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

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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.