Pastor’s Letter: July 18

Dear Christians:

The weekend is upon us!

What’s difficult for a congregation with Monday Evening worship? Individuals, couples and families just got back to town or back to work … and Mondays are almost always a busy day.

Worship is our Sabbath , rest for our hearts, and God himself ushers us in to Word and Sacrament, where he meets with us personally. Think of it: it is not the pastor, but Christ who baptizes. It is not the pastor, but Christ who distributes his body & blood. It is not the pastor, but Christ who speaks in the sermon. A pastor is just God’s mask; behind it stands God himself dealing with you.

Monday Evening Worship will be provided on the 21st at 7 pm … for you and your loved ones.

Pastor J

~+~

Devotion: Time for Payback?

Do you believe in payback? People in books and plays and movies sure do. Revenge drives many stories of great and not-so-great literature, from the time of the Greeks and Romans, through Shakespeare, to the Revenge of the Jedi.

In our own families, we hear talk like, “I’ll teach her a lesson,” or, “I’ll show him. I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t forget this day.” Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t treat us like that?” God does not seek revenge. Through our Savior Jesus, he pardons sinful fools like us. And he invites us in Colossians chapter 3 to forgive as we have been forgiven.

Revenge fantasies are sweet and seductive. They get our adrenaline going. And they provide scenarios where we feel we can finally get justice to avenge wrongs. But human beings are notoriously poor avengers. God says, “Vengeance is mine. Let me take care of payback.” And frankly, God’s right.

Let go of revenge fantasies. Practice forgiveness. This not only means that I’m less likely to hurt someone else, it means also that I free myself from the prison of anger and the addictiveness of the drug of revenge.

TimeOfGrace.com