Worship

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-

A Prayer of Martin Luther

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

"Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled.  My Lord,fill it.  I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.  I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.  I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and I am unable to trust you altogether.  O Lord, help me.  Strengthen my faith and trust in you.  In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have.  I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.  I am a sinner; you are upright.  With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.  Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen" (ELW – pg. 87)

I stumbled across this prayer as I was paging through a copy of the ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship).  We are in the process of exploring this new worship resource.  I am not sure why I was paging through the prayers at 7:30 on this Sunday morning, but I was.  As my eyes glossed over the various prayers, my eyes stopped at this prayer.  My eyes did not stop because I saw it was by Martin Luther (maybe that caught my attention) but what held me was the opening sentence –"Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled." 

I am always amazed at the humility of Luther.  He never thought himself worthy of the calling to preach, teach or lead worship.  And as he says in his sacristy prayer – one I use every time I prepare to preach, teach or lead worship – "if it were left up to me, I would surely bring it all to ruin."  And even more than that, Luther never felt himself worthy to call himself a Christian.  I can definitely relate to that – not his humility, but not feeling worthy to be called a Christian.  I sometimes feel weak in faith and cold in love.  I need God to strengthen me and warm me with his love.  I need God to speak to me.

Then this morning a 3 year old showed me love that energized me for worship.  As I was greeting people before worship, a 3 year old from my congregation came running out of the sanctuary to show me her Scooby Doo fruit snacks.  I bent over to speak to her face to face and showed her my genuine excitement because I love Scooby Doo fruit snacks — something I told her.  She immediately ran back into the sanctuary.  A couple minutes late she came running back out and handed me a pack of fruit snacks.  I looked up and her mom smiled at me in approval.  My heart was filled with love by a tiny act of love by a 3 year old little girl who hides behind mom’s leg when I come to greet her.  Who knew a 3 year old and Scooby Doo could prepare me for worship.

"Thank you God for warming my heart with love, for filling this ’empty vessel’ and for strengthening my faith through a simple act by a 3 year old"

When we need it, God provides.  I am indeed not worthy to be a pastor in his church, but God empowers me to lead his people through the Holy Spirit.  Thank you, God and Amen. -edh-

Out of prison

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

Yup…they actually let me out of prison yesterday 🙂

You might be wondering, though, why I went to prison in the first place.  I didn’t get in trouble, but rather I went to prison to worship.  Last night I took six people to Prisoners of Hope Lutheran Church at the Prairie Correctional Facility — a privately owned prison outside of Appleton, MN (near my hometown of Dawson).  Prisoners of Hope is an ELCA congregation within the walls of the prison with a full time pastor.  During their first year of existence they received 100% funding from the ELCA.  Year two the funding went down to 75% and so forth.  Next year they will receive nothing from the ELCA.  The idea is to have congregations in SW MN support the mission of the congregation.  The congregations I serve are going to help sponsor Prisoners of Hope.

That’s a little background for you, now to the worship last night.  After we checked in at 6:30pm we were escorted into the visiting room that was set up for worship.  We were immediately greeted by some prisoners who were the greeters for the evening.  They were extremely friendly and appreciative of our visit.  As we worked our way in, more and more of the inmates came to shake our hands and greet us.  As this was happening I felt more and more convicted myself.  I had a picture in my head of these guys being rough and tough and maybe not as approachable as you and I — I was wrong.  These guys were kind and welcoming and full of love for our Lord Jesus Christ.  If it wasn’t for the fact that they were all wearing the same outfit, it almost would have felt like any other congregation (except not all congregations are as friendly and welcoming as Prisoners of Hope).

Worship began around 7pm and the room was full.  There must have been 80+ inmates there in addition to the other visitors that were in attendance.  During the announcements Pastor Roger mentioned that we were a group from Jackson, MN and that we traveled nearly 3 hours to be there.  The inmates turned toward us and gave us a huge applause and thank you — I felt very humbled.

Later we got to the part where we "shared the peace" with one another.  In a lot of congregations that I have been in, this lasts maybe 4 to 5 people.  After that many handshakes people are ready to sit down and get on with the worship service — not these guys.  The "sharing of the peace" went on and on and on.  I must have shaken a few dozen hands.  People did not want to quit — and you know something, it was kind of refreshing.

After worship, we had some more fellowship time.  I spoke with a number of the inmates (once again, very kind and friendly).  We were thanked again and then our evening of worship and fellowship was over.  All seven of us had a great time and want to return again to visit and worship.  Unfortunately prison rules limits our visits to Prisoners of Hope to once a year.  But next year we will be there.  If you want some more information follow this link:  Prisoners of Hope

A couple thoughts that are running around in my head from last night:

(1) Don’t judge people.  Preconceived notions of others keep people from having community.

(2) Prisoners of Hope may not have a "traditional" worship building and space, but that does not matter.  The church is the people.

(3) We all make mistakes in our lives — we are all sinners — but God loves each and everyone of us the same.

Last night will not be a night I will soon forget.  If you have a prison ministry close to where you are I encourage you to visit them and offer your support.  We are all children of God and we all deserve to hear the Good News.  Thanks be to God.  -edh-

Going to prison

/ The Pastor

That’s right — I am going to prison today.  But I won’t be kicking and screaming as I get closer.  I won’t be filing any appeals.  I am going to prison today and I am looking forward to it.

Check back tomorrow for the complete story…

-edh-