Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 15:6-12 (April 13, 2026)

April 13, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 15:6-12

Dear friends in Christ,

Good morning and God bless you all. This online study gets shared with folks in Tucson, Colorado, and Hawaii, and there may be a few of which I am unaware. Thank you to all of you for coming back after my post Easter break last week. Easter service at church was wonderful with all the special music, organ soloist, Gospel Group, and Bell Choir. If you were unable to be with us, please be certain to go to the Church Web Site, godsplaceforgrace.org and click on the link for Sunday, April 5. We were truly blessed to be able to be with our children and their families. I believe that our daughter Melissa was the only one not with us for lunch after church. Please pray for Sharyn Burt who continues to heal from an issue with her feet. They are slowly improving. And pray too for her friends Sharon and Bobbie who both have serious health problems. Please pray too for Annette and Steve as they deal with their health issues, and now, they are under pressure to move to a new home. Please pray too for the unsheltered and hungry in our community. We need to realize that it may well be people we know who need assistance. The great news from yesterday was that we received gifts of about $1,750.00 to send to our community food bank. I thank God so much for your generosity. Starting in May on Sundays at 9AM, except for May 31st, I will be offering an adult education class in the Sanctuary on the recent social statement of the ELCA, called "Faith and Civic Life: Seeking the Well Being of All". We will have coffee and donuts each morning that we hold Adult Education. I hope to see many of you there to join in this conversation. This Saturday, April 18, Melody and I will host a Romantic Comedy movie at 1PM in the Sanctuary. Snacks are provided or bring a snack to share.

Today we encounter a serious conflict in Jerusalem in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul and Barnabas have come home telling the Jerusalem Church about their Gospel Work with the gentiles who lived in all those places we read about last week. Imagine! Gentiles being offered the hope and Grace of God! There were certainly moderate Jews in the new church in Jerusalem, but the conservative Jews made their understanding clear, Circumcision and obedience to the Decalogue were critical in earning one's way into heaven. We need to remember that this is 10 years after Paul and Barnabas headed off on their mission journey. A lot of water has flowed under the dam of conversion by the Spirit of Christ, but low and behold, Gentiles accepted the missioner's words, and the Spirit of Christ gifted them with faith. I have to wonder if Peter had spoken very often about his much earlier experience with Cornelius and his entire household. Thankfully, in this statement of Peter's, we are reminded that he too has experienced the Spirit's work even before Baptism had been offered to Cornelius and his entire household. So here we are, Peter, some number of years before Paul would write his Letter to the Romans where he would offer teaching about justification by faith which Peter, 10 years earlier, brings to the front of the conversation. Works will never get you into a right relationship with God. No matter how hard you try, it will never be enough! what is required is faith, the gift of the Spirit of Christ, the only way anyone can come to, and continue to live in faith. Obviously, this was difficult teaching for many to hear, and then to move on to learning. The Jews were certain that the Law was enough. Peter knew that only God's Grace would be sufficient. Only the perfect unblemished Lamb of God could pay the price for sin, as you and I know, it was, and is, the only way to be received by our God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! And it is all for every one of us!

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday/Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 14:21 - 15:5 (March 30/31, 2026)

March 30, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 14:21-28

Blessings and Peace be with you this morning. Yesterday we had a wonderful time with The Rev. David Pavesic, Director for Evangelical Mission from the Grand Canyon Synod. On Saturday I met with Pastor Pavesic and Bishop Hutterer sharing with them both as much information as any of us know about how the Spirit will guide our choices in this time of change for our congregation. Let me say again that it is not the intention of anyone that the charter of our congregation will be given up. Please continue to pray for the Spirit's guidance as we move into, and through, this time of change for our congregation. Now, about Easter Lilys, if you cannot find them, please know that any flowering plant or cut flowers will also work just as well. Be sure to bring them on Thursday, 10 - 11:45AM, or from 1-4PM, or on Friday at noon or at the evening service at 7PM or bring them on Saturday from 10 until about 2pm. Bell choir will rehearse on Saturday at 1:30pm. Please plan an hour for rehearsal. I will call each of you to verify that you can make it. Thanks for your extra commitment and talent for our Easter Celebration. Bells will also warm up on Easter morning about 8:45AM, 15 minutes tops, and the Gospel Group will warm up at 9:25AM for about 15 minutes. We want to be certain that our worship leaders will have time to share Easter Breakfast - which we all will be bringing. Please pray for peace in the hearts of all people who are responsible for wars and conflicts around the globe. Pray to God with thanksgiving, we had 42 at worship on Palm Sunday. This Easter Sunday worship is at 10AM. Invite your friends to join you for service. There will also be Noon and 7PM worship this Thursday and Friday.

