Maybe you have seen this before and maybe you haven’t. Either way, this video is precious and heartwarming. I hope this puts you into the mood for Christmas! God bless you!

Pr. Ben 

“But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

Paul writes to the conflicted church in Corinth that he “planted” several years earlier…

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3

Most of us know this passage because it is often read at weddings. Paul did not intend for this letter to become a part of “Christian scripture” because it was merely a letter written to a church that he started and they were struggling. Even more so, I think Paul would be surprised that this portion of his letter to the church in Corinth is read at Christian weddings. 

Saint Paul tried to convey to the church that there were more important things than speaking in tongues, healing others and overseeing the administration of the church. Then he proceeds to tell us that love surpasses any title or spiritual gift ever given. Imagine that? Love is something everyone can do and it is the greatest gift given and as Paul says, it is “the most excellent way.” 

Then he applies love (or the lack of love) to several situations. 

1. If I speak in tongues (which he just talked about in chapter 12 of 1Corinthians) but do so without love, I would be like a noisy, annoying instrument. (Think drum kit given to a 3^rdgrader on Christmas.)

• If I had the power to declare God’s intentions (prophecy) and understand the secret will of God (mysteries) and have a perfect understanding of theology (knowledge) and I have an unshakable trust in God (faith) but I am without love, I am nothing. 

By the way, if you look to the original Greek in which this letter was written you will find that my rendering is a little closer to the original intentions of Saint Paul.

• If in an act of faithful, selfless devotion I give everything I have to the poor and even give my life as a burning sacrifice as sign of my faith but do not have love, I am nothing. 

All of this is surprising to me because Paul is the superstar apostle who speaks in tongues, gives prophecy, has the clearest understanding of the Christian faith (theology), seems to have an unshakable faith in Christ and does not draw an income for preaching and starting churches. This guy can do it all and yet he says that love is the most excellent way. 

He even mentions that the three greatest things are “faith, hope and love” and out of those three only love will continue on forever. 

I don’t want you to miss this… Paul is an intellectual. He is a theologian. He is heady. Paul is not known for being “warm and fuzzy.” I definitely do not think Saint Paul is a hugger. I think it is amazing that he is advocating for love above correct theology and wisdom. I would think that love would be secondary for Paul but it is not. That should perk up our ears.

Even Paul knows that God is love. Love that comes to us in the person of Jesus. 

As we continue to make our preparations for Christmas, just remember that there is no such thing as the “perfect Christmas.” Let those images go and focus on love. The love that God sent to us in the person of Jesus and the love we share with one another. 

God bless you, 
Pr. Ben

I am not an expert in most things. However, I am a theologian. You may even question my expertise in that field of study, yet that is what I am. I look at  everything through the lens of God’s word as found in the scripture and through the filter of the living Word of God who is Jesus the Christ.

The season of Advent is here and our focus is on the “arrival” of Jesus on Christmas Day. We are not only looking back but we are also looking forward to the day Jesus returns in power. As we look at the events of 2018, we need Jesus more than ever.

When I think about all the trouble in the world, I am reminded of something one of my seminary professors once said in class. “If we could obey the first commandment perfectly we would not need the other nine.” He was referring to the first commandment of the Ten Commandments and that is “You shall have no other gods.”

What did my professor mean by that? He was not talking about other gods. He was talking about us. Not that we become a god but we take the place of God. What do I mean by that? Our priorities and preferences take precedence over God’s will for our lives. Now multiply that by the 7.5 billion people who live on earth. No wonder there are so many problems! We are all using our own playbooks!

For example, I see this most often when it comes to an individual’s political preferences. I see over and over again how God’s sovereignty in a person’s life ends at political preferences and policy. Somehow the First Amendment of the US Constitution applies to how people of faith think about God’s will for our nation. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it is a personal perception problem. God doesn’t appear to be welcome in our personal political deliberation as individuals. God is relegated to church and not allowed in the public forum as it relates to deliberation and discernment of important national issues. Why is this happening? This goes back to our inability to fully live into the first commandment and letting God lead all areas of our lives (and thought processes).

If I have hit a nerve, I apologize. However, it also means there is an element of truth in what I am writing.

Jesus reminds us that the two most important concepts as His followers are “to love God and love people.” (The Great Commandment as found in Matthew 22.) You may disagree but I believe this applies to every aspect of my life including larger issues in our nation, including how our nation treats the poor and those who have no legal standing and are seeking asylum.

Don’t read into my comments. I am not advocating for a welfare state or have open borders. (I am not interested in debating these issues either.) What I am saying is that we need to treat all people with dignity and love… even when they don’t return that love. That’s all I am saying.

I want God to lead every aspect of my life. Am I there yet? Nope but it is my desire. I continue to work towards surrendering all areas of my lives.

I am thankful we are moving toward Christmas. I need to be reminded that God comes to us and forgives us. I need reconciliation and a change of heart.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

This is the text of my Thanksgiving Eve sermon at Bethel…

I don’t know if you saw the tragic news this morning but a Lutheran pastor in San Francisco was arrested for having many pornographic images of children on his computer.

It is just unbelievable and it is sad.

It is just another thing in this bad news month… and you know what those things are…

Massive wildfires, almost 900 people unaccounted for. And it seems to be a blessing that the rain has arrived… but there are flash flood warnings up north now because of the 4-6 inches of rain anticipated and no ground cover.

A mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and at a bar on college night down in Thousand Oaks.

I am sure you could several more things to this list that you’ve seen in the news over the past couple of weeks.

It would really easy to focus on the reasons not to be thankful. We could lament that life is coming apart at the seams.

We may rank this as one of the worst years ever… but according to the Universities of Nottingham and Maine we aren’t even close. Can you imagine a year much worse?

Well according to these researchers 536AD was the worst year ever for humans.

That year had a massive volcano eruption which caused mass cooling. There were crop failures and famines. Then the bubonic plague… Black Death swept across the known world at that time. ¼ of the world’s population died.

I can’t help but wonder… what did the Christians do in this time of great suffering?

I do know that Saint Benedict lived through this time in the 6^thcentury and he really was the first to establish monasteries. He began as hermit pulling away from everyday life but then established monasteries as a way to live communally and even serve within a community.

In other words devotion to God did not wane in times of trouble. I am hopeful that we will be the church in whatever situation we might find ourselves—whether good or bad.

I do believe that whatever we focus on is what we see. If we are to only look for the bad and talk about the bad—our minds will see mostly evil in the world.

If we look for the good… we will see that too. That’s not to say we won’t see some bad stuff too… I am not a total Pollyanna. But where we choose to put our focus is what we will see most of the time.

Do you remember what Mr. Rogers who was also a Methodist minister said about this topic?

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers–so many caring people in this world.”

We also have the opportunity to be those helpers at different times. That seems to be one of the roles that Jesus took on whenever he was out in the world.

Listen to this..

As Jesus was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance  and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Luke 17:12-13

 Jesus was a first responder… actually he was their last resort.

These men were desperate. They had been cut off from community, from family, from working from EVERYTHING.

They had nothing. They had to live outside of town in case they were contagious. They didn’t have lives and were treated like they were less than human.

Obviously rumors about Jesus had circulated through their families to them and so when they heard Jesus was coming through they probably knew this was their only chance.

Everything else had failed them at this point. It was either Jesus or living in exile for the rest of their lives.

As I said, they were desperate men.

We know what happens next right? Jesus almost always says yes to these kind of requests.

When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. Luke 17:14

 He freed them from their oppressed state.Now it was common practice to get the “all clear” from the Jewish priest (not Judas Priest the rock band) who was the expert on “clean” and “unclean” things.

One of them recognized that he had been healed and came back to Jesus to thank him. On top of that he wasn’t even an observant Jew… he was a despised Samaritan. “People like that don’t come back and thank anyone. How can this be?”

This doesn’t seem right? But there it is. Jesus notices too and asks, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Luke 17:17-18

 Jesus accepts his gratitude and that is the end of the story… there isn’t a chapter 2 when the 9 arrive to be examined by the priest only to discover that Jesus DID NOT heal them because of their lack of gratitude.

That kind of ending would make my life easier as a pastor… I could just say, “be thankful or else” and say “amen.”

But Jesus isn’t like that—even if we want him to be.

After the retelling of that story, I could simply summarize the story this way, “Be like Jesus and help the less fortunate.”

I could do that but I am not.

If this were Sunday School and we were going to act this story out… I wouldn’t want any of you to play the part of Jesus. I want us to all be lepers. All of us.

It is too easy to say, “Be like Jesus.”

It makes a lot more sense for us to be lepers.

I know what you’re thinking… I don’t want to be a leper.

Sure you do, you just don’t know it yet.

Here is why we should be lepers… they are desperate.

I think there is an important lesson to be learned in situations of desperation.

Don’t forget this: desperation can lead to dependency.

When you are at the end of what you can do… that is where God can step in.

When we are trying to fix everything ourselves and be in control—there is no room for God to act.

This problem is compounded by our comfort. The more secure we feel (financially and otherwise) the less dependent we are on love of Jesus.

I don’t wish bad on anyone… but I do hope we (as Christians) continue to increase our dependency on Christ the same way those lepers did… only without the leprosy.

Or maybe like those pilgrims in the Plymouth Colony who in spite of hardship still gave thanks to God for their first harvest of the land. They knew about dependency and didn’t let the circumstances of hardship over shadow their gratitude.

Sometimes we are too comfortable or too insulated and our dependency on God suffers because there is zero desperation in our lives.

We don’t want to give thanks to ourselves tomorrow taking credit for all we have done and how good things have been.

No, tomorrow is the day to give thanks to the One who is the giver of all good gifts. Let us cling to Jesus… like a Samaritan who has been cured of leprosy.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you,

Pr. Ben

“Cursed is the person who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” Deuteronomy 27:26

In chapter 27 of Deuteronomy we find a litany of  “calls and responses” of all of the things the Israelites should be about. After each proclaimed instruction the people shout “amen.” This “call and response” culminates with the instruction above.

I understand that I am not an Israelite… but I can’t imagine saying “amen” to that. It seems more like a burden than a joy.

The Priests: We are going to do EVERYTHING the law commands!

Me: Wait. What? Everything?

The Priests: Yeah, everything! Can I get an amen?

Me: (In a quiet voice) Amen?

I don’t go around thinking of myself as “cursed” but I certainly have not been perfect my whole life let alone a week. Even if I just compare myself to the 10 Commandments (and not the whole law of 613 commands) I fall short… way short.  I am not Jewish but that seems like a lot of pressure to be good.

The Jewish Law has a lot of instruction for various things including worship and civil law, but there are many, many directives on how to live your life (morally). Even if you excluded the ceremonial laws, the worship commands and the civil law contained in the Hebrew Bible, the pressure is on to be a good person. A really good person.

I am not against being a good person and it is admirable to be guided by your morals BUT if our relationship with God depends upon it, then we are all going to struggle.

Do you know the other place Deuteronomy 27:26 is referenced? In Paul’s letter to Galatians (chapter 3).

Paul reminds the church that he started that “following the law” (read being morally upright, good people) is pretty much impossible.

Paul writes, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse…Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Galatians 3:10a-11.

 Let me translate this a little bit…

Everyone who thinks their relationship with God is built upon doing good is in big trouble. No one is acceptable to God by the good things they do. Those who have good relationship with God trusts Christ for all things.

I can’t imagine always wondering what God thinks of me based on the things I do or don’t do. That is a burden too heavy to carry.

God came to us in the person of Jesus not to evaluate our behavior but to free us from bad theology and the notion that God only likes good people. (Spoiler Alert: No one is that good.)

Paul (who wrote Galatians) wants us to know that we are people of faith and not people of good behavior. (Don’t read that the wrong way!)

In chapter 5 of that same letter Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

He is talking about the same things. We are free from performance theology and don’t fall back into thinking that God will love you more if you are good all the time.

Christ came to forgive what we can’t let go of. Jesus loves sinners. God does not want us to be burdened with guilt, remorse and shame over past deeds. Why? Because we convince ourselves God could never love a person like that.

We who believe in Christ are free from our past and free from the burden of trying to please God. That is good news.

Jesus loves us just the way we are.

Pr. Ben

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

            I will counsel you and watch over you.

                                    Do not be like the horse or the mule,

                                    which have no understanding  Psalm 32:8-9

Which part of the week are you spending learning about God outside of sitting in worship on Sunday morning (which isn’t a classroom)?

