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The Coming

For Christians, and nobody else really has much business thinking about Advent or observing it, there is something else. If there is no Christmas, there is no Cross, no answer to the problems of sin, separation, failure and pain.

Today is the first of the four Sundays in Advent, the beginning of the Christian year and the start also of a season in which many Christians will try to prepare themselves for the great feast to come.

For many of us, that sense of preparation has dwindled down into buying presents, planning meals, making travel plans and somehow trying to trick ourselves into the holiday spirit when we will suddenly feel festive and full of good cheer.

There’s actually nothing wrong with most of that, and there are lots worse things to do with our money and time than buying gifts we think will please those we love and making plans to visit our dear ones. But Advent is about something bigger: about the coming of God into the world and although nothing we could ever do would fully prepare us for that, the goal of this season in the Christian life is to help us understand just a little bit more what it means to welcome God into the world as a baby.

As a kid I could never understand why Advent was a season of fasting and solemnity in the church rather than a time of feasting and dancing. What better way to prepare for a really big celebration than to have a lot of little celebrations as you approach it?  What better way to get into the mood?

That’s pretty much the way the world treats what is generally called in mixed company “the holiday season.” December is a round of office parties and other events where, with festive music playing in the background, we eat and drink far more than we should and anticipate Christmas even if we aren’t doing much to prepare for it. Frankly I’m enough of an old curmudgeon now to wish we still followed the old custom of doing the celebrating and the partying in the twelve days of Christmas up through January 6; the first week of January, with the holiday fading behind us and the cold, dark winter stretching endlessly ahead, is probably the single week in the year when we would all benefit most from some wassail and cheer. Let’s hope that one benefit of migration from Spanish speaking America will be a revival of the great twelfth day feast celebrated there as Three Kings’ Day, a bright candle lit in a dark time of year.

But as I’ve reflected on the holiday over the years, I think I see more reason for making Advent a season of restraint and reflection rather than anticipatory fun. We can never really understand Christmas unless we understand how much we need that baby in the manger. Advent is a time to think about the ways that life without God is an empty husk.

Unfortunately in times like these, feeling bleak is an easy thing for a lot of people to do. Times have been tough since 2007; a lot of people have lost homes and jobs and a lot of us are having a harder time in the world than we expected back during the boom. For a lot of people today, life without God doesn’t even offer much tinsel. It’s a bleak, bleak world for all whose lives have fallen short of their hopes — the promotions missed, jobs lost, marriages broken, families severed, and so many other sorrows and setbacks.

And this life, even when it’s going well, doesn’t last. I remember Christopher Hitchens saying once that we were all like mudballs, catapulted up into the air and sailing along very nicely, but that one day all of us, sooner or later, will hit something and go splat. Advent is a time to remember that it will all end and end in a splat. There are those who think that we should try not to think about depressing subjects like that, but in fact the ability to face the prospect of life’s end with some dignity and courage is part of what makes the rest of life rich and worth living.

For Christians, and nobody else really has much business thinking about Advent or observing it, there is something else. If there is no Christmas, there is no Cross, no answer to the problems of sin, separation, failure and pain. Advent is a time to think about what life would be like if we didn’t have faith in a Redeemer, a Savior who was ready, willing and able to complete the broken arc of our lives, forgive what is past and walk with us step by step to help us build something better in the time that is left.

Advent is a time to remember that we need something more than what we can summon with our own resources to make our lives work. It’s a time to remember how lost we would be if Someone hadn’t come to find us. People in Twelve Step programs think back to what things were like before they found new friends, new fellowship and a program to help them back to life. They talk about “keeping it green,” remembering what life was like without the sudden surprise, the grace that changed everything and put us on another path. The preparation for Christmas begins by reflecting on what kind of world this would be, and what kind of lives we would have, if Christmas had never come.

There are worse ways to start your preparation for Christmas than by using this prayer from the old Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer:

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

One of my favorite Advent hymns has always been the Veni, Veni Emmanuel, known to English speakers as O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The first verse in particular captures some of the sense of exile and hopelessness that we would feel if Christmas had never come.

You can listen to it here: the words are below.

Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel
Translated: John Neal, 1818-66

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come O Rod of Jesse’s stem,
From ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save;
Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

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Grace Lutheran PSL Yearly Update

Check out this Letter from our President

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

  I hope my letter finds you and your family healthy as you prepare for a Festive Covid-19 Safe Christmas celebration.  No large gatherings, masks both indoors and out, and 6 foot of distance when required. Like you I am looking forward to the end of this year. It has had high points; start of construction of the new facility.  Covid-19 being the horrible low. Under normal conditions we would be having our end of year voters meeting, including voting for BOD officers and budget presentation for approval.  Normal year this is not!  Therefore, once again for safety reasons we are not holding our congregational meeting.  In lieu of presenting a new budget we plan to remain with the current 2020 Budget into 2021 until the new building is operational (hopefully March 2021). At that time, we will be able to determine our additional expenses and prepare an accurate budget. We also hope to resume our regular congregational meetings at that time too. The actual ribbon cutting for the ACC facility will be sometime in May. The only change at this point in the 2021 budget is the Pastor’s salary.  As throughout Grace’s history we base Pastor’s salary on LCMS salary matrix; As of 2021 he will have 10 years’ experience with a Masters of Divinity degree. For 2021 his salary will be $75,523 which is $1099 higher than last year. In call documents we agreed to pay for family health insurance which is covered by Coli’s Martin County School board policy. Therefore, Grace contributes $3600 to in house HSA, with carry-over, $12000 to Pastor as a supplement for Coli’s school board policy charge, and $2400 for a Pastor selected mission. This arrangement with Pastor and Coli saves Grace over $3000 if we provided a Concordia Health Plan policy. We hope you are in agreement with the decision to hold to the 2020 Budget figures at this time. Please contact us if you disagree. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact Kevin or myself. If you wish a breakdown of Pastor’s compensation package please call us.

 God has provided for Grace this year in spite of the pandemic. Together we have accomplished so much.  With your generosity you have shown Christ’s love and caring not only for the needs of Grace Lutheran, but also have enabled Grace to reach out and provide for those in need. With your continued support, for which we are always grateful, we will continue to serve others and share the love of Christ. May your New Year be filled with God’s blessings. Continue to keep faith.  We will get through these difficult times together, as we have done in the past. Stay safe.  Have a Merry Christmas!  

BIG HUGGS TO ALL.
Leigh Liagre

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Photos of new Building

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Movies You Can Watch With Your Extended Family That Are Actually Good

The Holidays may be a difficult time this year. Not seeing family like normal. You can still watch a movie with them even distantly. Here is a list that is better than most

Read Full Article Here https://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/movies/movies-you-can-watch-with-your-parents-that-are-actually-good/

OK, presumably, not many of us are headed home for the holidays. Unless you’re already living with your parents (which, all things considered, is neither unlikely nor anything to be embarrassed about) you’re probably, hopefully keeping Thanksgiving a small, socially distanced affair this year as we all do our best to flatten that nerve-wracking curve until the vaccine starts rolling in.

But being socially distant doesn’t mean we’re not involved with our families at all on the big day. Teleparty, for example, is a great way to watch movies together over long distances. It synchronizes Netflix, HBO Max or Hulu movies over multiple accounts so you can all watch a movie together and even keep the conversation going with each other.

Ah, but what movie? Assuming you’ve already made it through the ranks of the Pixar classics and Disney’s better options, you might be looking for a solid option to watch with the parents. Of course, nothing with any spicy content will do — there’s nothing worse than white-knuckling it through a sex scene with your mom and dad right there. You also don’t want too much swearing or grisly violence. But you do want the movie to be good, right? Just not too good in a way that some relatives might consider “pretentious” or “artsy-fartsy.” You want it to be wholesome but not stupid.

What’s a movie-lover to do?

Never fear. We at RELEVANT have combed through the ranks of movies to find some broadly appealing options that should win over anyone on your list………………………………

Read Full Article Here https://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/movies/movies-you-can-watch-with-your-parents-that-are-actually-good/

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Covid Style Youth Retreat, Nov 7th

Gripped Virtual Youth Retreat

Gripped Logo Color w tag.jpg

November 7th from 6-8:45 PM
Romans 8:38-39
Get to Grace around 5:30PM

Going live at 6 PM

We will have Pizza and Snacks and Starbursts.

The Night will be filled with Speakers, performances by bread of Stone and Group discussion.

