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Millenials, long on fault finding, short on doing

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I shared a post by a “millenial” who wrote, essentially, that the problem with the church was that it was too focused on being the church and wasn’t “serving”enough”. The research today says that “millenials” are motivated to “serve”. OK, they may believe that, but I see little evidence of it and what I see is not very well thought out and is more of a social event and well short of any effective service. Further, it seems as if society as a whole is convinced that the church is just another social service agency.

Well no it’s not.

It is the Body of Christ and is, at least supposed to be, supposed to teach about Christ, how we live the Christian life and how we grow as disciples. Yes, that certainly means to serve, but not to some end that is to self satisfaction, but in how the Holy Spirit moves the disciples of Christ to serve.

The writer had a problem with how too many churches do conduct their ministry more in terms of being a social club. I would agree and the church has been doing that for decades. It’s not so much the church, but telling people what they want to hear, pat them and send them back into the world as clueless as ever. The problem is that such a superficial generation takes every opportunity to deny reality, play the system and not assume any real responsibility, because everyone else should take on responsibility.

So I just wanted to post my comments about the church I’m the pastor of. Surprise, didn’t receive any response. I raised a bunch of questions that I really don’t think the superficial millenial mentality wants to deal with, because then, they’d actually have to do something:

thank you very much for the opportunity to answer you and this blog this is like throwing a dog raw meat. First I did not grow up in the church and yes I’m an old guy and yet I get stereotyped by the culture in general and get shut down without so much as a how do you do. First I have to laugh at the supposition that the church has millions of dollars. Oh I get the accusation but I assure you at least First Saint Johns is living hand to mouth. And yet unlike the critics we are standing on our ear to serve. However we are not a social service agency. We are here to give hope and promise of Jesus to a world with no hope and promise and getting worse. As a pastor of a downtown church I spend a large amount of my time trying to help people, millennials included, whose attitude is just gimme. We have a food bank, we have Grief Share, I’m a chaplain for the police department and have had to comfort people as the result of suicide, victims of crime, parents on the scene of a child who died of a heroin overdose. I am the chaplain at the Lutheran Mission Society that gives clothing to people. We started a community radio station at great time, expense and emotional expense. For a small group with limited resources we have done an enormous amount. We have started an afternoon meal program, a workout area and offer classes in martial arts. We started an employment support group. You know what the response has been from the community? Crickets! I’ve made a few efforts with the public schools and York College to get involvement at a great expense of time (frankly my wife thinks I should spend more time at home) and I assure you I’m a long way from making my first million. I’m sure I was making more in the business world hour to hour and actually had days off and vacation. We have been an open door for so much and again crickets. I’ve had to get up in the middle of the night to be with members and nonmembers undergoing duress. I’m sure the teacher writing this article never had to get up in the middle of the night for a math emergency. Oh I get it there are plenty of pretty suburban, happy clappy churches out there who are just about themselves but sad to say that’s pretty much the way of the society. I wish I had half the time off of a school teacher. I’ve averaged fifty hour weeks 52 weeks a year for seven years in ministry I am regularly exhausted and stressed at less pay then school teachers. Speaking of which we have begged the school dept here to give students the educational opportunity of the radio station that we spent a lot of money we don’t have. We are right across the street from William Penn HS. There’s been talk, but it’s easier for them to just say no. There’s a lot of people out there who love to wag their finger and just don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t care. I would love to have an open forum but I know what would happen. I’d spend a lot of time organizing and being there and no one would show up. I will do it since I’ve been challenged. I’ve been thinking about a “grill the pastor ” for First Friday but like the rest of our attempts no one will show. I was at church at 8:30 this morning went to about 1pm, went out at 4pm to support the Sheriffs canine program who have to raise money they don’t get any government funding, typing this message out at 10pm missing the All Star game and I’m on call for the police dept and what I get for all my trouble is why aren’t I doing more. I will compare my social service and DayTimer with any secular and Christian critic. Oh and we’re also setting up to be a Safe Space for the city and also have Spanish ministry and we’re doing it all on a shoestring budget. Maybe it’s time for the Millenials to put up. What I see from most of society is a lot of complaining and criticism, but very little in terms of action. Anyone who wants to come and talk I welcome the opportunity. But they need to listen too because I have a Masters Degree and extensive life experience. My experience with the culture is there is little background but don’t want to give and take but just want to lecture. I frankly believe they don’t want “give and take” because they have very little background and are used to getting their way, don’t want to give and have very little capacity for critical thinking. I felt this was important, missed most of the basketball game and need to get some sleep because I have an enormous amount to deal with on Monday my “day off”. But hey if someone tells me they will be at First Saint Johns to really talk tomorrow I will be there. And then go home to my wife who will be upset that I’m taking time away from her and not getting any rest. She cares about the stress and fatigue that ministry has been putting on me. Feel free to share this with anyone interested. God bless you and thank you for this opportunity.
…a big issue with church the pastor is supposed to do everything. I’ve been in corporate, operational in the military and ministry has just been a revelation very little support. The 80-20 principle. There are lay people who do provide physical support about 20 percent and the rest attitude is “it’s the pastor s job”. This is usually from people who work 9-5 5 days a week, have no concept of what it’s like to get a 2am phone call to go out in nasty weather to a bad situation for members and nonmembers. It’s the pastors job. People need to get real and lose the attitude and expect someone to come running to them at a moments notice. Maybe there will come a time where you need that attention. Who else comes running out in the middle of the night? But at some point they just might say “can’t do it, exhausted ” I will try to get there by noon. Why not? Every other profession does it or gets paid a lot of extra money for extra attention!
…Oh and if someone wants a mentor I will mentor the heck out of them. Check out my background not many out there with my breadth and depth of life experience and I would be thrilled to share that with anyone. But like all the other things we’ve been doing no one will take me up. It’s easier to criticize and complain then do something. Oh yeah another on my “wish list ” would be to train and coach a triathlon team high school, York College HACC, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting. Michal Helfreich took a local television station thru the church for them to tape what we’ve been doing and offer. Results? Nil. We have a Men’s Group having an overnight retreat at a lodge here. All guys are welcome but they won’t. Their noses are buried in their phones.

