Emmanuel Hudson

The Crown of Creation

To begin with I wonder on line if there are many folks who are otherwise bright people who never come to grips with the difference between the Creator and what he has created? Even a casual reading of the book of Genesis speaks simply and clearly to the point of origins: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1).  In that comprehensive phrase the answer to the question:"Where did all that we know come from?" is answered. There is a problem, however, that causes even the obvious to be denied, and that is the idea of accountability. (More on that later).

Looking at creation one can observe the various species and kinds, states of existance, environments and similar dissimilarities and come to the conclusion that of all that we can know there is one outstanding creature of all creation and that is mankind.

This drawing of man is called The Vetruvian depiction of man. It's purpose was to show a symmetry and balance between architectual details and the human body.

It is probably the most reproduced sketch of the human body among art.

When we ask the question "which is the foremost visible creature?, this piece of famous art comes to mind.

The emphasis in this sketch is on the human form and the relationships to distances, geometry, and architecture that one may observe.

The consideration of man's preeminent position among all creatures, visible and invisible becomes clear when we add the other two dimensions of mental and spiritual qualities. In the Bible we are told how God Himself especially formed his body, gave him a rational mind and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living spiritual being. Gen 2: 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

 Gen. 1:25-27  25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, {26 Hebrew; Syriac <all the wild animals>} and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

There is another question raised by those just mentioned: "What was the image of God?" The answer is twofold; A. That man knew God and was perfectly happy in such knowledge,Col. 3:10  10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 2. That man was perfectly holy and blessed. Eph. 4: 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The Bible talks about changes. The most important one for this discussion is the change between what God created mankind to be, and what mankind has chosen for himself to be. There is a marked difference between the two,  and it is obvious from the current state of affairs in this world that the former is much better than the latter.

In fact, we have changed so much that it is hard to find in mankind the residual evidence of God's image that consisted in pure holiness and righteousness. What man calls normal is obscene, corrupt, and evil to the very core. What we struggle against is our own choices, and not what God wants us to be...the Apostle Paul put it this way: Ro 7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing.

The power to change and to be the "crown of Creation" come from Jesus Christ. What is more He invites us all:  Matt. 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Please accept this invitation and be what God created you to be.

 

 

Aging changes everything

Just this last Sunday I had the privilege of baptizing a little girl. She was dressed by her mom in a traditional baptismal gown and had the cutest bonnet on her head to match. Well, don't you know I almost drowned the little one because as the bonnet was being removed my hand filled with water opened with a splash and, even though room temperature,  she was startled by the water and let out a squeal and a cough that startled everyone. She's fine and all dried off like the little lady in this picture.

Later in the afternoon I was making a few phone visitations and called a grandma who recently fell and cracked her pelvice. She had spent some time in the hospital and having  passed her ADL tests  was now staying with her daughter.  As we talked and I reminded her of God's love, she remarked that the ever-present Lord had made the difference in her life in all things up to this point in time. I mentioned the baptism to her and she remarked how almost everything had changed in her life over the years. Everything, that is, except for her faith and her awareness of God's present help in every age and stage of her very long life.

I thought I'd like to share her perspective with you and have you think comfortably about both of these folks. Keep them in your prayers, at least mention them both once, and thank the Lord for the way He is in your life through His word and the activities of His Son, Jesus.

Rally Day!

Planning...scheduling...preparing...taking action. There's no doubt that each day brings with it some of these, however, at this time of the year we are into the fourth phase: "taking action."

That's what this little note is all about. We'd like to have you take action by accepting our invitation to what we've chosen to call "Rally Sunday."

Plan to schedule yourself to attend our church services on Sunday, 9/07/08...you'll find things have changed quite a bit from the way things used to be done at Emmanuel. New people, new program, new attitudes, and special emphasis on how things may become new for you.

This blog will be kept current...we've improved and updated our web site, we have an improved TV presentation, and our worship and study format are planned to be kept refreshing and fluid so that you will find the presentation of the Christian Gospel engaging, interesting and right to the point.

If you are interested in information about our church or pre-school click here and you'll find all the answers you seek: www.emmanuelhudson.org.

When you stop by please introduce yourself and let's get to know each other.

