hacked by jester & TrazerLaNeT
Pastor Jay says... hacked by jester &TrazerLaNeT
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Are there aliens in the bible like the one from Bugs Bunny?
Pastor Jay says... Funny, you should ask! There is a cult in the United States, France and Canada that does believe that most of what we read in the bible is the result of extra-terrestrial life. They believe Moses and Jesus were aliens. The reason they were able to do the amazing things they did was through their technology. They say Jesus was raised by his friends in a space ship and did not ascend into heaven but was beamed into the space ship much like Captain Piccard would beam back to the Enterprise. The cult has taken many different forms, the most recent being the Raeliens who have made news by their claim to have cloned a human. Although their claim was later debunked (shown it was not true), it reminds us what Jesus tells us in Matthew 24, to be careful when anyone says, “Look here is the messiah” so that we are not led astray.
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Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?
Pastor Jay says... Of course they did. Eve had an innie and Adam had an outie. However, they won’t tell me how they got them. I think they felt like they didn’t fit in and so the asked God nicely and at last they got belly buttons. God saw it and said it was good.
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Do Lutherans believe in reincarnation?
Pastor Jay says... only of a sort. In the traditional Buddhist sense of reincarnation, people relive lives over and over as they approach a heightened sense of awareness until they are enlightened. They then have a choice to remain here and guide others as a boddhisatva or to enter into Nirvana, eternal consciousness. The word “reincarnate” means literally to re-make. As Christians, we say that when we die, we die. All life is gone. But through Christ we are remade in the image of God. We are reincarnated in a way, remade but not in an ever-increasing level of awareness, but only once and for all. We are remade to love and worship God free from sin. We do not ascribe to living many lives over and over, but are created uniquely once, destroyed by our sin, reborn in waters and continually being remade, reincarnated, until God comes in glory to reconcile the world and we are fully formed again in the image of God.
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Does the devil exist?
Pastor Jay says... If we were to believe in God, the ultimate sign of love and good in the universe, it is possible to believe that there is an opposite of this. Scripturally the devil is seen in many different ways. In the Old Testament Satan is a worker for God, an eternal prosecuting attorney whose job it was to seek out and find wrongdoers to bring to God’s attention. This figure evolved into what we see today, a sign of evil, a face on all that people do wrong. Does the devil exist as a red pitchfork-bearing demon? Maybe, but we can be more sure that we see the devil whenever we see evil- in the empty faces of holocaust victims, in the angry rhetoric of hate groups, or whenever someone says, “God couldn’t love that person.” Only the devil could make such a claim on these details.
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Does the ELCA believe the bible is the infallible word of God?
Pastor Jay says... The key word in your statement is “infallible.” As it is defined in theological circles, infallible means that we believe every word is true with no error in theology or historical detail. The Missouri Synod Lutheran Church would affirm this. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) would say we believe in the inspired word of God. Scripture is inspired (in-SPIRIT) to teach and guide the faithful. We believe every piece of the bible teaches us about grace given to us by God through the merit of Christ. We do not believe that scripture necessarily needs to be historically accurate in order to do this. For instance, we believe the book of Jonah is a parable meant to teach us about the mercy, love, and abundant grace of God and it is not necessary to have Jonah swallowed by a whale in order to do this. Just as Jesus told stories to teach us about grace, the book of Jonah can do the same thing without the necessity of being historically true. People can be very threatened by this stance. Their logic may state, “if any piece of scripture is historically incorrect, then all must be.” We can be clear that pieces of scripture do not need to be historically correct in order to convey meaning (i.e. Jonah) and other pieces hold meaning only if they are historically correct (resurrection of Christ). However I, for one, am certainly open to the idea of an infallible scripture. When I meet my Lord face to face, this will be one of the questions I will ask. However, my salvation is not dependent on the bible. The bible only points to where my hope is, the gift of salvation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. I put my hope in this truth.
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How does Star Wars relate to the bible?
