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Jesus was clear: his teaching, God’s heart on any matter, is true, and it will liberate you from man-made ideas and schemes.

Do you really want to be free? Not everyone does. Many love to hold onto their version of the truth and not The Truth from God.

Jesus repeats this claim at the end of his life when he told the disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Jesus is the Truth and he tells us the Truths of the Kingdom of God. Let me ask again,  do we want that in our lives? Sometimes we don’t.

We are really good at adding our own personal truths to God’s Truth and God’s instruction.

For example, at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their (the disciples) message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed for us. Isn’t that amazing? The prayer was that we would be one as God is one.

Are we a united Christian family in the world? Nope.

Jesus told us to follow his teaching so that we can be his disciples. We are promised that if we follow Jesus, we will find freedom and unity.

Instead, we’ve added our own slant on everything theological and there are divisions.

Look at the state of the overall church (not just CLC). Some churches say “We are conservative Christians.” Other churches say, “We are liberal Christians.” Both of those statements do not reflect the teaching of Jesus. There is not one word about liberal or conservative Christians in the New Testament. There are only Christians. See, we are good at dividing what Jesus wishes to unite.

At the time of the formation of the Church in the book of Acts, there were only Christians. Soon after, early Christians created divisions and labels.

Jesus told us to love God and love our neighbor, and he added that these are the two greatest commandments of the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament). Everything in the entire Bible points to these two commands. (See Matthew 22:37-40)

Someone questioned Jesus about this teaching, asking “Who is my neighbor?”  (Luke 10:29)

What they were really asking was, “Who can I hate?” Jesus then tells the story of the Good Samaritan.

This is the story of a good person helping a wounded Jewish man. However, the good person was from a hated people known as the Samaritans.

Jesus answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” by clearly implying that any individual or group of people that you hate are truly your neighbor and you should be loving towards them.

I am tired of the rhetoric that we should hate groups of people for any reason. I am tired of having to defend people or groups of people when we have been told to love all people and all types of people by Jesus.

When Jesus healed people, he healed everyone who came to him, not just acceptable people. Jesus taught everyone who would listen, not just certain people.

To be a Christian, to follow Jesus’ teachings, we are asked to leave any and all divisions behind. You are not a liberal Christian or a conservative Christian… you are a Christian if you love God and love your neighbor.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

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Every few months, a headline claims archaeologists found the Ark of the Covenant.

I want no part of that game.

Most of those stories collapse within a year. But there’s a quieter kind of archaeology happening in Israel right now, and it doesn’t need to be sensational to matter. What’s actually been found is remarkable enough on its own. Let me show you three examples.

Two Mountains, Facing Each Other

Moses gave Israel a strange instruction before they ever crossed into the land.

“When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people… and these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse.” Deuteronomy 27:12-13

Six tribes on one mountain. Six on the other. The whole law read out loud in the valley between them, so nobody could say they didn’t hear it.

Joshua 8 tells us it actually happened. Altar built. Law read. Blessings and curses spoken, exactly as Moses commanded.

Here’s what you may not know: Gerizim and Ebal are real mountains. They’re still there, near modern Nablus, still facing each other across the same valley.

That matters more than it sounds like it should. A lot of ancient writing describes geography that turns out to be vague, or symbolic, or just wrong. This one is specific. And it’s correct.

Archaeologists have also found a large altar-like structure on Ebal from around the right period. I’ll be honest with you — the details of that structure are debated, and I’d rather undersell a contested find than oversell it. But the mountains themselves? The valley built for exactly this kind of covenant ceremony? That’s not speculation. That’s solid ground, literally.

Don’t forget, in the Bible story, religious stuff happened at the top of mountains. There is something up on Mt. Ebal from the time of Joshua.

Shiloh: Where God Lived First

Before Jerusalem. Before the Temple. There was Shiloh.

“The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there.” Joshua 18:1

The tabernacle stood at Shiloh for generations. This is where Eli the priest served. This is where a boy named Samuel heard God call his name in the middle of the night and didn’t yet know who was speaking. (1 Samuel 3)

Teams have been excavating Tel Shiloh for years now, and what they’re finding is a real, working worship site from exactly that period: altar horns, a ceramic pomegranate — a symbol tied to priestly garments and tabernacle imagery — and an enormous number of animal bones. Not just any bones. A high number of them are the specific cuts of meat that Levitical law assigned to the priests.

That’s hard to explain away. It points to organized sacrifice, on a large scale, in the right place, at the right time.

