But it is also a time to look back over Jesus’ teachings and words and to try to make them more real in our hearts. One verse in particular comes to mind as I experience Holy Week in the year 2010. John 15:9 (NIV): “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

Remaining in his love seems to be hard to do in this world. On the television news I see bombings in Russia, or read about gunfire between Palestinian militia and Israeli soldiers, or strife between tribes in Africa. Many people have opinions on these events – especially the situation in the Holy Land – about who is right and who is wrong, about who is justified in their actions and who should face charges. But I think we are looking at this the wrong way. I think we should not worry about who is right and remember that we are all the children of God, and thus family. Jesus Christ died and came back to life for all of us, because he loved all of us. He knew that it would be difficult as he prayed at Gathsemane – he even asked that the cup be taken from his lips (Matthew 26:39) – but yet he did it. He did not worry about who was righteous, who deserved his sacrifice, because he knew that none of us were worthy of his gift. But he loved us, and so went through with it, and gave us everlasting life, the very thing we celebrate receiving every Easter.

And so, 2000 years later, I think of his gift, and I think of his words spoken to us in John, and I try to remain in his love. But more, I pray during this most holy of weeks that others will join me, that others will love their brothers and sisters as Jesus loved them, without regard to grievances or justifications. I pray that for one day at least we may see peace all over this war-torn world. That is what I pray for this Easter Sunday.

God bless you all, and may peace find you wherever you are.

Sean Nonn

Esau was the firstborn twin, and traditionally, the elder son would receive the lion’s share of the inheritance. But as we know, that was not what happened. God did not want it to happen, it would seem, and as we often find in the Bible (and I would add, right up to our time), he used the people and their cultures to accomplish what he wanted, even when those people did not always perform his tasks in the most righteous of ways. God is steadfast and true, but we are not, something that becomes painfully obvious as the story of Jacob and Esau unfolds.

Early on, Esau was forced to give up the older son’s share of the inheritance to Jacob in order to receive nourishment when he was starving (Genesis 25:19-34), and later, he was tricked out of God’s blessing by his mother and brother working together (Genesis 27:1-40). Esau was angered, dispirited, and anguished by these events, and even vowed to kill his brother for what had been done to him. But Jacob was warned of this by their mother, and sent off to his mother’s family in Haran, where he would be safe. Jacob lived there for many years, and went through a number of hardships and trials of his own. But eventually, he had to return to the land where his father had lived, the Promised Land, and it was on this return trip that something momentous happened.

You would think, when the reunion came between Esau and Jacob, that Esau would still hold his grudge, and would try to accomplish his vow. That was what Jacob thought, at any rate, for he sent gifts ahead on the return trip, and felt great trepidation when his brother arrived with four hundred men (Genesis 33:1-3). But what happened next was very different than what Jacob had anticipated:

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept (Genesis 33:4).

In the end, Esau let go of his grudge, and showed his brother love, regretting all the years lost. He forgave his brother, even when Jacob himself did not believe he deserved it. In this way, he acted much like God did for us, when God forgave us our sins, through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ, even though we do not deserve it.

As Christians, we should hold this story dear to our hearts. When a slight is perceived, when our anger cries out for vengeance, we should remember what Esau did, even when such a great thing as God’s blessing had been stolen from him, and do the same. We should rise above the evil that was done to us, and show the true spirit of Christianity: forgiveness and love.

Peace be with you, my friends.

The Holiday season is over. Christmas has come and gone, with all the joy it brings – celebrating the birth of Christ, visiting family, giving and receiving presents. Even New Year’s Day is now in the rear view mirror, and though it is not a Christian holiday, it does seem to mark the end of the Christmas season. When it is over, Christmas finally seems to be done. The days after the First of January will see most begin the process of taking down the trappings of Christmas. Christmas trees and their decorations will be packed up. Favorite holiday movies and CD’s will be filed away for another year. The last of the Christmas goodies will be eaten. And while many a child will still spend time playing with their new toys, adults will once again fall into the routine of their everyday lives, letting Christmas and how it makes them feel fade away from their mind.

My sisters and brothers, that is something we should not do. It is, after all, one of the main points that Ebenezer Scrooge learned in “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, that one must keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year around, not just on Christmas day and the weeks leading up to it. The things that many do during Christmas time – giving a little more to charities and the church, being a secret Santa for impoverished children, volunteering time – are all very good. They are things that we should be doing; a thanksgiving of sorts in celebration for what God the Son did for us by coming into this world. But we must not think that once Christmas leaves our work is done. There are still people in need during January, February, and so on. There are still missions that need our time, talents, and treasures in order to reach their intended goals. We are still disciples of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who has commanded us to share with those less fortunate than ourselves.

