Love Like Jesus

[Wednesday Service] Pilate - Life Together

• What a Friend we have in Jesus

• Psalm 70

• Matthew 27:1-26 [NKJV]

Remember the Daily Grace

www.GraceLutheranPSL.com/Daily
Check the site often for funny, serious, video, articles, biblical and what-not.
Let’s Bring Grace and Peace to a Chaotic and Lonely Time.

Important Posts from the Week.

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Will God Forgive Me… Again?

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." (Psalm 32:1–2)

There is a man I know who fought in the Vietnam War. I have tried to get him to come to church many times, but each time he refuses because he says that his crimes are so great that God could not forgive him. Though I press him with the good news of the gospel that covers over all his sins, he refuses to believe that his record of wrongdoing can be erased by merely believing in Christ.

What my friend finds difficult to accept is a notion the psalmist wants to teach us. There is a way of thinking about a person who receives forgiveness, namely, that such a person is blessed. We do well to ask what it means to be blessed. Simply, to be blessed is to be favored.

Sometimes when our guilt sticks heavily upon us, we can wonder if God's forgiveness really applies to us. We do that certain sin, again and again, we surprise ourselves with some out-of-character action, we find ourselves feeling less guilty for certain trespasses, etc. In the midst of such rhythms, we are to take the psalmist’s prayer to heart. For we are reminded here that we are favored by God. God has taken our sins away because God wants to!

It is hard to believe this because there seems an inherent injustice in it. “If I keep sinning and doing bad, won’t God punish me? Isn’t his job to keep order? I know he is patient, but I keep repeating the same mistakes. At some point God is going to drop the hammer on me, isn’t he?”

This sense of dreadful anticipation at God’s coming wrath is real because guilty people know that justice must eventually come. God can’t keep turning a blind eye. And he doesn’t. We must put away a whitewashed Christianity that says that God simply forgives because He is nice, kind, loving, gentle, etc. That is not how forgiveness works. God does not simply ignore our sins, turn a blind eye to them, and perpetuate injustice. No. God has forgiven you for Christ’s sake. It was because Jesus paid your debt, took your penalty, and ransomed you from sin and death that you are forgiven. St. Paul has a special word to describe the new, objective reality of your forgiveness: justification. Notice the word “justice” embedded within it. Justification is God’s work, at Christ’s expense, to free you from sin, death, and hell. It is justice done to sin and grace given to you. And God wanted to do this for you.

When God forgives you for the sins you commit over and over, he does so because Christ has paid for their trespass and received the justice of the crime. God does not turn a blind eye to sin but instead issues justice upon his Son, for your sake.

This means you are blessed or favored because God loves you enough, because Jesus loves you enough, to hold no record of your wrongs. Now, if we are so favored by God that he would not spare his only Son, how much more so will he then help us in the midst of our troubles? You see, the cross teaches us the dedication to which God will go to show his favor for you. He wants to forgive you! So now, as you struggle through various trials, do not be downtrodden. The God who never abandoned you to your own sin will not abandon you now. And though you sin ten times ten thousand times, you can never out-sin the work of the cross. Let us live in this promise.

Holy Week and Easter 2020

Holy Week 2020

Because of the Covid 19 Social Distancing we will need to have video services for Holy week.

Find all the video right here at www.GraceLutheranPSL.com

Palm Sunday 9am
Maundy Thursday 5pm
Good Friday 5pm
Easter Sunday 9am

This little Piggy

Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus | Time

BY N.T. WRIGHT

 UPDATED: MARCH 29, 2020 3:47 PM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: MARCH 29, 2020 8:00 AM EDT

N. T. Wright is the Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews, a Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University and the author of over 80 books, including The New Testament in Its World.

For many Christians, the coronavirus-induced limitations on life have arrived at the same time as Lent, the traditional season of doing without. But the sharp new regulations—no theater, schools shutting, virtual house arrest for us over-70s—make a mockery of our little Lenten disciplines. Doing without whiskey, or chocolate, is child’s play compared with not seeing friends or grandchildren, or going to the pub, the library or church.

