ILC Devotion 31 December 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion

Monday 31 December 2012

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^RSV Isaiah 60:1-3  Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. ² For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. ³ And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

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As of late, I have been getting to bed earlier and also getting up earlier. This gives me the opportunity to welcome the dawn. During winter this is easier to do. I see what part of the landscape the sun will rise over; I see the light of a new day dawning. I am a creature of the light - I need to be in sunlight; I seek it out. Sunlight restores me emotionally and physically. I am glad I am in Montana and not Seattle. We have more sun light here and I am thankful.

      This is the last Monday devotion of the year. Tomorrow starts a new year. This past year has been a trying one for many of us. As a country, we have suffered through natural disaster, mayhem, drought, fire, flood, a long and acrimonious election year, and loss. The year 2012 seemed to wear on us more than other years. So what will 2013 bring? I will not make any rash predictions - but I will venture out and say: more of the same. I would hope not, but I am not very optimistic about how we behave as humans and I do not think we are in for a mild and pastoral year weather wise.

      Has the glory of the LORD risen upon us? Reflecting on this past year, we might think the LORD has abandoned us, or if not abandoning us, is not paying attention. God knows we make a mess of things, by what we say and do. God knows we suffer through calamities of our own making and in the natural world. Yet as dark as our lives can become, God sheds his light on us. The light of God comes to us as a baby born in a manger, Jesus - Son of God and Son of Man. Jesus comes and enters our world, struggles with us, lives with us, rejoices with us. Jesus knows what it is to be human. God in Christ Jesus is with us - the light never leaves. We have a hard time seeing it, but the light is with us. If we open our eyes, we can see the light, walk in the light, share the light and live in the light. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.

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We pray: At times LORD darkness envelopes us; we are lost and we despair. We are the ones who turn from the light. Forgive our waywardness, help us to turn to the light, walk in the light and live in the light. May we welcome your Son Jesus into our world and let your light shine in our lives. In Your Holy Name we pray. Amen.

ILC Devotion 17 December 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion

Monday 17 December 2012

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^NRSV Luke 1:46-48a  And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸ for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”

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When you think of Christmas and the events prior to Jesus’ birth - the Gospel of Luke gives lasting imagery, which has fed our hopes and dreams for almost two thousand years. We have the Christmas story read to us at every Christmas Eve service. But on the 4^th Sunday of Advent we hear Mary’s response to God in her life. We hear the Magnificat, this poetry, this hymn Mary offers to her cousin Elizabeth, who carries her child, the future John the Baptist. This is one of the most lyrical, beautiful and poetic passages of scripture, and the Bible is full of great poetry. Mary acknowledges the power of God, this power of God to work through this poor, teen aged woman, who will bear the savior of the world, Jesus.

Mary proclaims this is a God who stands with the weak, the powerless, whose mercy they will see. Her son Jesus will proclaim this Good News to the very same people. God stands with them; God is their salvation. With the sad events of last Friday, we want a God who will be with those who are weak, vulnerable, unable to defend themselves against the power of evil, and their protectors, their teachers. This is the hope we hear in the Magnificat, this is our hope too. We live in a broken world, that brokeness can come upon us at any time and any place, and we are powerless to do anything about it. This is where we will find God, with the weak, the marginalized, those unable to defend themselves, those who care for the young, the hurting, the frail, the vulnerable. This is where we find the face of Christ. Jesus comes to us, in our moments of anxiety, frustration, hurt, despair. Jesus is born to this poor, young mother in humble circumstances as a weak and vulnerable infant, a baby. A baby who comes to show us God’s grace and mercy in a world that can be broken, hurtful, and at times deadly. Yet because of this brokeness, we are given an opportunity to be Christ to others, when we extend the love of God to those who are weak, vulnerable, hurting, as Jesus called us to do so many years ago. Yes, our world is broken, through Jesus we can do something about it. Celebrate this gift God gives to us.

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We pray: Dear Lord, we come before you as your hurting, broken children. We seek you loving mercy and care. Help us to find it and help us to offer your love, care and mercy. Take us, broken though we are and have us be the face of Jesus to all. In Your Holy Name we pray.  Amen.

