Pastor's Monthly Message
Reflections on various topics that seek to inspire, inform and comfort the reader
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