Worship

Preach Jesus

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

I have a Celebration of New Life service (a.k.a. funeral) to prepare for this week.  It takes place on Friday morning.  In my preparations I got to thinking about some other funerals that I have attended for people I know and for family.  There are two that stand out to me.  They stand out because at each service Jesus was not preached.  Actually…the name “Jesus” was not uttered…not even once.  Jesus was alluded to, but if I were an unbeliever or someone who has never even heard about this guy, Jesus, I would not have heard any Good News.  And both of those services were supposedly Christian funerals.

In seminary, my preaching professor told us that when we preach try to mention Jesus’ name at least once.  The obvious implication was to make sure that we were preaching the Good News of Jesus dying and rising for us.  For if we are not preaching about Jesus then we are just there giving a speech about some religious topic.

For me, a funeral is a golden opportunity to preach the Good News to those who normally would not step foot inside a church.  You also have people who I call CEOs (Christmas Easter Only…with the occasional wedding or funeral).  When I preach at a funeral I not only have the mourners in mind but those who don’t normally hear the Gospel.  We can’t miss these opportunities.

Jesus needs to be preached!

The best funeral preaching advise I have received came from a woman from Salem who died.  She left me detailed instructions about her funeral.  This is an excerpt of what she wrote (and how she wrote it):

“DON’T TALK ABOUT ME BECAUSE IT IS NOT ABOUT ME.  THIS IS A CELEBRATION OF NEW LIFE.”

And believe me…I was going to listen to her…and I still do.  To this day, this is why we call funerals “A Celebration of New Life.”

Preach Jesus…and don’t miss “golden opportunities”.  Preach Jesus and preach Life.  Preach Jesus…even if you are not ordained, preach Jesus (in words and deeds).  Preach Jesus.

[Did I mention…preach Jesus?]

-edh-

…and she sucked my thumb

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

One of the things I enjoy about the congregations I serve are the children.  On the Sundays when there are a number of kids in worship it can become quite a zoo, but I don’t mind.  One particular 3 year old likes to explore the sanctuary…during worship.  His mom usually has a horrified look on her face when she chases him down; thinking I am going to get mad, but I never do.  One little girl used to stand on the pew during the offering; holding a dollar bill and yell “Eric…I got your money!”  One Sunday, when I was preaching from the floor with a music stand, the little boy that likes to explore the sanctuary decided he wanted a better view.  He came down the center aisle and stood right in front of me; looking and listening (Try to stay focused during a sermon with that).

But this past Sunday a very cute moment took place for me.  We were down stairs enjoying another magnificent Salem Lutheran Church potluck.  I was sitting at a table with a friend of ours (a member at Salem) who has a six month old little girl.  She was born about 5 weeks early and I can remember being very nervous holding her after she was born.  She was so tiny.  But now Chloe is getting bigger.  Anyway…this past Sunday Chloe was in a very good mood; smiling at everyone (I hope she stays that cute).  After I finished eating I got my opportunity to hold Chloe.  In the process of holding her apparently my thumb got a little too close to her mouth.  Just then she grabbed my thumb with her two tiny hands…and she sucked my thumb.  Actually she was gumming it.  I thought that was the cutest thing ever.  I would pull my thumb away and she would grab it again and suck on it.  Everyone around laughed.  Maybe I had some left over hot dish on my thumb…I don’t know, but it was a moment I will cherish.  If I am here long enough to have Chloe in Release Time or Confirmation I look forward to embarrassing her with that story.

I know some people are annoyed when children “disrupt” worship but if there are no “disruptions” in worship then there is no children.  If there are no children…well…you do the math.  I cherish “disruptions” and thumb sucking moments with children.  It reminds me that we are to have the faith of children; freely expressing oneself without worrying about what people are thinking about you.

What if WE actually lived our faith like children…free and without worry?  Hmmm…

-edh-

An icy Monday

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

I live in Minnesota…and I love it.  I love (almost) everything about living here.  I love the changes in seasons; the variety of weather; the many lakes to enjoy; the people; and the list could go on.  But one the of the few things I do not like about Minnesota is the ICE.

