Pastor's Monthly Message
Reflections on various topics that seek to inspire, inform and comfort the reader
March 2025
"It is time to re-think our liturgy"
by Pastor Ben Dolby
One Sunday in February, I was driving to All Saints about two hours before early service, and I needed to start my Sunday routine. I have formed some habitual behaviors to help my brain “wake up” for Sunday morning duties. My routine is to select one of my habitual solutions:
- Spotify playlist of Chris Tomlin praise music?
- Sacred Music on Lutheran Public Radio?
- Go a bit rogue and find one of those Catholic preachers with a wonderful accent on one of the local radio stations?
- Catch up on one of countless podcasts that recently have been interested in the historical reliability of the New Testament documents.
This Sunday routine has become a great habit that not only wakes up my brain for Sunday service but inspires me to keep being challenged to speak God’s Gospel out loud, with my life. I often want to be comfortable in being left alone while leaving my neighbor alone. But our monthly memory work of Isaiah 12:4-5 reminds us of the heavenly calling we share as believers, as forgiven sinners: Make known his deeds among the peoples, namely the work of Jesus Christ for the sake of all mankind!
“Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. - Isaiah 12:4-5
So, one Sunday in February, as I am departing my neighborhood I realized the radio was off and I had not yet selected a listening option. I ended up driving to All Saints in silence that morning. As I arrived at church, I realized it is time to re-think the liturgy of our daily routines. I confess the title is slightly “click-baity” since the word liturgy is primarily used to define the customary or usual order of public worship service.
That early Sunday morning drive does not mean I should drive in silence every Sunday, but it sure was a blessing to not be filling my ears, mind, and space with anything for a change. We have so many choices to fill our ears, mind, heart, and entire being every moment of every day. Can we dare to leave some empty space and intentionally seek some silence? Or will all the other choices cause us to forget what God can provide in silence?
I had time to be uncomfortable with whatever may come to mind: Do I need to do another pass on my sermon notes? Am I going to be effective and helpful to my confirmation students between services or will I be too distracted? Is there anyone I need to add to the prayers I did not add to my notes on Saturday?
Finally, I shook my head and silently prayed, “God, be my strength today. Help me to focus on your Word because I am distracted by many important things and many unimportant things.”
The divinely inspired words of Solomon came to me, “…a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” – Ecclesiastes 3:7
I desperately needed God to help me entrust him to use the words of my sermon to tear, that is bring us to repentance in a time to undo what we have done.
I desperately needed God to help me entrust to him to use the words of my sermon to sew, that is to bring us comfort, assurance, and healing that he promises to repair what we have undone or torn apart in our sin.
The time of silence he afforded me on the drive to church prepared me to be blessed by the time he afforded me to speak as a pastor just a few hours later, standing on the rock of his blessed and perfect Word.
It should come as no surprise (but it did!) that I ended up being the most confident and comfortable I have been preaching and publicly speaking in about eight months.
I have plans and prayers to challenge us to draw comfort from God’s calling on our lives to uncomfortable places. God calls upon us to make his deeds known verbally and visibly to the dying world around us. This will certainly include a lot of sound speaking and thoughtful action towards our neighbors for them to hear, see, and receive from us in the flesh.
However, this requires us re-thinking our personal, daily liturgy.
Maybe the many things, sounds, and commitments that fill your daily routine are more interesting than my Sunday morning choices.
It may be a safe bet you have more fascinating selections than Tomlin on Spotify, centuries old hymnody on Lutheran Public Radio, or podcasts on historical Christianity being discussed with non-Christians.
But I invite you and challenge you to re-think your daily routine. Do you have ample room for silence? Will you make an intentional plan to set aside 30 minutes, an hour, or another significant amount of time to be silent before God?
It is time to re-think our liturgy. It is a good time for silence. The biblical definition of silence I want us to apply is this: Set aside every earthly thing and fill it with silent prayer, reading Holy Scripture to yourself out loud…and slowly. Do not be afraid to linger on a verse or a word, or a brief passage for minutes at a time or more.
There will be a time to speak. There will be exciting opportunities to answer the heavenly calling of our monthly memory work in Isaiah 12:4-5.
But first, let us begin in silence at the foot of the cross. Put every earthly thing where it belongs when you start and end your day, put them as a priority lower than God where he promises to be with you, through his Holy Spirit in prayer and in his Holy Word. He has drawn near to us. Will we recognize the treasure of drawing near to him where he promises to always be found?
I invite you to close with me in a prayer that can be our companion this month.
