The November Epistle: Thanksgiving

As November commences, we in America begin to anticipate the coming of Thanksgiving Day, a day when we not only remember God’s providence to the Pilgrims who came to our shores in search of religious freedom, but also a day when we celebrate with friends and feasting the good things that God has done for us during the past year.

And we have many things to be thankful for.  Our Heavenly Father has preserved our lives. He’s given us our daily bread which is more than food and drink, but, as Luther describes, includes “clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers,” etc.  God has listened to and answered our prayers. He has kept us in the one true faith and provided for our every spiritual need through the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Yet these are not all that we are thankful for at this time of the church year. 

The early Christian church had begun setting aside feast days to commemorate the martyrdom of its saints.  However, as the number of martyrs increased, the need to consolidate these feasts into one date became apparent.  As early as 373 A.D. there is mention of a single day being set aside for this purpose. In our church calendar, November 1 is commonly set aside as “All Saints Day,” or “The Feast of All Saints.”

In Luther’s day the church had begun to venerate the saints.  That is to say they had begun to look to and pray to the saints for miracles and for mediation between themselves and a holy God, who they saw as being angry with sinners. The saints, the church taught, stood in the presence of God on the merit of their own good works.  Because they are in His presence, they “have his ear,” so to speak. Therefore, the various saints might mediate between the sinner and God, might request mercy or a miracle from God, or might perhaps perform the miracle themselves. This understanding is contrary to God’s Word which says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).  Hebrews 9 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come…. he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood….Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant….everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” God used Martin Luther and other reformers to restore to the church a proper view of the saints, whose faithful confession claimed Christ as their only mediator before God, by Christ’s own precious blood which He shed on the cross and brought with Him into the heavenly Holy of Holies as payment for the sin of all men.  For Christ our Savior, and for the faithful witness of the saints, we are truly thankful.

But there is one more thing that I am especially thankful for at this time of the year.  I am thankful for you, God’s present- day saints. You see, the word in the Greek that is translated as “saints” is ἁγίους (hagious), which means “holy ones.”  Each of you, my fellow redeemed, are saints because you are “ἁγίους,” you are “holy ones,” by the merit and righteousness of Jesus alone.  And this righteousness, this holiness has been made yours in your baptism.  And one day, you and I and all who put their faith in Jesus will stand in the very presence of God, because we have been made pure and clean, our robes once filthy and crimson because of our sin, now washed white like new-fallen snow by the blood of the Lamb.

I am thankful for our God’s providence.  I am thankful for the saints who have gone before us.  I am thankful for God’s servant Martin Luther and the Reformation that God brought about in the church.  And I am thankful for you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom I will stand in heaven, to sing the praises of our glorious God forever.

In Christ,

Pastor

The October Epistle: Polycarp of Smyrna, Martyr for the Faith

  Stephen is the first believer in Christ to be killed for his faith.  The story is recorded in Acts chapter 7, and is worth re-reading. Stephen’s life was taken from him because he professed Jesus as Lord and Savior, crucified by men but risen from the dead.  Luke records that from that day, a great persecution arose against the Church. Stephen was the first in a long line of martyrs for the faith.

The word in the Greek that we translate as “Martyr” means “One who gives a witness.”  In our context, a martyr is someone who suffers for some cause. When we think about martyrs in the Christian realm, we think about those who have been put to death for the faith – the most extreme form of suffering or persecution.  It is a testament to the great number of Christians who suffered and who were put to death for their witness that the word “martyr” has come to be synonymous with being killed for the sake of Christ.

One well-known martyr in the early Church was Polycarp, who was born in 69AD.  Tradition says that Polycarp was a student of the apostle John, and that John himself ordained him as bishop in Smyrna (in modern-day Turkey).  Polycarp was a bishop at a time of great persecution.

The pagan crowds, knowing that he was a Christian, insisted that Polycarp be brought to the arena.  Officials went looking for him, but fellow Christians kept moving him from farm to farm. Roman soldiers finally found him in a small cottage.  He was taken into the city on a donkey. The captain of the troops met him and asked, “What’s the harm in saying ‘Caesar is Lord’ and offering a pinch of incense? Save yourself.”  But Polycarp did not respond. They persisted. He answered, “I won’t do it.”

Polycarp was eighty-six when he was brought to the arena.  Legend says that he heard a voice from heaven: “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.”

