Josephine Visaggio | January 6, 1928 to January 20, 2020 to eternity

Posted on Jan 31, 2020 Leave a Comment

Devotion from Funeral Service

Our grandmother was an amazing person with a heart overflowing with love for her husband and family. She cared for family throughout her life and always kept the latest news about each of us at the top of her mind.

You could see this love for her family when she came alive again for a moment when Pa, her husband of 71 years, came to visit her the day before she was called home. She was worried about him. She was always concerned about her family and caring for them. She wasn’t concerned for herself. She was happy to see her husband, our Pa. Her face lit up.

Gram always cooked. Her food was amazing. Her home always smelled of garlic, herbs, sweet and vinegary pasta sauce, Italian meats and cheeses, wine and all good things. It was very Italian. She stored away the best for her family and always brought it out for us. We were never an imposition, always a joy. There was always a feast at her home. We always ate more than we ought to. We were always full of the good things she brought to us. It was good, good food prepared with love and overflowing.

And isn’t it fitting. One of the last things that I talked to Gram about was “the wedding feast of the lamb,” and how there would be food in heaven like she had never seen. I could see a sort of expectation and peace in her eyes from sharing this truth from God. I told her about how there would be the finest of food and drink and all of her family would be there. Some of her family is already there now – as she is with those who have come and gone before her. Some after her, us, as we wait for our own turn to enter the grave and be resurrected in Christ physically. Gram’s food and home was amazing, but it is not worth comparing to what she sees now in heaven. Listen to what our resurrected King Jesus says about this final place of life eternal in the book of Revelation[1]:

⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
⁸ Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people that “were given to her to wear.” So, even the good works we do are not our own or earn us heaven. They are a gift from God, a mercy, and a grace in Christ. They don’t earn us heaven because the law demands perfection in every regard, something we could never do. But Jesus was perfect for us. His perfection becomes our own through faith in him.

Here’s how I think of this. When I was younger, my father would always give us way too much credit as kids. We would go to do some work with him; he would do about 99% of it, but he would brag about how much his kids did. He always valued hard, good work and gave that gift of hard work to his kids. He didn’t just use the hard work to provide for his family. He gave full credit for his hard work to his kids. His kids were the ones responsible for the work. My dad took his “fine linen” of hard work and wrapped his kids up with it. There is a sort of Christ in that. My dad and Aunt Jo’s mother wrapped up her children in the same sort of love. They were loved and they learned to love others through her. It was a “never-yielding” kind of love that Gram poured into her kids, grand kids, great grand kids. Jesus gives believers “Fine linen, bright and clean.” Jesus gives us his deeds, life and death, so that we are free from sin, death, and satan.

And, listen closely: The Lord Jesus himself was at our family gatherings, building us up together in himself, according to what is written:

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”[2]

We know through faith in God and in our Savior Jesus that Gram has a home prepared by King Jesus himself. She has food fit for royalty, and because she has a heart that trusted in her Savior the white garments Jesus earned by his sinless life and innocent death are wrapped around her.  It reminds me how the story of Christ is wrapped around us. In another place he explains what the good works of the saints are in the Gospel of John[3]:

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Just like my dad gave us all the credit for his work, and we believed and loved him for it, Jesus gives us all his good works to take the place of our sins, hard hearts, unyielding pride, self-righteousness, arrogance, and recklessness. You. Me. Each of us.

We can see now that God planned from eternity to call Gram home on January 20, 2020 before anyone else. You could say she was destined by God to die and be brought to heaven before her husband so that we could hear this message of grace for sinners. For certainly there is grace in this. Now, the rest of us, Pa, Aunt Jo, Hallie, Nick, Kristen, Jamie, Marc, Mike, my mom and dad, Katie, the rest of the kids here know the reality of this passage and curse of sin more clearly: the soul who sins shall die. In 125 years, not one of you in this room will be alive. Some of you will pass away much sooner than that. The proof is in the pudding: Gram was a sinner, so she died. And, you might say she was the best of us. So, if she died how much more will we all die. You might even think some of your sins aren’t bad enough or that you don’t have any “real” sins. But you are a sinner. And you do. In Ezekiel 18 we read:

For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.