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear heavenly Father, give us our daily bread, good seasons, and health. Protect us from the many sounds and sights that so easily distract and cause us to forget you. Give us wisdom to seek silence, prayer, and time for your Holy Word above and before everything else. Comfort us as you call, equip, and prepare us for the uncomfortable calling: Making your deeds known to the peoples. Grant us this, O Father, through your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
God bless your Lenten journey with silence.
In Christ,
Pastor Dolby
February 2025
"The Treasure of Time"
by Pastor Ben Dolby
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases. – Psalm 103:2-3
I believe many of us have heard the metaphor, “Time is a thief.” I am equally confident that many of us have heard the opposite sentiment, “Time is a gift.”
Both expressions resonate in my life. The further I get into the year of confirmation instruction, the passage of time in Holy Scripture as well as Luther’s Small Catechism with my second-year students “feels” like it is speeding by quicker than I would prefer. It indeed feels like time is being stolen away!
However, I have a great sense of relief for February this year compared to last year. There is time to “breathe” before the penitential season of Lent begins this year…at least from my subjective point of view! Lent began very early last year, on February 14, to be exact. Lent will begin this year on March 5. It may only be a matter of two and a half more weeks, but I “feel” like I have time to prepare for Lent with a few more Sundays after The Epiphany this year.
The important question then rises: What am I going to do with this extra time provided by the Author and Perfector of faith? How can you and I bring glory to God in the treasure of time in our lives – before, during, and after the Lenten journey on the near horizon?
Our monthly memory work of Psalm 103:2-3 is a wonderful way to begin glorifying God with this treasure of time. Bear with me as I offer a Track and Field illustration on this point.
When I was a bit younger and much more flexible, my favorite part of being a Track and Field Athlete in middle-school through college was when I got the hang of the starting blocks. Any of the races that were 400 meters or less included this fantastic contraption that a runner would use to help them blast out of the start of a race, low and explosive!
However, these starting blocks only benefited the runner if they took their time to get settled in properly. When the race official calmly spoke in the bullhorn, “Runners take your mark…” you had a brief amount of time to 1) stretch and get some wiggles out, 2) carefully crouch into a kneeling stance, 3) take calming breaths while you carefully placed your running shoes (with spikes on the bottom if you really knew what you were doing) on the starting blocks, 4) carefully place your fingers and hands behind the starting line of your assigned lane, 5) and … wait… I LOVED this time of anticipation.
Once every runner was set and motionless, the race official would calmly say, “SET” and you would have to raise your body into a ready position and through discipline and practice wait for the starting gun.
So often, the race would be over before I knew it. This is why I loved the preparation for a race as much as the race itself. I believe God made it clear to me from a very young age how fortunate I was to have my health. I never suffered through any physical inabilities; so it was always on my mind what a treasure it was to be able to move, walk, run, and experience the thrill of competition. Even the time of waiting before a race was a thrill to me!
Having time to reflect on Psalm 103 again, I see how I was afforded time, even as a young athlete, to praise God by taking the time to use the abilities he had provided to appreciate those experiences, including times to wait in prayer and contemplation. I am still learning how to be patient, slow down, and be thankful for the Treasure of Time afforded by our Maker and Redeemer.
Every day we are afforded the treasure of time to meditate on what the gift of this present day as well as what is just ahead of us. Like a Track and Field athlete is afforded time to carefully prepare in their starter blocks, we have time to carefully prepare for the month of February as well as the Church Seasons ahead of us, in the months to come.
As we 1) stretch and wake up in the morning may we, 2) carefully kneel in prayer with humility in our hearts, 3) taking calming breaths to focus on our Maker and Redeemer, 4) carefully placing our body, mind, and soul on the promises he desires to give us in his Holy Word, and give thanks as we 5) wait for what he provides in our daily bread: There is so much he provides in this Treasure of Time. The Psalmist blesses us with the wisdom to slow down and marvel at God’s forgiveness and grace toward us, in Jesus Christ alone. This is an excellent way to bring glory to God from the starting blocks each morning.
Prayer for February: Merciful God, it is impossible to count how many times we need your forgiveness. Day after day, we need your pardon and grace. Thank you for sending our iniquities to the cross, where Jesus takes the anger and gives us compassion instead. Bless the LORD, O my soul! In Jesus’ Name. Amen!
