Worship

A different creed

/ The Pastor

At our morning worship service on Tuesday, during my synod’s Fall Theological Conference, we used the following creed in worship.  It is called The Maasai Creed.  It was composed by the Maasai people of East Africa along with missionaries from the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, in 1960.

It is very different from what we are used to, but in some ways similar.  It doesn’t confess everything the Apostles’ Creed confesses (e.g. no virgin birth) , but it gets the gist of it.   Theologically it may be a little rough, but rough is not necessarily bad.  I might have used some different words in spots, but hey…let’s consider the source and context.

So whatever it is worth I share this with you and curious to read what you think of it.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptised in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. 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-

A poor sinner

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

I had issues this morning.

I have been a pastor now for just over 7 years.  I have presided over communion for just over 7 years.  I have known the Words of Institution for just over 7 years (even longer than that because I knew well before seminary).  But today it was like I have never said those words before.

I was standing up front at Belmont this morning leading worship.  I had just received the offering and the congregation was standing.  I turned around holding the chalice and began the Words of Institution.  The problem is that we start with the bread and then go to the wine (at least that is what I normally do).  I found myself lost as I realized that I had the wrong element…so I had to wing it…trying to make it look as if I meant to start with the wine.

I failed.

I stuttered and stumbled through the Words of Institution like I didn’t know what I was doing.  I was totally frazzled and my rhythm was totally gone.  I even saw someone out there smile at his wife as he knew I was struggling.  I think part of the problem was that I have become so accustomed to the Words of Institution that I found myself relying of the words themselves and not on the proclamation.

That is going to have to change.

My hope and prayer is that people still heard words of promise regardless of my failure.  My guess is that they did hear words of promise ~ thanks to the Holy Spirit.  I trust that God still used me in some way ~ for you see ~ when I preach and lead worship it is not about what I do but it is about the Holy Spirit working through me.  One reason why I am certain of this is because if it were about me; if it were about my speaking ability; if it were about my so-call talents;  I would have been fired long ago.  But as it is God can use a poor sinner like me to proclaim the Good News.

Praise be to God!

The other explanation of what happened this morning could be that I need a vacation ~ something that will be happening very soon 🙂

-edh-

By the grace of God

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

I have been a pastor for just over 6 1/2 years now (hard to believe sometimes).  During that span I have never woken up on a Sunday morning feeling sick (knock on wood).  I have woken up tired after getting to bed late the night before or just not sleeping well, but I have never been sick on a Sunday morning…until yesterday.

When I went to bed on Saturday night my stomach wasn’t feeling that great but I figured I would sleep it off.  As the night wore on I wasn’t getting better.  I wasn’t feeling nauseated but I was still in the bathroom a few times (I won’t elaborate on that).  After a very long night my alarm went off at 5:30am.  I was shot.  I had absolutely no energy.  I laid in bed and prayed, “God…I have no energy.  There is no way that I will get through this morning on my own power.  I feel like crap.  Please grant me the energy I need to lead these two worship services this morning.  I need you.”

After some arguing with myself I finally rolled out of bed.  My programmable coffee maker was doing its job so I made a bee line for the kitchen for a cup of coffee.  I couldn’t drink it…believe it or not the coffee just didn’t taste good.  You know something is wrong with me when I can’t drink coffee.  I got ready and headed over to the church.  I got into the pulpit and ran through my sermon.  I could feel the lack of energy in the sermon and I prayed again that God would give me the energy that I needed so that God’s Word would be preached despite Satan’s best efforts to keep me from doing so.

At about 7:30am I went back to the house and laid down on the couch (I need to leave for Belmont Lutheran Church by 8am).  I tried not to fall asleep because I knew I might not wake up until it was too late.  I laid there in a fog and prayed some more.  I finally got up at 7:50am.  My stomach was feeling a little better and I had a little more energy (but still not 100%).  My wife was concerned about me driving the 8 miles out to Belmont but I assured her I would be fine.

Worship at Belmont began at 8:30am and I was feeling good.  Not once during the worship service did I think about not feeling well.  My energy seemed to return and I preached the sermon with my normal energy and passion (at least that is what it felt like to me).  Worship at Salem was at 10:15 and I was still going strong.  Salem’s annual meeting followed worship and then our famous potluck.  I got home after 12noon and was out like a light by 12:30pm for a 2 hour nap.

So my streak continues…by the grace of God.  There is no way I could have survived Sunday without God by my side.  I know that if I were sick enough that I couldn’t go, someone would have stepped up and worship would have still happened.  But on Sunday God wanted me there and so it happened ~ by the grace of God.

-edh-

Where 20 or 30 are gathered

/ The Pastor

I just received a copy of this book.  Last summer I attended a summer collegium at Virginia Theological Seminary on leadership in small congregations.  I saw this book on the website and thought it looked interesting.

The country congregation I serve (Belmont Lutheran Church) has a membership of 58 with about 15 to 20 in worship per Sunday.  There are certain things we can not do out there because of our size but there are certain things we can do because of our size.   For starters…worship is more intimate.  When I am preaching it feels like I am leading a small group. If someone is not able to be at worship to perform an assigned task, someone else quickly fills in.  It’s like a family that compensates for any void that happens to exist.  Coffee fellowship after worship feels like a family meal.  When there is a funeral everyone shows up to help minister to the grieving family.

The continuing challenge is to encourage Belmont that they have an important mission in the Body of Christ.  The other challenge is keeping worship fresh and engaging.  These past couple years I have seen plenty of evidence that Belmont also wants to keep things fresh; not wanting to get stuck in a rut.  As a pastor that is very encouraging.

I am looking forward to reading what these authors have to say about worship in small congregations.

-edh-

Strange sermon prep situation

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

I am experiencing a strange sermon prep situation…

I have been a pastor now for about 5 1/2 years.  Over that time I have written many sermons (not including the ones I wrote during my year of internship) for Sunday worship, funerals, weddings, holidays, Lent, etc.  I guess one could say that I feel somewhat comfortable writing a sermon (even though I have my moments when I get stressed out).

But this week I am experiencing a first.

Today is Thursday and I have three sermons to write, but the strange thing is that I am writing 2 funerals sermons at the same time.  I have a funeral tomorrow (Friday) and one on Saturday…both out at Belmont.  I was working on these yesterday a little bit and found myself confusing the two; getting the two families mixed up.  I found myself working on funeral sermon #1 and then suddenly I would think of something for funeral sermon #2 and vice versa.  And all of this is in the context of trying to prepare a sermon for Sunday.  It should not be a big deal since the basic message of the sermon is the same, but when you are speaking and ministering to a particular group of people in a particular place in a particular context…it is definitely a big deal.  I know what I want to say for each sermon…I just need to pull the messages out of my head…untangle them and put them on paper.  Easier said than done.  God help me.

I just need to focus on one thing at a time.  I need to get to my office and get the funeral bulletins ready and then write my Sunday sermon (since Thursday morning is my normal Sunday sermon prep time).  After lunch I will work on funeral sermon #1 and only that one and then work on funeral sermon #2.  Hopefully I can keep everything straight.  It should be an interesting day.  And I pray nothing else happens to mess up my schedule (can you hear me chuckling).

In any case…say a prayer for me that I can stay focused and that the Good News is proclaimed.  I don’t want Satan to use this craziness to distract me from want needs to be done.

Have a great day and God bless!

-edh-

P.S.  Oh ya…and I have to try to focus on all of this while a winter snow storm is going on.  Oh well…it can never be too easy…can it 🙂

“And a child shall lead them”

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Thank you for the prayers on Sunday.  I was concerned that I would be distracted with vacation coming up and leading two completely different worship services and preaching two completely different sermons on the same morning.  But no distractions and everything went great…Praise be to God.

But here is a highlight for me from worship at Salem on Sunday.  We were praying the Lord’s Prayer when above all the other voices in the sanctuary came a voice of one my kindergarten kids;  she was praying the Lord’s Prayer as well…and with gusto…from way in the back of the sanctuary.  It put a smile on my face hearing that little voice praying and leading us….I mean how can it not.

After worship I made a comment to Olivia on how great a job she did, but her mom seemed a little embarrassed that I could hear her.  I said by no means be embarrassed…I enjoyed it immensely.  Thank you!

“…and a child shall lead them”…it’s amazing how this piece of scripture from Isaiah 11 can be so true in so many ways and in so many places.  In this particular case, Olivia lead us in the Lord’s Prayer.

Praise be to God!

-edh-

Help…prayers needed

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

I normally go on vacation right after Christmas Day worship…but not this year.  This year my wife and I thought it was a wiser decision to stay through Sunday, Dec. 27 so I wouldn’t be doing sermon prep for Jan. 3 while on vacation. Makes sense but it does throw me off a little bit…hence the needed prayers.

