That's How the Lost Get Found!

When I was in Kindergarten, I remember “getting lost” at the grocery store.  I guess the candy aisle was calling to me and I just had to go and look at it!  When I went back to the other aisle where I had left my mom, she was nowhere to be found.  I ran up and down aisles looking frantically for her and then I started to cry.  A kind, older woman, who was a check-out person, came over to me and I told her that I was lost.  Of course, my mom heard my cries and came running over to me within about 30 seconds.  I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it was to be scooped up by my mom, who said, “I knew where you were all the time!  I never took my eye off of you!  You were not lost!”

This past weekend, Pastor Steve talked about how the older brother in the story should have gone after his brother and should have found him and then brought him home.  The younger brother was unfortunate to have a Pharisee for an older brother.  We, on the other hand, have an elder brother who will indeed run after us – Jesus.  No matter how far we try to run from Him, Jesus will never stop running after us.  He will recklessly run after us when we lose our way.  

Not only that, but Jesus invites you and me also to run after the lost and to bring back those who have walked away.  What a wonderful opportunity Jesus gives to each of us to help grow His Kingdom!  The question is this, are we looking for the lost?  Perhaps many of us are not even looking. 

I would challenge each of us this weekend to “really see” the people God puts around us each day and to begin to seek after the lost.  It’s easy to pass co-workers, neighbors and even family members each day, yet not really “see” them.  We have an opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet on this earth – to seek the lost and to bring them Home.  What an awesome ministry Jesus invites us to be a part of! 

Britt Nicole has a wonderfully challenging song to us all about seeking the lost.  As one line from the song says, we need to relentlessly seek the lost because “somewhere somebody needs a reason to believe.”  The song is called “The Lost Get Found.”  Listen now>>

Pax,

Pastor Carol

I Want My Blankie!

In his sermon this past weekend, Pastor Steve talked about homesickness and how we were never made for “this” world and that we will never be satisfied until we go to our “true” home.  Then all homesickness will cease, and our deepest needs and longings will be met. 

When I was only four years old, I had to go to Mt. Sinai Hospital to have my tonsils taken out, adenoids removed and tubes put in my ears.  I remember being excited about the fact that I could eat as much ice cream as I wanted, but what no one told me was that I would be too sick to eat anything and that I would have to be away from “home” for three whole nights.  No blankie!  No dollies!  No stuffed animals!  Times have changed and hospitals are a lot more “kid-friendly” then they were when I was growing up.  Thank goodness!

I remember pleading and crying with my mom and dad to take me home.  All I really wanted was to “go home”--to sleep in my bed with my bedraggled “blankie” and my hairless dolly named Pammy, and to snuggle with my worn-out, well-loved stuffed doggie named Rufus, whose head had been sewed-on a couple of times.  That was all I wanted!  “Home” was pretty simple for me when I was four.  It was a place where I was loved and felt safe--where my tummy was always full and my bed was always warm and covered with all my “beloved” stuffed animals and dolls that were important to me. 

One of the most touching movies about coming home, was the re-make of the movie “Homeward Bound.”  It is a story of two dogs and a cat who are lost and who make their way home to their “family.”  Michael J. Fox is the voice of Chance, one of the dogs.  At the end of the movie, when they are reunited with their family, Chance says:

“A strange new feeling came over me.  I had a family!  I had found out that sacrifice, friendship and even love were more than just the mushy stuff.  At last, for the first time in my life I was home!” 

Watch video>> 

As adults, we long for “home,” especially when things in this world get tough for us.  We long for a deeper security and a peace that this world can’t provide.  One day, we will indeed be welcomed to our real “home” and sit with all the saints who have gone before us at the most magnificent banquet feast of all time!  Jesus, our Host, will welcome us personally to this ultimate homecoming party! 

Pax,

Pastor Carol

Killing the Root of Unforgiveness

This past week, I’ve been busy getting my planters cleared out and the lawn furniture put away for the winter. As I was pulling up the plants, I was amazed at how large and long some of the roots were. In fact, there were a couple of plants I could hardly pull out because the roots were so huge and so thick. I had to really wrestle with them! 

Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Sometimes the root of unforgiveness runs deep. It may have taken many years to fester and grow, so uprooting our resentments and hurts may not be easy to do. 

