Labor – Psalm 128

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest—

 

Self-Discipline 2 Timothy 1:3-7

My sermon notes. Like the doodle up at the top? This is how I usually prepare for my sermons. In a file I call “sermon fodder” I put several different commentaries on the passage, maybe a sermon or two by other pastors, some illustrative material I have gathered, I read it over, let it stew for a bit and then Presto! Sermonino! Ok, not exactly.

It is a little less magical than that, but the spirit often leads me down some pretty cool paths by the time I am done. My biggest issuefacebook-church-meme-committee-7f514b often in writing a sermon is working ahead enough to feel comfortable with my message, followed closely by wanting to say and do too much!

From preparation to focus, it takes a fair bit of self-discipline, together with ample help from the Holy Spirit to put together a cogent sermon. When I wrote that it reminded me of the meme you see here.

I know how that guy feels. Not only is it a struggle sometime to prepare, but then I have myself to deal with on top of everything else.

I know me.

I know my shortcomings, I know my sins, I know my doubts, I know where I fall short, far short of the glory of God. Then I climb into the pulpit to preach?! Me? Oh…

In our reading for today, the last line is a beauty! ” for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” What a combination! It is that very spirit that I believe drives us to witness to the grace of God which is bigger than our shortcomings. God’s mercy is a powerful thing, and it frees us to do things that we would feel too self-conscious to do on our own. When we spread the Gospel, live out the good news of God it isn’t because we are overly holy, but God is. It’s not that we are eloquent, but God gives us the words to say, it’s not that we are bold, but God gives us the spirit of power to live out and proclaim his love!

 

Instruct – Psalm 32

Now I know the idea of screens in the worship space is not exactly a new one but for us, it’s kind of a big deal.  Today the final pieces were put into place, and we used them… well a little. We will use these to inform, to proclaim the Gospel, and to instruct.

Speaking of instruct, we are using a program called Propresenter 6 and boy do I have a bunch to learn!  The good news is they have a bunch of instructional videos on Youtube, and I have made some pretty quick progress in learning how to use the program.

Once I have a little bit better of a handle on it, I can help train in others to use the program and run the equipment, and then I get to concentrate on my “day job!”

The world for the day is instruction, and in our Psalm, there is sort of an odd interjection in verses -9 that caught my eye.

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not stay near you.

 

The start of this psalm is very confessional, mistakes were made, things went poorly, forgive me.  But here it is as though the Psalmist is telling us that we should listen to him and he will instruct us so that we do not fall into the trouble that he has faced.

When we are open to instruction, we can learn. Oh, sure I could have jumped in and just started fiddling around with the program and try to figure it out on my own, which truthfully I did a little.  Or I could learn from those who know what they are doing, those who have learned from both their successes and failures and learn much more quickly and in turn, I can be a better teacher for others.

The same holds true in our faith lives, God gives us the Word, and examples of the saints who have gone before us so that we might be instructed so that we can learn and grow for the sake of others.

 

 

 

Called – Romans 1:1-7

Yup, that’s me.  It’s a little hard to come up with a photo that devotionally wraps itself around the concept of being called.

When I posted the pic, I said I didn’t know that this filter on Snapchat is “called” but it’s a little frightening…

Well, it may be that and more… it certainly started a back and forth with my sister on Facebook that was so funny I forgot to write this devotion!  But a goofy selfie turned out to be just the thing for the word called. As Paul writes in Romans, we are all called to belong to Jesus Christ.  Yes, even this goofy looking spud!

In the waters of baptism, we are called to be a part of the body of Christ. As we grow in years and faith, we might be called to other ministries or different tasks, but the core of our identity remains the same. We are called children of God.

 

WILDERNESS – ISAIAH 41:14-20

Ok, so I definitely didn’t take this picture today. Its been one of those days… busy, and quite frankly when I quickly looked at my devotional for the word for the day, I looked at the wrong day. So you get this photo which I included in the devotional.  (You can find that here.)

I took this picture in Sedona Arizona near the Chapel of the Cross in an area that is undeniably wilderness, akin to the wilderness spoken of in our reading today from Isaiah.

You can almost get chapped lips reading this passage, so dry!  But that is not the end, the thirst will be quenched and more than that new life will flow, and the wilderness will bloom and grow!

