In John 17 we hear Jesus speaking what we have come to call His “High Priestly Prayer”. It may be strange to say that Jesus, God in the flesh, prayed. Why does Jesus, of all people, need to pray? The really simple answer is this: Because we need it!

In the Old Testament, God appointed for His people a High Priest. The High Priest was adorned with fancy clothes, a turban, and a sash. He was adorned with such splendor not because he was better than everyone else (he has to sacrifice for his own sins, too!). Neither did he simply want to look fancy in front of his peers. No, the High Priest was dressed so magnificently in order to reflect the importance of his role as intercessor between God and God’s people. The High Priest was the go-between.

Now, however, the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our High Priest. The God of the Universe adorned Himself in human flesh so that He might pray for humanity and be our intercessor. In John 17 Jesus prays for His disciples and He prays for the future Church, including all those who will believe in the Gospel on account of the testimony of those first disciples. That means, He was, and continues to be, praying for you.

Jesus is the God Who Prays and, as mysterious as that sounds, He prays for us. Jesus intercedes for us and for all our needs of body and soul. Jesus prays for us when we don’t know what we should be praying for or when we don’t know how we should be praying. Jesus prays for us when we can’t pray for ourselves. And because Jesus is our intercessor, our High Priest, our God Who Prays, we too can approach the throne of God in confidence that we will be heard. Our prayers, no matter how scattered, insufficient, rambling, short, long, or unsteady are heard by our Heavenly Father as a parent listens to his or her child.

So this lenten season join me, and our Lord, in prayer. What can we pray for? Here’s a list to get us started:

Our Congregation: That we would continue to pursue our mission of, “Connecting people to the vibrant love of Jesus”

Our Community: Especially Bishop Elementary School students, teachers, and staff.

Our Country: That those who lead would do so with honor and integrity.

All Creation: That all people around the world would come to know Jesus and His love.

Do you have your own prayer request? Send it to pastor_nick@stmarksunnyvale.org

In Christ,

Pastor Nick

Join Us Wednesday Nights in Lent!
6pm - Dinner
7pm - Lenten Worship

“Lent is the period in which, learning to abstain from adoring at the shrine of the self, we come to see beyond the divinity we have made of ourselves to the divine will for all the world” [1]

So writes Sister Joan Chittister in her book The Liturgical Year. And indeed, as we enter into this season of the church year called Lent, we do this peculiar thing of looking past ourselves to Christ Himself. It’s not often we’re called upon in this world to look beyond ourselves. More often than not we’re told to “Speak our minds”, “Look out for Number One”, or “Live and let live”. But Lent, and indeed the entirety of the Christian life, is about looking beyond ourselves and looking to Jesus.

So tonight we begin this task anew by smearing our foreheads with ashes. Again, such an odd thing, isn’t it? Sometimes it feels like being in a secret club because we go about our day and exchange smiles with those we know are “in the know”. But ashes on our forehead aren’t akin to a secret handshake. No, the ashes are themselves the entrance into the season when we abstain from adoring at the shrine of the self. They remind us each time we are tempted to gaze upon ourselves we are simply adoring what will, one day, be only dust. For “we are from dust and to dust we shall return”.

The centuries-long practice of fasting during Lent is also a clear reminder that we ought to abstain from adoring at the shrine of the self. Rather than seek self-satisfaction and or be constantly controlled by our rumbling bellies, fasting teaches us again to look past the shrine of the self and once again to Christ. Fasting, properly done, sends us to Jesus for our sustenance.

Jesus himself took up the practice of fasting. For 40 days He went without food in the wilderness and then was tempted by the devil. So this evening we will “Behold the Man” who looked past Himself, setting His eyes, from the very beginning of His public ministry, on the will of His Heavenly Father. All this He did for you. Thus, this Ash Wednesday we look beyond our human frailty to Jesus who, though He became human, could not be held in the tomb. And because He could not be held by death, neither shall we!

In Christ,

Pastor Nick

Join us this evening for Ash Wednesday!

Potluck dinner at 6pm
Worship with imposition of ashes and Holy Communion at 7pm   

Sign up to get our weekly devotions HERE

[1] Chittister, Joan. 2010. The Liturgical Year. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

“He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried…”

With these words, we confess a profound and mysterious truth. We worship a God who suffered. We worship a God who was humiliated. We worship a God who was crucified. Not only was God incarnate in the person of Jesus but this incarnate God actually suffered and died.

Christ crucified, as the Apostle Paul points out, is foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23). Why would God possibly suffer for His people? How could God, the maker of heaven and earth, die a brutal, human death? More than that, why would God, who spoke all things into being, suffer such a death? What could possibly move God to do this?

In a word? Love.

The God who created us also loves us, His creation, with an eternal, never-ending, divine love. And because of that love, in Christ, God was willing to suffer, to die, and to be laid in a tomb to ensure that our redemption from sin, death, and the devil would be secured. Our Heavenly Father was willing to give it all up so that our relationship with Him could be restored.

So the next time we recite the creed, take these words in. Be amazed by them. You are one for whom Christ was willing to go to the cross. Indeed, each and every person you meet is one for whom Christ was willing to die. No humiliation was too great. No cross was too heavy. No sin too much.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate for you.

In Christ,

Pastor Nick

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…”

“I believe that God has made me and all creatures…” This is how Luther begins his explanation of the first article of the creed with this statement. Is it just me or do you forget about this sometimes, too? I mean, we flip to Genesis 1 and read about God being the Creator. But do we ever make the next logical step? That is to say that if God is the Creator, then we are...creatures.

Sure we spend much time throughout the day creating. We cook meals, we build things, we do work, we take care of things and people. We spend time creating and because we spend so much time creating and caring for and providing for, I have a tendency to start to think that I am The creator.

But when we recite the creed together we are brought down to earth...we are put in our proper place. I believe that God created. Everything with which I work is just a product of God’s ultimate creation.

Confessing that God is God and I am not, it’s in one sense humbling. It knocks me down a rung to two (or ten), it reminds me that I’m not the ultimate authority in my life or anyone else’s.

But the confession of God as Creator of Heaven and earth is also such good news. For it is God who has given me all that I have. It is God who provides for me. It is God who protects me from the Enemy. It is God who continues to sustain me in this life. When I start to believe that I am the Creator, that I am the one who provides and sustains, well that creates all kinds of anxiety. “Am I doing it good enough?” “Will I continue to sustain this?” “Will things in my life continue to work out as they have in the past?”

Into this anxiety and doubt and fear, Jesus speaks some rather mind-boggling words. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, not about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them…”.

Do not be anxious? How do I do that when there are so many things that must be done? How do I do that when so many people are counting on me?

The Catechism:

• Read pages 133-163 (2017 Edition) in the Explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism.

Questions for Reflection:

• What does it mean to be human?

• What does it mean to be made in God’s image?

• Where is your favorite place in God’s creation?

• What makes you most anxious? How is God addressing that area of anxiety in your life?

• What is one question you have about this article? (Email Pastor Nick!)