We are seeking God’s direction for growing our staff at Shepherd of the Hills, in order to meet the spiritual needs of our Family and our community. The search for a new Director of Worship and Music continues, as the first two attempts to identify and call a candidate have drawn a blank. We are considering applying for a graduate candidate from one of the Concordias, but we haven’t begun that process yet. We’ll keep you updated as we go. Another position that we have begun working toward is adding a Comfort Dog through the ministry of Lutheran Church Charities. Before you snap back with, “What does a church need a dog for?”, I encourage you to check out the Comfort Dog ministry at LCC’s website: https://www.lutheranchurchcharities.org/k-9-ministries1.html. Here’s the description from LCC: Launched in August 2008, the Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry is a national human-care ministry embracing the unique, calming nature and skills of purebred Golden Retrievers. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs are a bridge for compassionate ministry, opening doors for conversation about faith and creating opportunities to share the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus Christ. LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs are working animals, trained to interact with people of all ages and circumstances who are suffering and in need. Some things you need to know about Comfort Dogs:
Before we formally start the application process, we will need to secure the donations that cover these costs. So guess what I’ll be asking you next… That’s right: pray!
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We want the masks gone. We want to go where we want to go, stay where we want to stay, sit where we want to sit. We want to put away words like quarantine and pandemic on the back shelf of our vocabulary.
We’d like to get back to shaking hands freely again, and giving a hug or two without thinking about it first. We want the kids back in school, in person, and we want to visit the hospital, the assisted living facility or the nursing home without a full-scale physical examination. We want our lives back. We want to get back to normal. Except normal is long gone. The lives we were comfortable with – and the world we were used to – have changed forever. The pandemic will reach its final death throes, the disposable masks will be disposed and the stockholders of Purell will be smiling at the extra digits in their dividends. But our old world has changed. It won’t be coming back. We not only need to accept that fact: we need to embrace it. We now live in a world of fear. The fear virus, like every other, has always been around, but now it has found exponentially more hosts from which to transmit. Many people who previously scoffed at or ignored those who were afraid to socialize have now joined them in their respective COVID caves. The mental health business is booming, which means mental health itself is not. NAMI reports that a June 2020 study showed that over 40% of respondents identified at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, and roughly one in seven of us have started or increased substance use to cope with issues related to COVID. There’s another new phenomenon rising up in reaction to COVID. Whereas in pre-pandemic times we experienced FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), we now have FONO – Fear of Normal. This is the stress of resuming socialization with those outside your own household. As much as so many of us wanted to get back out again, a significant portion of society is struggling to do just that. On a Today Show report, psychologist Deborah Serani said, “This is a global example of what’s called re-entry after trauma.” What this all means is that many of our brothers and sisters are finding themselves trapped in their own fear-induced, self-inflicted quarantine of sorts, and it’s not as simple as dismissively telling them to “get over it.” We have the vaccine to fear: the amazing unconditional unbounded saving grace of Jesus Christ. He tells us 365 times not to be afraid, but rather than targeting us with empty platitudes that are “easy for Him to say,” He connects His gift of strength and courage to the reality of His daily, personal presence with us and even in us. “Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,” (Joshua 1:9). What this means for ministry: we need to continually seek out ways to connect those who are struggling with Jesus Christ Himself. We’ll have to be creative, recognizing that the previous means and strategies have probably lost their effectiveness, and won’t be regaining it any time soon. Online outreach has taken on new dimensions of meaning, as we encounter new dimensions of need for God’s peace and love. Following closely on the heels of fear, we find ourselves living in a world of division and distrust. We were already well down the road on this trip, but the pandemic has once again accelerated the process. Let me give you an example of one sentence that will probably send about 93% of Americans tripping all over their prejudices: The vaccines were developed under the Trump