November 22, 2016 – 32 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24

Have you watched the Santa movie with Tim Allen? He plays a toy manufacturer who becomes Santa through a series of unfortunate events to “another” Santa. At one point his company is pitching an idea of selling a toy where Santa rides into town, not on a sleigh, but on a Tank – called “Total Tank”. Here is an ornament depicting something similar – Santa’s new ride (same idea, different developer). Look out kids, I hope you have been good because Santa just took out the Johnson house. I am not so sure this fits with the image of Santa, so it isn’t always good to get rid of the old, and put on the new….

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self ….and to put on the new self…”

Taking off the old and putting on the new…it is the process we go through as we continue to learn what it means to live the Christ-like life and follow his teachings. We will, from time to time feel the pull of our “old life” as we attempt to put on the “new life” of Jesus Christ. The above text reminds us that we are to be constantly aware of the pull of the old, as we focus on the new. To “take off” means to remove, but it also means to release, to “blast off”. The author of this letter uses the simplest of terms to illustrate what we are called to do in the Christ-life – we must remove those actions and desires that have taken us down one path, perhaps a path that has caused us trouble — rejecting them, divesting ourselves of them — just as you would take off your dirty clothes. And yet we are called to “take off” on a new course of action, a “blast off” on new direction in life. In other words, as we take off the old, we take off on the new direction following the teachings of Jesus, supported by the Holy Spirit. I don’t think it will work for Santa, but it can take us on adventures we just cannot imagine.

Pastor Dave

November 21, 2016 – 33 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Ephesians 4:4-7

Bacon. Not Kevin Bacon. Not Francis Bacon. Not Henry Bacon. Just plain old bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon — unless of course your bacon has a face that is smiling back at you. Bacon is the great unifier. If you want people to gather around your kitchen table, make a lot of bacon. Bacon looks good even on your Christmas tree. And you cannot put bacon in a box, because it comes in a plastic covered package – and it is good on everything.

God’s Spirit too cannot be held in a box. The working of the Spirit is as elusive and unknown as the incredible flavor of bacon. The Holy Spirit can be found in all kinds of people, of all kinds of groups of people of faith. It is the Holy Spirit that gathers the faithful, and as such the Holy Spirit gathers Christians everywhere — it becomes our calling to share the love of Christ as people of faith gather together in the unity of the Spirit. This means we find ways to work together with our fellow Christians. There is no need to work alone – and Christ does not call us to do that – the Spirit calls us to be “One in the Spirit, One in the Lord”.

So, through the Holy Spirit we become entangled with other Christians like bacon wrapped hotdogs. As Martin Luther states in the Small Catechism, “…the Holy Spirit…calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy (through the Gospel) the whole Christian church on earth…” Bacon must not have been a staple on the Luther family breakfast table since I have not found any mention of this cheap and easy resource for meat in Luther’s writings – though he was known to use “earthy” and rich language. So, because he doesn’t use the visual image of bacon, perhaps Luther didn’t know what he was missing. Mmmmmmmm….bacon!!!!

Pastor Dave