Now, that would be awful if that’s where the story ended. But, it’s not where it ends. Not for Gram and not for us. In the end, we don’t get what we deserve. Instead, we instead get a Savior, the Almighty God, who brings each of us all the way to heaven. We get a friend. We get Jesus. And through him, we get everything. He said:

John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

The Apostle John records a question from “Doubting Thomas” and Jesus response in his book[5]. Maybe you doubt it. Listen to how Jesus responds to those who doubt his truth and love:

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Hearing his words is the same as hearing the words of God our heavenly Father. So, we trust God’s Word, which cannot lie or be broken. God’s word is true. We can trust in it. And, here’s what that looks like – what faith looks like – from the book of Hebrews[6]:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.

³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”^[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Just like Abel, who still speaks, so does Gram. She is still speaking in heaven. We don’t doubt like Thomas, we cling fast to the inspired word of God that has the power to feed us good food, give us an eternal home, and bring us to heaven to be with Gram and every other believer through faith. No, these things are certain and true. Cling to these words that your sins are forgiven because Jesus’s life and death on the cross was enough for you. It was enough for Gram. It is enough for you. This is the way, the truth and the life. It is as certain and true as one of the last passages I read to Gram. It was from the Apostle Paul’s book called “Romans”[7]:

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now may the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

[1] Revelation 19:6-9
[2] Matthew 18:20
[3] John 6:29
[4] Ezekiel 18:4
[5] John 14:5-7
[6] Hebrews 11:1-5
[7] Romans 8:31-37
[8] John 10:11-18

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Posted on Dec 17, 2015 Leave a Comment

I’m thankful as this year closes for having the opportunity to work with some inspiring people. First on that list is Susan Acuna from Literacy Council. Through her leadership, the Council has become the largest in the US, perhaps even the world. Working with her over the years has been among my greatest blessings. Her style of leadership is unparalleled.

Every week I get the chance to work with the Janet from the Homeless Coalition, Martha at Sew Pretty, and my dear friend Shellie Johnson whose mad science experiment with me resulted in the Labelle Downtown Revitalization Corp. I’m grateful that this small company has given me the chance to work with some exceptional people like my mother, my sister Hallie, Ingrid, Sara, and Ryan. I’ve aimed to be the kind of boss that treated people with kindness and respect. These people inspire me as do my clients and friends. I’m leaving people out, I know. I don’t mean to. There are so many who have supported me, helped me, inspired me.

This year I’ve also had the chance to teach several courses at FSW and even design several in the public administration program. I’ve also had the chance to start teaching at SNHU which has been a wonderful experience.

I’m grateful to people and this community for their support for sustainability, the summit, and the burgeoning forum for discussion about important local and regional ideas. I’m grateful to my wife who stands by me and who is the best mother for our two children. I’m grateful my grandmother is still alive and the fact that she and my grandfather seem to have warmed through the Gospel.

I share all of these things because I know there is nothing exceptional about me, no redeeming quality in my sinfulness. But I look on these things in my life and I recognize and realize the deeply personal blessings my Savior has lavished on me.

There have been trials and there will be more, but tonight I am grateful for this year.

Wizard of Oz Symbolism, Behind the Curtain

Posted on Jul 5, 2013 1 Comment

If you do a quick Google search for the term “Wizard of Oz symbolism,” you’ll get a ton of conspiracy theories, explanations about the political allegories found in the movie (and also the book, I imagine, and deep skepticism.

Follow the movie with me for a moment. Dorothy, a young girl, with her dog Todo are transferred either physically, metaphysically, or through a dream into the magical land of Oz. When they land, their house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East. This is the beginning of the journey to the “wonderful wizard of Oz,” the mystic, the wizard, the all-powerful man who can make everything right.

Long (and good) story short, Dorothy and Todo make their way to meet the wizard. Along the way they pick up friends who are lacking heart, brains, and courage. The wicked witch lambastes them over and over again throughout their journey. Eventually, and after many small victories and narrow escapes, they make it to Emerald City, the palace and home of the wizard.

The lion, the scarecrow, the tin man, and Dorothy (and, I guess, Todo, too) needed the wizard to make things better, to fix them, to give them the answer. At first they see the powerful wizard with smoke, mirrors, loud booming voice and authority. He tells them to come back to him with the spoils of victory, the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West.