administration and distributed under the Biden administration. If you started reaching for the launch button to nuke either of those clauses, you need to stop being an asstroll. I know this because I’m one, and you need to join me in the 12-step program that can turn us back into a likeable group of underachievers known as Americans, from the UNITED States. The first step is to take one step back from your devices that access social media, from which you’ve collected all your “facts.” The next 11 steps are the same. We’ve allowed the political parties and the agenda avengers, aided by the once proud but now dead art of journalism, to divide and conquer us – Satan’s favorite strategy – all while pretending that they “care.” In the meantime, they’ve sought to destroy God’s institutions of marriage and family, handcuff and muzzle His Church, and enslave regular people in the dungeons of hatred and idolatry. Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching (His Word = the Bible), then you really are my disciples (following Him), and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:31-32). So consider carefully whom you will trust and follow. Here’s a few tips:
What this means for ministry: Jesus unites His family together around His Word and Sacraments, yet we dare not assume everyone around us is fully immersed in understanding His will for us and the awesome power He delivers in the face of adversity and division. So we need to kindle and re-kindle the bonds of faith and love the Holy Spirit weaves between sinners and Savior, and between those forever enjoined by the blood of Christ. This can only happen with a lot of Word work. Which brings me to my third and final condition of our new environment: we live in a world with not just lost faith, but open hostility to faith. That means hostility to God, His Word, His Church, His people – everything that brings purpose and hope to life on this side of eternity. In that sense, we have re-entered 1st Century Christianity, when the Roman Empire and its subsidiaries hunted, attacked and exterminated Christians simply for the crime of believing in Jesus Christ. We now live in a culture where the First Freedom – Freedom of Religion – is being cast far down the list, if not off it altogether. Christians are being forced to run counter to the Word of God if they wish to keep their business or their job, under the guise of Lucifer’s lie that the public square must allow no expression nor implementation of religious principles whatsoever, lest you offend the delicate sensibilities of the irreligious. This is neither Biblical nor Constitutional, but that doesn’t stop the messengers of Satan from suing, tormenting and terminating the vocations and reputations of Christians because we live by faith. That means we live out our faith by following Jesus wherever He leads and applying His Word to every aspect of our being. The devil hates that. The world is rapidly aligning itself with him, yet again. Jesus in the First Century told us how it would be, even in This Century: that we would have trouble in this world, that people would abandon His truth for whatever itching ears want to hear, that Satan would keep on prowling like a lion in quest of weak souls to devour. He also said in the next breath, “Take heart; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33). He gives us the victory He won on the cross, to that nothing in all creation can ever separate us from His unfailing love. That powers our faith, which powers our hope in Christ that does not disappoint. We’ve learned to endure, persevere and even conquer His power is real, it brings us together, and it dispels our daily fear of what might go wrong. Jesus makes us right. What this means for ministry: First Century conditions warrant First Century actions. We cannot assume that the manmade institutions of this world will respect our existence, let alone our values. Nor can we assume that our children, our families, our friends and our neighbors still carry any level of recognition or honor for Jesus and His Word. The coaches will still schedule tournaments on Sunday mornings. The secular educational system will still advance an anti-Biblical ideology. The media and the movie stars will still tell us what to think and how to live, because they’re famous, and that apparently means they know better than we do. We need to lead with Jesus. We need to love, even if we are not loved in return. We need to respect, though the other side doesn’t. We need to genuinely care for the heart, mind and life of every child of God He puts within reach. And we need to heed the Word of Christ that I’ve been sharing with you repeatedly: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through His body… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith… Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 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 you see the Day approaching,” (Hebrews 10:19-25). Whatever the New Normal may consist of, let’s do everything we can to put a lot of Jesus in it! God reaches us… …then you might want to re-think your viewpoint. We can all learn something from Peter – and Jesus – in Mark 8.
