forgiveness

God With Us

By Paul Koch –

We don’t often spend much time talking or ever thinking all that much about Joseph. His story is an incredible story. His call to be the protector and provider for the blessed mother of our Lord gives us a powerful image of Christian faithfulness and strength of character. Instead of abandoning Mary when he learns that she is with child, he lovingly cares for her, protects her, and watches over the child she will bear as a sacred trust. However, Joseph, like any of you, doesn’t work his way into this prominent and place. He doesn’t come to these conclusions and resolve to faithfully go forward all on his own. No, he needs an angel of the Lord to appear to him and reveal this good news that is happening to Mary. So, one of the lessons we learn here at the very beginning of the Christmas story is that God’s plans, gifts, and blessings are not gained by our cleverness. They must be revealed to us.

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Humble Yourself

By Ross Engel –

Darkness started to swirl around my eyes, my neck pounded, and quickly I tapped my hand twice against the arm that was firmly pressed against my neck. It had only taken a few seconds (less time than it took to read that last statement), but I was about to pass out. It was my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class and on that day, the lesson of the day was seven different submission chokes. In the three hours that followed, I watched, I learned, I practiced, was practiced on, and then I rolled (grappled). And in the midst of it all, I was humbled. It would be safe to say that I’ve been humbled over and over again with each class that I’ve attended!

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Joy for the World!

By Bob Hiller –

There is a strange and almost unnoticed verse in the beginning of Mark (1:13) I have grown to take great delight in. After Jesus is in the wilderness, overcoming the temptation from the devil, it says, “And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.” Now, what in the world does that have to do with anything? Jesus sitting with the wild animals? I mean, I get the angels ministering to Him, but what’s with the animals? What does Jesus have to do with them? What do they have to do with Jesus?

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Do You Hear Their Shouts?

By Paul Koch –

When you think of the arrival of our Lord on that first Christmas in the little town of Bethlehem, you have to admit that He arrived with quite a bang. I mean, sure, He was born in a manger and in the poorest of poor conditions, but the fanfare that surrounded this arrival is legendary. Shepherds tending their flocks are greeted by an angel proclaiming good news of a great joy. If that wasn’t enough, all of a sudden a whole multitude of heavenly creatures lit up the sky singing, “Glory to God in the highest!” Though we don’t know it yet, there are some wise men out in the East who are starting to pack their bags and head off to find the arrival of our great King. Yet, when I read about our Lord’s arrival into the city of Jerusalem humble and riding on a donkey, I think this moment is far more impressive than the angels in the night sky.

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Your Faith Has Made You Well

By Paul Koch –

This day is truly a wonderful day. It is a day of family and friends, a day of food and football, a day where everyone gets a little time off from their usual grind and just stops in order to give thanks. And though our days of innocent bliss from our childhood have grown cold, though we no longer want to dress up like puritan settlers or native Americans, we still find value in a holiday like this one. We may have grown more cynical and skeptical about family and our traditions but still there is something that we think is good about taking time to simply give thanks. It is good to give thanks for this great country we live in, to give thanks for those who make our lives better, richer and more exciting, to give thanks for the many gifts we’ve received for our heavenly Father.

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Thanksgiving Traditions

By Joy Keith –

The Good:

This year the Keith Clan is heading to Gardnerville, NV to be with my hubby’s mom. We Keiths don’t have many traditions. Each and every year our nomadic family talks to each of the Grandmothers and one another to determine what the best Thanksgiving plan is. Will we go to Arizona to be with my mom, or NV to be by his? Will either one of them be able to come to CA? Are the grown kids able to get off work? Are people sick this year and can’t travel? Will we spend it with friends not too far away who we don’t see often enough? All these things seem to get thrown into the recipe of what will be the plan this year. So, our tradition seems to be that we have a lack of tradition. This is true concerning everything but what food we will eat. The menu is the same and a tradition: turkey, mashers and gravy, beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry and my absolute favorite––STUFFING, followed by the exquisitely baked pumpkin (and one alternating dish which is “TBD” by me each year) pies!

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Weep For Yourself

By Paul Koch –

As a father of five, I have become quite good at the using the gift of discernment. For I have learned that discernment is most needed when we are faced with excuses; and none are better at excuses than children. Not that I blame them. In fact, I think it is just part of life, part of growing up, part of the process that we all go through. You see, we begin to learn early on that things don’t always work out the way we imagined they would. We don’t always follow through on what we promised to do, whether it was to clean our room or get the dishes done. We don’t always follow the golden rule and we fail to treat our siblings with the kindness and respect that we believe we deserve. When the failures in life happen, our instinct is to make an excuse as to why we failed. We get pretty good at making excuses and we can even begin to believe them if no one challenges them. But that is where I come in. Part of the gift I give to my children is to check their excuses. I see if they are focusing on the real issue or if they are just trying to find an easy way out.

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Sheep Feeding Sheep

By Paul Koch –

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17)

On more than one occasion, I have used that verse above when participating in the ordination or installation of a brother in the ministry.

