My six year old son was looking through a book the other day entitled 100 Bible stories. It’s a book put out by Concordia Publishing House that in short form tells 100 of the most important Bible stories from both the Old and New Testaments. It usually has the story on one page and then on the next page is a picture of what is going on in the story. My son can’t read yet but he seems to understand the stories by simply looking at the picture, so kudos to CPH for the great artwork. The other day he came up to me and showed me the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. He said to me, “God is mad.” I asked him how he knew. He said because Adam and Eve had sinned. He had gotten the whole story from the simple picture. He then proceeded to show me other pictures and tell me the stories that went along with them. I have to say I was pretty amazed. I guess I shouldn’t be that amazed though, telling stories by pictures is part of church history that gets largely ignored today. All you have to do is look at some stained glass windows to see it. Or I guess I should say you have to look at some old stained glass windows to see it. Most stained glass windows today are just some coloring and maybe some flowers or butterflies mixed in. They basically serve the purpose of changing the lighting in the church and making some feel like they are, well, in church. Old stained glass on the other hand told stories. They contained pictures of the Biblical stories that were very vivid. There was a reason for this most of people hundreds of years ago couldn’t read. They received the Word of God two ways, one through hearing it read and preached to them and two through the stained glass windows that they looked at during the church service. In those ancient stained glass windows they saw both the law of God and most importantly the Gospel of God. They saw their salvation in pictures every time they were in the church. It seems that people in the church never got tired of that, stained glass was a constant thing in just about every church that was built for hundreds of years. People were comforted looking at those pictures Sunday after Sunday. I don’t know for certain what lead to stain glass’s demise or the change of it into just different colors with worthless symbols in it, but I would venture to say it had to do with more and more people learning to read. It wasn’t needed as much anymore. Thankfully we still have picture books for kids.
Picture books for non-readers serve the same purpose. My son can’t read so he gets the Word of God one of two ways. He hears it read to him either in church or at home and he has books with pictures which he carries around with him. Like the people with their stained glass he never gets tired of it. One of the stories my son always goes to in his book is the death of Jesus on the cross. The cross is very important to him. He asks me all the time why Jesus died on the cross. I tell him a few different things. Number one I tell him because we are sinners Jesus had to die to pay for our sins. He struggles with that a little, so sometimes I just tell him because Jesus loves him, but still he continues to ask me. Like most people, I don’t like being asked the same question over and over again, so at first it bothered me that he asked me the cross question so much but then I began to slowly realize he likes hearing that Jesus loves him. He takes comfort in that fact that Jesus went to the cross for him. He likes looking at the picture, he likes hearing me tell him the same story of God’s love over and over again. Really he is like all of us. We like hearing that same story over and over again. It is why we read our Bibles; it is why we come to church. We need to hear that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, but more than that we need to hear that we are forgiven and loved by God. We need to hear that story of the cross and of the resurrection over and over again. It just never gets old. It never gets old because it is so important to us as people who one day are going to die and see our God. We like the story, because it’s a good story and it has a happy ending. Thank God for old stained glass and picture books.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Food is next to Godliness
I know it's supposed to be "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" but you haven't seen my kitchen so I decided to change it. I have always loved to cook. First of all I love food, I am skinny guy with a fat man trying to get out. In fact I have cooked since I was seven years old. There are advantages to being a latch-key kid, you learn to do a lot of stuff other kids don't. When I got to college I ate full meals every day that I cooked myself, I knew how to do my own laundry, how to iron a shirt and sew on a button. Cooking though has always been something that has brought me great joy. When we were getting ready to graduate from Seminary our professors told us that we needed to get a hobby otherwise we would get in a rut or burn out or both. Following their advice I tried exercise at the local health club, but I found it to be more boring than tiring. You stand in a room on a machine going a million miles an hour and getting nowhere. I have belonged to five health clubs in 18 years of ministry, and I hardly went to any of them, might as well of poured the money down the drain. So then I tried collecting old books, but I soon found that original copies are very expensive, so much for that. I tried Karate, interesting but required way to much self discipline. I am a reader so I tried military history, interesting but with a family of four, reading time was not a luxury, plus what do you do with it? Oh I have also tried bike riding, which I still do some but again not that interesting, at least to me. I have also tried hiking, loved it but my knees and my heart complained way to much, plus I really don't have the time in the mornings and in Arizona you don't hike in the afternoons. I think you see where I am going with this. As far as any type of art or pottery or wood work, well I draw stick figures, so not happening.