If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you don’t want Him to do the things that the Christ does, then you clearly don’t know what “Christ” means, nor do you know Jesus very well. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you don’t like His whole purpose of suffering and dying, you’re missing the point. You may have some concern for the symptoms, but you’re totally ignoring the disease. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you don’t want to hear the whole story – like His righteous laws and judgment – then you are diluting the Gospel, since you would logically conclude that nothing is sin and nobody needs saving. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you want Him to win you elections and likes, you are trying to manipulate Him rather than imitate Him. His Kingdom is not made of earthly politics. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you don’t want to change your heart, soul, mind or life, then you only have a mascot, not a Savior. His grace makes us new, not reinforcing the old. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you’re reluctant to say it out loud for fear someone else might hear you, you value the wrong relationships in your life. If you call Jesus “Christ,” but you’re not willing to serve Him in whatever ways He calls you to, with whatever gifts He’s given you, then you are an immature brat, rather then Child of God. You are thinking only of yourself. You are serving only yourself. You are doing the devil a favor. So to those who are too ignorant or full of themselves, Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” If Jesus calls you “Satan,” you need to realize you’ve gone too far, and repent. Turn away, turn around, turn toward the One who still loves you in spite of yourself. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” you should review the things you’ve said and done, the hurt you may have caused, or the hate you may have helped. Find the nearest means of grace, and let Jesus repair the damage. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” your attitude about yourself and the people He has placed around you has wandered far away from the Jesus-centered focus He gave you. Own your sin, and accept His rebuke. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” you may have patterned your life too much after a dying world rather than a living Savior. Open your heart, your mind and your Bible to regain a fresh and Godly perspective on life and all its contents. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” you are probably losing your grasp on the reality of your two lives that He has woven together: this earthly life in time, and the eternal life to come. Don’t OD on the temporary. Take as many people to heaven with you as you can. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” you’ve got a cross to carry rather than bury. Pick it up. You can do all things through Him who strengthens you, for Him who saves you, especially from yourself. If Jesus calls you “Satan,” it’s because He loves you too much to let anyone – including yourself – take you away from Him. His love is hard. It is tough. It’s also forever. Even with all that, Jesus still calls you His friend. His follower. His child. “I have called you by name,” He says. “You are mine.” And there’s nothing Satan can do about that. Pastor Steve Kline That’s what an enemy of Christ (an atheist) said to me online the other day, after I made a positive comment about Christ and His Word. He thinks that because I am a Christian, I have been manipulated into a particular way of thinking that doesn’t match his. Therefore, I have been brainwashed.
After giving it some thought, I’ve concluded that he is right. I have been brain-washed. I have been brain-washed in the grace of Jesus that cleanses me and sets me free from the clutches of sin, including the sins I only think. Now I am no longer owned by my old self – the sinful, prideful, lustful, hateful, scornful self. All that evil sewage has been washed away by the blood of Jesus. So yes, I have been brain-washed. I have been brain-washed into realizing that every day those same evil thoughts and attitudes try to take over yet again, but the washing of renewal and regeneration that the Spirit of Christ laid on me when He baptized me. His amazing grace drowns them in a sea of righteousness not my own, but transplanted from the Cross of Jesus. I have been brain-washed to embrace the new man Jesus has recreated in me, so that I am now His own, defined not by my birth or my brain, but by the perfect love of my perfect Savior. I have been brain-washed to discover that God has given other ways to perceive Him besides my physical eyes and my human brain. He doesn’t fit in a lab, a test tube or under a microscope. He defies human logic and reason, mainly because they are so human. He proves He is there with me and for me, but it’s the eyes of my heart He has enlightened to see with. I have been brain-washed to see worshiping Him at His place, with His people, is not an obligation but an opportunity. I don’t look at it as my chance to audition for The Voice or check a few boxes on the Good list, but it is His time to pour out a little more grace on a bunch of people who desperately need it. I have been brain-washed to look at the people around me as brothers and sisters in Christ, children of God so dearly loved as I am, that He died and rose for them, too. I want for them what He wants for them: new life, lived by His light rather than our darkness, and extending into forever alongside all those who are called to believe and belong. I have been brain-washed to understand that my feelings about myself, about other people, or even about God are unstable and unreliable. Therefore, I don’t base my life, my faith, my attitudes or my direction on temporary emotions or desires that are forever corrupted by the old self. I have been brain-washed to trust in the one true God to be my God. Not the government. Not the universities nor the thinktanks. Not the media nor the celebrities. Not even science– if by that, you mean what you think science ought to say. Whatever those human institutions espouse, I will always filter through what God says. If they oppose Him, I reject them. He is always right. They are not. I have been brain-washed to know that sin is defined by God, and I have no right to change His definition. I call sin what God calls sin. I identify evil by what He identifies as evil. I know that He does not confuse lust with love, even though a lot of us do, and not all “loves” are the same. I have been brain-washed to believe that both theology and biology declare that we are created either male or female, and the quickest way to tell is to look between our legs. God creates us as such, and if I’m confused about that, the problem is not with God or biology. I have been brain-washed to care for the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical health of everyone within my reach, and even those outside of it. If they are harming themselves or others, that care and love of Jesus compels me to speak up, reach out, and even rebuke or correct, if that’s what they need to get healthy, and to walk in His light. I pray they will do the same for me. I have been brain-washed to accept the Word of God as exactly that: His. He doesn’t change it because I don’t like it. He changes me. I refuse to participate in what God rejects, and I refuse to bless what He condemns. That’s how real love works. I have been brain-washed to love Jesus more than myself, more than my family, more than my country or my party or my sports team. He has given me plenty of love to go around, but love for Jesus comes first, because it is the source from which all the other loves comes. I have been brain-washed to understand that being right or woke or correct or tolerant in the eyes of the unwashed does nobody any favors. They equate disagreement with hate. They confuse discerning Truth with passing eternal judgment. They are wrong. They haven’t been brain-washed. I hope I can help them see with other eyes what they’ve been missing. I have been brain-washed to resist the temptation to hate those who disagree with me, or to dismiss them as inferior or inane because their worldview is different. Of course I believe my way is better, because it’s God’s way. But Jesus loves us both so much, that He died for each of us. Including that atheist. So yes, I have been brain-washed. Thank God! Pastor Steve Kline That’s going to tick some of you off. Good. It’s meant to. Keep reading, if you’ve got the guts.
