Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study - Esther (November 21, 2024)

November 21, 2024:  Thursday Old Testament Bible Study – Esther

Good morning. This study should arrive quite early. I am working on it on Wednesday evening at home.

I pray for God's richest blessings to surround you. Pray for Teri who continues to recover following her hip replacement surgery. Pray for my older brother Rick, who has three blocked arteries to his heart. He will have an angioplasty on Friday in Traverse City, MI. Keep Steve and Annette in your prayers for their wedding at American on Sunday, November 24 in the afternoon.  May God bless them with abundant love and hearts of peace in their lives. Pray too for Pastor Ron and Becky as they lengthen their stay in the Minneapolis area. There were many changes in their lives in the last year, and they need some extra time to organize and be ready to leave for the new year in Tucson. We are also holding Wisconsinites Mark and Linda Backer in our prayers for their journey to see their children at Christmas in CA. and then to come to Tucson for the rest of their wintertime. Please pray for safe travel for everyone who will be traveling during Thanksgiving and beyond into the Christmas season. Check out the Journeys newsletter for December. It will be out by next week, perhaps sooner if Pastor can get his part of the letter put together.  Advent 1, December 1st, is Gospel Music Sunday at 10AM. Afterwards there will be a chili luncheon in the parish hall. We hope that you will join us. We will give you an Advent calendar from ELCA World Hunger to keep you focused in this most busy time on the mission to which all of Christ's Children are called, and we will have an Advent refrigerator magnet for you as well.

Over the years of history, it is important for us to take stock of all the times during which the Jewish community were blamed for all of the problems of a number of nations in history. We can start with Haman and the edict of king Xerxes. The Jews in Persia, in all 125 precincts of the nation had been given permission at the prodding of Haman to destroy the Jews. We know that through Esther and the party she gave to honor and show her respect for Xerxes that he would give another edict to give the Judahites the power and authority to destroy anyone who threatened them. More than 70,000 Persians were killed as this all unfolded. But there have truly been massive numbers of Jews who have lost their lives being blamed for things for which they held no blame. The Russians also set the Jews up for their national issues, and in Ukraine in a period of time from 1919 -1920, more than one hundred thousand Jews were murdered. And of course we will never forget the German obliteration of 6,000,000 Jews, and Christians too, who would not accept Hitler's version of the truth of God, or who could not accept the persecution and murder of their Jewish neighbors and friends in their communities.  As we look at the Judahites, we can easily understand how they’re being saved by a letter from Esther and by that overriding edict of Xerxes.  The Jewish communities today celebrate a 2-day period because of Purim. (the word pur means lots), all of this so that future generations of Jews would not forget the terror that the first letter from Xerxes carried, yet they also knew joy in the letter from Esther which gave them permission to fight back against the Agagites and others. I hope that you know that the reason that the Judahites were allowed to leave their capture in Persia was because their communities had grown very large, and if one is to fear their numbers of people, and their successes in their exile, we must face the fact of their exile successes.   They would never forget this threat as long as they lived, and on into the future as they celebrated the land of God's covenant with them. Also remember that Malachi is now a man of position and wealth, and he too carried his own message deal. With the Judahites in the promised land, Xerxes sent out letters of conscription for all the workers to replace the now free Judahite communities. This was a time of celebration and renewal for the Judahites and remains so today for Jews around the world. In Haman's documents were words that were hoped to bring terror on the exiles. But the letters of Mordecai and Esther were really different. Their document was full of, and encouraged, peaceful living, and more, that indicated the well-being that would be bestowed on them as Xerxes sought to regain control of all of those communities with the elected children. (by God).

Here we end the Book of Esther. It shows us that courage, even in the face of potential danger, is critical in our lives.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving so there will be no study. I will also be taking next Wednesday off to help prepare food for our families Thanksgiving Day celebration, not because the world is right with God, but because our hearts are filled with joy and the bounty of God's world.

With Love in Jesus Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 15:42-47 bible study (November 19, 2024)

November 19, 2024:  Tuesday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:42-47

In this season of Thanksgiving let us give thanks to God for His gifts of abundance and hope-filled days.