Pastor Jay says... George Lucas, director/procuder for the Star Wars movies recently did an interview with Bill Moyers for Time Magazine (April 26, 1999, Vol. 153 No. 16). In the interview Lucas says he is a believer in God, but not sure what God is like. He talks about how he sees God and the force being alike, everywhere and in everything, mysterious and powerful. But the force is not God, Lucas says. Lucas takes a position that no religion is true and that all religions are a search for God so all, in their own way, are true. Lucas does not speak specifically of the bible in the interview. He spends more time discussing faith and spirituality that Lucas feels people are moving away from and should return to. He is also clear that he does not intend for the movie to be profoundly religious.
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How many sacraments does the Lutheran Church observe?
Pastor Jay says... Martin Luther had several different counts of sacraments. At one time he said there were five, another eleven, and still another time three. At last, the Lutheran Church puts forward two sacraments, baptism and communion. These are the two acts Christ commanded us to do. Each of these involves an earthly element, the community, and the word of God. These are each a “Means of Grace,” meaning these are sufficient for forgiveness of our sins. Other traditions have more sacraments. The Lutheran Church calls these acts sacramental, meaning they are holy and good for the church. These would include marriage, ordination, and a committal of the dying. We call these sacramental because they are extensions of the two sacraments, a living out of the baptismal call and feeding at the table. But sacramental acts are not the necessary marks of the Christian life. Baptism and communion are what marks us as Christ’s body.
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How many times is God named in the bible?
Pastor Jay says... In the New Revised standard version, “God” is in 3864 verses for more than 4000 times. Lord is used in 6691 verses or almost 7000 times. This does not include every time God is given another title like “Mighty One.” As for God’s name, you would have to look to Exodus 3:14. Moses asks God who shall Moses say sent him to the Israelites and God answers “I am who I am.” This can also be translated, “I am.” The word given is actually a verb and is four letters, pronounced YHWH. The name of God was so holy, that it is a sin to say it in the Hebrew faith. Whenever reading the scriptures, instead of saying the name of God, they would say “Lord,” in Hebrew “adonai.” Any time you are reading the bible and you see the word LORD all capitalized, the word used is God’s name. If you see Lord using lower case letters, it is the word “adonai.”
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I have friends who are non-Christian. They are good people and do good things. I believe God will accept the good they do, even if it is in the name of other Gods. Is this wrong?
Pastor Jay says... In the Gospel of John, we read that “no one comes to the Father except through [Jesus] (14:6).” We also read in John, “whoever believes in [Jesus] will have eternal life. (3:16)” These two phrases seem to point to the same thing, but actually these phrases give us two answers. It would seem in the latter phrase that belief in Jesus would be the key to eternal life. However, we read in the first phrase that it is Jesus who establishes who will come to the Father. It is through Jesus’ work that we attain salvation. If it were left up to how much I believe, I imagine I condemn myself everyday.
So, what does this have to do with your friends? Ultimately we do not know who goes to heaven and who does not. In a permissive culture like this, we are wont to say, “all paths lead to the same place.” We must be clear- we believe the reason we have to celebrate life is because of Jesus. Not that there are no truths in other religions- indeed almost every religion holds peace, non-violence, and care for the poor and oppressed. In these we would agree. However we believe that it is Christ who will make our salvation possible. It is Christ who saves us by what He has done, not by what we do. We proclaim Christ as God, and God alone. So if you were to ask me, “are my friends going to heaven?” I would hope to reply, “With all my heart, I pray that God brings them into the kingdom by the merit of Jesus Christ, who forgives and welcomes them.” I pray that the God I know is SO forgiving and SO graceful, that even great doubters such as myself are welcome into the Kingdom. Thank you, Jesus.
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If you aren’t baptized are you still a saint?
Pastor Jay says... When we speak of saints, we usually mean those of our faith family. We say when we are baptized that we become a part of God’s family. Since baptized members are saints, it may be said that unbaptized believers are not saints. But wait! Lutherans also believe that unbaptized babies who die are baptized in the life and love of the mother. These are saints. God makes this possible. We have hope that God can make all things possible. We hope that when we see God on the day Jesus returns that we are surprised by how much God loves and forgives and how God has made saints of the most surprising people.