We just finished the Being Challenge, and the fifth keystone habit that Jesus inspires is Choosing Church. Jesus expects us to come to His House, every week. He wants us to come together as His Family. He inspires us to worship Him, in person, for all that He’s done for us, for all that He’s given us. And that includes everything and everyone in your life. Do you believe this? Jesus meets us in His House to talk with us, listen to us, strengthen us and heal us. Only in His House, and at His Table, do we find the forgiveness we so desperately need. In His presence we experience the relief of redemption, the joy of justification, and the hope of heaven. Do you believe this? If you’re relying on a vague misunderstanding of “He’s with me everywhere” to justify staying away, you clearly haven’t listened to Him very carefully. If you think your private prayers are all there is to your life with Jesus, you don’t really know Jesus. If you say you can worship Him anywhere – and then you really don’t – the only one you’re fooling is yourself. The truth is, you need Jesus, in person, every day, every week, for life. Do you believe this? Let’s get to the honest truth, shall we? The great theologian, Sister Mary Clarence (a.k.a. Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act) once said, “People don’t like coming to church? Why? Because it’s a drag.” So many of us are addicted to entertainment. We want and need everything in our life to amuse us to some degree. That’s why we spend 10 hours a day looking at screens, playing our games, binge watching our shows, and ordering more and more streaming channels to stir up the dopamine in our brains. You don’t want to come to church because it doesn’t entertain you like all those other options you have. Here’s the secret: it’s not supposed to. While there is an entertaining component to inspiring worship, the purpose is not to get you laughing or dancing or glowing over some majestic performance. The goal is not to put more butts in the seats to pay the bills (though some TV preachers seem to operate that way). The purpose is to drop off my garbage at the foot of the cross, to hear the voice of the One who loves me more than anyone else ever has, to know that He is putting me back together again so I can go our and face another week in a world trying to tear me down. Do you believe this? And here’s the topper: Jesus wants you to share this part of your life with people who are experiencing the same challenges, the same obstacles, the same struggles. God created us to connect with others, and He built His church on the gathering of His children to share in the grace of Jesus, and in the life He has prepared for us. He paid for that life with His own. He paid for you in blood. Do you believe this? I can hear it now: “I have my faith.” Do you? Is that what you call it: faith? Faith wants more of Jesus, not less. Faith is constantly hungering for more grace to fuel it. Faith isn’t knowing about Jesus; it’s knowing Jesus, personally, and wanting more out of that relationship every day. Faith gets me over myself and moves me past my childish, selfish motivations to involve myself only in those things that benefit me. Real faith in Jesus changes my life by turning me inside out, and instills in me an intense desire to want to share that life with others, and help them discover a better life for themselves – one that lasts forever. Don’t be so juvenile that your only spiritual thought is knowing enough to get to heaven. Love and care enough to take as many people with you as you can. Do you believe this? Here’s how it turns out: if you figure that Jesus isn’t worth the extra time and energy, that you can appease Him by showing up once a month or so, your faith is almost dead. Jesus is looking for faith on fire, but if you think you can get by being lukewarm, you make Him want to puke (Revelation 3:16). But that’s not all. The people around you will see your example and follow it. If you have children, and they learn that Jesus isn’t a priority in your life, He will be less of one in theirs. So you’re once a month will become their once or twice a year. And their children – your grandchildren? Not at all. No Jesus. No faith. No hope. What a legacy! The parent who worships faithfully ends up with faithful kids, around 90% of the time. That’s a whole lot of Law. But it’s true. The Good News is that Jesus breaks you down to build you back up. He has to nail you between the eyes to get your eyes refocused on Him. He breaks your me-and only me-heart so that He can create in you a new heart, a clean one – rebuilt by His amazing grace to be a loving, caring, joyful heart, just like His. Right after He talks about puking, He says this: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Do be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:19-20). I’m not asking you to go to church. I’m asking you to come to Jesus. And I could use the company. Jesus is talking to you the way He did to Martha, when her brother Lazarus died. He said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though He dies…do you believe this?” (John 11:27). She said, “Yes, Lord. You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Formerly doubting Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” The father whose son was healed said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Jesus says, “Come to me, you who are wearied and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Now what do you say? Are you ready to get rid of the masks? Had enough of social distancing and quarantining? Let’s bring on the new normal, whatever that is! The problem is, the new normal will not arrive for a couple years yet. At least.