Craig Groeschel, in his book The Christian Atheist:  Believing in God, but Living as if He Doesn’t Exist, tells a story about his own struggle with forgiveness after a family friend molested his little sister when she was in sixth grade: 

"The root of bitterness grows in the soil of hurt that has not been dealt with properly.  Unknown to me, a root of bitterness started to grow in my heart. Roots absorb and store, and my heart absorbed and stored hurt, anger, hatred, and thoughts of revenge. Love keeps no record of wrongs, but bitterness keeps detailed accounts."

How do we kill the roots of bitterness and free ourselves from those “detailed accounts” that may have taken root in our own hearts? Forgiving is most definitely easier said than done. With God’s power, however, He can bring us to a place where we can forgive. That place is, of course, the Cross. Remember, that’s where Jesus forgave us and that’s where we turn as well to forgive others who have hurt us. 

The song “In Christ Alone” is a perfect reminder to us all that it’s only in the power of Christ we stand. Listen now>>  

Pax,

Pastor Carol

Forgiveness – a radical idea!

Pastor Steve’s sermon this past weekend challenged us to take forgiveness seriously and to dream a little about how our community would look if we all showed radical forgiveness and reconciliation on a regular basis.  In our Gospel reading, the father not only forgives the younger son, but he embarrasses himself by running to him and lavishly reinstates his sonship, welcoming him back into the family.  I would suspect that for many of us, we would not have been quite so generous to this younger son.  In fact, I would suggest that we all have carried some grudges or resentments toward someone at some point in our lives.  It’s tough sometimes to forgive those who have wronged us. 

Jesus did something super-radical for us; He came from heaven to earth to die on a cross for you and for me!  He was rejected by us and was killed to pay the debt that we could never pay.  So, why is it so hard for us to forgive others who have wronged us if Jesus was so willing to pay the ultimate price for you and me? 

As Christians, we are called to not only admit our feelings of un-forgiveness, but we are to go further.  In fact, we don’t deny those feelings, but we do something “radical,” we forgive that person or persons who wronged us.  Why?  We do so because Jesus did it for you and me.  We are called to forgive. 

Now, it is important for us to understand that forgiveness doesn't mean that you deny the other person's responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong that they did toward you.  It does, however, mean that when you forgive the person, you receive a kind of deep peace that helps you go on with life and it releases you from the painful grip of resentment and anger.  Forgiveness brings freedom to you and me. 

Jesus went to the cross to give us all eternal freedom from our past.  It’s not about your sin or my sin, it is about what Jesus has done for us that enables us to all focus on our future and not get stuck in the past. 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!”

 -- 2Corinthians 5:17

Rebecca St. James sang a wonderful song about forgiveness a couple of years ago.  It’s called “Forgive me.”   Click here to watch. 

Pax,

Pastor Carol

Just begin – one, one, one

During the sermon this week, I mentioned that as “sons” we not only have a sense of belonging, but that this gives us a future hope that can never be taken away.  Remember, it was the job of the son to carry on both the family name and the family business. 

If you and I are God's “sons,” then how are we to carry on the family name and business?  What does is really mean when we are called to carry out our Father’s business in this world?  Well, if it is God’s business to care for the world, then we are called to also care for the world.  What would happen if ALL of God’s “sons” did one small act of service or kindness to one person every day?  That could, over time, change a street, a neighborhood, a community, a city and the world.

Mother Teresa once said this:

I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual.  I can only love one person at a time - just one, one, one.  So you begin.  I began - I picked up one person.

Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand....The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community.  Just begin - one, one, one

There was a movie a few years ago called, “Pay it Forward.”  It was about a little boy who wanted to change the world.  He challenged everyone to pay it forward by helping just three people.  Then those three people would help three more people and so on and so on.  It was an amazing story of the power of one person to change the life of another person. 

So, today, as “sons” of God, let’s be about our Father’s work in the world!  I would challenge us all to touch ONE life today – just one.  Then tomorrow, do the same and the next day do the same. 

Billy Gilman sang a song called “One Voice” a few years ago.  One voice can change a life.  Click here to watch video

Pax,

Pastor Carol

He Chose Me!

This weekend we focused on what it meant to be given the amazing title of “son.”  During the sermon, it was mentioned that there is no title in the world that could ever compare to being called a child of the Living God. God “chose” us and that makes us all royalty. After all, we are all sons of the King! Sonship was conferred on us. We are part of God’s family—forever.

At Baptism, God bestows all His promises and God will never “renege” on those promises that He gave to us. Once we are God’s sons, we are His forever. And, as chosen “sons,” we have an assurance and an eternal inheritance. We will always be part of God’s Royal Court! We receive a “forever” title—a title that will never be removed.

Here is an amazing song about adoption that I hope will touch your hearts. As God’s sons, we have all been adopted and welcomed into God’s family forever. Listen now>>

On Sunday, I invited us to lay down the burdens we were carrying at the foot of the cross—those things that have been weighing us down, the hurts, the pain, the disappointments, the brokenness, the grief. My prayer today is that you embrace God’s amazing love for you this day and every day.

Remember, Jesus chose YOU! You are HIS son and YOU are worthy!

Pax,

Pastor Carol

The Porch Light of God

On Monday I suggested that we embrace a lifestyle of repentance each and everyday of our lives.  Now I know that repentance isn’t exactly a word that produces “warm fuzzies” for most of us.  And, I would hazard a guess that most of us would not think that there is any “joy” in repenting.  The Bible tells us to renew our minds daily or as Pastor Matt suggested, we need to “come to our senses.”.   

We get busy in our day-to-day lives and it is easy for each of us to get discouraged and begin drifting away from God.  We get “off-course” and need help to get off the winding path and back on the main road again.  We need a GPS voice to say to us “re-route” or “re-direct” so that we can find our way “home” just as the younger son did.

Pastor Matt’s sermon focused on the younger son coming to his senses.  Check out this song by Chris Rice called “Home Tonight” which is about the longing to go home. Click to play song.

When you and I put our lives together with God’s plan and stay there, we find the “sweet-spot” of life.  When we resist living a life of repentance, the burdens of guilt, discouragement and anxiety begin to overwhelm us and we long for a chance to have a “do-over.”  I know that I need many, many “do-overs” everyday!

God graciously gives you and me “do-overs” on a daily basis.  We are given the chance to come “home” again just like the younger son; to be freed of the burdens of our past mistakes and pain so that we might experience joy once again.  God always has the porch light on waiting for His children to come home.  Maybe tonight you might want to meet God on the porch?  He’s waiting…the light is on. 

Pax,

Pastor Carol

Walking Wet

In his sermon this week, Pastor Matt talked about repentance.  He challenged us to not only become people of repentance, but to make repentance our lifestyle.  When I think of repentance I automatically think of those things or actions that I regret doing or saying, but a lifestyle of repentance goes much deeper.  In fact, Tim Keller, in his book, “The Prodigal God,” suggests that we even need to repent for the very reason that we do anything good as well.  That’s a bit counter-intuitive and even more challenging to consider.  

Pastor Matt mentioned that Martin Luther’s number one item listed on his 95 Thesis that he nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany, dealt with repentance:  “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ said repent, He called the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”  Repentance isn’t a one-time event, but an everyday freedom we can experience and a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity.  

Check our this fun rap about Martin Luther and his 95 Thesis.Click here to watch the video 

Interestingly enough, Martin Luther also felt very strongly that Baptism was a life-long experience as well.  Each day, Luther suggests that we are to remember our Baptism and make the sign of the cross on our forehead before our feet even hit the floor to get out of bed!  In fact, Luther talked about Baptism as, “walking wet.”  If we live a lifestyle of repentance we know that God has forgiven us and as Baptized believers we have this assurance each day as we “walk wet” with our Lord and Savior. 

When we are Baptized, God doesn’t just bestow on us a “few” benefits.  He doesn’t “dangle the carrot” in front of us and say, “Now, Carol, if you are VERY good, I will give you a few more blessings, but you have to prove to me that you are worthy.”  No, instead, God gives us the WHOLE enchilada at once!  We get all the blessings – all the “goodies” that a life with Christ brings, including an eternal “home.”  The wonderful thing is these blessings are FREE to all who desire them. 

“Walking wet” each day means that we are drenched with God’s forgiveness and drenched with His love through our Baptism!  So today, as you are going about the day-to-day activities in your life, think about what a privilege it is to live a life of repentance and start “walking wet!” 

Pax,

Pastor Carol