Prayer

Showing up

/ The Pastor

It is week 2 of men’s morning prayer and I thought I was going to go solo once again.

I got the OJ and coffee ready.
I sat down and did my Bible reading.
Reflected.
Prayed through the worship prayers for healing list.
Reflected some more.

Then…

…around 7:30am someone showed up.  He was driving by and remembered it was Tuesday so he went home quickly, dropped off the groceries he was sent to get and returned to the church.  We sat a chatted about what was going on in our lives.  He asked me if there was anything Connie and I needed help with.  I got an update on how his family was doing.

It was great visiting with him and hearing his question to me.

We then prayed together.  I had our worship prayer list still handy and so I worked through the list of the most current needs.  Being a small church and community he was well aware of what was going on with these people.  He also brought up someone I was not aware of…so we prayed for him as well.

I enjoy private times of prayer, but there is just something special about praying with others; whether it is 100 others or just one.

So we prayed…and then went our separate ways to begin our days.

Next Tuesday I will be back ~ praying ~ by myself or with others.  We’ll see 🙂

Thank you God for your presence and blessing upon the morning.  Whether I am flying solo or whether 100 people show up doesn’t matter; you are there: listening
loving
embracing
Bless the rest of this day that you may be gloried in our lives.  Amen.

edh -|—

Morning routine – Morning fuel

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

It’s amazing what happens when you shut off the TV in the morning.  It is amazing what you hear, notice and feel.  It’s amazing how peaceful it is.  It’s amazing how different your outlook can be.  And…it’s amazing how much I don’t miss my old, usual routine…which was (after I showered and got dressed in the morning):
–Make coffee and breakfast
–Turn on ESPN
–Boot up the computer and log into Facebook
–Multitask

That was the routine ~ each and every morning ~ but not anymore 🙂

Everything has changed…

I’m on the computer now and I have been on Facebook this morning, but I didn’t start my day that way.  And…the TV is still off, except for a 5 minute blurb earlier to watch a news story with my wife.

Lately I have found a new morning routine.  And it might surprise you that this is “new” for me considering I am a pastor for crying out loud.  Now, the routine is this (after I shower and get dressed of course):
–Make coffee and breakfast
–Boot up my Kindle Fire
–Read my Bible and other devotional readings
–Post scripture and devotional highlights straight to Facebook and Twitter
–Pray
And I do this while multitasking (eating and drinking coffee).

I like this routine.
I like starting my day like this.
I like filling my head and heart with God in the morning instead of sports.
I like sharing my God insights with people in the morning.

You see…how you start your day will go a long way in dictating how you approach each and everyday.  Do you start and approach your day from a worldly point of view?

OR…

Do you start and approach your day filled with God?

Trust me…it makes a huge difference.  But don’t get me wrong here.  I am not trying to give you some steps in having your best life now,  but rather how to have a better relationship with God NOW for that is what is important.  I still have bad days from time to time but the difference is that I am more aware of God’s presence and promises.  How the Timberwolves did last night is not going to help me during the day.

BUT…

Hearing stories of God’s faithfulness…well…that is just AWESOME.

What’s your morning routine?  Is God involved? Let’s fuel up correctly in the morning and praise God along the way 🙂

edh -|—

A proud pastor moment

/ The Pastor

I just have to share this with you because…well…just because.

Today is release time day (Wednesday).  Kids in grades 3 – 5 have the option of being released from school to go to the church of their choice for religious instruction.  I have the privilege of teaching 20 energetic, fun kids.

Anyway…

After a brief check in time I took them outside to play and run around for a few minutes before coming back in for the lesson.  After the kids came back in and settled down into their small groups I told them that I wanted to take some time to pray for a lady of the congregation who was at the doctor to find out about an impending surgery.  I told the kids that I told this lady I would be praying for her during her appointment.  So I asked the kids to pray with me.

Now…

Normally during prayer time the kids usually don’t sit still and stay quiet.  I mean, after all, they’re kids.  But as I was praying for this lady…not a peep or a movement.  This was serious and the kids took it that way.

