Pastoral
Christmas Carols
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Gal. 4:4-5.
Christmas is only twelve days away now. Some people would phrase that as eleven shopping days until Christmas. I doubt that God counted down the days until Jesus was born as so many shopping days until His birth. Neither would have Joseph or Mary. No, that coming birthday was way more important than so many shopping days left.
In the Bible we see that this was something that was planned for a very long time. The gospels of Matthew and Luke both chronicle the genealogy of Jesus showing how God worked in history to bring about His birth. Many other places in the bible show God’s work in bringing that very special day to be. The prophets foretold it, God promised it, and God continually worked in this world to prepare the world for the birth of His Son Jesus. This was a very important event, the biggest since God spoke and created all that there is in the universe.
The fact that we spend a lot of time preparing for Christmas can be a good thing. God sure did. But what are we spending our time preparing for? The commercial side of Christmas? The Hollywood side or the “magic” side of Christmas? Or the spiritual side of Christmas? I’m sure we get involved in some of all of it. After all, it is OK to get people presents for Christmas. It is OK to hope for some special family times or other special events at Christmas. But the real meaning of Christmas starts with a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. It began with the coming of the Son of God to earth, with Emmanuel, “God with us” coming to be with mankind.
That is why I love the Christmas Carols, at least those that tell the story of the birth of Jesus. I must say I get tired of the Santa songs or other songs that tell about a Christmas without Christ. I find such a Christmas empty. For that reason, during the Advent season, I try and have many of the traditional Christmas carols sung at church. We sing them on Sunday mornings, we sang them at our Christmas Banquet, and we will sing them at our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. They are a wonderful way of proclaiming the birth of Jesus.
So, until Christmas, enjoy those Christmas Carols, sing them over and over again. When Christmas is over, we won’t sing them again for eleven more months. Let us proclaim the birth of Jesus in every way we can and at Christmas, everyone is open to those beautiful songs with lines like, “Joy to the World, the Lord is Come,” “Round yon virgin, mother and child,” Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King,” Hark the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King,” “O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord,” and so many others.
And come this Sunday and sing some with us. Then come on Christmas Eve and light the candles and sing some more Christmas Carols. Enjoy the coming of our dear Lord Jesus and celebrate His birth.
Emmanuel
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” That is one of my favorite Christmas Carols. This is a lonely cry for Jesus to come to earth and set our souls free. And this is what Jesus did, he came to earth, was born as a baby and then died on a cross and rose from the grave. He did all this for us, to set us free from sin and open the gates of heaven to all who would believe in Him.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.”
I can hear all of heaven and earth rejoice in the coming of Jesus! I can feel all created things shout for joy at the coming of the Son of God. Jesus did come, we have much to rejoice in.
This is what happened in the greater world that first Christmas. The waiting for the Son of God to came ended and Jesus was born. This also happens on an individual level too. Our souls are in need of Jesus. Our souls cry out for help. Deep inside us, we know we need God and so there is this longing for a touch with our Creator. And he comes to us in Jesus.
Jesus comes to each of us in very different ways, but He does come. He seeks out each of us individually because He wants to set us free from sin and open the gates of heaven to us. How has Jesus come to you? Or, how is Jesus coming to you? Open your hearts and let Jesus come in and He will. The bible says that He stands at the door and knocks and anyone who opens the door to Him, He will come into them. Open the door, Jesus is knocking.
And then, “Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.”
Seeing Beyond
Devotion for 11/13/19 - "Seeing Beyond"
Luke 18:41 “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it.”
There are only a couple of places in the Gospels where it says that Jesus wept. He wept over the death of Lazarus and he wept when looking over the city of Jerusalem because he knew that terrible things were going to happen to it and the people living there.
In this passage Jesus really cries over the lost condition of mankind. Specifically, he knows that the utter destruction of Jerusalem was a mere forty years off. At that time the Roman soldiers would come and destroy the city and the temple completely. So, when Jesus draws close enough to see the city from the Mount of Olives, Jesus cries knowing all the pain and suffering that was going to happen. But more to the point, he cries because he knows that so many people living in Jerusalem did not know the savior.
Jesus was doing this during his Triumphal Entry. Everyone else was dancing and singing and welcoming him to Jerusalem. But Jesus was seeing a different scene. He was looking past their temporary joy and the party they were throwing for him and seeing a very different view. He saw the pain that was hidden, the pain that was coming. He saw the “City of Peace” – Jerusalem - with no peace. He saw the people of God, with no God in their lives.
Here is what I’m thinking as I write this week’s devotional. What am I missing as I look out on my neighborhood and city and world? Do I see what Jesus sees or do I miss what Jesus is really looking at?
