Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 15:6-15 bible study (October 29, 2024)

October 29, 2024:  Tuesday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:6-15

Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers! May the Spirit's presence and strength in your life create in you abounding faith.

Good Tuesday morning my dear friends. I believe that autumn has finally arrived in the desert. I hope this day finds your life renewed with energy and joy in the cool weather with which we are blessed today. Please pray for a family in our congregation who finds themselves in the time in which a teenager's angst and finding out who they are, is a difficult time in the family's life right now. Pray for guidance, peace, the understanding of self, and the comfort of Christ in their home today. May God richly bless them. Of course, please continue praying for Kandice, Lisa, and Alexis as they continue their lives in Hawaii. Pray for them as well, that God will bring them comfort, peace, and if it is His will, His miracle of healing.

We all need to understand and know that God's living and loving presence always surrounds us through the joys and the sorrows of every day. I can only imagine how important that was to Jesus as He is tried and as He stands for possible release as Pilate does his annual release of a prisoner at the request of the people of Jerusalem.  It all sounds like this is the chance that the Son of God, our Savior, may not have to go to His death. But the direction of God's plan for our saving must proceed, and to that end, who would appear as the group of people who will make this annual demand of Pilate but the friends of Barabbas. This helps us to understand why there is such a difference between the people who welcomed Jesus, riding on the foal, a donkey, which would infer that Jesus was the conquering one to come to set them all free from the Roman's occupation of their land. These people were the everyday people of the pilgrims who were gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. So, who was it that might demand such a different outcome for the Savior? It was not the people who cheered his e. y into the city of the Temple. No, it was another group who was in place at the hearing before Pilate. The common folks would not choose to knowingly be in the same crowd as them. They were the "Sicaril" or dagger-bearers, a group of exceedingly dangerous thieves and murderers who came to claim the freedom of their fellow criminal, Barabbas. So, what about this group of people? This part of the Jewish community chooses lawlessness instead of laws without any consideration for the well-being of the innocent. Interestingly enough, the word for sin is "anomia" or lawlessness, a willingness to kick out of the way societal standards and, to smash them down, and to put in their place the lawless desires of the heart, or any discipline that would restrict them in any way. Today we often see people in our communities and nation who set themselves and their lives with anomia, and sometimes we are them too! They also chose war instead of peace. They chose the man of blood and crime instead of the Prince of Peace and Harmony. War seems to be a constant presence in the world in which we live.  The longest time in recorded history during which there was no war has been a tiny 130 years. We all know this too well, don't we? Today we have the war in the Ukraine against the aggression of Russia, and the horror of 40,000 plus Palestinians, in the Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iraq, and at the same time the murder of more than a 1000 Jews which fired this mess off.  Now the war in the East seems to be growing, and it is a dangerous reality for the entire world. The community of which Barabbas was a part also chose hatred and violence instead of love. All of this is around our Lord as he moves to allow Himself to be sacrificed exactly because of this sin in the world, so that we might have hope and certainty in our lives that we now have a means of grace, Jesus Christ, who is our mediator with the LORD of hosts.

I pray that you will know the power of Christ's love for you today.

In His love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 15:1-5 bible study (October 28, 2024)

October 28, 2024:  Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:1-5

May the blessings of your Baptism surround you today.

Please vote. We are one of the few democratic governance nations in the world where freedom to vote is held in such high regard. A week from today is the final opportunity to give your selections for elected offices in our nation and state. Please take the time to express your right of citizenship.

In our prayers today, please remember three homeless men who our family has given aid this past week. Gus is a double amputee who lives on the street. Shawn is also on the street, and for Rick and his lovely healthy little dog, both of whom are homeless. Pray for Annette too. Her knee surgery went very well, and she is working hard to recover at home now. She is anxious to get back to church and all of her friends. Please pray for Teri Hardy too. She is scheduled to have a third hip replacement surgery on Nov 18, and her hip has been slipping out of the socket already. Pray that it does not dislocate before the surgery.

Today we are at the beginning of the trial of Christ. He is taken to the Romans, not on the charge of Blasphemy, which Pilate would never touch for fear of creating an uprising, but on the charges of the betrayal of the Government and sedition with the Jewish people, who were already usually in a occupied frenzy over the Roman occupation of their land, that accusation he would be willing to hear.  This is why we hear Pilate questioning Jesus about His Kingdom. "Are you the king of the Jews?"  We certainly must believe that Pilate was well aware of Christ's ministry, and its influence on the people. He healed the sick, and preached love. Both are hardly the basis for a condemnation by Pilate. However, Pilate was smart enough to try not to get caught in the middle between Christ's followers and the Jewish religious authorities. And at this point in the recalling of this trial, Jesus goes silent refusing to answer any further questions from Pilate. For Christ, the time has come. He knows by His Father's answer to His prayer that this is the time for His sacrifice for the sins of all of creation. Let's look at the things which might foster the use of Silence.

1. There is the silence that comes in the midst of one's wonder and admiration. When in the presence of that cherished special person, Silence, the only eloquent thing in the midst of such wonder, may be the very best response.

2. There is also the silence of deep contempt. Like the earlier one, this is not what drove Christ to His silence either. If, as we acknowledge, Jesus already knew Pilate's heart and mind, then it might only move Pilate to greater anger with him, instead of a judgement and action that had to be done at the hands of His own people.

3. Another inbreaking that may bring silence is fear! Jesus was not afraid to move forward to His death. His silence would give the disciples time to hide away and continue God's control of the timeline and shape of Christ's death.

