In the gospel stories about Jesus there are several reoccurring themes: God’s love for those who struggle, those who are sick, those who don’t have it all figured out and love for the outsider.

Jesus spent very little time with the religious leaders of his time. They thought they had it all figured out, including the very nature of God. Clearly, they didn’t, but these religious leaders never considered that they could be wrong about anything.

Jesus made time for real people. Not the pretenders or even the holier than thou types. If you attend Community Lutheran Church you know that we are real people! We struggle just like everyone else, and we don’t pretend otherwise.

As Jesus spent time with anyone who was interested, Jesus also mentored and taught his closest associates: the disciples. 

One of the things that Jesus instructed them to do was to go out and tell others of God’s love. This wasn’t a one-time command either. Jesus repeatedly reminded the disciples to go and share this message with anyone who will listen. 

This happened at the beginning, and this happened at the end of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. 

Early on Jesus told a fisherman he barely knew this, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch people.”Luke 5:10

Catch people with the love of God. 

Later Jesus sends out seventy-two people he had been mentoring to share the love of God with even more real people. 

Jesus even healed a man with lots demons (problems) and when he was set free, he asked if he could travel with Jesus. This was Jesus’ reply, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” Luke 8:39a

Go and tell. And that is exactly what this man did.  So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:39b

And when Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples one last time to go and tell others.

Clearly, this is important. 

If we believe that God speaks to us through the scriptures, then this encouragement to share Jesus with others is for us too.

Let me ask you this, are you just one of the crowd or are you a disciple? 

I don’t know about you, but I strive to be a disciple of Jesus and not just a part of the crowd. 

Jesus changed my life and I know that he wants to change others. 

I hope you will join me in sharing the love of Jesus and not just at worship. 

It is time to invite others to discover what we’ve been given.

Pastor Paul put it this way, How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14–15 

God bless you,

Pr. Ben

Tomorrow night at church, we will be screening the Beatles movie, “Yellow Submarine.” My mind wandered to one of the songs in the movie that first appeared on their “Revolver” album. The song? “Eleanor Rigby”.

If you don’t know the song, the lyrics focus in on the isolation and the disconnectedness that we all experience at times in our lives. I find the song both haunting and accurate.

The refrain goes like this…

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

There is a sad irony that we are more connected than any other generation in the history of the world and yet many are more isolated than ever. Smartphones, email, social media and yet intimacy can be elusive. 

Even the most introverted and quiet person needs the presence of others in their lives. There is a vast difference between being alone and being lonely. 

Some of you who are reading this right now are well-connected. You have a strong network of family and friends in your life. Good for you! That is a blessing!

Some of you do not have that connection with others and that hurts. You feel personally what The Beatles were singing about in “Eleanor Rigby.”

King David once sang a song (psalm) like this. In fact, David wrote several psalms of loneliness.  But in Psalm 25 David wrote this…

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 
The troubles of my heart have multiplied; 
free me from my anguish. Psalm 25:16-17

This is the cry of isolation and some of us know it well. 

Right now, Jesus is calling out to us. He breaks through the pain of isolation and says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus came back from the dead to tell us that we can come to him and escape this pernicious feeling that we are all alone and nobody has our back. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind, Jesus has our back and always will. 

Come and find rest in Jesus. Come to worship and be surrounded by his love and the love of others.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:1–4 

Life is competitive, isn’t it? Even during the time of Jesus, people strove to be the best. Just look at the disciples’ questions, “Who is the greatest?”

Maybe the disciples were hoping that Jesus would name one of them as the greatest. Then the others would be jealous and jockey for position.

We all want to be great at something. I know I do. Here is how I know that I am competitive: I compare myself to others. 

I know I shouldn’t do it, but I do.

Pastor Paul reminds us in his letter to the church of Galatia not to play the “I am the greatest” game.

Paul writes, “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” Galatians 6:4-5

I shouldn’t be worried if I am the greatest at anything! First, I am not. Second, I am looking at the wrong thing. 

The question I should be asking is this, “Am I better than I used to be?” I need to compare myself with myself. Am I making progress in my faith walk compared to last week, last month or last year?

The disciples were asking the wrong question and Jesus clarifies.

Jesus picks the most unlikely person from the crowd and says, “be like them.”

Like I said, the disciples expected Jesus to point to one of the disciples and say, “He’s the greatest. Yep, its this guy.” Instead, Jesus finds a child and says this, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

That was not the answer they were looking for. They wanted Jesus to pick one of them. The one who asked the question secretly hoped it was him, I bet. 

Instead, Jesus uplifts humility as a core quality of the Kingdom of God. If you haven’t connected the dots, the question itself was prideful. 

In essence, Jesus was telling the disciples not to worry about who is the greatest. God doesn’t care about such things. Rather, to be humble and keep moving forward in life.

Jesus and Saint Paul remind us to worry about ourselves. To use slang, “You do you.” You will never be anyone else so stop comparing your life to someone else’s. Be the best version of yourself and give God the credit.

God bless you,

Pr. Ben

Sometimes I think we are wired to ask the question, “What’s in it for me?” We are motivated by advantage. We might weigh the benefit of doing something selfless before we act. The benefit might boil down to, “Will this act make me look like a good person in the eyes of others?” Not everyone is so calculated but it does happen. I am sure I have been guilty of this at some point in my life as well.

Luckily, Aaron Wylie experienced the kindness and generosity of complete strangers who had nothing to gain from helping him.

Aaron hasn’t seen his parents since Christmas 2019. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Aaron’s parents live in Saint John in New Brunswick. Although the trip is only four hours by car, the pandemic of 2020 kept them separated out of an abundance of caution. 

Recently Aaron found out that his mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. All Aaron wanted to do was find a way to see her while there was still time. The pandemic travel restrictions in Canada and mandatory quarantine paired with budget constraints and lack of time off, it looked as if the visit might be pretty much impossible. As you might have guessed, Canada had different health protocols than the United States.

Then he got an idea.

Aaron, who drives a bus for Halifax Transit in Nova Scotia, has a Class-1 license—which allows him to drive a truck. Since truck drivers are classed as essential workers, he thought if he could score a gig delivering a payload to New Brunswick, he might just be able to make the trip happen after all.

Hoping for a miracle, he placed an ad on Canada’s popular classified network site looking for a truck driving job that would take him to Saint John.

He didn’t think he get would many, if any, responses. Boy, was he in for a surprise!

Aaron received over 5,000 responses to his online classified ad.

Although he has not received clearance to travel yet, he has a job lined up to drive a truck to Saint John. 

“It’s been an overwhelming response and an emotional one,” Aaron said in an interview with CBC News. “I was just blown away. These are people I don’t even know.”

Kindness is out there, thank God. 

I am reminded that Saint Paul wrote to the church of Philippi about this very subject. He wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

That is a reminder for all of us. Consider others better than ourselves. When we do that, we are more apt to serve others without asking, “What’s in it for me?”

God bless,
Pr. Ben