In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is Psalm 117 which reads:
“Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!” Your fun fact about the Bible for today is that Psalm 117, which we just read, is the shortest Psalm in the Bible. It is only 2 verses. Just in case you’re wondering, Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm with 176 verses. Even though Psalm 117 is so short, there is a lot packed in there. The Psalmist calls people to praise the Lord and to extol him. This isn’t just directed at his own people, the Israelites, but rather to all nations and all peoples. God is the God of the entire universe and that includes all nations on earth, not just the chosen people of the Old Testament. God chose the Israelites to be his beacon to all other people on earth to draw them all to him, not to be an exclusive club. How about you? Have you done any praising of God lately? Sometimes it is hard to praise God. It is easy to get busy with our lives and forget to praise him for all that he has done. We might have family responsibilities or work responsibilities or we get busy taking care of ourselves or an ill family member and we don’t even think about praising God. Other times we just find it too hard to praise him. Our health has declined, our bodies are giving out, we’ve lost our spouse. Or maybe tragedy has struck you and you’ve lost a friend or family member unexpectedly. Your job has been downsized or you’ve had relationships crumble. It is hard during all of these tragic events to think about praising God. It is far easier to sulk, or complain, or just feel sad and abandoned. Praising God is definitely not the first thing that comes to our mind. But the Psalmist doesn’t just give the order to praise God without also giving a reason for us to think about. He continues by saying, “Great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” God’s love never fails and his faithfulness never fails. It doesn’t feel like it sometimes. When bad things happens it is easy to feel like God has abandoned us or like he is messing with us, trying to make our lives difficult. That’s not the case though. Sin has messed up our world and caused us great pain and anguish. That much is true. However it is also true that God is the only one who has kept 100% of the promises that he has made. He is faithful throughout all times and all places. The greatest promise that he has made and kept is the one to send a savior to rescue us from our sins. Sending his Son Jesus into the world to die and rise from the grave allows us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God and heirs to eternal life. Because of this we can have hope in the face of problems and sorrows and we can praise the Lord for his faithfulness to us! Let us pray: Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for always keeping your promises and being faithful. We especially give you thanks for sending your son Jesus into the world to rescue us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Help us to always trust and hope in you and your promises even when we face trials and adversity. We ask all these things in Jesus’ name, Amen
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In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is Psalm 36:5-6, 10 which reads:
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! Have you ever had the chance to travel and see mountains? My family moved to Montana when I was in college and it is a beautiful state that is full of mountains. I love the chances that I have to travel there and see the mountains and even to hike in them sometimes. Mountains are such majestic things. They’re huge. They usually spread across the horizon and often when I see them they’re covered in a beautiful white cap of snow. It seems like the top of these mountains are up to the heavens. Why all this talk about mountains? Our Psalmist today describes God’s love, faithfulness, and righteousness. He uses words to describe it that are related to mountains and the mountain top experience. He says that God’s steadfast love extends to the heavens and that his faithfulness extends to the clouds. God’s righteousness is described as being like a mountain. Think about that for a minute. For something to be the size of a mountain or to reach to the sky it has to be really, really big! That’s the point. God’s love, his faithfulness, and his righteousness are huge. They’re bigger than us and last longer than we do. We know that mountains will be there day after day and are immovable. It is the same thing with God’s love and faithfulness and righteousness. They’re huge and they last forever. We can put our hope in them and trust that God will show forth that love and faithfulness to all of his children including you and me. The psalmist ends our reading today by imploring God to continue his steadfast love to those who know him. God does show that love to his people each and every day. His greatest demonstration of this love was sending his son into the world to die on the cross, rise from the grave and ascend to reign eternally. This sacrifice shows us how high and wide and strong God’s love and faithfulness is toward us. So the next time you see a mountain, either in real life or in a picture, remember God’s great love and faithfulness toward you. Remember that his love is strong and never fails. Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Thanks for demonstrating your love for us through your son Jesus. Help us to always remember how high and wide and strong your love and faithfulness is toward us. Help us to share this love with everyone around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen This week we continue unwrapping our Christmas gift, Jesus Christ, in our readings. We see the second servant song from Isaiah, Paul's greetings to the Church in Corinth and John the Baptist pointing out the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Oh, and Simon gets a new name too! In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Romans 6:1-5 which reads:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Water is such a powerful substance. We need water to live. Without water we can become dehydrated, get sick and eventually die. People, plants, and animals all need water to survive. However, water isn’t simply a life giving substance, but it is also a life destroying substance. We simply need to recall Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy and the subsequent flooding that took place after these storms that killed so many people. Drowning can happen in as little water as fills a bathtub in your home or as much as is in the ocean. It shouldn’t come as much surprise then when God choses such a powerful substance with connections to both life and death as what he uses for our spiritual life and death. God takes water and combines it with his word and gives us the wonderful gift of Baptism. Paul writes about this great gift in our reading for today. Romans 6 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It is my favorite because it so clearly explains the life of a Christian and what happens in Baptism. Paul tells us that when we are baptized that we are connected to Christ Jesus’ death on the cross. God uses the water of baptism to kill us. He has to kill us because death is the punishment for sin and we are all sinners. But just like water can both kill and provide life, God uses the water of baptism to raise us from the dead to newness of life. This newness of life doesn’t mean that you can just do whatever you want and commit whatever sins you want because you know that you’ll be forgiven. Rather, since we have been killed and raised from the dead we live our lives loving God and loving our neighbors. Now, whether you were baptized 70 minutes ago or 70 years ago, this baptismal identity is as fresh and wet on you as the moment it happened. You are a baptized child of God! You are forgiven! Go and love God and serve your neighbor! Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for using water and your word to kill us and bring us to life. Help us to daily live in our baptismal identity as your sons and daughters and to joyfully respond in our faith toward you and our love toward one another. We ask all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Romans 5:1-5 which reads:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Have you ever found yourself suffering before? Maybe you’re suffering right now. Maybe it is your health – either it has declined and you just can’t do the things that you used to do. Maybe it is a disease that you’re fighting right now like cancer. It snuck up unexpectedly and has flipped your life upside down. Or it could be that you’re suffering over a strained or broken relationship. A divorce. A son or daughter with whom you haven’t spoken in years. Maybe you’re suffering pain and anguish over the death of a spouse. There is much suffering in our world today. Suffering isn’t new and it certainly isn’t unique to our modern day society, although sometimes it seems like we suffering from around the world in front of us more frequently. This is likely due to the rapid innovations in technology that allow the news to be on TV 24 hours a day and instantly available at our fingertips whenever we want it on the internet. Having access to all of this information can cause us to empathize and suffer with those who are struggling in different places. Suffering is a byproduct of sin and not a part of God’s perfect plan for creation. He never intended for us to suffer and experience the pain and anguish that come along with it. When Adam and Eve sinned, they unleashed suffering on the world that they couldn’t imagine. When we know that someone is suffering we often try to comfort them. We’ll tell them that we’re praying for them. We’ll tell them that we hope they can get past their suffering. Paul, in our reading for today, speaks about suffering a little differently. He tells us to rejoice in our sufferings. Wait, what? Rejoice? That’s the last thing on our mind when we’re suffering. But he explains that because we have been saved by God and given his grace we can rejoice in our suffering. Why? Because, he says, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope doesn’t put us to shame. So as Christians we are never promised a life without suffering but we are promised forgiveness and new life. We also have the hope in the one, Jesus, who has destroyed death, risen and lives on high. He is the one who is in control no matter if we’re suffering or not and he’s the one who will return to take us to be with him. That’s a hope that never fails! Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, help us to rejoice in our sufferings because of the hope that we have in you. Help us to always remember the gifts of life, forgiveness and love that your Son Jesus won for us on the cross. Help us to share the hope that we have with those around us who are suffering. We ask all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Romans 3:23-25 which reads:
“For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Are you a Mizzou fan or a KU fan? A Royals fan or a Cardinals fan? A new resident of Concordia or part of a multi-generation family? Are you a democratic or a republican? We like to make distinctions in our lives based on numerous things. We make distinctions based on our culture; we make distinctions based on our economic status, on our sports allegiances. You name it; we probably will make a distinction based on it. Why do we do this? Often times it is because we like to feel good about ourselves and at least equal to, if not superior than those around us. We put ourselves in groups and aspire to be in these groups and then feel good about ourselves because we’re not a part of all of those other groups that we consider to be inferior. Maybe you have heard a conversation like this: “Who do you cheer for?” “I’m a Mizzou fan” “Oh, good, at least you’re not a KU fan.” I’ve heard this one on numerous occasions. Fill in any of the categories you can think of and you’ll probably find someone having the same conversation. Paul dealt with distinctions in his time too and we hear about them in our reading for today. He was writing to the church in Rome that was made up of both Jews and Roman citizens. The Jews believed that since they had the law and the heritage through Abraham that they had superior status in the churches. But Paul has something else to say about them and about all people. After building his case for three chapters he finally delivers a knockout punch to the idea that there are superior and inferior people before God. Our text today says “for there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” No distinction. How about that? We are all on the same playing field. Whether you are a Mizzou fan or a KU fan, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, life time resident or brand new to the community, it doesn’t matter we are all sinners and have all fallen short of God’s law and of his glory. Fortunately for us the story doesn’t stop there. Otherwise it would be pretty depressing. Paul goes on to say that we are justified by God’s grace as a gift through the redemption won by Christ Jesus on the cross. This is great news! No matter what groups you identify with, God sent his son to die on the cross for you. Jesus rose from the dead for you to win your salvation. Through baptism, God adopts us as his children and makes us heirs of eternal life. Heir of eternal life through Christ Jesus, now there’s a distinction worth having! Let us pray: Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for sending your son Jesus into the world. Help us to stop making distinctions in our lives in order to feel superior than others. Help us to show love to others as you have shown to us so that they may come to know the forgiveness and life that is found only through your free gift of grace. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Psalm 85:1-7 which reads:
“Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.” How many times do you forgive someone who has done something wrong against you? If it is a family member who sins, it might be easier to forgive time and time again, but if it is a stranger or even an enemy who sins against you it is much more difficult to even consider forgiving them. Forgiving doesn’t come naturally for us, it has to be taught. It is much easier and more natural to hold a grudge and seek revenge. We want to get back at someone for how they have wronged us. Imagine having a son or daughter who frequently disobeyed you and did the opposite of what you had instructed them to do. You may have experienced this or might be currently experiencing it with your own children. Your instructions that you gave them were for their own good and even though they occasionally appear strict, they were meant to keep them safe and happy. Could you forgive them every time that they sinned against you? Is there ever a point where you stopped forgiving them or would consider not forgiving them anymore? This is the situation that we see taking place in the Old Testament and referenced in our Psalm for today. God has created the world and has chosen his people Israel. They are his sons and daughters and he gives them instructions on how they are to live in the world. These instructions are for their own good and yet they continually disobey them and turn away from their heavenly father. The Psalmist recalls how God forgave his people from these sins and implores him to continue doing that and not to be angry with them forever. Now before we get too proud and think that the Israelites were ignorant because they continued to sin against God, we must remember that we too sin against God. Our sin makes us enemies with him, cut off from his love and salvation. But Paul tells us in Romans that God demonstrates his extreme love in this way, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. God forgives all of our sins. He forgives us each time that we sin and he puts no limits on the amount of forgiveness that he’ll give to us. Now we can forgive others for their wrongs against us because we have been forgiven and loved so greatly by our heavenly Father. Let us pray: Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for loving us so much that you sent your Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross to forgive our sins. Help us to always remember this great gift of love and forgiveness that you have given to us so that we too can share it with others. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Psalm 62:5-8 which reads:
"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us." Are you ever unsure about anything? It seems as though our world is an increasingly unsure place. We see people dying and property being destroyed by earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Wars and other uprisings come and go with regularity. Violence carried out by governments against their citizens take place around the world. Here at home we see school shootings and workplace violence senselessly take the lives of people. Closer to home we may find our budgets strained by lower incomes and higher prices for the basic things we need in life. Chronic illness and pain may make us unsure about what tomorrow might hold. Will we feel ok, will we be able to function, and will we still even be here tomorrow? So many questions for which we don’t have certain answers. This is where our Psalm for today can be so comforting. The Psalmist declares that God alone is where he gets his hope. God is his only rock and his salvation. Because God is his rock he will not be shaken. Then he exhorts all people to trust in God at all times because God is a refuge for us. The good news for you is that God is your source of hope, your rock, and your fortress. As a baptized, redeemed child of God you can be certain that he will be with you always. Whether you have plenty or not enough, whether you are sick or healthy, or even whether you live or die, God is your refuge and your strength and he will be with you always. You can put your hope in him and you will never be shaken. Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for being our rock and our salvation. Help us always put our hope in you no matter what happens in our lives or in the world around us. Remind us that we have nothing to fear because you have adopted us as your children through our baptism. Help us to live each day with the hope that we have in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen Our readings this week focus our attention on the great gift that God has given to us -- Baptism. The Old Testament reading describes God's servant people Israel who fail and are replaced by God's perfect servant -- his son Jesus. Our Epistle Reading tells us how we are connected to Jesus' death and resurrection through our Baptism and our Gospel reading tells us of Jesus' own Baptism and gives us a picture of the Trinity. In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund. Our text for today is from Psalm 19 which reads:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Man it has been cold lately! The news has been calling this cold weather system that we’re experiencing a “polar vortex”. This bitterly cold weather has made it painful to be outside and left us longing for those warmer spring and summer days. Do you know what is funny about the weather? We never seem to be satisfied with it. Right now it is too cold and we long for the warmer days. When the summer comes we’ll find it to be too hot and we’ll wish for the cooler fall days. One thing that is easy to overlook in bad weather, when we’re complaining about the cold or the heat, is the beauty of God’s creation. We hear about that in our scripture reading for today. King David tells us that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” God has given us this beautiful world that he created for our enjoyment. If we stop to look around we will find that it really is beautiful. Whether it is the freshly fallen snow on the ground or a beautiful summer sunset, God has given us a beautiful world in which to live. It is this gift of a beautiful creation that is a daily reminder of God’s power and might. It is also our assurance in the times of trial and challenges. We can be reminded that God, the supreme creator and ruler of the Universe, loves us and cares for us. He cares for us so much that he became man and restored our relationship with him. Now we can be assured that whether we are hot or cold, rich or poor, sick or healthy, God is our refuge and strength and our hope for eternity. Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for creating the world and everything in it. Thank you for the sunsets and the snow, the trees and the mountains, the rivers and the plains and everything else around us. Help us to always remember that you love us and care for us and that we can always trust in you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen |
AuthorMy name is Tom. I'm fascinated by the ways that people, ideas, current events and theology interact with each other. Archives
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