Blue Christmas - White Christmas - No Christmas

The season of Christmas has come.  From Christmas Day, December 25, until Epiphany, Jan 6, the season of observing the birth of the Savior runs.  Twelve Days we have appointed to this special season.

Many people know the song that reflects this, few know the connection.  This is because for most people, Christmas has been lost.  For most people, the season of Christmas begins when the merchants determine to start Christmas sales and ends when the wrapping paper is put out for the trash haulers.  Most people, including most Christians who want to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, hold perceptions regarding Christmas that are based entirely upon people’s untrustworthy feelings.

Even on one of the so-called Christian radio stations, one of the pre-Christmas announcements was a call to “Remember the things that are important this Christmas, friends, family, and the birth of Jesus.”  The stated order very strongly demonstrates the order of importance.  Many people would list family before friends.  Christmas and this time of the holiday season, or Happy Holidays, is a time when people express very openly the sentiments that accompany their awareness of their need for love and belonging or familial connectedness.

Thus there are many songs written expressing these sentiments.  These tend to be very popular.

For example ELVIS Blue Christmas



Most surely everyone can relate to the feelings expressed in this song. All people feel the pull on their heartstrings when separated from one who is loved.  This song especially focuses upon boyfriend/girlfriend and husband/wife relations, but it is powerful for those who treasure any relationship.

“I’ll be home for Christmas” is another very popular song expressing these feelings of desire to be joined with others and especially family.  The song eventually says that the singer will be home for Christmas even if only in his mind.

For many people, the holiday season does become very Blue.  Sometimes a person still feels very alone even when surrounded by friends, family, and the birth of Jesus.

Nostalgia also is felt very strongly during this time of the year.  “White Christmas” is a very popular song expressing this.  Some people actually even say things like, “I’ve been praying for snow for Christmas.  It just doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow.”  Even for someone like me, a native Floridian, this music and words of this song evoke nostalgic feelings, even though I never even saw snow until I was at the seminary in St. Louis and I still do not like snow.

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
 
 

I don’t even like snow.  To me it is a nuisance.  It is cold, wet, messy, and dangerous.  Yet this song with its sentiment of wishfulness and longing to be with loved ones moves my heart in that direction.  The tune is especially powerful in this way.  Music is a powerful force.  Nostalgia is also very powerful.  Reminiscence of childhood times, when most people’s cares and worries were few, even though times may have been hard, is very powerful emotionally.

These feelings are so powerful that they can rule a person’s heart, mind, and spirit.  When a person is thus ruled, the body also is controlled by these.  Desire to have these feelings satisfied can become so strong that a person can be driven to great loneliness, sometimes even to hopelessness and despair.

An article that addresses this is A Message for Those Not Feeling “Merry” About Christmas

The article begins with these two paragraphs:

I am thinking a lot this Christmas about the fact that for many people, more than would ever be willing to admit openly, there is very little, “merry” about Christmas. Are you feeling this way? If so, this message is for you.

You may be dealing with personal troubles and situations that cause you intense pain and anguish of heart and mind, soul and spirit. You see all the decorations around and you hear the music, and receive the cheerful, bright and wonderful greeting cards from friends and family. These things are yet more pointed reminders to you of a long-felt grief, or hurt, or sorrow, a reminder that while many are merry, you are not.

The author, The Rev. McCain, shows great empathy and compassion and caring in this acknowledgment of the feelings that many people experience.  He attempts to give people direction toward the more solid foundation for their lives.  And as far as he goes, he offers much good thought.

He advances in this article to say:

How important it is then to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly at this time, a Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us, a Word through Whom all things were made, that have been made. It was this Word, sent from the Father, who came among us, to be your great Savior, from sin, from death, from the power of hell, to pour out his lifeblood as the perfect atoning sacrificial ransom for the sins of the world, for your sins, every one of them, even those you would not want another person to know about.

This is very good.  How true it is that all of us hurting people need the indwelling of the Word of God, Christ.  We very much need to hear the Gospel that proclaims all that He has done for us and provided for us.  We need to hear His words of comfort to us.  We need to have these as the foundation of our meditation, of our thoughts and contemplations.  McCain goes on to say:

The best advice I can give to you if you are feeling lonely and sad at this time of the year is: reach out to people whom you know, and share your love with them. Dive deeply into the Word of God. Take advantage of every opportunity provided to gather with your fellow saints in Gods’ House for worship and to receive the true and lasting gifts of Christmas: forgiveness, life and salvation. These are the gifts that are truly what make for a Merry Christmas.

This is very, very good, even excellent!

However, this leaves much that is taken for granted.  Very few people truly understand the depth of what is included especially in “the true and lasting gifts of Christmas: forgiveness, life and salvation.”  Very few people truly know how this is made available by the Lord in His house.  Most people, even most who call themselves Christians, do not really know what this means.

