In Matthew 7:12 Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this the law and the prophets.” This is called “The Golden Rule” and is the most universal teaching in all the world’s religions. Thus Jesus says, “for this is the law and the prophets.” In Leviticus 19:18 the law says this about dealings with your acquaintances, “Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And in Leviticus 19:34 the law says this about dealings with strangers, “But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The basis for the Golden Rule is found in Jesus’ statement in Matthew 22:34 when he was asked what is the greatest commandment. His reply was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Jesus once told a story about a man who went down to Jericho and was attacked by robbers who both robbed him and beat him so that he was left helpless along the side of the road. After a little while a priest came by who walked around the injured man and went on his way. Still later a Levite walked right by without lifting a finger to help. But a Samaritan saw the situation and had compassion on the man, bound up his wounds, transported him to the nearest town, and paid for lodging for as long as it would take the man to recover. When the Samaritan came upon the helpless robbery victim, did he consciously think “what would I want if our roles were reversed?” Maybe not. Jesus pointedly says that the Samaritan had compassion for the man along the side of the road. But whether consciously or by instinct, the Samaritan was following the Golden Rule. He made the ethically right choice by simply doing for the wounded man what he would want done for himself if he were attacked by robbers on that same road.
This world would be a much better place if everyone would practice the Golden Rule. Political discourse would be much more civil if people would stop to ask whether they would like to have the circumstances of their birth questioned or pranks from their high school days brought up. The sports world could avoid scandal if someone would simply ask if they would like to have a bounty paid to someone who physically injured them to the extent that they had to leave the game. Families would be more harmonious if each and every member treated others as kindly as they would like to be treated. Civil rights for all citizens would not be questioned if everyone would simply try to imagine themselves as one of the minority groups among us and ponder how they would like to be treated.
The Golden Rule is so simple to say and so easy to remember and yet so profound. As you encounter people today just keep these wise words of Jesus in mind as you decide how to treat the people you meet. You won’t go wrong if you do.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Baccalaureate Sermon 5-30-2012
First of all, let me congratulate all 21 of you on your impending graduation from Tri-County High School. This is one of the most important events in your young lives, one filled with a lot of emotions not only for you but for your parents and other family members. Along with your families, I have watched you grow and change over the years, and I think we would all agree that you are a fine group of young people. We have watched you face challenges from time to time. We have seen you excel at various things, the latest being Tanner’s qualifying to attend the state golf meet. But it is just the latest. We have all been pleased when a picture of one or two of you appeared in the local paper as all conference selections, or the sports editor of the Grand Forks Herald wrote about Jarad’s baseball pitching prowess or the list of those on the honor roll came out in print.
Most of you have gone through all 12 grades here at Tri-County School in Karlstad. A few of you joined this class at one point or another. But now, together, you have come to the end. It’s won’t be long now before your pictures as the class of 2012 are added to the row of class pictures that starts down by the library and ends out by the south entrance. It is amazing how fast time goes by. Those of us who are a bit older feel that even more than you do. I remember when my own three children’s class pictures were at the end of the row, but now they are way behind the last 7 classes. It won’t be long now, before people will look up at those pictures and talk about how much you have changed, or how much you haven’t, as the case may be. Nothing stays the same. Time flies by. Transitions must be made.
That’s what I have been led to talk about this year at graduation. I suppose it is not just because you all are facing the biggest transition of your 18 or so years. It’s partly because I am getting older just like your parents and grandparents. I am shocked to think I officiated at wedding ceremonies for some of your parents: Karissa, Beau, and Nick. They were hardly any older then than you are now. Well, maybe a few years. No child brides there. I have preached at six of these baccalaureate sermons in Karlstad, and when I was looking through my file I discovered that in the very year that most of you were born I was standing right here preaching to a batch of graduates at baccalaureate at the end of May. My life hasn’t changed that much these last 18 years.
In some ways that makes me the least likely person to talk to you tonight about transitions. I am not much for change. But there are times when we have no choice but to make a change, and graduation week is one of those times. It may have struck you already that life is changing for you, but if it hasn’t, when next fall rolls around and you are no longer getting on a bus for school at Tri-County it surely will. From now on, if you visit these halls, you will have to check in at the office as a visitor. That’s a change.
As you move on from your education in this school, the faculty, staff, and your families all hope that you are well equipped to deal with the new circumstances and the new challenges you will be facing. You will have to adapt if you are to be successful in the next stage of your life. Some of the skills that have served you well in this little school in this remote corner of Minnesota will not serve you so well in the larger world where you are going. Other experiences here will help you a great deal. Many of the things you take for granted you will no longer be able to take for granted. You will need to adapt simply because you are becoming a young adult, let alone because many of you will be at another school or a new place of employment next fall.
We all have to adapt and change as time moves on. I don’t know if you are aware of it, but every fall a group of professors at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts out what it calls “a mindset list.” It is distributed among older college professors to help them understand the world from which their new freshmen college students emerged. In other words, to help my age group understand your age group. I know about it only from stories on the news – I still watch TV news, how old fashioned is that? They have not come out with their list of “things old people need to remember” about your group, the graduates of 2012, but here are a few things about last year’s class: [select a few to read]
1. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
3. States and Velcro parents have always been requiring that they wear their bike helmets.
4. The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
5. There have nearly always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.
6. They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.
7. As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
8. Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
9. “Don’t touch that dial!”….what dial?
10. American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
11. More Americans have always traveled to Latin America than to Europe.
12. Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
Sometimes when I read that list I think it is not just to help older teachers understand incoming college freshmen as much as to make some of us feel quite old. You have had a different high school experience than your parents. And you will face different challenges in the future.
Adaptability is something you will need. You might think that when it comes to your religious faith, you need to be firm and constant and unchanging. But this is not always the case. Let us think about the way that the first great evangelist for Christ carried out his ministry, St. Paul. As he moved from one place to another, he learned to adapt to the place where he was living at the time and change his tactics. In 1st Corinthians 9:19-23 he explained how he was able to adapt to new situations, and why he did it. St. Paul wrote:
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Now, I hope you don’t think that he was merely a chameleon, changing to fit into whatever culture he happened to be in. Paul’s ability to change as he moved from town to town and as he moved forward in years did not mean that he would accept anything and everything that he encountered along the way. In his day there was a saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” which meant that a person should adapt to everything in their new environment. Paul did not do that. But he did know when to adapt and when not to adapt. He knew how to fit in with the people and yet held himself accountable to a higher standard that never changed.
Let me give you a modern day example. Last summer I read the book “Through My Eyes” by Tim Tebow, the football quarterback, who is famous for beginning the “tebowing craze” of a few years ago. When my wife told me that biographies by sports figures were always in demand at the library, I donated my copy to the Tri-County library. She told me recently that it has been out in circulation most of the time this last year. Tim Tebow was born in the Philippines to missionary parents but raised in central Florida. He was home schooled but played football for a public school. All his life he had to adapt to different situations. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and played for championship University of Florida teams in 2006 and 2008. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos and bought a place in Colorado to anchor himself in the Rocky Mountains. Then last year he was traded to the New York Jets and declared how much he loved New York. Change and challenges have been constant in his life, including his mild dyslexia, but his love of the Lord and his faith in Jesus Christ have not wavered. Nor has his rather exemplary personal conduct. If you have read his book you may remember how disgusted he was with a few team mates in college who partied too much on weekends or got themselves suspended for bad conduct. Tebow has remained a Christian example in a world filled with temptations to do otherwise as he moved from one football team to another.
