New Beginnings Lutheran Church

I believe in God’s humiliation. I also believe Jesus went to hell, but that was something totally different. Where do we get these ideas? What difference do they make in my workaday world? We believe, teach, and confess that the devil is ugly as sin ‘cause Jesus beat him with a big stick. The Bible tells me so.

Neither my sexuality nor my orientation is primary in my sense of self. Or if you struggle with infertility, you’re not less because you cannot become pregnant. Empty-nested or retired, your life doesn’t become empty or meaningless. And if you’re bed-ridden, you do not lose your purpose. We believe, teach and confess something more foundational than any other criteria for life.

We like to make things difficult. Sometimes the easier way is the best way. God has a purpose for your life and it may not be so daunting or life challenging as you might think. In fact, you can fulfill one of God’s greatest commandments to you in just a few minutes this week.

“What happens to those who live on Oogi-Poogi? You know those who live on a remote island and never get to hear about Jesus? What happens to them?” That’s a good question. Want to know the answer?

Does it seem sometimes like God plays favorites? We might believe that everyone is “created equal,” but that isn’t how it looks. Why are some blessed and others not? How does God choose?

“You’re not one of those who thinks Jesus is the only way to heaven, are you?” I told her I didn’t want to be. I know and love many people who don’t believe in Jesus, so I’d like to believe there are other ways “to be saved.” But then I asked her, “How do you read this?”

Am I enough? Sometimes I feel like a fraud or an impostor because the me I show to everybody is an attempt to fulfill others’ expectations. We all have an internal desire to be “enough.” We put on our “Sunday Faces.” But God wants us to be free.

Our parents tried to master the heart of the matter when raising us. Sometimes they got it right. Sometimes they didn’t. Want to know how? It’s an art more than a science, but you won’t want to miss this.

We do not walk “in” the valley of the shadow of death. We walk “through” it. The victory of Jesus doesn’t displace human emotions, but it does displace death. Fear is an emotion that will naturally be part of our end. Though we may live and die with fear, we live and die unafraid.

I’ll admit it: I don’t want to grow old. Really, it’s not the added years that I dread, but the atrophy: aches and pains; slowing down; growing limitations. The resurrection of Jesus makes a reimagining of our later years possible. Want to know more?

To live is to risk. Failure is inevitable. It’s not that we’re doomed to fail, but this is part of life as we know it. Unfortunately, the temptation to let past failures dictate our plans has robbed too many of us of God-intended victories.

Do you ever feel alone in the world? Have you ever awoken in the middle of the night and experienced a barrage of insecure thoughts? In one way or another, we all have a fear of loneliness. The first time God said something wasn’t good, it was about being alone.

Spoiler alert! We’re going to read the end of the Book. We’re going to see how everything turns out. But this is totally ok. It’s not like insider trading or anything like that. We are allowed—invited!—to have the inside scoop that gives us an edge in life. Want to know more?

I think an NDE would be quite disappointing. NDE? Near Death Experience. If I died, went to heaven, and then had to come back here again I’d be upset. But we all know someone who suffered this anticlimax so that we would know that death is not the end of life.

Do you look forward to Judgment Day? How about old age? Does old age feel like a cruel judgment? Do you dread these things? How do we live our end today in anticipation of the greatest of all new beginnings?

What can you really count on? Leading gurus tell how to lengthen your life and how to get better life in that length … but many who apply these principles die young and many who ignore them live long and rich lives. What should you expect of life?

What can we really know, after all? The more we truly learn, the more we learn we truly don’t know very much. Ironically, learning what we cannot know helps us leverage what we do know. Want to know what we cannot know?

He who dies with the most toys is still dead. Yet, we often hear it—and say it ourselves—“You only live once? For those who die twice, life lasts forever. For those trying to rob death, death lasts forever. One experiences lifestyle inflation, and the other lifestyle appreciation.

We wish our lives away but feel that we grow old too quickly. There is a time for everything, but rather than enjoying the moment, we’re always looking forward to something else. God gave us the gift of time—and life—to be enjoyed.

Prepare to Die. Learn to Live. Our mortality underlies everything we do. We do not want to just be dust in the wind, but life is short. Life is elusive. Life is repetitive. We want more out of life because the echo of eternity resounds in our hearts.

An eagle cannot swim, but a duck can. A duck cannot soar like an eagle. We all have different abilities that depend upon our context. Where were you made to thrive?

You’re gifted. When you hear of someone who is “gifted,” you may think of gifted students or artists. Gifting is broader than that.

Are you who you are because of nature or nurture? Was your personality formed in the womb or by your environment? Knowing who you are gives insight into your destiny.

When life sucks the joy out of you, it’s easy to get stuck in a negative mental-loop. When you find your thoughts spiraling around bad and worse, faith gives a better response.

When life sucks the joy out of you, it’s tempting to fight fire with fire. When the desire to lash-out at others wells up in you, faith gives a better response.