Prayer

Sunday morning prayer – 02/03/08

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Happy belated Groundhog’s Day…with 6 more weeks of winter to look forward to.  But seriously…does this really matter to anyone living in the upper Midwest.  Come February 2, there is always at least 6 more weeks of winter left.  Actually, I am thrilled that that little rodent thinks our winter will be a little shorter.  A Minnesota winter ending in March…most people will definitely take that.

Anyway…Happy Transfiguration Sunday…and in a couple days it will be "Happy Ash Wednesday" which is also "Happy Lent".  Wait a second…that doesn’t quite sound right…"Happy Lent".  Oh well…you get my meaning.

Lent is right around the corner…a period of time (before Easter) where we focus and contemplate our sinfulness and mortality.  We begin with Ash Wednesday where (in many traditions) ashes are placed on people’s foreheads (in the sign of a cross) as a remembrance of our mortality.  We confess our sins but no absolution is announced until Maundy Thursday as a way to contemplate our sinfulness.  But Transfiguration Sunday is that glory-revealing event that we carry with us through Lent as another reminded that even though (and despite that fact) that we are sinful and that we will all die and rot in the ground, our future reality is a transfiguration of sorts.  Because of the glory-revealing event of the cross and the resurrection, we too will be raised in power and glory.  What an awesome thing to hold on to.  So as we prepare to begin our Lenten journey, don’t forget the many facets of who you are and the ultimate promise we have through the cross.  So as I said before, "Happy Transfiguration Sunday"!!!

Let us pray…
Awe inspiring God, at the transfiguration of your Son, Jesus Christ, you revealed to the first disciples (and ultimately to us) the magnificence of your glory.  Grant us the foresight to see those who desperately need to hear this Good News and grants us the words to proclaim this News with power and authority.  But before we can do that, give us ears to hear your message and the heart to truly LISTEN.  For your words are indeed words of eternal life.  To you all praise, honor and glory belong…in Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

God bless you and have a safe Transfiguration/Super Bowl Sunday!

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer – 01/27/08

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Grandma update:  Grandma is still hanging in there.  She is getting weaker and weaker by the day and spends more and more time sleeping.  When she is awake, she just stares blankly at you.  She is basically eating nothing at all and drinking less and less water.  Combine this with the fact that her kidneys continue to fail I can’t believe it has gone on this long.  But I know that grandma is not suffering.  There are those in my family that think we are starving grandma to death.  I pray that they come to understand and that this does not cause a rift in the family.  These are not the memories I want to have of grandma’s death (fighting and hard feelings).  I pray grandma is at peace, that I (and the family) may see God’s will in all of this and that God takes her home soon (of course, GOD’S will be done).  Thank you again for your prayers.

Chilly run update:  Yesterday (Saturday Jan. 26) I ran the Okoboji Winter Games 5K run.  It was my first race in nearly three years.  I have been training for a marathon so I am used to marathon pace, not 5K pace (which is faster…obviously).  With all of this I did not expect to do too well.  Well…I did SURPRISINGLY well.  I finished with a time of 22 minutes and 40 seconds.  Out of 56 runners I finished in the top 15 and won my age group (only 5 runners) – thus receiving a medal…Whoo Hoo!  Needless to say I was (and am) very happy.  But I still have a lot more work to do.

Prayer:  Today is 3 Epiphany in the grand ole lectionary calendar and the Gospel text is from Matthew 4:12-25 (the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the calling of the first disciples).  The sermon focus today will be on trust.  When Jesus calls us to follow him our response is nothing more than radical trust to drop our "old life" to follow Jesus (the giver of "New Life").  But trust is a tricky thing and something we, as sinful people, are sometimes hesitant to give out.  But in the end, if we can not trust Jesus, then who can we trust?  Let us pray…

Radical God, your love and mercy is so reckless, wild and free.  And maybe that explains why we are so often tentative when you say to us, "Come, follow me!". Give us courage to go where you go and to follow you with reckless abandon.  You did not call us to be spectators but you called us to be life savers.  Faithful God, kick us in the butt that we may leave our comfort zones and go where we never thought we would – leaving all that encumbers us on the shore.  We pray this in your most holy name, Amen!

Take care and God bless!

