Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 9:9-13 bible study (April 15, 2024)

April 15, 2024:  Monday Morning Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 9:9-13

Good morning, and continuing Easter Blessings!

This has been a difficult week. I suspect that you have had similar ones in your life too. I must say that over the years that I have served at American, my ministry has not usually been difficult and emotionally tough as I have been blessed to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of All Things. This past week we had a parent of members become one of God's triumphant Saints. She was an integral part of this family's daily life, and though she had health issues for many years, whenever she came to worship, she always lit up the "room" where she was with a gracious smile and kind words. Other members to whom my family and the entire congregation have become close have a situation that has no closure for them at this time. Their family member hiked into the desert and has not come back since she left. Search teams of people, dogs, and by air have been unable to find her, and family is consumed with placing posters around the city, at grocery stores, homeless encampments, and other places where she may have shown up after her disappearance. We have surrounded them with love and prayers, with members searching too. We give thanks for Martha's gentle passing to be with the Lord, and pray for her family, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to know God's love and hope through Christ's Easter Resurrection and promise for all who believe. We pray for Katie's family in this time of uncertainty and any possible closure. May the God of all things surround Katie and them with His comfort and Love as we continue to pray for Katie's safety with hope in our Lord.

Gospel of Mark

Thanks for joining me today in our continuing study of Mark. Today we come to the aftereffects of being on the Mount of Transfigurations, and then returning back to what the disciples believe will be a massive change. We must remember that even though Jesus has been talking to the disciples about what is coming for him, they heard on the Mount that Jesus was coming with power and might. This nearly matched the historic beliefs about the Messiah coming to restore the promised land to its own fullness of power and rule over the kingdoms of their world. But they have also heard that the Messiah must suffer and die. (and be resurrected, which they do not understand) So what they have heard on the Mount is at the same time, exciting, and difficult. If they tell anyone, which Jesus has commanded them not to do, and that includes the other disciples, it will create difficulties which will cause people to try to force Christ into situations which could cause such fear and upheaval that Christ might never be able to take that journey to the cross.  What the disciples know is that before that major event is to take place that Elijah must return, and Jesus makes it clear to them that he has already returned, and in fact, has just done so on the Mount. The three who were with Jesus were looking for Elijah's return to stand in the midst of the community of Jews, to prophecy, and lead the people, but in reality, his return was for the benefit of Jesus. Rabbinic tradition taught the Jews that when Elijah came, he would precede the Messiah by three days, speaking to the world day one from the mountains of Israel lamenting the desolation of the land, after which he would cry "Peace Comes to the World". On the second day Elijah would cry out "Good Comes to the World". On the third day Elijah would cry out "Jeshuah (that is salvation) comes to the world". He would come to settle and restore all things from family issues, to national conflicts, to the restoration of right worship.  He would bring those wrongfully sent away, and send away those who had wrongfully stayed, removing them from Israel once and for all. Jesus tries to clarify the return of Elijah saying that he has already come, and the people have been unresponsive to him, and in fact they killed him. We don't have to think very long to remember who was the one to whom the people flocked for the repentance of sin, and who then was imprisoned and murdered on a sexual temptation of the king.  Yes, Jesus was talking about John the Baptist. If you are saying right now, "that's not fair”, he came disguised as a different person", then we all ought to know that we should expect something similar to happen when the Savior returns.  How will we know, and what should we do? We should be working every day to live by the Great Commandment. Loving God more than anything else, and to love one another as we love ourselves, and at the same time realizing that is our thanksgiving to God for the gift of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ! The disciples wanted only to believe what was known about the Messiah by faulty religious teaching and their own desire to have things the way that they were comfortable with them, and because of that, what Christ told them and what they had seen on the Mount were beyond their understanding. My question is, are we living as Christians today, and doing what the disciples did? We should never be surprised that God has done a brand-new thing for the world through His Only Begotten Son, the Light of the world. He has been raised from the dead, and has defeated our last enemy, death! No wonder you and I say on Easter, "Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

In Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study on Ezra 10:6-44 (April 12, 2024)

April 12, 2024:  Friday Bible Study on the Old Testament book of Ezra 10:6-44

My dear friends in Christ,

This has been a very busy family care week at home, as Melody continues recovery from her knee replacement surgery a week ago. She is doing well, but I have had too many nights of little sleep. Wednesday night was one of those. After a night of terrible acid reflux, I got about 2 hours of sleep. Yesterday was a tough day with no time for catching up with naps. Needless to say, Ezra did not get written yesterday. Please accept my apologies for the delay.

