Welcome from Pastor Patrick Curley

“Mary Christmas”

Now I can’t swear to it but I’ll just bet that somewhere there is a Mr. and Mrs. Christmas.  I’m not confused with that fictitious couple on the North Pole here.  I’m just saying that there are many unusual names around.  And if there is such a couple and if they had a little girl, I’ll just bet they couldn’t refuse calling her Mary.  Mary Christmas.  What a pun.  But, in fact, Mary and Christmas do go together even apart from the usual greeting this time of year.  Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ and Mary is the virgin maiden who conceived through the Holy Spirit.  Through Mary, God became man.

So if Mr. and Mrs. Christmas had a little boy, what would they name him?  Jesus, Y’shua, Immanuel?  All these fit as they have to do with Christmas, too.  Jesus means “the Lord saves” and it is the given name for the one born of Mary.  Y’shua is the Jewish origin of that Greek name.  And Immanuel, also a kind of given name, means “God with us”.  Through Jesus, “the Word made flesh”, God came to dwell with man.  Our Lord brought us back together having canceled the debt of our sin that had separated God and man.

Well even if there isn’t a Mr. and Mrs. Christmas, there is a Mary and Joseph.  And even if there isn’t a Jesus Christmas, there is our Lord Jesus Christ.  I think it is a wonderful part of the Christmas story that it starts with a family.  But like most families, the real Christmas family had its share of difficulties.  The bride was pregnant and if that weren’t enough, it wasn’t by the groom.  As stated above, Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.  There was no impropriety.  It took an angelic visit, but Joseph came to know that and took his young bride to be his own but had no relationship with her until Jesus was born.  Then there was the census that dragged them from Nazareth to Bethlehem, no easy trip as Mary was with child.  Then once in Bethlehem, there was no place to stay.  All the hotels were booked.  They took refuge with animals.  What mother today would have accepted those filthy conditions to bring forth her first born?  And then all those smelly shepherds came barging in to take a look and hold the new baby?  I’ll bet Mary wished they had invented Purcell by then.

Sometime later some sages (wise men, not the spice) from the East came bringing expensive gifts.  That had to help with the family budget that was probably pretty strained about now.  Just when things were settling down, another message came by angel to high tail it out of Bethlehem to Egypt because the local government wanted to kill the child.  Hardly the Kodak moment of a Mary and Jesus Christmas sitting around their Christmas tree in their cozy pajamas opening up beautifully wrapped gifts with wide smiles and the smell of warm eggnog and roasting chestnuts wafting through the air.  But the real Christmas family was… real.  Ups and downs for families at Christmas are just par for the course.

Remember that when it seems more a hassle than it’s worth to get together for Christmas. Put away the family grudges in this time of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  Don’t worry so much of getting or giving the perfect gift.  God took care of that part in the gift of His Son.  If the decorations don’t all get up this year, so be it.  I think the neighbors will get over it.  And don’t worry if all the Christmas cards get out.  In fact, let me take care of ours right now: “Mary Christmas everyone.”

“Modern Leprosy”

H1N1.  It’s kind of like H2O or E=MC2.  We all know what it means.  You don’t have to be a surgeon or a physics genius to recognize those encrypted formulas.  They have been integrated into society’s lingo.  H1N1 is, of course, the virus that causes “swine flu”.  Doctors and health officials have been warning since last spring really of a potential pandemic.  The mutated form of this virus could potentially be devastating.  So wash your hands a lot and don’t go out if you’re sick and spread the illness to others.

Many can’t believe that we still have such worries in our modern age.  I mean, hasn’t medical science all but cancelled out disease?  Who fears polio, tuberculosis or whooping cough anymore?  (Yet these are making a comeback, too).  Influenza was devastating a century ago, but now?  Sure we have AIDS and cancer to contend with but gone are the days of the Black Plague that was the scourge of humanity.  There are no modern plagues; at least, in America. Right?  Apparently not.  There are still a lot of bad bugs out there and increasingly unfazed by our antibiotics and other medical wizardry.

In Jesus’ day it was leprosy.  It was one of the most horrific diseases known to man, eating away literally at the flesh like some necrotizing fasciitis (I was on a jury panel once for medical malpractice).  But there is another disease that is far worse that eats away at our flesh, heart and very soul.  It is sin.  Sin separates us from God eternally if not for the medicine offered in the blood of Jesus received in faith.

Jesus not only healed leprosy.  He forgives sin and thus rescues us from death and hell.  In one recorded incident in Luke 17:11-19, Jesus healed ten lepers; however, only one returned to thank Him and was commended for his faith.  Ingratitude.  That’s a disease, too.  It is a spoiled selfishness that wears at the heart and spirit.  It weighs us down.  And ingratitude is an epidemic that is spreading across America.  It robs us of our joy.  It causes us to fight with one another and destroy the common good.

