The Sights and Sounds of Freedom

 

It’s that time of year again.  July marks our celebration in America of Independence Day.  There are always many different ways to celebrate this day that involve all of our senses.  There are the sights of the parades, the colorful Firework displays.  The sounds of the “booms” of the fireworks.  The smell of gunpowder, and better still…… BBQ Grills and backyard fires.  The tastes of the food that is prepared.  There is often great emotion simply from the thoughts of the price paid over time for our freedom as well as the enjoyment of friends, family and community. 

 

What a great day for us as a Nation.  We often hear these days of the freedoms that are being “infringed” upon.  Yet, we are the freest nation in the world today.  We have so much to celebrate and to be thankful for.  Often times, these celebrations span days with a long weekend and even weeks as we hear nightly fireworks when we are trying to sleep!!! 

 

As Christians, we have an even greater freedom than that of the US.  We are a FREE “Holy Nation, and Royal Priesthood”.  Here is just a sampling of what Scripture tells us:

 

Galatians 5:1 Christ Has Set Us Free ] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

 

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

 

1 Peter 2:16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

 

2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

 

The sights and sounds of the freedom we have been given in Christ are also important to remember.  Remember the Parade?  The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just a week before His death?  What a sight to behold.  Then the smells of people gathered over their feasts that week, the roasted Lamb, that tastes of bitter herbs during the Passover Meal.  The sounds of the “BANGS” as the Hammer hit the nails of Jesus at his crucifixion, paying that price of our freedom through His blood.  The emotions of people standing at the foot of the cross, some mourning their loss, others mourning their sin as they realized what they had done.  A collective community, in one way or another, recognizing that they have been made free from the Law, free from the sting of eternal death. 

 

It still takes place for us today.  There’s the parade…… the processional to the Altar of the Lord where Passover lamb is still tasted every week in the Lords Supper.  Communities and families gather together to receive the gifts of our freedom in the Church.  The sounds of voices lifted up in prayer, praise and Thanksgiving to God for the sacrifice made once and for all to set us free from the bondage and slavery to sin. 

 

I encourage you to remember this again this year.  As we celebrate National freedom, let’s remember what true freedom is.  Let’s not use our Christian freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another in love.  And let us not cover up evil, but use our freedom in Christ as living servants of Christ.  Let us also, as Christians, FREE CHRISTIANS, stand firm in our faith against anything that would dare try to enslave us again to sin.  For it is by Grace that we have been saved, and set free.  We played no part in the war for our freedom, it was accomplished by Jesus alone.  What a Gift from God!!!  Treasure and protect and stand for that freedom even more than you do for the National Freedom we celebrate.  As a Nation of Believers, a Holy Nation, a Nation set apart for the will and the works of God, let us always celebrate our Freedom in Christ.

 

Pastor Steve

As we approach Thanksgiving and then, shortly thereafter, the end of 2016,  we are reminded of the many blessings that God has given to us.  The question that we should be asking is, “How do we begin to thank God for all that He has done and continues to do for us?”  High on our lists of things to thank our Heavenly Father for should be our new lives in Christ.  In spite of our sinful ways, God demonstrated His awesome love for us by sending His only Son to the Cross on our behalf.  We certainly will also thank Him for our families as well as our health and material blessings.  How blessed we are that God provides for all that we need to sustain our lives, and, through faith that He provides, He will give us life forever with Him.

 

I want to suggest another wonderful blessing for us that we should always give thanks for and that is God’s faithfulness to us.  As the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).  God’s faithfulness to us never wavers, even though we vacillate in our faithfulness to Him.

 

As you thank God this thanksgiving season, we would like to encourage you to put God’s love within you into action.    Through our giving, not simply financial, but giving of our time, giving to the FISH FOOD PANTRY, giving to the plans for future ministry here at Holy Cross, giving of our talents in worship, serving on our council or in any of the ministry opportunities we have, giving without expecting a return…….we demonstrate our gratitude and faithfulness to Him Who is always faithful to us.  How wonderful it is that God promises to bless those who are generous in His name. 

 

Blessings on your Thanksgiving Day as you spend time with your family, enjoy some turkey, and possibly sleep through football. 

   

Pastor Steve

The Exalted State of Servanthood

 Martin Luther, the author of the Reformation which we celebrate the end of October, wrote, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.  A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”  Perhaps those two sentences appear at first to be contradictory.  What Luther was trying to help us understand is that we, as Christians, are called to freedom from an obligation to serve, but that we are called to the freedom to serve joyfully.

This call to joyful servanthood is understood and often scoffed at, simply because we have confused servanthood with servitude.  Servitude conveys the idea of bondage and even slavery.  Servanthood, on the other hand, connotes voluntary service, joyful giving of ourselves, a willing choice to help others, and selfless commitment.

One who is involved in servitude serves unwillingly out of a sense of fear and has no hope of entering into a different state, while one involved in servanthood lives in an exalted state, a healthy and uplifting climate of helping others.  Even though challenges must be overcome and problems may abound, the joy of servanthood is the overriding experience.

