Pastor Scott's Musings

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.  (2nd Peter 3:9) Peter's second New Testament letter deals with false teachers negatively affecting the Church. It seems the major issue is lax morality, a desire to seek personal pleasure, rather than seek God's holiness. Whereas his first letter was more about suffering persecutions from outsiders, this letter is about internal threats to proper doctrine and order for the community that follows Christ. In the opening to the second letter, Peter reminds the Church that through God's divine power we have everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of God in Christ. (2nd Peter 1:3) Through God's goodness and glory, shared with us through faith in Christ, we are enabled to participate in God's divine nature. I interpret that to be the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, for in the Spirit w...

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  (1st John 3:16) We all are familiar with John 3:16, the gospel in a sentence. Traditionally speaking, the youngest of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, John the brother of James, a son of Zebedee, and Galilean fisherman, wrote 5 of the New Testament books. John wrote one gospel narrative on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, three letters to churches of Jesus Christ, and one apocalypse. The apocalypse is a revealing of hidden truths and things to come. The second and third letter of John are only one chapter, some of the shorted books in the Bible. 2nd John is only 13 verses in length. 3rd John is 24 verses long. Biblical scholars are not in full agreement that John wrote the apocalypse, because the style of writing is so different. And the letters attributed to John are thought, by some scholars, to be the work of disciples who...

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (1st John 4:16) I went to a retreat one weekend with a retired pastor leading our sessions. As the weekend was wrapping up, I walked up to the pastor to express my thanks for his leadership. As we talked the topic drifted to some of the things he was passionate about. He was especially passionate about people in our society who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation. He has a daughter who is lesbian. As he spoke I sensed his compassion for her pain. His own pain became apparent as he looked at me with tears and asked, "Why do we make it so hard?" "Why can't we simply choose to love?" "The greatest theological statement in all of scripture is so clear and simple" he said, "God is love." I've never forgotten that conversation. Even now I can sense his voice saying "God is love", as if it were the most important words he should ever sp...

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.  But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a...

And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:8-13) In John's account of the Last Supper, Jesus is with his disciples having a meal together near the Passover. During the meal Jesus announces that he is going away and where he is going, they cannot follow him. They are, of course, sad and troubled by the news. Jesus consoles his disciples by telling them that they will receive another like him, The Holy Spirit. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I...

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) The last verses of Matthew's gospel are known as the Great Commission within the Church. Jesus gave these instructions, indeed this missional call, to His followers before He ascended in glory back to the heavenly realm. The disciples had seen Jesus risen and alive again after his death and burial. The tomb was empty! The Lord ate with them. Talked with them. They were invited to touch his wounds. They were restored in their utter devastation, grief and fear. In their joy some still doubted, finding it all hard to believe. (Luke 24:41)  But what now? With Jesus alive surely he would take the throne as Israel'...

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”   (Matthew 22:35-40) We have a way of choosing key scripture passages and giving them a name. The Ten Commandments are never called the Ten Commandments in scripture. We placed that title upon the Decalogue. The Beatitudes are not called the Beatitudes either. And Jesus never gave us the Great Commandment. That's our title. He merely quoted what he believed to be, along with many other Jews, the heart of the Law of Moses. An expert in the Law of Moses was testing Jesus in order to discredit him before the crowds that came to hear him speak. He hoped to find some error i...

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) The Apostle John contributes four of the books of the New Testament. Some argue, from a traditional understanding, that the Apocalypse of John (Aka The book of Revelation) is also by the young apostle whom Jesus loved. Most scholars consider that book to be by a different John, a bishop to Asia Minor and suffering exile under Roman oppression.  The first letter of John is a short five chapters and loaded with memorable verses and great theology. John is the one who coined the phrase, "God is love." (1st John 4:8, 16) He is the one who defines agape love.  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  (1st John 3:16) It is John who says that a full and complete love (or a perfect love) casts ...

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God,  and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  (John 17:3) When you hear of eternal life, what comes to mind? Might it be white puffy clouds, golden streets, pearly gates and questions from St. Peter? Perhaps it's all your loved ones who have died together again. Maybe it's a brilliant throne with Jesus coming to greet you in a hug. We all have something in mind for the next life.  But did you realize that eternal life is defined very clearly in the gospel of John? It comes in the opening of Jesus' high priestly prayer.  Let's first acknowledge the words eternal life comes from the Greek words aiōnios zōē . It is life that is without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. That sounds like life in the new creation. God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed a...