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Preachers, Shoot the Elephant in the Room

By Joel A. Hess –

Last week, I attended a funeral. It was for a boy who took his own life, as teenage boys sometimes violently and impulsively do when they think they are backed into a corner. The room was packed with kids, family, and friends. They all knew he died. They all knew how he died. It was on everyone’s mind. Suicide does that; it forces everyone to stare blankly into the abyss. Though kids laughed and nervously carried on, no one can deny that there was, as they say, a huge elephant in the room.

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Idle Temptation

By Paul Koch –

We have all heard at some time in our life, usually on the lips of a well-meaning grandmother, that famous saying, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” This is a great saying and there is truth found in it. In fact, if you think about it, this saying focuses us on a central problem of mankind. The thing is, our hands don’t stay idle. To be idle is to be unproductive, to do nothing, but we are busy creatures always working in some way. So, this a cautionary saying that if our hands are not being employed toward something good, something faithful, or something beautiful then they will be employed towards something wicked – for they will not stay idle.

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Guilty and Free

By Paul Koch –

Today in churches across this country, well at least in Lutheran churches (well, at least in some Lutheran churches), they are taking a moment to step aside from the normal flow of things to focus on an event in time 499 years ago in a little town in Germany. On All Hallows Eve in 1517, a young and energetic Augustinian monk and professor of theology named Martin Luther, nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg an invitation to debate on the topic of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. An indulgence was a way to reduce the amount of punishment one must undergo for their sins. In Luther’s day the church would sell them to fill the its coffers. So, Luther invites discussion on this issue by putting forward 95 theses that ought to be considered. Little did he know or expect at the time, but this simple act, this honest attempt to resolve a problem that had robbed so many of the sweet assurance of the Gospel, would prove to be the beginning of the great Reformation of the church.

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The Pure Gospel – Absolution

By Jonathan Holmes –

We live in a world where a person who admits their sins and weaknesses is considered cowardly. To actually say one is wrong is often viewed as a sign of frailty and feebleness. Why? Much of it is pride; and for those who are proud they see themselves as strong and ambitious and are willing to trample over anyone in their path for the sake of progressing oneself for any number reasons. Because of this public opinion, popularity, and the so-called “career” are the very things by which we find ourselves being defined. We think we must be strong candidates in these three classifications to show signs that we are winning at the “game of life.” These “successes” are how we show the family, friends, the world, even God that we are worth something. Everything hinges on what people think of us, how well they like us, and how good we are at our jobs – or at least that it appears that we are performing our professions well.

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You Better Stop Smoking or Else!

By Scott Keith –

Let me set the stage. After five days of being as sick as I have ever been in my life, my wife finally drags me to the urgent care. Now, keep in mind that I am really sick at this point. I a have 102° fever (often pushing 103°), I’m coughing my brains out, I have a horrendous headache, and generally look like death on a cracker. The first doctor I saw diagnosed me with an ear infection, upper respiratory infection, and said I might have pneumonia. So he gives me some antibiotics and we go home. But before I leave, I’m sent to a nurse to discuss a smoking cessation program. That’s right, at one point in my sickened stupor, I must have admitted that I smoke a pipe once or twice a week. That was enough to get the wheels of the medical-political machine moving. It no longer mattered that I was very ill with something that had absolutely nothing to do with smoking a pipe. All that mattered was that I was one of those evil ones:  a smoker.

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The Lion’s Mouth

By Paul Koch –

Today we heard some of St. Paul’s closing remarks to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18. We usually don’t spend much time pondering these final sentences of Paul’s letters. After all, the main arguments for the letter have already been made. This part of the letter is like the end of a lecture. For that matter, it’s like most sermons you’ve heard where you already have a good idea of how it is all going to go, so you begin to shift your focus to something else: to the next part of the service, or where you going to go for lunch this afternoon, or when you’re going to find time to go shopping. But, maybe you don’t know that the ending is usually the hardest part to write, and it is usually the most difficult part of any speech or letter. Because you want it to leave an impression, you want it to be that final thing that you leave with your reader or hearer. If they remember anything at all, you will want to put it at the end.

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Sticks and Stones

By Jonathan Holmes –

I’ve been struggling lately. I’m tired. I feel weird. Is there something wrong with me? Yes… I can only read so much in a day. My brain will just stop, and I can’t continue, as much as I would like to. Yes, there is something wrong with me… I’m a sinner, and that means I’m affected by sin, original sin – and there is nothing I can do about it.

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Remember Why You Started

By Ross Engel –

I fell in love with weight training the first time I walked into the gym. I was a scrawny 14-year-old kid who barely weighed in at 115 pounds. I was so weak that I could barely lift the 45-pound Olympic bar. I had played soccer and basketball for years, so I was pretty quick on my feet. I had just started doing gymnastics, and I wanted to get stronger and faster. My introduction to weight training was a great awakening to a new world, one that I have now spent the better part of 22 years enjoying. That scrawny, wide-eyed kid who stepped through the doors of the gym those years ago is not recognizable when people see me now, but he’s still there in my mind. He (along with a fair share of life’s tormentors) is the unseen motivation behind every set, rep, and training journal entry.

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