Friends:
I have today received many loving and concerned telephone calls from many of you today inquiring about the condition of my property in Twin Peaks. With great frustration I have had to say to all of you that you know as much as I do -- namely what is seen on the news broadcasts.
Here is what I know. I received a voluntary evacuation telephone call on Monday around 9 am. I received a mandatory evac telephone call around 11 a.m. At that time my car was loaded. I hosed down the houses and decks as much as I could and headed down the hill.
When I left, the "Grass Valley" fire was burning 3 - 5 miles to the northeast of my property, moving in a southwesterly direction (generally in the direction of my cabin). During the 5 pm news last night I caught a quick glimpse of what I thought was my cabin, in the backview of a newscaster's report. At that point all looked OK.
My attitude is that the cabin is only a thing. If needed it can easily be replaced. More than that I have my permanent home providing me shelter at this moment. I feel much worse for those who are losing their primary residences both in Arrowhead and Running Springs as well as in Ventura County and San Diego.
I slept a great night's sleep last night, knowing that all is in God's Hands and He knows much better than I. God is good all the time!
Please keep in your prayers all those suffering losses and inconveniences at this time as well as those who have been injured and the 1 fatality we are aware of. Ask God to provide His comfort and peace to all.
Thank you for your care, concern and love!
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Luke 17:5-10
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
7 October 2007
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
“That just ain’t right!”
Proper English aside, as difficult as I know it is for some of you to do, I ask you to say those words along with me: “That’s just ain’t right!”
Those words were engraved in my memory by a friend. Patrick coined that phrase with his southern drawl after being awakened in the middle of the night by feeling a strange sensation of his forehead. He was staying in hotel where, earlier in the day, he had seen some cockroaches. He thought nothing else about it until he was awakened by that strange sensation. His first thought was, “O God, please don’t let that be a cockroach climbing on my face.” When he discovered that it was indeed a cockroach, Patrick uttered those words, “That just ain’t right!”
I just had a “That just ain’t right” week. It started a week ago Thursday when I got an email informing me that my friend and mentor, Pastor David Koch, had died. We have all had “those” phone calls that have carried us into a fog, but my “That just ain’t right week” continued when I got a telephone call from Pastor David’s wife, Ruth, asking if I’d be part of the funeral on Tuesday. As I traveled to Denver on Monday and as I traveled home on Wednesday, I can’t tell you how many times I said those words, “That just ain’t right.”
I definitely felt like a player in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” – you know one of those episodes where you’re not where you’re supposed to be, but somehow you find yourself in a parallel universe. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt as I attended the viewing on Monday night and saw David’s 68-year-old earthly body lying in a church where he had faithfully and powerfully served the Lord Jesus and His people. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt when I saw his wife, Ruth, his daughters, Anne and Abby, his son-in-law, Scott, and his three precious granddaughters, all with tears in their eyes because of their very real loss. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt when about 25 ministers clothed in white robes and white stoles, including two District Presidents, showed up to pay their respects to David and his family. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt when I, along with 6 other pallbearers, picked up David’s very heavy casket, literally transferring the heavy burden of his death onto each of us. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt, with tears welling up in my own eyes, as we stood at David’s grave and one of his former assistant pastors repeated in a loud voice the words of King David at the death of Abner, “Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?” [2 Samuel 3:38]. “That just ain’t right.” That’s the way I felt gathered with family and friends after the burial at the family home – the home that David and Ruth had intentionally and personally custom-built for themselves for their retirement years, the home where David only spent a few short years. “That just ain’t right!”
Those have been pretty much my constant words the last 10 days in my life. But I am not trying to throw a personal pity party. I realize that we all have those “That just ain’t right” days and weeks of life We all get “those” telephone calls, informing us of one thing or another. We all make “those” telephone calls, informing someone else of something they’d rather not hear or know. “That just ain’t right.”
Those times are tough, aren’t they? Sure they are. That’s, I believe, why our Gospel today allows us to see the disciples walking up to Jesus with the seemingly simple request, “Increase our faith!” What a great request! Maybe the disciples have finally learned something! Instead of bothering Jesus with requests about who will be greatest in God’s Kingdom, about who will get to sit at Jesus’ right hand in glory [Mark 10:35-45], the disciples might be on to something important here: “Increase our faith!” You and I say the same thing to our Lord Jesus when we’re having those “That just ain’t right” times of life – and if we don’t say that, we should: “Increase our faith!”
