Through HIM=OUT: Transfiguration Sunday Feb. 10, 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we conclude our journey through this short season of Epiphany. We experience the Transfiguration of our LORD on this Sunday as we hear from St. Luke's Gospel chapter 9:

The Transfiguration

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, ³¹ appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³² Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
³⁴ While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

We will conclude our 3 weeks on preparing for Lent with a call to prayer and fasting.
The Lesson we will close on is the teaching from Joel chapter 2:
 

¹² “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

¹³ Rend your heart
    and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
    and he relents from sending calamity.
¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and have pity
    and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
    for the Lord your God.

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
    declare a holy fast,
    call a sacred assembly.
¹⁶ Gather the people,
    consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
    gather the children,
    those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
    and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
    weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord.
    Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

¹⁸ Then the Lord will be jealous for his land
    and take pity on his people.

The promise is if we repent the Lord will forgive. We are ending this season with the Transfiguration so that we celebrate the truth of our Lord turning himself inside out, preparing to go to the Cross in Jerusalem and provide the way of salvation for all people. We know that THROUGH HIM salvation is for all. Not all will receive this gift but HE DIED FOR ALL! 

We talk about this being the OUT part of our three dimensional life UP, IN and OUT. We recognize that we are called to receive from our God IN CHRIST our UP relationship as sons and daughters of the KING and children of the Father. We celebrate WITH HIM in our IN relationship as we identify as children of God in the Body or Family of faith. Then we grow in Authority as we learn to reflect the author of all truth. 

Today we are reflecting on the reality of our Covenant obedience to the father because of our identity and walking in Kingdom Power because of the authority we have been given as chosen heirs THROUGH CHRIST by the KING. We are called to pray for our NATION and the World. To intercede for our Leaders. We hear in Romans:

13 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. ⁴ For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

We hear how important praying for these leaders are in 1 Timothy 2:1-3

2 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

We hear about the power of repentant prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:

¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

 

We recognize that we are to pray for our nation and for the world because the Lord desires to relent and forgive. He wants us Through Christ to be ambassador's of reconciliation. He asks us to be HIS mission strategy.

May we see the Transfiguration as a reminder of the LOVE the Father has for us. As we heard at the Baptism of our Lord we are IN Christ and can hear the words: "You are my child, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased!" We hear in Luke 9 and Mark 9 and Matthew 17 how the Father reiterates that Jesus is HIS SON chosen and loved and NOW TO BE LISTENED TO! St. Peter says that the Transfiguration event cemented his faith and gave him courage to proclaim what the Lord said and did...2 Peter 1:
¹⁶ We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^{[a] 18} We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

Our question, as we prepare to begin Lent this Ash Wednesday is whether we will take the time to spend in Prayer, fasting and in the Word to listen and hear what the Lord is saying. We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning in the Servant Leader Huddle asking the Lord to help us hear what HIS WILL is so that THROUGH HIM WE CAN MOVE IN HIS POWER AND BECOME WHO HE WANTS US TO BE AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A FAMILY OF FAITH...

It was a great time and it is my hope that we will move forward TROUGH HIM AND IN HIS POWER TO DO WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO AT THIS TIME IN HISTORY! WITH THE LORD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

This Sunday we are having the LOVE Ypsi Valentine Day service at 6pm. Please plan to join us! We will also hear at the EMU site from Sarah Polk who is planning to do a mission trip to Toronto during Winter Break at the same time as we from Cross and Res will be going to build houses for Sandy Victims on the east coast (March 2-10). We have a Mission Fund so if you wish to donate to Sarah or the Church Mission Trip please prayerfully consider it. We also have one of our Elders Chad Burtless-Creps from the ALIVE! Lenawee County Site who is going to do a mission to Uganda. He is a great Dentist and will be helping in this medical mission. Again if you feel led to support these missions and would like more information please let me know.

Can't wait to begin this reflective season of LENT (Spring) to see and hear what the Lord has for us!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Bryan  

With HIM=IN: Preparing for Lent Feb 3, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we continue in our look at the Triangle of UP, IN and OUT as we prepare for Lent starting with Ash Wednesday in 1 1/2 weeks. We are looking at the importance of the IN HIM = UP from last week: how we grow in our relationship with God in Christ through Word and Sacrament, Prayer, Fasting...etc. This is why we are preparing now as we will look more indepth at the Spiritual Disciplines during the Season of Lent.

Today we look at the relationship IN by talking about our journey WITH HIM, meaning our lives together in Christ's body. We know from Romans 12:
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his^[b] faith. ⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited.
 and 1 Corinthians 12 that we are all members of one body:
¹² The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
¹⁴ Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[d]? Do all interpret? ³¹ But eagerly desire^[e] the greater gifts.

We hear in Colossians 3 that we are to live IN CHRIST:
3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity
These are the reasons we take the Spring or LENT to ponder for 40 days how much our LORD loves us and how we are now hidden WITH Christ IN God. Today we want to look, not only how St. Paul viewed unity in the body but how this desire for us to be WITH HIM=IN is prevalent throughout Scripture. 

For example: Samuel assembling the people of Israel at Mizpah in 1 Samuel 7:
⁵ Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” ⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.

In Ezra 8:
²¹ There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. ²² I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.

In Nehemiah 9:1-3 from last week: they had the Day of Atonement
9 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. ² Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. ³ They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.

In Joel 2:
¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
    declare a holy fast,
    call a sacred assembly.
¹⁶ Gather the people,
    consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
    gather the children,
    those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
    and the bride her chamber. 

In Jonah 3: ⁵ The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

We see that Prayer and Fasting are a time for us as the BODY of Christ HIS FAMILY, HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE to take time to ask for good, pleasing and perfect will to done among us!

Today we will look at the way Jesus amazed the worshipers in Capernaum as HE spoke with Authority and Power and the Bible says in Luke 4: ³² "They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority." and again in verse ³⁶ All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!”

We are reminded by our Lord that WHEN we fast and pray in Matthew 6 we are to do it right. The sermon text today is from Isaiah 58:

58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the house of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
 We hear from the prophet Isaiah what Jesus expects from us as we prepare to spend LENT in Prayer, Fasting, in the Word etc... He want us to understand that as important as our personal relationship UP is to God we are on a journey WITH Christ IN HIS Body our family here at Cross and Resurrection and in the Church Universal. MAY we always rejoice that we are called to join together in proper times of celebration in Word and Sacrament, prayer and fasting and many other activities together.We are to celebrate as the Acts 2 church did and the Antioch Church etc... We want to celebrate the perfect unity we are called to IN Christ and WITH HIM=IN the family of God.

Please join us for the LIFE with GOD class after Lunch at the EMU site. We will also have Pizza and fun during the Super Bowl party in the afternoon.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan