It's the End of the World!

Back in 1987 pop band R.E.M. sang a song called, It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).  It’s a catchy song with fast moving lyrics and it touches on the question that many ask at some point or another; “When will this world end?” 

In our Gospel lesson this past Sunday, Mark 13:24-37, Jesus spoke of the End.  This was in response to a question asked by the disciples back in v. 4 in regard to Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.  That destruction took place in 70 A.D.  The final end is yet to come. 

It is said that Martin Luther was once asked, “What would you do if you knew Christ was returning tomorrow?”  His response was, “I would plant an apple tree.” 

I don’t know if Luther actually said that, but there is wisdom in that statement that goes nicely with Jesus’ comments regarding the end.  Jesus said that no one know when the end will be.  We are to pay attention – “keep our heads in the game” – and be about the work God has given us to do. 

Every day is lived in anticipation of the End when Jesus will return.  We must not be lulled to sleep by the comforts and pleasures of this world, and thereby lose sight of God’s calling on our lives. 

We are God’s witnesses in this world, displaying what it means to be forgiven, redeemed, and loved.  God gives us this privilege in each of our vocations – our “life callings.”  I get to do this as a pastor; preaching and teaching.  Some of you get to do this as teachers, others as lawyers, some as laborers, many as moms or dads, wives or husbands. 

Luther’s supposed statement, “I would plant an apple tree,” says nothing more than, “I would live my life as God has called me.”  We live in the confidence of God’s grace through the cross and empty tomb, so the Last Day is as any other day. 

When I was a little boy, my parents taught me to pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”  Whether we lay down or get up, if we live or die, on the First Day or the Last Day our confidence and meaning for life is the same:  “Jesus died and rose for me.”  And that is how we live. 

Questions to Ponder

-          Jesus speaks of the darkening of the skies in Mark 13:25, but in v. 26 he speaks of something that will be seen despite the darkness.  What is it?

-          What lesson does Jesus want us to learn from the fig tree?

-          Why is it important to know that, although we might not know when, we do know that Jesus will come again in light of vv.32-27?  How is this a statement of God’s Law?  How is it a reminder of the Gospel?

-          How do you feel about the End?  What emotions, questions, or images come to your mind?

-          I argue that the word translated, “Watch!” in the NIV has a fuller meaning of seeing what’s going on around you and that Jesus is urging us here to, “Keep your head in the game.”  What distracts you from God’s love and word?  How do reading the Bible, praying, and going to church services help keep our heads in the game?

-          Verse 31 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”  How can knowing that God’s Word will never pass away give you confidence to live the faith in this life?

God's Mission is Now

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to worship with over 700 Lutheran Christians this past Sunday at the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) Leadership Conference.  It was exhilarating to sing Built on the Rock (one of my favorite hymns) with so many voices united in the hope that the message of the Gospel will never stop being declared, no matter what we experience in the world. 

Something that came home to me during the conference was that these are interesting days that we live in.  Every generation faces its challenges and struggles (and every generation believes they have it harder than the previous).  I don’t think that what we face in the world today is better or worse than what the Church faced when we were children, or at some other point of history.  It is just different from the recent past. 

There was a time that the church was central to U.S. American society; as we learned in Mission U, we were “insiders.”  White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) were the dominant demographic in American politics, and while Lutherans really don’t fit into that category, we look enough like WASPs to have benefitted from their dominance.  In that culture the primary temptation we faced in the church was complacency.  People came to us for weddings, baptisms, funerals, and other needs, and we were content in our buildings magnanimously welcoming the masses to the Light. 

Today the church finds itself more and more as an outsider.  More and more voices are calling to end the church’s tax exempt status saying, “End the Free Ride!”  The government is placing more pressure on church bodies to compromise core values through mandates like the recent one from the Health and Human Services Department.  There has been a federal case that challenged a LCMS congregation on who they can retain as a minister.  The temptation we face is to throw up our hands, cry out, “Woe is me!” and hide in our churches; effectively removing ourselves from society. 

The Scriptures teach, “And he [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'”  (Acts 17:26-28 ESV)  This means that God has chosen the time and place for our own lives for the purpose of drawing people to Him. 

God’s mission is clear.  He desires all people to be saved.  (1 Timothy 2:4) He calls us to make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching.  (Matthew 28:19-20)  No matter what changes take place in the world, God’s Word remains eternally.  As Luther wrote, “God’s Word forever shall abide, no thanks to foes who fear it; For God himself fights by our side With weapons of the Spirit.”  (A Mighty Fortress, v. 4) 

We have been called for this time to serve in this place to reach people with the Gospel.  As the sermon at the LCEF worship service said, “Now is the time!”  Now is the time we get to be the Church, servants of God, the body of Christ, and vessels of the Holy Spirit.  Now we get to share the good news that the Man from Galilee was, indeed, crucified and died, but He is risen and reigns to all eternity. 

Questions:

-          How has the world (or even just our country) changed in your lifetime in a way that causes you anxiety or frustration?

-          In Acts 17 Paul spoke to a group of pagans in Athens.  What do his words in vv. 26-28 say about: (a) God’s desire for mankind?  (b) Our placement in history and geography?

-          Look at 1 Timothy 2:4 and Matthew 28:19-20.  Summarize what God’s purpose is for us. 

-          One of the ways you can share the Gospel with others is to bring them to church with you.  What hinders you from asking a friend to join you for church?  (If there is anything in our services that keeps you from asking people to come to church with us, I definitely want to know!) 

-          Luther ended his hymn A Mighty Fortress saying, “God’s Word forever shall abide, no thanks to foes who fear it; For God himself fights by our side With weapons of the Spirit.  Were they to take our house, Goods, fame, child, or spouse, Though life be wrenched away, They cannot win the day.  The Kingdom’s ours forever.”  Where does he point us for our confidence for the future?  What place does God’s Word hold in your life?

God at Work

Well, it happened again last night.  About 15 of our youth gathered at McDonald’s in Hudson to talk about Jesus and living as His disciples.  Thoughts were shared.  Ideas challenged.  The Word of God was studied.  Hearts were filled with God’s Spirit. 

Awesome! 

When I think about the work that is done here at Gloria Dei, I am often in awe.  Everywhere I look I see God’s fingerprints in the opportunities He is giving us, the staff He has assembled here, the skills and talents he has given our congregational leaders, the gifts He has given to each of us He gathers here, and in the blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation He pours out on us week upon week, day upon day. 

Incredible!  Our God is so good!

You have probably noticed that the world has changed in your lifetime.  In fact, it is changing.  The challenges we face as a congregation are very different than they were years ago.  In years past people had a general sense of right and wrong, sacred and secular, and even holiness and awe which was heavily influenced by the Bible.  In that context mission and ministry often meant feeding the poor, advocating for the needing, and meeting other needs in places like Cleveland, Akron, and, especially, overseas. 

All of those needs still exist, but it has become more and more clear that there is a new mission field that has opened up, and that the needs are pressing there too.  That new mission field is called, “Home.”  And the work that needs to be done is not so much economic or social but spiritual.  (The socio-economic need is there too!  There are 46 families in Hudson that require the services of the food bank at Rejoice! Lutheran, and I read in the Toledo Blade that the federal government will be cutting food stamp aid in Ohio by $50 a month.)

God foretold of these days through the prophet Amos, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘when I will send a famine on the land-- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.’” (Amos 8:11 ESV)  The want for food and basic requirements is a real, tangible, problem in our world.  Out of love for our neighbor we want to meet that need.  Yet there is also a greater need – the famine for hearing the words of the Lord – that we are called to meet. 

We acknowledge that calling in our mission statement:  Gathering People to Christ, Building Believers in Christ, and Serving the World as Christ.  We meet people where they are to share the Word of the Lord, Jesus Christ, with them so they can have the salvation He won for us and experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. 

Your prayers, efforts, and support are essential to our work as a congregation.  As we worship, work, serve, live, and give together in Christ, God will keep doing His work, gathering, building and serving, and, make no mistake, we will make a difference here in time and in eternity. 

