Preaching and Witnessing

For many in our churches, our sermons are the only connecting point they may have with God for that week. For those outside the church, how we live our lives is the only connecting point they may have with God for that month.

As far as preaching is concerned, we simply should share the story as written as we preach from God's Word. We should share what it means to us today. Leave the doubt and scholarly discussion for the classroom. Share with passion how the story has blessed and/or changed your life; there is power in showing how God connected with your life in the passage being shared. The Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick, noted pastor and preacher of the mid-20th century once said, "People don't come to church to find out what the Amalekites are up to this week." Indeed, they come to hear hope and purpose for their lives.

Submission

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Lenten Journey Travels Better Knowing Yourself

The Letter from James 4: 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

We all have our limitations. We have times when we think we have all the power or at least, a lot of power. Submission is realizing that we do not have all the power and someone else does. There is no one who has more power than God. Submitting to God's power is to assume the power of God coming upon us and blessing us as we face those most difficult of times. James writes that by submitting to God, we were accepting God's power to help us in resisting the wiles of the devil to the point the devil will flee from us. Doubt, sadness, depression, fear, all the negative things you can think of, gone by the power of God. James also stresses that as we draw closer to God, God draws closer to us.

Our Lenten Journey travels easier knowing that God's power and God's closeness blesses us and helps us. Turn over to God all that is weighing heavily upon you today. May the fear of a new day flee from you. The light of Jesus is upon you and you will be blessed.

PRAYER: Lord, bless my Lenten Journey as I seek and draw near to You. May all that I fear and all that causes me to tremble be gone, in Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

Seminarian Scouting Combine

In reading about the NFL scouting combine I wondered what a seminarian combine would look like; A Reading of the 23rd Psalm, emphasis on diction and drama. A reading of The Great Thanksgiving with extemporaneous adds to the part prior to "And so, we join the great company of Heaven..." The meet and greet line after Sunday morning worship; reacting to standard, "Great sermon, reverend," "You've certainly given us something to think about," and "best sermon on this subject," to the unexpected, "Worst sermon I've ever heard!" Seminarians will also be given a small plate and they must navigate the line at a covered dish, including spotting kitty food mistaken placed in some jello molds. Several actors posing as real church ladies will barrage each with "Pastor, you ignored my famous chicken and cow tongue dessert! How could you!?" An off the cuff sermon on a John 3:16. A pastoral visit with various bedsides. A quick called after worship PPRC meeting to deal with complaints. Seminarians will react to unexpected phone calls from finance committee chair, trustees chair, an irate parent about Sunday school class, and a homeless person will come in and ask for gas money. The combine will be sponsored by the Cabinet and seminarians will be graded by DSs and appointed by those who feel they have a match with church needs.

Love Builds and Fills the House

Every time we pick up our grandson from his daycare, we drive along Ocean then Shoreline streets and he's fascinated by the huge homes we pass. The other day he said, "I want a gigantic house where my mommy and me, and Carli, and Sarita, Big Sarita, etc. can live!" Then he said, "I want it to be a gigantic treehouse!" Then he thre in, "why do we have to live in such a tiny house?!" I said, "It doesn't matter how big or small the house is, if you love God and love one another, your house will be big." At supper he sits quietly then says rather loudly, "I have all this love and I still don't have a treehouse!"

Bleed, Wallow, Or Learn to Pray!

We've all heard the expression or seen the bumper sticker, Lead, Follow, Or Get Out of the Way. For some reason I awoke with the one shared as the title for this post. I think about those who live their lives and bleed in all sorts of ways. I think about those who wallow either in their misery or pain or in their luxuries; nothing is done to get out of their situation. And prayer is the starter for all actions, especially leading and especially following the Lord. It's our choice. Why not choose to be a leader who prays because you started as a Follower of Christ Jesus and learned to pray? Blessings for a great day. Pray!

People lose their way because they lose their why.

The above is a quote from Michael Hyatt and it rang true for me as a pastor. Sometimes we forget the why of our saying. Yes to God's call into ministry and we lose our way. Lord, let us never forget the why.

What Difference Will You Make?

One of the first lessons taught to DSs at our TMF development group was that the paradigms had shifted. I have to admit years ago when I first heard that word I was in Nashville as a guest of one of the general agencies. The General Secretary was talking about paradigms and I was thinking along the lines of the small ten-cent coin that we have and use. So, it was hard to imagine what a paradigm shift meant. The shift we heard has gone something like this: We've gone from being concerned about having 1) Happy clergy, 2) Satisfied congregations, and 3) more members and money. We have shifted from the emphasis being on clergy, congregations, members, participants, money, and facilities to those churches that take seriously the task of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the Lord. As we begin to wind down the year, what difference will you make in making this shift a reality?