Ezra bible study

Well, we have done it. We have come to the end of the OT book of Ezra, and Ezra's action which calls upon the Judahite people to unbind themselves from the non-Jewish people with whom they have become immersed in their everyday lives. We should really note that in this reading from the prophet, there appears to be no willingness on the part of the interlopers to convert to the religion of the Jews. That is still a big problem here, and like those other nations, the intermixing of the peoples and cultures and religions often resulted in the diminishment of God's elect, and their faithfulness to the Old Covenant with God. Out of his prayer, Ezra comes to the people to get a commitment to separate themselves in every way from the foreigners in their land. It is never shown that these soon to be severed relationships were unhappy, or lacked love, or any of the things which we might think would be a good reason to cause this severance. We discover that even the leaders of the exiles, who were heirs of those who originally came from Persia, were in these relationships of marriage, business, and more. They too must send those with whom they have been involved. I think we might be afraid to say that many of these relationships were filled with love, however, they also played a role in the destruction of the faithfulness to YHWH of the exiles and their heirs. In fact, the delays in the redevelopment of Jerusalem and the Temple may well have been based on the comfortable settling of the original exiles. After all, they had been in exile for many years, so to come to Palestine once again after some separation of years, meant that their faith may not have been the strongest to begin with.  However, they were called to confess their intermarriage sin, and the ways in which their relationships may have harmed those who were faithful to YHWH. Ezra exposes them all in this listing of those who will act to remain faithful by sending away spouses and children and separating themselves from business concerns in which they have become involved, and those who will not! As we close out Ezra, and get ready to start Nehemiah, we know about these kinds of things. They happen in congregations too. When our Pastor comes to us as God's congregation to inform us that we have been walking on the wrong path of faith, perhaps our true faith has weakened, or we are certain in our opposition that we are the right ones, what happens?  Of course, some members are still faithful in the congregation, and confess their brokenness, while others get angry, and move on to a new worship setting taking with them the very same issues which they have felt to be OK, and not a matter of confession and contrition.  Here at this close to the book of Ezra we see why it sometimes becomes necessary to move boldly for the solidity of faith which has always carried the congregation, and to leave behind some things that have held the congregation back in their relationship with God. After 33 years at American, and quickly approaching my 40th anniversary of ordination, I still know that the Light and Truth of God in Jesus Christ continues to call me to speak God's truth and to continue on as God guides me through His Son.

Happy Easter! Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Meandering through Mark 9:2-8 bible study (April 9, 2024)

April 9, 2024:  Tuesday Morning Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 9:2-8

Blessings and Peace be with you on this lovely Tuesday morning. Yesterday hundreds of thousands of people were able to witness the event of the total eclipse. We heard how emotional it all was, a very powerful and wonder-filled experience. (And I add: to see the wonder and fullness of the balance of God's creation. And yet, in this Easter season we might also ask, why is it, that with all of power of creation God has chosen to save us from our sin? The answer is pretty simple really, we are the treasure of all of God's creation. The eclipse was a powerful and awesome experience, but in all of its beauty and witness of how great God's love is for all He has made, we – you and I – are only a bit lower than the LORD'S angels!

Happy Easter my friends!

Transfiguration of Christ from the Gospel of Mark

Today we move into a story we have heard before in the Gospels. It is Mark's version of the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain. Peter, James, and John are with Jesus, and are apparently quite overwhelmed by the whole experience.  After all, they are seeing the greatest of prophets in the presence of Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus.  Even today, at Passover in Jewish homes, a seat and place at the table remain with the hope that Elijah will attend their celebration to bring his blessing. So, this is a really big deal for James and John and Peter.  I understand this. If the prophet Jeremiah appeared in my home today, I would want to hold on to him to have an opportunity to get all of my questions answered about his life experience, both in its failures and its successes. What was it like to be guided by God's direction in such difficult times for the people of Judah who were taken into exile? The exact location of this Mount of Transfiguration is not very important, and there are certainly differences of opinion about which mountain was where it happened. We are given only minimal descriptions by the Gospel writers. Jesus' clothing and person became whiter than white. brighter than the sun. And He spoke quietly, privately with these former greats of the prophets called to bring hope to the people of Israel in times of difficulty. And, here on this mountain, like He had before, God came to talk to His People through the hiddenness of the clouds. But whether the disciples understood on the spot was not so important as the fact that God, in their presence, affirmed Jesus as His beloved Son. Here was something that the disciples could hang on to, especially when Jesus had just told them of His plan to go to Jerusalem where He would meet His death. In the Gospel of John, we are told that Christ is the Light who has shined in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. Just as the moon moved in front of the brightness of the sun yesterday, ultimately, the darkness was overcome by the light of our solar system's sun, a light too bright that to look upon it would mean blindness.  Here on this Mount, Jesus is shone by God to outshine any darkness that might come upon His children, while Moses was the great giver of the law for God's children, and Elijah was the first and greatest of all of the prophets who were sent by God to His children.  Their attendance on Jesus was certainly an affirmation of Christ's choice to follow God's command and desire to guide Jesus' pathway of humble obedience. Christ freely chose to journey as God's Light and truth in the face of the darkness and sin that burden God's children, and to die so that God's children might once again be in a right relationship with God by the merit of His Son.

Just a reminder. Gospel Music Sunday is this coming Sunday, April 14th at 10AM, and will be followed by an Italian themed carry in meal.

In Christ's Love, Pastor Kim