Sep 21, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
We live in a confusing world. Advances in technology and the availability of information have made life all the more complex. To make matters worse, we live in a fallen world. We live in a world where sometimes we only have bad choices.
Together at TLC we search for meaning and truth as we try to faithfully follow Jesus Christ. Debate rages. Debate is a good and positive thing. No one person has the corner on truth. No one party, organization, or denomination has the corner on truth.
What do we know for sure? Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. How we faithfully follow Jesus is not so clear. Some of our members are seeking to love their neighbors at home and their neighbors in Iraq by serving in the military. Some of our members are seeking to love their neighbors at home and their neighbors in Iraq by protesting war in Iraq. What would Jesus do? I haven’t a clue, and I spend a fair amount of time thinking and praying about it. Life in a fallen world is rarely black and white. We are surrounded by shades of gray.
What is God’s will? That all might experience Abundant Life. How do we get there? I do not know.
What is God’s will? That we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. How do we love our neighbor? How do we love the twelve year old girl impregnated by her uncle? How do we love our 93 year old father who is on life support? How do we give advice to the young mother whose husband has been unfaithful? How do we love both the Israelis and the Palestinians?
Let me make this very clear. I do not know the answers to these questions. I do not know what Jesus would do faced with the choice of an unimpeded holocaust, or the devastation of World War II.
Let us be humble. Let us be respectful. Let us be honest. No one has the corner on truth. No party, no church, no denomination, no one this side of heaven knows the heart of God.
Let’s search together. In love,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Sep 14, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come into God’s presence with singing.” Psalm 100
What is up with your church? Does your church really encourage folks to dress in Hawaiian garb for a luau Sunday? Does your church encourage people to wear NFL jerseys and celebrate college spirit Sweatshirt Sundays? Has all decorum been set aside? What do cinnamon rolls, chocolate Sunday and tee shirt Sundays have to do with following Jesus? Are there no limits? What is next? A country western worship service? What kind of church do you belong to?
Trinity Lutheran Church is a gathering of people, real people who enjoy food, fellowship, football, playfulness, classical music, folk music, rock and roll and on occasion country western music. Trinity Lutheran Church is a gathering of real people, real people with broken homes and broken hearts, we have our individual life stories and experiences. Our beliefs are not uniform, they are in fact quite diverse. Real people gather here, they come in faith and doubt, with fears, phobias and scars. Real people, that is what we are. Real people, just like the ones Jesus met and ministered to. Real people who are longing for community, for a place to belong, a sanctuary, a place of grace where words of hope and encouragement are spoken. A place to encounter God’s Spirit.
Gospel means “good news.” The followers of Jesus are called to be people of good news. Jesus loved a party; wedding parties, parties for prodigal children, breaking bread with known sinners. When people come in the doors of Trinity Lutheran Church it should resemble a party house not a funeral home. Parties are loud and filled with laughter as friends old and new come together to break bread and drink wine. If you have ever been to a family or high school reunion, you know the joy of reuniting with people that have shared important chapters of life. Every Sunday at TLC is a family reunion. We should expect joyful noise! After all, we have much to celebrate. Blessed to be a blessing, our worship is a joyful celebration of God’s love. It is only fitting that we would gather to give thanks.
What kind of church do you belong to? I belong to a church where real people gather, where the communion table is open to all, where the broken are consoled and pretense has no place. There is no room for bragging, judging or excluding. One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, that is TLC.
What kind of church do you belong to? A church that cares about our community, the environment and the world. A church that supports dozens of local non-profits, international relief organizations, the poor and oppressed of the world. I belong to a church that gives away $10,000 every week for the common good of humanity.
That is the church I belong to and I hope that you will join us; the merry mischief makers of Whidbey Island, following Jesus and doing good. And when you come, you can expect a warm welcome and considerable noise. It is after all, a family reunion, a party where Jesus is the host.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
come into God’s presence with singing.”
One day closer,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Sep 7, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Life is hard for everyone, be kind to those you meet this day!
Viktor Frankl had been married for nine months when his family was taken on a Nazi prisoner train to Theresienstadt. He would spend the next three years at in four concentration camps including Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. His wife Tilly, his father Gabriel, his mother Elsa, and his brother Walter all died in hellish captivity.
Viktor Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning over a nine-day period. The book was released in German in 1946. The English translation of Man’s Search for Meaning was published in 1959 and became an international bestseller. Millions of copies were sold in dozens of languages. In a 1991 survey conducted for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Man’s Search for Meaning was named one of the ten most influential books in the US.
On this Saturday in September, I would encourage you to read this book as I share with you a few quotes from Man’s Search for Meaning.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.”
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
“Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”
Blessings to you on this day! I hope to see you tomorrow at worship and at our Rally Day Barbeque at 11:45.
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Sep 6, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
MAKE YOUR FINAL STATEMENT IN LIFE CONSISTENT WITH THE VALUES THAT GUIDED YOUR LIFE.
Dear TLC and Pastor Jim,
I wanted to send a quick note to let you know how deeply grateful I am for the scholarships my son has received these past two years. In many ways they have been an answer to my prayers and I can’t thank you enough. I’ve watched over the years how TLC blesses so many lives in our community and he is lucky to have been a recipient. Thank you so much for helping to make his educational dream and goals a reality.
With heart felt gratitude.
Trinity Lutheran Scholarship Committee,
Thank you so much for choosing me as a recipient of this scholarship. I have fond memories of visiting Trinity over the years, starting with going to preschool there. I remember Teacher Joan as kind and encouraging and I am grateful for the early education and the opportunity to have a higher education as well. I hope to give back to the South Whidbey community in the future.
