Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Power Source
I learned recently that our electric bill for July at the church was $2,333.45 (!).
This includes the daily use by our school, which reimburses us for their part, our regular usage, and our Vacation Bible School usage.
That’s a lot of money, though, and it started me thinking about the source of the church’s power.
The weekend after we installed air-conditioning in the old church we had a wedding. It was summer, it was really hot, and the church was packed. I told the congregation that I imagined they were really glad they were there on that particular Saturday, instead of the one before. Afterward, I spoke with a guest who told me (I think only half-joking) that he didn’t think churches should be air-conditioned. He thought that people should have to sit there and consider the alternative.
I don’t know that that’s the best way to get our message across.
We have a power-source that is inexhaustible and 100% clean. The power of the Holy Spirit leads us to the faith that takes us to heaven.
It is embodied sometimes as wind in the Bible, Acts 2:2 for example.
It “has called me through the gospel,
enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy
and kept me in the true faith, just has he calls gathers, enlightens, and makes holy
the whole Christian church on earth
and keeps it with Jesus Christ
in the one common, true faith.” (Luther’s Small Catechism)
That’s pretty cool!
This includes the daily use by our school, which reimburses us for their part, our regular usage, and our Vacation Bible School usage.
That’s a lot of money, though, and it started me thinking about the source of the church’s power.
The weekend after we installed air-conditioning in the old church we had a wedding. It was summer, it was really hot, and the church was packed. I told the congregation that I imagined they were really glad they were there on that particular Saturday, instead of the one before. Afterward, I spoke with a guest who told me (I think only half-joking) that he didn’t think churches should be air-conditioned. He thought that people should have to sit there and consider the alternative.
I don’t know that that’s the best way to get our message across.
We have a power-source that is inexhaustible and 100% clean. The power of the Holy Spirit leads us to the faith that takes us to heaven.
It is embodied sometimes as wind in the Bible, Acts 2:2 for example.
It “has called me through the gospel,
enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy
and kept me in the true faith, just has he calls gathers, enlightens, and makes holy
the whole Christian church on earth
and keeps it with Jesus Christ
in the one common, true faith.” (Luther’s Small Catechism)
That’s pretty cool!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Come and Worship
Worship is the open-hearted, fully engaged, Spirit-led communion with the one, true living God.
It is work. It is the work of the people.
Worship is our once-a-week expression of thanksgiving, prayer and praise, our repentance and our joy as a Christian community.
It is not an obligation to God. It is an obligation to one another.
It is not a club meeting where we have to show up once and awhile in order to maintain good standing, it is a gathering of the people of God.
It is not something you do if you don’t have anything else to do, or if you have out-of-town company.
It is majesty. It is beyond cosmic and beneath humble humanity.
It is love expressed and received.
It is the outpouring, overflowing, transformational encounter whose only practical value is in the communal expression of humanness before God.
It is more being than doing.
We are a worshipping community at Faith Lutheran Church. We are connected and our common relationship is an expression of our uncommon relationship with God: worship.
Come this week and sing (or just listen), hear the Word, share communion with God.
We need you.
Come and worship.
Come and worship.
It is work. It is the work of the people.
Worship is our once-a-week expression of thanksgiving, prayer and praise, our repentance and our joy as a Christian community.
It is not an obligation to God. It is an obligation to one another.
It is not a club meeting where we have to show up once and awhile in order to maintain good standing, it is a gathering of the people of God.
It is not something you do if you don’t have anything else to do, or if you have out-of-town company.
It is majesty. It is beyond cosmic and beneath humble humanity.
It is love expressed and received.
It is the outpouring, overflowing, transformational encounter whose only practical value is in the communal expression of humanness before God.
It is more being than doing.
We are a worshipping community at Faith Lutheran Church. We are connected and our common relationship is an expression of our uncommon relationship with God: worship.
Come this week and sing (or just listen), hear the Word, share communion with God.
We need you.
Come and worship.
Come and worship.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Let's Talk About It
Here’s an exercise to help develop your Spiritual Relationships, the mark of discipleship on which we are concentrating this month:
Find a way to include, with their Christian meaning, any of the following words in your conversations this week:
Jesus, church, Bible, justice, God, integrity, struggle, forgiveness, faith, and grace.
If you can do this without blushing or feeling really weird, you are probably engaged in a spiritual relationship.
I read an article recently (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/may/footwashers.html) about a doctor in Ethiopia who attended a lunch meeting for people who were interested in addressing a newly discovered disease. As the food arrived, he asked “if anyone would mind if we thanked God for the food.” People immediately approved and, as they talked, they found that they all were “fully vested Christians.”
Our relationships only take on a spiritual character if we are intentional and specific in listening to the voice of God within us, and give voice to that presence to others, and listening to that voice in others.
We are witnesses to what God has done and is doing in our lives. Let’s talk about it.
Find a way to include, with their Christian meaning, any of the following words in your conversations this week:
Jesus, church, Bible, justice, God, integrity, struggle, forgiveness, faith, and grace.
If you can do this without blushing or feeling really weird, you are probably engaged in a spiritual relationship.
I read an article recently (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/may/footwashers.html) about a doctor in Ethiopia who attended a lunch meeting for people who were interested in addressing a newly discovered disease. As the food arrived, he asked “if anyone would mind if we thanked God for the food.” People immediately approved and, as they talked, they found that they all were “fully vested Christians.”
Our relationships only take on a spiritual character if we are intentional and specific in listening to the voice of God within us, and give voice to that presence to others, and listening to that voice in others.
We are witnesses to what God has done and is doing in our lives. Let’s talk about it.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Spiritual Relationships
How do we live as Christians in a world that is not our home? What does it mean to be in the “already-but-not-yet” Kingdom of God?
One of the ways we answer these, and other “big” questions is by cultivating spiritual relationships. They are what we were created for.
The largest and most significant spiritual relationship we have is our connection to the Body of Christ, the Church. We cultivate them within our congregation at FLC in particular.
Being a part of a Bible Study, a worship service, or community service activity does not necessarily embody spiritual relationships. That takes intention. It takes conversation about faith issues, our relationship with Jesus, and our daily walk with him.
But the relationships we form at Faith Lutheran Church can be among the most meaningful in our lives. Here we learn, and grow, and hold one another accountable in a community.
In addition, our friendships, our mentoring, our life as Christ’s disciples, the Biblical shaping of our ethics and our morals that we share are what constitute spiritual relationships.
Spiritual relationships are a mark of what it means to be a disciple.
One of the ways we answer these, and other “big” questions is by cultivating spiritual relationships. They are what we were created for.
The largest and most significant spiritual relationship we have is our connection to the Body of Christ, the Church. We cultivate them within our congregation at FLC in particular.
Being a part of a Bible Study, a worship service, or community service activity does not necessarily embody spiritual relationships. That takes intention. It takes conversation about faith issues, our relationship with Jesus, and our daily walk with him.
But the relationships we form at Faith Lutheran Church can be among the most meaningful in our lives. Here we learn, and grow, and hold one another accountable in a community.
In addition, our friendships, our mentoring, our life as Christ’s disciples, the Biblical shaping of our ethics and our morals that we share are what constitute spiritual relationships.
Spiritual relationships are a mark of what it means to be a disciple.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Daily Prayer Time
What does daily prayer do?
It provides an opportunity to speak and, more importantly, listen to God.
It brings us into the transforming presence of God.
It connects us with a community of praying people, each seeking to accomplish the mission God has given to it as a whole.
It makes us aware that we are connected to something much larger than ourselves.
How do I make time? It’s not difficult if you believe it’s important.
Consider praying when you first wake up, and when you just go to bed. That’s twice a day.
Pray before meals, that’s likely three more times a day.
Pray after each meal, that’s three more.
That’s eight times a day, and it’s doable! :-)
Do you have a watch or cell phone with an alarm function. Set it for certain times a day, whenever and however many you like.
When the bell sounds, pray. That’s one reason church bells were invented, to call people in the surrounding area to stop and to pray.
Daily prayer is an expression of whose we are in Jesus Christ. It is one mark of being his disciple.
It provides an opportunity to speak and, more importantly, listen to God.
It brings us into the transforming presence of God.
It connects us with a community of praying people, each seeking to accomplish the mission God has given to it as a whole.
It makes us aware that we are connected to something much larger than ourselves.
How do I make time? It’s not difficult if you believe it’s important.
Consider praying when you first wake up, and when you just go to bed. That’s twice a day.
Pray before meals, that’s likely three more times a day.
Pray after each meal, that’s three more.
That’s eight times a day, and it’s doable! :-)
Do you have a watch or cell phone with an alarm function. Set it for certain times a day, whenever and however many you like.
When the bell sounds, pray. That’s one reason church bells were invented, to call people in the surrounding area to stop and to pray.
Daily prayer is an expression of whose we are in Jesus Christ. It is one mark of being his disciple.
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