Rejoice Always?

Our school's theme for this year has been Live in the Light taken from 1 Thessalonians 5. While it might be helpful to live our lives in places that have lamps, bulbs, and other lighting rather than running into things in the dark, the theme based on the idea that we should live in the light of Jesus who declared that he is the Light of the World in John 8. There are some connections between living physical and spiritual light - without the light of Jesus, we would be running into dark things - run into things in the dark which would block our path and hinder our relationship with God. Here are some other suggestions that Paul gives that help us live in the light.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The 'always' part is interesting. Rejoicing always is easy to do on Easter morning, but what about on Good Friday? It is a tradition in the Christian church to refrain from saying 'Hallelujah' during the season of Lent between Ash Wednesday and Easter and then burst forth with all kinds of ways to sing and say this word on Easter. While it is a meaningful tradition, how does it fit with Paul's charge to the Thessalonians to rejoice always? Can we rejoice during lent? Can we rejoice in the midst of pain and the reality that our human bodies are susceptible to disease? Can we rejoice when frustrated by how hard life can be? Can we rejoice with a diagnosis of cancer or while we are with a loved one overcome by the effects of Alzheimer's? Can we rejoice when we don't feel like it?

The answer to these question is an emphatic yes because we are not rejoicing in ourselves. If we are to rejoice because of who we are and how we have been blessed, then there is reason to stop since we are weak and often in hard circumstances because of our sin infected world. But we don't rejoice in ourselves; we rejoice in the One who has conquered all that. Jesus was human like us and subjected to weakness in every way, but without sin. Because he rose on Easter, we, too, can rise from our situations and rejoice in the One who gives us the strength to do so. Our baptism is a reminder that we were drowned in our sinfulness and a new Easter person, connected to Jesus, rises again.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

The one who calls you is faithful. He made in possible that you can be made holy in spirit and soul, but also in body - in spiritual ways, but also in the frustrating physical ways. The God of Easter is also the God of peace who will sometimes take you out of the storms of life, but will at other times give you strength to make it through these storms. Jesus is faithful. He will do it.

Celebrating with Food

We are a few weeks away from Good Friday - good for us, though horrifyingly painful for Jesus.  It's good to remember what Jesus went through for us, and he wanted us to remember.

Can you think of a celebration without food?  Christmas cookies?  Easter eggs?  Halloween candy?  4th of July bar-b-que?  Birthday cake?  Wedding reception with all the great food?  Good times are usually celebrated with good food.  Jesus commemorated a special time with food, as well.

The night before he died, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples which was a large meal with many rituals including a hide-and-seek game for the children and four glasses of wine for the adults.  The centerpiece of the meal was a dinner, usually lamb in memory of the Israelites leaving Egypt.  Right after the dinner part of the event, there was a third cup of wine presented known as the "Cup of Redemption."  It was at this time that Jesus spoke these words of institution, when he said we should remember what he did with this bread and wine.

Matthew 26:26-28

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

Different Christians have understood these words in different ways.  Some have suggested that the bread and wine/juice are representative symbols of Jesus' body and blood.  They would say that the bread helps us remember that Jesus gave his body and life for us.  Others would say that since Jesus said, "This 'is' my body," that he really meant that it is his body.  For a further look at this perspective, I would recommend reading through John 6, especially the verses that Jesus talks about being the bread of life.  Lutherans take the "best of both worlds" approach by saying that physically the bread is still bread and the wine is still wine, but supernaturally (a way that is beyond [super] nature [natural]) Christ is giving us his very body and blood.  Likewise, we eat the bread and drink the wine in natural ways, but receive his body and blood in a supernatural way, as a spiritual blessing.  These days we call Baptism and Communion 'sacraments' or holy acts.  The first Christians actually used the term 'mysterion' or mysteries, admitting the fact that how God does this is beyond human logic, yet we accept it on faith because that's what God's Word says.

Maybe this is a little odd.  Maybe it is a hard selling point to those who are not Christians.  Jesus did not go out of his way to make 'discipleship' easy - he knew that this is a big commitment, yet there is no other place to turn, for we know:

Acts 4:12
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”