Notice Jesus’ response to the request of the disciples. I do believe it’s very important to note. Jesus didn’t do what many of us do in those circumstances. He didn’t say to His disciples, “Oh, come on, you guys. Stop being so hard on yourself. You know your faith is stronger than you think.” Jesus didn’t say that, did He? He sure didn’t. Instead, Jesus acknowledged the fact self-recognized by the disciples: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.” What did Jesus mean by that response? He meant that the disciples had weak faith, that they had come to the right place to be strengthened in their faith.
“Lord, increase my faith.” That should be my first response when I have one of those “That just ain’t right” times of life. That should be your first response when you have one of those “That just ain’t right” times of life. “Lord, increase my faith!” When we say those words to our Lord Jesus, what happens? Suddenly we find that we’re not alone in our feelings or experiences.
I have always marveled at God’s plan of salvation! God – being God – could have dealt with our sin in a multitude of other ways, I am certain. He could have just wiped Adam and Eve off the face of the earth and re-created human beings without the free ability to sin. God could have simply created a giant eraser and employed a bus load of angels to constantly erase our sins off the eternally huge chalkboard of Heaven. He could have invented other creative ways to deal with sin. If He couldn’t have done that, He wouldn’t be God.
But instead of doing any of that, instead of dealing with sin in an easy way, God instead chose to personally intersect with our time and space, to clothe Himself in our human flesh, to wear humiliating diapers as a baby (the Bible calls them “swaddling clothes” but they were diapers), to personally experience the whole range of human emotions: from the tender love He received from Mary as a baby and the tender love He returned to her, to the anger He showed that day in the temple as He overturned the tables of the moneychangers, to definite disappointment in His disciples as they were just not getting what He was trying to teach them, to the heavy tears of grief and loss He personally shed when He stood at the grave of His dear friend, Lazarus. “That just ain’t right.”
If you want an experience that will certainly trump your very best “That just ain’t right” experience in life, walk with me for a moment. Walk with me to a place called “The Skull:” GOLGOTHA; CALVARY. There, two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the perfectly sinless Son of God hung on a rough piece of wood for the sins of the entire world. “That just ain’t right.” He hung there for you and for me. “That just ain’t right.” He died a painful death without the benefits of modern medical technology or hospice care designed to lessen the sting of death. “That just ain’t right.” The sky was darkened and the earth shook at the moment of His death, screaming out with all creation: “That just ain’t right.” Wrapped again in human swaddling clothes, He was placed in someone else’s grave. Talk about humiliation! “That just ain’t right.”
All that Jesus did so that we would have the ability – and the right as His dearly loved children – to come to Him in our “That just ain’t right” moments of life with the words, “Lord, increase our faith.” Because He clothed Himself in our flesh and blood, He knows our weaknesses. He knows our weak faith. He knows our bruised knees from spending time in prayers. He knows our broken hearts when people who are important to us have been taken from us. He knows our frustrations and our disappointments. All that Jesus knows because He dealt with sin the way He did, because He became one like us in every way, so that He could suffer and die for us so that we could boldly ask Him to “Increase our faith.”
Remember what Jesus said to Thomas? When Thomas adamantly stated that he would not believe the words of the other disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead [John 21:24-31], Jesus didn’t scold Thomas. He didn’t overlook him. He didn’t belittle him. Instead, Jesus held out His hands and said to Thomas, “If this is what it takes – here, touch My hands. See for yourself that I am who I say I am and that I have done what I set out to do for you.” And in that moment that Thomas’ fingers deeply probed Jesus’ nail-pierced hands and His spear-driven side, Thomas’ faith was increased. The words on his tongue changed from “That just ain’t right” to “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me to increase my faith at this moment of life.” In that moment, Thomas learned an important lesson that sadly eludes many of us way too often: that with Jesus, everything is “All-right.” With Jesus, no matter what we’re facing, no matter what we’re feeling, no matter how impossible it seems, no matter how heavy the burden, everything is “all-right.”
At the beginning of all time, God surveyed His creation, despite knowing full-well the impending fall into sin, and He uttered the words, “It is good.” He continues to survey His world – and the events of each of our lives – and because of the all-efficacious suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead – continues to say, “It is good. It is all-right!” He throws open His arms to each of us and, like little children, we run into those arms with tears and burdens and they are all lifted from us.
Confident of that, and humbly asking the Lord Jesus to “Increase our faith,” repeat with me our Easter response of praise and victory: “Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!” And all is “all-right!”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena
October 7 – Isaiah 59
October 8 – Isaiah 60
October 9 – Isaiah 61
October 10 – Isaiah 62
October 11 – Isaiah 63
October 12 – Isaiah 64
October 13 – Isaiah 65
ALTAR FLOWERS are given to the glory of God by Taina Feher, Nicko Avila and Audrey in thanksgiving to God for His many blessings and good health and also in celebration of the 90th birthday of Taina’s mother.
