The Stillness

2009-12-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13)

The thirteenth Psalm is a common choice for hospital visits. It is one of those “go-to” texts that are easy to pull out when nothing more specific presents itself. Not sure what Scripture to use when visiting the sick? Try Psalm 13. I was reminded recently of why Psalm 13 was so popular.

As I write this, I am recovering from gall bladder surgery. I seem to be mending well, but I was surprised by how slow it seems to be going. “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” If nothing else, a visit to the hospital is a lesson in patience. Whether we want one or not.

As I read this psalm now, I am drawn to the line “Consider and answer me. . . lest I sleep the sleep of death”. We do not like thinking about our own mortality, generally. And because of that, we generally do not think much about this gift of life we have been given. Minute by minute, day by day, year by year, the Lord sustains us. Preserves us. It is a gift so immense that it is difficult to take in. It is certainly a reason to “sing to the Lord”.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
(Psalm 133)

Jesus once said that a house divided against itself could not stand. This is particularly true of the church. Now just by being part of the church we are united in a lot of things. We are united in the community we belong to. We are united in our beliefs. We are united in our commitment to Christ. But are we united in our ministry?

There is sometimes a tendency in the church to see the pastor as the “paid Christian.” Of course pastors are Christians, and we are paid to do ministry. The problem is when a church starts assuming that the pastors are the ONLY Christians who are supposed to be involved in ministry.
God has called all of us to bear spiritual fruit. All Christians are called to make disciples of all the earth. Everyone is supposed to make their life a living sacrifice to the Lord. Not just us pastors. God has called all Christians to a unity of purpose.

We are coming out of the summer “lull” in activities and a whole range of ministries are getting started. I would ask that you prayerfully consider how you can get involved in the ministry of the church. What have you been blessed with? Is it a teacher’s heart? Confirmation and Kids 4 Christ is getting going for the year. Have you been blessed with the gift of hospitality? WeCare could use your help. Have you been blessed with musical talent? A whole range of music ministries are beginning. Let us make this fall a time of coming together, of uniting behind our common calling.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-08-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

14“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24.14-15)

My daughter, Maggie, loves horses. She loves seeing them in books or parades or on TV. So naturally, we were excited about the Plymouth County Fair yesterday, since she would finally get to interact with some horses. She was terrified. They were so big that she seemed too scared to pet them, or even to look directly at them. It turns out that Maggie likes the idea of horses a lot more than the real thing.

It reminded me a little of our spiritual lives. Sometimes we like the idea of serving God a lot more than actually serving Him. Because actually serving God is big. It can be scary to make such a big commitment. It can mean sacrifice to follow through.

The alternative is worse. Maggie’s fear kept her from enjoying the horses at the fair. Our fear can keep us from enjoying our communion with God. We need to remember that just because something is tough, or intimidating, doesn’t mean it will always seem so, or that it is not worth overcoming.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-06-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. “Be still, and know that I am God.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46, abridged)

For many of us, it is hard to imagine the devastation that has rained down (quite literally) on eastern Iowa. Storms have devastated much of the state, beginning with the tornado of May 25, 2008. Beginning on June 5, torrential rains began to swell the state’s rivers and cause reservoirs to overflow. By June 14, major cities were under water, levees had given way, nearly all of the 99 counties were declared state disaster areas and 18 were declared federal disaster areas. The flooding in eastern Iowa is being called the worst situation since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

I would hope that we could come together as a church to do what we can to help those affected by these disasters. As a church, we will be supporting a foundation created to help victims of the floods and tornadoes that have plagued our state the last two months. Beyond that, I would ask all of us to spend time in prayer for those who have seen their lives as they knew them, washed away.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-04-29T12:18:00.001-07:00

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.. . . for there is a time for every matter and for every work. (Ecclesiastes 3.1-8, 17b)

We are coming into a time of change here at the United Methodist Churches of Seney and Le Mars. Change is always a little unnerving, but it is also often necessary. This seems to be one of those times. I realize that not everyone is aware of what is being planned, so I thought I would take a moment to explain.

Beginning May 18, Jason and I will be redistributing our duties. I will be taking over the administrative duties at Seney, and will be preaching there three Sundays a month, preaching in Le Mars on the third Sunday in the month. Jason will be preaching at Le Mars most Sundays, and preaching at Seney on the third Sundays.

The worship times at Le Mars will also be moved starting May 25. The new times will be 9 am and 10:30 am.

I would ask that you pray for the Church, and your church leadership, that this transition would be as smooth as possible.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-04-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

10 My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. 11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. 12 When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. 13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life. (Proverbs 4:10-13, NLT)

Think back to when you went to Confirmation. What was it like? For me, it was a six-week course (give or take). It mainly consisted of memorizing the books of the Bible. I can’t say that it stuck. Hopefully, most of you had better experiences than that. The program I “inherited” here is certainly a vast improvement from what I’ve seen at churches I’ve been at in the past. This charge’s commitment to youth ministry is something to be proud of, and it comes out in things like our commitment to a three-year confirmation program. It has been such a blessing to be part of such a developed and involved program as we have here.

Another year of Confirmation draws to a close. This has been my first year teaching Confirmation, and I have to admit that it has been quite an experience for me. I tended to walk away from class feeling more than a little surprised about the direction the discussion went, or the reaction I got on a topic.

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has contributed their time and gifts to make this year’s class happen. Thanks also to the kids, for bearing with me as I figured out what I was doing. I certainly learned a lot. Hopefully, the kids got something out of it as well. We certainly tried to teach them “wisdom’s ways.” Presumably a little of it stuck.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:3, NRSV)

The Stillness

2008-04-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ (Matthew 21:8-9)

Easter is the holiest time of the year. The Sunday, and the season, called Easter are a great celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. A time to let ourselves be overwhelmed and overjoyed by the vast love that God showed us on that first Easter Sunday. It is a time of celebration.

The week leading up to Easter is a little rough, though. It begins in the triumph of Palm Sunday, and ends in the glory of Easter. But sandwiched between these days is the darkest time in our faith. We spend a week with Jesus arrested, Jesus crucified, Jesus dead. We spend a week waiting for the story to be completed in the Easter miracle.

It’s our tendency to avoid such discomfort. To avoid the sense of incompleteness that can accompany Holy Week. And in doing so, I think we miss a great opportunity. Holy Week is a microcosm of our faith life. It begins with the triumphal entry of Christ into our life in our baptism. It will be completed at the Resurrection when we truly experience God’s glory. In between, though, we are left incomplete.

By embracing the tension and anticipation of Holy Week, we can gain a better insight into our own spiritual lives. And so, I would invite all of you to take part in the special services offered at this time, and in doing so grow closer to God.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:3)

The Stillness

2008-01-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3.8)

Why do we study the Bible? I suppose it’s because we never quite finish. No matter how carefully we read the Good Book, there is always something more to find the next time we read it. Always a new chance to get closer to the Truth.

The more I study Scripture, the more I see how far I am from a perfect understanding of the Word. Of course we know that we can never achieve such perfection in this life, but it can get frustrating sometimes all the same. But if we can never completely understand it, why study the Bible at all?

I’ll probably never understand exactly how my computer works, but I’m still better off for knowing how to use it to some extent. I may never completely understand how a car works, but I’m still better off for knowing how to drive. We can benefit from even an incomplete understanding of these things.

In a similar way, we benefit from our partial understanding of the Bible. The progress toward understanding the Bible may be slow, but we are made better for the journey. The deeper we get into Scripture, the closer we get to the mind of God, and the tighter we wrap the love of Christ around us.

This is one of the reasons I will be starting a Bible study this January at Seney. It is my hope that we’ll grow closer to each other and closer to Christ as we study the book of Hebrews.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.3)