ASLC Devotions - Friday

Galatians 5:7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?

In Paul's words to the church in Galatia above you can hear the parental frustration... "Why would you do such a thing?" "What made you think of that?" "I taught you better than that?" "If all your friend did ____, would you!?"

This is one reason why I think it's so important to remember the great teachers and mentors you've had through life. From time to time, ask yourself whether the way you're living your life honors the best in that person. My internship supervising pastor, Pastor Fred, was and is a great pastor. I'm not saying he's perfect, but he's a great pastor and he taught me good lessons. From time to time, I like to ask myself... "What would Fred do?" After a good laugh about "Yabba Dabba Do" I usually find myself at least moving in the right path... moving in the consistent path. Who are the important mentors and teachers in your life?

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

See you in worship this weekend! Saturday evening at 5 and Sunday at 9.

ASLC Devotions - Thursday

Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

Galatians is the book/letter in which Paul probably most clearly and concisely lays out his ideas of the gospel: the free gift of grace that gives life to all who believe regardless of any other human institution or human practice. It's all a gift given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters. Nothing else makes us more valuable or less valuable. Nothing else makes us more important or less important.

Circumcision is not the burning concern for any of us, like it was for Christians in Galatia. We have other theological/moral/political/whatever-ical issues that we deal with. We have other reasons we judge one another. We have other bases we use in which to draw distinctions and say one person is more valuable and another is not. So let's try to translate.

In Christ Jesus neither a large bank account nor a small bank account counts for anything;
In Christ Jesus neither athletic ability nor three left feet counts for anything;
In Christ Jesus neither intellectual prowess nor a lacking counts for anything;
THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS is faith working through love.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Worship with us Saturday at 5 or Sunday at 9. See you then!

ASLC Devotions - Wednesday

John 14:25-26 Jesus said ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.' 

When you ever start to get jealous of the disciples or of people who seem to have a closer relationship with Jesus, this quotation should come to your mind. When you start to think: if only I could experience Jesus like Peter did, or like Mother Theresa did, then I could believe and I wouldn't have all these doubts and I wouldn't backslide all the time. But Jesus promised that the Advocate would come to all of us. The Holy Spirit would teach us new things... and remind us of all the things that Jesus ever wanted to teach. And the Advocate would come to all.

The Holy Spirit has come to you. Whenever you have the urge to pray, that's the Holy Spirit calling out from inside you. Whenever you have the itch to gather with sisters and brothers and pray or sing or laugh or cry together, that's the Holy Spirit calling you into Christian community. When the right words come to you when a friend needs comfort, that's the Holy Spirit. When the urge to keep silence comes to you, that's the Holy Spirit too. God has sent the Holy Spirit to you. And to me. To all of us, and to each of us.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Worship this weekend with us: Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9.

ASLC Devotions - Tuesday

Psalm 121:1-2  I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   from where will my help come? 
My help comes from the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth 

I love it when a poet/writer asks a questions and then immediately provides the answer. It makes life so much more convenient to have the answers to these questions so quickly available. Where will my help come from? From the Lord... you remember the Lord, don't you? The one who made heaven and earth. In real life the gap between the asking of an existential question like "From where will my help come?" and the ability to provide the answer of faith provided here takes a bit longer. It takes longer than the length of one verse. It takes more than a split-second.

And that's OK. It's OK to take time in the question. It's OK to take time looking and searching for answers and help. It's OK to stare up at the hills for a while wondering what's going on and where the help's going to be. When you take that time to be honest with the question... when you take the time to let the question get real in your life... then the answer can be that much more real as well. When you've been in the depths, you know that the help you need can only come from the Lord, from the maker of heaven and earth.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information about our ministries. Worship this weekend on Saturday at 5 or Sunday at 9.

ASLC Devotions - Monday

Job 39:1-3 ‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
   Do you observe the calving of the deer? 
 Can you number the months that they fulfil,
   and do you know the time when they give birth, 
 when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
   and are delivered of their young?'

 The quotation marks in the above passage indicate of course that someone is speaking. In this case, God is speaking. God is speaking to Job, the victim of terrible tragedy. Job did what we all do: he asked questions of God and of the universe in general: why? why now? what does it mean? does it mean anything? God speaks to Job to try to reassure him... God wants to reassure Job that God is in charge of the universe and that God knows what is happening... that God cares for everyone and every thing in the universe. 

Because God knows when the mountain goats give birth. God watches the calving of the deer.... knows exactly the months involved. God knows and God sees. And God cares. In the midst of tragedy, we hurt. In the midst of tragedy we ache. In the midst of tragedy we weep. But at the end of the book of Job, Job makes a confession of faith: I believe. I believe that God cares. Sometimes it's a radical and a desperate cry of faith in the face of pain and agony... it is the rope to which we hold when all else is melting away. I believe. And I believe that God cares.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries. Worship with us this weekend: Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9.

ASLC Devotions -- Friday

As we close out this last week of the Easter season and prepare for a great weekend of Pentecost worship Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9, pray these psalm of praise with me:

Psalm 104:24-34

²⁴O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
²⁶There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
²⁷These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
²⁸when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
²⁹When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
³⁰When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
³¹May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
³²who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
³³I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

ASLC Devotions -- Thursday

Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

We are all children of God.
The fatherless have been adopted and made co-heirs.
The motherless have been adopted and given a home.
The beat-down have been given a spirit... check that, a Spirit of adoption.
We will be glorified in our great God.
Praise be to our Abba!
Praise be to our Daddy!'
Praise be to our God!

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us as we thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost - Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9.

ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday

John 3:31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

This verse is a great summary of a deep theological mystery: the dual identity of Christ... notice I didn't say the multiple personalities. That's a psychiatric diagnosis, not a theological mystery. By the dual identity of Christ I mean what Christians have affirmed since the very earliest group of Christians existed: Jesus Christ is fully human and, at the same time, fully divine.

Here we don't read so much proof of the fact, but an argument about why it's valuable to us as Christians. "The one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things."  Our Savior is of the earth and speaks about earthly things. Jesus did not just come to tell us about God: Jesus came to tell us about ourselves. However, Oprah does a really good job of that. We don't need Jesus if we just want to hear about earthly things. We need One who comes from above and is above all. Jesus is both. The relevant earthly preacher/teacher who speaks real truth about real lives.... and the One who comes from above and reigns over all. Thanks be to God for the fully human and fully divine Christ.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Gather for worship and fellowship THIS evening at 7 pm at the home of Stan and Dotty Shearer (2309 Kingfisher Lane in Rolling Meadows). Then join us this weekend as we celebrate the birthday of the church on Pentecost... Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9. Wear red!

ASLC Devotions - Tuesday

Numbers 16:46-48 Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.’ So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered, and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped.

Aaron was the first priest for the people of Israel. When a plague struck them, he got right there in the middle and did what priests do. He atoned for the people, he prayed for the people, he got in the middle of the muck and mire and helped. One way that we often think about the priestly role is to stand in the middle, between the people and God. The priest stands in the middle and mediates the conversation: translating, if you will, between God and the people.

In the Christian era, we think of the whole church as standing in that priestly role. You, church, are priests. You are priests standing in the middle between God and the whole world. Your job is to stand there in the middle, like Aaron. Your job is to stand there in the middle with plague and fire and yucky stuff (technical biblical term) going on all around you, and pray. For whom are you praying today?

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 7 for Holden Evening Prayer at the home of Stan and Dotty Shearer. Call the church office at 847-991-2080 for directions. Then, celebrate Pentecost this weekend (Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9) by wearing red.

ASLC Holden

The second Wednesday of each month, we gather as a congregation for Holden Evening Prayer at 7 pm.  It's a great opportunity for prayer and singing. For the three events this summer (June 8, July 13, and August 10) we will be gathering for the same purpose, but away from the All Saints building.

 

At 7 pm on Wednesday, June 8 gather with us at the home of Stan and Dotty Shearer (2309 Kingfisher Lane E in Rolling Meadows). Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on. Bring a dish or drink to pass in some fellowship following the prayer service.

Click here for a Google map of Stan and Dotty's address.

ASLC Devotions -- Friday

2 Kings 2:11-12

¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

In the preceding verses Elisha has told Elijah three times, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” Even after Elijah has told him that he’s about to be taken by a whirlwind, after he’s been sent to Jericho and after he’s been sent to the Jordan – each time Elijah says, “Stay here.” And, Elisha goes along, pledging commitment and companionship. It is that depth of relationship that causes him to grasp his clothes and tear them in two when Elijah does get swept up by a whirlwind.

Before he gets swept away, though, he asks Elisha what he may do for him, and Elisha asks for a double share of his spirit. It makes me wonder whose spirit you would like a double-share – which of your friends or mentors would you continue to travel with to the end?

Peace,

Pastor Jenn

ASLC Backyard Holden

The second Wednesday of each month, we gather as a congregation for Holden Evening Prayer at 7 pm.  It's a great opportunity for prayer and singing. For the three events this summer (June 8, July 13, and August 10) we will be gathering for the same purpose, but away from the All Saints building.

 

At 7 pm on Wednesday, June 8 gather with us at the home of Stan and Dotty Shearer (2309 Kingfisher Lane E in Rolling Meadows). Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on. Bring a dish or drink to pass in some fellowship following the prayer service.

Click here for a Google map of Stan and Dotty's address.

ASLC Devotions -- Thursday

Acts 1:6-7

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

Today is Ascension Day (worship at All Saints tonight at 7:00!), the day when we read: “When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” It’s one of those scripture passages that feels surreal to even read it, let alone imagine being there, among the crowd of disciples. The disciples had been encountering the post-resurrection Jesus for about forty days now, and so it is that forty days after Easter we mark the ascension.

After he is lifted up, and as the disciples watch Jesus’ feet disappear into the clouds, two men in white robes (angels?) appear and ask the group, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”  It might seem logical that the group would have been a little neck-stretched at that moment, but they again receive the reminder to get their heads out of the clouds. Are there times when we focus on things that aren’t where we should place our attention?

Peace,

Pastor Jenn

Join us for worship tonight at 7:00 -- followed by an Ice Cream Sundae pot-luck! 

ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday

John 16:16-18

¹⁶”A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”

This exchange between Jesus and the disciples might be one of the most enlightening and amusing passages to me. Truly, if you read verse 16 apart from anything else, it does not make any sense. It’s almost as if Jesus is playing peek-a-boo – now you see me! Now you don’t! Oh, wait, now you see me again!

No wonder the disciples were confused.

What is important for us to remember, of course, is the context – especially for those bewildered disciples. Yes, Jesus had been telling them these things all along, and we could argue they should have been a little more clued in. However, we have the benefit of being steeped in the story from the other side of the tomb and we don’t always understand, either. We have the gift of generations of teachings and scholarship to provide insight, and yet the mystery often remains for us.

In those days and times when we feel weighted down with mystery (instead of delighting in it), we pray for trust, knowing that Jesus’ promises remain true – regardless of our understanding.

Peace,

Pastor Jenn