“Be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15

During the Cold War’s chilliest days an East German guide took two American tourists aside.  The guide had already tried the patience of his group with his lengthy orations regarding the glories and successes of the Marxist state.  But now in the security of private conversation he sent a message with the young couple:  “Tell your people how fortunate they are.  They should be thankful.”

The apostle Paul was often deprived of his freedom.  He spent much of his life in prison for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus.  But he learned to give thanks to God in every situation for His abundant mercy in Christ.

We who live in the US of A enjoy liberty and freedom.  Despite its imperfections and shortcomings that we often complain about, our country is a huge blessing to each of us!  We are especially free to worship our Lord and share what we believe openly with others.  We don’t realize how fortunate we are!

Let us be thankful for God’s gift of salvation in the life, death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  And may our picnics and parades and fireworks and family gatherings be followed by our prayers and a year-long citizenship which manages this great blessing well!  I know, it’s not Thanksgiving.   But this 4^th of July, let’s be thanks-filled!  Giving God thanks for you, Pastor Craig

“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the Earth.”  Isaiah 49:6

Perhaps in our minds, as we look out upon our present world, we have the thought, “They are hopeless.”  Maybe some of us think that about our own nation.  It is easy to become frustrated as we see bullying, injustice and such and to feel defeated about people and nations.

It’s good to be reminded as we move forward toward our celebration of July 4^th that God loves all people, all nations, especially our own.  So, none are to be thought of as “hopeless.”  God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to die for all.  That includes the people of every nation.

The prophet Isaiah was given a challenging message.  The people of God were not just to be separate and distinct from all nations, from other “ethnic” peoples, from the Gentiles.  They were given to the nations as a light to bring the salvation story to the ends of the earth.  The NT people of God – that’s you and me – are now that light to the nations.

As we thank God this coming week for His blessings on our nation, as we strive to be thankful and helpful citizens, we humbly accept God’s calling to be light to our nation – the light of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.  That news is the hope of our nation and God’s hope for every nation.  Love in Jesus, Pastor Craig

“Go(ing), therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Matthew 28:19

            Ok, time to pray!  Let’s all join hands and form a circle!  How would you form that circle?  Would everyone be looking at everyone else or would their backs be toward the center of the circle?  What a crazy prayer circle with everyone looking out, right?  Well maybe not.

            Before Jesus ascended He commissioned His disciples, you and me, with a “going.”  We who are holding hands facing one another are being turned around.  We may yet be holding hands, but it’s in a different view when we realize how many are yet out in the world and don’t know Jesus.

            That “go(ing)” points to our Lord’s death and resurrection.  It’s not a rule we have to follow.  It’s not a command to which we had better respond.  It’s a joyful reality of who we now are in our risen Lord Jesus Christ.  “Therefore” refers back to how God has provided us faitn in the Christ, who saves us from eternal death.  God’s nature is to seek and to save the lost.  All who are baptized into the power of the triune God are filled with that nature.

            That Pentecost of long ago, with its pouring out of the Holy Spirit, was not a one-time event.  The Holy Spirit is continually filling us through God’s Word and the Sacraments, in our prayer-life and in time with one another so that in our everyday “going” we have Good News for all

            Even through our greatest accomplishments will all gather dust like some trophy on the shelf long forgotten, those whom God brings to faith through our witness will live with us forever.  Be filled with the Holy Spirit this Pentecost and in our everyday lives!  May the Holy Faith Family be an outward focused prayer circle!  Share the Good News of our risen Savior.  Love in Christ, Pastor Craig

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  Whom are you seeking?” (John 20:15)

            In the confusion that the empty tomb at first caused, what else can Mary Magdalene do but break down and cry?  The open grave is of no comfort at this point.  In her mind it points to a grave robber or worse.  Her tear reddened, tear blurred eyes are blind to Jesus.  She can only assume that the person before her is the gardener, charged to care for the cemetery grounds.

            Mary intruded into death’s territory with no hope of finding a resurrected Jesus.  She assumed that the jaws of death, once closed, refuse to relinquish their prey.  She came only with the intention of performing a final gesture of tender respect for her Lord.

            But when Jesus calls her by name – a nurturing, loving, care providing sound she had heard over and over again – she recognizes him!  Can you imagine her joy?!  Only then, in that recognition, her grief is turned to joy!  She is a sheep of the Good Shepherd, and she is known to personally, by name.  The God of peace has brought again from the dead our Lord, who, by His own blood has purchased and won Mary and each of us to be His own possession.

            We do not have to seek Him in the middle of an ancient cemetery.  He is with us this Easter, where He has promised to be – in His Word and Supper.  This Easter Sunday we see Jesus with the eyes of faith!  Our Gospel Lesson will be the experience of Mary Magdalene.  We will have opportunity to feast upon the Risen Christ, the Bread of Heaven, in His Supper.  In the midst of death there is life!  Alleluia!  Praise the Lord!  I look forward to being with you Easter Sunday in our Resurrection worship!  Love in the risen Savior, Pastor Craig

            To remember our sins can be a scary experience!  As Lent begins with Ash Wednesday that’s exactly what we are called to do.  What a mess our sinful lives are:  sins committed, sin realized, sin confessed and thanks be to God, sins forgiven!  With Ash Wednesday we come face-to-face with the wretchedness of every sin, only to celebrate even the worst are forgiven in the mercy and grace of God in Jesus!

            Not only can God forgive, He has forgiven!  God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, into our world, a garbage dump of sin.  He came to become “sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).  Our omniscient, all-knowing God chooses to forget our sins!  Don’t believe me?  Listen to God in Jeremiah (31:34):  “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  Now that’s forgiveness to celebrate!

             Let sin rear its ugly head.  Let the devil try in vain to convince us that our sins are too big or too many for God to forgive and forget.  Thanks be to God, the devil stands accused and condemned.  Through Christ Jesus we stand forgiven

             What a Friend we have in Jesus!!  Tomorrow anyone who wished to receive the cross of ash in the morning may come by church at 9 a.m.  That way your witness may be seen the entire day as you go about your busy life.  But make sure that you come back at 7 p.m. to end the day focused upon the messy brokenness of our lives and the Forgiver who makes us whole.  The next five Wednesdays a soup fellowship will be at 12 p.m. and worship at 1:00 p.m.  There will also be the same worship opportunity at 7:00 p.m. for those who work during the day.  What a Savior, Servant and Friend we have in Jesus!  Pastor Craig

“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Him, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived.”  Luke 2:21

Aller anfang ist schwer!  So states the old German proverb which means, “Every beginning is challenging!” 

That saying is doubly true for January 1^st.  In the world, of course, this day is celebrated as New Year’s Day.  On the church calendar it’s called the Festival of the Name of Jesus, the Day of the Circumcision of Our Lord.    In the world and in the church we focus our thoughts on something new.  That circumcision marked Jesus as God’s own Son and set before Him the new path of the Messiah, the “Chosen One”, to work our salvation.  New Year’s Day brings us a blank calendar filled with opportunities.

The new baby Mary and Joseph brought to the temple brings to all people the promise of new life through the forgiveness of sins won for us by His atoning death on the cross.  But with this newness comes challenge and often difficulties and pain.  During His earthly life, Jesus knew all of these.  Yet He lived with the peace of mind and heart that came from His close and abiding contact with His heavenly Father.  The New year invites us again to name Jesus as the Lord of our lives, to follow His example of living in a blessed relationship with God, and to rejoice in the knowledge that, whatever the New Year brings, He is there for us as our Savior, our Guide and our Friend!

A blessed 2025 to everyone as we together walk with Him!  Pastor Craig