As much as the world around us may change and we have to adapt to changing circumstances and situations, there is a God who is unchanging through it all. This is something I want to make very clear to you. In Hebrews 13:8 it says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Jesus, who loves the sinner, who says “come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” who comforts the downtrodden, and who promised the thief on the cross “today you will be with me in Paradise” has not changed his mind about you. No matter what changes you face in life, you can count on him, and you should be loyal to him.
I have always liked what it says in Psalm 139, and I would like to share it with you as you move on from Tri-County High School. Psalm 139 says about God:
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
And finally, as you transition out of high school into the next chapter of your life, I would like to quote for you a hymn that is often sung in my church at times of transition. It was written by John Ylvisaker back in 1985 when my denomination was facing a big change in the form a merger. It is written as the voice of Jesus speaking to a person, maybe someone who is facing a big change in their personal life. Think of Jesus speaking to you as you listen to the words. He is the one constant in this ever changing world.
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell."
"When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun.
In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold. AMEN.
THE BENEDICTION:
As you go on your way, may God go with you.
May He go before you to show you the way.
May He go behind you to encourage you,
beside you to befriend you,
above you to watch over,
within you to give you peace.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (set to music by John Ylvisaker)
Most of you have gone through all 12 grades here at Tri-County School in Karlstad. A few of you joined this class at one point or another. But now, together, you have come to the end. It’s won’t be long now before your pictures as the class of 2012 are added to the row of class pictures that starts down by the library and ends out by the south entrance. It is amazing how fast time goes by. Those of us who are a bit older feel that even more than you do. I remember when my own three children’s class pictures were at the end of the row, but now they are way behind the last 7 classes. It won’t be long now, before people will look up at those pictures and talk about how much you have changed, or how much you haven’t, as the case may be. Nothing stays the same. Time flies by. Transitions must be made.
That’s what I have been led to talk about this year at graduation. I suppose it is not just because you all are facing the biggest transition of your 18 or so years. It’s partly because I am getting older just like your parents and grandparents. I am shocked to think I officiated at wedding ceremonies for some of your parents: Karissa, Beau, and Nick. They were hardly any older then than you are now. Well, maybe a few years. No child brides there. I have preached at six of these baccalaureate sermons in Karlstad, and when I was looking through my file I discovered that in the very year that most of you were born I was standing right here preaching to a batch of graduates at baccalaureate at the end of May. My life hasn’t changed that much these last 18 years.
In some ways that makes me the least likely person to talk to you tonight about transitions. I am not much for change. But there are times when we have no choice but to make a change, and graduation week is one of those times. It may have struck you already that life is changing for you, but if it hasn’t, when next fall rolls around and you are no longer getting on a bus for school at Tri-County it surely will. From now on, if you visit these halls, you will have to check in at the office as a visitor. That’s a change.
As you move on from your education in this school, the faculty, staff, and your families all hope that you are well equipped to deal with the new circumstances and the new challenges you will be facing. You will have to adapt if you are to be successful in the next stage of your life. Some of the skills that have served you well in this little school in this remote corner of Minnesota will not serve you so well in the larger world where you are going. Other experiences here will help you a great deal. Many of the things you take for granted you will no longer be able to take for granted. You will need to adapt simply because you are becoming a young adult, let alone because many of you will be at another school or a new place of employment next fall.
We all have to adapt and change as time moves on. I don’t know if you are aware of it, but every fall a group of professors at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts out what it calls “a mindset list.” It is distributed among older college professors to help them understand the world from which their new freshmen college students emerged. In other words, to help my age group understand your age group. I know about it only from stories on the news – I still watch TV news, how old fashioned is that? They have not come out with their list of “things old people need to remember” about your group, the graduates of 2012, but here are a few things about last year’s class: [select a few to read]
1. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
3. States and Velcro parents have always been requiring that they wear their bike helmets.
4. The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
5. There have nearly always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.
6. They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.
7. As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
8. Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
9. “Don’t touch that dial!”….what dial?
