Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church San Antonio COSSA, 5323 Blanco Road, San Antonio, TX (2026)

06/29/2023

June 28, 2023

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

In recent years the word filter has taken on a new meaning and use. These days sometimes we say about people that they have no filter. It means they say whatever pops into their mind with no restraint whatsoever. And some of the things that are said can be downright brutal. The old saying, “if you have nothing nice to say about someone, say nothing at all,” seems so terribly quaint. What’s the worse thing anyone has ever said about you?

Some people said terrible things about Jesus. One day even his family did it. Speaking without first thinking is distressingly easy to do. Our next shared reading in Mark tells us what happened.

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
(Mark 3:20-29)

“Out of his mind!” That’s what the family of Jesus said about him one day. Everywhere Jesus went crowds gathered. People simply could not get enough of him. He was the best thing that had ever happened to them. But Jesus and his disciples paid a demanding price for his popularity: they were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat. When his family heard about it, they concluded that Jesus had flipped out, cracked up, gone nuts, lost his marbles, so they went to take charge of him. The Savior’s family planned to take him away, to do an intervention.

Have you ever been so busy you forgot to eat or never had a chance to eat? It’s happened to me a bunch of times. There have been occasions in my life when I was so engaged in something, either at home or at work, that there was just no time to eat. Sometimes I never even noticed I was hungry. All that mattered was the project at hand. And it wasn’t until later in the day, perhaps when the sun was going down, that I even noticed I’d forgotten to eat. It’s really not healthy but it happens. It happened to Jesus because he was so devoted to the people who needed him. One time Jesus said, “I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus really meant that.

What his family said about him wasn’t the worse thing, however. His enemies accused him of being possessed. Can you imagine? Saying about anyone that they’re possessed is extreme but saying it about Jesus simply boggles the mind. The enemies of Jesus said Jesus was in cahoots with the devil and that’s why he was casting out demons. It makes absolutely no sense. Lots of accusations regularly make no sense at all.

So Jesus confronted his accusers and pointed out their lack of logic. Why in the world would Satan work against himself? Jesus asked them. That makes no sense. The devil would not drive out the demons he expressly sent to make a mess of the world. The only reason he could drive out demons, Jesus explained, is because he first bound up the prince of demons. That’s right! Jesus bound up the prince of demons and with the power that was his because he is the Son of God Jesus drove out demons.

What his enemies said about him was unforgiveable, Jesus said. Because they said he had an unclean spirit they blasphemed against the Holy Spirit and that sin, Jesus said, can never be forgiven. It’s a terrifying thought: Never forgiven! For those who reject Jesus there can be no forgiveness.

That’s such a serious teaching that one might well question if maybe Jesus had no filter; that he too said whatever popped into his mind. But we know that’s not true. One time Jesus said, “I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.” (John 12:49)

Earlier I asked what the worst thing is that anyone has ever said about you. Let me finish by sharing what Jesus said about all who follow him, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)

Jesus calls us friends. Our words matter. The Savior’s words matter too, and he calls us friends.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church Sunday in person or online.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

06/29/2023

6/25/23 Service

06/22/2023

Pastor's letter to the congregation, 6/20/23

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

The first time we worshiped in the community center recently Carrie said it felt like old times because that’s where Christ our Savior first worshiped before the worship center was built. Last Sunday someone said the sound was so much better in the community center because it made our little group sound bigger; the singing appeared to be louder. When the time came for us to greet one another with the peace of the Lord, the celebration went on and on even more than usual. I watched you all visit with one another and once again couldn’t help but comment on your obvious affection for one another.

Part of what makes us special, I think, is our small size. Big churches can be friendly also and I’ve seen the sharing of the peace go on forever in big churches. In big churches, however, it’s hard to know more than a few people, about the same number that makes up our group. In big churches people regularly interact with people they don’t really know. That’s okay. God has a place in his kingdom for churches of all sizes. Our church is small, and we can know everybody here and care for one another with closer concern precisely because there are fewer of us to keep track of. Even when visitors come, it doesn’t take long for them to become part of the family and for us to start caring about them and them about us.

Our group is kind of like the group of disciples that followed Jesus. There were just 12 of them. Other people wanted to be part of the group. One man about whom we’ll read in chapter 5 asked Jesus to go with him, but Jesus said no. Jesus wanted to control the number of those closest to him; he wanted the number to be 12, not 11, not 13; 12. We read about the disciples in our next shared reading from Mark.

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home.

Jesus loved every single person he ever laid eyes on. Even those who openly hated him. He loved every single person. But the disciples lived with him; they were with Jesus pretty much round the clock for 3 years. Theirs had to have been a relationship like no other. How wonderful it would have been to have been a fly on the wall, watching, listening, observing all that went on between them.

We know the names of all twelve and we know more than that about a few of them. Peter is well known, of course. The Gospels tell us a lot about him including some of his regretful mistakes as well as his best moments. We know that Andrew was Peter’s brother. Philip appears to have had some measure of greater authority because some Greeks asked him to take them to see Jesus. Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him to be a disciple. Thomas is remembered because he doubted the resurrection of Jesus and when Jesus appeared to him, he touched the resurrected Lord and confessed, “My Lord and my God!” Judas is remembered tragically because he betrayed Jesus. James and John are remembered because the two of them, together with Peter, appear to have been the closest to Jesus. Jesus gave the two brothers a great nickname: sons of thunder; their tempers were notorious.

Twelve men. Some scholars say that Jesus chose only twelve to send the message that he was rebuilding ancient Israel; he was starting over again with 12 men just like the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps that’s true. The Gospels don’t tell us why Jesus chose only 12. What the Gospels do tell us is that “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

Two, or three, or twelve, or 42, our average attendance, or 10,000. Numbers are useful in many ways and serve many purposes. It’s not always true that some numbers are better than others. Sometimes they are; sometimes they’re just numbers.

Our church is small in number, just like the number of disciples who followed Jesus. And like those 12 men, our Savior has called us to be with him. Note well the sequence of those words. We know that Jesus promises to be with us always. He also calls us to be with him. Jesus gifted his disciples with precious gifts like preaching and casting out demons. He’s gifted us too: We are adaptable, resourceful, enthusiastic, kind, loving, and caring. Like the disciples, we’re followers of Jesus Christ.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church Sunday, in person or online.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

06/15/2023

Pastor's Letter to the Congregation 6/13/23

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

Last Sunday James was all set to help read the lessons but when the time came to do so he chose to let his mother do it. Speaking in front of people is intimidating. Some say it’s one of the most frightening things for most people, as frightening as the thought of death. James is strong. When the time is right, he will read in church.

Being afraid is normal, natural, even necessary. Fear protects us. Military heroes regularly tell us that the difference between a hero and a fool is that a hero knows when to be afraid. Fools rush in where it’s not safe to go. Heroes own their fears and overcome them in productive and helpful ways.

Jesus was afraid. God’s Word tells us that he was like us in every way except for sin. Just like us, there were times when Jesus was afraid. We read about one of those times in our next shared reading from Mark,

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. (Mark 3:7-12)

For those who recognized what they were looking at, Jesus was the best thing ever and when people heard about all that Jesus was doing, even healing people who just reached out and touched him, they came to him from all over, places close and far away. Great crowds of people came, so many people that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready in case they needed to create some space for themselves. Jesus was afraid the crowd might crush him. Crowds sometimes get out of hand and people are crushed because of it.

Jesus was afraid. That’s a comforting little piece of information. Jesus was truly human, in every way like us, except for sin. He didn’t just pretend to be one of us; he was one of us in every way. And like us, there were times when he was afraid.

What makes you afraid? So many things can do it: the economy and its impact on our personal finances; changes in our culture and how they might impact our lives; advancing age and the health issues that come with it. Whatever it might be that makes us afraid, the reason for our fear is uncertainty about how we will be able to get through it. Things happen that make us afraid we might be crushed by them so we wonder how we will manage.

