Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 14:8-18 (March 24, 2026)

March 24, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 14:8-18

Blessing and Peace from our Lord and Savior be with you this morning. I am so glad that you are joining me for this study. Today we will learn some legendary history of a city, we will discover Paul's particular gift for speaking to people, and of course, we will see that sharing the Gospel is sometimes very difficult. Today I ask you to pray for the war between Iran, Israel, the United States, and Arab nations who are now involved because they are near Iran. Peace is our prayer for this war, and all others that are currently being fought around the world. We have about 5 more days of hot weather ahead of us, but remember, we have evaporative running in both parts of our facility so that we can all be comfortable. Please plan to attend worship this Palm Sunday, the 29th, and then stay for refreshments and conversations about how you, and others, see our community moving forward considering our issues with such large increases in casualty insurance and deductibles. This issue is hitting both small and large congregations. I am confident that we will have the guidance and care of our Lord's Spirit as this part of our Gospel story unfolds here at American. Please also pray for God's Speed for Mark and Linda as they head back home to Wisconsin, leaving behind the heat, and being home for the celebration of our Lord's Resurrection.

Yesterday, as we found Paul and Barnabas fleeing for their lives from Iconium, they headed to even more rural and backwater communities, one of which was Lystra. This story of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra offers us a very interesting picture of the kinds of situations in which these two men found themselves. Having found a man who was physically challenged, and unable to walk from the time of his birth, Paul realized that the man had really come to faith after listening to him speak about Christ. Paul undertakes healing the man, and, indeed, he is able to walk for the first time in his life. The people are amazed at this healing, and they begin to proclaim Paul and Barnabas to be the incarnations of the gods Zeus and Hermes.

There was a long-standing legend about these two gods having come into their community having taken the form of men. Seeing the power of Paul to do this healing, it was not a huge jump for the people to think of him and Barnabas as a return for this legendary experience. It has probably not helped that Paul began his teaching by speaking of creation itself, as he attempted to simplify how he would try to move those were coming to faith in a step by step fashion by not overloading them with the complexities of theology, grace, sin, the gift of faith, and the action of God's love for their lives through the Messiah, including His crucifixion and Resurrection. 

We all know that we start our children, and those who have had no previous experience beyond coming to faith at its beginning for them, by sharing the easy to remember, and easy to see God's action, through the witness of more simple stories, which by the way, all have more complicated meanings which we usually discover through our years in Christian education.  In Lystra, the people who were coming to faith for the first time, were just like children in their understandings of what Paul and Barnabas were sharing with them. However, when Paul and Barnabas heard what the people were saying about them, they rushed in the crowds, tore their clothing, and proclaimed their humanity. Since most of the people had only just begun their journeys of faith, they were angered due to their lack of understanding, trying to blend the legends with these new claims of Paul and Barnabas. Once again, the two men had to flee for their lives, leaving behind more thoughtfulness to develop in the peoples' faith lives. It became even more problematic for Paul and Barnabas when the people wanted to sacrifice animals to these two men who the people were trying to hold onto as their new gods. The Gospel sharers had to run for their lives when they tried to make it clear to the people of Lystra who they were.

As a longtime pastor of our congregation, I have worked to make certain that there is no pedestal upon which our congregation attempts to place me. There will be other clergy who come to treasure the very special nature of our congregation, and though I am not leaving soon, we all know that it will have to happen sometime. I promise that I will not flee in fear for my life if such an attempt is made to glorify me rather than to glorify the only one who is deserving of such devotion, our Savior Jesus Christ. I have been with you for the sole purpose of revealing and proclaiming the Christ of God, and the power of His Love for all of us. I am, and always will be, a servant of the Gospel!

In Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 14:1-7 (March 23, 2026)

March 23, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 14:1-7

Good Monday morning to you. I needed to spend some time this morning going through my emails that came while I was on vacation. I want to share some thoughts with you on the email letter from the Church Council which came to you this past week. There seems to be some confusion about needing to reserve if you are coming. That is not the case. The meeting is open to everyone. There is no need to make any kind of a reservation. Come celebrate Palm Sunday/Gospel Music/healing service/Communion and then join us for refreshments and snacks in the parish hall. This will be an opportunity for conversation and thoughts about how to move forward and offer ideas for what that would mean for us all as a chartered congregation of the ELCA. I hope that every one of you will plan on being with us. Please pray for our member Maddison and her family in Green Valley. Her Grandmother has stage 4 cancer and is being cared for by Maddison's mother and grandfather. Please pray too for our son Joshua and his wife Shannon as they travel cross-country from North Carolina to Tucson right before Easter, and for Mark and Linda as they prepare to return to Wisconsin for their Easter celebrations in their home congregation. Pray for God's Speed for all people who will travel over the Easter holiday!

Today we begin chapter 14 of the Acts of the Apostles where we discover in the first seven verses that Paul and Barnabas have brought Christ's message to Iconium. It is interesting that Luke tells us that they entered the synagogue by the same doors as the Jews who worshiped there and then presented their message for Christ's Gospel. In addition, they also did signs and miracles in the midst of the people. Their message split the Jews ,and Gentiles who had been incited by the Jews, who objected to the Gospel being presented in their midst  It wasn't long before the practice of stoning those who seemed to be offering words of the Messiah's having already come into the midst of His people, and at that, having come for the gentiles too would raise their ire!  The result of the threats was that Paul and Barnabas left Iconium and headed out for their safety to other communities. They went to Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, where they offered the Good News of Jesus Christ. A question that I have is what happened to those who came to belief in Iconium? It seems obvious that those new believers would have been persecuted and isolated too. There is no doubt that Paul and Barnabas were brave men. As they traveled into the more isolated areas and communities where the Romans had not bothered to maintain their peace, it was far more likely that the two men would encounter violence aimed at them as they preached the Gospel. But this is how the spreading of the Gospel began, men headed out in pairs, into communities that were isolated and dangerous to strangers, let alone those who carried a message that would challenge the powerful people in those communities with loss of their position. In our own nation today, we still have communities which really need to hear the truth of Christ's power and Grace but instead have chosen to use that message for gaining power and wealth. These Christian nationalists are determined to undo the Gospel, and to tear it apart for their own use, claiming that evil people now in power are really God's gift for Christians to find ways to be in power! Jesus said that many would come in His name, and today, there are some "churches" who are using His Name to achieve dominance in all the parts of people's lives. When the authentic Church continues to present the Love of Christ, and humility of service, and the Grace of God that brings forgiveness of sin and a change of heart, granting those who have heard the Spirit's call to faith and Salvation, the Christian Nationalists will attempt to call that sharing of God's Truth, evil!  I am afraid that persecution of the authentic Christians is still with us, just as it was with Paul and Barnabas. Humility, faith, a generous nature and heart, and living with the hope that can only come from our Savior when we are faced with such rampant brokenness from those who would use Christ for their own power and benefit, while deriding those of us who know the True Christ of God is where the power of the Great I AM still resides.

God bless you all. I will be with you for tomorrow's study, and I certainly hope that we will be together in church on Palm Sunday and the entry into Holy Week.

With Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 50 (March 12, 2026)

March 12, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 50

May our Lord's Grace and Peace be with you this morning.

Our lives are always filled with more than enough to do. As we age, less to do often seems like it is more to do and takes longer to get it done. That is especially true in our home because we have six "adults" who are still taking on learning to do their own laundry, cooking some meals, tidying up their rooms, and helping with other regular duties of having a home to live in. Still, laundry, cooking a daily main meal, and doing house care fall to Mom. I will say that the "boys" are getting more helpful as time goes by. I guess free rent is quite an incentive. Please note that I will be away from the office for the week as our adult children will be home from school, and in one case, from work. I will be in the office on Wednesday, March 18, next week preparing for the noon mid-day worship service. I hope that I will get to see you there, and then again on Sunday, the 21st of March. (Of course, I look forward to being with you on the 15th of March for Sunday worship too.)  Please remember that the services are recorded for viewing on both mid-week and Sunday services. They are generally available within an hour or so, just go to godsplaceforgrace.org to find the link to the recordings.

