Pastor's Ponderings: Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:6-10 (December 16, 2024)

December 16, 2024:  Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:6-10

May the perfection of our LORD Jesus Christ stand before you so that your life may be filled with opportunities to bring joy to the hosts of heaven. We are only now just one Sunday left in Advent. Christmas Eve Service is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7 PM next week. I hope that you will set aside the time to join our congregation for this festival worship opportunity. This coming Sunday at 8:30AM we will be showing a wonderful Christmas movie about the Biblical account of the journey of Mary and Joseph and their burro to Bethlehem and all of the intrigue in human evil which attempts to prevent the coming of the Christ Child. This story is a wonderful, for all ages, animation gift for all of us. I hope that you can join us for this special movie showing. Please continue to pray for my family on the death of my brother Rick last week. I will be traveling to be in western Michigan for his funeral on January 11. So, prayers for God's speed for both Jesse and Me, as well as family and friends who will be coming for Rick's celebration of life. Prayers too for Kandice and her father. Kandice's cancer numbers are climbing rapidly now, and her father has fallen and broken his hip on a different Hawaiian Island. All of these changes are going to make their Christmas celebrations much more difficult. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving that, in spite of her Dr. ordered limitations, and the hip socket issues, Teri has been able to get back to church.  Thank you, God! Please keep the Backers in your prayers as they now travel to California to be with their family for Christmas and remember Pastor Ron and Becky too as they get ready to head down to Tucson from Minnesota.

Today we are in Chapter two of Galatians verses 6-10. I don't know about you, but it really seems like Paul is exhibiting his sense of superiority in his mission and spread the Gospel in Asia Minor.  That really should not surprise us, after all Paul is a person of extra special learning that has led him to be one of the most knowledgeable Pharisees there has ever been. I would think that he would naturally be filled with himself and his ability. It should not surprise us then that he seems to be a little Haughty when he speaks of others. Twice, when Paul speaks about those whose reputations are already out there in the world, in verse 6 Paul lets the reader know that they really may not be all that special, or they may be really special, but whatever the situation, Paul says that it does not affect him.  It is obvious that the disciples have a kind of natural seniority, which Paul cannot match, no matter how he tries. But Paul has come to meet with the disciples so that they may get all of this sorted out for the sake of the UNITY in the new church. Both circumcised and uncircumcised men must be able to work in unity for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As you can see here, it was uncommon for women to hold positions of authority and power in the new church. Not everyone was a Lydia.  So, in this meeting with the disciples three things happen that make it possible for many Christians to move forward in their faith with confidence that no matter how many errors the church's new people make, the Church will work because God will bring them all together, providing His Mighty Gift of Faith to all of their Gospel work.

1. The Jerusalem disciples add nothing to Paul. His faith and his work can stand solidly on their own.

2. The disciples were happy to agree that a division that serves all communities would be best.

3. Paul is reminded by the disciples to remember the poor.  A little later in Paul's ministry, he will undertake to collect the necessary monies to keep the disciples' ministry in Jerusalem running.

Neither Paul nor the Disciples would have ever been able to do this work if the hand of God had not been with them. It is not easy to explain and convey to others the strange, intimate, and powerful work of the One True God. I know how the ministry for the Gospel feels to me in my life but explaining it to someone else is not easy. I feel consumed by it! Even at nearly 75 years of age, I know how much more there is that needs to be done, and how much more I have to share about this consuming presence of God's truth in my life all of the time.  It's just like trying to talk about God's Grace on Sunday in a way that we might all understand, but I sure know when it is in, with, and around me all of the time.  I can think of anything that could possibly fill my life in the same way, and though my Love for my family is nearly equal, the presence of the LORD fills me, and compels me to take whatever future steps in my service God challenges me to take.

God bless you. In the Name of Jesus, and with His love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalms 2 (December 12, 2024)

December 12, 2024:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalms 2

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

May a vision of the Nativity be in your life every day now as we draw more closely to Christ's birthday. Recently I have heard on the Hallmark channel this phrase about forgiveness. "If you are finally able to forgive someone for something that happened, no matter how long ago it took place, you will discover that the only person imprisoned by that lack of forgiveness was you. Not only is Christmas a season of joy, but it is also another especially Holy time when forgiveness should be freely offered. After all that is why Christ came into our midst, that we might both receive, and forgive, the things that we have allowed to imprison us in our lives.

Today we are reading the entirety of Psalm 2, so it may take more than one day to cover the Psalm we are working on.

