Newsletter January 2010

The new year of 2010 is now upon us. It is hard for those of us of a certain age to believe that we are already entering the first year of the second decade of the 21st century. Memories of the beginning of the 21st century are still quite vivid, especially our fear that computers across the globe would mal-function and the civilized world would grind to a halt. People stockpiled food and water, bought generators, and prepared for the worst, but when the first year of the new millennium came, everything went on as usual. There were fireworks over Sydney Harbor in Australia, the pope spoke from the balcony in Rome, and the ball dropped in Times Square just like every other year.
We are already ten years down the road from that day. Celebrations of the new year will take place all around the globe on January 1, but some people will be facing the new year with fear and trepidation. What is coming in 2010? What problems will arise? How will we be able to cope? These are questions that many people are asking. The answer, of course, is that we do not know. There is a probability that the problems we will have to deal with are unknown and unforeseen in these waning days of 2009.
That’s how it was at the beginning of the decade. The overriding challenge of the last decade for our nation was Islamic extremism and terrorism. The country was blindsided by the attacks of 9-11 which transformed the decade in ways no one was predicting on 9-10-2001.
So my prediction for 2010 is that something will happen of which we have no inkling today. It could be wonderful. It could be terrible. Nobody knows. That is the one sure thing about the future. Nobody knows for sure what the future holds.
There is a great song that says:

I don’t know about tomorrow; I just live from day to day. I don’t borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to grey. I don’t worry o’er the future, for I know what Jesus said. And today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.I don’t know about tomorrow; it may bring me poverty. But the one who feeds the sparrow, is the one who stands by me. And the path that is my portion may be through the flame or flood; But His presence goes before me and I’m covered with His blood.

When Abraham and Sarah set out from Ur of the Chaldees for a new land, they didn’t know where they would be a year later, but they knew that God was sending them forth. When Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, little did he know that it would be 40 years before they reached the promised land, but they had the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night to remind them that God was leading them forward. When Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples did not know where they would be and what they would be doing a year hence, but they heard the last words of Jesus on earth, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”
In this new year some of us will be surprised by grace and filled with joy. Others of us will be shocked by a diagnosis or startled by a new twist in the road. A few of us will not be on this side of the grass come the end of the year. But all of us have the promise of the Lord’s abiding presence. Of that we can be sure.
And if 2010 should be the year that they cut into our tombstone, then we can also be sure that an eternity of joy in the presence of Jesus is our future. Then time will be no more as the eons roll on in endless joy. 1st Thessalonians 4:17 has a wonderful promise that says, “… and so we will be with the Lord forever.”
So let us enter into 2010 not very confident about what we will be listing as the most important events of the year on the 31st of December, but completely confident that we will be able to look back on the year and give thanks to God for his presence and his power which was there for us every day.

Initial Post

While I had thought for a long time about setting up a blog where sermons as well as newsletter articles and occasional thoughts about the issues of the day could be posted, it was a presentation by Manitoba Lutheran Bishop Elaine Sauer at our February 2010 local clergy confab that spurred me finally to set one up. So here it is. If I think a sermon is worth anyone reading after I preached it, I'll post it here. All newsletter columns will be here - I've deleted my "pastor's archive" page from the parish website. And perhaps random comments on church issues. This is a blog related to the parish I serve here in Northwestern Minnesota. I will try to keep comments about my other interests and my family to a minimum.