That brings me back to cooking. I have always cooked, but until recently my wife did most of the dinner cooking and I cooked on special occasions. My wife's hours changed recently and so I found myself in the kitchen every night cooking. I quickly realized that I loved it. In fact it was like therapy, by the time I was done cooking I was relaxed. Slowly cooking went from something I needed to do to feed the family to something that I looked forward to everyday. It has now become my hobby. It is in fact the perfect hobby. I can read and research about cooking, it's history, techniques etc... I can physically do the cooking and practice new things and best of all my family eats good food. It is a win, win. The family needs to eat so any money spent is money that is going to be spent anyway. Plus I have found that I spend less now because of planning and buying in advance and learning how to work with food in more economical ways.
I also read the Bible differently now. I am blown away how so much of Scripture is centered around food. They are always eating and if they are not eating they are complaining about not eating. Jesus is shown eating all the time as well with all types of people. In fact some of his best sermons happen around food. And you wondered where the church pot-luck come from. In the Old Testament treaties and covenants were sealed with food or some sort of sacrfice that involved food. Jesus speaks of himself as food in the New Testament and right before his arrest instituted the Lord's Supper using food. Because of that our church's liturgy has involved the eating of food, bread and wine for over 2000 years now. Food is next to Godliness, we even get picture language of heaven being a great banquet. Therefore I think food and preaching go together hand in hand. Now if I could just get my hands on some of those recipes for the food in heaven.
That brings me back to cooking. I have always cooked, but until recently my wife did most of the dinner cooking and I cooked on special occasions. My wife's hours changed recently and so I found myself in the kitchen every night cooking. I quickly realized that I loved it. In fact it was like therapy, by the time I was done cooking I was relaxed. Slowly cooking went from something I needed to do to feed the family to something that I looked forward to everyday. It has now become my hobby. It is in fact the perfect hobby. I can read and research about cooking, it's history, techniques etc... I can physically do the cooking and practice new things and best of all my family eats good food. It is a win, win. The family needs to eat so any money spent is money that is going to be spent anyway. Plus I have found that I spend less now because of planning and buying in advance and learning how to work with food in more economical ways.
I also read the Bible differently now. I am blown away how so much of Scripture is centered around food. They are always eating and if they are not eating they are complaining about not eating. Jesus is shown eating all the time as well with all types of people. In fact some of his best sermons happen around food. And you wondered where the church pot-luck come from. In the Old Testament treaties and covenants were sealed with food or some sort of sacrfice that involved food. Jesus speaks of himself as food in the New Testament and right before his arrest instituted the Lord's Supper using food. Because of that our church's liturgy has involved the eating of food, bread and wine for over 2000 years now. Food is next to Godliness, we even get picture language of heaven being a great banquet. Therefore I think food and preaching go together hand in hand. Now if I could just get my hands on some of those recipes for the food in heaven.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Making Things New
If you are reading this blog you also have seen our new website. God talks about making things new many times in Scripture. Primarily he is talking about the New Covenant he has made with us through his Son Jesus Christ. Well we are making some new things here at Family of Christ as well. This website is part of it. You will notice that it has a lot of information on it and also that it is very easy to navigate around. It is still a work in progress, in the coming weeks and months there will be many pictures added to it and it will be improved as people offer suggestions. One of the things we wanted to emphasize on this website is the integration of the our school and church, that is why the front page is basically divided in half. The school is owned and operated by the church but we didn't want people to have to go and look for school information inside the website. We hope you enjoy our website and we also invite your comments.