For the most part people put up a pretty good front. My neighbors look happy and successful. Their kids go off to play and mom and dad go off to their jobs and everyone looks like they are doing well. But what does Jesus see when he looks at my neighbors? What does Jesus see when he looks at the people of Arvada and Westminster and the region around us?
I really doubt that Jesus sees the surface face that all people put on. I doubt that Jesus sees the happy exterior that we all try to show. No, I think Jesus sees beyond those faces and sees the future of the people in my neighborhood. That is what he was doing when he stopped to shed tears in the middle of a joy-filled parade. Jesus looked beyond the joy, beyond the waving palm branches, beyond the dancing and carrying on. He saw the future of that city and of the people who were welcoming him to their city, to Jerusalem.
And what did Jesus see in their futures? For most of them the picture was grim. The city would fall to total destruction in forty years and many of the people would die outside of faith in Jesus. Both of these harsh pictures or visions caused Jesus to break down and cry.
What do we see when we look out at our neighbors? Let us look beyond the front they try and put on and see their need of Jesus. Without Jesus, their future will look as grim as the ones Jesus was weeping over as he crested the Mount of Olives and saw them welcoming him to Jerusalem.
Let us rejoice over what Jesus rejoices over and weep over what causes Jesus to weep.
Folly or Power?
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
(I had intended to publish this earlier this week, but a snowstorm prevented me.)
Halloween was yesterday. That is also Reformation Day, the day Martin Luther started the process that led to the Great Protestant Reformation. An interesting contrast of significant events on the same day. Everyone in America knows of Halloween, but few know anything about Reformation Day.
I am not going to say much about the two significant meanings for the one day other than to say, one is a lot of foolishness and one is a day of huge historical importance. That is sort of like what it says in 1 Cr. 1:18, folly and the power of God. Some people see the folly, some the power of God. God is in both.
Here is what I see: God is in the folly and the saving power. God’s Word is both. Actually, there is no real folly in God’s word, but it seems like folly to so many people, people outside of faith in Jesus. God’s Word is really the power of God for salvation however, only those who are saved or being saved can see that. So, in some ways, the Word of God is both folly and power.
When I was young, I thought of all things religious, the church, the bible, religious people as foolishness. I was not a Christian and I considered all things spiritual or religious to be silly and empty. I was on the side of the folly. I saw no reason to consider the bible anything other than a bunch of peoples’ words on what they thought about God. But maybe that is because I had never read it!
Then when I started to read the Bible and started to listen to people who were Christians and who lived their lives for Christ, I started to have a problem. The bible couldn’t be both folly and power. Either it was totally foolish, or it was totally the truth and the power of God for salvation. I was struggling inside. I would look at the concept of a God who loved me and see both the folly and the power. Finally, I had to come to the place where I would make a choice in what I would follow. Would I follow the Lord, or would I shrug Him off as folly?
While I could not make that decision, I knew I had to find a solution to my confusion. Which was real, God, or no God; God or science; God or humanism. Many people frame the problem in different ways, but it is always God or something else.
So, I ended up calling on the name of Jesus. Jesus help me! Help me in my unbelief! Help me in my confusion! I had started to believe. The Word of God had been doing its work in my heart and I knew that I believed, but I also struggled. I cried out to the Lord and He heard my cry and filled my heart. I believed, but I still needed His help with my unbelief.
For me, what I thought was folly, turned out to be true. What I once considered to be foolishness became to me the power of God that saved my soul.
Which is it for you, folly or the power of God for salvation?
heroes
Matthew 20:26 “…But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”
In the Christian church some things are upside down, at least when compared to normal culture and society. In our secular society those who are esteemed to be great are given all kinds of honor and put on a pedestal. Often the reason for people giving them high esteem or greatness has little to do with any actual greatness on their behalf. Sometimes it is just because they consider themselves to be above the rest of us and tell everyone how great they are. Sometimes it is because of their sports fame, or because they made a name for themselves by saying something that others wanted to hear. This doesn’t make them great in God’s eyes, and it shouldn’t make them seem great to us.
In our recent, and not-so recent past we have seen people who many considered to be great men or women come tumbling down due to some hidden secret or sin. They never deserved to be put on the pedestal that many had put them on, or that they felt they deserved. They were found out, the mask they were wearing came off and revealed their true self and what was revealed wasn’t what others expected.
Jesus shows us a different kind of greatness. Not one earned the way most people become famous today, but one earned the hard way, by being a servant. There have been very few people that I can think of who achieved greatness in our society by being a servant. Mother Therese is one exception, she served the most needy of humanity, Billy Graham would be another. But most people who are true servants do not end up on TV or somewhere else receiving accolades for being such a great person.
