grumble.....woke up with a sore throat and laryngitis. very bad for a pastor to not have a voice. very bad for a gal who loves to laugh to not have a voice! So I am taking it easy today. With any luck I can take it easy for a few days. Got another full weekend, including preaching on Sunday. So I NEED to get better! years ago i worked thru a couple bouts of this and ever since then, my voice gets raspy at the slightest provocation. i'm afraid i may have slightly damaged my vocal cords. So now i baby myself when this happens.
This past weekend we renewed our wedding vows. Several couples did, as part of our church anniversary celebration. It was lovely. We gals were pretty glamorous! A couple of us were wishing we could duplicate the look, including professionally styled hair, on Sunday too! Then Martin and I went out for dinner and had a great meal. (i had filet mignon and triple chocolate cake for dessert, thank you very much) It was a bit pricey, but hey we only do this every 32 years!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mercy
Bible study on mercy went great. wonderful discussion on forgiveness -need to add to next draft-does the bible say we must forgive, do other religions say to forgive, (yes and yes)
Jesus said "Father forgive them" (we can ask God to forgive if we can not right at that moment)
also ideas about mercy in every day life. being kind, do unto others etc. and not using sarcastic, mean spirited humor, (GIGO Garbage in, garbage out)
Jesus said "Father forgive them" (we can ask God to forgive if we can not right at that moment)
also ideas about mercy in every day life. being kind, do unto others etc. and not using sarcastic, mean spirited humor, (GIGO Garbage in, garbage out)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
i am working on a Bible study for Thursday evening, on "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7
a year and a half ago or so, I gave a pretty good sermon on forgiveness. but, it is one of the things that i lost when my old desktop computer died. :( I am just sick about it. i spent a lot of time on that sermon, and i hate to have to reinvent the wheel so to speak for this Bible study. I also have to put together my piece for the monthly newsletter. Guess i need to suck it up and get on with the writing!
P.S. I did get that sermon eventually-my genius sons got the hard drive out of the old computer and found it!
a year and a half ago or so, I gave a pretty good sermon on forgiveness. but, it is one of the things that i lost when my old desktop computer died. :( I am just sick about it. i spent a lot of time on that sermon, and i hate to have to reinvent the wheel so to speak for this Bible study. I also have to put together my piece for the monthly newsletter. Guess i need to suck it up and get on with the writing!
P.S. I did get that sermon eventually-my genius sons got the hard drive out of the old computer and found it!
yummy
I am sipping my second mugful of coffee this morning. I added a splash of chocolate milk, and some hazelnut flavoring. mmmmmmm. Chocolate and hazelnut make the most extraordinary coffee.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Affirming one another
Yesterday, I presented a session at our WCA annual meeting on Congregational Care. The main point was that everyone...let me repeat that, EVERYONE, needs someone to listen and to affirm our feelings. People in a church setting, pastors and not, can always help out another by listening to what they have to say, without making a judgment. And by honoring their feelings. "you sound really (insert feeling here)" is all you have to say. "Thank you for sharing" As i told folks, there will be times when you want to scream "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" but if we are practicing good care of one another we will not. much later, maybe, if asked for advice, we may say 'perhaps you want to consider the consequences..." or some such. but the crux of the matter is we need to listen and affirm. And each of us needs someone to listen and affirm as well. Especially if we are in a position of being the listener for many others.
thank you for listening to me today :)
thank you for listening to me today :)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Bible reading
This morning's Bible reading
Psalm 62:5-8 (NRSV)
Psalm 62:5-8 (NRSV)
For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. [Selah]
what a beautiful passage! and how true. people sooner or later WILL let us down. we will let someone else down. only God is ever present, ever loving, ever faithful.
what a beautiful passage! and how true. people sooner or later WILL let us down. we will let someone else down. only God is ever present, ever loving, ever faithful.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
materialism "hunger"
So one night i am watching tv, and here come the commercials. and there is an ad for a sweet cell phone. And i think oooooh i want that! Now, I have a PERFECTLY fine cell phone! It does all i need it to do, and then some. great battery life. And it is very reasonable. but i see these ads and I absolutely start drooling for a new phone! I like to think of myself as fairly resistant to Madison Avenue and their ploys! after all, I have taken psych, read about advertisers' techniques, and i am smaarrrter than the average bear (as Yogi says). But geez louise, those cell phone ads nail me every time. what's UP with that!?
I think it has to do with the whole upwardly mobile thing we boomers grew up with. Our parents came out of depression/WW2 era and they had a lot of deprivation when they were kids. they grew up to want to give their kids more and better than they had! and they certainly seem to have instilled that in us! But in part because of the tough times our parents grew up in, they had some emotional issues. They gave us material things, but may not have expressed feelings well. They grew up in an atmosphere of 'we are all in this together, don't whine, get over yourself" So there was no room (in their minds) for lots of emotion. We boomers got stuff that our folks never had. but we craved more. So as we have grown up, we have tried to fill these cravings with experiences or substances. We tried more material things! That worked for Mom & Dad, didn't it? So we have tried travel, jack daniels, loud music, designer shoes, marijuana, bigger cars, fancy electronics, cocaine, bigger houses, prozac, louder music, smaller phones, xanax, big screen tvs.....and on and on.
