Lent: Week Two

Jesus Predicts His Death

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mark 8: 31-33)

Well, our world continues to change around us very rapidly. As many of you may have heard by now, The Governor of the Great State of Texas, Governor Abbott, has declared that as of next Wednesday, March 10, he is rescinding his executive orders about capacity in all businesses, opening up 100%. On top of that, he has declared that the State's mask mandate will also end. As it is with every polarizing issue, there are many who are elated at this decision, and there are equally as many who are angry and/or frightened that this might be a huge mistake. But, no matter where you stand on the issue, our job as Christians is to keep our "minds on the concerns of God, [not] merely on human concerns."

No, this is not the blog post where you get to read Pastor Bryan talk about where he stands on this issue. That is not the purpose of this blog at all.

As your pastor, it is important for me to let you know where we should go as a Church. First and foremost, we should continue to Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples of Jesus Christ. After all, that is our mandate no matter what pandemic is occurring, or what social and political issues there are in the world.

I won't go into full detail here, but there is a movement in the church (I'm not talking about here in Llano, just in general) right now on how to do ministry in difficult times and in times of waiting. But the reality is, the church should have already been ready to deal with difficult times. After all, it was out of difficult times that the Church was created. We should be used to it by now. But we have become too comfortable...too much like the world, that when the rest of the world is running around like crazies, it is difficult to distinguish the church from the world. 

If you'll remember the reading from this past Sunday from the Common English Bible in Psalm 46: 10,

"That's Enough! (STOP IT)
Now know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted throughout the world!"

In other words, when the rest of the world is freaking out, we should be the the peace in people's lives, because we should have the peace of Christ living within us. We should be least concerned about the worldly things and the most concerned with the heavenly things.

I won't lie, I am frustrated. Not at mask mandates. Not at occupancy mandates,but at the lack of the conviction that the church has. I am frustrated at the fact that we have lost touch with the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so much so that we fear everything. I am frustrated at the fact that people think it necessary to call people out on Facebook because they believe something...EITHER WAY!

Who are we?

Who is our God?

Perhaps what we need is to hear Jesus say to us, "Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Ouch. That hurts.

Let us pray.

God forgive us. We have too often put our trust in the governments of this world, the platforms we have to speak from, even our churches as an organization. We have failed to be obedient to you, keeping our minds on the heavenly things instead of the things of this world.

Help us to focus ENTIRELY on you. Help us to be more like your Son, Jesus, every day. Sanctify us. Make us Holy. Give us clean hearts to do your will in the world.

In the name of Jesus we pray,
Amen.