Author: The Pastor

Child Abuse Prevention Month

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and this year marks the 24th anniversary of this national campaign.  Last week my sister left me a comment and asked me to write something about this; so here I am: 

I found a website with some very helpful information at: Love Our Children USA.  There is an Amber Alert ticker, a place to donate money, a place to buy blue ribbons and other items promoting child abuse prevention.  There is also a number of other informational links.  If you page down about a third of the way down, on the right, there is a link titled: APRIL IS CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH.  This link will give you more information about what this month is all about.  Check these links out and spread the word.

"Then little children were being brought to him (Jesus) in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray.  The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs’" (Matthew 19:13-14)

Children have every right to protection as any adult; and to take advantage of a child is reprehensible.  Let us have the same attitude that Jesus has toward children, "for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

If you have any other information or web links that would be helpful to people, please let me know.  Thank you, Julie, for reminding us of this very important cause. -edh-

Easter recap

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

I love Easter sermons.  It is one of the few times during the year when I get to preach to a group of people who would not normally come to worship (Christmas and funerals are the other times).  So the question that I asked people this year was the same one that the angels asked the women who were weeping at the tomb (from Luke’s account of the resurrection), "Why do you search for the living among the dead" (See my sermons blog for the full sermon text).  I challenged people to stop looking for meaning and life and purpose elsewhere — Jesus is all you need.  I don’t know if I got through to people, I will TRY to leave that up to the Holy Spirit. 

But sometimes I feel like shaking people and asking them where they have been all year.  I mean, do they honestly think they can find a better savior than Jesus Christ?  "Come on…really…stop your searching and let Jesus give your life meaning."  Then again, maybe I should grab them and shake them up a little bit.  Maybe I should smack them across the head with a 2 x 4 and not just the Gospel.  Maybe that will get their attention (or get me thrown in jail).  Either way, I hope I don’t stop being feisty.  I hope I never stop caring for people’s souls.  I hope and pray those CEOs (Christmas, Easter Only people) finally figure out (through the Holy Spirit) that their search for a "savior" is a feeble one.  Jesus is the only Savior that can bring us life.  Nobody else died on a cross for us. 

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend.  May the joy of the resurrection stick with you all year long.  Praise be to God. -edh-

Saturday Christians

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Today is Saturday…between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday.  And this is exactly where we live as Christians.  But why do we like to jump straight to Easter morning?

I recently read a couple blogs that talked about this very issue.  Check out "Good Friday" at HERE I STAND and "Post 5: Isaiah 53:10-12" at curious notions.  I was intrigued by this question and want to ponder this with you for a couple moments.

This year, the combined Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship attendance was the lowest I have seen since I began serving at Salem in 2004 (and this was the second year with Salem AND Belmont worshipping together).  Good Friday attendance was the highest I have seen, but Maundy Thursday took a big hit.  Last year our Easter services (Salem Lutheran Church) saw the largest attendance in about 7 seven years (Belmont was about average).  So I am curious what tomorrow will bring. 

My point is this:  Are more and more people ignoring the "dark" side of life; ignoring the cross and focusing on the resurrection alone?  For me Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are very powerful.  It makes me think about the person I am and the great passion our of Lord.  I don’t think I could blow off Holy Week and jump straight to Easter (outside the fact that I am a Lutheran pastor and cannot blow off Holy Week).  I need to be reminded of my sinfulness and the darkness of our Christian walk.  I need to be reminded of what Jesus went through for me.  It is through this dark journey that the love of Jesus Christ truly shines forth.

Last night (Good Friday) I led a worship service of contemplation.  We took a journey that started in the Garden of Gethsemane and ended at the tomb.  Along the way we took some "pit stops" to contemplate and listen.  I allowed for long moments of silence to think about the scripture that was read and to listen to God speaking to us.  I had never done anything like this in worship before and personally it was a powerful experience for me.  I saw Good Friday in a whole new light.  I think Easter will be different for me this year.

If you skipped over Holy Week or any parts of it, I urge you to go to scripture and read the Passion story.  I urge you to not forget about the darkness of our lives and sinfulness that encompasses it.  We have to go through the cross to get to Easter. 