What is the most recent thing you learned about God?

Are you willing to learn something new about God?

I ask these questions because I am committed to learning something new whenever I can. I can remember a pastor once saying, “You are either growing or dying; there is no in between.” So let me ask you, “Are you growing or dying?”

As a matter of fact, whenever I learn anything new (that on the surface looks like it has nothing to do with God) I put that new thing through the lens of my theology and relationship with God. Why? Because everything is theological.

I don’t think I have arrived or do I believe that I have learned everything there is to know about God and the world He created for us.

The opposite of faith (trust in God) is not doubt… it is certainty. Whenever we wrongly believe we have everything figured out, we stop growing in knowledge, we stop growing spiritually and we quite possibly stop growing emotionally.

The resistance to learn is… well… unwise. (see Proverbs 18:2)

As a pastor and quite possibly your pastor, I bear some responsibility in your faith formation and I take that quite seriously. I want you to learn and then grow in your understanding of God’s love through Jesus Christ. Not only do I want you to comprehend the love of God, I want you to experience it as well. But it doesn’t end there. I want all Christians to know and see that God’s love is not just for a few but for everyone.

Never forget that knowledge should lead us towards God’s love… “knowledge puffeth up, charity edifieth.” Knowledge is a means towards a greater end.

I encourage you to pick up a book or listen to an audiobook. Read your Bible. Come to Sunday morning Bible Study. Do something to grow today.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10

It is November 1^st as I write this and it is a church holiday. It is All Saints Day and tomorrow is All Soul’s Day. How did these commemoration days come about? Well, read on….

In the early years when the Roman Empire persecuted Christians, so many martyrs died for their faith, that the Church set aside special days to honor them. In 607 Emperor Phocas presented to the pope the beautiful Roman Pantheon temple. The pope removed the statues of Jupiter and the pagan gods and consecrated the Pantheon to “all saints” who had died from Roman persecution in the first three hundred years after Christ. Many bones were brought from other graves and placed in the rededicated Pantheon church.

Since there were too many martyrs for each to be given a day, they were lumped together into one day. In the next century, All Saints Day was changed by Pope Gregory III to today’s date–November l. People prepared for their celebration back then with a night of vigil on Hallows’ Eve (Halloween).

In the 10th century, Abbot Odela of the Cluny monastery added the next day–November 2nd–as “All Souls” Day” to honor not just the martyrs, but all Christians who had died.

As a Lutheran, we treat All Saints Day a lot like All Souls Day. It is a day to remember those families and friends who have died in the past year. However, those from other traditions celebrate these two days differently.

When thinking of loved ones who have gone before us, we must trust that God is good and Jesus died to forgive our sins. There is nothing we can do to “help” our loved ones. They are in God’s loving care and we should trust that Jesus truly loves us and our loved ones. I do.

Even Martin Luther talks about this. Remember, he lived in a day when people were praying for the dead continually and having masses (worship services) given in memory of dead loved ones because they believed they could help that person get to heaven. Thankfully we don’t believe that, but here is what Martin Luther says about our stance toward our loved ones who have passed away.

“We do not know whether the soul has been sentenced, it is not a sin to pray for them. However, you should pray in such a way that you let it remain uncertain and say, ‘Dear God, if the soul is still in the state that it can be helped, then I pray that You would be gracious to it.’When you have done that once or twice, then cease and commend the soul to God. God has promised that He will hear what we pray. Therefore, when you have prayed once or three times, you should believe that He has granted your prayer and never again pray it, so that you do not tempt or mistrust God.”

 In other words, Luther is telling us to not worry about our loved ones who are no longer here because God is good and God is loving.

This is good advice and I whole heartedly believe it. I look forward to a large family reunion one day… and it won’t be one day long. It will last forever.

God bless you all,
Pr. Ben

On Sunday we will remember the 501^stanniversary of the Protestant Reformation. As you know, the reformation caused a major schism in the Church of Christ and we are still trying to heal those divisions 501 years later. It is quite possible that there will never be reconciliation within the Church until Christ himself returns. This reformation was needed but it did come at the cost of Christian unity.

As a Lutheran, I often think about these verses this time of year…

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

 This is where we find the source of the often paraphrased  Lutheran saying, “we are saved by grace through faith.”

The Church at the time of Martin Luther (1517) didn’t preach this message. Instead the Church used their power and influence to control, scare and manipulate people into submission for many motivations including financial reasons.

It is Martin Luther who essentially read the Bible and realized that the words and actions of the Church didn’t match the words of scripture and the intentions of the Word of God.

It reminds me of this picture and scene from the Princess Bride.

The only exception is the “word” is the Word of God in this case.

When we look at these verses in Ephesians, we see Saint Paul reminding the church in Ephesus (a church he started) of an essential truth:  Faith in Jesus is a gift from God.

It is hard to believe that faith is a gift… but Paul seems to think so and there is good reason for that. He was an enemy of the Church and an enemy of Christ in a previous career/life. It was Jesus himself that created faith in Saint Paul in a very dramatic way (See Acts 9). Saint Paul knows personally that faith is a gift even if we were raised in the church and never considered ourselves an enemy of Christ!

God is a giver and God is relational. Jesus came to us so that we may receive faith as a gift and then trust in His loving agenda for our lives and for the world.

Saint Paul so believes faith is a gift that he says no one can brag about being a great Christian because the ability to trust God is actually a gift from God.

On Sunday we will remember the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517. More than any other time in my life, I see the importance of reformation. Because it isn’t really a reformation, it was a return to what God intended the Church to be. A return to grace, a return to love and a return to a loving relationship… established and given by God. We need more love in our nation and in our world. Only Christ can help us love more and more deeply.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

Last week, I wrote quite a bit about the differences between God’s covenant with Israel and God’s covenant with those who follow Jesus. (You can catch up here: https://benbergren.com/articles-the-covenants-of-god/) Not only are they different covenants but they are different types of covenants. These agreements established by God are vastly different in substance and nature.

Some of you may have read the article (listed above) and thought, “That is interesting, within the New Covenant there is no requirement for moral living.” And I would reply, “You are absolutely right.” What Jesus offers is a promise of forgiveness without any strings attached.

Does that mean Christians can do what they want? Ummm no. It does mean that the covenant Jesus established for His followers is not conditional upon our behavior like the covenant that God offered the people of Israel.

There is a place for ethics and proper behavior but it is not tied to the covenant of Jesus.  Our salvation is not performance based.

This is dealt with extensively at the very first church council meeting in Jerusalem. (See Acts 15).

A meeting was called because there were two competing ideas about becoming a Christian if you were not born Jewish and it was causing conflict.

1. One thought was you converted to Judaism and followed the Law of Moses (the Old Covenant) before you could be a part of the New Covenant. Essentially you followed both covenants.
2. You just joined the church and believed that Jesus is the Son of God and died to forgive your sins.

One of these two choices had a lot of work involved with it. Including following 613 laws found in the Law of Moses.  The other was accepting the gift of faith given by God and that was that.

This caused a fight in the early church and so a church council was called to settle the issue.

After hearing both sides, the head of the church on earth was Jesus’ half-brother James. He issued a ruling and it was this: “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” Acts 15:19-20

 Aha! Commands for moral living!  Not quite. Think about this for a second. If James wanted to impose a portion of the Old Covenant on Gentile Christians, why this list and not the 10 Commandments?

If James thought there should be some sort of Jewish law or behavior contained within the Christian community why not just include the 10 Commandments too?

There is a reason for this. This was more about concession than commandment. James gave these specific set of instructions to aid in church unity and not a program of behavior modification for every Gentile Christian. James offered these up as a way for Gentile Christians to ingratiate themselves with the Jewish Christians by following these (outward) instructions.

To put it differently, these instructions were given to bring Gentile and Jewish believers together and not because “God wants all Christians to do these things if they call themselves followers of Jesus.” This was more of a practical concern than it was about personal holiness.

What I want to make sure we understand is that we do not tie our behavior to the covenant that Jesus established for us.

Is there a place for ethical living within Christianity? Absolutely! But it is always in response to God’s gift of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. God’s relationship with us and love for us is not conditional based upon our behavior. Thank God for that.

God bless,
Pr. Ben