Prayer

A proud pastor moment

/ The Pastor

I just have to share this with you because…well…just because.

Today is release time day (Wednesday).  Kids in grades 3 – 5 have the option of being released from school to go to the church of their choice for religious instruction.  I have the privilege of teaching 20 energetic, fun kids.

Anyway…

After a brief check in time I took them outside to play and run around for a few minutes before coming back in for the lesson.  After the kids came back in and settled down into their small groups I told them that I wanted to take some time to pray for a lady of the congregation who was at the doctor to find out about an impending surgery.  I told the kids that I told this lady I would be praying for her during her appointment.  So I asked the kids to pray with me.

Now…

Normally during prayer time the kids usually don’t sit still and stay quiet.  I mean, after all, they’re kids.  But as I was praying for this lady…not a peep or a movement.  This was serious and the kids took it that way.

I was so proud of them.

At the end of class I ask who wants to lead the group in prayer and I usually get a bunch of volunteers.  So one of my 5th graders prayed.  She prayed about what they learned in class…and…then she prayed for this lady.  Once again…I was so proud.

I take no credit for this rather I give praise and glory to God for working in the lives of these kids.  My prayer for them is that they take moments to pause during the routine of their lives to pray and that it is OK to pray for people as we feel so moved.  And I hope I continue to do the same thing.

Prayer needs to be the norm and not the exception.
Prayer needs to be commonplace and not weird.
Prayer need to be comfortable and not uncomfortable.

Pray without ceasing; enjoying communion with the God of the universe; knowing that we can lift ANY request to God at ANY time.  God is waiting to hear from you.

Let us pray…

edh -|—

Time with God

/ The Pastor

This morning I started something new here at Salem:
Men’s Morning Prayer
Tuesday mornings from 7 to 8am 

This past Friday God placed it on my heart to do this so I set it up.  I sent an email to my Salem and Belmont list; set up a Facebook group; put information on the Salem web page and made announcements during worship and at the annual meeting on Sunday.  I didn’t know what to expect.  After all this was pretty sudden, but I still felt it was important.

So I showed up at 6:30am this morning, made some coffee, got the juice out and began reading…and waiting.

No one showed up.

Correction…

…God showed up.

So I sat there in the church library and read the Bible, prayed, read some more, prayed some more – and stayed there until 8am.

There was a time when I would have been very frustrated.
There was a time when I would have left after maybe 30 minutes or so.
There was a time when I would have considered dropping this plan.

But this morning I had a great time with God.  I found myself dwelling in 1 John.  I read a section; stopped; meditated; prayed; re-read it and moved on.  It was great.

Do I wish some men had showed up?  Sure.
Did I waste my time this morning?  Absolutely not!

So next Tuesday I will show up again at 6:30am; make some coffee; get out the juice and wait.  And I will continue this each and every week.  If no other men show up then so be it.  At the very least I will have an hour of quiet time with God.  And one just can’t go wrong with that 🙂

edh -|—

That time of the year

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

Annual meeting day.

Some of you have done the annual meeting thing already this year.  For us (Salem Lutheran Church), this is kind of late but because of some scheduling conflicts we had to push this to today.

Oh well…

Today we are gathering to look back on what we did in 2011:
the financial report will be reviewed,
committee and ministry team reports will be reflected on,
and highlights from the past year will be recognized.

We will also do some looking ahead:
the proposed budget will be introduced and voted on,
we will hear updates on church projects,
and we will look at some goals for the year.

All of this is important…and needs to be done.  But there is another important work that must be done.
–It’s something that shouldn’t be on the agenda because it should be second nature.
–It shouldn’t be something we check off so we can move to the next agenda item.
–It should even be part of the agenda that get approved before we start the meeting.

This important task is something I should not even need to say…but I will.

PRAYER

Some of you may be saying “Well duh…we always open meetings in prayer.  What’s Eric talking about?”  Good…I am glad you do.
–But what if…what if…we opened our meetings in prayer, in communion with God, and just sat in silence (however uncomfortable) – enjoying communion with God – and waited.
–What if, instead of worrying about agenda items (what WE want to do) we instead allowed God to direct our time.
–What if we spent more time discussing mission opportunities than arguing over how much we should spend on certain budget items.
–What if we did the work of God.
–What if… [Me drifting off to ponder…]

Let us pray for direction.
Let us pray for wisdom.
Let us pray for patience.
Let us pray for faith to follow.
Let us pray for strength to do the work that God has given us to do.
Let us pray…

[Pause in silent prayer]

Amen!

God bless your day and your annual meetings as you do the work of God.

edh -|—

Claimed

/ The Pastor

Matthew 22:18-22
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

I share with you the following prayer with the invitation for you to use it as your own today. Dip your finger in some water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead as you say, “I have been seal with the Holy Spirit and MARKED with the cross of Christ forever.”

Almighty and merciful God, through my baptism you
sealed me
marked me
claimed me
and spoke to me: “Child of God, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and MARKED with the cross of Christ forever.”

Wow God…that is amazing.

When I consider this “marking” I can’t help but think that you claimed me because I am somehow valuable, otherwise why would you claim me?  After all…
I am sinful
I am unfaithful
I am disobedient
I am definitely not worthy

But despite that you have placed a claim on me through baptism.  You have said that I belong to you.  You have comforted me with the gift of life.  You have saved me from this world.  What belongs to Caesar is that which belongs to the world.  What belongs to you is that which you have marked and claimed…  

ME

Thank you, God.  May water be that everlasting reminder of you your:
Love
Faithfulness
Sacrifice
through Jesus Christ my Lord.

Thank you, God that I belong to you.  May your name always be praised.

Amen!

May God bless your day 🙂

edh -|—

Let’s eat

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

May God bless you this morning as you worship and enjoy some Sabbath rest. Take some time and read Matthew 22:1-14 about the Wedding Banquet God has prepared for us through Jesus Christ.  See and hear a gracious God calling YOU to “eat”.  Let’s pray together:

Loving God,

Life is busy.
Life is hectic.
Life is stressful.
But you have provided a feast for me to look forward to.

Life is challenging.
Life is demanding.
Life is draining.
But you have provided a party for me to look forward to.

I am sinful.
I am undeserving.
I am unfaithful.
But you invite me anyway.

O gracious God, you have prepared a wedding feast for me and invited me to come.  You have made all the preparations and have sent out the invitations through your Son Jesus Christ.  My prayer this morning is that my heart may be ready when the summons comes.  We don’t know when Jesus will return ~ we just know that you are faithful, gracious, loving and forgiving.

Lord God Almighty, I so look forward to dining with you at Your table.  Thank you for giving me hope beyond this busy, hectic, stressful, challenging, demanding and draining life despite my sinful-undeserving-unfaithfulness.

Hear my prayer and accept my confession.  I want to eat with you.

Through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

edh -|—

God’s vineyard

/ The Pastor

A Sunday morning prayer based on today’s Gospel text from Matthew 21:33-46 (The Parable of the Tenants):

Most gracious and loving God,

You have placed us in YOUR vineyard:
Not an actual vineyard (that would be silly).
Not a metaphor for our church building.
Not a description of our family.
Not a description of an actual place.

But rather…

You, O God, have placed us in YOUR vineyard by virtue of your saving grace through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have been given knowledge of your love.
We have been offered forgiveness.
We have seen you active in our lives
We have heard your Word of truth.
We have been given life through Jesus.
We have been blessed with faith.

…and that is the fruit of YOUR vineyard.

But too often we claim that fruit as our own.
Too often we hoard it as a limited resource.
Too often we protect it as a fragile vase.
Too often we lock it up as a priceless treasure.

But the fruit of YOUR vineyard is not ours.  We have been blessed with it so we may know you AND so others may know you.  As you blessed Abraham to be a blessings to others, you have blessed us.   May we be faithful caretakers of YOUR vineyard; ready to share with ALL people.  May we keep the gates of YOUR vineyard open that ALL may know your love.  And when your Son, Jesus Christ, returns may we be found faithful.

O gracious God, we praise you for your love endures forever.  Amen.

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 -|—

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 -|—

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-