Gathering

Before Whose Altar

Friday, June 16, 2023

ZDF Gottesdienst 11 Juni 2023

Pfarrer Dr. Robert Nandkisore aus Oestrich-Winkel

Segnet Uns Alle

(Blesses Us All)

Joshua 22:29

Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt-offering, grain-offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!’

Hebrews 10:25

… not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Words of Grace For Today

Where and Whom or What do we worship each day?

By the looks of society around us (in western Canada) people worship their ability to burn gasoline and diesel in their trucks and toys (boats, snowmobiles, quads, side by sides, and sea-does). The rationale is though climate change occurs (hard to deny that now that storms, wildfire, and smoke interfere with daily life) it has always happened. (Forgetting just a little that the speed of the change is like never before in all time. What used to take more than a million years of evolution we’ve ‘accomplished’ burning carbon – among many others like mining, technology and creation and use of new, permanent chemicals – in less than one hundred!)

And people worship the comforts of modern living, hot and cold water, vehicles for transportation, roadways, air travel around the globe, secure and temperature controlled housing, bounties of food sources and varieties, and a steady income to enjoy all those things. Not that everyone has the ability to have or enjoy all that, but nearly everyone wishes they had and enjoyed all that, so they work endless hours to achieve that (even as they earn less real income each year and costs go up each month.)

Many still gather to worship God. And their worship is oriented towards making themselves good enough for God. All that they do supposedly makes them ‘better’ than they were, and certainly ‘better’ than all the people who do not join them in ‘being better’ and ‘good’ or at least ‘good enough for God.’

Where can one worship with others, begging God for mercy, receiving forgiveness, and humbly acknowledging that Jesus came for sinners, the worst of whom is not anyone else but for each person, themselves. Receiving forgiveness and by grace, renewed life, then each and all go out to extend that same grace and renewed life to all they encounter, as many as possible, in as many ways as possible.

There are not many opportunities for such worship. They are rare indeed. Those of who seek such worship are the best of all God’s children, right!?

oppps, slipped into the pervasive sin-rut of making myself and us better than everyone else.

So, when one even fails to remain humble and fully dependent on God, where can one find an opportunity to gather and humbly worship God, begging for mercy? And how can one go out to share God’s grace with others when one does not depend on that grace each day, all day?

By Grace alone, God provides.

Such was the blessing from a Catholic priest. At the end of the televised worship service, focused on God’s mercy shown to addicts gathered as the congregation Cenacolo, founded by the Elvira nuns, in northern Italy and everywhere (Jesus comes to the sick, and calls the worst of all sinners to follow him, like the tax collector Matthew) Pfarrer Dr. Robert Nandkisore just before he exited the church, turned to look at the camera. Various people do this through the service, usually with a bit of embarrassment of being televised or to complete their part of the service. But the service is done. So what is the priest up to? He looked directly in the lens (at each of us watching) and with an intensity through his glasses, strong to corrected nearsightedness, blessed us all and each of us.

May we find opportunity to be such a blessing to others, even this day.

What else did you have in mind?

Useless worship of things, comforts, and vain efforts?

God’s Face

Shown and Not Hidden

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Even in the Deepest Darkness

and

in the Thickest Fog,

Like This Moon on a Wintry Morning,

God Does Not Hide From Us.

Ezekiel 39:29

… and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.

Romans 8:16

… it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ….

Words of Grace For Today

When God shows God’s face …

Ancient times knew that when one saw God’s face, that was the last thing one would see. One died, and quickly.

God visits Moses, calling him to lead God’s people from slavery to freedom. God hides in a burning bush that is not consumed. Moses is convinced it is God.

Moses climbs Mount Sinai and God shows God’s face to Moses giving him the ten commandments, twice since the people have put up a golden calf to worship. Moses has disappeared up the holy mountain. That’s where God is, and surely Moses has seen God and … of course died. So the people move on, insisting Aaron make a godlet for them from their most precious gold. Moses sees this and throws the stone tables of the ten commandments down, breaking them on the rocks. After the people’s sins are dealt with, Moses climbs the mountain again, and chisels a new set of the same ten commandments.

Moses sees God, twice. And Moses’ face shows it: he has turned ashen white from the exposure.

So when God promises to never hide God’s face from the Israelites again, after God returns to them, is that a promise or a threat?

Will the people turn ashed white from the exposure, or die?

Or …

is something else afoot?

Will God show God’s face and bless the people?

