The Secret Wireless

                Small schools are falling on hard times.   A while back Governor Quinn announced that he believed Illinois needed to cut back, dramatically, on the number of school districts.   Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit, that is not going to be a good thing for small schools.   The smaller the school, the more likely it is to be consolidated.                 Whatever the governor’s, or the government’s, plans may be I believe that all citizens should take interest in their local public school.   Each one of us benefits from the public school system in the United States.   And I write this as the pastor of a Lutheran congregation that operates a parochial (non-public) grade school.                 I do not...

          I read a blog post recently from a self-professed narcissist.  It was a confession of sorts written by a woman who has been cheating on her husband who happens to be a soldier deployed overseas.  He is a military hero and she is running around behind his back, apparently with several men, and is planning on divorcing him when he gets back.           As bad, as horrifying, as that all sounds, that is not really what shocked me.  What got to me was the fact that the people commenting on her post were all very supportive.  They thanked her for being honest words.  They were glad that she gave it to them "raw".           The problem is that giving words of support to a person who is engaged in such wantonly destructive behavior is not only unhelpful, but dishonest.  It is ultimately unloving and even hateful. ...

                                  In the final phrases of the Nicene Creed we confess that we are looking “for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”   My question for you this Easter is: “How hard are you looking?”                 Are your eyes constantly fixed upon the horizon, joyfully awaiting the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come?   Are you eagerly anticipating the day when Jesus will reveal Himself to the world as its Lord and Savior?   Or, like most people, do you have bigger fish to fry?                 The Resurrection of our Lord is a foretaste of the feast to come.   He has conquered death itself and so He guarantees that we too will rise upon His return. ...

                  Jesus loved Lazarus enough to raise him from the dead.   Jesus knew what it would cost Him.   He knew there would be consequences.   But He did it anyway.   He freed Lazarus from the bonds of death, and submitted to them Himself.                 The resurrections that Jesus performs amplify as you move through the 4 Gospels.   In Matthew and Mark we are told of Jesus reviving a little girl, the daughter of Jairus, who’s death was so recent she was still lying in her bed.   In Luke Jesus interrupts a funeral procession that is on its way to the burial site and gives life back to the only son of a widow.                 In John’s Gospel we learn of Lazarus, who has been dead, not for several hours,...

Fred Phelps almost protested at my church once.  They decided not to after they realized they weren't going to get on television, or anywhere near the funeral procession (one of the perks of our church basically owning the whole block).  But our little community was ready for them all the same. Some were ready to ignore them.  Some were ready to ask them why they had come.  Others, I am sure, were ready to do them bodily harm if they stepped off the curb toward the grieving family of an American hero. Today, as I learned about Phelps' death, and as the nation wondered how it should respond, it was the words of Jesus that came to mind:  "Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.'  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." I'm not sure anything else needs to be said.

Have you honestly thought about it? Have you? Why?  Why does He love love you? It is something most people, if they believe in God, take for granted.  "Of course God loves me.  How could He not?" Well, God shouldn't love you, and that is a fact.  He should not love me either.  I am a reckless, useless, disgusting sinner in His sight.  I stand before Him saturated in sin, wreaking with the stench of it.  I am constantly thumbing my nose at God.  So why does He love me, or you, or anyone? We could take the Lutheran answer here, the Sunday School answer, and simply say, "For the sake of Christ." This is true.  God loves you for the sake of Jesus Christ.  But that only pushes the question back one step. Why did God send Jesus to suffer and die for sinning scum like me? Do you want to know the real answer? Do you? OK, here it is: I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA! Isn't that awesome?!  I have absolutely no idea why Go...

II Peter 1:16-21   “Is Jesus ever coming back?”   Have you ever wondered that?   Do you find yourself watching the news, or surfing the internet, or struggling with sin or conflict in life, and just wish this could all be over with?   You are not suicidal.   You just want Jesus to return and make everything right, like He promised to do.                 And so you wonder.   You long for Jesus to return, to crush Satan, to raise the death, to set this world right.   And you wait.                    The Church has been waiting for 2000 years.   How much longer is it going to be?   How many more centuries, or millennia will pass by without the visible revelation of Jesus Christ?               ...