Simply Grace

The prophet Zepheniah warns us that neither silver nor their gold will be able to save us on the day of the Lord’s wrath. That if God was angry enough, he would make an end to all the inhabitants of the earth. Zephaniah 1:18 This is a sober warning indeed, which makes us think of our personal and communal vulnerability and mortality.  This past Wednesday Jerry and I attended a webinar put on by the Shalom Hartman Institute to teach us an insider perspective of how Jewish people are feeling after the October 7 attack. Rabbi Tamar Elud Applebaum a […]

Rev. Wesley Menke 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself with a cry of command with the archangels call and the sound of the trumpet, will descend from heaven , and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so […]

Some people say that very soon Jesus is coming back to judge the Earth. Some people say that before he comes there will be a period of trials and tribulations on the Earth. Some people also say that those who have faith in Jesus will be spared from such trials, and will be taken away in a…rapture. LIES!!! Or as my sister likes to say, “Freshly baked LIES!” In the Bible and in ancient Roman culture there was a custom of sending a delegation out form a given city or town to receive a visiting dignitary or government official. That […]

Sermon 2023.10.29 Happy Reformation Sunday! I took this opportunity to re-read Justo Gonzalez’ chapters on Martin Luther and the Reformation which helped give background to this sermon. A little over 500 years ago before he wrote the 95 theses Martin Luther was an unknown Augustinian monk. Even though he tried his hardest to be a good monk, he found that he feared and even had feelings of hatred toward God. Why? Because he feared that God would throw him into hell for not being good enough. Becoming a monk was supposed to relieve Luther of his fear of hell,  but […]

Sermon 2023.10.22 Paul writes in 1 Thesselonians, “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly.” When I look out and see your beautiful faces gathered together for worship I am so thankful for the tremendous sacrifice you make for your fellow human beings, creation, and God. And yet when I look out upon you I am also concerned because I know just how taxing it is to do the right thing and struggle for justice day in and day out. We are up against odds that are not in our favor. […]

Sermon 2023.10.15 This parable, like the one last week, has been falsely interpreted to be God’s judgment against Judaism, Jerusalem, and the temple. There is sadly an anti-semitic tradition of misinterpreting scripture that needs to be named and dismissed. This is how it goes. The king that throws the wedding banquet is said to represent God, and the wedding banquet is said to be Holy Communion, the union of Jesus Christ to the church. The people who do not come to the feast who were originally invited, some say to be the Jewish people, who do not accept Jesus as […]