This Monday is Memorial Day.  Wikipedia, my go-to-source for all information (after the Bible of course), says that “Memorial Day is a US federal holiday wherein the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are remembered.”  In truth, I never really thought about this holiday, and always lumped it in with other random days off throughout the year.  And I doubt that I’m alone in these kinds of thoughts.  Does anyone even actually know what Labor Day commemorates?  Or Presidents’ Day?  In fact, why limit it to 1 day for all the presidents?  We should definitely have a separate day for Abraham Lincoln at least.  I mean, he abolished slavery and killed vampires!  Why should he get lumped in with scrubs like Franklin Pierce or Chester Arthur? (Thanks, Wikipedia!)  What an insult!
Despite being lumped in with other miscellaneous holidays, Memorial Day is absolutely different though.  There’s some real meaning behind this day.  While someone like me who doesn’t have any immediate family members in the military may not fully appreciate the weight of Memorial Day, at the least I can acknowledge that my life as I know it today would not be as it is without the ultimate sacrifice given by so many.  I will never understand and appreciate how someone who never knew me would willingly give his/her life for me.  While it may not have been a personal connection, rest assured, the sacrifice was immensely personal to him/her and his/her family.  If we don’t have the opportunity to personally thank a member of the armed forces today, church, let’s at least say a prayer for those we know and their families.  May God bring them all home safely.
The sacrifice of our soldiers reminds me so much of the sacrifice that Jesus made too.  The parallels are numerous: dying for those who didn’t/don’t/won’t appreciate you, bravely facing death when the opportunity to flee exists, sacrificing your life for the continued freedom of so many.  However, while we should undoubtedly remember what our soldiers have done for us on this Memorial Day, as Christians, every day should be spent thanking Jesus for the new life he’s given us through the cross and the resurrection.  Christ’s sacrifice is the reason we can live the lives of freedom, joy, revelation, and peace that God offers us every day.  His freely offered submission to death on a cross is the reason we are sitting here today under the grace of God.
In Galatians 2:20, Paul states, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Earlier, I mentioned how there is typically personal connection with the soldier who died for us.  But with Jesus, even as he was going to the cross, he knew us and loved us (John 17).  His connection with us was intimately personal.  And so, today, we thank you, Lord.  We remember what you’ve done on the cross.  And like Paul, we say let us live lives by faith in you.

From Pastor David’s Heart
May 25, 2014

Lots of babies being born lately. In the past year or so alone we’ve probably had at least a dozen or more newborn’s welcomed into this world in the English congregation alone. Our children are truly gifts and joyful blessings from God. But with parenting comes a great responsibility of raising them. There is a verse in today’s sermon passage about how we as Christians are storing up our inheritance in Christ by enduring the challenges in this lifetime. It got me thinking about inheritance and the “spiritual” inheritance we as parents are imparting upon our children in this life.
In our society inheritance is a firmly established custom and practice. Complex Wills & Estate laws exist to ensure and promote one’s ability to leave behind whatever material wealth one has amassed in life to one’s children and loved ones. It’s natural for a parent to want to provide a better future for their children than they had growing up. But as Christians there is the challenge of what we are bestowing upon our children in terms of our Christian Faith.
It’s fairly straightforward to assess whatever money and assets that remain after one’s death. Those materials things are carefully accounted for as the inheritance children receive. But in terms of spiritual inheritance, our individual Christian faith is not something that we can simply bottle up as an asset to be presented to our children after we pass on. The spiritual inheritance our children receive from us is a lifetime’s work of our love for the Lord expressed in our love for our children.
We receive unconditional love and forgiveness as children of God and yet condition our approval and acceptance of our children as we live vicariously through their successes and failures. God never required us to “earn” his love and acceptance. He just wants to have a relationship with us. We spend a lifetime killing ourselves amassing material things for the sake of providing for our children’s future security when what they needed most was to be loved. What they needed most was for us to stop for a moment and spend time with them as a witness of our love and faith in the Lord to provide all things.
One of my favorite passages is Psalm 127:1-7. Unless the Lord is present our labor is in vain. For

"It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
For he gives to his beloved sleep.”

From Pastor Mark’s Heart
May 18, 2014