In Everything Give Thanks - Being Better Than My Google Nest

“Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

As I was finishing a phone call, telling my youngest daughter, “I love you the most,” the Google Nest box on our kitchen counter informed me, “Thanks, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever told me.” Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. I used to have to be careful about what I said around my children, but now I have worry about what Hey-Google hears. On the other hand, even that soulless piece of electronics can recognize good coming from my mouth and express gratefulness for it.

Did you notice? Gratefulness, a thankful attitude, and thanking God is God’s will for you and me. He wants you and me, commands us, to be constant thanksgivers. He wants us to be good at noticing and responding to life with joy, prayer, and gratefulness, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT2).

I don’t know who programmed the Google Box on our counter, or who keeps updating it, but I do know that the Holy Spirit is trying to reprogram every believer into a genuinely joyful, prayerful, and thankful individual; into someone who is really good at recognizing every blessing and connecting the dots of God’s marvelous workings woven throughout our lives and circumstances.

People often ask me to pray for them in regard to figuring out God’s will for their lives, well here is some very clear instruction as to being in and living out God’s will. I am confident you and I will have a much easier time discerning God’s will if we obey God regarding continual joyfulness, prayer, and thanksgiving.

Why in the world would we not want to be grateful? Why pull up short when it comes to giving thanks to God? Thankful people, those who continually give God thanks process life differently. I can tell this, it is a lot more pleasant, a lot more fun to be around grateful folks than a bunch of entitled, whining, complaining, joy-sucking, downer, ingrates (not that you would know anything about that). Heck, I am positive you and I can be better thanksgivers than a Google Nest.

“In everything.” That’s the hard part because it is easy enough to give God thanks in some things, like when your wife just had a baby and they are both well. But “in everything” includes well – everything, like the low points, the bitter moments, the perplexing situations, the seasons of pain, the unfair and unjust, the gut-wrenching, the darkness of grief, the cries of “WHY!?” the inexplicable, and evil. Why would God tell us to be thankful there? Maybe because that is where and when we need gratefulness the most? Maybe because that is where thankfulness keeps us from becoming twisted, from becoming “overcome by evil?” Maybe because that’s when we need to see and process our world and circumstances with different eyes and a different attitude more than ever? Maybe because that is where character and godliness are forged? Maybe because it helps us, though might we feel like our light is flickering, to shine the brightest in the darkest? Maybe because we get to depend on the goodness and faithfulness of God and be amazed and awed by Him over and over again?

I confess, I don’t fully understand this command to give God thanks in everything, to be a grateful soul no matter what, but do know from experience that I am much better off obeying it, and I thank God for teaching me that.

To God be all glory and thanks.

Love you, Pastor Hans

Love Your Neighbor - Vote!

VOTE!

If you love your neighbor - you will vote because you care about what is best for our country, our state, our community, and your neighbor, regardless of where s/he stands politically.

If you love your neighbor - you will not shirk your responsibilities that affect your neighbor and neighborhood. You will value your responsibilities, opportunities, and involvement because they stretch you to know and serve your neighbor, and love won’t thrive where we do not know and serve each other.

If you love your neighbor - you will not just cast a ballot when an election comes around, but you will vote daily with your words and actions. You will vote against hate, injustice, greed, irresponsibility, self-centeredness, and wrong of every kind; you will vote for civility, integrity, kindness, mercy, responsibility, generosity, selflessness, and goodness.

If you love your neighbor - you care about them the way Jesus Christ/God cares about them, which means you won’t like or approve of everything your neighbor says or does, nor will you save them from all the consequences of their choices. But you will be hopeful and merciful for them as long as they have breath.

If you love your neighbor - the way Jesus/God commands you to love your neighbor - you will soon discover that you need God’s help because it is a difficult thing to do, and you will come to know your need for God’s forgiveness because not loving your neighbor is sinful.

If you love your neighbor - you will not just care about the voting records of those in office, but also your own, not just on November 3rd, but every single day.

So, vote, vote for your neighbor’s sake!

To God be all glory, Pastor Hans

The Cross of Christ - Life's Most Important Intersection

Next time you go for a drive, count how many intersections you have to navigate. It makes a difference which way you turn at each one, take a wrong turn and your GPS voice will immediately tell you to turn around, ignore the voice and it might take you some time to get back on route, take several wrong turns and you might end up totally lost.

Life is replete with intersections. Every election is an intersection, and it makes a difference which way we turn. Every decision, great or small, is an intersection and will determine how we spend your lives and where we end up. Every temptation is an intersection, deliberately designed for us to take a wrong turn. Every opportunity is an intersection trying to help us live better lives.

Some intersections are confusing. Just for fun google the Arc de Triomphe (12 turn-offs) or the Swindon (5 in 1) roundabouts; talk about confusing and overwhelming, you could be circling for a good long time before figuring out how to navigate through them. Just like real life, aren’t they, so many directions and decisions, so many other cars on the road complicating things, so many possibilities, so many lanes, so many wrong turns.

The most important intersection in all human history, and in each one of our lives personally, is the Cross of Christ. Strange, isn’t it, that the very symbol associated with Jesus Christ is a cross, an intersection, horizontal/vertical intersection.

• It is heaven and earth intersecting.

• It is the God and man intersection. Not as a theoretical or theological construct, but real God, in real flesh, in real time, among real people, with a real name – Jesus Christ.

• It is where sin (yours and mine) crucified the righteousness of God.

• Eternal life and death crossed paths on Jesus’ cross.

• The rejection of God and redemption of God crossed at Calvary/Golgatha (the place Jesus was crucified).

• Politics and God’s eternal purposes and plans ran into each other at the cross of Jesus.

• Evil and hate battled love mercy and grace at the cross.

• The powers of man, sin and death, the devil, and of God intersected on the cross of Jesus.

• At the cross, the justice of God and the injustice of man collided.

• Innocence and guilt crossed paths at the crucifixion of Christ.

• On the cross, the laws of man clashed with the law of God.

• Violence met forgiveness on Calvary.

• Absolute, eternal Truth ran into mankind’s lies and truth-twisting.

• Eternal salvation intersected the justice and wrath of God at the cross of Jesus.

• …

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 (NLT2)

He (Christ) personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT2, parenthesis mine)

Some intersections we only come to once in life, some we cross daily, some we wish we could go back to and take a different turn, some we run through without noticing how important they are, some we only come to from time to time, and eventually we will cross the very last one. But of all the intersections we come to the cross of Jesus is the most important one, what we decide there will not only shape our earthly existence, but also our eternal destiny.

In reading this little pastor’s note God in his kindness and grace has brought you (again) to the intersection of the cross Of Jesus Christ, so you can turn to Jesus before you run out of intersections. So, how will you leave this intersection? Will you leave it having turned to Christ, or will you be leaving Christ behind?

