Author Archives: John Keller

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About John Keller

I am a retired Lutheran pastor whose intention is to consent to God's gracious presence and actions within.

Cleopas the unknown apostle

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Cleopas is mentioned once in the Bible.  In Luke 24 two disciples leave Jerusalem on Easter evening and walk to Emmaus, a village seven miles away.  They are distraught that their leader has been executed.  They are joined in their walk by a stranger who is the resurrected Jesus, but they do not recognize him. (This is a common experience for Jesus after his resurrection; I think it still happens today.)   As they walk along the stranger (Jesus) asks what they are discussing about Jerusalem. 

Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” (Luke 24:18). 

Jesus Revealed During The Meal in Emmaus - Rembrandt

Cleopas is not listed in Luke 6 with the other apostles.  We do not know how deep his commitment was to Jesus.  Yet Jesus chose to reveal himself to Cleopas and his unnamed companion when they stopped for a meal together.  Cleopas, in turn, had the opportunity to race back to Jerusalem and tell the other disciples what he had seen and heard. 

He did not care whether he got future credit.  He simply had to tell someone.   

I think ministry is often like that today.  God does not always choose the most committed or gifted or wisest person to be the messenger.   God chooses the one who is willing to speak her mind and who is willing to share the good news that God is at work. 

Cleopas was willing to hurry back to Jerusalem and to testify to the truth.  He ended up where he started, but everything changed in the journey to Emmaus and back. 

What journey are you on?  Are you open to God speaking through a stranger?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, open my heart, soul, and mind to hear your voice and to do your will.

Remembering God’s Way

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Eustace and Jill from Silver Chair by Dunechaser on Flickr

I am on a C. S. Lewis binge, rereading his Chronicles of Narnia.   The Silver Chair is this week’s read, in which Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole are given the mission of rescuing the Narnia Prince Rilian.  Near the beginning of the story, King Aslan gives to Jill four signs that will aid in their mission.  She is instructed to remember the signs by repeating them every day, telling them to Eustace and later their companion, Puddleglum. The discipline of the repetition will allow them to recognize the signs when she, Eustace or Puddleglum encounter them.  In the hardship of her journey she neglects the repetition and therefore they must face unnecessary challenges.

This act of remembering echoes God’s words to the Israelites while they were wandering in the wilderness, prior to entering the promise land.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.  Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.  Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut. 6:5-9)

The act of daily devotions can at time feel like a chore or empty ritual.  Yet to neglect the ritual is to open oneself to other, less healthy, less meaningful influences.  To read a passage of scripture, to pray the Lord’s Prayer, or to confess the Apostle’s Creed aides one in reorienting oneself to God’s mission and path. I confess I can easily be distracted from the main tasks of the day.  Asking for God’s guidance, courage and strength helps me stay true to my mission to trust, live and serve.  

How has daily time with God enhanced your life of faith?

Prayer: Lord God, only you know what is ahead for me today.  I ask you to guide my thoughts, words and deeds, that they might bring honor to you.

Death of Osama

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Seeking Justice

There has been considerable reflection on the death of Osama Bin Laden and the impromptu celebrations that broke out in parts of America.  NPR asked the question, Is it wrong to celebrate Bin Laden’s death.  I have my own two-part response.

My first response revolves around the issue of justice.  When evil has done harm to people, as a culture we seek justice.   We punish those who have caused the harm with the hope of redeeming the loss.  When a hit-and-run driver leaves the scene of an accident, we feel it is just to find the driver and have that driver pay for any/all damages.  If there is a loss of life, the driver receives a punishment of prison and/or probation based on his or her responsibility for the crime.  Cain was punished for the murder of his brother, Able, in Genesis 4. Punishment is a means for restricting further violence and sin.  Lutherans call this the first use of God’s law, to curb our violent and selfish ways.

Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the tragedy of 9/11.  We had a moral right to seek justice with him regarding this crime.  I trust the statements that the SEAL strike team was seeking first to capture Bin Laden, but had to execute him as a combatant.  I see partial justice in his death and I hope his death will stop further acts of violence.  But we have no guarantee of that.   

Now comes the second response regarding the celebration of his death.   God created all human being with purpose and meaning.  God loves all human beings, even when they turn away from God’s purposes and ways.  God’s law shows us our sinful nature and our need for a savior.   Lutherans describe this as the second use of the law: our profound need for Jesus’ mercy and grace.  So what I celebrate today is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Roman Catholic Church responded to the news of bin Laden’s death with this statement: “Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of everyone before God and man, and hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace.”

That is my prayer today.  That peace and justice might reign, not more death and destruction.

Lord, have mercy.

Visitor from Wibaux

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Yesterday after worship, I met Wayne, a visitor from Rochester, New York.  He was here in Minnesota on a business trip and decided to worship at Resurrection.   We had a pleasant conversation around visiting churches.   After our conversation, I observed others conversing with him.  Hospitality was being practiced.

Wayne’s visit reminded me of my first week at my old church.  My first Sunday morning was a bit overwhelming.  Like Resurrection, it was a growing congregation and being the new staff person, every face and name was new to me. A primary part of my job was to follow-up with visitors via letter and phone calls.  On Monday morning, as I looked through the small stack of visitor cards, one card stood out: a visitor from Wibaux, Montana.

Pierre Wibaux, the town's namesake.

Wibaux is a tiny town on the eastern edge of Montana.  Wibaux has no distinction, other than it was where my father grew up in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  My grandfather had been the county doctor.  Though the area has hit hard times in recent years, my father always spoke with great fondness for this high-plains town.  

When I saw the Wibaux welcome card, I wrote a special letter of welcome with a note asking if the visitor knew of my grandfather or father.  She wrote me back a short note, saying that yes, she had known my grandfather. In fact, he had assisted in the delivery of her children years ago.  She also wrote how she appreciated the visit to the church and the hospitality.  Her kind letter gave me some much-needed affirmation during a stressful transition.

In Genesis 18, Abraham is sitting by his tent when he spots three visitors approaching.  He immediately offers hospitality to the visitors, providing a special meal for them.  Soon he discovers that his guests are angelic visitors from God, who bring the promise of a son for Abraham and Sarah.  Hospitality has always been a hallmark of God’s people that brings blessings to both the giver and recipient.

How have you practiced hospitality recently?  When have you received hospitality from others?   

Prayer: Lord Jesus, may I practice mercy and kindness towards the stranger in your name.

Hidden With Christ

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Hidden Picture #1

Yesterday, I was cleaning out a small pile of fallen leaves around a bush near our house when suddenly I was startled by a flash of movement from the pile.  A small animal scurried out, frighten by my invasion of its space.  I was startled as well, not sure what kind of animal it was.  I first thought it was a gopher or mole, but after looking more carefully I discovered it was a small rabbit. 

I left the small rabbit burrow alone, and went inside for my camera.  The rabbit stayed motionless for several minutes so I was able to take a picture.   After taking the picture, I saw how well the rabbit blended into its surroundings (see picture #1).  It was hidden even while in plain sight.  Only on closer examination could it be seen (see picture #2).   

Hidden Picture #2

As I thought about this encounter, a Bible phrase flashed into my head, hidden with Christ.  I had to do a search on the computer to find the exact verse. 

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,  for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:2-3

Paul, the writer of Colossians, is encouraging us to see our lives as having a secure anchor in the midst of constant earthly turmoil and temptation.  Our place of safety is our relationship with Jesus Christ.  He is our secure burrow, our hiding place, when the evil one attacks.

I have not gone near the rabbit burrow since that first encounter, nor have I seen the small bunny.  I am unsure if I damaged the burrow beyond repair.   And upon further reflection, after seeing the horrific destruction this week by tornadoes in Alabama and other parts of the south, I can never be sure that my own home is forever safe from such destruction.  

