The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "How the Grinch Tried to Steal Christmas from Wadena, Minnesota" for Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "How the Grinch Tried to Steal Christmas from Wadena, Minnesota" for Thursday, January 14, 2016

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this Child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.[Luke 2:16-20]
Most of you have seen the TV show, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Many of you may not be aware of the story which this devo has dubbed, "How the Grinch Tried to Steal Christmas from Wadena, Minnesota." That story begins with a large plaster Nativity set which had for many years been set up in the city park by the town council. Then the Grinch showed up in the form of a threatened lawsuit. The Grinch said, "No public group can put up a religious symbol in a public place." With reluctance the city fathers sold the crèche to a group of ministers who moved the display onto private property.
It seemed as if the Grinch had won.
If so, the Grinch underestimated the people of Wadena, Minnesota. Those folks thought the Grinch can steal a public Nativity, but he can't steal mine. Soon Nativities started to show up where Nativities had never been before. They appeared on front lawns and in storefront windows. From all over the country they showed up on the "Wadena Nativity Display" Facebook page, which the community set up. Although nobody did a Nativity head count, it almost seemed as if there were more nativities than there were people in this small town.
But the folks in Whoville ... I mean Wadena ... were still not done yet.
A son of the community, a man who had moved away years before, did a study of the community's laws. He realized that the Nativity-less city park didn't have to stay that way. Wadena's bylaws allowed for individual residents to rent the town band shell for a day.
Soooooooo ... the bandshell got booked by community members. Every day the people who made those reservations came in and set up a great, big Nativity, and every night they took it down and delivered it to the folks who were scheduled to set it up the next day.
Mayor Deiss, who has "eight or nine" Nativities set up in his own home, has said, "I'm really proud of my town. I'm hoping we lit a little spark and the rest of the nation will catch on."
This is why I'm sharing this grinchly story with you.
We can do something or else we can let the Grinch try to steal Christmas from us and our town next year. We've got over 300 days to decide what we're going to do.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, there are always those who wish to silence the story of the Savior who was born to rescue us from our sins. May we be equally ready to proclaim the story of Him who died and rose to win salvation for us. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Job 14:1 “A human being, born from a woman,

lives a short, trouble-filled life.

2 He comes up like a flower and withers away,

flees like a shadow, doesn’t last.

3 You fix your eyes on a creature like this?

You drag him to court with you?

4 Who can bring what is pure from something impure?

No one!

5 Since his days are fixed in advance,

the number of his months is known to you,

and you have fixed the limits which he can’t cross;

6 look away from him, and let him be;

so that, like a hired worker,

he can finish his day in peace.

7 “For a tree, there is hope

that if cut down, it will sprout again,

that its shoots will continue to grow.

8 Even if its roots grow old in the earth

and its stump dies in the ground,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put forth branches like a young plant.

10 But when a human being grows weak and dies,

he expires; and then where is he?

11 Just as water in a lake disappears,

as a river shrinks and dries up;

12 so a person lies down and doesn’t arise —

until the sky no longer exists;

it will not awaken,

it won’t be roused from its sleep.

13 “I wish you would hide me in Sh’ol,

conceal me until your anger has passed,

then fix a time and remember me!

14 If a man dies, will he live again?

I will wait all the days of my life

for my change to come.

15 You will call, and I will answer you;

you will long to see what you made again.

16 Whereas now you count each step of mine,

then you will not keep watch for my sin.

17 You will seal up my crime in a bag

and cover over my iniquity.

18 “Just as a mountain erodes and falls away,

its rock is removed from its place,

19 the water wears away its stones,

and the floods wash away its soil,

so you destroy a person’s hope.

20 You overpower him, and he passes on;

you change his appearance and send him away.

21 His children earn honor, but he doesn’t know it;

or they are brought low, but he doesn’t notice.

22 He feels pain only for his own flesh;

he laments only for himself.”

15:1 Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke:

2 “Should a wise man answer with hot-air arguments?

Should he fill up his belly with the hot east wind?

3 Should he reason with useless talk

or make speeches that do him no good?

4 “Why, you are abolishing fear of God

and hindering prayer to him!

5 Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak,

and deceit is your language of choice.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;

your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the firstborn of the human race,

brought forth before the hills?

8 Do you listen in on God’s secrets?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9 What do you know that we don’t know?

What discernment do you have that we don’t?

10 With us are gray-haired men, old men,

men much older than your father.