Pastor Fred
Pastor Fred
Friday, December 3, 2010
Life's Traffic Jams
Living in Phoenix you get used to traffic jams or slow traffic. If you have to get somewhere downtown at certain times of the day you know you are going to be in one. Slowly you learn some shortcuts that eventually everyone finds and then they are no longer shortcuts. There is nothing worst than sitting in traffic because everybody wants to get to a similar location at the same time. I remember the worst traffic jam I ever found myself in. It was in Chicago, where as some one once said they have two seasons, winter and road construction! This was the road construction season and traffic was at a dead standstill. After what seem over an hour I found an exit ramp and took it. As I was driving off the freeway I looked to my side and was amazed at the sight. Traffic wasn't moving for miles up ahead. It was going to be a long day for many people. The funniest thing though was a guy who was riding a stationary exercise bike that he had in the back of his truck! It was like the Chicago version of the Biggest Loser. He knew traffic wasn't going anywhere so he might as well put the time to good use!
Life can have its traffic jams at times as well. In the church there are some obvious ones. From about the middle of April to the end of November traffic moves pretty well. There is a lot to do but it is spread out enough that it is doable. Then comes the Christmas season. During this period, time as one person put it ceases to exist, and everything happens at once. There are Christmas programs at church and at school, there are Christmas parties at school and at church and at people's homes. There are dinners and get togethers and special services, and it all happens at once! People begin to act crazy they spend more money than they have, they eat way to much and they give fruitcakes to people and expect them to be happy about it. Has anyone ever actually eaten a fruitcake? During this season the expectations are extremely high. There are traditions that need to be observed no matter the cost, there are presents to be bought and cards to send. And of course there are the people that send the Christmas letter that details everything their family did this past year. The pain and sheer boredom of reading the Christmas letter has replaced being invited over to their place to watch a long winded slide show of their last vacation to Dollywood, but I digress.
In short life kicks into overdrive and as a result it stops dead in its tracks. We are all running our engines, in this case at max RPMs and going nowhere. As I think about this, I wonder if the guy sitting on the exercise bike in the middle of a Chicago traffic jam had it right. Maybe its time to stop beeping the horn and cursing the traffic and shut the engine off, get out of the driver's seat and do something worthwhile that will have some lasting results. How about slowing down and stepping away from what the world is going to do in this commercialized version of Christmas and concentrate on what really matters. Maybe its time to remember what happened two thousand years ago. Maybe its time to sit down by the manger and catch our breath and observe God taking on flesh for us. We can still enjoy the tree and the lights and food and the presents but enjoy them in light of the infant at Christmas who is also the infinite God. If we all do that the traffic might begin to break up and start moving again at a healthy rate.
No one likes the stress of Christmas. The only answer to that is to keep our focus and expend our energy only on the necessary things. And the only thing necessary for Christmas is the baby Jesus.
Pastor Fred
Life can have its traffic jams at times as well. In the church there are some obvious ones. From about the middle of April to the end of November traffic moves pretty well. There is a lot to do but it is spread out enough that it is doable. Then comes the Christmas season. During this period, time as one person put it ceases to exist, and everything happens at once. There are Christmas programs at church and at school, there are Christmas parties at school and at church and at people's homes. There are dinners and get togethers and special services, and it all happens at once! People begin to act crazy they spend more money than they have, they eat way to much and they give fruitcakes to people and expect them to be happy about it. Has anyone ever actually eaten a fruitcake? During this season the expectations are extremely high. There are traditions that need to be observed no matter the cost, there are presents to be bought and cards to send. And of course there are the people that send the Christmas letter that details everything their family did this past year. The pain and sheer boredom of reading the Christmas letter has replaced being invited over to their place to watch a long winded slide show of their last vacation to Dollywood, but I digress.