I pray that this year we will truly pause as a nation and count our many blessings.  I pray we will be thankful.  We have been redeemed from sin and death through Christ’s cross.  Certainly that is reason enough to return and give thanks to the Lord.  He is good; His mercy endures forever. And in His grace, with joyful hearts and minds, we find a healing from any problem or modern disease this sin sick world can throw our way.  See ya’ Sunday!

“The Way Through Halloween”

Halloween.  What are we Christians to do with it?  It certainly isn’t a church holiday though its timing before All Saints Day is not accidental.  It’s definitely part of American culture coming in only after Christmas as the holiday people decorate for most.  But we are all aware of the pagan background and context for many of the symbols of Halloween.  Still, what kid doesn’t look forward to dressing up as their favorite super hero or other character?  Carving pumpkins can be a creative, family activity.  And let’s not forget all the candy.  Whatever is a Christian parent to do?

They say that the devil is in the details.  He likes the microscopic, dark and obscure land of fine print where deception often lies.  But I think that he’s in the extremes, too.  He likes it when we obsess about him and see him under every tree and around every corner.  When we think that he is the source of every bump in the night and problem that we are having.  But equally true, he likes it when we are oblivious to him and his evil intentions.  The modern, scientific, educated man who denies the existence of the supernatural is right in his pocket.  So around every corner or nowhere to be found, Satan likes either the magician or the materialist.  He works in both.

There is, however, a way that lies in between the extremes that has no fine print either.  This is Jesus who is Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Jesus has defeated Satan’s power over us.  He resisted the devil in the wilderness.  He was obedient to His Father’s will right through the bitter suffering of the cross.  In His final words there, “It is finished,” Satan’s accusations were silenced forever.  In Christ’s name, “one little word can fell him,” wrote Luther in “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”.  This is where the truth lies.  It lies with Christ.

Carving a pumpkin for Halloween won’t send you to hell any more than putting up a Christmas tree which also has some pagan origins regarding the winter solstice.  If you don’t want to, then don’t but don’t judge those who do as less Christian than you.   Granted, you may wish to choose wisely the images you use to have some fun but avoid pietistic fanaticism also.  Avoid extremes.  Otherwise Satan will have you either as a Pharisee or a libertine in no time.  You must find your identity in God’s grace.

Dr. William Schumacker, who spoke recently at the PSW District Pastor’s Convention, said that Satan deserves to be mocked.  I agree.  Not feared, ignored nor obeyed but as St. Paul puts it in regards to the victory of Christ’s cross, publicly made a spectacle of as defeated (Colossians 2:15).  Let it be that we do all to the glory of God and in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  See ya’ Sunday! 

“Lessons for the Heart”

   By Pastor Patrick Curley

It’s back to school month; back to packing lunches, getting up a little earlier for some and, of course, doing homework.  And for some, it’s a kind of back to church month, too.  Summer rest and recreation is behind us and now it’s time to get back into the routine including weekly worship.  But leave your calculators, notebooks and pencils behind.  You won’t need them Sunday because church isn’t school.

Now I realize we do teach at church. We have classrooms for everything from Sunday School and Bible study to confirmation.  Jesus told us, “teach everything I have commanded you.” We use books, especially God’s Book, the Holy Bible.  Even the sermon can be a kind of lesson but still, going to church isn’t like going to school.

We aren’t really appealing to the mind at church but rather to the heart.  Our lessons are to do more than impart knowledge and encourage good citizenship.  We are giving the revealed wisdom of God’s grace which has nothing at all to do with how smart or good we are or think we are.  It is all about God’s love in Christ Jesus. Jesus studied hard and took the test for us. And He passed with an A+.  His report card now becomes our own through faith.  We who flunked now pass for Christ’s sake. This isn’t cheating; it’s grace.

If the church were only a school then probably most of you already know enough.  You know Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead. You know He is True God. You know He will return at the end of time.  Sure, you know but that isn’t the only thing about salvation.  It’s also believing. Faith is believing what you don’t know or can’t see and study.  It’s trusting God’s promise for yourself.  So faith requires constant renewing and strengthening.  Faith requires worship around Jesus’ Gospel and study in His Word. It’s not just to remember what we once were taught. It’s rather to believe until we die in what Jesus gives us.

Even if you have a PhD. in theology, you’ll always need church to renew a living faith. It’s something given, not learned or earned.  You will never graduate from your need of God’s abundant grace in Jesus Christ given through the Word and Sacraments each time we gather in God’s name. See ya’ Sunday,