Today is Saturday…and this is where we live.  But we live here in the hope of the resurrection.  That is the Good News so there is no reason to be in despair.  Have a joyous and blessed Easter.  AMEN! -edh-

Holy Week ponderings

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Greetings everyone!  God bless you this Holy Week and beyond.

It has been a couple days since I have posted something so I wanted to write and update you on how my life is going and talk about the thoughts running through my head right now. 

Today is Maundy Thursday so I am in the midst of finishing that message up.  I am planning on talking about this "New Commandment" that Jesus gives to love one another.  After all, the word "Maundy" means commandment.  Tomorrow is Good Friday and I still have some finishing touches to put on that service.  Basically the service is one of contemplation.  I will be reading the Passion story, offering up a short reflection after certain selections and then allowing a couple minutes of silence for prayer and contemplation.  I have never done this before so I am curious how it will be received.

Then there is Easter.  The text I am using is the Resurrection account from Luke.  The question that the angels ask the women is one I find myself pondering, "Why do you look for the dead among the living?"  Isn’t that exactly what we have a tendency to do?  I am planning on getting a little "feisty" (did you catch that Kara?) on Sunday.  I am planning on asking people, especially the CEOs (Christmas Easter Only people) why they are searching for the living among the dead?  Why are you searching for meaning where there is no meaning?  Why are you searching for life where there is no life.  If you were searching for a child who ran away from home, you would not look in the cemetery.  You would search for them among the living.  People who don’t come to worship or who do not know Christ need to know that our only true source of life is in Jesus Christ.

Outside of Holy Week preparations life is good as well.  Connie’s sister came for a visit last night with our one year old nephew, Micheal.  We had a great time watching Micheal run around and explore the house.  Tomorrow is my "day off" but I got a feeling that won’t happen.  Oh well, I am on vacation next week so I will get caught up on resting then.

Anyway, I need to return to the task at hand.  God Bless and take care.  May the joy of our Lord resonant loudly in your heart.  -edh-

Un-Feisty Christians

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

A friend of mine commented on a blog entry I wrote recently called Bipolar Christians.  She made an interesting point that I want to highlight this morning.  Kara basically talked about people not being "bipolar" enough.  There are too many people who are lukewarm about their faith.  They walk around apathetic about Jesus.  As Kara said, "Most people today aren’t disturbed by Jesus".  And Jesus should disturb you.  If Jesus does not then you might not be listening hard enough. 

There is a cool blog entry you need to check out at Unlikely Conversation: A Lectionary Blog called Easter and Evangelism.  This author talks about Christians having the best story in the world to tell; and I couldn’t agree more.  Actually I would say we have an AWESOME story to tell.  But my question is this:  Why don’t more people get more excited about this story?  We share good news with each other about our kids, promotions or about losing 20lbs but why not THE Good News?  Well…I think the simple answer is that people are not disturbed by Jesus (as Kara boldly puts it).  We take more joy in our kid’s accomplishments or in our "success" at work or in our body image than in the radical Good News of the cross.  We worry more about our position on the social ladder or how much influence we have or how much money we have saved than in the wild forgiveness God shows us in Jesus Christ.

Maybe the problem is that too many churches don’t get feisty enough about their faith (if you knew my friend Kara, you would know the "feisty" I am talking about).  Maybe there is too much "Minnesota Nice" coming out in our proclamation (a problem my internship supervisor pointed out in me).  Maybe we, as the church, are not taking a definitive enough of a stand against injustices and issues in the world.  I mean think about…we have the best story in the world to tell and there is still a large number of unchurched people in our communities.  There are too many churches satisfied with maintenance (status quo) than in evangelism.  Secular attacks on the Christian faith go widely unchallenged by Christians ("The Di Vinci Code" & "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"). We need to be more feisty.

"Kill the ‘old Adam’", "Sell all you have and follow me", "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you".  If those statements by Jesus do not disturb you, then read them again…He is talk to you. 