In the arena, the proconsul also attempted to persuade him to worship Caesar as a god.  “Swear by Caesar. Change your mind! Curse Christ!” Polycarp calmly replied, “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me any wrong.  How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? I am a Christian. I swear by Christ. If you want me to teach you the faith, tell me when.”

The proconsul countered, “I have wild beasts.” 

“Call them,” responded Polycarp.

“I will burn you with fire,” said the proconsul.

“Your fire lasts for an hour,” replied Polycarp, “There is an eternal fire that will burn the wicked.  Why do you delay? Do what you will.”

The crowds clamored for his death.  Three times it was announced, “Polycarp is a Christian!”

His hands were tied behind him and wood was brought for the fire.  Polycarp prayed as he gazed upward. “Lord God Almighty, Father of Your beloved and blessed Servant Jesus Christ, through whom we have received full knowledge of You…. I bless You because You have deemed me worthy of this day and hour, to take part in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Your Christ for resurrection to eternal life of soul and body in the immortality of the Holy Spirit…. For this and for everything I praise You, I bless You, I glorify You, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, Your beloved Servant, through whom be glory to You with Him and the Holy Spirit both now and unto the ages to come. Amen.”  Polycarp was martyred in the mid-second century.

All Christians have a cross to bear.  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).  For some, this means physical suffering or even death because of their witness. Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  To the world, it looks as though Stephen and Polycarp lost their lives for the memory of a dead man. But in reality, they found their lives for eternity because of their faith in the risen Son of God, who died that they might live.  Thank God for their witness. Thank God for the gift of Christ Jesus!

God be with you as you live the life of a Christian, as salt and light in the darkness of this world.  God give you His strength as you daily take up your cross and follow Jesus, praying also for your fellow saints at University Hills Lutheran Church and for your brothers and sisters in the faith around the world.  I thank God for you.

Peace in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Pastor

(Content taken from Rev. Brian Wolfmueller’s book, A Martyr’s Faith in a Faithless World, pp. 102-103. Rev. Wolfmueller’s book is available at cph.org or on Amazon.)

The September Epistle: Clearly Seen

I have been wearing glasses for some years now.  At first it was just reading glasses, but for quite a while now I’ve had to have a prescription in order for my sight to be really clear.  Using glass for the correction of eyesight is a simple idea, and one that’s been around for a long time. Light bends as it travels through glass or water, or anything denser than the surrounding air.  This change in density alters the path of the light. This is easily observed if you put a long spoon into a (clear) glass of water. Observing the spoon from the side through the glass, it appears that the spoon has become separated from itself.  Clearly, our eyes can deceive us!

In John chapter 9 there is a wonderful story of Jesus healing a blind man.  Jesus and his disciples were passing along and they saw a man who had been blind from birth.  The disciples think that his blindness is a result of either his own sin, or the sin of his parents.  Jesus says that the man was born blind in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. Jesus spits on the ground and makes some mud, then applies the mud to the man’s eyes.  “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” Jesus tells the man (Siloam means Sent). So the man went and washed and came back seeing.

Now Jesus and the disciples have moved on, but the neighbors of the man, and those who had seen him before as a beggar were amazed and were asking each other, “Isn’t this the man that used to sit and beg?”  Some said it couldn’t be, but others thought it was the same man. In a humorous touch, the man keeps saying “Hey, guys, it’s me! I am the man!” They ask him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He tells them about Jesus, the mud, and the pool.  They bring him to the Pharisees who question him. When they hear that it was Jesus who did this, they note that it was a Sabbath day, and they pass judgment on Jesus: “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

Now, the man thinks (and says) that Jesus must clearly be a prophet, but the Pharisees doubt that the man was ever blind.  They call in his parents to corroborate his story. “Yes,” they say, “He is our son, and he was born blind. But we have no idea how he has come to see.  Ask him. He’s old enough.”

You know the rest of the story, but it’s worth reading the chapter again.  As things become more heated, the man becomes a bold witness for Jesus. He says, “This is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  This enrages the Pharisees and they answer the man, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out of the synagogue. They used his condition of being born blind as the disciples had, as a sign of the man’s sinfulness. It’s ironic that the sin of rejecting the Son of God had made the Pharisees blind to what was clearly the truth:  Jesus of Nazareth was (and is) the Son of God.

