For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 Dear Friends, Last Sunday, the fruit of the Spirit that I preached on was faithfulness and this coming Sunday is Reformation Sunday (DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED!). In this meditation, I want to dig in a little bit more into the word, faith, and even wonder about the question, Is there a way to describe LUTHERAN

So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” Mark 10:42-44 Dear Friends, As I am writing this weekly update, people are lined up outside First Lutheran waiting for the opportunity to

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, God may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. Ephesians 3:16 Dear Friends, Yesterday, Laura and I hiked through the Muir Woods Monument here in California. Though “monument” is a little misleading, Muir Woods is a preserve for the Coastal Redwood trees. These trees are the ta

“…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” Ephesians 3:17 Dear Friends, During this iteration of our Jesus Radio Superstar series, our theme has been the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. As a visual to track our progress on this journey, I

[Jesus said,] 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” From the “Sermon on the Mount” Matthew 5:43-45 Dear Friends, On Sunday, I preached about the fruit of the Spirit: peace. The JRS s

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5 Dear Friends, Though Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic for over a year, it seems like it has really ramped up in the last week or so. The resignation

For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8 Dear Friends,

“If you don’t have to do anything [to be saved}, then what are you going to do?” Gerhard Forde, Lutheran Theologian Dear Friends, Lutherans bring a very critical contribution to the Christian theological conversation. After spending most of his life trying to be good enough to be assured that he was going to heaven, Martin Luther ran across passages such as Ephesians 2:8-9: We are saved by grace through faith and this is not of our own doing—lest anyone should boast— but it i

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” [Jesus] said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. Matthew 14:28-29 Dear Friends, Several years ago, Philip Yancey created a video study series called, How can you walk on water if you never step out of the boat? The title is a very insightful way of zooming in on one of the primary aspects of faith… actually stepping out in faith! Now, I m

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 Dear Friends, As I am writing to you, it is shortly before one of First Lutheran’s monthly council meetings. I will be meeting with Brent, Kevin, Marty, Leane, Kerri and Eileen

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 Dear Friends, This week, I am on a road trip to Vancouver with my brother and nephew. As we were driving through the Okanagan, our route took us near the Bald Range fire. This is just one of the hundreds of fires across BC and Canada. The forest fires bring up all kinds of issues, concerns and things to be aware of: air quality, threat to property, d

Dear Friends, Some words that are associated with the word, work, are: job, occupation, chore, hard, obligation, daily grind, boss, earning, wages, sweat, suffering, and boring. I have intentionally chosen words that have a negative connotation because I think the word, work, usually has a negative connotation. One day, I heard my son saying to someone else, “Dad loves mowing the lawn.” I found it curious that that was how he thought I felt about mowing the lawn.

O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen [The Holden Prayer] Dear Friends, On the radio yesterday, I had heard some interviews with Emergency Room doctors who were going to or already had moved out of their ER roles

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” John 9:39 Dear Friends, On Sunday, I portrayed a blind man to whom Jesus restored his sight. The blind man knew that we had lost his ability to see because he knew what it was like to see. On the other hand, consider an animal like the golden mole. It does not have ability to see and so it does not know that it doesn’t know that it can’t see. It is n

“No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth”. Matthew 6:24 Dear Friends, Last Sunday, my gospel monologue was as Matthew telling about how he accepted the call to follow Jesus. One of the main undercurrents was his desire to prosper. In my telling, that is what drove him to pursue being a tax collector. Some of the consequences of this decision was that

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Matthew 7:1-2 Dear Friends, On Sunday, my “soliloquy” was as the brother of the woman who had a blood flow for twelve years. Part of what I wanted to convey was the impact on the woman of being labelled “unclean” because of her ailment. Though we do not look to adhering to all the Holiness and Purity Laws of the Old Tes

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18 Dear Friends, If you were in worship on Sunday, you heard me recount my first experience of doing a High Ropes course. High Ropes courses have various rope, log, and cable elements about 4.5 metres off the ground. They are designed to help people—in a safe situation—to overcome or deal with their fear of heights. In m

it starts when you say Weand know who you mean,and each day you mean one more. The Low Road by Marge Piercy Dear Friends, On Tuesday mornings at 10am, we gather in the church office to have conversations about faith. During the Summer, I’m calling it Coffee, Conversation & Koinonia. In the session we had this week, we watched the video, A Larger Welcome, which featured an interview with Parker Palmer. In the video, he referenced the poem above by Marge Piercy. In our lives, w

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 1 John 4:16 Dear Friends, Last Friday, I attended the funeral of a not-so-old man named Chinyere. Though I never met Chinyere, I did know his brother. His brother had come to Canada and was forced to seek asylum here because if he went back to Nigeria, he would have been killed for being gay. Unbelievably, those who sought to do him harm located his brother instead (who had also moved here) and