Leaving it all on the course for Him Matthew 5:21

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have left it all on the field for Jesus said … AMEN!

You’ve heard the interviews after an athletic contest, one of the most common phrases; “I left it all on the field”, basically I gave everything I had in order to win. It can get a little cliché, but by the same token, I have no doubt that each person who says that truly believes it. At the end of that contest; a race, basketball game, matholympics, I gave everything I had, physically, mentally, emotionally in order to win, or at least to do my best. I’ve done races where I expected it to be a little more challenging and at the end upset with myself that I was holding back too much and I could have pressed harder on the bike or the run. By the same token I’ve seen people sprinting to the finish line, giving everything and as soon as they crossed, going off somewhere and literally getting sick right after they finished. No question they exceeded their normal physical ability in order to find that tiny little bit that they had left in order to finish as well as they could.

We certainly see this in so many of the people described in the Bible. King David wrote dozens of Psalms, but if you think he was all about sitting at a desk pen in hand and dreamily wondering how to compose his poetry, you would be mistaken. Most of his prose was about the different ways that he was left it all out on the field for God. David was a powerful soldier, his soldiers followed him into many different situations, they trusted him as a leader who would be there for them, do whatever it took for his men and defeat his enemy. David had no compunction going out on that field and doing what God directed him to do and pouring every last ounce he had into the fight for his men, his country and very much so for his God. David lived his life for Yahweh, there were times when he failed in that and he failed in a way that only a great king and general could fail. As Dr Luther wrote: “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.”[1] If King David had known about Jesus and written about Jesus, he would have understood completely what Dr Luther wrote.

In a lot of ways that is what Jesus is saying in the Beatitudes, you have to go over and above, you have to leave it all out there. There may even be a physical price to pay. The Beatitudes can be taken in a legalistic way. Jesus is not saying you have to do this, you have to do that in order to be saved. People have told me that they live by the Beatitudes. It’s not about grace, it’s about them and their performance, what they need to do, that God is keeping score and waiting for them to tank, to hit the wall, to not finish the course. If they somehow fail in one of Jesus’ directives they failed to leave it all out on the field for Jesus, they kept some back for their own pleasure, maybe cheated on the course somehow and didn’t completely live up to what Jesus directed us to do.

The fallacy is this, the Gospel doesn’t tell us that unless we are picture perfect, that we have somehow failed and therefore don’t manage to hit the finish line having left it all out on the course for Jesus. The Gospel does say that Jesus who is entirely perfect God and perfect man, something we could never be, a person that we will never be because there was only one Jesus. Jesus absolutely did leave it all out on the course and it was entirely for us, Jesus didn’t do all that He did for Himself. What’s the point? Jesus is the One through whom all creation came into existence, He is perfectly God, all He did was not for Him, but entirely for us. Nothing we can do, can add to what Jesus did for us, not one iota, not one jot or tittle.