McCain proceeds to share some beautiful and powerful words of Christ from the Gospels.  He further shares wonderful words from the Lutheran Confessions.  He reminds people of the great blessing and comfort given in the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms.  He also shares the words of a magnificent hymn by Paul Gerhardt, which are worthy of sharing again here:

“All My Heart This Night Rejoices”
by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676
TLH # 77

1. All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear Far and near
Sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing
Till the air Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing.

2. Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
Who the foe, Sin and woe,
Death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
His dear Son Now is one
With our blood forever.

3. Shall we still dread God's displeasure,
Who, to save, Freely gave
His most cherished Treasure?
To redeem us, He hath given
His own Son From the throne
Of His might in heaven.

4. Should He who Himself imparted
Aught withhold From the fold,
Leave us broken-hearted?
Should the Son of God not love us,
Who, to cheer Sufferers here,
Left His throne above us?

5. If our blessed Lord and Maker
Hated men, Would He then
Be of flesh partaker?
If He in our woe delighted,
Would He bear All the care
Of our race benighted?

6. He becomes the Lamb that taketh
Sin away And for aye
Full atonement maketh.
For our life His own He tenders
And our race, By His grace,
Meet for glory renders.

7. Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, Doth entreat:
"Flee from woe and danger.
Brethren, from all ills that grieve you
You are freed; All you need
I will surely give you."

8. Come, then, banish all your sadness,
One and all, Great and small;
Come with songs of gladness.
Love Him who with love is glowing;
Hail the Star, Near and far
Light and joy bestowing.

9. Ye whose anguish knew no measure,
Weep no more; See the door
To celestial pleasure.
Cling to Him, for He will guide you
Where no cross, Pain, or loss
Can again betide you.

10. Hither come, ye heavy-hearted,
Who for sin, Deep within,
Long and sore have smarted;
For the poisoned wound you're feeling
Help is near, One is here
Mighty for their healing.

11. Hither come, ye poor and wretched;
Know His will Is to fill
Every hand outstretched.
Here are riches without measure;
Here forget All regret,
Fill your hearts with treasure.

12. Let me in my arms receive Thee;
On Thy breast Let me rest,
Savior, ne'er to leave Thee.
Since Thou hast Thyself presented
Now to me, I shall be
Evermore contented.

13. Guilt no longer can distress me;
Son of God, Thou my load
Bearest to release me.
Stain in me Thou findest never;
I am clean, All my sin
Is removed forever.

14. I am pure, in Thee believing,
From Thy store Evermore
Righteous robes receiving.
In my heart I will enfold Thee,
Treasure rare, Let me there,
Loving, ever hold Thee.

15. Dearest Lord, Thee will I cherish.
Though my breath Fail in death,
Yet I shall not perish,
But with Thee abide forever
There on high, In that joy
Which can vanish never.

This is truly a wonderful hymn of great comfort and blessing.  This is especially true for those who have the depth of understanding that Pastor Gerhardt had.  For this hymn is fully understood by those whose lives are full of the regular instruction and communion of the divine service.  For those who rightly understand and rely upon the means of grace, this hymn is very powerful.

But unless a person rightly understands that this hymn is directing the heart to the promises of one’s baptism and to the joyous communion of the saints gathered to the Holy Supper, the truly great comfort and hope are lost.  In this hymn the promises of God given in Baptism are especially assumed.

This especially needs to be emphasized.  It is not enough to be directed to the words of Jesus or to the Lord’s Prayer or to the Psalms.  If this is all that a person hears the person is really being directed back to one’s own efforts at bolstering one’s own feelings.  When we are feeling down and depressed and lonely and discouraged, this is the last thing that we need.

This is why the Lord has established for us His Church on earth.  This is why He has defined the means of grace very specifically, clearly, and concretely.  This is why He has commanded that His pastors diligently teach the pure and unadulterated doctrine to the saints.  This is why He has stated beyond all question that His Church is marked by the preaching of the PURE Gospel and the uncompromised administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper.

He wants us to know that what we are being fed is truly what we need.  He wants us to be set free from trying to find our way on our own in this dark world.  He wants us to know beyond any doubt that we have a safe place in His one true Church, a place of belonging that not only feels good and safe, but truly is good and safe.  He knows that this can only be for us when He makes it so.  Thus He calls us to receive what He has ordained according to what He has established.

This is what enabled St. Paul to say that he knew how to be content even when in chains in a cold, damp, dreary dungeon.  Then the Psalms and the prayers are more than emotional boosters. Then the hymns are more than sentimental traditions.  Then our hope extends beyond the momentary sensations.

When we truly rely upon what the Lord has done for us in our baptism, we are connected to Him and to all of His saints from all times and places.  Then we are free to trust His omniscience and omnipotence and omnipresence as being For Us.  Then we know Him as our loving Father, who never abandons us and never leaves us without comfort.

Many people imagine that they can find happiness and worth through trying to be better people.  Thus they try and try, failing to accomplish what they strive to do.  Many people look to family and friends, but never reach beyond their disappointment in the weakness and failing of those from whom they expect and need much more.  Some try to elevate themselves through positive thinking, only to find themselves unable to produce enough positive to outweigh the negative surrounding them in the world.  Some seek churches with encouraging and uplifting praise services, but again find that they have to put in more energy than they get out of it.  It works for a while, but eventually their strength fails.

