The Wierdness of it All

Dear Readers,

God is a little strange. He sent the angel Gabriel to a young lady named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man who was Joseph. Joseph's ancestor was King David of Israel. This is the same David who defeated Goliath in battle. That seems a little weird to me. Have you ever been visited by angel? Gabriel greeted Mary, "Greetings to you who are highly favored by God." That is a strange greeting. Most people greet each other with words like, "Hello" or "How do you do?" Mary even thought the greeting was a little strange. She pondered the words and tried to figure out what Gabriel was saying. Gabriel had a message for Mary. She was going to have a child and she was to give to the child the name, "Jesus." Jesus' life path was to be the King who reigned from the throne of David. Jesus is to rule forever. Now, we've crossed over into the crazy side. Jesus, a child of Mary, ruling forever? That's crazy. Yet now it's going to get even more bizarre. Mary asks Gabriel a very good question, "How is this going to happen? I'm a virgin." Gabriel has an equally great answer to Mary's question. It just goes to show, God is a little weird. The answer is, "The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High God will come upon you and cause you to become pregnant. Because of this, the child that you will be carried will be called "Holy," "the Child of God."

Now what Gabriel is describing is impossible according all human works and understanding. It physically cannot happen. At this moment in time, Mary easily could have said to Gabriel, "This is nuts. This is crazy stuff. I can't handle it. I won't handle it. Forget about it." Yet we know that, that didn't happen. Gabriel, in order to show that power of God through weirdness, tells Mary about her relative, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is six months pregnant. That sounds okay until you add in Elizabeth is well past the age of being able to bear children AND when she was of age, Elizabeth could not and did not have any children. Now Elizabeth is pregnant. Strange things are happening with God.

Then Gabriel told Mary, and he tells us too, "That nothing is impossible with God." All the weird things that Gabriel was describing were not impossible for God to do. And God did them. All the crazy things that God did were for our benefit. Jesus' name is a very special name. It's "Yeshua" in the Hebrew language which means, "Savior." The child Jesus grew up and gave to us salvation from our sins by means of His death upon the cross. The "throne of David" was a cross for Jesus. The King of kings and Lord of lords was THE ONE who God sent to free God's people from their sins and sinfulness. So this is a story that tells us nothing is impossible with God.

It is also a story about one thing that Mary possessed. Mary possessed, "Faith." After all of what Gabriel told her, she responded saying, "I am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me as you have said." Mary possessed a faith to believe the impossible. Her faith guided her as she later travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, just before giving birth to Jesus. Her faith comforted her when she watched her son die at the hands of sinful men. Her faith rejoiced when she saw her resurrected son as He gave the promise of a resurrection to all people. And Mary is an example of faith in action to us as well. We believe in the truth of Jesus, conceived in the Virgin Mary, born, and died at the hands of Pontius Pilate, and on the third day rose to life. We believe and base our lives and actions upon the reality of Jesus Christ. So no matter what happens in our lives, the ups and the downs, we are guided in the crazy weirdness of it all. That nothing is impossible with God.

Next Post: The Birth of Jesus

Who Told You about Jesus?

Greetings readers,

I know that I have taken a hiatus from blogging. Now, I have a renewed zeal to enter my thoughts on life and how God impacts that life. My motivation was caused by the re-design of our website. Now, on the website, there's a link to this blog. Now I have to keep it up to date. Yet that isn't my motivation. My motivation is you, who is reading my blog. Whether you're a first time reader, or someone who has read it before, I want to bring the reality of Jesus and His impact upon your life.

So I have a question for you. "Who told you about Jesus?" In my life, it was my parents. You see I am a "lifer Lutheran Christian." I was baptized at one month old, and I've been a Christian ever since. My life, was by no means, "Perfect." It wasn't and still isn't. But it was perfected by God the Father, through the total person and God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. I don't ever recall a time that I was outside the grasp of Christ or His Church. Some of you who are reading this, didn't start your Christian life the way I did. You became a believer by God through someone later in your life. Some of you who are reading this, haven't yet come to faith. If so, I pray that my witness to you will propel you into a desire for more of God through me.

God chose, and continues to choose people in order to bring the reality of Jesus to other people. God chose prophets, historians, and apostles to bear witness to the reality of God. God chose ordinary people, who are believers, to share God's great and powerful love with those who did not know Him. It is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who empowers us to tell the story of Jesus to others.