Thank you so much.
Touch the future! The Trinity Lutheran Church Endowment
Aug 30, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
He was a 44-year-old Presbyterian Pastor, a husband and father of three. He was a fitness fanatic who exercised regularly. In the fall of 2023 he hosted a meal at his family home. When the meal was over, the dishwasher loaded and the guests had gone home, he took his prescription medications as prescribed, went to bed, never to wake up. Pastor Bill had served his congregation faithfully for 10 years. As you might imagine, there was considerable grief and shock in the larger community and among the parishioners that he had served for a decade. The Executive Pastor of the church in the aftermath of this loss said: “What we’ve learned is that the Medical Examiner deemed the manner of Bill’s death as accidental, which is a category that includes an extensive range of ways that loss of life can occur. Christians, however, know that nothing happens by accident. God gave us Bill as a treasured gift here on earth; then God took Bill away according to His divine timing.”
Reading the newspaper account this past week, I was saddened by this tragic event. We have experienced firsthand the devastating effects of death “out of season”. When death plays by the rules, coming to those who have lived long, full lives there is a deep sorrow in our final goodbyes. Even if the death was to be expected, even if the death had been prayed for, the stark reality that we will ever see our loved one smile or laugh again leaves us in tears. When death visits “in its season” we naturally experience some mixture of grief and relief. When death takes our children, grandchildren or those in the prime of life the road of grief is lengthened, and every step is uphill. Death “out of season” not only robs us of loved ones, it also threatens our sense of order. If death can be so random, chaotic, acting outside of our sense of fair play, then no one is safe from its reach.
Reading the newspaper account this past week, I was greatly dismayed as well by poor theology. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, “Jesus wept.” It is the shortest and perhaps the most important verse in the Bible. “Jesus wept” because his friend Lazarus was in the prime of life, a contemporary of our Lord, Lazarus was maybe 30 years old. This was death out of season, this death brought untold grief to Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary. This death out of season devastated the village of Bethany and moved Jesus to tears. If there are no accidents, if death is always a part of some mysterious plan of our Almighty God, if Lazarus was taken in God’s divine timing, then certainly Jesus would not have raised Lazarus from the dead. In fact, Jesus never met a dead body that he did not raise. Jesus also cured many who were afflicted with a variety of illnesses and disabilities and by doing so, he loudly proclaimed that these maladies were not the will of God.
Much of what happens in this world is contrary to the will of God. Much of what happens in your life and mine stand in opposition to the deepest longings of the one who only desires good for us. There are many reasons for human suffering and death. Some of our suffering can be attributed to our own misguided or self-centered choices. For every dire diagnosis there is some medical explanation supported by modern science. The air that we breathe, processed food, and chemicals that make for bountiful crop yields all come with added risk to our long-term health. Sometimes tragedy and even death are just random, we are just unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The world we live in is dangerous. Accidents happen. If we think that God is pulling all the strings, that everything that takes place on earth is a part of some predetermined divine plan, then we are sadly mistaken. God never stops working to bring blessings out of brokenness. I believe that, but brokenness itself is not a reflection of God’s will. If we find comfort in the misguided belief that God took Pastor Bill to teach his wife and children some larger life lesson, then our theology is bankrupt. How could we ever trust a God who would take our children or grandchildren from us, following some hidden agenda? Could I calmly trust God in my death, if I believed that God had willed the violent death of my spouse in the prime of life? We should never attribute to God, a crime for which we would put one of our own citizens in jail, and yet we do.
“Christians know that nothing happens by accident.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus wept. Remember that the next time that you are weeping. Jesus wept when death visited out of season. Jesus weeps with us as our world is marred by war and cruelty. Jesus weeps with us when our lives and families are broken.
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Aug 24, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
A few thoughts about why we gather to worship God.
If we are to have this conversation, then it helpful to know what worship will NOT do for us:
- Your worship attendance will not get you into heaven.
- Your worship attendance will not get you any special status with God.
- Your worship attendance will not guarantee you financial or relationship success in life.
- Your worship attendance will not give you any protection from disease, disaster, aging, or harm.
- As simple creatures we are not able to negotiate with God. Our worship and our prayers are not negotiating sessions.
We cannot earn or purchase God’s love or favor. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.
So why do we gather for worship? Why does God expect us to worship in a faith community?
- Our worship is a grateful RESPONSE to what God has already done for us. We gather to offer our thanks and praise to the one who gave us life and breath and seasons in the sun.
- We come to put ourselves in the path of the Gospel, believing that the way of Jesus leads to abundant life. We have a better chance at an abundant and more peaceful life if we keep the 10 Commandments and learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.
- We come to hear words of promise and hope in a world that can be harsh and unforgiving.
- We gather with other flawed and frail humans for fellowship; soaking up the human touch, a friendly face, a warm embrace. We need each other. We gather because everyone is carrying heavy burdens that go with our human journey. We gather because every family is complicated, and misery loves company.
- We believe that together we can make a difference in our community and in our world. We pool our resources to provide for our neighbors. Trinity Lutheran Church gives away approximately $10,000 every week in support of local charities, scholarships to students and a wide array of national and international causes.
- Blessed to be a Blessing! We gather to give back. We serve. We serve cookies. We model the faith for young people. We cut wood, we collect food for our local foodbanks, we quilt, we open our doors and the communion table to all people regardless of their backgrounds or beliefs.
Why worship? Worship is a natural response, offering thanks for the gifts we have received. Worship makes our lives and our communities better and reminds us of God’s promises: We are loved, we are forgiven, and we are never alone.
I will see you in church!
One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
