Blog Archives - St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church

My first Tattoo

7/30/2015

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Observation: The Shema, as this scripture is referred to, lays down the instruction for life with God. Hear Oh Israel the Lord your God is one. You should love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, and might! You should bind these commands on your hands as a sign.

Application: I have a tattoo. I often call it my second tattoo. The first tattoo happened in my baptism....recalling the words from the Shema. In the rite of Baptism we announce after the act of baptizing in water with the Word these words "D. Andrew Fetters, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever. The Shema commanded us to write these instructions from God on our doorposts and hands as a reminder. Tattoos can serve the same purpose. Mine does.

Prayer: Lord keep these commands and your promises before us, that we are marked as your disciples to live into the life you offer us through your son, Jesus Christ.

Wisdom is like parenting

7/27/2015

Scripture: Proverbs 1:20-33

Observation: Proverbs is wisdom literature at its best (and briefest). The author is calling for wisdom but the people are stubborn and do not heed direction from the Lord.

"I called to you so often but you would not come to me."

Application: Wisdom is like parenting. I have 3 small children 4.5, 2.5 and 8 weeks. Attempting to tell any one of them anything that they will listen to is crazy. Say it, say it again, remind them what you just said....repeat. Ugh. Since becoming a parent, I have often said..."I can't imagine how God feels."

Prayer: Lord help us to heed your call for wisdom. Inspire us by your Holy Spirit to be in tune with what you might have us be.

Wisdom

7/23/2015

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Observation: The apostle Paul continues his explanation of the power of God rooted in the Spirit of God. God's wisdom cannot be found in human wisdom. God is a mystery to be explored.

Application: As humans we want definitive answers. Yet God is not expressed in definiatives but through mystery. When I was in deep kairos around the age of 22, I remember talking to my mother (the best theologian I know) about the deep divide I felt within my life; a divide between faith and reason, head and heart. After exploring this pain with her for 45 minutes sobbing through it. My mother in great compassion looked at me and said "Son, sit back and enjoy the mystery." Those words still rattle my philosophic desire to know God more closely but it serves me to know more God intimately not through rational.

Kallistos Ware, an Eastern Orthodox Bishop said it well - "It is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder.

Fuhgeddaboutit

7/22/2015

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Observation: The apostle Paul is attempting to stay later focused on preaching Christ Crucified. As an accomplished Pharisee, Paul knew how to use crafty words and persuasive arguments. He leaves these tricks behind in order to preach Christ Crucified and Risen. Essentially he had to fuhgeddaboudit. Instead, he trusts the power of the Holy Spirit not the power and wisdom of the world.

Application: Sometimes, I'm too smart for my own good. I often believe I need to focus my attention on the things of this world, using new technology, finding the latest and greatest app, or find out what is trending. The truth is, announcing and proclaiming Christ Crucified and Risen is not as hard as it looks. I got a great opportunity to see this lived out in 30k youth in Detroit. But what Paul says here rings true for me as sometimes I need to fuhgeddabouit.

Prayer: Lord, I hand back the power of preaching your Son so that I may simply be used according to who you have called me to be.

Humbled

7/21/2015

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Observation: Paul writes that we can only boast in the Lord. Having been humbled (several times) since becoming an apostle and servant of Christ, Paul knows something about humility. He knows that he can no longer boast in the things that he accomplished. That was the system of religion he left as a pharisee, somehow earning your salvation through the works, prayers and blessings you work towards. Now that he has seen Christ, he knows that God provides all these things, and since these come through the power of God, we can only brag about God.

Application: My mother has a unique way of humbling me. At my ordination, Gina Wu, the matriarch of the church I was starting in NYC, approached my parents and said 'you should be very proud of your son.' My mother responded to Gina with "we are proud of all our children." I laugh about it today, but my mother knows who gets the credit. So she, like Paul, will brag about God's work in me and not me. Smart woman, my mother.

Prayer: Lord remind us that you are the one who gets all the credit. Even if you have to humble us, time and time again so that we can remember that.

