Everything begins and ends with God. Keep that in mind as I proceed.
          For the last few years, the Lord keeps poking me with the idea-concept-dream of starting a school in Greenville. A Christian school. A Word-based, Christ-focused school.
            What a lovely idea. Until you have to plan it. Until you have to build it. Until you have to pay for it. For those reasons, I keep storing this concept in a dark, dusty corner of the spacious warehouse inside my cranium. Plenty of room.
              But God keeps bringing it back out to the loading dock, waiting for someone to pick it up. I think I know who He has assigned to this particular order, and it ain’t Amazon.
              So the dream that won’t go away has been shared with my family, with our staff, with our board, and now, in very broad general terms, with you. Please note that no decisions have been made. No plans drawn up. No contracts signed. It’s all still sitting on the dock. There are at least two crucial votes that have to be taken before anything happens, and I’ll come back to those.
                  A few key factors that support this possibility:
 1. SPACE. When we built the current education wing in 2002, we included six classrooms that were all designed to accommodate an eventual day school, should the opportunity and resources collide. We even rented out that space to a Lutheran school for a couple years shortly after that build. Combine the classroom space with a large kitchen and gym, and clearly we have the physical structure to at least get started. 
2. HISTORY. We already ventured into early childhood education 25 years ago with what is now the Hillside 3K and 4K program. Hillside is currently a separate entity from SHLC, but it’s very existence shows our desire to meet the educational and spiritual needs of children and families. 
3. COMMUNITY. The education market in the Greenville metropolitan area is ripe and expanding. As the town keeps growing, the Hortonville Area School District keeps running out of room for all the children moving in. We’re facing the same situation in our Sunday School and Confirmation ministries. While Immanuel and St. Mary’s  have Christian schools already, theirs is not for everyone, and they too cannot fill all the need, present and future. Combine that with the urgent need for daycare in Greenville, and our early childhood ministry could start reaching a lot of souls, young and old, on Day One. 
4. VISION. Our vision for ministry is built on geographic saturation and spiritual formation. God has perfectly positioned us to be the home church for our hometown. We have been community and outreach oriented ever since March 15, 1970 – our founding as a church. Our mission is geared to reach everyone with the love of Jesus, and especially those who don’t know much about Him or need a place to get together with Him. This is right in our wheelhouse. 
5. FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE. We have a significant number of public school educators in our Church Family. They know firsthand the challenges of maintaining their faithfulness to Jesus and His Word in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile to God’s will for His children. Many families, some Christian and some not, are looking for alternatives to the Public School Machine in our country (note: I’m referring to the System, not necessarily the teachers in the classrooms). That dynamic is not going away any time soon. 
           I have in mind some fundamental structural components to establishing a Christian early childhood and educational ministry here. For one, while we would get it started, I do not see this as “Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran School.” I envision a business and educational model that is built on networking with area congregations and schools, along with homeschool associations, that would take some of the pressure off any one congregation that tries to go it alone.
             I also believe, in time, that this dream could encompass preschool thru 12th grade, which obviously means land acquisition at a second site. But I believe the first step would be establishing that early childhood and wraparound care ministry that our community so desperately needs.
            Those kinds of details will come soon. I need to start with you, reading this, thinking about it, praying about it, kicking the tires on the Big Picture before we start painting the corners.
            That’s where the two votes come in. One vote belongs to you, to the Family of God in this place. This cannot be just another Kline thing. I’ve got a whole dumpster full of those. This needs to be us, or not at all.
        We’ll have some more discussions and prayers among the staff and among the leaders, and also with the whole Family.
           The ultimate Vote comes from Christ Himself. Is this from God, or isn’t it? You tell me.

gods are like opinions: everybody’s got one. Actually, most people have several, even some they’re not aware of (gods, I mean). The small “g” is intentional. I don’t want anyone to confuse the one true God with our fake substitutes.

Your god is anything that overtakes your life and casts an outsized shadow over your heart and mind. You draw security and enjoyment from it. You schedule it and budget for it. You tell yourself it’s good but not great, you can drop it anytime but don’t, you don’t really need it but you have no choice. Truth is, you love it.

So many god addicts aren’t even aware that they’re addicted, and that their little “g” is actually interfering with the big “G.” The real G. The time, the energy, the investment, the commitment that should be directed to God is spent on god.

Here's a few of the temples I have seen. Sound familiar?

• comfort: no risks, no insecurity, no unknowns
• work: when you’re not at it, you’re thinking about it
• sports: your sports, the kids’ sports, pro sports
• attention: the need to be noticed, a lot, by lots
• party time: hang out, have fun, consume a few+
• control: because you know best
• watching: letting others do while you sit and stare
• avoidance: no conflict, ever
• games: Fortnite forever
• me: what I want when I want as long as I want

 
For older generations, I would say: show me your calendar and your checkbook and I’ll show you what your gods are. To the younger crowd, show me your online history: there’s your gods. Time + energy + money = god.

The Bible says it’s time to put away your gods. Here’s Joshua 24:14-15: Now fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. …As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua lays it down for himself and his family. Serve. I think we’ve identified Who we serve? But when? How?

Now. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now.

Fear the Lord. Fear means respect more than trembling, but a little tremble might help. It also involves anticipating the relief of the Gospel – the good news that Jesus takes the wrath while we get the forgiveness.

Serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. With integrity and loyalty, not to buy Him off, but treasuring the relationship He has crafted with you by His amazing grace.

Put away the gods…and serve the Lord. Our belief system is a hand-me-down, but an abusive father does not mean we have to be abusive too, nor does an unbelieving mother require us to be unbelievers. To put away is to remove, to cast aside. Whether your gods were inherited or adopted, they are keeping you from your full life in Jesus Christ. That’s the life He designed, purposed and paid for with His own blood. So that you and I can be free. Free to live. Free to serve.

It says serve the Lord a second time. Must be important if He repeats it. Not because His day is ruined or His life incomplete unless we act like slaves; God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does. That’s why Jesus calls us to serve, so that He can work through us on the next one who is fooling with too many gods.  God reaches us… (say it with me) with the love that reaches others!
​
So here’s your chance. We need servants:

• three more handlers for the Comfort Dog, plus a backup Caregiver, to move forward in bringing the peace and love of Christ to those in greatest need in our community;
• more Worship Assistants, Altar Care (communion) helpers, ushers and greeters to make our worship experience more accessible and impactful, especially for those who are new, and as we start offering the Lord’s Supper every weekend;
• Blessed Buddies for our special needs kids;
• Musicians, tech helpers, VBS and Sunday School helpers, DOGs helpers, Ruby’s Pantry helpers, (get the idea?)

It’s time to put away your other gods. Break the chains. Get over yourself and get off the bench. Stop watching and get into the game. There is joy in seeing Jesus impact someone’s life, and knowing He used you in the process.
Shoot me a message. I’ll help you help. 

Jesus is pro life.
And, BOOM, preconceived notions just exploded in your mind! If you’re thinking that Jesus is a Republican, He’s not. He’s not a Democrat either – nor a Socialist, Communist, Capitalist or any other -ist.
 
If that statement instantly prods you to accuse Jesus of hating women, you’d be wrong again. He loves women more than you do. And men. And children of all shapes and sizes, ages and abilities.

If you think this means that pro-choicers hate Jesus and women who’ve had abortions are automatically going to hell, you are profoundly mistaken on both counts. There are pro-lifers who do not follow Jesus, and there are plenty of pro-choicers who do. Rejecting the Son of God is not based on politics or even morality per se, but on an individual’s conscious decision to slam the door on Christ and His grace and try to deal with sin and death on their own. Their opinions and preferences on these issues are after the fact. Here’s a news flash: sometimes we’re wrong! Even pastors!! (shudder)

And women who’ve had abortions need our prayers, not our prejudices. Some women are publicly celebrating their abortions, which is devastatingly sad for them. Many more women suffer deeply in guilt and regret, with modest and temporary success at repressing those feelings. A lot of women, you just can’t tell. Only Jesus can read their hearts. And He doesn’t lump them all together; neither should we.

We might all be in a better place if we fully understood and embraced what life truly is, according to its Inventor. Certainly such truths won’t mean much to those who don’t know Jesus nor care about His Word, but for the child of God, the Word means everything, and Jesus IS everything. Jesus and His Word should shape and guide every aspect of life since He’s the one who started it all.

So let’s go back to the first line:  Jesus is pro life.

Start with Jesus: the real Jesus, according to Jesus. Not the Jesus some false teachers have made up, or the Jesus you and I wish He would be so He fits our preferences. Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:1-14), and in Him is life. In fact, He is the Author of life (Acts 3:15), the Giver of life (John 5:21), the Bread of life (John 6:35) and the Light of life (John 8:12).

Jesus is so intricately and intimately involved and invested in life as we know it that ultimately we can joyfully proclaim that Jesus IS Life: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (John 11:25); and, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

When I refer to Jesus, I say IS, not was. That’s because Jesus still is the resurrection and the way and the truth and the life. He’s not a dead prophet. He’s not a long-gone historical figure. Jesus died on a Friday and rose to life again on that Sunday, never to die again. He’s the living Savior who Thomas calls, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). By His own promise, kept daily, Jesus is “with you always, to the end of time” (Matthew 28:20). Is, not was.

Now for the pro, as in “in favor” or “supportive of.” Jesus not only creates life, He sustains it and preserves it (Nehemiah 9:6). So valuable and precious is His gift of life, He pays for it – body and soul - with His own blood: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Therefore, life belongs to its Owner, and is defined by its Designer. (Bear in mind, I’m talking about human life). Trying to define “when life begins” is somewhat of a fool’s errand, because we can only work with what we can actually see. Jesus starts the life process even before sperm meets ovum: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart.” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Once the Author of life embraces the artistry and craftsmanship of His creative power, He puts His personal touch on every single life that He brings into being:
  “For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
  I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
              Your works I wonderful, I know that full well.
  My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in the secret place.
  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
              Your eyes saw my unformed body.
                                                                        (Psalm 139:13-15)

Whether we call that new human life a zygote or an embryo or a fetus, God calls that new life a person, a baby (Luke 1:41-44). And the Potter is continually working the clay, shaping it into the masterpiece that is you or me. You see, He’s not done yet with any of us. For those who say of the unborn baby, “It’s just a clump of cells,” the answer is, “So are you!”