Of course, this is the story of the entire human race.  We really are spiritually blind due to the fall. The sin that we inherit from our parents means that we are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1).  No one seeks God (Romans 3:11). We are absolutely blind to things of a spiritual nature. 

The solution to our problem is not a matter of us tweaking ourselves a little.  No guru on earth can help us fix our spiritual blindness. It won’t be resolved simply, like changing the prescription of our glasses or contacts.  What we need is contact with the Savior, like the man Jesus met that day as he was on his way. We need Jesus to reach out to us, to put his hands on us, to give us new spiritual sight that sees beyond the darkness of the world we live in.  What we need is for Jesus to make us part of the new world, to give us a new birth with new eyes, eyes of faith. We need Jesus to change us.  And this he has done.  The Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel.  God washed us clean in the healing waters of baptism that washed away the mud of our sin that blinded us.  He gave us new spiritual eyes, eyes that see our Savior.

Jesus went looking for the man he had healed.  “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” he asked him.  He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”  He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.  Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Jesus tells the man, “You have seen him.”  Up to this point, the man had not. And yet the man had testified about who Jesus was to the Pharisees.  The man had seen Jesus more clearly than many who had seen him with their eyes.

We clearly see the Son of Man, because he has also come to us.  Through the eyes of faith we see him in the verses of Holy Scripture.  With new sight we see Jesus in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, as he gives us his body and his blood for our own healing through the forgiveness of our sins.  

We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in and through us, that by our acts of love, and by our bold witness of Jesus Christ, his hands would continue to reach out to the world, that many more born blind might be healed by Jesus as we have been, and clearly see in the Son of Man their loving Savior.

God be with you all.

- Pastor

The August Epistle: How Firm a Foundation

The hymn “How Firm a Foundation” was first published in 1787 in a hymn book titled, “A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors.”  It’s author (apparently thought to be one of the best) was unknown or at least unnamed at the time.  The hymn originally had seven stanzas, although only five appear in our hymnal today. Each stanza is based on a verse from Scripture.  Consider the following verses from God’s Word and compare them to the hymn stanzas:

“Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation.” Isaiah 28:16

How firm a foundation, O saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!  What more can He say than to you He has said who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.” (Stanza 1)

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Fear not! I am with you, O be not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid; I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand. (Stanza 2) 

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake! (Stanza 3)

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2

“‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

 When through fiery trials your pathway will lie, My grace, all-sufficient, will be your supply.  The flames will not hurt you; I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine. (Stanza 4)

What wonderful promises our God has given us in His holy Word!  And what a firm foundation he has laid for our faith in the Law and the Prophets and in their culmination and fulfillment in the life, death and resurrection of His Son.  In Christ Jesus our unimaginable debt has been cancelled and with His Holy Spirit we have been sealed for resurrection to eternal life!

This last Sunday in our study of the prophet Amos, we came across an odd verse.  Amos is preaching God’s Word of judgment to Israel and says in 3:14 that the “horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.”  I didn’t even remember that the altar had horns! What’s this all about?

We looked back at Exodus 21:12-14 and saw there that God had designated His altar as a place where a man might seek refuge, especially if he had caused an accidental death.  In 1 Kings 1 we find that one of David’s sons, Adonijah, has set himself up as king of Israel when David was old. David had promised the throne to Solomon, and when David finds out that Adonijah has styled himself king in David’s place (treason), David quickly and publicly appoints Solomon king.  When Adonijah discovers this, he fears for his life and flees to the altar of the tabernacle for refuge, grabbing on to the horns of the altar.  David then grants Adonijah clemency if he will serve Solomon.

The altar is the place where sacrifice is made to God to appease His wrath for sin.  Here the blood of the sacrifice is sprinkled as a physical testimony that the debt for sin has been paid.  God establishes that one may flee to this place, to the altar, to seek mercy when accused.

But the altar and the sacrifices and the blood were pointing to something greater, to the final once-for-all sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross, and the shedding of the blood of the Son of God that would pay the debt of all mankind once and for all.  If the blood of bulls and goats could appease God’s wrath for sin and deliver mercy to the people, how much more does the blood of Jesus offer forgiveness and mercy to all sinners who in faith come to him for refuge? 

How firm a foundation, O saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!  What more can He say than to you He has said who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.”  I’ll have a little different image in my head from now on when I sing that verse.  It will be the image of one running to the altar of God and clinging to its horns for refuge.  This is what each of us does as we come to our heavenly Father, confessing our sins, and clinging to His promise that the blood of the sacrifice covers our sin, the blood that Christ shed for us on the cross washing away each stain, cleansing us and purifying us and opening heaven and eternal life to us all.

Stanza five in our hymnal says, 

Throughout all their lifetime My people will prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love; And then, when gray hairs will their temples adorn, like lambs they will still in My bosom be borne.

What beautiful words.  It’s God’s ruling, eternal and unchangeable love that has done it all.  It’s his mercy and grace afforded us in Christ that turns God from a condemning Judge into our loving Shepherd, bearing us in his arms to heaven.

May you rejoice always in the love of God your Savior as you stand firm on the foundation He has laid for your faith.  

In Christ,

Pastor

The July Epistle: One in Body, One in Spirit

On June 9th, the Voters’ Assembly of University Hills Lutheran Church decided to move forward on our building project by razing the old building and constructing a completely new, single level, church.  The 1884 barn church, which opened its doors in 1952 and served the congregation well for 35 years as sanctuary and fellowship hall, and as school for a total of 53 years, will be no more. The decision was a difficult one and was not made lightly, and I know that some voted this way with a heavy heart.  

In Philippians 3 Paul writes, “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  At a time when we’ve voted to take down the original church building, we might wonder if we should take what Paul says and make a case for the past being unimportant or even holding one back.  Such an argument might say “Cut loose the old and get on to the new; the old is bad but the new is good!” This would be a mischaracterization of Paul’s words. In Chapter 3, Paul is responding to those false teachers who are trying to take the church back into circumcision and a dependence on the Law for salvation.  Paul goes through a litany of his own obedience to the Law, “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews….” To those who would look to such feathers in their cap Paul says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”  He goes on, then, to say, “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  

Paul is not focused on himself, on his accomplishments, etc.  He’s not relying on his circumcision, or his pedigree. Rather, his focus is on the Lord Jesus, on preaching Christ and what He has accomplished for us, on the upward call of God—our eternal future as redeemed and restored creatures.  

Paul is also not advocating that we forget our history.  As Christians, our past is an important part of who we are.  How many times in Scripture is Israel’s past rehearsed? The phrase, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” is common in the Bible and points Israel to God’s faithful fulfillment of His promises to the Patriarchs.  The exodus from Egypt and God’s care for His people in the wilderness is another theme which reappears throughout Scripture and points believers again to God’s faithful care for His people. In responding to some Pharisees who had tried to entrap Jesus, He takes his antagonists all the way back to Genesis and the Creation account—“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19).  Clearly, the past matters. In fact, as in the case of our building, it is to be celebrated.

It is also true, however, that in many ways we are not defined by or tied to our past.  University Hills Lutheran Church is not a church building, but a gathering of believers who confess our sins, receive God’s gracious forgiveness, celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior, offer our praises to our Heavenly Father and work together for the good of our neighbor and for the spread of the Gospel.  

U-Hills Lutheran Church is not a building, but a gathering of believers who are one in body and one is Spirit.  Our congregation demonstrated this understanding of “Church” when we moved out of our sanctuary in 1987, and again in 2019.  Our plans to remodel and move our sanctuary back into the original building have now changed. What has not changed is the solid foundation of our salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.  What has not changed is our baptism, our connection to and inclusion in the body of Christ. What will never change is our Christ-given mission to proclaim Him, to teach and to baptize. Remodeling the old building would have given us space and a place to worship our Lord and be Church.  A new building will give us nothing less.

As we move forward into our future, we do so with confidence.  Our past is an important heritage to be celebrated, a history of God doing his work in and through His flock at University Hills.  By His grace, that work will continue as together we “strain forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  

Our God be with you and meet your every need in Christ!

- Pastor

The May Epistle: From Death to Life

The recent bombings in Sri Lanka are fresh on our minds.  The awful news was heard by many in America as we prepared to attend Easter services.  The Christian victims of the bombings died for their faith in Jesus. It seems like a senseless act that targeted innocent people.  Was it meant in retaliation? Did it seek to instill fear as a terrorist act? Who was involved and are there more attacks to come? Investigators from many countries including our own FBI are on the ground in Sri Lanka trying to find those answers.  We pray for the families of the victims, for the perpetrators, and for the country of Sri Lanka.

Another death that is still in our thoughts today is the death of our Lord Jesus, which we remembered on Good Friday.  The death of Christ has a different feel for us. It did not seek to instill fear, and it was not a senseless death. It was a death with a purpose, and that purpose was to bring life – specifically, to bring life to people who were dead in their trespasses and sins.  St. Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Jesus’ death brings life.  We see him agonizing and suffering on the cross.  We are spectators as Joseph and Nicodemus work to get the body down from the cross before the Sabbath begins, laying it hastily to rest in Joseph’s own, new tomb.  We smile inwardly as we listen to those who triumphed over Jesus ask Pilate for soldiers to guard the tomb. And we break into joyful song as we look with the women past the stone and into the empty tomb and hear the angel pronounce the good news that our Lord is risen from the dead!

We like to read a book or watch a movie where the protagonist triumphs over adversity.  I suppose we enjoy it so much because we somehow get to live the story. As we do, we vicariously experience the pain and hardship of the character, even feeling the same emotions if the story is well-told.  What brings us such joy in the Easter story is not just that it is well-told by the eyewitnesses. What excites us and delights us is that it’s our story.  The death that Jesus died he died for you and for me.  “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5).  And the resurrection of our Lord proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the sacrifice for our sins and the payment for our guilt was complete. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12) and “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

The same cry of “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” that we cry on Easter and throughout the year has sounded from the lips of Christians over the centuries.  It was as they were singing the praises of our risen Lord that the earthly lives of the worshipers in Sri Lanka were taken from them. But, as Paul says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

This life is transitory and fading away for all of us.  But “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:35-36).  And then he himself rose from the dead.  What he said is true.  The joy of Easter is that, because he is the resurrection and the life, because death could not hold Him, death will not hold us.  The joy of Easter is the joy of our own resurrection to eternal life. And in this we have peace and in this we have real and sure hope.  And nothing, and no one, can take that from us.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

- Pastor

The April Epistle: Wonderful Love

Imagine with me that you had a dream.  Now, you may have to work at it, but I want you to think of the times that you’ve had a really vivid, realistic dream, the kind that you think is so real that you wake up with your heart pounding and beads of sweat on your forehead.

In your dream, you’re walking down a very long, very dark, corridor, with open doors on either side.  You are compelled to walk this corridor and look into each room that presents itself, first on the left, then on the right.  As you slowly pass each room you can barely make out a set of rails, like for a roller coaster. In each case these rails disappear into a black hole in the floor.  You approach the next doorway and reluctantly peer into the dimly lit interior. In the blackness of this room you can just make out that on the rails sits what looks like a small roller coaster car with one seat.  Above the car you notice a placard with writing on it. You’re filled with a sense of foreboding as your eyes strain to make out the letters in the darkness. As you take a step further into the room, you realize that it’s your name that appears on the placard.  Underneath your name are printed the words “Destination: Hell”.  Your blood freezes in your veins and the hairs stand out on your arms.  You mouth the word, “No”, but no sound comes out. You find that you’ve taken another step toward the car, and you make an attempt to walk backward toward the door, but your legs will not move.  Suddenly, your eyes are drawn to a movement in the darkness to the right of the car—and you become aware of a figure in a black robe facing you. Your heart begins to race as fear grips you. This figure and another one to your left now move slowly toward you, one hand pointing to the car, and the other reaching out to take hold of you.  Though you try, you cannot make your legs move. You open your mouth but no sound comes out. In the reality of your dream your mind desperately fights the thought that you are about to spend eternity in hell.

Then, as often happens in frightening dreams, you wake up.  Your heart is pounding. Your breathing is rapid. It all seemed so real!  The relief you feel is overwhelming.

During our season of Lent we contemplate Christ’s passion.  Martin Luther writes that we should view his suffering and death with terror-stricken hearts and despairing conscience, recognizing that it is our sins which have put him on the cross.  Lent is a time set aside in the church year to look into that black and gaping hole that leads to hell and God’s eternal punishment and know that, rightfully, this should be our fate. The placard above the car is correct.  Our destination as one who is a sinner should be hell. Luther quotes from St. Bernard (born 1090 A.D.) who says, “I regarded myself secure; I was not aware of the eternal sentence that had been passed on me in heaven until I saw that God’s only Son had compassion upon me and offered to bear this sentence for me.  Alas, if the situation is that serious, I should not make light of it or feel secure.”

