Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study - Esther 9:1-32 (November 14, 2024)

November 14, 2024:  Thursday Old Testament Bible Study - Esther 9:1-32

Grace and Peace to you on this beautiful desert morning.  In the desert autumn we get to see the awesome beauty of God's creation all around us, clear blue skies, cool mornings in the 40s, and nice warm afternoons.  Before coming to Tucson, Melody and I always, except for 14 months in Des Moines, IA, on our internship, have lived on the water of the Great Lakes.  I used to think that there was no place prettier than where we grew up, until we came to the city surrounded by the mountains of the Rockies range.  I am in awe every day when I get to view the Catalina’s, the Tucson’s, the Santa Rita’s, and the Rincon’s.  What a wonderful, beautiful view we get almost each and every day! Let us be certain to give thanks for where we live, such beautiful cities are rare in our world.

Please remember in your prayers, Steve, Annette's fiancé, who is having a pretty major surgery today, which will require a hospital stay.  Pray too for Jeff Hovelson, our daughter-in-law's father, who will be having cancer surgery next week. Pray for Teri Hardy too.  She will have her third hip replacement on the same hip on Monday.  Thanks for all of your prayers, I know that God hears them, and always responds.  The last Sunday of our current church year is on the 24th, Christ the King Sunday.  This is going to be a really busy day.  Bells rehearse at 9AM.  Worship at 10.  Pumpkin pie fellowship in the Narthex after worship, Gospel music practice, Church Council, and Annette's and Steve's wedding at 2PM.  December 1st is the beginning of the new church year, and we will have our Gospel Music Group, and after worship, our traditional chili luncheon in the parish hall.  It is going to be a busy two weeks!

Today we continue on in the book of Esther.  Esther's request of Xerxes to restore the right to the Judahites to defend themselves against the racism of their enemies is in place.  Mordecai, Esther's uncle, is showing his newly assigned leadership role, and is wearing royal robes and has a horse to ride, all which show his status now before Xerxes.  And, just in case you have not noticed, Xerxes is not a very wise ruler.  Instead, he seems to be unable to steer a steady course as he governs.  Now he, in response to Esther's request offered at this time of the king being satisfied with food and having had too much to drink over a period of days, is countermanding his first order to Haman to attack and destroy the Judahites, and now has sent the Judahites an order allowing them to destroy anyone who attempts to harm them.  This is where we come into today's reading.  Now we are able to see the reality of these two orders given by Xerxes.  By any standards it is a blood bath.  It sounds like the Judahites are turning the tables on the Persians who had hoped to be able to get rid of the Judahites by the order that Haman had received.  In excess of 75,000 Persians and others who are not identified in this passage are destroyed.  And to make things really clear about their power and newfound authority, they move to completely destroy Haman's male heirs, all 10 of them!  Of course there is great celebration on the part of the Judahites, but there is a phrase that we may find a little difficult to understand.  The Judahites did not lay their hands on any plunder.  This really shows the difference between their actions, and those of the people who wanted to destroy them.  The Judahites wanted to make it clear that they intended to not profit from their actions.  One of the things that happens out of all of this is the Judahites discover that they are really no better than any other people when it comes to getting revenge and murder, but the outcome of all of this is that the Judahites will now come together and celebrate in their communities, and in doing so, they will give thanks for the bounty of their lives, and also come to share with those are less fortunate, both Judahites and others.  In Canada there is a tradition called boxing day.  It is the day after Christmas when the poor boxes in the churches were opened after the abundance of giving at Christmas, and their contents were handed out to those in need.  Beyond the murder and mayhem of this period of time for the Judahites, it becomes in their celebration a time of sharing.  Though I have mentioned it before, we all really need to take note of what happens when racism takes hold in a community, or even in a nation.  It was this kind of issue that fired off Haman to seek to destroy the Judahites, and in some ways, the very same mind set powered the Judahite's response to that hatred for them. 

Next Thursday we will finish Esther, and then we will have a Thursday off for Thanksgiving.  Perhaps out of Esther we can be better prepared to care for others out of the bounty and blessings of God in our own lives.

You have my thanks, my prayers, and through Christ, my love for all of you.     Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 15:29-32 bible study (November 12, 2024)

November 12, 2024:  Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:29-32

Blessings and Peace in the name of Jesus Christ be with you today.

I prayed for you all as I fell off to sleep last night, and I certainly thank God for the prayers you hold in your hearts and minds for me with God. My brother Rick, a Vietnam Vet of the Navy, and his wife Connie are both really struggling with their health. They have hired a person to come in to do their laundry in the basement of their home, and to clean once a week. Neither of them is able to manage the basement stairs any longer. It is funny how we don't think about that when we are setting things up in our homes and forgetting that someday we are going to be "old".  I know that many of you have gone through this process in your lives too. We are entering into a very busy season in the weeks ahead, with Christ the King Sunday giving us an opportunity to end the Church Year, November 24th, with a pumpkin pie fellowship after the service, and then Dec 1, Advent One, we will celebrate with Gospel Music Sunday, followed by our traditional chili luncheon after worship.  You can sign up at church or call into the office to let us know that you will be joining us for worship and lunch too. After that it is a few short weeks to Christmas Eve Worship. We will turn around twice and discover that it has come and gone already. Please keep Terri H in your prayers as she gets her third hip replacement on the same hip done on the 18th of November. And our good friend, worship leader, and grounds and property keeper, is down with walking pneumonia. Pray for Robert for healing. It is a good time over the next couple of weeks to ask ourselves, who our king is? And has that king done for us that we had hoped, or should we perhaps be turning to the One True King every day, Jesus Christ.  Just for your consideration.