Just this week the pain of increasing expenses for food, gas, and seemingly, every other thing too, has it home, so we may have to work to maintain ourselves in this tight economic time. Whether we agree about the causes that are creating this larger living expense in our lives, we are all in the very same boat. Everything cost more. Of course, that means that there is always a temptation to reduce our giving for the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at American. In our home it means really cutting back on driving the two cars that don't get the greatest mileage, and driving the little one, as tight as it is, which gets double the mileage of our larger cars. But our commitment to our giving for the work of the Gospel at American will not be reduced. I hope that you too can find ways to give with the continuing generosity of your resources for the work of the Gospel at American and remember the special offering during Lent for the Community Food Bank.

This is all very timely when we read the 50th Psalm. We need to note up front that this is not a person trying to speak in God's place, but it is the Word of God Himself, which is upheld in the music setting of worship. The Psalm begins with a reclaiming by God of the power of who He is. He is the Creator of all things! I think that His purpose in doing this is to remind people that He is the Only God, and, not in so many words in this part, always deserving of honor and respect.

Next God reminds His people, starting in verse 7, that though we might think that God has need of what we have. That is just not true. God doesn't want offerings of the animals and produce of the land, He made it all, and it is His! He doesn't need the sacrifices on the Altar, neither animal nor grain offerings, because he can have all that he wants already from anywhere in creation. This whole Psalm really places the sacrifices that were so common on a different level. These are not the sacrifices which God desires. And it seems to be where most people, including the religious authorities, find themselves, following the letter of the Law of Moses, doing all of the required things in worship, and then walking away from the Sabbath celebrations, and returning to doing all of the things which disappoint and anger God because the earlier worshipers did not really have a care for anything but the completing the necessary forms in the worship setting.  I hope that you can see this playing out in our own congregation. In Lent we have started using Psalm 51, singing it as our confession. I suspect that this may make some members who historically preferred traditional confession at worship because they feel that doing something new and different breaks in on them as being inappropriate and uncomfortable, making them feel like they would like to return to tradition for confession. As we get into the next section of the Psalm, we should discover that it is not the form of worship, either traditional or new, that is important. What is important is that we come filled with a heart of gratitude and joy for being loved by God so greatly that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our eternal benefit. And the giving that I spoke about earlier is not about being the biggest giver, or the best tither in the congregation, it is instead about giving with thanksgiving in our hearts for the Lord's sacrifice and abundant love for us.

That brings us to the final section starting with verse 16. Here, His own Words, God indicates that He indeed wonders what faithless, uncaring people, are doing going through all the world required steps in worship, when they truly have no intent to working on behalf of God's Light and Grace when they leave worship. They will not receive rescue by God when their times are getting too tough. I especially like verse 21. It tells us once again about the nature of God, and far too often shallow nature of people. It says from God, "Do not think that I am like you!"  Here nearing the end of the Psalm God once again lets everyone know, that He is the Great I Am! We can only know God as He chooses to reveal himself to His people, the faithful ones.

In verse 24 we discover that our offerings to God most not be out of attempted manipulation to get what we want but must be offerings of thanks for all that God has done, and for who God is. These are the offerings in which our LORD rejoices! But it is not just offerings of resources, this is meant for all people who live their lives devoted to the God of Heaven and Earth, acknowledging His great Love for all people, and guiding our lives every day. We too must give thanks for our God who is everything to us, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of Life. I must tell you that I sense this quite often in people who have reached an age that younger people think will never come to them. When aging draws us closer to eternal life every day, we can know joy in our old age, because we have lived surrounded by our Savior's constant Love and companionship. In this Psalm God promises deliverance for everyone who lives in this way. For you and me, that simply means that we are saved and always preparing for That Day on which we will be with our Savior in Heaven.

Please remember to sign up for giving Easter Lily plants for the Altar memorial garden that will be in place for Easter Sunday at Worship. Bible Studies will start again on March 22.

In the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim