First, let me thank everyone who has prayed, sent cards, brought food, and checked in on me following my knee surgery. I believe I’m on the mend. I felt so good that I was able to attend worship on August 28. I must say, it’s very odd feeling to sit in the pew of the church that I pastor. 

Don’t get me wrong, Pastor Cloeter delivered a powerful, grace-filled sermon. Aaron’s children message was great. Mt. Calvary was welcoming as it always is. It’s just weird to be on the receiving end of all those blessings and not worried so much about how to make sure the blessings are shared.

The whole day felt like I was turned upside down. As the one who provides comfort, I received it. As the one who pours out blessings, I took them in. As the one who leads, I followed. As I said, it all felt upside down.

As I was thinking about this, I heard these words from Isaiah 29: Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? (Isaiah 29:15-16).  Here God reminds us that we ALL get things upside down from time to time. 

We live in a world that continues to deny the Potter who made us all. It continues to claim that God doesn’t know or understand what’s going on. In 2015, in response to a mass shooting in Oregon, President Obama declared, “our thoughts and prayers are not enough.” This sentiment shows the upside down in which we live. Even as Christians, we don’t believe enough in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring people to faith. We feel as though there is something we must do, that it’s up to us to have the right program, process, and procedure to spread the Gospel. This is upside down.

The right side up way to see the world is that it is fallen, broken, and nothing like the Father intended it to be. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven has come, and God has set things right. The Holy Spirit now moves throughout the world telling people that this new kingdom has come. 

The right side up way to see this world is as Martin Luther said on his deathbed: “We are but beggars.” Receivers. People who are completely and entirely reliant on God’s provision each and every day. 

We are like a man who sits in the church that he pastors and must hear the Word so that he might be strengthened to preach the word again.

In Christ,

Pastor Tom Vanderbilt