It is Friday…
And to not repeat myself, it is very cold outside! Yeah, I know… but… no… I didn’t add “very” before.
Well it is! And I didn’t. But winter is really here then…
Cold and dark.
But wait, don’t you see, we are on the other side… (I challenge to you is to tell me where that quote is from)
But no, days ARE getting longer again… more sun per day, every day.
Did you ever wonder about the why?
I was told… and I am not sure if this is still held… but I was told by creationists that before the flood, or at least before the great and terrible day of Joshua, that the earth was not tilted.
But I am not talking about that.
I mentioned a certain pastor in Minnesota before, who we blame for the winters there (or at least the snow), and he would most likely say that winter was always a part of creation…
But I would say that it was more like how another pastor, who lives out in the North West enjoys it. He loves skiing. But he just drives to it, and then comes back to nice and normal.
The way it should be.
So I am with him. Blame Adam and Eve… and the pastor in Minnesota!
Now what I am referring to is why we have these times of darkness.
Let’s remember the 400 years of slavery for the Old Testament church in Egypt. Then there was the 400 years of silence between the testaments. God did not send His word to them in the voice of a prophet.
Then Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert fasting, in his temptation by the devil.
But then…
Yeah, it is all about the BUT THEN!
You see we are about to enter into Lent—40 days of it. No coincidence there. It is a time of fasting and repentance. It is a time of reflection and looking for answers….
And not just anywhere, but to Him who IS THE LIGHT… is the SPRING-TIME and SUMMER—eternal summer.
Because we who have lived through this time of woe… this cold and dark place…
This valley of the shadow of death…
Well…
…the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.” [Matt 4:16 / Isa 9:2]
So our long wait is over.
As the “BUT THEN” is EASTER! The bright and warm (no snow) Easter morning!
Yeah, but we have waited over 2000 years now for Jesus to return for our Easter… that He promised.
And isn’t this then another of those dark times?
Yes, in a way this too is like a long Lent. But it is like Lent with quite a few Easters—and this every year to brighten things up… until that final one promised!
And He did not leave us without a deposit for a lifetime of summer. He sent His Spirit. So even when we walk through darkness He is there within us…
And Jesus too promises to walk with us all the way…
All the way home…
Where trees (who are they, I wonder…) are planted that bear fruit always, as there is no bitter cold, no time of harsh winds, or drought, no darkness whatsoever!
So this time of waiting is different from all the others that came before.
But yes, we still are to go through them. We have no choice really.
When it is the fullness of time He will return.
In the meantime, we prepare. We fast and pray. We fast and repent. And then we receive His forgiveness and all that we need to get us to the place He went to prepare for us.
So again, we are on the other side. And this day… these days of winter’s bitter cold…
They too will soon pass. Just wait…
But even so… and even in the midst of them… SO TOO WE FEAST!
The victory has already been won! Don’t forget Easter has happened! And Christmas. And Transfiguration. And the Ascension!
So, we do get to also rejoice now! We get feast days! Even the Sundays in Lent are mini Easter celebrations, if you didn’t know that!
Yes, we get to eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we LIVE!
But so too, we mourn with those who mourn, weep with those who weep…
And then when that is done, we teach them that they too can rejoice with us as this is not the end. That, whatever it is, will be no more…
Will be no more… as it is swallowed up in Christ’s victory… for He IS RISEN!
Yeah…
But ho hum… it’s January and it is cold… and…
Yes, it is only another Friday…
Yes, but Sunday… it’s almost here. And then soon and very soon, it will be a month full of Sundays where many of you will be complaining about the heat!
Surely not I, Lord?
Well, the older I get, the less that happens. I welcome the heat!
This coming Sunday – Transfiguration Sunday – January 25th 2026
Readings:
Old Testament – Isaiah 61:10-11
Epistle – 1 Peter 1:16-21
Gospel – Matthew 17:1-9
Psalm – 84
CLOTHED WITH CHRIST – Based on the Gospel reading
Prayers: For peace in our nation, and that justice would prevail. For a lasting peace that would be established and would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For safety during this time of cold and snow/ice precipitation. For our Law enforcement, both Federal, State and Local, and the citizenry they are sworn to protect. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cites, and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone.
Reflections from Luther on Lent:
“Through the suffering of Christ,” said Luther, “the suffering of all his saints has become utterly holy, for it has been touched with Christ’s suffering.”
“After St. Paul has taught the Romans faith, he begins in Romans 12:1 to teach them many good works, exhorting them to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which would be their spiritual service. This is rendered to God in that the body is mortified by fasting, watching and labors, which is done by Anna. All the saints of old have done this, for fasting means all chastisement and discipline of the body. Although the soul is just and holy by faith, the body is not yet entirely free from sin and carnal appetites, wherefore it must be subdued and disciplined and made subject to the soul, as St. Paul says of himself in 1 Corinthians 9:27: ‘But I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. We also read in 1 Peter 2:5 that we should offer up spiritual sacrifices, that is to say not sheep nor calves, as under the law of Moses, but our own body and ourselves, by the mortification of sin in our flesh and the discipline of the body. No one can do this who does not first believe.”