When God’s Spirit gives witness, to our spirits (the German translation interprets the genitive ‘our spirits’ as ‘to our spirits’, instead of the English which interprets it ‘with our spirits’, the ‘to’ makes better sense), then we can know that we are God’s children and …

children need not fear seeing their parent, not if the parent is a good parent as God is.

So …

We can give God thanks and praise that God is with us, and does not hide God’s face from us, children of God that we are.

Gentleness,

Or Arthritis, Or …

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Like Nighttime Snow

Freezing The Pine’s ‘Green’,

Arthritis Grips One’s Thumbs

(and other parts)

Without Warning

Psalm 34:3

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Philippians 4:4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Words of Grace For Today

A low pressure area (weather) approaches and the barometer drops like lead balloons or truth entering a courtroom.

Lifting a 22’ post to vertical to be packed tight in a hole yesterday leaves me cautious with my back.

But why are my thumbs complaining so loudly. Ah, yes. The lifts, only a few inches at a time, were many over hours … and I used a small but still heavy and very sturdy tree top with many side branches to lift the post and then to support the post between lifts. The best grip (well the only workable grip) put my left thumb in a vise below one of those side branches. So today, screaming out with pain, it wants heat and it’s cool in here since I’ve cooled it down to 13⁰ with the night air to prepare for the coming heat of the day (over 30⁰).

Lots of things, aggressive things, could be done, like turbo pain relievers. But how is one gentle with pain.

Well, one is gentle with arthritis if one has any good experiences with it. Aggressive hardly ever works and is more likely to make it worse. So the coffee press is filled from the hot water pan with a cup. That task done the cup automatically gets held just a few minutes longer in that hand and then is run around the outside of the thumb to warm it. Still the pain.

So after breakfast, the coffee press always has about 3/4 cup of coffee in the bottom with the grounds that does not pour out without extreme measures and then always with grounds in it anyway, so it’s hot after the last cup is poured and it gently, carefully (it’s almost too hot to touch) serves as a heat pad, and finally the the pain subsides enough so that I can write (well type.)

And the day is good.

When it’s not one’s own body that’s screaming in pain, but another person cursing in anger, the same kind of approach works best, if one knows what is good for oneself and others. Find what soothes the pain that is behind the anger, since all anger at it’s beginning and core is pain, is being hurt.

And that hurt allowed to grow into anger. And that anger left to fester by someone who does not know what hurts them grows to nearly fill or actually overfill, the person’s every hour. And that overfill of past pain become anger gets set off with a small spark of pain way too often. And the frequent fire of anger (without any obvious cause) grows until the person is in full out rage … every hour of every day, until ….

So when you encounter an angry person it’s almost impossible to deal to any good effect with the anger that grows out of the present situation, … because, well, that isn’t the pain the person is ‘venting’ with anger or rage.

And the only way to calm the current situation is …

you got it,

with gentleness

that soothes not only the current pain but all that pain built up under the surface.

Gentleness goes a long way, everyday,

with everyone.

Even me.

Even you.

How could God not advise us to let everyone know our gentleness?

How can we exercise gentleness even today?

Or is everything a nail since we are always hammers!? (Hurts my thumb just to think that!)

Holy,

Holy, Holy

And Gracious

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

God’s Grace Blossoms Full Today,

And

God Promises Grace

For Each New Day.

Numbers 14:17

And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying, ….

Luke 1:49

… for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

Words of Grace For Today

There is always more that has gone before, and more after.

Not just in words of God’s promise, but in our lives. God has worked wonders in our past and promises many more in our futures.

So it is that each day, we give God praise, and hallow God’s name with our worship of songs, prayers, and deeds that extend God’s great works of grace to other people.

Charged and convicted of a crime that never happened, stripped of more than three times the money I had for retirement so that I can never hope to be out of debt, and left unable to even rent an apartment to live in, I have been blessed to live in a self-made camp as a mystic, a hermit, beside a lake, in the midst of nature, able to see the wonders of God each day.

God’s grace abounds. For while many would say I have lost nearly everything, precisely in having next to nothing or any prospects of ever having enough to live in a house again, I have gained full awareness of God’s grace and presence with me, through all that has been unjustly done to me, through all the challenges that the cold, heat, bugs, wild animals (worst are the two legged ones), storms, and equipment and body failures have thrown at me.

God’s grace abounds.

There is nothing

more so crucial

in all of life.

Bus u. Bet Tag

Begging Day

Monday, June 12, 2023

With the Heat Above 30⁰ Now For Days

Remembering -38⁰ Doesn’t Help.

Begging God for Deliverance Does.

(It motivates us to chill. A little heat is nothing compared to the heat, smoke, drought, floods, storms, and disasters of all kinds, which others suffer already, and we may well suffer soon enough.)