Science, as usual, backs up the Word that the new life in the womb is human life = a human being: Remember the Law of Biogenesis that you learned in sophomore biology class? It says that (1) Life only comes from life, and (2) Kinds produce like kinds. In other words, a human being outside of the womb has to come from a living human being inside the womb...Human beings reproduce human beings. Second, scientists who study embryos have made it pretty clear: “The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter—the beginning is conception.” Science has spoken: The unborn are fully human! https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/glt8Rg49nJZGEh8kn899FLlzz5WIFdI0

Incidentally, for those who try to misuse the Bible to dehumanize unborn babies, please know that they have no clue what they’re talking about. They may attempt to quote Genesis 2:7 – God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Understand that this is descriptive, not prescriptive, which means that God is simply describing in simple terms how God created the first life.

But the distorted argument tries to say that since unborn babies cannot breathe, God doesn’t consider them human, as though breath is the sole determinant of life’s value (anyone on oxygen: you’re in trouble). They fail to explain, though, how God also says that life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11, et al). And don’t we check for breathing and heartbeat (blood flow) to affirm if someone is alive?

Furthermore, babies in the womb have the breath of life, oxygen, from their mothers, even if their own lungs are under construction, along with the rest of their humanity, including blood and a brain. Pulling one verse out of context and twisting it to satisfy you own desires is what the devil tried with Jesus. God hates that. Let me put this gently: theologically speaking, those people are morons; stay away from them.

So serious is Jesus about His gift of life that He even dedicates a Commandment to it: You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13), which by definition means terminating the life of another human being. We have no right to do so.

Now we can debate about special circumstances like the threat of death to the mother, or conception by rape or incest. The Church has long held that in the former, as painful as that decision might be, God will understand if one life needs to be taken to save another. Around 700 women die each year of pregnancy-related causes (about 1% of births), and the CDC estimates that 60% of those could have been prevented. Just as Jesus calls us to care for the widow and the orphan (Deuteronomy 10:18), we should do everything in our power to save two lives (or more) in every pregnancy. Love them both.

As for instances of sexual assault, I cannot fathom what a victimized young woman is feeling, whose choices were ripped away from her, and I respect any secular law written that offers that exemption. As much as I have counseled and taught that the circumstances of the conception are never the baby’s fault, I will never hammer the hurting in a catastrophic situation they did not invite upon themselves. Rape or incest may only account for about 1.5% of all pregnancies, but I believe love is better than law for those women.

Coming back to the commandment, based on the full counsel of God, “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his (her) body, but help and support him (her) in every physical need.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, 5th Commandment). This applies to mother and child. This is also why we support ministries like Vida in Appleton, along with other caring agencies, along with other in-house resources we can use to bless young women in need.

That’s what Jesus means when He’s talking about being pro life: love them both, all life long. He doesn’t tell us how the government should use tax dollars, so that’s up to them, but if the government wants to join us in helping and supporting life, I’m all for it. But if they want to pay for abortions, I’m totally against it.

“That’s all fine, pastor, but not everyone believes that.” Obviously. I can’t make anybody believe in or follow Jesus. But for those of us who do, Jesus issues a warning and a challenge: “If anyone causes one of these little ones of mine to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6). It seems to me that telling a young woman that her unborn baby isn’t a baby and it’s OK to get rid of it would be causing her to sin. This is why I can never vote for someone who repeats or endorses that lie.

The challenge: “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4). The Psalmist is calling on God to do that; guess who God chooses to help make it happen?

Jesus is, most definitely, pro life. Love them both.

You heard me.

I’ve used the phrase a couple times in recent weeks. I must admit, I like the shock value. But there’s another sentence that comes right after that.  Come to Jesus.

The problem I keep finding is with people’s connotation of the word “church.” If I tell my wife I’m going over to church, she knows I’m heading for a particular building at a specific address. When the family gets up on Sunday morning, they know it’s time for church – a worship service at a scheduled time. We use the word in the name of our congregation and our Synod.

Where the meaning and import get bogged down is when we use the phrase, “Go to church.”  Do I have to go to church? Where do you go to church? I go to church regularly. To a lot of people – especially young people – we start turning “church” into an act of drudgery, a legal obligation to maintain some sense of minimum identity. If we show up once in awhile, we hope that God and Grandma will still like us.

If you find yourself in that mindset, then I need to take you back to my headline: Don’t go to church.

In the last couple years leading up to COVID, Christians who described themselves as “regular worship attenders” actually attended an average of 1.6 times per month. Since COVID, that number has dropped to about once every six weeks. God’s description of “regular” is once a week.

To be fair, a significant number of Christians have become regular viewers of online streaming of worship. By our calculations, we average over 60 people a week online at SHLC. This is a tremendous blessing for our shut-ins, or those with medical issues (particularly with slippery winters), or those who work odd hours. It helps those who went up north for the weekend or down south for the winter to stay at least a little connected to their spiritual family.

But that should be an alternative born out of necessity, not a regular habit for the able-bodied. Most of the older folks I visit are glad they can at least be a part of worship via online, but they’d much rather be there in person.

That’s a key element right there. I’ll come back to it.

So why do otherwise believing children of God, who know who God is and what He expects, act like time with God is optional? Think about it: If I tell the woman I supposedly love that I’m only going to spend time with her once every six weeks, for an hour or so, because I’ve got other things to do, is she going to accept that? God doesn’t, either.

