Preaching

Monday morning check in — The law at work in us

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:15-25)

Yesterday (July 6) I preached on the above text.  Actually…I am spending the summer in Romans with the congregation.  I haven’t done a preaching series for a while, but after preaching in Romans the last couple weeks, I decided to look ahead and mapped out a plan that takes us through August.  I taught an adult class on Romans a few years ago, but never spent this much time preaching in Romans.  This is going to be fun.

In the above text I italicized a couple phrases that really hit home for me.  The first one is Paul’s frustration that when he wants to do good, evil is always right there with us.  Paul goes on to lament about what a wretched man he is…who will rescue us?  “Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord”.  Paul’s frustration is also my frustration.  But what really bothers me is when we take this “law” (as Paul states) and take it to heart a little too much.  I mean…how many times have you said (or heard it said) “The devil made me do it“?  We resign ourselves to the fact that we are wretched and sinful people and give up.  We simply throw up our hands and go on sinning saying (or thinking) “I can’t help help it…I’m a sinner“.  Does this “law” at work in us give us an excuse to keep on sinning?  As Paul would say, “By no means!  We have died to sin, why do you live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2) 

We have a powerful law working against us, but it doesn’t mean we just give in and give up.  We have an awesome God that through Jesus Christ gives us eternal life.  That right there should be motivation enough to fight this law at work in ourselves for the glory of God.  God fought the hard fight for us so we may have life.  I mean…the cross was not easy.

Our fight against sin is one we can not win on our own.  We will lose many battles.  We will grow frustrated.  But “thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Thanks be to God that the war has been won.  Thanks be to God that God does not abandon us.  Thanks be to God that we are loved beyond measure.  Thanks be to God!

Next week the Romans text is chapter 8 verses 1 – 11.  This talks about living according to the Spirit verses living according to the flesh.  This should prove to be a good follow up and hopefully a source of strength and encouragement for the fight against sin.

Other stuff
It is going to be an ugly day here in SW MN.  The humidity is at 100% with a 73 degree dew point.  That makes for a tropical day.  With the early morning rain and the threat of severe weather looming, no work is being done on our ramp project today.  Currently the forms are set for the deck to be poured; we just need some nice weather for that part to proceed.  So because of that I don’t have any updated pictures.  When they start pouring the cement I will post some more pictures.  If you want to see some more pictures of the project, visit our church’s website at www.salemjackson.org and click on the “ramp construction” link.  It has been fasination watching this project but people are starting to get a little anixous to get back into the sanctuary (and I am too).  Another month or so and we will be back in. 

So with that…God bless you and have a marvelous day 🙂

-edh-

Monday morning check in — Romans and the Ramp project

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

Worship
Yesterday was our first worship service in the fellowship hall.  I wasn’t sure what kind of turn out we would get but the basement was full.  But in all honesty it WAS congregational meeting day (with a potluck).  I guess next week will really tell the story.

We do have some bugs to work out though.  Our sound wasn’t the best so we need to do some tinkering this week to fix some bugs.  But worship was fun and “different”.  The setting seemed cozy and intimate.  It made me think of the Church in the first century when people met in homes.  It think it is going to be very strange to move up stairs after being in such a cozy place for a while.  Most people are going to be thankful to be in the sanctuary, but after one Sunday in the fellowship hall, I am liking the closeness while we worship.  It makes me feel more connected with the people.  I wish there was a way I could close off the back half of the sanctuary without getting myself into too much trouble.  There is definitely something to the worship intimacy thing.

Ramp project
Things are moving alone quite nicely.  Today they are putting up the forms and hopefully will be pouring cement tomorrow.  The joke is that since the contractor is moving along like he is, that we will be back in the sanctuary this Sunday.  Of course that is not the case.  We are still looking at August as our move back in date.  Check back soon for some up-to-date pictures of our “little” project.

