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Welcome to my blog. I pray that you will find something here that will encourage and bless you. I'm still new at this blogging thing so please be patient and kind. Please feel free to comment or offer any advice to about the blog and/or my comments... Thanks for stopping by...

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Best Seats in the House

While getting ready for this week’s sermon, I came across an answer to one of the great questions found within many churches today, “Why do so many people sit in the back of our churches?” I believe the answer to this question can be found in the Scriptures, more precisely in Luke 14:10. This is where Jesus tells those listening that they should sit in the worst of the seats so that the good seats could go to the more distinguished guests.
I think this now explains why so many people are anxious to sit in the back of churches; they are doing it because Jesus had told them to do so. Isn’t that a relief to know? Of course, Jesus does go on to say something else after telling those listening of their need to take the worst seats available. He goes on to say that by taking the worst seats; their host could come up to them and invite them to move up closer to the seats of honor up front. So I guess that would make the pastor the host when applied to our congregations as a context. And if that is true, then it would also be scriptural for the pastor to invite those sitting in the back to move closer to the front. And why shouldn’t they be willing to do so? I mean doesn’t everybody want to be in the front row for the best of the concerts and sporting events? So if that is true, why wouldn’t they also want to be in the front row for the “Good News” of Jesus Christ? Hmmm… just something to ponder…

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Which Jesus Do I Serve?

This past Sunday, I preached on the text from Luke 12:49-56. In my ten years of ministry, I have never before preached on that passage, mainly because I have never really liked what Jesus was saying in those verses: "I have come to bring fire on the earth… do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division… They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." Who wants to hear Jesus talking about that? Besides not preaching on this passage during the past ten years, I don’t ever remember hearing a sermon on it either. If I have heard a sermon preached on it, the sermon must have been very forgettable. What was I going to do?
Well long story short; after some mental discussion on the passage, I decided to go with the above text. After doing all of my sermon prep work, I struggled with how to start the sermon and then where to go with it. The next day, I was talking to one of my seminary friends who was dealing with a different problem. She wanted to preach to her congregation on the passage from Luke as a way of addressing a challenge within the church she was serving. While we were talking, she made me realize how often we filter out the verses from the Bible which make us uncomfortable and leave in those we like to hear. She now gave me the direction I wanted to go in with my sermon (Thanks Sarah B.)
I preached my sermon to my congregation as a warning to all about the danger of how easy it was to filter out some of the difficult sayings of the Bible, especially those where Jesus preaches to us about things that are considered obsolete in the world’s terms. Sure, we love to hear Jesus say that he is the light of the world (John 8:12), but this is the same Jesus who told us that we are to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Luke 6:27-29a)
I closed my sermon by asking my congregation (and myself) which Jesus were we going to serve: the Jesus we like from passages like John 8:12 or the Jesus of Luke 12:49-56. I then reminded us that they were both the same Jesus and for us to grow in our walks with Christ and in our service to the kingdom we needed to be followers of Jesus instead of admirers of Jesus. Because when we are faithful to following Christ, we are not only drawn closer to God, but we are also drawn closer to our neighbor—to those in our lives and even strangers. We see them just as God does—as human beings just like us, created in the image of God. Human beings just like us who are a sinners who need to know and be reminded how much God loves them. Human beings just like us who need to know and be reminded that God loves them so much that God sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for them and for me. Yeah, that’s the Jesus I want to serve and preach on no matter what he may be saying to me and the congregations I am blessed to serve.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

An Answer to Prayer

I am so blessed on Wednesday afternoons! I get to go to the local nursing home/rehab center and “preach” to the wonderful residents there. They are so wonderful with their hugs, their smiles, and kind words for me. Now, I have to admit it wasn’t always that way for me. Three years ago, I found out that I was going to have to serve in my local community as a part of a class obligation in first year of seminary. I had no idea turn of where to serve and I finally stole the idea of serving at a nursing home from another one of the students in my class. Besides, it was only for one semester and then I could quit and spend more time studying for school and serving my church.
I went into the activity room at the rehab center for the very first time not knowing what to expect. I “preached” to about 15 people that day and thought it went okay. As the residents filed out of the activity room after I was done, one of the ladies gave me a big hug and told me that I was exactly who they had been praying for. I asked the activity director what the resident was referring to. She told me that she had not been able to get a pastor to come out to “preach” to the residents. Yes, several churches in the area sent people out to the center, but it was for bible studies and sing-a-longs, not for preaching. The residents wanted a preacher/pastor to come and share God’s word with them. I was shocked! Surely, there had to be at least one pastor in the area who could spare an hour or so to share with the residents of a local rehab center.
I came back the following week and was blessed again by the responses of the residents who attended. I was once again reminded by the same lady that I was exactly who they had prayed for. Well, to make a long story short, I soon found out that I began to look forward to my weekly appointment with these wonderful people and when the end of semester came, I had fallen in love with them. I decided to do it for one more semester and then quit.
At least that’s what I thought… Now three years later, I’m still going to my weekly appointments with the residents and always looking forward to it. No matter how bad a mood I can be in when I get there, it all changes when I enter the activity room. The anticipation of their hugs, their smiles, and their kind words would melt any type of discord I may have felt within me. Yes, there are some there who may not be able to stay awake during my “sermon” and there are some who aren’t able to communicate clearly for some physical reason. But I have learned that none of that matters to me because each of these people have chosen to spend 45 minutes to an hour with me each week sacrificing other things like naps and other activities just to come here me share God’s word with them.
I want to close by sharing my favorite event during my time there. One particular afternoon, my throat was very dry and very scratchy. I struggled to speak and finally wished aloud for a drink of water. Shortly, one of the residents, Miss Ethel left the room in her wheelchair. This was not out of the norm because some of the residents do get bored and sometimes have to leave to take care of boredom or other things. About 15 minutes later, Miss Ethel re-entered the activity room and rolled herself to the front of the room where I was standing. She stopped in front of me and handed me an ice cold bottle of water.
I didn’t know what to say. You see, Miss Ethel had rolled her wheelchair all the way back to her room but not in the conventional way you and I would use a wheel chair. Miss Ethel, along with man of the other residents roll their wheelchairs by shuffling their feet back and forth which uses a great deal of effort and energy. Miss Ethel rolled about 250 yards down to her room to get some of her own money and then rolled herself back to the vending machine outside of the activity room to buy me a bottle of water.
This is just one of the many examples of how these wonderful people have blessed me and my ministry. I pray that any of you who may read this post are serving your community in some form or fashion. You never know how much it may mean to those you are serving and the blessing you will received in return. Besides, you just may be an answer to a prayer