we would like to judge, as so many have historically thought it was their privilege in the church, to believe that there is sin and error in others’ lives.  Oh yes, have we looked in a mirror lately?  There is an underserving sinner looking back at each of us!  The communities of LGBTQ+ folks, the Hispanics who have lived on this land for years before us, the unsheltered, people of color, race, and languages other than ours, and the immigrants who have come into the midst of Christ's Church with longing for justice, and finding the fulfillment of the hope they have known in Christ's justice for all people, are our forebears who were also treated in some cities as interlopers and unworthy people.  In our home we have the joy and thanksgiving to God for children of differing racial heritages.  We have Hispanic American children, a son of African American heritage, and a son of Native American heritage, As well as, children of European American heritage, and children of French-Canadian heritage.  It has been our good fortune to have them to love and cherish.  Some of our treasured friends in church and at work in the community, and some of our grandchildren, have been people who identify as LGTBQ+, and I know that each of them is a golden treasure to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On this day of remembering and honoring a very special Christian man who lived calling for peace, and the granting of civil justice, I have tears and a sense of  how little we have actually moved forward in faith to trust the Love of Christ in the face of the injustice of the world, in our nation, and yes, sometimes even in the church.

I pray with love for every one of you, we are the Love of Christ in today's world.  Jesus tells us we are to have the faith of children, and that those who come to Him should never be sent away from His Church empty of His Grace and Love.  You and I are the Body of Christ in His world today.  It is His justice which we live under and share.

I will be back with you tomorrow as we continue the journey of the disciples and Paul to bring God's Love in Christ to those who have never encountered His Grace.

Pastor Kim Taylor, called to serve the Gospel in your midst.

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 43 (January 15, 2026)

January 15, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 43

Blessing and Peace in Jesus Christ be with you today. This morning, I was able to practice at church without the need for a jacket in our unheated sanctuary. It was lovely there, and it always gives me an opportunity to appreciate our chancel area (the space which holds our altar, the Moravian Star, the Lectern, the organ, and the bell choir tables and bells). It is really a wonderful place to work on music and more. I will encourage any of you who are able to participate in stuffing the bus for the community food bank on Friday from 4:30AM - 6PM on the northeast corner of Alvernon and Broadway. Of course, they are hoping for food staples and cash donations. We always need to remember the success of food banks to create a great deal of food for about 90% less than we all pay commercially. $100 can purchase upwards of $900 worth of food to distribute. We purchased large jars of peanut butter, canned soups, and cereal to drop off tomorrow.

As we read the 43 Psalm for today, we discover that it appears to be a continuation of the 42 Psalm. In Psalm 42 we have unresolved answers to the life problems of the person who is praying. Though remaining confident in God's in-breaking answer, and God's faithfulness in all things, 42 leaves us hanging. Psalm 43 brings the final answer. A person of faith is meant to seek out the worship and celebration of their faith community, because that is where the rejoicing and joy will come to them, as they face what they felt was an insurmountable issue for them. We do, however, need to be aware that when things are not good in our lives, we are not meant to put on that "happy face" that makes others think that we are doing OK. People of faith belong together lifting one another up for God's answer for what has been going on, and, like Psalm 42, our faith calls us, and the Psalmist, to trust that God is still with us, and will not leave us destitute in our prayers for His help.  For the Psalmist this is the temple in Jerusalem where people are always present praying, singing, and meeting one another in the fellowship of faith. The temple was a busy center of worship, seven days a week. It is a little tougher for us to gather at the drop of a hat for that same kind of support from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our Christian center of worship, the congregation community, often gather for several hours only on Sunday, and other events tend to be hit and miss if you are an outsider. I am hopeful that our prayer chain community helps to fulfil a part of that need, but there is nothing else like gathering in Christian Fellowship face to face, over coffee and donuts, or for a carry-in meal, joining the Foodies of Faith group, as well as being together at church services too.  An interesting aside to this, is that in Psalm 42 through Psalm 83 there are very few uses of the Hebrew name for God, YHWH. The Psalmist in these 41 prayer passages are willing to be more familiar with God than in some other places in the Psalms.

I will be back with you on Monday and Tuesday as we continue our study of the Acts of the Apostles, and again next Thursday for the Study on Psalm 44. May God bless you all with Christ's Love and Light, throughout the whole of your life and beyond in the New Life in Heaven.

Pastor Kim