How do we get from a state of servitude to a state of servanthood?  This transition is made when we properly understand the Word of God which clearly defines servanthood by explaining Christ’s purpose in coming to Earth: “ . . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).  Jesus has lived the perfect life of the servant in our places, so we no longer are constrained to try to “measure up” to what God expects.  The Law never saves, never enables us, only shows us our shortcomings.

When we look at Christ, though, and how He lived His earthly life and what He has done for us, we are freed to respond with heartfelt, sincere, loving service to those He has placed around us.  The acts of service we render are the same; the motivation and attitude are what make the difference.  Through Christ, we are elevated to the exalted state of servanthood.

Pastor Steve

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  (James 1.27 NASB)

The holiday season is such a wonderful time. What a blessing it is to get together and celebrate with all of our family and friends! I am sure that you can sit back and reflect upon many wonderful Christmases you had in the past. Whether it was receiving (or giving) the perfect present, getting the entire family to spend Christmas together, or preparing the absolute perfect Christmas day meal, those thoughts often make us smile as we remember them.

 However, this is not the case for everyone. Not only can the Christmas season be one of the most joyous times of the year, it can be also one of most lonely. Instead of the memories bringing joy, some struggle with the reality that those good times are gone and that they will be alone with no one to visit them during this time. There are people even in our own community who are burdened by this pain.

 This is where James’ statement comes in. Yet, does pure religion equal doing stuff? This passage seems to go against our definition of religion. For us Lutherans, isn’t religion mainly facts? We pride ourselves, and rightly so, on our doctrine. Above all, we haven’t forgotten the facts. Even in this overcommercialized time, we still remember the reason for the season. The reason is Jesus, how the eternal second person of the trinity came down to our level and was born of the Virgin Mary. This he did to bring about our salvation and the restoration of all creation.

 Yet, these are not dead facts but living, and as James reminds us the living facts of our religion move and act. They are lived out every day among the faithful. When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith, he doesn’t just leave us where we are. Instead, he has called each of us and knitted us together in the one holy Christian church. And, it is in the Church, community of saints, that the historical facts of our religion come alive. As we love our neighbors as ourselves, the Holy Spirit causes our doctrine to take on flesh, ours. In the acts of kindness and mercy we show towards others, we live out pure religion. In this, James is absolutely on the mark. Pure religion is most definitely doing stuff! If our doctrine hasn’t born fruit in your life, then I would recommend that you check your spiritual pulse!

 Indeed, faith lived out amongst the community of the Church flows directly out of the facts of our religion. In this Christmas time for example, we remember the true reason for the season. We think, ponder, and meditate upon the doctrine of the Word becoming flesh, Jesus’ incarnation. In love, Christ sacrificed everything emptying himself by giving up all his power and glory to live among us. In the same way, in love sacrifice you extremely precious time to comfort others. One way to do this is to follow James’ advice to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Go to those brothers and sisters in Christ who are hurting this holiday season. Visit, chat, and spend time with those who might struggle with loneliness in our congregation: the shut-ins, the critically ill, and the poor. That’s what pure religion looks like. That’s what “Christ who for our salvation came down from heaven and was born of the Virgin Mary” looks like today in your life. God bless you, your families, and your celebrations this Christmas.

It has been a year now….. well, on October 6^th anyway.  It was on that day one year ago that I was installed as Pastor of Holy Cross.  For me and Rita, it seems like the time has flown by.  I can sit back and look at so many different things over the past year and see how God has been active in our small congregation.  I could spend my time relishing those or I could spend my time looking at what has not happened that I had hoped for.  But instead of focusing on the blessings and those yet to be seen, I find myself pondering that space in time.  That 1 year, 12 months, 365 days, 8,760 hours etc. 

I am reminded when I consider how quickly the year has passed, that our time on this earth is fleeting.  It is a blink of an eye.  In that seemingly speedy year we have lost several members of our congregation.  Dr. Baird, Bud Geffert, Dan Davis.  My own father passed away during this time.  Members too have lost relatives of their own in just a short 12 months. 

I can recall standing at my fathers grave and seeing the headstone with his name and the numbers 1933-2013.  It is then I am reminded of that “dash” between the numbers.  It too is quick and often overlooked.  Many people stand at funerals and memorial services and question “so soon?  I wish we had more time together.” 

So maybe we need to continually think on that “dash”, that brief time that God gives each of us to be part of His family and a family together in His name.  In the blink of an eye, it flies by.  God gives each of us a certain amount of time to accomplish the work He has given us to do.  A certain number of days to work in His vineyards, planting His seeds, tending His flocks and seeking out those who have gone astray.

We live in the “dash” of God’s timing.  When it is over, God will ask of each of us, “How did you spend your “dash”?  Were you focused on your personal lives and success or were you focused on responding to the Grace and Mercy and forgiveness you have received? “ 

I know how I would like to answer that question, but I also know the reality of my own sinfulness.  In the past year at Holy Cross, there have been many times I was focused on God’s will and His work for me.  There have also been times when I was more desiring of my own ambitions.  I think the same is true for all of us at Holy Cross.  Why?  It’s because whether as Pastor or as parishioner, we are all sinners.  And while we are all sinners, Christ has died for us. 

