Let God Lead in Our Celebration.

This past Sunday we celebrated our life together as a congregation. This was in response to the scripture text read that morning, Deuteronomy 26:11

 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

The Israelites celebrated when they brought the first fruits of the harvest to the temple.  Resurrection celebrated as we brought our financial intentions for 2015, our Estimate of Giving cards, to the altar. We celebrated by giving thanks for the many blessings God has given us as individuals, families and as a congregation. We celebrated with music, special snacks and a great video. 

I cannot share the special snacks but I can give you a glimpse at the great video we watched.  

Thanks to all who joined the celebration by returning their Estimate of Giving card to the church office. 

You can join the celebration by making sure your Estimate of Giving card is completed and sent back to the church office. If you did not receive an Estimate of Giving card in the mail, please call the office or pick one up at church. Our goal is to make sure this celebration includes every member of Resurrection.  Thanks be to God. 

Pastor John Keller

Confirmation: Faith Super-sized

Last Sunday afternoon, seventeen of our youth stood and professed their faith in Jesus Christ.  What a joy to celebrate the confirmation of their faith. 

Ruth Erikstrup, one of the confirmands, spoke. She had been chosen by her class to speak. In her remarks she referenced a joke I had told the students during our recent retreat at Camp Wapo. We were in one of the old camp buildings when a mouse raced past the students. That reminded me of the following joke, which Ruth repeated.

A Lutheran church was having problems with mice. The custodian had tried various mouse traps, poison and even a cat, with limited success. He asked the pastor what he should do. The pastor said, “You might try dressing them up in red robes and have them confirmed. Afterwards they will never be seen in church again.”

After the congregation finished laughing, Ruth went on to say that she did not feel this reflected her faith at this time. She felt the firm bond of friendship with her classmates and looked forward to seeing them in church and at That High School Thing on Wednesday nights. She wanted to continue the faith conversations that had started in confirmation. She wanted to keep growing in her faith.

Ruth was expressing the three goals of our confirmation program at Resurrection. The goals are.

• Provide basic instruction on what the Christian faith believes: to engage minds.
• Connect confirmands to a living faith in Jesus Christ: to engage hearts.
• Build relationship with their classmates as fellow Christians: to engage community.

I see this as fulfilling Jesus' basic instruction to his disciples. When asked what is the greatest commandment, he responded

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22: 36-40

Each year our staff prays that our confirmands will grow in love for God and each other. I think Ruth expressed that as did her fellow speaker Tim Dornfeld.

Of course their faith does not stop growing with confirmation. A very large pumpkin was placed on the altar and I referenced it during my sermon. God wants our faith and love of him to grow to super-size. We are not to be content with a small pumpkin faith, but rather a super-size faith.

A super-large pumpkin only grows under four conditions: the right seed, the right soil, the right weather, and the right space. The seed must come from a super-size pumpkin. The seed must be planted in the right soil with excellent fertilizer and top soil. The seed and soil must receive the proper amount of rain and sun for the pumpkin to grow. Finally, there must be space provided for the pumpkin to grow to its giant status.

As Christians we have been given the right seed, the seed of Jesus Christ in our baptism. The seed of Jesus Christ must be planted in the right soil of God’s word, the story of God’s work in Jesus Christ. The seed also needs the proper climate of prayer, worship and service. Finally the proper space is provided through the community of faith, that we are connected to each other and God.  Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15).

I am so proud of our 17 confirmands and their public affirmation of faith. I trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives, providing the energy and conditions needed to super-size their faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor John Keller

Let God Lead Us With Courage

Courage seems to be a forgotten value in our society. Only soldier, sailors and first responders are publically credited with bravery. Courageous movie heroes are restricted to superheroes such as Ironman or Captain America. Many seem to think that displays of courage are really only acts of foolishness; “Fools rush in to where angels fear to tread.”

Yet God often encouraged his people to take courage, to stand strong.