That’s according to Thom Rainer, a highly respected pastor and consultant, in his new book, The Post-Quarantine Church. We have no idea the lasting impact of quarantining and masking and social distancing on mental health, social interaction, our children or the Church. But the early signs are not good – for the first three. Many churches have closed permanently during the pandemic, and the autopsy results are inconclusive as to whether they would have closed anyway: COVID may have hastened the inevitable. A lot of churches, though, have discovered some amazing and wonderful new directions in ministry. That includes us at Shepherd of the Hills. The question becomes: how do we sustain these new approaches to reaching others with the love of God, or do we need even more creativity to navigate the pandemic waters? Right near the top of our recently developed strategic plan is this: Rebuild our relational culture. That means living through the masks and preparing for life without them. It means restoring our people connections and building new ones. That sounds easy enough, but it’s not a matter of just opening the doors again. Re-opening is easy; re-connecting, not so much. Here are the challenges we all have to deal with:
Challenges are opportunities, so here’s where I believe we need to go (the technical term is Desired Outcomes):
Toward these ends, God has inspired in us a roadmap (our Action Steps):
That’s a lot to take in, so we’ll all have to read through it a few more times and pray about it even more times. As you do, consider these Action Steps from Hebrews 10: “Because of Jesus, let us draw near to God with a since heart in full assurance of faith… Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together … but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” I call this passage the Church Salad because of all the “Let Us” (see what I did there?). And the Day approaching is not the day of herd immunity. It is the Day of Jesus, coming back to see how we’ve done. Starting now. In Christ, Pastor Steve Kline From the title, can you tell who I voted for? Let me give you some more detail: the old white guy I voted for has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women, used his position to financially benefit his family members, has serious difficulties telling the truth and seems to have questionable mental faculties.
You still can’t tell, can you? Not if you’re being anywhere close to objective and honest. But in our world of confirmation bias, we assume all the negative applies to the other side, and all the positive applies to our side. I’ll spell it out: I voted for Trump. Twice. In each case, I thought he was the second worst presidential candidate of all time. Given that choice of incredibly morally defective personalities running for office, I voted for the one whose policies aligned closest with my own. I’m speaking especially of those policies that God speaks to directly in His Word, rather than those personal political preferences that I cannot ratify nor reject based on Scripture alone. I prayed over my vote. I hope you did, too. Want to unfriend me now? Need to pile on me the blame for everything wrong in our country? Go ahead. In doing so, I can only conclude that you are actually part of the problem rather than the solution. You have bought in to what the political parties and the demonic elements of the media have bombarded us with for years now. They have successfully pitted us Americans against one another, and we are complicit in the angry and hateful divide that now exists between our fellow citizens. We’ve all been remarkably stupid. And we should be ashamed of ourselves. Once we face that reality in the mirror, then we can take the time to be ashamed of our political leaders – whom we elected. We say we want good, decent, honest men and women to run for office and concern themselves with the needs of the country and their constituents, rather than the power brokers and money grubbers who don’t give a damn about the country, or us. But then we buy into the personal destruction, we believe the commercials and we listen to Lucifer’s lackeys on TV and the internet distort and disembowel the truth and we no longer just respectfully disagree. We reject. We fight. We hate. And good people decide not to run. It is not the politicians’ fault. They’ve been doing this for decades. It’s not the media’s fault. They abandoned the core values of real journalism years ago. It’s our fault. We choose. We choose who to listen to, to fit the rising temperature inside. We choose how we will react to success and to failure, to victory and to loss. We choose to share, copy, post and forward the acid of