Cédric Brügger

Pas­tor of the see­tal chile

Gott stellt sich selbst als «der Eifer­süch­ti­ge» vor. Geht es um das Volk Isra­el, dann kann es Gott nicht erdul­den, wenn sie einem ande­ren Gott nach­fol­gen. Denn er hat sie für sich aus­er­wählt. Die Hei­lig­keit und Eifer­sucht Got­tes gehö­ren nah zusam­men. Weil das Volk Isra­el hei­lig sein soll, trifft es Got­tes Eifer­sucht, wenn es Gott untreu wird. Got­tes Eifer sucht uns Men­schen. In Jesus Chris­tus kommt uns Gott nahe und er setzt sich für uns ein. Eifer­sucht ist in unseren… 
Through the sto­ry of the Good Sama­ri­tan we can learn a lot about how the appli­ca­ti­on of our faith should be done. Being clo­se to God does not equal being like God. Just becau­se we spend a lot of time in the pro­xi­mi­ty of God does not neces­s­a­ri­ly mean that this influen­ces our thoughts and actions. The­r­e­fo­re, help can some­ti­mes come from the very peo­p­le from whom it is least expec­ted. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus are to emu­la­te the exam­p­le of the Good Sama­ri­tan. But Jesus Christ hims­elf is even more mer­ciful than the Sama­ri­tan. He… 
Some pas­sa­ges in the Bible seem to dis­turb us. Becau­se they do not fit into our pic­tu­re, becau­se they do not cor­re­spond to what we would expect from God. The righ­teous­ness of God is depen­dent on his holi­ne­ss. Only when we bring this tog­e­ther do we under­stand why God acts dif­fer­ent­ly than we ima­gi­ne. In the face of things that do not cor­re­spond to God’s will, it is pre­cis­e­ly his jus­ti­ce that is reve­a­led. God can­not sim­ply lea­ve them as they are, but must do jus­ti­ce. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, should… 
The desi­re to impro­ve our­sel­ves more and more is inher­ent in us humans. But unfort­u­na­te­ly, this opti­mi­sa­ti­on fails in the encoun­ter with the holy God. Becau­se even an opti­mi­sed ego can­not stand befo­re God on its own. The pro­blem is so-cal­led sin, which means miss­ing the tar­get. In order to res­to­re man’s access to God, Jesus Christ died on Good Fri­day. He was the com­ple­te­ly bla­me­l­ess sacri­fice nee­ded to bear all the guilt of the world.… 
The holy God allows us humans to encoun­ter him. Howe­ver, the­re are pas­sa­ges in the Bible whe­re peo­p­le die becau­se they came too clo­se to God. This is also the case with Uzzah. He tried to save the ark of the coven­ant from fal­ling over and ended up dying hims­elf. This reac­tion of God is infu­ria­ting and meets with gre­at incom­pre­hen­si­on. Howe­ver, this reac­tion is only con­sis­tent. For God’s holi­ne­ss should not be met with too much levi­ty. But if God is met with respect and… 
We can­not force encoun­ters with the holy God. But when we do encoun­ter him, it can some­ti­mes be ter­ri­fy­ing. Nevert­hel­ess, we do not have to be afraid of this God. For if we use this fear pro­per­ly, it leads us into fear of God. This in turn leads us to wor­ship in rever­ence, as befits a holy God. I recent­ly had a con­ver­sa­ti­on with a per­son about this year’s teaser for the annu­al the­me. This per­son expres­sed a basic… 
God crea­ted the earth in six days and on the seventh he res­ted. The­r­e­fo­re, he bles­sed it and gave it a spe­cial mea­ning and endo­wed this seventh day with heal­ing power. But he not only bles­sed this day, he sanc­ti­fied it. He set this day apart from all others becau­se it was the day when God hims­elf res­ted from his crea­ti­on. But God did not rest becau­se he was exhaus­ted, but becau­se ever­y­thing was per­fect­ly yielded.… 
God cho­se Isra­el to be his holy peo­p­le. The over­ri­ding mea­ning of holy is set apart. Thus the peo­p­le of Isra­el are also set apart from the other peo­p­les becau­se they are God’s own peo­p­le whom he has cho­sen for his histo­ry with huma­ni­ty. In this peo­p­le the­re are priests who­se main task is the ser­vice of God. Their lives are enti­re­ly dedi­ca­ted to the ser­vice of God. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ are also part of this holy peo­p­le. They form a holy peo­p­le of roy­al priest­hood. The… 
The Old Tes­ta­ment descri­bes the very eventful histo­ry of the peo­p­le of Isra­el. In the pro­cess, howe­ver, hope for res­to­ra­ti­on fli­ckers up again and again. Hope for a time when things will be peaceful, when the­re will be no more rest­ric­tions and no more suf­fe­ring. Such hop­eful texts are often accom­pa­nied by the expec­ta­ti­on that a Mes­siah – an anoin­ted one of God – will appear. A hall­mark of him is such mira­cles. The New Tes­ta­ment evi­dence is clear that Jesus Christ is the pro­mi­sed Mes­siah. Through him… 
Advent focu­ses on the direc­tion and anti­ci­pa­ti­on of Christ­mas, the birth of Jesus Christ. His first coming brought sal­va­ti­on to us humans, but Advent is not only about the first coming, but also the second. Jesus will come again one day, but we don’t know the exact time. It hap­pens unex­pec­ted­ly. While his first coming brings hope for all peo­p­le, his second coming brings sepa­ra­ti­on. It sepa­ra­tes tho­se who belong to him from… 