They do just that, by accident, as it were, by tossing water on a burning Scarecrow. The water splashes on the witch and she melts into oblivion. The return to the wizard with the broomstick in tote.

Upon returning, the wizard is unwilling to grant them their reward of a safe return back to Kansas, a heart, courage, and brains. Unwilling (or really unable) to fulfill his promise, he asks the heros to return “tomorrow.”

Finally, the wizards “smoke and mirrors” is discovered by a nosy Toto who reveals that the great and powerful Wizard of Oz is a mere man. Unable to offer any help, found out, Dorothy and friends are angry, fooled. The wizard tries to slink by, but they won’t let him go.

The wizard admits that he is nothing, but that the things that they want are nothing, as well. He gives the scarecrow a degree, the lion gets a medal of honor, and the tin man was given a testimonial. These rewards from the wizard helped the friends realize that what they wanted, what they were missing, was inside them the whole time. They didn’t need anything special from his bag of tricks to make them “whole.” All they needed was to recognize that all they needed was already there inside them waiting to be recognized.

That’s a powerful story, one that I’ve wanted to write about for quite some time now. I wanted to write about it to compare it with another powerful, but different, story.

Contrast the Wizard of Oz who represents both the worst in moral and political authority and the best in human excellence with the man Jesus.

The hardest part for people living post-Wizard of Oz era thinking to realize is that our broken hearts, brains, courage, and out-of-placeness cannot be fixed by our own doing. How many diplomas, medals, awards, honors, testimonials, and kudos from men does it take for you to get over the fact that you will die, that your best works are stained with sin, that you are always trying to fill an emptiness inside you that just takes and never gives.

Jesus the man was different. His life was perfect; he lived under the law of God in heaven in our place. He fulfilled us and gives us his righteousness. He doesn’t lie to us and tell us that we need to look inside, dig deep, and accomplish our own salvation, our own happiness, our own way to the “Emerald City.” He tells us that we are evil, sinful, broken, self-serving and heading to eternal destruction because of what’s inside of us. “From the heart come all kinds of evil,” Jesus tells us. If we dig deep, we peel layers of rotten onion. That’s heart, our hearts.

This hurts us; it’s offensive, so we want to peel back the curtain and demand of Jesus what gives him the right to tell us we’re rotten and horrible. We are hostile to him, we don’t want to be saved. We want to save ourselves. That feels so much more natural to us.

But, that’s not where God leaves us. He opens the curtain and defines grace for us.

You see, the yellow brick road on the way to enlightenment is a well-crafted lie. The real road was the journey up to Golgotha outside of Jerusalem where the Lord of Life was crucified. That’s what was behind God’s curtain.

For thousands of years, the Israelites sacrificed sheep, goats, bulls, rams, and birds to show that the payment for sins, sinful hearts, and human beings was costly. Once a year, the high priest would enter the “Holy of Holies” to offer a sacrifice for sin for all the people. He would never enter without blood. But, these sacrifices never made people whole, cleaned. They reminded the people that God was the one who made them holy.

More than 2000 years ago, the curtain was rolled back and behind it we witnessed love. We witnessed the “magic” of what it would take to fix our hearts and minds. It would take the death of a perfect God in the man Jesus. There was no smoke. There was no mirror and the only fraudulent wizard was the devil who was defeated in a single day. This Jesus was not a fraud. He gave up his life to give us his heart, his mind, his courage, and his place in heaven.

What we search for – reputation, honor, courage, strength – from men such as the “wizards” in authority will never satisfy us. We won’t find it inside of us. If we look there, we will only see darkness.

Instead, the curtain was literally torn on the day that they crucified Jesus. No longer is there a distance between our God and us. He will never float away in a balloon as the wizard did; he’ll never leave or forsake us. He wants us behind the curtain. He wants us with him forever.

What happened behind the open curtain of God was the real death of the king of glory, the Son of God. That real death now saves you and me. How precious, strong, gracious was our God. Our words fail in describing the significance of what Jesus accomplished for us. It’s pure grace, love, strength and glory when he rose again to prove that our sins were paid for.