The excavators have gone further and suggested a large stone structure they found matches the tabernacle’s exact dimensions and orientation. I’d hold that one a little more loosely — it hasn’t been through full peer review yet, and “matches the description” claims have a way of getting messier the closer you look.

But strip away the boldest claim, and you’re still left with this: Shiloh was a real, functioning, large-scale worship site, in the same period and place the Bible says it was. Israel’s first sanctuary. Long before Jerusalem ever mattered.

Jerusalem, 586 BC: The Night the Fire Came

Jeremiah watched it happen. 2 Kings 25 records it plainly: the Babylonians broke through, and Jerusalem — including the Temple — burned to the ground.

In the City of David, the ridge just south of the Temple Mount (the Mount itself has never been excavated), archaeologists have found that exact moment, frozen in the dirt.

Massive charred wooden roof beams. Thick layers of ash. Smashed pottery from the instant everything came down. And scattered through the wreckage — a very specific type of arrowhead, the kind used by Babylonian and Persian armies of that era. The literal weapons of the destroyers, still lying where they fell.

On the Western Hill, excavators found a gold and silver earring abandoned in the ash, right beside period lamps and broken pottery. Nobody walks away from gold jewelry unless something catastrophic just happened.

This isn’t a guess built on silence. It’s a burned city, with the weapons of its destroyers still in the wreckage, dated to the exact year the prophets said it would fall.

So What Do We Do With This?

None of this “proves” the Bible in some final, courtroom sense. I won’t pretend it does.

Archaeology can confirm geography. It can confirm a burned building, a battle, a bone pattern. It cannot confirm a relationship with God. It cannot confirm that God spoke to a boy named Samuel in the dark at Shiloh. That was never archaeology’s job, and Scripture was never meant to live or die by a shovel.

But here’s what it does show, over and over: the people who wrote these accounts weren’t inventing a world out of nothing. They were describing real mountains. Real cities. Real catastrophes. The kind of specific, checkable details that legends don’t usually bother to get right — because legends don’t need to.

So what if this points to a story that is real?

What if the history we read in the Bible points to actual moments, lived by actual people? Israel standing between two mountains. Priests receiving their portion at Shiloh. A city burning in 586 BC, exactly when Jeremiah said it would.

For me, that brings hope. It gives me yet another reason to believe in God and in his Son, Jesus. Archaeology is not equal to God’s story. It never will be, and it was never meant to carry that weight.

But it strengthens the story. And it strengthens mine.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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If we want to find meaning in this holiday, we need to look back.

I know it is obvious, but THE WORLD YOU WERE BORN INTO LONGER EXISTS.

This generation doesn’t know what we once had. The things we took for granted that made our corner of the world great.

Sitting on our front porch and knowing all our neighbors, including the grumpy Mr. Johnson who lived five doors down from us.  Today, we hang out in our backyards isolated from everyone.

We enjoyed ice cream socials and potlucks in hot church basements. We spent time together building community.

We actually cared about our neighbors.

If we want that again, it is incumbent on us to point the way for the next generation.

Life does not have to be polarized, hateful and ugly.

Some of us remember the bicentennial. We still can be the people of 1976… a people with common purpose and pride – to remind others there is something better ahead—we can reclaim what we once possessed.

To celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our country’s birth we need to tap into the dreams and aspirations of our ancestors: The Founding Fathers, Emma Lazarus, presidents, and Martin Luther King Jr.

This is our moment to remember and ask, what were they were striving for? What were their hopes  and aspirations for us?

This is the moment to re-ignite that dream, and keep hope alive.

Why?

Because Status quo is not good enough.

I saw a picture last week—maybe you did too.

On the DC metro train, a woman of color in a sea of white men all from the white supremist and fascist group: The Patriot Front.

That is not the image I want the world to see when they see our country. They don’t represent who we are or what we aspire too.

I believe in The Pledge of Allegiance that end with, “…and liberty and justice for all.” Even if we aren’t there yet, it is a goad to keep pushing us forward…

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about these United States of America when speaking out about injustice, inequity and ethical laxity and why he kept pushing us for change.

“Because I love her” and  I want to see her stand as the moral example of the world.”

“The day has passed for superficial patriotism.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We come to this moment not to celebrate what we are, but what we could be.

It is good to hear the gift of music to move towards a more perfect union. After all, music is a gift from God who, in God’s nature is one.

Let the division of these days wash off of you and tune into the real heartbeat of this nation that will move us forward to be the people we have ALWAYS been and called to be: one nation, under God.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

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Sometimes when you hear the same words over and over again, they cease to have any real meaning in our lives. Yet, Holy Communion is a vital gift given to us! A gift independent of us and given to connect us to Jesus.