Yet, many people are pretty sure it’s about sticking to the letter of the Law in the Beatitudes and that gets you over the line. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be obedient, Jesus said “if you love Me, you will obey Me.” But Jesus knows that we are fallible, that our obedience is qualified by our failings as sinful people in a sinful world. However, for all that Jesus did for us, how can we not strive to be obedient? How can we not strive to leave it all out on the course for Jesus?

Does a completely good, completely holy, completely gracious God want us to pluck out our eye and throw it away if we are not completely perfect in everything? In this day and age you can’t look anywhere that doesn’t offend your eye. The issue is, did you let your eye linger over that which offended? Or did you realize, “hey, this isn’t glorifying Jesus or doing me any good”, and just turn away? That’s what Jesus is asking us to do, in the Beatitudes. He exaggerates to make a point. He might say. “You really want to try to earn your way, this is what has to happen, if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. I’m thinking, none of us would truly stand that test. That does not, however, minimize the fact that we should strive to avoid things that offend our eye or what we do with our right hand, or our left hand in order to sin.

Marge and I were at Pastoral Leadership Institute immersion this past week, which, ironically is about us and our performance, and driving us higher in Jesus. It’s an honor to be asked to attend, not everyone is, and it’s recognition of the fact that we are striving in evangelism and discipleship and given the opportunity in PLI to push to the next level. It doesn’t makes us more saved, but it does push us to better serve you and the Kingdom of God as leaders of His church.

The Father is not trying to impose unrealistic expectations on us, He is trying to get us to realize that we can’t get there on our own effort. We will fail! We will have plenty of good efforts, being obedient to the things Jesus asks of us, but at some point we will fail to push as hard as we could. That doesn’t mean we’ve lost, that we should cut off our hand. Matt Popovits was one of the speakers, the overall subject was discipleship, which was great, I emphasize discipleship in my ministry. While we are called to be strong and faithful disciples of Jesus, our performance in that respect is not what saves us. The thesis was “How do I measure my worth?” For those who are so sure that it’s all about me and my “opinion”, because my “opinion” is so vitally important! I have bad news for youse, your opinion just doesn’t really matter. Heavens, how can I say such a thing, come on pastor, we all know it’s all about me! It really isn’t. I can tell myself how great and special I am, but despite what I think, it’s not going to get me diddly. Whose opinion does matter? Oh yes, God’s opinion. That is a great thing! By the way, I told Matt I was going to rip him off relentlessly here, he said “fine, go for it!”.

Anyway, Matt talked about “Performacism”, this idea that we measure our worth by what we do, how well we do it, in and of ourselves. Performacism drives you to the following: 1) The fear of and trying to avoid a horrible outcome, a false Hell that you’ve created, that you’re running from in order to make it to an “unfulfilling heaven, that you earn the applause and approval of your peers. That heaven can’t do what you want, doesn’t fulfill your life.”[2] God’s not all powerful, it’s all about you and what you do and more importantly the way you want it to play out. It drives me nuts hearing people talk about heaven as a boring place, “why would I want to end up there”. Heaven is not our ultimate destination, our ultimate destination is the eternal resurrection. We will be put back on this earth in our physical bodies in order to live our lives the way God intended us to live, a world filled with unlimited possibilities and life fulfilling beyond anything we could imagine. Matt points out that Adam and Eve rejected the “Garden of Yes” in favor of the “tree of no”. We make that wrong choice all the time, a garden full of all kinds of possibilities in order for us to indulge in our personal besetting sin.

Matt further observes that we make ourselves a “Functional Savior” that it’s all in our hands whether or not we make it to that amazing eternity. It’s our activity, and accomplishments that save us, so that we are valued by ourselves and by others, because, heavens! in today’s world, it is all about everyone else’s who so precious opinion. We have that problem on a massive scale in our society today and something that our youth get so caught up in, but we’re all susceptible to it. Our self-image, whether our physical attractiveness is valued by others. In a world where everyone’s equal regardless, ya right! Our hypocritical world is just so full of themselves. The fight is to be as superficially attractive as possible to be of value, if you’re not, you might be patronized a little, but just not taken seriously. We see girls today going to extremes because hey the vital thing is to be beautiful, get the right guy, have all kinds of worldly wealth and live happily ever after. Forgetting that despite all our efforts, some, like me, who’ve just been ugly from birth, end up simply being dumped out the other end of life, whether we were beautiful  or not because we no longer meet the standards.

The cut to the chase is this; Jesus tells us that we can do it the hard way, by our own standards, our own worldly, wrong opinions. Or, because Jesus did it the hard way for us, we can trust in Him, that He has done all that’s necessary. Yes, we should leave it all out on the course for Jesus, because that’s what He’s done for us, but never think that is what gets you His promises.

