Dear Saints in Christ, I have had our nation, this election and our participation in it in my prayers these past few days.  I’m sure you have done the same as well!  I know we all are experiencing a bit of anxiety as the big day has drawn ever closer.  Well, tomorrow is the day.  I wanted to send a quick word of encouragement and hope!

Some days, it may feel like America has reached its breaking point.  We face a deeply divided nation.  And there are two very different potential paths ahead of us depending on who is elected tomorrow.  But no matter what happens, remember that we have great reason to be hopeful no matter what.  In Psalm 20:7, we’re reminded that our trust isn’t in chariots or horses—the things of this world.   Our faith isn’t in political parties.  Our confidence is not in presidents, but in a God who’s in control and loves each and every one of us!  And He knows exactly what is going to happen in the coming days, months, and years.  He has a loving plan and future carved out for each and every one of us.  And God is faithful!  No matter what the outcome, we have His Son and a loving message of forgiveness and hope in Jesus for everyone!

So make sure you vote your heart if you haven’t already!  But know in that same heart that God is lovingly in control and means for us not to judge others, but to love Him and our fellowman no matter what!  Together in His care, Pastor Craig

I am a Jack O’ Lantern
My lights will shine so bright
For I’m a Christian pumpkin
My symbols tell what’s right

My nose is like the cross
On which our Savior died
To set us free from sin
We need no longer hide

My mouth is like a fish
The whole wide world to show
That Christians live in this house
And love their Savior so!

The story starts at Christmas
My eyes are like the star
That shone on Baby Jesus
And wise men saw from far

My color, it is orange
Just like the big bright sun
That rose on Easter Day
Along with God’s own Son

And so on Halloween
Let’s set our pumpkins out
And tell the trick or treaters
What God’s love is all about!

Members of CROSSROADS FOOD PANTRY volunteered at TABLE OF HOPE’s Food Distribution at Swan Lake Park off Rt. 15 in Jefferson last week.  Table of Hope, with groceries from the Community Bank of NJ, stations themselves at various locations in Morris County and delivers, in contact-free fashion, canned goods, fresh produce, dairy & meat to those  who are food insecure.  We worked alongside other Jefferson Food Pantry members, and helped pack and deliver bags & boxes of food, to a long drive-up line of cars. How rewarding for all of us to be working for the same cause!  AND, we came away with donations of surplus for our OWN Food Pantry!!

After 16 years of the sun, snow, wind & rain beating down on me,  I looked so washed out & tired!

It was time to get a “facelift”!

So, I took a little trip back up to the outskirts of Albany, NY (did a little leaf-peeping on the way).  It was only right that I should return to my original birthplace at MONTAUK SIGNS.   Kevin, the woodcarver who made me, was so happy to see me.  He set out immediately to get me spruced up (cleaned the mold & lichen from my back side) and bright again (repainted and reapplied the 24K goldleaf)….….getting me back to my initial brilliance, and, a week later, I was on the road back .  I couldn’t wait! Once I was able to get back on my new “legs”,  I let out a sigh of relief!  I was finally home on Paradise………    Thank you, Kevin, for your expertise in taking such good care of me!  (And thank you Dot and Brian for making it all happen!)

How’s your memory?  I sure don’t want her to keep score for me!  There aren’t numbers enough to record my lost golf balls!

Joking aside, on Friday, September 11, our memories will kick in as we remember that awful day in 2001 when our nation was terrorized by evil.  Some tragedies of the past are so impactful we remember where we were when we first found out.  I remember sitting at the kitchen table 57 years ago with dad’s arm around me as he shared the assassination of JFK.   I needed the comfort of his embrace!  How raw the emotion of 911 only 19 years ago and 45 miles away as we found out the terrible reality of the world’s deadliest terrorist attack!  But we have to remember and honor the lives of some 2977 heroes who died, the many injured who still live with their challenges, and our God who brings good despite humankind’s evil!

Our tradition at Holy Faith is to call the community to remembrance on Patriot’s Day.   On September 11 each year we ring the bell for two minutes at 8:46 a.m. – the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower of the WTC.  We ring again at 9:03 a.m. – when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower.  We ring a third time at 9:37 a.m. – the time AA Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.  And a final time at 10:03 a.m.- when UA Flight 93 was brought to the ground by valiant heroes, stopping deadly impact at the White House or the Capitol.  As we remember, we honor and thank God for these heroes and we receive comfort and strength from Him to know His presence and care in Jesus, no matter what.

With this email, I would like to call all of us to remembrance and prayer this Friday.  It is an opportunity for our heavenly Father to wrap His loving arms around us!  Find a small bell to ring in your presence as I ring the Holy Faith bell at these times.  Share with your Lord a time of prayer!  Yes, feel the sadness and pain of loss; yet also receive by faith the grace and peace of Jesus, who always remembers us in our weakness and is with us always.  Let Him make real for us the words of Psalm 91:1-2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!’”        

Pastor Craig      

I wanted to share the wonderful news!  Pile-o-mulch has been moved!!  Woohoo!  Thank you to all who helped, dropping by and pitching in.  The grounds of Holy Faith are looking good as people walk by and see us worshiping out in front of the building.  It is a reflection of our love for Jesus!  Yes, a little time spent using God’s gift of health in labor for Him is also part of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians that remind us that we are the Body of Christ and each of us individual, gifted members of it!  Thanks to Paul Onder, Donna Gedra, the Gould’s, the Rivera’s, John Janis, Marge Bikel, Fumiko and anyone else that stopped by to help!   “Many hands make light the work!”  Take a look!