You've got mail

7/21/2015

Scripture: Acts 15:22-35 Click here for the reading

Observation: Decision making was a bit harder once Jesus had ascended back to heaven. The struggle of the early church was to help guide the belief that they held together. There were some who preached things contrary to the gospel message ("we understand some men have troubled you here"). So a letter is sent from the elders in Jerusalem to the church in Antioch. They conclude that it was good to them and the holy spirit....a phrase that holds a lot of weight. It didn't say we think, or we know.....they let the Holy Spirit guide the decision making.

Application: Most of the mail I receive is via email, FB, text. Not much of it includes the phrase; "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." The holy spirit came first. I think I would enjoy reading my mail more if it did.

Prayer: Holy Spirit guide our decision making and keep us diligent in conversation with you as we wrestle with important things of your church and our daily lives.

Christ as advcate

7/14/2015

Scripture: 1 John 2:1-6 Click here for the reading

Observation: This scripture, as well as my huddle this morning, reminds me of the covenant triangle. Christ's advocacy is to plead in favor of us to the father. "But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him." The relationship of covenant reminds us that obedience, comes from our identity, and our identity comes from the father.

Application: In our huddle this morning, we talked about the difference between being claimed and being orphaned. As children of God, we are able to live into this reality. As orphans we are tempted to shy away from God's claim on our lives. When Christ is our advocate, he speaks on our behalf, as the only righteous one, to make us righteous.

We lose sight of our identity. Jesus speaks to the Father on our behalf.

Prayer: PTL that Jesus reminds us that we are God's children.

God is light

7/13/2015

Scripture: 1 John 1:6-10 Click here for the reading

Observation: The use of light and darkness is an important theme for John. Light = Truth, good, community, God. Darkness = Lies, absence of Good, loneliness, the absence of God.

Application: Growing up, using the Lutheran Book of Worship, I used these words every week for confession and forgiveness. I remember learning at the ripe age of 22 years of age, that these words were from scripture. In the context of this book, and this chapter, I am amazed at the depth that John writes in such few sentences.

Many Christians are wrestling with the recent Supreme Court decision to provide equal protection of marriage to include gays and lesbians. The arguments can be heated on both sides of the issue. yet John grounds us in these words to remind us that we are all beggars in the kingdom of God. How we talk about other people's sin is very different than how we talk about our own sin.

John's greatest emphasis is on providing fellowship with God and with one another. As a church body the ELCA is attempting to do the same with a response to this SCOTUS ruling. Our fellowship is commanded by our love for God and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This emphasis has the opportunity to be the game changer in a dividing world.

Prayer: Lord, in you there is no darkness at all, bring light into our lives and into our broken world, so that we may remain in fellowship with you and one another.

Holy humor

7/9/2015

Scripture: Psalm 103 Click here for the reading

Observation: "Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

Application: This joke comes from this psalm in verse 14. Sometimes we just need to laugh.

Prayer: Lord remind us to laugh at ourselves....once in a while.

How I love you....Let me count the ways

7/8/2015

Psalm 65 Click here for the reading

Observation: When we say we have an awesome God, some people might ask; "oh yeah, well how awesome is God?" To that, scripture often numerates....extensively what God has done and continues to do and will do.

Application: I sometimes feel like the listing of the things God has accomplished is somewhat silly. But then when scripture begins to do this, it helps remind me that God is up to an awful lot that I might take for granted.

You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds,
    O God our savior.

You are the hope of everyone on earth,
    even those who sail on distant seas.
You formed the mountains by your power
    and armed yourself with mighty strength.
You quieted the raging oceans
    with their pounding waves
    and silenced the shouting of the nations.
Those who live at the ends of the earth
    stand in awe of your wonders.
From where the sun rises to where it sets,
    you inspire shouts of joy.

You take care of the earth and water it,
    making it rich and fertile.
The river of God has plenty of water;
    it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,
    for you have ordered it so.
You drench the plowed ground with rain,
    melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers
    and bless its abundant crops.
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;
    even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture.

Prayer: Lord, sometimes I forget what it is that you are doing. Continue to show me your awesome deeds.