Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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A knock on the front door of our house immediately tells me that it’s not a neighbor who needs to borrow a cup of sugar or a parishioner who forgot their key to the church. They always knock on the garage door. A knock on the front door can only mean one of two things. Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. This is the reason why I don’t shovel the snow from the front steps all winter long. It tends to discourage them because for some reason, they don’t like using the garage door. But this has been an unusually mild winter and the front steps were clear and so when the knock came, I had was instantly on guard. Sure enough, it was the Mormons. After a rather lively debate - I was unable to cast out the demons. But after about 45 minutes we all got pretty cold and agreed to call a truce. They left asking me to pray about Joseph Smith. I said I’d pray. And when I got inside, I asked God to send more snow.

I later learned that they paid a subsequent visit to Pastor Evertsen who lives down the street and they tried to play the two of us off against each other. Maybe they thought they were going to drive out those Lutheran demons from the neighborhood. That would score big points back at the temple. (more…)

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Of all of the things you might think to pray for, an invasion may not be the first to come to mind. We Americans know what it means to be invaded and we are learning to do all that we can to avoid it. Certain measures are in place to protect from being invaded and we’re learning how to protect and defend ourselves if we are.

Yet, as strange as this may sound, we Christians pray for invasion. And it is our Lord and King who tells us to pray this way. “When you pray say, ‘Our Father who art in heaven… Thy kingdom come ….” Jesus is telling us to pray for the invasion of the Kingdom of God. He tells us to pray that the Kingdom of the One God, the True God, the Triune God would invade and overcome the kingdom of the many-gods and false-gods and the gods and goddesses of the earth. (more…)

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11).

Dear Friends in Christ, The late, great theologian Erma Bombeck once wrote, “In church the other Sunday I was intent on a small child who was turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn’t gurgling, spitting, humming, kicking, tearing the hymnals, or rummaging through his mother’s handbag. He was just smiling. Finally, his mother jerked him about and in a stage whisper that could be heard in a little theater off Broadway said, ‘Stop grinning! You’re in church’ And with that she gave him a belt on his hindside and as the tears rolled down his cheeks added, ‘that’s better,’ and returned to her prayers.” She goes on to say “I wanted to grab this child with the tear-stained face and hold him close to me and tell him about my God. The God of joy. The smiling God. The God who had to have the sense of humor to have created the likes of us.” (more…)

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If you’ve been listening to the news at all lately, you’ll surely recognize the name of Jack Abramoff. Mr. Abramoff was a very successful lobbyist in Washington who had gained a great deal of influence with Senators and Congressmen. Turns out, Mr. Abramoff gained his influence with money. He paid people to influence public policy in favor of his clients. That’s called bribery. What we’re learning now however is that a surprising number of people were influenced by Mr. Abramoff’s money. People who aren’t supposed to be persuaded by money took the money in exchange for their influence. (more…)

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“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins… In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” (more…)

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Sometimes we Christians make Christianity a lot more complicated than it really is. Christianity is a very simple religion really. It’s simply a matter of keeping the law of God. It really is that simple. Keep the Commandments and you’re good to go with God. Meet the Demandments and you’re free to be with God. It’s as simple as that.

So, why do we make Christianity a lot more complicated than it really is? Answer: Because we don’t like it. The Commandments are too hard for us to keep and too easy for us to break. God’s demands are to demanding and we can’t measure up and we constantly fall short.

Christianity is too simple. It doesn’t make exceptions for our particular situation. It doesn’t consider the extenuating circumstances of our lives. It doesn’t factor in the fact that some have an advantage and others have disadvantages. It’s simply a matter of keeping the law of God. (more…)