Dear Friends: Monthly Devotional Letters from a Pastor Sent to Members of Churches He Served

By Arlen Stensland

These brief pastoral devotional letters, for the most part, were written monthly or every other month in newsletters sent out to members of congregations I served over a period of years. They are, however, not only for those members but for anyone in need of encouragement and strength in their Christian life. We are blessed to be a blessing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449784140

Arlen Stensland

Arlen Stensland served as pastor of several Lutheran churches in Minnesota, for twenty-seven years. He also served as a missionary to Madagascar. A graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was ordained in 1960. He did his post-graduate work at Luther Seminary and the University of Notre Dame.

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Copyright © 2013 Arlen Stensland.

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Cover Photo by Marylee Tauer

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8413-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8414-0 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8412-6 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013902076

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/12/2013

Contents

Acknowledgements

Dedication

To Members of Zion in Browerville and Our Savior’s in Clarissa, Minnesota

To Members of Our Savior’s in Jackson, Minnesota

To Members of Mamrelund and St. John’s of Pennock, Minnesota

To Members of Aardahl and Malvik, Bemidji, Minnesota

Pastor’s Column In Local Newspapers

Acknowledgements

Theses brief letters, for the most part, were written monthly, or every other month in newsletters sent to members of congregations in Minnesota which I served over a period of a good number of years. After sending them out, however, the manuscripts went back into the filing cabinet. They probably would have stayed there, except for my wife, Lois, and Allen Benson.

Lois, my greatest supporter encouraged me to have some of them published, edited them, and has been at my side the whole way.

Allen, a retired engineer for Boeing, and a prolific reader, also encouraged me to have them published, and told me that he would be willing to look them; which he did..

My thank also to my daughter, Marylee Tauer, for taking the picture on the cover of the book.

Dedication

One of the things that happened, when I was serving in parishes, was finding myself getting close to the people. We traveled the road of faith together through times of joy and times of sorrow, leaning on each other, praying, listening, learning, knowing that God, in Jesus Christ, was with us all the way.

These were rich years, and I am blessed to have served those people, many of who still remain in contact with Lois and me. I discovered not only was I ministering to them, but that they ministered to me, as well, as I learned from them, and grew, and found my ministry greatly enriched.

To Members of Zion in Browerville and Our Savior’s in Clarissa, Minnesota

Dear Friends,

We are thankful that we are getting to know more and more of you as time goes by. It seems each time we meet that I see more and more familiar faces.

We are about to enter the busy season of Lent. But then, when have the times not been busy? It seems that time goes by so quickly and there are just so many things that one can do each day.

I suppose that’s the way it is with most of us. Things just seem to pile up. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

Note that scripture passage in Psalm 46, Be still and know that I am God.

Sometimes we just have to sit back and say, Okay, God, you’re in charge. The Lord is still Lord of His Church. And He is Lord of Our Savior’s and Zion congregations.

Your Friend and Pastor

Arlen Stensland

Dear `Friends,

We are rich in direct proportion to our sense of the Hand of God at work around us.

Sometimes our priorities get so mixed up that we no longer can sit back and wonder at the beauty of nature - the endless reaches of the sky, the rugged heights of the mountains, the wonder of the night sky.

Snow has just fallen, and again we can sense the Hand of God in the beauty of nature.

But more than that, we come to a realization that God does indeed provide; He has given us moisture. Isn’t this what Psalm 145:15-16 means when it says, The eyes of all look to you, and you givest them their food in due season. You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing?

God cares for us. God provides for us. Certainly God’s Hand is at work in this snow, just as He is at work in Our Savior’s and Zion congregations.

Your Friend and Pastor

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends

We have just recently held our Bicentennial celebrations; events which I am sure will be long remembered. The Fourth of July is coming up. summer season is in full swing. People are out camping. Tourists are coming through.

Just a little while ago I noticed the title of a book by C.S. Lewis called, Christian Reflections. How often in the course of these days - or any day for that matter - do we take time for Christian reflections? How often do we reflect on who we are as Christians, and think of the role of God in all of this in our individual lives? What does Christ really means to us?

Isn’t it true that all too often we wait until the last moment - when sickness strikes, or some problem crops up - and then we may reflect, though maybe not even then.

The Good News which Jesus Christ offers to us is something upon which we should each take time to reflect. It is the seed of God’s Word silently at work within each one of us, which points to our source of strength.

The fact is that God is Lord. God rules. God is Lord of the nations, and God is your Lord and mine.

Your Friend and Pastor

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends,

I like Fall. I like the other seasons of the year as well, but Fall seems to bring with it its own uniqueness. There is a charge of excitement in the air: the beautiful autumn leaves, the nip of the cold air, a new year of school just underway, the programs of school and church; it seems to me to be a time of renewal - of renewed strength and hope and expectancy.

This morning I came across a verse that I have to share: They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). What a picture of Gods grace! Here we find hope and challenge and expectancy.

Our impatience tells us there is no time to take to wait; our day is full of tasks that must be completed. But God bids us wait - to wait for the Lord. And God listens. And in the quiet closet chamber of our hearts, God comes and speaks to us.