Love in Jesus, Pastor Craig

I hope you had a wonderful 4^th of July weekend!  Certainly our celebrations were masked and social distanced, yet a small price to pay so that we can be together and share our love for each other!  What freedom we have in our great nation, freedom we often take for granted.  We exercised that freedom as we gathered today inside the sanctuary at Holy Faith for the first time since Covid-19.  It was a small group, yet what joy to worship as God’s Word and our consciences dictate and to do so in person! 

It is always important for us to remember – freedom is never free.  In a Lutheran Hour Ministries devotion I read this morning, the message was clear.  Just consider the cost paid by the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Few were long to survive.  Five were captured by the British and tortured before they died.  Twelve had their homes sacked and looted, occupied by the enemy, or burned.  Two of them lost their sons in the Army; one had two sons captured.  Nine of the 56 died in the War from its hardship or bullets.  They had learned that freedom is so much more important than security.  They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their honor for liberty.  They paid the price and freedom was born.

The price to maintain freedom during our brief 244 years of independence has been  high.  During the Civil War, as the course of freedom would find greatest challenge in America, 360,222 northern lives would be lost, 40,000 of them African American soldiers.  The sacrifice for racial equality continues even today. When Fascism threatened freedom, 405,000 American men and women would give their lives (and so many more lives in the racial cleansing that a deranged Hitler and his henchmen would bring upon the world).  These are merely the lowlights!  The price of freedom is truly beyond our comprehension!

You know where I’m going with this.  We not only need safety from the conflicts and evil of our world, we need freedom from the conflict that is within.  Paul in Romans 7, as he looks at his failed attempts to live as God would have him live, concludes, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will save me…”   Jesus does!  What a sacrificial Savior we have!  He paid for our freedom, not only for now but eternally, with His very life.  Entering our sinful mess, He lived the perfect life.  Taking our wrongs upon Himself, He dies the death we deserve.  The price is paid and then the gift is given:  freedom from guilt as we receive through faith complete forgiveness,  freedom from anxiety as we have our Risen Savior with us always, freedom from fear that would hold back our sharing Him.  Yes, He paid the price so that we receive His grace freely given.  Jesus words in John 8 are true for us:  “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!”  Share the grace!  Pastor Craig

Psalm 126 has brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart!  It is a Psalm of Ascents.  God’s people would pray/sing these words as they walked “up” to the temple in Jerusalem to worship.  No matter the direction from which one comes, the walk is always upward to the highest point in Israel, Jerusalem and the temple.  The words of the psalm flows from thankful hearts of those returned from exile in Babylon.  We are marching with God’s blessing to worship together again in our temple.  Yes, still a dream, but God has done great things for us and He is moving us ever forward with joy!  May this video psalm fill us with hope!  Love in Jesus, Pastor Craig

What a beautiful day!  Spring has sprung!  Closed in our homes, how we wish that we would all be sprung from our confinement!  As spring has us filled with excitement for the summer to come, what we hear happening in states all around has us expectant to be out-and-about, gathering again.

This COVID season has been tragic and seemingly without end; yet God has been good and with His presence has blessed each of us.  An important lesson I will take beyond this season is patience.  Take a deep breath, breathe in His love and forgiveness so that with clear heart and mind the fullness of each moment can be appreciated as God’s gift.  Our gracious God is at work in all things and in His time he brings about all things needful.  He has taken care of our salvation in the sending of His Son!  He is already at work to move us forward to life together again.

With the gift of patience and with plenty of time together at home, Fumiko and I have been blessed with each other.  We have spent our time at the dining room table, each facing our laptops.  Sure, we both have had lots to do.  What a joy, though, to do it together!  We have enjoyed cooking meals, each doing a part so that it comes together into a delicious whole.  Perhaps a Sunday tradition for the Lutz’s moving forward.  Even household chores aren’t so awful when they’re done as a team!

It has been the lesson of the cardinals for us.  No, I’m not talking about the St. Louis Cardinals (though I DO miss baseball).  Just outside the dining room window is our bird feeder.   We have especially been visited by a pair of cardinals.  A beautiful reflection of God’s creative power, they have become special to us.  Fumiko calls them “her” cardinals.  Whenever the feeder is empty the male comes and sings his song to let us know.  As soon as it’s filled, the pair is there feeding each other.  It almost looks as if they’re kissing!  With a little research we came to find out that cardinals select a mate for life.  They work together to build their nest, the male bringing the material while the female puts it together.  Especially during this period the male will bring her food and actually feed her.  Yes, God even has a plan to bless the cardinals with each other.

I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Mt. 6:  “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?…  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”  Our heavenly Father has given us Jesus!  Our lives are eternally secure in Him.  He has blessed us with relationship:  our spouse, family and friends.  And we have one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, to love and encourage each other in our task of walking with Jesus.  Our Father has a plan for us to worship and hug and share in person again!  Know the Savior and my love.  He has given us Jesus and each other.  Pastor Craig