I never know what to title a post but think this may be appropriate. The season of Easter is rapidly ending. As next Sunday is Ascension Sunday and the following is Pentecost I must begin to change the vision and content of worship.
I get caught in betwixt this liturgical and the open ended unstructured non bulletined worship so many tout these days. I like the liturgical as it gives us a reason to move from one place to another, it offers us a discipline of worship and a journey through scripture that otherwise may get misdirected.
In the church where I serve I am constantly reminded of the faith that ungirds everything these people do. In the last 4 or so weeks there has been hell abounding with illness and accidents. There are those who are the old guard finding themselves in the hospital, sometimes with answers and hope and other times without either.
As one elder recovers from abdominal anurism another enters for a minor heart check resulting in both carodids cleaned and a 4 way bipass. All the while one more is in yet another hospital trying to find out why the kidneys are not removing the toxins from the blood.
These are all on the way to recovery, home and getting better when an accident claims the life of a 45 year old man, and the organist of one church is life flighted out with a severe heart condition.
Not to bad for about 100 signed on members.
Today they reassure me of who's they are as we lift in prayer yet others and proclaim to God the glory of healing (no mention of the Dr. just God) and restoring of much devestation.
I am amazed once again, then wonder why ever would I doubt that the people who would give the shirt off their back to one in need would ever not proclaim their God and Savior.
We are missional and we are liturgical and we are a church. Praise the Lord for these saints who keep the faith from failing. Praise the Lord for these saints who teach a young minimally trained pastor what it means to serve a risen Lord.
Amen and praise to all in the name of Jesus the Christ.
WaynO
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Gettin Crazy
Wow what a week and it is only Tues. If you have been reading my blog a while you may remember the newsletter I posted that seemed to get some of the ladies in the church I service a bit upset.
I asked a question -- "does the church need a building to be the church?" I found out later some thought I was selling the building owned by the church!!!! I simply wanted to make a point and create some thought that might create some activity.
Then I dropped a giant bomb shell and suggested that the fairly traded coffee we sell become a mission. Explaination --- we purchase coffee because we believe it is a good thing, then we offer it free will donation and use those funds for anothe mission project.
Goal -- we support two missions and do a bunch of educaiton in the process.
Well this morning on the hospice chaplain call in our thought for the day is --- "Only those who risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go" this followed by the administration comment that "we are here to keep you from going to far".
To bring this back to original thought, I can't say what at this point but one of the session members said he wanted to get a little crazy??????? Wow did he ever have an idea, silent discussion then a little more then some real thinking going on.
I am pumped today and have to go get a CPR card blek.
I checked blogs and found this linked to and thought it fit into the same pericope, the challenge is to the current church to get up, get crazy, go the limit, see what we can do with Jesus!!!!!!!!
I think the link got put up on my last post all by itself. Man if I ever get this thing figured out it will amazing.
Grace adn Peace WaynO
I asked a question -- "does the church need a building to be the church?" I found out later some thought I was selling the building owned by the church!!!! I simply wanted to make a point and create some thought that might create some activity.
Then I dropped a giant bomb shell and suggested that the fairly traded coffee we sell become a mission. Explaination --- we purchase coffee because we believe it is a good thing, then we offer it free will donation and use those funds for anothe mission project.
Goal -- we support two missions and do a bunch of educaiton in the process.
Well this morning on the hospice chaplain call in our thought for the day is --- "Only those who risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go" this followed by the administration comment that "we are here to keep you from going to far".
To bring this back to original thought, I can't say what at this point but one of the session members said he wanted to get a little crazy??????? Wow did he ever have an idea, silent discussion then a little more then some real thinking going on.
I am pumped today and have to go get a CPR card blek.
I checked blogs and found this linked to and thought it fit into the same pericope, the challenge is to the current church to get up, get crazy, go the limit, see what we can do with Jesus!!!!!!!!
I think the link got put up on my last post all by itself. Man if I ever get this thing figured out it will amazing.
Grace adn Peace WaynO
Friday, April 11, 2008
A B e a u tiful Day
Snow, snow, snow, wind and rain dark of night and I wonder if the post office is really even open. Got up this morning to 8 or 10 in. of snow, elec out, wind howling. There is a God and he is good.