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

It Is Written - A Christian's Debate Check

Today is Tuesday, September 29, 2020. The media is in an all-out frenzy about tonight’s first debate of the 2020 presidential election; it is politics and political spin in full gear. Of course, our entire country is embroiled in a fierce debate regarding a plethora of issues: justice, policing, abortion, immigration, gun control, racism, global warming, energy, COVID response, socialism vs. capitalism, conspiracy theories, marriage, gender, foreign policy, voting rights and procedures, healthcare, abortion, religion, judicial philosophies, church and state, taxes, free speech, education, visions of the future, love Trump/hate Trump, … - you name it.

“For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” 1 Corinthians 1:19-20 (HCSB), Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, ancient Greeks, who were enamored with human wisdom and loved to debate just about everything, and in the process managed to make a mess. We will make a mess of things and will reason, sound, and look like anything but Christlike if we follow in the Corinthians’ footsteps. Their debating fueled their pride, entrenched their positions, validated their sense of superiority, polluted their ethics, excused their immorality, denigrated and dismissed their neighbor, created room for being unkind and unloving, and made their human wisdom the ultimate standard.

“It is written!” Paul interjected when they ceased from shouting at each other for a brief moment. Three words Christians should never forget; they are synonymous with, “God says!” They are an affirmation that the Bible, God’s written word supersedes all human debate and should be the checkpoint of all Christian persuasions, politics, policies, platforms, public engagement, proper conduct, personal matters, and relationships.The sad reality, however, is that in the current public debates Christians are as divided as their non-Christian counterparts, functioning out of political affiliation, eclectic theology, personal preference, common fears, religious emotionalism, and selective reading of what “is written;” conforming the Word of God to fit their viewpoint, their side of the debate, rather than the other way around.

Fully adhering to that which “is written” by God, will not make any one of us popular, but it will make us Christlike. It will put us at odds with both the Republican and Democratic platforms, our denominations, our favorite news source, our culture at large, and even the people we go to church and hang out with. Among other things, it reminds us that loving God and loving our neighbor are the two most foundational laws regarding everything. It compels us to be peacemakers. It will not allow us to deny the unborn full human status. It will not permit us to be unwelcoming and mistreat foreigners and aliens (both legal and illegal). It requires us to be the very best stewards of the environment. It defines sexual morality. It leaves no doubt that God conceived marriage as being between a man and a woman. It champions justice on every level. It tells us of our responsibility towards the poor and oppressed. It stresses personal responsibility and industry.  It teaches fiscal responsibility. It denounces violence. It warns us that allegiance to God is more important than allegiance to country. It reminds us that because of human depravity laws need to check the greed of free markets, govern people and their interactions, enshrine justice, and preserve freedoms. It makes it clear that a godless society will never be better than a society that exalts God and what He has “written,” without coercion. It defines what is wicked and sinful. It unequivocally informs us that everyone needs Jesus Christ, to be saved from sin and its penalty, to be changed for the better, and to be a much better doer of all that “is written,” than to be a slick debater.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans.       

Holiness, Godliness, Christlikeness - The Christian Dress Code

You and an I, like everyone else, were born butt naked, without a stitch of clothing, loincloths, or even a fig leaf. We came into this world with life, a mix of our parent’s genes, the image of God, a soul, and a sinful nature. We didn’t know how to dress, didn’t even much care if we were dressed, as long as we were comfortable. Our parents, siblings, aunts, childcare workers, and babysitters dressed us.

My personal nightmare was onesies, you know those one-piece things with little snaps or dangerous zippers, you had to wrestle the squirmy little rebels into – makes me break out in a sweat just thinking about it.Besides getting the challenge of getting the clothes on our kids, there was the art of putting on the right ensembles, think matching, on each child. Many, of what I thought were successful dressing episodes, did not pass inspection by the keeper of the wardrobe – think Susie, and later my oldest daughter. No plaids and stripes, pink with brown… Then, when they were old enough, when they entered the “I can do it all by myself” stage, four things occurred;
1. Hilarious and ill-fitting combinations that were not allowed to leave the house;
2. Major fits when the keeper of the wardrobe issued a redress order;
3. Innumerable clothing changes throughout the day;
4. Me being very happy to abdicate any responsibility in clothing brood.

Most of us living in the United States have more clothes than we need, and very often much more, so much more that mountains of good clothes end up at Goodwill and the dump. There isn’t anything wrong with owning more clothes than needed per se, but it does reveal our obsession with outward appearance.There is also such a thing as a spiritual wardrobe, and we have to learn to dress ourselves from it.

It is as visible as the clothes we wear or don’t wear because it is seen in our behavior, “Like the Holy One (God/Christ) who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” 1 Peter 1:15 (NASB, parenthesis mine). All the praying in the world will not make you godly or Christlike if you do not choose to act godly/Christlike.When the keeper of the wardrobe ordered a redress, the first thing, besides the frequent and irrational protestations, was taking of the unacceptable articles of clothing, followed by putting on that which fit, matched, was modest, appropriate, and was right for the season or occasion. Putting on the approved set over the unacceptable set was not an option because it would be ill-fitting, uncomfortable, way too hot, and looking ridiculous, resulting in the right in the clothes coming off sooner than later.  Every Christian has a spiritual closet full of the right clothing for every occasion and season. Everything in it is timelessly fashionable and the best we could possibly wear. But you can’t wear it without first taking off the old clothes, no matter how comfortable they feel to you.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” Ephesians 4:21-24 (NLT2).

“But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” Colossians 3:8-10 (NLT2).

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” 1 Peter 5:5-6 (ESV). As the world around us is fed up, angry, violent, corrupt, demanding both change and peace, politically pitted against each other, and spiritually lost, it is critically important for Christians to show up dressed in Holiness, Godliness, and Christlikeness in all our behavior, words, interactions, and involvements. Time to get dressed out of the spiritual wardrobe! 

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans     

Have You Had A Bristlecone Transformation?

Methuselah, 4851 years old, a Great Basin bristlecone pine is still going and growing somewhere in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California. Walking through the bristlecone forest where it is hidden feels like encountering a family of Ents out of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” You are in the presence of something ancient, their needles alone can last up to 40 years. One of these trees could be 1000 years old and be called a mere whippersnapper by the gnarled ancients of the grove.It’s the resin that helps preserve them.

On the short educational walk by the visitor center, the first stop is by a large dead trunk of a long-dead bristlecone. The instructional sign tells you that this tree was over 3200 years old when it died – in 1650. Yup, for over 450 years that tree trunk has been laying there and it is far from being decayed. Someone should make anti-aging skin cream out of this resin. Like all things in nature, there is a lot we can learn from these tenacious bristlecones God made to last for millennia in a most inhospitable environment.