The Right Rev. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde holds Sunday Mass as it is live-webcast to its parishioners due to the Coronavirus at an empty Washington National Cathedral on March 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Patrick Smith—Getty Images

There is a reason we normally try to meet in the flesh. There is a reason solitary confinement is such a severe punishment. And this Lent has no fixed Easter to look forward to. We can’t tick off the days. This is a stillness, not of rest, but of poised, anxious sorrow.

No doubt the usual silly suspects will tell us why God is doing this to us. A punishment? A warning? A sign? These are knee-jerk would-be Christian reactions in a culture which, generations back, embraced rationalism: everything must have an explanation. But supposing it doesn’t? Supposing real human wisdom doesn’t mean being able to string together some dodgy speculations and say, “So that’s all right then?” What if, after all, there are moments such as T. S. Eliot recognized in the early 1940s, when the only advice is to wait without hope, because we’d be hoping for the wrong thing?

Rationalists (including Christian rationalists) want explanations; Romantics (including Christian romantics) want to be given a sigh of relief. But perhaps what we need more than either is to recover the biblical tradition of lament. Lament is what happens when people ask, “Why?” and don’t get an answer. It’s where we get to when we move beyond our self-centered worry about our sins and failings and look more broadly at the suffering of the world. It’s bad enough facing a pandemic in New York City or London. What about a crowded refugee camp on a Greek island? What about Gaza? Or South Sudan?

At this point the Psalms, the Bible’s own hymnbook, come back into their own, just when some churches seem to have given them up. “Be gracious to me, Lord,” prays the sixth Psalm, “for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.” “Why do you stand far off, O Lord?” asks the 10th Psalm plaintively. “Why do you hide yourself in time of trouble?” And so it goes on: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?” (Psalm 13). And, all the more terrifying because Jesus himself quoted it in his agony on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22).

Yes, these poems often come out into the light by the end, with a fresh sense of God’s presence and hope, not to explain the trouble but to provide reassurance within it. But sometimes they go the other way. Psalm 89 starts off by celebrating God’s goodness and promises, and then suddenly switches and declares that it’s all gone horribly wrong. And Psalm 88 starts in misery and ends in darkness: “You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are in darkness.” A word for our self-isolated times.

It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead. As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell. And out of that there can emerge new possibilities, new acts of kindness, new scientific understanding, new hope. New wisdom for our leaders? Now there’s a thought.

Source: https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/

Cleaned the Carpets.

The one nice thing about not using our church all the time. easy to do maintenance.

Clean Carpets!

Quarantine Bag Pipes

My quarantine project. Made it from a few recorders, a trash bag, and tape from r/funny

[Video] The Tiny Compound That Makes Soap A Coronavirus Killer #WashYourHands

Hand sanitizer has become a scarce commodity as Coronavirus has spread around the world. But you might be surprised to learn that plentiful, cheap soap is actually one of the most effective weapons we have against COVID-19. It all comes down to the unique chemical makeup of soap that has made it a central part of life since ancient times.
Visit the Centers for Disease Control website for the latest information on protecting yourself against the Coronavirus

[Sunday Service] Natural Light - Life Together

↓↓↓↓ Just the Sermon ↓↓↓↓-↑↑↑↑ The Whole Service ↑↑↑↑

Questions for the Week

1. What are you thirsty for?  What’s your beverage of choice?

2. Read John 19:17-29.  What causes Jesus to thirst?  What is he thirsting for?

3. Read 1 Peter 4:1-6.  In times of suffering, what are some things that you’ve thristed for that have let you down?

4. According to Peter, because of Jesus and his love for us, in times of suffering, what should you love and desire?

Remember the Daily Grace

www.GraceLutheranPSL.com/Daily
Check the site often for funny, serious, video, articles, biblical and what-not.
Let’s Bring Grace and Peace to a Chaotic and Lonely Time.