On Saturday around 1pm-ish it started to precipitate a little so I decided to go for a quick run.  When my eye lids started sticking closed I decided it was time to cut things short.  By the time I finished my 25 minute run my front side was covered in ice.   What a weird feeling.  Of course…the ice outside stuck around until the next day (Sunday and a little today still) making my drive out to Belmont and back an adventure.  I am not sure how many of you out there have driven on a sheet of ice before but let me say this…”IT IS NOT FUN.”  Stopping was a luxury that forced me to think ahead (way ahead).   I did make it out to Belmont and back without an incident…and I have yet to hear of any in the last couple days (Praise God).  But with the good you have to take the bad I guess.

There’s got to be a lesson in there somewhere…right?

(1) Going through life we need to watch our step; we could slip and fall at any moment.
(2) Christ gives us life, but we still need to deal with sin (The good and the bad).
(3) Sin may be fun, but it’s slippery slope will hurt you and others.

I may be reaching…but leave it to a pastor to look for sermon illustrations in nearly everything.  Stay tuned, though, I have another sermon illustration coming up shortly; something that happened this morning.

-edh-

Christmas Eve

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

The hustle and bustle of another busy Christmas season is coming to an end shortly.  And I know I probably say this every year but it seems this Christmas season was busier than others.  For pastors this is indeed a busy time, especially for those who have mid-week Advent worship service (I don’t have those).  And as I look back on the past month I get more and more tired.  But no need to worry…as it happens during Holy Week…on Christmas Eve I get a boost of adrenaline that takes me through Christmas Day worship.  But can you say “Eric will be napping on the way to Iowa tomorrow”.

Today is Christmas Eve and I am preparing for a 5pm worship service at Salem and a 9am Christmas Day service at Belmont.  My sermon is written…I just need to review, practice and tweak it some.  The worship service is set…I just need to run through things and make sure all my “props” are there and ready.  The music will be coming (Connie’s family is providing the brass accompaniment tonight).  And all the worship participants are set to go.  My biggest task I have left to do today is to make some bread in the bread maker for supper tonight (Italian Herb bread is on the menu).  All in all…not too bad of a day coming up (maybe that is the adrenaline).

But before I go and continue my preparations I want to leave you with a couple things:

(1) MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all and thanks for a great year.  I will be posting a year-in-review later on but I just want to say now that I am thankful for the many friends I met through this blog.  I am also thankful for the many commenters and others who stop by.  This blog is for you and that is my motivation for writing this; knowing that God is using me to preach his Word to people all over the world.  What a blessing this has been.  May you experience the love of God through your many gatherings and may you have safe travels and joyous homecomings.

(2) I want to share a story with you I heard on the news this morning.  Check out this Star Tribune link for the complete story.  Basically…there was an apartment fire in Burnsville, MN recently where nearly 200 residents lost everything.  Yesterday a person donated about 1 million dollars to the victims (nearly $17,500 per person…today the people can pick up their checks).  Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville is serving as a collection site to provide for the basic needs of these families.  This story touched my heart as it is an example of the Spirit of Christmas at work.  Praise be to God.

Once again…have a very blessed Christmas and be safe…all the while praising God, always and forever.  Amen!

-edh-

The Spirit of Christmas

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

img_f0517412aa1Don’t freak out…I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the Advent sermon series I am pondering.  Sometimes it is hard to believe, but Advent is right around the corner and of course Christmas is close behind.  And since that is our reality, Advent planning needs to begin (if it hasn’t already).

I haven’t done an Advent sermon series since 2005 when I preached a series on 1 Peter (something I came across in some publication).  This year…my series is a little different.  The title of the series is “The Spirit of Christmas” with the following sermons topics:  “The Spirit of Hope”, “The Spirit of Life”, “The Spirit of Peace”, “The Spirit of Sharing” and ending on Christmas Eve with “The Spirit of Love”.  This idea came from a Hanging of the Greens worship service we are doing on Nov. 30; a service I found in a Hanging of the Greens book.

Each Christmas season, one of the things that really gets me going is seeing people totally miss the true spirit of Christmas.  It seems that with each passing year, Christmas becomes more and more commercialized (if that is even possible).  Each year I feel moved to submit a letter to the editor in our local newspaper to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas.  Each year I hear stories of how businesses and retail stores tell their employees that they can’t say “Merry Christmas” to the customers.  Heaven forbid if we offend anyone with those words.  So this sermon series really speaks to me and hopefully it will speak to others as well.

I haven’t totally thought out the scripture references for each theme (maybe you have some ideas for me), but hopefully I will have that done within the next week.  I am thinking a one day retreat away from my office might be in order.

In any case…I wanted to through this out to you and see what you think.  Is anyone else doing a Advent/Christmas sermon series?  Have you ever done one before?