We are unfamiliar with bristlecone permanence. In fact, most everything in our experience is marked by the exact opposite, impermanence. The bristlecones don’t waste things, they latch onto every drop of water they can get their roots on. We, on the other hand, are professional wasters: water, food, stuff, time, money, opportunities, relationships… Deep down, we long for permanence, we want love to last, and peace, and health, and good times, and prosperity, and freedom, and stability, and life. But our resin can’t compare to the bristlecone’s. Living in fleeting impermanence we try to squeeze as much out of our vapor-like lives before they dissipate, and all too often sacrifice the permanent things our hearts yearn for. The spiritual reality is that the wrong resin is pumping through our veins, sinfulness, depravity, an inherited penchant to rebel against God and his order.

The Bible (God’s written revelation) tells us about a time when people lived much, much longer. The oldest recorded individual of that time was Methuselah, he lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). God cut the human lifespan down to 70 plus-ish years (Psalm 90:10). Why? Because 969 years is way too long to have the resin of sin be at work in a person, for human depravity to have an opportunity. We ought to thank God for putting a restrictor plate on our life expectancy because of our sinfulness; our own evil and evil people still flourish way too much in just 80 years. That’s also more than enough time for each one of us to come to grips with our sinfulness, our spiritual rebellion, and our need for God and Jesus Christ to give us eternal life, to have the resin of the Spirit of God transform us for permanence that will far outlast even the most ancient bristlecone.

Future generations will be able to tell if we were truly transformed from decaying sinners into eternal saints through our faith in Jesus Christ. How? By how quickly there will be no trace of our existence, no witness of our faith in their memories, no tangible impact on their hearts, minds, and lives, no blessing of things permanent left behind for generations far into the future.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave - A Word for 4th of July

My Father-in-law used to ask me, “Do they have 4th of July in Germany?” The answer is yes and no. Yes, Germans do have July 4th on their calendar. No, there is no celebration of the birth of a new nation, of stripping off the shackles of the British crown. It was a gutsy move, declaring independence from the superpower known as the British Empire. It has always taken great courage to demand and declare freedom, especially from tyranny.

Remember Moses' words echoing in Pharaoh’s hall, “Let my people go!” Or the famous words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” that the signers of the Declaration of Independence announced to King George III, who like Pharaoh, had no intention to yield to their cry for freedom.

Gaining freedom, securing independence is the first struggle, but it is not the last. What you do with the newfound liberty will determine both who will benefit from it and how long it will last. Bold, idealistic, and good words, “all men are created equal.” But even while the ink was drying on their signatures their present reality did not include Blacks, Native Americans, women, and others in this equal.

To this day it has been a very slow and arduous struggle extend the full measure of “inalienable rights” to all. We must ask ourselves why humanity has struggled with liberty throughout history? The answer is twofold, the first being pragmatic the second spiritual. It is very inconvenient for those in power to grant rights and liberties to all. Power loves power far more than freedom. Freedom of speech, of assembly, of the press, of religion, of bearing arms, of economics doesn’t lend itself to governmental control. Granting personal rights like privacy, due process, owning property, trial by peers, voting, etc. is just too messy and allows for too much opposition, just ask Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un, Nicolas Maduro, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mohammad Bin Salman, Ali Khamenei…

The root of humankind’s struggle with liberty, however, is spiritual, the reality of human depravity/sinfulness, and the existence of evil and the Evil One/Satan. Neither one of these realities is popular today, in fact, more often than not they are scoffed at and dismissed as being out of touch. But doing so puts one at odds with our country’s Founding Fathers, who were thoroughly steeped in Protestant theology and did not think that Biblical anthropology was anything to be sneered at. It was these spiritual realities that fueled their distrust of power and influenced them to design a governmental system of divided powers and rights codified in law, striving to protect them from the whims of leaders and the power of the majority.

They didn’t like what Jesus told them, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They basically replied with, “We are free! We are part of the free and the brave! We don’t need anyone to liberate us - to set us free!” Jesus didn’t back down, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” John 8:31-36 (NIV).
They didn’t care for that truth at all, because human depravity despises God, looks to free itself from God, “The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one (Jesus Christ). ‘Let us break their chains,’ they cry, ‘and free ourselves from slavery to God’” Psalm 2:2-3 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).

As we find ourselves in very tumultuous times this 4th of July, as we celebrate our incredible gift of liberty, we will do well to remember that to both navigate through these times, and to preserve precious liberties we are wise to draw to God collectively and address our own depravity personally through Jesus Christ, because no one is really free unless “The Son sets you free.” May we thank and glorify God this 4th of July.

Love you, Pastor Hans           

Dad, Texas or Albuquerque?

My Dad lived his entire life in Germany, but as a father he spent too much time in Texas instead of Albuquerque. His record as a dad is at best a mixed one. He was smart, educated, successful, hard-working, good at providing, involved and respected in the community and in church, trying to give his sons opportunities in life, all the while abusing alcohol, beating the living daylights out of us, flying off the handle at a moment’s notice,  and doing a good job at what God warns dads against, “Fathers, do not exasperate (embitter, aggravate, provoke) your children, so that they will not (become discouraged) lose heart” Colossians 3:21 (NASB, parenthesis mine).

I didn’t share this about my Dad to make him look bad or to somehow get back at him, he died and was buried a long time ago. What I am wondering about today is my own Dad record because every dad has one. I can tell you this, if you are a father of a child, your Dad record has a huge impact. My father impacts me to this day, and it took me an awfully long time to deal with the crap of his Dad record. But I am responsible for my own Dad record, and the impact I am having on my kids’ lives.

A man once stopped by the church looking for help. He wanted to buy a bus ticket to somewhere in Texas. He said it was the next stop in his journey of finding himself. I asked him how finding himself was going. He told me he was having the time of his life. I asked him to tell me a bit more about his life. He didn’t really want to, but he finally told me he had a wife and three kids in Albuquerque. I offered to buy him a ticket to Albuquerque, so he could get back to be near his kids, get a job, and help provide for them. He didn’t like that at all, he needed more time to find himself. I told him he was full of it and he would have to find his own way to Texas. He stormed off telling me I wasn’t much of preacher, and he might be right.

I told you about this traveling man in case, like me,  you are father, because once you are one (whether or not you planned to be one makes no difference) you have God-given dad responsibility. If you put a child into this world, doing right by that girl or boy, in a way that will make God nod with approval, is one of your chief and life-long responsibilities. If you have a child, you will have a Dad record, the only question will be what kind – mixed, decent, so-so, awesome, godly, absent, uninvolved, abusive, cold, tender, the worst, the best … There are too many dads in Texas when they are needed in Albuquerque.

I have been privileged, blessed, to be a Dad for 37 years now. I am telling you so you know that they have been out of diapers for a long time, in fact, they are out of our house, which was the plan, and I am proud as can be of them. But I am not done being a Dad, I am still adding to my Dad resume (and Opa/Grandpa record, which is also part of the Dad resume). What kind of older and all-too-soon old Dad will I be? I really am concerned about that. I have seen too many Dads blow it in the tail-end of life, get off the godly trail, forsake being a blessing, quit being a spiritual example, and instead celebrate the selfish life, become hard and difficult to deal with, and move to Texas when they should be in Albuquerque adding to their Dad (Grandpa) resume.

