Worship

God is AWESOME – part 2

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

Allow me to continue with my story (testimony) of God’s awesome faithfulness and love…

As the pastor at Salem Lutheran Church and Belmont Lutheran Church I serve as the primary pastoral care giver (I still encourage others to engage in "pastoral care" for one another though).  I visit with people and am present with them when a loved is dying, seriously ill, or whatever the case.  I am there to provide words of comfort about God’s love and faithfulness in a time of pain and need.  I am accustomed to that and find it a great privilege to be with people during these times.  And when I provide pastoral care I know that it is not me alone but God working through me.  When I am called to the bedside of someone who is dying; I am in prayer – asking for wisdom, compassion, empathy and the words (if needed) to bring comfort to the loved ones (and/or to the one who is dying).  I am accustomed to providing pastoral care.

But on Sunday (Jan. 13) I found my myself on the other side of the coin – the one receiving pastoral care.  As I mentioned before, this is the first time that I, personally, have had to deal with the death (or impending death) of a loved one since becoming a pastor.  I have dealt with the death of loved ones before, but this seems like new territory for me (can any other pastors relate to this feeling?).

Anyway…following worship on Sunday a number of people expressed their sympathies and told me that I and my family would be in their thoughts and prayers.  All of those comments meant the world to me.  It showed me in a very real way the community we have become – we rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who are mourning.  What a great privilege.  Then came "Jane"…

…Jane is a woman who is in her 50s but has the mental capacity of a child.  She attends worship regularly and is as sweet and innocent as a child.  And as a "child" Jane has a hard time understanding and dealing with illnesses and death.  As Jane came through the line, following worship, she shook my hand and said, "I hope your grandma gets better soon".  This took me back a little bit as I responded to her, "Jane, she’s not going to get better."  Of course Jane did not understand this and went on to tell me that she is going to see her "mommy" today.  But it was the person who was in line following Jane that I will remember…

"Mary" was next in line.  After hearing what I said to Jane; Mary said to me, "Pastor, you know that your grandma WILL be better." I knew exactly what she meant.  That comment made my eyes well up with tears as I responded, "You are absolutely right…thank you." 

Once again…God is AWESOME!!!

God gave me exactly what I needed at just the right time through Mary.  Even though I preach the very thing that Mary said to me…I still needed to hear what God said through Mary.  I needed that gentle reminder.  I needed the Gospel proclaimed to me at that moment.  Mary wasn’t correcting me, but rather Mary was providing pastoral care.  To her (and to many others) I say thank you.

I know that as Christian I am never alone…God is always with me.  But I am also glad and thankful I live in such a caring community.  Even though God is always with me, this impending death of my grandma would be difficult alone. 

Thank you God for your awesome love and faithfulness.  Thank you God for giving me (and all your children) exactly what we need.  Thank you God for strengthen me when I need it the most.  Thank you God.  And I thank all of you for your prayers and notes of concern.  I truly appreciate it.  I will keep you updated on how things are going. 

Thanks again and God bless!
-edh-

Holy Communion (Lay Presidency)

/ The Pastor / 30 Comments

I am going to throw something out there that may be a hot button topic for some (at least it is for some here in the SW MN Synod).  I hope that by me writing this I don’t get myself "in trouble" with the synod, but my guess is that they would want a pastor willing to speak their mind.  So I am going to go with that belief. 

The topic I want to throw out there is the issue of lay presidency.  If you don’t know what this is basically it is the celebration of Holy Communion where a lay person (instead of an ordained clergy person) presides.  In SW MN and other rural synods this is an important practice in some areas because of the lack of pastors (in the Minneapolis, St. Paul synods and other urban areas this is NOT an issue because of the plethora of additional pastors waiting for call or retired).  Sometimes small churches have to rely on lay leaders to lead their congregations in worship (and preside at communion).  Because of this problem in rural areas there are programs such as Faith Builders and SAMs (Synodically Authorized Ministers).  To limit lay presidency would be to limit a congregation’s access to the Lord’s Supper.

Recently, lay presidency has come under scrutiny among many bishops and has been a heated topic of discussion at synod assembly.  When I has on internship lay presidency was an issue.  My supervisor wanted me to preside at communion at least once before I left.  So he was able to get the bishop’s approval for one service (and lucky for me because the bishop before him would not have given the authorization).  I don’t get it.  A person can do a lot more damage preaching than they could presiding at communion.  As I heard a colleague quote someone, "Any idiot can read the words of institution" (not that pastor’s are idiots…you get my point).  As people (as pastors, SAMs or the like) we add nothing to the bread and wine.  Our faith (or knowledge) does not make communion any more effective or ineffective.  As our mantra says its "Word alone".  God’s Word does the work…not us.

Now…I do understand maintaining "good order" (that is the reason the Church requires ordained pastors to preside at communion) but if you have a SAM or some other trained person, why can’t they preside in extreme cases?  Rural ministry has a number of challenges that urban areas do not have (or do not understand).  We have small congregations fighting to stay open.  We have faithful, hungry people longing for the Lord’s Supper.  Why do we have to limit the leadership to a select group of people?

I guess the next question would be…then why go to seminary?  Why have a group of people set apart for the ministry of word and sacrament?  Why not just become a Synodically Authorized Minister…that would be cheaper?  The thing is…pastors do serve a purpose.  We are not any more special than anyone else.  Our calling is not any more important than the calling to be a garbage collector.  And lay presidency is not going to minimize the role of pastors.  All that lay presidency will do is allow flexibility in proclaiming this the gospel…something that is free…something that we have no right to "control".

So…where do you stand on this?  Is it okay for a lay person to preside at communion (in extreme situations)?  Should bishops be free to give this authorization?  Am I missing something in my argument?  I would love to hear from you.

I know there are many various different opinions out there and I am not trying to minimize those…I am simply stating my belief and current frustrations.  I honor other beliefs and encourage healthy dialog.  So leave you comments here…I (and others) would love to hear from you.

God bless!

-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-

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-

Celebrating New Life

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

It has been a few days since I have been around here.  When I last showed up I asked for prayers for two people: Lois and Gordon.  I don’t have any updates on Lois but as for Gordon…he died on Monday afternoon (Nov. 19).  Since then I have been busy with the family and doing sermon prep for three sermons (Thanksgiving Eve, Gordon’s Celebration of New Life service and Sunday’s sermon).  Needless to say I have been a little overwhelmed, busy, tired, etc. 

Today (Sat. 11/24) is the Celebration of New Life service (formerly known as a funeral service) for Gordon at 10:30am.  Gordon was a very prominent member of the Jackson community and he will be missed by many.  He was one of the founders of a corporation in Jackson called AGCO.  They manufacture terigators and other implements.  AGCO is one of those companies that keeps Jackson alive.  Besides AGCO, Gordon has been extremely generous in his giving to the church and the community.  About a month ago Jackson lost a prominent citizen and now we are losing another one – two within a couple months.  It is a heavy blow to our community. 

The sanctuary at Salem can hold up to 250 people, but we are set up for 400+.  Our fellowship hall is set up with chairs and a big screen TV (loaned to us by the Coast to Coast store in town) that will carry a live video feed.  It is going to be one awesome celebration this morning, but please remember the family in your prayers all the same.

Next week I am hoping life returns to normal somewhat.  I would be taking a little vacation time next week, but I still have a ton of Advent/Christmas stuff to finish up.  Oh well…I guess vacation will have to wait till later.

God bless you all and I will talk to you later.

-edh-

Bible Sunday

/ The Pastor / 5 Comments

Bible Sunday went great yesterday (Sunday, Sept. 30).

For those who are wondering "Bible Sunday?"; yesterday Salem Lutheran Church presented Bibles to two 3rd graders.  Along with that presentation, pew Bibles were presented, dedicated and used for the first time at Salem.  It was a Sunday I was looking forward to for the last couple years.  I get excited about young people getting a new Bible (and for some their first).  These 3rd graders, for the past few weeks, had been bugging me and asking me when they were getting their Bibles.  One could tell they were excited and this made me even more happy and excited.  When the moment came to give the parents the Bibles to present to their children, my heart was racing.  It was a powerful moment for me (and hopefully for the families and children involved).  And for one family, especially, I knew this was very important.  The dad had a chance to go to the Vikings/Packers game to watch history in the making (Brett Favre breaking the touchdown record), but instead decided that her daughter receiving her Bible was more important.  Way to go dad!

