Faith and Hope

Seeing is believing we often say. But how do we see what is sometimes right in front of our eyes and yet we are blind to it? So much in our daily vision goes unnoticed. So much of what we "see" we take for granted. For instance, this past week I took a renewal CPR class and the instructor said, "Do you know where the fire extinguishers are in this place?" My answer was yes, but only because I had that sort of an awakening at home once when something caught on fire on the stove. "Where is the fire extinguisher? I know we have one," I thought in a panic at the time. There's a name for this phenomenon which happens to us concerning all manner of items in our lives: Observational Blindness. Think about the last time you purchased a new car. . .once you drove it off the lot, you began to see identical cars all over the place. Same color, same model, same interior. You never noticed all of them before and what you bought you probably thought was unique. We don't always SEE what is right in front of us because we simply are not aware that it is there.

Faith is like that. Before we really SEE that Jesus is right in front of us, along side of us, behind us, and with us, we fail to see his presence in our lives. It's not that he isn't there, it's that we don't recognize him- like the story from  Luke 24 as two disciples walked with Jesus all the way to the town of Emmaus. They didn't recognize him. They couldn't understand why he seemed to have no idea what had transpired over the past days. But it was in the meal that took place as they almost let him go on without them where they saw who he really was. In the bread and wine they experienced his full presence. He opened the scriptures to them and they knew! 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for says the writer of Hebrews. What do you hope for? It's not an intellectual question; it's a practical question. You find yourself hoping for something all the time if you pay attention to your emotions: good health, renewed relationships, strength in the face of adversity, value, love, passion, employment, a child, you name it. To not hope is to be dead. Hope is part of being human and we hope in FAITH. Our hope is not an empty hope but rather a hope in what we know God will provide in God's good timing because it is his good will to give us the kingdom. Faith tells us that God is on our side, always and forever, even when we cannot see him, even when he seems absent or distant. Faith is the conviction of things unseen. It is a mystery, it is free falling into God's loving arms, it is reckless abandon in the face of our Creator. It's not rational or logical or sensible even. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the thing about it is, faith is almost impossible to explain (especially to those who do not believe), and it is not something we can will for ourselves. 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for--- they will come to us in God's good time and pleasure.

It is the conviction of things unseen--- if we could see it or conjure it up for ourselves it wouldn't be faith. 

Have a blessed week! Keep the Faith!

Pastor Amy

This post is part of an ongoing series for the disciples and friends of Trinity Lutheran Church, Monroeville, Ohio. Each month they receive a memory verse to ponder and make their own as a part of their commitment to spiritual growth and maturity.

Don't Let Anger Cause You to Sin

Luther in his sermon on Matthew 5: 20-26 speaks about how anger is our hearts is the same as breaking the fifth commandment. Jesus taught this to the religious leaders of his day who were happy to stick to the "letter of the law" and not the spirit of the law which Jesus hereby expands to include anger and the sins of anger. My how this convicts us! Read a part of it:

This Gospel we have fully and sufficiently explained on other occasions, when treating of the entire sermon of Christ, which Matthew the Evangelist records in three chapters; for today we will take a part of it, where Christ expounds and explains the fifth commandment. For here we observe first, that Christ attacks a sin called anger, which is very common and powerfully rules the world.
And it is not one of the gross, public vices punished also by the world, but one of those fine sins of the devil that do not want to pass for sin. For they sail under false colors, so that no one can rebuke and punish them. For instance, pride will not be called pride, but truth and justice; envy and hatred do not want to be reprimanded, but rather extolled as being true earnestness and godly zeal against wickedness. These are really the two colors the devil carries in his realm, namely, lying and murder, which in the eyes of the world claim the honor and praise of being holiness and righteousness in the highest degree. 

If you want the rest of the sermon, email me or post your email and I will send you a pdf of the entire sermon. 

What do you think about this anger thing?? 

Have any struggles with it yourself?

Learning from Luther: Week of September 9, 2013.

From Martin Luther's sermon on St. Stephen's Day:
In order, however, that we may all take our doctrine out of the Gospel, the Lord has given us here a lovely picture and parable of what he does for the sake of faith and believers so that I do not know of a more beautiful passage in all the Scriptures. He spoke in his anger and indignation very severe words to the Jews in this chapter, and pronounced his terrible woe upon their unbelief; therefore he does, as angry men are accustomed to do, and speaks to those ungrateful of his good acts and good will in the strongest terms possible; namely thus: I would gladly have imparted the heart in my body to them etc. Thus also the Lord here, in the most hearty way possible, emphasizes his good will and favor to the Jews, and says he would have gladly been their mother hen had they wished to be his little chickens.
20. Oh man! note well these words and this parable, how he pours it forth with great earnestness and with his whole soul. In this picture you will see, how you are to conduct your self towards Christ and to what end he is of benefit to you, how you should make use of him and enjoy him. Behold the hen and her chickens, and there you see Christ and yourself painted and portrayed better than any painter can portray them.
21. In the first place, it is certain that our souls are the chickens; and Satan and wicked spirits are the buzzards in the air; with only this exception that we are not as wise as the chickens to flee under our hen. The spirits of Satan are more subtle to rob us of our souls than the buzzards are to steal the chickens. Now it was said before in an Epistle how it is not sufficient that we are pious, do good works, and live in grace. For our righteousness cannot stand before God’s eyes and judgment, much less our unrighteousness. Therefore I have said: Faith, if it is true faith, is of such a nature that it does not rely upon itself nor upon the faith; but holds to Christ, and takes refuge under his righteousness; and he lets this righteousness be its shield and protection just like the little chicken never trusts in its own life and efforts, but takes refuge under the body and wings of the hen. 

How does this metaphor of Christ as mother hen touch you?

Oh! we must remain in Christ, upon Christ and under Christ, never stray from our mother hen, or all is lost. St. Peter says in his first Epistle <600408>4:8: “The righteous is scarcely saved;” so hard it is to abide under this hen. For many different temptations, temporal and spiritual, tear us from her; as the Psalm above points out.
24. Now notice how the natural clucking hen acts; hardly any other creature is so anxious about her young. She changes her natural voice and takes a pitiable and complaining voice; she seeks, scratches, and calls her little chickens; when she finds anything, she does not eat it herself, she

leaves it for her little ones; with all earnestness she battles and cries against the buzzard, and spreads her wings out so willingly and lets her chicks crawl under and upon her, and gladly suffers them to .stay there. This is indeed a lovely picture. So it is also with Christ. He has changed his voice to a pitiable tone, has sighed for us and preached repentance, pointed out to everyone their sins and misery, he scratches in the Scriptures and calls us unto them and permits us to eat; he spreads his wings with all his righteousness, merit and grace over us, and takes us so lovingly under his protection, warms us with his own natural heat, that is, with his Holy Spirit, who alone comes through him, and fights for us against the devil in the air. 

Will you ever look at chickens the same way again? 

How is the church like a mother hen as well? 

This week's sermon from Luther comes from the Day of St. John the Evangelist. The text is John 21: 19- 24. 

Luther's words:
When Christ asked Peter three times whether he loved him, and Peter answered three times, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,” he commended unto him three times his sheep and said: “Feed my sheep.” Immediately afterwards he announced to Peter his death, and says: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” Closely joined to this is to-day’s Gospel: “Follow thou me,” as if to say: Since this is to be your lot, ponder it well and follow thou me and yield willingly to death. It is evident enough that this following signifies his death, and all the disciples understood it so, and it is a lucid and easy Gospel. 

How is following Jesus a following unto death?
What is put to death in our baptism and in our obedience to Christ?
Does it feel like a death? Or is it more like something is coming alive in you?