Dear First Family and Friends,

This isn’t a Twilight Zone trailer. Imagine for a moment – a political season where the opponents lived in harmony, didn’t repay mudslinging with more mudslinging, lived peaceably with each other, and didn’t try to get revenge. Instead of berating the opponent and leaving me with hardly a clue as to what their actual ideas were; they would simply tell me their ideas. Wouldn’t it be a nice change if politicians respected one another as servants desiring to serve their common man, even if they didn’t agree with the ways they proposed to serve?

We might laugh at the improbability of such a campaign. However, I think this is the kind of campaign God calls His people to participate in. Paul writes, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them … Repay no one evil for evil … live peaceably with all … never avenge yourselves.” (Romans 12:14, 17-19) Paul urges Christians, don’t be vindictive towards those who oppose you, but rather try to live peaceably with all, including those who persecute us. He isn’t saying to give in when we disagree or encounter falsehoods as lies spread. But we’re to disagree or counter falsehood without striving for revenge and judgement. God calls on us to love our enemies while gently, calmly making our case – even to the point of caring for their basic human needs of food and drink. God calls on us to love and let Him repay evil with His vengeance and wrath (Romans 12:19-20).

As Jesus suffered the ultimate persecution on the cross, He showed us how this looks in its most extreme form. He didn’t try to get revenge on those who nailed Him to the cross. He forgave them. We may not agree with those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. But we can respect them as creatures who are also made in God’s image. Then we can gently, humbly, lovingly work to show them the love of Christ. All the while continuing to love them even as we disagree.

                                                                                                        In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                                        Pastor Jim

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There’s change … and THERE’S CHANGE! Perhaps you’ve lived with a person who liked rearranging the furniture and decor. Same furniture and pictures – just different places. Nice, but not much happened. Unless you get up in the middle of the night and smack your shin on the newly placed coffee table. But, in reality, not much really happened here.

On the other hand, while waiting for a doctor in the waiting room, I often see HGTV remodeling shows. A family bought an old house, but it wasn’t exactly what they desired. The exterior was perfect, but the interior was completely wrong. In came sledgehammers, power tools, and a lot of workers – out went walls, carpeting, and furniture. They eliminated and repainted rooms. They added windows and wall openings. The house was transformed to conform to the new owner’s desires.

In His Word today, God is talking about this second kind of change. In our baptisms, He has taken ownership of us and the Holy Spirit has moved in. He doesn’t like what He sees in our dark, sin-filled minds and souls. So, God brings in the power tools of His Word and the Holy Spirit goes to work. (Isaiah 51:1-2) From the moment of our justification in baptism, He begins conforming us to His will. In this lifelong process, called sanctification, the Holy Spirit transforms us in fundamental ways that show up in the way we think and act toward each other and, most importantly, toward God our Father. Fundamentally changed into living sacrifices, God’s Word and the Holy Spirit moves us to serve God and His people with the gifts He has given us. 

God has given each of us special gifts to actively use in His church and His creation. (Romans 12:4-8) Let us trust the Holy Spirit, having transformed us, to guide us in the use of these gifts. In this way, all of us are the hands and feet of Jesus, loving and serving God and our neighbor in accordance with God’s mercy and grace. 

                                                                                                        In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                                        Pastor Jim

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We’ve all had some bad days in our lives. When it happens, question is, how do we react in those bad days? Do we play the blame game? It was so-and-so’s fault. Do we figure we deserve it? It’s all karma or whatever. Or do we think it’s something else? No matter what it is, it’s part of our human nature to figure out why. 

Job seemed like he had it all together. (Job 1:1) Then Job had a very bad day. (Job 1:13-2:10) Job went through the questions you and I often go through. In the end, Job denies any wrongdoing deserving of his fate. But he acknowledges that if has done anything wrong, he’s willing to accept the consequences. (Job 31)

Eventually God comes to Job to answer, not Job’s questions of “why me?” but to let Job know who he is relative to God – his Creator and the giver of all he had.

God’s tough love in Job 38:1-18 seems like a royal smackdown! “Job! Where were you when …?” But reading more deeply, we see God’s “velvet glove” helping Job, and us, see that even when things aren’t going the way we envision, He is in control. He has carefully created us and all things. There are no accidents. As we endure trial and tribulation, He is ensuring chaos stays within boundaries He has set. He reassures us that evil and wickedness will be destroyed in the end. And finally, He reminds us that He has been at the gates of death and deep darkness. He’s been – and is – where we are. 

Jesus faced death and darkness to lead us through it into the “dwelling of light” – not physical light, but the eternal light of life in the kingdom of heaven. So let us let God be God, trusting Him to forgive us and to lead us into the reality of His promise of eternal life with Job and all the faithful, whom God has declared to be righteous, living lives of faith in Him!

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Jim

Dear Saints,

My favorite holiday? Thanksgiving! The food’s awesome, but the best part is it isn’t cluttered by a bunch of things like gifts and events. It’s still a simple holiday – with a great banquet at its center – where we give thanks to God. Of course, we get hungry again, but that’s what leftovers are for.