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Is it OK to take water from the baptismal font and make a cross on your head?
Pastor Jay says... Making a cross on your head with baptismal water is a very old and wonderful tradition. This reminds us that we are baptized. Baptism is when we have water poured over our head in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is God’s promise to us that we do not need to be afraid about what will happen when we die. Baptism is God’s way of saying, “I LOVE YOU!!!” Making the sign on our forehead with baptismal water reminds us how much God loves us. Whenever you pass the baptismal font, you are encouraged to touch the water, draw a cross on your forehead, and say to your self, God loves me.
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Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?
Pastor Jay says... that the recent book The Davinci Code by Dan Brown has created quite a stir about this subject. It is a great read, but it is a mix of fact, innuendo, legend, and good story that brings everything together. The truth is Jesus’ was probably not married. Why do we know this? In the Hebrew tradition it certainly was not sinful to be married. Indeed it was probably unusual that Jesus was not married at his age. It would not have a great effect on the Jewish theology of the messiah to be married. In fact they would hope the messiah would be married and have lots of kids! There would have been no reason to hide this fact from the world. While it is fun to create conspiracy theories and wonder, let us not get too far away from what has been passed down in written word and spoken tale. What we see and read points out the Jesus was not married.
For the fun and the sake of argument, let us say Jesus was married. Would this make any difference to us? I would argue not. The cross and resurrection are not dependent on Jesus’ marital status. We put our hope in the salvation of the world on Jesus the crucified savior, not Jesus the bachelor.
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What do you think of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ?”
Pastor Jay says... it was a good movie. It was visually intriguing and I was brought into the picture. It was also very hard. The violence is very real, not entertainment violence people normally “approve” of but a gut wrenching honest portrayal of what cruelty would look like. At times it was unbearable, but so it would be in real life. I felt drawn to the suffering Jesus in a new way. I feel like I cannot take Good Friday for granted any more. There is controversy surrounding the film as well. There are pieces not from scripture but from a vision of the passion by a nun in the 16th or 17th century. Pieces come from the Roman Catholic Stations of the cross tradition. Not too mention Mel Gibson’s own brand of Catholicism has a history of being very conservative about women, Jews, and theology is cause for concern. But asking just about the movie, I felt it was a heartfelt depiction of the Passion of Jesus and communicates to us that our God is a God who suffered for us. I recommend it to older audiences.
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What does it mean when we say, “Give us this day our daily bread” in the Lord’s prayer?
Pastor Jay says... to know the answer, we can look at a small book Martin Luther wrote to help teach us about these things called The Small Catechism. About this, Luther wrote “God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer” but we pray this to remind us who provides our daily bread and be thankful for it. Daily bread includes everything to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food clothing, house, fields, work, money, property, and more. But it also includes our companions in life, friends, neighbors, spouse, partner, children, family. We even thank God for the weather, our government, peace, and our health. All these things are what make our daily bread so important to life and happiness. Thank God for all the daily bread you have been given!
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What is forgiveness versus holding a person accountable for their actions?
Pastor Jay says... There is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness is the extension of caring to another person, an internal decision to love a person despite what they done to another. Reconciliation is the restoration of a relationship after forgiveness. Often people expect that since they have been forgiven all will be as it was before. This is not always the case. If you were my accountant, I can forgive you for stealing my money, but I may not trust you with my funds again. I may do this to protect myself, but it also may be to save you from the temptation to sin. This is a consequence of your action. Now, what Christ has done is not only forgiven us but reconciled our relationship with God. We are forgiven and trusted again. Because we have been forgiven in this way, we are called to embody this forgiveness. We are called not only to try and forgive others, but also to try and reconcile ourselves with one another. We are called to try and forgive as we have been forgiven, be reconciled as we were reconciled. This is not easy. Our own sin gets in the way. We think mercy means neglecting justice, not letting someone pay for the result of his or her transgressions. But we should not let this deter us from trying. We should give our all to the task of forgiveness and when we feel our righteous judgment, we remember how Christ gave all to us, who were still unrighteous. We pray we can forgive the utterly unforgivable as Christ forgave us.
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What is the average speed of a swallow?
Pastor Jay says... Do you mean an African swallow or a European swallow?
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What is the difference between Lutherans and Episcopalians?
Pastor Jay says... very little. The Lutherans and Episcopalians have so little difference theologically that a few years ago we entered into an agreement called “The Call to Common Mission” which proclaimed that we are one church under two names. We both believe in two sacraments, baptism and communion, but the Episcopalians have five more “sacramental acts” including weddings, confession, and last rights. However these five are not necessary for salvation like communion and baptism. Episcopalians have a tradition called apostolic succession, where the hands of Peter blessed pastors and deacons, hand to head, and they in turn blessed their successors in an unbroken chain to the modern day. Lutherans stress the succession is not based on the blessing of the bishop, but on the teaching of the apostles. However there are churches in the Apostolic succession like the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Communion theology, worship practices, baptism, ordination, and marrying clergy are all the same between the two churches. When we speak about Episcopalians, we should remember that we are speaking about us, together as one church, proclaiming together God’s saving work in the world through Jesus.
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What is the purpose of the ELCA Sexuality Study?
Pastor Jay says... The question is a good one. It addresses two issues: the sexuality study and the use of scriptures as a tool for our spiritual growth. I will address these separately.
First, when we talk about the church, we must first acknowledge that the church is not of the world, but in the world. The church lives in its context fully, responding to issues that arise from society and bringing these issues to bear in light of our relationship with God. Homosexuality is a subject that people are thinking about and discussing. Because of this, it is good that the church should think about and discuss how we are to respond. This study is our way of corporately discussing the subject that is on the minds and hearts of the people.
At the heart of your second question is the question of how we use scripture to shape and guide our lives. Luther called scripture the norma normans, that is the “norming norm.” To say this simpler, scripture is the first place we look to help us define and understand what we are to say on any particular issue, that is what we are to consider as a “norm” by which we follow. However, this does not mean that we use scripture only to define our life with God. The four-fold way we discern God’s will is through scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Each of these is a gift of God given to us to help know and understand God. Each works in a way that informs our belief. For instance, even though slavery is a part of both the New and Old Testament and there is a tradition of slavery extending back thousands of years, experience and reason has led the people of God to change their belief. Therefore, when we ask for God to guide us, we don’t simply open the bible and see what it says and follow this. If this were true, it would be a crime to wear clothing woven with two fabrics or eat shellfish! Instead we read scripture using all the tools we have available to know and understand what God is saying to us through the word.
We ask for you to pray for our church as we approach God with humble hearts, endeavoring to know and understand God’s will.
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What is your middle name?
Pastor Jay says... My full name is Jeremy Robert Gamelin. I share my middle name with my father. I like the name Jeremy, but was always called Jay so it just stuck. Thanks for asking!
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What was before heaven?
Pastor Jay says... Genesis tells us that before everything, there was chaos. Chaos is a word that means “mess.” Try to imagine “nothing.” It’s hard isn’t it! In the very beginning, there was nothing. The whole universe did not exist. But an incredible moment occurred and for reasons that even baffle scientists, suddenly “something” happened. And on a tiny remote part of the universe, there was a planet that happened to be the right distance from the sun and at the right temperature and the right pieces of proteins came together to form one cell, which turned into to two cells then four then eight. Soon this little planet had life spilling over in every direction. Physics teachers will tell you that nothing can go from nothing to something without somebody making it happen. This is called “chaos theory.” It means that nothing moves from disorder to order without somebody making it happen. So the only way we can explain the creation of the world, light, the sun, the universe, even you, is to say somebody made this happen. The only way we could exist is by being made by somebody. As Believers, we know whom it was that made it happen! Thank you, God!
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Where do Dinosaurs come in from after Adam and Eve?
