Great Article about the upcoming celebration of Luther nailing the 95 Thesis to the door of Wittenberg. MAybe we can all learn something and understand our faith and relationship with Christ and each other a little more clearly…
Words words words
Isn’t it funny? The way we use words, and the things we say, and the way that they are heard, or said to others?
Actually no it is not funny, it is scary the way things are said that people said and the way people hear what is said. I am as guilty of it, hearing someone say something and hearing the exact opposite of what they ment, but that is what I heard, so that is what they said. I wonder if there is a way for us to get over this notion and way that we exist, or is it such a part of us, that we can not get beyond it.
Words are ment to help us communicate, but it seems at times they are the very thing that keeps us from communicating. They are the things that get in the way of our message actually being heard.
Is that why Jesus healed on the Sabbath. To shock them with breaking of the Law, so they would listen to his words? But in doing that did they hear what he said, or were they concentrating so hard on what he did that they could not possibly hear what he said? The kindest word, can be taken the wrong way and seen as the most ruthless attack…
I pray that we can be united as the Body of Christ. One Body, fed and nourished by the lord, and that our words might be heard they way they are ment. This means we all have to listen to what is being said, and not for what we want to hear. This means we have to allow the other a view into our innermost self, and let down any guards. Not attacking or with holding, but being honest, and open. God has called us to live together in community and we will be together for all eternity, so lets try to break down these barriers…
The Perils of Hipster Christianity and Why Young Evangelicals Reject Churches That Try To Be Cool – WSJ.com
Great article on the way the church tries to be hip.
The problem with being Hip, is what exactly is hip? And once you figure out what is hip, it is usually no longer hip. As those who do what Christ called us to do, love everyone as we love ourselves, we are over against society as it is, and thus do not need to worry about what is hip, because we are filled with grace.
Tower of Power asked the question in the song What is Hip? Tell me tell me if you think you know… Maybe hipper than hip. Hipness is what it is… If you get grace, it is just like being hip… You can not fully explain it to someone else, it just is. And sometimes hipness is what it ain’t!
If we can be real, and offer Jesus, people will come. Because as Brett McCracken says in the above linked article, “If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it’s easy or trendy or popular. It’s because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It’s because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It’s not because we want more of the same.”
There There – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog
There There – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.
Wonderful thoughts on living life and living in the moment, the here and now. As a leader in the church, I work in an office and work with my door open most of the time. This is a good thing for people dropping in, however one of the members of the church asked how I get anything done with the door open all the time. I responded that the ministry we are called to do is in the interruptions, not in what we think is important.
I try to make myself available at all times, and that is not necessarily good, as I am not always in the here and now. I am like the 20 somethings with the phone out and seeing who is emailing or texting, or twittering, or facebooking… rather than being in the here and now. We need to be aware of the interruptions, but not so aware of the interruptions we lose sight of what is happening in front of us!
Benchwarmer!
How many of you played T-ball or little league or what ever you called it as a child? Or any other sport for that matter and maybe you were not the best player, and maybe there were more than enough players on the team so you spent time on the bench? Sitting there, hoping that your team could get far enough ahead (or behind 🙂 ) that the coach would put you in? I know I am not alone in this… We have all been a bench warmer at some point, and to a lot of us this is what we are in our faith!
We come to worship on Sunday morning and we warm a bench, and we sit on the sidelines and watch the game go by. Wondering if God will use us, hoping He will talk to us and tell us we are in and that He needs us to do something, He needs us to make a great play.
Well He already did! In the game of life, and with God as your coach, there are no bench warmers. God named and claimed us, and expects us to be a part of the game!
So get up and get in there, because Jesus is counting on you!
What will you do…
Many of you know, I started walking last week for around an hour a day. I say around an hour, because at the Y it is actually 65 minutes with the cool down, and at camp it has been any where from 45 minuts to 60 minutes. Camp time depends on how many times I see my little black friend with the white stripe and fluffy tail, and what happened the day before… I still get at least 2.5 miles in, so for a newbie at this stuff I think that is good.
The question is do you know why I am walking? It should have started a long time ago, but sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in, or for me to realize the meaning of something. I believe I started taking High Blood Pressure medicine about 12 years ago. Now I am not that old now, so 12 years ago, a young man taking High Blood Pressure medicine shoukd have been a wake up call, a change your ways boy, before you die. It was more of a, “well expected this, mom and dad both died from heart attacks and the high blood pressure thing runs in the family, no big deal.” No big deal?!?!?!