It is a daily encounter in which bound by all our incapabilities and weaknesses and impatience, we meet God in Jesus Christ our Lord. And God frees us from ourselves and refreshes us with His reassuring word - filling us with His grace like a cool drink of water to a thirsty soul.

This is the good news, that even in the midst of the onrushing stream of events of the day, as we wait and listen to God, He comes to us and renews our strength to mount up with wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:31) Certainly, there is renewal in this.

Your Friend and Pastor

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends,

Today is another day that God has given us.

Today is a gift. And so, too, is tomorrow. I can use this day anyway I choose. I can waste it in many ways, such as doing nothing, or getting caught up in doing nonessential things, or making resolutions and not carrying them out. I can misuse today as well, using it only for myself, or doing things I know I shouldn’t be doing. I can make light of today, and think, Well, today is just another day, so what? There are any numbers of ways I can use today. It is my choice.

But God has given us this day. And He has also given us a Word about it. This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24).

As Christians, we are stewards of the day that God has given to us, and that includes today. Which means, that every single day that we live, we dedicate to God - and let God use that day as He sees fit. And we can rejoice and be glad in it.

Your Friend and Pastor

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends,

When Pastor Joseph Andriamihanta, from Madagascar, visited us here in the States, he commented to me that when he first came to America he thought that the silos on farms were churches. Apparently mistaking them for steeples, it wasn’t until later that he found out they were silos.

But are silos and steeples so different?

I think of silos and I think of GOD’S CREATION, the silage from the fruit of the ground is stored there. When I think of steeples again I think of GOD’S CREATION, which is acclaimed and celebrated in the Scriptures. "And God saw everything that he had made. And indeed it was very good" (Genesis 1:31)

I think of silos and I think of HANDS, rough from digging in the soil and repairing machines, but hands that are also gentle and which provide for the farmer’s family. I think of steeples and I think of another pair of HANDS, carpenter hands rough from working with wood, but also gentle hands into which Jesus took children and blessed them, hands which touched eyes of the blind and made them see, hands which touched the head of a sinner at the moment of forgiveness.

I think of silos and I think of WORK - of sweat, toil and labor, of dirty overalls and the dust of the corn, of plowing, planting and harvesting. I think of steeples and I also think of WORK - God’s work of redemption in His people, the toil, labor and suffering that God went through for us to show His love; all of that work which centers in the cross.

I think of silos and I think of FAITH, the trust that the farmer has that the rains will come and the sun will shine and bless his crops and fill his silo. I think of steeples and I also think of FAITH, as Christians entrust their lives and their future in the hands of a faithful God.

In many ways silos and steeples are alike; they go together. They both point upward to God.

Your Friend and Pastor,

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends

I put on a good pair of trousers this morning, and once again observed that there were some snags in them. I don’t know how they all got there - just little snags, but enough so that I know that they are there. It’s sort of annoying to have these snags. I don’t think the trousers are all that old. To top it off, when I came home at a little after one this afternoon, the dog had to jump up on me; she wanted out, and I suppose she snagged some more snags. I like these trousers. Lois and I had tramped through the stores in downtown Minneapolis for a long time one day, until we happened upon them. They fit quite well; the color is nice, sort of beige. If only I didn’t have the snags.

That’s the problem, too, with our lives. There are snags that sometimes creep in. Things are going along, and a snag occurs. Sometimes it’s one snag after another. Sometimes the snags are so little, that only we know they are there. But they are there, nevertheless.

I can’t do much about the trousers - I certainly don’t know how to take out snags. Eventually, I suppose, I will buy a new pair. But there is something I can do with the snags in my life. I can take them to my Lord, and give them to Him. Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you (1 Peter 5:7). This doesn’t mean that snags will never again occur in my life. They will, but I can live with them, because I have God. And that is enough.

Your Friend and Pastor,

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends,

Not too long ago I had the Confirmation Class draw on paper what they imagined the Holy Spirit to look like, and then to color the drawing according to how they thought the drawing should be colored. When they were through, they shared with each other what they had done. It turned out to be quite interesting. The one that really caught my eye was a drawing of a figure in a robe. Not very well drawn, it sort of looked like an angel, with arms wide spread, but with no hands or feet. The robe was colored gold; his hair was orange. Emanating out from this figure and covering most of the rest of the paper, like rays from the sun, were different lines of color: green, yellow, red, orange, black - not an awful lot of rhyme or reason. When I asked the student if he could explain it; what is all of this? What does this show about the Holy Spirit? He replied, He gives color.

How true that is. God, the Holy Spirit, gives color to our lives. How many people walk around with dull, drab, gray lives, without any color at all? Frustrated lives that are dry. People in a rut. And there are Christians like that too - lacking color, never any excitement to their faith; status quo Christians. And maybe the reason so many people lack color in their lives, is that they aren’t allowing God to really live in them. They haven’t really grasped the power of the Resurrection. That the Holy Spirit is not real to them.

Our lives don’t have to be mouse-colored gray. We have no excuse if they are. They can be all these colors: gold and red and green - the whole spectrum of the rainbow, full of excitement and the joy of living for God. God has given each Christian the gift of color, many colors. May these colors be real in each of our lives.

Your Friend and Pastor,

Arlen Stensland

Dear Friends,

How long has it