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer – 01/20/08

/ The Pastor / 9 Comments

Well…my grandma is still alive.  Earlier this week I suspected that she would die by the end of the week, but I should have known.  My grandma is a tough ole bird.  The problem is that grandma wants to go.  She keeps asking why it is so hard to die and why she can’t go home.  But there is something else…grandma says she can see Jesus and that she can see the gates opening for her…but she is afraid to move forward.  She keeps asking her kids to go with her or at least walk her to the gate.  My grandma is a person of strong faith, so considering everything she has gone through these last couple years, one would think she would run to those gates and embrace Jesus.  But something is holding her back.

My wife suggested that I read a book she just finished reading called 90 minutes in heaven.  Has anyone heard of that or read it?  Apparently it is about a pastor who dies in a car accident.  He was pronounced dead at the scene and covered up so the paramedics could attend to the injured.  Then another pastor showed up to pray over this dead pastor’s body…for 90 minutes…while he was in heaven.  The book is about is experience in heaven and his life afterward.  After my conversation with my mom last night and hearing the updates on my grandma, I think 90 minutes in Heaven might be my next read.

Anyway, please continue to remember my grandma.  I pray she has the courage and faith to walk forward and let go of this life.  This is not good bye, but rather "see you later".  Thank you, again, to everyone for your prayers.  It means a lot to me to know that I (and my family) are not alone in this.  Thank you.

Let us pray…
Gracious and merciful God…in Jesus Christ, you are indeed the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  Because of that reality, we can go through this life knowing that nothing of this world can ultimately "harm" us.  In the end, you have won the day through the cross of Christ.  But we have a tendency to forget.  Our memories are short.  False gods wiggle their way into our lives and, on the surface, promise things we think we need.  Please keep our faith strong, strong enough to see through these empty promises to know that you and you alone are our source of life.  Thank God for never giving up on us when we stray.  Thank you God for leading us to eternal life.  Now God, I pray you may continue to lead my grandma and receive her with open arms.  Take away her fear and give her joy of what is to come.  Thank you God, through Jesus Christ your Son and our Lord I pray, Amen

God bless you in your faith and I pray you may always have the strength and courage to see what is to come for all of us, through the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Take care and God bless.

-edh-

A difficult day and a prayer request

/ The Pastor / 10 Comments

It is going to be one of those difficult mornings…

…actually…its not like I have these often.  Today is the first time since I became a pastor that I, personally, will have to deal with the eventual death of a loved one.  You see…my grandma is close to death and we expect that to happen any moment now.  I’m having a hard time even typing this so I am wondering how in the world I will even be able to ask my congregations for their prayer support this morning.  My wife said she would handle this for me if I need her…and I just might have to take her up on that offer. 

This will leave me with one grandma left.  My first grandpa died in 1994 from colon cancer and my second grandpa died in 2000 from a massive stroke on the golf course (right where he had always told people he wanted to die).  Of course I know that we don’t live for ever on this earth.  Of course I know that eventually I will be mourning the death of my grandparents (and other loved ones), but it doesn’t make it any easier.  And to top things off, my mom asked me yesterday if I would give the eulogy for the family.  Wow…I said "yes", but now I am wondering if I can.

Now I ask you to please keep me and my family in your prayers as we prepare to say "see you later" to my grandma.  I also ask for your prayers of focus as I lead worship and preach this morning.  Just the thought of grandma sends tears running from my eyes.

But here’s the really cool thing…
we have an amazingly awesome and faithfully loving God!!!

We have a God who send His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins…that we may have a New Life.  And because of that promise I can say with confidence, "See you later, grandma".  I know that Satan would love nothing more than to distract me all morning…keeping me from proclaiming God’s awesome love to people, but the resurrection is what gives me hope.  So…in the words of Martin Luther I say to Satan, "Go back to hell, where you belong! Because of Jesus, my grandma will live forever and I will see her again…and…I will have another chance to enjoy her delicious pumpkin pie".

So…on that note…please join me in a word of prayer as we begin our mornings/days…
Gracious and loving God, at the baptism of Jesus you sent your Spirit upon him in the form of a dove and announced, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."  And by sending Jesus to this earth to live and die and rise again you, in effect, are saying the same thing to us "You are my children, whom I love; with you I am well pleased".  Grant us faith to see in death the gateway to eternal life and strengthen us in that hope that we may proclaim Jesus’ sacrificial love to all.  Lord God (on a personal note) please grant my grandma peace as she leaves this world to be in your loving arms and strengthen me and my family in our faith as we say, "see you later".  In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

Thank you and God bless!

