Monthly Archives: June 2015

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on June 20, 2015
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Repentance (As if ripped right out of the headlines) — Rev. David J. Schreffler

June 20, 2015

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you must forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4

“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away…the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

“But when you have returned with your heart to G*d, when you have put away the old person and have put on the new one, then testify to the new person by virtues as you have earlier testified to the old by vices. Nobody becomes a master at once.” Johannes Bugenhagen (1485 – 1558) On the New Person “For All The Saints” volume II, (p. 112)

It is one thing to sin, and to repent to the one to whom you have sinned — forgiveness comes easier the first time then it does the tenth. But to continue to sin over and over again to one person, and to continue to seek forgiveness, well this seems so Sisyphean in logic. Why would we continue to do something sinful over and over and over again to someone, and then expect that our offers of repentance would be met with anything but skepticism? And yet we are commanded to forgive not seven times, not seventy-seven times, but an eternal number of times. So we have trouble — trouble for the forgiver, and the one who seeks forgiveness.

The trouble for the forgiver comes in the act of forgiving someone hoping that this time they will change. But that is not why we forgive — we forgive because Jesus commands us to forgive — an unlimited number of times.  As we watch the community of Charleston, South Carolina deal with the tragic events of the shooting in the AME church, we watch families who are struggling with an enormous loss offering forgiveness for the shooter, and requests for repentance.  A terrible act of hate that transpires in a church, is met with love that is taught in the church.  The seemingly immovable object of hate is obliterated by the irresistible force of G*d’s love in Jesus.

The trouble for the one seeking forgiveness is that, as Paul says, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away…the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) So, if we are a new person, we should be a “changed person” — and by changed I mean someone who learns a new way to live.

What needs changing in your life so that you will be a “new creation in Christ?”

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on June 19, 2015
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Who Am I? I Am Thine! — Rev. David J. Schreffler

June 19, 2015

“When Jesus had finished…he went away from there, and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son?” Matthew 13:54-55

“Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my cells’ confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I would talk to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I know of myself,
restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat…

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions
of mine.
Whoever I am, thou knowest, O G*d, I am thine.”

Letters and Papers from Prison
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945)
(P. 107 – 108) “For All The Saints” volume II

“Is not this the carpenter’s son?”, comes the question of the hometown folk. “Who am I?” comes the question of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his poem. It begs the question we must ask ourselves every day: Am I a carpenter, a lawyer, a butcher, a pastor, or am I a child of G*d? No matter how others look to define us, or how society wants to label us, we have one important identity: child of G*d. Jesus was both, the child of G*d and the child of a carpenter. We too carry multiple labels within us — but only one is truly defining: child of G*d.

A Closing Prayer for the Evening

Forgive me, Lord Jesus, for the things I have done that make me feel uncomfortable in Your presence. All the front that I polish so carefully for men to see, does not deceive You. For You know every thought that has left its shadow on my memory. Thou hast marked every motive that curdled something sweet within me. I acknowledge, with sorrow and true repentance, that:

I have desired that which I should not have;
I have toyed with what I knew was not for me;
I have been preoccupied with self-interest;
I have invited unclean thoughts into my mind and entertained them as honored guests;
My ears have often been deaf to Your whisper;
My eyes have been often blind to the signs of Your guidance.

Make me willing to be changed, even though it requires surgery of the soul, and the therapy of discipline. Make my heart warm and soft, that I may receive and accept now the blessings of Your forgiveness, the benediction of Your “Depart in peace….and sin no more.” In Jesus’ name…….Amen

Peter Marshall (1902 – 1949) “For All The Saints” volume II (p. 103-104)

Pastor Dave