Hope in times of fear

09 Octo­ber 2022 
Fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ have a firm hope. A hope that gives secu­ri­ty and sup­port in times of uncer­tain­ty and fear. No mat­ter how mise­ra­ble and frigh­tening the per­so­nal and social cir­cum­s­tances, hope has the poten­ti­al to car­ry us through such times. But the­re is not only a hope, but also a respon­si­bi­li­ty. This is to bear wit­ness to hope – not fear. Chris­ti­ans are to be bea­rers of hope and do deeds of hope.… 

Your weakness is needed

18 Sep­tem­ber 2022 
Through Jesus Christ, hea­ven on earth has daw­ned. But this King­dom of God is very dif­fe­rent from what we would expect. It is a king­dom that con­sists of the weak­ne­ss of us humans. God choo­ses that which is weak and not that which is strong. God calls men and women into his ser­vice who would not be cho­sen by the stan­dards of the world. In this way God shows that he has the power to make some­thing out of hope­l­ess cases. Sin­ce we humans… 

Heaven on earth

28 August 2022 
Life on this earth is not only cha­rac­te­ri­sed by beau­tiful moments. The­re are num­e­rous chal­lenges and dif­fi­cul­ties. The Bible out­lines a dif­fe­rent future here. A future in which ever­y­thing is peaceful and healt­hy, a future in which the­re is no war and death. This future king­dom has daw­ned on this earth with Jesus. Howe­ver, only imper­fect­ly and in a ten­si­on of alre­a­dy the­re and yet not yet the­re. Nevert­hel­ess, the King­dom of God that has daw­ned on this earth can already… 

Hope that carries!

07 August 2022 
«Hope dies last» is a com­mon say­ing. The Bible also speaks of hope. But this Chris­ti­an hope is very con­cre­te. It is a trust in the trust­wort­hi­ness of God. It has its foun­da­ti­on in the resur­rec­tion of Jesus Christ. This resur­rec­tion hope gives a per­spec­ti­ve for the moment, but also for an uncer­tain future. Such hope moves and moti­va­tes. Such hope gives mea­ning to life. As fore­war­ned in a ser­mon almost six months ago, I bring… 
In Switz­er­land, moun­ta­ins are omni­pre­sent. They are all around us. But even in our own lives the­re are pro­ver­bi­al moun­ta­ins whe­re we are stuck and don’t know what to do. We also encoun­ter moun­ta­ins in the Bible, and God often comes into cont­act with peo­p­le on moun­ta­ins. On the moun­ta­ins, hea­ven and earth touch. Jesus Christ hims­elf often went up moun­ta­ins and met God the­re. In the past, the Israe­li­tes had to go on pil­grimage to Jeru­sa­lem on Mount Zion,… 
At Pen­te­cost, things were tur­ned upsi­de down with the recep­ti­on of the Holy Spi­rit. The Holy Spi­rit is the com­ple­te­ly dif­fe­rent, incom­pre­hen­si­ble one, and yet he appears to us humans in a per­cep­ti­ble and audi­ble way. The Holy Spi­rit – God in us. Through the power of the Holy Spi­rit, the events of Babel are rever­sed. Peo­p­le from dif­fe­rent count­ries under­stand each other again. With Pen­te­cost, the Chris­ti­an Church comes into being. This event is the day of its birth, and the Holy Spi­rit still wants to be pre­sent in… 
In every cul­tu­re the­re are cer­tain prin­ci­ples of how socie­ty is struc­tu­red. This includes eva­lua­tions of what is good or bad, how to behave in public and what a suc­cessful life looks like. But in every cul­tu­re the­re is a blind spot, an area whe­re God’s good plan for his crea­ti­on is not being fol­lo­wed. When a blind spot is dis­co­ver­ed, it is neces­sa­ry to start the­re and to right this wrong. Peo­p­le quick­ly fall prey to the dan­ger of not pre­ser­ving creation.… 
The world is open to young peo­p­le. They have a lar­ge part of their lives ahead of them. What is worth living for? This ques­ti­on is not only asked by young peo­p­le, but by ever­yo­ne. For what is it worth inves­t­ing one’s life? Peo­p­le look for sup­po­sed ful­film­ent in three are­as. We look for mea­ning in what we do, in what we own, or in what others think of us. Alt­hough all the­se things are com­mon nowa­days and also widely… 

Who is in charge?

