Love

Love

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Matthew 22:37-39
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment is a powerful one for me. I need this to keep me centered and grounded.  It is too easy to think ministry is about what WE do and how successful WE are and how many people WE invite to church and how much WE serve.  It is too easy to become selfish.  I need daily reminders that without love my words and actions are empty.

Let’s pray together:

Loving God,

It is easy for me to say “I love you” but do I?
It is easy for me to say “I love my neighbors” but do I?
It is easy for me to say “Of course I do”…but really?

When I consider my actions.
When I reflect on my words.
When I ponder my motives.
I can’t help but see selfishness behind what I say and do.  And this is hard considering what we hear from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 when he says that without love we are nothing but noise.

I want you to be praised and glorified but there is a part of me that wants to be praised and glorified. 

I want you to receive all the attention but there is a part of me that wants to be center stage.

Loving God…please take away my self-centeredness and fill me with your love. Convict me of wrong motives and show me the most excellent way (Love). Encourage me to share my life with people and not just words.  Strengthen my faith to see you in all things.  And remind me every moment of my life that nails are not what held Jesus to the cross but rather it was love ~ his awesome love for each of us.

Loving God, help me to love you more and my neighbor as myself.

Amen.

edh -|—

Claimed

/ The Pastor

Matthew 22:18-22
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

I share with you the following prayer with the invitation for you to use it as your own today. Dip your finger in some water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead as you say, “I have been seal with the Holy Spirit and MARKED with the cross of Christ forever.”

Almighty and merciful God, through my baptism you
sealed me
marked me
claimed me
and spoke to me: “Child of God, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and MARKED with the cross of Christ forever.”

Wow God…that is amazing.

When I consider this “marking” I can’t help but think that you claimed me because I am somehow valuable, otherwise why would you claim me?  After all…
I am sinful
I am unfaithful
I am disobedient
I am definitely not worthy

But despite that you have placed a claim on me through baptism.  You have said that I belong to you.  You have comforted me with the gift of life.  You have saved me from this world.  What belongs to Caesar is that which belongs to the world.  What belongs to you is that which you have marked and claimed…  

ME

Thank you, God.  May water be that everlasting reminder of you your:
Love
Faithfulness
Sacrifice
through Jesus Christ my Lord.

Thank you, God that I belong to you.  May your name always be praised.

Amen!

May God bless your day 🙂

edh -|—

Doughnut holes

/ The Pastor / 10 Comments

Today I helped serve doughnut holes.  It was nothing fancy just some regular, sugar and powered sugar doughnut holes.

There was also juice and coffee…and a Kleenex or two (which came in handy).

So what was the occasion?

Today was the first day of school for the Jackson County Central school district.  And we served doughnut holes.

Why?

You see…Riverside Elementary School is right next door to Salem Lutheran Church and the most convenient way that parents can drop off/pick up their kids is via the church parking lot.  Late August through mid-May; five days a week; and twice a day; dozens of cars (lots and lots of people) are coming to our property.  So I challenged the church council last week.

And they stepped forward.

We (Salem members) set up camp in the church parking lot by the sidewalk that leads to the school.  And there were the doughnut holes (and the juice and the coffee).  And…a box of Kleenex (parents…you can probably figure out why).

We welcomed kids and parents with a cheerful smile and a invitation to enjoy a doughnut hole and a beverage before school.
Some happily accepted.
Some didn’t know what to think of us.
Some declined and wished they hadn’t just eaten.
Some wished they hadn’t just stopped for coffee.

And…many smiles were seen.

All in all it was a good morning.  But none of this had anything to do with us.  It was all for the glory of God; to share the love of Christ with people in a practical way.  I know it may sound like I am tooting our own horn here but that’s not what I am doing.  I want to encourage others out there to find creative ways (as this church council did) in sharing the love of Christ with their communities.  After all…being the Church is about going out into the world and telling people about God’s love through Jesus Christ.

We didn’t preach sermons this morning, we just served doughnut holes….with a smile.  Most people can do that without getting too nervous.

How is God calling you to serve in your community?
How is God calling you to share the love of Christ in a practical way?

