From the “mouth” of a babe

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

I got to baptize Kelcie yesterday during worship.

But my story starts on Saturday when I met with Kelcie (3 months old), her family and sponsor.  We were sitting in my conference room and I was sharing with them what baptism is about.  I read Romans 6 to them and we discussed what God is doing.  I enjoy these meetings; I enjoy sharing with people what this great gift is all about.  It is a great time to share the truth of the gospel with people (some of which don’t normally come to worship).

During our time together, though, I noticed that Kelcie was staring at me as if she was listening intently to every word I was saying.  She never deviated her eyes.  It was almost wigging me out.   I half expected her to start nodding in agreement (which would have wigged me out even more). It was like she just couldn’t get enough of this Good News about…

being joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus;
this thing about the forgiveness of sins,
and becoming part of the Body of Christ and the church.

Her eyes seemed to be saying “keep going, I want to hear more“.  It was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time.

During the baptism on Sunday she continued her gaze upon me; on what I was saying and doing as if to say “This is really happening.  This is so cool.  Hurry up.”

I poured the watered on her head and she flinched (I guess the water was a little cool), but she didn’t cry.  After the blessing was pronounced, prayers were prayed and gifts given I had the privilege of carrying her up and down the aisle. And as I carried Kelcie, she laid in my arms very content.  Her eyes seemed to say “Thank you!”  But of course the proper response is “Praise be to God!”  Oh well, she’ll learn…after all she is only 3 months old 🙂

My prayer for Kelcie is that she grows to know more about this awesome God of ours; to learn more about those promises given to her on Sunday and to grow realize how to use her baptismal verbs:  Kelcie IS baptized not WAS.

Her baptism and yours is a present reality not just a past event.  Hold on to and praise God for those promises that were given and continue to remain with you.

And Praise GOD always and forever.

edh -|—

Let’s go to Nineveh

/ The Pastor

Jonah 1:1-3
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”  But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Almighty God ~ You are a loving and compassionate God; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Jonah knew this but didn’t really KNOW this.
We know this but in the same way we really don’t KNOW this.

or

Maybe it is that we really don’t want to believe this.  We want you to be compassionate and loving toward us but let’s not get too wild here.  Let’s not get too crazy or go overboard.  After all…there are people out there we would rather not see in community with us.

But your ways are not our ways.
Your plans are not our plans.
Your vision is not our vision.

Grant us faith to go where you call us to go; even if that means going to Nineveh (to those we would rather not see saved).
Grant us faith to trust your will.
Grant us faith to TRULY see your love and compassion for people.

Because if we truly think about it, we are Ninevites.  We incurred your wrath but you sent Jesus (whom we crucified).  But through faith in Jesus ~ responding to his message ~ receiving your forgiveness, you relented from the punishment due to us.  May we serve and praise you for that amazing love and compassion.

We don’t deserve it ~ no one does. But according to your will, lead us as we follow you to Nineveh.

Praising you always and forever!  Amen!

edh -|—

Grant me…

/ The Pastor

Most gracious God,

Grant me the words to say this morning.
Grant me boldness to proclaim your truth.
Grant me faith to receive your grace.
Grant me patience to receive everyone in love.
Grant me a heart to see everyone as you see them.

Help me to be faithful to my calling and help me to be faithful to the Word that is placed before me today.

Now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, my Rock and Redeemer.

Amen!

edh -|—

Preaching forgiveness

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

I am thinking and praying about forgiveness this week.  The text providing the backdrop is one I have always struggled with…

Matthew 18:21-35

This is the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.   It deals with God forgiving us such a large debt and us not being willing to forgive the debts/sins of people in our lives.

In the parable a king’s servant amasses a debt of 10,000 Talents (a debt that the servant could not even hope to repay even though he says he will).  The king threatens to sell him and his family into slavery but after some pleading for time, the king forgives the debt.

Wow!  That is grace!

Immediately after the immensely gracious act, the servant finds a buddy of his who owes him a few dollars.  When the buddy can’t repay, the servant throws him into prison until he can repay the debt.  The king then gets word of this ungracious act; becomes angry; restores the previously forgiven debt and hands the unmerciful servant over to the jailer to be tortured until he can repay (which he won’t be able to).

Jesus then ends this teaching with “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Ouch!

I can understand this response from God.  I mean, after all, who are we to think that people hurt us more than we hurt God.  Who are we to think that our debt to God is insignificant and not important.  True ~ if God forgives such a large debt that we have incurred through sin, then we ought to forgive one another.  But how does one preach such a message ~ without attempting to tip toe around God’s Word in an effort to avoid offending people.

The other interesting tid bit in all of this is that Sunday is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (like you didn’t know that).  I didn’t choose this text but rather it is the one “assigned” in the lectionary.  Does preaching this message of forgiveness sound insensitive on the anniversary of such a tragic event?  What preaching points would you use?

Just throwing some thoughts and questions out there for consideration.

edh -|—

Community

/ The Pastor

Matthew 18:15-20
15 “If your brother sins against you go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

Loving God…you created us to be in community ~ not just with you but with each other here on this earth.  You have created us to be an expression of the community you created between you and creation.  You created us to maintain and pursue community.  You created us to give you glory through community.

But we messed up community.