Jesus made plans. He told the disciples to have a boat ready just in case. Making plans is smart. We can’t protect ourselves from all things, but we can protect ourselves from some things. We can budget; we can write advance directives; we can make wills; we can save money. There are lots of things we can do to plan for life’s harder moments. God has given us the ability to prepare.

David, the man who killed Goliath, experienced fear also. David wrote Psalm 56 and in that Psalm, he confessed his approach to fear and it is a great one. David wrote, “Whenever I am afraid, I put my trust in you; in God, whose word I praise, in God I trust without a fear. What can anyone or anything do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4) David repeats those words as the Psalm goes on and he ends the Psalm by confessing that the reason he trusts in God without a fear is because he knows God is on his side and God has delivered him from death and his feet from falling.

God is on our side. That’s such a simple thought and yet so absolutely wonderful. God is on our side. An ancient blessing says it this way: He goes before us to show us the way; behind us to keep us from all harm; beside us so we are never alone; beneath us to catch us when we fall; above us to protect us from the evil one; and inside us so we always know how much he loves us.

Sometimes things make us afraid. God is afraid of nothing, and he watches over us always.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church in person or online this Sunday in the community center again.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

12/05/2022

Sunday Worship 12/4

11/30/2022

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

Does one Christmas stand out in your memory more than any other? I remember one Christmas when I was about 8 years old, and I was too sick to go to Christmas Eve services. My godfather brought to my house the present he had planned to give me at church. It was a brand new, really good soccer ball. To a boy in Brazil a soccer ball was about as great a Christmas present as one could get. That Christmas stands out in my memory not because of the gift, however, but more because of the circumstances.

One of the downsides of Christmas is that it teaches us already at a very young age about the inevitability of disappointment. Children come up with lists and sometimes those lists have items on them they dearly want. The way Ralphie in the film “A Christmas Story” really wanted a Red Ryder BB gun. Their hopes grow as they count down the days until they can open their presents. Sometimes their dreams come true and sometimes their dreams are dashed.

Life is like that. Life is a combination of dreams fulfilled and dreams unsatisfied, of successes and failures, joys and sorrows, good days and bad. By the grace of God, for most of us good days far outnumber bad days, but bad days happen, nonetheless. Getting through them can be so hard. Thank God for faith and the strength it gives us. Even more, thank God for God.

According to the Gospel of Luke the story of Jesus begins with the story of a dream finally fulfilled after almost a lifetime of disappointment. Luke tells us more about the birth and early life of Jesus than any of the other Gospels. For that reason, some scholars think that Luke is really the Gospel of Mary; that the Savior’s mother told the evangelist what to write. Luke is the only Gospel that tells us about a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth traced her family tree all the way back to Aaron, the brother of Moses. Aaron was the first high priest of Israel. Elizabeth was part of an important family. Luke tells us in his Gospel that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking in all the laws of God blamelessly. But they had no children and for a couple back then that was absolutely devastating. Society looked down on childlessness as a punishment from God for some bad behavior. Zechariah and Elizabeth had to live not only with their sadness and disappointment because of their infertility but also with the knowledge that people thought less of them because of it.

They prayed for God to help them. We know that because one day, when Zechariah was in the Temple, an angel appeared to him and told him that God had heard his prayer. Religion back then was a lot different from what it is now. People attended synagogues but people never went into the Temple in Jerusalem, at least not the general public. The Temple in Jerusalem had two rooms in it: the holy place came first, and after it the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies and he could do that only one day a year. Priests were allowed to enter the holy place, but each priest could do so only once in a lifetime. Lots were cast, just like a roll of the dice, to determine which priest would go in on any given day. One day the roll of the dice went in Zechariah’s favor, and he was given his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While he was in the Temple an angel appeared to him and told him God had heard his prayer and he was going to become a father. Zechariah’s son was John the Baptist. In time he would point at Jesus one day and declare, “Look, that’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

The angel told Zechariah that God had heard his prayer. I’ve always wondered precisely what that meant. Did Zechariah pray for a child that very day? Did he and Elizabeth pray for a child over and over again; did they pray every day for several years? When Elizabeth went into menopause and there was no more chance she could ever get pregnant, did they stop praying for a child or did they keep praying even then, when only a miracle would help them? We don’t know all the specifics. What we do know is that the angel told Zechariah that God had heard his prayer. And God answered with a yes.