I believe it comes down to three fundamental truths about so many modern day church goers (if you follow me here, you’ll know that I do not use that term as a compliment):
 

1. We’re lazy. I’m talking in the spiritual sense. Most of us are over-committed to things not nearly as crucial as our relationship with God, but we take Him for granted and we just don’t want to give Him the time and energy.
2. We’re selfish.  We’ve bought into the consumerism of a dying culture: what’s in it for me? As we stare at our screens 6-12 hours per day, we’ve become addicted to the dopamine rush of petty amusement. We don’t talk. We don’t interact. We don’t relate. As Satan isolates us with all our apps, we discover that we’re lonelier and more suicidal than ever before. Especially our kids.
3. We’re clueless.  We’ve forgotten – or were never adequately taught – about what worship is, about what faith is. We reduce it to an intellectual ascent that we can turn on and off when we need it, when what we’re really doing is the devil’s work for him. His entire mission in life (or death, as it were) is to separate us from Jesus, by creating even the smallest gap between pathetic sinners like us and our only Hope for forgiveness and salvation.

 
This is why it really is a matter of life and death that we continually come to Jesus. We need His mercy and grace. We need His strength and comfort. We don’t just decide to experience these things, like we can flip a switch and BOOM: now we believe, now we survive. He wraps these gifts up and delivers them to us in His soul-saving and life-giving Word, in His real Body and Blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of every sin. We return to the Source.

And He places these precious, priceless divine blessings right where we know how to find them: in His House, at His altar, in His presence. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). Jesus is saying, “Here I am! Let’s spend some time together, and I’ll take care of you.” He shows us His cross again, just as a reminder. “This is how much I love you. This is what I’m willing to do for you.”

The heart of worship is not anything we contribute. We’re not doing God a favor. He’s not impressed with our singing or our praying or our offering. We bring Him our garbage. And Jesus gets rid of it.
Every. Single. Week.
 
That’s what I get out of it, coming to Jesus. But there’s one more thing, which I mentioned earlier. God created us as social animals. We need each other. He calls each one of us by the Gospel of Jesus, and He gathers us into a community of believers, His Family. Jesus knows there’s strength in numbers. I love our Family time. We feed off each other when we share this little corner of the Kingdom. There’s no app for that.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day approaching. (Heb. 10:25-26).

In our Question of the Day segment in confirmation class, one of the kids asked, “Is it a sin to skip church if we’re really busy?” The short answer is, Yes: 3rd Commandment. Luther said if you don’t partake of Word and Sacrament at least four times a year, don’t call yourself a Christian. But don’t just take your kids to church; bring them to Jesus.

Here's a simple fact: if I worship once every six weeks, my kids will worship once every six months. Their kids won’t worship at all. Is that what we want for our grandkids?

Come to Jesus.

God desires everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of The Truth (1 Tim 2:4). But He’s not going to drag them into faith. Nobody is pushed or pulled into a personal relationship with Jesus, or with anyone else, for that matter. That’s not relationship; it’s coercion.

Paul aspired to become “all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22). But he didn’t seek to yank them over to Christ. By his own words, he sought to win them over. With mercy and love.

But he only saved some. For all our best efforts, good intentions and loving care for those around us, nobody has a perfect record. Sometimes, you lose.

We all have that one person (some of us, more than one) who we truly want to come to church – or come back to church. We want them to know what we know about God, and to have what we have from Jesus Christ. We love them and we love Him, and we just want to be sure that they’ll be with us in heaven. It cuts us deeply to think they might not be.
               
So we invest immeasurable amounts of time in prayer for them (which is good), along with an abundance of pokes and prods, hints and invitations. We’ve tried for years. No luck.
               
The most common relational dynamic for this heartache and frustration is between parent and child, followed closely by grandparent and grandchild. The hard part is that usually the child is no longer a child. You cannot make them do anything, and they’ve grown hardened to your attempts to take them where they just do not want to go.
               
What happened here? You raised them up as Christians, going to church, baptized and confirmed, keeping the family tradition of faith. But somewhere in the journey, their passion and interest fizzled. They found other things more important, more interesting, more inspiring.
               
Whether this is your son or daughter, a long-time friend or someone you met more recently, you are in all likelihood encountering one of the Nones. These are the people – usually younger – who have left “organized religion” and adopted a more patchwork approach to spirituality, if they’ve given it any thought at all. The reality is that some have simply fallen away due to disenchantment, disillusionment or plain boredom. {In a world now driven by incessant stimulation and entertainment, i.e. video games, social media, etc., many people across the generational spectrum are hooked on the constant dopamine drip of artificial interaction}.
               
The Nones now make up almost 30% of the population if the US, according to Pew Research. Since 2-4% of the population is atheist or agnostic (included in the Nones), we’re talking roughly 83 million souls who are wandering, searching or substituting a generic homebrew for The Truth.
               
According to americannone.com, nearly 70% of the Nones are former Christians. The reasons they left are largely doctrinal disagreements, conflict with science and reason, mistreatment of the LGBTQ community, sex abuse scandals or other trauma in their church life, or profiteering pastors getting rich (I don’t think we have to worry about that last one here). To that list, those who embrace and glorify the None life add the instant internet exposure to other ideas and “advances in travel technology made it easier and generally more affordable to experience vastly different human realities on this planet, thereby dismantling inherited staid worldviews on a first-level basis.” {I’m really not sure what that means}.
               
