ELW

Giving

/ The Pastor

Today I am preaching on Mark 12:41-44 ~ “The Widow’s Offering”.

It is a story that always hits close to home as it challenges me how I give back to God.  It is so easy to focus on budgets and worry about income and bills; so  much so, that we often times cut back on our giving in order to get by.  But what if we actually believed that everything we have belongs to God (which it does).  How would that direct our giving?

Hmmm…

You see…giving is a matter of faith.  Do you actually believe that God will provide for you?  If you don’t then you don’t have much motivation to give.  If you DO believe God provides for your needs then faith tells us that in order for God to provide for others God needs us to provide for them.  God blesses us so we may bless others.

What a novel idea 🙂

When you place your gift in the offering plate you are:
~ Praising God for is abundance
~ Thanking God for His blessings in your life
~ Blessing others
~ Showing trust
~ Worshiping God

The offering is not just part of the worship service, it IS an act of worship.  May you know God’s blessings so you may bless others with the love of God.

We give thee but thine own, whatever the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee.

May we thy bounties thus as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us, to thee our first-fruits give.

The captive to release, to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace — it is a Christ-like thing.

And we believe thy word, though dim our faith may be:
whatever we do for thine, O Lord, we do it unto thee.
[Evangelical Lutheran Worship book #686]

Praise be to God!

edh -|—

666

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

There’s that number ~ 666.

In this particular context, though, it represents how many posts I have published on this blog.  For many people it is the number of the beast from Revelation 13:18.  Maybe this number makes you a little nervous when you see it or maybe you just make a passing observation when it shows up and then brush it away.

Me…

…I don’t get nervous or put a lot of stock in that number but I thought I would still post something in “retaliation”, so to speak, since this is post #666.  So in “retaliation” I decided to go to the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) book; to hymn #666 which is “What Wondrous Love Is This” 🙂  Just soak in these lyrics for a moment:

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What
wondrous love is this, O my soul! What wondrous love is this
that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my
soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when
I was sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down
beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my
soul, for my soul, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing; to
God and to the Lamb I will sing; to God and to the Lamb,
who is the great I Am, while millions join the theme I will
sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on; and
when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on; and when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing God’s love for me, and through eternity I’ll sing
on, I’ll sing on; and through eternity I’ll sing on. 

Isn’t that beautiful?

I just love it because in the end it is all about the wondrous love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  The number 666 is just a number.  “The Beast” has been defeated.

GOD is the one who should be feared (because of His awesome holiness).
GOD is the one who should be praised and glorified.
GOD is the one who reigns on high.

So because of that…let’s sing on…and praise the LORD 🙂

edh -|—

The “bronze snake”

/ The Pastor

Amazing and merciful God,

Our “bronze snake” has been lifted up.
Our Savior has won the day.
Our Lord reigns on high.

And through this “lifting up” we find forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.  When we grow impatient,
When we become disobedient,
When we long for that which does not save,
you still show amazing love, grace and faithfulness.  As those Hebrews bitten by those snakes in the desert, we too deserve punishment and wrath.   But as you showed mercy to them you show mercy to us as we confess our sins.

May we look to our “bronze snake” and live.
May we look to our “bronze snake” and see victory.
May we look to our “bronze snake” and give you all praise and worship.

Amazing and merciful God…we give you thanks. 

Amen

“Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim till all the world adore his sacred name.”
“Come, Christians, follow where our captain trod, our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God.”
[ELW 660 “Lift High the Cross”, chorus and vs.1]

edh -|—

Exploring confirmation

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Hey all…I am doing some rethinking of confirmation and would welcome your thoughts and feedback.  Last month I started a series of articles for our church newsletter to help people think about what confirmation is; why we do it, etc.  A number of questions have been running around in my head.  And this is a good time since I won’t have a confirmand for a couple years.

Below is the article that I wrote and turned in today that will be coming out in the August newsletter.

What is confirmation and why do we do it?
Those were the two questions I challenged you to consider last month.  How many of you did your “homework”?  Now let’s be honest…did you really consider those questions or did you just blow them off as something that isn’t all that important or figured Pastor Eric would write about it so why bother think about them?  I hope you did think about them because I would venture to say that a good number of you have either confirmation students, kids that will be in confirmation, grandchildren in confirmation or know of someone in confirmation.  And I am not even mentioning the fact that most of you have gone through confirmation yourselves.  So let’s start with that category ~ those who have gone through confirmation.

Those of you who have gone through confirmation answer this question:  Why confirmation?  My guess is that your answer will be “because mom and dad said so”.  And I would also venture a guess that is the reason for many students today.  Don’t get me wrong…I have had students who actually wanted to be in confirmation and enjoyed it.  But the fact that many attend because of mom and dad is not all that bad.  It actually shows mom and dad are following through with promises they made when their children were baptized.

You see…when children are baptized they generally have no clue what is going on; they generally have no memory of the event (I am assuming infant baptism here of course).  So during the service the parents and sponsors confess the faith for their child and then promise to raise them in the faith.  They promise to place in their hands the Holy Scriptures, bring them to the services of God’s house, teach them the creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the 10 Commandment, to bring them to Sunday school…and confirmation.  Basically…parents promise to ensure that their children learn about God, so much so, that they can someday make their own confession of faith.  Confirmation helps students down this road.  So it is not bad that kids are in confirmation because mom and dad say so.

I have described briefly the “What” and “Why” of confirmation but there is still another issue that needs to be addressed.  As I mentioned, parents are responsible to teach their children the faith.  This happens so that their children “…may learn to trust God, proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.” (Service of Holy Baptism, ELW pg. 228)  No where in that description does it say that they need to make sure their children make a confession of faith but yet I fear that we, as a church, are doing that very thing.  Students are brought to a confirmation service at a particular time of the year at a certain point in their lives.  They are brought to the service and expected to make a confession of faith ~ ready or not.  Students are to stand up front as the pastor asks them questions.  They are told to respond “Yes, by the help of God”.  But what if their answer is “No”?  What if they say that they do not believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit? What if we are forcing students to confess a faith they don’t believe in?  What if they need more time?  What if?

I can’t help but to wonder if we have turned confirmation into a rite of passage in the church rather than a celebration of faith.  As a church and as parents we are doing the very thing we need to do but are we taking it too far?  Are we driving kids away from the church by forcing them into a service and confession of faith that cheapens the Gospel?  Are we making ourselves out as hypocrites by turning the Good News of the Gospel into something that is “forced”?  So with that I am lead to a couple more questions; questions I would like you to consider for next month:  (1) When should it (confirmation) happen and (2) Who should it (really) involve?  Don’t cheat this time…actually do your homework and answer these questions.  Let me know what you think ~ I really want to hear from you.

Next month I will dive into confirmation a little more deeply and challenge you.  Stay tuned and let’s talk…

-edh-