Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 13 bible study (August 26, 2024)

August 26, 2024:  Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 13

Good morning. Today I am thankful for the good brakes on my little Ford Focus. I had a car in front of me stop suddenly. I collided with the back of the car. No one was injured, and my car will need to visit the sick car body shop for this next week. Thankfully, both cars are insured by Geico. That used to matter, but I am not certain that it really makes any difference anymore. Please remember that we have Gospel Music coming this next Sunday, and we will follow the service with our first of the month carry-in dinner. TexMex is the theme for this coming meal. If you need to sign up to come, please call the church office to do so. Also, prayers of thanksgiving are appropriate as our family has now fully recovered from covid. Today, we begin our journey through the 13th chapter of Mark.

It is in chapter 13 that we find many Jewish ways of thinking. Things that we as modern readers may find difficult of which to get a hold are present in this chapter. We will not even be taking the entire chapter in its verse order.

So, here we go. The Day of the Lord is what we encounter first. We must remember that the Jews never forgot that they were God's chosen people, and they never doubted it. The Day of the Lord was inevitable in Jewish thought. It would be the day on which God intervened in the lives of those He had chosen. Before that day would be a time of terror and trouble. This time would shake the whole world and end in God's judgement of all people. In the face of this the Jews had an insurmountable optimism. At this time, the old world would be destroyed, and a new world would come for the elect of God. Unlike our forebear Luther, the Jews did not look for a reformation, instead they looked to a complete remolding and re-creating of all things. Look at Amos 5:16-20, or Isaiah 13:6-16, or Joel chapter 2 and 3.  In the times between the Old and New Testament the Jews knew little freedom.  It was only natural that they would become even more intense in their belief that the LORD would come to punish those to whom they had lost their freedom. Even in the New Testament there are plenty of references to apocalypses coming. It is in chapter 13 of Mark that Jesus uses both the Old Testament thinking and the New Testament Apocalyptic thinking to get the people to understand the coming end of His own life, and its significance in terms of the Jewish thought. In this chapter Mark places many of Christ's teachings as Jesus attempts to get people to see the future through what He is teaching.

1. There are prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem. (see verses 1, 2, and 14-20). It happened in 70 C.E. at the hands of the Romans army.

   
   

2. There is the warning of persecution to come. (verses 9-13) This warning for Christ's disciples and followers are there to let them know that they are going to face unbelievable trials and tribulations in their own futures.

   
   

3. There are warnings of the dangers of the last days. (verses 3-6, and 21, 22) Jesus knew that in the days after He would be gone there would be those who would twist and adulterate the truth that He taught. We know this in our own world today. Regrettably, the Church has its share of heretics who manipulate the Truth of the Gospel for the sake of gaining power and wealth.

   
   

4. There are the warnings of the second coming. These warnings in Mark are dressed in the language which has to do with the Day of the Lord. (verses 7,8, and 24, 27) They seem to be inextricably mixed together.  These visions of poets and apocalyptists were the means by which Christ would speak of His second coming, but the necessary clarity for the people to understand, of course became mixed with historic understandings in the Jewish traditions about which we have been speaking. It is difficult to bring understanding when what is going to happen is Brand New!

   
   

5. There are warnings of the necessity to be on watch for what’s coming.  (verses 28-37) All of these things tell us that Only God knows when That Day will be. Jesus makes that most clear. So, all who believe must be constantly faithful and ready.

These many strands make it necessary to make our approach to this chapter in non-consecutive order. Tomorrow, we begin.

God Bless you today, and this study comes to you with the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study on Nehemiah 10:30-39 (August 15, 2024)

August 15, 2024:  Thursday Bible Study on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah 10:30-39

Good morning, and may God bless your day and all the things in which you are involved. I am home working this morning for two reasons. Piano practice in the sanctuary is pretty tough after about 11AM, and Melody and I are having solar put on our home, so that our electric bills can become month to month standard without the big jumps that TEP has been making every year. They are mandated by law to have a certain percentage of their power produced by wind or solar, and we are taking advantage of the state's free program to put solar on the house and stabilize our month-to-month bills. This program sounded just right for our needs for power in the future. In our prayers, keep Gerri in your prayers as she finishes her vacation and travels back to Tucson next week. Prayers too for Ron and Becky who are visiting their son in the Netherlands.