Sometimes God says yes; sometimes he says no. And sometimes it takes God forever to say yes. Only God knows why. All our prayers are heard and answered but that doesn’t mean disappointment never happens in our life. For reasons only God knows, sometimes we don’t get what we so dearly want. And sometimes we have to wait for what we want for a lifetime.

God heard Zechariah’s prayer. And God hears our prayers. Perhaps the story of Zechariah is part of the Christmas story to teach us to never stop praying. We can’t always figure out what’s going on, but God knows what he’s doing. And we know God loves us. We know it because he gave us his one and only Son.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church Sunday, in person or online.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

Photo by Lore Schodts on Unsplash

11/29/2022

Sunday Worship 11/27/22

11/19/2022

Pastor's letter to the congregation, November 17th:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

What’s your favorite color? My dad’s favorite was blue. My favorite is green. I think I like green so much because I love being outdoors and so much of the world is green. If I could make it work, I think I’d be outdoors all the time.

The color red has been in our church since October 30, when we celebrated the Reformation. Everyone liked it so much that we decided to just leave it there even though the liturgical calendar called for us to return to green. It’s kind of interesting that all of us were so happy with the color red, because according to WebMD, the color red tends to intensify negative emotions. Perhaps that’s why bullfighters wave red capes! Red will be on our altar this Sunday still and then we’ll switch to purple for Advent November 27.

Like so many things in the Church, the history and significance of the different colors we see in church is imprecise. It appears that up until the fourth century only the color white was used in worship. It’s hard to trace exactly how and why other colors were added; different church bodies tell different stories. Five colors are commonly used: white, red, green, purple, and black.

The Bible mentions a number of colors including blue, purple, gold, white, violet, and scarlet. Some of the places where colors are mentioned are in the Old Testament and have to do with the outfits priests wore and the decorations of God’s Old Testament house. But the Bible gives us no instructions regarding the use of colors in worship. It would be easy to argue that the single most well-known verse in the Bible that mentions colors is Isaiah 1:18 where we read, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Years ago, necessity taught me a lesson about how to get dark red stains out of white altar dressings. I had accidentally spilled some communion wine during distribution. My right hand caught the bottom of the chalice which was in my left hand; I almost dropped the chalice and wine spilled over the edge. One of the ladies in the congregation graciously eased my concern. “Watch this,” she said as she poured some club soda on the stain. It worked like magic and the stain was gone.

Unless one knows how to do it, red stains can be almost impossible to get rid of. If God did not come to our rescue, the stain of our sins would never go away. But God has come to our rescue. God sent his one and only Son Jesus to pour out his blood on our sins and “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) Our sins create the worst stains ever; they make a real mess of things. But God knows how to make the stain and the mess go away. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

We could do church without all the different colors we use but the colors offer one more way for us to get the most of our time in worship. God wants so much to connect to us that he uses everything to help us know him. Colors are just one of those things. For some people they may not matter much at all. But for some people they may be like the icing on a cake. The good news is that God connects with us. Through his Word, through the sacraments, through the communion of saints, the fellowship of believers, through images, through colors, through music – the list goes on and on; God connects with us. God sent his one and only Son Jesus into our world so that we might be one with him; connected to him.