4. We may all, perhaps, have been in a relationship when we were hurt by the person who was very special to us in our lives, but that hurt is just too great to respond to it with words.  There is nothing that can be said to soften it, at least not yet.

5. There is also the silence that comes when a person experiences a grave tragedy. There are no words to express the grief and loss that tragedy may bring. Jesus knew the hatred of the Jews for Him. That hatred was the gravest tragedy. After all, God sent His Son to bring the truth of His Love for all People, and Christ own people refused to hear and accept that love which might have given to Christ and one another in the first place.  Jesus knew that Pilate was a coward with no appetite for the uprising that might occur if he called Jesus not guilty, and then stuck by it in the face of that chanting crowd. All of this is Christ's reason for staying silent in the face of this beginning in His trial. He knew from God's movement through all of these people that our lives were on the line if He chose to go any other direction. He could see the signs of God's activity all around him. It was time!

Tomorrow we will continue with Mark 15:6-15

With love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study - Esther 6:12-8:2 (October 24, 2024)

October 24, 2024:  Thursday Old Testament Bible Study - Esther 6:12 - 8:2

Wake up my dear friends. It’s Thursday morning.  Oh yes, 12:23am. I am having a little trouble sleeping after yesterday's troubling car accident with my little white Ford. On Golf Links just east of Swan a car pulled over the curb, off the shoulder, and came into my middle lane accelerating, when out of the trunk something fell, in a few seconds I was flying through the air on the front left side of my car. So far, just two flat tires, and a much-needed alignment on the car. I was able to drive it home today after the tire repairs, but last night I was off the road on Alvernon for nearly 2 hours.  With help from the only person who stopped, a wonderful tall African man with a great accent, and finally a community service officer came and stayed with me with flashers and flares until the wrecker came. The crash was so hard that it threw my cell phone out of my pocket across the front seat, which meant I had no way to call out because I couldn't find my phone.  I was only a little sore last night and today. Please remember this Sunday's busy morning schedule. Pumpkin carving at 9am on the patio, 10am worship with an adult Baptism, a short after church reception in the narthex, a quick Gospel Group rehearsal, and Church Council. Phew! I think that's plenty.

In this morning's study we finally get to see Esther in action over the issue of the hatred of Haman for Mordecai and all of the Judahites, who he was out to destroy. All of this reminds us of how our Jewish brothers and sisters continue to feel today over their persecution and unfounded accusations made against them. However, I will say to you that I believe they have gone too far with the deaths of 10s of 1000s of Palestinian citizens around them in Gaza, Lebanon, and West Bank. I have been saying for a long time that I get the feeling that they may once again lose their place in their nation and land. Today, the age-old prophecy of the Old Testament still stands for how God sees His Elect community of people and their right worship, and care for the widow, the orphan, and the resident alien in their midst. Without claiming Christ as the Messiah, they must live by God's laws and be judged by Him for their failure to be obedient to them. However, certainly here in the book of Esther we can understand the historic fear of the Jews for such hatred against them. In this part of our reading from Esther we have yet to get to the fullness of her heroic action on behalf of her Uncle Mordecai, and all of their people who live under the reign of Xerxes. Haman has done a good job of turning the king against the Judahites in his kingdom. In fact, as we remember from last Thursday's study, Haman has even built a hanging scaffold at his home, hoping to catch Mordecai and kill him for the disrespect that Mordecai has shown him at the gate to the palace. Esther shows us her bravery and skill in appealing to the king. First, she offers to throw a big banquet for Xerxes and Haman, and then she appeals to the King being offered an undesignated, but major gift, of any kind that Esther might want. She moves to appeal to the king because her people have been "sold" by Haman to be destroyed by any means possible.  Though God is not mentioned in this OT book, it is clear that He is present and moving the decisions by His action. The king cannot sleep. That's kind of the time when he got into trouble with Haman, seeing sleep as an omen that he must pay attention to.  And then in his vanity and liking for a really good party and banquet that goes on for days, which Esther now provides for him herself, the king is feeling pretty generous. Remember the king's first queen in this book refused to accommodate his request for her presence at the first rousing banquet of six months of drunkenness and what we can only call debauchery. So, he was very pleased with Esther when she not only makes herself present and available, but she throws one of the parties that the king loves so much. Throughout the Old Testament we see time after time that God acts on behalf of His children, even when they have been difficult. God intervenes and using the existing situation, moves everything in the direction He wants as He moves all of creation, including us, toward the fulfillment of His eternal plan. His action is obvious for the Judahites, just as it was in Egypt for the Hebrews, or for Samson, or for the consequences of the Hebrew's disobedience when Moses presents the Commandments to them. Haman comes to the king after his sleepless night in the palace, a time when the king is ready to set the orders of the day and get things moving. It is bad timing for Haman, at least because he misunderstands what the king is saying, and believes it to all be for him. Unexpectedly, Haman is indeed going to elevate Mordecai, but not on the scaffolding in a hangman's noose.  I hope that you realize that in the books of the OT, the stories we have about the strong women like Ruth, Naomi, Deborah, Esther, and the women of the New Testament, Mary, Christ's mother, and Mary and Martha in Bethany, and Lydia in starting a brand new church,  are pretty short in comparison to the many stories of the men in the Bible.  But we must know that the women who we encounter here, just like the women today, are powerhouses of resilience and wisdom. In the Bible they make a huge difference in the progress of God's plan for us all. We are still not quite done with Esther.

With the love of Christ, Pastor Kim