CREDIT: DALL-E3 AI

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the aggravating things I experience is … losing my possessions. I don’t ever try to lose them. It just happens. I look high, low, under, on top, everywhere. As if losing the thing is bad … losing time searching is even more aggravating. However, there’s a little gadget that significantly reduces the time and aggravation. It’s a tag I can stick to my most treasured possessions which often get lost – keys for example. The tag emits a signal which my phone picks up. Since my phone is almost always near to me, I open the “tag app” which guides me straight to the lost keys. 

God calls us “His treasured possession.” However, unlike us, He never loses His possessions. Nevertheless, there are times when we feel lost. That’s because we’ve lost God and we’re struggling to find Him. We look in a lot of places – achievements, experiences, things, or other people. Aggravated when we can’t find our way, our search continues. All the while, God is right there … waiting for us to find Him. He has affixed a “tag” of sorts to Himself, all we need to do is use it to find Him. He says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6) In our baptisms, He’s given us an “app” of sorts to locate Him – the Holy Spirit and the gift of faith in Him and His Word. This app is installed in our hearts … ready to be activated to find Him at any time. 

When we activate the app in prayer, He hears us. When we read or hear His Word, He speaks to us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He communicates the wicked and unrighteous ways causing us to lose contact so we can return to God “that He may have compassion on (us) … for He will abundantly pardon (us),” (Isaiah 55:7) bringing us back into His rich presence to follow Him and serve Him in all we do. 

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Jim

CREDIT: Jamie Smed on Wikimedia Commons

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“Fans” are steadfast, devoted followers of teams, artists, or public figures. But fanaticism can become so strong that fans begin to exclude others from their circle of friends simply because they’re fans of the wrong thing – even if everything else about them indicates they should be friends! With football season starting, it’s possible Commanders, Eagles, Giants, and Cowboys fans won’t be speaking for a while. I’m glad a guy I know became friends with me before I found out he was a Ravens fan – other than that, he’s a great guy!

Extreme fandom, while creating unity between those dedicated to their favorite cause also creates division, or worse. This even happens in God’s church. Very ugly division has cropped up over things that don’t truly matter when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ. Yet sinful people let these things – known as “adiaphora” (things neither commanded nor prohibited by God’s Word) – divide the church. But God’s Word warns us against division based on these things – for example, the food we eat (or won’t eat), days we hold important (or don’t) (Romans 14:2-6). What matters in areas of adiaphora is the reason for fanaticism. If it’s directed at honoring the Lord, Jesus Christ, and doesn’t divide us, that’s okay. Paul writes, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” (Romans 14:8-9)

So, whether we worship with organs and choirs – or drums and guitars, fancy robes and paraments – or jeans and t-shirts, strict liturgy – or free flowing words and music … it’s not about the worship style or method. It’s all about the Cross of Christ – devoting ourselves to Him and, with all our hearts, minds, and souls, believing in what He did there to bring us into His heavenly kingdom. I’m a fan of that.       

                                    In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                                        Pastor Jim

CREDIT: Roboflow Universe - Telltale

Dear Saints and Forgiven Ones,

When you turn on your car, do you pay attention to all the lights that flash on and then, hopefully, turn off? Especially the orange-yellow flashing light shaped like an engine. I try to pay attention to this one … because if it goes on and stays on, I’ve got problems to deal with. If it doesn’t come on, how will I know if I’ve got a problem. The “check engine” light needs to work – and I need to pay attention to it – to make sure my engine isn’t going to blow up and leave me stranded.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if we had such a warning indicator for our lives? We actually do! It’s called God’s Word … His law. And God has commissioned people to warn us when the “law light” is flashing in our lives. Hopefully those people in our lives – we call them “pastors” today – are capable of flashing that light in peoples lives when they need to. 

God’s Word gives a warning to both His pastors and His people through His prophet Ezekiel when He says, “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” (Ezekiel 33:7) God follows with His warning. If the watchman – the pastor – sees sin but doesn’t flash the warning light … the sinner will die and the watchman will be held accountable by God. If, on the other hand, the watchman does flash the warning light and the sinner ignores it, the sinner will die, but the watchman will have done God’s will and be delivered. (Ezekiel 33:8-9)

You and I have access to the warning light of God’s law. Let’s make sure it’s always shining in our lives so He can tell us when we’re in trouble. Then, let’s heed the warning when the light flashes, turning to the restoration found in God’s gospel – His forgiveness on account of Jesus Christ – through which He delivers our souls.

Your Fellow Forgiven One,

Pastor Jim

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