So how do we "feed" these cravings that consume us? with something that will truly satisfy?
the Gospel of John chapter 6
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
I think it has to do with the whole upwardly mobile thing we boomers grew up with. Our parents came out of depression/WW2 era and they had a lot of deprivation when they were kids. they grew up to want to give their kids more and better than they had! and they certainly seem to have instilled that in us! But in part because of the tough times our parents grew up in, they had some emotional issues. They gave us material things, but may not have expressed feelings well. They grew up in an atmosphere of 'we are all in this together, don't whine, get over yourself" So there was no room (in their minds) for lots of emotion. We boomers got stuff that our folks never had. but we craved more. So as we have grown up, we have tried to fill these cravings with experiences or substances. We tried more material things! That worked for Mom & Dad, didn't it? So we have tried travel, jack daniels, loud music, designer shoes, marijuana, bigger cars, fancy electronics, cocaine, bigger houses, prozac, louder music, smaller phones, xanax, big screen tvs.....and on and on.
So how do we "feed" these cravings that consume us? with something that will truly satisfy?
the Gospel of John chapter 6
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
Mythology
Years ago I spent a lot of time reading about Greek and Roman gods. It was fascinating. These gods and goddesses were supposed to be so powerful, yet they had so many personality flaws! Jealousy, seeking revenge, and a lot of just plain pettiness. (just like us mere mortals!) and I wondered why would people worship such mean-spirited 'gods'? It just never made sense to me. Remember, I grew up un-churched, so I was not comparing the mythology with Jesus! It was just something I could not grasp. I knew ancient peoples needed to have 'explanations' for natural phenomena, but it was beyond me that they would have these deeply flawed beings to honor and worship.
Now, this was before I was in a church and reading the Bible. I was pretty clueless, but i sure knew that it was preposterous to 'worship' such nasty beings as we read about in mythology.
People have misconceptions about God. Sadly, the people teaching about God are, well, mere people. Imperfect who can not comprehend the vast, loving, perfection that is God (expressed thru Jesus Christ) So we may have heard that God is spiteful, punishing, angry God. And it may have come from people who come across as spiteful, angry, mean-spirited. So we presume that God is no better than the small-minded, angry people. God can be angry, but first and foremost, God is love. and God's anger is never mean or abusive. God does not MAKE bad things to happen to people. Bad things happen and God is with us always.
Now, this was before I was in a church and reading the Bible. I was pretty clueless, but i sure knew that it was preposterous to 'worship' such nasty beings as we read about in mythology.
People have misconceptions about God. Sadly, the people teaching about God are, well, mere people. Imperfect who can not comprehend the vast, loving, perfection that is God (expressed thru Jesus Christ) So we may have heard that God is spiteful, punishing, angry God. And it may have come from people who come across as spiteful, angry, mean-spirited. So we presume that God is no better than the small-minded, angry people. God can be angry, but first and foremost, God is love. and God's anger is never mean or abusive. God does not MAKE bad things to happen to people. Bad things happen and God is with us always.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Baseball
well it is baseball season- I guess that means it is truly spring! my favorite, the Chicago Cubs, were in Milwaukee today. it was opening day @ Miller Park. The Brewers won in the 9th. Martin is happy. I guess I am happy they won their opener, as long as the Cubbies win the rest of the series!
okay I'm not sure what this whole blogging thing is supposed to be about. I guess I'm not sure what I have to say is so important to take up space on the web with it! Yet there are so many people with so much less to say, or who seem to say it less sensibly, yet they have plenty of space on the web; so I guess it's okay if I'm entering the blogging world now too. LOL
one of the things on my mind lately is the many names of God and Jesus are in the Bible. you see God is infinite and our minds are finite so we are not truly able to grasp the entirety of God or his son Jesus Christ. (Jesus said "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.") So there are many many names in the Bible. Each name is a single facet of the character of the Lord. or perhaps I should say each name expreses a facet of the character. so our finite minds are able to comprehend some of these assets, the qualities. this is why there are so many names in the Bible; so that he can understand the nature of God that we need at the moment for our example today I might be needing comfort so the idea of comfort and the name comforter, (one of the names of the Holy Spirit) appeals to me today.
one of the things on my mind lately is the many names of God and Jesus are in the Bible. you see God is infinite and our minds are finite so we are not truly able to grasp the entirety of God or his son Jesus Christ. (Jesus said "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.") So there are many many names in the Bible. Each name is a single facet of the character of the Lord. or perhaps I should say each name expreses a facet of the character. so our finite minds are able to comprehend some of these assets, the qualities. this is why there are so many names in the Bible; so that he can understand the nature of God that we need at the moment for our example today I might be needing comfort so the idea of comfort and the name comforter, (one of the names of the Holy Spirit) appeals to me today.
Today is Good Friday. I do not know why it is called Good Friday. Jesus was crucified on this day, so it should be called Bad Friday, shouldn't it? or as my pastor says, yes it is Friday, but Sunday's coming!
We had a lovely, moving service at church last night to commemorate the Last Supper. lots of Scripture, with time to meditate on each passage. the service began and ended with low lighting, with passages about Light and darkness.
We had a lovely, moving service at church last night to commemorate the Last Supper. lots of Scripture, with time to meditate on each passage. the service began and ended with low lighting, with passages about Light and darkness.
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