How many times have I been in dry places in my life, where injustice, hate, doubt and fear dry me up.  There have been moments when I thought I would spiritually if not physically die of thirst, that my soul would never bloom and grow again.

In the waters of baptism, God comes to us as the prophet Isaiah came to God’s people long ago and offered a word of hope, no, more than that a word wet with promise. Things will not stay parched, in fact, there will be new life, and things that you never imagined could happen will happen, like a cedar growing in a wasteland.

Gotcha

One of the things I have noticed this election is a heavier than usual use of “othering.” In my mind, othering may be best described as separating into groups, us and them.  Both major parties have gone deep into the use of this, granted in differing ways, but the point is the same.  We are not like them, they are not like us and quite frankly it seems pretty apparent that they have a serious screw loose.

There is no greater good being touted on social media or in the various forms of media I have seen. There is however much fear being tossed about by both sides.

 

I saw to clips on facebook tonight, one from James Carville, and the other from a “famous” Trump supporter.  They both were well produced, and they were both set up to snare you, to trap you in a cage of your own fear. They sounded very sure, citing experts and quoting numbers… but make no mistake, they are slinging fear.

I have mentioned before in this series that fear is not of itself a bad thing, but when it is used to by others to control or influence us, we forget who the real guide of our lives is to be. When we keep God front and center, those things that cause us to fear, do not control us.

Heading into the election and the days that will follow, we need to remember that God is in charge, and the Lord will keep us secure even when all else seems to be so fragile.  No matter who gets elected there will be healing to be done, love to be shared, and injustices to rectify. There is much work that needs to be done in the name of the one who calls us into humble service for the sake of the neighbor even, “those” neighbors.

A present help

This is today’s offering. I took this picture about three years ago. It is the old  US Life-saving Service Station on Plum Island, WI.  They have been working very hard since I took this picture to restore and fix this place up, to preserve its history, which I think is wonderful.

The US Life-saving Service became part of the Coast Guard over time, but its history is unique.  It didn’t start out as a military arm, or even a government agency which it did become. It was started by people wanting to help, people who knew the perils of the sea and the need to come to some one’s aid.  They were as God promises to be for us, a very present help.  God’s help comes in many ways through the church and other organizations, but where it really shines is where people gather in the love of Christ to serve, people when to help often because they too once needed that help.

When ever I see this place this verse comes to mind for God is always there, ready to help to be there in good times and in times of trouble.

Answer

Old churches are wonderful places if you have a taste for history.  Things like this are stuck in storage out of the way nooks for decades.  Looking at the names, I get a sense for when this was produced, likely sometime around the mid-1940’s. But the answer as to exactly when and why this was used has eluded me.

I may never know the answer, as those who could answer it have likely all gone to check on their status on the heavenly honor roll.   Who’s on that you might ask, now there I have an answer.  Those for whom Christ died, those who have been baptised into his name, and the reason for the list,  in God’s love we have become inheritors of eternal life.  Old churches and new churches for that matter can be wonderful places if you have a taste love, grace and forgiveness.  Go poke around and see what you find!

 

 

Wall

Soon the sun will sink behind this wall and behind the wall that is the curve of the earth. But until that time its glorious rays bring light. The wall that wraps around the park where my parents stay when they are in Arizona is not exactly a high-security fence. At its tallest it might be six foot high with many parts as low as 4 feet. It is certainly not going to block out any of the sun’s rays!

This walls purpose is to mark boundaries, and good boundaries can be healthy for good relationships and neighbors.  We all have walls in our lives they are there to keep us safe, but often we build them to keep us isolated from others, and those are not healthy boundaries.    When we run into the walls of our lives, we need to determine if the light of Christ can shine through them so that life and light might be there for all people.

Mock

While you can’t tell it now, this little girl was left for dead in Houston Texas. She was a street dog, with a nasty case of Demodectic Mange, she would have been mocked at any pet store.  But there were those who took pity, cared for and cured this sweet little thing which now has a home with us.

The world mocks the poor in spirit, the poor and the meek, but Jesus tells us that they are blessed.  The world seeks status and power and mocks those of low estate and those who serve.  Jesus turns that upside down and says  “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  

Never forget in the face of the mocking crowds, that small acts of love change the world.