So, why does Jesus say that to be great among believers, we must be the servant? Because greatness as measured by God, is different than greatness as measured by people. And where do we turn to find someone who is a true servant, a truly great servant? We look to Jesus. Verse 28 says that “even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and gave his life as a ransom for many.” In Philippians 2 Jesus is shown to have humbled himself, and after fully humbling himself, even to the point of death, and death on a cross, God highly exalted him.
Jesus served us. The greater served the lesser. Let Jesus be our example and let Him be our hero.
Luther
Here I/we Stand
Martin Luther is obviously the one who started the Lutheran Churches all across the world including our denomination, the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. Actually, we are originally a break-off of Lutheran churches from Norway as immigrants moved to the US around the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But we trace our roots back to Martin Luther and Lutheranism in general.
One of the things we stand with Luther on is the Bible. What he really did was take a stand on believing the words of the Bible. We believe, as did Luther, that the Bible is God’s Word. It isn’t the word of man, even though God used men to write it. We believe it is God’s Word. And that makes all the difference.
It made the difference for Martin Luther when he was on trial and was called upon to renounce his writings and teachings. After giving it serious consideration, after all, his life really depended on what he would answer, he stood firm and said that he stood on the teachings of the Bible. He said he could not do otherwise. And why could he not do otherwise? Why would he risk death to take a stand for the Word of God? Why can and should we?
Because if the Bible is indeed the Word of God, it is worthy of his and our taking a stand with and for it. We can put our trust in it. We can stand for what it says. We can organize our life around it. We can live for it. And we should, for it truly is God’s Word.
This Oct. 31 it will be 502 years since Luther started the great reformation and began a great “back-to-the-Bible” movement. Let us continue it. Let us take the solid words of Martin Luther in his response to those who called him to renounce his writings and teachings and stand for the Word of God. In our life it will likely look different. Our life will not likely hang in the balance, but a lot actually does.
Standing up for God’s Word means going against the grain in today’s society. It means not following the crowd in many of the social and political ways of today. It may mean losing friends or even a job. But it will be worth taking a stand for God’s Word. For His word is what must guide our life. His word must be what our church stands on and what we personally live for and stand on.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man (and woman) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Here are Luther’s words from the biography “Here I Stand, A Life of Martin Luther” by Roland Bainton. “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. ‘Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.’ God help me. Amen”
Friends
Devotion for 10/9/19
Friends
Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
This Sunday we are having our Friendship Sunday. So, I will visit that subject today in this devotional. I don’t usually do that, but felt it fitting today.
In Proverbs we have this wonderful verse about friends. A friend loves at all times. This is what Jesus taught about. Love one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength. Now, no one can fulfill this perfectly. Trust me, I am one who has let down a lot of friends over the years by not fulfilling this verse to them. I know I have sinned in not being the friend who loves at all times.
But, there is a friend who does and that friend is Jesus. He loves at all times. He loves us when we seem loveable and when we are in no ways loveable. He loves us when we obey him, and when we disobey him. He loves us when we love others as we are called to do and when we let them down. He loves us when we love our neighbor and when we give them a cold shoulder. He loves husbands and wives when they love each other and when they do not show love to each other.
Jesus loves at all times because He is our real friend and the only one who never fails. He is the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 13 where it says that “Love never fails.” Jesus never fails.
The second part of that says a brother is born for adversity. We all fall into times in our lives where we have struggles or problems. Sometimes we bring them on ourselves, sometimes they come out of nowhere and jump into our lives unwelcome and unbidden.
Perhaps that is where you are at today, in a place of unwelcome adversity. If so, know this. Jesus is there. He is your brother born for adversity. He will walk with you through whatever it is. Psalm 23 says He will walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death.
Even when no one else would want to be with us or to help us or to listen to our struggles, Jesus is there. Tell Him about your struggles. He will listen. Give Him your cares for He cares for you and He will be there as you deal with those issues in life. Ask for His help because He calls us all to pray to Him and ask Him for anything. He already knows what it is you are dealing with, so just be honest and talk with Him about it. He is your brother who will be there and who is willing to walk with you through whatever struggle has come your way.
Jesus is the friend who loves at all times and the brother born for adversity and He is there for you. Let Him in to your struggles. Let Jesus love you.
Alone
10-2-19
"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
Sometimes we feel like we are all alone. Our friends and family seem far away, and maybe they really are. For example, our children have all moved away, our closest child and grandchildren are 120 miles away in Wyoming. Sometimes we can feel like people who should be close to us, are pulling away from us or too busy to help or even understand us.