So what does God want believers, like myself, to say? One of the great examples of what do we say is from Isaiah 40:1-2. God says, "'Comfort, comfort My people' says Your God. Speaking tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of servitude is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. " (Christian Standard Bible translation)

God tells us through the prophet Isaiah, that we who are His people, are to be comforted and at peace. God has saved us from our sins, and sinfulness. We know this to be true because of Jesus. The reality of Jesus and what He did, is the pardon for our sins. Through Jesus, our lives are smoothed out. The peaks and valleys of daily living were lowered and raised by Jesus. The bumpy roads of life were smoothed out. I know what you're thinking. You still struggle with highs and lows, your life isn't any where close to being smooth. Yet, as one who knows the reality of Jesus, I know that my life is so much smoother and level with Jesus in my life. I know that He forgave me of my sins and gave me a focus on His new life. I can't imagine living my life without Jesus. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I didn't know Jesus. God is using me to bring the reality of Jesus to you. God is using me to tell you about Jesus and what He did for you and me.

There is much more to tell. I pray that I will be consistent in bringing to you the reality of Jesus. And the truth will set you free.

Outside of My Comfort Zone

Greetings to all once again.

I am constantly reminded how comfortable I can be with myself. I am really being reminded this week. I'm at a conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This conference is on prayer and spirituality. Now that shouldn't challenge a pastor now, should it? It does me. I will make confession is this forum. My personal time with God is not as I would like it to be. What I mean is, I think that I could spend more time talking to God by myself and studying the Word of God by myself. This conference addresses both of those issues. We've learned so far about being in quiet solitude with God and how that time with God will enhance me as a Christian and also as a pastor. I have no doubt that it will. However, I don't like quiet. I don't mind studying with music going. Our I don't mind watching TV. However quiet solitude with myself is a great challenge. And it is quite uncomfortable to me.

And this is why I came to this. I need to be challenged. As a pastor, in order to fill other people with the Word of God and what it means to them, I need to be full. Then I need to study and to pray for God's opening of my heart. And this is my challenge.

So what am I going to do? I will learn from God. I will relesh the challenge and rejoice in God's formation of me as a pastor. Because I see myself as God's man to share the Word of God with you and the members of my congregation.

So as I sit in my room and the retreat center, I want to share my prayer to God with you this night.

Dearest God and Father of us all. Melt me, mold me, fill me, and use me for your service and glory. Energize me through quiet and soul refreshing time. Make me a stronger servant of Your wonderful grace. Guide me this night in quiet peace and joy. I pray this in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, who lives with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

Good night

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Hemsath

Happy Christmas and Blessed New Year

Greetings once again to all.

First of all, I pray that your Christmas celebration was a joyous one. Mine was. It was wonderful to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with family and friends. Secondly, our worship service on Christmas Eve was awesome because it was a new record for attendance. There were 188 people at the service that night. It was a wonderful sight to see, especially from the front of the church. I was awed by the reality of 188 people were tightly packed into our Sanctuary, that is worship space, that is designed to seat maybe, 150. But what is really amazing is they all heard about the birth of our Savior once again. For many people, hearing the story of the birth of Jesus is, "I've heard it before. There's nothing new." That's true, it is a story that hasn't changed for almost 2000 years. I can understand how hearing it again can get a little stale. Yet for 188 people, it wasn't stale at all. It was fresh, new, as if they had not heard it before. And that is the reason for the telling of it, year after year. The Bible states that "heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents." Well, if one sinner who heard that story on Christmas Eve repents of his or her sins, then heaven is rejoicing and some am I. That is why I never get tired of telling the same story of Jesus. If one person hears that story and repents, then my task is worth the telling.

And now a New Year is in it's infancy. It is exciting to see new starts and new beginnings happen at the turn of a calendar page. It is fun to watch people make resolutions and have a sincere desire to make changes. Yet I think and I believe that true change comes from the one who loves us so much, that He was willing to offer His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ came into our world, shared our time and space for a specific and wonderful reason. Jesus came to take away our sins and sinfulness and replace it with His love, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and peace. As we realize this, we confess before God that we are sinful and that we cannot do anything to change it. Then we take hold of the forgiveness He gave and live in the changed new nature. Then, with the power of God through the Holy Spirit, we live our lives in the new changed person.

Then we live in the New Year and the rest of our lives in the new life of God.

Your servant in Christ,