We sinned ~ and continue to sin.
We hurt our neighbors.
We create and maintain division between people.
We seek to win rather than to heal.
We take the “easy” way out rather than dealing with problems.
We REALLY treat people as “pagans and tax collectors“.

Oh how we have messed up community.

Oh gracious God; loving creator ~ we have acted contrary to your design.
Grant us your vision and heart for one another.
Grant us compassion and love for our neighbors.
Grant us patience and passion.
Grant us desire for what is better ~ community as you design.

Oh gracious and loving God…even though we messed up your creation; your community, you pursued healing and reconciliation through the cross; through Jesus Christ.  Thank you for your compassion.  May we pursue that same reconciliation in all our relationships ~ giving you all the praise and glory.  Through Jesus Christ I pray…AMEN!

edh -|—

Make music to the Lord

/ The Pastor

Psalm 92:1-5
It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
2     to proclaim your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3     to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
4     For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
5     How great are your works, O Lord,
how profound your thoughts!

Today I am heading to LifeLight; a Christian music festival in Worthing, SD (south of Sioux Falls).  It is the largest FREE, outdoor, Christian music festival in the country.  There is 100+ bands and 6 stages.  And did I mention that it is FREE?

Lot’s of great music.
Lot’s of great food.
Lot’s of great worship.

I look forward to this event every year (always Labor Day weekend).  We set up camp in front of the main stage and sit there all day.  Today (Saturday) and Sunday will be spent there (with a trip back to Jackson for Sunday morning worship).   And considering that the fall season is upon us; Wednesday Night Live, Release time and confirmation starting soon, this festival is always a great way to kick off a new program year. It seems to jump start things for me.

So as I was reading my Bible today I came across Psalm  92 which spoke about my excitement of this weekend.   But these verses are not just about the upcoming weekend, but about our lives.

Our God is an awesome God and worthy of praise and worship.

Worship is not a duty.
Worship is not something to cross off your list.
Worship is not something you HAVE to do.

Worship should be your JOY; something you GET to do ~ not something that just happens on Sunday, but part of the other 6 days of your week.

So remember to take some time and make some music unto the Lord.  Or in my case…I will make a joyful noise 🙂

Either way ~ PRAISE BE TO GOD!

-edh -|—

Your will O God

/ The Pastor

Almighty and loving God, I do not know what exactly to pray for.  I want to pray for your will to be done but I also want my will to be done.  It’s silly to say this ~ silly even to think this, but I need to be honest with myself for you already know my heart.

That is why I need to ask you to:
Strengthen my faith
Grant me wisdom
Give me patience

For you have a grand plan in place for me.
You have something special planned for me.
You are preparing me for something great.

I just know it O God ~ I just know it.

So don’t let Satan get a foothold in my life. 
Don’t let him distract me from what is important.
Don’t let him keep me from focusing my gaze on you.  For you are my life.

So here I am ~ praying to you. O God grant me what I need. And may your will be done in my life.

Amen

-edh-

Church “visitor”

/ The Pastor

I was running a little behind yesterday morning.

During the summer I only have a 1/2 hour from when Belmont finishes worship and when Salem begins.  With the two congregations are 8 miles apart I have about a 10 minute drive back to town.

Yesterday, worship at Belmont concluded at 9:05am and managed to get out by 9:10am (I guess I got a little long winded) which didn’t give me much time to get to Salem and transition to another worship service.  I arrived at Salem at 9:20am and made a quick transition in my office.  Upon leaving my office to head to the sanctuary I noticed my wife in the hallway.

Suddenly she screamed…”THERE’S A BIRD IN HERE!”

I looked and sure enough…something was flying in the hallway, but it wasn’t a bird.  That’s right…it was a bat.

“I don’t have time for this” I thought.

I eventually chased the flying creature into a Sunday school room where I shut the door and stuffed towel under the door.  “We’ll deal with it later“.  I just didn’t know it would be so soon.

Right before my scripture reader came up front to read during worship he noticed a shadow move quickly across his papers.  He turned around fearing what he would find and sure enough that bat found it’s way out of it’s so-called prison and tried to join us for worship.  Immediately, the fast-thinking Dan flung the glass sanctuary doors shut and kept the bat out in the narthex.  Some guys, then, proceeded to chase the bat outside.

And I didn’t notice a thing.  Worship never missed a beat. A bat in the sanctuary during worship probably wouldn’t have put an end to worship very quickly.

As a pastor, I can’t help but wonder…
How would I have handled a bat in the sanctuary during worship?
How much commotion would that “rat with wings” have caused?
Would worship been salvageable at all?

I am glad I didn’t have to find out yesterday.  But something tells me that I need to be ready 🙂

-edh-

Deny, carry and follow

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
(Matthew 16:24-26)

Loving, holy and gracious God…Your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to follow.

We are called to deny ourselves ~ (that’s hard).
To dethrone ourselves.
To move ourselves down the priority list.

We are called to pick up and carry our cross ~ (that’s scary).
To make sacrifices.
To suffer.

We are called to follow you (that’s not always fun).
To obey you.
To trust you.

But this call to deny, carry and follow is done out of love.
Help me to see this.

This call to deny, carry and follow is done so others may know you.
Help me to see this.

This call to deny, carry and follow is done for your glory.
Help me to see this.

Jesus Christ is my TRUE Lord and Savior.
Help me to PROCLAIM this.

Amen!

-edh-