I Hate War

Hymn: "Jesus is calling, calling, "O sinner come home!" by Will Thompson (1880).

"...and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children." Luke 7:33

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:44-50 

I hate war. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for many amazing people like my grandfather who fought in WWII against great evil. I have had many friends in the military who have risked their lives for our country. But war itself I hate.

No one truly wins in war. Innocent people suffer. The "least of these", like the children of the world, in the words of our Lord, suffer. I hate "hate." Reading of people calling for trans people to be erased or not to exist seems like it can only be motivated by hate or fear. I hate seeing children separated by family no matter the cause. I hate seeing billionaires get richer and richer and so many getting poorer. I hate seeing people get sicker who can't afford the medicine or procedures or health care they need.

I love Jesus. Jesus who ate and drank with all those others called "sinners." Jesus who said "let the little children come unto me."

Jesus who says "O sinner come home!" Jesus, God among us, who says "Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you..." I know many friends who feel their "enemies" are sometimes even other people who call themselves Christians. Others who say they are sinners or "not truly Christian enough" because they march for peace, or stand up for LGBTQ siblings, or say to them "you aren't right with God." I also love the Jesus who died on a cross, killed by an evil Roman government that delighted in torturing people it executed.  The greatest act of self-sacrificial love ever shown on the cross for us. "Therefore, siblings, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean. (Hebrew 10:19-22). This love is the supreme example of the opposite of so much I see and hear about in the world today.  This love that doesn't "insist on its own way but rejoiceth in the truth."

One of my favorite books is "The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus" by Rev. Fleming Rutledge, one of the first women who was ordained an episcopal priest. It reminds me of what true love is in light of so much hate in our world. It reminds me of little ways I can be the love of my Savior when I feel powerless.  She says so beautifully on page 275 - "Even in this old world ruled by Sin and Death, who would want to live a life of utter selfishness? To show any sort of care for others at all, some sort of sacrifice is necessary every day - to be magnanimous instead of vindictive, to stand back and let someone else share the limelight, to absorb the anger of a teenager in order to show firm guidance, to be patient with a parent who has Alzheimer's, to refrain from undermining a colleague, to give away money one would like to spend on luxuries, to give up smoking, to bear with those who can't give up smoking - all such things, large and small, require sacrifice. What would life be without it?"

I think she summarizes an important truth I need to carry with me each day ending her chapter "the question of Justice" saying, on page 143: "God in Christ on the cross has become one with those who are despised and outcast in the world. No other method of execution that the world has ever known could have established this so conclusively." Going on in her summary, "...in our world, something is terribly wrong and must be put right. If, when we see an injustice, our blood does not boil at some point, we have not yet understood the depths of God. It depends, though, on what outrages us. To be outraged on behalf of oneself or one's own group alone is to be human, but it is not to participate in Christ. to be outraged and to take action on behalf of the voiceless and oppressed, however, is to do the work of God." (Wm. B. Eeerdmans Publishing, 2015).

Prayer: May I continue to love as Christ loves, to participate with Christ on behalf of the oppressed, and continue to do the work of God as best as he enables me to do so! (Even when it seems hopeless!) May it be so, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, world without end, Amen.

Brent Shaw

Hope Found in a Folded Cloth

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. John 20:3-10

As we approach Easter, it is good to re-read the Gospel descriptions of the events of “Holy Week.”  The culmination of the week is the crucifixion of Jesus; a brutal, drawn-out torture of a man whose crime was teaching and demonstrating God’s love for us. But wait, that’s not the end of the story! Once the lightning ends, the thunder quiets, and the rabbling crowd shuffles off, the sun rises on the new day.

Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ friend, hurries to the tomb early the next morning. To her disbelief, His body is gone; rushing to find someone to confirm her fear that the body was taken, she finds Simon Peter and John coming her way. They race to the tomb, finding it just as Mary Magdalene had described. But it didn’t appear to be the scene of a crime because the cloth that had laid across the Savior’s face had been removed and folded nearby. It was a symbolic act. Instead of being tossed aside by a graverobber, the careful placement of the napkin seemed to have been a message. 

It was a Jewish custom that when the master of the house was finished with his meal, he carefully folded his cloth and placed it on the table. Was the folded fabric a message that Christ had finished his task on earth and was moving on to his heavenly role? Perhaps the meaning of the removal of the cloth covering His eyes was to remind His followers that their eyes had been opened to the message of salvation and His teachings should be carried abroad. 

Considering the multiple potential meanings of the folded napkin, it nonetheless indicates that Jesus’ resurrection was a deliberate act of God, not a chaotic or accidental event. The careful arrangement of the cloth reflects divine purpose and authority over death. It provides tangible evidence that Jesus had risen bodily, not merely spiritually, reinforcing the reality of the resurrection. Regardless of the precise symbolism, the folded cloth can be interpreted as a symbol of hope. Just as a folded napkin after a meal signifies completion, the folded head cloth signifies that Jesus’ death was finished and His resurrection marks a new beginning for believers.