10. American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
11. More Americans have always traveled to Latin America than to Europe.
12. Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
Sometimes when I read that list I think it is not just to help older teachers understand incoming college freshmen as much as to make some of us feel quite old. You have had a different high school experience than your parents. And you will face different challenges in the future.
Adaptability is something you will need. You might think that when it comes to your religious faith, you need to be firm and constant and unchanging. But this is not always the case. Let us think about the way that the first great evangelist for Christ carried out his ministry, St. Paul. As he moved from one place to another, he learned to adapt to the place where he was living at the time and change his tactics. In 1st Corinthians 9:19-23 he explained how he was able to adapt to new situations, and why he did it. St. Paul wrote:
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Now, I hope you don’t think that he was merely a chameleon, changing to fit into whatever culture he happened to be in. Paul’s ability to change as he moved from town to town and as he moved forward in years did not mean that he would accept anything and everything that he encountered along the way. In his day there was a saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” which meant that a person should adapt to everything in their new environment. Paul did not do that. But he did know when to adapt and when not to adapt. He knew how to fit in with the people and yet held himself accountable to a higher standard that never changed.
Let me give you a modern day example. Last summer I read the book “Through My Eyes” by Tim Tebow, the football quarterback, who is famous for beginning the “tebowing craze” of a few years ago. When my wife told me that biographies by sports figures were always in demand at the library, I donated my copy to the Tri-County library. She told me recently that it has been out in circulation most of the time this last year. Tim Tebow was born in the Philippines to missionary parents but raised in central Florida. He was home schooled but played football for a public school. All his life he had to adapt to different situations. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and played for championship University of Florida teams in 2006 and 2008. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos and bought a place in Colorado to anchor himself in the Rocky Mountains. Then last year he was traded to the New York Jets and declared how much he loved New York. Change and challenges have been constant in his life, including his mild dyslexia, but his love of the Lord and his faith in Jesus Christ have not wavered. Nor has his rather exemplary personal conduct. If you have read his book you may remember how disgusted he was with a few team mates in college who partied too much on weekends or got themselves suspended for bad conduct. Tebow has remained a Christian example in a world filled with temptations to do otherwise as he moved from one football team to another.
As much as the world around us may change and we have to adapt to changing circumstances and situations, there is a God who is unchanging through it all. This is something I want to make very clear to you. In Hebrews 13:8 it says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Jesus, who loves the sinner, who says “come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” who comforts the downtrodden, and who promised the thief on the cross “today you will be with me in Paradise” has not changed his mind about you. No matter what changes you face in life, you can count on him, and you should be loyal to him.
I have always liked what it says in Psalm 139, and I would like to share it with you as you move on from Tri-County High School. Psalm 139 says about God:
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
And finally, as you transition out of high school into the next chapter of your life, I would like to quote for you a hymn that is often sung in my church at times of transition. It was written by John Ylvisaker back in 1985 when my denomination was facing a big change in the form a merger. It is written as the voice of Jesus speaking to a person, maybe someone who is facing a big change in their personal life. Think of Jesus speaking to you as you listen to the words. He is the one constant in this ever changing world.
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell."
"When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun.
In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold. AMEN.
THE BENEDICTION:
As you go on your way, may God go with you.
May He go before you to show you the way.
May He go behind you to encourage you,
beside you to befriend you,
above you to watch over,
within you to give you peace.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (set to music by John Ylvisaker)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
North Star News 5/24/2012
This weekend is the kickoff for the summer season and therefore is one that many people anticipate with joy. No school for three months. Summer vacations. Fishing, golf, road trips, and outdoor barbecues. This unofficial beginning of the season, characterized by fun in the sun, is a happy time for most of the nation.
But this weekend is also Memorial Day weekend, which is a time for somber remembrance. Memorial Day began shortly after the Civil War, which still stands as the most deadly and painful time in American history. Unlike today, most of those who fell in battle were buried near to where they fell, and this led to a concern that their graves not be neglected even though they were far from family and friends. So “decoration day” began to be observed on May 30. Later, decoration day was changed to Memorial Day and expanded to include the placing of flags and flowers on the graves of all those who served in the American Armed Forces and then as a day to visit and decorate the graves of any family members whether military or not.
