Author: The Pastor

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/ The Pastor

WordPress has made a fun upgrade I want to bring to your attention.

In the past, when you posted a comment, you left it in the main thread which made it somewhat difficult to respond to other comments (especially if the comment you are responding to is a ways down the line).   But now you can comment on specific comments through something called “threaded comments”.  Now, if you want, you can “reply” to a certain comment or leave your comment in the main thread (see previous post for an example of this).

Many of you are very familiar with this new upgrade but I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.  I have recently upgraded my settings to allow for 4 levels of threaded comments (I’ll increase this if needed).

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to more conversations with you.

God bless.

-edh-

Garbage in, garbage out

/ The Pastor / 16 Comments

Most days I am up at 5:45am and at the fitness center in the high school by 6am.  I bring with me my water and MP3 player (which is loaded with Christian praise and worship music).  I bring my music so I can listen to some awesome praise and worship music music, to help pass the time and to counter the music the high school kids turn on when they arrive.  The students start arriving around 6:15 to 6:30am and head straight to the stereo.  And it goes without saying that their music is not my music.  At least they are respectful and don’t crank the music up so loud that I can hear it through my headphones.

This morning was no different.  The kids came in and turned on their music, but I kept on doing my workout…enjoying my own little world away from them.  When I finished I went to get ready to leave.  I turned off my music and the chorus I heard on the stereo was this, “Highway to hell…”  I wanted to turn my MP3 player back on…but the lyrics were already stuck in my head.

My father-in-law is known for saying to his students “garbage in, garbage out“…referring to music.  I know there are people that would refute this claim, but I believe music has a profound impact on people.  And when I happen to hear the lyrics of some of the music out there I am very worried.  I know how Christian music makes me feel and it makes me wonder how lyrics like “Highway to hell” is affecting our youth (and there are far worse lyrics out there).  Maybe I should get to the fitness center early some morning and have my Christian music CDs playing.  I’m not sure how the kids would react but I am curious.

As a church I believe we need to expose our kids to music that have positive lyrics (specifically…Christian music).  Have Christian music playing as they arrive to confirmation or Bible study.  Talk about music with them.  Examine lyrics and have a discussion about them (sometimes they don’t even consciously know what they are hearing).  One thing I do is bring kids to Christian music festivals.  And that has been a hit.

What goes in has an impact on what comes out.

After hearing those lyrics in the fitness center this morning I turned on my car radio (obviously to the Christian music station) and the first lyrics I heard were “I give glory to your name…”  Ah…that was more like it.  Now…those “other” lyrics from this morning are a distant memory.

“In Christ alone I will glory…“

…from KLOVE.com on my computer right now…you just can’t go wrong with that.

Praise be God!

-edh-

Victory over darkness

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

I believe there is much darkness and chaos in the world.

I believe that Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

I believe that the forces of evil are looking for every opportunity to bring down faithful, God-fearing Christians.

I believe God loves the world SO much.

I believe God heard and hears the cries of creation.

I believe Jesus is the Word of God.

I believe Jesus died on the cross.

I believe Jesus rose from the grave for the forgiveness of my sins.

I believe Jesus conquered death…

…and Satan…

…and sin…

…and all the forces of evil.

I believe that I have the victory through Jesus Christ.

“Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Corinthains 15:55-57)

I believe…

-edh-

Remembering Martin Luther

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

luthers-seal463 years ago day, in 1546, Martin Luther (the great reformer of the Church and the namesake of the Lutheran Church) died.

So in honor of Martin Luther I would like to share with you Luther’s morning prayer:

We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm.  We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words and deeds we may serve and please you.  Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours.  Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us, Amen.
(From Lutheran Book of Worship)

If  you visit Rev. Joelle’s blog you will find Luther’s sacristy prayer.  This is another prayer I use often…usually before I begin the task of writing the sermon I am to preach.  It is a reminder to me that God is in control and since that is the case, we can not fail.

Luther’s task to reform the church was not something that came from his own personal agenda, but it was something blessed by God.  Of all people, Luther understood that he could not do anything he was doing without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Let this day be a reminder to us all that the ministry we do (whether we are ordained or not) is not something we do on our own.  Seek God’s guidance and direction knowing that if we were to do this ministry relying on our own strength, we would surely bring it all to ruin.

May God bless your day and ministry.

-edh-

Youth ministry vision

/ The Pastor / 10 Comments

For a couple months now, myself and a couple other people here in Jackson have been talking about the future of youth ministry in Jackson County.  At present, there is only one church in Jackson County that has a youth director (1st Baptist in Jackson) and that person is only part time.  We see a huge mission field that needs to be tapped.

Right now the vision we have been playing with and praying about is to have a ministry set up with a full time person running the ministry.  This ministry would be run and supported by a board of directors (representative of all the churches).  We believe this ministry needs to be located outside of our church buildings and in a neutral location (possibly an old store front downtown).  We have toured other community youth ministry programs to get an idea of what we might be able to do.  We visited The Connection in Canby, MN and the Youth For Christ center in Fairmont, MN.  In the Dawson, MN area there is a rural youth ministry network that just started this past fall called Route 212.  They don’t have a building, but that is something they are praying about.  And I know there is a community youth ministry program/building in Olivia, MN.

Is Jackson next?

The main thing for us (and the other ministries we have looked at) is that this ministry needs to be a Bible based, Christian ministry.  We recognize that our different denominations have various beliefs and practices, but when it comes right down to it, we believe that Jesus Christ is our salvation.  There are many things we can agree upon and we want to celebrate that.

