Dear Fellow Children of God,
This past week our family celebrated my daughter Mary’s
birthday. We ate together as a family,
gave gifts, and celebrated Mary’s life. Our
gathering focused on the good. The next
day Mary told all her friends on Facebook about our celebration, “Seriously
felt the love yesterday!” We had a good
time.
But, just because we can use birthdays to celebrate the
good, doesn’t mean there are no struggles.
I still remember our first year in Palmer when I brought Mary home from
the hospital. She was 3 ½ years old and
had contracted pneumonia. Mary is
healthy and productive today, but I often wonder about her illness then. The day Mary left the hospital she was not even
strong enough to walk on her own. She
had been really sick. I confess that I was
truly scared at that time. But, today I
am truly thankful that we made it through the struggle of that time to a day of
celebration and joy.
This Sunday St. John Lutheran celebrates our 80th
anniversary as a congregation doing the work of God in Palmer, a birthday
celebration of sorts. We have a joyful
celebration planned for worship this coming Sunday morning with a special
preacher and special music.
But, just because we plan a joyful celebration for Sunday
does not mean there haven’t been times of struggle. Of the original families in the Matanuska
Colony, only a minority continued in Alaska. Times were tough. And I have heard stories of challenge and
struggle from the first pastors and members at St. John. So, today the existence of St. John is a
testimony to the faithfulness of St. John members and pastors through the struggles
of past decades. Faithfulness through
the struggles of the past is a really good reason to celebrate.
We actually see a similar celebration pattern in Hebrews
11 and 12. God there reminds His New Testament people of examples of faith in
the people of the Old Testament. We hear
in chapter 11 about the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses, and many others. These men showed
faithfulness through times of personal struggles in faith and life. In light of these examples of faith in
Hebrews 11, the first 3 verses of Hebrews 12 then call for a celebrative life
of sorts. Listen to the first 3 verses
of Hebrews 12.
“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin
that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out
for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such
opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)
According to these verses, the faith of past believers is
a cause for celebration in the way we live.
In response to these past examples of faithfulness through the struggles,
Christians are called to “throw off . .
. sin”, Christians are called to “persevere”, and Christians are called to “fix
our eyes on Jesus.”
And, when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can rejoice. We can rejoice in the love and forgiveness
and salvation God gives freely through His Son.
But, these gifts of grace did not come without struggle. We are
told of Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.” Jesus “endured such opposition from sinful men,” dying
and rising so we can share in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. This is God’s pattern for celebration,
faithfulness through the struggles to receive the joy of His love.
So, as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of
St. John it is important to face the challenges of today. All Christian churches do face
struggles. St. John faces challenges. Sharing the good news that Jesus is God’s
loving and forgiving Savior for the whole world is not always met with joy in a
culture that is so focused on self. Christians
can be criticized as closed minded for sharing God’s loving guidance in His
law. Christians can be considered
unloving for sharing that Jesus is God’s way to eternal life. But, fixing our eyes on Jesus we don’t grow
weary through the struggles. We see
Jesus’ own suffering and death, and then we personally experience His love and
forgiveness and salvation. So, we
persevere in faith through the struggle.
As St. John celebrates its birthday or anniversary it is
a great time to look back at the gift we have from the believers of the
past. They struggled so that we can have
the gift of Jesus’ love today. This is
true for all Christians; we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
So we can struggle through the present
to share faith in Jesus with those who come behind us. The words of Hebrews 12
are a good guide for our celebration. “2 Let us
fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
A Child of
God, Fixing My Eyes on Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan
****
P.S. Here is a link to an article in our local
newpaper, the Frontiersman, about our anniversary celebration. http://www.frontiersman.com/faith/st-john-to-celebrate-years-in-the-valley/article_2fc576e6-7f24-11e5-8190-5fe17de7473a.html
P.S. I was recently visiting someone in the ICU of
our local hospital who receives this newsletter, From her hospital bed she asked why I haven’t
posted fish pictures recently. Well, here
is my most recent catch, from a local lake on October 19. https://picasaweb.google.com/114993745799525883148/FishingSummer2015#6211550259514137618
ABOUT
‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages,
hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I
have. (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you
are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.) However, if you don’t
want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your
name off my list for this message.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment