In The Shadow of the Cross

A fellow pastor shared with me that in his parish in New York he had 40 parishioners in the hospital and that 16 of his flock have already succumbed to the Covid-19 virus.  For almost everyone this crisis has transformed our daily lives on a scale we could not have imagined.   We often hear of a friend or neighbor or even relative who develops and illness or has a serious accident and we grieve for them and pray for them but we may think to ourselves that it probably won't happen to us, at least not now, and go on about our daily lives.   But now, the shadow looms over all of us and going about our daily lives looks very different from a month ago.

It is Good Friday, the day the church remembers the crucifixion of the Savior of the World.  I am writing this in the afternoon.   The disciples are scattered.   Jesus is undergoing His passion leading to His death later today.  His mother and many of his female disciples are watching unable to do anything to help with His suffering, other than be with Him.  Only John is there from the twelve.  Jesus alone carries the weight of the sin of the world. 

It was a dark day for them.  It was hard to see victory or life in the midst of these events.   In fact we call the evening service of remembrance "The Service of Darkness".  Humanity has known many periods when life seemed very dark.   History records how wars devastated people, plagues wiped out entire town, economies have collapsed, crops have failed;  this is not the first time that humanity has been reminded of its fragility.  This is not the first time that a world fallen into sin has made the depth of corruption known.

So how are you feeling?   Are you sad?   Are you mad?   Are you scared?   Are you even glad?   Everyone experiences these things uniquely to themselves.   We may even find ourselves feeling a host of feelings.   We may be grieving Easter gatherings with family and friends in homes and churches.  Part of us may be looking for someone to blame for all the things that have been taken from us.  And it would be fully understandable if you feel scared.   We hear that most people will have a light case if they catch it but then we hear about the suffering of those who grow sicker.  We might be tempted to focus on those part of our health that might make us more susceptible to to the illness.  How do we protect ourselves?  How do we protect our loved ones?  

How do we pay the bills?   Some folks are fully able to stay home sheltered in place while others are still working as essential employees.  Many are worrying about paying rent and mortgages and for food with limited or no income coming in and no end in sight.

This world is now as it was created to be because sin exists in the world and we are being reminded in these days just has tangible and fragile everything is.  And it can make us afraid.  It can make us sad.  It can even make us mad.  

But God is on His throne.   In the shadow of the cross it was hard to understand.  Why did Jesus have to die?  Why did His Father allow it?  Was He not our Messiah?   Why is it ending this way.  ONly it wasn't.    Much of what God does is hidden under an  opposite appearance.   It looked like defeat only the ultimate victory was being achieved.  It looked like injustice, and evil, and sin and death had won.  But in those hours the power of sin and death was broken.  Soon comes Easter.

Easter morning life did not get back to normal.  The disciples and those who believed never went back to life the way it was before.  Jesus death and resurrection changed everything.  Our lives will likely not go back to normal, not the way it was before.  Our innocence and trust is now "informed".   How much we need informed by the Gospel in these days.  For the truth is the Gospel and Jesus have always been the only unshakable ground.  All else has always been shifting sand.  But Jesus is risen even on this day of shadows, even on this day of remembering death, we cannot remember without also remembering He is Risen!  Salvation is just as certain today as it was before.  Indeed each day that passes is one day closer we are to receiving all that God has promised us in Christ. 

So on this Good Friday I encourage you to remember:   You are Christ's!   Christ is yours!

Pastor Reedy

Palm Sunday 2020

Palm Sunday, the day the church remembers the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  It is a joyous festival full of dynamic hymns and the powerful story of Christ's entry to the shouts of people while he rode on the back of a donkey in fulfillment of prophesy. We think of children waving the palm branches in procession as we remember and celebrate these events.

But this year is different.  2020 is different.  Most churches will not be able to gather together in person to wave the branches, and shout together "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord"  We won't be able to hear one another's voices singing those beautiful hymns of the day.

Perhaps this Palm Sunday is in some ways more like the first than any we have every known.   The disciples were caught up in the excitement, but Jesus knew what this ride meant, where this ride would ultimate lead.  That in less than a week he would be dying, his every breath an agony, as the life drained from his broken body as He carried the weight of the sin of the world.   This is why Palm Sunday is closely connect also with "Passion Sunday" or the remembrance of Christ's death.  It was a celebration because the horror of the week was hidden to the crowds.   But Jesus knew.  