Let’s go back to when it was first given. Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples for the last time. Jesus knew he was going to be arrested and put to death. He also knew he would rise from the dead.

Jesus and the disciples were Jewish and celebrating the Old Covenant of Passover was required and natural. All who celebrate Passover remember the story of God delivering God’s chosen people from slavery through Moses (as told in Exodus). They knew that the God of Israel delivers the Lord’s people from bondage in every age.

At the end of that Passover meal and remembrance, Jesus took two items from that table to use in a new way. Of course, those two items would be found on any dinner table throughout the year and not just at Passover. Common items of bread and wine.

The unleavened bread on the Passover table was known as the bread of affliction, remembering the affliction of slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh (see Exodus).

Jesus took that bread, knowing that this bread of affliction isn’t for his followers but for him alone on the cross. At the Passover table, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Matthew 26:26

Jesus is foretelling the affliction that he will endure for our very souls. This suffering is his alone. We are the beneficiaries. The bread is his body that will be broken for us on the cross.

Then Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:27-28

A cup of wine found on every table in Israel at every meal becomes something more at this gathering. This cup of wine becomes a cup of blessing given to us by Jesus.

It is a new covenant, a new promise from God that you are free from the slavery and bondage of sin.

If the bread signifies the suffering that is Jesus’ alone on the cross, then the wine shows us the fruit of that suffering, our very own forgiveness.

We receive the bread to remember Jesus’ painful death, which is for us. We remember Jesus’ internal suffering because it is not ours. Then we receive the wine to remember the gift given to all who believe: forgiveness and reconciliation with God. This gift is the external fruit given to us.

This is not just remembering (which is also important). We believe God’s Word is attached to that bread and wine so that you may also experience the presence of Christ in that moment.

The body of Christ given for you… because of his suffering sacrifice. The blood of Christ shed for you… so that you may find forgiveness, life and salvation.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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I decided to dig into the gospels to see what Jesus is really like.Have you ever wondered about Jesus’ personality? Well, I have. I decided to dig into the gospels to see what Jesus is really like. Yes, the gospel writers had biases, but if we dig deep enough, we might get a picture of the personhood of Jesus. Let’s dig in, shall we?

Jesus was raised in Nazareth of Galilee in a village of about 400 people. It was rural, it was agricultural and very blue collar. There were both farmers and craftsmen who lived in Nazareth. No great wealth and no schools of learning.

Most likely Jesus didn’t have any formal education and didn’t study under any rabbi (which was common for all up and coming rabbis).

It would be impossible to cultivate or curate an image from this background and upbringing. Jesus is who he is. He didn’t re-invent himself once he grew up.

When we dig into the gospels what do we discover about Jesus temperament?

• Intensity without anxiety
  • Jesus didn’t worry.
• Perceptive in ways that unsettled people
  • Zacchaeus, the Woman at the Well, Pharisees that tested Jesus
• Dry wit — that we miss in our day
  • “First, take the plank out of your own eye…” Matthew 7:3
  • You strain a gnat but swallow a camel…”  Matthew 23:24
• Directional patience
  • Unlimited patience for those who struggle and are seeking
  • Zero patience for religious leaders who judged others
• Emotionally visible
  • Wept for Lazarus after his death. John 11:35
  • Jesus had compassion for the crowds. Matthew 9:36
• CompletelyComfortable not conforming to norms
  • Touching a leper, talking to the Samaritan woman, eats with outcasts
  • This was not performative. This was genuine.
• In Control Under Pressure
  • Never panicked when he was being tried as a blasphemer. Matthew 26:65
  • In the garden of Gethsemane, he was fearful but continued on his path towards the cross. Luke 22:39-53
  • Jesus didn’t let circumstances dictate his actions.

That is how Jesus is portrayed in the gospels. However, how people reacted to him is also interesting…

• The people who watched Jesus grow up…
  • When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Mark 6:2-3
• When the Temple priests tried to arrest Jesus…
  • Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared. John 7:45-46
• Peter when he caught a boatload of fish in Jesus presence…
  • When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8

Jesus had a high IQ and a high emotional intelligence. Both of those things seem out of place for a person raised in a small town in northern Israel with no formal education. Jesus is an anomaly.

Often people resorted to using divine language during Jesus’ ministry because they ran out of human words to describe his persona.

Even if you didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus (I do), it is hard to explain why Jesus was so intelligent, well adjusted and well balanced. His upbringing wasn’t special. He didn’t have a formal education and he didn’t have the benefits that come with wealth.

We get a picture of Jesus in the gospels that is pointing us towards a gap. Can you make the leap to see why Jesus is who he says he is? Can you see that there is a good explanation for Jesus’ identity?

Or can you just take the centurion’s word for it?

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54

Outside of the miracles of Jesus’ ministry, we see a completely unique human being who showed us who he truly was in his resurrection on Easter morning.

C.S. Lewis wrote this…

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

—from Mere Christianity

I agree with the centurion and C.S. Lewis.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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If you are not familiar, one page would be filled with drawings of all sorts of things. Next to it was a list of items to find. Sometimes it took a long time just to find one small item but Carl loved looking!

I feel the gospel of John is like that. Every time I read a portion of that gospel I discover something new. John wasn’t hiding anything, I have been looking at it wrong. I often read it with 21^st century eyes and not 1^st century eyes. When I do that, I miss those small items hiding on the page.

In the gospel of John, the details matter. He is pointing to a larger truth that he doesn’t want us to miss but we have to look with 1^st century eyes.

When reading about Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion in John, he is clear about a number of things that seem like details, but John is pointing to something big.

Good Friday for us is the Day of Preparation for   in 1^st century Israel. That is the day you get everything ready for the Passover meal that would happen that evening. Remember the new day began at sundown and not sunup in ancient Israel. The new day began at dark.

Passover was the heart of the Old Covenant. The unbreakable promise that God delivered Israel from its oppressors in Egypt at the time of Moses. The Passover reminded the people that if God delivered the people from slavery back then, God would do it again when the people were oppressed by others.

On the Day of Preparation for Passover in Jerusalem, all the lambs that would be served at the Passover dinner would be sacrificed.

In other words, on the day Jesus became a sacrifice for sin on the cross, lambs were sacrificed for the Passover.

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about the Day of Preparation in Israel. He records that the slaughter of the Passover lambs from the ninth to the eleventh hour — approximately 3–5 PM on Nisan 14.

John doesn’t want you to miss that Jesus is a sacrifice too on the day of preparation, not under the Old Covenant, but the New Covenant in Jesus’ name. Today we celebrate the New Covenant when we take Holy Communion.

The story deepens when we see in the other three gospel stories that Jesus dies at the ninth hour (3pm). This is the exact time the priests begin the sacrifices of the Passover lambs.

All of a sudden, John the Baptist’s declaration in John 1:29 makes complete sense! The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John the Baptist’s announcement at the opening of the gospel is not metaphor waiting to be explained. It is a prediction waiting to be fulfilled — at a specific hour, on a specific day, while the lambs were dying at the Temple.

John wants us to know that Jesus’ death wasn’t a mistake or a random series of events. Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin to establish the New Covenant on the day that all of Israel prepared to remember the Old Covenant.

With 21^st century eyes, we might miss the level of detail John writes with to establish what Jesus is doing and why. With 1^st century eyes, we see the perfection and precision of God’s plan for humanity. Wow.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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1.   Plato 375 BC

Plato once wrote, “If a perfectly moral man entered this world, he would be humiliated and impaled.” This quote comes from Plato’s Republic, centuries before crucifixion became a common Roman method of execution.

In the Republic, there is a character named Glaucon who is actually Plato’s older brother. In one section of the book, Socrates and his companions debate the nature of justice — what it is, whether it’s worth having, and what it does to the person who possesses a just heart. The conversation in the book centers around lifting up the importance of being just.

Glaucon decides to play devil’s advocate. So, he pushes Socrates to make a real case for justice, not just an easy answer or a virtuous reply.

So Glaucon sets up a scenario: imagine the perfectly just man, a perfect man of principles. Now strip away every reward and reputation for being just in society (not a far stretch, right?). Next, accuse the perfectly just man of injustice even though it is a false allegation.  What happens?

Glaucon’s answer is unflinching — others will destroy him because they now have the justification to get rid of the just man. They will get rid of him because the perfectly just man makes everyone else “look bad.” This man will be whipped, tortured, and impaled.

The word Plato uses in the Republic is this: anastaurōthēsetai — literally means fixed to a stake. A cross.

From Isaiah 53:  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. For the transgression of my people, he was stricken.

What Glaucon Is Actually Saying

Glaucon isn’t primarily making a point about corrupt governments. He’s making a point about human nature.

His argument is that human beings pursue self-interest by nature. We value the reputation of being just (in appearances only) and its benefits of social standing, and the trust of others. But actual justice itself or being an actual just person is not what humanity actually desires.