Following the presentation I asked the parents to sit down but I kept my two 3rd graders up front with me.  Now was the time to reverse roles.  Salem Lutheran Church presented Bibles to these two 3rd graders now in turn these 3rd graders unveiled and handed out the new pew Bibles to the congregation.  Some knew what was coming, but others were totally surprised and seemed pleased (judging from their reaction).  As the kids handed out the Bibles I explained how worship would work now with these Bibles but people were more interested in checking them out.  Which was fine.

After the Bibles were handed out I told the congregation to make sure everyone was touching a Bible so we could offer up a prayer and dedicate these Bibles to the glory of God to be used in worship.  After the prayer we continued with the worship service by reading reading of scripture.  Even though we had forgotten to include page numbers in the bulletin most people still used the new Bibles for the scripture reading (we had included the "Celebrate" inserts in the bulletin).

Following the service I got a few comments from people indicating that they thought this was a great idea.  Over all people seemed very pleased with our new Bibles.

My hope and prayer now is that people will get more excited about scripture.  Maybe people, when they come to worship early, will spend time finding the texts for the day and start reading the text around it.  Maybe, just maybe, they will see, hear and experience something they hadn’t before.  Maybe, just maybe, they will go home and get their Bibles out and finishing reading the chapter/book we started in worship.  Maybe, just maybe this will be a spring board for families to engage in family devotions (each week we will be including the daily lectionary readings in the bulletin leading up to next Sunday’s texts).

Over all, Bible Sunday was a good day for me and hopefully for everyone else.  Of course time will tell what the reaction will be but when scripture is involved, how can it be anything but positive.  After all, we are reading the greatest love letter of all time. 

Let’s make every day "Bible Sunday". 
-edh-

Changes are coming — part 2

/ The Pastor / 11 Comments

Well…the congregational meeting I wrote about last time went pretty well.  We had the election of new church council members and there was nothing too out of the ordinary (the transition between the former and new financial secretary is going to be interesting though). 

Another big item at the meeting was a discussion about the new ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship).  I bought 6 copies of the hymnal for people to check out and review.  So far a 1/2 a dozen people have looked at them (we have a ways to go).  We have not made any decisions but I am guessing we will be moving in that direction.  Then after the meeting a parishioner came up to me and said that along with new hymnals we need to have Bibles in the pews (we currently use the ELCA "Celebration" insert with the lessons printed).  I agreed whole heartily and said I was looking for some good ones that had a type that was the same size or bigger than our inserts.

The last big item was how to spend the money from the large gift we received from a parishioner.  The committee came up with a priority list and number 1 was was no surprise (the entrance ramp going into the sanctuary needs a big face lift).  Number 2 on the list was to re-model the church offices.  I currently have a closet for an office with no air conditioning (did I mention I have no air conditioning and the dew point today is suppose to approach 70).  Anyway…I was excited about that.  People seemed to agree with the list.

The one thing that did come up (that caught me off guard – in a good way) was about celebrating Holy Communion more than once a month.  A woman mentioned that she works every other weekend and usually misses out on communion.  She asked if we could do it more often so she could participate.  Of course I am all for that and according to Luther, celebrating Holy Communion EVERYDAY would not be enough.  Unfortunately it will be a tough road for me to move people to a more than once a month Communion habit.  My internship congregation went through this long process just before I arrived there and so far it is going well.  I guess I will have to take things slow and do a lot of education.  Any advice about this?

As Diane commented the other day, it is an exciting time to be the pastor at Salem Lutheran Church.  There are some big challenges ahead for us, but I know that God will guide us.  I pray that I have the wisdom and strength to persevere when things get tough.  With that…I embrace the changes that are coming.
-edh-

Baccalaureate worship thoughts

/ The Pastor

This is my last post dealing with baccalaureate (at least until next year).  But I do want to offer a few final thoughts.  If you want you can check out the sermon I preached on my sermon blog (the link is also on my blog roll).