The Lord calls us away from all of these.  He calls us to the seemingly insignificant means of grace.  They seem to be mere water and bread and wine and words spoken by men.  And for those who count them as such, that is all that they are.  For these means are effective only in connection with faith.  When the faith that God gives is the basis for our coming to receive these, suddenly they are life and power and freedom and joy administered through tangible forms.

This is the way that the Lord has provided as our truly loving Father.  He does not leave us to believe by our own attempts.  Rather, He provides us with tangible evidence of what He promises to do.  Through these He accomplishes for us the miracle of Christmas.  Jesus is still available to us through these tangible elements just as He was when He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and when He told Thomas to stick his hand into the wounds still in the risen body of his Lord.  Today He washes us with real water so that we may feel with our bodies what He is doing in our hearts and spirits.  He feeds us through bread and wine His very body and blood so that we receive Him not only with our spirits but also with our flesh.  In this way He not only touches us in our hearts and souls, but in our very bodies.

In this way He takes away our Blue Christmas without Him.  He causes us to know that He is not far away but is actually with us everyday in every way.  In this way He moves us beyond dreaming of a White Christmas so that we rejoice in the white robe of righteousness poured over us in our baptism.

In this age we often hear the lament that some children will not have a Christmas because of a lack of gifts to unwrap.  Our God makes certain that we have such an abundance of gifts that none of us will ever have cause for such lamentation.  Through His means of grace He gives us the gifts of repentance, new life, forgiveness, everlasting life, renewal in His Holy Communion, hope that knows no boundaries, exceeding great joy, and fellowship with the Holy Trinity and the heavenly hosts.

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Terrible Grief

Grief can be truly terrible, even terrifying.

The Newtown tragedy continues to be prevalent in the news and in the minds of all who hear it.

Yesterday as I was taking care of things that needed to be done, I realized that I am affected even more powerfully than I realized by this event, or rather, by the reminder of how vulnerable I am.

My own death is not very frightening to me contrasted to the devastation that I would face upon the loss of my wife.  If someone broke into the government school where she works and ripped her out of my life through a murderous and senseless act, I would have nothing left in this world.  I would be bereft of the only worldly possession of real value to me, save one.

There is one worldly possession that is even greater for me than my wife.  It is the one possession that would preserve my sanity and hope.  It is my knowledge of God’s love to me that is poured out freely through His means of grace.

My wife and I have talked many times about this.  We both share the great concern that if anything happened to the other, we would be left with no one locally with whom we could gather to receive the unadulterated Sacrament of forgiveness and life.  Whichever of us survived the other would have to move, or settle for periodic travel to our friends who likewise gather to the pure Word and Sacrament.

This very likely sounds foreign to most who read this.  We live in a city with nine LC-MS and one WELS congregations, and yet we have no place where we can safely worship.  This is because we believe that to join with congregations who pledge themselves to compromised worship and practice and definition of communion/fellowship is to have our souls raped and molested.  We believe that we need to receive only the absolutely pure means of grace.  Otherwise we will be filled with the world’s pollution that corrupts and kills.

Thus our marriage and union is absolutely vital to us.  We truly need each other and we do not know how to live without each other.

Again, I read yet another account of the Newtown tragedy: Investigators visit Conn. gun shops and ranges as townspeople seek comfort in faith.  This account made clear a fact that I suspected to be the case. Adam Lanza was the child of a broken marriage.  He was a young man bearing the scars of his parents’ divorce.

We have degenerated into a society where this is counted as the norm.  Great efforts have been exerted to reeducate and retrain the people to consider divorce as an acceptable and even a normal occurrence.  Today one is more likely to encounter children who have experienced the divorce of their parents, than children whose parents remained steadfastly together for as long as they both should live.

Both I and my wife have been blessed to know marriage as a lifetime contract.  Our parents remained together until our fathers died.  Both of us knew that our parents would be home for us.  They were our refuge in the Lord.  We knew that when Daddy left the house that he would gladly and lovingly return home again.  We knew that Mommy would be there for us, too.  No matter how badly an argument raged, we knew that forgiveness and reconciliation would prevail in the end.  This we knew.  This we believed.  This was factual.  The foundation stone of our security, the marriage of our parents that the Lord had instituted and blessed, would stand for us.  We knew the meaning of home.  This is an extension of knowing the everlasting home that God has for us.

But we both have friends who were not so blessed.  We even have family members who have abandoned this so that they divorced.  They broke their contract with each other.  They broke the confidence of their children. And we have seen the effects and affects upon all who have suffered this.

Our society tries to minimize this.  But we continue to see the effects.  We see the confusion of identity.  We see the increase of instability.  We hear the cries of loneliness.  We observe the suicides.  We mourn the many aborted children.  We tremble at the random acts of violence.

Is there any advantage to closing our eyes to what we see and our ears to what we hear?  Is there any real benefit to giving our blessing to the destruction caused by divorce?

