Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 (June 9, 2025)

June 9, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Good morning, and may your day be filled with both small and big miracles through the love of Christ in your life. Today please keep Steve in your prayers as he goes through lung biopsy. Please pray for the results to be good. Also pray for Teri whose new hip parts (a newly developed replacement for Teri's joint needs) have arrived, and it is now looking like she will be able to have that surgery during July. The exact date has still not been determined. God needs a big thank you from all of us who have been praying for months for this opportunity to become a reality. Pray to for Vince, a former foster child of the Burts. He was in church Sunday and needs a great deal of encouragement and love right now. He is newly released from an 8-year prison term, and is now 25 years old, looking for work possibilities. He completed high school and took college courses while incarcerated. Please keep Vince in your special prayers so that he can move forward in his life now.

In Paul's second letter to the church in Thessalonica, he continues to encourage the new Christians in this young church to always be strong in their faith, and to rely on the power of God's Grace and Love for them, especially with all the persecution that they will face, and were already facing in their community.  He tells them to stand firm and to hold on tight. I am not sure how many of you have crossed the five-mile-long Mackinaw bridge that connects lower Michigan to the upper part of Michigan. But I can certainly tell you that if there is any wind at all, and there is usually a lot of wind, most passengers hold on tight trying to be firm in their safety. In its history, only one car has blown off the bridge, but the fear for others is real, especially if someone else is driving the car, truck, or van. Some of you may be thrill ride enthusiasts. I have never liked roller coasters. The security never seems good enough for me when I am secured with a leather strap on an old wooden frame coaster, or that metal bar across my lap. I promise you that when I have ridden one at the bidding of my children, I do everything possible to be firm and really hang on to the "little bit of security" by my assessment of that strap, bar, or over the shoulder harness.  It was important for these earliest of Christians to live with the strength of the Truth to which Paul had introduced them. History tells us what kinds of terrible things the Roman persecution could bring to their lives, and the hope and love of God shown to them in Paul's witness of our Risen Savior was what brought to them the strength and courage to face all of this. I know that over the centuries there have been plenty of Christians who think that if God loves them, they can coast in their faith lives, and God will just take care of all of it. Let's face it life is not easy, and there are always challenges to our faith that we allow to work us loose from the grace and power of God's promises for us in Jesus Christ. Isn't this the reason that we come to the Church? Our church is the place where we receive renewal of that strength and courage as we face the world's challenges all around us. However, like the Thessalonian Christians, we are always called to stand firm and hold on to the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen this reality repeatedly in the forty years of my ministry. I have witnessed suffering and death that might have defeated those who had to go through it, yet they found resolve and strength in the faith that sustained them in the good times, when learning about the Savior was preparing them for the times of life's difficult challenges.  That is what Paul is doing when he reminds the Thessalonians of what they have learned from him. This is why the faith of others is so important for us in the church. We learn and grow from one another. When we fail to offer that nurturing support, it can become tragic for those who do not have a sense for that encouragement from their sisters and brothers in the Church. We must always remember that God is powerful enough to take care of everything, and that includes death itself, so stand firm and hold on to the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer of Life. This admonition of Paul for this small community of new Christians is the same as if Paul was addressing you and me as members of a small, older congregation like American. We too are faced with the challenges of the world, like the Thessalonian church, resources are tight, challenges are always evident, and when we get to this place we are now in, we must stand firm and hold on to the faith of the whole Church that has sustained Christians for centuries.  To do so means that we too stand in the long line of Christians who the world has challenged, and the God of Grace and Power who loves us, will never be defeated. My friends stand firm and hold on, because the Christ of the LORD has saved us all!

With love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Note:  There will be no Bible studies for the rest of this week. I will be away for the Grand Canyon Synod Assembly in Las Vegas. I will be back with you next week.

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 20 (June 5, 2025)

June 5, 2025:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 20

May the Great Goodness of our faithful LORD surround us and hold us in God's constant care.

The ELCA Grand Canyon Synod Assembly in Las Vegas, Nevada is next week.  Our delegates are Sharyn Burt, Jesse Taylor, and me.  We will travel on Wednesday, be in assembly on Thursday and Friday, and return home on Saturday.

Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel, and the assembly for its work to proclaim the Gospel.  Please keep Henry in your prayers.  He has often worked around the church on special projects as a handy man.  Right now, his health is not good, and he needs to get good Doctor's care.  His wife died last year, adding to his emotional and physical health circumstances.   This Sunday we will celebrate the ministries of many people in our congregation, whose service happens all around us every week.  The Gospel Group, the Altar Assistants, Readers, Church Council members, counters, Altar guild, Parish Administrator, Bell Choir, and more.  Join us after church for a piece of cake and fellowship in the parish hall.  This group of people are at least 20+ strong.  We need to always give thanks for all of them in our prayers.