Recently I have gone to the doctor several times, and now I take 2 pills for high blood pressure everyday, a pill for high cholesterol, a pill for acid reflux, and pills for high blood sugar. I am not old enough to be taking 8 pills every morning. Something has to give. So as I was looking into the faces of my 3 beautiful girls and my wonderful wife, I decided I would do whatever it takes to be here. To be here for the first dance, to be here for graduation, to be here to walk my girls down the aisle, to be here to see my grand children… I started walking, and about a month before that I changed my eating habits. I finally got the terror of what was happening and now I will do whatever I can to keep the gifts I’ve been given in these girls as long as I can.
But these gifts will fade, and end. Just as we all will, and yet like the disciples we are slow to grasp the gift that will never fade or go away. Jesus is asking us to give up everything, and the disciples gave up their earthly possessions early on in their following of Christ, but they did not let go of everything until very late in the game. At the Last Supper they were arguing about who would be greatest. They still held onto their pride, and that is what kept them from fully experiencing the gift God gave them in Jesus. Peter said he would not run away and he would die with Jesus, but his pride got in the way. Jesus took Peter with him in the grave and forgave this sin. Jesus is waiting for you to say you love him and are ready to follow. Can you give up house, car, job, children, spouse, yourself, your pride…
What will you do?
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Ring of Fire…
Yesterday at camp was Epiphany. God’s manifistation upon the world, His revealing of himself to the Gentiles…
In adult Bible study we went through all of the possible gospel texts for Epiphany. Small groups read and discussed the readings, then we reported back to the whole group.
One of the texts the group I was in read was the Matthew 5 section where Jesus explains and expands the 10 Commandments. He starts “you have heard it said ‘do not commit murder’, but if you think bad thoughts about somebody, you have committed murder in your mind.”. And he continues. As the group read this, we pondered where the epiphany was, we wondered how God was revealing himself to us in this passage, we wondered where the gospel was. It sounded all like law! And to make it even better we were sitting by a window to the kitchen, and the kitchen staff at camp had tunes playing while they work, and the song that is playing is Jonny Cash’s Ring of Fire. We started laughing about hiw God was revealing himself to us in the text and the song, you’re going down in a burning ring of fire, while the flames keep getting higher…
But really we talked about it some more and discovered that the law Jesus is giving us is gospel. The thing that not thinking bad, lustful, mean, dishonest thoughts towards others leads us to is right relationships. God has given us the gift of a right relationship with him, now he is trying to help us have that same relationship with each other. Live the gift!
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What do we need saved from…
Yesterday at camp was Christmas, and in adult bible study time we talked about Advent and Christmas.
What we are preparing for and how we can better keep or get Christ in Christmas. And one of the things that was said was that Lutheran’s aren’t good at inviting others to church, because we have nothing to be saved from…
And I thought this went along with the gospel passage from Luke 12 we read this past Sunday. Most of us have succombed to believing the gospel the culture feeds us, that money and things are where the good life is found. We think we can secure our future with an abundance of stuff or wealth. Now don’t get me wrong, money and things aren’t bad. It is how we let them influence our lives that could be bad. Like the farmer from Luke 12, who makes provision to secure his future by taking care of hinself, with no thought for anyone else, no thankfulness of the blessing of the abundance, and no mention of God.
The truth of the matter seems to be that we need to be saved from ourselves, and have our eyes opened to the fact that our very existance is a gift from God, and everything else we have, the stuff, the money are tools to use to further God’s kingdom.
So be a wise steward, not a rich fool, and live in the gift that God has given you.
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Monday at camp…
It is the first morning of family camp. I woke up early this morning and went for a walk around the path of the cabins here at Chrysalis. Last week I started going to the YMCA and walking, and walked 6 days and averaged about 3 miles a day. It really does make a difference in my day and helps me focus. Plus this morning it is beautiful. As I wallked under the stars, in God’s creation, watching as the sun comes up. In the stillness it is easy to see God.
My prayer for all of you today is, that in the busyness of life and the hussle and bussle of business, that you will see, feel, and know God is with you. Calling you to go and do, knowinh that He is always with you!
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Twitter Disciples – Jesus Creed
Twitter Disciples – Jesus Creed.
This is great!
aSacredRebel 