How many churches and pastors today really count divorce for what it is?  How many actually still preach divorce as sin from which people need to be saved?  How many still count this as a cause for repentance?  How many still urge forgiveness as the only answer?

How many children of divorces are told that they need to accept this horrible molestation and rape as OK and to get over it?  How can such children be confident of anything when this is what they are told?  How can they know what to trust as true and reliable?  How are they to know love as more than a fickle emotion, as a fact that does not fail?

This is why we dare not allow the means of grace also to be compromised.  This is why we dare not call anything but the gathering to the pure means of grace as God’s Church on earth, His holy family.  For if we allow the worship, the communion, the means of our certainty to be compromised, we have nothing in which to trust.

For those whose parents turn to divorce for their answer to their failures and problems, God’s Church remains true.  Where those called together by the Holy Spirit continue in the purity of the Word and Sacraments, there they may rest securely without doubt or fear.  There God is truly present for them.  There the marriage of God with His bride is manifest for all to observe.  His children rejoice in their security.  This is the way when the Gospel is preached purely and the Sacraments are administered as they have been ordained.  This is the way when the worship reflects this in its entirety.

Is this not comforting news?  God does not believe in divorce, except with regard to our sin.  He says that He divorces us from our sin so that we may be united with Him in His Church.  He has given us Baptism as the means by which we are regenerated or reborn into His family.  He has given His Holy Supper to nourish us and keep us alive in His family through the one true faith. All of this is His gift, His gracious doing for us, as our loving Father.  Through this He causes us to know ourselves as He knows us, as His beloved children.  He never forsakes His children.  He never leaves them to find their own way.  For this reason He demands that His pastors never compromise the Word and the life of the holy family, which life we know as worship and communion.

All other families can be broken.  But God’s family is forever.  People do fall away and forget God’s everlasting promises and love, but God does not forget.  People do look elsewhere and become lost, but God continues to call each one through the continuing existence and life of His Church on earth.  Each and every living person is free to return, even more than free, but continually called by our Heavenly Father.  His bride, His family, stands ready to receive each one eagerly.  The Lord declares that the heavenly hosts rejoice when even one sinner is caused to repent and to return home.

This blessed Advent season beckons to us all to hear this and to believe it.  The Christmas season teaches us how far the Lord is willing to go to call us back again to His loving care.  The Epiphany season teaches us how far the call of His Gospel reaches.  Each season of the Church year serves us in these ways.

We are not left alone.  We have not been abandoned.  We are not orphans without hope of reconciliation and reunion with our everlasting family.  Our God comes for us.  He calls to us.  He gives Himself for us.  Like with the shepherds out in the fields with their flocks that very special night, God sends His message through angels, the pastors and the saints who abide in Him and His communion, to call us to respond, saying like the shepherds, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

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Newtown, Connecticut Tragedy

Such things leave us feeling the darkness of this world.  Especially for those who have lost loved ones, some children, how can they know anything but grief and devastation in their hearts and lives?

At Newtown school gunman forced his way in, police say it is reported:

Dr Jeannie Pasacreta, a nurse practitioner and psychologist who has been advising parents on how to talk to their children, says neighbours have been cancelling Christmas parties and taking down decorations.

And

Dr Jeannie Pasacreta, a nurse practitioner and psychologist in this picture postcard New England town, told me that neighbours were cancelling Christmas parties and taking down decorations, unable to celebrate amidst such searing grief.

The shock to these families is hard even to begin to estimate.

Again the school’s secular psychologist says:

People are at a loss, said Dr Pasacreta, who believes the lesson of this killing is to give more help to those showing signs of mental illness.

However, there is a much better lesson to be learned, for those who have suffered this tragedy directly, as well as those of us who experience it from a distance.

For those who cannot imagine themselves able “to celebrate amidst such searing grief” and find themselves cancelling Christmas parties and taking down their decorations, it would be very helpful to remember what the Christmas celebration really is.

For what reason was Jesus born into this world?  What did the angels shout and sing to the shepherds?  What did Gabriel announce?

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

  (Matthew 1:20-21)

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

  (Luke 2:8-11)

And as prophesied by Simeon:

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

(Luke 2:34-35)

Christmas is the accounting of the birth of the baby boy born into the world to suffer at the hands of evil men, to be tortured to death on their behalf, to save them from their condemned condition as sinners.  The Christmas celebration is the joy that is known through the promise that God Himself took our human flesh so that He would journey to the cross of our salvation.

What lesson should we citizens of the world take from this in conjunction with the Newtown tragedy and every other tragedy in the world?

Surely we should do as this psychologist suggests and seek “more help to those showing signs of mental illness.”  This begins with realizing that we all are showing these signs, due to our fallen and sinful condition.  We all look to the wrong sources for happiness and hope and security and satisfaction, so that we find ourselves hopeless, misdirected, wandering, disappointed, failing, discouraged, depressed, angry, frustrated, and desperate.  All of us are disturbed and need help.