So Memorial Day is a day for somber remembrance of those who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” to use President Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, in service of the nation. Lincoln himself was one of the last casualties of the American Civil War when he was assassinated in April of 1865. Memorial Day is a good day for rededication to the ideals of America which he so eloquently defended in his speeches: freedom, liberty, equality, and justice.
Memorial Day is also a good occasion to contemplate the horrors of war and the benefits of peace. There are those among us who have seen a friend killed before their eyes because of one momentary lapse, who have watched innocent civilians die as “collateral damage,” and who have witnessed the tragedy of death by “friendly fire.” They know that “war is hell” as General William Tecumseh Sherman said after his ferocious march to the sea and burning of Atlanta, Georgia in 1864. It is to be engaged in only as a last resort when all other attempts to avoid conflict have been exhausted.
Jesus Christ came into this world as the “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) and said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) In Psalm 34:14 the Bible teaches that the man of God will “seek peace and pursue it,” a verse that the prince of the apostles repeated in 1st Peter 3:11. On a day dedicated to remembering those who died in war, it would good for all those still living to dedicate themselves to peace so that the prophecy of Isaiah may come closer to fulfillment: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
May the memory of the dead be blessed. May the purpose of the living be peace.
But this weekend is also Memorial Day weekend, which is a time for somber remembrance. Memorial Day began shortly after the Civil War, which still stands as the most deadly and painful time in American history. Unlike today, most of those who fell in battle were buried near to where they fell, and this led to a concern that their graves not be neglected even though they were far from family and friends. So “decoration day” began to be observed on May 30. Later, decoration day was changed to Memorial Day and expanded to include the placing of flags and flowers on the graves of all those who served in the American Armed Forces and then as a day to visit and decorate the graves of any family members whether military or not.
So Memorial Day is a day for somber remembrance of those who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” to use President Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, in service of the nation. Lincoln himself was one of the last casualties of the American Civil War when he was assassinated in April of 1865. Memorial Day is a good day for rededication to the ideals of America which he so eloquently defended in his speeches: freedom, liberty, equality, and justice.
Memorial Day is also a good occasion to contemplate the horrors of war and the benefits of peace. There are those among us who have seen a friend killed before their eyes because of one momentary lapse, who have watched innocent civilians die as “collateral damage,” and who have witnessed the tragedy of death by “friendly fire.” They know that “war is hell” as General William Tecumseh Sherman said after his ferocious march to the sea and burning of Atlanta, Georgia in 1864. It is to be engaged in only as a last resort when all other attempts to avoid conflict have been exhausted.
Jesus Christ came into this world as the “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) and said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) In Psalm 34:14 the Bible teaches that the man of God will “seek peace and pursue it,” a verse that the prince of the apostles repeated in 1st Peter 3:11. On a day dedicated to remembering those who died in war, it would good for all those still living to dedicate themselves to peace so that the prophecy of Isaiah may come closer to fulfillment: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
May the memory of the dead be blessed. May the purpose of the living be peace.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
North Star News 5/17/2012
This issue of The North Star News will be published on May 17 which is Norwegian Independence Day or simply “Syttende Mai.” At our house the Norwegian flag will be unfurled, we will eat gjetost, sil, and lefse (no lutefisk in the springtime), and celebrate our wonderful Nordic heritage. The Irish have St. Patrick’s Day, the Italians have Columbus Day, the Mexicans have Cinco de Mayo, the French have Bastille Day, but our family celebrates Syttende Mai. Each of these special days celebrates what makes each group different and distinctive.
.