-edh-

Proverbs 28:5

/ The Pastor

The text that caught my attention this morning was Proverbs 28:5.  Here’s what it says:

“Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.”

One of the reasons I am reading scripture is this verse.  The fact of the matter is that I am an evildoer; a sinner.

We all are.

And the only way I can come to a true understanding of right and wrong is through seeking out God.  I have my own version of right and wrong but it often conflicts with God ~ so I need to seek out God and learn from Him.

God is the one who sets me straight.
God is the one who convicts me.
God is the one to teaches me.
God is the one who guides me.
God is the one who LOVES me.

I need God’s direction and wisdom ~ we all do.  Seek God out and learn His ways.  Don’t try to speculate rather hear it from the Authority ~ the Creator of the universe who is madly in love with you.

-edh-

Reading through the Bible

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

A couple months ago I started a reading program that will take me through the Bible in a year.  I have started programs like this before but have always gotten behind…and eventually stopped because I got so far behind.  But so far I am still going strong.  I begin each morning by reading my “assigned” texts on my Droidx smartphone and then I post a verse or two to Facebook; verse(s) that have caught my attention.  But when I have done that I usually don’t make any comments about those verse(s); no explanation of why they caught my attention.  My plan here is to offer a few words on this blog of why those texts hit me on a particular day.  I might not post something everyday but I do plan to use this as a spiritual discipline in helping me engage scripture more deeply.

But before I begin this particular spiritual discipline I want to say a couple words about the spiritual discipline of scripture reading.  I know there are many of you out there that read scripture daily (or often).  But I also know there are many out there that don’t.  Allow me to encourage you today to either continue or to begin.

Each day when I read my 4 to 5 chapters I always (and I mean always) encounter something meaningful.  God uses those morning moments to speak to me.  Each morning a particular verse grabs my heart and it becomes clear that I need to share it.  This morning it was Proverbs 25:21-22 which reads as follows:

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”

Even though there is a “burning coals” aspect of this text in relation to my “enemies” I still find this text challenging.  It is usually easier to turn away from your enemies and ignore their plight.  It is tempting to think that helping one’s enemies is a sign of weakness.  But in the eyes of God it is not weakness but rather strength and a sign of the love of God in your life.  It puts God in control.  How your enemies react to your kindness is not your problem.  This text challenges me, not just today, but everyday.  But even so I am glad God hit me with this today.  And I hope God strengthens me to show this kind of awesome love to all.

So…you don’t read scripture?  Get to it.  God is waiting to share some incredible truths with you as well.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

All things new

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

Last night we watched the movie “The Passion of the Christ”.  I have seen this movie about 5 times or so…and each time something else grabs me.  Granted…it is a hard movie to watch.  The flogging scene and the crucifixion scene gets harder and harder to watch each time, but I force my way through those scenes because it shows me how much Jesus loves me and how serious he was about his mission.

But what grabbed me this year?  It came during the scene when Jesus was carrying his cross through the streets.  At one particular moment he fell down and Mary came running through the crowd to Jesus (as a flashback scene shows she did when Jesus fell down as a child).  When Mary got to Jesus she spoke something to him and Jesus responds, “…today I make all things new“.  I got goose bumps as I thought of what Jesus truly did for us.  Wow!

All things new…indeed.  Praise be to God!

What does it mean to you to hear Jesus say “I make all things new”?

-edh-

We’re free!

/ The Pastor

We finally got a path out of the church parking lot and I got my car dug out.  I was starting to get cabin fever being stuck at the house for a couple days.  The only bummer part of this whole thing is that even though we are free they are still not advising travel to Sioux Falls.  My wife and I were hoping to make it to Sioux Falls today to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family.  Everyone is there except for Connie and I.  We are holding out hope now that we will make it there tomorrow after worship.

So even though this snow storm (which I have named “Winter Storm Eric”…I have always wanted a storm named after me) has changed our plans significantly… I am looking at the bright side of things.  Instead of celebrating Christmas over the course of a couple days, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, we get to have a few little celebrations over the course of a week…taking our time to savor the moments.  And isn’t that what we are supposed to do anyway?

