Nice vs Kind. Sheep vs Goats. Pastor Stephanie invites us to consider how much time and energy we waste on trying to figure out whether someone is worthy of our kindness or not. She reminds us that Jesus told us to be sheep who share with those in need just like we were sharing with Jesus himself. The good news is that God loves us all like sheep even when we are acting like goats, our job now is to see our neighbors as sheep beloved by God.

What’s stopping you? In the case of our focus text this week: EVERYTHING! When the Ethiopian eunuch asked to be baptized by Philip, everything said the answer was a clear “No!” Generations of tradition and teaching said that the eunuch could not be made part of the community of faith. He was a foreigner, he was not “a whole man,” both of which would have excluded him from worship in the Jewish Temple. But Philip had experienced the way Jesus was constantly welcoming the outsider into his community of followers. When the world told Philip everything was standing the way, Jesus showed him that nothing should stop him! Today when the world tells us there is every reason not to welcome the stranger God shows us the compassion, love and mercy that welcomes us all!

Since the beginning threats of God’s wrath have been used to instill fear in others. Fear allows those in power to control others and further solidify their power. When religion abuses this fear it takes away our ability to explore, search, ask questions, grow, and become what God actually intends for us. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount encourages his followers to ask God and seek out the good things of life together. Bad parents use fear to control their children and maintain their own power, good parents encourage kids to explore, to ask questions, to take risks so that they can grow into their best versions of themselves. God, Jesus says, is so much better than a good parent. As we celebrate with the youth affirming the promises of their Baptism in the Confirmation Service on Sunday, Pastor Chad reminds us that faith formation at Bethlehem is not about using fear to get kids to adhere to rigid set of rules & expectations or scoring points on a test but rather it is about living out Jesus’ call to seek and ask and knock knowing that with God, the ultimate parent, we can find and receive and enter.

Death is scary.

Last week Pastor Stephanie introduced us to the Hallowtide, the Triduum for the Dead, as we explored All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) and the Reformation. This week we explore the next day in the Hallowtide, All Saints’ Day. While in history it was a day to remember the proclaimed Saints (like the Apostles), in the Lutheran Church we remember that we are all claimed by God in baptism to be saints. On All Saints’ we honor both those who have been baptized and those who have died in the last year. We also use the day as a reminder that even though death is scary, Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” One way we find comfort is by facing our grief which can be made easier by incorporating a ritual like lighting a candle. That little light is a reminder that Jesus is the Light of the World and one day he will “wipe every tear from their eyes.” 

What does Halloween have to do with Martin Lutheran and the Reformation? More than you might realize! Pastor Stephanie explains the connection between the two as she looks at the role shame played in Martin Luther's early understanding of faith and how that changed after reading Romans helped him understand Grace. God offers us salvation just as we are, even when we feel like wearing a crown and carrying a lightsaber!

“I am just average, I won’t change the world.” Faced with the issues of the world we often see ourselves as too little, too insignificant to make a difference. But God knows otherwise! In our focus text Jesus tells his followers they are light. Our little lights shine through the darkness. Pastor Chad invites us to consider our identity from God’s perspective: “I am _____”. Over and over again, Jesus compares us to little things that make a big difference: light, salt, yeast, mustard seeds. Even when we feel small, God knows we are making a big difference in our world!

Sometimes when we get lost in a fog, literal or metaphorical, the world passes us by unnoticed. In our focus text this week, two of Jesus’ followers are in a fog of grief after the Crucifixion and a fog of disbelief regarding the rumors of the Resurrection. They are so lost they don’t believe the man they met as he reveals the truth about the Resurrection, about HIS Resurrection! Even in their lost disbelief Jesus continues to accompany them which is good news for us: even when we are lost in a fog, God is with us and is sending in others to help us see clearly once the fog has lifted.

Don’t judge a book by its cover! In our focus text today the crowds are judging Zaccheus by what they can see, he is a Chief Tax Collector which means he is a liar, a cheat, and a collaborator with occupying Roman Empire. But like the paint on an old house, people have layer upon layer of complexity. Jesus sees beyond the Chief Tax Collector layer of Zaccheus and recognizes him as a beloved child of God. Being seen on a deeper layer also changes Zaccheus as he gives half his riches to the poor and repays those he has cheated. It is a lesson for us to both know that we are known by God beyond the layer we show the world and that everyone we encounter is also beloved by God even when all we can see is the top layer.

Do you find yourself making things harder than they need to be? We have been taught that nothing good comes without hard work. Unfortunately, that makes it hard to comprehend God’s unconditional love for us. Like Naaman in this week’s focus text we think there must be something we can do to be rewarded with God’s healing and love! Or that we can have God’s love taken away from us for not following the long list of rules we set for ourselves and others. The story of Naaman reminds us that God’s love is a gift of grace, not an elaborate production we are tasked with carrying out in order to receive and retain God’s love. Instead we are tasked with responding to that free unconditional gift by following it as an example of how to interact with our neighbors.

Do you like to argue? This week’s focus text is about an argument about who is right and who is wrong, about who is on the inside and who is on the outside. The problem is the Jewish followers of Jesus are trying to argue that they are the only ones inside God’s love. They don’t think the people with different food and cultural customs should be included in the community of believers. God of course has a very different idea of who belongs and gives Simon Peter a vision that those divisions are gone when it comes to the love, grace & mercy of God in Christ. Pastor Chad invites us to take a look at the ideas & identities that divide us today and consider how listening with love instead of making another argument we can build a better community that reflects God’s love for everyone.