our bias with willful disregard for who it will burn – ironically, people on our “friends” list. We feel the fire raging from our chest to our skull as we literally pound the send key, when the backspace or delete would have been far better choices. I know. I’ve done it myself. And I am repenting before my Lord Jesus and you, asking both for the mercy and grace I do not deserve but so desperately need. There’s another step to repentance, though. The Holy Spirit calls me to turn away from my sinful attitudes and actions, and turn toward God. If my repentance is real and my faith in Jesus is true, I will not then return to and re-embrace those same attitudes and actions. Paul hits me where I live: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2). And Jesus nails me with, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” (John 8:34). I refuse to incarcerate myself yet again! The blood of Jesus sets me free, and I will stay that way. Jesus looks for the fruit of repentance: a new heart, a new mind, a new attitude, and an overabundance of love, even for those with whom I disagree. I’d rather be known for my peacefulness rather than my politics. I abhor what happened at the Capitol, just as I do what happened in Minneapolis, Portland, et al. We can sit back behind our screens and our keyboards and blame whoever we hate for the violence and death, but the reality is that the people on the ground who lashed out in hate and violence, who killed and injured innocent people, who chose their actions based on their attitudes – they are responsible to the legal authorities, and to the Almighty God. And I pray for them, and for those they hurt. To quote our Congressman, Mike Gallagher, “I’m done with Trump.” While I like some of the things he’s done as president, I believe he will serve the country better by just heading off into the sunset. Impeachment is a political issue, not a spiritual one. So that’s up to those fine heroes of virtue that work in Congress. But I do not wish any harm on President Trump, nor on President Biden. God commanded His people to pray for our rulers when the rulers were Roman emperors set out to destroy Christians and Christianity. Neither the outgoing president, nor the incoming one, is truly that bad. I’m also done with the vitriol. I ask for forgiveness, and I offer it in return. No strings. No conditions. I hope you can join me in a far more peaceful journey, one we can share in love for God and God’s. Unless you couldn’t get past my third paragraph. Amen? In Christ - Pastor Steve Kline Few words in the English language elicit such universally warm reactions are the word home. Home brings back memories. Home is comfortable and familiar. Home is where the heart is, even if the body isn’t. Home is where the love is.
Home is better than house. House is a structure, an inanimate object that can be beautiful in its own right. But the building doesn’t make itself a home. Only people can do that. We just built a new house – God’s House – here at SHLC, for the worship and faith life of those called to follow Jesus. It is most certainly a beautiful house, as well as highly functional. Now we need to make it our home. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23). Jesus knows the beauty and meaning of home. He wants us to be at home with Him. He wants that presence, that relationship, to last long after the house is gone. Paul says, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9). The home we have with Jesus now, along with the brothers and sisters with whom we share it, is a foretaste of our heavenly home. Our eternal life in Christ doesn’t wait for death. Our life at home in Christ starts right here, right now. God wants (and we need) our church building to be our Home and our church members to be our Family. We’ve done fairly well over the years at being the Family of God He’s called us to be, and making His Home warm and inviting. But COVID has taken a lot out of all of us, and has forced us into an ongoing separation from the people we love. It’s time to come back home. Here’s what I believe Jesus wants from us in 2021, to keep His Word and please Him as His Family, in His Home:
I know we still have to stay safe, so it may be awhile before some of us can physically walk through the door again. We should pray that the new vaccines work (whether we like them or not), and that God blesses us with healing in 2021. Before, during and after that time, you know where to go, where to be. Welcome Home! I was really planning to write something this month that didn’t have anything to do with COVID. In fact, my intention was to focus entirely on God’s gift to the world: His Son, Jesus Christ.