The one secure promise is that my life is hidden with Christ and I am safe with him.

In whom is your life hidden?  Where do you find safety and security?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep me safe in you, my rock and shield.  Bring comfort, strength and courage to those whose homes and families have been devastated by storms.

John’s Portrait of Jesus

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St. John the Evangelist by El Greco

At the end of chapter twenty, John declares,

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

Contemporary readers of the Gospels often compare them to modern biographies, but the Gospel writers did not intend this.  They were creating vivid portraits of Jesus that inspire and transform the reader.  The writer of John states that he could have included other material but chose not to.   The gospel writers were artists, not biographers.

Art isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator.

What makes someone an artist?  I don’t think it has anything to do with a paintbrush.  There are painters who follow the numbers, or paint billboards or work in a small village in China, painting reproductions.  These folks, while swell people, aren’t artists.  On the other hand, Charlie Chaplin was an artist, beyond a doubt. So is Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod. You can be an artist with oil paints or marble, sure. But there are artists who work with numbers, business models, and customer conversations.  Art is about intent and communication, not substances. (Seth Godin, Graceful, Making a Difference in a World that Needs You. 2010, p. 22)

The writer of John, inspired by God, created a masterpiece. 

How is your life touching others with creativity, joy and vibrancy ?

Prayer, Lord Jesus, inspire me to create beauty and joy in your name.

Peace be with you

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Prayer for Peace by American artist Cindy Walker

Twice the resurrected Jesus greets his frighten disciples with the words, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19, 26).  This is more than the absence of conflict.  In Hebrew peace, shalom, means fullness or wholeness, having all that you need to be fully alive.

Peace is something  for which many of us still seek.  We may not fear the direct persecution which the early disciple’s feared, but we feel overwhelmed at times by the complexity and uncertainty of modern life.  We fear that our jobs may disappear, or our children may stray, or our health may fail.  The news media is unrelenting in showing us the potential disasters we face.  We long for peace, deep personal peace.

Jesus offers peace, but not the absence of conflict or storm.  When he appeared to the disciples, he showed them his scars from the cross.  He had suffered and died.  Yet the darkness of death could not hold him.  Jesus’ death seems the very opposite of peace.  Yet, as Frederick Buechner writes,

The contradiction is resolved when you realize that, for Jesus, peace seems to have meant not the absence of struggle, but the presence of love. (Beyond Words, p. 307)

Jesus’ presence gave assurance of peace and love to the scared disciples.  His presence today gives the same benefit. 

How have you experienced God’s love and peace this week?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, open my life to be full and at peace with you.

Friends Between Stories

Friendship by Nova Scotia artist Karen Morrison

In John 20: 19-29 two stories are told.  The first is Jesus’ initial appearance to the disciples in a locked room.  He appears, not as a ghost, but in a resurrected body, and gives them the blessings of peace and the Holy Spirit.  The encounter is quick yet vibrant.   Afterwards the disciples are excited to tell Thomas, their friend and colleague.

For some unreported reason, Thomas was not present during Jesus initial appearance.   Perhaps he was the only disciple who had courage to go out and pick up some fish and bread for supper.  Perhaps he went out to get a stiff drink or wanted some time alone to think.  Whatever the reason, Thomas was gone and missed all the excitement.

Then he ruins the disciple’s excitement with his skeptical response, “Unless I see the marks, touch the wounds, I will not believe.”   I suspect that such honest skepticism threw cold water on the disciples.  How were they to tell other about Jesus’ resurrection when their own friend immediately rejected the claim?  I wonder if an argument between Thomas and the others ensued; there is no report of one.   Did the disciples’ faith simply wilt under the harsh, cold logic of Thomas, or did they continue to believe with burning hearts? 