Let’s get more feisty about our faith and A LOT MORE bold about sharing the best story in the world.  We cannot afford to be "lukewarm Christians". Thank you, Kara, for making me think more and thank you for being "feisty".  If only more people followed your example. -edh-

April Fool’s Joke

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

My Sunday morning (April 1) started out like every other Sunday morning (or so I thought)…

My alarm went off at 6am and I proceeded to hit my snooze three times before finally getting up at 6:18ish.  I turned the heat up a little bit in the house and went into the bathroom to take a shower.  After nearly tipping over in the shower from nearly falling asleep (nothing usual there) I did my normal bathroom thing and got dressed.  I then proceeded to the kitchen to make my breakfast of toast with peanut butter and a glass of OJ.

After I peanut buttered (is that even a word?) my toast I went into the living room to watch a little SportsCenter (I needed to see who won the NCAA men’s b-ball semi final games).  I ate my toast and drank my orange juice and finally found the energy to get off the couch and finish getting ready (I like to get to my office by about 7am on Sunday mornings).  I realized it was nearly 7am already so I was running a little behind.  I hurried to the bathroom to brush my teeth and then I found the shirt I was going to wear.  I finished getting ready, kissed my wife and went to get my keys in the kitchen.  This is where my morning took a frustrating turn.

I looked at the kitchen clock and it read 6:00am.  Through the fog in my head I realized something was not quite right.  I then looked at the microwave clock and then the clock on the stove…both read 5:59am.  I looked at my watch and then my cell phone.  I then ran into the living room…all said it was 6:00am.  Something was very wrong.  I went to our bedroom and the clock on the night stand said…7:01am.

WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!

My wife asked me what I was doing and I responded by asking her if I was in the Twilight Zone.  Then I realized what happened.  The clock in our bedroom is called a Smartset clock.  This clock is so "smart" that it will reset itself when the power goes off.  It will even reset itself at daylight savings time.  But a couple weeks ago it did not set itself head one hour – I had to manually set it.  It could not account for the stupidity of our federal government when it tinkered with the date of daylight savings time.  So when 2am April 1 arrived, it did what it was supposed to do…it set itself ahead one hour. 

Yup…that’s right…I got up at 5am on Sunday. Of all the days of the week when I need to get some good sleep, I get jipped on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. 

Technology can be a good thing, but it cannot account for the stupidity of human beings…and I am talking about our government messing with something they had no business messing with.

So kudos to our federal government for getting me with an April Fool’s joke.

-edh-

Amazing Friday

/ The Pastor

God is awesome and never ceases to amaze me.  When God wants something done, God gets it done.  When God has a word to speak, that word gets spoken.  When God has a message for his people, that message gets delivered.  And there is nothing in my power that I can do to stop that (not that I would ever want to or try).

Yesterday I wrote about "Irony Thursday".  I was trying to write a sermon but found myself at a loss for words as I sat and wrote a post (how ironic huh?).  Anyway, as soon as I published that post I grabbed my Bible and piano books and proceeded to the sanctuary.  I go to the sanctuary when I want to get away and focus without distractions.  I also practice piano to settle my mind down (I have been taking lessons for nearly 2 years now).  After some practicing and praying, I started to listen.  After some time of what looked like me talking to myself (I was actually talking to God and talking through some ideas) I returned to my office.

Now this is the cool part.  I started typing and before I knew it the sermon for Sunday was done.  I entered a zone and the words just flew from my fingers onto the keys of my keyboard.  God never ceases to amaze me.  God is able to break through any writers (preachers) block.  There is no way I could have done this on my own.  Like Martin Luther says in his sacristy prayer "If it were left up to me I would surely bring it all to ruin".

There are many Thursday mornings when I have no clue what I am going to preach on Sunday, but every Sunday a sermon is born; not of my doing but of God’s.  And every Sunday I sit (or stand) in amazement of God’s awesome power.  So I sit here in my living room, on my day off, enjoying another amazing Friday with my God wondering what God is going to do next.  I am not sure what it will be, but if God is involved I am ready to hang on for the ride.  -edh-

Irony Thursday

/ The Pastor

I am experiencing a weird sense of irony.  Today (Thursday) is my sermon prep day.  I got into this habit while on internship following my supervisor’s example.  This routine has served me well.  I write the sermon on Thursday, let it sit for a day (as if I am trying to age a fine wine) and then come back to it on Saturday.  On Saturday I work out the kinks and then practice delivering it a few times.  By Saturday noon I am "done" (sometimes the sermon changes between Saturday noon and Sunday morning).

