Prenatal Confirmation A womb with a view – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Prenatal Confirmation A womb with a view – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.

Can you imagine if all of our confirmation was done this way?  Can you imagine if the seeds of faith were planted each and every night at home?  Can you imagine if our youth came to know the church as a loving welcome place, and not a place where they would be made to sit at desks/tables for hours and be dumped on with material that seems so far from where they are at mentally?  If the family was the center of faith, our youth would learn the stuff about faith from living it, and already know it…

Imagine!

The Greatest Loser the church – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

The Greatest Loser the church – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.

Rich Melheim is a great thinker and model for the church.  He always seems to be on the pulse of what is happening, and trying to help us all think about ways to look at the glass and how full it is, or to break free from the boxes we so often place ourselves in…

Faith is something that is caught, and not taught.  We can not dump information and expect people to pick it up, we need to do what Jesus commands us to do, Love!  If we love our children and the children of our congregations, they will catch the faith.

Rich says, and has said for many years, the most important time is right before bed, and this is the lens through which all of the day is replayed in the child’s mind.  So parents it is really up to you. are we ready to accept the challenge, saying that the way we do it and have done it, is not the best and move forward in a new way that will bring life through faith?

More Couples Divorce After Decades Of Marriage : NPR

More Couples Divorce After Decades Of Marriage : NPR.

I am not sure how I feel about this.  It is all about marriage, and how people are living longer.  The Gores are one couple they speak about, where there was no infidelity, no issues with the marriage and they are just unhappy with the relationship, and the fact that there was no problems, we can not say that the marriage is a failure.

I disagree.  Marriage is not about love, marriage is a commitment to the covenant we make in the vows we say that day.  Love fades and wains.  Love is a fickle thing that changes by our other emotions and the alignment of the stars and the planets, and can not be the basis of marriage.  It is the fact that we are tired of dealing with the commitment we made, so I can get a divorce.

Marriage can not be about the kids, or the love for the other. These of course are factors. And no I am not saying that divorce is wrong in all cases, but just because the spark is not there?  Is that what it is really all about?  Is it really all about how I feel and what makes me feel good?

If God’s grace and love for us was based on his feeling good about us where would we be?

Society is doing what feels good and what makes us feel good, and this is not what we as christians are called to be…

Camp Chrysalis

My family and I are at Camp Chrysalis, in Kerrville, TX for the kick off to.the camp’s 60th anniversary year. We came up last because it is a three hour drive and that would have meant an early morning, but it is amazing how refreshing it is to be at camp…

The girls seem to be in their element, out playing early this morning after eating. Sitting in a rocking chair is more relaxing here… Even with the sounds of passing tractor trailers in the distance, there is a calm here, a peace that does not seem existant in the real world.

Even for the night, this time at camp has been a time away that is refreshing.

So Happy Anniversary Chrysalis! May all campers this summer get the retreat you have given me and my family!

Big City – To Develop Young Tastes, Look Past the Children’s Menu – NYTimes.com

Big City – To Develop Young Tastes, Look Past the Children’s Menu – NYTimes.com.

What does this say about how we are as the church?  Do we want to stick with the things we have always known and dumb it down because we think visitors and some members may not actually get it…

Are we willing to push people to become disciples and learn new things, or simply succumb to the ways society want us to be, and live in our safe little box?

Here are some thoughts on the New York Times article from A Renewal Enterprise, good thoughts…

The home as the basis of faith!

Here is a quote from Rich Melheim’s blog I found very interesting:

“For those of you heaven-bent on changing the dying mainline before it turns into a flatline…

For those of you hoping to reform your church to look less like the last chapter of American Christianity and more like Deuteronomy 6 (when you lie down and when you rise) meets Acts Chapter 2 (they met in homes for the Apostles’ teaching, prayer, care)…

For those of you hoping and praying and working to kill the 240-year-old parentless drop-off spiritual warehouse we call Sunday School before it kills the church…

For those of you wondering and wandering and blundering and pondering what God’s up to next in a culture where Jesus is just one more guy among the gods…”

Rich has worked many years to instill in us the home based church.  Where faith is caught from the way we see our parents acting, and where faith is shared and talked about in the home.  Every night in every home.

WOW!!!!  What a concept.  I have known of Rich for a long time and read his thoughts, and studies and marvel at the simplicity and wonderment of it all.  But where is society at on this?

I believe church is like everything else: that is what we hire the professional for.  We send our kids to school so they can learn everything they need to know.  We send our kids to learn karate or gymnastics from the experts…  There is always someone out there who is better at that than us, and so it is with church. The pastor is the professional who needs to get our kids in the faith…

But if we look at this from a different angle it will change.  It is a proven fact that kids who parents are involved in their school work, and ask about what happened at school and help or at least know what their kids are doing for homework learn more or excel more than other students. Now there are exceptions to this rule, but that is the case, where the parents are involved in the school work, the kids do better.

I have a chart of a survey that asked 7th – 12th graders who the most influential people were on their faith life, and all of them said the most influential person on their faith life was their mother, and the father was always in the top 5.  It struck me as interesting that the family, i.e. mom and dad, were that high all the time, but it shouldn’t.  Kids as much as they say they don’t want you involved, really do want you to know what is happening.  The home is the place that we are suppose to be safe, and where everyone cares about us and loves us.  Are your children getting the faith from you?  Are your children seeing you pray and read the Bible?  Do you spend time with your kids each night in pray?  Do you bless your children before they leave to go to school?

5 minutes each night is all it will take. Rich says the home huddle is the place where faith is based, share your high for the day, your low for the day, read a Bible verse, talk about how they all fit together, and then pray for each other.  Image how our churches would explode with the Holy Spirit if we were united in the faith as families!!!  Image what God can do, and let’s get to work on reclaiming the home as the basis of faith!

The Force…

My devotion for this morning compared the Holy Spirit with the Force from Star Wars. Now many of you know that I am a huge Star Wars fan, however this is a little flawed I think in the fundamental theology…

Let me break this down and give you the pros and the cons.  In actuality there is only one con that I can see, I would love to hear if others find more…  But the one is enough for me to make me uneasy on calling the Holy Spirit the Force.

Now I will admit that the Holy Spirit is a force in our lives.  It is dwelling within us, as Qui-Gon Jinn told young Anakin that we are all inhabited by midiclorians (sp) and this is what allows us to speak to the Force, or is the Force within us.  All of us have the capacity for the Spirt to dwell within us, and some could say and do say that the Spirit does dwell within all of us, some of us just chose not to listen.  Could this be the connection between some of the people’s ability to use the Force, some listen to the Spirit and some do not.

The big issue I have with the Force/Spirit connection is in A New Hope, Obi-One tells Luke that it controls your actions, but it also obeys your commands…  The Spirit does nto do what we want it to, and this is where it breaks down for me…

So there are my quick thoughts on the Force and Holy Spirit from my devotion this morning.  I would love to hear your thoughts…