03 April 2022 
In the begin­ning, God crea­ted human beings as man and woman – equal and with a com­mon mis­si­on. But the Fall chan­ged this situa­ti­on. Ins­tead of ruling tog­e­ther, from now on men ruled over their wives, a few over all others. But through Jesus, the­se rela­ti­onships were res­to­red. Jesus Christ show­ed a new under­stan­ding of domi­ni­on. If anyo­ne wants to be the lea­der, let him be the ser­vant of all. To begin today’s ser­mon, I would like to share with you a… 
Ever sin­ce Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the know­ledge of good and evil, shame ente­red their lives. To this day, shame domi­na­tes our lives and inter­fe­res with people’s abili­ty to rela­te to each other. Just as Adam and Eve made clo­thes out of fig lea­ves, we too cover our inner shame in various ways. In doing so, we quick­ly fall into a shame-guilt spi­ral. But Jesus» death on the cross has cle­ared the way to mys­elf. He wants me… 

The Father of Creation

06 March 2022 
God is often addres­sed as YHWH in the Old Tes­ta­ment. This name is so sacred to the Jews that they do not pro­no­un­ce it. It is pre­cis­e­ly this God who also crea­ted the earth. We want to trace the one who says «I am who I always am» (Exodus 3:14) and ask what this being means for my exis­tence. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ may par­ti­ci­pa­te in this being, becau­se through his «I am» words he direct­ly con­nects with it. This allows… 
Man is crea­ted in the image of God. He reflects God. In this sta­tus lies a tre­men­dous respon­si­bi­li­ty, which is incum­bent on man. But the image that human beings pre­sent is crumbling and has migh­ty cracks. Man does not mana­ge to live up to his respon­si­bi­li­ty. But the­re is hope. In Jesus Christ we find the per­fect image of God – wit­hout scrat­ches. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus may share in the per­fect image of God through him. Through Jesus Christ they find their true destiny -.… 
In the Kigo theat­re we immer­sed our­sel­ves in the Christ­mas sto­ry. A sto­ry that comes from ano­ther world. A world that does not at all cor­re­spond to ours – at least that is how it seems. So much seems stran­ge. Angels are prac­ti­cal­ly only known as deco­ra­ti­ve items. Sheep at best as a side dish for chips and herb but­ter, and she­p­herds at best on the pack­a­ging of Pena­ten cream. And yet this sto­ry also has some­thing to say to you and me. Just like the wise men from the east… 
Kno­wing God is the most important thing. My lip ser­vice and even mira­cles in the name of God are insi­gni­fi­cant if I do not know God. Kno­wing God means that I put all my trust in him. This trust is cal­led faith. By being roo­ted on a good foun­da­ti­on – Jesus Christ – good deeds can come about. Faith and being roo­ted can be seen in the fact that my life is dri­ven by love. I lived in Bern for almost four years. Often when I had visitors… 
Ask – recei­ve, seek – find, knock – it will be ope­ned to you. This is how sim­ply Jesus descri­bes the life of pray­er. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, this state­ment does not cor­re­spond very well with our expe­ri­ence. How often do we ask, seek, knock, but the­re is no respon­se. This is becau­se most of the time we pray with too much of an «I» fix­a­ti­on. Our Father in hea­ven wants to do us good and knows exact­ly what is good for us. But first we have to reco­g­ni­se what we should ask, seek and knock for. It goes… 
Peo­p­le tend to look down on others and judge their beha­viour, lives, etc. This is often done out of sheer arro­gan­ce to boost their own self-esteem. This is often done out of sheer arro­gan­ce to increase their own self-esteem. Jesus asks us to start with our­sel­ves first. We are to reco­g­ni­se the bars in our lives and stop doing so. In doing so, we rea­li­se that it is impos­si­ble for us humans to live up to the high stan­dard of the Ser­mon on the Mount. This in turn dri­ves us into the arms of Jesus Christ, who mer­ciful­ly accepts us. Over­co­ming our own (reli­gious) arrogance.… 
As fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ, we are cal­led to do good. Howe­ver, it should not be about being prai­sed. Love for fel­low human beings and God should be the sup­port­ing moti­ve and result in a giving life­style. For some time now, I have been finan­ci­al­ly sup­port­ing a fami­ly in India in their liveli­hood. When I visi­ted the fami­ly in Janu­ary 2020, I assu­med that they than­ked me for my sup­port. So I spent the few days…