We live in a world where we are more and more isolated. While many thought the internet would make the world smaller, and in some ways, it has; it has also made many people feel even more isolated and alone. For some, the more they use social media the more alone they feel. The same is true for many people in other ways. Even thought we may live in a large metropolitan are, that doesn't mean we will know many people or feel close to any. It is amazing how many people do not even know their own neighbors.
Unfortunately, many people feel the same way about God. They feel alone or isolated from Jesus. But this doesn't need to be. Jesus doesn't want anyone to feel alone or isolated from Him. In Hebrews is says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. In Psalm 23 is says that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is still with us. In many other places in the Bible we are told that we are never alone for God is always with us. Even the name of Jesus in Matthew one, Emmanuel, means "God with us."
So, why do some many people feel alone? Why in the midst of so many people do some people feel alone? Why to some feel separated from God when God tells us that we are never alone?
I think it is because of a number of things. First, Satan doesn't want us close to God so he will do everything he can to make us feel distant from God. Second, sometimes we pull back. That is true with our friends and family, sometimes we pull back from them. It is also true of our relationship with God. Sometimes, for various reasons, we pull back from God. And anther thing that enters into this is our busyness. In today's world, especially here in America, we live busy lives. It is easy to neglect relationships when we have so little free time, even in our relationship with God.
But the good news is that God is still there. If we reach out to Him, He is right there. If we desire to be closer with God, He will draw near to us for He desires to be closer with us.
So, do not let neglect or busyness or Satan keep you from the One who loves you the Most. God loves us all and indeed the Bible says that God is love. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Even if you cannot see Him or hear Him or feel Him, He is there. Lean on Him for He loves you and is with you.
Pastor Gary
PS. It can begin with a simple prayer, "Lord, I want to be close to you..."
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Starry Starry Night
9-25-19
Starry,Starry Night
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
I was in the mountains of Colorado last week hunting. It was beautiful. The weather was warm and sunny and the nights were cool. Perfect weather to camp under the stars. And were there ever stars! The first night there was a full moon and it was awesome to watch in the clear mountain air. But over the next few nights the moon rose later and later until finally we were able to spend some time looking at the stars before the sky grew lighter with the moonlight.
Wow! Were there ever a lot of stars, way more than I can ever see from my home in the suburbs. Of coarse we knew this before we went. We’ve camped under the stars before and I am always impressed by the Milky Way, the visible planets, millions of stars and even the moving paths of airplanes and satellites. All were easily visible when the sky was dark.
While my friends and I were star gazing one quoted this verse from Psalm 19. And we could feel the weight of what King David was saying. He saw those same stars. He saw the planets too. No, he didn’t see airplanes or satellites, he could not even imagine such a thing.
When David was young, he tended his father’s sheep up in the Judean hills. Even when he was home in town, there would not have been enough light from the people’s lamps to dim the view of the stars at night. Every night of his life, he could look up and see the stars that God had put in place. And what did he say of that sight? That they declared the glory of God. That the sky itself proclaimed his handiwork.
David saw God in the vastness of a space filled with stars. He saw God’s workmanship in the sky above. This Psalm goes on to say that every night and everyday God’s glory is shown, that God Himself is shown in what he created.
Then he changes and talks about God’s word and David says it is perfect and that it revives the soul. Why does he connect the two? Because they are both the work of God for man and both of them reveal the One who made them. God’s creation shows a bit of who God is and His word does so even more. Both are magnificent. Both and part of God’s plan to show Himself to us. Both are telling us that God is real and that He is here for us.
Next time you get a chance to look up at a star filled night, away from the bright man-made lights of the city. Look up and consider this, that He who created all that there is, created you and me. He created all of us, and He knows us.
When I see that many stars and try and think of how vast creation is, I am overwhelmed. My simple mind cannot comprehend the vastness of space. In those instances I feel very tiny in an overwhelmingly huge universe. But in the midst of that, I am reminded that God cared enough about this tiny speck of a human in the vastness of all of creation, to send Jesus to die for my sins and open the doorway to heaven.
“What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:4. God cares for you, even though we seem so insignificant, He loves us anyway. Praise the Lord.
9-4-19
Devotion for 9/4/19
Acts 2:2 “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind…”
This week I have been watching the weather reports of Hurricane Dorian. Deb and I have a special reason to do that besides idle curiosity. We went to visit some people in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island several years ago who were interested in possibly starting a Lutheran Brethren Church. They were wonderful people and we got to know some of them very well.
So, as the eye of the hurricane parked itself over or next to the island, we knew that our friends there, and all the people who lived there, were in a terrifying situation. There is literally nowhere to go, but to hunker down and wait it out, hoping your place will remain standing.
