Category: From the Pastor

Today you and I are in the “now…but not yet” time. That’s theological shorthand for the time from the first coming of Jesus to his second coming.

Between the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost, the apostles were in their own “now…but not yet” time. They received a promise from Jesus that they would get some help. And it came at Pentecost in the form of the Holy Spirit. From that time forward apostles of Jesus have been sharing the good news of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah. When they started they had the gift of the Spirit and themselves for mutual care and support. They did not have a building.

As we turn the corner to the month of June, we are still in our “not yet” time. It is getting somewhat closer, but clearly it is “not yet” time to reopen.

One of the mistaken comments of this time has been something like, “we have to reopen closed churches.” Excuse me, but only the building is closed, and for good reason. It’s unsafe to gather in large groups. And we value and apply the tenants contained in the fifth commandment.

The church, the CHURCH, has never been more open than right now. People are sharing their faith. God’s word is shared in the sacred manner as it always has. Study of scripture goes on. People are talking to and caring for each other frequently.

One of the constants over the centuries is that the church is always changing. Today we are taking on some new ways of being the church, less reliant on a physical structure, and more reliant on the structure provided by Christ. Grace, peace and mercy. And our baptismal call to serve and love the neighbor.

Will it be good to be back together? Darn right it will. It will occur, sometime. Not yet. God has provided the science, the precautions and the steps to take to make sure that safe gatherings will happen. That is the faithful path to follow.

Clifton D. Eshbach,

Pastor

 

I hope that you are feeling well and dealing well with this temporary new reality we must live in.

When I chose a photograph of just one person in our nave for the cover of the March newsletter, it was to be a visual reminder of Lent and our need to come before the cross of Christ. I had no idea that it would come to reflect the distancing that we are going through during the rest of March and now April.

In the past, when I have been in the nave, alone, I knew it was only temporary. Sunday would come and we would be together. Such is not the case in the COVID-19 world. While the news and the social restrictions appear to change daily, our unity in Christ remains. While we must keep following the well-publicized precautions, our unity in Christ remains. While our worry may cause great anxiety, our unity in Christ remains.

Continue to reach out to one another through the various electronic means we have. Your congregation continues to function, albeit at a reduced level. I hope you have been able to view the little worship liturgies we have been recording and posting on social media.

April 12 will come. But we will not be together in the nave raising the roof, celebrating resurrection. Easter will come. Resurrection will be celebrated. And resurrection oriented life will sustain, and will carry us to the end of this health emergency.

I’m looking ahead to that first Sunday when we are together. Whenever that day will be, we will use the time to celebrate Easter. What a day of celebration it will be. We’ll get to that day. With persistence and prayer, we’ll get there.

The peace of Christ be with you always!

Clifton D. Eshbach

Pastor

 

I hope that you are feeling well and dealing well with this temporary new reality we must live in.

When I chose a photograph of just one person in our nave for the cover of the March newsletter, it was to be a visual reminder of Lent and our need to come before the cross of Christ. I had no idea that it would come to reflect the distancing that we are going through during the rest of March and now April.

In the past, when I have been in the nave, alone, I knew it was only temporary. Sunday would come and we would be together. Such is not the case in the COVID-19 world. While the news and the social restrictions appear to change daily, our unity in Christ remains. While we must keep following the well-publicized precautions, our unity in Christ remains. While our worry may cause great anxiety, our unity in Christ remains.

Continue to reach out to one another through the various electronic means we have. Your congregation continues to function, albeit at a reduced level. I hope you have been able to view the little worship liturgies we have been recording and posting on social media.

April 12 will come. But we will not be together in the nave raising the roof, celebrating resurrection. Easter will come. Resurrection will be celebrated. And resurrection oriented life will sustain, and will carry us to the end of this health emergency.

I’m looking ahead to that first Sunday when we are together. Whenever that day will be, we will use the time to celebrate Easter. What a day of celebration it will be. We’ll get to that day. With persistence and prayer, we’ll get there.

The peace of Christ be with you always!

Clifton D. Eshbach

Pastor

 

With its emphasis on actions we can take during Lent; prayer, fasting and acts of charity, there is the temptation to think that the season is all about us. Well, I know, that you know, that that is not the case. It is all about Jesus. Yes, we are on this journey with him, but the work of salvation does not fall upon our shoulders (thank goodness) but upon the shoulders, hands, feet and side of Jesus.

Sticking with our theme of gospel hope, we are reminded over and over again that our hope is not misplaced. It is with Jesus. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…” says the hymn. The reference to the blood of Christ is the manner by which Jesus has made peace with the world. In his suffering love, Jesus has dealt with the power of death, and sent it packing.

Because of this, as Dr. Walter Brueggemann writes, “…we now who are baptized are welcome into his company and his work to be peacemakers in hard places, to refuse the way of anger and fear and hate and resentment, in order to enact a world of gratitude, generosity, and forgiveness.”

I invite you to dig deeper into the good news of Jesus in our worship during Lent; on Sunday and on Wednesday. Together we shall learn and sense the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Clifton D. Eshbach,

Pastor

 

Every so often, someone will ask me, or it will be asked via a third-party conversation (which is mostly when this happens) questions like this: Why are we doing this or that? What is its purpose? I must admit to being slightly surprised by the question. After all, discipleship ought to be self-evident.

But since this is October, the month when we remember the beginning of the Reformation, a little Luther is helpful to answer this question:

“We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor…He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor. Yet he always remains in God and in his love…” (Luther’s Works, 31. 371.)

This paragraph comes from Luther’s treatise, The Freedom of a Christian. This long writing can be condensed into a simple premise that a believing Christian is free from sin through faith in God, yet bound by love to serve the neighbor.

Where might Luther get such an idea? The same place we get our ideas of witness and service. The gospels. One example is Matthew 25:39-40, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

God’s family is pretty large. Our family members in Christ are across the street, and across the world. When we serve anyone, we serve Christ. If we remember to see Christ in our neighbor, we no long have to ask the questions “why” or “what.”

As Luther also said, “God does not need your good works. But your neighbor does.”

 

Clifton D. Eshbach,

Pastor