Today we continue in Mark as Christ is now on the cross and being sacrificed at the hands of the Romans and Jews. Except for John, it would appear that no one else has stayed to witness this horrific event. It may well be possible that Mark, the writer of this Gospel, is watching though is not with the Marys and John. His description is really quite different from the other Gospels, especially in the way in which the two criminals interact with Jesus as they, being criminals, are suffering the consequences of their crimes. Apparently, both of them deride Jesus! Around Jesus, and with those who process through this gruesome sight of capital punishment that is being meted out by the Roman army. The taunting is constant. If you are the king of the Jews, then get yourself down from there, and then we will believe in you. What more did Jesus ever need to do than preach the Truth of God's Love, reminding His people of his kindness and power for healing the "ills" of this world? But Jesus knew that His death on the cross was absolutely necessary if there was to be a right relationship between the sin of people, and the righteousness and Holiness of His Father in Heaven. Coming down would never convince anyone who had closed out the Holy Spirit in their lives, making it impossible to come to faith in God's only begotten Son. However, for those who believed, and who believe today, there could never be the loss of faith in Christ's lovely act of dying on the cross to bring the gifts of Life, Forgiveness, and Salvation to all of God's creation. There has never been another who could die for the sins of everyone, but that does not mean that because of brokenness and sin, other innocents in the world will not suffer the consequences. For you and me that means that we may be the ones today who, barring the Truth of the Gospels and the Spirit, will have to suffer the continuing consequences of the world's sin. There is a legend that Martin Luther, standing in trial before the Pope's most powerful persecutors and asked to recant the 95 theses, said, "Here I Stand, I can do no Other!"  Roland Bainton, a Luther Scholar, whose text is titled Here I stand, says that Luther said this, but later scholars have found no evidence that these were his words. But in reality, it is exactly how Luther felt about the 95 articles for debate in the Church.  If challenged about the Truth which you hold in your life, will you be able to say, "Here I also stand. There is no other Truth, but Christ Crucified, Resurrected, and Ascended, and He is the Savior of the world, bringing God's Grace into the midst of God's children. This will always mean loving God above all else, and loving all people like we love ourselves.

Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other!

I am the shepherd of American's flock and the Truth of the Gospel, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study - Esther 8:3-17 (November 7, 2024)

November 7, 2024:  Thursday Old Testament Bible Study - Esther 8:3-17

Good morning in the Name of Jesus Christ who calls us to always live with hope, and to find joy in His abundant gifts which are ours each day.

Based on today's reading in Esther we can see in this Old Testament book an idea which the 10 Commandments do not support.  That idea is the revenge of the Judahites on the people who have set out to destroy them after the Law of Xerxes which Haman convinced the King would be necessary because of his own need for revenge on Mordecai for his resistance to offering Haman the respect that Haman thought was his due because of his closeness to the king. It is also obvious that Esther has learned well what is pleasing to the king. It appears to be feeding his ego.  There is the party, filled with wine, and the temptation that the king seems to be led to Esther's beauty and suggestive sexuality.  All of these enable Esther the opportunity to take advantage of the king's goodwill and his attraction to this woman who has come before him, pleasing him, and asking for an audience with the king to make the request that will save her people from the destruction which Haman convinced  the king was necessary, all out of his need to have revenge on Mordecai.

Now we come to our reading for today. Of course, when Esther convinces the king that Haman has done a great injustice by setting them up to be the victims of those who do not like the Judahites, or their life successes. After all, they came into exile to Persia, but after many years, they are an important part of Xerxes' broad kingdom, productive and gaining wealth and power in every part of Xerxes' lands. What we must know about the king's edicts is that once one is stated, it cannot be canceled. After all, the edict that Haman sent out still holds as the king's sovereign word. So how does the opportunity which Esther looked for change anything? It gives the Judahites the right to defend themselves against those who would choose to follow the first edict of the king. However, we know what human nature is and based on our view of the war in the middle east, the Judahites will act in revenge against those who have hurt them, or who have murdered those they love. All of this becomes very real as we see Mordecai dressed in royal clothing, prepared to signal his newfound authority in the lands of Xerxes, and specifically at the gate of the palace. Once again, though God is never mentioned, we see His presence in the process which unfolds in this Book of Esther. Esther is a wise, and sometimes shrewd, woman who works within a very male oriented circumstance to make it work for the needs of herself, her uncle, and the Judahite people. When the second edict is traveled around Persia and its conquered lands, the Judahites celebrate around the lands, because they no longer need to hide in the face of that first edict asking for their destruction. Effectively, the second edict neutralized the first. By the way, when we discover in this reading that Haman was an Agagite, and long-term enemy of the Judahite people, we ought to know how revenge might take priority. The Agagite were seen as an evil people by the Judahites, and in I Samuel 15 and Daniel 6 there is more information about the relationship between these peoples. It is not good! In today's world revenge is always out there, our president elect has vowed to take revenge on all of the justice department for the prosecutions they had started against him, and in the middle east, the modern day Jews have killed 45,000 in the name of revenge for the attacks perpetrated by the Hamas radicals last year in October, and lest we think we are above revenge, we only need to remember the war with Iraq at the need of a president who wanted to finish the war on behalf of his father.  Another modern reality is the revenge of road rage which we often see just in our travel around Tucson.  Hopefully, you and I can escape the revenge mode that is so easy to get into. Christ offers God's love and the peace which passes all understanding for our lives. Let us see if we can really know that in our lives every day.

With the love of Christ, Pastor Kim