Wednesday Prayer Break

July 2, 2025: Prayer list for this week:

Please take some time today to pray for the following situations:

• for American Ev. Lutheran Church - for continuing success in serving the Gospel.

• for the unsheltered in our community. A count for Tucson, Ajo, and Sells indicated that on one day there were 2000 unsheltered people.

• For Sean who is unsheltered

• For peace in the Middle East

  • For Israel who treats Palestinians with disdain.

  • For the hearts of the Hamas organization to seek a lasting peace

• For the Ukraine and Russia as the war between them seems to be heating up once again

• For the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

  • For the success of the World Hunger initiatives, which operates on a combination of gifts and budgeted resources.

  • For the ELCA's Disaster relief fund as it reaches into our own nation in times of need, and into the world during times of international disasters.

• For newly called pastors in our Grand Canyon Synod, and for their congregations.

• For safety in monsoon storms

• For Joanna and Kelly whose air conditioning is down waiting for delayed repairs.

• For Nancy who has been having mobility issues at home with some falls.

• For Melody who is having pain from muscle and join issues in her left arm

• For Sharyn as her dog heals from injuries from another of her dogs.'

• For Steve as he waits on the results of his lung biopsy

• For Annette, whose most recent knee replacement is healing very slowly.

• For Sue, whose eye surgery for cataracts is healing less quickly, with her vision being less clear than she had hoped it would be.

• For our members and many others whose lives will be impacted by the government pulling back from budgeted support for health care and low-cost housing, and food support.

• For Liisa and Rudy who are traveling on an extended vacation.

I know this seems like a great deal to pray for. I hope that you will take the time to offer prayers to our Almighty God who has revealed Himself to us as the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of life. May God bless you every day.

In Christ's love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles introduction (July 1, 2025)

July 1, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles

May the Grace and Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ fill your life with hope and joy each day, so that your faith will grow, and your heart will constantly be transformed by the Spirit's presence.

As we begin a new study on this 1st of July it is important for us to realize that we all live in the long tradition of those who have used the hope and joy which has sustained them to share with others how the Living Christ has transformed them, offering to become a friend, showing this new friend how Christ's Love has made your life so much better, because you are set free from the burden of sin and brokenness that kept you from living in the freedom of Christ's Love.  This is what we will be reading about as we live with the amazing story of how the beloved of Christ carry the "Good News" from the tiny county of Israel into Asia minor, and on into Greece and Rome, as they become the living witnesses of the Risen Savior.

As you move through the community today, please be careful of the heat, the dust, and potentially violent storms. Stay hydrated! Please pray for Nancy and her family. She has been experiencing some falls in her home. Pray that this will stop for her, and that she will have the support she needs every day. Pray for Joanna and Kelly. Their air conditioning should be back on sometime today. It quit over the weekend. Pray for Sharyn who caught her son's cough and is uncomfortable today. Pray for rain, the kind that can quench the desert's thirst. Please pray with thanksgiving for our nation as we approach the celebration of our Independence Day on Friday of this week. Pray for all the people, some of whom are with us in church, that the impacts of these radical changes in support for SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid will not place them in jeopardy. Join us Sunday for Gospel Music, Great Picnic style carry-in food, and singing a couple of our favorite songs about our country. Church begins at 10AM, and the meal follows at about 11:15AM.  If you bring a hot dish to share, the warmer will be available to keep your food at the right temperature.

Today we begin a new Bible Study. We have spent time understanding the joys and the pitfalls of the new church, learning about Paul through his letters to these churches that he started. And being who we are, we might like to read this book of Scripture and learn about when everything takes place. And we might want to know why every disciple is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. We like keeping everything neat and tidy when we study Scripture. However, in this book, we are much better off learning to live with the broad strokes of the book's author, Luke, as he tries to paint a lovely and honest portrait of how the new church and her new Christian members caused such a stir in that area of the world.

So.... I have already indicated that in all likelihood Luke, the gentile and physician is the author of this telling of the work of the Spirit in spreading the amazing story of our Resurrected Lord, Jesus. It is most likely that Luke would have had access to a number of the early church communities through his relationship with Paul, so telling what becomes mostly a recalling of the acts of Paul, this becomes a study for us all in how the work of the Gospel brings the reality of God's Grace into the lives of His children. 

We turn to Luke as the author even when he is mentioned only three times in the New Testament. Colossians 4:14, Philemon verse 24 (There is only one chapter), and 2 Timothy 4:11.  From this we know that Luke was a treasured companion of Paul's during Paul's imprisonment in Rome which provided Luke access to the stories which the Acts of the Apostles contains.  We are nearly certain that Luke was a doctor because he uses medical terms when quoting a source shared story that did not use those same terms.

Was Luke's greater purpose in sharing this broadly painted picture across the whole of the Roman empire, and perhaps even farther, or was Luke writing to a friend Theophilus, assuring him of the goodness and love in the young new church so that they would not be persecuted?  Another possibility is that the name Theophilus was a made-up name, either trying to protect an individual to whom Luke was writing, or as a code name for the new church as it received Luke's writing. The name Theophilus breaks into two parts. 1. The first in the Greek is theos which we know well as the word for God. 2.  The second part of the name is philein in the Greek, and it means love. So, it becomes possible that Luke was writing and sending his letters in order that no one could be identified and then persecuted for being part of this new cult of believers in Jesus who called themselves Christians.

