Memorial Day

It’s amazing how quickly time seems to fly by. Somehow we’re already stepping into May – days are getting longer, grass is growing greener, flowers and trees are starting to bloom, and at the end of this month our nation will celebrate Memorial Day. For some this is simply a marker that the end of school is close, summer vacations are within reach, and family barbeques are just around the corner. For others it is a time to remember – a time to honor all those who have served in the armed forces and lost their lives in service to our country preserving and protecting the freedoms that you and I enjoy each day.

But regardless of the particulars of how, or what, or why each of us celebrate Memorial Day, at the center of it all – its very name, “memorial” invites us to a posture of remembrance.

The ability to remember is a wonderful gift God has given us. In an instant we can be taken back to childhood days – skipping rocks across the water or playing with friends, or maybe just to an earlier time like when we went on a first date or experienced our first day at a new school or job. Through memory we can fall in love, taste that amazing dessert from that one special place, and enjoy a wealth of past experiences all over again.

All this is possible through the blessing of memory. Some of our memories bring us happiness as we recall those wonderful experiences, while others leave us sad and weeping as we remember them. Memories are also practical. If we couldn’t remember that a red light means “stop” then we might get ourselves into dangerous situation. If you weren’t able to remember what day it is, especially if it were your anniversary, then you might be headed for big trouble with your loved one. So, memories are practical. The problem is, sometimes our memory fails us, and we forget. 

Fortunately, God has surrounded us with memorials, in fact, the entire Bible itself is a memorial. And we are invited to dwell in it daily in order to remember. Each time we gather as a worshipping community, each celebration of the Lord’s Supper, each baptism, each Christmas celebration, and every Holy Week leading us to the joyous celebration of Easter is a memorial.

Remembering God’s grace in our lives is fuel for our faith as we move through God’s ongoing grace for us. And this makes our memory one of God’s most profound and mysterious gifts granted to us.

So as we commemorate Memorial Day as Americans, let us do so with deep gratitude for all that has been sacrificed for us by those who laid their lives down for the sake of our freedom. Most importantly, I pray that as followers of Jesus we would each take time to remember the extraordinary grace God blesses us with yesterday, today, and every day to come.

Pastor Tony

Amazing Grace

Jesus told his disciples “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” This is a direct command to share the Gospel message to all those who do not yet know it. The question we should ask ourselves is what kind of Gospel has been shared? A Gospel of forgiveness, joy, peace, love and hope? Or are we sharing a Gospel of fear and punishment?

As many of you know, I had to travel to El Salvador to hold my dad’s funeral in my homeland. Funerals in my country and in most Latin American countries are different from funerals here. During the vigil, family, neighbors and friends gather to accompany the family in their grief. As soon as the community knows that a person has passed away, they arrive at the family home to sit with the family. The home of the deceased is filled with the singing of hymns, crying, praying, preaching, and eating tamales, day and night. No one sleeps until after the funeral and burial.

I made the decision to preach here and also preach in the land where I grew up. On the night of the vigil, we had a service. My former pastors from El Salvador Pastora Blanca and Pastor Julio were in charge of the evening service, and I was in charge of the funeral service. As I was preparing my preaching for the funeral, one of the things that came to mind was that the message I was going to share was going to shock everyone in attendance.

My message focused solely on the salvation that Christ brought to the entire world… The Gospel affirms that salvation is obtained by faith in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to pay the price for the sins of humanity… He opened the way for us to eternal life… The tomb will never be closed again… Christ defeated death, death no longer has power over us… if Christ is resurrected, we will also be resurrected…salvation is by grace and not by works…. After the death of Lazarus, Jesus told Martha, ​​“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”… A few verses later, when Jesus saw that Mary was still doubting, He said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”… Grace leads us to salvation, not works… works are the result of the work that God is already doing in us… salvation is a gift from God… Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.”

A day after this message, family, friends and pastors said that some people had said that they had never heard of God’s grace before. A pastor told me that a member of his church asked her if we are saved by grace and not by works, then why you have preached to us that we are saved by works. I knew that these reactions were going to happen. I knew it because where I’m from they don’t know about grace. They have been about punishment, fear and resentment. Catholics, Evangelicals and even some Lutherans share salvation through works and not by grace.

On my way back home to Waukesha, I was thinking about all the reactions that grace had provoked in the minds and hearts of many. More than 2000 years have passed since grace came to us and there are still people in many parts of the world who do not know it. Brothers and sisters, as we continue on this continuous journey of learning and discernment, let the light of Christ continue to illuminate us to share the message of grace with all those who have not yet received it. 

Pastor Edwin