In short life kicks into overdrive and as a result it stops dead in its tracks. We are all running our engines, in this case at max RPMs and going nowhere. As I think about this, I wonder if the guy sitting on the exercise bike in the middle of a Chicago traffic jam had it right. Maybe its time to stop beeping the horn and cursing the traffic and shut the engine off, get out of the driver's seat and do something worthwhile that will have some lasting results. How about slowing down and stepping away from what the world is going to do in this commercialized version of Christmas and concentrate on what really matters. Maybe its time to remember what happened two thousand years ago. Maybe its time to sit down by the manger and catch our breath and observe God taking on flesh for us. We can still enjoy the tree and the lights and food and the presents but enjoy them in light of the infant at Christmas who is also the infinite God. If we all do that the traffic might begin to break up and start moving again at a healthy rate.
No one likes the stress of Christmas. The only answer to that is to keep our focus and expend our energy only on the necessary things. And the only thing necessary for Christmas is the baby Jesus.
Pastor Fred
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Jesus Christ Is The Life Of The Party!
Many of us who spent the 80's in college, and believe me when I say I spent the 80's in college, my parents thought I was never going to graduate. Well that is what happens when you change your major three times and then realize you really don't want to graduate because then you might have to get a real job. I solved that problem by going to Seminary right after college and managed to get into the early 90's before I finally had to get a job. But anyway, many of us who spent the 80's in college remember the song, "You have to Fight for the Right to Party!" Some of us don't just remember it, it was our theme song. Now admittedly it is probably not a song you would sing in church, or around your parents, or anywhere outside of the shower with the bathroom door closed, but I have always loved the song or at least the music to it. Recently a Christian company and band made a new version of the song, a Christian version, yes I thought that was slightly strange and even, well, radical. They changed the words to, "Jesus Christ Is the Life of The Party!" They also added stories from the gospels about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and other miracles he did in public. The main point of the song is that Jesus had a habit of showing up at parties and gatherings and kicking them up a notch. He always ended up being the center and the life of the party.
Many people today think that Christianity and the church are full of a bunch of party poopers. Unfortunately some times they are right. On top of my book case in my office I have an action figure, notice I did not use the world doll, of the church lady which was played by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live. This SNL character ticked off many in the church, personally I used to laugh so hard during the skits that I would fall of the couch. I laughed and I think others got angry because we all knew the church lady was true to life. In fact we all know a few of them. There is also a little bit of the church lady in all of us. Even at my young age, oh that's right college was in the 80s, even at my middle age there are certain things that just bug me. But as I read the Gospels I don't find Jesus to be a party pooper at all. In fact as the song sings he was always the life of the party. He shows up at a wedding and they run out of wine. At the time of Jesus it was a horrible social shame to run out of wine in the midst of a party. It would cause a great loss of face for the wedding party. So what does Jesus do? He turns water into wine and everyone rejoices. He shows up at his friend Lazarus' house and finds people gathered from all over mourning because Lazarus has died. What does Jesus do? He raises Lazarus from the dead and the party kicks back in gear! Throughout the gospels you see Jesus bringing salvation and joy to one person and group after another. It was like the Jesus party tour bus.
Even in Jesus' time though there were church ladies. They were the religious leaders who didn't approve of Jesus helping and healing people on the Sabbath. They didn't approve of the sinners and low ranking people that Jesus hung out with. They didn't like his stories about forgiveness and grace. I can hear the church lady in the Pharisee's words when they accuse Jesus of healing by the power of Satan, "Maybe Satan!" They could not stand that Jesus was the life of the party and so like a raid on a college party they arrest him and put him on trial. They convict him too in spite of a lack of evidence. It looked like the party was over. The life of it hanging on a cross and then buried in a tomb, the party broke up and everyone went home, and in the disciples case, into hiding.
Jesus had no intention of letting the party poopers win though and so on the third day he rose from the dead declaring victory over sin and death. This party was just getting started!!! He then appeared to his disciples over 40 days and then ascended into heaven. Before he left though he told them to keep low for a few more days until he sent the Holy Spirit who would be the Spirit of the party. Ten days later Pentecost happened and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people and party restarted. We have been rocking out in the church for over 2000 years now waiting for the life of party to ride back into town to take us all to the big eternal party in the sky. Yes the church ladies are still among us, they constantly remind us of their rules. If you are a Christian you need to dress like this, look like this, listen to this type of music, don't watch these TV shows and you must vote this way. Maybe the original version was right even about the church. "You have to fight for the Right to Party!" Thankfully the church is Jesus' party and he is not so concerned about our rules as he is about our heart. When the heart is filled with Christ, well it can't help but party, even in church.
