“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

Here is a charged question for you, “Who’s side are you on?” Even though I am not sitting next to you right now, I can sense the unease, sadness if not anger rising up through your screen. Some of you are thinking that I am about to “say” something political and not “religious.”

It has been a hard week for our nation. The division among us is more pronounced than it ever has been if social media is to be believed. The anger and sadness is palpable and real.

I can’t fix the divide, I can’t make anyone feel better and I certainly can’t change anyone’s mind. (If I thought I could, I need to get some professional help.)

I am reminded this week (more than ever) that the brokenness of our world is unfixable by human efforts. Not only that, but the brokenness that resides in all of us seems to be growing not shrinking. Remember what I said last Sunday? “Where two or three are gathered there will be a difference of opinion.”

So, I ask again, “Who’s side are you on?” I’ll answer that for myself… “I strive to be on Jesus’ side.” (Was that what you were expecting?)

I want to be known as a follower… a disciple of Jesus… and it is not easy sometimes.

I know that at the end of my life, nothing else will matter.

When I went to seminary (the graduate school where I was trained to be a pastor), one of the things they wanted us to always remember was that “Jesus was an outsider who befriended and cared for other outsiders.” Not only did our professors tell us that, but they added to that statement by saying, “if we future pastors wish to follow Jesus’ lead, we must also do the same.”

Not that this should be a surprise to anyone since Jesus clearly stated his mission as he began his ministry. He went into his hometown synagogue and read from Isaiah 61.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 (from Isaiah 61)

Just to make sure no one misses the point of him reading this, he adds, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21

Jesus is the one who comforts the estranged, the broken-hearted and those who feel far from God and others.

It is Jesus who cared for…

The Leper

The Syrophoenician Woman

The Blind Man

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (and traitor)

The Criminal on the Cross

The Woman with the Flow of Blood

Children

The Man with Demons

The Woman with Demons

The Sick Man Who Lowered Down on a Mat

The Widow who Lost her Son

And the list goes on…

I want to be counted among the one who cares for the broken-hearted and excluded. I want to be like Jesus who came to serve regular people who have been hurt and marginalized by circumstance and other people.

As you may know, one of my ordination vows explicitly asks me to do this very thing. “Speak publicly to the world in solidarity with the poor and oppressed calling for justice and proclaiming God’s love for the world.”

 It is not a convenient vow to make. Nor is it easy because I know that no matter what I say or do someone is not going to happy when issues of justice arise. As I remember, Jesus was not the favorite of those who used their power to metaphorically hold people down and keep them in their place.

Here’s what I do know, if you are sad, I will be sad with you. If you are gloating, I will not gloat with you.

The world and human systems are often predicated upon winners and losers. I do not see any winners, I see only losers, myself included.

The first verse in Psalm 121 begins this way, “I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?”  It is a rhetorical question. The answer is, “It is not the hills.” Let me add to that list of one. Our help doesn’t come from Washington, or political parties or any president that has ever served our country. “My (our)help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:2

 Our help comes from the Lord who came to earth to show us how much he loves us despite our brokenness. Jesus came and died to remove the ugliness inside of those who believe in Him so that we might trust in God alone.

I can’t help but think of that church sign I saw online once… “The donkey and elephant will let you down, put your trust in the lamb.” Jesus is the perfect lamb of God who gave himself for us and stands with those who are on the outside looking in.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

I was reading Paul’s letter to the Ephesians recently and I was struck by the “big issue” Paul needed to address within the church. Literally, it is an issue that might seem irrelevant to us or a “thing of the past.” Yet, if we look at the same issue thematically, it is still an topic that we still wrestle with today.

The big issue? Gentiles. Yeah, horrible isn’t it? Paul brings up Gentiles in his letter to the church of Ephesus. Now this big issue wasn’t limited to that church. It was an issue for the entire Church (capitalized C was intentional).

Originally the church was made up of Jewish people because Jesus was (and still is) Jewish. Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. The early church believed that to be a Christian, you had to be Jewish. This was problematic for several reasons.

First, it is was understood that one was born Jewish back then. You don’t convert to Judaism or become Jewish. It was very simple, you either were born Jewish or you were not. If you were not, you were a Gentile. You didn’t get to change teams. On top of that, Gentiles were beyond the love and salvation of God, period. This was not a matter of evangelism. You can’t become something you are not. Only God’s chosen people were loved by God.

Even with that understanding, some Gentiles started believing in Jesus as their Savior after hearing Peter preach about Jesus and His death and resurrection. (Silly Gentiles breaking the rules.) This did not fit the early church’s understanding of God or Gentiles. The prevailing thought within the early church was this, “They couldn’t possibly believe in Jesus Christ, they weren’t Jewish and they were beyond the love of God. This was simply impossible.”

What did the early Church do? They made these Gentiles convert to Judaism before they could be recognized as believers of Jesus. Seems a little odd to convert to Judaism since they already believed that you had to be born into Judaism and could not convert, but ok. Let us not forget that these Gentile believers ALREADY believed in Jesus. Yet, the church amended the rules to let the Gentiles in as long as they converted to Judaism, followed the Law of Moses (and the males were circumcised).

Some Jewish Christians went along with this “accommodation” and some objected and thought it seemed ludicrous to do all this “hoop jumping” to become a Christian especially if the Gentiles in question already believed in Jesus! This caused conflict… a big conflict.