I was so proud of them.

At the end of class I ask who wants to lead the group in prayer and I usually get a bunch of volunteers.  So one of my 5th graders prayed.  She prayed about what they learned in class…and…then she prayed for this lady.  Once again…I was so proud.

I take no credit for this rather I give praise and glory to God for working in the lives of these kids.  My prayer for them is that they take moments to pause during the routine of their lives to pray and that it is OK to pray for people as we feel so moved.  And I hope I continue to do the same thing.

Prayer needs to be the norm and not the exception.
Prayer needs to be commonplace and not weird.
Prayer need to be comfortable and not uncomfortable.

Pray without ceasing; enjoying communion with the God of the universe; knowing that we can lift ANY request to God at ANY time.  God is waiting to hear from you.

Let us pray…

edh -|—

Time with God

/ The Pastor

This morning I started something new here at Salem:
Men’s Morning Prayer
Tuesday mornings from 7 to 8am 

This past Friday God placed it on my heart to do this so I set it up.  I sent an email to my Salem and Belmont list; set up a Facebook group; put information on the Salem web page and made announcements during worship and at the annual meeting on Sunday.  I didn’t know what to expect.  After all this was pretty sudden, but I still felt it was important.

So I showed up at 6:30am this morning, made some coffee, got the juice out and began reading…and waiting.

No one showed up.

Correction…

…God showed up.

So I sat there in the church library and read the Bible, prayed, read some more, prayed some more – and stayed there until 8am.

There was a time when I would have been very frustrated.
There was a time when I would have left after maybe 30 minutes or so.
There was a time when I would have considered dropping this plan.

But this morning I had a great time with God.  I found myself dwelling in 1 John.  I read a section; stopped; meditated; prayed; re-read it and moved on.  It was great.

Do I wish some men had showed up?  Sure.
Did I waste my time this morning?  Absolutely not!

So next Tuesday I will show up again at 6:30am; make some coffee; get out the juice and wait.  And I will continue this each and every week.  If no other men show up then so be it.  At the very least I will have an hour of quiet time with God.  And one just can’t go wrong with that 🙂

edh -|—

That time of the year

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

Annual meeting day.

Some of you have done the annual meeting thing already this year.  For us (Salem Lutheran Church), this is kind of late but because of some scheduling conflicts we had to push this to today.

Oh well…

Today we are gathering to look back on what we did in 2011:
the financial report will be reviewed,
committee and ministry team reports will be reflected on,
and highlights from the past year will be recognized.

We will also do some looking ahead:
the proposed budget will be introduced and voted on,
we will hear updates on church projects,
and we will look at some goals for the year.

All of this is important…and needs to be done.  But there is another important work that must be done.
–It’s something that shouldn’t be on the agenda because it should be second nature.
–It shouldn’t be something we check off so we can move to the next agenda item.
–It should even be part of the agenda that get approved before we start the meeting.

This important task is something I should not even need to say…but I will.

PRAYER

Some of you may be saying “Well duh…we always open meetings in prayer.  What’s Eric talking about?”  Good…I am glad you do.
–But what if…what if…we opened our meetings in prayer, in communion with God, and just sat in silence (however uncomfortable) – enjoying communion with God – and waited.
–What if, instead of worrying about agenda items (what WE want to do) we instead allowed God to direct our time.
–What if we spent more time discussing mission opportunities than arguing over how much we should spend on certain budget items.
–What if we did the work of God.
–What if… [Me drifting off to ponder…]

Let us pray for direction.
Let us pray for wisdom.
Let us pray for patience.
Let us pray for faith to follow.
Let us pray for strength to do the work that God has given us to do.
Let us pray…

[Pause in silent prayer]

Amen!

God bless your day and your annual meetings as you do the work of God.

edh -|—

Feed your sheep (a follow up)

/ The Pastor

Smack!  Right between the eyes…I think.

God was good today.