David said further to his son Solomon, "Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. I Chronicles 28:20

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. I Corinthians 16:13

In Joshua chapter one, Joshua is told that Moses, (Israel's great leader and Joshua' mentor) is dead. Joshua must take on the mantel of leadership. He is to lead God’s people into the promise land and fight against the Canaanites who occupy the land. Three times God commands Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” This would not be an easy task. The battles would be tough.  His people would be fickle and frightened  But God also gave Joshua a great promise as well.

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:19

The promise to Joshua of God’s guidance and strength is the foundation for our fall emphasis: Let God Lead. God gives Resurrection that same promise today. We are to be strong and courageous as we seek to do God’s will in our community and world. Our courage is not based on any human strength but on God’s strength and power. We need to remember God’s promise and meditate on God’s strength as we look into the future. God faithfully led the Israelites into the promise land; God promises to lead us into our future as we trust in him.

This Sunday at Resurrection we will look at how courage can be a critical part of our Christian faith.

Pastor John Keller

Let God Lead with Generosity; Part Two

Yesterday in his sermon, Pastor John invited people to share experiences of generosity.   He shared  two examples.

I remember the generosity of my father in regards to the Lutheran Bible camp near our home.  The camp was called Lutherhaven and it was on Wildcat Lake, about 15 miles from my home in Bremerton, Washington.  He served on the camp board and worked many week-ends helping to maintain the cabins and lodge.  He appealed to our congregation to make our financial donations and he also gave monetarily to the camp.  And the one summer I worked as a camp counselor there, he proudly showed the new staff what the camp had to offer.   My dad was a model of generosity for me.

And our congregation has a model of generosity in our own recent history.  We are so blessed by the generosity of Glenn and Inez Oehlke, whose farmland we now occupy.  Early on many commercial developers approached them: Walgreens and others, because they knew what valuable property this was, being on the key intersection of Bailey Road and Woodbury Drive.   But they said no to the commercial realtors, because they wanted churches to be here.  So they sold at reasonable prices to both St. Ambrose Catholic Church and to Resurrection Lutheran Church.

Then after Glen died, Inez moved out of her farmhouse and donated the land and buildings to the south to us where we now enjoy our Harvest Festival and outdoor worship.  God truly has taken the lead in our congregation's experience of generosity.

     

You can share your own experience of generosity  by taking the following survey where your comments will be used later this month in worship.  You can take the survey anonymously or leave your name if you choose. The link is here Generosity Survey

Let God Lead With Our Generosity

Transitions are tough.  To move to a new town is challenging for us.  To start a new job and to learn new work habits and culture adds to the difficulty.  Yet thousands of people do it every year.  My wife and I did it when we married and moved to St. Paul from Kansas City so that I could start seminary.  I helped my daughter Christina move to Austin, Texas, so she could begin her first teaching job. With patience, wisdom and perseverance people transition to a new life. 

The people of Israel had a difficult transition as they entered the Promise land of Canaan.  They had been nomadic sheep and goat herders in their wandering in the wilderness.  Moses, before he died, had a final word from God. In the book of Deuteronomy he instructed the people on how they were to act once they transition to farming.  

    When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,  you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.
    And you shall say, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;  and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me." You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 26:1-2, 8-10

This was the offering of first fruits.  God was teaching the people to practice generosity in their daily living.  The first-fruit generosity was stated as the expectation of God for his people as a response to God’s generosity in giving them the land they now settled and farmed.  Notice why they gave. It was not a payment in order to earn God’s favor.  Rather it was a thankful response to what God had already given to them.

The practice of generous giving is one that our contemporary society can embrace.  Our congregation witnessed such generosity when Inez Oehlke donated her farm buildings and land to the congregation when she transition out of the farm house.   We are ever grateful for her example of generosity.

The practice reminds us to open our hearts and minds towards God’s gracious gifts towards us.  It reminds us that God has given us not only the created world and all its produce, but has given us new life in his Son, Jesus Christ.  God is generous and gracious towards us; can we not be generous toward God’s ministry in the world?

When have you recognized a gift of generosity towards yourself?   When have you practiced generosity?

Lord Jesus, teach to me practice generosity towards others.

Pastor John Keller