Messages from Pastor Rich

To pray is nothing more than to invite Jesus into our need. To pray is to give Jesus permission to employ God’s powers in the alleviation of our distress. To pray is to let Jesus glorify God’s name in the midst of our own vulnerability. The results of prayer are, therefore, not dependent upon the powers of the one who prays. Neither intense will nor fervent emotion will guarantee a specific answer because the results of prayer, praise God, are not dependent on such human things. To pray is nothing more than to leave open the door, giving Jesus access to your distress and permitting him to exercise God’s own power in dealing with your troubles. The one who gave us the benefit of prayer knows us very well. God simultaneously knows our physical forms and remembers from having made us that we are in one sense just dust but for the Spirit’s gift. And God designed prayer in such a way that even the most vulnerable among us can still make use of it. For to pray is to leave open in faith a connection for God’s use and this requires nothing from us, but a little time. Will we invite Jesus into our need? This remains the one great question about prayer—Hallesby, Norwegian theologian, 1879-1961.

Season’s greetings. Christmas isn’t Easter, but much of the significance of Christmas rests on the importance of Christ’s adult ministry as well as his death, resurrection and ascension; part of what we wait for every advent is the arrival of Jesus in both senses: the first being our retrospective memorializing of God’s incarnation as baby Jesus, but the second is our longing for Christ’s promised return in glory when our faith will become this glorious truth beyond any argument. And so as with much of Christian spirituality my own understanding of Christmas remains this mix of thankfulness and anxious watchful waiting in faithful curiosity. It’s an engaged Advent to be sure. The above passage by Hallesby on prayer came to me from a Lutheran devotional reader I regularly use; it first struck me as odd how much Hallesby views Prayer as the act of granting Christ access to our hearts as well as our surrendering all our troubles and limitations to Jesus in acknowledgement of a kind of complete spiritual dependence in faith. 

It’s not that Hallesby’s model doesn’t jibe with standard Christian theology, it’s just that I’ve rarely read anything about prayer that was so committed to Jesus as it’s active focus or central agency. Yet maybe I had, and I’d just forgotten this aspect of Christ’s legacy during all our seasonal hoopla and traditional blood debt focused atonement theory commemorating. So, what if Hallesby’s model is not an either/or but a both/and proposition. Within this model of prayer is no challenge to atonement theory, so Christ still comes and dies to suffer for the world’s brokenness in some sort of cosmic balance restorative sense. What the model does also gently suggest, however, is that Christ’s promise of oneness with the Father and advocacy on our behalf means that we no longer need any other form of spiritual mediator, yeah. Jesus doesn’t replace the law, but Christ’s very incarnation begins a spiritual reaction that speeds up the law and makes for a more dynamic all occasions kind of faith. Consider, when praying to Jesus we are praying to God and without Christmas there would be no one to initiate us in this practice of legitimate non-temple bound prayer. Christmas comes to usher in so much; and one of its gifts is to remind us as members of creation that within time we can talk and unburden ourselves to God in Christ whenever and wherever we wish. The private nature of prayer should be a strong prohibition against judging others spiritual fidelity. Prayer exists in time, but it’s composed of spiritual dialogue from a posture of openness and vulnerability. Our pride quotients may hinder or degrade the connection of our petitioning, but God in Christ promises to love us and reward our true surrenders with release and grace. Surely this very different kind of informal unburdening Christian prayer with no economy or metric of atonement is the great revolution that started and begins each year anew in Christmas. It is the rarest and best gift of this season still and throughout all time. Hallesby’s question, however, still hovers and looms over this feast and its festival:  Will we invite Jesus into our need and our vulnerability; can we allow ourselves to empty our spirits to make room for God? I pray we can and will. And with God, after all, all things are possible. 

Prayers your way until I write you again in the New Year

Pastor Rich
Cell:608-604-1613; call or text this number as needed, please.

We’re Not Yet What We’ll Be, but We’re Rising All the Time in Spirit     

"Christ’s parable [Matt 13:24-34] tells of the yeast which the woman mixes in 3 measures of flour until it is all thoroughly and completely leavened and ready for baking. Our new yeast, or leavening agent, is the faith and grace of the Spirit. It does not change the whole lump at once but gently, and gradually, we become like this new leaven and eventually even, a bread of God. Our earthly life, therefore, is not righteousness, but rather growth in righteousness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is happening. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being made new and pure in Christ by the Spirit’s work in us".–Luther’s Defense & Explanation of All Articles; c.1521 (my nuanced translation).