It was a week before Jesus showed up and turned doubting Thomas to confessing Thomas.   A week of wonder, questions, and some dis-ease.  I wonder how Thomas and the others got along during that time.  It is a powerful witness to their lasting friendship that he is still hanging out with the guys when Jesus briefly appears again. 

I remember my friend, Jerry Zimler, in college.  Raised a secular Jew in New York, he came to a faith in Jesus while in college.  He and I would disagree on many matters of faith, like worship, prayer, and ethics.  Still he invited me home over Thanksgiving break to experience the love (and chaotic vitality) of his family.   I still cherish that visit even though Jerry died some twenty-five years ago.

How do you handle those who disagree with you?  Do all your friends have to think like you?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me to listen to my friends and neighbors and to learn from them.

Seeing and Believing

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Are Your Eyes Open to See?

In the Gospel of John one central thread is “Seeing.”  In chapter one, two disciples begin to follow Jesus and he asks, “What are you looking for?”   They ask where are he is staying. He responds, “Come and See.”   It is as if Jesus is also addressing you and me, the readers of the Gospel, “Come and See.”  As we read the Gospel we begin to “see” Jesus.

In Chapter four, after her encounter at the well of Jacob, the woman runs and invites the town (and the reader as well), “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!”  In chapter nine, Jesus heals a blind man and later Jesus asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man.”  When the blind man responds, “Tell me, so I may believe in him,” to which Jesus says, You have seen him, the one speaking with you. ” In chapter twelve some Greeks approach one of Jesus’ disciples and ask, “we wish to see Jesus.”  In chapter fourteen, Jesus tells the disciples that they will know the Father, “From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Jesus is the tangible, visible expression of God, the Father.

The theme of seeing culminates in chapter twenty, when Thomas makes his fateful comment about Jesus’ resurrection, “Unless I see the mark of nails in his hands, I will not believe.”  When Jesus reveals himself to Thomas and says, “Put your fingers here and see my hands. Do not doubt but believe,” Thomas confesses his faith, “My Lord and My God.”   Jesus then speaks as if to you and me, the readers, “Have you believed because you have seen me.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

We may not have visions of Jesus, but we see him in the story of the Gospel and in the lives of God’s children.   Thomas was not the first skeptic nor the last.  At times, I have similar doubts.  Yet as I study God’s word with God’s people, I see Jesus.  We bear witness to one another.

How have you seen Jesus today?

Prayer: Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, that I might see and believe.

Easter – The Morning After

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Jesus Resurrected

Easter is not celebrated the same as Christmas.  Our culture embraces the Christmas story and the pageantry around it.  The story of the Mary, Joseph,  shepherd, angels, stable and baby Jesus is one that many understand and embrace.  Easter morning with the empty tomb and the various accounts in the Gospel as to who was where when can be most confusing.  A humble birth makes sense; a resurrection does not.

Frederick Buechner has written a helpful word on Easter in his book Beyond Words.

Easter is not a major production at all and the minor attractions we have created around it — the bunnies and baskets and bonnets, the dyed eggs — have so little to do with what it’s all about that they neither add to it nor subtract from it.  It’s not really even much of a story when you come right down to it, and that is of course the power of it. It doesn’t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth. If the Gospel writers had wanted to tell it in a way to convince the world that Jesus indeed rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the skill and fanfare they could muster.  Here there is no skill, no fanfare. They seem to be telling it simply the way it was. The narrative is as fragmented, shadowy, incomplete as life itself.  When it comes to just what happened, there can be no certainty.  That something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt. (p. 91)

The unimaginable has happened.  Jesus has risen from the dead.  We may never fully comprehend all that this means, but we can be messengers of this truth for the world.  Like the women at the tomb, we may be confused, unsure, even afraid.   Yet we continue to have the same task, to go and tell, even on the morning after. 

How has the message of Easter changed your perspective or life?  How do you life in the light of the empty tomb?

Prayer: Lord God, though my mind may never fully comprehend the depth and height of the resurrection, continue to fill my heart with the joy and power of Easter.