Soon the very first Church “Council” was convened. Not like our monthly church council meetings at church; this was more like a synod assembly or our national churchwide assembly. This was a big deal. After hearing arguments on both sides, the decision was made to “allow” (ha!) Gentiles to be Christian without converting to Judaism. There were some small caveats (See Acts 15:1-21) but essentially the “non-converting to Judaism first group” won and the “must convert to Judaism first group” lost.

As in many conflicts, there were winners and losers but that’s just how it goes, right? Nope. You would think that once a decision was made it was a done deal. But it wasn’t. The “losers” continued to tell Gentile Christians that in order to be a “real Christian” they still needed to follow the Old Testament Law (Law of Moses) including being circumcised (if you were a male). The big issue was still a big issue even when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians 14 years after the decision was made to let the Gentiles join the church.

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul continues to affirm that Gentiles are not second class citizens and that following the Law of Moses (Old Testament Law) has nothing to do with being a Christian because we are under grace. Imagine that 14 years later, Paul is still trying to convince people that anyone who believes in Jesus is welcome in the church and not somehow a second class citizen in the Kingdom of God or worse, not a citizen at all.

It is not hard for me to see that Christ’s Church is still struggling with who is welcome and who is not 2000 years later. It is no longer Gentile or Jew, it is other distinctions that some wish to say is beyond the love of God or other related proclamations.

Thankfully, the portions of the Church have changed…
We have condemned slavery, bigotry and racism… and yet racism still exists
We have ordained women… and yet some churches won’t
We have condemned hatred… and yet churches still hate others
We have said God’s love is for all… and some churches don’t believe that

We are far from arriving, but we have come a long way.

There are those who are like the Gentile believers of Christ even today. They believe in Jesus but are not welcome in portions of His Church.

I believe it is a good thing to clarify who we are as the children of God. It is good to own who we are and to whom we belong. And it is good to remember that as a Gentile, we too were once on the outside of the Church because of something beyond our control and choice.

As Paul said in Galatians 3:28 when dealing with this very issue…

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are one because we believe in Jesus. There is no “us and them” within Christianity. There are no “outsiders and insiders” among believers. There is no distinction, dichotomy or point of difference that we point to within a fellow believer in Jesus and say that disqualifies you from the love of God.

We do not need to re-litigate the first church council decision, but we do need to wrestle with the same issue of who is welcome in every generation.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

‘Cause I am a sinner
If it’s not one thing it’s another
Caught up in words
Tangled in lies
But You are a Savior
And You take brokenness aside
And make it beautiful
Song: Brokenness Aside by All Sons and Daughters

King David wrote a song (psalm) after being called out for committing adultery and then murder to cover that up. Here is a portion of that song from Psalm 51…

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom  in the inmost place. (v.5-6) NIV

Or

I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. (v.5-6) The Message

 Psalm 51 is King David’s song of repentance. He bears his heart in song and these words reflect: shame, embarrassment, a disconnection from fellowship with God and a need for forgiveness.

We can look at this in two ways.

1. This is a snapshot in time. King David’s “royal” mess up is really ugly and he knows it as well as other people. David is not just sad he got caught, he is sad that he did a terrible thing. Note: People are often sorry they got caught and NOT that they did something hurtful.
2. Or we can take a step back and see that King David’s story is our story.

These two points of view are not mutually exclusive. This is King David’s experience and it is our story.

When we take a look at a macro-view of the Bible, one of the major themes (if not the primary) is this: People are flawed.

What I find interesting is that some want to argue (and dismiss scripture in the process) that we (orthodox Christianity) harp on sin, sinfulness, judgment and that is our agenda for control over others. Many go on to say, this is not God’s agenda… because God really wants us to be happy, prosperous, successful or whatever.

I do not have the time to write a treatise on this (and I am sure you wouldn’t read it if I did) but let me remind you that within the first three chapters of the Bible we are told a story about why life is so hard. Spoiler alert: Humanity caused it because we are flawed. (This is an un-nuanced theological response but when you boil it down to its essence; we are flawed.)

God’s story begins with creating a perfect world (and universe) and then people mess up perfection because we are flawed.

This story doesn’t sit in isolation, does it? God cares about flawed people… His creation. This brokenness is so concerning to God that He addresses it head on and comes to earth in the person of Jesus to deal with our flaws once and for all.

How can anyone argue that sin is not an important theme in scripture and concerning to God?

I don’t know why people want to argue that humanity as a whole are “good people” and that there are only a few “bad apples.” I don’t get it.  My personal experience tells me that I need help in life. I am a “better” person when I turn to God and I am a “better” person when I surround myself with like-minded Christians. Yes, you help me be a better person. Thank you.

Equally troubling to me are Christians who believe that we are all flawed yet some people are too flawed for God.  Honestly, that makes me sick and it makes my blood boil. NO ONE IS BEYOND THE GRACE AND LOVE OF GOD. Not even “those people” whoever they are.

So let me be clear, no one beyond the love and grace of Jesus. Nothing is more powerful than what the cross of Christ represents.

If someone enters a church on a Sunday morning wanting to connect with God they should be welcomed. You and both know that many Christian churches have a litmus test when it comes to who is welcome. Whether it is skin color, ethnicity, sexuality, physical appearance (economic factors), or a known past history, many churches make it clear who is welcome to experience the love of Jesus and who is beyond divine love. Sometimes that rejection has nothing to do with someone else’s flaws!!! The sin of exclusion and rejection is the problem not the other person’s identity (see list above).  With standards like this, King David wouldn’t be welcomed in most churches.

We are all flawed. We all need Jesus. Our doors are unlocked on Sunday morning for a reason.

Let us rejoice that God loves sinners…I mean people… you know what I mean.

God bless,
Pr. Ben