So let Christmas remain in our hearts, infusing our actions and deeds. Let it be said of us just as it was of Mr. Scrooge at the end of the classic tale, that we know how to keep the spirit of Christmas alive every day of the year, not just on the Twenty-fifth of December.

Peace be with you, my friends.

And with that thought, the thought of family, we come to the main reason why I love Thanksgiving so, because to me, more than any other holiday, Thanksgiving is about family.  When my wife and I wake up that morning, we pack the care with food and treats, and then head to grandmother’s house, or my parents’ house, or my mother-in-law’s, looking forward to seeing family members we may have not visited with since last Thanksgiving. When we get there, we eat and drink and talk and laugh, and really just commune with each other. Before we begin dinner, my family has a tradition. As we sit around the table, we each take a moment to mention one thing we are thankful for from the year that will soon come to a close.

It is in those moments, when I listen to what others have to say and I prepare for my turn, that I realize how blessed I am. I have a family that loves me, a wonderful wife, food on the table, and my health. I have a home to shelter me and an income from my profession that is supplying more than I need. I am a wealthy man – not in the context of Bill Gates, but by the standards of most in this world.

And that brings me to my final reflection this holiday season. There are many in this world who are not in my place. They do not have a family to visit during Thanksgiving, or food to put on the table, or a roof over their heads. They worry about scraping by for another day, not what restaurant to have dinner at on Friday night, or movie they want to see at the theater on the weekend. They have not been blessed in the material things of this world.

Often I ask myself why I have been given so much, when so many others have been given so little, people no less worthy than I. Then I think about how Jesus spent many a sermon preaching about helping others, and demonstrated the same with his own actions. That is when I realize that my line of thinking is wrong. It is not important to ask why some of us have more than we need while many others have less. What should be asked is: What should I do with the blessings I have received when so many in the world have need?

And is that not a perfect question to reflect upon in connection with a holiday using the words ‘thanks’ and ‘giving’ in its name?

Peace be with you, my friends.

Sean Nonn

For me (and I am sure for a lot of writers), a writer’s block does not mean that I cannot write. Once I get started, I can usually get something done. Sometimes it turns out even better than the pieces I write when the creative juices are flowing. Oh, but sitting down, getting those first words typed, that is the hard part. I feel as if I have no ideas, that there is too much to accomplish, that my time would be better spent on another project. Other times, I sit before the computer and do nothing but stare at the blank screen, my mind groping with futility for an idea. Finding nothing that seems to work, I eventually walk away in disgust.

This was the state I was in for the last few weeks. I felt that the task was too large for me, that I could never produce blogs on a regular basis. But eventually I realized that the problem was with the way I was looking at it. I was not trying to write stories or poems, after all, where I would need to rely on my own creativity. I was trying to write thoughts and musings inspired by the Holy Spirit. I was in fact in a situation much like Moses when he received God’s command at the burning bush. God told him to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery. How did Moses respond? He said, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Like me, he felt unworthy to accomplish such a task. He even continued to give excuses, no matter the assurances of God (Exodus 3:11 – 4:17). But in the end, he did as God commanded, and would eventually become the great leader of Israel that he was always meant to be.

Now, I am well aware that writing Lutheran Musings is not on the same level as bringing the tribes of Israel out of Egypt, but there was a lesson for me to learn here. I realized that if I stopped worrying so much about the task at hand and how to accomplish it, and trusted that God would help me when I had need, I would get the train chugging along the tracks once again. In other words, if I put my faith in God, the task would get accomplished. Now, isn’t that an interesting concept?

Peace be with you, my friends.

These parables show both action and commitment. It takes nurturing, hard work, and skill to get a crop to grow bountifully, or to help an apple tree produce big juicy apples. Likewise, it takes nurturing, hard work, and skill for Christians to complete the work that God has asked of us. But it also takes love, a love that is willing to put others first. “Love each other as I have loved you,” Jesus commanded in the Gospel of John (John 15:12). That is a powerful and life altering statement, because the love that Jesus showed was a love of sacrifice for the benefit of humankind. He gave up his life so that we would not lose ours. How is it, you may wonder, that we can demonstrate such a love? How can we be the tree that bears good fruit?