In Christ,
Pastor Dolby
January 2025
"This Light is Good"
by Pastor Ben Dolby
A new calendar year begins for society very close to the beautiful Church Festival of Epiphany on January 6th. The Epiphany celebrates the Light being revealed to the Gentiles in the visit of the Wise Men from the East, that is, from nations that are not Israel. God has always intended and will always desire for his Light to be given to every nation, Jew and Gentile. This Light is good and I am thankful for the Advent devotion we utilized this Advent and Christmas goes all the way to the Day of Epiphany!
Here is an excerpt from that devotion to lift our countenance towards this good Light, Jesus Christ, to begin this new year in the pathway that is good.
“During the Epiphany season of the Church Year we focus on how God shines the light of his Word into the spiritual darkness of this world so that all may come to Christ and receive his salvation.” – p. 39 “His Name Shall Be Called”
The spiritual darkness can take on many forms to attack, distract, deceive, and harm us. The powerful way it manifests itself is in a distracting cacophony. Whew! That’s quite a Scrabble word for a simple wannabe hobbit like me. A cacophony is a harsh discordant mixture of sounds.
God directly counters and defeats this cacophony of the Darkness with the beautiful harmony of the Light of his Good News. Behold, here is a small appetizer of the beautiful Gospel throughout God’s Word from ancient of Days:
“In you all families of the earth shall be blessed.” – God’s promise to Abraham and the world in Genesis 12:3
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen.” – God’s promise to Israel through Moses, prophesying the Messiah for the world will come from the tribes of Israel in Deuteronomy 18:15.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the LORD God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? … For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” – God desires for the gift of Salvation to be received by everyone, even the wicked…that is, he or she who does not yet believe in Ezekiel 18:23. *You really should read Ezekiel 18:21 & 32.
And finally, our monthly memory work joins the choir-like harmony of God’s Salvation story, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:3-4
It is good to see that God’s design for salvation has been the same throughout all the centuries of this world.
This Light is good and I am thankful that the beauty of Advent and the joys of Christmas spill over into the new year in this Festival Season of the Epiphany.
The Light, Jesus Christ, has come to pierce the darkness. The long-promised Messiah, whom every heart longs for as we acknowledge the terrible state of the world in its brokenness, despair, and death, has drawn near to his beloved Creation.
The Good News can be missed when Christmas Season becomes a cacophony of busyness and we miss what makes it all so right: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21
The Good News can be missed when the new calendar year becomes a cacophony of trying so hard to do better than last year…we know how that’s going to go, right?
This Light is Jesus Christ. He is good and He has drawn near to you because His desire is the same as that in the ancient of days: To deliver you from death to eternal life.
May we boldly share with others that this Festival Season of Light is all God giving us his Light. God gives us his Light to crush the spiritual darkness so all may come to Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, and receive his eternal gifts.
God bless you as you offer the world hope, peace, joy, and love in Christ Jesus alone this January, this Epiphany, and every season to come until the Resurrection…the Eighth Day of Creation commences at Christ’s Second Advent. Alleluia and Amen!
In Christ,
Pastor Dolby
December 2024
O come all ye faithful…wait…who is faithful?
by Pastor Ben Dolby
We enter the month of December with joyful expectation. I am about to break one of my personal rules I strictly adhere to every year…I am going to share a Christmas hymn in the Season of Advent.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
Who is faithful? When we assess the past year, the past decade, and all our lives…what we confess early in the Divine Service each week admits that we are anything but faithful.
I invite you to marvel at the incredible declaration of faith we sing in the opening words of this Christmas hymn. Thank God for the Good News of what he has accomplished when the Word became Incarnate. We are declared faithful because God has washed our sins away. Jesus’ death and resurrection are a joyful and triumphant victory he shares with us, as our Heavenly Father always desired from the beginning (see Genesis 3:15, Deuteronomy 18:15, and Ezekiel 18:23-32 for the proof). We are no longer enemies of God in our sin; instead, we are made right with God!
Consider one of our recent Epistle lessons from Hebrews chapter 10, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. – Hebrews 10:19-22
Did you hear the declaration here, especially in verse 22?! We can draw near to God with a true heart because of the full assurance God gives to us in the gift of faith through the gift of his Son, Jesus!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him born the king of angels: O come, let us adore him, O come let us adore him, O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
May we receive and gladly respond to God’s invitation to come and see what he has done to make us new again. May we take this month to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what it looks like to adore Christ as King over everything in our life.
O Come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant!
Who is faithful? We are, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us in his Incarnation! Amen and Amen.
I want to give you our monthly memory work as an Advent and Christmas gift that you can begin memorizing and reciting out loud for your own benefit and the benefit of others. In him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:4-5
In Christ,
Pastor Dolby