When we turn to the Bible we find that Jesus is a man who transcends all the ethnicities, tribes, tongues, and nationalities of the human race. When St. Peter was explaining to Cornelius who Jesus is, he added parenthetically “he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:36) Cornelius was an Italian; Peter was an Israelite. Cornelius was a soldier; Peter was a fisherman. Cornelius was a serious seeker after God; Peter was a full-fledged life-long Jew (Acts 10:11). But when Peter baptized Cornelius and his household into the Christian faith they were united as brothers in the faith. They might each enjoy their heritage, but they delighted in a new found unity in professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
.
In Jesus’ great prayer in John 17 he prayed for his disciples “that they may one, even as we are one.” [Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father] (John 17:11) He went on to pray “not for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that the world might believe….” (John 17:20-21) It was not long before those who believed in Jesus came not just from Judea and Galilee, but from Italy, Ethiopia, and other places all over the globe. Indeed, on Pentecost Day there were “devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5) who listened to Peter preach, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and were baptized into the faith.
Those of us who live in predominantly Christian communities and a predominantly Christian nation are to remember that God cares for all the people in the world and watches over every nation in the world with as much love and care for one as for any other, even those where other religions predominate. In John 10:16 Jesus the Good Shepherd said, “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.”
As much as one may delight in an ethnic heritage, or take pride in being a member of the Red Sox nation, or be proud to live in Twins Territory (even in 2012), what really matters is that Jesus Christ is Lord and God is Father, so all become brothers and sisters in Christ. As it says in Ephesians 5:5 “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
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When we turn to the Bible we find that Jesus is a man who transcends all the ethnicities, tribes, tongues, and nationalities of the human race. When St. Peter was explaining to Cornelius who Jesus is, he added parenthetically “he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:36) Cornelius was an Italian; Peter was an Israelite. Cornelius was a soldier; Peter was a fisherman. Cornelius was a serious seeker after God; Peter was a full-fledged life-long Jew (Acts 10:11). But when Peter baptized Cornelius and his household into the Christian faith they were united as brothers in the faith. They might each enjoy their heritage, but they delighted in a new found unity in professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
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In Jesus’ great prayer in John 17 he prayed for his disciples “that they may one, even as we are one.” [Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father] (John 17:11) He went on to pray “not for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that the world might believe….” (John 17:20-21) It was not long before those who believed in Jesus came not just from Judea and Galilee, but from Italy, Ethiopia, and other places all over the globe. Indeed, on Pentecost Day there were “devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5) who listened to Peter preach, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and were baptized into the faith.
Those of us who live in predominantly Christian communities and a predominantly Christian nation are to remember that God cares for all the people in the world and watches over every nation in the world with as much love and care for one as for any other, even those where other religions predominate. In John 10:16 Jesus the Good Shepherd said, “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.”
As much as one may delight in an ethnic heritage, or take pride in being a member of the Red Sox nation, or be proud to live in Twins Territory (even in 2012), what really matters is that Jesus Christ is Lord and God is Father, so all become brothers and sisters in Christ. As it says in Ephesians 5:5 “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
Thursday, May 10, 2012
North Star News 5/10/2012
As we prepare for the celebration of Mother’s Day on Sunday please remember how important little acts of kindness and honor really are. Although the American observance of Mother’s Day only goes back to 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson made it an official national holiday, the idea behind Mother’s Day goes back to the days of Moses. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, one commandment was “honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” And in Ephesians 6:2 St. Paul notes that “this is the first commandment with a promise” when he counsels children to obey their parents in the Lord.
The Bible is teaching that children are to show respect and obedience to their parents and that adults are to show respect and honor to their parents no matter how old they may be. This is a commandment for every day of the year, one with the result that “it may go well with you” as well as that “you may live long upon the earth.” (Ephesians 5:3) People of any land, whether it is the Promised Land of the Hebrews or the wide land of the Americans, will build a stable and wise society when parents are given respect and honor on a daily basis.