The perfectly just man is dangerous not because he threatens people physically, but because he exposes everyone else as a fraud. This just man’s very existence holds up a mirror to everyone else’s compromises and shortfalls.

And that is intolerable to those who are exposed as less than just. So “society” destroys the just man — not through some organized conspiracy of evil, but through the ordinary operation of ordinary people protecting their common and shared self-interest.

Glaucon gets the mechanism right. He just doesn’t know what to do with it. So let’s move ahead.

From Isaiah 53: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

2.    Dr. Douglas Kelley and the Ordinary Men 1946 AD

In 1945 and 1946, American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley was assigned to evaluate the Nazi defendants at the Nuremberg trials. He expected to find monsters — people whose psychology would explain the horror of the Holocaust by being fundamentally aberrant.

What he found was the opposite. The men who ran the Nazi regime were, by every clinical measure that he could apply, psychologically normal. No diagnosable pathology. No clinical evil. They were ordinary men who had operated within a system that rewarded self-interest, punished conscience, and stripped justice of any social benefit.

Kelley’s conclusion disturbed him for the rest of his life: the conditions and people that produced the Holocaust were not unique to Germany. American institutions — political, corporate, social — could produce the same people under the same conditions. He wasn’t being provocative. He was being clinical.

This is Glaucon’s mechanism confirmed at scale. The machinery of atrocity doesn’t require monsters. It requires ordinary people doing what ordinary people do — pursuing reputation and reward (making a name for themselves), avoiding the cost of genuine justice, and destroying the person whose existence exposes their false and shallow justice.

From Exodus 23: Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd…

3.   Mel Gibson 2002 AD

When Mel Gibson directed The Passion of the Christ, he made one quiet directorial choice that most viewers missed. In the crucifixion sequence, when the nail is driven through Jesus’ hand, the hand holding the hammer belongs to Gibson himself.

Gibson has said, “I am responsible for his death as is all of humanity.”

It’s a theologically precise act. If Glaucon is right, if Kelley’s data confirms it, if Paul is right in Romans 3 — then the crucifixion of Jesus is not something done by the authorities to Jesus. It is something done by all of us to Jesus.

The cross is not the product of exceptional evil. It is the product of our broken human nature, doing what it always does when it meets uncorrupted righteousness. It is a mirror reflecting the human response to the righteousness found in Plato’s “perfectly moral man.”

Gibson put himself in the frame literally to make sure no one watching could locate the guilt somewhere else. The hammer isn’t a Roman soldier’s hammer. It belongs to the director. It belongs to the viewer.

Saint Paul doesn’t soften what Glaucon and Kelley already showed us.

From Romans 3: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”

The Full Circle

What’s remarkable about this convergence is that these four witnesses — a Greek philosopher, a World War II psychiatrist, a Hollywood filmmaker, and the Apostle Paul — arrived at the same place independently.

The world cannot tolerate genuine righteousness. Not because it is uniquely corrupt, but because it is ordinarily human. The cross is not an anomaly in history. It is what happens when perfect justice enters a world built on the management of self-interest.

Plato saw it coming and called it a tragedy. Kelley saw it in a courtroom and called it a warning. Gibson saw it in a script and put his own hand on the hammer.

The gospels call this “the good news of God’s love” — but only after we see the scandal and the injustice of the cross and our part in it.

From Romans 3: God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. God did this to demonstrate his justice, because in God’s forbearance he had left the sins committed before Jesus’ death unpunished, God did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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We climbed so high to find a name,
We built our towers in the sky,
We thought the higher that we went,
The closer we would be to light.

But higher up the air was cold,
And higher up we were alone,
Our languages turned into stones,
Our pride was all we had to hold.

Come down, Lord, won’t you come down!
We can’t climb high enough to see Your face.
Come down, Lord, won’t you come down!
We need Your Spirit in this place.

But You don’t wait for us to climb,
You don’t wait for the work of hands,
The Spirit falls like wind and fire,
And washes over dusty lands.

You came right down into the noise,
You came right down into the fear,
To break the silence we had made,
And give us back the ears to hear.

We weren’t meant to live inside ourselves,
No, we were made for something more!
Not just to be filled, but to be sent,
Beyond the limits of the door!

The Spirit takes us higher, not by lifting us away,
But by planting us together, in the glory of the day!

Come down, Lord, won’t you come down!
We can’t climb high enough to see Your face!
(He came down!)

Come down, Lord, won’t you come down!
We need Your Spirit in this place!
(He came down!)

Yes, You came down! You came down!
You reached the world with love and grace!
Hallelujah, You came down!
Moving in this holy place!

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Here is what I found most interesting.