I remember that I recently spoke in this study, wondering what happened in the towns where Paul and Barnabas had to rush away for their own safety, to the people who had come to faith from the Words of the two men. It seemed that those new Christians might have been left in the lurch! However, in our reading for today we discover that Paul and Barnabas returned to every one of those difficult cities, and in each one found the support of those new Christians. They even added a few more new stops on the way. Though previous readings in Acts were a bit unclear, it becomes apparent in today's reading that there were large numbers of converts from idol worship, and from no religious background at all. So, through all of this, what has been running through Paul's mind as he has fled, preached the Good News, and built new communities of faithful people?

1. There is his utter honesty with the people who are coming to a new faith. He told all of them that the journey to Christ's heavenly kingdom was fraught with danger and other kinds of problems. Jesus did not come to "make life easy; He came to make men great." 

2. On Paul's return journey through these communities, he selected elders to be the guide for each of these small new churches. There was a good reason for the action of Paul, and you and I know what it was, and continues to be today. The Christian faith is meant to be lived in fellowship and community, not in individuality and isolation. John Wesley had a comment about this too. "No one ever gets to heaven alone; they must either find friends or make them on their journey to their heavenly homecoming."

3. Neither Paul or Barnabas ever felt that the Truth of Christ which they were preaching and teaching came from their strength or power. Their ability and will to be Christ's agents of the Gospel came from Christ alone. I really understand this as your pastor. When I speak on behalf of the Gospel on Sundays, or at any other time, it is by the power of Christ's Spirit that God's Truth gets proclaimed. In the next chapter, 15, we will see how it is that the power of the Spirit can transform the thinking that seems to be so entrenched and transforms it to a freedom to live into the Gospel even when some people think that their way is better.

Thanks for being with me today. God bless you and keep you safe in His care.

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim

 ============================================================

March 31, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 15:1-5

Good morning, dear friends. This is an extremely busy week for us as Christians. This Thursday is Maundy Thursday, and the day before, our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith celebrate their Passover. We need to keep them in our prayers too, so that peace which passes all understanding fills their lives with hope and love that has been poured over them from the time of the first Passover event in Egypt. For you and me this Thursday is the first meal, which found new meaning from the Passover, and was commanded by Christ for all who have come to belief in Him. His command to "do this" is in the hearts of all who come to the presence of Christ in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. On Friday we celebrate a day that is supremely good for us, because Christ makes the sacrifice for our sins by being the perfect, sin free, lamb of God, and dying so that we might all know our sin is forgiven. Yes, we walk in this life as simultaneously saints and sinners, but through faith in Christ, in confession and penance and contrition we are made right with God even when our sinful nature is always with us. Worship services both days are at Noon and 7PM. I hope you will be able to be with me and your sisters and brothers who attend. We will decorate the church for Easter and the parish hall for Easter Breakfast starting at 9:30AM on Saturday, Bell Choir will rehearse on Saturday at 1:30PM. We arrive at the new week, the new life, and the new hope in Christ on Easter Sunday morning at 10AM, greeting one another with "Christ has Risen!"  with our response, "He is Risen Indeed!". This greatest gift of God's saving grace will leave death behind, as Christ walks in the garden where he was buried, journeys with disciples to Emmaus, and later reveals himself to His disciples along the shores of Galilee. The Gospel song "Oh, How He Loves You and Me", expresses our joy, amazement, and thanksgiving for the new life that is ours through the Savior. I hope that you will all make it on Sunday to church. Our breakfast starts at 8:30AM. This is a carry-in meal. However, if you are unable to bring something to share, please know that you are still welcomed with the very same love which is yours in the Resurrected Lord Jesus.

You and I know that churches can be filled with requirements for what it means to become a member-in- full of the community of believers. We used to think that there was a really good reason to prevent our pre-confirmation children from receiving Communion. Even though they had been Baptized, there always seemed to be some understood extra thing that was necessary beyond that. Often the excuse used was that you had to have attained a certain age before you would be allowed to come to the Sacrament of the Altar. We used to act like Baptism was never enough, there was more required. I am not going to go through all the theology and sacramentology that finally helped us realize, that desire and belief in Christ as the Savior are the only requirements. We could have a really long conversation about why Baptism should not be the requirement either. Belief can only come from the Spirit's presence and action in a person's life, and it is faith that is at the heart of coming to the Sacrament of the Altar. So, what happens if you believe and have not been Baptized? Think about it a bit. Are there other exclusionary requirements we have that may prevent a person from being welcomed by us, and received at the Holy Meal of Christ with the same warmth and love which you and I share?