As we begin today's study, we need to immediately take note that both Psalms intend to set people free. With Psalm one aimed much more at individuals, it speaks words of renewal and freedom. But Psalm 2 addresses the kings and their nations, actually stating that God laughs at them for their petty and broken leadership. However, both Psalms do indeed speak to God's Covenant with them, His promise to be their God, if, of course, the people and the nations keep God's rule for how they live in the midst of God's world, loving God above all else, and loving the neighbor like a person or nation loves itself.  If we would do a brief role play about this situation in Psalm 2, we would find that the U.S. is to take the role of a smaller nation under the dominion of a superpower. However, in this Psalm it is the superpowers who are trying to throw off the "yoke" of God! For nations to act the rogue against God, that nation and her people must be prepared to suffer the consequences, which are the result of what we might choose to see as natural consequences, but on the face of God's created order are indeed the inbreaking of God's anger and frustration in sight of what individual/nation have done to move against God.  This approach tells us that God is still the final judge. For Israel it was consequences brought about by their failure to care for widows and orphans, and resident aliens in their midst. Worship was at its breaking point due to the inadequate and manipulative leadership of corrupt priests and leaders. In the constitution of our nation there is intended to be a separation between church and state. But today there are some churches who believe it is Christ's call on them to become more powerful in a worldly sense, and to accumulate great wealth. Their initial motives were probably noble, but today they have moved against the LORD. Their worship can be much more about politics and power, than about God's Grace offered for all people for Salvation and New Life in Christ. In our part of the Lutheran Church (ELCA), it is our belief that the Church's roll with Government is to act as conscience and guide, not with power to unilaterally bring change that on the surface appears to be really good for the Kingdom, but more often than not, creates a powerful evil presence in the work that they have come to do.  Usually the nation's people, and a newly forming government will appear to create a new balance for the rule of civil law, and the right place of God's guidance to re-establish a strong faith life for the nation's people. In this I am certainly no prophet, but we need to remember that God is already, even more than ready, to renew his covenant law through His Son and through Loving His children abundantly.

Just a note: the week of Christmas through New Year’s there will be no Bible Studies online. I will be out on vacation taking the time to be with my family. May Christ's light shine ever more brightly in all of our lives. Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:1-5 (December 10, 2024)

December 10, 2024:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:1-5

This morning was so crisp and clear, with that little nip in the air that suggests that perhaps the next several early mornings will be even more brisk.  May the God of Creation bless you with joy in this creation in which we live and work to be the LORD'S stewards of all that we have been given.

Last night at about 9pm my sister-in-law Connie called. I felt at once that I already knew of the call's content. My brother had just died last night shortly after Connie and their daughter Shannon had driven the 40 plus miles home from visiting with my brother Rick, who was in care for extreme problems with his heart and kidneys.  He talked to Connie to see that she had arrived home safely, and within a few minutes he became a triumphant saint in our LORD'S heavenly kingdom. Needless to say, I had little sleep last night with many prayers being said during those awake times in between each few minutes of sleep. Rick just turned 78 in October of this year.

Today we move on to chapter two of Paul's Galatian Letter. Many years have passed at this time, while Paul has been busy preaching and teaching, and bringing new communities of faithful people together for worship. After 14 years Paul returns to Jerusalem to confer with the Apostles and gathered completed Jews (that is Jews who have come to believe in Christ, but who still want adherence to all of the many rules that have been established which are meant to "help" them to remain righteous before God.  One of the major rules, is that all males must be circumcised no matter their age. I can imagine the extreme resistance to this requirement by those who had yet to be circumcised. Over Paul's years of service to the Gospel, he has been preaching that none of these rules are necessary when a person is moved by the Spirit to believe and be received into the new church.  However, when Paul returns to Jerusalem to speak about this issue, he is faced with the believers who will not discard all of the extra rules that they have been living by. Paul stands his ground in this argument as he continues to teach the unity and coming together of all peoples under the umbrella of the Church and Christ's love. Paul will use large parts of this letter to argue and defend this argument. Even Paul's writing in this part of chapter two seems to be a bit jerky, which may well mean Paul is angry, if not furious with the Jerusalem Jews who continue to demand any requirement beyond accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. Their thinking did not sway Paul, and he will continue to stand strong in his different view of what is required for salvation. So here are the three things that we can learn about Paul in this short passage.

1. He did not go to Jerusalem to learn the Gospel. He already knew it directly from Christ. Paul went to Jerusalem believing that God had called him to do so. We always need to remember that the disciples were a pretty hardheaded group, who seemed to have limited understanding of Christ's teaching.

2. Paul offered to the Jerusalem apostles what he was teaching to the gentiles, not for learning something new, but seeking to affirm the unity with them that had been established years before in his visit with Peter and James.

3. Paul's companion on his journeys was Titus, who was a Gentile and uncircumcised. Paul knew all too well, who Titus was, and also about Titus' faith life without circumcision. He really went after those Jews who said that they believed in Jesus but did not follow the foundational 10 commandments as part of their faith journey.  If Jesus says that he came to complete the Law of God for God's people, then we must know that any failure in keeping the 10 commandments would mean separation from God.  Only through Jesus is it possible to stand before God in righteousness. For Paul it was always about unity in Christ, the Savior, not about man-made rules that often-prevented unity.

Today in the church we are still faced with the issues which drove Paul to anger and frustration.  The things that most often divide denomination from denomination are human choices to fit how people define this relationship with God through the Savior, Jesus Christ. If you think about it, it does not take long see how and why it has been so hard to return to the One True Church of Jesus Christ, but Lutherans are always working to help it happen.

I thank God for your prayers for my family at this difficult time of our loss.

With love, in Christ, Pastor Kim