This morning, I need to tell you that Teri's surgery went well yesterday, and she now begins a rather lengthy road to full recovery.  Please continue your prayers for her. She sends her thanks for all of the support as she grieves at the loss of her dog Butters. Butters passed just a few days before Teri's surgery. Please pray for my brother Rick who has late-stage kidney disease. He does dialysis three times a week. At his last dialysis appointment his heart became erratic, a rapid heartbeat, and other cardiac issues too. He had to travel 60 miles to get to a cardiac specialist, and even then, the usual medications did not work to calm his heart.  Today he is getting an echo cardiogram and a catheterization to discover the cause of this new health issue for him. I thank God for all of your prayers for the saints in light. That's us by the way, and others who believe in our Lord and Savior.

In today's study in Mark we discover that there is a rush to get Christ's body down from the cross, and to get it buried before the start of the Jewish holy worship day at 6PM on Friday evening. Joseph of Arimathea has come to offer to place Jesus in Joseph's own burial cave. He immediately goes to Pilate to request permission to take Jesus down from the cross, and to move him to a burial site. He is granted permission to do so. Unlike the others who had been crucified over the years, Jesus will be quickly moved to a burial site. What was more common was for those crucified to linger, sometimes for days before they succumbed to death. And often their bodies remained on their crosses after death, some to never be taken down until after their bodies a deteriorated, or the vultures and wild dogs would strip them to the bone on the ground. Perhaps Golgotha was given its name because of the bones and skulls left there as a sign of what happens when a person goes against the Roman Rule, or even against the temple priests.

What about this man Joseph of Arimathea? He was a leader of authority, a member of the Sanhedrin, a person of some wealth. But why did he come after Christ's death. He did not stand up for Jesus when Jesus was being tried. Maybe he was afraid of losing his position of power.  But he must have come to the hill on which the criminals would lose their lives in crucifixion. What drove him to offer his personal tomb? It must have been the same thing as the Centurion who was at the side of Jesus' cross when He died. In some way, the Spirit moved both of these men's hearts and minds, and brought them to belief.  Here we see the age-old question. Why did some come to belief at the death of Jesus, and not during his life and ministry to bring the Truth of God into the lives His chosen people once again, who, like them, would only stand quietly by as the abuse of Jesus took place. There can be no doubt that they received their gift of faith, and it is visible to us in the writing of Mark. It is here at the end of the 15th chapter of Mark that we are left hanging at the closed tomb of Jesus. His body is sealed in by a huge boulder, and though His body has been prepared, there is no lingering in the tomb to grieve because the day for worship is soon to start. Everything that Jesus did in His ministry has now come to that certain end we all face. Now no one can really find the space in their hearts and minds to remember with joy all that Christ did, and because His death is certain, it has all come to an abrupt stop.

If we had never read a Gospel, we would not know what is still to come. On Easter the certainty of God's answer, and its absolute surprise for all who come to see it will create in us immeasurable joy.

With love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 15:33-34 bible study (November 18, 2024)

November 18, 2024:  Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:33-34

May joy in Jesus Christ fill your life today and always.

A reminder today especially, if you are able, please pray for Teri as she has her fourth same hip replacement today starting at approximately 12:30 and lasting for about three hours. Prayers of thanksgiving too that Jeff has gotten through his liver cancer surgery, and now we need to pray for his recovery and improvement in his quality of life. Please continue to pray for Kandice too as she battles cancer. Prayer is really making a difference in all of these people's lives.

I want to share a brief word with you this morning about the movement and wonderful surprise which God brings to us through his creation. Last week I was looking at the navel orange tree outside our dining room window seeing the beautiful fruit that was still green and growing larger. Today as I am working on our Bible Study, I looked at it once again. The oranges are a beautiful bright orange color! One week is all it took. The order of God's creation, to which we have been called as stewards, offers us all opportunities to see the power and wonder of the world that we have received as a gift from our Creator. I understand how and why those navel oranges change but it still amazes me. This fruit tree is one that Adam, Denise and Ron's son, got for us about 27 years ago during the time that he worked at a tree nursery. It is still producing wonderful, sweet large oranges this year. Adam is now a Reed Park Zoo dietary animal care specialist here in Tucson. Thanks so much Adam for selecting this tree for us, and for being such a good friend to our children who now are middle-aged adults just like you!