But COVID keeps getting in the way of even the best laid plans. Still, nothing gets in the way of the amazing, unconditional, unbounded saving grace of God in Christ. Not the masks. Not the social distancing. Not even the overflowing hospitals and the growing business at the funeral homes. Not even death itself can separate us from the love of God in Jesus, and no pandemic can steal the hope and the joy we experience when Jesus comes into our world, into our homes, and into our hearts. So we will have our Christmas. Carefully and as safely as possible. But we are having Christmas, because we’ve all tested positive for Christ. He’s in our blood. He’s part of us. Barring any extreme shut-down orders, we will return to in-person worship on Christmas Eve, according to plan: 9:30 a.m. - Traditional 3:00 p.m. - REACH/Blended 5:30 p.m. - REACH/Blended 8:00 p.m. – Traditional There’s one condition to in-person worship on Christmas Eve: you need to register in advance. That’s what Joseph did in Luke 2: “Everyone went to his own town to register.” The reason is that we are capping attendance at 200 for each service, and we’d rather not turn people away at the door. You can register in any one of three ways:
You’ll need to tell us which service you plan to attend and how many in your family are attending. Registration opens November 29 and closes December 14. In the event that we get a massive response, we will plan to add an additional service or two to accommodate the crowd. Registration only applies to Christmas Eve at this point. This is not the way we wanted our first Christmas in our new Worship Center to go. This is not the way we wanted our 2020 to go. But the devil tried to use Herod to stop the first Christmas, and he failed. Now he’s using COVID for the same purpose. He will fail again. Christmas belongs to Christ, and to Christians. Amen? Pastor Steve Kline Let me give you a list of all the Bible verses that address your vote in an election:
Did you get all those? The Word of God forms and shapes who we are as His children. You cannot have a relationship with God apart from His Word. He speaks through His Word to our hearts, our minds, and our entire lives (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit teaches us, tells us when we’re wrong, leads us to be right, and equips us to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. But when God is silent – when He does not speak directly to a particular matter – we do not invent words for Him. We take what He has taught us, with the Spirit of wisdom He imparts to us, and make decisions and take actions that reflect the love of Jesus and refrain from offense to God and to our brothers and sisters. What that means for the election, therefore, is that no one can say, with Biblical authority and certainty, “This is the only way for a Christian to vote.” One of us may vote for Trump, with the full conviction of our conscience that this is the right thing to do. A brother or sister in Christ may, with equal conviction, vote for Biden, with the same mental framework behind that decision. Let me give you a different arena in which a similar result happens: a split decision among Christians. Which worship style do you prefer (choose; vote for)? If you choose to attend traditional worship, does that mean the contemporary worshipers are wrong, stupid or evil? If you choose contemporary worship, are you saying the traditional worshipers are wrong, stupid or evil? Where we invite sin into our hearts, into our nation, and maybe even into our church, is when we judge someone else’s faith or intellect based on a decision they make that has neither God’s command nor God’s prohibition to guide them. The theological term for such things is adiaphora: neither forbidden nor commanded by God. The Holy Spirit will certainly guide our decision-making process, but we cannot, with Scriptural integrity, say that God wants all Christians to vote Republican or Democrat. God doesn’t pick sides in our games or contests or campaigns, at least not like we do. I’ve heard Christians say that Trump was “anointed by God” and given by Him to lead us as a Christian nation (we’re not a Christian nation anymore, but that’s a different newsletter article). If that’s the case, then we also have to accept that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were anointed and sent by God. And God loves the Packers so He made them win the Super Bowl four times. What about the other 50 – did God screw it up? We need to understand how the will of God works in these things: the active will of God, when He inspires us to believe, live and love His Son and each other in real time and real ways; and the passive will of God, when He allows things to happen in our lives that test our character and strengthen our faith. God doesn’t pick the winners and the losers in our little games and elections. Here’s the dilemma we Christians in 2020 face: there was no democracy in Biblical times. It was all authoritarian, no popular elections. So without that clear mandate from the Word on how to vote, we need to assess our choices and apply what God has actually said. Some issues involve specific spiritual principles that God clearly addresses. Other election issues are not spiritual in nature, in terms of Biblical theology. We need to take these into account, and distinguish between the two. We also need to distinguish between what I say and what God says. Sometimes I get those two voices mixed up. With those core values in mind, I will address those issues that God addresses, and touch on those that He doesn’t. Freedom of Religion: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established” (Romans 13:1). God expects us to honor and respect those who govern us, that we are to pray for them and obey them. The Catechism goes so far as to say we should “love and cherish them.” God does not say they need to earn or deserve it first. Christians respect the office of government, and obey its laws. That holds true right up until