Revelation 2:11 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.
John, the author of Revelation uses this refrain throughout the book and I love it: "Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches." Do you hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches? To the church? To you? How can you tell that you know? How can you be sure?
One thing John is sure that the Spirit is saying to the churches... to you... is that "whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death." And I'm telling you that you've conquered. In your baptism you've been joined to the conquering of Jesus. He conquered on your behalf. You will not be harmed by the second death.
Religion today is really concerned with the here and now. Most of us are concerned with the here and now. And there's good reason for that. But I think sometimes we forget that eternity awaits us. Eternity will be a lot longer than the 60-90 or more years of our life on earth. And eternity has been assured for us. Thanks be to God!
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Daniel 12:1 At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.
Today is the feast day of Michael and All Angels. The reading for the day is from Daniel's vision of the future and of Michael's role in the protection of God's people in that future.
I've never been a big angel guy. I'm not sure what I believe about angels and their existence and their role in the world and in God's plan for us. I'm fairly sure they don't look like Michael Landon or John Travolta. I say I'm fairly sure but I've been surprised before.
But there is one thing of which my faith is sure. God will protect God's people. God will save us. In fact, God has already saved us through Jesus' death and resurrection. And so today at least I'll give thanks for Michael, a protector of God's people. And most importantly, I'll give thanks for the God who protects and saves and defends us from all evil.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
Today is the feast day of Michael and All Angels. The reading for the day is from Daniel's vision of the future and of Michael's role in the protection of God's people in that future.
I've never been a big angel guy. I'm not sure what I believe about angels and their existence and their role in the world and in God's plan for us. I'm fairly sure they don't look like Michael Landon or John Travolta. I say I'm fairly sure but I've been surprised before.
But there is one thing of which my faith is sure. God will protect God's people. God will save us. In fact, God has already saved us through Jesus' death and resurrection. And so today at least I'll give thanks for Michael, a protector of God's people. And most importantly, I'll give thanks for the God who protects and saves and defends us from all evil.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Tuesday
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
I joined a congregation in Washington, DC during the tail end of my college years. Just before I began worshiping there, the congregation had experienced the death and funeral of Miss Judy, one of the shining light matriarchs of the congregation. From the way people talked, I gathered that she had touched a lot of lives with her faithfulness, with her kind words, with birthday cards and with an offer of a glass of lemonade on her front stoop. I also heard more people than I can remember say "I wish I had told her how much all that meant."
We all have people who mean a lot to us and we never tell them. We never say "I love you" or "Thank you." Or we don't say it as often as we should. It's like our faithfulness ground is lying fallow. It's just dirt. Nothing can grow in ungrateful soil. Nothing can grow in soil that isn't worked and turned. So...Hosea would say that we need to start sowing some righteousness and reaping some love. I'm going to make it simple: tell someone that you're grateful they're in your life today. Start with that. You never know what you might reap.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
I joined a congregation in Washington, DC during the tail end of my college years. Just before I began worshiping there, the congregation had experienced the death and funeral of Miss Judy, one of the shining light matriarchs of the congregation. From the way people talked, I gathered that she had touched a lot of lives with her faithfulness, with her kind words, with birthday cards and with an offer of a glass of lemonade on her front stoop. I also heard more people than I can remember say "I wish I had told her how much all that meant."
We all have people who mean a lot to us and we never tell them. We never say "I love you" or "Thank you." Or we don't say it as often as we should. It's like our faithfulness ground is lying fallow. It's just dirt. Nothing can grow in ungrateful soil. Nothing can grow in soil that isn't worked and turned. So...Hosea would say that we need to start sowing some righteousness and reaping some love. I'm going to make it simple: tell someone that you're grateful they're in your life today. Start with that. You never know what you might reap.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
Monday, September 27, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Monday
Amos 6:8 The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds;
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
God's got a problem with pride. I've never quite understood why God doesn't like groups of lions... let that one sink in. Bad humor on a Monday morning.