In the early 1930’s Germany was struggling. Their economy was bad. People were struggling. They thought their government had let them down. Their future appeared bleak.

It was in this moment that a leader gained popularity. He wasn’t like all the other politicians who had let the people down. He promised to make Germany great again. And the people believed him.

If anyone could fix what was wrong, this guy could do it. He knew what was wrong, he knew who was to blame and only he had the ability to fix it.

His populist message resonated even among Christians.

This leader knew that to be successful, he needed to blur the lines between church and state. He was really good at winning Christians over by talking about God.

It worked. He became Chancellor of Germany.

Shortly after taking office, he quickly took to the airwaves and blamed Germany’s predicament on atheists, liberals and “leftist elements”. These groups (among others) were causing Germany to go downhill. The chancellor also had a solution: these groups would be replaced by those who were deemed real Christians.

A promise of power for the patriotic Christian, except there was no intention of sharing anything. It was an empty promise.

Scripture gives us a name for this kind of offer.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”” — Matthew 4:8-9

The devil’s intentions were clear. Move people away from relying on God and put trust in power.

There was never any intention to share power with the Church in Germany. This was about winning them over and then subverting the church for his own purposes.

The government quickly moved to control all churches and institutions, they muzzled the clergy from speaking out, and they promoted their ultimate aim, to de-Christianize German culture itself. Win the church people over and then subvert their beliefs, slowly and quietly.

The people were misled and fooled. German Christians falsely believed the government had their best interests in mind and wanted to share power. German Christians falsely believed they had a leader who wanted to work with them and that the leader of Germany held the same beliefs. German Christians believed that there was nothing wrong with mixing one’s faith in Christ with their politics and nationalism.

Ultimately, this was a deal with the devil who deceived them.

A handful of German clergy including Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw where the church was heading and drafted a document called the “Barmen Declaration.” (Barmen was the town it was written.)

Here is the core of this document:

“Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.”

This is as true today as it was then. This statement is true in every age for the Christian.

Whenever we try to add anything to our faith outside of Christ, it is doomed to fail.

The Barmen signers were drawing on what Luther had already learned the hard way during the Protestant Reformation.

In other words, in all things it is always “Christ alone” (Solus Christus) according to Martin Luther. During the Reformation, Luther and Melanchthon faced the same issue.  Back then, it wasn’t the government but the church itself. The institution was different; the issue was the same.

Christ is the sole mediator between God and humanity — no supplementary mediators, no partial atonements by human means and anything that competes for Christ’s throne and authority, whether it be the church or the state, there is error.

This uncontroversial statement (above) caused those who signed it to be persecuted and killed.

Guard your heart against anything or anyone who competes for your allegiance beyond Christ. He is our last and only King. Nothing and no one else is as good and merciful as Christ the King.

Jesus can never be the window dressing for someone else’s agenda. It doesn’t work and it is sinful. Jesus doesn’t validate human behavior; he calls us away from it.

Do not let the things of this world compete with Jesus or His message. Whether that comes from the government or the church, it is not of God nor from God.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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Mary Magdalene was a hot mess. Jesus didn’t look the other way — he healed her, included her, and sent her to be the first voice of the resurrection. This sermon is about what that means for the rest of us who are still figuring it out.

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When you hear the words “RADICAL GRACE” you might think that is a cliché or a marketing ploy to get someone’s attention.

But radical grace from Jesus is real. It is as real and available today as it was when Jesus walked the earth.

Radical grace erases the past, smooths out the present and gives us a path forward into our future.

My guess is that you are still holding on to regrets from your past and in the quiet moments of your life those memories creep up on you. All of a sudden, you are living in the past. A past you cannot change.

Israel collectively had regrets too. They turned from God and it cost them everything. But God didn’t give up on them.

God raised up Isaiah to comfort them and encourage them to not look backwards but forward!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19

God encourages us to do the same… forget about the past. Let go of the pain. Disregard the poor choices you can’t change.

Not only that, but what does God tell us that we do a lot? Do not dwell in the past. The Lord knows us because God created us. God knows our minds often time travel to a moment of regret. It is not good for us, so the Lord says stop doing that. But why?

God lives in the present and he is going to change the story of your life… even if you don’t perceive it. That’s the thing about God, the Lord acts independently of our senses. Even if we don’t see it, God is still acting on our behalf.

Isaiah uses words that get at the heart of God’s intentions. God is bringing new life to replace the wasteland of the past. Water is the one thing that can bring new in the desert.

That is what God wants to do in your life. Replace the barrenness of your past mistakes and bring new life moving forward.