I think Dads from Albuquerque lived and wrote the following: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV)

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken. Psalm 15:1-5 (NIV)

A good Dad leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. Proverbs 13:22a

Dad, Grandpa, it is not too late to move back to Albuquerque. 

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Time to Clear the Log Jam

It is always easier to point at the speck in another person’s eye than dealing with the log in your own, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's/sister’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's/sister’s eye” Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV, italics mine).

While fighting for “liberty and justice for all” (a noble and right cause) we don’t get to address one wrong only to justify another. We don’t get to stand up against vilifying one group of people only to turn around and to vilify another group. We don’t get to preach love for one another and turn around and okay hating police officers. Specks give us fuzzy vision, but logs render us blind. Jesus tells us to remember that we don’t get to fight injustice and be unjust ourselves, we don’t get to fight abuse of power by abusing power, we don’t get require of others what we do not require of ourselves, we don’t get to fight for equality under the law while being lawless ourselves, we don’t get hold others responsible while being irresponsible ourselves, we don’t get to blame others and not deal with our own logs.

The log-eyed have it right now, on the political right and left, on the liberal and conservative end. You can’t say that black lives matter, or that we need to treat immigrants like Jesus would, without an immediate backlash, being denounced, dismissed as liberal, and even being hated. You can’t stand up for policemen/women and law enforcement officers, the vast majority doing a very difficult job with integrity, without an immediate backlash, being accused of just not getting it, dismissed as being uniformed, and even being hated. You can’t stand up for Colin Kaepernick and his right to kneel without being accused of being unpatriotic, and you can’t stand up for Biblical/traditional marriage without being denounced as homophobic or a hater. The sad reality of this is that the very thing both sides passionately clamor for, liberty and justice, is being lost.

I believe Jesus is weeping as He is looking down like He did over the Jerusalem of his day (Luke 19:41). They were coming to John the Baptist in droves, hungry for national change, hoping God was going to something big (Luke 3:1-14). John tore into them, their hypocrisy of wanting change without changing themselves, for trying to act pious while abusing power. He told them God would cut down the logs (them) and hold them responsible.

“What do we need to do?” they wanted to know.

“Take personal responsibility and use your extra not to hoard but to help, be part of creating equity! To improve people’s lives," he told them. “Don’t abuse your public office and the power it gives you to twist the rules and exploit it for personal gain,” he fired back at the tax collectors. “Don’t abuse your badge, don’t abuse the power that comes with your uniform, don’t pervert justice,” he spelled it out for the soldiers (the police in their day).

He was confronting them all because just like today, log-eyedness was ruling the day, creating the narratives, fostering endless finger-pointing, justifying lawlessness, flaunting hypocritical piety (both religious and political), excusing personal responsibility, and twisting or ignoring what is right before God. So, what about them logs, that blind our eyes, darken our minds, justify our wrongs, shape our actions?

A great place to start dealing with them is Jesus’ longest recorded sermon, called the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7 (Its shorter parallel is found in Luke 6:20-49). I think it tells us a lot about what God dreams of regarding our personal lives, culture, and society. In the end, Jesus makes it plain that merely hearing/reading and trying to understand, though necessary, are is not enough. We must catch the vision of it, the hope of it, the necessity of it, the rightness of it, and then radically live it.

To God be all glory.

Love you, Pastor Hans

Justice Matters - Black Lives Matter

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully. Proverbs 28:5 (NIV)

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:2-3 (ESV)

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. Isaiah 59:14-15 (ESV)

Every one of us, regardless of the color of our skin, should be weeping, should be outraged, and should be calling for justice. We all should be demanding change, rushing to be part of the solution, and stand alongside our black brothers and sisters as we bitterly mourn Ahmaud Arbery, whose violent death barely caused a ripple until the sick recording of the lynching in broad daylight was finally released - and the death of George Floyd, who died pleading for his life while a policeman’s knee slowly choked the life out of him. We should be brokenhearted as we witness violence birthing more violence, injustice breading more injustice, and stones are being thrown at each other instead of working together to build a nation “with liberty and justice for all.”

Each of these deaths is outrageous by themselves, but sadly, they are just the most recent and most public in a long history of racism, injustice, and police brutality. Neither Ahmaud Arbery nor George Floyd should have died, they should be alive and well today. We need to decide when enough is enough.It should not be difficult to stand beside our fellow Americans and shout with them, “Black lives matter!” in light of the long reality of injustice this cry represents. Immediately countering with, “All lives matter,” or “Blue lives matter,” is tantamount to telling them, “Just shut up.” Of course, all lives matter, blue lives matter, but the very nature of injustice is that some lives matter more than others.

Injustice is always an abuse of power. One of the greatest statements about ancient king David, a man after God’s own heart, is “So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people” 2 Samuel 8:15 (ESV, emphasis mine). Since we are privileged to live in a country led by a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Abraham Lincoln), we, every citizen, are responsible to hold our governmental institutions and powers accountable to use those powers entrusted to them in just and equitable ways. That’s not a knock on our police officers and all those who work in our justice system, but rather it validates the importance of a police force and justice system that does not tolerate injustice, inhumanity, and abuse of power.

It’s so easy to talk about these complex issues, but it is quite another to engage myself in ways that help, that are part of the solution, that bring about change and empower equal justice for all. As multifaceted and overwhelming as all of this is, we dare not flee into disengagement or mere talk. Even without having all the solutions:

• I need to recognize that justice is also a spiritual issue. Just by reading the Scriptures above, I know I can only fully understand justice in seeking God through Christ, and that God expects me to personally practice and engage with justice regarding others.

• I need to thoroughly study my Bible (God’s written word) so I can understand justice and what it demands of me as a follower of Jesus.

• I need to put my listening ears on and go to my black brothers and sisters and hear their side, their story, their hurt, their rage, their sorrow, their solutions.

• I need to be a voice for justice and equity with my friends, around my dinner table, and in the sandbox with my grandchildren.

• I need to speak up whenever and wherever ignorance, bigotry, cruelty, evil, and injustice rear their ugly heads, regardless of who I am with, and regardless of the cost.

• I need to pray for God to show me my blind spots, to see justice through His eyes, for courage, for change, for those in power, for our law enforcement officers in my own community and counties.

• I need to use the avenues available to me as an ordinary citizen to influence our government officials and institutions.

May God have mercy on us and help us. 
Love you, Pastor Hans

Extraordinary Kindness, part 2 - It's not theoretical, It needs no excuses

But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:4-5 (NLT2)

Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. Luke 6:35 (NLT2)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)

No one had to teach her, my incredibly sweet and cute granddaughter (my favorite) to whack her brothers, bite them, snatch their stuff, ruin their creations, and pay them back for any misdeeds of their own. She knew how to dish out unkindness and withhold good instinctively, as, by the way, you and I do as well. Having to be told to be kind, to do good means that that unkindness, not doing good comes all too natural for us.