Lent leads us to Passion Week and Good Friday, where we see the seriousness of our sin resulting in nails and wood, thorns and blood, and the precious Son of God bearing God’s wrath in our place.  Because Jesus bore our sin, God has changed the placard. In place of our names, God has written Jesus’ name. The sentence of condemnation passed on us has been transferred to Jesus. The punishment that was due us has been placed on him, so that Isaiah writes that, “[Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53).

Contemplating Christ’s passion and the sacrificial substitution that God made for us brings us also to a better understanding of  and appreciation for Easter and what it means that God raised Jesus from the dead. As baptized and forgiven children of God, we stand in awe as we contemplate also what it means that Christ “Died for our sin and rose for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).  The relief that we have in waking up from a bad dream and realizing it was not real is completely eclipsed by the joy we have in knowing that the condemnation that was rightly ours has been removed from us and borne by another. All that Jesus was and did and said, culminating in his final cry, “It is finished!”, was affirmed by God the Father when he raised Jesus from the dead.  You and I are justified before God by the precious blood of God’s own Son, who suffered our punishment in our stead. Had his sacrifice not been sufficient, God would not have raised him from the dead. But Christ is raised! All glory be to God the Father and to the Lamb!

May your journey through Holy Week bring you to a new and clearer understanding of the love that God has for you, demonstrated in the cross and the empty tomb, and may you rejoice more and more as you bask in the reality of that wonderful love.

- Pastor

The March Epistle: Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

We are all familiar with the words of the “Doxology”:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;  Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:  Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! Amen!

The word, “Doxology” comes from two Greek words – doxa, meaning “glory”, and logia, meaning “saying”, or “speaking”.  In this hymn we sing praise to our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  In Isaiah chapter 6 we hear of the call of Isaiah to be a prophet. He’s caught up into the throne room of heaven and witnesses the glory of Yahweh: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple…And one (seraphim) called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the [Yahweh] of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”  When we sing the doxology we join with the angels in heaven, and with the creation itself in glorifying God, our creator and redeemer.

God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (notice the three “holies” above), is worthy of praise.  Our sinful flesh would like to elevate ourselves. We would like to be seen by others as “high and lifted up”.  We cringe when we do something that lowers us in others’ eyes. We walk tall and proud when we hear the praise of others for some good thing that we’ve done.  Then God’s Word comes to us and says, “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Psalm 103).  The Law cuts to our marrow saying, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Although in our sinful flesh we would seek our own glory, like Adam and Eve in the garden, still, God loves us.  In fact, each of the above passages goes on to speak of that love. Psalm 103 says that man is here today and gone tomorrow, “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him!”  Romans 3:23 tells us that all mankind has sinned and fallen short, but that we are “Justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!” Romans 6:23 makes clear that “The wages of sin is death,” then finishes by saying, “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

Isaiah saw the glory of God and said “Woe is me! For I am lost!”  God, in his justice, demands the payment for sin. And God, in his wonderful love for us, makes the payment for that sin himself, with the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  We look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there, suffering for our sins, bearing our punishment, appeasing God’s wrath, and we say, “What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul?”  No wonder the Psalms are full of calls to worship God and praise his holy name!

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.   Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised! (Psalm 145)

This month we will be vacating our current sanctuary.  Our sister congregation, Christ Lutheran (2695 S. Franklin St., Denver), has graciously offered the use of their building as a temporary home for our congregation.  We thank God that his Church is not a building, but a people. We are called out of the world to gather together as the body of Christ to give God our thanks and praise, to grow daily in our faith, and to spread the good news of his wondrous love for sinners.

It is fitting that the final Psalm of the Bible is a call to praise:

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!  Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

As we go forward, we go in the name of the Lord of hosts, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We go where he leads, we walk the paths that he lays out for us, and we go with his praise on our lips.

- Pastor

Building Update: New Meeting Times and Location

As we make our way through the church year we prepare to leave the Epiphany season and enter into Lent.  Epiphany is a time when we celebrate the revealing of our Savior Jesus, from the angels and star that herald his birth to shepherds and wise men, to the Mount of Transfiguration, where Peter, James and John see Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus in all his glory.  As Jesus and his disciples leave the mountain, he sets his face toward Jerusalem, the cross and the revelation of God’s infinite love that we see there in His own Son, the Lamb of sacrifice, laying down his life for the world.