Pastor Fred
Many people today think that Christianity and the church are full of a bunch of party poopers. Unfortunately some times they are right. On top of my book case in my office I have an action figure, notice I did not use the world doll, of the church lady which was played by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live. This SNL character ticked off many in the church, personally I used to laugh so hard during the skits that I would fall of the couch. I laughed and I think others got angry because we all knew the church lady was true to life. In fact we all know a few of them. There is also a little bit of the church lady in all of us. Even at my young age, oh that's right college was in the 80s, even at my middle age there are certain things that just bug me. But as I read the Gospels I don't find Jesus to be a party pooper at all. In fact as the song sings he was always the life of the party. He shows up at a wedding and they run out of wine. At the time of Jesus it was a horrible social shame to run out of wine in the midst of a party. It would cause a great loss of face for the wedding party. So what does Jesus do? He turns water into wine and everyone rejoices. He shows up at his friend Lazarus' house and finds people gathered from all over mourning because Lazarus has died. What does Jesus do? He raises Lazarus from the dead and the party kicks back in gear! Throughout the gospels you see Jesus bringing salvation and joy to one person and group after another. It was like the Jesus party tour bus.
Even in Jesus' time though there were church ladies. They were the religious leaders who didn't approve of Jesus helping and healing people on the Sabbath. They didn't approve of the sinners and low ranking people that Jesus hung out with. They didn't like his stories about forgiveness and grace. I can hear the church lady in the Pharisee's words when they accuse Jesus of healing by the power of Satan, "Maybe Satan!" They could not stand that Jesus was the life of the party and so like a raid on a college party they arrest him and put him on trial. They convict him too in spite of a lack of evidence. It looked like the party was over. The life of it hanging on a cross and then buried in a tomb, the party broke up and everyone went home, and in the disciples case, into hiding.
Jesus had no intention of letting the party poopers win though and so on the third day he rose from the dead declaring victory over sin and death. This party was just getting started!!! He then appeared to his disciples over 40 days and then ascended into heaven. Before he left though he told them to keep low for a few more days until he sent the Holy Spirit who would be the Spirit of the party. Ten days later Pentecost happened and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people and party restarted. We have been rocking out in the church for over 2000 years now waiting for the life of party to ride back into town to take us all to the big eternal party in the sky. Yes the church ladies are still among us, they constantly remind us of their rules. If you are a Christian you need to dress like this, look like this, listen to this type of music, don't watch these TV shows and you must vote this way. Maybe the original version was right even about the church. "You have to fight for the Right to Party!" Thankfully the church is Jesus' party and he is not so concerned about our rules as he is about our heart. When the heart is filled with Christ, well it can't help but party, even in church.
Pastor Fred
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Fake Jesus
Last night at the dinner table my 5 year old daughter was telling my wife and I about a Christian show that she has seen on TV. She said that in the movie, the fake Jesus had healed a man and then the fake Jesus had been arrested and then put on a cross. The fake Jesus comment got our attention. Our daughter then proceeded to tell us a few more things that this fake Jesus had done in the movie. Finally I interrupted her and asked, "who exactly is this fake Jesus?" She said, "the Jesus in the movie." I asked, "but why do keep calling him the fake Jesus?" She looked at me for a second and then impatiently said, "He is the fake Jesus because it is just someone playing Jesus, it was not the real Jesus." "Oh I said," feeling a little stupid, "I guess the actor would be a fake Jesus, wouldn't he?" Her observation reminded me of those commercials where the guy, who usually was an actor on a medical drama, would say, "I am not a real doctor, I just play one on TV." My daughter understood that the guy in the movie was just an actor, he was not the real thing. I could just hear that actor in a commercial written to sell Bibles, "I am not really the Messiah, I just play one in the movies."