We are so incredibly valued by the Father and there’s not one thing that we can add to that, not by anything we’ve done, not done, or done wrong, but solely who we are in Jesus, so incredibly valued because of who we are in Him and that He died a horrific death in order to save us. For such a huge price and to be adopted into true life in the Father’s family in baptism, we are, each one of us, so incredibly valued and loved. There are those of us who the Holy Spirit is moving to do big things, to serve at high levels. There are those of us who just physically can’t or who are called to do what we feel are humble things. Doesn’t matter to the Father, yes we should follow our calling, but no, we should never doubt how precious we are to the Father and what we are to Him in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Dr Ryan M. Reeves https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/ryanreeves/2016/04/20/did-luther-really-tell-us-to-love-god-and-sin-boldly/

[2] Matt Popovits PLI seminar, Cary, NC, February 9, 2017

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

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“The Word of the Lord endures forever” This became one of the main slogans of the Protestant Reformation ignited by Dr Martin Luther when he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg German in 1517. This year marks the 500th anniversary of that event, more broadly when the Christian church in the west divided off of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Lutheran Layman writes, quoting from “Concordia the Lutheran Confessions”: The Word of the Lord Endures Forever is the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, a confident expression of the enduring power and authority of God’s Word. The motto is based on Isaiah 40:6-8 quoted by 1 Peter 1:24-25. It first appeared in the court of Frederick the Wise in 1522. He had it sewn onto the right sleeve of the court’s official clothing, which was worn by prince and servant alike. It was used by Frederick’s successors, his brother John the Steadfast, and his nephew John Frederick the Magnanimous. It became the official motto of the Smalcaldic League and was used on flags, banners, swords, and uniforms as a symbol of the unity of the Lutheran laity who struggled to defend their beliefs, communities, families and lives against those who were intent on destroying them.*   http://www.lutheranlayman.com/2013/03/what-does-vdma-mean.html

verbum-domini

The Reformation was far more than Dr Luther nailing his Theses into the church door. His issues sparked events that would go well through the 16th century and be remembered 500 years later.

Hugs are healthy, whodda thunk?

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I will start out by saying I’m just not a hugger. It’s not that I’m somehow neurotic, anti-social, snobby or anything obsessive, just never did. I’ve been taking grief about that for years. Yea, I guess that I am somewhat conditioned. I spent 20 years in the corporate world. Hugging is not an acceptable part of corporate culture, or military where I spent 29 years. A firm hand-shake and steely eyed look in the eyes was considered to be entirely proper and sufficiently familiar.

Not so much in church culture, heck it’s even a quickly referred to topic in seminary. So apparently it’s a generally practiced gesture. My perspective is why would some sweet little lady want an ugly, gnarly ape like me putting my arms around her? Granted it’s become acceptable with guys in the church, but frankly my angle on that is that most guys would also prefer not. Yes, we should be family, more familiar with each other in a church environment. Certainly in those times of emotional distress physical comfort is often more therapeutic than anything I could say to that person, but for the vast majority of time not, in my opinion how you want to go. As I said it’s never a statement on the other person, it’s more about me thinking why would this person want this big, ugly guy that close? I have no problem with pats on the back, shoulder squeeze, physical contact is sometimes helpful in a bad situation. Non threatening touch often helps people come back to reality. So I don’t have some touch phobia. In a way I just have a problem with what I see are gratuitous gestures.

I guess I just have a bashful outlook on hugging, there are way too many that have what borders on hysteria towards it. There are way too may out there who are sure that everyone is somehow out to abuse them, I just really don’t want to give someone like that any impetus to irrationally lash out at me.

Having said this, turns out that hugs, physical contact in general (and you know what I mean so don’t be getting all hysterical, weird and phobic on me), is very healthy, for both parties. The caveat in the article is the positive effects … only happen when “you trust and love the other person, if not, hugs can raise stress and anxiety levels.”  If OK, then by all means. Since you don’t get Concordia Plan Services newsletter (Winter 2016 Vol 32 Nu 4), which is quoting a U.S. News and World report article. There have been other studies. I don’t have the reference right at hand, but it seems to have a vitally important impact on new-born babies. Hospitals go out of their way to put babies in contact with their mothers as much and as quickly as possible. Babies who went without physical contact, seemed to have physical problems, even dying. It seems to have a very positive physical impact for the baby. There are hospitals who recruit people to come in and sit with babies who can’t otherwise be held by their mother. So yes, it’s important. Within the limits of reason, trust and physical safety.

Anyway, the study shows that hugs are good for both, that there is a release of a hormone called Oxytocin that is released and promotes feelings of trust and bonding, it also influences mood and behavior. The article goes on to list other positive affects; lowers blood pressure, can reduce depression, bolsters immune system and builds up pain tolerance. Yes, it is an issue of commonsense, as always with all of God’s creation, it always seems to an issue of moderation, using the brains God gave you.