Back to the point, if there was one: the problem with our pride is that it hurts us. As a loving parent, God does not want to see us hurt. And God knows that our pride (or pridefulness) will make us think we've got it figured out. It will make us think we don't need help. It will make us say in the immortal words of a 3-year old "I do it myself." And sometimes that works out just fine.
Until it doesn't. Until we get hurt. Until we cry. Until we hurt someone else. And they cry. And we cry. The problem with pride is NOT that God doesn't want us thinking highly of ourselves. The problem with pride is that God doesn't want us getting hurt. You need help today. I need help today. I cannot do it myself. Praise God that the important things have already been done.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds;
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
God's got a problem with pride. I've never quite understood why God doesn't like groups of lions... let that one sink in. Bad humor on a Monday morning.
Back to the point, if there was one: the problem with our pride is that it hurts us. As a loving parent, God does not want to see us hurt. And God knows that our pride (or pridefulness) will make us think we've got it figured out. It will make us think we don't need help. It will make us say in the immortal words of a 3-year old "I do it myself." And sometimes that works out just fine.
Until it doesn't. Until we get hurt. Until we cry. Until we hurt someone else. And they cry. And we cry. The problem with pride is NOT that God doesn't want us thinking highly of ourselves. The problem with pride is that God doesn't want us getting hurt. You need help today. I need help today. I cannot do it myself. Praise God that the important things have already been done.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.
Friday, September 24, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Friday
Ephesians 2:4-5
4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
In yesterday's devotion I reflected about how we have been made rich through Christ, and while I still stand by that statement, today's scripture reminds us that first and foremost God is rich -- rich in mercy. We use this verse as part of our worship during the Confession and Forgiveness, and it moves me as we speak of our God being rich in mercy. Of course God is rich in all things -- mercy and love and kindness and justice and grace, to name a few.
And, those are all areas in which we can strive to build our riches, too. We can be rich in kindness and mercy toward others. We can be rich in grace. We can be rich in love. My prayer is that we can see the many ways that we are rich -- as people and as a congregation -- and continue to share what we have been given as we are alive in Christ.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
In yesterday's devotion I reflected about how we have been made rich through Christ, and while I still stand by that statement, today's scripture reminds us that first and foremost God is rich -- rich in mercy. We use this verse as part of our worship during the Confession and Forgiveness, and it moves me as we speak of our God being rich in mercy. Of course God is rich in all things -- mercy and love and kindness and justice and grace, to name a few.
And, those are all areas in which we can strive to build our riches, too. We can be rich in kindness and mercy toward others. We can be rich in grace. We can be rich in love. My prayer is that we can see the many ways that we are rich -- as people and as a congregation -- and continue to share what we have been given as we are alive in Christ.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Thursday, September 23, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Thursday
2 Corinthians 8:8-9
I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
All too often we equate rich, poor, poverty and wealth with a bank account balance. It's not surprising -- after all, we have bills to pay and projects to complete and basic living to do. But it's clear that the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ really had nothing to do with money.
We are rich in our life with Jesus Christ. We have been on the receiving end of the most generous act that we could imagine. God has already determined your value and worth -- and nothing can change that.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
All too often we equate rich, poor, poverty and wealth with a bank account balance. It's not surprising -- after all, we have bills to pay and projects to complete and basic living to do. But it's clear that the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ really had nothing to do with money.
We are rich in our life with Jesus Christ. We have been on the receiving end of the most generous act that we could imagine. God has already determined your value and worth -- and nothing can change that.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Psalm 12:6-7
6The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
7You, O Lord, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
The psalmist often writes from a point of view that makes it seem as if he is always under attack, which I'm not going to argue might have been the case. But he also writes from a position of deep faith that the Lord will protect. There are certainly days when the world does seem to conspire against us -- whether at work or school or simply driving from home to the grocery store. (Really, did ALL of the lights have to be red?) And, while I don't really think that God cares about red lights, I do believe deeply that God cares about us as God's children.
Chances are the whole world is not against you -- nor is this entire generation... However, God's promises and protection, perfected and made strong as if silver in a refiner's fire, are steadfast through the ages.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
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