CELEBRATING GOD’S LOVE The additional arrangement of roses on the altar are from some of the more than 140 roses on the campus of Historic First Lutheran. They are a reminder of God’s continuing love for us.
DID YOU KNOW? There’s probably much about Historic First Lutheran that many of us do not know. So, watch weekly bulletins for “I DIDN’T KNOW,” a weekly historical or interesting tidbit of information about Historic First Lutheran.
I DIDN’T KNOW! Perhaps you didn’t know that our first women’s organization – the “Ladies’ Aid” – was formed in October, 1898!
OTHER IDEAS FOR OUR PRAYER SERVICE If you are unable to attend our Wednesday prayer services, just stop your daily routine between 11:30 a.m. and 12 Noon, and say a few prayers. Your prayers will be joined to ours!
PLEASE NOTE As noted on every monthly calendar in the newsletter, office hours are Tuesday - Thursday 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and Friday 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
TO THE CONGREGATION Dear Friends, thank you so very much for caring about me. I’m sad that I haven’t been with you for some time. However, with God’s help, I will see you all again soon. Please keep me in your prayers. Again, thank you! Helga Muder.
PLEASE HELP! Twice this past week, doors have been found standing wide open in the gym. If you have keys to the buildings, please make sure you close and secure all doors you open. If you find doors open, please secure them and notify the Church Administration Center. Please help us maintain security on the Church campus.
BULLETIN FORMAT CHANGE You may have noticed that copyright notes for each worship hymn immediately follow each hymn instead of being lumped in the “Copyright Acknowledgments” at the end of the service. This change has occurred due to clarification of copyright laws learned by Pastor Schaar at Pastors’ Conference.
GOOD NEWS! Our Synodical President, Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, has decided that there is not an “urgent necessity” to call a special convention in 2009. Delegates to this past summer’s convention – including Pastor Schaar – allowed President Kieschnick to make that determination to facilitate needed restructuring of Synod. This decision means Pastor Schaar will not have to attend this special convention! And that’s GOOD NEWS!
OKTOBERFEST PICNIC Please remember that those with last names A-J are asked to bring a dessert and those with last names K-Z are asked to bring a salad or side dish.
NARTHEX LIGHTS RE-INSTALLED! Make sure to check out the Narthex light fixtures and see if you can tell which is the newly-crafted reproduction fixture.
PERSONAL PRIVACY In response to personal privacy issues raised by some church members, the Church Administrative Center must enforce its long-standing policy of not giving out personal information of church members over the telephone. That includes addresses and telephone numbers. We hope you can understand and support this policy.
WOMEN’S FALL RALLY Next Sunday all women are invited to First Lutheran, 9123 Broadway, Temple City, for the Fall Rally of The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League this Saturday. Continental breakfast is served at 8:30 a.m. A program called “Hymns for Her” will be presented. The rally concludes with lunch at 12:00 p.m.
HELP IS NEEDED! This Saturday at 1:00 p.m. all men are asked to help carry tables and chairs to the field to prepare for our Oktoberfest Picnic. Please meet in the gym.
WITNESSING BRACELETS At no small expense to Historic First Lutheran, we purchased colorful witnessing bracelets for everyone. We distributed them last Sunday. These are meant to be worn every day. If someone asks you about your bracelet, use it as an opportunity to share your faith, then ask if they’d like it. Replacements can be obtained from Pastor Schaar any Sunday.
NEXT SUNDAY There will be Sunday School but there will not be Adult Bible Class. Come early anyway to help set up for the picnic.
USHERS: TAKE NOTE Next week’s service will involve Usher Team # 6: Rogelio Douglas, Henry Hubert, Yashar Kafi, and Marlene Ochetti.
Sunday 7 October – “Lord, strengthen my faith to daily live as Your follower.”
Monday 8 October – Celebrate the birthdays of friends by praying for them today: Marlene Ochetti (9); Julie Leonard (12).
Tuesday 9 October – Thank God for the ministry of our Lutheran schools across the country as they daily share the message about Jesus.
Wednesday 10 October – Pray for one person today whom you don’t know – the person in the car next to you; the lady at the grocery store; the person down the street.
Thursday 11 October – “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!”
Friday 12 October – “Lord, to You eternal praise!”
Saturday 13 October – Pray that our Oktoberfest service and picnic tomorrow would attract many people, drawing them closer to their Lord Jesus.