Important Posts from the Week.

Watch the Latest Photo Video!

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Concrete Slab at Grace!

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5 out of 5 Stars

Temptation’s Green Pastures: The Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer

by Ken Sundet Jones, Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa,

Temptation’s Green Pastures: The Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer

areful now! If you read the Sixth Petition hastily, you’ll come away thinking that God is the source of temptations. One modern translation of the Lord’s Prayers phrases it this way: “Save us from the time of trial.” It’s not a better option. Either way, we face temptations because God sets up trials and tribulations as divine AP exams to see if we have what it takes to get heavenly course credit. Or God is some cruel and arbitrary taskmaster on the front porch swing watching us attempt forward motion in the face of gale-force winds – all for the sake of his own eternal pleasure. But the Lord’s Prayer is a primer on the Christian life. There ought to be more to “lead us not…” than such a paltry picture of God.

Petition by petition, the Lord’s Prayer teaches how we live faithfully – both through its implicit faith in God as the bearer of all good things, and through the one who taught us these words in the first place. With the Sixth Petition, God’s goodness, that’s assumed throughout the prayer, puts the lie to any notion of God inflicting temptation on his human children. Christ’s gift undergirds this petition with his own victory over Old Nick’s temptations in the wilderness.

A biblical scholar could tell you about the history of temptation in the Scriptures and how its focus shifted from the Old to the New Testament. A systematic theologian could present a learned disquisition on theodicy – what responsibility God has for evil. But for my money, the best interpretation of the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer came when I first heard Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, and Dolly Parton sing the old-timey gospel song “Green Pastures” on Harris’ Roses in the Snow album.

Troubles and trials often betray those
On in the weary body to stray
But we shall walk beside the still waters
With the Good Shepherd leading the way

Those who have strayed were sought by the Master
He who once gave His life for the sheep
Out on the mountain still He is searching
Bringing them in forever to keep

Going up home to live in green pastures
Where we shall live and die nevermore
Even the Lord will be in that number
When we shall reach that heavenly shore

We will not heed the voice of the stranger
For he would lead us on to despair
Following on with Jesus our Savior
We shall all reach that country so fair

“Green Pastures” is an honest appraisal both of our lifelong adversaries — the devil, the world, and our sinful self — and of the Lord’s incessant quest to pull us back from all snares. “Troubles and trials often betray” us. They are ever-present. “The voice of the stranger” keeps speaking, luring us into the traps of self-sufficiency, status, and even piety to keep us from looking to God who provides everything needed for this life. At the same time, the song literally repents us, in the sense of the biblical word metanoia. It turns our eyes back to Christ and slathers us with the promise of the one who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies lost sheep.

This same view is present in Luther’s explanation of the Sixth Petition in his Small Catechism: “God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.”

Temptation doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s in the structure of this broken and sinful world. In the Large Catechism, Luther saw its source as the flesh, the world, and the devil. The flesh tempts us with our internal urges (think of deadly sins like envy, lust, sloth, and gluttony). The world comes after us with the siren songs of glory or vengeance. And the devil instills doubt about matters that Christ has already mastered on the cross. In his Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis pointed to “those gratifying invitations, those highly interesting contacts, that participation in the brilliant movements of our age, which I so often, at such risk, desire.” He says that to pray this petition is to ask that God might even deny us these things.

Luther argued in the Large Catechism that the goal of temptation, “is to make us scorn and despise both the Word and the works of God, to tear us away from faith, hope, and love, to draw us into unbelief, false security, and stubbornness, or, on the contrary, to drive us into despair, denial of God, blasphemy, and countless other abominable sins.” Oddly, the Sixth Petition doesn’t ask that such temptations be eliminated. Instead, it asks God to be active in the face of temptation. Luther went on to say we’re spared from temptation, “when God gives us power and strength to resist, even though the attack is not removed or ended. For no one can escape temptations and allurements as long as we live in the flesh and have the devil prowling around us.”

