Transfiguration Sunday vs. Superbowl Sunday

Well this is the big weekend! This is what everything has been leading up to. This is the weekend of transfiguration! If you follow the church calendar this Sunday is the last Sunday of Epiphany better known as Transfiguration Sunday. On this Sunday we traditionally celebrate Jesus changing appearance on the mountain. He glows white and Moses and Elijah appear with him and the Father speaks from heaven. For the disciples that see this it is an amazing sight. They are so overcome by it that they don't even know what to say. They know one thing they don't want to ever leave.
A few miles from here another transfiguration is also happening. In fact this transfiguration has been years in the planning. I am of course talking about the Superbowl in Glendale (suburb of Phoenix) I know you think you are your own town, your not, get over it, we own you and you know it. If you have watched the news you have seen all the lights and you have heard about all the fuss. That section of Phoenix has been completely changed for this event. Why, well because its the Superbowl the show case event for what is the richest sports league of any kind in the world. And more than that the whole country, the whole world in fact is watching. We want to look good. Why do we want to look good, well because we want them to give us another Superbowl in the near future and we want people to come on vacation here and spend, spend, spend. We also want people to move here and buy all those houses that no one can pay for. We also want Phoenix to be mentioned in the same breath that New York, Chicago or L.A. is. This is our big chance to get the world to say, "Wow, that city in the desert has it going on." So we transfigure everything and light up the night sky. But you know what on Monday Glendale (suburb of Phoenix) is going to look like a Hollyward star after a hard night out. It is not going to be pretty.

Jesus transfiguration was a completely different deal. He lite up the mountain top and wowed the disciples. When it was all over they didn't know what to think, but they knew they had seen something divine. They knew they had received a glimpse of the glory of God. And they didn't forget it either. In 2 Peter 1:16-18 Peter says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice come to him from the Majestic glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." The transfiguration became part of the foundation of their faith. It is also part of our faith, because the story of the transfiguration has been shared now for two thousand years in the gospels. Jesus' transfiguration has helped lead to our transfiguration.

So enjoy the Superbowl I know I will be. I don't plan on missing a second of it or the commercials. Enjoy the transfiguration

Pastor Fred

Read Thur the Bible week 14

Here are the readings

January 21 - Deuteronomy 26, 27 and Luke 7:1-30
January 22 - Deuteronomy 28,29 and Luke 7:31-50
January 23 - Deuteronomy 30,31 and Luke 8:1-25
January 24 -Deuteronomy 32, 33, 34 and Luke 8:26-55
January 25 - Joshua 1, 2, 3, and Luke 9:1-17
January 26 - Joshua 4, 5, 6 and Luke 9:18-36
January 27 - Joshua 7, 8, 9 and Luke 9:37-62

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible week 13

Anybody out there? Didn't hear anyone complain about no readings last week. Sorry about missing last week. I would like to say that it was to give you a week to catch up but I just simply got caught up in other things and forgot.

January 14 - Deuteronomy 5, 6,7 and Luke 3
January 15 - Deuteronomy 8,9,10 and Luke 4:1-30
January 16, - Deuteronomy 11, 12, 13, and Luke 4:31-44
January 17 - Deuteronomy 14, 15, 16 and Luke 5:1-16
January 18 - Deuteronomy 17, 18, 19 and Luke 5:17-39
January 19 - Deuteronomy 20,21,22 and Luke 6:1-26
January 20 - Deuteronomy 23,24,25 and Luke 6:27-49

Pastor Fred

What I would like to see happen in 2008

The paper has been full of people making New Year's resolutions the past week. Many of them were interesting and some even funny. There was one guy who made resolutions for others instead of himself. As I said Sunday I don't make resolutions, at least not ones that I tell anyone about, I mean then people would hold me accountable and I might have to actually try to keep them and what would be the fun in that. So I am going to follow the lead of the guy who made New Year's resolutions for other people. This is what I would love to see happen in my little world in 2008.

