Updates From Our Pastor
Christ has risen from the dead! Why should we care?
Talk about a loaded question! In terms of the ultimate meaning of life — “What’s It All About, Alfie?” — I’ve been trying to answer that question during all my Sunday lessons during this Lent, which will come to an end this Good Friday. The answer has so many facets that it’s hard to follow the K.I.S.S. motto — Keep It Short and Simple. But let me try.
In the beginning, God created everything… and it was all absolutely PERFECT!
Rather than trusting God’s loving directions, humans (Adam & Eve, therefore you & me) fell for Satan’s lies and disobeyed God’s simple directions.
Human connection to the Creator God was the force holding everything together in its original perfection. By disobeying God, we humans broke that vital connection, that linchpin, so EVERYTHING fell apart… God’s perfect universe was broken—by US! That’s where the world’s destructive forces come from—earthquakes, hurricanes, cancer, violence, bloodshed, war. Through self-centered disobedience, we are alienated from God, one another, and nature.
Thankfully, God had devised a rescue plan: Jesus Christ!
As both God AND human, Jesus rebuilt the connection, the bridge, between God and humans and offers that reconnecting bridge to you and me.
God’s rescue plan reached its climax when Jesus conquered death by his resurrection on the first Easter morning!
Jesus’ resurrection was the beginning of God’s NEW CREATION, Genesis all over again, rebuilding a perfect world the way God made it in the first place.
That’s why Easter is the heart and soul of what Christian faith and life are really all about. I like the way theologian, N. T. Wright, describes Easter.
This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in Biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity;… This is our greatest day. We should put the flags out.
So please join us Easter Sunday at 10:00 AM atop Angel Hill in Taylors Falls.
Bring a flowering plant before the service, so we can arrange it in our Easter Garden around the altar.
And bring a candle to shine the resurrected Light of the World,
Jesus Christ.
Lent is almost here!
Can you believe it? More than 4 weeks of the New Year are already in our rear view mirror…wow! Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying 2024 so far, but apparently time flies whether you’re having fun…or not! 😀
We’re moving—inch by inch—into the 21st century.
One development I want to share with you, especially if you’re no longer close enough to attend our church services on a regular basis, is that: You can now watch our recorded services on YouTube. Simply log on to YouTube.com. In the search bar type Taylors Falls UMC. One of the options has a little round picture of the outside of our church next to it. Click on that channel and the services are posted there. Click on the service you want, and then just sit back and watch. Turn your sound up as loud as needed. With the help of one of our members, Craig Draxten, I’m currently working on a solution to improve the sound on these recordings. He’s much more technically gifted than I am! Wish us luck and say a prayer… not necessarily in that order 😉.
I’m also working on a way to post the recorded links right here on our church website. Another pastor showed me how to do it once, but I’m struggling to remember the details… Must be my old-age memory loss 🙄.
What has God been teaching us lately?
Meanwhile at church, the Sunday lessons have largely been coming from the Gospel of Mark. Some people like Mark’s Gospel the best, because it’s shorter than the others… you might call it the “Readers Digest” Gospel… hahaha. Mark’s account cuts right to the chase. In Mark 1:15 Jesus declares clearly and exactly what he came to earth for: ““The right time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Change your hearts and lives and believe the Good News!” When Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is near,” I picture him pointing right at himself. After all, he did literally bring Heaven to Earth! Then he started gathering the 12 apostles. He called Simon (who became Peter), Andrew, James and John with such loving charisma that they IMMEDIATELY dropped their fishing gear and went to “fish for people.” Then Mark describes Jesus in the temple casting an evil spirit out of a man with the same powerful, charismatic authority that Simon, Andrew, James and John found so appealing. And the bystanders seeing all this were utterly “astounded, astonished and amazed,” depending on which translation you’re reading. They had never seen such authority before! Why not? …Because never before had they met the Son of God, Creator of the universe, Messiah, and Savior. I sincerely hope you have met Jesus, the Son of God, and welcomed him into your heart.
Merry CHRISTmas!