In conclusion, if I’ve somehow offended anyone, there was never any offense intended, if anything it was to spare you. However in view of the research and since it would seem to benefit both of us, I would certainly welcome the opportunity. I just hope it doesn’t end up being an issue for you.

Triathlon is a great way to challenge yourself.

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There’s snow on the ground, no doubt ice on some parts of the roads, it’s 25 degrees with a wind chill factor that makes it feel like 15 degrees. It could certainly be worse, back home, in Boston’s south shore area, they have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. Here it’s just enough to cover the ground, not really a factor, but certainly a reminder it ain’t summer anymore.

Now comes the complaining about heating bills, all the problems associated with the cold weather. I’ve taken my share of diggers out running in this weather, just managing to find that one patch of ice that the plow and the salt trucks missed. I took one back home, frankly if someone had seen me I wouldn’t blame that if they broke out in hysterical laughter. It was a 3 Stooges pratfall if there ever was one. There was a very fine layer of snow on the ground, and I was within about 1/2 mile of finishing a 4+ mile run. All of a sudden, my buttocks is hitting the deck, followed by my head bouncing off the snow/ice covered pavement. I went until about July before I could sit down without getting a little painful reminder.

So it’s a day like this that I thought it would be a good idea to reminisce about the past summer, with my last race of the year. It was in Rock Hall, Md. on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. I did the Olympic Distance race, many of these run different races either at the same time, or on Saturday/Sunday. I haven’t done an Olympic distance since the “Iron Abe” back in Springfield, Il.  Olympic distance is somewhere around a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride and 10k run. It’s definitely challenging, but it was a nice, flat course.

These races all start very early in the morning. Usually there’s a large number of people, I’ve been in races as low as about 400 to ones over 1200. I think the largest ones, like Kona have about twice 1200. In the case of an Ironman that takes the best professionals over 8 hours, to even a quick Sprint, you need to make a lot of time. I believe the average time in Kona is about 10 hours, so most people are finishing about 5pm local time. The cutoff is midnight. But for the rest of the local races, they want to be done no later than noon, clear out so people can use the area and traffic can be unsnarled.

Sleeping the night before is the first of many challenges, getting to where you have to go the night before is another one. We stayed at the Naval Academy so it would only be about an hour drive time to the race. That went pretty smoothly. You have to be at most of these by at least 6am. If you’re an hour away, you really need to be up at about 4. You spend the whole night waking up on the hour to make sure you’re up at or before 4. Then loading the car; wetsuit, running shoes/kit (kit is the stuff you need to run/bike, shoes, shorts, shirt, watch, heart rate monitor, food/fluids), bike rack, bike. I did take one important lesson away from this race. I ate before and during the race. I wasn’t very smart about fueling before and during and I think that’s one particular reason why I did better than I expected.

But as you can see you’re trying to make sure that you’re out the door and all this stuff is in or on your vehicle. Then there’s the nerve-wracking drive. For the most part you will have never been to the place you’re going. I mean “Rock Hall, Md”? Nice place, but wouldn’t know it if I fell into it. So you’ve got so many minutes, to go someplace new. Now once you’re there “on-time”, you spend most of the time until the, normally, 7am start, waiting. You have to get there early in order to get your number, your timing chip, to get marked, get your gear where it needs to be, that last call of nature, hopefully. If you get there later than an hour early you don’t risk getting stuck in a line while your wave is starting. Now granted, that’s never happened to me, I’ve always started on time in 57 races. However, I don’t want to push that.

As you can tell I’m a fat, old guy. Triathlons start in waves. The first wave is usually the professional/elite men, then the professional/elite women, then age groups starting with under 18 and working up. So yes, my wave is pretty much always last. So you’re waiting through each wave to start with up to 5 minutes between starts. It’s usually a long wait, I really hate the “wait” part.

Now you’re in the water. Even at this rate you still have people swimming over you, smacking you in the head, elbowing you, kicking you anywhere from the face on down. No one, at least they shouldn’t be, is doing it on purpose, you really can’t see anything around, ahead and certainly not behind you. If you are catching up on someone, or just in the middle of a group, expect that you’re going to get physical contact. For a mile swim, the pack thins out after awhile, it takes about 30 to 40 minutes for a wave to finish.

And then you’re stumbling your way out of the water, barefoot, to the transition area to find your bike. At this point you’re pulling off this rubber suit (it keeps you a little warmer, but it’s far more about giving you added speed), trying to get a little toweled off, finding helmet, glasses (yes you do need them), shoes, gloves, then run you’re bike to where you can get on it, jump on it and start a whole new set of motions.