So, if you wander on and off again the “yellow brick road” to self-fulfillment, you’re not alone. Just remember that the wizards of authority and this world will sell you the lie that you have what you need in yourself to be fulfilled. Then take a moment to look through the curtain of grace into the mind of Jesus, which is now ours because of his salvation. He gives us salvation and his righteousness because he knew we couldn’t save ourselves. His path paved heaven for us.

Amazing grace, not smoke and mirrors!

Christmas, Death

Posted on Dec 18, 2012 2 Comments

There is so much passion in the song that I’ve been listening to all afternoon as I continue to scramble to get done with all of the work I’d like to accomplish before the holiday season begins. I’m so blessed and incredibly happy with the professional success that the Lord has allowed me to meet with this past year. I know that if “the Lord doesn’t build the house, it doesn’t get built.” I’m paraphrasing that passage, but I think it’s in line with what Solomon meant.

It’s a bit sublime. Just trying to think through the words I want to use here, ironic doesn’t cut it. Neither does interesting, or funny, or coincidental. The word is sublime. There is nothing so full of death as Christmas. The moment you separate death from Christmas, you lose all meaning. There has never been a child born on this earth that was predetermined to die. Baby Jesus was destined to suffer death and hell (literally). Martin Luther wrote a great little book on Christmas that details how important it is for Christians to see the “grave” when they see the “stable.”

That’s what’s sublime about this holiday. We look for the swaddling clothes, the beauty of the angels announcing reconciliation to the world, to sinners, of which I am the worst, and the loving gifts of the magi who come into the story later. It’s beautiful, but we see the shadow of that miserable cross.

There is a new project that is getting started by confessional Lutherans in the church in which I am a member (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod). The website is called Bread for Beggars, and I have never been so proud to be a small part of something wonderful like this before. It’s a place where good music and art can be curated so that what is good is separated from what often infiltrates Christian music. We don’t have something like this, and I see the potential in developing it for the benefit of the kingdom of God.

So here’s what’s sublime about the whole thing and how I want to tie this all up thematically. All afternoon while I’ve been working away at my day job at Atilus, I’ve been listening to the song “Hallelujah by the band Cloverton.” The song is beautiful. The lyrics tell the story about how Christ came into the world to die. Hallelujah literally means “praise the Lord.” The joy that this song brings me is beyond me. It’s like the weight of all the world has been lifted off of my shoulders and placed on the shoulders of a baby. A “lamb prepared” for me.

Take a moment and listen to the song and tell me what you think. I believe it’ll move you to understand what I’m talking about when I write “sublime.” There’s nothing quite like music to explain the beauty and majesty of a God that sent his Son into the world to die for sinners like us. It’s simple. It’s sublime. It’s the real truth of Christmas, wrapped in death, but offering life to us through the victory and the resurrection.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah!

In Jesus I Have Everything

Posted on Oct 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

It’s really hard to keep my mind quiet some times. I keep thinking about things I don’t have and push myself harder to provide for my family. Sometimes I want to become like the Old Testament man which God raised up. Except the man I’m thinking of supported his whole family, and God sheared off his ability to provide for his family. Like string attached to a nail, once he was “shorn off” they fell.

I pray that I am given the gift to support my family during this stage in my life. For some reason I spend more time about storing up enough for all of us to live on in our old age. Not just me, but my entire extended family.

When I “tried to do good, look, there is evil right there with it.” I don’t know if this desire is altogether pure. There must be some pride in it, some lack of faith i my dear God who loves me and promises to care for me as his child.

Even on the playing field of life, in work, I see good mixed with evil. Sometimes I feel like Lot must have, “tortured in his righteous soul” living and working in Sodom. There are thorns, where I would have yield fruit. There are thorns in my hands, and I truly see them interwoven in my labor.

“Yet I will see good in the land of the living” because I “know that my redeemer lives and that in the end I shall see him with my own eyes, I and not another.” Passages like these comfort my soul because I been taught to run to them for shelter. The “fool says in his heart that there is no God” and how I yearn that they would look and God would heal them.

He would heal them like he heals me. Teaching me that even if my nail were to be shorn off, I would not fall for his rod and his staff, they comfort me, catch me. The nails that held him to the cross support me in my every hour. The cross is my glory. His cross, my glory.

Thanks be to God. Rejoice in the world’s dear Lord who saves us with the blood from a head pierced with thorns! Through the thorns and the cross, his thorns and cross, we have everything.