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I'm sharing this journal entry from one of our sheep / shepherds for your encouragement and invite you to share your stories to keep us connected David
Thursday April 2, 2020: A journal entry:
JESUS WEPT.
A Morning mist of low cloud wrapped soft around the hills.
I read John 6 and tried to ponder on Jesus the living bread. But the mist beckoned and drew me outside, quickly enfolding me in its clammy embrace.
There was no pausing to choose direction. I headed straight up the hill blanketed in the foggy stillness, only birdcall echoing the inner certainty – she’s coming to pray.
Pray up the hill. I haven’t prayed up there for a while. I’ve prayed. But not there on God’s hill, my place of retreat.
At the summit, as cloud drifted and lifted, it was my heart that rained out its anguished plea, the cry for help with COVID19: LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER. Help us Jesus.
That was it. No wordy waffle. I perched on the rim of the damp bench, poised in grief and need; heart, mind and spirit turned to God, “Yet still do I praise you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Living God.”
A lull then settled over me, like a mute button had been pressed to hush the turmoil of my distressed thoughts and wretched emotions concerning the plight of the world’s people. Wait. Be quiet!
Jesus wept. The words from last Sunday’s reading came to mind loud and clear.
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Judaeans who had come with her crying, he was deeply stirred in his spirit, and very troubled. 34 ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘come and see.’ 35 Jesus burst into tears. (John 11:33-35 NTE)
I too burst into tears, and as I wept, there at the top of the hill, I knew he was weeping with me. Weeping with all the world. Weeping for us all.
Turn to me. And I, turning, vision all awash, could see clearly, he was there. Feed my sheep. To this I shook my head, and thought, I’m no pastor. You are a minister of my word. Therefore, speak my word to others. Speak my word to one another. And suddenly understanding dawned. “You aren’t just saying this to me, are you? It’s your call to all of us: Feed your sheep. The responsibility is ours collectively.” And I pictured the scattered sheep, isolated from one another but belonging together and needing creative new ways of being church and speaking grace and hope to one another and others.
I plunged, then, down the hill, not following the worn paths but winding down the steeper slope, weaving through knee high weeds, around rocky mounds and patches of slippery flattened grass, to emerge at the wider base track.
Now is the time to forge new paths. Jesus is still the Way, the “base track” of my faith remains the same. It’s the network of familiar paths that represent how we have lived out our faith, that have fallen away, not God’s word or his kingdom, or his love.
I am thankful for this love that comes to us where we are: scattered sheep weeping in the mist of uncertainty. I’m thankful that Jesus wept and that his way isn’t set in stone. That he comes and calls us to discover a new and living way, today and tomorrow and the next day. Hallelujah! This is a new day! And the Jesus who weeps with us in our distress will renew us and lead us on beyond COVID19.
JESUS WEPT.
The autumn sun filtered a pale ray through the drifting grey. A reminder that the God who weeps, also sheds light as well as tears.
Talk with the walk, and walk the talk
by Sal Huckel
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children (Deuteronomy 6:6,7a).
Read Deuteronomy 6:4–15
Discipleship is a 24/7 job, and we spend a few hours of that time each week at church. As parents, we need to realise that we have a big responsibility to raise our children in the faith – promises we indeed make at their baptisms.
Today’s reading gives us a lovely picture of what it means to raise our children in the faith. Nothing fancy: just living our lives, as a family, talking about the Lord, teaching our children his ways as we sit at home, walk along the road, as we lie down, as we get up … as we go to the shops, drive them to basketball, and if we can throw in a few Colin Buchanan concerts along the way we can add some craziness and fun into the mix.
If we want to, we can put Christian symbols around our house, buy lovely prints from the Christian bookstore and set out ‘who we are’ and ‘whose we are’ as a family. In fact, for years now, as I drive the kids to their sports games, or their casual work, or give them massively tight goodbye hugs and wave them off to university at the airport, I say, ‘Remember who you are, and whose you are.’ They know what that means because we’ve discipled them and taught them.
Who are you walking along the road of life with right now? If you’re not walking anywhere these days, who is in the same room as you? Who’s brought you your cup of tea or your medicine? You are a precious and valued team member to whom the Lord entrusts his kingdom work, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Remember who you are and whose you are! Love the Lord your God with all your strength, and he will work through you.
