burning bush

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ (Exodus 3:1-5, NRSV)

remove your sandals for the place you are standing is holy ground…

Have you ever stood on holy ground?

I believe we have all stood on holy ground!

Have you ever been in the presence of God?

Watch how you answer that question… Aren’t we always in the presence of God? If we are baptized believers, we believe that God lives inside of us and we are filled with His spirit. Then we are always with God, and all the ground we are on is holy.

Plus if you have ever been with a brother or sister in Christ you have been in the presence of God and been on holy ground!

So listen for His calling and live in the moments you are in His presence!

promise

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.’ (Genesis 28:10-22, NRSV)

We question what we are going to do?

We question whether God will be with us through the thick and murkiness of our lives, yet here we see the promise of God to Jacob and the promise He makes with each of us…

“for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” Here to Jacob He tells him that He will be with him until what was promised him is done. God will make sure that His word is kept. Over and over again we see that He is good to His word.

We can trust in the word of our creator, it is better than any pinky promise you ever made!

call

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12:1-7, NRSV)

Have you ever felt the need to do something that seemed odd to everyone around you?

Have you ever done something and wondered as you were doing why you were doing this?

Imaging Abram, who was 75 years old, leaving the land he had always lived in to pursue what God was leading him to do. He left everything behind he had known for 75 years to go to  new land and follow God where He was leading.

Yes Abram had a promise that he would be the father of a great nation, but we have great promises, yet how many of us follow the call when it comes?

I remember when I was discerning my call to ordained ministry we had a gathering at the synod office of all of us entering the process at that point in time. We had a table full of items and as a group we had to chose one item for each person. After all the groups had chosen their objects the leader went to the table to see what was left. One thing that I remember was left was  cell phone. Obviously none of us had received the “call” from God!

But we run from the call. Even though most if us aren’t 75 when the phone rings….

We run from the call even though we are promised we will never be alone….

We run from the call even we aren’t called to leave everything behind and go to a completely strange land…

Stop running and answer the call, and live into the life that He has for you!

How majestic is your name!

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8, NRSV)

Have you ever just took a walk in nature to observe the wonders of creation?

Have you ever stopped and looked at the stars at night and marveled at the wonder of the number?

Have you ever watched the waves rolling into the coast from the ocean and wondered about the awesome power of the sea?

The wonder of all of creation shouts how majestic is the creator of everything!

An even with all of the wonders of all of creation, God still cares about you!

He cares about you and wants to be near you!

How truly majestic is the creator of everything!

 

Mutual Encouragement ~ Newsletter ~ January 2014

Mutual encouragement…
I wonder what to type as I stare at a blank screen…
Should I do a biography and tell all about my life, my wife, my children?
Should I talk about all the hopes and dreams I have for the congregation in the coming year? This is the time to set our New Years Resolutions, and try to uphold them over the coming year…
Should I talk about how I have waited for this call to come from God and how ready we are as a family to be at the place God has for us?
You see to me that is the place where we connect. Beyond the fact that God has brought us together, we connect on a waiting. You were waiting for a while for your new pastor, me, to come into your scope of vision. And we as a family were waiting for y’all as a congregation to come into our scope of vision.
And that is what it is about. Us being mutually together in the mission of God in our little piece of the world. We are united in the cross and part of one body. Not that any of us has the better knowledge or more skills, but we are all in this together. That is why I love the beginning of the epistle to the Romans, because Paul says it so well, “so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:12)
You see I am the new called spiritual leader or pastor of St John’s Little Suamico, but we are all a part of the body and I will need your encouragement as I encourage you. We will mutually walk the path God has set before us and get the wonderful honor of doing His ministry with Him.
So let us fix our eyes upon Jesus and look forward to many years of walking together, mutually encouraging one another, and doing His will so that all the world may know of His love, grace, and mercy!

great light

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’ Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’ Then they said to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ (John 8:12-19, NRSV)

Have you ever noticed that when you light a match or a lighter, that the darkness seems to sink away?

darkness seems to be foreboding, and all encompassing, yet the smallest amount of light makes the darkness shrink away!

You have the light of the world dwelling inside of you! You have a great light shining from you to make the darkness run away screaming!

Be a wonderful beacon of hope shining in the darkness of this world, to show people the way to God and the saving relationship we all can have with Jesus!