Word for Today

From Ephesians 4:

 ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,  ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 

Dear friends in Christ, here's me looking up at what was once the largest sitka spruce in the United States. In 2007 there were terrible wind storms on the Oregon Coast and this spruce was not able to stand against it. Now, it is Oregon's biggest stump! It is still an impressive sight. (photo taken by my friend Pastor Wendell Hendershott)

Spending some time in Ephesians, it has become interesting to note that as we grow in Christ, we are growing in the knowledge of Christ, and we're growing up toward the full stature of Christ. We receive salvation from God through Jesus, we are equipped for ministry, we practice these gifts as we bump up against one another, and as we work in harmony with one another. However, there is a promise in these verses that someday there will be a unity among us that shows we are finally in sync with Christ!

For how wonderful that message is, all I can do is take Paul at his word, because usually, I feel about how I look in this picture. Even the stump, a fraction of what once was, is too high for me to achieve. That is one massive stump. Must have been quite a tree! If that's a representation of the stature of Christ, then I give up.

Maybe that's where the Holy Spirit wants me to be, with the goal in mind and my own energies tapped! Then comes a sweet word that tells me "take heart, I have overcome the world," "I am the Bread of Life," "I am the Light of the World." My Lord has become his fullest stature already in me, and now the wrong-est thing I can do is look up and despair over the height of that tree! And the right-est thing I can do is start to look around me. There are so many people and occasions for receiving and giving the grace of God that you and I know in Jesus.

There's good news here, don't you think?

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

Word for Today

Apologies for the long time away! I am working at managing my time better. My Monday devotional might be spotty for a while!

When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." (from John 6)

Dear friends, this Sunday marks the start of the Bread season in John 6. I haven't thought ahead enough to decide if I will be focusing on this chapter each and every Sunday. It's a deep text in many ways, but it also seems that we are returning to the same theme every week if we choose to focus on it. For those who live nearby and call St. Paul your church home, you will have to keep a "wait and see" perspective!

I was in New Orleans last week. Four youth, one other adult leader and I came home yesterday early afternoon, and on the ride home we were sharing memories about our trip to the ELCA National Youth Gathering. Many of those memories had to do with something funny that happened, and with someone new we met. Three days of emphasis at the Gathering were Practice Justice, Practice Discipleship and Practice Peace. As my friend Pastor Jon Strasman states, "practice makes permanent"

The Gospel reading for today brought me back to the Big Easy. New Orleans, if it's about anything it's about food. And plenty of it. Fried chicken, seafood of many kinds, grits and special desserts were part of our experience. If you want suggestions for places to eat, just ask me.

Here in the Gospel of John, Jesus takes small offerings and makes more than plenty for thousands of people. The words that sparked for me today are quoted above. It's about crumbs.. fragments.

Jesus has a gift for being extravagant while not being wasteful. How he can hold those two ideals together I do not know! I tend to think that extravagance tends to spill out all over the place. But Jesus wants every gift to be used to its best potential. He wants the crumbs to be gathered up, because there is more he wants to do.

Here's where bread pudding comes in. This dessert starts with bread crumbs! The crumbs are soaked in all kinds of good stuff, baked and then smothered with toppings like chocolate and caramel. If your mouth isn't watering after looking at this picture, something is wrong with your taste buds!

We don't treat bread crumbs with that kind of potentiality. We think that small gifts don't have much impact. We brush the crumbs off the table so the swiffer can pick them up later for the trash. We are lulled into believing that we are less than significant, and that our small offerings of time, talent, treasure are not important. How sorry! Why do we have to keep learning that even the crumbs are part of the whole, and our Lord deeply desires to shine through every pinhole, satisfy with every crumb.

When you are left with crumbs, God is about to make bread pudding. God will take your crumbs and convert them into the most comforting cap to an evening of hospitality and good friends. God takes your dry, rejected crumbs and enlivens them most especially with Christ, who is bringing the New Creation to us.

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

"Joy is a net of love that can catch souls" (Mother Teresa)