Lord, thank you for the teaching I have received in my life to now. Thank you for those who have discipled and taught me the faith. Please show me whom I, too, can disciple, teach and encourage. Lord, I also pray for our pastors. May they be upheld by those in their congregations, sharing the load and using their gifts, all for the glory of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is the wife of Matthew, pastor at Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church and assistant bishop of the LCA Vic–Tas District. They are blessed with six children who all love and serve the Lord in their different walks of life, from high school to post-grad. Sal is currently studying a master’s degree in counselling practice. She loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at any opportunity.
God’s masterpiece
by Mark Lieschke
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour (Psalm 8:4,5).
Read Psalm 8
God the Father, the great artist, once created a masterpiece. This world was crafted by him – and it was perfect. But the masterpiece was wrecked. Instead of it being what it was intended to be, it became a place of brokenness, tragedy, greed, abuse, crime, terror, war, pain and distress of every imaginable kind.
But the Father didn’t give up on what he loved. He knew what seemed beyond repair could be restored, so he put a plan in place to restore this world and us to its original glory.
That plan was put into effect by Jesus. Jesus came, and by his death and resurrection made it possible for people’s lives and this world to be transformed and restored.
It cost him his life, but he was prepared to pay that price so that God’s original plan for his people and his creation might be a reality once again. That plan is an ongoing one. It won’t be completed until Jesus comes to this world again.
We’re a special, precious part of God’s masterpiece. We’re the crowning glory of God’s creation.
We’re part of a creation that has been torn apart, and we have to live with the consequences of that. But through the painstaking and sacrificial work of the master artist’s only son, we’re privileged to be a part of a restoration process that’s continuing today.
We’ve been called and chosen by God to be part of a team, with him and with each other, that’s working to bring peace and harmony here, and so give people a glimpse, a taste of what they can enjoy in heaven.
Despite our sin, failures, mess-ups, frustrations, fears, doubts and disillusionments, God still comes to us in Jesus to assure us that we are a treasure to him. And that one day we will live with him in the fully restored, magnificent, new creation in heaven.
Lord God and Father, we are filled with awe and wonder at your magnificent creation and your boundless love for humanity. Your name is majestic in all the earth, and your glory is displayed in the heavens above. Thank you for revealing yourself to us and for inviting us into relationship with you. May our lives reflect your glory and your goodness to the world around us. Amen.
Mark Lieschke is a retired pastor living on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and is a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church Buderim. He served in parishes in Adelaide SA, Palmerston North and Marton in New Zealand and Wagga Wagga NSW (school and congregation), before being elected as bishop of the LCANZ’s New South Wales District. He and his wife, Meredith, have four children (two of whom live in Canada) and two grandchildren. Mark enjoys spending time with family and friends, travelling, walking on the beach and resting.
What happened to Simon?
by Mark Lieschke
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me’ (Acts 8:24).
Read Acts 8:14–25
What happened to Simon? He came to Peter and John after seeing them place their hands on people and then receiving the Holy Spirit. And he wanted to be able to do the same.
While he may have had good intentions, his offer of money to buy this power was met with a stern rebuke from Peter and a call for him to repent. Simon’s response was ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me’ (Acts 8:24).
And then nothing more about Simon. What happened to him? And what happened to the man with leprosy and the paralytic that Jesus healed, the centurion and his daughter, the widow and her son, the woman who anointed Jesus, the demon-possessed man, Jairus and his daughter, and the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak?
We don’t know. It would be great to hear these stories, the kind of experiences they may have had and how their witness may have influenced others. But there is silence.
What we do have is a glimpse of one particular time in their lives when they were touched by Jesus and/or his Holy Spirit. That’s what is most important.
Our stories are important. Whether they include the miraculous or seem to be rather ordinary, they are stories of how the Holy Spirit has worked and is working within us. We can celebrate, give thanks for and share those stories with others.
And central to those stories is the Spirit’s work – his influence, encouragement, equipping, strengthening and empowering. We are the recipients of his gifts. We are the work of his hands. We are people enabled to love, serve and care.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for working in the lives of many people over the ages. Thanks for your presence in our lives today. Touch us so that today our hearts can burn with a desire to reflect Jesus. Give us joy as we serve. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Mark Lieschke is a retired pastor living on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and is a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church Buderim. He served in parishes in Adelaide SA, Palmerston North and Marton in New Zealand and Wagga Wagga NSW (school and congregation), before being elected as bishop of the LCANZ’s New South Wales District. He and his wife, Meredith, have four children (two of whom live in Canada) and two grandchildren. Mark enjoys spending time with family and friends, travelling, walking on the beach and resting.