Carol McClain

Gold Medals

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:15-18  

The world watches hopefully as their athletes go for the gold medals at the Olympics. This got me thinking about who the Gold Medal winners would be in our religious history. There are many recorded in the Bible and during the reformation. There are people involved in the Civil Rights Movement and Mother Theresa who dedicated her life to service to the outcasts. But Jesus taught us that the woman who washed his feet also deserved the gold medal. Likewise, I think about the Lincoln woman who has crocheted 5,000 pairs of mittens for the hands of cold children. I was in awe of the dedication of the chaplains in our Lincoln hospitals who stayed with the dying during the COVID epidemic when their families were not allowed to visit. Then there's the people in our own congregation. The person who reminds us regularly of our commitment to support missions, the people who prepare the communion sacraments before worship, the dedicated choir members who practice weekly and ring and sing to praise God, the elders who commit their time and talents to guide our church when it's easy and when it's hard, the Bible study leaders who share their faith openly, and the people who mentor our youth in learning about Christ and the church. There are the people who regularly pray for others and the caregivers who care for the loved one with dementia or other illnesses and those who serve at the Gathering Place, plus the Trustees who volunteer to do jobs around the church that no one knows about. Our pastors and other church staff give of themselves for the benefit of our church and its members. There are the volunteers who help with the food pantry and the gardeners who plant the flower and vegetable gardens beside the church. There are so many gold medal winners, I can't count them all.

My family history would also include 2 gold medalists. My great grandfather, Jens Guy Kirkegaard - a lay minister, and his brother, Reverend Martin Luther Kirkegaard, who both lived in the sandhills of Nebraska in the 1890s. They were immigrants from Denmark. Jens was a farmer and he and his wife had 13 children, ten who survived into adulthood. Jens would visit small pioneer communities and talk about the importance of a Christian community and starting a church in their town. He would begin with visiting individuals and gathering interested persons and when he had at least 12, his brother Martin, an evangelical Lutheran minister and a circuit rider, would come and officially make them a church. Together they started at least 6 churches, one of which has survived to this day. These churches offered Christian fellowship to isolated people with church services, women's and children's programs, and mentoring in farming for beginning farmers in the midst of a financial depression and a drought in the sandhills. Jens was able to baptize babies (especially those who were dying), marry couples (especially those who needed to get married in a hurry), celebrate communion, conduct funerals, and preach at worship services. He was very sincere in feeling that these services to his neighbors were some of the most gratifying times of his life. Martin as a circuit rider (by then he rode trains instead of on horseback) and had a huge pioneering territory that he covered with about 30 churches. He visited each church every 3-6 months. He baptized, married couples, served communion and preached at worship services. Later in his life, he was a professor of religion at Blair College in Nebraska. He and his wife had 6 children, losing two children to "the plague" in the 1890s. I can only imagine their lives as missionaries to so many people that were starting new lives in the barren desert of the sandhills. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the multitudes of gold medalists who played a historical part in contributing to our Christian churches today. Thank you that they made commitments to serve all people, rich and poor, young and old, well established in communities and new immigrants. Thank you for your message of love through all times, the alpha and the omega. Amen.

Nancy Hall

Blessings

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 2 Peter 1:3 ESV

I love reading the Peanuts cartoons. Recently I read one where Lucy was talking to Charlie Brown and she says, “I hate this year! Everyone said things would be better, but they’re not! I don’t think this is a New Year at all. I think we’ve been stuck with a Used Year!” 

Yes, at times it seems like it hasn’t gotten better, sometimes it feels worse. It feels like we are stuck in a turn around and we just keep going in circles. But maybe it’s us, not the year, that is stuck. Maybe we need to stop looking at what is wrong with the year and start looking at what is good about the year. 

I have written about it many times but we really do need to start counting our blessings, each and every one of them. First one we need to count is that we wake up each morning. Maybe it is cloudy or raining or even snowing but we WOKE up!  Then count the blessings of a warm house, food on the table, clothes and the family that surrounds us. Doesn’t have to be immediate family or even blood-related family. The family is those individuals who are there for you and care about you.  

Be thankful that God sent us only Son who lived, died and rose again for us; so that we may be saved from our sins and be granted a future with our Father in Heaven.  

Lori Hood (reprinted from 2022)

Words from the book of Job

He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. Job 26:10 

The Body of Christ

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Acts 20:28

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

My daughter-in-law gave me a five-minute journal for Christmas one year, and at the top of each day is a new quote to appreciate. An example: “When we create peace, harmony, and balance in our minds, we’ll find it in our lives” ~ Louise Hay

Several church members came in to help me move tables and chairs recently, a large task that would have taken me at least an hour and took us only 20 minutes. Time, energy, and effort was the gift, not money. Our church, like most, depends on both volunteerism and financial contributions. I think of the church and the members of its community, how we all have a role to play. Might this create peace, harmony, and balance in the church as well? With grace, it can work that way!

Scripture bears this out:

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5

Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to seek our part as the body of Christ, looking for ways we can serve you in the larger community of Christ as well as our own church community. Help us to appreciate what others have to offer as well. Amen.

Donna Gustafson

Words from First Corinthians

I planted the seed...but God has been making it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6