According to the screen on the back of the seat in front of me, I am working on this letter to you at 38,000 feet above sea level. It is noisy, cramped, hot and uncomfortable. I resist looking at the time. We may be streaking through the night sky over the wide prairie but these four hours seem long. As you read this you may be thinking to yourself: “Boy, some people complain about everything! – some guys are never happy.”
Come to think of it I hear a lot of complaining these days. Perhaps it is the same for you. The weather, the economy, the government, bad drivers and ________________ (fill in the blank.)
It is certainly hard to find a content person. Almost everyone is feeling hard done by. Perhaps that explains the many souls absent from worship these days. I recently attended the 35th reunion of my Seminary class. In May of 1974 we graduated from Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in Springfield Illinois. Except for the fellows who have served in war torn and/or improvised countries most of the fellows had the same to report. A general malaise has descended on all of North American Lutheranism. Enthusiasm for the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments has reached a “ho hum” level. The brothers report that it looks like more and more people are looking for worship that entertains. The truth that worship is the work of the people has become passé with many. Discovering a place to get a “kick” out of church is what many seem to yearn for.
My dear ones, what are you yearning for these days? Are you caught up in the search for church that titillates? Has worship become just another thing that you must do? I pray that this is not the case. If it is then my very earnest prayer is that you think about a change in attitude.
I cannot help but think of what the holy writer has to say: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-4. Here God is reminding us of what is correct and pleasing in His sight. It is a call for us all to move from the earthy to the spiritual.
Our dear Lord is calling for a change of heart in His own beloved people. “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,” Philippians 2:4-6
God the Father through the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus our Lord is in the attitude changing business. It is time again to start living for God. It is time to stop living for self. When you live for self you lose and you lose big time. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” 1 Peter 4:1-3 Debauchery you say? - What is debauchery but an old fashioned word that is a prime example of how the church and all it stands for is out of touch with the real world. Don’t you believe it.
Just because no one wants to use the word any longer it doesn’t mean that it is not happening. It describes the depravity of this present day and the wantonness that people live in as they practice all types of immorality. The shamelessness of our present attitude exhibits our licentiousness that demonstrates depravity. In short we might all be “going to hell in a hand basket”
It is a good time to make a change. Right now is a good time for all of us to look to the one who loves us all the way. “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:11-13
If you read this to the end then it must mean something to you. You have allowed your pastor to do a pastoral thing. I pray that you think this is creditable and that you will indeed take it to heart. Especially the parts quoted from Holy Scripture.
May God bless you richly and hold you in His everlasting arms day-by-day.
Rejoicing in His days
Pastor Krestick