Most of the island is less than 15 feet above sea level at its highest and one and a half miles wide by 52 miles long. So, park a hurricane on top of that and it is terrible.
Now think of the Christian song “Fierce” by Jesus Culture. The words read, “Like a tidal wave crashing over me, rushing in to meet me here, your love is fierce like a hurricane that I can’t escape tearing through the atmosphere, your love is fierce.”
In 2017 another hurricane hit Florida when this song was really popular. The churches in Florida stopped playing it, it hurt too much. The hurricane brought terrible destruction. I can only imagine how our friends in the Bahama’s are feeling right now from hurricane Dorian. Would they compare God’s love to a hurricane? I really doubt it. How about to a tidal wave? The families who lost loved ones in the tsunamis in Japan and Indonesia wouldn’t either.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit is compared to the sound of a rushing wind. Imagine what it must sound like in a hurricane! But, there was no violent, destructive wind in the room where the disciples met. The building did not splinter and break apart with them in it.
I understand what the Christian musicians mean by God’s love being like a hurricane, but I also believe we need to use better metaphors and similes. God’s love does not destroy and terrify, it calls us to Jesus and fills us with peace. Maybe that is why God was not in the mighty rushing wind for Elijah, but in the whisper of a gentle breeze.
Pray for the people in the Bahamas and wherever else Dorian brings terrifying wind, rain and floods. And pray that you can be filled with the gentle whisper of God’s love and of the Holy Spirit who sounded like a mighty rushing wind and appeared as flames of fire. We need more of Him in us to build us up and fill us with God’s love. We don’t need a hurricane but the gentle breeze that carries with it, God’s message of hope in Christ.
8/28/10
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should no perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
We all know this verse. It is a cornerstone verse for all Christians across the world. There is one word in it I want to focus on here. That word is believe.
Why is it to essential that someone believe? We could likely use another word to help here like trust. The two words go hand in hand. You do not really believe in something or someone if you do not trust them. An example of this is the picture of a person standing next to a chair. If that person doesn’t trust the chair, they do not really believe in it. If they do believe in it, they will prove it by sitting on the chair. If they do not sit, they show they do not believe it will support them and so do not believe in the chair.
So, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? To trust him and to trust in him. And we prove that by placing our lives and futures and everything we have in his care. If we do not trust him, we hang onto our things ourselves. If we do trust him, we give him those things knowing that he can take better care of them than we can.
So, what are we still hanging onto? What have we not given to Jesus? Our money? Our children? Our homes? Our future? Our love life? What? I’m sure there are some things we are still clinging to thinking and proving that we cannot trust God with them. But sadly, we are wrong. We can trust him with everything, we just need to believe in him enough to hand those things over to him too.
You see I think we are all like the man in the bible who said, “I believe, help me in my unbelief.” We read those words last Sunday in our Scripture reading section of our service. I do believe. We do believe. But… There are likely still things we all cling to showing that while we do believe in Jesus, we could, and should, trust him more.
Today as you go about your day and week, seek out those areas in your life where you trust, but need help trusting more. Then call upon the Lord, who gives freely to all, to help you in that faith, that belief, that trust.
We could all use more faith; it would surely help us in our life and walk. And faith, or belief is a very powerful thing. Faith in Jesus forgives our sin, opens the doors to heaven and helps us get through this world with all its problems and issues. Let us have more of that. Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.
Coming Home
This is the new/old pastor, Gary Witkop. I started here on August 1, of 2019 as the new pastor for Community In Christ. I am excited for this ministry. This is actually my second time serving CIC, hence the new/old reference. I served here from 1995 until 2009 in my previous service in this church. In the gap between then and now I served as the Regional Pastor for the Western Region of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. Now I'm back, and for my wife Debra and I, it is coming home. We are home to our home church where we are excited to serve once again.
Now, just because we were here before, doesn't mean things will return to what they were. In the 9 1/2 years that I did the other ministry, many things have changed. As President Larson said in his message when he installed me as the new pastor here on Aug. 4, "Many things have changed, Pastor Gary changed, the community changed and this church has changed." All that to say, while we are coming home, it will be different. The one thing that hasn't changed is the Lord. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8. I am so thankful that He never changes. So much in this world changes constantly, but we can rest in our creator for he never changes.
May the God who never changes, bring his unchanging presence and power to Community In Christ as together, we move forward in ministry to the people of CIC and to the community around it. There are many who need Jesus and we are here to bring the unchanging Savior to the people of this community. And why would we want to do that? Because Jesus has what the people around here need, the life changing message of the cross. Jesus Christ died to save sinners, and we are all in need of his saving grace.
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