ILC Devotion - 10 December 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion

Monday 10 December 2012

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^NRSV Isaiah 12:2-3  Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. ³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

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Salvation - is a word used by the Church quite a bit, after all, it is our mission to tell people about salvation. In the study of theology there is even a special branch of theological study called soteriology  - the study of the doctrine of salvation. So how well have we done our job as the Church? How would you define salvation; what does it mean to you? I asked my congregation to ponder this question during my sermon. I had a father of a young man, who is a 6^th grader, tell me his son’s response: salvation means to be rescued. This works for me. But what are we rescued from and what are we rescued for? Martin Luther said salvation means we are rescued from sin, death and the devil. This is one side of the equation, but what are we rescued for? We have to be rescued  for something otherwise why be rescued at all?

Sin does take its toll on us. Because of sin we are in need of rescue, so our lives can be salvaged. We are like a ship, we are at the helm and we have ignored the charts telling us about the reef; we have turned away from the advise of our pilot who warns us to be careful of the danger of obstacles ahead; we have been clueless regarding the weather and the impending storm breaking around us; we and we alone are responsible for running our ship up on the reef and wrecking the ship. We are on the reef and we can’t get off. Jesus is in charge of this salvage operation, Jesus will rescue us. Why would Jesus do this? Jesus sees the value in us, even though we are a shipwreck. Jesus gives his life to rescuing, restoring and salvaging us. Jesus wants us to reach the safe harbor, safe from storm and strife, where we will know peace, the peace that passes all human understanding. That safe harbor is timeless reunion and restoration with God. Through Jesus, we are able to be rescued and experience this divine fellowship with our creator, because God loves us.

Right now our life is on the reef, the wind and waves batter us; we are in peril of breaking up. We seek to be rescued from our destruction and have our lives salvaged so we can experience this love of God and be secure in our relationship with God. Jesus is our salvation, Jesus rescues us and will pilot us to God’s peaceful and loving harbor. We wait for the one who will come rescue us and save us from destruction.

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We pray: We have turned from You, O Lord; we face destruction. Only through Your Son, Jesus can we be rescued, saved from destruction and renew our relationship with You. Help us to wait and watch, and be ready. In Your Holy Name we pray.  Amen.

Immanuel Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion

Advent Devotion - Sunday 2 December 2012

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    Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 14 --  ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. ⁵ Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
    ⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. ⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. ¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
    ¹⁴ The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.

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        I value my friends; they are near and dear to me. If you look at my Facebook page you may think that I have many friends. I may know many people and be acquainted with them, yet I would not call all of them my friends. My friends are a very select group, people that I care very much about. Some I have known for years, since childhood, others I have recently known. I have friends in Montana, Maryland, Missouri and Minnesota, as well as other states and lands. Our connections and relationship with each other have transcended time and distance.
        Yet how many of us would consider God or Jesus as a friend? Jesus or God offers us a friendship that is beyond our human understanding. God offers us steadfast love and faithfulness. To have God as a friend is to know that God is not fickle, God will not cast us aside. Yes, we have friends we highly value, but do they offer the faithfulness and love God offers us? Our friends may be by our side when the chips are down for us, but they have lives to live and they cannot be with us 24/7, the way God can. But to have a friend in God or Jesus does not discount our earthly friends. How can we know God’s love and faithfulness but through our friends who stand by us? When our friends care for us and are by our side we see the incarnational face of God through our friends  love and faithfulness. The psalmist is asking God to teach him divine truths and the path God will guide him upon. The eternal truth: God’s steadfast love and faithfulness given for us through His Son Jesus, who comes into our lives, our world. Jesus calls us to model this with those around us in our community, people we meet when our paths cross. If we want to experience this steadfast love and faithfulness of God, let us model this same steadfast love and faithfulness to not only our friends but all people who we meet in life. God’s steadfast love and faithfulness is to be shared with others, so we may know it ourselves.

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    We pray: Dear Lord, we long to have this friendship with you. Yet we are the ones who turn away. Forgive us, welcome us back to you, so we may experience your  faithfulness and  love for us. In Your Holy Name we pray.  Amen.