Following the service, a daughter of the deceased told me she appreciated the fact that I preached the Gospel and did not focus my attention on her mother.  Wow…it’s not every day I hear something like that.

Praise be to God!

It is always nice to hear comments from family like that, but I am mostly glad that they found comfort in the words that God placed on my heart.

Dear God…thank you for feeding your sheep today.  Amen.

edh -|—

Feed your sheep

/ The Pastor

Loving God – because your sheep NEED to be fed, grant me strength.

Grant me the words to say this morning as we mourn the death of Gene.

Open the hearts of those who have not heard of you that they may hear the Good News.

Comfort the hearts of those who have heard with the hope of the resurrection.

Strengthen us as we go through these days, weeks and months that lay ahead with the promise that in Christ there are no “good byes”.

May our time together this morning bring you praise, honor and glory as we are FED with the awesome story of Jesus Christ crucified and risen FOR US.

Thank you, God, for your faithfulness.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Amen.

edh -|—

Fill ‘er up

/ The Pastor

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

Today the Gospel text inspired me to think about “the crowds” that followed Jesus.  In Matthew 4:23-25, the crowd was described as people who had been healed of many things ~ or as I saw them ~ invisible people.  They were people who society had cast aside and looked past them.  And this is not unlike what we do today.  There are many people among us who are invisible.  Sure…we see their bodies, but we really don’t see them because we are so focused on filling OUR lives with meaning through worldly pursuits.

But as I was reading more in the Gospel text I saw something else.  All the invisible people, after they were healed (essentially, made visible by the love of Jesus) continued to follow Jesus.  And this lead me to Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Isn’t that what we are all looking for ~ to be “filled” in someway?  We try to fill ourselves with stuff, time, busyness, etc when all we need is Jesus.  The people healed in the Gospel text could have returned to their communities, families, synagogues ~ restored ~ but they followed Jesus.  They followed Jesus in order to be filled more with his teaching ~ and love.  If only we would do the same.

Let’s pray…

Loving God, lover of our souls, you and you alone truly fill us.  You and you alone truly give us meaning.  You and you alone truly give us purpose.

Yet

We strive to fill ourselves.
We strive to fill our calendars with busyness.
We strive to fill our checkbooks.
We strive to fill our Facebook accounts with friends.
We strive to fill our homes and driveways.
We strive to fill our careers.
We strive for that which will not bring us life.

Humble our hearts, so much so, that we can see the only one who can truly fill us ~ Jesus Christ.  Heal our “eye sight”, so much so, that we can see the invisible people in our lives ~ so as Christ fills us with his love we can in turn fill others with that same love.  Help us to understand that all our striving to “fill ‘er up” is nothing more than a chasing after the wind.

Thank you, God, that through faith Jesus Christ, we are filled ~ with righteousness ~ that which we TRULY need.

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 -|—

Let’s eat

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

May God bless you this morning as you worship and enjoy some Sabbath rest. Take some time and read Matthew 22:1-14 about the Wedding Banquet God has prepared for us through Jesus Christ.  See and hear a gracious God calling YOU to “eat”.  Let’s pray together:

Loving God,

Life is busy.
Life is hectic.
Life is stressful.
But you have provided a feast for me to look forward to.

Life is challenging.
Life is demanding.
Life is draining.
But you have provided a party for me to look forward to.

I am sinful.
I am undeserving.
I am unfaithful.
But you invite me anyway.

O gracious God, you have prepared a wedding feast for me and invited me to come.  You have made all the preparations and have sent out the invitations through your Son Jesus Christ.  My prayer this morning is that my heart may be ready when the summons comes.  We don’t know when Jesus will return ~ we just know that you are faithful, gracious, loving and forgiving.

Lord God Almighty, I so look forward to dining with you at Your table.  Thank you for giving me hope beyond this busy, hectic, stressful, challenging, demanding and draining life despite my sinful-undeserving-unfaithfulness.

Hear my prayer and accept my confession.  I want to eat with you.

Through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

edh -|—