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Weekly Message from Michael Isaacson
November 23, 2025
 
Dear friends in Christ grace and peace to you. The text for this week’s message comes from Jeremiah 23:1-6.
 
This Sunday, November 23rd is known in the church year as Christ the King Sunday. We’ve seen in recent months rally’s happening around the country protesting the sitting president viewed by some as ruling like a king, one who has almost absolute power and imposes his will over his people. 
 
In our reading this week from Jeremiah, the very people who were chosen for leading the people of Israel in God’s path to righteousness are the very same people who are leading the people of Israel down a pathway to destruction. 
 
Leaders are those who are responsible for those whom they lead and care for. We could ask ourselves, who has God entrusted me to care for? And as we think about those we have been entrusted to care for we might find ourselves asking, have I done the will of God and have I done my best to care for those God has entrusted to me? Have I led them on the pathway to Christ or have I either intentionally or unintentionally driven them away from Christ? What influence have I had on those I care for? And is that influence in keeping the commandments that Jesus reminds us are the most important? Do we remind ourselves each day what those commandments are? 
 
In Mark 12:30-31 we read these words: ‘30 Love the Lord your God. Love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. 31 The second most important command is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ These two commands from Jesus are the most important commands. I know we’ve heard this passage quoted many times recently but if these words weren’t so important to how we live and interact in this beautiful world and its inhabitants that God has created for us to care for, Jesus wouldn’t have stressed them. When we follow these two simple commands from Jesus, all other things pertaining to our interaction with all that God has created falls into place.
 
 Yes, God has entrusted people for us to care for. It is not however within our calling to force our will on those we care for. We are not kings with absolute power over our flock. There is only one King; it is Jesus Christ our Lord who gathers his flock together wherever they have been scattered and calls them into his protection. Christ is the only king that we can trust with our lives. Thanks be to God!
 
May the peace of God be with all of you as care for those God has entrusted you with.
Michael Isaacson
 

November 16, 2025

Dear friends in Christ grace and peace to you. The text for this week’s message comes from Malachi 4:1-2.

When I had a dairy herd the calves would be born, they would get time to bond with their mother, nurse for a while and then be confined to a pen. I had a small pasture out back of the barn where I would graze the calves when they were old enough to be weaned and were on solid food. When I turned them loose into the pasture they would run around wildly kicking up their heels in joy at finally having some freedom. The problem was, they didn’t yet know what a fence was. If it was an electric fence they would get a shocking reminder of their boundaries. And sometimes they would run right through the fence. The older gentleman we bought our farm from would tie two calves together which made it harder for them to race around the pasture. When they had calmed down and gotten used to their new surroundings, he would untie them. 

Our text for this week is from Malachi. We don’t often get passages from Malachi in our lectionary. Malachi was one of the last prophets in the Old Testament before the birth of Jesus. His role was to bring God’s word to the people of Jerusalem. Malachi’s message was not a subtle one. The people of Jerusalem had lost their way spiritually. As had, and continues to this day to happen, God’s people turned away from God and went their own way. Malachi warned the people of Jerusalem as had many other prophets before him of their impending doom if they didn’t change their ways. The leaders of Jerusalem both religious and civic had become corrupt. Malachi preached that if the leaders were corrupt how could they lead God’s people? 

If our relationship with God is important to us then we may need to take a look inwardly at ourselves, our beliefs, and our actions. Do they reflect what God has created us to be? Are our actions and beliefs geared to glorify God or are they more in tune with glorifying ourselves? Malachi’s message is a tough one for us to hear. None of us wants to believe that we are headed down the path of destruction. But within Malachi’s message of warning is also a message of hope and forgiveness. Sin confines us much like the calves that are penned up and don’t know what freedom is. When we are freed from the sin that binds us we will be much like those calves who are released from the confines of a pen and are so delighted to know the freedom they didn’t know existed. Jesus has freed us from that sin; all we need to do is to acknowledge it and embrace it.

May the peace of God be with all of you as you seek to know freedom from the sin that binds you.
Michael  Isaacson