Since our Christmas storm (a.k.a Winter Storm Eric) kept us home for a couple days my brain switched into vacation mode.  Now it is Sunday and I am trying to switch back into non-vacation mode and get ready for worship.  I have two worship services this morning; Christmas worship at Belmont and First Sunday of Christmas worship at Salem; which means two different services and two different sermons.  On a normal Sunday this would be challenging, but today…well…I need some prayers:
–Prayers that I stay focused and not look ahead to vacation starting this afternoon.  The people here deserve my best and complete attention and not just part of me.  I don’t want Satan to use this to distract me.

–I need prayers for energy.  Many pastors know that tons of energy is expended on Sunday and therefore many pastors I know (me included) take naps on Sunday afternoon.  This morning I will need some extra energy (more than my pot of coffee can give me).

So thank you, in advance, for your prayers.  I know I joke about needing my coffee in the morning to keep me going but I do know that my (and our) true source of energy and strength comes from God alone.  So I pray that YOU have a very blessed day and that you may continue to know and experience the love of God in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Take care and God bless!

-edh-

P.S.  If Winter Storm Eric wasn’t enough this past week…we got another inch plus last night.  What a mess for a Sunday morning.

Christmas Storm

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Wow…it is Christmas afternoon and it is still snowing.  We did have Christmas Eve worship last night at Salem Lutheran Church.  Attendance was down a bit (not surprising) but I was still pleasantly surprised with the turnout.  Christmas Day worship at Belmont was postponed until Sunday.  Hopefully they can dig out in time to have worship then.

So now my wife and I are enjoying the storm.  This morning Connie was shoveling and I was going to go to the fitness center.  I walked outside and looked into the church parking lot (also my driveway) and noticed that the plows have completely blocked the two entrances…we are going nowhere.  Not even our Jeeps will make it through the snow.  Our snow removal guy should be here tomorrow to clear the lot…so in the time being we are snowed in.  Luckily we have plenty of goodies left over from our Christmas open house.

We did get to talk and see Connie’s family this morning via Skype (got to love technology).  Our 4-year-old nephew was having a great time talking with us and seeing us on their computer.  It was really cute.  Hopefully we will get to Sioux Falls on Saturday or whenever South Dakota reopens.

In any case, I hope you all had and are having a very merry and blessed Christmas.  Jesus was born to us and that is an awesome reason to celebrate.  Take care and God bless.

-edh-

It WILL happen

/ The Pastor / 7 Comments

This has been a very unusual week for me.

It has not been unusual because it is Christmas but because my thoughts have also included the “storm of the quarter century” (according to the NWS).  The weather experts are talking about 12 to 18 inches of snow for us with 20 inches plus not out of the question.  But to make matters worse we are getting freezing drizzle right now with a possible 1/4 inch of ice before the snow hits.  And then…as to rub salt in the wound…the wind picks up later in the week.  This will be a Christmas to remember in more ways than one.

Now I am left to contemplate how to do Christmas.  My family has already moved our Christmas celebration to New Year’s Eve and I am not sure yet about my wife’s side.  Christmas Eve worship at Salem will be on (since we are in town and I live next door) but Christmas Day out at Belmont might not happen (we might move it to Saturday or Sunday).  I normally get really excited about storms like this; waiting anxiously for it to arrive, but this one is going to be a little annoying.  I feel conflicted…worried…concerned a little…but…

It WILL happen!!!

What WILL happen?  The birth of Jesus will be celebrated…and no winter storm can stop that.

I am sure that Mary and Joseph didn’t plan to celebrate the birth of their son in a barn.
I am sure that the shepherds didn’t plan to leave their flocks to search for a baby that night.
I am sure the magi didn’t plan on making a long, long journey; following a star to find a baby.

But in the end…I bet all these people would say that they had the best day of their lives…celebrating the birth of Jesus in their own way.  Plans were made and plans were changed but worship still happened.

I am not sure what will happen here, but worship will happen, whether I am sitting in the sanctuary of Salem or Belmont Lutheran Church or whether I am sitting in the sanctuary of my own home…worship WILL happen; the birth of Jesus WILL be celebrated.

If you are in the path of this storm: (1) Be careful and be safe and (2) Don’t let the weather dampen your worship and celebration of Jesus birth…no matter if your plans have been changed or not.  Christmas is about God’s love for you and for me and as we hear from the Apostle Paul there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord…not even the “storm of the quarter century“.

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!

God bless!

-edh-