Such strength to resist comes only with faith, and, as Paul says in Romans 10, faith comes by hearing the gospel. The faith that endures temptation is created when the Word connects you to the one who endured the attacks of the flesh, the world, and the devil. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said that “Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.” The gospel promise is that God in Christ knows exactly what your temptations are and still bids you find protection from them in him.

“Green Pastures” is a reminder that still waters are to be found walking with your Good Shepherd. Even if you’ve succumbed to temptation Jesus is prowling around, calling and calling, until you hear his voice. When you do, the best possible thing is to prick up your ears and head in his direction. You’ll find only verdant meadows in the fair country of his acreage and a Lord who can provide what no temptation ever can.

https://www.1517.org/articles/temptations-green-pastures-the-sixth-petition-of-the-lords-prayer

Covid 19 - RESOURCES FOR RETIREES

From Brian Mast Email.

RESOURCES FOR RETIREES

I am working closely with federal, state and local officials to monitor the coronavirus and mitigate its spread in our community. I am also working especially to help protect the health and financial security of retirees in our community who are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19:

Medicare Updates

• Medicare covers the lab tests for COVID-19. You pay no out-of-pocket costs.

• Medicare covers all medically necessary hospitalizations related to COVID-19.

• These benefits also apply to those with a Medicare Advantage Plan.

• Telehealth services have been expanded to give you access to healthcare providers from the safety of your own home.

• Click here for a full list of Medicare resources.

Social Security Updates

• Social Security payments will continue to be delivered as scheduled.

• Local offices are closed to in-person visits, but help is still available by phone at 1-800-772-1213.

• Click here for a full list of resources from the Social Security Administration.

It is also important to remember that scammers may use the coronavirus national emergency to take advantage of people while they’re distracted. You should remain vigilant and take steps to protect yourself, including:

• Protecting your Medicare card and personal information.

• Check any documents and forms for errors.

• If someone calls asking for personal information, hang up and contact the agency directly.

For more information on the coronavirus and recommendations on how to keep yourself and your family safe, please visit CDC.gov/coronavirus. Please do not hesitate to call my office at 202-225-3026 with any questions. I also encourage you to sign up to receive updates on the coronavirus here: https://mast.house.gov/coronavirus

Filming the Service.

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Lutheran Hour Course on Stress and Worry.

https://www.lhm.org/learn/course-stressworry2020/index.html

This course explores stress and worry: the causes, effects, and strategies to manage them. It will equip you through God’s Word to look to Him as the source of strength.

Your Call to Action: Carry out intentional actions to manage your own stress or worry and also reach out with Christian support to someone who is dealing with stress or worry.

By the end of Stress & Worry in the Life of a Christian, you will develop action plans support yourself and support others dealing with stress and worry. To equip you, this course will help you:

• discover the consequences of stress: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

• acknowledge your own stress level.

• discover the importance of self-care.

• develop a specific action plan to support yourself: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

• develop an action plan to offer acts of Christian support to someone dealing with stress and worry.

Take the Course Now.

In Case you Din't Know March 24th

In Case You Didn’t Know – Issue created March 24, 2020 by Cheryl L. Nolte

Did the Vernal Equinox (which was March 19) pass by and you didn’t notice?  According to the Space.com website, the 2020 vernal equinox brought the earliest spring to the US in 124 years!  Maybe the folks up north don’t think it was much of an early spring, though?

There are so many news articles out there about the C virus that I will spare you things that keep changing.  Important to keep your safe 6 foot distance from others, wash your hands in hot water for at least 20 seconds with soap, and cover your mouth with a tissue or your elbow if you cough or sneeze.  Also, if you have been or think you may have been exposed to or know someone who has tested for the C virus, self-isolate to protect us all!  Contact your Dr. if you have fever, cough, shortness of breath or other major symptoms.  A new symptom just reported today is loss of taste and smell, which may be also a sinus infection symptom, so check with your doctor. 

