Simply Grace

Grace Lutheran Church

Thank you for studying: Ingrid, June, Loretta, Mark, Sandy, and Pastor Wesley

We study the readings for Lectionary 10, the Second Sunday after Pentecost year B, 2021

Genesis 3:8-15, Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35

Segundo domingo después de pentecostés

Leccionario 10

Pastores Nathan y Wesley

Genesis 3:8-15

Salmo 130

2 Corintios 4:13 – 5:1

Marcos 3:20-35

https://fb.watch/5TIEd7Yyy0/

Wesley Menke

Grace Lutheran Church

30 May 2021

Holy Trinity

Do you ever feel different? Do you feel as though you don’t fit in, or that the world is changing around you and you stick out in a crowd as someone who is different than those who are all around you? 

Once I had a roommate who wasn’t different at all. This was in college. He majored in something that a lot of other people majored in. He had a couple of different girlfriends and was very smooth. He had the cool clothes and the cool music, and a cool car. One time we were just hanging out and talking on a Friday night. He had his current girlfriend with him. He said to me, “You know what Wes? You are so normal! You are the most normal guy I have ever met!” 

I said to him, “Excuse me? You think that I am normal? No sir. You have it entirely backwards. I am different. You are normal!” We then began an argument as to who was more normal. I went to church. He said that made me normal. I said that it was just the opposite. Most people in college don’t go to church, therefore I am not normal. The conversation proceeded along those lines for a while. Finally it was decided that “normal” and “different” are very subjective concepts. We decided to accept each other just the way we were, as two normal and yet different guys.

What is normal anyway? We all think we know what normal is, but it is totally relative to what we think is normal! If there is anything I know, it is that God is 100% without a doubt, NOT NORMAL! God is different!

God is different!

The Father is different from the Son. The Son is different from the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is different from the Father. Yet God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore we must say that God is essentially different. God is not internally consistent. God is not uniform. God is different. 

Sometimes people like to ask me about the Trinity. They say, “What’s the deal with the Trinity? I don’t get it!” A family member once asked me when I was in seminary, “When did they invent the Trinity?” That one made me laugh. It’s funny to think about inventing the Trinity because on the one hand it is a very honest question. You can study the history of the church and in fact lift up dates when the doctrine of the Trinity began to take shape in the Christian mind and discourse. On the other hand, the doctrine of the Trinity itself would argue that the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal with the Father. That is, that the Trinity has been the Trinity since all of eternity.

Christians are monotheistic, but other monotheistic religions understandably struggle to understand how we believe that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is also God, but that there is only one God. If it sounds confusing, that is good, because it should sound confusing. The whole point is to disrupt your mind from thinking that you can understand God. You can’t! God is far beyond your understanding.

Grace Lutheran Church

Thank you for studying: Ingrid, June, Loretta, Sandy, and Pastor Wesley

We study the readings for Holy Trinity Sunday year B, 2021

Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17

Domingo de Santísima Trinidad

Invitado especial: Jade Ortiz

Isaias 6:1-8 Misael 

Salmo 29 Misael

Romanos 8:12-17 Wesley

John 3:1-17 Jade Ortiz

Oración final: Jade Ortiz

https://fb.watch/5Kq6ELcLcz/

Do you ever wake up in the morning and wonder why you are here? What is the point of your existence and what are you supposed to do with your life? If you have asked yourself these things, do not worry, you are not alone. I have asked them too, and so have many others. The good news is that the Holy Spirit can stir you up and get you up out of bed. The Holy Spirit will give you new force and energy. There are five things you can do to accept the Holy Spirit into your life.

Breathe

Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones

Holy Spirit – God!

Drink water

Birth story with bath

Psalm 104

Eat food

Holy Communion

Protection from the elements: clothing and shelter

Stewardship

John

Fellowship

Acts 2 

Holy Spirit

Grace Lutheran Church

Honored to have special guest: Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer

Thank you for studying: Ingrid, June, Loretta, Sandy, and Pastor Wesley

We study the readings for the Day of Pentecost year B, 2021

Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 104:24-34,35b, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Invitado especial: Moisés Pérez Espino, de la Iglesia Luterana de México, director del ministerio de la migración

Nathan Allen y Wesley Menke

Lecturas para Pentecostés

Ezequiel 37:1-14, Hechos 2:1-21, Juan 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

https://fb.watch/5Bagm9zbmd/

Wesley Menke

Grace Lutheran Church

16 May 2021

7th Sunday of Easter

One of the best parts of being a pastor is learning about people. People are very interesting. I learned that ministry was largely about getting to know people when I was a summer camp counselor. Each week I would lead a cabin of about ten boys. They would always be so different from each other. One week there was a boy named Matthias. I said he had a cool name, and asked where it was from. He said it was from the Bible, that Matthias was one of the twelve apostles. I was puzzled by this. Then he explained that after Judas betrayed Jesus and died, that God called somebody else to be the twelfth apostle. The disciples narrowed the list of candidates to just two: Matthias and Justus. Finally they cost lots, or flipped a coin, to decide the winner. It was Matthias! What would it feel like to be Matthias? Was there a lot of pressure? I guess that the bar wasn’t really set that high by Judas, so it must have been kind of easy to make a good impression. 

The moral of the story is that God does call people into ministry. I felt my call to ministry that first summer that I was a camp counselor. Ministry is really only about two things:

God’s PeopleGod’s Word

If you care for both of those things, then you too might be called to ministry. 

After I was called to ministry I became a youth and family minister in San Clemente, California. I was in charge of the youth groups. I wasn’t just a youth director; I was also a Spanish teacher at Our Savior’s Lutheran School. The nice thing about having a school is that you reach a lot more families, just as we do with our preschool now. One family, who was very sweet, had a hard time with people gossiping and spreading falsehoods about them. I remember when they shared this with me. I had just read Psalm 1. When we allow ourselves to be taken in to gossip, slander, and naysayers we will end up suffering and failing to grow. Constantly criticizing others and worrying about it is toxic. To be nourished and grow strong like a tree planted by water, is to focus on God’s word. God’s Word is like a river of life. I learned in my calling in ministry that while it is always essential to love and listen to people, it is sometimes better to not focus on the criticisms of others. 

The high school youth group decided that they wanted to do a series of lessons about different world religions. They wanted to not just criticize them, but to learn about them. We began with Roman Catholic. A number of our youth attended J Serra Catholic High School. We invited Father Vincent who taught religion to join us one evening. He was a nice man and wore an all white habit with a very  small hood in the back. He was a Norbertine monk. Father Vincent shared Jesus’ high priestly prayer for unity. Jesus said, “Father may they be one as we are one.” This is essentially what it means to be Catholic, to strive for the unity of the universal church. I thought that it was kind of cool for Father Vincent to make the effort of telling us that he didn’t want to exclude us Lutherans, but pray for unity. Father Vincent shared about his calling to become a monk and priest. It was so cool to learn about him.

It’s easy to criticize, b

Grace Lutheran Church

Thank you for studying: Ingrid, June, Mark, Sandy, and Pastor Wesley

We study the readings for the seventh Sunday of Easter year B, 2021

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 , Psalm 1, 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19