Worship

On February 2^nd there will be a rather significant presentation. It will be something that many people have waited a long time for, generations even. And yet it is something that happens every year. I write, of course, about the presentation of our Lord which the church observes on February 2^nd every year. It is the time when “[Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” (Luke 2:22) This is what God had commanded His people to do back in the Old Testament. The idea was that the first-born son of a family would be dedicated to the Lord. Now this did not mean that the kid would then be destined for church work necessarily. It meant that the child needed to be redeemed from the Lord by a sacrifice. Luke tells us that the sacrifice was two turtledoves or two pigeons.

This is interesting in Jesus’ case because He is God and the redemption aspect of His presentation in the temple gets murky. What can be said with confidence is that Jesus was following the rules. He was following the rules that God had set down for His people to follow years ago. As Jesus Himself says, He came not to abolish the Law and prophets but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)

This makes sense when we think about salvation through the lens of Jesus paying the price of our sins    on the cross. He paid with a perfect life, a life that followed all the rules. At first glance, it seems like the presentation of Jesus would be Him being presented to us. While there is an aspect of that in this presentation, the act of presenting a child to God (the Father) is really what the law was about.

You may not think much about Jesus’ presentation in the temple as a month-old baby. But now you are, and it is a good time to think about how Jesus has given His perfect life in exchange for your own. It is also a good time to think about your own presentation to the Lord. You may or may not be a first-born son but you are still the Lord’s. He has claimed you and made you His own through baptism and His word of salvation.

Jesus presented God with a perfect life. That debt has been paid and it a good thing because we couldn’t pay it ourselves. But what about now? Now that you have already been given salvation, what will you present to God? What gifts has God given you? What are you good at? What do you do that can be helpful for other people? How can you show God’s love?

It’s something to think about at all times; before, during, and after the presentation on February 2^nd.

~ Pastor Mehl

This painting is “The Visitation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner. It depicts Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth while both are miraculously pregnant with Jesus and John the Baptist, respectively. We are used to depictions of biblical   figures, especially Jesus’ mother, where the subject is outstanding in some way. Plenty of artists depicting biblical scenes will give Jesus or other prominent figures (such as “saints”) a halo or some such thing in order to distinguish them from other, more common, folk. Occasionally, someone like Mary will be engaged in some very pious activity like studying scripture or praying. I guess it would not do to have Gabriel visit her while she is eating or tending a fire or sitting there doing nothing. While it makes for an interesting piece of art, I think it also puts a bit of distance between us and the biblical character when we see them as somehow holier or more pious than we are or could ever be. We see the picture and think that that person must live a life that is completely different than mine and I cannot relate to it at all.

In “The Visitation,” we have a scene that depicts clothing and architecture that we may be unfamiliar with but everything else seems relatable enough. Elizabeth looks like she is sitting down to a meal or a snack or something (she’s 6 months pregnant so maybe Zechariah just got back from the store with those oranges and pickled beets Liz was craving). In comes cousin Mary to greet Elizabeth and the scene we have is the expression on her face. Luke records it this way, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 1:41)

Tanner was born in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s so, he’s not painting this from memory. This is his depiction of what things might have looked like when an extraordinary set of circumstances come upon otherwise normal people. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary’s child her Lord and unborn John leaps for joy in His presence. This is the first time Jesus, God in the flesh, is called ‘Lord’ by mankind and is worshiped as such.

There is a lot going on this time of year. As I write this it is the eve of Christmas. Soon it will be the start of a new year. We may pause to think about the gifts God has given us in the past year and the gifts God has given us through His Son. Mary and Elizabeth, I’m sure, paused to reflect on the things that God had given them and what God was going to do in the future. Yet, all the while, they had no choice but to do these things as normal everyday people who had to eat and sleep and live their lives.

As you live your life, as you eat and sleep and do whatever you do, you may think of yourself as an ordinary person. When you see pictures of yourself there may not be a halo around your head but just the same, God has given you extraordinary gifts. He has and is doing extraordinary things to you, and through you. Those pictures of you without a halo do not mean that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. You are. God is with you when you sit down to eat, when you lay down to sleep and when you open your mouth to give Him praise. This coming year, live your ordinary looking life with the knowledge that God has made you extraordinary by giving his Son and His Spirit to Mary, to Elizabeth and to you. Happy New Year.