So we are by no means alone in this consuming concern for the souls of those we care about who are categorized as unaffiliated, de-churched or whatever term we pastor types use to label (labels are also a big turnoff for the young). We also are not without hope.
               
Among those same souls, Pew Research tells us that over two-thirds still believe in God, and more than one-fifth pray every day. In other words, for many of these children of God, the seed that was planted however long ago is still alive.
               
And therein lies the key: how do we get back to watering and growing that seed? It can happen, but here’s a harsh reality: it probably won’t come from you.  Paul talks about that: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants for he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Cor 3:6-7). You may not be the one God has called to continue this process, as much as you want to make it happen. That’s hard.
               
Here’s what each one of us needs to do:

1. Pray again. Only this time, don’t tell God your plan. Ask Him for His, realizing you might be on the sidelines for this one.
2. Ask Him for a missionary. Pray the Lord to send someone into this child of God’s life that they will listen to, who will reach them and inspire them.
3. Love without lectures. Set aside the speeches and just love the Hell out of them. Literally. As Luther said, “Preach the Gospel; use words if necessary.”
4. Remember the goal. It’s not to get them to heaven. Or even to church. It’s for them to get connected or reconnected to Jesus, to discover or rediscover The Truth. Jesus will take it from there.
5. Repeat. Don’t give up. Your hope is not in how good you are at this, but in how good Jesus is at it.

 
To this I would add one key principle for the whole Community of Believers: Be the Church Christ designed and our children need.  I’m talking the Church as a people, not a place. People who love as loved and forgive as forgiven. Acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of repair and restoration, knowing that the Nones and the Somes and everyone else needs the same.  

Following Paul’s advice, we can become like those who don’t have It to win them over. “To the weak I become weak, to win the weak.” We don’t abandon The Truth, nor compromise The Truth. But we can find other ways to proclaim it, to reach the unreached or reconnect the disconnected.

A long-time saying in educational circles, more recently attributed to Ignacio Estrada, is this: “If I can’t learn the way you teach, maybe you can teach the way I learn?”

The Truth God wants everyone to know is this: There is one God and one mediator between God and us: Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. (1 Tim 2:5-6).

In Christ,

​Pastor Steve Kline

Father, I’ve been waiting for Your answer. I know little voices in my head and skywriting in the clouds are not Your style, but I’ve been praying a lot for a long time. I’m just wondering when You will show me the plan. Is today good?

I find myself growing more tired every day, Lord. Sleep seems elusive and peace is a pipe dream. I wish I could stop this ride so I can get off, but the coaster keeps rolling, and I cannot shut down my brain. Thinking the same things, obsessing on the same situation, praying the same prayer and awaiting Your answer is wearing me out. So is now OK?

I can hardly remember how this started, or maybe it’s better if I can’t, but I think I’ve exhausted every option, looked for every solution, explored every possible next step, and I keep coming back to the place I started. Clearly I’m not seeing it, but I know You see it, Lord, so I’m hoping for a little clarity here. Is this a good time?

With each passing day I feel like I’m carrying more weight, wandering blindly, guessing in the darkness and sensing that I’m running out of strength, and out of time. Unless You would like to step in at some point. Like now, God?

I realize I’m not the first of Your chosen ones who’ve had to learn the hard lesson of Your timing. You went about 400 years without saying much, until as You put it, “when the time had fully come,” You sent Your Son, born of a woman – God in the flesh – to redeem the rest of us born here, living here, dying here. You so loved the world, You sent Jesus, because it was time.

So I’m asking You again, Father God: is now the time?

You promised to send all us sinners a Savior, born of a virgin (like You said), born in Bethlehem (like you said), sent into the world to seek and save the lost (like He said). I’m the sinner. I’m the lost. And even though You sent Him into my heart and into my life the first time You washed my sins away, I need Him again. Yesterday.

But even as I search for answers, I still remember Who found me first. Who came to me. Who chose me. Who loved me and loves me, even when I’m not so in love with myself. Even when I’m not too enamored with You. Jesus keeps coming. Keeps loving. Keeps listening.

If it’s not today, then I’ll come back again tomorrow. Where else can I go? You have the words of eternal life and temporal triumph. I just need a little more strength at some point. Soon.
​
Come, Lord Jesus. Give me what the shepherds and the angels are having. Fill me with whatever got the saints from here to there. Come, Lord Jesus. Like, maybe…now?

He’s in a better place.

We say that when someone dies, as though that makes it all better. In some ways, it does. For the child of God – the believer and follower of Jesus Christ – this is most certainly true. When you watch someone you love battle through waves of invading pain, imprisoned in a bed somewhere with shackles of plastic tubes dripping precious little relief into their tired veins, you know this not where they want to be. Not how they want to be. Not who they want to be.

As she breathes her last and it is finished, we know that the Resurrection and the Life has taken His child in His arms and carried her to the front door of His Father’s House. Without a glance or thought He walks her past the divine dumpster of wheel chairs, hearing aids, half-empty medicine bottles and yes, miles and miles of those plastic tubes.

And unlike that death bed she left, she’s not alone. His Son and His son step forward in the Front Foyer of a palace of many mansions, filled with the sounds of myriads of former sufferers now turned righteous revelers, the Wedding Banquet to end all wedding banquets, the Feast of Victory marked by saints and angels singing joyous songs of glorious praise to the One who paid for it all. The One who brought them all here. The One who seemingly moments ago whispered to each one of them, “Today you will be with me in paradise!”