11 Are the comfortings of God not enough for you,

or a word that deals gently with you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away,

and why do your eyes flash angrily,

13 so that you turn your spirit against God

and let such words escape your mouth?

14 “What is a human being, that he could be innocent,

someone born from a woman, that he could be righteous?

15 God doesn’t trust even his holy ones;

no, even the heavens are not innocent in his view.

16 How much less one loathesome and corrupt,

a human being, who drinks iniquity like water.

17 “I will tell you — hear me out!

I will recount what I have seen;

18 wise men have told it,

and it wasn’t hidden from their fathers either,

19 to whom alone the land was given —

no foreigner passed among them.

20 “The wicked is in torment all his life,

for all the years allotted to the tyrant.

21 Terrifying sounds are in his ears;

in prosperity, robbers swoop down on him.

22 He despairs of returning from darkness —

he is destined to meet the sword.

23 He wanders and looks for food, which isn’t there.

He knows the day of darkness is ready, at hand.

24 Distress and anguish overwhelm him,

assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.

25 “He raises his hand against God

and boldly defies Shaddai,

26 running against him with head held high

and thickly ornamented shield.

27 “He lets his face grow gross and fat,

and the rest of him bulges with blubber;

28 he lives in abandoned cities,

in houses no one would inhabit,

houses about to become ruins;

29 therefore he will not remain rich,

his wealth will not endure,

his produce will not bend

[the grain stalks] to the earth.

30 “He will not escape from darkness.

The flame will dry up his branches.

By a breath from the mouth of [God],

he will go away.

31 Let him not rely on futile methods,

thereby deceiving himself;

for what he will receive in exchange

will be only futility.

32 This will be accomplished in advance of its day.

His palm frond will not be fresh and green;

33 he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes,

like an olive tree that drops its flowers.

34 “For the community of the ungodly is sterile;

fire consumes the tents of bribery.

35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;

their womb prepares deceit.”

16:1 In response Iyov said:

2 “I have heard this stuff so often!

Such sorry comforters, all of you!

3 Is there no end to words of wind?

What provokes you to answer this way?

4 “If I were in your place,

I too could speak as you do —

I could string phrases together against you

and shake my head at you.

5 I could ‘strengthen’ you with my mouth,

with lip service I could ‘ease your grief.’

6 If I speak, my own pain isn’t eased;

and if I don’t speak, it still doesn’t leave.

7 “But now he has worn me out;

you have desolated this whole community of mine.

8 Besides, you have shriveled me up;

and this serves to witness against me.

My being so thin rises up against me

and testifies to my face.

9 He tears me apart in his anger;

he holds a grudge against me;

he gnashes on me with his teeth.

“My enemies look daggers at me.

10 Wide-mouthed, they gape at me;

with scorn, they slap my cheeks;

they gather themselves together against me.

11 “God delivers me to the perverse,

throws me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at peace, and he shook me apart.

Yes, he grabbed me by the neck and dashed me to pieces.

He set me up as his target —

13 his archers surrounded me.

He slashes my innards and shows no mercy,

he pours my gall on the ground.

14 He breaks in on me again and again,

attacking me like a warrior.

15 “I sewed sackcloth together to cover my skin

and laid my pride in the dust;

16 my face is red from crying,

and on my eyelids is a death-dark shadow.

17 Yet my hands are free from violence,

and my prayer is pure.

18 “Earth, don’t cover my blood;

don’t let my cry rest [without being answered].

19 Even now, my witness is in heaven;

my advocate is there on high.

20 With friends like these as intercessors,

my eyes pour out tears to God,

21 that he would arbitrate between a man and God,

just as one does for his fellow human being.

22 For I have but few years left

before I leave on the road of no return.

Matthew 10:1 Yeshua called his twelve talmidim and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every kind of disease and weakness. 2 These are the names of the twelve emissaries:

First, Shim‘on, called Kefa, and Andrew his brother,

Ya‘akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan his brother,

3 Philip and Bar-Talmai,

T’oma and Mattityahu the tax-collector,

Ya‘akov Bar-Halfai and Taddai,

4 Shim‘on the Zealot, and Y’hudah from K’riot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following instructions: “Don’t go into the territory of the Goyim, and don’t enter any town in Shomron, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el. 7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’ 8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons. You have received without paying, so give without asking payment. 9 Don’t take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper; 10 and for the trip don’t take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick — a worker should be given what he needs.

11 “When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. 12 When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’ 13 If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. 14 But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet! 15 Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!

16 “Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves. 17 Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim. 19 But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say. 20 For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.

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