Questions to Ponder

Normally I focus on one of the previous Sunday’s scripture lessons at this point of my weekly letter.  This week we will look a little more at Amos 8:11 and at our mission.

-          How has the world changed in your lifetime?  What is good and what is bad compared to your younger years? 

-          What effects do you think a famine of hearing God’s Word has in a person’s life?  How does that affect society?

-          Have you ever felt hungry for God’s Word, either to hear it or to receive it in the Lord’s Supper?  Was your hunger satisfied?  If so, how?  If not, what can be done?

-          Does Amos 8:11 lessen the importance of caring for physical hunger, thirst, and basic needs?  Where to these fit in comparison to the need for God’s Word? 

-          How are you involved in God’s mission to meet people’s basic needs?  Their spiritual needs?  How do you use your time, talent, and treasures to support God’s work? 

-          As you think about our mission statement, how do Gathering, Building, and Serving meet both kinds of famine mentioned in Amos?  How important is it to meet both the physical and spiritual aspects of God’s mission?  Why?

-          Where do you see God doing His work? 

Salvation Belongs to Our God

Dear Saints,

Yes, this message is to you.  I know that sometimes people balk at being called “saints” but that is what we are because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The word “saint” is our translation for a word that means, “holy ones.”  And we are indeed holy because God declares us holy; washed in Jesus’ blood and given new life in Him. 

This past Sunday was All Saints Sunday.  All Saints Day is actually November 1, and historically churches had services on the day to both commemorate the faithfully departed and celebrate that our God saves.  These days we move those emphases to the Sunday following All Saints Day, and hopefully they came through loud and clear. 

As we read the names of those who passed away in the prior year, we did so in anticipation of God’s resurrection and salvation.  I am certain that many other names came to mind, too.  I spoke of my Grandpa Tritten, who died before I was even born.  You may have thought of a parent, a sibling, or a child, too.  Times like this stir the grief in our hearts, reminding us that this world is not as it should be, and we are agents of eternal life sharing hope in a world where we all die.  This is why we prayed, “… we remember with thanksgiving those who loved and served You … who now rest from their labors.  Keep us in fellowship with all Your saints, and bring us at last to the joy of Your heavenly kingdom.” 

Tears are not a bad thing.  Grief is not evil.  They should not overcome us – at least not for long – for we live with the hope of resurrection.  As we confess in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe … the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.”  And we teach, “On the Last Day [the Holy Spirit] will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.  This is most certainly true.”  (Small Catechism) 

In Christ, life dominates death.  The grave cannot hold hostage those who have received Christ’s life by faith, in Baptism, and in the Supper.  As Romans 6 says, we are baptized into Jesus’ death that we might have a resurrection like His as well. 

Revelation 7:9-17, our first reading on Sunday, gave us a picture of heaven.  It spoke of the great multitude gathered around God’s throne, from, “every nation, tribe, people and language,” singing and worshiping with angels, archangels and the whole company of heaven.  That holy gathering includes you and me, foreseeing our salvation and our praises ascending and proclaiming, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [that is, Jesus].” 

We have been saved from sin and death.  We have also been saved for life – to live as God’s people revealing the Good News of what God has done and is doing in and for us.  We may yet be going through the “great tribulation” – I believe we are – but we do so knowing that death has no grip on us.  We live now and will live forever in Christ, as do all who have faith in Him. 

Questions to Ponder

-          Read Revelation 7:9-17.  Imagine the scene.  What does it look like?  How extensive is the effect of God’s salvation?  Where will the saved come from?

-          Take note of the songs in this reading – what the angels and people cry out.  What kinds of things do they praise God for?

-          What promises are given to you in v.15-17?

-          Look at v. 14.  I understand “the great tribulation” to be all of life in this world between Jesus’ ascension into heaven and His return on Judgment Day.  What, then, does this verse mean?  Who is this speaking of?

-          Can you imagine yourself as one of those in white robes?  Why or why not?  How can you be confident that you are in that multitude around the throne?

-          On Sunday, I asked, “Who is in your picture frame?”  In other words, who is someone you miss who has died and is with Jesus’ in glory?  How did that person impact your faith and life?