When the Israelites fought against the Amalekites, Moses went to stand on the top of a hill with the staff of God in his hands. As long as he did this, and the staff in his hands was visible to the people, Israel was winning. Whenever he lowered his hands, the tide turned in favour of the Amalekites.

Moses’ staff was a symbol of divine calling and redemption. It was a visible sign of God’s presence and care. Eventually, Moses became tired and his arms grew heavy so that Aaron and Hur had to hold them up for him. Moses had to hold the staff up, but could not do it alone. He needed help.

It is similar with the Apostles. They cannot carry out their mission, namely to make the salvation in Christ visible, by themselves. Like Aaron and Hur helped Moses, we can support the Apostles in fulfilling their mission. For one, we can do this through our prayers. But we ourselves can – and must – become active. The whole congregation is urged to become involved. One way we can do this is to see the soul in our neighbour that Jesus wants to redeem and treat him or her accordingly. We can do this by testifying of our faith in the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death through obedience and trust, or by seeking fellowship with Christ in divine service and embracing the gifts that we have received through the Apostles. And we can help along by being willing to forgive and thereby testifying of the grace we ourselves have received.

Let us make an effort like Aaron and Hur did to make divine salvation visible!

Food for thought from a divine service by the Chief Apostle

In Isaiah 43:19 it says: “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Unfortunately, ugly and negative things tend to be far more apparent and easier to see than the beautiful things around us. You do not even have to really look for the negative, it practically jumps out at you. And if you do not notice it yourself, it usually does not take long for someone to come along and point it out: “Have you heard…?” True to the old journalistic credo that only bad news is good news.

I am not saying that we should not be able to clearly identify negative things or even sweep them under the carpet. Important is that we recognise the beauty in all its diversity. Many of the new things that God creates are already there and are springing up. We may have to make a little more effort to perceive them, but it is worth the effort. For then we will no longer only see the wilderness and the desert, but will suddenly see the paths and streams of water that God is creating for us. He is creating something new, where all the unpleasant things, all the evil, will no longer exist. He will redeem us and lead us into His kingdom. Do we see it?

Food for thought from a divine service by the Chief Apostle

One of Jesus’ biggest concerns is the unity of those who believe in and follow Him. He makes this very clear in His intercessory prayer in John 17.

For many, unity is synonymous with uniformity: no differences, everyone is the same. In an ideal world, we ourselves are the measure of all things, and everyone else corresponds to our own ideal. This is not what Jesus wanted, on no account. He saw things completely different. Unity for Him means oneness in Christ. He does not expect everyone to be the same, but He does expect that we are all filled by His love, and love one another in our otherness.

If the love of Christ is missing in the congregation, differences will lead to division. All you will see is the otherness of your neighbour and feel frustrated. You will only see yourself and how you would do things differently, and probably better. But where the love of Christ exists, such thoughts will disappear, and differences will even be found to be enriching. In such a congregation everyone is one in Christ. Different. Completely different. But together in Christ.

Food for thought from a divine service by the Chief Apostle

Even today the Apostles, in fact, all of us, are sent by God to proclaim the gospel. The gospel is there for all people, because all suffer from sin.

When Jesus read from the Torah in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, he read Isaiah 61: 1–2: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

Then Jesus looked at all the people who had gathered and said that this was Him (Luke 4: 21). Jesus kept on emphasising that He had come for the poor, for the oppressed, the sick, and the sad. These were the ones who especially needed Him. But here is the good news for all those who can say of themselves: “I am not actually poor, supressed, sick, or sad. So does the gospel apply to me as well?” Yes, because although Jesus specifically addresses the poor here, He is also addressing those who are poor in a figurative sense:

• those who are humble and know that they need grace,
• those who suffer because they are separated from God on account of sin, and
• those who are trapped in sin.

It was to them that Jesus preached the gospel, and He sent the Apostles to spread the gospel further. And still today, the Apostles, and all of us, are sent by God to proclaim the gospel. The gospel is for everyone, because everyone suffers from sin. We are commissioned by God to say: “God wants to free people from sin and bring them back into fellowship with Him.” Some will accept the gospel, others will not. Let us not be discouraged by this. It will not stop the Lord from completing His work.

Heartfelt greetings,
Jean-Luc Schneider