Lent 3

“Is the Lord among us or not!” cried the children of Israel while they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They were hungry. They were thirsty. At least that had something when they were slaves in Egypt.

If God is with me why??? “It would be better if…”Sound familiar? especially when it seems things are not going your way.

St. Paul says “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

In the midst of your worldly sufferings, drink deeply of the stricken rock, Jesus Christ our Lord. In Him is the only true nourishment.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Lent 2

Born again. Right Jesus. You want me to get back into my mother’s belly and be born again. Wouldn’t that be silly? How could I even fit, I’m all grown up. As if being born once isn’t traumatic enough.

Jesus’ response to Nicodemus. “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

This being born again must be pretty important that Jesus would describe it and connect heaven to it! Water, Spirit, and heaven collide in Baptism. Out with the old birth, in with the new. The sinful child from conception is gone. The new man given birth in water and the Spirit, whether your 1 day or 100 years. With the new man comes heaven given to you. Thank you Jesus.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Lent 1

“The devil made me do it!” cries the child, trying to convince his parents why he shouldn’t be punished. Parents quickly see through that charade knowing that the only thing that made their child disobey was their own selfish desire to do what they should not do.

Temptations to do what we should not do abound. They come in forms as subtle as TV commercials and as blatant as friends saying, “c’mon give it a try.” Jesus as He walked this earth was not exempt from temptations. And He even had a batch handed out by the Devil himself.

Jesus overcame all of these temptations by using God’s Holy Word to live a spotless life in our place. When we succumb to our own temptations, cling to God’s Holy Word of promise of forgiveness of sins in Jesus death and resurrection.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, Nebraska. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Ash Wednesday

Even though we are in the midst of cold temperatures and snow, we are coming upon a dusty season. No, I’m not predicting another dry spring. Instead I am talking about the dusty season of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday.

God cursed our first parents Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, “for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We also live under that same curse. Ash Wednesday then is a reminder of our mortality caused by our first parent’s sin and yes even our own sin. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Death.

And God sent His Son, Jesus into the dust of our flesh so that the dusty mortal’s curse would be placed on Jesus, leaving us with His immortality.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, Nebraska, I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.