Psalm 25:18

Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

Luke 15:7

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Words of Grace For Today

Hah!

I’d like to meet even one of those 99 people who do not need repentance!

Of course I’d like more to see one of those 99 in the mirror each morning, noon, and night.

But it just ain’t so for me.

Nor for any other living human being, or for any now dead, when they were still alive (since after we die, it’s too late for repentance.)

What is wonderful is that there is great joy in heaven when we do repent.

So today, call it Buss und Bet Tag, (day of repentance and prayer)

In our prayers and repentance we can beg God for mercy, for Christ promises us God will be gracious with us

again

and again

and again

always.

The Perfect

The Very Perfect

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Not All of Us Can Be Perfect,

Or Capture the ‘Perfect Water Droplet’

(which does not exists, anyway.)

Isaiah 31:6

Turn back to him whom you have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel.

1 Timothy 1:15

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.

Words of Grace For Today

Humble Pie.

While the world is full of bullies, liars, and doers of evil, so much so it seems it’s impossible to find even one good person –

which reminds one of the visiting pastor to the Lutheran Church of Hope in Tinytown, Anywhere. He was following up on inquiry made to him directly about serving this new church in his spare time. That was an odd request since he was moving to a small town a little jaunt away to start his retirement. Still he met with the chairperson, who showed him around the church building and the church yard. It looked pretty new if small.

He asked as they approached the altar how many members the congregation had. The reply told him everything he needed to know, and more:

Well, ten years ago we were 150 members. But so many were not serious about their faith, so most of them left leaving us with 30 active members. Then two years ago there was a fight between two families. It was groundless, at least in the present. But they had been fighting for generations so who knows what it really was about anymore. So I told both families they could either make peace or leave. Both families left, not just the one’s fighting but all their relatives and a few friends. That left us with 10 active members. In the last two years I’ve worked to avoid any more fights. When someone does not measure up to the standards of our faith I tell them to shape up or ship out. All of them have chosen to ship out. Now we have a real good congregation of two people: myself and my husband. But lately I’m not so sure about him either. I’ve come close a few times to telling him to shape up or ship out. But he’s come around on his own.

The problem with fixing everyone else, is it blinds us to our own faults, and that blindness drives us to judge others harshly, maybe as harshly as they deserve, but not as harshly as we ourselves deserve.

The sign of a faithful person is one who can readily say that God’s grace is needed more by one’s own miserable sinful self than any other person.

The writer of the letter to Timothy had it right:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.

We can be glad that he claimed that spot. At least we are not as bad off as he was … or?

May your day not force you to be humble, but may you find joy in starting each day humbled by the wonders of God’s grace, and Christ’s work to save us all.

Bullies and Liars

Come in All Sizes

Saturday, June 10, 2023

God’s Grace Meets Us All!

Can You See It?

..

OR

Do We Need To

Zoom In Closer?

Jeremiah 31:25

I will satisfy the weary, and all who are faint I will replenish.

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Words of Grace For Today

Driving to town at 80 kph two vehicles passed me and an RCMP patrol car pulled up behind me. A few minutes later it turned on its lights. I pulled over, with a bit of pre-PTSD rising in me that I stuffed down. As I waited, I pulled out my Driver’s License, Registration and insurance papers so the cop could not accuse me of reaching for what? Something to threaten with?

He arrived behind the driver’s window, which I had rolled down as I saw him approach. “How are you, today?” “I was doing fine.” “Do you know why I stopped you.” “Not a clue.”

M. Tobias went on to say that the speed limit was 100 and I was going 80. That lots of cars were piled up behind me. That I was impeding traffic.

I told him in no uncertain terms the reason I was going 80 was because I was broke. I didn’t bother filling in that I am broke in large part because the RCMP had harassed me and aided my ex in sending me to jail for a crime that never happened. I have filed a 50 page complaint with the RCMP detailing their harassment, warning them that their sins are bound and if they bother me again I will sue them for harassment.

He asked for and took my papers. When he returned he handed me a print out of a warning. He threatened that it would be entered on my record.

I told him that neither going 80 nor being broke are crimes. I warned him in no uncertain terms that he was harassing me and I would sue him if he continued.

Later I noted that he had not indicated how I had ‘impeded traffic’ nor that I was going 80 kph. No doubt because if he did it would make him look like the fool and bully that he is.