But seriously folks how we muddle through life here in the good ole USA not even thinking about what works and what don't work. I realized that we had only one radio that we had batteries for. I grind fresh beans each morning so no coffee. No TV, no microwave, no furnace, no lights. Then I had a flash about a place called Muldova that a couple of my friends do mission work in. They don't even have windows to close on most houses, little or no fire wood, not much food, elec is just a luxury (when it is on). Life there would be a terror for most of us. I filled my belly with hash browns, eggs and pepper jack cheese. (my stove is gas and I just had to light the burner) I went out and started my wife's pickup so she could go to work (elec back on) left it running so it would be warm for her. Now the furnace won't seem to stop running and I got coffee ground and my interenet is up.
I think I should apologize to someone.
Then I went to this blog called Jesus Creed http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=3686 and read a real interesting little parable. Go read enjoy, but think about it, why would it be important to discuss how seeds are planted and how they grow. In that time most if not everyone understood how these things worked or I would imagine that they would. In a world that causes you to live with the land and the dust and bugs there are a lot of things one would be familiar with that many today don't have a clue about and for that matter don't really care about.
Careful, I am beginning to sound a bit judgemental and I don't like that so better stop. Have a great day where ever you are. Enjoy the power of the earth as it lives and breathes. Yes, enjoy even if your house blew away in a tornado, you almost washed away in a flood, crashed on the icy road, are parched in a drought. Enjoy and rejoice.....you have an awesome God who is with you no matter what.
WaynO
But seriously folks how we muddle through life here in the good ole USA not even thinking about what works and what don't work. I realized that we had only one radio that we had batteries for. I grind fresh beans each morning so no coffee. No TV, no microwave, no furnace, no lights. Then I had a flash about a place called Muldova that a couple of my friends do mission work in. They don't even have windows to close on most houses, little or no fire wood, not much food, elec is just a luxury (when it is on). Life there would be a terror for most of us. I filled my belly with hash browns, eggs and pepper jack cheese. (my stove is gas and I just had to light the burner) I went out and started my wife's pickup so she could go to work (elec back on) left it running so it would be warm for her. Now the furnace won't seem to stop running and I got coffee ground and my interenet is up.
I think I should apologize to someone.
Then I went to this blog called Jesus Creed http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=3686 and read a real interesting little parable. Go read enjoy, but think about it, why would it be important to discuss how seeds are planted and how they grow. In that time most if not everyone understood how these things worked or I would imagine that they would. In a world that causes you to live with the land and the dust and bugs there are a lot of things one would be familiar with that many today don't have a clue about and for that matter don't really care about.
Careful, I am beginning to sound a bit judgemental and I don't like that so better stop. Have a great day where ever you are. Enjoy the power of the earth as it lives and breathes. Yes, enjoy even if your house blew away in a tornado, you almost washed away in a flood, crashed on the icy road, are parched in a drought. Enjoy and rejoice.....you have an awesome God who is with you no matter what.
WaynO
Saturday, March 29, 2008
what about the church??????
From the Pastor,
The very first thing I want to do this month is to thank all of you who helped and/or participated in the Easter week of services. I get more out of it each year and am planning to do this again next year. If you didn’t get in on helping this year let me know and I will put you down to help next year. Also ideas for worship that you are willing to help with are wonderful tools for us all. So thank you for all your help and input in worship.
The next thing is this newsletter. I have a lot of information to share with you that I have discovered and feel is important to the church. If you read books and talk with people, if you blog and search watch the news read the paper and listen you will discover that our world is in a brand new place. It is in a place that has taken what we have held onto as the key elements of life and either changed or done away with them. The world as a whole is smaller, we can hear about a bomb within and hour of it exploding, we can see the stock markets fall as they slide down. We can see a tsunami slam into a village on the other side of the world in real time.
We can see the relief efforts of many nations and people coming together to rebuild and lift up a country ravaged by war or nature. Yet I look down the street and see a child without enough food and with clothes that are tattered and worn. I can stop along the road and find an elderly person who is so lonely they cry in real pain. Our world is all, right on our doorstep.
Then there is the church and one thing about the church is it is still the same. It has not changed enough in most places for us to even notice. Sure there are praise bands and video projection. We have heat and air conditioning and nice lights. We now have cushioned pews and some have chairs in the sanctuary, but the church is the same. We do things the same way, we worship the same way, we do outreach and mission the same way.
In this edition of the newsletter I am offering you some questions and opportunities for not only thinking outside the box but for action. In a world that is moving at the speed of light, a world where bad as well as good are in front of us continually we need to be a new church. I am not offering any quick answers or any answer for that matter but am encouraging you to think in some new ways.
I began this last month with a simple question that seemed to get some stirring happening. “Does the church need a building to be the church?” In this newsletter there are more questions and thoughts about this same subject. “What makes us the church and what does that mean?”