It warms my heart to know that so many of us noticed the red and expressed our appreciation for it. It tells me that all of us are paying attention to what we’re doing when we come together to worship. We’re not just showing up to check off one more thing we have to do. We’re coming together, with one another, and with God. And that’s just plain wonderful.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church Sunday, in person or online.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

11/19/2022

11/13/22 Worship Service

There’s a lot of talk in our world these days about the end of the world. People see all that’s happening in politics, and the environment, and society and can’t help but think the end must be just around the corner. Every single generation has thought and spoken this way. Some elements of what God tells us in his
Word about the end of the world are truly distressing. But God also tells us about all the promises that lie in store for us because the end is coming. “Look up,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel lesson today; “Look up because your salvationvis nearer than it’s ever been before.” In the tradition of the Church, we turn our attention at the end of the Church year to the end of all things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgMnRNyV2VQ

11/03/2022

Sunday Worship 10/30/22

10/28/2022

October 25, 2022

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior, people God dearly loves,

After church last Sunday, Matt Parker showed me photos of a church he attended on his last business trip to the UK. One photo showed a wooden plaque on a wall in the church. On the plaque were written, in gothic calligraphy, the names of all the church’s pastors all the way back to the 1200s. Can you imagine? People have been worshipping in that church at that location for 800 years! It boggles the mind. By comparison, the missions in San Antonio, some of which have served as active congregations throughout their history, are about 300 years old. And Christ our Savior is not even 50 years old. 😊

The church Matt visited has been around 800 years. Think of the stories that church’s walls could tell if they could talk. The people who worshiped there through the centuries have lived through all kinds of disasters and hardships, some natural, some manmade. In 1235 there was a famine in England that killed 20,000 people in London alone. More famines followed in 1321, 1351, 1649, and 1727. And the church was there, right in the middle of it all.

Famines often follow wars and the people who worshiped at the church Matt visited went through a succession of wars including the Hundred Years’ War that started in 1337, the War of the Roses in 1455, the Anglo-Spanish war in 1585, the American war of Independence, the World wars, lots of wars. And the church was there, right in the middle of it all.

The 1200s were a time of significant political upheaval. If you remember some of your high school world history lessons, perhaps you remember that the Magna Carta happened in 1215. The Magna Carta came about because of all the abuses of King John including abuses against the Church. And yet, despite the Magna Carta and its attempts to right the wrongs of the king, civil war overtook the UK in 1215. It happened again in the 1600s. And the church was there, right in the middle of it all.

It would be easy to argue that life was a lot harder for people back then than it is for us now. At the very least, it would be safe to say that it wasn’t any easier.

And we haven’t even mentioned all the plagues yet.

If walls could only talk. What do you think the walls of that 800-year-old church might say? I like to think that they would most likely say: Still here; still here! For 800 years the people who have been worshipping in that old church have not only known a whole lot of disasters and hardships; they’ve also known a whole lot of God’s grace and mercy, his goodness and love. God has delivered his people over, and over again, through thick and thin.

I’m the youngest of 5 children, the only boy. My oldest sister, Carol, celebrated her 85th birthday last week. When we visited on the phone, she said she’s been alive more than 31,000 days and almost 750,000 hours. And in all that time God has always watched over her. She called to mind a great old hymn that those of you who remember the old red hymnal might recognize. The hymn is titled, “The Lord Hath Helped Me Hitherto.” This hymn could well be what the walls of that old church might say if they could talk.
The Lord hath helped me hitherto
By His surpassing favor;
His mercies ev'ry morn were new,
His kindness did not waver.
God hitherto hath been my Guide,
Hath pleasures hitherto supplied,
And hitherto hath helped me.
I praise and thank Thee, Lord, my God,
For Thine abundant blessing
Which heretofore Thou hast bestowed
And I am still possessing.
Inscribe this on my memory:
The Lord hath done great things for me
And graciously hath helped me.

The last stanza of that hymn is a prayer:

Help me henceforth, O God of grace,
Help me on each occasion,
Help me in each and ev’ry place,
Help me thro’ Jesus’ Passion;
Help me in life and death, O God,
Help me thro’ Jesus’ dying blood;
Help me as Thou hast helped me!

If we learn nothing else from history, let us learn this: God takes care of his people. Always!

I’m looking forward to seeing you in church this Sunday, in person or online.

God be with you,
Pastor Dan

Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church San Antonio COSSA

06/29/2023

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