Today we are in the 20th Psalm.  Let me begin with an analogy this morning.  This week we are going to celebrate many ministries in the congregation.  I am the pastor of the congregation, and yet, without all these people my work would be impossible.  In a church the Pastor and the congregation are co-dependent.  That is not co-dependent in the way that is unhealthy, but rather in a truly good way in which both the parish and I receive the kind of support and encouragement that we need to be effective in the work of the Gospel that is always before us.  David finds himself in a similar place.  His relationship with the people, and indeed their relationship, are co-dependent on God, and yes God uses David and his people to move His purposes forward for all His creation.  David gives thanks to God for these relationships, without which, as King, he would certainly be unable to defend and provide for his country.  After all, isn't this how our relationship with God works too?  God calls us to service of the Gospel, and through His gift of Faith, surrounded by the Holy Spirit, we set about the business of sharing Jesus with one another, and with the world.  In this relationship we learn that being co-dependent in this good way requires both words and actions to move toward the completion of God's plans.  Since you and I only get to see a tiny portion of this Plan of God's, we must rely on faith to carry us through until that day comes when we will be received in the LORD'S heavenly kingdom.  The greatest complement which we can share in the church is, "Well done good and faithful servant and friend of the Gospel".  I hope that you long to hear these words when you have grown in faith and grace every day!  It really does seem as if David is writing this Psalm in response to the circumstances of the enemy and battles that are a part of the war.  But David is also speaking to the hearts of the people in Israel and ruling in such a way that everyone knows there will be times when it will be necessary to stand and defend their nation, but for now there is watchful peace, and thanksgivings to be made to God who has made it all possible.  After all, David, his people, and this Promised Land were being molded through their journeys, their victories, and their faithfulness in times of strife, and in times of calm and peace.  God was with them and is still with us today!

Thank you for letting me share with you today.    In Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (June 3, 2025)

June 3, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Good morning and may Christ's gifts of forgiveness, life, and Salvation abound in your life today and always.

Yesterday we prayed for Caleb for healing, and today the news is even better. He was to start the fire academy here in Tucson as one of the thirty who were selected out of 200 applicants. We had concern that his finger injury might remove him from the program, but yesterday, the first day of his classes, Caleb was told that he would be able to continue. Praise the LORD who answers all our prayers!

The nature of this second chapter of II Thessalonians takes quite a turn from the kind of prayers of thanksgiving to God for His faithfulness, and praise of God who is the Alpha and Omega of all things in creation, and for the joyful love of Jesus that is being lived out and proclaimed by these newest of Christians in Thessalonica.  We know about persecution and struggles, the history of our own denomination's beginnings, with guidance and care from Luther, and others, during the reformation in the 1500s was fraught with troubles from those who only saw themselves as having the knowledge to make things right.  But there is something much more insidious about which Paul is speaking in this part of his letter. Paul believes that someone, or some entity (perhaps an army) who will be a destroyer of faith and life in Christ, or who will lead many who are faithful, yet not very strong in their faith, astray with alternative "truths" about what is happening.  Paul speaks about this when he indicates that the bearers of this alternative "truth" tell believers that the day of the Lord has already come, which Paul has already shared with this new Christian community by letting them know that Christ will return at some time in the future.  No one knows when that day will arrive, but the parousia is before all Christians as we wait for the reign of Christ to be restored at some time in the future of our world. Paul may be thinking of the Pharaoh and Moses, when the Pharoah becomes so consumed by his anger that he can no longer understand how the God of Moses would act by sending plagues upon His own people and on the Egyptians too. There was in the history of the Romans and the Jews a time when the Roman Emperor thought himself to be God, his name was Gaius Caligula. He sought to place his own statue in the Temple in Jerusalem. The outrage of the Jews was moving them to a possible civil war against Rome, but as luck would have it, or perhaps someone who saw the insanity of Gaius' move, Gaius was murdered before that could happen. That was some 25 years before the outbreak of the Roman Jewish war which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. What we don't know is exactly who Paul had in mind for this title of restrainer of the faithful. In fact, Paul may not have had anyone in mind, other than just knowing that there were always people like this exerting their power, and sometimes their madness over those who would live peacefully and gently in the world. What Paul is trying to get across to us is that the world is filled with people who are unable, unwilling, or uncaring to such a point that even though the Spirit has worked on their lives to convince them of the goodness and kindness to which the LORD calls them, they remain unable to respond to the gifts of God for their lives, and they live their lives filled with anger, hate, and violence towards others.  For these people there will be a time of judgement when their lives of unresponsiveness to the goodness and love of God will be set aside to be separated for eternity from the LORD.

We might even think that this seems unfair, but we must always remember that God is the Sovereign of all of Creation, including all people, and one day God will put all things to right, and bring all human empires under the rule and judgement of His own saving Kingdom.  I will be back with you on Thursday as we are moving into a new Psalm for study and my commentary. With Love for you in Christ, Pastor Kim