God’s blessings to you as you prepare for the Christmas season.

-edh-

Monday morning check in — God’s power and strength

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

It is weeks like this when I am reminded of my weakness; reminded of the fact that I can not do this alone.  Last Friday my cell phone rang and when I looked at it, the call ID told me it was the funeral director.  That is never a good sign.  Upon answering the phone I was told that G had died on Thursday.  Now get this…her and her husband had been married for 72 years.  That’s right…72 years…that no typo.  I think that is absolutely amazing.  What an inspiration those two have been to many people.  One of the cute stories I have heard about them is that at the young of age 90+ they would sit out on the porch and G’s husband would sing “You are my sunshine” to her.  G is going to be missed by many.

On Saturday I got another call on my cell phone from the funeral director.  This didn’t make me as nervous since we were already planning one funeral.  But this call was about another one…this time out at Belmont.  The deceased lived in Sun City, AZ and is being flown up here for the funeral and burial.  I don’t know this woman but I know the family.

So my week is shaping up like this:  Funerals on Tuesday and Friday mornings; visitations on Monday and Thursday evenings; I have confirmation and Release Time lessons to plan; and Sunday worship and sermon prep…among with other things that come up during the week.  Like I said earlier…there is no way I can do this on my own.  I pray, God Almighty, to give me strength and focus do serve His children and provide the care that they need.  During busy times like this it is easy to let some things slide and not do your best, but when you rely on God’s power and strength, then God’s Will will indeed be done.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

Monday morning check-in — Ramp project among other things

/ The Pastor / 8 Comments

We are off to a great start on a beautiful and cool Monday morning.  Now I am praying for some rain because my lawn continues to turn the dreaded brownish color (and our crops could definitely use a drink as well).  But according to the “weather experts” (I always use that title loosely) we should get some rain this week.  Maybe I should be a weather dude; then I could say “there is a 50% chance for rain this week” and have a 50% chance of being right.  Not bad odds.

Ramp project
I know it has been a while since I have given an update on our ramp project.  So here’s an update…it’s done:


We still have some landscaping to do on the north and south sides.  On Sunday, September 14 we will be having a short dedication service right before worship.  The idea right now is to ask people to gather outside before worship.  I will then have a short litany and then “J” will cut the ribbon (her and her husband, “G” gave the money for this project but “G” died shortly after they gave us the money, but did express his wish for a new ramp .  “G” would be so happy to see this done…I wish he could be here).  I am not sure how the litany will go right now.  Does any have any suggestions of what you have used or seen used for something like this?

What’s next?
Next year Salem Lutheran Church will be celebrating it’s 125th anniversary of ministry.  So with that in mind we will be continuing to fix up some things around the church.  Our next big projects will be to repaint the sancuary and the Fellowship Hall.  We have a professional coming in to paint the sanctuary because of the high ceiling but we as a church will handle the Fellowship Hall painting.  After those projects we have some other minor ones to do to get ready for next year. 

But right now my frustration is that we are having a hard time getting people to volunteer to serve on a planning committee for this anniversary celebration.  I know people are busy, but this is a big deal for the church.  I wrote a newsletter article for September so that combined with my persistent president asking people hopefully will produce a committee.

[If you’re a Salem member reading this, please, please volunteer and share your gifts].

Training update
6 weeks and counting until the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  Training is going well, but my wife is still a little nervous.  There are days when I wonder what the heck I am doing and then there are days when I feel super confident.  But either way, I know this is going to be a difficult race, but I am still looking forward to tackling this goal and accomplishing it.  God has been with me through all the ups and downs and I am confident God will give me the strength to finish the race.

Coming up…
(1) I am working on part 3 of my Ministry model vs. Business model series; a series talking about a new structure for my church council.

(2) Last week I failed to post a Coffee Shop Ponderings post, but I will be back with one this Thursday.

(3) This weekend I am heading to the LifeLight Christian Music Festival in Sioux Falls, SD with a bunch of friends.  It is a free festival with many big name Christian artists like: Micheal W. Smith, Casting Crowns, Jeremy Camp and many more.  I will post more about this weekend and might even have some pictures.

With that I pray you have a very happy and blessed day.  Take joy in the Lord for He is good. 

Take care!
-edh-

Monday morning check in — Post-Sonshine post

/ The Pastor

Here I am…in my office…post-Sonshine…procrastinating on writing my newsletter article (of course, by the time my secretary reads this I WILL be working on my article, I promise).

