Christmas

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-

I Love to Tell the Story

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story, because I know it’s true;
it satisfies my longings as nothing else would do.
I love to tell the story; ’twill be my theme in glory
to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.
(ELW #661)

…that is Lyle’s song…and it speaks of his life.

I wrote about Lyle last week.  At that time he was living his last days.  On Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7:30pm, Lyle took his last breath and I had the honor of being there with various members of his family.  I have been at the bedside of other people as they died but this one was different.  As I said last week, Lyle was like a grandpa to Connie and I so to watch him die was not easy.  Lyle was also a great proclaimer of the faith.  He did this through his words but probably more loudly through how he lived.  The quote from St. Francis of Assisi was indeed true for Lyle:  “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.“

But I want to share one thing that happened that night; something I will never forget.  At around 7:3opm we knew that the time was close.  One of the kids turned off the light above Lyle’s bed and for the first time in a couple days, Lyle opened his eyes.  That was a powerful moment.  It was like he was taking one more look at us before he went to see Jesus and Gladys (his wife who died in Feb.) again.  A couple minutes later he breathed his last.  Of course their were tears, but it was different.  They were tears who came from people who had hope.  Then one of his daughters summed up what we were feeling…she said, “I feel so at peace.“

WHAM!

That was exactly it.  That is the peace that Jesus came to bring; a peace that surpasses all understanding.  It is a peace that we feel when a loved one dies (at least for those whose faith is in Jesus).  It is a peace that tells us not to be afraid.  It is a peace that allows us to say, “See you later.”  The peace that came with the Christ child at Christmas is the very same peace that filled Lyle’s hospital room on Dec. 11.

I am sad that Lyle is gone and I will miss him greatly, but I feel at peace.  Lyle is no longer suffering and Lyle is not gone forever.  He’s gone (physically) from this life, but not from our hearts and minds.  Lyle is not gone forever, but through Christ we will all be reunited again.

May the peace of God that surpasses all understand guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.  And was we live in this peace, let’s join together in praising God always and forever.

“See you later, Lyle.“

-edh-

Christmas list

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Once again I am late in getting my Christmas lists off to the various members of my family.  For the most part Connie has it almost done on the computer but we just haven’t finished looking it over one last time.  As is the case every year, I feel little guilty sending it off.  And now with our economy officially in a recession I feel even more guilty.  Maybe people should just save their money or put it to more worthy causes.  Frankly…I would be happy if people bought a flock of chickens through Heifer International in my name.  At least that way someone else would benefit as I continue to be blessed here.  And I am indeed blessed…what more could I possibly want.  I have a loving wife…a great family…awesome friends…I live in a wonderful community serving a caring congregation…and I could go on.  God has blessed Connie and me and for that I am thankful.

But there is still that side of me that wants a couple DVD movies and some more music CDs. I would like some new shirts/sweaters and other things that only my wife and mom seem to now that I need (I don’t know how they do it every year…I guess they pay attention).

So Connie and I will email our list off to our family tonight (did you catch that mom…it’s coming tonight).  We will make suggestions on what we would like, but in the end Christmas is about spending time with family and friends; counting the blessings that we have already received and continue to receive from God through Jesus Christ. We will continue to buy presents for our family and friends and look forward to their expressions as they open their gifts.  But one thing I do ask and pray…and that is that we do not lose focus.  Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and thanking God for the life that came with him.

May God continue to richly bless you in every way as you live in the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

-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-