~ Pastor Mehl

November 1st is All Saints day. That works out well when the first falls on a Sunday but it is an important enough holiday in the Church that we observe it on the Sunday following November 1st when that day is not a Sunday. Often the takeaway for Christians like you and me is that there are people in the past who lived good (though still sinful) lives and that we have something to learn from the good they did. Also, a particularly Lutheran perspective would be that all Christians are saints because they have been redeemed by Christ. This thinking follows the line that a saint is someone who is perfect and you and I are prefect because Jesus has redeemed us by His blood, therefore we are saints.

Another facet of this jewel that I would like to talk about with you briefly is the fact that all saints are different people and yet are one in Christ. This is a reality that is captured by the phrase in the Apostle’s Creed; ‘communion of saints’. This does not mean that we somehow benefit when the saints up in heaven take communion or something. It refers to the unity of the saints, the unity of all believers. Of course, there are more saints who are dead than are alive. We are clearly not united with past believers in life but we are still united with them in faith. This is something that happens any time we have faith which, I trust, is pretty much all the time for you. But this communion of saints is even more poignant during the sacrament of the altar.

The ‘Preface’, which is that paragraph I read right after the start of the Service of the Sacrament, ends with this sentence; “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying…”. That “all the company of heaven” part really encompasses a lot of people, including angels even. Though angels are not saints. When we take communion, it is not just a sign of unity with those who are taking communion with us it is sign of unity with those who have ever taken communion. It is a sign of unity with Christ Himself, and by extension all believers in Christ.

So, in a Law sense, we should make sure that we are right with not just the people communing at the rail with us but with all people, now and in the past, who have ever communed at any altar. (And by ‘right’ I mean you have forgiven them and do not hold a grudge against them or something.) From more of a gospel perspective, we get to be united with our believing friends and family who have passed away when we take communion. This happens every time we take communion, not just on All Saints day.

It is hard for me to imagine so large a group of people who are so united in any other way outside of the Church. There are large groups of people out there for sure. There are large countries and large movements encompassing large ideologies out there but they often fall apart because people are so different and are able to find an infinite number of things about which to disagree. That is one of the more surprising and wonderful parts of the ‘communion of saints’. All saints are saints because of what Christ has done for us. Though we are very different people who have lived in very different times and places, though we have different views and preferences, we are all saints. We are all united because Christ unites us. He makes us all saints.

~ Pastor Mehl

The month of October brings some particular images with it. On calendars you see leaves in various shades of brown, orange, red and yellow. Of course, Halloween is at the end of the month and that brings its own set of images to the mix. As far as the Lutheran Church is concerned, Reformation Day is also the last day of the month. Although, the 501st anniversary of the reformation is not quite as exciting as the 500th, the reformation is still the reformation. I’m sure you heard plenty about Luther last year, but to remind you, October 31st is the day that he nailed the ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. He did a lot of other things too, but if you’re going to have an anniversary you need a date and an event that happened on that date and this is the one people have chosen. The argument goes, that once Luther does this, posts those theses for everyone to read, then there is no turning back for him. Sure, he could have recanted, but because the posting was public it would have been hard to quash what he had started. It was the one event that brought with it the most amount of change.

Certainly, change is what the reformation is remembered for in the wider scope of history. It changed the church in big ways and also effected other facets of life in Europe and even around the world. Still today the landscape of American Christianity is defined largely by the categories that emerged from the reformation. And, still today, the church is changing. In our own congregation there have been some changes over the years. The wall of pictures reminds us that we have worshiped in different buildings over
the years. As the recent surveys have also reminded us, we have worshiped at different times over the years as well. It remains to be seen what the future will hold, both for the church (all Christians in the world) and for our church, here in this place. Will we worship at different times in the near future? It seems likely. Will our church still be our church? Yes. The people will be the same. The location will be the same. What is taught will be the same. God will be the same. His word will be the same.

The Church of God will always be defined by people gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). It doesn’t have to be the same people or the same place even, just people gathered in His name. We will have the added advantage of familiar people and a familiar place (something not all Christians have enjoyed over the years). We are quite fortunate to have the blessings that we do of a good place, good people and most importantly a good message that tells us of our loving God. That message is what Luther fought for 501 years ago. It is what Christians have given their lives for throughout the history of the Church. It is a message that tells us what God has done for us 2000 years ago and what He will do in the future. There will be change in the future. Jesus will return and then there will be no more Church. Everyone will gather together and worship God, for all time. (Philippians 2:10-11, Revelation 5:13) That will be a big change, but certainly, a welcome one.

~ Pastor Mehl