I want my close to 3 year daughter to continue to walk around the house singing songs about Jesus, most of which I don't understand but the key words always seem to come out. I also hope that she remains as stubborn as she is, she is a pastor's daughter and she is going to need that stubbornness to make it through childhood in the fishbowl.
I want my close to 3 year old son to continue being the prayer in the family. Charlie won't eat without praying and won't go to bed with praying and several times in the day just likes to pray for whatever reason. He doesn't say much but he always knows how to say a hearty Amen! I also want him to retain his sense of wonder, every time I come home he acts like I have been gone for a month, makes me feel kind of like a rock star. He also likes to be with daddy wherever he goes.
I want my wife to continue to have the patience of Job as she raises three kids, Charlie, Jasmine and me. It is not easy being a stay at home mom when you have had a career, plus the pay is lousy and there is no vacation time.
I want on November 4th of this year Christians throughout the country to get on their hands and knees and pray for the new President Elect no matter what party he or she belongs too. Ultimately everything is in God's hands and even if you know "who" gets elected, (Oops almost went there), we have to remember that in the past God got us through well you know "who", (Oops almost went there again.)
I would like to see the immigration debate be a debate about laws and what is right and what is wrong instead of one about language and culture and skin color and for crying out loud quit the yelling and playing the loud music!
I would like to see us express our gratitude for those who serve in the military. Many of them have given much more than we will ever know or understand. Their sacrifices need to be appreciated and remembered no matter what your politics are.
I would like to see Christians stand up for what they believe and quit apologizing for their faith. The world needs to know what we feel about moral issues and about who God is. I would like to see it done though with gentleness and respect.
I would like to see Family of Christ continue to grow into being the family of God. Where we don't just look at each other as people we know from church but as brothers and sisters that God has put together to serve him. I watched that happen many times in 2007 and it was awesome to be a part of people taking care of one another in ways that maybe me and few others will ever actually know of on this side of time.
I would like to see our church grow with many young families with children joining. I would like to see our older members mentor or I guess the new term is coach the younger fathers and mothers and share their wisdom. I would like to see many of the older people connect with more of the youngest people in the family, serving as grandparents and role models.
I would like to see the back two rows all the way across be where the families of small children sit together and take care of one another. I would love to see the children on the floor dancing to the music and even playing with their toys during the service. You might call me crazy but I watched just that for seven years and it was great. They were not a distraction to the older people who all sat up front (hint, hint), and personal relationships between families of faith were established and strengthened as the congregation looked at all the children as their own. In fact when Darla and I got Charlie and Jasmine we made the entire congregation god parents. And believe me they took it seriously.
I would like to see no need for a nursery anymore because all the children are in church with families taking care of each other's children. It can happen, I have seen it!
I would like to see no problems getting Sunday School teachers or people to help take down chairs and set up the multi-purpose room on Sunday so the same people don't have to do it all the time.
I would love members who have problems with other members or issues in the church to go to the person that they have the issues with and settle them before we have to deal with church disciple issues.
I would love to see people brought to faith or strengthened in their faith this year. I would like to see continual growth in the relationship between the learning center and the church. I would like to see our upcoming Alpha program be a force to draw in those who have questions or who think they already know all the answers.
I would love to see us all realize that not everything that is traditional is Scriptural and that not everything that is Scriptural is traditional. I would like us to see that tradition and contemporary doesn't mean bad or good it just means different and sometimes different is good.
I would like to see us forget about how we did it in the past and concentrate on how we should do it now. I would like to see us love our way of worship but love people more. I would like to see us love our great doctrine but realize that not everybody is ready to swallow the whole book at the same time. Sometimes people need to be met where they are and then loved into wanting to learn the doctrine. I would like to see us realize that it is alright to disagree and that sometimes we are the one that is wrong.
I would love to see us be devoted to God and nothing else this year. If we can do that, all that stuff I just mentioned, well it will happen.

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 27 - The Third Article II

As many of you know I am taking these few days to do planning for most of the year. So I am camping out at Starbucks drinking coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. In some ways I am amazed at the progress that I have made and in other ways I am frustrated. What seems like a good idea one minute doesn't look as good later on. I think I am beginning to finally firm up some stuff though. I am in outline form at least in September already. I think I will stop there and start putting some meat on that outline. In the process I have not forgotten about Lutheranism 101 so we are back to the Third Article of the Apostle's Creed. Let's look at the Church or the communion of Saints.

There is only one church but it is both visible and invisible. That doesn't make a lot of sense at first but there is some solid logic behind it. The visible church is the church that we can see. That is all the people who belong to a church or show up at church on any given Sunday or really anyone that says they are a Christian. They are visible, we can see them, we can count them. The real church though is invisible. We say it's invisible because we cannot see faith. This church consists of all the people who actually believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So we say that the visible church contains the invisible church. What I mean by that is that not everyone in the visible church is part of the invisible church. There are many people who attend church but do not believe. They are there for a variety of reasons but not because they are actually Christians. Only God can see the invisible church.

So really the church is the people of God gathered together. That is the real meaning of Church. Now we also use the word church to indicate other things like a denomination, a local congregation or a house of worship. But the core meaning is the people of God.

The next question is how do you know what local visible church to attend? Well hopefully the answer isn't the one that is closest to you. When you are looking for a church you want to find one that believes that the Bible is literally the Word of God and that it is inspired and inerrant. If a church doesn't believe that, stay away from it. When the Word of God is compromised then everything else will be as well. Also you should look at how they view the sacraments. Scripture makes clear that God's grace is given in both baptism and the Lord's Supper. So you should ask questions about what they think about the word of God and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. You should also listen very carefully to their doctrine and what they say about forgiveness and eternal life. Scripture tells us that we are justified by faith alone. If they tell you that there is something you have to do as well to go heaven run out the front door and keep on running.
As far as worship styles and ways of worship those are personal preferences that you will have to decide for yourself. The important thing is that the word of God is taught correctly.

The church is very important to God, in fact the Bible tells us that we are the body of Christ and that Christ is our head. God also refers to the church as his bride. So God loves the church. God also has given the church a mission or a job. That job is spread the good news that Jesus Christ has earned forgiveness for everyone through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

Here are Scripture verses for you: Ephesians 2:19-22; 2 Timothy 2:19; Acts 2:41, 47; Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:3-6; Ephesians 5:25-27; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:3; Acts 1:8

Pastor Fred

Reading Thur the Bible Week 12

Here are the readings a little bit late this week, sorry.

December 31 - Numbers 23, 24, 25 and Mark 16
January 1 - Numbers 26, 27 and Luke 1:1-20
January 2 - Numbers 28, 29, 30 and Luke 1:21-38
January 3 - Numbers 31, 32, 33 and Luke 1:39-56
January 4 - Numbers 34, 35, 36 and Luke 1:57-80
January 5 - Deuteronomy 1, 2 and Luke 2:1-24
January 6 - Deuteronomy 3, 4 and Luke 2:25-52

Pastor Fred