On the journey up to Jerusalem Jesus knew.  The people traveling with Jesus were expecting He would restore the Kingdom (of their expectations) immediately as soon as He arrived.   (Luke 19:11)  So he told them the parable of the tenants.   A Lord gives three servants ten minas and then goes on his way.   The first uses it for the service of His Lord and makes 10 more.  The second makes 5 more.  But the third was afraid and so hid his and kept it safe.   But upon the Lord's return this last servant finds himself haven fallen short of His Lord's expectations.

Normally when we meditate on this parable we do so with a focus that we are called to be faithful stewards for God's kingdom with what God gives us.  But there is another piece here.   Jesus was telling them that He would depart they would remain but they would remain for a purpose.  They would remain to work.

The Kingdom would not come magically.  Its not the kind of thing that happens because a shoe fits on a princess, or a prince kisses a sleeping princess or anything of that nature.  This kingdom comes because of death... the death of its Lord.   And it comes because of life... the resurrection of its Lord.  And it endures because of His ruling following His ascension into heaven to the right hand of the Father. 

So perhaps this Palm Sunday, this Holy Week is more like the first than any we have ever experienced.   Jesus came knowing that the celebration would be over by the end of the week.  Crowds could gather on this first day.  By the end of the week it would be a small gathering in a hidden upper room for safety as Jesus prepared His disciples not for the instant fixing of all things broken but for His death.  By the end of the week it would be Jesus and his closest praying in secret in Gethsemane waiting for what He knew was coming.  Praying in anguish at the suffering He knew He must endure.

  Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday knowing what was coming.  Still yet He wept for Jerusalem that day not for Himself.  He wept for the pain and suffering that people go through, most inflicted upon self or others because of sin.  He wept for a world broken and suffering because of sin.   And He moved onward, step by step toward Calvary, toward suffering, toward death.  Because He wanted to save us from it.

Next weekend would find the disciples who so boldly walking in parade to shouts and joy to hiding in their dwelling place from fear of the Jews.   For them Holy Week would not be about big public gatherings and wonderful hymns and great food.  It was about seeing Jesus do His final teaching.  It was about hiding in secret from those who sought to harm them.  It was about having nothing but Him to rely upon and then seeing even Him taken from them.  They had all they trusted taken from them.   All their expectations fallen short.   All that seemed so solid turning to water.

So yes, how much this 2020 Holy Week is like theirs.   We too are sheltered with close family not out of fear of the Jews but out of respect for a contagious and deadly disease that exists in a world that remains broken by sin.  Yes, now we have 2020 vision.  We see a little better the true nature of our world.  All those things we trusted and hoped in seem so powerless right now.  All those things that seemed so important and essential have been stripped from us.   In ways we have never understood before we are asked to love our neighbor through sacrifice.  

But there is also a difference.   It is over two thousand years since the first one.  Jesus is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Yes that is the Easter call but right now we need a little Easter, well, we need a lot of Easter.  We need to remember and focus that the victory is won. 

Sure it would be so much easier on us if Jesus would just make the kingdom of God appear immediately, destroy all sin, all disease or at least make Covid-19 go away so we can get back to life as normal.  Get back to work, back to our favorite restaurant, see sports on TV again, see our friends again.   But this is the time of the ten minas.  It is the time of endurance.     It is a time to do the best we can with what we have to work with.  Much has been taken from us but not Christ.  Not the Gospel.  Not the resurrection.   He is Risen!

We do not have to be as the one tenant who so cowered in fear that he did nothing.  But we cannot work magic nor deny the limitations of our 2020 reality.  So what can we do?

The Gospel is for you.  Tune into a worship service and hear the Word of the Lord.   You are welcome to join my church Sundays at 11am at www.mtcsa.org

You can pray with and for your family.  You can share family devotions.  You can share family time. 

And you can ponder the mysteries of our faith.  All those things that so consume our time and energy, many are taken from us.  It is a time where we can have 2020 vision -- what is really going on?  what is really important?  What really matters?  When you shake out the dross what remains?

Christ is yours!  You are Christ's!   His suffering is over.  The glorious day of His return is closer every breath.  The specter of death hangs over us, but He has transformed it into the promise of eternal life.   Christ is with us.  We are abandoned.  We are not alone.  We are the people of the ten minas.   And it will work out in the end.  The Lord is coming again.