AND Happy New Year! No, not 2024 yet, but a new church year, which started on the 1st Sunday of Advent on December 3, 2023. So, we are officially in the season of Advent. What’s “Advent?” The dictionary defines the word “advent” as “the coming or arrival of someone important.” That sure fits! Someone who is VERY important is soon to arrive… And I don’t mean Santa Claus! I know the Christmas song that says, “Santa Claus is coming to town.” But not counting the kids who can’t wait to open their gifts… who cares about Santa?
As Christians, we should be singing, “Jesus is coming to town!” In the big picture, Jesus is way more important than Santa, I hope you agree. Why? Because Jesus is GOD WEARING A HUMAN BODY! So, the Christian version should really say,
“GOD IS COMING TO TOWN!”
If that’s not worth getting excited about, what is?! The Advent devotional guide I’m following is a little book called, “Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation” by Bishop Will Willimon, currently serving as a professor and director at Duke Divinity School. Willimon points out the kind of poetic language the Bible uses to describe what it’s like when God comes to Earth. Here are two examples. One from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, and one from the New Testament prophet, Messiah, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
See, the day of the Lord is coming, …For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. -Isaiah 13:9-10
“But in those days, …the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” -Mark 13:24-25
Willimon uses the title of an old Elvis song to describe what really happens when God really comes to Earth: Things get “All Shook Up.” Which prompted me to suggest a song title from Jerry Lee Lewis… When God comes to Earth, there’s “A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”
What’s all the “shakin’” about? Remember Genesis Chapter 1 in the very beginning of the Bible? It says, “God created the heavens and the earth.” That required a lot of “shake and bake!” The result was a perfect world, call it the Garden of Eden, where God and humans lived together in a beautiful relationship. Then came the evil serpent, who persuaded humans to destroy God’s perfect world.
So the birth of Jesus (who is GOD wearing a human body) that we celebrate at Christmas is—in fact—the beginning of a whole new creation… where God and humans are once again living together on Earth, just like in the beginning. It’s important to notice that Jesus’ birth is the beginning of a whole new creation. The New Heaven and New Earth won’t be perfectly finished until Jesus returns again, as he promised. Meanwhile, to move toward completion there will be “A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” And God is inviting you and me as followers to help with the process of “shake and bake!”
Sorry if this all seems a bit much. If you want to keep your warm and fuzzy thoughts about how sweet and beautiful Christmas is, that’s OK. But IN ADDITION TO THOSE THOUGHTS, please realize that God coming to live, walk, talk, eat, sleep and breathe with us—in the person of Jesus—is a powerful, earth-shattering, turn-the-world-upside-down kind of event.
With the arrival of Jesus, no one and nothing is meant to be the same as before.
The old has gone. The new is already well underway.
For a Change
Now that we’re all back on Central Standard Time around here, I’ve heard at least a handful of complaints that we should not change the clocks at all… That Daylight Savings Time is bunk! …That there are just as many daylight hours either way, so what’s the difference? Why bother? I might be wrong, but I’m thinking many of these complainers grew up in a farm family where it was an early “rise and shine” every single day for morning chores. Either that or they worked several years in a bakery where they needed to start the bread and jelly doughnuts shortly after the middle of the night.
I’m sure glad I was raised a city slicker! That farm and bakery life sounds like way too much work. Because I wasn’t a farm kid, I’m not a morning person…at least not early morning. My favorite wisecrack on the subject is, “If God wanted me to see the sunrise, He would have put it later in the day.” So I don’t mind Daylight Savings Time one bit. I’ll happily exchange that hour of morning sunshine for an hour in the evening. Thank you very much.
The question is: What kind of change do you like?
What I’m really talking about here is the subject of “change.” Some folks really do not like change and will dig their heels in at the first whiff of change in the air. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The problem is there’s a whole lot of “broken” in our world today. Major wars abroad, while here at home we have mass shootings, extreme political polarization, broken homes and families, persistent racial and social inequity, a tremendous wealth gap, and a dysfunctional criminal justice system…to name a few. The idea of “change,” if it’s in a better direction, sounds very good to me! But first we need to learn how to sit down and have a calm discussion without getting ramped up and calling each other names.
God, our breath of fresh air
If you do not like change, I sure hope you find it comforting that God does not change. The Bible says that in a few places. Here are two.