So, then, we should turn to this time when Advent directs us to the promise of the coming Savior.  We should use this time of our grief to understand the ultimate cause of our grief and suffering so that we look to the one who comes to help us, to rescue us, to redeem us, and deliver us.  When we partake of His gifts of grace we receive that which our hearts and souls desperately need and desire, even though we often do not even recognize what it is that we need and desire.  In the celebration of the Advent and Christmas season, we are taught what this is and how God freely gives it.  We hear His tender calling to come and taste and see that He is good.  We hear the heavenly invocation to come and adore Him and receive Him as our gracious and saving King.

Will this take away all of the pain that the parents of these murdered children endure?  No.  But it will fill them with the grace and peace of God that overpowers this pain and makes it no longer what rules their lives.  The pain of the loss remains.  But the promise yet to be realized is far greater.

Is there more to this lesson?  Yes, there is.  We surely should learn not to ignore the fact that none of us knows the length of life in this world that has been granted to each of us.  We each should eagerly run to the fount of life, where God regenerates us through water and Spirit to be made to be members of His kingdom.  We should not delay to bring our little children to this washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, so that they are made safe in Christ’s body and are made to be regular partakers of His Holy Communion.  Then, both they and we are filled with the peace of knowing that together we are kept safe in Christ Jesus.  Then, when tragedy strikes, even in the midst of our shock and woe and fear and heartache, we nevertheless will rejoice in the comfort that came down from heaven as a little baby boy who is Jesus, God’s salvation for us.

For those whose children are baptized, the Christmas lights and decorations still can be viewed as reminders of God’s great promises, even as He promised that the descendants of Abraham would be like the number of the stars in the sky, and as reminders of the great light of God’s glory that shown round the angels as they announced the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem.  The world has usurped much of this and used it contrary to what is salutary, but God’s promises still shine for us, even in the darkest of nights.

This is why God has ordained Baptism.  This is why He also ordained the Holy Supper.  This is how He gives us great cause for celebration even in this world of darkness and suffering and terror.  No one can take away what God grants to us through these blessed Sacraments.

Take they our life,
goods, fame, child, and wife,
let these all be gone,
they yet have nothing won;
the Kingdom ours remaineth.

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Troubling News

This week has been one of dealing with troubling news.  In addition to the ongoing advancement of the march against our freedom as Americans, some very personal troubling news surfaced and became prominent for us.  My mother called on Friday morning a week ago to share the news that my sister-in-law had been found dead sometime in the latter part of the previous day.  At that time Mom had very little information beyond that my sister-in-law, Kimberly, had been found dead between 4 and 8 pm Thursday.

The news was relayed to Mom by my brother-in-law, who had received it from Kimberly’s live-in boyfriend.  As more information became available we learned that the boyfriend was the one who found her dead on the floor.

Such news comes hard and is deeply distressing and heart wrenching, even though it was not entirely unanticipated.  Kim’s death did not occur without warning.

Sadly there is a long period of serious dysfunction in our family.  While most of the family disagrees with me, this dysfunction is the direct result of the disintegration of the identity and integrity of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod and the family’s refusal to acknowledge and flee the pernicious changes in doctrine and practice.  Little by little, the family was changed by their communion in this ever-changing communion.  The unity and stability that was once enjoyed by all in the family was eroded until only chaos and dysfunction and animosity and confusion remained.

Personal dysfunction ensued.  Things became very, very troubled in the family.

This dysfunction extended to Kimberly so that she eventually left my brother, taking the children, filing for divorce, and many other hard actions.  Many painful court actions continued throughout this drawn out ordeal.  Much more destruction of family relations grew.

Within the first week of this action, Kimberly asked me to be her friend on Facebook.  Since this was my only means of contact I tried to express both support of her in her struggle, but also warned her of the destruction that she was bringing upon herself and her family.  I urged seeking answers together in the Lord.  Sadly, she immediately removed me as one her Facebook friends.  It would be almost three years before I would again have opportunity to have contact with her.

Kim began using and abusing drugs.  She was arrested several times for drugs and for stealing.  She failed to appear in court regarding those issues and regarding the divorce proceedings that she initiated and pursued and was found and arrested and held without bail.  Since her parents reportedly had lost hope for her, she was now very much alone.  She had abandoned some time earlier her children, whom the court had returned to my brother’s custody.

Having learned that Kim was now in jail, I called the facility to learn the proper address and mailing information and began writing to her to remind her that we still loved her and desired the peace of the Lord to be hers.  During this time I wrote several times and sent two sermons, but without any response from her.  I continually expressed our love for her and especially God’s love and forgiveness for whatever things were on her heart.  Having shared the mailing information with my mom, she also wrote to her with assurances of ongoing love.

After her death, her boyfriend called my mom and told her that Kim had received the letters but wondered whether we could be sincere in expressing love for her.

I have spent many hours over the past week in phone conversations with my mom and brother, and briefly with my nephew and niece.  It has been a very hard time for them all, and for Kim’s side of the family as well.  Much painful injury has occurred.

