regard…

Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin. I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places. I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations. You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come. For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust. The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory. For the LORD will build up Zion; he will appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer. (Psalm 102:1-17, NRSV)

Have you ever been scared?

Have you ever needed a hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on?

God is always there, to hear our cries for help.

To hold our hand, and to be a strong shoulder to hold us up.

He will regard your plea for help and be there for you in your time of need.

meetings

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:28-35, NRSV)

Ever wonder why we seem to have so many meetings in the church?

Well it does go back to the Bible, I mean here in Luke we have Jesus, Moses and Elijah getting together, at a specific place (on the mountain top) and a specific time (eight days after these sayings). That sounds like a meeting to me…

And Peter is just like all of us, after too many meetings he gets a little delirious and starts saying what ever comes to mind.

And as usual God intervenes, and sets us back on track.

So listen to Jesus, and go and do what He has asked you to do and don’t get bogged down in meetings…

prayer

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. (Luke 6:12-19, ESV)

There are a lot of things in this passage we probably miss, because we think we know the story.

Jesus called His disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…

We think the apostles and the disciples are the same. But here we see there were many more than 12 disciples, and from this large group Jesus chose 12 and made them the apostles.

Now I like to think of all of us as both disciples and apostles because of the meaning of the words. Disciple in the original Greek means learner, and apostle is one who is sent. We are all learning from Jesus (I hope!) and Jesus sends us all. But before you can be sent you must learn. So we must first be a learner from Jesus before He will send us…

But to me the most interesting thing and something we probably miss here is the first line. We want to be sent, but before we can be sent we have to learn, and before we can learn we have to listen. And how do we listen?

We pray.

We spend time in relationship with Jesus…

And here in the first line of our text, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray and commune with God, and He was not there for 5 minutes, or even an hour, but He was there all night! He continued in prayer all night before He chose whom He was going to send.

What an example of how we should be communing with God.

So pray and listen.

Sent

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts — but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, ” Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (Mark 6:7-13, ESV)

Take nothing for your journey except a walking stick.

Don’t take any food, or a backpack, or money.

Wear sandals and one set of cloths.

Where ever you go, stay there until you have to continue, and give them your peace, but if you are not welcomed, then shake the dust off your feet and move along.

But go to all the world and tell everyone the good news, but do it in a way that has you relying on me, because that is the only way you will make it!

An Open Letter to the LGBT Community

Great words from a Bishop in the ELCA

michaelrinehart's avatarMichaelRinehart.com

Dear friends,

You are welcome in congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

We are a church that believes it is wrong to discriminate against anyone based on sexual orientation. All are welcome. We celebrate diversity.

While Lutherans in the U.S. are not of one mind about sexual orientation, the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America, has taken a stand as an open, affirming church where all are welcome.

I recognize that some of you have been wounded by churches. On behalf of the church, I apologize for the hurtful comments, exclusion, and discrimination you have experienced. Churches are filled with hurt people who sometimes hurt people. We are not a perfect church, nor filled with perfect people. We follow Christ who forgives and calls us to be part of a new community beyond race, gender, and social status. The church is an imperfect community of hope.

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Faith

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘ Go, ‘ and he goes, and to another, ‘ Come, ‘ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘ Do this, ‘ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. And when Jesus entered Peter ‘s house, he saw his mother- in- law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:5-17, ESV)

I wonder from this verse if I really do have faith sometimes…

We want to see the signs.

We want God to stand in front or us in awe and majesty and see the mighty wonders of His hands!

And when we don’t get that we hesitate and wonder if it is all for real, or at least I do sometimes. I admit it.

I wish I had the faith of the Roman centurion, a Greek, not even a Jew! He was an outsider, but he believed!

I wonder sometimes if we do believe, because God said he would, why do we need to see the big sign to make it real for us?

Do we have faith?

opened

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes (Isaiah 35:3-7, ESV)

Have you ever seen a deer leap?

Just the other night I was driving on an icy road and a deer shot out in front of my vehicle, and as I pushed on the brakes the car started to slide, and then came leaper 2 and leaper 3…

It is a beautiful sight to behold, deer leaping across the road… as long as your not sliding into their path…

I wondered if I would stop before running into them, hurting them and my vehicle…

But the point is we worry about how we will do things. Where we will get the strength.

But if we let go, in our weakness He is strong. He will give us the ability to see things we never could before and to hear things that we inaudible before. He will make us leap for joy and do things we only dream of.

He will be our strength and our shield and He will be the foundation for a wonderful life we can’t image.

So let Him open your eyes, unstop your ears, and help you to leap and sing for joy!

Why?

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon ‘s mother- in- law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, ” Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:29-39, ESV)

As you read this text I am sure you, like me, and the majority of other people are fixated on the healing. Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then the sick people are brought in droves to Him so they can be healed.

He had to sneak away in the wee morning hours to get some alone time. And when the disciples find Him, they ask Him where He was because “everyone was looking for Him.” They needed to be healed and they needed to see Him and have Him heal them!

But Jesus’ response is one we need to focus on.

While we are focused on the healing, Jesus is focused on preaching and spreading the good news. Jesus answer to the disciples question of where He was is “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Jesus came to spread the good news, not to heal.

He came to tell us of the wonderful life we could have in God, and because of that we are made well!

who is like Him?

Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong ‘? “Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar. Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable (Job 36:22-26, ESV)

Who can tell God He has done wrong?

That is not to say that we don’t or don’t want to. But really when we perceive that God has done wrong that is when His way is not our way and we don’t get what we want.

God is the greatest teacher and preacher.

The one we should all try to emulate.