The only tears are tears of joy. It’s true. It’s all true. Everything He said. Everything He promised. Everything and everyone made new. She, he, they are all in a better place.

But we’re still here. They’re not. That’s a grander canyon of separation than one little platitude can cross.
It’s not just the reality of death, though, that casts its shade on this side of eternity. Around here we live with lessness: hopelessness, helplessness, lovelessness, worthlessness, faithlessness, godlessness, fatherlessness, and less – and we are surrounded! We are bombarded with division and depression, violence and vitriol. The consequences of choices from people whose worldview extends no further than their own fingertips result in a place no one really wants to be. Add in destructive forces like cancer and dementia, and before the rooster crows twice we wish we were someplace else.

Harry Chapin (distant relative to our own Praise Team Leader Hunter Chapin) once wrote a song called, “A Better Place to Be,” in which the story of his two rather broken down characters arrive at this thought: “If you want me to come with you, then that's all right with me. Cause I know I'm going nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to be.”

Does it have to be like that? Do we?

We can surrender to the nihilism of a crappy life surrounded by crappy people. Then we’ll watch all our joy and meaning drip out until the bag is empty, abandoning the projects and purposes appointed to us by One who doesn’t wait for death in order to make a difference.

In Him is life, starting now, with a gift from God so gracious and glorious it is meant to be shared with those who wish they were anywhere by here. The point of Scripture and of faith itself is not to go to heaven, but to come to Jesus. The major obstacle to that communion is that we’re still the near-sighted, self-appointed demigods with no depth perception.

So He comes closer, right up to us, to fully open our eyes and our hearts and our minds and our lives to what this place can truly be, when He is with us. When Christ is IN us, and we are IN Christ, rather than keeping Him at a distance.

Once He has crucified our Old Self and resuscitated our New Self – recreated to be His mouth and hands for the sake of all those living in lessness – He repurposes us to make this place a better place to be. We worship no creature nor creation, but He calls us to be His caretakers of each, so that through us, He might introduce the broken around us to a better way in a better place, as a foretaste of the Feast to come.

The recipients of His grace become distributors thereof, so that we help make this a better place.

We make this a better place by replacing condemnation and condescension with encouragement and edification. Disagree if we must, but we don’t have to destroy in the process. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph. 4:19).

We make this a better place when we get over ourselves. We’re on at least our third generation of narcissists, who believe the universe revolves around what they want, how they feel, what they think, and if you dare to challenge or deny, you must hate them. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 2:3-5).

We make this a better place when we affirm God’s founding gifts of marriage and family. We live in a culture that continuously erodes and demolishes those divinely designed institutions, by changing the definitions and conditions beyond recognition. But we do not have to participate in that destruction. “Haven’t you read,” Jesus replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’? So they are no longer two but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Mt. 19:4-6).

Such things take commitment, courage, and accountability – three fundamental truths the current culture despises. And we cannot change anything by tweets or votes, but only through repentance and faith – one soul at a time – as mercy and grace flow to us from the Cross of Christ.

God has laid our His formula for a better place, but I have no pretensions that huge hordes of the walking dead are suddenly going to embrace it. In the meantime, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil – nor disease, nor disability, nor plastic tubes - for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4).
​
That’s what makes this a better place. For now.

You’re in my prayers.

Really? Or are you just saying that? For most of us, we say it with all sorts of care and compassion. But not many of us actually pray what we say – at least, not overtly or intentionally. Many of those friendly prayers we move into the Miscellaneous File in the basement storeroom of our minds, trusting the Holy Spirit to find His way down there and look them up.

What would happen if we actually, genuinely, purposefully and meaningfully… pray? Before we can get to that, though, we need to understand who’s praying to Whom, with what and for what. It sounds more complicated than it really is.

You are invited to pray because the God who created you and redeemed you knows how much you NEED to pray. You need Someone to talk to, Someone who will actually listen, Someone who loves you more than life itself. So you tell Him what’s going on, even though He already knows. You tell Him how much you’re hurting, even though He already knows. You tell Him why you need Him to do His God thing for someone close to you, even though He already knows.

He wants to hear what YOU know. Not just what you think or what you wish or what you guess or even what you believe. Do you know what you’re asking? Do you know Who you’re talking to?

You don’t want to offend Him or waste His time, so you trivialize your prayers with shiny beads and shallow flattery, saying things like, “I just want to thank you and I just want to praise you and I just want you to know…” Putting the “just” in there insults the Savior who became sin for you so that you might become righteous for Him, as though your life and your soul and your petitions and intercessions are too cheap and meaningless to address straight up. Jesus demands it of our prayers: “Do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” Get to the point. Get to the ask. Prayer isn’t for cowards nor con men, so pray it like you mean it.

The only reason you and I even have a prayer is because God already answered it ahead of time. God sent His Son into the world to save the world, to redeem the world, to heal the world, to change the world, to love the world. You have a saving prayer? Jesus. You have a redeeming prayer? Jesus. You have a healing prayer? Jesus. You have a changing prayer? Jesus. He hears every single one of your prayers – even the crappy ones – and He answers. In the moment, in the urgency of our need, His answer seems to be one of three: yes, no, and wait. (He really likes that last one.)