Sadly, this sort of story is not at all uncommon in our society today.  In fact, such unrest and dysfunction and disintegration of family is counted as quite common.

Growing up I never imagined such to be possible in my family.  We lived together in the clear and confident confession of the one true faith.  We found solace and reconciliation in the Lord’s forgiveness and Communion.  The grace, mercy, and peace of God in Christ was the foundation of our life together.  We knew and believed that all of our shortcomings and failures and wrongdoings were washed away in our baptisms and that in the Holy Communion the Lord restored His life of true unity to us.  While our sinfulness certainly was a daily issue for us, we nevertheless were safe in the Holy Communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the communion of the saints created and maintained in communion with them.

We watched in dismay as other families, even portions of our extended family, tore themselves to pieces.  But we never imagined such to be what we would ever experience.

Sadly, a very beautiful member of our family suffered greatly in her heart and mind and life until her body finally succumbed to the stresses that overpowered her.

Her obituary and picture can be seen here.

It really says nothing at all about her.  She really was a very lovely woman and a treasure to us all.  Now we are left mostly with questions and the need for healing.  Her children especially are left with many questions, questions that they will have to accept as unanswerable.  But they rejoice to be united again with their father in his loving care.

My main point in sharing this is that in Christ such sad and disheartening things are washed away so that true unity and joy and comfort and peace and stability are restored to us both as individuals and families, and yes, even as communities and societies.  The disintegration that we observe around us matches the disintegration of the churches.  When the churches stood as one in the one true faith, true concord and harmony were the observed way.  This is clearly demonstrated by the accounting given by Luke in the book of Acts.  As long as the preaching of the cross was embraced without adulteration and Baptism and the Holy Communion were administered without alteration from what the Lord instituted, God’s peace that surpasses all understanding was enjoyed by all.  But wherever human understanding was pursued in place of the faith worked through the ordained means of grace, the peace of God is lost through the ensuing disintegration of our own heresies (opinions and interpretations).

My family is facing a great loss, both through the death of our dear Kimberly, and through the death of our family.  Our family died quite some time before this death extended to Kimberly personally.  But Kimberly was baptized into the name of the Lord and His holiness and the Holy Spirit was poured out to her in accord with God’s promise concerning Baptism.  Thus we have hope that she was yet kept safe in God’s grace by His never ending mercy.

Moreover, there is yet hope for the family and for all of the families of the earth.  God’s Church on earth is still standing, even if found in the gathering of two or three to the pure means of grace.  God’s pure Word and Sacraments are the hope of the world, as He comes to us and gives Himself to us and with Himself, all of the blessings of heaven and everlasting life.  While the church bodies refuse to repent and be turned back again to the one true way, the Church continues to be gathered by the Holy Spirit and kept together with Jesus Christ in His one true faith.

This is truly good news or Gospel.  This is the true hope for the world.  This is where true peace and concord are found and enjoyed.  Through this families are restored, no matter how badly they have been shattered.  Through this communities are brought together to rejoice in God’s goodness.  No matter what else occurs around us, the Lord is faithful to His promises and He does work His miracles for us through His Church on earth and the means ordained for her use and administration to her children.  Through this, troubling news is transformed to truly good news of peace and hope and joy.

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The Jealous Father

Here is a story that breaks the heart:

A loving husband and father worked very hard to establish a household for his wife and children. He promised to be faithful and always to take care of them. He built a house, a magnificent home, a genuine mansion. Some might even call it a castle.

He worked and provided for all of the needs of his family. He set up a trust fund that would continually grow so as to provide for his family in perpetuity. He made certain that they were safe and protected.

One day along came a conniving swindler, who had many secret assistants. This selfish and cruel embezzler and thief came to the wife and children with a story about how the father was not as caring and loving as he had presented to them. While the father was busy providing for them and planning for their future, this other fellow convinced the family that they would be better off making their own plans and establishing their own way. He explained how they could take the investments that the father had kept from them and use them more productively. He explained that they could use these investments for things that the father had not given to them for their use, or at least not for the uses that they now would engage.

All that the father had established was undermined. The family unity disintegrated. The family members began to envy one another and to plot against one another. Turmoil supplanted the peace and harmony previously enjoyed. The children began to focus upon hoarding resources. Hard and arduous work became the daily routine. Fences were built to prevent stealing. Wars arose over property disputes.

The father spoke to the family members and urged them to return to the way that they formerly enjoyed together. A few listened and lived in peace together. But the others, the vast majority, reacted angrily and began to promote hatred toward those who listened to their father. The few remaining in the unity of the family were mistreated and sometimes enslaved and sometimes even killed.

What was the father to do? What action should he take concerning those who chose to destroy all that he had lovingly established? What should he do regarding the belligerent rebellion and subsequent attacks against those who remained in the family together?

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What Do You Want?

With my birthday anniversary approaching my wife asked me to give her a list of things that I want for my birthday. She specified that the things that I have purchased for the business needs do not count.

She asked this of me nearly three weeks ago. I still cannot think of anything.