My little ladybug of a granddaughter knows how to be kind and unkind though she doesn’t even know the words, she just knows the actions and reactions and most often dishes them out according to what serves her best and how she feels at the moment. She knows how to give both kind and unkind looks. She knows how to use her tiny vocabulary in kind in unkind ways, her hands and feet sure know how to do both, and she knows different impacts kindness and unkindness, doing good and withholding good have, which, by the way, you and I do as well.

It is amazing to me how immature and undisciplined grown adults, myself included, can be when it comes to being kind and doing good. It is even more amazing to me that Christians, who have crystal clear instruction, who know the will of God when it comes to being kind and doing good, act like two-year-olds. Your eyes, are they kind, look at people and things with kindness? Or, are they skilled at throwing daggers, burn with anger, look down on, and look away to ignore and hurt? If looks could kill.

Your ears, are they good at detecting when and where kindness is needed? Or, are they deaf to the frequencies of kindness, only open to what they want to hear, often rejoicing in the sounds of misery and pain of others. They had it coming.Your mouth, is it fluent in the language of kindness, the healing, peacemaking, encouraging, and blessing power of words? Or, is it a double-edged sword that continually honed by anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, frustration, evil, and the grind of our world? It’s just words, I didn’t mean anything by it.

Your hands, are they good at giving, helping, reaching out, tenderness, involvement? Do they have the callouses of doing good? Or, are they good at taking, hoarding, stiff-arming, finger-pointing, handling remote controls, the grime of selfishness and manipulation thick under your fingernails? No one told me. I‘ve been so busy, can’t you see.

Your feet, are they good at stopping at the intersections of life calling for kindness and goodness? Do they love to run into the direction of kindness and where doing good is needed? Or, do they balk at the one-way street of kindness, when there is no immediate payoff, when the cost is high, when kindness doesn’t fit your schedule or mood or sense of justice and fairness? It’s a two-way street, you know. Your wallet, does it have kindness in it, dream of it, and remind you to do good every time you take it out? Or, is it fluent in toddler, “MINE,” constantly dreaming of what to get next, of something fun, of having more than enough, or just plain more? One day. I’m barely making it as it is.

Would you read the scriptures at the beginning of the pastor’s note again? They both command and instruct us to be kind, to do good. They do not furnish any excuses for being unkind and not doing good. I need to remember that next time I am tempted to be unkind and try to excuse it. They tell us that God/Jesus did not determine his kindness, his goodness, his mercy, and his forgiveness by our worthiness, our gratefulness, our responses or reciprocity.

One more thing, as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, I have no excuse to be unkind. I have known how to be kind going way back to when I was just wee little and still cute, I know how to be kind because throughout my life I have been at the receiving end of kindness, and foremost, God has poured the full measure of his kindness and goodness into my life through Jesus Christ from the moment he saved, wicked, undeserving, ungrateful, stuck-on-self Hans.

Be extraordinarily kind.
Pastor Hans   

Getting It Right

It is so easy to be wrong. Sometimes being wrong is not a big deal, like not listening to your wife and cooking a batch of chocolate chip cookies at 450 instead of 350 degrees. Sometimes being wrong has huge implications, like Chamberlain trusting Hitler and declaring, “Peace for our time,” or persistently denying or ignoring the existence of God, only to find yourself standing before the judgment seat of God.

Can you imagine being in our president’s or our governor’s shoes at this time? I am fairly certain that you wouldn’t want to get your handling of the COVID-19 crisis wrong. So much on the line for millions of people, for your political party, for your own political career. You would need input and advice from wise counsel in regard to public health issues, economic concerns, budget implications, public sentiment, political considerations, and so much more. Then you would have to weigh all this information and make timely decisions that the power of your office allows you to make. All the while, you would have no shortage of critics screaming that you are getting it all wrong.

I have not been entrusted with an ounce of authority regarding civil government and the public decisions that have to be made. But, I have been entrusted with authority to lead an assembly of believers known as the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church according to the will of Christ (the head of the church) and the leading of the Holy Spirit according to the Scriptures (the Bible). How do we as Christians not get it wrong? How long do we suspend the assembling/being-together-life integral to our faith and being a church? How much submission to the authority of the state is appropriate for a church? At what point are we justified in rejecting governmental authority and take a stance of civil disobedience?

The opinions, voices, and criticisms within the church are as divided as they are in the general public. “The state has no authority regarding the church!” “No, we have to apply Romans 13:1-10 and 1 Peter 2:13-17!” “God will protect us and heal us!” “Our highest priority is to love our neighbor!” Allow me to tackle a few of these and the process give you some insight into what has been guiding me.

• Our highest, supreme, royal laws are to love God and to love our neighbor (Mark 12:28-34). Knowing this we are forced to live in continual dependence on the Holy Spirit and his Word (the Bible) to help us figure out how to practice both of these commandments and the tensions they can create. Loving my neighbor does not mean I stay silent about his/her racism etc., but it also means I will not endanger his or her health. At this point, we do know that close contact large group gatherings are particularly problematic in spreading COVID. In that sense it matters little what Walmart or Lowe’s is permitted to do by the state, it matters what scripture’s core laws compel us to.

• The Head of the Church is Christ (Colossians 1:13-20) not the state and any of its representatives (In fact, even the state is under the authority of Christ). This, however, does not mean the church can or should ignore all state authority, for instance, we should adhere to building codes, fire codes. However, regardless of any actions and orders of the state, the church is the custodian of the both the Gospel and the Faith (A Christian worldview) that permeates all aspects of life, and the church’s allegiance to and practice of these is uniquely subject to Christ alone. I have led our church to comply with the official orders not out of a recognition of the state’s authority over us but out of the freedom we have in Christ to do so.

• The church has from its beginning lived in tension and often open conflict with public and state authority (You do not have to look any further than Jesus). Christians throughout history have lived in and had to sort through that tension and conflict in order to have clear conscience with both God and man, often at a very high price. In this navigation we do well to remember to make every effort to be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18).

• Does God protect and heal? The answer is unequivocally, “YES!” Is God obligated to protect and heal even when we practice foolishness, ignore sound knowledge, and trample on established wisdom because we claim faith? The answer is unequivocally, “NO!” Faith never excuses foolishness, in fact, foolish faith is a stumbling block to reach the lost.

Since I am way past of this being a short pastor’s note, let me add a few things that irritate me.

• Christians navigating, opinionizing, speaking out based on their political persuasion and overdosing on news outlets and pundits rather than reading the Bible extensively, daily, with a willingness to apply it, even if it completely contradicts our politics and opinions.

• Christian pontificating that is devoid of actions, not reaching out, not sharing the Gospel, not helping in some shape or form.

• Christians without Kingdom of God vision, acting like this is all there is, afraid of all the things unbelievers are fearful of, content as long as they are okay and have it their way.