The ride is kind of the easiest part. You’re sitting, no one is smacking you in the head, and this is the point where you want to see if you can cram some fluids and food down your face for the rest of the race. These races take at least 2 1/2 to well over three hours for most people and you’re burning a lot of calories. “Map my walk” said I torched at least 4500 calories. Using that much fuel that fast needs to be replaced or you will start feeling wiped out through the rest of the race.

I’ve been training in York, Pa. seems no matter where I run or ride my bike there are really big hill challenges. There’s one hill I do on my bike where I get my heart rate up over 170. My average running and bike is about 140 and a lot of that has to do with the hill climbs. But it has served me very well for races. My first race, after training awhile on these hills, was at the Norfolk, Va Naval Base. You can imagine a Naval Base is flat, I felt like I was flying over the course, the same for the race I did in Indiana this summer. Well this course was also flat, and I did well on it, both bike and run.

I jumped off the bike after an uneventful ride (meaning no mechanical issues with the bike, the one downside to the bike) and now I have to actually put my feet on the ground along with my entire body weight. Running after all this other activity starts out a little weird. Your body has gotten used to a certain set of muscles and now you’re forcing it to use another set of muscles that for the most part have gotten kind of stiff and have just been along for the ride in the water and on the bike.

The first few yards, at least, are kind of a waddle for a lot of people, versus what you would say is a genuine run. But even this time on a nice, flat course I adjusted quickly and adapted. Got through 10k pretty comfortably and finished.

Then of course there’s the getting home. Making sure you have all of your equipment, clothes, and the drive back, which by 11, 12pm, means much more traffic than at about 5am on a Saturday.

Yea, there’s a lot to it. But I finished my first Olympic Distance in eight years and when you’re starting to get up in age it’s nice to know you can still do it, in fact better than I did eight years earlier. It might not be for everyone, but by the same token everyone should have some kind of challenge like this, at least once a year. Hey, way too many people get over 50 and blah, blah, too old for this, too old for that. Way too early to start giving up on life. So find what it is that genuinely challenges you and work to improve on it, even when you’re starting to get into those advanced years. Have fun with it, feel that sense of accomplishment when you do finish. Don’t expect too much from those around you, yea I have bragging rights, which I sometimes exercise. But for the most part the people you know will just think that you’re some kind of “wack-a-doodle” for doing something like that. It’s sad, they’re the ones that have either decided to start coasting, or have been coasting their whole life. That’s no way to live life, but find those who still want to live a challenging, fulfilling life.

Let’s live our lives for Jesus to the fullest extent that He has given us. I’m not going to be doing an Ironman race in Hawaii in this life. But in the resurrection, the perfect life, the life God always intended for me, I’ll be there, getting smacked in the head, kicked in the face and to quote Maxwell Smart “and loving it”. I won’t beat anyone but I will have done it and will have eternity to work at it. Yea, on cold, dark, snowy/icy, days in January, it’s miserable, at least for me. But there’s a new season, only about 3-4 months away now, have to find a race in West Virginia. Who wants to join me?

Podcasts on the 95 Theses this is the 500th anniversary of Reformation

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Grace is flowing today. Mike Yagley and I have been working on recording podcasts for a project called GraceOnTap. Today we have uploaded our first episode on the background of the 95 Theses. Our plan is to release an episode each week. I hope you enjoy. http://graceontap-podcast.com/2017/01/02/episode-1-grace-on-tap-background-on-95-theses/

via Grace on Tap – Podcasts — Soli Deo: To God be the glory

7 Ways to Love People

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By Leah Baugh on Dec 09, 2016 in Life

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Agberto Guimaraes / unsplash

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:21).

Our modern culture is filled with distractions, whether it be technology, work, or busyness in general. Sometimes people are just passing faces we say hello to but don’t really have time for. Showing love can seem like a daunting task that we’re not always sure we can take on with all our other commitments. Here are several concrete and basic ways we can love people.

1. Welcome people like friends rather than strangers.

Loving often begins with our attitude. A Christlike attitude welcomes people rather than excludes them. A Christlike attitude recognizes that we are all alike in that we are all sinners in need of the bountiful grace of Christ.

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Rom. 15:7)

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Rom. 12:10)

2. Look to the needs of others.

Acts 2 tells us this is exactly what the early Christians did right after they were converted.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. (Acts 2:44–47)

Despite the vast variety of people and languages represented (Acts 2:9–10), the early Christians willingly entered into one another’s lives, sharing the necessities of life. Giving away our money and possessions requires wisdom and discernment. However, the general principle of looking after the poor is seen throughout Scripture as part of God’s command to love others (Matt. 25:36-40; 1 John 3:17-18).

3. Talk to someone who is different from you.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (James 2:9)

It is easy to stay in our comfort zones and stick with the circle of friends who are similar in age or have similar jobs or like similar things. Comfort is a wonderful blessing, but it can lead to apathy and blindness in the community as a whole. God shows no partiality when he saves, so we also should have an open heart when it comes to caring about all types of people. We also broaden our awareness of—and compassion for—the thoughts, hopes, fears, and joys of people who are living in circumstances different from our own.

4. Invite someone over to your house for a meal.

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Rom. 12:13)

If you don’t have much experience with hosting, opening up your home and cooking a meal can be intimidating, but here’s the thing: most people don’t care if your house is a bit messy and dinner isn’t a four-course meal topped off with the finest wine and candles on the table. A welcoming attitude and a communal meal are usually all that is needed to make people feel comfortable. The very act of opening your home often leads to the opening of hearts and minds to begin forming deep and lasting bonds that build one another up.

5. Allow people to take off their masks.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness…Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2)

People lost in sin, struggling with sin, or going through difficult circumstances need a place where they feel safe enough to be honest about their challenges and confess their sin and get help. This means taking the time to really listen to and care about people, understanding how tempting sin is. Loving someone, however, does not mean ignoring or putting up with their sin. Allowing continual and unrepentant sins to go unchallenged fails to show that person Christlike love, who went to the cross because of sin. We are called to gently and lovingly help people lost in sin to see God’s goodness and greatness so that they turn to God in repentance and faith and thereby find salvation from sin and eternal life. God often works through the love of people to bring his redemptive love into a person’s life (2 Cor. 5:20-21).

6. Pray.

Brothers, pray for us. (1 Thess. 5:25)

Praying for someone can sometimes seem like it doesn’t really count as loving that person; however, prayer involves coming before the most powerful Being in the universe. In Christ, the prayers of a believer are powerful, and we can be confident that God hears us and cares about what we ask. Praying for others is actually one of the most powerfully loving things we can do for them.

7. Smile at them.

The simple act of smiling can communicate warmth, welcome, and love and pave the way to a conversation. A smiling person is also easier to approach and talk to; and if you don’t have time to stop and say hello to someone, a smile says you noticed and acknowledged that person. Many of my sweetest friendships began by smiling at one another, sometimes for several weeks, before a conversation eventually happened!

Most of the time, love is a struggle. It is impossible for us to love each other perfectly. Love requires patience, humility, kindness, and most importantly, dependence upon God. It can be easy to be legalistic about loving others, but love shouldn’t feel like a burden or be so draining that we become cynical. This is why we don’t trust in our own ability to love but rather trust in the one who showed us what love truly is.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9–11)

It was love that sent him to die on a cross. He takes our weariness away and gives us his infinite Spirit that enables us to cry out to God as a child calls to their loving and gracious Father. By God’s abundant grace, we are filled with his bountiful and unchangeable love. We now have the freedom to love God and love others, not as a way of trying to be good enough to win God’s favor, but out of an overflowing love and gratitude for God’s love in Christ.

 

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Too Comfortable? Amos 6:17 First Saint Johns September 25, 2016

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are a “good person”, said … AMEN!  Aha, tricked you, now, all of you who are a good person, only and solely in Jesus said … AMEN!

It’s a question I continue to struggle with, how to be “good” in Jesus, especially as we, as a society, draw further away from God, that the perception in our society is that God really isn’t necessary. I often want to ask someone I get into this kind of discussion with: Do you honestly believe that this is all there is? Most of the time it really comes down to they just haven’t thought about it, it’s just not an issue, to the extent that “well, either way God’s just going to work it out for me, and since I’m a good person, well I don’t have anything to worry about.” Seems we’re all “good people”, you know except for like Hitler, Stalin, Alex Rodriguez, ok I’m kidding there because hey even ARod is a “good” person, even if he was a New York Yankee. We just refuse to reconcile the fact that it is about us and our sin. God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are perfectly righteous, perfectly holy/ sanctified, perfectly just and while we like to live in our own little world, with our own rules because we are so smart and can do everything by ourselves, even though what we do is based on me/myself. I have no idea what people are talking about when we get into this discussion, but it’s ok, because they just know that they’ve got it down and they don’t need anyone, up to and including God to tell them otherwise. Until such time as they realize they don’t have it down and then it’s usually a lawyer, a social worker, a school teacher, an accountant etc. None of whom have any guidelines themselves other than professional ethics which too many today see more as guidelines and hindrances if it interferes with their personal agenda. Today the idol is money, comfort, personal satisfaction, basically the Led Zepplin song “Stairway to Heaven”: “There’s a lady who’s sure, All that glitters is gold, And she’s buying a stairway to heaven When she gets there she knows, If the stores are all closed, With a word she can get what she came for, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”[1]

That’s the way it is, as much in the church as it is for any “None”, garden variety pagan, Buddhist, we don’t have to worry about that stuff because we will work it out in the end. Give a little extra here, do a little something there, badda bing, it’s all taken care of, we’re all reasonable people, let’s move on.

While that may sound good to us, that’s not God’s perspective. Of course when I say that to someone who just doesn’t know/doesn’t care, I get this petulant/ adolescent response “well that’s just your opinion”. If you’re a Christian, to the rest of the world, your opinion just doesn’t matter. Oddly, their completely uninformed, prejudiced, and totally consumer driven mentality does matter and that’s what they’re going with. Critical thinking in this day and age is a rare commodity. It just doesn’t occur to the average person today that a model where everyone is right based on their uninformed opinion is not a workable paradigm. God created everything, God maintains everything and God is going to end everything and He will do it on His timetable. That will leave a lot of your neighbors to condemnation:  “ESV Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” Jesus wasn’t stuttering, many will enter it, many just because they are perfectly happy in their ignorance. One of the creeds of this society is: “Ignorance is bliss.” You just mind your own business, do what you’re told by those who are smarter than you in business, academia, government, medicine, but heavens no, not ministry, and everything will work out fine. How that works out? No one seems to know, but in this world of the uncritical, “hey I pay my taxes, people are supposed to work those things out for me”. Really? I don’t see how that’s happening.

Probably the biggest threat to our spiritual health as Christians is the comfort and privilege that we live today. Certainly that is what God is telling Israel through Amos in our reading today: “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,” Scott Schilbe writes about this passage, the Hebrew: “yAh… Translated as ‘Woe’, this word interjects the idea of God’s judgment. Amos uses this word as a way to capture his hearers’ attention. ‘Woe’ is a warning.”[2] That is God basically saying I’m not playing around, you need to shake off this lethargy, this idea that you’re somehow entitled to just sit back and enjoy what you have and ignore God’s will and the things that you know you should be doing in order to serve Him. While we’re not where we should be today, there is much more being done for those who are poor and oppressed. I understand getting caught up in the headlines and other people’s agenda. We still have a long way to go for social justice, but we also need to back up to where we left the church of Jesus Christ and become a lot more motivated for our eternal life in Jesus. While there is much being done for social justice, and justice in the left hand kingdom of the world is important. But in Christ and to the eternal life of the resurrection we don’t get justice, that’s a really good thing, we get grace, and we get the Lordship of Christ in this world.

Your Christian church is about serving others, we continue to serve all who are here. In my role as a pastor, as a Seel Sorger I serve as a soul healer and if there’s something that the world today is in desperate need of is soul healing. We have, like the Israelites of Amos’ time, become way too comfortable and complacent, leaving the church to gather the crumbs, while we get way too caught up in the headlines and our own comfort. While there is need and we should apply ourselves to that, and your church does, we also have to make our Christian life, as the Body of Christ, His church, a priority in terms of our prayers, our financial support and our mission to continue to reach out to a world whose “god” is its pleasure and in subjection to social engineering while the only true remedy for the strife of the world is in Christ. There will always be a church of Christ, in some form. There will always be a remnant who will continue to enable the church to carry out its mission as God’s apostle. The issue is whether we who profess Christ and His mission will continue to see that as a priority, will we be that remnant? Last week I asked you to reach for that journal and to work out how that will be in your particular case. Will you reconfirm, renew and increase your support for your Christian ministry, for the church that provides you with healing, with presence, and works in our community to provide what we can. Please take out the pledge card from your bulletin and consider increasing your current offering, making a special gift, making a commitment to providing your time to the work of the church, where you can serve your church in order to help us to continue to be a strong and giving presence in our community.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Jimmy Paige, Roger Plant performed by Led Zepplin  1971

[2] Rev Scott R Schilbe, STM  Concordia Pulpit Resources Vol 26, Part 4, Series C p 30

Confession and Absolution – Setting Free the Conscience

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by Rev. Michael Schuermann One of the chief concerns of the Lutheran Reformers was to protect the conscience of each believer from being harmed by the burdens of works-righteousness or other sorts of legalism. They recognized that because of sin, man’s burdened conscience was driving him to seek relief in some way. God provided true […]

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