An Unexpected Perspective: Post #4 in the Face of Covid

Dear Friends,

I've been offline for a week now for reasons I did not expect.    I am a clinically trained retired military chaplain who has had quite a bit of experience doing chaplaincy in various hospitals.  So when I first began to hear of this Covid-19 infection in China, I expected it would make its way beyond the borders of China.  When Italy's numbers were looking different from China's I suspected it was worse than China was reporting and began making some preparations. 

A few weeks ago after the Mayor's order went into place our ministry team at Mount Calvary made some plans and shut down the office shifting to a remote ministry model to keep our people both safe, encouraged, and spiritually fed.  I fully expected to be spending the next weeks continuing to write a study I've been working on, prepping for online sermons, making calls, and writing these blogs while trying to enjoy being in the house with my family for an extended period of time.

That all came crashing down.  Literally.   I went for a walk,  In the space of a second things changed.  In one step things changed.  Unexpected.  Out of control.  I went from being independent/interdependent to dependency.   I won't go into all the gruesome details but I tore up my left leg and I was down. 

So I got to spend some time extra special close with some heroes this week.  First was the 9/11 operator who as I began to go into shock was reassuring me that help was close.  Second were the EMS folks who had to navigate me safely off the nature trail and into the back of the bus.   These guys are up close and personal with people who are in absolute need and they have no way of knowing if they are being exposed or  not. 

The next 12 hours are a fuzzy blur.  I was taking into the ED at BAMC here and they worked me up.  Somehow, I was able to get an MRI that night.  God was watching over me.  Because of the risk of Covid-19 there was talk of trying to get me home and having me return at a later date for surgery, but at very supportive LTC put the kabash on that plan.  

12 hours later I admitted into 4W of BAMC with a roommate who was in far worse shape than myself having severed his leg at the ankle.  We prayed together and as our pain meds kicked in we talked for awhile.   He had surgery first thing that morning.  I was second. 

Over the next three days the staff of 4W cared for me like I was family.   I could not have been more proud or more thankful for my military family.   PT came and got me up and ambulatory enough to come home.

Extraordinary circumstances can require extraordinary adjustments.   There was no way I was getting up the flight and a half of steps to our bedroom and bathroom.  I knew I'd have to be downstairs.  So my wife with help from a dear friend from church helped us secure a hospital bed.   And they agreed to allow me to transport home by ambulance as I was not stable enough to navigate steps into the house.  Those few steps from gurney to bed were a bear.  It is going to be a long road and the doctor isn't promising I'll walk again properly, though prospects are good with time and lots of physical therapy.  A week later I'm doing well considering.  Still basically on bed rest for six weeks but I'm home and not at risk in a rehab facility because of the care I received from these men and women of 4W.   In six weeks the real work of physical therapy begins.

But that is only part of the story.  For you see that first night in a room they came through inventorying everything.   The tripod trees, the pumps, the boxes of gloves, everything... And then everything I didn't need was taken.  They were building specialized areas for the treatment of covid-19 patients.  I talked to these men and women on the front lines of this war and it is no joke.  Yes there were patients in the hospital.  Yes, keeping themselves and the patients safe is an added burden as everything has to be so carefully done.   I wore an M95 mask when I made calls and wearing one out of the hospital for my safetly I was reminded of how uncomfortable they are.  Wearing them during an entire shift -- it just hurts if it is being worn properly.

Pray for these guys.   They were there for me when I needed them.  They are there for so many others.   Yes, a lot of things that people go to the hospital for can be delayed to help folks stay safe and help have enough people to help those who get sick.  But there are still folks who must have surgery to recover, who must have cancer treatment, who must have this or the other because it can't wait.  Every bed now is vital. Lives depend on it.  

You can be a hero to.   Do everything you can not to get sick.   I pray if anyone who reads this does that you have a light case, but believe me, if it comes heavy it will be something you will not want to go through.  This isn't the flu.  It isn't a cold.  It is a unthinking virus that will strip the breath from your body and leaving you gasping to death.  You can be the hero and you can help save others.   Its going to be a long while before we are free of these restrictions.  WE are going to be tempted to bend a little bit.  The longer we are safe the more we are going to be tempted to be complacent.  We will be tempted to assume we are not sick and the folks we are going to be around are not sick.  And this is why infections rates continue to rise in many places. 