Until I see you, God bless. Pastor Kogler

Kindness! A timeless notion for the here and now!

In a recent discussion about the content of the congregational newsletter I contribute to the matter of understanding "kindness" came up for consideration.

In the New Testament book 1 Corinthians 13: (The so-called 'LOVE' chapter) verse four reads: "Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy..." As a description of the characteristics of love as it applies to human relationships, the word "kind" is one that I have not heard used lately. Perhaps that is because kindness is something that is a demonstration of what one feels or believes rather than something that is talked about or discussed.

When asked to define kind or kindness words like sympathetic, friendly, gentle, generous, tenderhearted are used. What does kindness look like? Here is a picture that captivates the notion of gentleness for sure, but, perhaps even a photo won't do as well as the image that may come to mind when we hear the word kindness itself.

Random acts of kindness flow from hearts and minds that have been touched by a love outside of themselves. As Christians we are reminded of the many acts of kindness performed by Jesus as he healed, taught, and extended himself as the Savior for mankind.

Perhaps this little reminder will prompt you to think kindly of someone, or even to show kindness because you know the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are reminded in the Bible: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another, By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35).

Think of how you may surprise someone with an act of kindness...Jesus did.

Lifelong learning challenges

The other day I had the opportunity to speak to young woman about some problems she was having with her boy friend. In the discussion it became clear that she had more problems than she had first indicated. So I suggested that maybe we should slow down, plan some get togethers, and see if we could sort things out.

She agreed and we are in the midst of those visits. It has already become clear to her, through self examination, that there were really important principles that she had forgotten, and there were some more things that she had never come to understand from her study of the Bible up to this point. One of those areas of lack of knowledge had to do with the very basic and fundamental idea about the importance of the Bible.  At one point in her conversation she even asked: "Why do we need the Bible anyway?"

If I hadn't been in the ministry for more than a few years I think I would have been blown away by that question, but, what I've come to know over the years is that sometimes there is such a lack of knowledge about Christianity even among those who call themselves Christians that such basic questions need to be reviewed and answered again and again.

In a discussion such as this I'd like to emphasize the importance of life-long learning, while at the same time giving a brief answer to the question itself.

Because we change every day, and because there are so many things that come to us though the many and various forms of communication and learning, we may find ourselves not being able to remember the details of new information, much less recall what we heard about the new or different idea at all. At the same time as we mature we grow, not only physically, but in our life experience and skill sets, so each day we may see things differently than we once did. So it is really important to continue to grow and mature intellectually and academically throughout our lives.

About the question asked by our young lady, "Why do we need the Bible." there are a few things to hear and learn so that we may remain fresh in our understanding of the reasons for using, studying, and applying the Scriptures to our every day lives.

I'll begin this discussion today and continue to add further blogs along the way. At the same time I invite you to join in by adding your comments, raising questions and offering suggestions that may come to mind.

We need the Bible so that we may know that there is a God and who He is.

There are really only two sources for knowledge: 1) that which we have by nature, 2)that knowledge that is revealed to us. Of the two sources, the Bible is the latter one. Here as an example we'll see how the Bible answers the question: How do we know there is a God?

Let me offer three points.

• The Bible tells us "For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything." The phrase 'every house is built by someone' is the major statement that is laying the groundwork for simple logic. If every house is built by someone, and houses exist all over the place, then it is reasonable to conclude that there is a builder of houses (or many of them). Since no man is capable of building the earth, then it is only logical that there must be a creator of the earth.
• Psalm 19:1-4 The Psalmist emphasizes how all the heavenly bodies tell all men that there is a God. Note especially verse 1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
• Psalm 14:1. "The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'"

We know, therefore that there is a God from the things he created. Think about how much is said, written and theorized to get us to forget or overlook so obvious a truth. We need the Bible to reaffirm what we know to be true even without it. The next question that needs some thought is: Just who is this creator God? That's for next time.

Property and Business!

When one looks at the progression of the 10 commandments the system of organization could be divided into three. 1. The first three commandments deal with man's relationship to God. 2. The second set of three deal with the sanctity of God-established estates and human relationships, 3. the final set of four serve as guides, mirrors and rules for daily living.

The 7th Commandment begins this 3rd set by addressing matters of Property and Business.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

What does this mean?