But in the eternal scope of our lives, from a God’s-eye view, His answer will be bringing us back to Jesus. To His cross and His empty tomb. To His mercy and His grace. To His promise of power, presence and peace. It’s just a matter of His opening our eyes, our minds, our hearts to know where Jesus fits into our lives, and where we fit into His.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You will have the right answer, even if it’s not your desired one. Instead of seeing the wind and the waves that blow you over and drag you under, you will see the Hand that rescues and hear the Voice that calms.

So you best pray like you mean it. Because He does.

When you pray in His name, you’re acknowledging Jesus as Lord of your life, no matter where your life is at or where it’s headed. When you pray His will be done, you are surrendering your best-laid plans and sincere intentions to the Savior who will never let you out of His sight nor out of His hands. When you pray for His Kingdom, His power and His glory, you are setting aside your clocks and calendars to affirm that His eternity is worth far more than your temporality.

Pray like you mean it.

This past month we cut our vacation short because Deb’s dad was driving himself to Urgent Care with shortness of breath. When we got there a couple hours later, we just missed him because they’d taken him to the CT Room.

The nurse said rather pointedly, “He’s had a stroke.” Literally seconds later, an announcement came over the intercom: “Emergency response team to the CT Room! Emergency response team to the CT Room!”
In that moment, we had nothing. Nothing we could do. Nothing we could say. Stunned silence. And the only prayer I could muster was, “Not tonight, Lord. Not tonight.” A professional wordsmith, and that’s all I had. And I meant it.

But it’s not the words. It’s not the urgency nor the sincerity. It’s not my sacred office nor the measure of my faith.

It is Who is on the other end of that prayer. He’s said yes before. He’s said no a bunch. And I’m well acquainted with waiting on the Lord. But I came back to Him anyway.

A few weeks later, my father-in-law is recovering nicely, and making fun of his son-in-law.  Thank you, Jesus.
So pray for yourself. Pray for your parents and your kids. Pray for your church and your country. Pray for the enemies you know and the friends you don’t. Pray without ceasing, and then pray it again. Pray like you mean it.

I will most definitely be praying with you, and for you. And I mean it.

- Pastor Steve Kline

I hate Joe Biden.

Or, I hate Donald Trump.

How about, I hate Tom Brady. I hate the Chicago Bears. I hate Fox News. I hate bad umpiring. I hate putting pineapple on pizza. I hate traffic jams.

We throw the word hate around almost as much as the word love. We use the same word for profoundly different relationships:  I love my wife, I love my dog, I love Spotted Cow. One word, but obviously not the same meaning. I hope.

For some of us, maybe we actually have more hates than loves. In some cases, I don’t think that word means what you think it means. In others, it means more.

But how do you define hate? For that matter, how do you define love? This may be another case where Justice Potter Stewart’s words in 1964 regarding pornography apply: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced...but I know it when I see it." We all seem to know it when we see it. And when we feel it.

Hate is about judgment. A lot of it. When we hate, we’ve completed the entire legal process in our own hearts and/or minds (that and/or is intentional, which I’ll get to in a moment) by which we have accused, tried, convicted, sentenced and condemned the evildoer. Of course, even the label evildoer is our own design, based on our code of conduct, which that dumb #$%& has violated. Repeatedly, or maybe just once. Inexcusably, even if he tries to explain his dumb #$%&ery. Unforgivably. I, my own little lord,
have spoken.

If it’s genuine hate, it intermingles between heart and mind in such a way that it contaminates both. As righteous as we are, the role of executioner – even if only in thoughts or words – becomes a consuming fire, heated seven times over normal, leaving only ashes behind. Not the evil one’s ashes, mind you. Our own. Our attitude. Our relationships. Our love. Even our faith, reduced to dust.

Maybe it’s not full-throated hatred, though. I believe there is sports hate: I don’t actually want Tom Brady to burn in hell, I just dislike what he’s done to my teams and want him to lose every game for the rest of his life. There’s food hate (coconut), music hate (rap), driver hate (Illinois), and especially political hate…
Uh oh. #$%& just got real, didn’t it?

This is where I’m seeing and hearing hate the most these days. Do we really mean that? Is that what’s brewing in our hearts, or is this just a moment on the mind?

I not only hate Biden, I hate everyone who voted for him. When I hate Trump, I’m also hating everyone who supports him. I hate you if you’re pro-life. I hate you if you’re pro-choice. All Democrats are evil. All Republicans are stupid.

Have you noticed that dichotomy? If you disagree with me, or if your worldview leads you to see things another way, you are either stupid or evil. So which one is it? It must be one or the other, because my opinion is the only valid one, and my worldview is the only righteous one.

If this sounds like you, it’s not because I’m making this up to prove a point. It’s because you’ve shared it online. Every single word. Apparently we shouldn’t be friends, or even family, because…politics.
We aren’t allowed to simply disagree anymore, nor can we discuss our disagreements peacefully and respectfully, in hope that rational dialogue may increase understanding. Or at least we can agree to disagree. No: we go straight to hate.