“I the Lord do not change.” - Malachi 3:6
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17
God’s Presence never changes, goes away, or leaves you…EVER! After all, God’s name is I AM. God’s limitless and unconditional love never changes. God is Love…in ways we can only try to understand. God’s justice never changes. Sooner or later, God will put everything right and straighten everything out. In the final judgment everyone will receive the consequences they deserve. The choice of consequences is your choice and my choice… Because God never changes. God has drawn the “line of obedience/disobedience.” You decide and I decide which side of that line we choose to walk on.
Will you walk in the Land of Reward (Obedience)? Or will you walk into the Land of Punishment (Disobedience)? As you can see, the consequences are very different depending on where you and I choose to walk.
If more people would choose to walk in the Land of Reward, I bet we could begin to fix some of the brokenness in our world and make it a better place. I think it’s worth a try. I hope you do, too!
Seeing God Everywhere
WOW! Is our church beautiful…or what?! Particularly when it’s enhanced by the intentional beauty of God’s creation. Appreciating the beauty God purposely designed into creation helps us understand the Presence of God EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING. But that should come as no surprise, because God has told us his name is I AM. Please think about that and let it sink in. In a recent sermon I expressed the reality of God’s Presence with these questions and answers.
What is God’s name? Answer: I AM.
Where is I AM? Answer: RIGHT HERE.
When is I AM right here? Answer: RIGHT NOW.
There’s a famous little book called The Practice of the Presence of God, a collection of teachings by a 17th century monk we know as Brother Lawrence. People learn and follow Brother Lawrence’s teachings to experience a greater appreciation of God’s Presence all the time.
I suggest you keep those 3 questions and answers in mind. The more you can be aware of those 3 little questions and answers, the more you will move from “practicing” God’s Presence to actually LIVING God’s Presence.
And then, by the way, when you pray for somebody, you can pray knowing that the God who is I AM, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW with you is also I AM, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW with the person you’re praying for. Realizing this may give a whole new awareness and energy to your prayer life. Try it.
Seasons Change…Whether We Like It or Not
EXODUS - WHAT’S THAT?
Our Sunday sermons (I like to call them “Lessons”…’cause I’m learning, too) have been coming a lot from the book of Exodus lately. In case you forgot, that’s the 2nd book of the Bible, right after Genesis. It tells a very long story about how God rescued his chosen people, the Israelites, from slavery in the land of Egypt…and then what happened after that.
The part we learned about last Sunday was the part where God gave the Ten Commandments. I invite you to read all about it in Exodus, chapter 20. The point is that in order to better understand the Ten Commandments, it helps to compare them to wedding vows. In a wedding, two people give themselves to each other “as long as we both shall live.” So vows are the promises the partners make to each other about how to make their relationship work and be a positive, give-and-take, win-win relationship for both of them…as long as they both shall live.
In a nutshell, that’s what the Ten Commandments are intended for, particularly for those people who want to be a full-fledged, card-carrying member of God’s family. Just like in a marriage, God has given himself, first to the Israelites in the Old Testament. Then in the New Testament, God gave himself to ALL of us in his son, Jesus Christ. The question is: Who wants to accept God’s gift of himself…and give themselves to God in return?
If you DO want to give yourself back to God, but wonder how to do that…THAT’S what the Ten Commandments are for. Like marriage vows, they are promises you make to God so that your relationship with him will be positive and long-lasting.
It sure helps me to view the Commandments like that, because they seem much less negative and much more positive. In modern language, they might sound something like this…
ALWAYS put God first in your life; NO ONE or NOTHING can take God’s place.
Respect, love and care for your Mom and Dad.
Respect your body and everyone else’s by not having sex with someone you’re not married to.
Don’t kill anybody.
Don’t steal people’s stuff.
Tell the truth; don’t lie.
Don’t spend time obsessing about getting somebody or something to satisfy your selfish desires. Why? …Go back to Commandment #1: Life if about God…NOT about you.
And THAT’S how to give yourself back to God in a positive, long-term relationship!
Safety protocol information:
As of April 01, 2022 the Advisory Council of the Taylors Falls UMC has opened our sanctuary for Sunday church services as well as small gatherings.
Although masking is not mandated, it is highly recommended that all who attend our church building take precautions to protect themselves. Masking is recommended.