I was not sure how many people to expect but was pleasantly surprised when more than 75% of the seniors were there.  The total number of people was about 350+.  It was the largest crowd that I have ever preached for.  That realization alone made my heart beat a little faster.  I am not sure why.  I wasn’t nervous.  I think I was mostly excited to deliver a message to these seniors that I felt they needed to hear.

During the service, two of the seniors gave their faith story.  Both of them did a fantastic job.  I began to wonder if I even needed to get up and preach.  As the song before the sermon began, my heart rate started to speed up and I began to wish I had brought my water bottle with me – my mouth was completely dry.  I tried to calm myself down through prayer – trying to convince myself that this was not about me.  My heart rate did slow down but my mouth was still dry.  I was frustrated because I hadn’t felt this way since internship.

I started to preached and found myself fumbling around at first, but as I got into the second and third paragraph I started to clam down even more and things started to flow better (my mouth was still extremely dry).  Afterward a number of people came up to me to thank me for the message.  Even  couple seniors thanked me.  I am so uncomfortable about receiving compliments about sermons I preach because they are not from me.  But I responded graciously and silently gave credit to God (I should have been more vocal about that).

All in all it was a fun experience.  I feel the message that God wanted delivered was delivered.  Will the sermon have any impact on these seniors as they go into the great unknown?  Only God knows and that is whose hands I will leave it. 

Thank you for allowing me to debrief.  Take care and God bless.
-edh-

Baccalaureate

/ The Pastor

Baccalaureate went great last night.  We had a big crowd with around 350 people.  The Senior class here in Jackson is 119.  Most of the class was in attendance.  I am planning on posting a copy of the sermon I preached but I need to leave soon for an out of town meeting.  Be looking at be sermons blog (www.sermonsbyeric.blogspot.com) tomorrow for this sermon.

Have a wonderful and most glorious day.  Take care.
-edh-

Reprise — Now THAT was a sabbath day

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

The Gospel was preached; forgiveness was announced and mothers were celebrated — Now THAT was a sabbath day.  I just hope others look back on Sunday and say the same thing; not because I preached such a great sermon (only God knows whether I did or not) — but because forgiveness through Jesus Christ was announced to everyone.  The reality of the situation is that probably no one remembers or cares (I wish I could be more optimistic) — or maybe the Holy Spirit did do something in someone’s heart.  Either way, I am looking back and saying, "Now THAT was a sabbath day!!!"

Now I am facing an even more daunting task this week.  On Wednesday May 16 the baccalaureate service is being held and I am preaching.  I have never preached at baccalaureate before.  Actually…I haven’t attended baccalaureate since I was a senior in high school (and that was a long, long time ago).  The scripture texts I choose are:  Isaiah 55, Psalm 23, and John 4:7-14.  They all have the theme of Living Water.  I felt drawn to these but now I am pondering and praying about how to preach these to a bunch of high school seniors and families.  I am looking forward to the opportunity and am extremely honored to be asked, but I find myself at a loss right now.  I know that I have a couple days to prepare, but there is this pressure to really do well.  People who have never heard me preach before will be listening me.  I want to impress people.  I want people to say, "Now that pastor at Salem is really on the ball." <pause> What is wrong with me?

Yes…I am being selfish and sinful here.  Preaching is not about me.  Preaching is about the Good News — it is about Jesus Christ.  So for me to worry about this service is crazy and foolish.  I have been preaching for over three years and I should know better.

So I need to get over myself and preach the Good News.  To heck with what people will think of me.  I want people to hear and listen to the Gospel.  Maybe I am taking my first steps this week in preparing for this sermon.  But I would like to hear your thoughts.  Has anyone out there ever preached for baccalaureate?  Any advise for me as I prepare?  Any insights about the given texts for these seniors (I know preaching is contextual, but seniors across our land do have things in common)?  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

So on Wednesday of this week at baccalaureate, the Gospel will be preached and forgiveness will be announced (despite my sinfulness).  And with any luck (actually it won’t be "luck") people on Wednesday will look back on baccalaureate and say, "Now THAT was a day". -edh-