These men and women are full of compassion, skill and dedication.  But they are already growing tired.   Long shifts.  Rotating groups in and out of the hospital.  Many of them in direct contact with people with this or other infectious diseases.  All the other things that kill us have not taken a vacation.  They need our help to have the strength to go on.  I needed them to have the strength to endure and begin to recover.  They need us now as much as we need them and we as a people need them more than every.

You can be a hero too.   You are being asked for a heavy sacrifice.  But when this is over I pray we can say we were a nation of heroes. 

Shelter. Post #3 in face of COVID-19

Shelter in place.   This was not a term I thought to hear again after my retirement from the military.  Certainly we had shelter in place drills during many exercises and I learned the value of those exercises when rockets and mortars were being sent in my general direction in Iraq.  But here in San Antonio?  I would not have thought to have heard this unless it was the end of the world.  Yellowstone is going to blow up.  A meteor is headed our way. 

But our leaders have ordered "shelter in place".   That said, it is not the end of the world.  That is in no way meant to minimize the hardships people will endure in the coming weeks.  It is in no way meant to minimize the sacrifices many people are making for the well-being of the neighbor or the risk that essential personnel are taking also for our neighbors.  But Christ has not yet returned, and hence, it is not yet the end of the world.

A wake up call?  Perhaps. 

All those things we thought were so solid, so dependable, that we invest so much time and energy in, don't seem so secure, so much a source of safety, in some cases not even as important as we thought they were.   We are being forced to ask ourselves as a people -- what is really important.  Where is there safety?  Where is there shelter from the storm?

"For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock" (Psalm 27:5 )   We are kept safe in Christ.  We are by the blood of Christ the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God.   God is as near to you in this moment as your very breath.

And what does this God promise?

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  (Rev 21:1-4)

God bless each of you.

Hardships: Post #2 in the face of the Covid19 Virus

March 21, in the year of our Lord 2020
These are unique days for us.  Difficult days for us.  Humanity across the globe is joined in what may be the first common struggle of our race.  Even in the days of World War II when most nations were locked in conflict some were spared the struggle, but even then humanity was divided.   It was a burden that we had imposed upon ourselves.

Today's struggle with COVID19 is different in that it does not distinguish between tribes, nations, creeds, race or gender.  This is one fight we are in together.  This is one hardship we share.   

The hardships we are experiencing and shall experience may be quite different for some folks.  It may seem very unfair what we have to give up, what is taken from us for a time, that others may not have the same challenges as we do.  And that is often the point of hardship, it is often unfair.  It involves sacrifice which also is often unfair.  But these are times that call us to sacrifice for our neighbor and for our neighbor to sacrifice for us.  

 A very difficult for many Christians and certainly for my congregation is to have to forgo worship for a period of time.  Our state has forbidden gatherings of over 10 for ten days and our Mayor and city council have extended this all the way through April 18th.    It is hard to not be able to gather together, especially in times like this, for mutual consolation, for worship and prayer, to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion which is very special for us.  

The following is mostly written for my flock and my fellow brothers and sisters of the LCMS.   

Our church has released some guidance regarding Holy Communion through the Commission on Theology and Church Relations.  I was reading through this and while there is talk of hardship and sacrifice, there is also comfort and promise here.  I'd like to share with you the key points:

• ·         The inability to commune is therefore no small matter, but a true hardship!

Holy Communion has the promise of Christ attached to it.  Jesus Himself said, "given for you for the forgivness of sins."  Holy Communion is one of the three means of grace that God uses to convey to us the benefits of what Christ accomplished on the cross through the presence of His body and blood.  So yes, to forgo this is a hardship.

• ·         We know, however, that the church has known this hardship at other times and not only in our own time…We are not in uncharted territory.

The CTCR mentions several examples of when the church has not been able to receive communion including during the spanish flu, settlement activities, and even today when small churches don't have pastors.  There were times in my military career as an enlisted member that I went for extended periods without communion.  Several of our own members have shared the same with me, that there were extended periods of time when it was not available.   Yet, their faith in Christ was sustained.  How?

• ·         The forgiveness of sins is not prevented when one cannot commune, for it is delivered by the Gospel as it is read and preached and spoken by the royal priesthood and also in the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper as well as in Absolution

Our God is a generous God.  Holy Communion is not the only means of grace.   The Word of God proclaims the Gospel and the Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.  We who are baptized remain baptized and the gifts of baptism are for us every moment of our lives.  As Luther reminds us in his Small Catechism, baptism is for us to daily drown the old Adam so the new can arise.   God has put His name on us.  We are His and He is ours.