My maternal grandmother died in 1936 when my mother was only 7 years old. I have often wondered what she was like and how she handled her final illness. What was she thinking as she lay dying in a TB sanitarium along the Wisconsin River knowing that she would be leaving a little boy and a little girl behind. After she died along came another woman and her husband who took my mother into their home as a foster child. They raised my mother as the child they never had, although they never legally adopted her.
When I went off to college I decided to write a letter once a month to my foster grandmother, who now lived with an illness of her own, multiple sclerosis, which left her paralyzed. In the nursing home where my foster grandmother lived a kindly Roman Catholic nun would come on Sunday evenings to read to the residents and occasionally write letters for them. She wrote a short letter to me that my foster grandmother dictated, and then, like Tertius in Romans 16:22, added her own little note. She wrote “I want you to know how much your letters mean to your grandmother.”
My foster grandmother died a few months later. No one wept, for she was freed from the prison that was her paralyzed body for so long. I never met the nun who wrote that little note. I have long forgotten her name, but I have never forgotten what she wrote. A simple letter by a skinny kid in his freshman year of college had brought a little cheer into the life of a woman who had done a magnificent thing in opening her home to an orphan in the midst of the Great Depression. And I never forgot how important little acts of kindness and honor really are. Do something nice for Mom this Sunday. She will appreciate it.
The Bible is teaching that children are to show respect and obedience to their parents and that adults are to show respect and honor to their parents no matter how old they may be. This is a commandment for every day of the year, one with the result that “it may go well with you” as well as that “you may live long upon the earth.” (Ephesians 5:3) People of any land, whether it is the Promised Land of the Hebrews or the wide land of the Americans, will build a stable and wise society when parents are given respect and honor on a daily basis.
My maternal grandmother died in 1936 when my mother was only 7 years old. I have often wondered what she was like and how she handled her final illness. What was she thinking as she lay dying in a TB sanitarium along the Wisconsin River knowing that she would be leaving a little boy and a little girl behind. After she died along came another woman and her husband who took my mother into their home as a foster child. They raised my mother as the child they never had, although they never legally adopted her.
When I went off to college I decided to write a letter once a month to my foster grandmother, who now lived with an illness of her own, multiple sclerosis, which left her paralyzed. In the nursing home where my foster grandmother lived a kindly Roman Catholic nun would come on Sunday evenings to read to the residents and occasionally write letters for them. She wrote a short letter to me that my foster grandmother dictated, and then, like Tertius in Romans 16:22, added her own little note. She wrote “I want you to know how much your letters mean to your grandmother.”
My foster grandmother died a few months later. No one wept, for she was freed from the prison that was her paralyzed body for so long. I never met the nun who wrote that little note. I have long forgotten her name, but I have never forgotten what she wrote. A simple letter by a skinny kid in his freshman year of college had brought a little cheer into the life of a woman who had done a magnificent thing in opening her home to an orphan in the midst of the Great Depression. And I never forgot how important little acts of kindness and honor really are. Do something nice for Mom this Sunday. She will appreciate it.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
North Star News 5/3/2012
As we begin the merry month of May, let us take a moment to give thanks to God for the beautiful world in which we live. May is a wonderful month beginning with the charming custom of giving May baskets and ending with the serious business of decorating the nation’s cemeteries. The grass is greening up here in the northland. Spring flowers such as daffodils and tulips are springing up and bursting with color. By the end of the month, the lilacs will be filling the air with wonderful fragrances. Robins are building their nests, and ducks are swimming in the wetlands again. The whole earth is awakening to the bright sunshine and warm winds coming this summer.
The bursting forth of new life in May is an echo of the new life in the first days of creation. In the beautiful poetry of Genesis 1:11 it says, “And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind upon the earth.’ And it was so….And God saw that it was good.” As people listen to the chirping of the birds, look at the bright flowers of spring, and smell the fragrances of the season, they experience a little bit of what God experienced in the beginning. According to the creation story in Genesis 2 God created a garden of delights for everyone to enjoy. “Eden” in the Hebrew language means “delight.” God did take delight in all that he made.