Pre Gathering Bible Study

What the Night will Look Like

Virtual Gathering Elements EMCEE Wes Wright Live - Wes is back again to be our EMCEE for the event and will be appearing live throughout it! He will be sharing some social challenges throughout the night so be ready! Winners will be shown live during the gathering with chances to earn prizes. Instagram @MSYG_flga #gripped2020

Bread of Stone Music - We welcome back BoS to lead our worship! A song list will be made available if you want to print lyrics sheets or listen to their music ahead of time. Stay tuned!

Main Speaker Sessions - Dr. Jake Youmans and his high school daughters Leilani and Maile will be unpacking our theme from Romans 8:38-39 in three mini sessions during the night!

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Jesus is Bigger than Your Vote

You are free from allowing anyone to cast doubt on your salvation based upon your political preferences. And free from causing anyone else to question their faith due to what Christian convictions they may have to compromise to vote in one direction or the other.

You are free from allowing anyone to cast doubt on your salvation based upon your political preferences. And free from causing anyone else to question their faith due to what Christian convictions they may have to compromise to vote in one direction or the other.


It’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything. Between running a very demanding business during COVID and just an overall lack of inspiration I haven’t had much time or energy to write anything. But here I find myself at my keyboard this morning with more time on my hands, because my business is seasonal, and for the first time in months I feel like I have something to say.

If you have spent any time on social media or in front of a television this Summer and early Fall you have been bombarded with encouragements to vote. I can’t remember any other election in my lifetime where there has been so much emphasis placed upon the importance of registering to vote. We are continually being told that this is “the most important election in our lifetime.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, maybe it is, but who decides these things?

The NFL is running a whole campaign urging Americans to vote. Facebook is even paying for ads on television, as if their ubiquitous “are you registered to vote?” banner on your newsfeed isn’t enough! So in the spirit of election season, I’ll add to the cacophony with another encouragement to vote. Yes, if you’re of voting age and you live in a place where you are given the freedom to cast your ballot then by all means show your love for neighbor and go vote. However, please recognize that your vote does not define you, it’s not your identity, and those that vote differently than you are certainly not your enemy (but even if they were you’re still commanded to love and pray for them (Matt. 5:44)……………

Read the whole article Here. https://www.1517.org/articles/jesus-is-bigger-than-your-vote

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Pictures of Backpacks in Haiti

During back to school we gave Children in Haiti Backpacks

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In Defense of Martin Luther

This is an adaptation of the introduction from “In Defense of Martin Luther” written by John Warwick Montgomery (1517 Publishing, 2017). Used with permission.

o defend Martin Luther — whose courage in the face of overwhelming religious and secular attack has become a byword in world history — may well seem a superfluous if not presump­tive task. One is reminded of the exchange between an eager young man and the great 19th-century evangelist Charles Finney. Young man: “Mr. Finney, how can I defend the Bible?” Fin­ney: “How would you defend a lion? Let it out of its cage and it will defend itself!”In a very real sense, Finney’s reply is applicable to Luther. Since the monumental and as yet uncompleted labor of the Weimarer Ausgabe began in 1888 and the so-called Luther-research movement commenced in the labors of Karl Holl at Tubingen, the Reformer has been “let out of the cage” of sec­ondary and tertiary interpretations to speak for himself; and his own writings are a magnificent vindication of his person and work.Yet just as the reading of Scripture does not automatically cause all criticisms of it to evaporate, so Luther’s writings do not in themselves eliminate superficial or perverse analyses of him. The poetical ideal expressed by Horace, De mortuis nihil nisi bonum, or “Of the dead say nothing but good,” has seldom been followed, particularly in the treatment of men like Luther whose controversial ideas and acts have elicited violent opposition. In point of fact, the dead — even those who were most adroit in defending their interests while alive — are pitifully at the mercy of their critics after their demise. What our Lord said to Peter concerning old age applies with equal force to death: “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst wither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee wither thou wouldest not.” Little study of the history of Luther interpretation is needed to demonstrate beyond all question that the Reformer, powerful enough in life to intimidate popes and emperors, has been “girded” again and again with viewpoints appallingly inimical to his true beliefs and has continually been “carried whither he wouldest not” since his death……………..

Read the full article here…..https://www.1517.org/articles/in-defense-of-martin-luther

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The Absolution I Didn't Want [Video][Read]

It’s easy to slip into thinking about forgiveness solely in terms of our authority over it.

