Finding Strength in Community
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Mark 14:3-11 Nelson Mandela learned what Jesus knew: Struggles are harder when we go alone. Jesus is now getting close to the end. He has to decide how to live out what are likely his last few days. He knows that most of the people in power are angry. He knows his disciples lack unity. He knows that as he came into the temporal world and joined us in our mortality that dying is the only doorway out. So how will Jesus spend his time? Mark tells us of a dinner at the house of Simon the leper, who lives in Bethany. Although Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Bethany is his home away from home. It is wher ..read more
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“Staying Alert – Not being afraid in changing times”
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Based on Mark 13:1-8, 24-37 When Mark wrote his gospel, the world was a shifting mess. The Apostle Paul had recently been executed. Peter was likely in jail awaiting execution. The Roman emperor Nero hated Christians and was also likely to have been mentally ill. It was a scary time. People wondered, is this the end or is the end getting close? Worry was the norm, especially for Christians at the time. This may not sound like a story from 2000 years ago. I hear and see the same thing now. Climate change is scary. Russia is talking about being willing to use nuclear weapons. There is dissatisf ..read more
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Love at the Center
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
When challenged by the leaders of his time about what was the most important commandment, Jesus replied, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The entire work of God is based on who God is. 1 John tells us that “God is love.” It isn’t just that God loves – God IS love. The essence of God’s identity is love itse ..read more
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The Cross of Jesus Leads to Service for Us
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Mark 10:32-52 This week we resume our blogging after a hiatus that started when we had to adjust for the Covid pandemic. As we have worked to decide what’s helpful since the pandemic status ended, we’ve done a lot of work assessing the community, the congregation and our ministry. Church Council agreed that this practice was a helpful one – a weekly blog based on the text for the coming Sunday. So this week we resume. We are solidly in Lent now and the journey to the cross is well underway. This is the third time that Jesus predicts his coming passion. Each time he follows his prediction with ..read more
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Return to the Lord… God will come to you
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing…Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; (Joel 2:12, 28) Following Jesus is an odd thing. On the one hand, God calls us to be “all in.” The text above calls for the deep work of inner transformation and God wants us to “rend our hearts and not our clothing.” In other words, no mere show for the sake of looking good. Surface transformation is almost no transformation at all. In fact, the thought of putting on such a show is so c ..read more
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Give thanks IN all things
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
It is a difficult concept to grasp – the idea of being thankful in all things. Ask any group of people what they are thankful FOR and the lists are even predictable. There isn’t a lot of variance. People tend to be thankful for family, friends, good health, food and shelter. There may be a few other items listed but they are all positive. It is why I am no longer in favor of the unmitigated exercise of people listing what they are thankful for. It continues to imply thank being thankful and the good things in life are linked. That is a half-truth and the easiest and most misleading half of th ..read more
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Hope in a Crisis
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
“No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) It is easy in a judgmental society in the midst of a divisive period in our history to lose track of the bigger picture. God is working to save and bring life to everyone. It is an ever-widening vision of a God who reaches deep from within eternity to encounter us deep in the heart of history and life. In fact, the context of the verse abo ..read more
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God is Calling You!
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Isaiah said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  (Isaiah 6:5) The terror in Isaiah’s voice comes from finding himself in the very center of the Temple – a place known as the Holy of Holies. It was the place of the most intense encounter with the presence of God. And God’s holiness was so different than mortal’s sinfulness, that to be there without deep and intense preparation was literally viewed as life threatening. No one went into the Holy of Holies by accident ..read more
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A NImble God
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
1w ago
Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Samuel 7:7) We are in a time when many congregations are not able to gather and worship in their sanctuaries – not only across the country but around the world. As a consultant and teacher, I hear stories of places where congregational councils and boards are pounding pastoral leadership to “not be afraid,” and “get us back in church.” While we are fortunate ..read more
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Love at the Center
Zion Lutheran Church
by Pastor Dave
3w ago
When challenged by the leaders of his time about what was the most important commandment, Jesus replied, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The entire work of God is based on who God is. 1 John tells us that “God is love.” It isn’t just that God loves – God IS love. The essence of God’s identity is love itse ..read more
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