This actually came as a mild surprise to me. I cannot think of anything that I want, at least not that can be purchased in a store.

I stopped at a computer place recently and shared this with the fellow at the counter. He responded, “Oh boy! I could give you a list!”

I answered, “Please do.”

He said that there are loads of technological things. His first suggestion was a flat screen TV. I explained that we don’t watch TV. We have not watched TV for over eleven years. We do rent videos, but even these are garbage, so why would we invest in blue ray or a high definition televison screen to examine garbage more closely?

He and I spoke more about the fact that I cannot think of anything that I want. With a look of bewilderment or amazement he responded that this is a very good place to be. He said that he did not understand it personally, but that it would be a very good place to be.

Now, this is not to say that I do not recognize that it would be good for us to have newer and more reliable vehicles and such, but these things are not birthday oriented wishes. Besides, we are getting along. We have running vehicles that we can keep repaired fairly reasonably. God has given me a wife who loves me. He has given me a place to stay, even a house. I have daily food and drink. I have the Gospel and the means of grace.

The things that I really want are healing within our family and within the Church. What I want most of all is for unity in doctrine and practice to be restored among those who claim to be in Christ Jesus. This is my greatest cause for want in my life. This is the one thing for which I truly long. This is my daily cry. Oh that our loved ones and friends and all who say that they believe in Jesus would return to the clear and unwavering Truth in both their confession and in their communions. If this occurred I would have all that I could ever desire. This would satisfy me and fill me with joy beyond measure.

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Love’s Warm Radiance

Yesterday late in the day as I worked in the approach of the eventide, at about 5:00 a lady who had come home earlier and parked her car in the garage of her home came out of the front door. As I noticed her quietly traversing the sidewalk to the driveway it seemed that I felt warmth radiating from her direction. She wore a very gentle hint of a smile, not subdued but more like it was gently forming her face. Then a school bus entered the cul-de-sac and the lady livened her step toward the end of the driveway. The door to the bus opened and a small bundle was handed to the lady. It was her young son of about three years of age, sleeping quietly. The lady carried her precious bundle up the driveway to the sidewalk and into the house.

I wanted to call out to her and tell her how lovely it was to observe the warmth of her love. I wanted to let her know how her love radiated and what a joy it was to behold. But I kept working quietly, afraid that she could find my comment to be invasive. In today’s society people have precious little privacy and much to fear from outsiders, so in such an intimate matter I decided that it wise to be still.

After the lady had gone back into her house with her little child, another thought occurred to me. I did not know whether this child was being brought home by the school bus driver from day care or whether perhaps this person was a family member or friend who watched the child during the day, but what occurred to me was how precious little time that parents have with their children in today’s society. From early in the morning to nearly evening the children are away from home and away from the loving guidance and instruction of their parents. Parents today have very little time with their children.

This has changed our society. This has changed the way that our society functions and thinks and lives. The way of life a hundred years ago was very different.

Earlier, Sunday evening, I had mentioned to my wife the observation of how warm and cozy the kitchen is with the effects of cooking and baking filling that area. I reflected upon how in times past that the kitchen was the heart of family life, with the family gathering to the warmth and activity of the old wood stove. How differently families functioned in those days, with the kitchen and its activities as the focal point, contrasted to today, where a big screen TV is the primary place of gathering for the family. Indeed, families lived very differently then as contrasted to now.

Family Planning?

In observing these pictures from Family Planning Council’s home page, do you sense that something is missing?

Where is the family?

Where are the babies and little children?


Here are the two halves of Planned Parenthood’s home page. Even when one clicks on the link for “Tools for Parents”, where are the babies? Where is the planning for becoming parents and starting a family?

Why don’t they show any pictures of what they do to and with the babies?

Why don’t they show the product of their “planning”?

If such were what you planned and enacted, would you advertise it with photos and clear explanations? Would you want people actually to see what you do?



Interestingly, in order to see and learn of the plans of these so-called family planning organizations, one must go to one of the groups who are actually promoting families, such as National Right to Life or Lutherans for Life. Yet even they are withdrawing from the graphical display of the products of the so-called family planning organizations.

However, the so-called Pro-Life groups do openly explain and demonstrate the products of their activities and planning. They do not conceal their activities.

     And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil; for every one who is doing wicked things hateth the light, and doth not come unto the light, that his works may not be detected; but he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought. (John 3:19-21 YLT)

A Happy Little Visitor

We recently had a happy little visitor to our household.  One morning, when Stephanie opened the door to the garage to put away her bicycle, in ran this little kitty.  She refused to leave, but hid behind boxes and equipment.

When I entered the garage in preparing for the day’s work, I heard her crying, but she would not come to me.  I wondered how she came to be in the garage.  (Stephanie forgot to tell me until later.)

That evening I still could not coax her to leave the garage.  It was not until the next day that I gained her confidence so as to lead her to the door.  But she stood there, peering in all directions.  She was afraid to go outside.  My guess was that she had been dumped by someone and the other cats that frequent our property frightened her.