In the end, it becomes a question of stewardship. We do not need to give up our lives for the benefit of others, but we should and must give up some of our time, talents, and treasures for the benefit of others. This is a hard thing, I know. I struggle with this idea constantly. A part of me wants to help those in need, to give all that I can to make my brothers and sisters in the world a little happier, to make their lives a little easier. But then there is a part of me that wants to keep the gifts that I have, to use them for my own pleasure and no one else’s. “I give enough,” that part of me says. “I gave to a charity last week. I helped out with that church ministry the week before. Let someone else step up to the plate this time. This is mine – my time, my money. It is my right to keep this portion for my own benefit if I want to.” And there is the rub. When I start believing that the things I have, the money in my bank account, is something that I earned with no one’s help, I forget that my very being, the skills that I was born with, came from the Creator of all things. When I follow this line of thought, I start believing that these earthly treasures are something to be hoarded, not gifts to be shared. I start putting my faith and trust in them. I begin to believe that they will secure my future, not God. In affect, I make an idol of them, for as Jesus warned, “where your treasure is, your heart will be also” (Luke 12:33-35).

An exercise that helps me with this struggle is to visualize the time when I leave this world. I will stand before Jesus, who will come to me and hug me like a brother, because I have put my faith in him, and so have been saved. Then he will turn, asking me to join him, and we will begin walking through a garden. There will be trees, plants, and bushes in the garden, and paths to walk upon, made of crushed pebbles. As we walk, he will look at all the fruits and vegetables, and he will decide if they are good or bad. After he is done, when he has gazed upon everything, he will turn to me and tell me what he found, because the garden we walked through is mine, it is the produce of my life.

I think of this vision, and I wonder – will Christ be happy or sad? Will he talk to me in a voice of sternness or gentleness? Will he be disappointed in me, or supportive in what I tried to accomplish? These are questions we all need ask ourselves, as we continue to work on our gardens, preparing for the day when we present them to the Master Gardener who trained us.

Peace be with you, my friends.

Well, my friend no longer feels that way about church, but I do believe there are many out there who do. You may know the people I am talking about; those who go to church and act as if it is some kind of social club. They go every Sunday, visit their friends, chat about the past week’s events, and feel good because they believe in Jesus and his saving Grace. But once they leave, they fall back into the secular world they live in, not much different than those around them. You would have no idea that they are Christians by their actions and deeds.

I do not think that this is what Jesus Christ had in mind when he started his church. Did he not say, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23&24). This does not sound to me like he planned on starting a social club or car wash.

Martin Luther understood this. His first theses addressed this very subject, because in his day, just like in ours, there were many who believed that going to service was enough, that going through the motions was all you needed. To them, it was the ceremony and not the power behind it that was important. And thus Martin Luther began his Ninety-five Theses, his attack on the institution of indulgences, with: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

His message, then and now, is clear. God does not want one day a week, but all the days of our week. We should be noticeable to those we work and socialize with. It should not be hard to tell we are Christians. It is by our actions and deeds, by showing compassion, charity, and love, that we best spread the Good News. That is, after all, the cross that Jesus has asked us to bear.

Peace be with you, my friends.

]]> http://seannonn.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/sunday-service-is-not-a-car-wash/feed/ 0 faithinbrookfield http://seannonn.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/welcome/ http://seannonn.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/welcome/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:31:07 +0000 faithinbrookfield http://seannonn.wordpress.com/?p=6 ]]> “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

This quote was the first of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, written in 1517. It was his opening salvo, if you will, in which he hoped to start a theological discourse for the betterment of the Church. Well, I doubt it turned out the way he had hoped, what with the fracturing of Christianity into oft-wrangling denominations. Still, in my humble and optimistic opinion, I believe it was an ingenious way to begin a theological discussion. It propelled forward the Christian faith, mostly for the good, and so I have decided to use it as the launching point for my blog. 

Who am I, you ask? That is a fair question. My name is Sean Nonn. I am a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Brookfield, active in a number of our ministries, and most relevant to our discussion, a Bible study leader and a confirmation teacher. In other words, I am often pouring over the Bible with study tools in hand. At times, I come across something in my studies that sends me thinking in a new direction, one that may not fit the focus and scope of the class I am preparing. Those are thoughts I would like to share with you, along with the pieces of Scripture and bits of the Lutheran confessional documents that helped give such musings life.

But this will be a discussion, not a place where I lecture. After all, this is a blog, designed for the reader to give their comments. In truth, I have found that I learn best during class, when those I am leading speak their thoughts, sparking conversations that often shed a new light on the subject before us. In those moments, the Holy Spirit touches us, strengthening as it deepens our Christian foundation, helping to push us forward into the work that God wishes us to do. Is that not what Jesus spoke of in Luke’s Gospel? “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built” (Luke 6:47-49).

So I am asking you to take this ride with me, to join in the conversation. And I am asking this of all of you, those from different denominations, those who question their faith, those from different faiths, even those who have little faith at all. If we work together, are honest and respectful of each other, I bet we’ll build a few houses along the way.

I am ready, are you?

Peace be with you, my friends. Next time we will revisit my opening quote, and discover what it can mean for us today.