IN HIM=UP! Preparing for LENT: January 27, 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It is the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany and even though it seems really early we are three weeks and a few days from Ash Wednesday and the start of the 40 days of LENT. Last year we asked people to spend Lent in the Scriptures. I reminded everyone it is OK to do the traditional giving up of something we really enjoy to spend that time with the Lord. Someone shared with me they gave up watching the O'Reilly Factor in order to do this. It was a good way to spend an hour that they normally spent watching Fox News. This is just one example.

We here at Cross and Resurrection, especially the leadership have been feeling the Lord wanting us to spend time in Prayer. We as good Lutheran Christians understand that it is through Word and Sacrament that we are assured of Grace, as well as forgiveness and everlasting life. We know there is value in Prayer as the Lord taught his disciples in the Word ie: "Lord's Prayer," "High Priestly Prayer," and other examples. He taught them by deed as he spent time in prayer early in the morning and late at night. We understand that it is not a means of Grace but definitely it is a means of POWER! We recognize that our God answers prayer in three ways "Yes, NO and Wait." We also note he expects us to have a personal prayer life as well as praying HIS prayer: (Matthew 6:
⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² Forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.)
We also know that the Lord desires us to pray with expectation: Luke 11:
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,^[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.^[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.^[c]
And lead us not into temptation.^[d]’”

⁵ Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶ because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
⁷ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness^[e] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We know our Lord wants us to pray in HIS name and in unity: John 14
¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. And in JOHN 15:
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.



The point of all these verses is that the Lord wants us to pray. It is not "if" but "when." Along with this HE says we will also fast.

This Lent, literally means "spring," we are asking people to look at ways they may fast, either food or something else that is important to them and they do on a daily basis, so as to use the time they will save to spend with the Lord in reading Scripture and Prayer. I must confess I have stayed away from talking about fasting since it has negative connotations for some. John Wesley is quoted as saying: "some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it!" We don't want to do either of these. We want to recognize that the in our relationship IN CHRIST to the Father we grow if we fast and pray, study the Word and serve! We are going to be studying the Spiritual disciplines this Lenten Season. 

We recognize that the Lord expected His disciples to Fast: Matthew 6:
¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Also in Matthew 9:
 ¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
¹⁵ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Martin Luther said: "It was not Christ's intention to reject or despise fasting... it was HIS intention to restore proper fasting." This is what we seek "proper fasting!" Not something legalistic or forced just a chance to give up things that take time, money and energy to make time to grow our relationship IN HIM getting to know the Father and HIS desire for us! We want to grow in our relationship UP with the Father to know who we are as HIS children and out of that identity we are obedient. We want to know the KING of KINGS better to bring our will into line with HIS WILL and walk in HIS Authority and ultimately in HIS POWER as Kingdom people.

In the next three weeks we will talk about the types of fasts in Scripture: Normal Fast: from Jesus' example in Matthew 4:2 "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." This means he did fast from food. He was hungry not thirsty so HE had water. One might think about food and sleep and marital relations as being given up (1 Corinthians 7:3-5, 2 Cor. 6:5) Next we see an Absolute Fast: no eating or drinking. This happened in Ezra 10:6, Ezra 9:3. We see it in Esther 4:16 for 3 days. We hear this in Paul, Saul's, conversion experience in Damascus in Acts 9:9. We hear of Absolute fasts for forty days when Moses met with God on Mt Sinai. These are super natural and I don't think anyone should do this.

Next we have Partial Fast: in Daniel 10:3 we hear of Daniel fasted for 21 days, not eating certain foods: "² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over."

This is the most desirable of the fasts for novices or those who have not fasted before. We want this to be a grace thing and to draw us closer to our LORD. We will look at the value of fasting as a group in the Scriptures. But this first week it is all about the fast that we see in our Old Testament Lesson from Nehemiah 9 which was a realization that after the people read the Scriptures and repented and worshiped and celebrated with the Feast of Booths in Nehemiah 8. They waited 2 days and celebrated the Day of Atonement and this led them to repent and fast in order to be grow closer to God. This is the reason for our desire to get right with the Lord and walk in the forgiveness and grace our Lord by the power HE bestows on us through HIS HOLY SPIRIT!

May we grow UP IN HIM as we start our journey towards the 40 days of LENT!

Tomorrow Annaliese will share about her Mission Trip to Costa Rica at 9:15 at the EMU site and we will have LIFE with GOD starting after lunch. Please join us if you want to know more about our church family. Tomorrow we will also be doing the homeless shelter at St. Luke. It will be a great day!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan 

Miracles and Ministry, Jesus' first miracle and the response! January 20th, 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today is the first miracle of Jesus and the way John summarizes the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine by saying in John 2: "¹¹ This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." It is interesting that even though we should have faith in Christ because of the truth of HIS life and ministry, death and Resurrection etc... We are drawn by the Holy Spirit to faith but "signs and wonders" or "miracles" do have a place in drawing us to the Lord. What if the disciples saw Jesus clear the temple first, which comes next in John's gospel before they experienced this miracle at the wedding. Would it have changed the way the disciples viewed Jesus? Would it have changed the focus of HIS ministry and the way HIS disciples perceived HIS purpose?

It sounds from the text that Jesus does this to appease HIS mother? Does this mean it was not intended? I will explain in the sermon how the Jewish wedding happens and why what Jesus said was not disrespectful or unintentional but he was saying "I will take care of it" this is why Mary tells the servants "do as he says!"

This story occurred on a Wednesday in a village that could be seen from Nazareth. It was a joy filled event and thus the wine was essential as the Rabbi says "without wine there is no joy!" It is not that they got drunk but it was a sign of celebration and joyful hospitality and Jesus rescued this bride and groom in one of the most important and supreme highlight times of their lives!

I believe the Lord did this in the unassuming place at this family event with his followers to indicate the kind of ministry we should have: one where the Lord shows up and signs & wonders are evident. Where healing and power are common. Where we trust in the Lord expectant of HIS glory and majesty to be evident in HIS TRUE and REAL PRESENCE in Word and Sacrament among HIS family!

If Jesus' followers saw him start his ministry clearing the temple they may have missed the joy that he had in this celebration. They would have thought only of Law and judgement rather than grace and family. Praise the Lord that on this LIFE Sunday we can think of the Lord as a God who begins with LOVE, MERCY, JOY AND POWER rather than judgement.

I know most people think of LIFE Sunday as a time to judge those who take life in any way but mostly in the womb. I like to focus on the Miraculous aspects of the gift of LIFE. I like to thank our Lord for the gift of ultra sounds like they now have at the Family Life Services which allows people to see the miracle of Life in the womb. It is with the advancements in science and DNA mapping that we see the truth of how our very lives are miracles!

May we join in celebrating our Lord who rescues us as he did this couple in Cana! Let us celebrate the fact that all around us the Lord is manifesting and revealing his glory so we can respond like his disciples and put our faith in him!

This Wednesday we will have the Concert of Prayer here at the Cross and Res EMU site. It includes a number of pastors and is a great time. Next week we will begin a series "IN HIM, WITH HIM, THROUGH HIM!" as we prepare for Lent! We will be concentrating on our relationships UP, IN and OUT as the family of God.

Love in Christ our Risen Lord and great Savior,

Pastor Bryan

"Whom I created for my glory!"The Baptism of our LORD Sunday: January 13, 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate the first Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord. This means it is the Baptism of our Lord Sunday. This is the Sunday when we see Jesus beginning his ministry with his baptism in the Jordan by John. It is especially exciting to see the way God the Father and the Holy Spirit are present at the beginning of his earthly ministry. We hear God the Father rip the heavens open and declare: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!" We see the Spirit descend like a dove and realize that the Lord Jesus is who he was proclaimed to be by the Angels outside of Bethlehem and by the Magi and be Anna and Simeon etc... We see proof of the words he said to his parents at age 12 when they found him in the temple "I would be in my Father's house."

Today we will be looking at the words of Isaiah the prophet whose name means the "Lord Saves" tells us in chapter 43 who we are as ones that have baptized with Christ (Romans 6).


43 But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush[a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
   and because I love you, 
I will give men in exchange for you,
    and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
    I will bring your children from the east
    and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”


When we hear these powerful words of Isaiah 43:7 "everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made!" This ties us to the events of Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan! Can you hear the words of the Father speaking to you "YOU ARE MY CHILD, WHOM I LOVE, WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED!" Because of our Lord's ministry, his death, his resurrection from the tomb and his ascension to the right hand of God we can hear these words said to us! WHAT A HUGE BLESSING! Satan hates it when we know who we are and how we belong to God in Christ! Our sinful nature wants us to think we are either too bad for this to be true, or we can earn these words. These words are pure, true, love-filled, absolute GRACE! May we hear this "manifestation" or "epiphany" of the Father's LOVE this Sunday. Let us always know and trust that we are those called by HIS name, whom HE created for HIS Glory and whom HE formed and made! This is WHO WE ARE. PRAISE THE LORD!