We have given ourselves over to the deceptions and divisions of the devil, the world and our own sinful selves that dictate absolute conquest and destruction of all enemies, along with their philosophy, belief systems, associations, family, friends, dogs and pet hamsters. Satan’s favorite strategy: divide and conquer. Momentary separation heading toward permanent division. We judge. We condemn. We hate.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.  (1 John 4:20-21). As Martin Luther King said, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Leave the judging to God. He is the only one who possesses the perfect and righteous judgment to “hate the evildoer” (Psalm 5:5), and then pour out mercy and grace in such abundance that the evil is replaced with holiness. The Good News is that Jesus loves us despite our repeated sins, our inexcusable attitudes and our unforgivable failures. His blood – the calling card of His unconditional love – covers over a multitude of hates.

So listen to Him and form your thoughts and beliefs around His Word, as your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. And treat people accordingly, as He does.

Jesus also says to love your enemies. Even Tom Brady.
Oh, Lord, I’m gonna need help with this…        

No greater crisis in all human experience exists than this: you whip into the parking lot at Kwik Trip. You slam the car door (unlocked) and crash through the doors, offering a brief and immediately forgotten curse that there are two sets of doors and God forbid another human being is anywhere within the arc of those doors.

You slalom back to the restroom area in Olympic time, only to meet the sign on the door: OUT OF ORDER. Or worse, CLOSED FOR CLEANING. Either way, every ounce of your being – maybe even pints or quarts – is making seismic rumblings as you consider, perhaps for the first time ever, identifying with the other gender for the next 30 seconds or so. The citation from the police office after the fact would be worth it.

One of the first and hardest lessons in life is that not everything works the way it’s supposed to. Your plans don’t just go astray: they evacuate the premises and disappear like they’ve been beamed up to Sarpedion 5 or someplace. Or, as the great philosopher Mick Jagger once put it, “You can’t always get what you want.”
What happens then? Most people either stop and stew and pout, or they crash forward to claim whatever crown, condition or inheritance they believe they are entitled to. We are either paralyzed by fear or frustration, or we are buffeted by the winds and waves from a storm of our own devising, but which we never saw coming. Despite the forecast.

We are out of order.

One of the great failures of atheism is the belief system that projects order coming magically and mystically out of chaos, with no catalyzing or energizing agent - that nothing produces something. In the beginning, God put everything in order. The entirety of His creation is aligned perfectly for life. The entirety of His Word is aligned perfectly for Life.

When human beings decided that they know better, they chose to pursue a different alignment, which is not alignment at all. It is disorder. It is self-deification, idolatry in its oldest and most catastrophic incarnation. The greater catastrophe, aside from what Adam and Eve did to themselves, is what they did to God and everyone else. Human desire sought to overthrow and replace divine providence. Self love – truly a contradiction in terms, but we’ll grant the concept – eviscerates the real love that can only be true because it is purely self-less. The First Commandment is not, “You shall have no other gods before yourself.”

Here's an oversimplification, in two questions:
1.     Is the world a mess?
2.     Does the world follow God?

Yes + No = Disorder. Also depression, destruction, division, and devastation. Many years ago there was a bar in West Bend we used to visit called “The 5 D’s.” Well there you go.

If we don’t like God’s plan, we substitute one of our own. If we don’t like God’s design, we try to engineer a better one. If we don’t like God’s sense of timing, we plunge forward, consequences be damned.
 
Impatience is the key symptom here. Martin Luther once said that impatience is the worst of sins because it leads to all the others. More specifically, he said, “Those speak foolishly who ascribe their anger or their impatience to such as offend them or to tribulation. Tribulation does not make people impatient, but proves that they are impatient. So everyone may learn from tribulation how his heart is constituted.” A heart separated from God and His Word is a heart destined for disorder. Or tribulation. Or breakage.

Living together before marriage is adultery, period. “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure” (Hebrews 13:4). Looking at porn is adultery, period. “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Being patient with His gift of sexuality keeps your life in order.

Not all loves are love. In both Testaments, Christ provides the proper order for our love, emotionally and physically. And there are some whom we are NOT given to love physically: someone else’s spouse, a child, or someone of the same sex (Romans 1:21-27). He specifies the good order that blesses rather than curses.

It is not your body, your choice. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Your right to live as you please ends at the right of another person to live, and God is abundantly clear on the personhood of every life He creates. Respecting His precious and holy gift of life keeps you in order.

God gives 610 other laws that are intended for His righteous order for our lives. And for each one we find a thousand ways to screw it up.

Two more overly simple questions:
1.     Is your life a mess?
2.     Do you follow God?

Not just when it’s convenient or when you think He’s not looking. And obviously not all the messes are our own.

But given the disordered, messed-up world we live in – surrounded by people even more messed-up than we are, if that’s possible – God is going to let some of that mess spill over into our lives. Those are the teachable moments, when we truly learn who we screw-ups really are, and who He is.

Jesus doesn’t come to call the righteous but the sinners, the screwers, the messers, the losers. When He calls us, He loves us. When He loves us, He saves us. When He saves us, He changes us. We realize how much smarter He is, how much better His plan will be for us, and how much we need to follow Him back into a life that works. We need Jesus to make that work for us. We need Jesus to do the miraculously difficult job of reshaping, rebuilding and reforming us from the inside out.

We need Jesus. We need the humility to know what we don’t know, and the patience to know that He does.
Otherwise, our options are to hop on one foot, or – in classic Pythonese – to soil our armor.

Give me Jesus.