Love

Love

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Matthew 22:37-39
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment is a powerful one for me. I need this to keep me centered and grounded.  It is too easy to think ministry is about what WE do and how successful WE are and how many people WE invite to church and how much WE serve.  It is too easy to become selfish.  I need daily reminders that without love my words and actions are empty.

Let’s pray together:

Loving God,

It is easy for me to say “I love you” but do I?
It is easy for me to say “I love my neighbors” but do I?
It is easy for me to say “Of course I do”…but really?

When I consider my actions.
When I reflect on my words.
When I ponder my motives.
I can’t help but see selfishness behind what I say and do.  And this is hard considering what we hear from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 when he says that without love we are nothing but noise.

I want you to be praised and glorified but there is a part of me that wants to be praised and glorified. 

I want you to receive all the attention but there is a part of me that wants to be center stage.

Loving God…please take away my self-centeredness and fill me with your love. Convict me of wrong motives and show me the most excellent way (Love). Encourage me to share my life with people and not just words.  Strengthen my faith to see you in all things.  And remind me every moment of my life that nails are not what held Jesus to the cross but rather it was love ~ his awesome love for each of us.

Loving God, help me to love you more and my neighbor as myself.

Amen.

edh -|—

We’re free!

/ The Pastor

We finally got a path out of the church parking lot and I got my car dug out.  I was starting to get cabin fever being stuck at the house for a couple days.  The only bummer part of this whole thing is that even though we are free they are still not advising travel to Sioux Falls.  My wife and I were hoping to make it to Sioux Falls today to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family.  Everyone is there except for Connie and I.  We are holding out hope now that we will make it there tomorrow after worship.

So even though this snow storm (which I have named “Winter Storm Eric”…I have always wanted a storm named after me) has changed our plans significantly… I am looking at the bright side of things.  Instead of celebrating Christmas over the course of a couple days, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, we get to have a few little celebrations over the course of a week…taking our time to savor the moments.  And isn’t that what we are supposed to do anyway?

So I have one more day to be kind of stuck and then we are off…to celebrate some more…and remember again and again why we have a season such as this.  God sent love to earth in Jesus Christ…the best Christmas gift of all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-edh-

The Passion of the Christ

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Happy Holy Week!

That almost sounds strange to say, but someone said that to me this morning…so why not?  I know Holy Week is about the last week of Jesus life; about his arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion and death.  But through all of that we get to celebrate his resurrection and the victory Jesus gives us:

Death has been swallowed up in victory!
Where O death is thy victory?
Where O death is thy sting?
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the Law;
but thanks be to God for giving us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

So…Happy Holy Week…

To kick off Holy Week each year, I have been showing the movie, The Passion of the Christ.  Yesterday marks the fourth year in a row we have done this.  Each year we get new people to come and watch; usually only around 8 to 15 people.  Last night we had 9.  This year I sent an email to the churches in town inviting people to come and of the 9 that came last night 5 were from other churches.  One particular couple stands out though.  I can’t remember their names right now, but the wife is legally blind.  I see this woman around town and have talked to her a few times so I think she can still see a little.  But when I walked into the Fellowship Hall last night I was surprised to see her there with her husband.  After the movie got going they realized that there were subtitles and she could not see well enough to read them.  I started feeling bad for her.  Then I heard something that made me smile and gave me goose bumps…her husband started reading the subtitles and read every single line to her throughout the whole 2 hour plus movie.  Every once in a while he had to describe a scene to her and which character was there and/or speaking.  It was a really amazing display of love AND ministry. There are so many things we take for granted.  The reading of the lines was not at all distracting…actually…it added to the movie for me.

After the movie we had a time of discussion and this woman participated.  She enjoyed the movie and thought is was very moving (even though she can’t see as well as you and I).    In addition to watching the events of Jesus life and death unfold, I got to experience the love of a husband telling the Passion Story to his wife.  I will never forget that night because in a way, I got to experience first hand one way the “passion of Jesus” is displayed and showed to people.  It is one thing to say that Jesus loves you and he died for you, but it quite another to display that love in your life.  This husband did that last night (and I am sure every other day in their lives).

I have seen this movie at least a half a dozen times and each time I get something new out of it.  Last night…I experienced something new…and for that I thank God.

I hope and pray you have a blessed Holy Week as we celebrate the victory won for us through Jesus death and resurrection.  God bless!

-edh-

“I want that”

/ The Pastor

I had a neat thing happen to me while serving Communion this past Sunday.  As people come forward I typically serve the bread and one of my deacons serves the wine.  For those who have not been instructed or for those who choose not to receive the bread and wine, I offer a blessing.  In this case it is typically children younger than 5th grade.

On Sunday I was serving communion as usual and offering a word of blessing for the children.  For the blessing I place my hand on the person’s forehead and say, “The Lord guides you as a sheep of his own pasture.”  And while making the sign of the cross on their forehead I say, “You are a beloved child of God“.  On Sunday I gave this blessing to a child but when the adult behind this certain child approached me to receive the bread she said, “I want that” (referring to the blessing).  She wasn’t refusing the bread…she just wanted both.  So I gave her the bread and then gave her the blessing.  She walked away with a big smile on her face.

I will never forget that phrase…”I want that“…it still makes smile 🙂 …and gives me hope.  There are still people that desire to have God’s blessing on their lives.  There are still people that value the words of promise that Jesus offers us.  There are still people that want God’s guidance.  Watching the news I sometimes wonder if allegiances are shifting from a dependence on God to a dependence on government.  I don’t want to politicize a beautiful moment from worship but these are things that are weighing heavy on my heart recently.

Let’s, as a people of God, announce and proclaim a blessing upon all our leaders, hoping they are faithful to God’s call and responsive to God’s guidance. Let’s announce and proclaim a blessing upon ALL people who are searching for meaning.

I look forward to our next communion service.  I look forward to inviting people to receive a blessing and I look forward to seeing how many people respond.  In the mean time…I hold my hand out and say “The Lord guides YOU as a sheep of his own pasture” <making the sign of the cross> “YOU are a beloved child of God, Amen”

-edh-

Coffee shop ponderings — hospitality

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

Many of you know that I spend a lot of time at my favorite coffee place, Coffee Choices.  Part of the reason is because I really like coffee, especially the variety of flavors that Coffee Choices offers (Black Raspberry and Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl are my favorites).  Another part of the reason I spend so much time there is the hospitality that they practice.  When I set up camp at my favorite table by the front window on Thursdays to eat lunch and write my sermon, I never have to get up.  They always make sure my cup is full and that I have everything I need (they treat all the customers that way…not just me).  The hospitality keeps me coming back.

In the Romans text for Sunday, Paul urges the church in Rome to “practice hospitality”.  And this is more than making friends and family feel welcome in your home.  But practicing hospitality is making people feel welcome, valued, special, etc when ever and where ever you are.  If, upon my first visit to Coffee Choices, they were not hospitable, I probably would not have returned again, but because they make me feel like a valued customer I have no problem giving them my business.  And because I have developed relationships with many people down there through hospitality, I have had many fruitful and inspiring conversations.

Imagine the impact we could have on people if we showed that same hospitality to all people at all times and in all places.  What if we made people feel like they are to most valued and special person in the world.  People would stop and take notice and want to be around you.  And the more people are around you, the more opportunities you have to show the sincere love of Christ to them.  But don’t let your hospitality be for selfish reasons, as Paul says in Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere“.  And when love is sincere, people will notice.

The people down at Coffee Choices are not putting on an act to get people to come back again, their hospitality is sincere, and THAT brings me back again and again.  Let YOUR love be sincere for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

-edh-