Sermon
I have added a new page at the top of my blog titled “Sermons”.  I will be adding sermons there periodically; ones that strike me and stand our for me.  This past week is one such example.  I preached on the Romans 6:1-11 text about dying and rising with Christ.  Our “old” life dying to sin and a “new” life rising with Christ.  This text always seems to strike me in a new a different way each time.  Yesterday I used the illustration of our ramp construction project to talk about letting go of the “old” to embrace the “new”; when the new (ramp) comes, the old (ramp) will soon be forgotten.  I don’t pretend to think the sermon was anything spectacular…it just struck a cord with me yesterday.  So take it as it is.

With that I say to you “God bless and have a great day!”

-edh-

Sunday morning prayer – 06/22/08

/ The Pastor

This was a fast-paced morning…reason…I forgot to turn my alarm on.  I had my alarm set, but for some strange (and be it stupid) reason I did not click over that switch that would have saved my heart from some minor panic this morning.  Maybe “panic” is too strong of a word, but when I just happened to roll over and open my eyes to see it was 1/2 hour later than I wanted to get up…my heart immediately jumped into non-hibernation status.  Talk about a rude awakening.  Anyway…I am here and ready to go.  I still made it to my office “on time” but I didn’t get my morning SportsCenter.  What a tragedy there 🙂

Today is our first day worshipping in the fellowship hall downstairs.  As some of you are aware we started our ramp project this past Monday (page down to see some pictures).  I will add some more pictures a little later to chronicle the progress.  Right now, the ramp is completely gone.  They will be pouring the walls this week.  The time table for completion is still sometime in August so we are getting settled in downstairs. 

Today is also congregational meeting day which also means…POTLUCK…WHOO HOO!  You just can’t go wrong with a good ole’ fashioned Lutheran potluck.  Of course…since we are having a potluck today…my parents are coming down.  My dad can’t miss a potluck here (of course they use the excuse that they haven’t heard me preach for a while).  But what ever works…I get to see my parents and go golfing with my dad.

Lastly…before I get ready to leave for Belmont…I want to thank Carmen who left me a comment this week about the ramp project.  She mentioned that I would now have a good sermon illustration about something being torn down only to be built up stronger.  Well…I am going to use something like that when I preach on Romans 6:1-11 today.  I am focusing on our so called “need” to hold on to the old when we are in fact made new through baptism.  It is almost like being so attached to the old ramp that we feel the need to go out to the garbage heap to walk on the rumble of the old ramp; ignoring the new one in front of us.  Through baptism we are buried with Christ and if that is the case (and it is) we will also rise with them.  We are made new so let go of the old.  Thank you, Carmen.

With that…let us join together in a word of prayer.
Let us pray…gracious Lord God, you sent your one and only Son, Jesus Christ to make us new again.  Through our baptism you give us an amazing gift…the gift of life.  But yet we still find it hard to let go of our “old” life.  We too often turn our backs on you to “walk” on something that has been destroyed.  Help us to see the awesomeness and newness of the great gift you have given us.  Help us turn from our old life to see the New Life we have in Christ.  We thank and praise you through your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Amen!

God bless and have an awesome day!

-edh-

The sermon event (with a Prelude and Postlude)

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

PRELUDE
Have you ever written something; thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and then lost it in the blink of an eye?  Well…that happened to me late this morning.  I was working on this particular post and thought I had something pretty good.  I went to hit save and the next thing I knew I was being transported back the the Typepad home screen faster than a Star Trek beam-out.  And in what seemed like a freak transporter accident, the "molecules" of my brilliantly written post were scattered throughout the vastness of cyberspace.  But before anyone starts getting theological on me and say that this was God's way of saying that I was not suppose to write that post…I had already considered that and discarded that reasoning.  I just haven't figured out what I am chalking this unfortunate incident up to yet.  But I got a feeling it will come back to some message from God.

Now on to something I hope you really like…
The real reason I wanted to offer my not-so-called writing talents was to say something about the sermon event as I see it.

Back in 2006 I started posting my sermons on a separate blog over at Blogger.com.  I thought for some reason that people might enjoy reading these and even enter into a discussion about them.  But a few weeks ago I discontinued this practice.  I did have a few people comment on these sermons, but it was not for the lack of comments that I quit posting them.  I came to the conclusion that I was not being authentic in those sermons.  People were not really getting the sermon that was preached.