Anyway…we had a great time at Sonshine Festival.  We heard lots of great music from the likes of Jars of Clay, Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Toby Mac, Hawk Nelson, Peder Eide, Barlowgirl, David Crowder, and much more.  That list is definitely not listed in order because that would be to hard to do.  But Hawk Nelson is a group I never really listened to before but I am now developing a new appreciation for them.  All the groups were (and are) great examples and very open about their faith.  It was fun and inspiring to hear them and worship with them.  And for $68 for the weekend…for all that music…you just can’t beat that.

Our group consisted of my wife and I along with one senior high girl from Salem with a group of 10 from Our Savior’s.  There were more adults than youth in our group, but everyone had fun.  We camped in tent city where there were thousands of tents crammed in together.  It is hard to describe the scene but trust me, it was a zoo.  The “city” never really completely died down.  There was activity all night long for all four nights.  My wife and I came home on Saturday and let me tell ya…a shower and my bed felt great on Saturday night.  But over all it was a great experience and we are already looking forward to next year.

Ramp update
I haven’t said much in this area for a while but here’s a quick update (just in case you were wondering).  All the cement is poured and now they are on the brick work.  Red-ish (basic brick color…whatever that is “offically” called) bricks will be placed on the side of the ramp and a brick wind break is currently being built on the north side of the ramp by the sanctuary door.  The time table for completion is still mid-August sometime.  I will get some pictures posted soon.

One week to go…
After this week I will be out of the office for a couple weeks.  On Sunday I fly to Chicago for a special meeting on evangelism and outreach.  I was invited by the synod office to attend this meeting (I will discuss this more in another post this week).  After I get back on Tuesday I go on vacation until Sunday.  On Sunday I am still out of the office but for continuing education.  The week of Aug 3 – 10 I am at the Okoboji Lakes Bible and Missionary Conference.  A free conference in the Okoboji Lakes area (about 20 miles from here).  That too I will write more about later.  So this week I have a lot to get done before I head out.

With that…I leave you with this quote I came across…one I used in my sermon yesterday: “We are not in the land of the living, but in the land of the dying — someday we shall be in the Land of the Living.”  What a great reminder of the hope we all have in Jesus Christ.

Take care and have a great day!

-edh-

My stop light head

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Yesterday (Saturday) I spent the day on West Okoboji Lake boating with some friends.  It was a windy and choppy day on the lake, but it was beautiful.  We had a great time.  The problem is that despite the fact that I put on sunscreen, my big ole forehead still got sunburned (my receding hairline exposes more forehead to get burnt).  Now my head looks like one big spot light.  And against the whiteness of my alb this morning, my head should glow all the more brighter for the congregation to see.  Maybe I should stand out on the corner of Hwy 71 and North Highway and see if my head could stop traffic.

This should be a fun morning 🙂

-edh-

Ramp project pictures

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Our ramp construction project is moving along quite nicely.  I have posted a couple pictures below that shows where they are at:

This is late last week as they are pouring the ramp walls.

This pictures was taken yesterday (June 30).  The deck forms are in place and the fill is being put in.

This was this morning, but as of right now, all the fill is in.  They are now packing it down and leveling it off. 

They could be pouring the ramp deck as early as this week.  I guess it depends on the weather…which looks halfway decent except for the heat.  Generally people are happy and excited about the progress and the project as a whole…which is a relief for me.  If people are disgruntled they have not voiced that to me (or at least word of their disgruntledness hasn’t reached my ears yet).

Worship downstairs in the fellowship hall is going well.  Attendance hasn’t dropped too drastically because of our temporary move.  Hopefully people will be patient.  We could possibly be back in the sanctuary in early August if not before.  But this Sunday will create a new challenge for us as we figure out how to serve communion downstairs.  My worship/music team will have some decisions to make tonight.

Over all…things are going well.  The workers have not gotten hurt; the weather has cooperated; and people have stepped up in a variety of ways to help make sure we continue to be a welcoming presence in the midst of our temporary chaos.  One guy even said he would be willing to help guard the newly poured cement to make sure kids (or immature adults) don’t sign their names or put their hand prints in the cement.  I hadn’t thought of that.

But no matter how well things are going, I am looking forward to moving back upstairs.  My only concern is maintaining the closeness and intimacy we are experiencing by worshipping in a smaller space.  If that gets lost in the move, I will miss that.

-edh-