If your doctor is not readily available, call the health department.  If you absolutely cannot wait, call the nurse triage line 772-419-3360 from 8am-5pm.  By the way, the deaths being reported reflect the elderly with jeopardized health much more than younger people.  However, more infections are being found between those of the 20’s and 50’s right now.  So just being younger than, say 65, doesn’t mean you don’t have the virus.  And many have no symptoms but have the virus and are spreading it.  Heard today on TV that this virus is approximately three times more contagious that our typical flu!

The 2020 Olympics that were to be in Tokyo, Japan, have been postponed.  This has only happened three times, 1916, 1940 and 1944, all due to wars.  This C virus is a war of a different type, a health war, and I hope everyone understands health concerns are worth way more than the loss of any of the 15,000+ athletes that were going to compete, or the 879 medals that would have been given out.  Not to mention the health of all the attendees and organizing personnel. 

The UN Chief has asked for a halt to all wars so fighting of the COVID19 (C Virus, as I call it) can be overcome.  Let there be peace!

Gannet, the owner of USA TODAY and over 260 other daily media properties, wants to help communities support small businesses during this pandemic.  A new website, www.supportlocal.usatoday.com,

Will allow us to select local businesses for purchasing gift cards to use at a later time.

Distilleries in several locations are turning their equipment from spirit-making into sanitizer-making machines. This should help the shortage of something greatly needed and in short supply right now.

And breweries are shifting to takeout and drive, just like restaurants are.

Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation is giving $5 million specifically to help marginalized communities in the US, Caribbean and Africa as a result of the C virus.

Opera singer Placido Domingo has been tested positive for the coronavirus.  He and his family are in self-isolation.  He is suffering with a fever and cough.  Let’s pray his wonderful voice can continue, with God’s will.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany tested negative for the Virus. 

Sad.  Kids are to be watched by their parents when shopping.  In a Virginia grocery store, two teens were shown filming themselves as they coughed deliberately on the produce in the store.  Harris Teeter immediately had to throw out hundreds of dollars of produce and called the police.

In the other news:

Hummer is going green – GM is giving the Hummer a green makeover.  It will no longer be a gas guzzler but have a battery-powered motor!

An Oscar Mayer Weinermobile got pulled over in Waukesha County, WI for failing to give enough room on the road for another vehicle on the road that had emergency lights going.  The driver got away with a warning.  By the way, the first Weinermobile was created in 1936 and has gone through several remodels since then.  Maybe they will make it leaner now – ha!

Warren Buffet is getting out of the newspaper business!  He sold all of Berkshire Hathaway’s publications for a neat $140 million.  Felt it was time to get out since newspapers have been in a continual decline. 

I subscribe currently to Consumer Reports, and the February 2020 issue has an article about antibiotic policies at fast-food chains.  It rates them on “V Beef” since most have already modified their chicken offerings to limit antibiotics use in the chicken they serve.  So, on to beef!  Want the scores?  Tops was Chipotle, second was Panera, third was McDonald’s and Subway, tied.  Wendy’s and Taco Bell did not do well, and the others were all rated “F”.  Just so you know.

Also, according to the same Consumer Reports issue, “People taking sleep drugs are as likely to be in a car crash as those driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit.”  And if you were to try CBD, start with modest doses.  Get the product maker’s certificate of analysis before using to verify the dosage of psychoactive compound, which is inconsistently regulated. 

Did you know:  If you had ¼ tsp. per pound of onions when you are carmelizing them, their PH is raised which speeds up the chemical reaction and turns them brown faster.

For Dog Lovers:  Next time poochie has an accident on the carpet, clean it up and prevent repeats by using white vinegar to wet the area, then sprinkle on baking soda (not powder).  Vacuum the next day (don’t forget).  It erases the stain and neutralizes the odor.