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer (is back) – 01/06/08

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Good morning to all…

After a short hiatus, "Sunday Morning Prayer" is back.  Christmas has a way of throwing our schedules off and now I am still trying to find my routine again.  Starting last week on Wednesday did not help things…this Monday should be better.

A quick and early update:  A week into this new year and my resolutions are going pretty well. I am still running and actually have increased my weekly running mileage.  And weight still continues to come off.  I am eating fruits and vegetables every day and have found a Bible reading plan on my Logos Bible Study software on my computer.  Number 3 (time management)…well…I have some work to do there.  At my office I do great.  I am getting more and more done all the time.  At home?…well…that is a different story.  Maybe I should stay away from www.addictinggames.com (I think the web address speaks for itself).

Anyway…let’s be constructive here and pray together:

God our Father, you have come to reveal your glory and greatness in this cold, dark world through your Son Jesus Christ.  You have come to reveal your victory over death and to reveal the gift of salvation to us all through faith.  Open our eyes to see your glory and grant us the vision to see the path you have laid out before us.  Grant us peace, contentment and courage as we loudly, boldly and confidently announce forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Oh God, thank you for revealing your glory among us.  In your Son’s name we pray, Amen. (Context:  Sunday, Jan. 6 is called The Epiphany of our Lord).

Take care and I hope and pray you have a very blessed day.

-edh-

Christmas prayer and blessing

/ The Pastor / 5 Comments

I still don’t know where the month has gone.  Today is Dec. 22 and Christmas is upon the doorstep.  Thankfully I have my shopping done so all that is left to do is to put the finishing touches on worship and sermons.

Today, also, will more than likely be my last post until after Christmas.  Tomorrow (Sunday) Connie and I travel to my parents, returning on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day we travel to Connie’s family.  So as I take my leave of you I would like to leave you with a prayer that I will be using on Christmas Eve.  It is one I found on the Internet that really spoke to me, so here it is…let us pray…

Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the magi.  Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.  Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.  Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.  May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen!

I hope and pray you have a joyous Christmas as we bask in the glow of God’s awesome love.  May the peace of the Christ child fill your hearts and the grace of God overwhelm you with joy.  May your travels be safe and your homecomings be happy.  God bless and take care.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good life.

See you soon.

-edh-

Monday morning check in

/ The Pastor

Another senseless tragedy
I am sure many of you are aware of the fatal shooting at the Youth With a Mission facility in suburban Denver.  A young woman from Minnesota was killed and a couple others wounded (Click here for the story).  Tiffany Johnson, along with many people across the county, have made incredible sacrifices to serve the Lord through missionary work…an often thankless and difficult job.  Please remember Tiffany’s family and friends in your prayers as they sort though such a senseless tragedy – knowing that God can work through such events to advance His kingdom.

Another Sunday closer
It’s hard to believe Christmas is edging ever closer.  Yesterday was the second Sunday of Advent which means that Christmas eve is two weeks away.  With our open house yesterday and our home remodeling done, a lot of stress has left our lives.  Now I can put more energy in preparing for these next few worship services.  Dec. 16 is our children’s Christmas program that my wife leads.  Dec. 23 we are going to have a lessons and carols worship service and of course Christmas eve worship the next day.  These next couple weeks will be busy…of course, but ones I am very much looking forward to.

Another white Christmas
It is nice to be able to say that considering that our last couple years we have had brown Christmases.  For some reason, a dose of the "white stuff" adds to the Christmas cheer.  But the down side is that before we got a lot of our snow we got a good layer of ice (and the sidewalk between the parsonage and the church is still not shoveled. Ugh!  I got some work to do).  Oh well, at least we have snow.

Another Christmas reminder
God blessings to you as you traverse this busy Christmas season.  Always remember the reason for all the hustle and bustle.  And remember to bask in the joy of this awesome love that God shows us through the manger.  God bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer – 12/09/07

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

It’s hard to believe it’s the 2nd Sunday in Advent already.  Christmas is two weeks away (with Lent just over 8 weeks away…sorry…I just could resist mentioning that little tid bit).  Anyway, there is much to do these next couple weeks.  Today, Connie and I are hosting our annual Christmas open house at the parsonage.  We have been scrambling the past few weeks doing some work in the house trying to get things ready.  Now the day is here and all that is left is to finish cleaning the kitchen.  Whew…

But there are other preparation to be made.  "Prepare the way of the Lord…produce fruit worthy of repentance…"  Those are the words of John the Baptist from our Gospel text for today from Matthew 3:1-12.  John was not a guy to sit around and wait for something to happen, but he got out there and did something.  We too, as recipients of God’s amazing love need to get out there.  Living in God’s amazing grace, go out there and "produce fruit worthy of repentance" and fruit worthy of the gift of life you have been given through Jesus Christ (you can read more about this next week when I post my sermon at my sermons blog).  In the mean time let’s prepare by joining together in prayer.