So I have one more day to be kind of stuck and then we are off…to celebrate some more…and remember again and again why we have a season such as this.  God sent love to earth in Jesus Christ…the best Christmas gift of all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-edh-

Happy Advent

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Has anyone else been taken off guard by the arrival of Advent?  I certainly have been.  Part of it is the lack of snow and cold weather and part of it is…well…I just can’t seem to put my finger on it.  It just doesn’t quite feel like Advent yet.

This morning I walked into the sanctuary and saw the Christmas trees up and some of the decorations up (the rest get hung during our “Hanging of the Greens” service this morning).  It felt awkward, but I got a feeling that once I jump in with both feet, into the deep end (singing Christmas/Advent hymns, puting Christmas music in my CD player, decorating my office and house, etc) things will get better.  So maybe I should just get into the theme of Advent and wait, prepare and anticipate.  I know things will change.  I know the season will get better.  I know “Merry Christmas” will roll off the tongue.   I know all this will happen…much the same and even more…as I know that the days are coming when God will fulfill his gracious promises he made to us through Jesus Christ.

So I will continue to prepare, wait and anticipate…for many things…so bring it on.

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas!

-edh-

God is awesome!

/ The Pastor

I really want to share with you some details about an encounter with a gentleman (Q) last night, but I can’t because of confidentiality.  But I do want to say that God is awesome and works in wonderful and powerful ways.  I also want to say that I am thankful for the priesthood of all believers because without faithful people living out their faith, this gentleman would not have received the care that he desperately needed…not just last night but for the last couple months.

I want to give a big shout of thanks out to these two parishioners but I won’t.  Rather I will give and big shout of thanks and praise out to God for working through these two people to share the Gospel with Q.  I want to say that it was pure chance and dumb luck that they found me last night so I could talk to Q (I was out for a run and hence away from my home and phone).  But I won’t say that…rather I will say that God is awesome and works in wonderful and powerful ways.

I don’t know what is in store for Q but I can rest assured that he will be cared for and love for the rest of his life.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

The Passion of the Christ

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Happy Holy Week!

That almost sounds strange to say, but someone said that to me this morning…so why not?  I know Holy Week is about the last week of Jesus life; about his arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion and death.  But through all of that we get to celebrate his resurrection and the victory Jesus gives us:

Death has been swallowed up in victory!
Where O death is thy victory?
Where O death is thy sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the Law;
but thanks be to God for giving us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

So…Happy Holy Week…

To kick off Holy Week each year, I have been showing the movie, The Passion of the Christ.  Yesterday marks the fourth year in a row we have done this.  Each year we get new people to come and watch; usually only around 8 to 15 people.  Last night we had 9.  This year I sent an email to the churches in town inviting people to come and of the 9 that came last night 5 were from other churches.  One particular couple stands out though.  I can’t remember their names right now, but the wife is legally blind.  I see this woman around town and have talked to her a few times so I think she can still see a little.  But when I walked into the Fellowship Hall last night I was surprised to see her there with her husband.  After the movie got going they realized that there were subtitles and she could not see well enough to read them.  I started feeling bad for her.  Then I heard something that made me smile and gave me goose bumps…her husband started reading the subtitles and read every single line to her throughout the whole 2 hour plus movie.  Every once in a while he had to describe a scene to her and which character was there and/or speaking.  It was a really amazing display of love AND ministry. There are so many things we take for granted.  The reading of the lines was not at all distracting…actually…it added to the movie for me.

After the movie we had a time of discussion and this woman participated.  She enjoyed the movie and thought is was very moving (even though she can’t see as well as you and I).    In addition to watching the events of Jesus life and death unfold, I got to experience the love of a husband telling the Passion Story to his wife.  I will never forget that night because in a way, I got to experience first hand one way the “passion of Jesus” is displayed and showed to people.  It is one thing to say that Jesus loves you and he died for you, but it quite another to display that love in your life.  This husband did that last night (and I am sure every other day in their lives).

I have seen this movie at least a half a dozen times and each time I get something new out of it.  Last night…I experienced something new…and for that I thank God.

I hope and pray you have a blessed Holy Week as we celebrate the victory won for us through Jesus death and resurrection.  God bless!

-edh-