NASCAR went digital!  The drivers are hitting the virtual racetrack.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kyle Busch and other drivers signed on to race in an exhibition e-sports series working with iRacing.  The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series started Sunday!

The Fort Pierce Planning Board is recommending a 96 resident housing project be approved.  Target is for veterans and first responders to live reasonably close to Lawnwood Medical. 

SLC Deputy Administrator Jeff Bremer resigned.  Cited personal reasons.

St. Lucie County and the City of Fort Pierce have delayed the vote on an animal shelter.  Probably not the best time to do that.  Port St. Lucie, however, did reunite with the Humane Society.

Things to think about, now that we have more time –

1.     Need for blood greater now, must be done even more carefully.  Now blood drives are being scheduled at hospitals, so supplies are stable. Donate if you are able.  Call first.

2.     Imagine being an almost graduate, or having just lost a loved one, where regular funeral services can’t be held.   This pandemic has put all kinds of things on hold.  Patience is a virtue.

3.     Beaches are closed, movie theatres are closed.  But grass still grows, cars need gas, people need food and cows need milking.  There are jobs still going on, even if we are at home not wanting to inflict a virus on someone else, or just being safe ourselves.  America has it better than any other country, even with a virus going around.  S

So many things we have taken for granted now come to mind and are more appreciated.  We are missing toilet paper, baby wipes, thermometers and bread.  Instead of complaining, let’s appreciate the system that we used to rely on in the store when there wasn’t a pandemic.  Now the demand is so much greater than supply.  Let’s not punish the suppliers or the stores, the demand just exceeded the available goods. Can we learn to somehow adapt?  The Lord leads us to know how, please don’t forget that.

Good News:

New Medicare Breakthrough policy – telemedicine.  Remote care.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services moved to use new power to pay physicians who do consultations by phone and video! Particularly good news for geriatric care, saving patients the problem of figuring out how to get to a Doctor.

In the Garden - being in a garden is a great time to de-stress.  Sit and watch the birds, enjoy the flowers.  Plant new things if you are up for it – also a good way to spend time you have now before it gets too hot.

Funny and forgiveness in action – a father getting on in years in Spain, if I heard it right (on Family Radio, 91.7 on the dial), and hadn’t spoken to his son or seen him for years.  He decided now was the time to forgive and make amends.  So, he put an ad in the local paper, saying Pacco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at 1pm tomorrow.  Guess what?  Almost 800 Pacco’s showed up!  (not 80, but 800). The Lord was really at work in those lives and forgiveness and healing opened in many hearts.  Wow.  Now, I must tell you that that’s the story in brief as my problem ears heard it.  The point is there though, even if the name is not right. 

Now for the answers to those Bible Trivia questions (or did you know or look up already?). 

1.     Who was compelled to bear the cross of Jesus?  Answer:  Simon of Cyrene

2.     What was the fifth plaque that God placed on Egypt?  Answer:  Animal Pestilence (snakes)

3.     What is the shortest verse in the Bible?  Answer from John 11:35: “Jesus Wept”.

Three ways to be a blessing to someone (excerpt from Woman’s World 2/10/20, without the elaboration),

1.     Lend a compassionate ear.

2.     Share a message of hope

3.     Give a kind compliment

Gannett’s President put a half page commentary in the paper on March 19, 2020 about rallying.  “Together, let’s support local businesses, the bedrock of our communities.”  I’d like to add, and support our churches, the gathering places where we unite for worship and fellowship and God’s table of Forgiveness.

Until next time,

Cheryl

Jesus Hugs the Whole World

Christian History Almanac - March 15 2020

On this day, we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation and remember Catherine of Siena, b. 1347. The reading is "Annunciation" by John Donne.

Christian History Almanac - March 26th 2020

St. Ludger, who died in 809, and Prokop Divis, who was born in 1698.