• Little, if any, acknowledgment of the value and work of the church by our governmental leaders, acting as if they have to invent what the church has done since it’s inception, loving, helping, taking care of people.

Finally, since this is no way of ending this pastor’s note:

• I thank God for all those in our government who are working incredibly hard to get it right, may God give them favor, insight, foresight, and some rest.

• I thank God for the encouragement of brothers and sisters who have reached out to Susie and me, who are daily looking to be used by God, who are searching the Scriptures in order to direct their own minds and lives, and who are praying with me for the church to get this right.

 To God be all glory. Love and miss you, Pastor Hans  

Waiting - Don't Waste It

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)

How good are you at waiting? Yes, you, and I can see you ducking. Our entire culture is not good at waiting, we don’t see it as a virtue but as a failure of someone or something, as something interrupting our happiness. It has to happen now, quickly, and hopefully, sooner than later. Have you noticed? The COVID-19 crisis did not care one bit about making us wait, putting our plans on hold, for who knows how long. By now we can’t wait for things to get back to some kind of normal. So again, how good are you at waiting? Since you are, for some reason, refusing to answer, take the following test. Mark all the ones you would have a hard time with:

• Waiting for 2000 years. Christians have now been waiting for almost 2000 years for Jesus to return and who knows how much longer it will be (2 Peter 3:3-10).

• Waiting for 400 years. God told Abraham that his descendants would have to wait for hundreds of years to be delivered from the tyranny of Egypt (Genesis 15:13).

• Waiting for 70 years. The rebellious remnant exiled to Babylon was told they had to wait for seventy years before any of them could return. (Jeremiah 29:10)

• Waiting for 7 weeks. After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples had to wait seven weeks for the promised Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8)

• Waiting for 1 week. Saul, because he saw his troops defecting, couldn’t wait for more than a week for the prophet Samuel to arrive (1 Samuel 13:8-11).

• Waiting for 1 day. Naomi told her daughter-in-law Ruth to relax, be patient, and wait a day for Boaz to take care of things.

• Waiting for 1 hour. The disciples were emotionally and physically tuckered out they couldn’t wait for an hour when Jesus asked them to sit and wait until He had prayed (Matthew 26:36-41)

Our chief problem with waiting is that we run out of time even if we beat the life-expectancy statistics. But we don’t just run out of time in general, we don’t get to be kids forever, opportunities pass, the chance to have children diminishes, the time to adequately store up for retirement vanishes, you can’t realize your dreams by waiting forever, ...God on the other hand never runs out of time, He is the Eternal One, the Inventor and Creator of time and space.

Have you ever considered what it must have been like for Jesus, the eternal Son of God, in his incarnation, to restrict himself to time, to waiting, to running out of time?Some of Satan’s major temptations thrown at Jesus were regarding waiting and time (Luke 4:1-8). “You’re hungry! So, why wait? Just turn these stones into bread?” “You’re supposed to be king of everything! Why waste time waiting for God’s long-winded plan filled with suffering? You can be king now; all you have to do is worship me.” When it comes to waiting Satan assumes at least four things:

1. We are not good at waiting. There is not a single baby who is good at waiting, “Feed me, change me, hold me, adore me – NOW!” Our needs scream out, our wants demand satisfaction, our dreams whisper to us, “You don’t have forever,” none of them encourage us to wait.

2. Our sinfulness hates waiting, self-denial, submission to God’s will and ways. “Waiting to have sex until you are married – get real!” “Staying out of debt and waiting to buy things until you can pay for things? – What about your credit score? Dummy!”

3. Waiting becomes more difficult the longer we have to wait. Have you experienced rising anxiety as you waited patiently in an airport check-in lane, realizing that at this pace you will miss your flight? Consciously or subconsciously we are aware of and afraid of missing out, that opportunities are not endless because life isn’t.

4. We make serious mistakes when we operate out of impatience, impulsiveness, and give in to FOMO (fear of missing out).

As busy as Satan might be in our waiting, God is even more so. He is the one who is in charge of time, so, if God has us waiting, we can safely assume that we we’re not wasting time or opportunity. God is not inactive when he has us waiting, He is actually growing us, developing us, shaping us – Jesus thought so.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans 
P.S. For more waiting click here to watch the 04/26/20 sermon - www.LDPBaptistChurch.com       

Stable and Shining

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT2)

Jesus was directly speaking to his disciples when he spoke these words, but there was also a large crowd listening in, and clearly, he wanted them to hear what he had to say as well. At the end of his sermon, he spelled out why he was preaching what he was preaching.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows (practices, acts on) it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.  Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.  But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).

Jesus, God is interested in you and me living lives of stability amidst the instability, even torrents, and disasters of our world. He wants you and me to be people of purpose, who make a difference, whose light keeps shining no matter how dark it gets, whose actions make people want to sing praises to God. But for this to actually happen, we need to hear Jesus' words and trust them enough to act on them, that’s called faith. This is why I read some portion of God’s word (the Bible) every day, think about it, take some notes, and try to make “act-on-it” connections to what is going on in my life around me. The last two mornings I read Luke 11 and 12 (We are in Luke in our church’s Bible-reading plan) and found some things to help my life keep shining brightly and keep me stable in our current crisis, and, since this is a pastor’s note, I am convinced these will benefit you too:

Pray – Luke 11:1-13

• Not if but “when” you pray.

• Pray with persistence, keep knocking, seeking, asking.

• Pray with a focus on God’s goodness.

• Pray seeking God’s very best.

Help – Luke 12:13-21

• Don’t hoard.

• Don’t act on the fear of not getting your fair share.

• Look out for more than yourself.

• However little or much you have enables you to share.

Invest – Luke 12:21, 31-34

• In more than yourself.

• In more than the stock market and your financial portfolio.

• In more than what will keep you comfortable to the end of your life.

• In the goodness of your heart.

Jesus didn’t just teach the above as a means of crisis management, he wants you and me to practice them, and much more keep-your-light-burning stuff, whether the sun is shining, or the torrents are raging. He wants you and me to build foundations that don’t crumble even under the greatest stresses and challenges.
To God be all glory.
Love you, Pastor Hans         

This Is a Time for Real Wisdom, Not Theological Foolishness

According to Fox News, Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, said no "dictator law" could keep people from worshipping God, according to the local news… “The virus, we believe, is politically motivated,” Spell told WAFB. “We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says.” … Spell said his church, which normally has more than 1,000 attendees on Sunday across five locations, will be distributing “anointed handkerchiefs” to provide members with “healing virtues.”
(Article here: https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-police-church-defy-state-order)

Foolishness dressed up as faith is particularly disturbing because it hurts people, gives Christians a bad name, keeps people from believing and following Jesus, and distorts the truth and greatness of God. Christians are by very definition people of faith and are called to live by faith in Christ and the Word of God (the Bible), but we are also called to be wise, to be sober-minded, to be discerning, and to function according to knowledge and truth.