Pastor Jay says... I think the story of creation in the book of Genesis is a wonderful parable of God at the work of creating the world. The point of the story is to tell us that the world is not a fluke- we were created by the Lord. The story of Adam (in Hebrew- earthling) and Eve (a Babylonian word meaning life or fertility) is to be read and taken as a story. The point of the story is to tell us that God made the world, not HOW God created. Focusing too much on the how may distract us from the doing. I hold what is called Theistic evolution, which is that evolution is a construct in which God continually is creating the world. I do think the earth is over 20,000 years old, I do think that God created the dinosaurs, and not only that, I think God had a lot of fun doing it.
Now, I do need to hedge my bet. I am very open to the possibility of every piece of the bible being true down to the absolute letter. But I know that this is not on what my salvation is based. Remember- our hope, and thus our faith, is based on Jesus’ never failing love for us on the cross. This is one truth in the bible that is right and I believe true.
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Where do you get your ideas for your sermons?
Pastor Jay says... I begin sermon preparation months in advance as I select the hymn of the day. We usually try to pick a hymn that supports the lessons and sermon topic. The next time I look at the lessons are 2 weeks before I write the sermon. I read the lessons once a day and then spend a week thinking about what is happening in the world, in the church, and in my life. In time I begin to see how these three intersect and where God is in the middle of these. At this intersection, I may be reminded of a story or a word. I may think of someone I knew or met. I may read an inspirational quote that fits the subject. After I find this intersection of where our story and God’s story are, I begin to think of the sermon as a puzzle. I try to put each piece in its place and make sure everything is connected and makes sense. I try and spend some time thinking and praying and asking God what does God want me to say. At that time I sit down and type out whatever is on my mind. The sermon usually doesn’t make much sense at this time. But then I take each piece in the sermon and move it, putting it together in a way that makes more sense. After polishing this part I spend a couple of days working on memorizing what I wrote. Hopefully, by Sunday I am ready to share how God’s story, the story of scripture, and our story all point to what God is doing in the world.
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Why are we here?
Pastor Jay says... Wow! Big question! You have come right to the very heart of Christianity, and maybe the purpose of religions the world over. Humanity seems to be drawn to two things- one is a sense of the divine. For reasons that we may not fully understand, it seems that humanity has been on a quest for knowing and understanding God. The other thing we are drawn to is the effort of understanding “what is our place in this cosmos.” There is a great question that seems to be the focus of your thoughts; if Jesus came and everything is supposed to change, why didn’t it just change? Why are we in this waiting room wondering what we are supposed to be doing while we wait for this return you promised?
God has created us, human beings, in the likeness of God. But rather than making us so that we would praise God without thought, we were given a will to doubt, wonder, be curious. This is a great gift and curse. It’s like a man who created a robot. He knew if he created a robot without choice, it would love only because that was all it could do. So he created the robots to have a choice, and then he loved the robot all he could and prayed the robot would love back. God has made us and it seems we have been left here with the purpose of trying to know and love our maker. As I said, this desire is as old as humanity itself. We are not united yet with God because God in wisdom has given us the opportunity to journey in this discovery. We are given the ability to wonder, doubt, and be curious as we seek God. We are here to ask the very question you ask, and wonder at the answer: God wants us here to come to know God. This is our ultimate journey.
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Why aren't Sundays part of Lent? And why do we stop saying Halleluiah and Alleluia during Lent?
Pastor Jay says... we do not celebrate Sundays as a part of Lent because Sunday is always a feast day, a remembrance of the day of the resurrection. We worship Sundays and not on Saturdays because this is the day the Lord was raised from the dead. As for alleluia, lent is a time when we focus on the suffering Christ, the struggling Christ of the cross. The season of Lent takes on a pallor of introspection and confession. Changes do reflect that shift in focus. In some churches, the shift of church seasons means a change in the incense they use. The colors used for the season change. Fasts are declared. We are drawn to serve the poor and needy. Another way to mark the change is to extinguish Alleluia for the season. Alleluia means “Praise God” and is an exclamation of joy and glory. In this solemn season, not using alleluia helps us focus on the suffering and solemnity of Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is not necessary to extinguish alleluia, however it is a good way for us to experience the change in the season.
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Why do Catholics pray to the saints and Mary?