This vision started with Salem and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches talking about sharing a youth director…now it has grown to this.  So today at 1pm a bunch of us are getting together to pray.  We know that if this is God directed and ordained then we can not fail…but we need to be faithful and listen to God’s voice.  So we are committed to praying about this and listening.  We don’t know how this ministry will look or if we are even called to do this, but one thing I do know…there is a lot of excitement about this among our small group.  Our hope is that, if this is ordained by God, this vision will catch on with others.

So my questions for you are these: Is there anyone out there that has a community youth ministry program in their area?  How is it set up?  What is your experience with it?

Like I said, I don’t know where this will go and there are a lot of questions to be asked and answered, but where ever it does go, it will be all for the glory of God.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

Blog updates

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Don’t navigate away…this is the same blog you are used to visiting…

…the thing is…I have made some updates.  I haven’t tinkered with the appearance of this blog for some time now and thought I needed some little changes.

(1) The most obvious change is the page theme.  My old theme was a basic white and grey.  I decided I needed a little color…so here you go.

(2) On the bottom left side is my “Clustrmaps”.  You will notice that there is nothing on it.  The old map was tracking visitors to my old blog at Typepad which I stopped using last year.  I thought I would update that map to track where people visiting this blog from.

(3) Reading list page:  I haven’t done much with this page for a while.  Now…I will be updating this more often.  I also invite you to visit and recommend some good books you have come across.  I am always looking for a good read.

And that is about it for now.  Please feel free to leave comments telling me what you think of my new changes.

Thanks for reading.

Take care and God bless.

-edh-

Pictures from children

/ The Pastor

My wife and I don’t have any children (yet…but who knows…God willing someday) so we don’t have art work from children gracing our refrigerator.  But recently a couple of my Sunday school kids have been giving me some artwork.  Below are two pictures I received last night at Wednesday Night Live( Sunday school).  As I receive these pictures they get taped to my office door…

img160

(from Olivia)
img161

(from Ella)

…And I tell you something (and you parents out there probably can relate to this) it is such a wonderful feeling to receive something from a child that you know they put their heart and soul into.  These two little girls were so excited to give me these pictures that it melted my heart.  I have others on my door from other children that mean just as much to me.

I don’t have much of a theological reflection of this other than to say that as a pastor I am so excited to have developed relationships with these kids (and others).  I hope I can use these relationships to be a positive influence in their lives…supporting what their families are doing.

I thank God everyday for this congregation and for the children.  They have a powerful way of warming my heart.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

“I want that”

/ The Pastor

I had a neat thing happen to me while serving Communion this past Sunday.  As people come forward I typically serve the bread and one of my deacons serves the wine.  For those who have not been instructed or for those who choose not to receive the bread and wine, I offer a blessing.  In this case it is typically children younger than 5th grade.

On Sunday I was serving communion as usual and offering a word of blessing for the children.  For the blessing I place my hand on the person’s forehead and say, “The Lord guides you as a sheep of his own pasture.”  And while making the sign of the cross on their forehead I say, “You are a beloved child of God“.  On Sunday I gave this blessing to a child but when the adult behind this certain child approached me to receive the bread she said, “I want that” (referring to the blessing).  She wasn’t refusing the bread…she just wanted both.  So I gave her the bread and then gave her the blessing.  She walked away with a big smile on her face.

I will never forget that phrase…”I want that“…it still makes smile 🙂 …and gives me hope.  There are still people that desire to have God’s blessing on their lives.  There are still people that value the words of promise that Jesus offers us.  There are still people that want God’s guidance.  Watching the news I sometimes wonder if allegiances are shifting from a dependence on God to a dependence on government.  I don’t want to politicize a beautiful moment from worship but these are things that are weighing heavy on my heart recently.

Let’s, as a people of God, announce and proclaim a blessing upon all our leaders, hoping they are faithful to God’s call and responsive to God’s guidance. Let’s announce and proclaim a blessing upon ALL people who are searching for meaning.

I look forward to our next communion service.  I look forward to inviting people to receive a blessing and I look forward to seeing how many people respond.  In the mean time…I hold my hand out and say “The Lord guides YOU as a sheep of his own pasture” <making the sign of the cross> “YOU are a beloved child of God, Amen”

-edh-

A decision

/ The Pastor / 8 Comments

I have made a decision today.  Part of me thinks it is an impulsive decision without a lot of thought of what I am getting myself into.  Another part of me wonders if I can actually do it, but when I think about that I am reminded of my bold goal last year of running a marathon (which I completed).  But another part of me wonders if I am smart enough to comprehend what I am going to read.  And another part of me wonders if this will be worth my time.

So…with all my parts at odds with one another…I am going to do it…

Do what you may ask?  I have decided that it is time to tackle some more challenging reading; something I regrettably haven’t done since seminary (5 years ago).  Some may not think this will be challenging but what I am going to start reading is “Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2” edited by Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson.  Some of the topics covered in this volume are intriguing to me: The Work of Christ; The Holy Spirit; The Church; The Means of Grace; Christian Life; and Eschatology.  Basically it is nearly 600 pages of theology…WHEW!  My brain is starting to hurt already.

I am telling you this because I am hoping that people will help me and hold me accountable.  I don’t expect to finish this book next week or next month (or next year for the matter) but I do expect to finish the book…in a somewhat timely fashion.  Hopefully along the way I can post some thoughts from my reading for all of you to enjoy.

So with that being said I am diving in…first up…The Work of Christ.

-edh-