Loving, gracious and forgiving God…you showed us an awesome love at Christmas time in Jesus Christ.  But as the day of this great miracle approaches, we find ourselves, too often, losing sight of the Gift in the manger stall.  Our work to prepare for Christ is often misdirected and multi-focused.  Because of this amazing news of free grace, we grow complacent thinking everything is done: "eat, drink and be merry" we say.  But everything is NOT done.  Grant us strength and wisdom to produce fruit worthy of repentance; worthy of the gift of salvation you have given us.  Through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord we pray, Amen.

God bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer – 12/02/07

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

We have finally arrived…the first Sunday in Advent…and the other unofficial beginning of the Christmas season (Thanksgiving being the other one).  Today at Salem we are have a Hanging of the Greens worship service (Does anyone else have a Hanging of the Greens worship service?).  We will finish decorating the sanctuary this morning.  A lot of the decorations have been put up already in the interest of saving some time.  The evergreens on the pews will be put up, the children will decorate the Christmas tree, a poinsettia will be brought in (we add a poinsettia each week of Advent), and the manger and cross up front are talked about.  All in all, it is a fun worship service with a lot of people involved (especially the children).

Yesterday we got a good ole fashioned Minnesota snow storm.  Nothing too big but definitely enough to cause some cancellations yesterday, including the worship service at Belmont Lutheran Church (the other congregation I service).  One service on Sunday morning really throws off my groove.

Anyway…let’s being our "unofficial" start of the Christmas season together in a word of prayer.  Let us pray…
Loving and tender God, we come before you today with much on our plate.  We have a lot to do to get "ready" for Christmas.  We have decorating and baking and shopping and planning and so on and so to get done.  Sometimes this causes stress and sometimes it causes us to lose sight of what is really important.  Please keep our focus directed in the right direction…for Christmas is all about your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord…the greatest gift of all.  Help us not to lose sight of what our preparations are leading us to and don’t let the secular world cloud the true meaning of the season.  Dear God…thank you for loving us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we pray…AMEN!

God bless you this day and everyday and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

-edh-

Monday morning check in

/ The Pastor / 5 Comments

Busy week
Whew…a busy week is done.  Even though I feel a little tired, I feel pretty good.  Thanksgiving eve went very well with a very good turn out.  The Celebration of New Life service for Gordon went very well also, on Saturday.  We had about 300 people in attendance worshiping and celebrating the New Life we have in Jesus Christ.  We had a great soloist who sang "How Great Thou Art" and the tear jerker, "Thank You" by Ray Boltz.  As prelude music, the family hired a local harpist to play for a half hour before worship – absolutely beautiful.  Sunday worship also went off just fine.  With the three sermons I got to write last week, I was worried something would get missed, but once again, God provided and the Gospel was preached.

Prayer shawls
One of the ministries of Belmont Lutheran Church is wrapping people in prayer shawls.  When people are in the hospital or shortly after they get home, they are presented a prayer shawl from the congregation.  The shawls are made by some ladies in the congregation.  In the two years I have served with Belmont I did not know about this ministry until last week.  Doris, the secretary for Belmont, asked about doing a blessing of the prayer shawls in worship.  They hadn’t done this for a while and asked if I could do that.  I said sure, but I have never done anything like that before, but I will figure something out.  Does anyone out there have any experience with blessing like that or know of a blessing service I can use?  I am not looking for anything too elaborate – just something that can be done during the regular Sunday service this Sunday.  Thanks much.

Sunday morning prayer
I am sorry I did not get a prayer posted.  I know there are people that show up, here, for that Sunday morning prayer, but with the chaos that was last week, I just did not get one written.  For me that prayer serves as devotion for me to prepare for worship.  I know that all that I do on Sunday morning I can not do on my own.  My prayer during sermon and worship prep is basically that I am not that talented and if it were left up to me I would surely bring it all to ruin (to paraphrase Luther’s sacristy prayer).  I plan to get back to my routine this weekend.

Scripture
"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:  His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’" (Matthew 1:18-21)

God bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS (I love this time of the year)!

-edh-