Farewell, Pastor Wuest

Today was a sad day as Pastor Paul Wuest, our interim pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, left our family to make room for our new pastor, Pastor Peterson. Pastor Wuest – shown below with our president at his farewell presentation – was one of the factors that drew us to Faith Lutheran Church, and reminded both Tracy and I of another pastor we both loved and admired, Pastor Mark Heilman at Ames Memorial Lutheran Church who also married Tracy and I.

We wish Pastor Wuest well and pray he finds a new church home in the community, and hope to see him bless our Faith Lutheran Church family again some day.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Tracy and I got back from Christmas Eve service a little while ago – always my favorite of the year because of the good news and because of the traditional Christmas songs. And please don’t ever say "Xmas" because Christmas is about Christ – not Santa nor evergreens, but about His message that was His life.

 

So while you’re celebrating with family and friends remember the true meaning of Christmas and may the Holy Spirit fill you with peace and love that is also part of the holidays.

 

 

By the way, Tracy and I ordered a web camera to keep in touch with family and friends, more specifically because we got my brother one for Christmas. Ours isn’t here yet, but will be soon I suspect. If you have a broadband or3G dial-up connection and a web camera look Tracy or I up on MSN Messenger and we’ll see you then!

Movie Review: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Tracy and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and it was very well done, from the special effects to the directing to the acting. The one thing I noticed was that the lion and the events had very deep Christian similarities.

 

Warning: spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know about some of the events that comprise the ending you probably shouldn’t read on. Go see the movie. If you don’t mind the spoilers, I encourage you to read on and think about what I have written below as you watch the movie.

 

The lion was a wise teacher and he sacrificed himself willingly for the treachery – the sins – of one of the children. The two girls wept over him but as they turned to leave there was an earthquake and a breaking sound. When they turned the stone on which evil bound and killed the lion was cracked and the bounds were broken. The lion then appeared with the sun blindingly behind him looking quite majestic. When he returned and defeated the witch that had spread evil over the land he stayed for a short time and left. Those who knew him sell said one day he would return, just as Christ will return one day.

 

One of the boys was much like Judas and doubting Thomas, though all of the children but the youngest had doubts at first. Unlike Judas, however, the boy did not kill himself but more like Thomas was forgiven and set at peace.

 

I didn’t really know if the similarities were intentional or coincidence, or even if they were intended were just ripped off from the New Testament. After all, the history of Christ and his teachings is, as such a movie is entitled, the greatest story ever told. This morning in church there was information about the movie in our bulletin and they were even showing the movie in our church later this week. While www.narniaresources.com dances around the issue (leave it to Disney) an article published in Christian News and even Disney as cited in the article confirm that in 1961 C.S. Lewis sent a letter to a reader confirming that the lion does, in fact, represent Christ.

 

Think about this and Christ’s sacrifice out of love for us when watching the movie. It is a good movie with a great message.

Portrayal of Christianity in the News

Why is it that religious wackos claiming to be Christians are portrayed in the news or in TV shows and movies? KING 5 news – our local regurgitater of NBC news – did a story on such a group. It’s crap like this that I think turns more people to atheism or solidifies atheists’ claims.

 

Over the course of the week such perversions have been shown frequently to the point it almost seems planned, as though some group some where fears answering to a Higher Power and wants to make sure people are complacent in their debauchery.

 

Many of these groups are not, in fact, Christian. Even those on the border typically only focus on one aspect of Christ’s teachings and fail to miss the bigger picture, than forgiveness is a gift and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and believe in Christ and love God. These two New Testament laws are not so much new laws over the Ten Commandments but sum up those 10 Commandments of the Old Testament.

 

So many times such self-proclaimed Christian cults use fear or just make up their own laws that have little or no context in the Bible, or even take something from the Bible out of context and, of course, the media – be it news media or the "entertainment" industry – is more than happy to pick up on it.

 

Whether you’re a child of God or haven’t been introduced to God’s love through Christ Jesus, don’t let your views on Christianity be perverted by what you see on television. What the story linked about details is not founded in Christianity at all and is a sin. Millions of God-loving and God-fearing Christians are not that way and are just as horrified as anyone should be.