The Galatian believers got an earful from the Apostle Paul regarding theological foolishness, “You foolish Galatians,” (Galatians 3:1&3) he tore into them. Of course, Christians are not the only ones capable of theological foolishness, the atheist’s entire worldview rests theological fallacy, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ (Psalm 14:1).”

Jesus refused to act according to theological foolishness when Satan tempted him to jump off the top of the temple at Jerusalem because God had promised that the Messiah wouldn’t break a bone (Luke 4:1-13). Maybe the devil should have also offered him a prophylactic hanky. Jesus didn’t jump because he was theologically sound, he both knew and did not twist the scriptures. “You don’t put God to the test,” he informed Satan, or put another way, you don’t force God’s hand, you let God test you, not the other way around, God’s promises are not an invitation to presumption.

Theological foolishness also is prone to be selective about science or dismiss science altogether. Can God do the impossible? Absolutely! Is there such a thing as the miraculous? Very much so! But it is also true that for the most part and most of the time God is running this universe according to the way he designed it. Miracles are the exception, not the norm, it is what makes them miracles. Yesterday evening I hooked up an electric dryer. Let’s assume I had one of Reverend Spell’s anointed handkerchiefs in my pants pocket, would you believe that it would protect me from electric shock? Why not? I didn't because I know the basics of science when it comes to the electrical outlets in my house, especially 220 volts. Faith and science are not enemies or mutually exclusive, don’t buy into that kind of foolishness.You cannot grow in faith without growing in wisdom and knowledge. But don’t just take my word for it:

My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. Proverbs 2:1-11 (NLT2)

Let’s not be fooled by some “anointed handkerchiefs” or other nonsense, let’s not act godless, but let’s be wise, love our neighbor and bring glory to God in all we are going through right now.

Love you, Pastor Hans     

Finding Peace When You Want to Panic (COVID-19, part 2)

Prudence, Wisdom, Faith, Fear, Stupidity, Foolishness ,Presumption, Panic, Crises— all have the potential to bring out both the best and worst in us, they also reveal who we really are and what we really believe.Our world is filled with three kinds of evil, natural evil like the COVID-19 virus and other diseases or earthquakes and other natural disasters, moral (human) evil we perpetrate on others and our world, and spiritual, demonic, satanic evil, which is ever busy inciting people to do evil. Often the first is made much worse by the second.

One thing is certain, evil is never theoretical, it is real, brings hardship, causes stress, kindles fears, inflicts pain, and kills.Jesus encouraged us to pray: “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil (or the evil one). [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]” Matthew 6:9-13 (NASB, parenthesis mine).

It is foolishness to ignore evil of any kind, including the evil within us, it is unwise to think we do not need God’s help when it comes dealing with evil, and it is faith that will help us to deal better with evil, with our fears, and keep us from panicking. Christians are called to a life of faith that applies to the real world, actual circumstances, to life’s unpredictabilities, dangers, and worries. In all of these our anchor, our starting point, our compass is God himself, his presence, his Spirit, his wisdom, his strength, his word (Scripture/the Bible).Christians are called to pursue knowledge, prudence and wisdom, they give us discernment, navigation skills, and help us to not be led by fear and panic. Wisdom is never in opposition to faith.

Often, I have had a fellow believer gush about the fact that their doctor was a Christian and prayed with them. I think that is fantastic, but I want my doctor also to be competent, I want her to wash her hands, put on a fresh pair of gloves, and be up to speed on the most current medical knowledge, skills, and wisdom. I want her not just to be confident, I want her to be confident for the right reasons. This is true for you and me as well, it is one thing to have a faith that talks confidence but is ignorant, lacks wisdom, and is presumptuous, it is quite another thing to have a faith that is informed, pursues and practices wisdom, and knows how to be both controlled by the Holy Spirit and sound interpretation of the Bible. Christians never have reason to panic, we are called to live out of the peace of God that even disaster, suffering, and death cannot rattle. This peace is not an invitation to stupidity and foolishness, to denying or foolishly responding to real and healthy fears. But this peace does enable us not to be consumed by our anxieties, our worries, and our fears, and act with Christlikeness in the midst of evil and the storms of life.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers (sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV, parenthesis mine).

To God be all Glory. Peace to you, Pastor Hans      

Your "Erbe"

A good man, a good woman will leave an inheritance tho his/her children’s children – Proverbs 13:22

Heiningen Cemetery is where members of both sides of my family have been buried there for I don’t know how long, brothers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and who knows how many greats, great great ... To me, it feels like a sacred burial ground in other cultures, deep roots, deep ties. The two Memorials for WWI and WWII have, for as small as the town was then, many names on them. Frei, Eitle, Aigner, all direct relations to my family are chiseled on it. A number of families have three, four names inscribed, entire generations decimated. “To Remember Them, To Warn Us,“ the World War II Memorial reads.

Right in front of the WWII Memorial, I noticed an older gravestone, it seems to have survived the 25-year policy. I am not sure when they decided to limit someone's stay in the Heiningen Cemetery to 25 years, but I seem to recall my brother telling me that they were both running out of space and that after 25 years no one shows up anymore to take care of the graves. So, after 25 years the plots are dug up, the remains are cremated, and the burial plot is recycled. Sometimes even the gravestone, it will have the current occupant on the front and a former on the back. However, this one grave in front of the WWII memorial was left untouched, it remains even though the couple buried there died more than 50 years ago.

It is the grave of Lutheran Pastor Erbe and his wife. They were part of the resistance, they trafficked Jews and other people to safety through the parsonage, right under the nose of the towns Nazi leader. I cannot tell you what impact this couple had on our town, my Mom, my Dad, my Aunt, my family and scores of others. They never forgot them, always spoke of them in ways that if you could meet anyone in Heiningen’s past, in their past, it would be this pastor couple.

What is most uncanny about Pastor and Mrs. Erbe’s grave in front of the WWII war memorial is the meaning of their last name – "Erbe" means inheritance in German. These two died neither rich nor famous, but they left a tremendous inheritance behind, an "Erbe" that by now is impacting the third and fourth generation past their own.

Walk with me for a minute to the Heinigen cemetery. We step through the wrought iron main gate and down at the end of the main path we already see the World War II Memorial. Two thirds the way down on the left we pass by the grave of my Mom and Dad with my brother Friedrich buried between them. Just a few steps further on the right the fresh grave of my oldest brother. A few more steps on the right the Erbe grave marked by an overgrown, weathered sandstone slab, and right past them, across the path turning right and left the WWII Memorial testifying to utter senselessness and waste. All of my family members we walked passed were impacted by what is at the end of this cemetery path, two memorials, two inheritances, one that will forever regret, weep and warn and one that knows no regret, turns tears to joy, and still blesses.You and I will not stay here today, we will most likely not be buried here. The iron gate will fall shut behind us as we leave to still live some and determine our "Erbe."

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans   

Learning God's Love - By the Way, Happy Valentines!

(Before you read this Pastor’s Note, find a Bible and read 1 John 4:7-21.) 