the point that the governing authorities try to force us to participate in or condone practices or policies that directly violate the Word of God and/or our sanctified conscience, or keep us from teaching and practicing God’s Word. Then “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). In political terms, if a candidate or party designs to force churches or religious organizations to hire people whose lifestyle or belief system stands directly in opposition to the Word, they are denying our freedom. If a political entity wishes to compel Christians to participate in a ritual or ceremony that contradicts God’s clear teaching – regardless if said Christian is in business: I don’t stop being a Christian just because I opened a bakery – their hostility to Christ and Christians must be opposed. If a state institution or political agency wants to discriminate against religious individuals or groups just because they’re religious, I will not help them with my vote. So I will share my viewpoint on a few key issues, as the Holy Spirit has led me through the Word to view them. You may not see it the same way. God bless us both. Abortion: God is abundantly clear on this subject, starting with Exodus 20:13. God never uses the word fetus for an unborn child; He uses the word baby. We proclaim our faith in God, Maker of heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible. All our days are in His hands, including those before we actually show up (Psalm 139). He is the Lord of all life, and He does not surrender that role to any individual who wishes to destroy a life He has created. Scientifically, the unborn child is a human being, with all the genetics and characteristics therein. Theologically God calls that child a baby. The Lord also calls upon each one of His disciples to protect and support those who cannot do so for themselves, especially the widow and the orphan. Therefore, Christians care and provide for the child and his/her mother. Politically, I just cannot vote for someone who advocates for the butchering of an unborn child – which is exactly what the procedure entails. Nor can I reconcile in my mind the canard that pro-choice is not pro-abortion, because leading or encouraging a young woman to reject God and His Word is what Jesus talks about in Matthew 18:6 – “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me 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.” In other words, the “I’m opposed but it’s ok for you” argument doesn’t fly with God. You cannot, with any legitimacy, build a Biblical case in favor of abortion, or the right of a woman to choose…to have the baby God has created inside her killed. Racism: Hate and Christian faith cannot coexist in a believer’s heart (1 John 4:20). The grace of Christ unites us as one, regardless of skin color or ethnic background (Galatians 3:28). What we’ve seen on the news in recent months has truly revealed the divisiveness and hatred the human heart is capable of harboring. God rejects all of it, including responding to violence with violence. He expects us to love one another unconditionally, as He does, and to put the interests of others before our own (Philippians 2:3-4). We need to hear from our candidates how they will help heal the racial wounds we’ve inflicted, and how what steps they would take to improve the lives of those who live in daily need and daily fear. I want to know which candidate advocates policies that will rebuild families and reunite communities, and I will not vote for someone who wants to put them down and tear them apart. Character: God doesn’t say much about the character of an elected leader, since Jesus first proposed the separation of Church and State (Matthew 22:21), which Martin Luther echoes in his distinction between the two kingdoms. Church leaders, yes; elected leaders, not so much. I would love to vote for a candidate who demonstrates high Christian character. If I could find one. One of our members, whose politics are not my own, recently posted a plea for two different candidates to choose from. Conservative columnist Ramesh Ponnuru recently wrote, in an essay detailing why he will NOT vote for Trump, that neither candidate has character worthy of the high office. I agree. If you are truly moved by the character issue, integrity calls for realizing that the two main candidates cancel each other out, unless you’re drawn to the “lesser of two evils” debacle. Then character really isn’t your issue after all. In my opinion, if Christian character is that crucial, you have to step back to the VP candidates, and Pence is the only one who comes close to filling the bill. I have not seriously researched all the other third-party candidates, but realistically, none of them will be our next president. There are a lot of other issues. If your priorities are different from mine, God bless us both, because He loves us both, no matter how we vote. And I love you, either way. Some of us have already voted. Maybe you held your nose, or looked the other way, or let out an exasperated sigh as you cast your ballot. That day is rapidly approaching the rest of us. I pray that you are able to cast your vote with pride and joy, but you may be in the minority with those feelings. Search your heart. Pray continually. And vote, with the best discernment God gives you. But vote, nevertheless. Please remember this: divide and conquer is Satan’s favorite strategy. On November 4th, if we even know the winner by then, we need to throw away the rhetorical weapons of bigotry and hate that are fired by both sides. We need to put an end to sides, period. It won’t happen in the outside world. It must happen in the community of believers. Pastor Steve |
AuthorPastor Steve Kline was installed as Senior Pastor at SHLC on May 25, 2014, after serving 12 years as Senior Pastor at Zion in Wayside, WI. He was ordained in 1992 and previously served congregations in Pulaski and Hales Corners. Archives
April 2024
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