As we daily repent of our sinfulness and receive His grace and mercy anew, we are able to respond anew to His love for us and our love for Him and for mankind.  We need that constant reminder as well as the constant reminder that “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”, and our days are already numbered by Him who created us. 

Perhaps over the next year, we should not be so concerned with the “Why’s and how’s”, but rather the “who’s, what’s and where’s”.  Who do we serve?  What does God call us to do?  Where has He placed us to work?  Let’s focus on that “dash” of time with Christ at the center and use our time, our talents and our treasures to remind ourselves of Romans 12.  Take a moment to re-read this familiar text.

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Gifts of Grace

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Marks of the True Christian

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Steve

Dear Family and friends of Holy Cross,

It seems as though Summer just started and all of a sudden here we are at the beginning of September again.  It made me realize once again how quickly time passes.  It was just over 1 year ago (Aug. 11, 2013) that I received a call from Larry to inform me that Holy Cross was extending a Call to me as Pastor.  Of course, it also took me and Rita about 5 weeks to prayerfully consider this and then Oct. 6^th I was installed as Pastor.

What an exciting year it has been for us and for our congregation.  We have received in 10 new members over that time, have had several families return to Holy Cross for regular worship and have seen quite a few guests and visitors.  Many things have remained consistent for our church and others have changed for us as we look ahead to how best we can continue to reach out to the community with the Love of God.  

As I look back on the year, I am both pleased with how God has blessed our efforts and yet see the many challenges that still lie ahead for us.  Well, not challenges as much as opportunities for growth and direction and seeking God’s will for Holy Cross and our ability to bring the message of God’s grace through Christ to the community of Crawfordsville and the surrounding area.  

For me looking backward and forward, it seems that the time has gone very quickly and I realize once again how temporary our lives on this earth are.  I also see how God wants us to use that time, our unique gifts and abilities and yes, our financial treasures to continue His mission of Caring for one another and others, Equipping one another and the fellowship with one another as well as sending one another into the world to proclaim Christ Crucified.  It was interesting to me at one of our council meetings when we were discussing the Mission of Holy Cross and the Vision of Holy Cross.  The question arose, “how are we able to care for and equip and send in order to reach the far corners of the world?”  It is a great question.  We are just a small congregation in Crawfordsville Indiana.  What kind of an impact can we possibly have on a global scale?  

I wanted to share a few thoughts and stories of how God uses a small congregation such as ours to reach out beyond our community.  It seems so natural at times, that we may not realize the impact we can have.  I think about some members of our congregation that travel out of state for months at a time during the winter months.  While living in Florida or Texas or wherever they go, they also attend church there.  They care for their neighbors in the community they travel to each year.  The Gospel of Christ is shown in their lives to others in these communities and what they have heard proclaimed here, they live out among others.  Maybe we don’t see it that way because we haven’t looked at it through the proper lens.  They are not leaving Holy Cross for months at a time, they are taking the message they heard to other places for months at a time.  That’s a mission in a sense.

But here’s a different story that I want to share that truly shows how we are able to have a global impact.  Several months ago we had a Farewell and Godspeed commission for my own son Cameron as he was being deployed to Afghanistan.  While we prayed for him and for his safety we also prayed that he would be a witness to others in a difficult and often times dangerous place.  I have seen how God is using him outside of a military aspect and you should too.  Certainly he has seen his share of the horrors of war, but because he had been cared for and equipped with his faith, he was not being sent to simply fight for political freedom but for sharing of God’s love to others.  The two things he has at his side to help him are his bible and his guitar.  After his first month of being in Afghanistan he began a bible study within his platoon.  He had 4 people attend the first time.  (like us, when we see attendance is light, we may get discouraged, but he didn’t.)  He led them in the study of God’s Word and they sung contemporary worship songs that he learned from being part of our praise band.  In just a few short weeks they were up to 12 people attending regularly and sharing in God’s Word together.  He is assured that where two or three are gathered together in God’s name, Jesus is right there in the midst of them.

Holy Cross “Cared” for him, we helped “Equip” him for service and we “Sent” him into a place none of us would want to go and the message of Salvation by Grace, through Faith is having an impact in the midst of a war zone.  My friends, this is what mission looks like.  This is how our vision is accomplished.  It may not be by us, but by being willing to be used locally, we are having an impact globally.  It doesn’t look like “traditional” missions does it?  That’s because there is no traditional missions.  There is only the saints of God caring for, equipping and sending, even when we don’t think that this is what we are doing.  

I think that is the key too.  We have our own ideas of what it means to be a church, to be a mission, to be a disciple and often times we miss how God really wants to use us.  I pray we continue to keep our minds on the things of God and not the things of men and allow God to simply use us as He sees fit and not as we feel is the “right” way.  

Think about it a minute.  In less than one year, God has used this congregation to reach out to at least 12 people we do not know, and who are thanking God that we Cared for, Equipped and Sent a young man to share the message of salvation.  That, my friends, is what we are called to at Holy Cross.  Praise be to God and to Him alone be the glory.

Pastor Steve.