Today's reading in Nehemiah may remind us of the promises that we made in confirmation when we were back in our high school years. Back then you had to adjust to confirmation demands in addition to any paying job you might have and getting used to being in high school too. I guess we all have stressful times.  In confirmation we promised our willingness to believe in Christ, and to follow the ten commandments, the Creeds, and the Lord's prayer as defined by Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon in the large and small catechisms. We renew this commitment every time we come to receive communion, confessing our sin, and taking part with the living Christ in His Holy Meal. Another time that this happens is when we approve the ministry and programs of the congregation at our annual meeting. There we pledge our support of our time, talents, and resources, and as we might expect many times at this annual gathering of the congregation there is need to continue our stewardship, and sometimes to move forward in how we offer ourselves to the work of the Gospel that happens through our congregation.  In chapter 10 of Nehemiah, what we are reading is a delineation of all of the expectations of those who choose to place their relationship with God as a priority. It will mean regular offerings each year, money, farm goods which includes animals and produce. Even wine is offered. And the Levites will function as the collectors in all of this, administering it in such a way that it supports the temple and the people who work in the temple as well as the people in the community. All the people named in the earlier verses are making what can be called a pledge, which might be called a covenant or a testament of their commitment to the Temple, and to God. Like the Ten Commandments this pledge addresses the people's relationship with God, and with other people. (rejecting all outsiders in their country) I have the same questions as you. What about the people who had a foreign wife and shared with her in building a family. Does this mean that God would reject them because they were not full blooded Judahites? If we ever wonder where to find support for a view in our lives about racism and cultural and religious rejection, you could do worse than to start here. There is no excuse here for exclusion or racism! If indeed the heirs of Ishmael also have a commitment from the Holy One of the Heavens, then such action as the rejection of all of the outsiders is exactly the kind of thing that caused the Jews problems in the first place. Before the exile they did not care for the widow, the orphan, and resident alien in their midst. In the 40 years of wondering in the wilderness before arriving at the Promised Land, it is clear that the large number of Hebrews would have absorbed smaller desert families, their animals, and their wealth. Even after the people of Judah were taken into exile, there would have been in their midst "outsiders" who would have returned to rebuild Jerusalem. The great commandment includes all people, and it is just a compact version of the Torah. So, who calls for this rejection of outsiders? God? or Nehemiah? Just something to think about.

Be sure to read today's reading for what their pledge looked like.

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 12:41-44 bible study (August 13, 2024)

August 13, 2024:  Tuesday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 12:41-44

May the Peace of God and the Love of Christ fill your day,

Today let us give a prayer of thanks that Teri's rescue dog, Butters, will get to be around for a while longer. Evidently, vet assessments of when Butters would reach the point for needing to be euthanized have been set for a later date rather than this week. May God bless both Teri and Butters in the days which lie ahead. Today's study will be a bit shorter than usual because we have a passage with which we are all familiar, and when we start chapter 13, we will discover the need to understand cultural and religious practices which affected how Christ would be treated.

Today's passage from Mark 12:41-44 is one with which we are all familiar, but I suspect it is also one which causes us to question our motives in our stewardship. How the use of our time, talents, and resources are motivated in our lives and how we live into the Spirit's gifts, and perhaps most of all, remember yesterday's passage about the things that Christ condemned about the actions of the wealthy and powerful as they guided the lives of others for whom they were called to be responsible.  It was this community that even used their theological understandings mostly for feeding their own egos and needs. It seemed that there were plenty of well-heeled women who came to the "Beautiful Gate" and the court of the women.  Their offerings were apparently very generous, yet Christ saw them as far less important than the poor woman who came and put in a meager amount, but it was an offering of her heart of thanksgiving for God's abundant blessings.  Jesus calls this offering the greatest of all the gifts that had been given so far. It is not that those other offerings were unimportant for the temple, but they were given out of the women's abundance. These women would go home to food, shelter, resources, and a great deal more, but the woman who made her offering of a few cents placed her trust in the LORD of hosts, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to provide for her all that she would need, and this is unlike the other women whose relationship with God stood on a much shakier ground if they would find themselves in her place in the community.

I have always said that giving is between the individual and God. It is not my business, or any other person's business what anyone gives. But for each of us this reading today tells us that it never hurts to assess how we ourselves respond to God in the use of our time, talents, and resources. I grew up in a home with tight resources, and I know that my parent's giving for the church that we attended, Emanuel Lutheran, was probably given out of habit more than thanksgiving and commitment.  You see, between the LORD and us, we can be certain that our giving is known by God, and for every offering we make God remains most thankful. 

1. Our offerings of time, talent, and resources should be sacrificial in their nature. Right now, at church we have come asking for special giving for the CROP offering from our congregation. In the past we have done a pretty good job of being generous with this extra offering. As for our house, we recently lost $30,000 in our budget, but we will commit to giving $20 dollars every week for CROP in addition to our regular giving. It has been tight for us, but God is good, and we know that every day in our lives. Without Christ, God's Son of Love, Forgiveness, and Salvation, our lives would be so much less hope filled. That’s why when there is an extra need during the years, we dig even deeper because we give out of our love for God.  I am even confident that sometime during the CROP offering, the LORD will give us the way to do even more!

   
   

2. Giving of our time, talent, and resources should be done with a sense of recklessness. The question is always if I do this, will I have enough to meet the other demands on my resources, and to this time, God has always provided. How will you and I not give our whole selves in the face of God's greatest gifts through Jesus Christ?

   
   

3. Isn't amazing that the greatest gift to the work of God's Kingdom, a memorable offering, is only a few pennies? Everything we are, and everything we have comes from God, so how will we share the best gift of all that we have to offer OURSELVES! I can only say: In everything you give, do it with Joy in the Lord Jesus Christ!

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim