Advent Devotions: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

There are many, many people who make the argument that they can be Christians and not be a part of a local parish community. To a certain degree that is true. However, the gifts of Christian community are lost upon those who want to go strictly solo in this faith journey. Perhaps they have been jaded by the sinfulness of the Church; many expect Christians to be close to perfect and when they aren't it only makes a case against them even stronger. But that is the first hurdle to overcome. There is not a single Christian, nor a single human being, who is perfect. Period. We all mess up - daily in fact. We all struggle to be faithful to God and to honor one another. We are near perfect at justifying our own sin and brokenness, if there is any perfection to be found within us at all. It is a first step to go beyond our disillusionment with those who call themselves believers, and with the imperfect church as a whole. It's just not reasonable to think that we go from being sinful to perfect even though we confess that Jesus is Lord. We make that confession because we know something of what Christ has done for us - save us from the power of sin, death, and the devil in our lives. And we try to be obedient, but we fail quite regularly. So we learn to give one another a break and recognize instead the love that our heavenly Father has for each of us, and that his forgiveness is our greatest gift. 

So, back to the benefits of Christian community, which is what Paul is speaking about in this passage. He longs to return to the Thessalonian believers because he has been a part of their faith journey thus far. He yearns to be with them so he can continue instructing them, praying with them, and growing with them. This can really only be done when people get together and sit knee to knee and look at one another face to face. He wants to supply them with whatever is lacking in their faith - meaning he desires nothing more than to help them grow in maturity and confidence in the Lord. That's what we do for one another in the church. We really see each other, faults and all, and we continue to love and embrace each other through it all. We discuss, we wrangle, we pray, we weep, we laugh, and we grow in Spirit. It is a very long process - life long. And some of it can be done alone (in fact we all need time alone WITH GOD) but it can never be as full as when done alongside other believers. We need each other. I need you and you need me. And together we supply what is lacking in each other's faith. 

Holy God, grant us to courage to be in community where things are often not perfect, but where you are present in Word and Sacrament. Heal our wounds, draw us closer, and supply all we need for our faith through the gift of each other. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Advent Devotions: Psalm 25

Psalm 25 (The Message)

1-2 My head is high, God, held high;
I’m looking to you, God;
No hangdog skulking for me.

3 I’ve thrown in my lot with you;
You won’t embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?

Don’t embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It’s the traitors who should be humiliated.

4 Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.

5 Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren’t you?

6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!

8 God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.

9 He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.

10 From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.

11 Keep up your reputation, God;
Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.

12 My question: What are God-worshipers like?
Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye.

13 They settle down in a promising place;
Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.

14 God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.

15 If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.

16 Look at me and help me!
I’m all alone and in big trouble.

17 My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.

18 Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.

19 Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?

20 Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don’t let me down when I run to you.

21 Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.

22 God, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck.

What verses of the psalm, paraphrased in the Message, capture your attention?

Is it the ones where God forgives and restores our lives?

It is the ones where God delivers us from our enemies?

Is where the psalmist is sure that God will not let him be put to shame?

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt completely lost? You knew where  you were, of course, and you knew how to find places and yet in your heart of hearts you just felt lost. I can certainly remember a time like that in late adolescence. As I look back on it today I can see what a fog of unknowing I was really in. When the psalmist says, "From now on every road you travel

will take you to God. Follow the Covenant signs; Read the charted directions," I recognize God's guiding hand in my life. Just because a person grew up in the church doesn't mean she knew the Lord of life. 

Faith comes to us from an external source - that source being the Holy Spirit. It comes to us through the Word of God and the intentional teaching of that word in our lives. There is no substitute for the conversation between people of faith that allows the Holy Spirit to work within us and create a faith that follows the roads of God. St. Paul said, "faith comes through hearing," and also, "how can they believe what they have not heard?" (Romans 10:14-17) There is no way possible that we can follow the covenant signs if we have not heard the Word that there exists a God who loves us and wants the best for us. (The best for us means a life with the One who created us in his own image.) We cannot create a faith within ourselves because faith comes from the outside, not the inside. It lives inside eventually, through the power of the Holy Spirit, but it must be gifted to us by the Spirit. 

So what does this mean? 
It means that we are called to speak the faith - our children, our friends, our neighbors, whoever crosses our path. How can they believe what they have never heard? We want no one to experience the sense of being lost like we have. We want all people to walk on the covenant roads, assured of new life and a different kind of life. We have to use our words to bolster each other on the journey. We cannot be silent because the Truth has to be proclaimed. 

Holy God, inspire us to speak the word to those we know and love, and those we just met. Put us on the path of your ways so that we will not be put to shame, and we will not be wandering around our own lives in a fog of confusion. Give us clarity and help us to see your hand in our lives everywhere we turn. In Jesus' most holy and precious name we pray. Amen.

Why Being A Coach Matters

Swimmer Paulina Reyes & Coach Little

If you've ever been on a sports team you know how important the coach is to the overall emotional atmosphere on the court, field, pool, course, and so on. The coach sets the tone for the game. The coach is the leader, who leads by example. He may not be able to play the game anymore, as bones do get old and muscles get tighter as we age, but the depth of knowledge stored in a coach's brain is priceless. The ability to see things in super-slow motion only comes with years of experience. The gift of relationships is even more critical to the game than the skills. I make this bold statement because the skills are developed early and honed over time, but the absence of relationships creates a barrier that prohibits the athlete from excelling to the next level. A coach who knows everything about technique but fails to relate the athlete will only see limited response from that young person. If you want an athlete to "leave it all on the court" then a deep trust has to be formed first. This takes patience and a willingness to commit to the persons involved, not just the sport. I've never met a coach who "does it for the money." We do it because we love kids and we want to be a positive influence in their lives. We want to see them improve every week. We want to see them succeed in the game of life. 

Meanwhile, they touch our hearts. They change us as people and we have a different relationship with each and every student-athlete because each of them are different people. These amazing young athletes continue to shape us as human beings as bonds are formed in practice, in competition, and for many coaches who are also first and foremost teachers, in the classroom. This coach is a pastor, so in many ways a teacher. . . just not in a schoolroom. 

Being a coach matters. It's a huge time commitment! But it is worth every minute spent with these young people who matter. They matter to their parents, their friends, but mostly they matter to God. A coach does kingdom work. Think about it. . . encouraging is a kingdom job, teaching is also a kingdom job, picking up the pieces of a bad day is holy work, walking alongside a person who is becoming more and more who God made them to be is sacred business. We can't check our faith at the door of the gym. We can't stop being who we are in Christ at the entrance to the track. We cannot deny our faith as we enter the natatorium. And we may not talk about it, but it shines through. It really does. 

I can remember the names of the kids I had on my very first track team that I coached circa 1994. There was that amazingly energetic girl named January, and that fellow who became a pastor years later named Mike. Many of the kids I've coached have graduated college and are now coaches themselves. And ones that are still in High School have hopes of being coaches when their time comes. My coach in college taught me more about life by being on that track with me than I can ever tell you. Thank you, Coach! Thanks for staying with me so many nights at the high jump when everyone else had gone. Thanks for the kick in the butt when I needed it. Thanks for the hugs and affirmation when it was necessary. Thanks for being you and being a huge part of my life. It mattered. It still matters. 

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.

Human reason is unreasonable when it comes to spirituality. . .

Martin Luther taught that human beings, after the fall (that humanity changing event in the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve succumbed to the wiles of the adversary and committed the first sin) became captive to "original sin."  Through baptism we are granted grace and mercy via Christ our Savior and Lord.  Original sin, however, still lurks around the corner, seeking to hold us in bondage.  The good news is that baptism keeps original sin in check.  That's why we daily remember our baptism, gives thanks for the water and the Word and speak freely and joyfully about it to others!

The Reformers taught that the "unregenerated human will" (that which has not been molded and shaped by a life-transforming sacrament) will only turn away from God, defy God, and even be an enemy to God.  "It has only the desire and will to do whatever is opposed to God. . ." (Formula of Concord, BC, 492.)

Without Christ as the center of our very existence we are prone, drawn even, to do what is contrary to the holy will of God.  In a word, we are bound to sin with no awareness that it is even sin. In fact we can justify most of what we do through human reason.  Our original-sin-captive-will is bound to take the opposite tack that God would have us take.  No matter how hard we might try on our own not to go that direction.  We cannot by pure human will and reason come to God and furthermore when bound to sin we wouldn't choose that path anyway!  Reason cannot get us where we want to go-- even if we thought we might want to go there in the first place!!

BUT, (and thank God for the "but") through the power of the Holy Spirit acting in our lives, through the Word, the proclaimed Word, the sacraments and grace of the community of saints we are drawn toward God, brought back into relationship with him and made fully alive!  Reason cannot bring us to faith!  Thinking it out cannot help us!  Intellectualism will not get us closer to God.

Faith and a transformed life will not just come to us in the middle of night through our own intelligence and reason.  

Faith comes to us via the Holy Spirit and it defies reason!  I guess you could say it is un-reasonable.

"It is God's will that people hear his Word and not plug their ears."  (FC)  So we bask in the glory of the Holy Spirit and do our best to open our plugged ears, and hard hearts.  When we realize that something has changed within us we give thanks and praise to God for gifting us with faith and converting our hearts, minds, bodies and souls for Jesus who loves us most.  We have no merit in this process but it is solely accomplished by God's Holy Spirit in us.  

Have a blessed day and give thanks for even the smallest shred of faith in your life!  Through it God can move mountains!  Come Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Why We Don't Baptize in Private

I hate to break it to those who think that faith is a private matter, but when you are a part of Christian community, faith is no longer private.  If it was ever private at all, then I question whether it we should actually call it faith.  Somewhere along the line we have come to the mistaken conclusion that faith is only a "personal" thing.  This has brought on a whole new generation of people who call themselves "spiritual but not religious."  We may not be "religious" in the strict sense of the word, but faith is always something that is meant to be shared (The Great Commission of Matthew 28 tells us that!)

Baptism is the entry point into the community of faith, the church.  For Jesus it was the beginning of his PUBLIC ministry.  You could say that it is the beginning of each of our ministries as well.  If you are an adult who seeks baptism then a confession of faith is required and that is a public acknowledgment that you believe and confess Jesus as Lord of your life and wish to be baptized into Christ's salvation.  If you are a baby then you will have your opportunity to make the same confession after you have studied and been instructed in the faith in confirmation/catechism classes.  Then it becomes an "Affirmation of Faith."  You say "yes" to God's "yes" in your life.

But you can do that anytime you want to!  Just say "yes!"

Baptism in the center of community worship is so vitally important therefore we do not relegate this sacrament to 20 minutes after our latest worship service.  We do not wait for the congregation to go home before we fill up the font.  We invite them to participate with the baptismal candidate as part of the worship discipline.  We are asking the community of believers to take us under their wing, to teach us, mentor us, prod us when we need it, hold us accountable to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Baptism is NOT a ceremony where we get a nice new candle and a certificate of authenticity to put in our scrap book at home.  It is a holy sacrament (one of two for Lutherans).  It has been commanded by Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20), it shows us tangibly God's grace, it uses natural elements as signs of what God is doing in our lives (water).  Baptism bestows upon the believer God's mercy and forgiveness. It does not eradicate original sin (that sin that we inherited from our ancestors, Adam and Eve).  It does however keep it in check!  We will never be perfect this side of heaven but daily we remember the sacrament and rejoice that we have been saved through water and the Word.  The Holy Spirit is bestowed upon us and resides in us as our advocate and guide.

This is too wonderful to do in private!
This is too amazing to keep from the rest of the community!
We are all in this together. . . and so we do it together. . . the baptized makes promises to God (or the parents of the baptized) and the community of faith makes promises to the baptized-- AND to God on behalf of the baptized.  The congregation also gets an opportunity to remember their baptisms and how connected we are through our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is ABOUT community. . . to make it private is to relativize it, make it less important and it is VERY important!!

I don't know about you, but I'm glad we do this in community because I could never, ever do this "faith thing" alone!

Thanks be to God that I don't have to, and neither do you!!

(In dire emergencies, such as when a person who has not been baptized, we would do it wherever and whenever we needed to so that they did not die without the sacrament.  In this case any baptized person can baptize another, it need not be an ordained clergy person.)

What is more pure than the faith of a child?

I love Vacation Bible School!  I really do. . . it is a lot of work and it takes extra heaps of energy, by the end of the week I am exhausted but it is the best time ever.  Seeing young children like these friends from our VBS share their faith and love of Jesus is the most amazing thing ever!!  


The first day they are always a little bit timid. . . something new and all. New songs, new faces, even a new place.  But by Friday they are singing at the top of their lungs, shouting for joy over what they've learned and it's all about JESUS!!  


Last night we re-enacted the Last Supper, as well as the death and resurrection of Jesus (which is always on a Thursday if you use Group Publishing).  Peter was upset that he had betrayed Jesus and denied him three times before his death.  He came into hiding with the kids and spoke to them about his struggle and sorrow.  The kids wanted to console him.  They told him, "He will forgive you!"  They wanted him to know, "He loves you!"  One even said, "Go find Jesus and he will take you back!"  Oh that we would be able to say that to one another outside of the sphere of VBS, that we would take a hint from the pure of heart!!  


There is nothing like the faith of a child!!

Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." Matthew 19: 14

May we step out of our comfort zone and share the good news of Christ's love and forgiveness with everyone we meet!  He loves!  He wants you back!  He will forgive you if you ask him!  Have a blessed and faith-full day!

We are all "works in progress"

1 Peter 1: 3-9 The Message:

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. 

Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.

We are all works in progress- moving from something that is less than true and real toward something that is deep, alive, genuine and pure-- TRUE faith in the one Lord Jesus Christ.  Every aspect of life, whether we like what's happening or not, is used by God to refine us like gold refined by a fire.  I'm not telling you that God causes things to happen just to test you, simply that testing comes on its own.  Life happens.  Aggravations abound!  Irritants are everywhere!  But, God desires nothing less than for us to come to him with our deepest felt needs (Luther on the Lord's prayer).  Each and every circumstance that is put before us, on us or around us is an opportunity for God to show himself to us in ways that we have yet to imagine.  God is with us through it all and he will guide us, strengthen us and lead us to a deeper life in Christ Jesus.  

I know that some of you are really dealing with a lot right now.  Stuff is piling on like a bunch of linebackers making the all important defensive tackle!  But Christ is in the pile with you.  He doesn't pile on. . . he is underneath all of that force and impact and dead weight that has been hurled upon your vulnerable body and soul.  The result will be a purer faith-- that's not my opinion--- that's the promise!

Martin Luther, speaking of this passage in 1 Peter writes, "Fire does not impair the quality of gold, but purifies it, so that all alloy is removed.  Thus God has imposed the cross on all Christians to cleanse and purge them well, in order that faith may remain pure, just as the Word is, so that one adheres to the Word alone and relies on nothing else."  (LW 30:17)

As those who are in the process of being purified like gold that is refined by heat and fire, so we are on a journey of discipleship that draws us ever closer to the source of all that is good.

We can never become completely refined or pure, says Luther, but it is part of the process of our Christian life to "improve constantly and to become purer" than we are at this moment.  This is not done by our own will or our own work. . . if we could do it for ourselves we would do it, now wouldn't we?  But instead, in faith, we trust that God is up to something in our lives even amidst the pain and suffering, the testing and temptation.  He gives us moments of pure joy and glimpses of the eternal to keep us going. 

 One day we wake up and say to ourselves, "Wow, how did I make it through that?  Ten, five, even two years ago I would have never been able to hold on to my faith if that happened to me back then!"  It's like a child whose parents can't see the growth in them because they are with him every day but others who haven't seen him for awhile say, "My how you've grown!!"   

When you get down on yourself, take a look back a few years and see how much progress you've made in your Christian walk-- or I should say-- how much progress Christ has made in you over the years!  Thanks be to God!!

Image credit: southcountry.org