Warm greetings; This month’s selection is from Luther’s response to the Pope’s official condemnation of 41—out of Martin’s original 95—theses as heretical and dangerous; these numbers suggest, by-the-way, that they agreed on 57% of Luther’s initial theological questioning—weird, right? That being said, many of Martin’s notions within this passage still read as both challenging and engaging spiritual principles or, as I would suggest that we should make bold to name and claim them, essential central Christian truths. Luther’s take on Matt:13 confesses a God who is with us as well as for us; here is a God who remains actively and relationally present to us throughout our lives in the continued offerings of God’s own grace and mercy and forgiveness and salvation as revealed through the lens of faith within the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ Jesus as God’s Son and our Lord. In this reading the faith we receive in, or perhaps even outside of, baptism from God needs to touch us only once and for a short time because faith is a singular and transformative contact event which sets in motion a slow and lengthy spiritual reaction that runs all through our own lifelong soul journeys. Once the yeast is in the dough it is forever changed and changing. From this view God’s love for us is forever ongoing and our living into the righteousness Christ continually offers remains persistent and present within both our failures and successes as God’s broken people made new daily in faith. There is room for errors in this version of God’s scorecard and they do not detract or abolish God’s ongoing work in, with, and through us all. Faith is the offering that keeps on giving; God’s process isn’t finished yet. 

Yours in Christ, Pastor Rich

A Word from Pastor Rich

PLC’S 2025 STARTUP BLUES—WE’LL FACE A CHALLENGING YEAR 

FULL OF TOUGH DECISIONS; SAME AS IT EVER WAS(refer Acts 1:12…) 

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children—a Navajo proverb

Let us seek not to preserve the church of our past; rather let us keep those traditions that we believe may serve God’s future saints until the day Christ returns (pastor’s notion of an application) 

Greetings Peace-folk, it is the beginning of our school year in this university town, and so, if we are honest with ourselves, it is also the beginning of our church year proper. And that is as-it-should-be since we as church are called to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:15). It is honest and we are doing good church if we at least feel some of that tension, yeah. And so I’d like to direct your attention to a couple-of things which have been on my mind looking ahead with leadership to the next several months. 

Our council needs fresh, committed, eager leaders who wish to pursue excellence in the coming year; our current leadership is tired with the current pace of service—this can and will change. Peace Lutheran’s work is too important for us to lose our capacity to continue due to a lack of vision and internal stewardship. Please prayerfully consider both, where you might lead or serve and, more importantly, please voice where you see talent within our midst directly and encourage one another to lead in key positions at this time. I know I’m new and I know council turnover is like this but the right people in this cycle seems really important to Peace’s future effectiveness and growth. Please ponder these things and encourage your siblings in faith to come forward.

Peace is a big and lively community with a lot going on; and that is great and wonderful. Kindly remember that it is part of being so big and diverse that attracts new folk to us whether as members or just friends and worship attendees. Please trust our leadership to handle the formal asking and just enjoy our guests and gladly celebrate with them. Evangelism is tricky and has changed over the last few years, nuff said; what worked in the past may seem pushy by today’s standard. Please also model grace about things like calendar mixups and lost emails, etc; our staff does the best they can to coordinate our large vibrant faith community. It is our richness and vivaciousness that attracts new folks and probably attracted you, but with that blessing comes an ever increasing amount of logistical complexity which we are trying to address as best we can through careful visioning and intentional leadership.

Change is inevitable and it is also part of how God works, especially in Christ (see New Testament and Old). Remember in this busy Fall that you are loved at Peace Lutheran; you are important to us and our leadership is available to counsel and comfort you gladly, to help you experience God’s grace in Christ as truly the best news still. So, love one another in patience, sacrifice, and forgiving, as well as giving. Hold tight and expect some turbulence because we are full up with and in the midst of Christ’s Spirit most assuredly. Take time to breathe and cherish the moments this Fall because these too are the real blessings.

May you know some measure of peace and gladness in these startup weeks; yours, Pastor Rich