We talked about the woman at the well in worship two weeks ago. She had a painful past that affected her present and potential future. So Jesus offered the woman at the well in John 4 living water. Jesus offered her the Holy Spirit so that she can find a better quality of life moving forward.

Jesus offers that same Holy Spirit to you to smooth out your present and offer your greater connection in the future.

God is making a way in the desert places in your life. Jesus is laying a spiritual path for you to move forward and along the way he is planting flowers where there was once only rocks and dust. Why? To remind you of God’s promises throughout scripture that your new life in Christ can start in the desert moments of your life.

Radical grace is real.

Regardless of your age, in faith, the best is yet to come.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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This past weekend, we began our annual sermon series on our mission statement at Community Lutheran Church.

Our mission statement is in four parts. We are REAL PEOPLE, who follow an INCLUSIVE GOD, who gives RADICAL GRACE so that we can be on path of INSPIRED GROWTH.

This past week, Pastor Brian preached on the first part of our mission statement, “We are REAL PEOPLE” and he talked about the Woman at the Well found in John 4 (if you want to read the whole story).

This woman (who had a past) was real with Jesus about her life. Jesus invited her into his life and mission because he didn’t judge her situation (inclusive God). She experienced that as radical grace and the proof of that grace was manifested in her running to town to tell people about Jesus. From that point on, she was a believer in Jesus and on a path of inspired growth.

It all begins with being real. For example, before Saint Paul became a Christian, he first hunted down Christians, but he acknowledged his “realness” when Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. Paul didn’t fight or deny his hatred. Instead, he went to Damascus to reflect on his physical and spiritual blindness until he was baptized and healed by a follower of Jesus.

In that moment, Jesus took the first step towards Paul (like the woman at the well) but neither of them denied their past. However, they both embraced their future in Christ.

Life in Christ begins when we can acknowledge our weaknesses and brokenness. That is Jesus’ entry point into our lives.

So, let me ask you, are you being REAL with yourself and Jesus?

Jesus even talked about it this way, without using the word “real”.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Jesus said, “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other, went home justified (accepted) before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told which person he drawn to. The one who was real about who he was.

Let me repeat what I wrote earlier, life in Christ begins when we can acknowledge our weaknesses and brokenness. That is Jesus’ entry point into our lives.

The story Jesus tells us reflects that.

This isn’t a passive exercise. Which person in the story are you? Are you real or are you building an argument about how good you are?

Remember, even on our best days our goodness pales in comparison to God’s holiness.

Isaiah the prophet puts it in stark terms, but he is absolutely right.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah 64:6

Don’t build on yourself by building yourself up. Build on the solid rock that is Christ our King, so that you find the rest and acceptance everyone so desperately needs.

But that begins by being real, not by pretending you are the best.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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That is a lot of little things. I am not complaining at all, I love Holy Week! I am reminded that all those things mentioned above seem really, really important in the moment but none of them will have any importance a week from now. Yes, this is a perspective check. Certainly, things need to get done but what is the bigger picture?

Humans are wired to address immediate obstacles, while God addresses eternal problems first.

Jesus tells a parable about this.

And Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21

This parable is often titled, “The Parable of the Rich Fool”.

Yet from a human perspective, this guy is smart. This guy is business savvy. This guy is taking care of his family.  He’s the kind of guy you want to learn from.

Why would I say that? Because he is a detail guy. He gets the job done. He is a short term strategist.

Jesus points out that all of his success counts for nothing when he takes his last breath.

Parables are meant to shock us and re-orient us.

This parable isn’t meant to evoke either/or thinking. Instead it is a both/and moment for us.

Yes, we need to take care of the daily tasks and obstacles, but to what end? A less stressful life? Yes! But that is not the end of the matter.

God is always mindful of the eternal problems in our lives and wants us to keep those same things in mind.

Many don’t consider what we are moving towards until it is staring us in the face. In other words, we take an eternal issue and turn it into a short-term problem. By doing that we miss the most important thing in this life and lose out on the joy of knowing Jesus more fully today and every day.

Don’t get caught only having a short-term mindset. Add in the long-term focus right now!

As the author of Hebrews states,

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Jesus always kept his mind on the most important thing, saving us. He faced the short-term issues head on to achieve a long term victory.

That is why Holy Week is so important for us. Every year we re-tell the story of Jesus’ gift for us. Jesus takes on our sin, nails it to the cross and leaves it there. Jesus, however, rises from the dead to show us that judgment of sin is no longer on us. There is now life after this life because the curse of sin is removed from all who trust the risen King.