I guess I should be more poor in spirit, not able to know when I’m being bullied and harassed, know when a cop is full of it, and not be so able to state my case clearly … then I’d be in the poor of spirit that God blesses, because

this flagrant abuse by a cop is not the first nor the last time cops will be fools and bullies, harass innocent people, and abuse their power, and

being the focus of that abuse is no blessing.

Or is it?

I was not able to work the rest of the day. That’s the PTSD running loose on my edges wiping out all concentration needed to work.

But I did get some badly needed rest. And when I cleared my mind of the event, I indeed was able to see how replenished I was, how God had indeed restored me to a peaceful heart, mind, and soul. Which was needed to deal with my ex’s lawyers either blatant incompetence or malicious malfeasance (not following a judge’s order and improperly filling out and sending a form to me that attempted to undermine the effect of the order).

I guess bullies, fools, and evil hearts will always be a part of one’s life. The question is how one responds.

God help us all, for as God must need respond graciously to our foolishness and sins, so we need help to extend that same grace to others.

But will that help M. Tobias stop bullying people and actually do the work he should be doing, like dealing with the real crimes that are committed on a regular basis around where I live: all the drinking and driving and tossing the cans out, cooking drugs in the campground, or cutting down living trees to make the ‘roadways’ wider, or camping for months and that within 30 metres of the lake (illegal in all of Canada!)

We can only pray, and hope that God will tend to our hearts, minds, and bodies.

When the red and blue lights stopped me, I was on my way to the food bank. That cop stop cost me another $3 or so; every trip to town is another $25, $30 if I go over 80 or ‘gun it’ out of the stop signs/lights. So how many cop-stops does it take to make a trip to the food bank impossible because I don’t have the money to pay for the trip?

Thankfully God walks with me, and suffers everything that lawyers, cops, and everyone else does to me; so I am not alone, nor deserted. I am accompanied and given help and hope that does not fail.

How’s your day looking? Ready to be challenged by people doing evil things, grounded in God’s presence, and humble but not defeated by evil?

Have at it. God protects us.

Cursed Days?

Doch, Blessed.

Friday, June 9, 2023

Threatened By Smoke,

Yet My Days Are Wondrously and Remarkably

(and inexplicably)

Clear!

Yours?

Deuteronomy 23:5

Yet the Lord your God refused to heed Balaam; the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you.

2 Peter 3:15

and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him,

Words of Grace For Today

Now it is not great when one’s enemies join together to give voice to and worse to effect a curse against one continuing to live in peace and even to continue to breathe at all.

God does not work magic to save us. Sometimes it may indeed seem that God barely works at all. Yet God does work and work grace and blessings for us.

Because God walks with us, we trust that any curse spoken or attempted against us will be turned into a blessing, just as God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing. Thus living and breathing will continue to be wondrous for us.

Today also, each challenge is not our undoing, but cause for us to give thanks, for as many challenges as we face, God gives us the ability to overcome them.

So we live, content, giving God thanks for everything that provides life for us, most of all, God’s presence each day.

Rewards

Of Giving Refuge

Thursday, June 8, 2023

What Appears To Be Peaceful, May Turn Against Us, Without Warning, Leaving Us at the Mercy of Others. As Others Are Now Needing Refuge With Us.

Ruth 2:12

May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!’

Ephesians 2:17

So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near …

Words of Grace For Today

Julius sat with three others from the community to brainstorm what they should do next. It was not a simple decision. The hunting camp was overrun and people were irritable after weeks in such limited quarters, many with very little to do, but wait.

The news came back from the crews working to create sluice gates at 4 dams. Three were completed, beginning with the nearest one. A flood of water had been released from each in turn. The waters had flooded part of their community, mostly land used to grow food on. A few homes were flooded, but they still stood and could be cleaned up and rebuilt as needed. The peak flood waters were still to come, but the lower two dams were nearly empty, so the flood that reached their community should be small. They would be done with the last sluice gate in another week or two. It was the most difficult to build. That was the good news.

The bad news was three workers were badly injured when a tree in the water had smashed into them as they worked on the third sluice gate. They needed transport back to the hunting camp. Their injuries were not life threatening, mostly broken bones in their legs and arms. One had lost a hand when it was completely smashed. Their healer, one of Julius’ students, had taken care of them. So six strong people volunteered to go and bring them back on stretchers made from branches and strong blankets of deer hides.

The really bad news was that Amos had been killed when a tree top broke off as they were cutting down the tree. Everyone ran for cover while Amos stayed in place making the last cut so the tree itself would fall away from everyone else.

The fire situation looked a bit better as rain had fallen in most of the area, but only for a few hours. They still needed days of rain to bring the forests from their winter and spring dry state to the growing green of summer.