Blessings in Christ our Savior and Lord,

Pastor Bryan

Interesting in being a "member" of the Cross and Res Family?

You BELONG to God by simply trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, therefore you are already part of the family. But as we move forward in our relationship as disciples of Jesus we formalize this relationship with "membership."

We BELONG, then we BELIEVE: This is a class I used to call "Life with God." It is what Lutherans Believe and what we specifically believe here. This moves us to BECOME: at the end of this class you will be a "member" and invited to lead in the area of your strongest gifts.

We are planning to have this class from 12:15-2:15 every Sunday starting on January 27th until we finish, usually 6 weeks. This is a casual environment and we will have child care.

Let me know if you can make it.
I can't wait to be able to spend time with you all!

Epiphany 2013! The 13th Day of Christmas?! January 6, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Epiphany! On Epiphany Eve we had a great time skating as a Church family and taking down the Christmas decorations. Today we celebrate a very special HOLY day! It is, with the exception of Easter, the oldest season of the church year. In Asia Minor and Egypt this season of Epiphany has been celebrated as early as the second century! According to John R. Brokhoff: "The Festival of Epiphany fell and still falls on January 6th. It was observed as a unitive festival--both the birth and baptism of Jesus were celebrated at this time. Jan 6th was chosen as Epiphany Day because it was the winter solstice, a pagan festival celebrating the birthday of the sun god. In AD 331 the solstice was moved to Dec. 25th and January 6 was then celebrated as Epiphany!" The reason I find this fascinating is because in the historic churches of the west, to which we belong, Epiphany is the visit of the Magi and then the first Sunday following this is always the Baptism of our Lord Sunday. To the western church the importance of the early church understanding that we did not need to be Jews in order to be Christians was extremely important and that is why our Old Testament lesson begins with a reminder that Jesus Christ is the LIGHT of the World as Savior of ALL Jews and Gentiles!

Isaiah 60 reminds us to do as the Magi and be overjoyed!

60 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
    and your daughters are carried on the arm.
⁵ Then you will look and be radiant,
    your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
    to you the riches of the nations will come.
⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land,
    young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
    bearing gold and incense
    and proclaiming the praise of the Lord

It is amazing that the Isaiah saw the coming of the Magi and the gifts brought to the KING in Bethlehem:

Matthew 2: The Visit of the Magi

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[b] and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

    who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’[d]”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

This is an amazing story. In the eastern part of the Church they immediately move to the Baptism of our Lord. They do not emphasize the Magi. I think that the western Church did a good thing by focusing on the Magi. It makes the UNITY of Christmas and Epiphany. It makes it almost the 13th Day of Christmas. It very rarely happens on a Sunday, since it is always on the 6th of January, for this reason many miss the importance of the message of the these Magi and their acceptance by the Holy Family, their seeking, overjoyed emotions and the worship of the KING. The history of Christmas Nativity Scenes have pretty much always attached the Magi to Christmas. Even though the word in Greek "paidon" for "Child" in verse 11 is not necessarily a "baby" (Brephos) as we hear in Luke 2. He may have been as old as two years since that was when they first saw the star. We understand this from Matthew 2:

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[g]

The murder of the Innocence we remembered on December 28th. This is why the Magi journey to Bethlehem is very different in the modern Christmas story than it really was. These were seekers who studied the heavens, saw the King's planet coming out of Palestine and came to the capital Jerusalem to find the King. We don't know how many there were and since they brought three gifts we think three. So we can go through all the problems yet the point of their acceptance and their experience is a great encouragement for us.

May we continue to be overjoyed because we know the Lord and belong to HIM. May we bow down and worship him and MAY WE RESPOND TO HIS GRACE AND LOVE BY IMITATING THESE GENTILES IN THE KINGS PRESENCE "OPENING OUR TREASURES AND PRESENTING TO HIM ALL THAT WE HAVE AND ALL THAT WE ARE FOR HIS PURPOSE!

May this Epiphany truly make us OVERJOYED!

Love in Christ Jesus the LIGHT of the World,

Pastor Bryan