God’s Word is fill with banquets, food, and drink. However, unlike Thanksgiving where we do all the work, God urges us to come to His feast, where He does all the work! To give us the nourishment He provides. He begs us “COME!” (Isaiah 55:1-5) Come, anyone … to feast on the rich bounty of His Word. He delights in feeding us as often as we’ll give Him our ear to listen. 

We can attend God’s banquet to be fed by His Word anytime we like. At worship on Sundays and Wednesdays – at home in our prayers and daily devotions – at work or in the car listening to music and podcasts. Our souls can be nourished by His Word anywhere! Try the many links on our FLC Homepage.

And once nourished, we become “the Bread of Life” for others who are hungering. Like the disciples who were given bread and fish to feed the 5000+, God calls us to use the over abundance of His grace and mercy to feed the hungry masses in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and schoolyards. 

Fifty-two years ago, a small group in Calvert County heard God say, “Come! Eat!” (See the story here!) They came together – inviting the entire county through a newspaper ad – in a local living room one Sunday. They didn’t worry they didn’t have enough. They trusted God to provide. And He did! That small group, by God’s grace, grew into First Lutheran Church today. They feasted, as we feast, on God’s Word. So, let’s not worry about being stingy with the food God provides. As the disciples found out when they collected the twelve baskets of leftovers, there’s plenty more where that came from. Enjoy the feast! Invite others to “Come!”

                                                                                                        In God’s Love,

                                                                                                                Pastor Jim

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The dictionary defines “treasure” as “something of great worth or value ... a collection of precious things.” Most of us think of treasure as something like gold or diamonds … something worth a lot of money. But a “treasure” can also be something that’s determined to be priceless by a personal assessment … like a picture of a loved one or small token of appreciation given by a dear friend. Regardless of monetary value, a “treasure” is priceless to the one who holds it … and if lost, something one goes in search of.

God created us, from the very start, to be His treasure. Even after Adam and Eve fell into temptation and sinned, we have remained God’s treasure. Adam and Eve hid themselves in fear after realizing they disobeyed God. But God actively called out for them, searching for His treasure. And He didn’t stop searching. Over and over, His people ran and hid … sinning against Him. Yet, He continued calling out to His people through His prophets. As His people Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, God’s servant Moses reminds them, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6)” 

Finally, at the right time, God showed us His assessment of our value to Him, sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sin and eternal death. Jesus paid the price to save us, not with treasures of silver and gold, but by giving everything He had, His body and blood. He sacrificed His life to purchase His Father’s treasured possession, you and me, from sin and death.

Though to some, we might not be much to look at, we are God’s treasure. And those who believe in Jesus receive the greatest treasure of all – not silver or gold – but eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

In the Love of Christ,
Pastor Jim

CREDIT: Tedd Oravec

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I like gifts. In the old days I’d go to the Sears catalog a month or so before my birthday or Christmas and mark the things I wanted. Today we do the same thing with our online buying services when we create our “wish lists.” We pass along our “wish list” to tell others what we’d like, in hope that we receive them. We don’t have these “objects of our hope” yet, but we can imagine what life might be like when we receive them. 

In Romans 8:18-27, St. Paul writes of how our Father in Heaven is even better at giving us things we really need in life, better than the newest toys, tools, or gadgets. In Genesis, Adam thought he knew what he needed. He thought he needed to be like God, the one who created him. So, he ate from the tree of knowledge despite God telling him not to. As a result, all of creation, not just mankind, began to endure sufferings, decay and corruption caused by our desire for things we think we really need instead of what our Creator knows we need.

Fortunately, God loves us and knows exactly what we need. Even though we might not know, Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit helps us to ask for things from God that we really need saying, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings to deep for words.” (Romans 8:26) So, even though we may hope for a “train set,” the Holy Spirit helps us ask our Father for that which we don’t even know we really need. Then, even though we may be hoping for a “train set,” as adopted children of God we put our trust in God our Father as we wait in hope for the promised new creation still to come ... free of decay and corruption in the eternal glory of a new creation.

In the Love of Christ,

Pastor Jim

CREDIT: Simona K on FLICKR

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When it rains, we can see it come down. But we rarely see the immediate results of its work. After soaking the ground; weeks, months later, we see produce emerge. The time between rain and produce can make us forget that the rain was working even as it disappears from our view.

God’s Word is often imagined as rain. The prophet Isaiah is one of those who uses the metaphor of rain to describe God’s Word saying, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth … so shall my word be that does out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God’s Word comes down into our lives and the lives of others around us. Some of us receive it on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. Some receive it daily in their devotions. It enters our ears and makes its way into the soil of our hearts and minds. There, it produces fruit of various kinds and quantities. 

Unfortunately, some in the world never receive the rain of God’s Word. Their hearts and minds live in a desert wilderness. Some by choice … some by circumstance. And that’s where we come in. God has abundantly rained His Word upon us so we can become the means He uses to rain down His Word on those living in spiritual desert wildernesses. He’s called us to water those parched hearts and minds by showering God’s love to them with our acts of love and kindness, grace and mercy. As the rock-hard ground of their souls is softened, eventually, through the Holy Spirit’s power, they’ll be ready to also be watered by God’s Word from us … or others in their lives. God’s Word rained down in both actions and words does not return to God empty. It will achieve its purpose. So let it rain!

                                                                                                In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                                Pastor Jim