With the the threat of terrible flooding removed, though, their community was likely as safe as anywhere. The flood waters that had come would have brought moisture to the area, also lessening the threat of a fire burning the community down. The real threat was still smoke. So far in the hunting camp the smoke had not been terrible except for a few days. Runners to the community each day reported that the smoke had been terrible there for most of the time they’d been away, though now it was tolerable.

Should they return home? Or was it safer to stay in the hunting camp? That was the decision to be made. The three people with Julius, usually some of the most level headed in the community, were anxious. They spoke on top of each other, hardly listening to each other as they expressed their fears. Together they excited each other closer and closer to a panic.

One of the New Iblers had stood waiting to talk to Julius, but as the fear mounted among the three, she stepped forward and asked Julius if she might speak. He nodded.

Troyen began, “Today we read a short passage from the story of Ruth. She was a widow, who followed her mother-in-law, Naomi (also a widow), from Ruth’s homeland, Moab, back to Judah, Naomi’s homeland. Being a widow left women in that day in great difficulty, at the whim and mercy of a male relative. But Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons. Naomi had no male relatives in Moab, she was getting on in years, and she had been away from Judah for more than a decade. On her own she certainly would have died, but Ruth had chosen to stay by her side through the difficult journey and when they arrived. Ruth was out scavenging grain behind those harvesting it, when Boaz, the owner of the field, asked who she was. The owner was a relative of Elimelech’s, Naomi’s deceased husband. Being told that the young woman gleaning behind his people was Elimelech and Naomi’s daughter-in-law, who had returned with and cared for Naomi, he ordered his people to allow her to glean with them, even to leave sheaves for her, and to protect her.

“By chance, and by God’s blessings, Ruth and Naomi, were provided for and provided protection by a wealthy male relative. So it will be with us. God will provide for us and protect us. We need not fear anything, as long as we are wise, careful, and generous with each other.

“We also read that God brings peace to those near and far. So it is for us, for those here and those working on the dams, as well as all those in this area. We are blessed that the threat of floods is diminished. We are blessed that the rains have started. It helps when we remember God’s blessings, especially when we have difficult decisions to make.

“Perhaps it would help if I offered, what I came to say to Julius. A young man, who had sought refuge with us after his family was killed in a fire, arrived yesterday. He has made it his work to learn everything about fire and fire protection. He described a plan for protecting your community from wildfire. It could also include a channel to divert some water from the river around the community, as a moat as part of a fire break. That might be helpful in redirecting flood waters in the future.

“We would be willing to help build this and the other measures he described to us, if we could seek refuge in your community. As we build our own homes, we would help protect your whole community from both fire and flood.”

One of the three found a calm voice, “This is most welcome. The only reason not to return now is the smoke. It is too dangerous for the children and the elderly people.”

Troyen responded, “Two people in our community have devised a mask made of reeds and grasses that helps filter out the smoke. They have made more than enough for our elderly and they could make enough for everyone. The masks do not filter out all the smoke but they have helped our elderly breath easy even when the smoke was terrible here.”

Julius looked at each of the three. Each nodded. So he spoke for them all, “We welcome you into our community as full members, then, all of you. You are no longer refugees here. We accept your offers of fire protection, flood risk reduction, and masks for smoke. You are God’s blessings for us all. I would like to speak with this young man who knows much about fire protection. We can make a plan that the whole community can help with, and we might have ideas that we can share with other communities to use to help keep their communities safe as well. All that we have, we have so that we can share with others.”

Not Loonie

Bins.

Just Hope Filled

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

No Need To Be Loonie,

Loons Do That

Wisely.

Deuteronomy 5:33

You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.

Romans 15:4

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Words of Grace For Today

If hope is dependent upon one’s own merit, then all is lost.

Yes, everyday thinking assumes if I preform well today then there is hope for tomorrow and all that may come my way.

But when it really counts, our own merit provides little security or hope. Death will find us, usually unawares, no matter how well our last few days or weeks or years have gone. If we deny that death will claim us, no matter what, then we live as fools, perhaps foolishly enjoying life, but foolish none the same for what really matters: that God has us in God’s good hands.

For only in God’s good hands can we face death knowing that all is well, all manner of things are well, for us and all creation.

So obey God, yes. It is a way to live well enough, sometimes even the way to live long lives.

But trust not, not a bit, in one’s own merits. Trust only God’s good hands, and God’s good grace promised us. With that we can dance with joy each day, no matter what comes our way, no matter how others may think that the worst of life has found us.

Ah, hope.

The power of knowing God’s goodness carries one!