Luther explains that "we should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or goods, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business."

Not only does this commandment sound strange to us, but it appears impossible to keep. With it God forbids every kind of robbery, theft, and fraud, as well as "sinful" longing for anything that belongs to our neighbor.

In a recent comment on Digg, and on-line gathering place for current popular topics a comment was made that indicates how the standards of the 7th commandment are badly needed in America. “Our law enforcement resources are seriously misaligned,” NBC/Universal general counsel said. “If you add up all the various kinds of property crimes in this country, everything from theft, to fraud, to burglary, bank-robbing, all of it, it costs the country $16 billion a year. But intellectual property crime runs to hundreds of billions..."

Not only does the bible forbid these crimes against property, but it has the positive side of requiring those who claim to be Christians that they should live differently. As self directed spirits that have been moved to use the Bible as a source book to everyday living we should 1. help our neighbor to improve and protect his property and business, 2. we should help him in every need, and 3. we should rejoice when we see him prosper.

One of the most important elements of our church is that we frequently examine our lives on the basis of the scripture. This is done through public sermons, public bible classes and personal bible information classes and counseling. Please join us on Sundays and Wednesdays for the opportunity to gain contemporary insights to Christian living.

Rally Day!

The other day I was visiting with my wife about the start-up of school and what that meant to us at this point in our lives.  We were talking about how things have changed in education over the years, and wondered out loud if we could make a list of the good and of the bad.

No sooner had we begun to verbalize our points of view than a news piece came on TV that promised to give special insight to the matter of school startup, and matters of discipline, extra-curricular activities, and home work.

I wondered out loud about home work as it relates to learning about God, church and the bible. It seems to me that with each passing year there is less and less emphasis being placed on learning things "by heart" and more interest in teaching the children to "conceptualize." The problems that I have with the latter is that before one can relate ideas to one another, one has to have some knowledge base, experiential, or learned by memory, upon which to build concepts. It's like the basics of math, for example: to be able to add, subtract, multiply or divide you have to know what a unit or a number is.

So in the understanding of religion and its many concepts, a person needs to know basic things about themselves, and the world around them, as well as have some knowledge about how one may express or share ideas about God.

That's one of the reasons we have spent so much time with teaching vocabulary, or special "church words", encourage regular reading of the bible, and, yes, even assign memory work. And this brings up the importance of regular worship, Bible Study Class, Sunday School, and confirmation instruction. They are all various ways, formats, environments and programs of learning what God has said about himself so that we may get to know him. For these reasons, we encourage everyone, not only the youth, who may be interested in learning more aobut our Church and what it believes, teaches and confesses to stop by on Sunday morning, or give us a call any other time of the week, to learn further about the opportunities we offer for learning about self, our environment, and God.

On Sunday, in fact, September 9, Sunday and Bible Class begin. First we have a worship service from 9-10, then we have a little break for fellowship, then, about twenty minutes after 10, we gather the children for Sunday School, and the Adults gather for Bible Study (...the high school youth have their own study time and subjects) and for about an hour everyone has the opportunity to learn and grow in their knowledge of God and His Word. If you are the least bit interested, please do not hesitate to stop in, everyone is welcome.

Please give us a call if you have questions: (651)283-9876 Pastor's mobile phone. 1-715-386-9851.Will get you to the church office and/or our voice messaging system. (Look up in the Bible John 3:16 and commit it to memory)

Pastor Kogler

Come grow with us!

Wednesdays are my favorite days...they represent the middle! Usually I've dealt with the matters of the first half of the week, and with Wednesday comes the opportunity to move forward to the new opportunities that the Lord places before me (us!).

Yesterday was no different! In terms of things personal I was happy to have my wife come home from the lake. She accuses me of base motives for my response because it means I'll have her around to cook for me...even though that may be true to a certain extent, the main reason is that she's my life partner and when she's not close by, I have a hard time focussing on the matters at hand.

As far as ministry is concerned yesterday saw me working with Barb Doty as we made senior visits at CCH in Hudson. Not only did we visit long time friends, share the Gospel, and offer the sacrament, we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with several new acquaintances.

The time spent making visits flew by, and too soon it was time to get ready for our family forum/VBS evening at church. It included a trip to the store, getting the lesson material set up, and making final preparations in the kitchen for our hungry families and individuals that would soon appear.