If the first reaction of people to the wonders of creation is delight in the wonderful things God has made, the thoughtful response of people is to praise the mastermind of all these good things. Psalm 95:3-7 says, “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it; for his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”
There are a few people who have traveled to outer space and looked back on the earth to see it as a shining blue jewel in the bareness of space. Recently a few explorers, including movie director James Cameron, went to the depths of the sea when they visited the Marianna Trench in the Pacific Ocean. In an interview on National Public Radio Cameron spoke about how awesome it was to see strange and delight forms of life in the depths of the sea. Ordinary people have simply visited the colorful choral reefs in the ocean or the immense Grand Canyon in the desert. These places are awesome and lead some to stand in awe not only of the creation but of the creator.
But right here in northwestern Minnesota there are wonderful delights all around. And right here in northwestern Minnesota God is at work in his creation, bringing life and joy. There is an old adage that encourages people to “stop and smell the roses.” In addition, say a little word of thanks to the creator who has created a word filled with so many good things. Psalm 118 24 says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Newsletter May 2012
When the president of our Eidsvold congregation convened the special meeting of the congregation on April 15 he commented that when the subject of having an intern at Eidsvold again began to be discussed he thought about what the intern could do for the congregation. But lately he had been thinking about what Eidsvold could do for the intern because, he said, “isn’t that what the church is for, doing for others?” These words have come back to me in the weeks since that congregational meeting: “isn’t that what the church is for, doing for other?”
This was certainly the point of what Jesus said and did on Maundy Thursday. According to the Gospel of John, he got up from the Passover table, took off his good clothes, put a towel around his waist, and washed the feet of his disciples. In John 13:12 he said, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” What he was teaching here by example was what he had been teaching with words all through his ministry. The way of discipleship is the way of humble service to others. It is the way of the cross.
In Mark 10 there is an account of two of the disciples, James and John, asking that they be recognized for their status by sitting at Jesus’ right hand and at his left hand when he comes into his glory. In their scramble for recognition, we might wonder whether they might have argued with each other about which one got the right and which one got the left, since the right hand was a higher status. In his response to their request in Mark 10:43 Jesus rejected this whole way of thinking when he said, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is the way of the cross.
Thirdly, in Philippians 2:5 St. Paul encourages all of Christ’s disciples to follow Christ’s example when he writes “Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant……” In other words, the way of the cross.
Modesty, humility, and service are the virtues that Jesus himself practiced throughout his life and that he encouraged all of his followers to practice as well. He did good for others but did not seek fame. He performed great miracles and then told people to keep quiet about them – and give thanks to God alone. He was the Son of God, but he walked about as a humble carpenter’s son from a little town in Galilee. Throughout his life the emphasis was not on what others could do for him, but on what he could do for others. From the beginning to the end, his life was marked by quiet service that spoke more than all the boasting he might have done. His disciples were encouraged by word and by example to be of service to others in quiet humility.
Among the many examples of homespun wisdom in the Book of Proverbs is this in 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” This is such good advice, and timely, too. In the current culture in which we live, it is advice that needs to be heard by politicians, athletes, celebrities, even clergy. Praise is so much sweeter when it comes unsolicited from others. Good deeds that get no recognition at all are the most precious to God in heaven. People who draw no attention to themselves are most noticed by God.
As our parish contemplates the beginning of a 21 month internship 27 years after the last pastoral intern left Halma to finish his seminary education, it is our privilege to be of service to this potential new young pastor as she preaches, teaches, visits, and counsels. Those of you old enough to remember the interns from the past know that the intern is here to learn as much as to serve, to grow as much as to help the rest of us grow in faith, service, and love. We who live here now and will live here long after she is gone can help her become the best pastor she can be.
Together, as we quietly serve one another and the world around us, we prove to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn’t that what the church is all about?
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