But I could not leave her in the garage.  She would have no water and no food.  So I stood outside and gently encouraged her to step out.  Finally she did.



That evening, the neighbor was scolding his dog.  She had squeezed through the fence, coming after little Smokey.  Smokey had scaled about 15 feet up the power pole.  After the dog was removed from her presence, she eased her way back down the pole.  Then she followed me into our back yard.

The next day, seeing that she still had not left, I felt sorry for her and gave her some milk.  But she was more interested in receiving attention.  She did finally drink the milk when I added a tiny spoonful of salmon.  I gave her some more milk that night, and Stephanie broke down and gave her some the next morning.  I made her some oatmeal, not really cat food, but she ate it when I added about an eighth of a teaspoon of salmon juice to the milk.  Stephanie gave me permission to buy her a small bag of kitten chow.  I also prepared a makeshift shelter to protect her from the elements.  When I pulled one of my old t-shirts from the rags bag and placed it inside, she went right in and took up residence inside.

She acted very happy.  Stephanie was surprised to discover that when she fed her, all Smokey wanted was to be petted for as long as she was with her.

Two days later, the old green-gray cat came through the yard.  Little Smokey was frightened.  The old cat left without incident, but little Smokey watched for a long time.

That evening Smokey was not to be found.  She has not returned.

Was she found?  Did one of the neighbors take her in?  Did the old cat or the neighbor’s dog catch her?  It seems that we will never know.

Yet our hearts hurt.  She was a “bright spot in our lives,” as Stephanie says.



We have had many such hurts, especially regarding those who called us brethren.  Yet, how can we regret having had the opportunity to enjoy closeness, even for only a little while.  God’s blessings continue to flow to us each and every day.  In this age, such blessings all are temporary.  Even our earthly family members are temporary gifts.  None of these gifts are the basis for lasting happiness.  Whenever anyone looks to such things, which the Lord Jesus calls mammon, we find that they cannot fulfill our needs.  They are blessings nonetheless.  Yet they are only temporal blessings.  This is why we are commanded not to trust in them nor to love them too strongly.  We especially are commanded not to worry regarding these many blessings that the Lord bestows upon us.  The blessings are given from His love, His all sufficient and everlasting love.  They all come from Him and our proper reception of them is as the outflow of His love.  When we are mindful of this, we remain mindful of the one thing needful.  Then we enjoy the blessings in the peace that surpasses all understanding and our hearts and minds are guarded in Christ Jesus.

All things have this wonderful lesson connected to them.  Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.  Amen.

A Christmas Divorce

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. (Matthew 1:19 KJV)

What an amazing Christmas story!

Joseph was a man of justice. He was a just or righteous man. He thought that he had been wronged. More importantly, he thought that wrong had been done, wrong to which he could not be conjoined. All the evidence indicated that his bride had cheated on him. The Law of God gave him the right to put her away from him, that is, to divorce her.

But this was not the plan of a righteous man. A righteous man’s plan was to divorce her of the guilt of her sin. His plan was to deal with her privately and to put her away, or release her, privately.

This word for release is found in some other places in the New Testament Scriptures as well. Two other examples are found later in Matthew, in 18:27 and in 27:15.

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

The lord loosed the indebted servant and Pilate released Barabbas. Joseph’s plan was to go to Mary privately and release her from her debt to him. He had no desire for self-vindication. He was a true Israelite and trusted in God’s forgiveness for himself. Therefore, having no burden to carry of his own, he was filled with God’s compassion and looked upon Mary with tender compassion himself.

Now as it turns out, Mary had no sinful relations with anyone and it was Jesus, the Savior, whom she bore in her womb. God the Holy Spirit had worked this miracle of bringing forth the promised Seed without the aid of a human sire. So Joseph received her as his wife, even as the Lord directed him through the angel.

This demonstrates a couple of wonderful examples of the righteousness that is by faith. First, Joseph was willing to stand firm in what was right without making himself Mary’s judge. He judged the situation according to the evidence and then set forth to act in accord with true faith. Faith moved him to forgive and to release Mary from her debt to him. His only desire was for her spiritual and temporal good. His plan was one of loving confrontation, the kind that our Lord describes in Matthew 18.

Secondly, Joseph was ready to hear the truth. When the angel corrected the misunderstanding regarding the circumstances, even though it was an impossible story (except for God), Joseph acknowledged the Truth and repented of his earlier plans. Moreover, faith moved Joseph to take upon himself the enormous burden of caring for the mother of the Lord, and even the Lord Himself. Joseph did not ask for any of this any more than Mary did. Yet when he heard the truth, he submitted to it and followed it.

So what began as an earthly divorce was transformed into a Christmas divorce. Joseph and Mary were married and through this the World and Sin became divorced. Joseph cared for Mary and Jesus for as long as Joseph lived. By then Jesus was a man and able to look after His mother. Jesus entered into His ministry at the appointed time, preached the Gospel and prepared His disciples for the ministry to come, and went to the cross and grave to finish the divorce from Sin. Now all the world is free to live by faith.

What an amazing Christmas story!