For as much as we love love, we sure struggle with it. Human history, every family, the majority of marriages, and almost all lovers testify to this fact. Love should be easier than our collective testimony certifies it to be. By the way, Happy Valentines!

Few things give clearer evidence to our fallenness, our depravity, our sinfulness than our struggles with love. It should be the easiest thing in the world, but somehow we manage it to louse it up, mess it up, twist it, pervert it, cheapen it, manipulate with it, so much so that we don’t trust love, at least not all the way. Too many are our bad experiences, our disappointments, our scars, our hurts. By the way, Happy Valentines!

“There is no fear in love,” right! At least not until the first time Dad or Mom loses their temper, breaks a promise, or until you discover your lover’s bad habits, his or her not so amazing side. Truth be told, by the time you turn my age, and usually, much earlier, we are much more prone to adjust our loving to our fears rather than adjusting our fears to our love. That’s because we get our hopes up, “maybe this time it will be different,” only to have them smacked down again. Of course, this reveals that at least in some small way we loved with some payoff in mind. By the way, Happy Valentines!

Few people have a problem with the truth that “God is love,” actually most of us love this truth. Of course, here too our depravity is revealed because we interpret it to mean, “I can do whatever I want and he will be okay with it because he loves me.” Do you hear the twistedness in this? The presumption? The depraved narcissism? No wonder we are so good at messing up love. By the way, Happy Valentines!

“There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). So why are multitudes of spouses dancing on eggshells around each other, afraid to …? Of all we could fear in this life nothing should fill us with greater fear than God. Think about it, he knows our every last little dirty secret and could embarrass us more than anyone. He knows every single transgression of ours and could haul us into his court anytime. He has infinite power and can not only inflict us with punishment for every misdeed or snuff out our life, but he can also cast our soul into eternal hell. By the way, Happy Valentines!

If we are going to get love right, if we are going to learn to love perfectly, if we are going to love without fear, we are not going to find it in our sentimental but depraved notions of love or our selective (mis)interpretations of love in scripture. We will have to learn it from Almighty God through his Son, Jesus Christ, who in all his fearsomeness loved us first and loved us completely through the suffering and sacrifice Jesus. It is only at the foot of the cross of Jesus that lovers, spouses, and each one of us can learn to love without fear, to love like God and Jesus. By the way, Happy Valentines!

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans  

Commanded to Love - Moving from Optional to Optimal

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 (ESV)

It seems like it should be the last thing we should need to be reminded of, and even less that we should have to be commanded to love. But the reality is we do need to be reminded and commanded to love. God certainly thinks so and in his written word (the Bible) he reminds us to love:

• God

• Jesus Christ

• Our Neighbor

• Each Other

• Our spouses

• Our children

• The Alien

• The Poor

• Sinners

• Our Enemies

• And …

God does not suggest to us to love all of the above, he commands us to, which tells us he does not consider it optional. We like for love to be optional, for us to feel it, and when we don’t we give ourselves a free pass. God, however, wants us to think of love as optimal, regardless of how we feel, and he knows more about love than anyone of us.God’s commands expect radical commitment, total participation, full obedience. They don’t come with a lot of legal fine print, but they do come with an expectation of us living by them because we trust God, because we are sure that in his love, goodness, and holiness he will only command us what is best for us. When God commands us to love he is leading by example, he is not asking us to do anything he has not done so himself. He has practiced:

• Faithful love

• Persevering love

• Sacrificial love

• Forgiving love

• Patient love

• Humble love

• Risk-taking love

• Extreme love

• Honest love

• Tender love

• Promise- keeping love

• Giving-your-all love

• Selfless love

• Merciful love

• Unfathomable love

• And …

Too many of us have experienced the absence of love, the opposite of love, twistedness masquerading as love, conditional love. Too many of us practice manipulative love, fearful love, even sick love. So, not trusting others and ourselves we are cautious, mistrusting, fearful with love. This why we need to be both reminded and be commanded to love on an entirely different level than our experience and fears compel us to and cause us to settle for.

I wish I could tell you that I no longer need to be reminded to love like God wants me to, commands me to, and has shown me himself through Christ. I wish I could hang up a Ph.D. diploma earned from DUL.edu (Divine University of Love), but all too often I find myself still in the Grammar School of Love. I am not saying this as an excuse, but because I still need to and want to learn.

I know God is right in all his reminders and commands for me to live a life of love. God doesn’t just remind and command, he provides and enables as well, especially regarding his commands to love. He provides opportunities to love and grow in love. He gives ability and strength to love when we can’t fathom how to or have plum run out of love. He allows us to tap his endless reservoir of love. He blesses and uses every effort we make to keep his commandments to love. There is one thing God will not do when it comes to love, he won’t make us - we have to choose, decide to, pursue, and want to live a life of love.

To God be all Glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

P.S. A good place to start keeping God’s commands to love is with the people currently in your life, the people God brings across your path today. 

Who Is My Neighbor? Ouch!

Have you ever had a question to which you already knew the answer, but you didn’t like the answer?“Yes, stop smoking, exercise, and change your diet,” was the doctor’s reply to his smoking, overweight patient asking, “Hey Doc, is there anything I can do to improve my health?” 

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied, "how do you read it?"
He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'""You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." Luke 10:25-28 (NIV)

This Jesus/God testing lawyer knew the answer to his question, but he didn’t like the answer. It’s even worse when the answer comes out of your own mouth, isn’t it? When you know you are and hear yourself being a living discrepancy. So, this lawyer did what you and I usually do, try to justify ourselves, tell ourselves why we can’t, why it is too difficult, fish for something simpler, a way out, find an excuse to not change.

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29 (NIV) He was asking for a pill that would spare him having to act, not have to give up anything, change nothing. He was trying to excuse his not-neighbor-loving passivity by raising a philosophical/theological inner dilemma. He was fishing for a minimum standard, like love is in the habit of functioning by minimum standards. He wanted to remain in control instead of his love for God and people controlling him. He was looking for some legitimacy for selective loving or loving not at all.Jesus never does answer the “who is my neighbor?” question, instead, he tells maybe his most famous story and asks a question in return, makes the God-tester say the answer out loud for the second time.

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? "The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise" Luke 10:30-37 (NIV).

The question is not, “Who is my neighbor?” it is, “Are you a neighbor?” Because when you are a neighbor you see like a neighbor, you empathize like a neighbor, you have compassion like a neighbor, you engage like a neighbor. You no longer are trying to complete a checklist of love before taking off to eternal life/heaven but see life, people, circumstances through the eyes of love and react accordingly. Maybe it is time to drop the excuses, the action-paralyzing mind-games, the magic pill search that will remedy our selectively loving or outright loveless hearts and begin to “love your neighbor as ourselves.”

May you and I, long before we go to heaven, be known as the kind of neighbors the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” envisions.

To God be all Glory. Love you, Pastor Hans