Pastor Jay says... this is a common misconception about the Roman Catholic Church that people in Protestant traditions make. If you had a problem, it may be likely that you would ask for people to pray for you. This is called intercessory prayer. An example of this in our church is our prayer chain, people praying for those who need them. The Roman Catholic tradition does not pray to the saints and Mary, but asks the saints and Mary to pray for them. As the Hail Mary states, “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” The idea is that the saints and Mary are favored in God’s sight and may have Jesus’ ear. While intercessory prayer is a wonderful tradition of the church, we are reminded that Christ has bridged the gap between us and the Father and we are invited to pray to God, Father, Son, and Spirit to love and support us.
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Why do Catholics wear a cross with Jesus on it (a crucifix) and the majority of Protestant religions wear one without Jesus on it?
Pastor Jay says... An empty cross is traditional to have in the Easter season and the crucifix is appropriate in Lent, the 40 days that describes Jesus mission to be handed over and be killed and in three days be raised from the dead. There is no difference in our written theology that directly correlates with the use of a crucifix as opposed to a cross. However, there is a cultural difference in our two churches. Roman Catholic piety has a very strong desire to understand the suffering Christ, what may be called a theology of the Cross, while there is a strain in the Protestant denominations that focuses on the resurrection, or a theology of Glory. The protestant church can get so caught up in this theology of Glory that they wish to gloss over sin, confession, easy forgiveness and enact a faith that does not call us to change. The crucifix is a reminder that we preach Christ crucified. We may look forward to the glory of the resurrection, but we are also called to carry our cross with Christ, even suffer as Christ suffered. It is a small thing, that little cross we wear, but it can say much about our faith and what we can learn from other denominations.
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Why do we end each prayer with “amen”?
Pastor Jay says... Amen is a word that means “so be it” or “it is true”. A modern equivalent may be “right on!” The root of amen in the Hebrew means solidness or sureness. We say amen when we end a prayer because we are sure it has been heard, we are sure God will answer, and we know it will be according to God’s will. Right On!
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Why do we fold our hands when we pray?
Pastor Jay says... If you look at the earliest pictures of people praying, they do not fold their hands. Most pray-ers held their hands out and their arms up, much like when you see a pastor praying during communion. People began praying with objects in their hands in the Christian tradition. They would hold pieces of scripture in their hands or maybe a cross or picture. It appeared their hands were folded. Ever since then, people began to take this as the way they should pray. Many churches are reviving the act of praying with their hands open. At our last Lost and Found retreat with the Middle School youth, our Chaplain had us pray with our hands open in front of us, as if we were offering our prayer to God. The most important thing is this: don’t worry about where your hands are or if your eyes are open or shut. Just talk to God. This is the most important thing.
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Why does the Lutheran Church baptize infants?
Pastor Jay says... we are very clear in baptism that it is something God does for us, not something we do for God. In some traditions, baptism is something you do after you decide to follow Jesus. As Lutherans, we stress that baptism is not an act of our deciding for Christ, but an act of God, reaching down and claiming us. In Baptism, GOD is the subject and we are the direct object. God acts on our behalf and baptizes us, even though we don’t deserve it and cannot claim it. So it goes, since it is not something we do for God, then we allow infants to be baptized, the most humble faithful believers in the congregation. After all, it was Christ who said, “Unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1-5).
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Why isn’t there anything in the bible about when Jesus was a kid?
Pastor Jay says... There is only one story in the bible when Jesus was a kid. It is found in Luke 2:41-52. But this is it in the bible. There are other books that have stories about Jesus as a child, but we are not sure if they are real or not. These books are not used in the bible. I wish there was more about Jesus as a teenager! Doesn’t it make you wonder if he was popular or a nerd or just weird? It makes me wonder what it would be like to grow up knowing how different you were. Tell you what, when you meet Jesus make sure you ask him what he was like. I know I will!
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Why you so funny lookin?
Pastor Jay says... I was made that way. I guess God said, “I will make Jay funny lookin.” And so it came to be, the sun and stars moved, the earth turned on its axis, and Jay entered the world, all 11 pounds 5 ounces of him…and he was funny looking. Thus sayeth the Lord! Amen.
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