Today's reading from Mark is probably the one for which we have waited, and at the same time, is the very hardest for us to read, reminding us of our own sin and brokenness, and taking us back to all of those Good Friday worship services during which this is one of the Scriptures that is read.  I know why Jesus did this for us, but I remain amazed and filled with thanksgiving for the mighty gifts that His sacrifice brings to each and every person who has come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Today we will break down this passage and focus on the people, the scene, and the difficult words of Christ from the cross. Though Mark has chosen to not share with us the gruesome reality Christ's being placed on the cross, we all know how horrific it was, so much so that many of us are brought to tears as we read Mark's description and realize the power of Christ's love and faith-courage that made Him humble Himself before the Father to save us all.

Perhaps the most difficult of the words which Christ speaks from the cross, are "My God, My God, why have your forsaken me!"  If you are like me, you must be drawn into wondering what in the world this might mean. Did God really leave Jesus as He suffered on the Cross? Or is there something else that we must consider. What we must realize is that Christ is experiencing the terror of what sin means in death for those who have not accepted Christ's salvific acts on the cross. Sin is, simply and terribly, separation from God now and in the next life. Without Christ, we must know that this separation would be ours, total, complete, darkness, a void of nothingness! But through our faith in the Savior, we will instead know the light of Christ with us throughout eternity. But in that moment on the cross, our sins, which Christ is bearing, have shown Him that absence and void, however briefly. It was enough for Him to come to know that separation and its horror. The second thing that Jesus says in Mark is a loud shout at the end of His life as He takes His final breaths   Both Matthew and Luke speak to this shout as well, but John tells us something else about it. The author of John writes that Jesus says, "It is finished". What is finished? It was the task to which Christ had been called, and during which he humbled Himself before Our Father. It was His work to bring us life, free from the burden of our sin, which in reality could only come from the Perfect One of God, Jesus Christ, when he became the Once and for All Atonement for our brokenness, which brought to all believers the sole way to be right with God now and forever, with sins carried and forgiven by our Lord and Savior, Jesus. 

There was also a bystander, if you will, a person who was there for the "show". He had no care for anyone who was dying on those Roman crosses. He was there only for the spectacle.  He was a person who was looking for verification, proof, that Jesus was God's Son, and that is why he says to wait in giving Jesus any aid, to just see if Elijah will show up to take Jesus down from the cross. My best guess is that he was a non-believer who wanted verification of his doubt.

There were plenty of Roman soldiers around Golgotha that day, keeping guard, and making certain that no one would try to take anyone down who was sentenced to death on their cross. But this one, this one is different. In the midst of all of the moaning and grief of the family and friends of these crucified men, this Centurion came to know that Christ was indeed God's son. The only way that could happen was if he was moved by the Holy Spirit, so his eyes had been opened, as well as his heart and mind.  I think that we have to realize that these soldiers, no matter the brutality which they took out on Jesus, probably wanted peace so that they could go home, and here in front of this soldier was the one who could really do it!

Off to the side of all of the action in the area of the crucifixion were the women who loved Jesus, and who were committed to his ministry. In the Rock Opera, Jesus Christ Super Star, Mary Magdalene says it all as she sings, "I don't know how to love Him". When only one of the disciples, and perhaps Mark himself hanging around in the distance, as it appears he so often did, had come to offer support and love for their master, the women remained steadfast just in case there was anything that they might be able to do to help Jesus.  From these women we learn that it is only love which can give us a hold on Christ. That is so true for all of us too. Our mutual relationship with the Triune God is found in the fullness of the Love of God for us, and of our love for God!

In addition to the people near Christ's Cross, in the Temple, so far away from that place of death and terror, there was another action of God taking place. The Holy of Holies was, for the first time, opened to all people when the veil that surrounded "God's Place" was completely torn in half from top to bottom. No longer would God be shrouded in such unapproachable mystery behind that vail. Finally, in the completion of God's charge to Christ to pay the penalty for the sins of people and all of His Creation's brokenness too, Christ reveals for all time God's true nature. We read Scripture so that we might know too. We sing a song with the words, "He Came Down that We Might Know Love". To know the Christ of God is most certainly to know God's Love.

Thanks for being with me today. I will be back with you tomorrow.

With love for Christ's children and all of the rest, Pastor Kim