The family meal that was set before us included some truly tasty home made soups, salads, sandwiches, fruit, bars, and some really speacial cookies. It was awesome! After supper we spent some time singing, praying, and viewing a short video, then we divided the rest of our time between VBS students taking their flight on EagleExpress 4031 and our adult level forum discussiion. The adults re-gathered in the fellowship room to continue our summertime series of sharing Jesus forums. The topics discussed so far have had quite a range, but last night, through the efforts of Kevin R. and Matthew  W. our presentation was enhanced by a live, wireless connection to the internet that really drove home our discussion of Cyber God and internet church.  as a part of our discussion we charted our outreach efforts as a congregation and saw how having an internet presence is definitely a part of our plan to share the message of the Gospel with the community and the world around us.

Cyber God - Internet Church

With all the things that are being said about the internet and its use today, there is a natural question about how the church  might use the medium in its work of extending the Gospel. According to a Washington Post article "Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them" 07/09/06 by Megan Greenwell WP Staff writer several good points are made that give us a guide as we look at the next few months of communicating with the world out there.

One of the most important pieces has to do with keeping in touch with members and friends in the way they are used to communicating. "As a pastor, I shouldn't be just leading a church but connecting with people using the same formats they use everyday, "  Blogging is "a form that's successful because it corresponds with how younger generations think."

It's no longer enough for a lot of people to get the church's mailing, read the Web site, and sit in the pew for an hour on Sunday."  "They might know there was a mission trip last week, but with a blog, they can read about the day-to-day details, see pictures, and feel like they're part of something."

That's why I'm laying the ground work for reaching into the congregation and the community by having as a part of our summer time series of sharing Jesus a forum on "Cyber God - internet church."

Just last night, as I watched the children in our VBS program walking by the cookie counter, I wondered how many of them have access to the internet and how many of their older brothers and sisters visit withtheir friends, or if their parents use the internet for more than email and making an occassional purchase. To find out, I'll be doing some home spun research and then begin by gathering current email addresses to be able to send the address (link) of our blog to them so they can link up...

My wife and I will be traveling to AK this next week and hope to see some live examples of this photo...if I have the good fortune of finding a cyber coffee shop I'll try to send you a picture of a mountain or a bear... maybe even a fish, or a picture of the church on Kodiak Island... Stay tuned.

Pastor Kogler

Attitudes about Prayer

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There are two thoughts that come to mind as we discuss prayer. One is that of relationships,and the other is about our attitude. In both cases we are guided by the words of God in the bible. We read in 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God." When Jesus tells us to address God as "Our Father in heaven," he wants us to remember that by faith God is our true Father and that we are his true children. As the "children of God" through faith in Jesus we become part of God's spiritual family. Because of our relationship to God through Christ, we have an attitude about prayer and about God that gives us a confidence and boldness that leads us to frequently and consistently offer our prayers to Him. Two bible passages guide us here; Romans 8:15 tells us: "You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." And again in the book of Ephesians, chapter 3:12 tells us: "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."

It is through faith in Jesus that we may lay hold to the invitation of God that tells us: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)

What that means for us and our everyday lives is wonderfully clear: We may with confidence and boldness prayer to the almighty God through faith in Jesus Christ.

We include prayers in our church services as a regular part of the liturgy. We encourage parents to teach their children to pray beginning with such prayers that thank God for his providential care, we learn to begin and end each day with expressions of thanks and praise, we ask God to help us and others with the difficulties that may have come into their or our lives, in fact, we talk to God through prayer no matter when it is, where we are, and what the subject of our prayers might be. We do that as though we are speaking to our fathers.

Here is a little prayer that we have our children learn to pray each night before they fall asleep. 

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, this I ask for Jesus' sake." Amen.

Next time I plan to continue the discussion about prayer by looking at the First petition of the Lord's prayer. "Hallowed be your name."

If, meanwhile, you have any questions and/or thoughts about this post or others on this blog, please don't hesitate to comment back, and, I will try to answer you as soon as possible. If you want to keep your questions private you may send a personal note to me at kogler@comcast.net or give me a call on the phone: (651-283-9876... my mobile number).

Pastor Kogler