As humorous as her fake Jesus comments were, they made me think of a very stark reality. As Christians, people called to be Christ-like, how many times are we the fake Jesus? We are called to be Jesus to other people. What that means is that when people see us they see Jesus in us and are attracted to him. I wonder how many times when people see us they see the fake Jesus instead. How often are we playing a role instead of being the living witness that God wants us to be? In the next several weeks here at Family of Christ we will be studying the Externally Focused Life. In this study we will be looking at how we can live our lives for others. The focus is to be Christ, the real Christ, to those around us everyday.
What does that mean you may ask? Well it means first and foremost that our faith is not just a head knowledge or even just a heart knowledge, but that it is a hands and feet knowledge as well. It means that we live out what we believe. It means that our faith results in us taking practical actions to help others, to serve others with our time and our abilities and our resources. Jesus didn't just tell people he was the Savior, he showed them. He healed them, he feed them, he raised them from the dead, he cast out demons. He showed his love for people in practical ways that then brought people to faith in him. As people of God, who are called to be Christ-like, we are asked by God to do the same thing. We are called to live out our faith and show Christ's love to others in ways that are tangible and that actually physically and emotional help people. Then with the guidance of the Holy Spirit people will be brought to faith in this real Jesus.
How is your faith walk doing this week? Are you just an actor, a fake Jesus, in a movie, or are you the real thing? Who do people see when they look at you? Even 5 year olds can tell the difference.
Pastor Fred
As humorous as her fake Jesus comments were, they made me think of a very stark reality. As Christians, people called to be Christ-like, how many times are we the fake Jesus? We are called to be Jesus to other people. What that means is that when people see us they see Jesus in us and are attracted to him. I wonder how many times when people see us they see the fake Jesus instead. How often are we playing a role instead of being the living witness that God wants us to be? In the next several weeks here at Family of Christ we will be studying the Externally Focused Life. In this study we will be looking at how we can live our lives for others. The focus is to be Christ, the real Christ, to those around us everyday.
What does that mean you may ask? Well it means first and foremost that our faith is not just a head knowledge or even just a heart knowledge, but that it is a hands and feet knowledge as well. It means that we live out what we believe. It means that our faith results in us taking practical actions to help others, to serve others with our time and our abilities and our resources. Jesus didn't just tell people he was the Savior, he showed them. He healed them, he feed them, he raised them from the dead, he cast out demons. He showed his love for people in practical ways that then brought people to faith in him. As people of God, who are called to be Christ-like, we are asked by God to do the same thing. We are called to live out our faith and show Christ's love to others in ways that are tangible and that actually physically and emotional help people. Then with the guidance of the Holy Spirit people will be brought to faith in this real Jesus.
How is your faith walk doing this week? Are you just an actor, a fake Jesus, in a movie, or are you the real thing? Who do people see when they look at you? Even 5 year olds can tell the difference.
Pastor Fred
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thank You For The Church God
We have tried to teach our children how to pray through the years. In doing that we have let them lead most of the dinner table prayers and some of the prayers at bedtime. They both have different things that they like to pray about. I have always been inspired that they mention their friends and grandparents in their prayers. Like in most children's prayers there are a lot of thank yous. They are just starting to learn to pray for things instead of just about things. Just as life is a journey, so is the developing of a prayer life a journey. Your prayers change through the years depending on what has happened to you and what you are facing. They also change as your relationship with God deepens and you realize how much you really do depend upon him. Adults therefore tend to pray a little different than children. But there is one thank you that my son Charlie prays that I hope all of us remember to pray. It is not something that I taught him, in fact when he prays it I am reminded how lax I am in praying it, and how sometimes I just take it for granted. In addition to all the thank yous for his family Charlie always prays, "Thank you for the church God."