There have been some discussions and conversations regarding potential ways we could safely continue to dispense communion including the use of technology or remote and in person distribution.    The CTCR also addresses these matters in the document.

• ·         As great as the hardship is when we cannot receive Christ’s body and blood, the hardship ought not be “resolved” in ways that promise an uncertain “sacrament” without the absolute assurance that Christ intends.

The CTCR says the following would be "unsatisfactory solutions".

• ·         a pastor speak the words of institution from the church during a streaming service while everyone communes at home.
• ·         also cannot support the suggestion that a pastor may consecrate elements with the elders or deacons, who would then administer them to members
• ·         best minimizes the spread of infection, we note that this suggested practice introduces two potential opportunities for the transmission of Covid-19. The first is the interaction between the pastor and the elders/deacons. The second is the interaction of the individual elder or deacon with the communicant(s) in the home.

While the CTCR does not specifically speak to the practice of private communion with the pastor, these words do give pause and concern regarding the "interaction" between pastor and communicant as well.   This too provides potential opportunity for transmission of Covid-19 with the pastor becoming a focal point of transmission.   It is something as a pastor I have to take into consideration in my pastoral care as many of my own people are especially vulnerable to this virus. 

So what are we to do?   This is the guidance of the CTCR for our church body the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in these days.

• ·         We can be thankful that God in His mercy has not given the Lord’s Supper as the only “means of grace.” Instead, he showers us with His grace. The Gospel is not silenced, forgiveness is proclaimed, Baptism will be administered even in emergencies, and Baptism is lived out daily by means of repentance and the new life that God’s Spirit enables us to live in any and all circumstances.
• ·         let us encourage every baptized child of God to be fervent in seeking opportunities to hear the Word of God as it goes forth from written sermons, letters, websites, emails, streaming videos, and other means, to read the Word in their homes, to implore God to end this plague and preserve His church
• ·         As great as the hardship is when we cannot receive Christ’s body and blood, the hardship ought not be “resolved” in ways that promise an uncertain “sacrament” without the absolute assurance that Christ intends. It is better humbly and repentantly to ask the Lord for the regular administration of the Sacrament of the Altar to be restored to us, together with an end to the “deadly pestilence” that is killing thousands of souls who are precious to God, their Creator (see Psalm 91; Jonah 4:11).

God indeed showers us with His grace.   While we must endure the hardship of not receiving Christ's body and blood and we pray that God will resolve this sickness and enable us to gather again for the Divine Service to receive the regular administration of the Sacrament, we will not despair.  We will not tremble.   We will not give the Satanic enemy purchase to cast doubt upon the power of the Gospel for salvation (Rom 1:16) and we shall not doubt that we are baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and as Scripture says, if we have been baptized into a death like His we shall see a resurrection like His. (Rom 6:3-4)

What can you do?   Read the Word.   Remember your Baptism.  Remember Christ has died for you and the promises of God never depend on what we do but upon what He has already done.  You can endure the hardships asked of you and make sacrifices for the well-being of neighbor, family, even yourself.  We will get through this.  And then when we can gather together again and celebrate the Sacrament together again it will be all the sweeter.

The graphic above reminds us there is no barrier that God cannot break down.  John in his first chapter of his gospel proclaims that Christ is the very Word of God, the light that broke into the darkness.   His light conquered the barrier of sin and death.   His cross defeats death and becomes a life giving cross no barrier can stop.   Our destiny is still certain.  Our direction is still  toward heaven in God's time.

Yes, if the virus or any other sickness or frailty ends our mortal life, heaven is ours through Christ.  But Christ has not yet returned.   He has not yet said the final day is here.  There is work for us to do yet as His people.  We are called to be light in the world.  There is work for us to do as Christian witnesses, as fathers and mothers, as friends and neighbors, as ones who love and are loved.  That work today calls us to sacrifice and hardship.   But it reminds us God remains with us.  It reminds us that we are in this together.   It moves us to gratitude for those who are sacrificing and risking much for us and others especially among our health care providers who are directly in harms way.  It moves us to endure the hardship and make the sacrifices needful to ease their path and preserve the lives of our neighbors, our families and those we love.

This will pass.  But until it does -- remain faithful. Do not tremble.  Endure hardship as generations of Christians have had to do before us.  And remember Christ has already endured:  for you.

Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.