Don’t only try to solve today’s problems. Remember and trust in the BIG problem Jesus solved for us because He loves us.

Besides, Jesus reminded us quite clearly about this very issue:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

Have a long-term mindset and Jesus will help you take care of the short-term details and obstacles.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

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Last year, I preached about the word “Christ.” An untranslated word in our English translation Bibles.

I wondered why this word “Christ” remained untranslated for centuries? I think I finally understand why.

Christ means “anointed one.” The “chosen one”. The question is, “What was Jesus anointed or chosen to do?” In the Old Testament, there were only two jobs that were anointed: Priest or King.

If you read your Gospel stories closely you will see clearly that Jesus was anointed to be our last and only King.

I now believe that word (Christ) remained untranslated because it was too threatening and controversial to call Jesus a king. Let alone, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

That translated title was too intimidating for insecure world leaders over the past 2000 years to suggest that Jesus is every Christian’s true leader and a king above any other head of state.

Also, it lets us off the hook. We can minimize and compartmentalize our faith in Jesus. We can relegate Christ to Sunday morning and matters of faith. If we don’t call Jesus our King, we can have other allegiances. However, I want to remind you of what our King said to us about this…

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24

By leaving Christ untranslated, we hide the authority and sovereignty of Jesus our King. There is no challenge to earthly authority when Jesus remains an untranslated ancient title like Christ. It is safer to call Jesus the Christ rather than Jesus our King.

Only Jesus conquered death and forgave every sin for those who are repentant. Only Jesus rose from the dead. Only Jesus opened the way to heaven. Only Jesus taught with authority (Matthew 7:29). All of those facts qualify Jesus to be our last and only King.

In our nation’s history, there have been 45 people who have held the title “President of the United States of America.” Not even one of them died for the sins of the world or rose from the dead. Not one of them will get you into heaven. No President of any party was (or is) the perfect Son of God. Even if you put all the presidents together, Jesus is still greater.

Don’t get me wrong, I love living in the United States. I love our constitution that guarantees us due process under the law and that there is a separation of church and state. I am happy to have the freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble. I applaud that one is innocent until proven guilty in our nation. I do not take those rights for granted. I am thankful for them.

There is a place for patriotism in our lives, but it is not equal to our faith in Christ. Those two things (faith in God and patriotism) should never be mixed.

Dangerous and evil things happen when faith is intertwined with patriotism. When a leader speaks for both God and the state, the justification for ungodly acts increases.

When we come to worship, we come with the constitutional freedom to worship. I am very thankful for that, but I will never worship that guaranteed right. In the same way, I would never worship the Bible. Doing either one of those things is idolatry.

If the tables were turned and I lived in a nation that forbade the practice of Christianity, I would still worship Jesus as my King, though I understand that it could be difficult or even deadly to do so openly. Yet, my nationality does not determine my faith or the practice of it.

Christianity existed for over 1700 years before the birth of our nation. Christianity is not an exclusively American expression of faith. Yet some mistakenly treat it that way. Christ belongs to all Christians of every nation.

When Jesus “cleansed” the Temple in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus said this, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’. But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Mark 11:17

Jesus clearly pointed out that even the Temple in Jerusalem was for all people and not just for some.

Every Christian house of worship today should be a house of prayer for all nations too. Our worship should always and only point to Jesus and not the things of this world. A Chinese, German or even a Peruvian Christian should feel as comfortable worshipping at our church as they do when they are at home. It would be weird and even heretical to include anything that doesn’t point to God in our worship, including pride in our own nation.

In worship, we focus on one thing: God. Jesus our King showed us through his teaching that we do not follow a tribal God or a God that favors one nation above any other.

Therefore, when we enter the sanctuary for the very act of worship, we acknowledge the God of all the nations and not just our own.

I am thankful this is the guiding principle that our entire worship team believes in and lives by in our planning. Our team keeps the #1 thing (Jesus) as the #1 thing and we exclude everything else from consideration.

Patriotism is a good thing but it does not belong in our worship of Jesus our King. 

There is a time and place for patriotism. For example, I look forward to the Spotlight Cabaret show in July which will exclusively focus on patriotic music. I also look forward to the next TAPPS concert this fall because they perform a needed service for veterans who pass.  We also remember and honor our service men and women on Memorial Day and Veterans Day at announcements.

However, in our worship at CLC we will keep our minds fixed on Jesus our King alone.

The Spiritual, Give Me Jesus expresses this perfectly:

And when I want to sing,
And when I want to sing,
And when I want to sing,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You may have all the rest,
Give me Jesus.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

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