Last week at the annual Here We Still Stand Conference, during a conversation with Matt Popovits, I unintentionally stepped into something I wasn’t quite ready to receive. The moment was caught on video, which you can watch above if you would like. While I was trying to get Matt’s thoughts on the psychological effects of the law in general, I used a specific example from my own life - mom guilt - which quickly led to my shaky voice and quiet tears. For reasons I can’t fully explain, all of the pressure, changes, anxiety, and depression I’ve experienced in the past eight months dumped over me at that moment. Both my admittance of guilt, followed by Matt’s pronunciation of absolution, caught me off guard. I wasn’t ready for either, and to be honest, I did not enjoy any minute of it.

For months, I’ve been wrestling with the new balance of motherhood and work. One of the reasons I started working in the theological realm and decided to go back to school to receive my masters in theology was because I was tired of seeing women in theology do nothing more than shed tears about motherhood. And yet here I was, doing precisely that, on camera. I was in front of God only knows how many people and in a situation, where at least momentarily, I had no control.

It’s so easy to slip into thinking about forgiveness solely in terms of our authority over it.When we offer it to people, we think it’s on our accord; when we receive it, we think it’s because we feel ready to be at peace with whoever or whatever has wronged us. In other words, we operate according to the assumption that forgiveness functions (successfully or not) based on our control, our emotion, or our ownership. But Christ doesn’t wait to give us his word of forgiveness until we are rationally, emotionally, or physically contrite, and sometimes he doesn’t even wait for us to recognize what this word is before he pronounces it on us.

Christ’s word of absolution may come before we are ready. We may even misconstrue these words into more law and more guilt. But that doesn’t change the fact that, in Christ, the declaration that we are forgiven and that we are made righteous is both good news and true.

“Giving absolution and receiving it are just two sides of the same faith coin in which we trust God will continue to keep his promises.”

At first, I didn’t hear Matt’s pronunciation of absolution as good news for me. But others did for themselves. That’s how powerful God’s promises are - once they are unleashed on the world, we have absolutely no control of how, when, or on whom the Spirit will use them. All that we are promised is that they will take effect. We see this in the conversion of the Syrophoenician woman whose faith, as theologian Jim Nestingen is fond of saying, came from the rumor of Christ. She believed before she even spoke to him! God’s word is so living and active that it goes to work in secondary and tertiary ways; in ways that surprise us and in ways we will never see.

Hearing that Matt’s word had impacted others, in turn, impacted me. I don’t want to claim that the multidimensionality of absolution is always this black and white. To do so would be to wrongly assert, again, that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is limited to our own experiences and our own authority. We cannot assume to know when or even for whom forgiveness will function - we are only commanded to faithfully hand God’s word over to others and also to believe his words when they are delivered to us. Giving absolution and receiving it are just two sides of the same faith coin in which we trust God will continue to keep his promises.

So, just as Matt did, we hand out forgiveness when we see someone in need of it. Sometimes this happens in response to a co-worker’s apology. Sometimes, it follows a friend’s confession that they’ve messed up their marriage. Sometimes it’s needed to comfort the conscience of a loved one stuck in the clutches of the law’s terror, and sometimes it is essential after a new mom unintentionally unloads her guilt.

When we hear the words of forgiveness in Christ in our own ears, whether they are intentionally said to us or to another, we must believe they are true and true for us.

God’s word has the power to forgive, to create faith, to comfort the guilt-laden and downtrodden. This much is certain.

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Freedom and Why We’re Afraid of It: Dave Zahl [Video]

Here We Still Stand is a Two Day Digital Celebration of The Freedom of the Christian: The theme of our 2020 Here We Still Stand Conference is The Freedom of the Christian.

Here We Still Stand is a Two Day Digital Celebration of The Freedom of the Christian: The theme of our 2020 Here We Still Stand Conference is The Freedom of ...
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Mask Myths and Covid 19! [Video]

Bottom line: Masks work. They are safe for almost everyone to wear, and the more people that wear them along with adhering to physical distancing and other strategies, then that’s more lives we’ll save. But there’s still a lot of confusion and misinformation out there when it comes both to wearing masks and the actual risks of getting infected with COVID-19. In this video I address a few of the most common myths and misunderstandings using scientific evidence. #WearAMask

This is where pastor Cris got his information from last sunday.

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