So, we now think that we know that Luke is the author of the Acts of the Apostles, and we might know to whom he is writing, but what is the likely purpose of this text we have come to know as the Acts of the Apostles?

1. Maybe Luke is writing to convince the Roman government that they have nothing to fear from this new community of those who believe in Jesus Christ.

2. Luke's purpose is possibly to convince people that Jesus Christ, and faith in Him, is for all people, not just a small community of Jews or Gentiles. It is a universal religion.

3. But greater than either of these first two, is the command of Christ to move out with the story of God Grace and Forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ. Luke's writing shows how quickly the Gospel has taken hold and how quickly it has spread.

On Monday of next week, we will begin our own journeys through Luke's telling of the movement of the Gospel. Think about how it has moved in your own life, and how, through you, others have come to know that change of heart (metanoia) that has happened in your own life, a story in which they are truly meant to be included.

Thanks for letting me get us all started on this next study.

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 2 Thessalonians 3:14-18 (June 30, 2025)

June 30, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to 2 Thessalonians 3:14-18

In Name, and in the Love of Jesus Christ, Good morning my dear friends.

On this record heat day, please be mindful of how you spend your time away from home, and if necessary to travel, do so with adequate water for a possible breakdown.

And if it is possible for you as you travel around today, be a compassionate child of our Savior Jesus Christ. Keep the homeless (new politically correct word is unhoused or unsheltered.)  in your prayers, and given an opportunity to help someone, or to speak to them, take the time to do so. Too many of God's children are in difficult situations right now regarding their housing circumstances. Even working a full-time minimum wage job is not enough to provide for the needs of a couple or family for rent. This morning Melody and I were driving in town and saw a "deal" on an efficiency one room, $700.00 each month. A one bedroom at regular rent rates is $800.00 to $1000.00. Today, we would be unable to have the home that we bought 28 years ago here in Tucson. Our children, now in their mid to late forties, like every other average family, are having to deal with how unapproachable the "American Dream" of home owning has become. As Christians every one of us is faced with how respond to the needs of others. I pray that you will always be open to living compassionately, with a heart, prayers, and resources that are guided by the Spirit. Last night as it was getting dark, I was on Wilmot near Jim Click Ford. On the median was a sunburned man seeking donations for help. I stopped at the light and called out to Sean, that I had help for him. I gave him more than enough money to get a meal, and he immediately headed off to the Taco Bell that is near the corner. I pray that my gift blesses his life in some small way. For me this is what being a Christian is about, living with faith in Jesus Christ, called to be His child in every response, perhaps most especially for the least, the last, and the lost.

As enter the closing passage of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, we find that Paul continues to direct the lives of the new Christians in that community. I think that we can assume that the faith community is small, but very tight in the relationships between the individual members of this new church. I know that in modern times, I have heard it said that using the term family for members is not the best thing to do. However, in small congregations we really do become family to one another. Yesterday at the Healing Service during worship, I was able to offer the general missal for healing, yet in many cases I was also able to name, and pray for, specific health issues for many of our family members. I think that in our passage for today, we can see how it is that Paul addresses the issue of discipline. There are apparently some in the "family" who are in personal lifestyles that move against the standards that Paul had given the Thessalonians when he was able to be with them, and then again, through his two letters to them. So, what was the young church to do? Within the Body of Christ, discipline is sometimes a necessary reality. In this circumstance we are probably not talking about removal from membership, but instead the actions out of Agape love, which helps that member to realize that their choices and decisions have caused others’ problems. What is the church to do? Were you ever sent from a meal to your room for less than wise words you may have spoken? Were you ever asked to take on extra chores in your family because you hadn't done the first ones that you were assigned? Did you ever use language that your family found offensive, requiring them to issue words of guidance for your understanding? In families there are all kinds of these things that happen, and they happen with lovingkindness offered for the benefit of the offender. When I was 16 driving my Dad's new Mercury, a big high-powered car, I drove it up the driveway one night hit the brakes too hard as I entered the dip into the garage and hit the concrete with the frame on the front of the car taking chunks out of the concrete!  I knew, and my Dad knew, and he never yelled at me, his discipline look was enough. The car was repaired, and I drove it with some new respect for my Dad who quietly and lovingly allowed me to continue to drive it. This is the kind of discipline that Paul is encouraging in the new church when it becomes necessary to be separated in some way from a perpetrator who brings danger to the whole community through their words and actions. For Paul this might include not offering communion to the individual, or not allowing them to speak in meetings, or preventing them from having leadership positions in the congregation or being allowed to speak as a representative of the Gospel as it was being brought to more and more people.  At the heart of his entire issue, is the action of Christian forgiveness, not just once, but time and again for the sake of the very soul of one who from time to time moves against the Gospel of Christ.  We all do it at some time! And if Christ forgives us, who are we in the church to fail in our own ability to find our model in the Lord, and instead to allow the Spirit her active role in transforming the hearts and minds of those who have moved astray from their community? 

May God bless each of us today, and always.

With the Grace of God in Jesus Christ, Pastor Kim