For me…the sermon event is more than a bunch of words/notes on a piece of paper.  The sermon event involves (very intimately) the one preaching the sermon; something that is very difficult to see, feel and experience though a bunch of words.  I do not doubt that people get something out of written sermons read after the sermon event.  I have read other people's sermons and have learned a lot about my relationship with Christ.  I have read a number of Luther's sermons and have found them very useful.  But I believe that actually being there; to hear and experience the sermon would produce something different than some printed words ("Faith comes by hearing").

Don't get me wrong…I am not claiming to be some brilliant sermon deliverer.  I am not claiming that people's lives are transformed each and every week because of words that I have written.  But what I am claiming is that in each sermon is a piece of me.  People get to see my faith being worn on my sleeve.  There are times when the written word on my piece of paper is not what is spoken.  There have been times when I felt I did not explain a point well enough so I added more words.  There have been times when the Holy Spirit captured me and totally lead me away from my written words.  More times than not, the words I posted on-line where not the exact same words I preached.

And don't get me wrong in this respect…I am not criticizing those who post sermons on-line.  Like I said, I have read many sermons that I thoroughly enjoyed.  But for me…the sermon event is the main thing.  I don't want Salem members to think they can get the same thing out of the sermon by reading it as opposed to experiencing it.  I want people there…in worship…to experience the power of the Holy Spirit through the SPOKEN word.  Once again…"Faith comes by hearing".  But if people call in a request a copy of one the sermons I preached…I will provide them with one (but maybe I should print the above "disclaimer" on it).

So there you have it…my faith on my sleeve through a bunch of words written on a computer screen.  Seems kind of hypocritical considering what I just wrote.  So…if you want to experience this post in a different way, stop by my office sometime and I just might read this to you.

POSTLUDE
I have determined what I am chalking up my "freak blog post transporter accident" up to.  You see…there is this pesky little button on the bottom of my page…right next the the "SAVE" button that says, "DELETE POST".  Need I say more 🙂

-edh-

Monday morning check-in

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Sermon prep-less week

I know "prep-less" is not a word but like I am fond of telling my wife, "If it comes out of my mouth, then it is a word".  That may or may not be a good idea, but I am going to apply that logic here. 

Today begins a sermon prep-less week.  For those of you who are not solo pastors this may not seem like a big deal.  But if you are used to preparing a sermon (nearly) every single week of the year…a week off seems kind of strange.  This weekend is the SW MN Synod Assembly.  It's been called the synod's "business" meeting (I don't like that title).  Others have called this weekend a "forced day off" for pastors (that may be closer to the truth…the "forced" part not the "day off" part).  Whatever the weekend is "officially" called, it is a time for me to re-fuel a little bit.  I enjoy preparing and preaching sermons, but I still need a week off now and then to help me appreciate this craft more.  But even though I am not engaging in my "official" sermon prep routine, I still think I am still going to go to my favorite coffee house on Thursday for lunch (with my laptop) to do some writing.  I guess some habits are just too hard to break.

Prince Caspian

Yesterday the churches in Jackson hosted a day at the movies for people to come and watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  A number of businesses donated door prizes which we gave away before and after the movie.  After the movie we also had a time for questions and answers. 

Without giving too much of the movie away I thought there was a lot of violence in the movie (epsecially for younger kids).  There was one family that walked out during the movie for that very reason.  Granted…the violence was not as bad as most movies; there was no blood and gore, but a lot of people/characters died.   The first Narina movie did not have this much violence and the books don't have the violence either.  Hollywood definitely took a lot of creative liberties with the movie.  Even though it is rumored that the C.S Lewis family approved how these stories were protrayed, I find it hard to believe C.S. Lewis himself would have approved.  These stories were written as children's stories.  And the last time I checked, "children's stories" generally don't contain that much violence.  But that aside…I still really enjoyed the movie and recommend it.  I just don't recommend it for young children.  Please preview the movie before letting children see it.  And that is all I will say about it.  I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Training

117 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes (give or take a few minutes, hours or days…depending on when you read this) until the Medtronic Twin Cities marathon.  This past week or so my running has been a little slow.  My right hip has really been hurting me lately, but is feeling better today.  I can still run, but it takes a few miles for my hip to loosen up enough for me to get up to pace.  Maybe this is a sign that I am indeed getting old (but let's not tell my body or my wife…I still plan to run this marathon).

With that I take my leave of you.  Since this is a sermon prep-less week, I am going to take advantage of it and get some things done that I haven't done for a while.  I am also going to try to get outside this afternoon and enjoy this blue sky that I haven't seen for awhile.

So take care and have a very blessed day!

-edh-

From within

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

I am experiencing a strange phenomenon.

Thursday mornings is a time I set aside to write sermons.  I spend a hour or so in my office; working with my secretary to make sure the worship bulletin in completed then I head out to continue sermon prep (I say "continue" because sermon prep take place all week long).  I continue my sermon prep in the sanctuary where I can get away from all distractions so I can focus on the Word God needs me to preach to the people.  I stand up front (and after praying) and I look out into the pews and imagine people sitting out there.  To my left (the pulpit side) towards the back sits Ken and Janet.  My wife sometimes sits on that side as well (but she does not have her "own pew").  On my right side (organ side) towards the front sits Lyle with Pete, Mazie and Vicki just in front of him.  In the far back on the organ side is the section for families with young children (that can be a zoo sometimes, but I never notice until a parent apologizes to me for their noisy child).  In the last pew on the pulpit side (along the outside wall) sits Sylvia and Virgil…

…and I could continue on and on…giving you a fairly accurate seating chart of a typical Sunday morning, but I won't bore you with that.  My point is that I look out and see people sitting out there and I imagine their lives and ask God, "What do they NEED to hear from you?"  This helps me in some strange way.  But I guess this is only right because as a preacher, we come FROM WITHIN the congregation, not from OUTSIDE the congregation.  We should imagine our people's lives because that is how we are faithful in the craft of preaching.  Otherwise we are nothing more than a disconnected lecturer trying to communicate some truth that does not matter to their lives right now.  So I try to be faithful.

Now…as I write this…I am taking a sermon writing break.  Where?  Well…I am downtown at my favorite coffee place.  I am set up in the corner with my lap top, a cup of coffee and an empty tray that once contained a delicious chicken cordon blu sandwich.  I have been here for about 1 1/2 hours, but I am not alone.  This small coffee shop is filled with people talking about this or that; talking about their lives or the latest gossip.  This is definitely not a place to find peace and quite, but yet I HAVE found peace and quiet.

What a strange phenomenon…

…but maybe this is not so strange after all.  Because as a preacher I come from WITHIN the congregation.  And isn't this the congregation…here in this coffee shop..or wherever?  The "congregation" is not contained in a building…rather…it's "out there".  So if this is the congregation, then this is definitely an okay place to be.  In my office I feel disconnected.  Here…I feel connected.

The murmur of voices are still floating in the air, but they don't bother me; rather…they inspire me.  So with that…I return to my craft…from within God's people.

-edh-

Desperate

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

This past Christmas my wife gave me the seven volume set of the "Complete Sermons of Martin Luther".  Every once in a while I will check these out and see how Luther preached a particular text or a particular church holiday/season.  This Sunday (May 11) is Pentecost Sunday so I decided so check out what Luther said about this day.  The follow is an excerpt from his Pentecost sermon in 1534:

"We desperately need this Pentecost sermon of the Holy Spirit, so that he may give us a courageous heart, so that we, too, may persevere, regardless of who is offended, regardless of how much people may slander us.  And even if cults and sects arise, we will also ignore that.  That’s the kind of courage we need, a courage that remains undisturbed by any of these things and simply continues fearlessly to confess and publicly proclaim Christ, who was so grossly misjudged, condemned and killed." (The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. VI, pg. 163)

Up to this point Luther talks about these scared, timid, uncertain, disciples who, upon the Holy Spirit filling them, started proclaiming to the people (and the powers that be) that the one they condemned and crucified has been raised and is Lord of all.  This One is none other than Jesus Christ.  This proclamation was a bold one and took an incredible amount of courage.  This courage came from the Holy Spirit that allowed them to see that nothing of this world can take away the gift that we have from God through Jesus Christ.  And once they realized this; that nothing of this world could harm them, the disciples boldly proclaimed the Good News.