Enough of me rambling on look and read what is here. Then let’s engage in some discussion and see what comes. Open yourselves to the work and direction of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and peace,
Pastor WaynO
This letter is contained in a newsletter with thoughts and posts from many of the blogs I read and participate with. Still the question remains as to what the church, the body of Christ should look like, act like, move like, breathe like??????????????
The very first thing I want to do this month is to thank all of you who helped and/or participated in the Easter week of services. I get more out of it each year and am planning to do this again next year. If you didn’t get in on helping this year let me know and I will put you down to help next year. Also ideas for worship that you are willing to help with are wonderful tools for us all. So thank you for all your help and input in worship.
The next thing is this newsletter. I have a lot of information to share with you that I have discovered and feel is important to the church. If you read books and talk with people, if you blog and search watch the news read the paper and listen you will discover that our world is in a brand new place. It is in a place that has taken what we have held onto as the key elements of life and either changed or done away with them. The world as a whole is smaller, we can hear about a bomb within and hour of it exploding, we can see the stock markets fall as they slide down. We can see a tsunami slam into a village on the other side of the world in real time.
We can see the relief efforts of many nations and people coming together to rebuild and lift up a country ravaged by war or nature. Yet I look down the street and see a child without enough food and with clothes that are tattered and worn. I can stop along the road and find an elderly person who is so lonely they cry in real pain. Our world is all, right on our doorstep.
Then there is the church and one thing about the church is it is still the same. It has not changed enough in most places for us to even notice. Sure there are praise bands and video projection. We have heat and air conditioning and nice lights. We now have cushioned pews and some have chairs in the sanctuary, but the church is the same. We do things the same way, we worship the same way, we do outreach and mission the same way.
In this edition of the newsletter I am offering you some questions and opportunities for not only thinking outside the box but for action. In a world that is moving at the speed of light, a world where bad as well as good are in front of us continually we need to be a new church. I am not offering any quick answers or any answer for that matter but am encouraging you to think in some new ways.
I began this last month with a simple question that seemed to get some stirring happening. “Does the church need a building to be the church?” In this newsletter there are more questions and thoughts about this same subject. “What makes us the church and what does that mean?”
Enough of me rambling on look and read what is here. Then let’s engage in some discussion and see what comes. Open yourselves to the work and direction of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and peace,
Pastor WaynO
This letter is contained in a newsletter with thoughts and posts from many of the blogs I read and participate with. Still the question remains as to what the church, the body of Christ should look like, act like, move like, breathe like??????????????
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Can't move on
Boy this seems to really have a hold on me. I started out to develop a mission statement and got side tracked to something maybe far off but maybe not. I just can't seem to get past the thoughts I have aquired about church and religion and faithful disciple. I am not even sure what I mean by all that.
Thanks to those who read and walk with me through this maze I have found myself in. I have now added another ember to the smoldering fire that I am quite sure will erupt at the worst possible moment. A local church has been participating in the "Dare 2 Share" project. It is filtering into the groups I am responsible for and I am not sure how to respond.
The first thing I noticed when watching a video at one Sr. High group is that this is right in line with so much I have been reading and thinking. It pits religion and relationship with Jesus against each other. Then one of the old members of that group gave a book from there to my wife who used to be her youth leader and said she should read it as it is what my wife used to tell them in the youth group.
I have thought about taking the groups from the churches I serve to one of the conferences just can't seem to get adult volunteers to help out.
This is good stuff I think but it leaves me a bit confused as the church that is using it is or at least has been in the past all about growing their numbers. They have the reputation of being sheep stealers and I personally know they at one time they said at least the church I serve did not use the Bible. It came from them that I would not allow the leaders of the youth to tell the kids they needed to commit to Jesus. That may have come from my difficulty with "Got Saved" which the D2S says is not enough it is only a beginning, which is my struggle.
I am at a loss this evening, flu all day, sermon due am, time change, youth stuff, member who had 2 surgeries in one week and needs more. I feel like I am complaining but not really, just trying to make sense of a call from God to serve here or maybe something else.
Sorry to dump it out here but any thoughts would be helpful.
Pastor WaynO
Thanks to those who read and walk with me through this maze I have found myself in. I have now added another ember to the smoldering fire that I am quite sure will erupt at the worst possible moment. A local church has been participating in the "Dare 2 Share" project. It is filtering into the groups I am responsible for and I am not sure how to respond.
The first thing I noticed when watching a video at one Sr. High group is that this is right in line with so much I have been reading and thinking. It pits religion and relationship with Jesus against each other. Then one of the old members of that group gave a book from there to my wife who used to be her youth leader and said she should read it as it is what my wife used to tell them in the youth group.
I have thought about taking the groups from the churches I serve to one of the conferences just can't seem to get adult volunteers to help out.
This is good stuff I think but it leaves me a bit confused as the church that is using it is or at least has been in the past all about growing their numbers. They have the reputation of being sheep stealers and I personally know they at one time they said at least the church I serve did not use the Bible. It came from them that I would not allow the leaders of the youth to tell the kids they needed to commit to Jesus. That may have come from my difficulty with "Got Saved" which the D2S says is not enough it is only a beginning, which is my struggle.
I am at a loss this evening, flu all day, sermon due am, time change, youth stuff, member who had 2 surgeries in one week and needs more. I feel like I am complaining but not really, just trying to make sense of a call from God to serve here or maybe something else.
Sorry to dump it out here but any thoughts would be helpful.
Pastor WaynO
Friday, February 29, 2008
Back to mission statement
It seems I have drifted far and away from my personal mission statement. However I can come back to it whenever I want and today I need some focus. In the past few weeks I have been around the world or so it seems, with the mission I do, receive, live in, and otherwise am affected by.
I am back to that radio devotion time and it always amazes me how many people comment on my devotions. One in particular I got 3 phone calls, one email (request to use) and a card of thanks in the mail. I begin to wonder what that means in my qwest to serve the kingdom. I have mentioned the spiritual gifts inventory, I have spent considerable time with hospice patients, their families and staff at facilities where they reside. There are issues with parishinors both religious and personal. My personal life is at this point in an emotional upheaval that I cannot discuss at the moment. My youngest brother is facing possible long term jail time. Close to me is at the moment the only stable part of life, other than a brand new 16 year old.
So I set here to consider what this all adds up to be in a mission statement. No clue but something seems to be getting clearer and I don't even know what that is.
Maybe it is my seeing the kingdom of God and my role in it. Or maybe it is seeing the role we are all called to be in it. I truly believe that kingdom living is not difficult and that we likely won't see great changes in our actual day to day existence. What will be seen is a different perspective for that existence.
I just took The Hermeneutics Quiz and discovered I am one of the confused moderates. Well that isn't exactly what it says but I am a moderate which likely lends me to a mediator of sorts between the other extremes. This just adds another layer to the already jumbled pile.
I am beginning to believe that we are all in this mess and what we do here is important. The mess we are in is less important than our response to it.
I suppose the mission statement is developing more and more along the lines of "I am a child of God who finds himself in a place of hope and leadership. A called into action person of faith in Jesus Christ to work for the strengthening of the kingdom and called to care for the lost, confused, and needy within the world where I find myself. A proclaimer of hope, a lifter of the downtrodden, and a seeker of spiritual connectedness with the creator."
I don't know if that speaks anything real or not so will offer that to all of you for your comment. WaynO
I am back to that radio devotion time and it always amazes me how many people comment on my devotions. One in particular I got 3 phone calls, one email (request to use) and a card of thanks in the mail. I begin to wonder what that means in my qwest to serve the kingdom. I have mentioned the spiritual gifts inventory, I have spent considerable time with hospice patients, their families and staff at facilities where they reside. There are issues with parishinors both religious and personal. My personal life is at this point in an emotional upheaval that I cannot discuss at the moment. My youngest brother is facing possible long term jail time. Close to me is at the moment the only stable part of life, other than a brand new 16 year old.
So I set here to consider what this all adds up to be in a mission statement. No clue but something seems to be getting clearer and I don't even know what that is.
Maybe it is my seeing the kingdom of God and my role in it. Or maybe it is seeing the role we are all called to be in it. I truly believe that kingdom living is not difficult and that we likely won't see great changes in our actual day to day existence. What will be seen is a different perspective for that existence.
I just took The Hermeneutics Quiz and discovered I am one of the confused moderates. Well that isn't exactly what it says but I am a moderate which likely lends me to a mediator of sorts between the other extremes. This just adds another layer to the already jumbled pile.
I am beginning to believe that we are all in this mess and what we do here is important. The mess we are in is less important than our response to it.
I suppose the mission statement is developing more and more along the lines of "I am a child of God who finds himself in a place of hope and leadership. A called into action person of faith in Jesus Christ to work for the strengthening of the kingdom and called to care for the lost, confused, and needy within the world where I find myself. A proclaimer of hope, a lifter of the downtrodden, and a seeker of spiritual connectedness with the creator."
I don't know if that speaks anything real or not so will offer that to all of you for your comment. WaynO
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