Grace Alone Online

Before Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus prayed for his disciples. As a part of that prayer, Jesus prays for us as well.  He prays for all those who will come to believe in Him as their Lord and Savior through the witness of the Apostles.  He prays specifically for three things for us: (1) that we live in unity, as the Father and the Son live in unity with each other his desire is that we, too, be kept in that unity.  For to be apart from Christ is to be apart fro life and forgiveness.  (2) Jesus prays for that unity, so that this unity of love which holds Father, Son and us together will give witness to the death and resurrection of Christ, as the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Namely, that we share forgiveness in the name of Christ.  (3) Jesus prays for us to be assured of our eternal glory which we share with Him at the end of all time.  Hear how He prays and comforts you specifically.....

"Come in and know me better, man" is a line taken from A Christmas Carol.  It is the invitation of the Spirit of Christmas to Scrooge on his journey through the night examining the past, the present and his inevitable future.  While Charles Dickens describes Scrooge as a skinflint and humbug in relation to those around him, the story is told to inspire those who despair of their lives in the present, to consider their past and amend their lives for the future.  St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians prays that God the Father sends the SPIRIT of wisdom and revelation for the followers in order to  "Come in and know Jesus better...."  This life transformation, nevertheless, does not happen through our attempt to amend our past lives, nor by promising a better "me" in this life.  Listen to how the Holy Spirit is sent to transform your present life, by what was done in the past, in order to live a fulfilling life in the future.

We know that a magician is someone who entertains people through deception; presenting to them something that defies logic or the natural.  A card that floats from one hand to the other or a person sawn in half and then comes out of the box whole.  He might even accompany some magic words that serve as a clue as to what is about to happen, like, “here is a normal pitcher…” uh, yeah, right….a normal pitcher.  Or, “here is a normal deck of cards….”  Or, the magician might use the more familiar, “Now you see it…..now you don’t.” But when we see a magic act, we ask, “How does he or she do that?”  And we marvel at how the magician kept us from seeing what was done.  And, isn’t that the point?  Seeing?  Trying to understand?  Trying to see behind the curtain?  When we know that there is a magician, we watch very closely to see what is going to happen and try to catch him in the act.  But Jesus' words are no, "now you see me; now you don'."  He is not attempting to manipulate or deceive.  His purpose is to prepare his disciples for the resurrection, which they will never understand and could never imagine.  Listen to how He prepares them and us in the face of death!

The Road to Emmaus is a familiar story where Jesus encounters Cleopas and another disciple walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  The resurrection had happened that morning and they were walking - perhaps back home.  for them, everything was over.  Comparing the story of the women looking for Jesus in the tomb but could not find him, here we have two men walking on the road, not even looking for Jesus, and He finds THEM.  The question lurking behind these stories is: Where do we find Jesus?  And, where does He promise to be for us today.  Listen!

I believe that for everyone, there are times in which we wish that someone would come and search for us; that someone would seek us out where we are at.  Perhaps our pain and suffering, conscience, loneliness, depression has become such a torment that we would wish someone would show the love and concern that we desperately need.  You know, that someone would just take us into their arms and calm our fears, or whatever may be bothering us.  The parable entitled the Prodigal Son is well known to many people....but at times it is so well known that we sort of gloss over the story just to get to the part where the wayward son returns home and is forgiven by the father.  In the text, however, there are many things going on which are a slap in the face to Pharisees and teachers of the law who are bothering Jesus.  there are some hidden treasures in this story that could carry home the weary and distressed.  Listen in....

Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!  This is the appropriate response form the congregation on Easter Sunday morning.  Christ's resurrection is the only reason Christianity is what it is.  Christians are all those who confess Christ as their Savior.  those who confess Christ as their Savior accept the testimony of eye-witnesses who, for thousands of years, have handed down writings and testimonies so that all creation would believe and confess the truth about Christ, and once again return to fellowship with God.  There are those, however, who would rather do away with Christians and especially the organizational church.  An example, has been the comments whether or not to reconstruct the Notre Dame cathedral that burned last week.  Christians say yes; others say that the fire was an "act of liberation" (especially for Europe) from being oppressed with guilt throughout the history of the Roman Empire and the Church.  What does this statement, however, actually say about our world today, and their salvation?  Listen in...

Palm Sunday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week.  It begins with the ride of Jesus on a donkey, from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.  There were other revolutionary leaders who were hailed as Messiahs, who also rode from the Mount into Jerusalem.  In their revolts, however, they died, and their band of guerrillas disbanded.  Who was going to oust the Roman from Jerusalem?  this was the expected role of the Messiah.  But while Jesus preached of a coming kingdom, he preached about it with love and forgiveness; not necessarily the kind of warrior we think about.  And, although he preached a message of peace, his followers expected an overthrow.  It was not until after Jesus' death and resurrection, that they came to know, through faith, about the kingdom that belonged to Christ.  While we might say it was "spiritual" we seem to think of a kingdom that is not visible.  This is far from true.  Christ's kingdom is visible; He established it in real time and real history through His death and resurrection.  All believers are members of this kingdom of grace and forgiveness and away His return, when for all time, He alone will rule unchallenged by Satan and his armies.  Today we interview Simon, the Zealot, a guerrilla who was  apart of Jesus' disciples.

Today we reach the las Sunday in Lent by interviewing John, the beloved disciple of Jesus.  HE was in the Garden of Gethsemane the night Jesus was betrayed.  He and Peter and James fell asleep while Jesus was praying.  He encourages us to meet crossroads in our life by abiding in Jesus' love and forgiveness.  Listen to his story.

Peter, a disciple of Jesus, denied knowing Jesus three  times during the night before Jesus' crucifixion.  Although a leader  among the disciples, and a person who confessed Jesus as the Messiah, he  is remembered by most for this denial.  We interview him today as part  of our ongoing Lent interviews leading up to Easter.  Peter can't seem  to shake the fact that he "failed" Jesus, and did not remain firm until  the end as he promised.  Sound familiar?  We too fail.  Even though we  may know that Jesus forgives our sins, sometimes, our past can haunt us.   What can we do?  Listen to find out.

This morning we interview Malchus, the high priest's guard whose ear Peter cut off in the garden of Gethsemane.  the interesting thing about this story, is that Jesus is in the middle between two powers in this world.  The first, his own disciple Peter, a Zealot, a guerrilla who wanted to overthrow the Roman domination and set Israel free by proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, the coming King.  The other, represented by Malchus, a guard to defend the order of the ruling High Priest and Jewish leaders.  Jesus is caught in the middle.  How does Jesus "do the right thing?"  Whose side will he take as Peter cuts off Malchus' ear and wants to lead a revolt?  

Dialogue written by Ted Schroeder. © 2016 Creative Communications for the Parish, 1564 Fencorp Dr., Fenton, MO 63026. 800-325-9414. www.creativecommunications.com. All rights reserved. Addendum message written by Rev. Gregory Klotz)