We too need this courage (as Luther states) and that is why this Pentecost message (the one proclaimed by the disciples on that first Pentecost Day) is so important.  We need to hear a message that gives us strength because this world needs courageous Christians.  This world needs people willing to share their faith no matter what others think.  This world needs people willing to stand up and speak against injustices.  This world needs people to take their faith into the "Monday through Saturday" world.  This world needs people who are firm in their faith knowing there is hope beyond all the crap going on around us.  This world needs courageous Christians; the world is desperate for them.

We need to constantly and continually preach this Good News.  We need to affirm in people the promise of God through Jesus Christ.  We need to proclaim this hope we all have.  We need to be strong, forward, unashamed and bold.  We need to know and/or be reminded that because Jesus died and rose from the grave; conquering death; and giving us victory, we need not be afraid. 

So boldly go and preach the Good News through word and deed.  Speak out against injustices.  Take your faith into the "Monday through Saturday" world.  Make that unpopular decision to say "no" to Sunday sports and say "yes" to worship.  Dare to give more than you "think" you can afford.  Be courageous.  Be courageous because there is nothing in this world that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Dare to say…"JESUS IS LORD!" Amen.

-edh-

WorkingPreacher.org

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

WorkingPreacher.org is a new preaching resource put out by Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN.  It contains a number of excellent articles and text studies on the upcoming lectionary texts.  The web address is…well…just what the title suggests:  www.workingpreacher.org

And…its FREE!

I highly recommend this site.  I have already gain some important insights to sermon preparation.

Enjoy!
-edh-

Monday morning check in (on Tuesday)

/ The Pastor / 7 Comments

Well…I am back after a long weekend.  And…like my awkward Thursday last week, I got a feeling this will be an awkward Tuesday since I was off yesterday.  My whole week is going to be thrown off.  Oh well…

Grandma:  The funeral mass for my grandma went very well.  The mass was held in the nursing home chapel with about 80 people present.  Nine of the 14 grandchildren were able to be there.  Needless to say it was a bitter sweet reunion.  After spending some fun, quality time together we realized that we need to get together more often.  So my wife and one of my other cousins are going to be planning something this year (at the very least a New Year’s Eve gathering).  Funerals and weddings should not be the only time family gets together.

Eulogy:  This was one of the toughest things I have done.  I spent some time sharing some memories of grandma…and was doing fine.  When I got to my closing (talking about grandma’s faith) then I started to have trouble…especially when I made eye contact with some of my cousins.  When I made eye contact the waterworks started.  I finished by sharing the Gospel.  Normally during a funeral that I preside at, I schedule the eulogy before the sermon so I can have the last word…sharing the Gospel.  On Saturday (at grandma’s funeral mass) the priest had me near the very end…so I had the last word.  Imagine that…a "Lutheran" proclamation of the Gospel at a Catholic mass.  Oh well…we are all brothers and sisters in Christ so what’s the difference?

Winter:  I love…I mean, like…wait a second…I use to enjoy…I mean…I am down right sick and tired of winter.  The bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills are getting old.  As you know I am training for the Twin Cities marathon.  Running on the treadmill is fine, but I need a change of scenery…I need to get outside, but I am not running outside if it is below zero.  Call me a wimp, but I want to enjoy my run without worrying if any limb is going to freeze and fall off.

Personal stewardship:  I haven’t given a report on this for a while.  My weight loss is going fairly well.  I have plateaued, but I am losing some weight.  Pants are feeling looser all the time which means I am putting on muscle mass while losing fat so therefore my weight is not going down as fast.  As for my training, I am on track and looking forward to registering for the Twin Cities marathon in April.

A message for the road:  "When Satan reminds you of your past remind him of his future"

Take care and God bless!
-edh-