It sounds like such a simple prayer but it has so much depth, and I realized for Charlie so much meaning. The church has always been at the center of Charlie's life. When we adopted him and his sister we brought them back to our congregation in Fort Wayne and we had them baptized. It was a joyous event as they were introduced to the grace of God in the waters of baptism and made members of God's family along with ours. The unique thing about that baptism is that we didn't have a couple of sponsors for them, no we had close to 500 sponsors. The entire congregation of Praise Lutheran church stood up as God parents for them. I know some people are critical of such a thing, they say you should just have one or two not a mob. But that sponsorship with just the beginning of their life in the congregation. The people of Praise lived up to their promise. As I would preach on a Sunday morning I would watch my kids get passed back and forth among the people. I never had to look for someone to baby sit there was always a competition to see who would get them.
When we moved to Phoenix the kids were accepted here too, and they have been loved and cared for by the people of Family of Christ. Charlie and Jasmine have always loved church. They love Sunday mornings when they get to see their friends and also interact with the adults in the congregation. Charlie over the years has learned many of the songs and it is a place that he feels loved and accepted.
Charlie has some learning disabilities and has scored low on your typical standardized tests that they use to evaluate kids his age. There is one area though that not only didn't he score low, he actually scored pretty high, and that was socialization. Charlie loves people, he loves playing with them, interacting with them, and he is very outgoing. My wife and I credit the church for that. The church from the very beginning whether it was in Fort Wayne or here in Phoenix has always opened its arms to him and taught him that he is loved, that he is valuable. Through baptism and the witness of his friends around him Charlie has a deep faith in Jesus Christ. He knows that the church loves him and he knows most importantly that Jesus loves him. It is why he sings Jesus songs on the way to school in the morning and why he witnesses about Jesus dying on the cross to his doctors and therapists. He makes me wish I had the trust and understanding that he does.
So yes Charlie, thank you for the church God. Thank you for the Word and the sacraments that bring us to faith and sustain us in that same faith. Thank you for the body of believers who love and care for one another like Christ cares for all of us. Charlie understands that, hopefully someday I will understand it as deep as he does.
Pastor Fred
It sounds like such a simple prayer but it has so much depth, and I realized for Charlie so much meaning. The church has always been at the center of Charlie's life. When we adopted him and his sister we brought them back to our congregation in Fort Wayne and we had them baptized. It was a joyous event as they were introduced to the grace of God in the waters of baptism and made members of God's family along with ours. The unique thing about that baptism is that we didn't have a couple of sponsors for them, no we had close to 500 sponsors. The entire congregation of Praise Lutheran church stood up as God parents for them. I know some people are critical of such a thing, they say you should just have one or two not a mob. But that sponsorship with just the beginning of their life in the congregation. The people of Praise lived up to their promise. As I would preach on a Sunday morning I would watch my kids get passed back and forth among the people. I never had to look for someone to baby sit there was always a competition to see who would get them.
When we moved to Phoenix the kids were accepted here too, and they have been loved and cared for by the people of Family of Christ. Charlie and Jasmine have always loved church. They love Sunday mornings when they get to see their friends and also interact with the adults in the congregation. Charlie over the years has learned many of the songs and it is a place that he feels loved and accepted.
Charlie has some learning disabilities and has scored low on your typical standardized tests that they use to evaluate kids his age. There is one area though that not only didn't he score low, he actually scored pretty high, and that was socialization. Charlie loves people, he loves playing with them, interacting with them, and he is very outgoing. My wife and I credit the church for that. The church from the very beginning whether it was in Fort Wayne or here in Phoenix has always opened its arms to him and taught him that he is loved, that he is valuable. Through baptism and the witness of his friends around him Charlie has a deep faith in Jesus Christ. He knows that the church loves him and he knows most importantly that Jesus loves him. It is why he sings Jesus songs on the way to school in the morning and why he witnesses about Jesus dying on the cross to his doctors and therapists. He makes me wish I had the trust and understanding that he does.
So yes Charlie, thank you for the church God. Thank you for the Word and the sacraments that bring us to faith and sustain us in that same faith. Thank you for the body of believers who love and care for one another like Christ cares for all of us. Charlie understands that, hopefully someday I will understand it as deep as he does.
Pastor Fred
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