As we leave Epiphany and enter into Lent, we, as the congregation of University Hills Lutheran Church, are leaving the sanctuary where we have worshiped for over thirty years.  Due to the sale of the west property to the Rise School of Denver, March 10th will be our final worship service in the “multi-purpose building.”  We joyfully invite everyone to join us that Sunday as we worship our Lord and give him thanks and praise for the great gift our sanctuary and child-care have been, not only to us who worship here today, but also to the many who have encountered here the Word of God’s forgiveness and love within these walls throughout the years.

Our congregation is still exploring options for remodeling/replacing the original sanctuary on the east campus. Until we are able to move into that building, we will be worshiping at Christ Lutheran Church, located west of us at 2695 S. Franklin St., Denver, CO 80210 (corner of Yale and Franklin).  The members of Christ Lutheran have graciously offered to share their fellowship/Bible class/Sunday School hour from 10:15am to 11:30am. We will then have our own service at noon.

There will be a few exceptions to this routine as there are events scheduled from time to time at Christ Lutheran during the noon hour.  On these occasions we will worship together with Christ’s congregation at 9:00am, with Bible class/Sunday School following. During the Lenten season and Easter week there will be other instances when U-Hills will join Christ for their regularly scheduled evening services.  Please see the calendar for up-to-date worship times.

A few logistical notes:

• There is parking on the east side of Franklin, with access from the alley only.  

• There is no parking allowed immediately in front of the church to allow for disabled drop off and pick up.

• When we worship together with Christ we will use offering envelopes.  An usher will hand them out to our members as we enter for worship.

As we make this transition to a new routine, remember that there is One who does not change.  God’s love for us is steadfast, eternal, and revealed in Christ Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind. Regardless of where we worship, we worship the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we offer our praise and thanksgiving for the Good Friday death and Easter resurrection of our Redeemer and Lord.

In the name of Jesus,

Pastor Vanderhyde

The Season of Lent

Wednesday March 6, Christians across the world will mark their foreheads with a black ash cross and begin the liturgical season of Lent. At the start of this special day of worship, we are reminded that “from ancient times the season of Lent has been kept as a time of special devotion, self-denial, and humble repentance born of a faithful heart that dwells confidently on His Word and draws from it life and hope” (Ash Wednesday rite in the Lutheran Service Book). As we lead up to the most significant observances of the church year, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we remember our sins, repent of them, and thank God for his saving gift of grace won for us by Christ’s death on the cross.

The season of Lent has been observed since the time of the early Church. It was traditionally a time to intensively teach new catechumen (new believers) about the life of Jesus and teachings of scripture before being baptized on Easter. The 40 days of Lent parallel the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness at the start of his ministry. Likewise, the followers of Christ also enter into a time of prayer, fasting, and contemplation. In case you’re counting, these 40 days do not include Sundays, which are like “mini-Easters” reminding us of the good news to come.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. On this day, Christians gather to receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads with ashes (usually burned palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday) as the pastor speaks, “From dust you are and to dust you will return.” This ancient practice is “a gesture of repentance and a powerful reminder about the meaning of the day. Ashes symbolize dust-to-dustness and remind worshipers of the need for cleansing, scrubbing and purifying. If they are applied during an act of kneeling, the very posture of defeat and submission expresses humility before God" (Lutheran Worship: History and Practice).

Throughout the season of Lent, other historic practices serve as vivid symbols of the themes of Lent. The color purple is used to represent penitence and quietude. The word “Alleluia,” meaning praise the Lord, is omitted during worship as we wait for the joyful exclamations of Easter Sunday.  From ancient times, the church has also practiced types of fasting or self-denial. Historically, these included going without meals or simply abstaining from meat or other animal products. While it is not required to “give something up” for Lent, self-denial can be a helpful exercise and good reminder to focus our hearts on prayer, scripture, and serving our neighbor.

As we begin this season of special devotion, please consider joining us.  Ash Wednesday on March 6th will be celebrated at our current location (4949 E Eastman Ave, Denver) with a potluck soup supper at 6:00pm and a service of the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion at 7:00pm.  For the remaining Wednesdays in Lent, join us for a 5:30pm potluck supper and 7:00pm Lenten service at Christ Lutheran Church (2695 S. Franklin St, Denver).

Additional Resources

Daily Lenten Devotions from the Lutheran Hour

The Season of Lent podcast from Issues Etc.