But as I sit here working on this sermon for Palm Sunday I find myself at a loss for words.  Yet I sit here and write this blog post.  Something is wrong here.  Maybe I need to "prime the pump" some more and hopefully the sermon will fly out of my fingers onto the keyboard.  Maybe I need to go up to the sanctuary and get away from distractions.  Maybe I need to stop typing and get back to work.

Hmmm…

Some weeks I get into a zone and the sermon is done before I realize what happened and some weeks I struggle.  I know I am not the only pastor that goes through this but sometimes I feel I am.

Hmmm…

I am thinking I need to focus some more.  I know the sermon is there, I just need to stop and listen.  O.K….Enough typing (for now).  I am off to the sanctuary again, but I will be back. -edh-

P.S.  I think God gets a good laugh at irony…don’t you think?  O.K. God…I am ready to listen…fire away.

What would you do with $20 million dollars?

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

Who on earth needs a house that has a bowling alley, a barber shop, a casino, a theater and a two-story walk-in closet?  Well…none other than LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Read more here…

I heard this story this morning and I just had to say something:

WOW!  What a waste of money!  How can someone justify building a house like that with all the crap going on in our country and world.  Imagine all the good LeBron could do with that money.  I know he does do some good, but this house he is building is way to excessive.  For nearly half the year he is going to be too busy to really enjoy it anyway.

O.K…that’s off my chest…take a deep breath…

I can’t help but to wonder if spending money to excess is displaying bad stewardship.  I guess it depends what you are spending it on.  Just because you have the money does it mean that you have to buy "stuff" with it.  Part of me says that I would never want to win the lottery and have a boat load of money come in.  But there is another part of me that would love to give that money away.  Being rich is not evil, it is just what you do with the gift God has given you.  Here’s what I would do:

(1) FIRST AND FOREMOST I would tithe the money to my church and Bible camp (and a couple other ministries my wife and I support).

(2) I would set up college funds for all my cousins yet to go to college (including my wife’s family of course).

(3) I would pay off the school loans of my cousins (including my wife and I).

(4) I would put some money away for my wife and I to retire on (but I would not retire yet) so we could continue to be a blessing to others.

(5) LASTLY…I would not let the money change me (I know, I know…easier said than done, but I would fight changing with every ounce of my being).

I am not bragging here…it just excites me to think about writing a check out for a couple million dollars and giving it to my church and Bible camp.  Wouldn’t that be fun?  What would you do with a windfall of money?  Let’s say you won $20 million in cash – after taxes.  How would you spend it?  I am just curious. 

I am glad LeBron is enjoying his success, but I hope he is not setting an example for others to follow.  Share what God has given you and be a blessing to others.  -edh-

Bipolar Christians

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

I think all Christians are bipolar by definition.  I mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone who suffers from this illness; and I am by no means making light of this sensitive issue for some, but the rate that Christians change their attitude and feelings toward God is amazing.  Just check out the mob scene that Jesus experiences during the last week of his life.

One of the scripture texts for this coming Sunday – Palm Sunday – comes from Luke 19:28-40.  This is the account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey; a victorious King coming home from battle.  The crowds are cheering and shouting, "Hosanna!" which oddly enough means "save us".  If only the people really knew what Jesus came to do.

That was the beginning of Holy Week.  A few short days later, some of those same people were shouting "CRUCIFY HIM!"  which means "Kill him, get rid of him, he is not our king!"  One moment the people are praising Jesus and the next moment they are trying to get rid of him.  Hmmm…sounds familiar.  This couldn’t possibly be talking about how we turn on Jesus in an instant when it serves us.

Do you see yourself in that early mob scene?  Do you see yourself following Jesus around listening to him?  Do you see yourself shouting "CRUCIFY HIM!"?  I read this text and can’t help but to place myself in those scenes.  But here’s the cool thing:  Even though this is mine (and our) reality, Jesus stills goes to the cross for us.  Jesus still offers forgiveness to us.  Jesus still gives us life.  How cool is that?  Bipolar and all…Jesus still loves you and me.  "HOSANNA!" -edh-