While reading today's passage from Acts 15 you should not be surprised then that the early churches started by Paul and Barnabas would be faced with the same kind of exclusionary issues. Circumcision was at the heart of this issue in Acts 15. There were some Jews who followed the laws of Moses in the extreme. There were some Pharisees who had converted, and other Jewish believers who had spent their life trying to follow the body of law written by the Pharisees that they all believed helped them to be right with God. The change over to faith alone to receive the blessing of God was a tough journey for many who were rigid in their thinking. Paul and Barnabas used the best possible response to that requirement. They shared the many stories of the new Christians they had just visited, and the powerful presence of their faith from Jews, Gentiles, and those who had no previous religious presence in their lives. These new Christians all lived together in their communities, filled with their new freedom in Christ, and they did so without placing painfully extreme requirements on anyone who came into their communities. This became so intense that Paul and Barnabas, and new converts traveled to Jerusalem to state the case of Christ as Grace and Love confronted the Law of Moses, the 10 commandments, and more which were so deeply ingrained into the Jewish faith community.

I must tell you of the joy that I get in my ministry, when a 2 or 3 year old who is really comfortable with the people of the congregation, precedes their parents up to the front of the communion line, holds up their hands asking to be in the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, to receive this great gift of bread and wine, knowing without all of the baggage that we adults bring to this meal, the sheer joy of being in the presence of their Savior.  Needless to say, Paul and Barnabas are going to have to go to stand before Peter who is the head of the Church, and its Rock. We will tackle that in the next study on Acts.

The week after Easter I will be out of the Office on vacation. I will be back on the Sunday after Easter to lead worship and share the Gospel truth for all our lives.

Thank you for your faithfulness. With Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

Special thanks to God for our members who read the long Matthew reading for the end of the Palm Sunday service as the entry into the Holy Week.

Nancy Gilabert, Camille Jackson, Denise Ramsey, Pastor Ron Prasek, and Jesse Taylor

They made this long Gospel reading very special.

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 51 (March 26, 2026)

March 26, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 51

Dear friends in Christ,

I am writing tomorrow's Psalm Study a day early. As I approach this weekend there are many obligations for Church, prep for music and rehearsals for Gospel Music on Palm Sunday, a conference meeting for the Kino conference (all our parishes in this part of the state), and a meeting with David Pavesic and Bishop Hutterer on Saturday afternoon to speak with them about American and the difficult time we are having to make ends meet, as well as what is apparently a different kind of proposal from two mission congregations to purchase our property and allowing us to stay on site with them, as three independent congregations.  Be sure to come on Palm Sunday, participate in the healing service, and prepare for the entrance into Holy Week, as well as staying after service for conversations about that and other possibilities as we move forward together. Refreshments will be provided after church, and there is also a coffee and donut hour before service while our Gospel Choir rehearses for worship. Next week there will be no Psalm Study on Maundy Thursday.

I am hoping that you have some familiarity with Psalm 51. We have been using a version of it for our time of confession by singing it using a Jay Beech musical arrangement during Lent. The Psalm offers words of confession, hope in the faithfulness of the LORD, and reaching out to receive His abundant Grace as we move forward in our lives of faith. We all need to understand that this Psalm may well be related to David's illicit affair with Bathsheba and causing the death of her faithful husband as he fought on behalf of David and Jerusalem. We need to know that without our Savior, confession and repentance would never be enough to bring God's saving grace to us, even though our contrite hearts are attempting to help us find the place where God would be pleased. That place is now only through faith in God's Son! It is apparent that God can set aside a person's sin and brokenness in order that His plan for all of creation can continue to move forward, and that it will allow for those who were sinful, like King David, to continue on in life, but there will be consequences that are extremely difficult to overcome, like the death of David's and Bathsheba's infant son.  Such burdens continued in the lives of the faithful who had sinned in the Old Testament, but through Christ we are promised that He will carry our burdens of brokenness and give to us instead the burden of His Love! The time of writing for this Psalm falls somewhere between the time of Jeremiah and the time of the return of the Jews after their exile, under the guidance of Nehemiah and Ezra, under the oversight of Cyrus, the Persian King. In David's time, the wall of Jerusalem was intact until much later during the exile of Judah under the crushing power of the Babylonian nation. We all know that it is never enough to repent and make penance when we are in a marriage and have been unfaithful. We may repent and try really hard to bring healing to our broken relationship, but flowers or a new car is never enough to undo the damage that has been done. It is only through the Grace of God that the FATHER in Heaven is willing to forgive, AND FORGET, our sin through the action of our Savior on the Cross. Through Christ our sin is erased, our brokenness disappears as if it was never there. When we are forgiven like this, then it becomes our driving force to proclaim Gods' Love for all His children. I frequently see a man walking downtown who carries a sign calling for repentance and submitting to Christ. I wave and honk my horn every time I see him, because I know the power of Christ's forgiveness in my own life. Yet I still need to confess and allow myself to come before my Savior with a contrite heart. As we approach the end of Lent, please be certain to offer your own confession, and come to know the joy of God's Love for us all on Easter Morning.

If you are coming to lunch this Friday, and need a ride, I will call on Thursday. You are all set if you have signed up to come. See you there, and on Palm Sunday too!!

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim.